AstroGypsies

Ok, it is November 9th and I really should not be able to wander around at dawn in my bathrobe and slippers down to the dock, no frost, no snow, not even a freezing night (THAT will change soon!) but hey, I’m taking it as a sign to get out and enjoy, sorry Mike, that means staining the telescope building, cleaning out the eavestroughs, now what else is on my warm weather list to do again? Funny, he just ran off screaming “NOOO!!!!” 😉

…and now November 15th-it is snowing/ freezing rain/ raining…all of the above…welcome to November;) Ha! We did get that shed stained! What a difference a week makes;)

Last day of hunting season today, glad our neighbour farmer is not shooting up the landscape this week. He scared the crap out of the cats firing off the ridge beside the house, about 250′ feet away from us, and drove off in a huff when we said we weren’t really comfortable with that, “He wasn’t going to shoot us!” he said…so, he can barely hear, I wonder what his eye sight is like? Rocket decided the dryer provided an armored vehicle just in case, and Gamora has stuck near the house all week, not wanting to venture where the gunshots roam…ah, country life. The good old boys probably are not happy we are here fulltime, before they had the run of the property to themselves with the cottages closed down, hey, life is all about change:) I don’t think the property owners would have been happy with them shooting in their backyard if they had been here either, last day today, halle-fucking-lujah, pardon my French;)

A beautiful family of Otters graced us for a few days in the bay before moving on. They would fish and cavort, the two siblings stayed close together as mother went off in her own direction at times! Lots of food here to go around! When they left a squadron of Mergansers moved in like Tie-fighters ( Star Wars fans will get this;) in formation, followed closely by the seagulls picking off little fish that got too close to the surface:)

So, as you can guess, no hiking this week, or walking out to get the mail. Stuck close to home and watched the birds. A beautiful Mrs. Northern Cardinal showed up to add some colour to the lovely Red-Bellied Woodpecker Mrs…where are the guys I want to know? Maybe just as well, these ladies are so polite!

A swarm of Hairy Woodpeckers have arrived much to the chagrin of the local male who is doing his best to keep order but he has not been successful;) Lots of racket from the maple as the newcomers barge in for seed and suet! The Downy family is far more reserved, there is enough for everyone they must think:) A family of Red Breasted Nuthatches that were quite quiet all Fall have also descended, the White Breasted guys are like “Whoa, dudes you move even faster than we do!” Great cat window TV;)

They have been very excited by the quantity of feather balls flying about. The Chickadees get quite bold, Gamora caught one, then let it go, i.e lost it, unharmed save for a a bit of down…ha! She is now a Goddess in the boys eyes! “How she do that?” she is not sharing her secrets to the louts she said;)

When Rocket isn’t racing both down, and up the railing to the stairs to the lake he has discovered a tiny hole under the deck, in which he climbed into…sigh…took two boards off this morning to get him out…we won’t be playing that game tomorrow;)…bad kitty! We should have named him Dennis the menace…;) Looks like we have a new Fall project, fixing all the very small cat squeezable holes to under the deck! He gleefully ran straight there this morning, and laughed, as we had covered up one hole with a large rock, he dashed under the stairs, where he had found a new one…

We’ve had a beautiful Bald Eagle doing flybys in the morning. I’m wondering when they all head South, is there a timetable? Are they WATCHING the weather Canada app? ha! The Great Blue Heron is still fishing in the swamp, and I heard the Kingfisher as well. I’m sure they know when to leave, maybe the squadron of Mergansers will be the telling tale:) In the meantime, I’ve fixed the canoe seat finally:) We have had some stunning mornings and a couple of moonrises on the lake early this week that were spectacular. I may have to name the old red canoe, radio flyer, a friend suggested, like the old wooden hand carts we played with as kids…could work, now to brush up on my fine painting skills, wait! I have a madly talented painting cousin! Maybe we can talk her into a visit next Summer:) it might look better than my wildly third grade handwriting /painting skills;) How does that look? hahahaha!

Maybe I should consider vinyl stick on letters;)…Mrs. Red Canoe is not the final name choice, we’re working on it;) la canoa roja sounds nicer:) I’ll leave you with another glassy look at the lake, my it is a stunning sight for early morning eyes, a long as it goes along with a steaming cup of dark roast coffee…saludos amigos, stay safe, wear your mask, change, it is a coming our dear South of the border friends, it is a coming!!