Bug Day

It was 19C with 98% humidity when Chester and I walked along the Red River this morning.  It is only supposed to get up to 26C this afternoon, but with that much humidity, I closed the windows and turned the air conditioner on when we got back home again.    It had rained last night, but I have no idea how much.  There were some puddles in the spots that often have puddles after a rain and I’m just hoping that it was enough so that grass and flowers start to make a comeback.

My raspberries are nicely ripening now and for the last week, I have been going out with a bowl to collect berries to add to my bowl of cereal every day.  A couple of days ago I noticed a bee (or something) on one of the berries as I was going to pick it.  He didn’t move, so I just left that berry and moved on to another one.  To my surprise he was still there on the same berry yesterday, so I came back inside and took my camera out.  There was also another one on another berry and one more hanging onto the bottom of a leaf.  They were not bothered by my being there and I even moved the berries and leaves to get a better view for pictures and they just stayed where they were.

the first bug

the first bug (again)

the 2nd bug

the 2nd bug (again)

the 3rd bug

They look like bees to me, but I don’t know what they are doing hanging onto my raspberries instead of digging into flowers.  Are they taking the juice from the berries?  I have my bird expert Barry and my plant/flower expert Sue (both from Africam) to help with those ID’s.  Now I need a bug expert.

My berries are plentiful as always, but this year I’ve found that many of them are miniature – I guess due to the very hot weather and very little moisture.  The ones that did get to the usual size are nice and juicy and delicious, but the smaller ones are not as tasty.  I notice these guys are hanging onto nice juicy ones. 

On Africam today we have seen Zebras, Impalas, Warthogs, Elephants, Kudu, Vervet Monkeys, Hyaena, Reedbuck, plenty of birds and more.  Click here to see today’s pictures.

To make viewing all the cameras at Africam at the same time, they have now launched a multi-view camera page.  Here you can watch all 3, or just start 1 or 2, but still just have the one page instead of different tabs or different windows to watch.  When you land on the page, you decide which cam(s) to start by clicking on the start button in the middle of each cam.  Click here to see it and check it out.

Believe it or Not.

Believe it or not, but my living room finally has all the pieces of furniture in their new spots!  There are a couple of things not finished yet – like finding new homes or spots for all the stuff that managed to accumulate in the room – but a couple of hours sitting down and going through each thing and deciding which is trash, which is for freecycle and which I should keep (hopefully not much in this category).  The amount of stuff that is still here after all the de-cluttering I have done over the last few years is astonishing!

I haven’t found anything along the Red River to take pictures of during my walks with Chester the last 2 days, so we’re back to pictures around the house – like the mystery block after its exterior face-lift and some late flowers.

Mystery Block

They did a great job on the outside of the block, but have no idea what has been going on inside.

I had been surprised that my day lilies hadn’t bloomed this year.  They don’t normally bloom, but with the old house next door gone and the new one up, they were getting sun for the first time ever.  Everywhere we walk, I see day lilies blooming and suddenly these ones sent up flower stalks.  They aren’t open yet – but they are going to flower. 

Day Lilies - July 24

Of course, I will take pictures, once they actually flower too.  Speaking of lilies, I have a couple of tall late blooming lilies that are getting ready to flower soon too.

Lilies July 24

Maltese Cross Jul 24

The Maltese Cross looks like it will be going to seed soon.  I have to collect the seeds this year and send them off to a friend.

On Africam today, we have seen rhinos, elephants, zebras, warthogs, giraffes and much more.  Click here to see all of today’s pictures.

Thunderstorm?

With luck, we will have a thunderstorm this morning or afternoon and the temperature will drop some.  The temperature only dropped to 24C last night and with the high humidity it feels like 34C (93F) at 7am.  Right now, they are only predicting 30C (feels like around 40C, which is 104F),because of the expected rain.

Not much to see out on the river this morning – still lots of ducks, but I only took one picture of a young Mallard and a trio of rowers on the other side of the river.  I did get a better look (but no picture) of the Kestrel from the other day.  There are a few of them several blocks away from home, so I’m assuming that a pair nested and have some young ones out on their own.  I saw one dive towards a squirrel that Chester was actually stalking.  Since the squirrel is about the same size as the bird, that would have been an interesting encounter.

A Kestral is the smallest of the Falcons.  This bird still looks to be bigger than what I remember of them from many years ago.  I used to see them at Grand Marais when my parents had a cottage there, but I was smaller way back then.

young Mallard Duck July 20

Rowers July 20

On Africam today, we have seen Elephants, Warthogs, Zebras, Baboons and more.  Click here to see today’s pictures.

