Archive for: chipmunk

Spring weather – not for us yet!

Since spring officially started our weather has been all over the place. We have had snow, lots of sunshine but it has been bitterly cold, down to the minus teens much of the time with the windchill.

Today is the last day of March and it is once again snowing, but they promise that it will be temporary and that we will have sun over the weekend with temps around 10C.

Lots of grackles and red-winged blackbirds in the garden. The gold finches are also starting to change colour ready for the mating season. No sign of the cowbirds yet, sure they will arrive soon.  The deer are getting more absent as the weather improves, so we are not going to see too much of them now.

Our visiting black squirrel comes by most days. It is the longest any black squirrel has stayed with us. He comes by, eats for a while and then disappears. The reds don’t seem to mind him for some reason and let him stay, very unusual. We have lots of chipmunks about again, chasing each other round the garden frantically. The killdeer are back but we haven’t seen much of them. Hopefully they are nesting and will reappear soon, with chicks.

Visited a new mall (well new to us) last week. Fairview Mall in Toronto. It was pretty big and quite nice, not sure it is any better than say Pickering which is nearer for us, but at least we have explored it. It must be in a very Asian community as many of the people there were of Asian origin. It is also close to Ikea which of course we had to pop into whilst there. A bit disappointed as we didn’t find much we liked but did come back with a new kitchen mat which we needed.

Hoping to get over to the States sometime in April, but will wait for the weather to clear a bit. Might go to Syracuse, or perhaps Rochester. Time to stock up on summer clothes! Most shops are in the transition stage still so not all have very much in the way of summer stuff, but hopefully within the next few weeks that will change.

Lots of changes in the garden as spring approaches

This last ten days or so have seen many changes in the garden. Temperatures have been higher which means we are losing a lot of the snow. The last snowfall was on my birthday (13th) so hopefully that was the last of it.

Lots of blackbirds and grackles are arriving and we have seen several robins. The geese are also about and the flock we have in the woods at the back of us have arrived and are honking happily. We have also had quite a few redpolls, pic below.

Chipmunks are up and about and frantically running around the garden and we still have the deer most days, but I’m sure their visits will be ending soon. But the raccoons are out and about. They are cute but a nuisance.

We are still waiting for the arrival of the killdeer who have come back every year we have been here to nest and raise their young. They usually arrive during the last two weeks of March so we expect them any time soon.

The junkos will be leaving us soon, no doubt. But it definitely feels more like spring now.

On another note I have decided against eye surgery at this time. The $4k price tag is too high to justify at the moment. I will readdress the issue sometime in the future perhaps.

Also daughter Stacey and girlfriend Amy will be visiting from the UK in May, so we are really looking forward to that. Planning lots of trips and adventures, so I don’t think our feet will touch the ground whilst they are here.