Red Lily Bug

I don’t have too many problems with bugs around here.  I know there are some who snack on my plants – but then the bunnies have a snack once in awhile too.  As I was taking pictures yesterday morning, I noticed a red bug on my lilies.  I zoomed in on it, but didn’t have my glasses on anyway – so didn’t see what I had until I came inside and uploaded what I had taken.  It turns out there were 4 red bugs in the picture and 2 of them were busy trying to make more.  One of them is cropped out of the picture to make the 2 busy ones more visible.

I searched for red bug online and discovered that they were Red Lily Bugs and that I soon would not have any lilies if I didn’t do anything about them.  The advice was to either squish them or put them in warm soapy water.  I wasn’t in the squishing mood, so took out some warm soapy water to put them in.  By then they had gone into hiding, but I managed to find a couple of dozen of them along with several eggs.  The eggs are soft and just bush off without too much problem, but I had to catch the adult ones one by one.

I’ll have to check the plants daily to make sure they don’t do more damage.  I’m sure I missed a few of them.

Red Lily Bugs May 15

When I was catching bugs, I found a few who were busy like these 2 are.  I hope I didn’t leave any eggs to hatch because the larva are really disgusting looking and those are the ones who eat the lilies.  I’ve had these lilies for many years and would hate to loose them to a new bug on the block.

Here is the webpage where I found the info on these little guys.

So far on Africam today, we have seen Elephants, Leopard and Saddle-bill Stork.  Of course, the day has barely started as I am typing this.  Click here to see all of today’s pictures.

Africam

You may have noticed that I list the sightings at  Africam each day.    Now that the sightings around my home have pretty much disappeared, I will be posting some of the pictures from there as well as from the polar bear cam in Churchill.

This morning the temperature here is -8C with a windchill that feels like -15C.  We are supposed to have scattered flurries all day today.

On Africam today, so far we have seen Leopard, Hippo, Elephants (playing in the new dirt at NK) Zebra, Warthog (with 3 tiny babies), Helmeted Guinea Fowl, Scrub Hare, Impala, Spotted Eagle Owl chicks (almost ready to leave on their own now), Giraffe, some unidentified swallows, Waterbuck and Kudus.

This Polar Bear picture was taken from the highlights of the polar bear cam, as I am waiting for the sun to come up in Churchill.  After Chester and I walk, I should be able to watch it live.

Polar Bear

Here is one of the many pictures of the elephants playing at NK – picture Posted by Thumper.

Elephants at NK Nov 16

In case I hadn’t mentioned it before I will be spending 3 nights at Nkorho next year. 

Next is one of the pictures of the Warthog with her 3 tiny babies at Nkorho.  Picture posted by Penny2

Warthogs Nov 16 at NK

And here is one of the Leopard pictures posted.  Krukab posted this one.

Leopard at EP Nov 16

The Day After

I survived zip-lining yesterday    more to come on that later.

It was 12C when Chester and I walked along the Red River this morning.  I expected to be stiff after all the walking yesterday, but I was fine.    We found ducks and beavers and balloons.

Wood Ducks - first 3 young ones

Wood Ducks - more with Mom

Beaver July 8

There were 2 beavers and they were definitely working on the pile of sticks I reported on earlier.  I didn’t get a good picture of either one of them.

Beaver July 8

I did get a good picture of the CTV hot air balloon though

On Africam today, so far we have seen Leopard, Lion, Cape Buffalo and much more.  Click here to see today’s pictures.

Red River Rising May 4th

It was 6C when  Chester and I left for our walk and had risen to 7C by the time we got home.  It was partly sunny and very windy.

I was going to take a picture of the usual big tree across the Red River, but it look just the same as it has for the last couple of weeks, so decided not to bother.  But, by the time I got around to the park area that had been under water earlier this year, it had water over the path in a couple of spots again – so it is obviously higher today than it has been.  I found another new (to me) duck this morning.  There were 4 of them, but quite a distance away, so I didn’t get much of a look at them until I uploaded my pictures.  Checking the Ducks Unlimited site, it appears they are a  Blue Winged Teal.