Heat Wave Continues

At 7am, when Chester and I walked along the Red River this morning, the temperature was 23C and with the humidity it feels like 29C.  That translates to 84.2F.  They are saying 37C this afternoon which is 98.6F – wow!

When it gets this hot, everyone is running their air conditioners and/or fans and there is always the danger of hydro going off due to overload.

There were ducks all over the place today, but I limited my pictures of them a bit.  The duck population on this part of the Red River has had a population explosion with several successful families this year. 

The beavers seem to be expanding their lodge already too and managed to put one of the main beams in place last night.

Young Mallard July 19

I wonder when the young male Mallards start to show some adult markings.

Young male Wood Ducks July 19

Beaver Lodge - main beam for expansion

I think it took a fair amount of beaver power to get that log up there.

Since we were a little later walking today, I was thinking the beavers had all gone to bed, but as we were walking away, one was swimming towards home – guess he went out drinking with the boys after all that hard work.

Beaver July 19

On Africam today we have seen lions, a serval (rare),  hippo, warthogs, nyalas, impalas, wooly-necked storks, skinks, vervet monkeys and more.  Click here to see today’s pictures.

Heat Wave

We had a few cooler days so my air conditioner got a rest, but its back on now.  Last night it only dropped to 19C, and today it is going up to 28C with the next few days over 30C.

I dropped the car off for some servicing this morning.  Chester came along with me and we had our walk along the Red River to get back home again.  Today we saw the youngest Wood Duck family and a Goldfinch (who kept just far enough away all the time that I couldn’t get a completely in focus picture of him.  It was drizzling a little bit of rain when we walked, so that may have contributed to the picture quality too.

Wood Ducks July 15

Goldfinch July 15

Goldfinch July 15

Goldfinch July 15

I’m getting excited now.  After several weeks of moving and attempting to move furniture, I almost have my living room the way I want it.  Basically, there is one corner left to go – but that is the corner where stuff has accumulated over the years and over the last few weeks of moving things.  Now, its really time to decide what is going to freecycle and what is going in the garbage.  Once that stuff is moved, Jewel’s cage will move over a couple of feet and I can bring the bookcase (and all the books) back into the room.

Barry has ID’d the woodpecker from yesterday as a Downy Woodpecker and the bird in front as a Robin.

On Africam today, we have seen Elephants, Zebras, Warthogs, Kudu and more.  Click here to see today’s pictures.

A Cool Morning

For the first time in over 2 weeks, I turned the air conditioner off last night.  Since the humidity is so high, there wasn’t any use turning it off even if the temperature was dropping a bit below 20C overnight because it would have to work harder to get rid of the humidity the next day when I would have to turn it back on again.  The temperature took a big drop overnight last night and it was 8C this morning when Chester and I took our walk along the Red River.  Of course the humidity is still at 94% but they are saying it will only go to 24C today, so I won’t have to fire up the air conditioner for a couple of days.  They are predicting temperatures in the 30′s towards the weekend.

The little bunny that I took a picture of yesterday in my yard, is a young one – about 1/2 grown.  About an hour after taking his picture yesterday, I noticed that he was still in the same spot.  I was a little worried that there was a problem, so I went out and walked closer to him – but he then took off and went into the next yard.  This morning though, he was back in the same spot.  So – I took a picture of him from another angle.

Bunny July 12

I found a female (or young) Goldfinch along the river.

Goldfinch

And then I found a bump on a log that turned out to be a Mallard Duck.

Mallard Duck July 12

On Africam today, we have seen rhino, warthogs, elephants, zebras, waterbucks, vervet monkeys, baboons, bushbuck and more.  Click here to see today’s pictures.

I Found Ducks

It was 19C with the humidity at 83% and a bright sunny sky as Chester and I took our walk along the Red River this morning.  No sign of our beaver, but I did find a couple of Wood Duck families.  I’m guessing that the mother duck was mother to both the clutches – her original older clutch and the newer babies that she was sitting with.  The older ones were very close – just sitting on the next log.

Wood Ducks July 7

Those are the older babies above and just below here is the mom and her newest babies (who are growing quickly).

Wood Ducks July 7

Looking at the second picture, I can see an alligator coming up towards the ducks   right in the center.

