It could have been us Wednesday night! Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more?! The tornado warning went off on the phone, something we are all too familiar with from Oklahoma. The cats necks stretched a few inches higher than normal, I think they have kitty PTSD when they hear those warnings! It was a twenty minutes of torrential rain and howling wind, the water was blowing horizontally across the lake, I kept waiting for the sound of a freight train, wondering what cat I would grab first, to the basement, or just the bathtub?! Ha! Maybe it’s time we put a trap door to the basement in. If these weather systems keep up, it might not be a bad idea! Anyway, the power flickered a few times, up and down, watching the lights dim and then get brighter but it stayed on! The day after a helicopter was flying very low, sideways, looking at all the power lines trying to find where there were problems, trees down, or maybe doing drone shots for the tornado? I dunno!
We took a drive to check out the road, chainsaw in hand but we seem to have had enough bad weather to get rid of the problems already, down the Narrow Lock not so lucky. Mike’s family home’s barn had part of it’s roof torn off, trees had been snapped off like twigs, looks like it just missed us. The county guys were cleaning up along the road, a tree was down blocking part of Long lake Road at the mailboxes as well. They’ll have a few long days! Always something isn’t it?! Link to the tornado
At least we were not the flying things! I went out for my morning coffee last week, it was sunny and warm and wonderful. I decided to put the umbrella up before I sat down to watch the world go by. I spotted a dark spot on the inside of the umbrella after I sat down, is it mould? Mildew? Ripped? No, it had eyes! In fact it looked like a miniature Scottish Highland cow, wide little brown nose and furry as can be! A Large Brown Bat was hanging there, staring at me!
According to iNaturalist: Big brown bats are insectivorous, consuming a diverse array of insects, particularly night-flying insects, but especially beetles. Some of the beetles it consumes are serious agricultural pests, including cucumber beetles. They are nocturnal, foraging for prey at night and roosting in sheltered areas during the day such as caves, tunnels, tree cavities, and human structures (i.e. umbrellas! Ha!) Their breeding season is in the fall, shortly before their annual hibernation. After hibernation ends in the spring, females form maternity colonies for giving birth to young. Oftentimes only one offspring is produced per litter, though twins are common in the Eastern US. Lifespans of 6.5 years are considered average.
While I sat staring at my new found friend, I’m pretty sure he/she’s the one leaving droppings in the alcove every night hunting bugs, hanging from the wooden beam! As I watched I was whacked in the head by something else flying around…bat food! This large flying dinosaur hit me in the head as I was drinking my coffee…coffee saved, startled human moved it off her onto the pillow top to watch! It was a Rough Hermit Beetle (Osmoderma scabra). BIG!
Never a dull moment here..0_0 The Hummingbird was buzzing about the feeder and a beautiful hummingbird clearwing, which is in the moth family Sphingidae (hawkmoths) was visiting the hanging flower baskets. Something I hadn’t been able to convince my Ruby-throated friend to do! “Coloration varies between individuals, but typically the moth is olive green and burgundy on its back, and white or yellow and burgundy on the underside. Its wings are transparent with a reddish-brown border. The combination of its appearance and its behavior commonly leads to it being confused with a hummingbird or bumblebee. With a range extending from Alaska to Oregon in the west and from Newfoundland to Florida in the east. It is a migratory species and is most common in southern Ontario and the eastern United States. H. thysbe has two broods a year in the southern portion of its range, but only one in the north. As a caterpillar, it feeds on honeysuckle, dogbane, and several types of fruit trees” Thanks iNaturlist:)
It had me thinking as our neighbour of times past, (we were all in the same Stanleyville neighbourhood!) Jim, had asked if I wanted to go to the Lanark County Camera Club’s Macro photo workshop at a members house on Otty Lake, great for bugs I thought so yes I said! Turns out, we had run into the hosts, Kit and Bruce as we were driving our belongings in a U-Haul truck across the border in where they had been stored after arriving from California way back when. A common meeting spot at Customs! They were doing the same having moved from NY, they’d mentioned they were moving to Otty Lake! Small world, as that was where we had been staying before we found our spot here! We both remarked how nice they had been, Welcome back to Canada🙂 The Customs asked them if they were with us! Ha! Say No!!!
I should have listened more to the talks but chatting with Bruce, Kit and some other members AND watching the dragonflies and hummingbirds had me completely sidetracked! Their yard was amazing, right on the water and so beautiful. Natural plants and trees. So much life, a real treat to get to see it! And surrounded by a moat…not something you see every day! Jim was right, it would be a squeeze to get the truck in there across that bridge! Glad he drove me!
One look at the Halloween Pennant-Celithemis eponina and I was transfixed! We rarely ever see these guys out where we are. Not sure why, they are SO beautiful! This particular individual had seen better days, missing part of his wing his flying was a bit erratic! There were Widow, Twelve Spotted and Slaty Skimmers as well as Blue Dashers, and that was just in front of his porch!
They had what looked like a juvenile Ruby-throated Hummingbird poking around as well at their evening primrose and cardinal flowers! Beautiful! Just say Hummingbird and I’m gone;) Ha!
Back at Long Lake I’d been fascinated by a beautiful copper coloured beetle, shiny trinkets get me in nature;). I followed it around and then went and got the camera. It had settled on the rose bush and was making a pass at another one…rebuffed, he looked dejected.” “Was it something I said?” I’ve learned since these pretty copper and green coloured scarab beetles are in fact quite invasive…0_0…and they eat everything, including cannabis! Do they get high I wonder? “Dude, check out the colour on those roses, man, they taste good!” Cheech and Chong Beetles…who knew?
“The Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) is a species of scarab beetle. Due to the presence of natural predators, the Japanese beetle is not considered a pest in its native Japan, but in North America and some regions of Europe, it is a noted pest to roughly 300 species of plants. Some of these plants include rose bushes, grapes, hops, canna, crape myrtles, birch trees, linden trees, and others. The adult beetles damage plants by skeletonizing the foliage (i.e., consuming only the material between a leaf’s veins) as well as, at times, feeding on a plant’s fruit. The subterranean larvae feed on the roots of grasses. The first Japanese beetle found in Canada was inadvertently brought by tourists to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, by ferry from Maine in 1939. During the same year, three additional adults were captured at Yarmouth and three at Lacolle in southern Quebec. Throughout the majority of the Japanese beetle’s range, its life cycle takes one full year; however, in the extreme northern parts of its range, as well as high-altitude zones as found in its native Japan, development may take two years.”
No, I don’t have flying cats, but I have a ladder climbing one! Rocket has been doing this since he was young, up the ladder, down the ladder, in the house, outside, he is a ladder boy! Balance helped by those huge paws and long toes!
I was cleaning the water run off spouts on the trailer, they get clogged with debris when he decided he would help, and wanted to know why the window was not open, it would be handy to go in the trailer, lie on the bed and watch me work…
The ease in which he goes up and down…he is way better at this than me! Cats with jobs!
Groot looks on with distrust and disgust! What is he doing making a fool of himself up there? One should be chasing frogs and dragonflies, or better yet! Grasshoppers! No decorum whatsoever!
These guys! Never a dull moment! I think the wind is dying down and the sun coming out, time to get out and try the extension tubes that arrived for macro on some more of our bug and flower friends! Put my new found knowledge to use! Stay tuned for bugs, close up, really really close up! Saludos amigos!