Blue-Winged Teal

Female Mallard Duck

Male Mallard Duck

These Mallards were not together – so I found the female from one pair and the male from another pair.

Chester checking out where the bank has dropped into the river

Red River over the bank May 4

There are 2 sticks in the water – one pretty close to the center of the pic and the other just off to the right of it.  The closest stick has been out of the water (other than when it first went over the banks) until now and the other stick is right beside where a paid of ducks seemed to be getting their nest ready last week when it was right at the edge of the water.

Red River over the bank May 4

Path under water May 4th

Path under water May 4th

Path under water May 4th

Last night we could hear a leopard for a few hours at Elephant Plains on Africam.  He never did make an appearance though, even though zoomie was looking everywhere.

Zoo Day

Yesterday afternoon I decided to take advantage of my first long weekend by taking a trip to the Assiniboine Park Zoo.  When I first booked my vacation days as long weekends, I was planning on spending my first one working in the yard and maybe digging in my flowerbed, but mother nature had other plans and my yard isn’t ready to have anything done to it yet.  Another thought was to make a trip out to Lockport to see if the pelicans are back so I could get pictures of them, like I did a couple of years ago, but I haven’t seen any sign of them being back yet.

When my computer crashed around Christmas that year, I lost all the full size pictures of that trip, since I hadn’t been smart enough to back up my pictures onto a disc, but I do still have the pictures that I posted here and on facebook.  But I heard there were baby monkeys at the zoo, so I decided to take my first trip there this year.

I decided I wasn’t going to take any gopher pictures this year no matter how cute they were, and even though one was really, really cute, I did not take a picture of him sprawled out in a puddle of water.  I did get some goose pictures and they were all over the place, establishing their territories.

Gibbon Monkey with her baby

closer look at the baby

According to the zookeeper in the monkey area, this little girl was born in January and is much braver than her older brother was last year.  Now, she is moving away from mom.

Baby Gibbon Monkey

Macaque and her baby (harder to see baby)

The Macaque baby is only about 4 weeks old, I believe.

That is all the babies so far this year, but on my next trip hopefully there will be more to see. 

Of course, I can’t go by the big cats without taking pictures.

Leopard

Tiger

Asian Lion

Look how this big boy has matured since my last trip to the zoo – wow!

Asian Lion

Last year I didn’t get to see the lioness, but this year she was outside sleeping near him.  At least she opened her eyes for me.

Asian Lion

Cougar

Artic Foxes

This is the first time I’ve seen these foxes in their winter coats.  They look much different in the summer.

White Buffalo

I am guessing that this is one of last year’s babies (or was it the year before – LOL), but it might be Blizzard.  I’ll have to check with my zookeeper contact Kristen.

Canada Geese Defending their Snowbank

I took more pictures (of course) and you can see them on my Facebook album here.

 

 

Mother Nature’s April Fools Joke

I guess Mother Nature decided that she can play her jokes any time in April – so she picked today.  We had snow here!  Of course, the temperature is above zero – so its not staying, but we really didn’t need any more moisture now either.  It rained and it snowed and it blew today – but the snow is still melting.  I do not know what temperature it got up to today, but at 6:30 pm, it is +3C and raining.

I didn’t see this, but one of my co-workers said she was at St. Vital Park yesterday.  It was a pleasant day – not shirt sleeve weather by any means, but nice and sunny and warmer than it has been yet this year.  There was still plenty of snow around and some of the people were brushing snow out of the way, so they could put blankets down to have picnics.  The ground is still frozen, so I am guessing that these are insulated blankets – but still, that seems a little extreme for a picnic – no ants though!    It was kind of an “only in Winnipeg” moment – where else would people have a picnic in the snow.  I would have been taking pictures if I had been there.

Now for my Africam moments! 