I came home from work yesterday to find a Purolator missed delivery notice in my mailbox.  This was addressed to someone that I don’t know – have never even seen a name like hers before or to me, with my last name spelled incorrectly.  I suppose her name may be spelled incorrectly as well – LOL.   It says it is a box, so I am very curious as to what it might be.  I can pick it up this morning, so I will probably do that.  When I used to write for BellaOnline, I used to get books delivered here for review, but deliveries these days are pretty much non existent.  I’ll keep you posted on it 

On Africam today, we have seen Waterbuck, Nyala, Impala, Warthogs, Elephants, Giraffe, Zebra, Cape Buffalo, Bushbuck and much more.  Click here to see today’s pictures.

Its Time to Wish the Americans a Happy 4th of July

It is going to be a very hot and humid day here today.  It was 21C for our walk along the Red River this morning and with humidity of 88%, it felt much warmer.  Walking into my air conditioned home after the walk sure felt good.  The thing is that I keep the temperature inside at 22C, but the air conditioner looks after the humidity.  Thunderstorms are forecast for this afternoon and evening.

I was thinking that my beaver would show himself on July 4th instead of July 1st, just to show that he isn’t strictly a Canadian critter – but he was a no show again.  I did find a small family of Wood Ducks with young babies.

Wood Ducks July 4

Wood Ducks July 4

I have a lot of American friends – most of whom I met online over the last several years.

To each and everyone of them (and to all other Americans who may read this), I wish you a very happy 4th of July.  I’ll start my party on your behalf after work today!

On Africam today, we have had some good looks at the Black Eagle chick in the nest, along with warthogs, impalas, hadeda ibis, baboons, white-tailed mongoose and much more.  Click here to see today’s pictures.

Ducks and Sparrow

It was cloudy and 15C when Chester and I took our walk along the Red River this morning.   It looks and smells like it will rain soon and the forecast says showers this morning, but clearing later today and are actually talking about temperatures in the high 20′s and up to 30C by Thursday – with rain on Canada Day.

We were greeted by a Song Sparrow at the riverbank this morning.

Song Sparrow

Song Sparrow

A few minutes later, I spied a Wood Duck with her young family close to the shore and trying to keep hidden from us.  She did a pretty good job, but I managed to get some pictures of them anyway.  They aren’t great pictures though.

Wood Ducks

Wood Ducklings

Wood Ducks

On Africam today, we have seen Elephants, Giraffes, Warthogs, Waterbuck, Nyala, Zebras and lots more.  Click here to see today’s pictures.

Happy Father’s Day

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there.  Hope you have a great day.

It is Manitoba Marathon Day here today.  Several thousand people run for 26.2 km around the city – some in relay races, some running a 1/2 marathon, some racing in wheelchairs and some just doing little fun runs.  I have never had any interest in doing this, but when not working, I have often walked to the end of my street to cheer the runners on.

Today is the first time I haven’t been working on marathon day in years – but I didn’t go to cheer them on.  Instead, Chester and I went out to Birds Hill Park for our walk in the hopes of seeing deer again.  We drove around twice and did not see a single deer.     There was much more traffic out there than there has been other days though.

Last time we went out there, I noticed a spot called overlook.  I kind of wondered about that and decided that this time we would have our walk there to see whatever we would be able to see at the overlook.  I wasn’t expecting much, because its pretty flat there, but if nothing else, maybe I would see some wildlife.  I didn’t see any wildlife and the view was ok, but nothing to get too excited about. 

View from the Overlook

There is a paved bicycle path that goes right by the overlook though, so we walked along that for awhile.  It was a nice walk – it got us away from the road (where most of the bicyclists ride).  There are a lot of rollerbladers on the road too, but this path would have been much nicer to be on.   Chester and I were the only ones on the path. 

I figured I needed more pictures than just the overlook – so I decided to check out the flowers in my yard.

Impatience

Mystery Flower

No idea what this flower is – something else that just appeared, I guess.  Here are the leaves, in case you can help identify it.

Thanks for a couple of Africam friends (Ceri and Geschu), I now know this is Bittersweet Nightshade: Solanum dulcamara

Mystery Flower Leaves

Peony Bud

When I first bought this house, there were peonies everywhere – must have been about 2 dozen of them.   Peonies are not my favourite plant.  They have beautiful flowers – but they don’t last for long.  I dug up and gave lots of them away.  Then when we were going to dig a basement and add the sunroom, I knew they wouldn’t survive, so I found home for almost all the rest of them.  After the work was all done and the yard leveled out and new grass planted, this one came up in the middle of the lawn.   It survived all the construction and was obviously moved and buried again with the bulldozer.  I left it where it was growing and made a small flower bed around it.

On Africam today, we have seen Baboon, Warthogs,  Elephants, Impalas, Vervet Monkeys, and more.  Click here to see today’s pictures so far.