July 9, 2020 HOT

 Dear Darcy,

36 Celcius at home

33 Celcius at the lake

Cameron, you and I arrived at the cottage around 1:30 pm. We all went in the lake! The water is warm - it hardly cools you off at all. You and I went looking for cold springs.

Thursday swam a lot and chased fish, she's so happy.

We put on goggles and explored the bottom of the lake. You and Cameron found an old diving mask and some garbage.

Daddy arrived around 6:00 pm. He was very tired and very hot. We went for a boat ride to cool off before dinner. Very nice. We saw Don and 2 fireflies. 

There was a squirrel at the feeder with no fur on his tail!

May 14-16: SQUIRRELS!

 Dear Darcy,

For a a couple of weeks we've been hearing noises in the bathroom wall. At first we thought it was a branch rubbing... but no, the branches don't reach the house. Then we thought maybe a bird... then we figured it out. SQUIRRELS!  But you can't evict them until the babies are ready to leave so we had to wait... until NOW.

We saw Mom squirrel come out of the hole. We could still hear the noises while she was gone, so we knew there had to be babies in there. We waited and watched... finally the babies started coming out. We knew we had to act. 

We left the ladder there for us to check, but also for the babies to climb down. The mom could jump from the hole to a nearby tree, but we feared that they wouldn't be able be to. 

We watched them come cautiously out, unsure about this metal thing. But Mom would chatter at them from the tree and they started to come out onto the ladder.  When were were pretty sure they were all out we checked from the ladder and also listened from inside. NO noises! 

Quickly we stapled screening over the hole. We went back and checked again the next day to make sure no one was trying to get in or out.  We watched as the mom settled her babies into a new home in a tree.

Summer wildlife

Darcy was able to feed the chipmunks this summer. One day she sat on the ground and had two or three of them coming to her. Unfortunately they started to fight over who got to eat from the big pile of seeds in her hand and one accidentally nipped her. It pinched her, but did not break the skin and gave her a good scare. We let them eat from the bird feeder the rest of the summer.

The Great Blue Heron is standing on the wharf two houses over. One often landed on our own wharf, too. The gogo's, as Darcy calls the squirrels, also frequented our feeder quite a bit.

We saw many frogs this year, but virtually no snakes. Although bee populations are in crisis, we were blessed with many bees in our gardens and hydrangeas this summer. A lone loon hung around in front of our house for about an hour in the rain one day. 

Taken from Mom's deck. 

An adorable red-breasted nuthatch. We saw these more often than the white-breasted nuthatches at our feeder. 

Hairy woodpecker at the feeder. We also got some downy woodpeckers, bluejays, evening grosbeaks, pine grosbeaks and endless chickadees. Grackles would come and feed on the lawn and drink water out of the puddles after the rain. 

Rascals! 

While I encourage the wildlife to come to our yard and eat at our feeders, my uncle is not:

Once his garden has been harvested in the fall the deer will be welcome back. :-)

Here is a video montage called Summer Wildlife:

https://youtu.be/YlVPZTCKnGg

rain, rain go away...

Wed June 26, 2013

THE BUGS ARE AWFUL!!!

We had an indoor picnic lunch and watched a movie. 

Darcy had baseball tonight and on the way to the park we saw a turtle crossing the street.

 Go-go's love to come to our feeders. (Red squirrels)

 

Kevin at the ball park.

 

Friday June 28, 2013

Yucky weather, so Darcy and I did a puzzle.

 

Tough puzzle, but not as hard as I thought it would be.

July 10, 2012: A+K = 5 years

 HAPPY ANNIVERSARY KEVIN!

5 years ago today I walked across the terrace at The Laurentian and saw “Lake Barron Kevin” sitting on a bench.  5 years, 4 jobs, 3 cats, 2 kids, 2 cars, 2 houses, and 1 boat later, we’re one big happy family!

 

Darcy and I fed the chipmunks sunflower seeds out of our hands.

Darcy trying to feed Chippie

Angie feeding Chippie

 

 

Mom, Darcy and I saw a squirrel sleeping on a branch today.

A small squirrel also came and out of my hand today.

 

 

Darcy did her own hair today.

AK

July 6, 2012

Relaxed day! D & I stayed in PJ's for a long time this morning. She played with all her toys and made a big mess, but that's OK!

I set up a hammock in the backyard, which she loved it. We went swimming, too.

 

At supper time it got sooooo humid and hot it was breathless. We dunked ourselves in the lake to cool off.