Last night I was closing windows and saying goodnight when I saw the word lion appear on my computer screen.  Of course that meant that I had to open the cams again to see the lion because just seeing the word isn’t an official sighting.  And there she was – a beautiful lioness, with another one moving towards her a short time later.  Who needs sleep anyway?  So, I watched for awhile and then closed everything up again, satisfied that I had watched lions before going to bed.    This morning, I open the cams to see a leopard sprawled out on a branch where we often see baboons playing.  I missed seeing her climb the tree, but I didn’t have to leave for work until after I had seen her climb back down.  It was amazing to have seen two of the big cat species within just a few hours of each other and I slept the whole time in between the 2 sightings.

Lioness at TE

Lioness at TE

Leopard at EP

Leopard at EP

There are lots more pictures from others posted in yesterdays sightings at Africam.  You can also find videos of both sightings too.

Texas/Manitoba

Its pretty bad when in February, there isn’t much difference in  Texas weather compared to Manitoba weather.  So, the trip in my dreams had nice weather in Texas – but in reality, they are having one of the worst winters ever.   They have had snow, sleet and freezing rain along with temperatures well below freezing.  Meanwhile, up north in Manitoba, our temperatures today have held at a steady +2C all day.  The snow is melting and although there is still lots more, it is feeling nice to get some fresh air without freezing.    Tonight it will freeze of course and the roads and sidewalks will be slippery as the water freezes, but tomorrow is supposed to be fairly warm – although not above freezing.

Chester and I had a nice long walk along the Red River and enjoyed the fresh air today.  Walking is difficult along the river path because they plowed the street and piled the snow on the path we walk on.  Hopefully they will plow the path soon to make walking a little easier.  It was a slippery walk too and next time I will put my ice grips on my shoes before going out.

We have had two of the three big cats on Africam today.  A pride of Lions at Tembe and a pair of Cheetahs at Nkorho.  It would be nice if a Leopard showed up at Elephant Plains before the day is over to give us all the big cats.

Cheetah at NK

You can find many more great pictures of both the cats and the other critters that we have seen on the cams today here.

What Tech Can’t You Live Without? PLUS Big 5 at Africam!

I hadn’t checked the weather forecast last night since it had been staying fairly constant  in the minus teens to the low minus 20′s – so imagine my surprise when I turned my computer on this morning to find out it was currently -32C with a windchill of -43C.   Silly me had not plugged the car in – so I threw on some shoes and a jacket and went right out to plug it in.  Its got less than 2 hours before I have to leave, but that should be enough.  I see tonight is supposed to go down to -29 C, so I’ll have to plug it in tonight too.

The wordpress question I received yesterday was “What’s one piece of technology you can’t live without?” so I thought I might talk (or write) myself through it.

I think a lot of people would choose the cellphone and I guess the cellphones these days are a lot more than phones – so I can understand that.  I however just use my cellphone as a phone.  I have never gone on the internet with it although I believe it does have internet capabilities.  During the first 6 months I could use it to send pictures from my cellphone without charge and I did use that a few times.  Once the free trial was over, I just took the card out and put it into my computer to send though.  I just can’t imagine surfing the web using the tiny screen.  My little netbook has a 10 inch screen and that is plenty small enough.

So – my piece of technology that I can not live without (well can not live without seems a little drastic) is the computer and with it – the internet.  I could certainly live without it, but can’t imagine life without it now.  After all – I wouldn’t be able to watch Africam!!!

Speaking of Africam – we saw all 5 of the Big 5 in the last 24 hours!!!    We saw lions, elephants and rhinos at Tembe and leopard and cape buffalo at Elephant Plains.   Actually, it was a lot less than 24 hours – they were all seen in less than an 8 hour span.  The leopard was first at just after midnight CAT (central African time), followed by the rhino about 2 hours later and the lions about a 1/2 hour later, the elephants followed 4 hours later and the buffalo an hour after that.

Click here to see the pictures for today.

Picture of the day is one of the lions at Tembe.

Lion at TE

Africam rocks!!!

August 15th

Here we are in the midst of yet another rainy weekend in the summer.   It is quite cool outside also with 13C being the temperature at 1pm – so we know it isn’t going to get much (if any) warmer for the day.

The last few days have been pretty busy.  Thursday was a vacation day and since my sister and her entire family were in the area, with 3 cottages rented about an hour north of the city, I went up to visit with them for the day.  My daughter and her boyfriend also spent the day there and my Mom was staying there as well.  We had some fun, ate lots of food and (of course) took some pictures.

the kids playing lawn darts

This is all my nieces’ kids playing lawn darts beside their grandparent’s cottage.   I took way too many pictures to put up here, so please feel free to check out the rest of them on my facebook page.

Then, on Friday (which was supposed to be my weekend), I had to go to a training session with all the other full time sales & services staff from all the branches at the Y here.  We had the session at Camp Y, which is a new camp about an hour outside of the city.  It is actually an old camp and the Y is working hard to get it up to standard for year round use.  Right now, it is being used by the day camps for the outings and there is lots to do.  We were supposed to get an opportunity to use the swimming pool, high-ropes course, climbing wall and zip line – but the rain ruined that, so we just had our training.  It was fun and we got to meet some of the other staff from the other branches, who we often talk to on the phone.  It will be nice to be able to put a face to the name now.    I did get a day off work to replace my Friday – which is why I am at home now.  I didn’t have my early Sunday shift to work this week.

Dakota is still plugging along.  I don’t think the Cartrophen Vet injections did anything to help her out with her arthritis.  It may be that she is a bit less in pain – it is hard to tell.  She still gets her same walks at her speed and the walks are the same speed as they were before the injections.  She still wants to go further – but does not object when I go out with Chester now.  I have learned that if I let her go further, she will have quite a bit of problems in the evening with her legs collapsing on her.  It does take her a few minutes at any time after she has been sleeping, to get those legs moving correctly under her.

Chester, on the other hand has no end to his energy.  His motto is “Lets GO” so he and I have quite a long walk along the Red River on most days.  There has been absolutely nothing to take pictures of though.

I am so excited!  My tool shed is fixed.  I have had problems over the years of the tool shed being broken into – just because it was so easy to break into it.  The doors to the shed opened up onto the parking spot in the back lane and the doors were only locked by a chain and padlock.  Many times I wondered if it was possible to lift the shed up and move it around so that the doors are on the inside of the yard, but thought that would be a huge and very expensive job, so I did not follow through with it.  It is a big wooden shed and this year, it suddenly occurred to me that a solution would be to just block the old doors off and build a new door inside the yard.  I found someone to do it and I now have a real door, instead of the flimsy doors from before and it is inside my yard with a deadbolt lock on it.  I will have to pick up some paint to paint the whole shed and make it look as new as the door and I will have to get some sidewalk blocks down in front of the new door.  I plan on doing both if it ever stops raining on a day when I don’t have to work.

Africam continues to take a lot of my time as the critters continue to visit the waterholes. One night we even had a leopard climb a tree – right in front of us. The Baboons and the Hadeda Ibis were sure unhappy about that! You can see the video that Morris made for us at Leopards. The zoomie did a great job of following him up and down the tree.

Today on Africam, we have seen Cape Buffalo, Zebras, Hadeda Ibis, Cape Turtle Doves, Reedbuck, Grey Go Away Bird, Water Monitor, Impalas, Waterbuck, Nyalas, Elephants, Wildebeests and more. Take a look at today’s pictures here.

Jun 2nd

It looks like we are finally having a nice day here again – but more rain is in the forecast for the weekend.     I will just hope they are wrong (as they often are).

I’ve taken a few pictures over the last couple of days and we’ve had some excitement (with a leopard visit at Elephant Plains) at Africam, so I wanted to post a mid week update on life.

You can always follow the link to Africam above to see the recent videos and pictures, so I am going to post my pictures first before I get into more details on Africam (if I have time before I have to leave for work in a few minutes.

Red River Jun 1 - tree

All that rain we had last weekend resulted in a rise in the Red River again.  Here is that big tree across the river, surrounded by water.

Wood Ducks Jun1

Wood Ducks Jun1

Lilac - June 1

Iris - June 2

Wood Ducks June 2

I am running out of time here – so here is a quick link to the video of the leopard visit taken by Morris.

Bye – I’m off to work.