More Moose!

   This morning around 7:30am, I was sitting in the living room about to turn on the television.  I glanced out the window and was startled to see this...!

 

   Both these moose seem young.  I don't know if the larger of the two is the mother of the smaller one or if they just happen to be youngsters traveling together.  (Click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.)

 They had a good nibble on the crabapple and cherry trees!

 

 

 

 

 

 This is the larger moose, eyeing up the cherry tree.

 

   On the south side of the house, outside the plant room, muching on the remnants of mint plants in the bathtub planter.  Kitty's paying very close attention and is wondering what the heck is outside her window.

 

   Nibbling on another crabapple tree.  I left the room for a minute and when I came back, this moose was nowhere in sight.  She must have hopped over the back fence into the alley.

Meanwhile, the little moose was still working on the crabapple tree in our front yard.

 

The little one, too, walked around the side of the house and stopped to taste the apple tree.

 

   She (or he) tried to follow the larger moose but was unable to jump over the back fence.  She paced back and forth between the back fence and the front yard a few times, trying to figure out what to do.

 

   The little moose finally decided to leave via our driveway, the way she came in.  Once at the street, she trotted away to the north.

   About an hour later, I looked out the kitchen window and spotted the smaller moose in our neighbour's back yard two doors to the north.  As I was calling to R. to tell him the little moose was still around, the larger one lumbered by our kitchen window, right in front of me! Ha!  By the time I grabbed by camera, they were both back in our driveway.

Looking both ways before entering the street.  Smart moose. :)

 

   And off they trot again, to the north.  I hope they're able to get back to the edge of town and into the woods safely.  I heard several dogs barking, which made these guys nervous.   It was shortly before 9:00am when I took these pictures, so there was likely a lot of traffic on the main streets (school runs, people getting to work, etc.)  Hopefully, they will lay low in one of the alleys or someone's wooded back yard until things quiet down in the streets.

 

Snowy Day for a Visit

 Winter's back.  

   After weeks of nice weather, with no trace of ice left on the gardens or raised beds and an early Spring sunburn under my belt, winter has returned.  Hopefully, this is winter's last hurrah.  The forecast tells us we'll get 15-20cm.  It looks like there's 15cm down already.  We'll see what the rest of the day brings.

   Yesterday afternoon, I spotted an unusual bird in the trees a property or two over.  By the time I had the binoculars in hand, it had flown away.  It's head and body reminded me of a dove's, but this bird was larger and it's tail longer.  It's beak was small. 

   This morning, I spotted the same bird in the cherry tree in our front yard!  The pictures I took aren't clear because of the falling snow.  It faced in the opposite direction for the most part - hard to see it's face.  It's tail looked checkered and it's colouring was mostly dark grey, almost speckled in places.  Possibly a Sharp-shinned Hawk or Cooper's Hawk...?  I'll have to ask some of my more bird-savvy friends. 

Munching on Willows

    It has been a while since we've seen a moose!

   This morning, while filling the kettle at the kitchen sink, I glanced out the window into the alleyway.  For a moment, my mind tried to make sense out of a bizarre image: that of a large dog climbing a tree!  Things clicked into place when the "dog" moved forward and I saw the rest of the body.  The "dog" was actually the head of the moose, bobbing up and down as it stripped new shoots off willow trees at the back of a property three or four doors up from ours. 

   She remained there about half an hour, quietly munching on the trees.  She appears in pretty good shape, from what we could tell, aside from a round wound on her shoulder, visible in these pictures.  I had hoped she would wander down the alley closer to our house, as there are short willows in the strip of land between our back fence and the alley.  Instead, she walked directly across the alley and onto another property.  (Neither of those properties had back fences.)   I keep checking to see if she has returned to the alley, but I think she instead might have walked to the front of the second property and right out their driveway onto the street.

   Pictures taken through our open kitchen window with my little camera on full zoom!  Click to enlarge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 UPDATE

   At 4:45pm, I placed something in the kitchen sink and looked out the window...just in time to see the moose slowly walking out from the property she wandered into earlier this morning.  She must have had a snooze for the afternoon in their yard!  She is back to munching on trees in the alley.  I hope she has another snooze and doesn't try to make her way back to the edge of town until later tonight, when it's dark.

 

 

Little Mystery Tomatoes

 

 

 

 

Bohemian Buddies and Scrounging for Seeds

   

   Sitting on the front step yesterday in the sunshine, I heard them before I saw them.  Bohemian waxwings!  I got up and followed the sound around the side of the house.  There in a crabapple tree, and hopping around on the bathtub planter beneath it, were dozens of Bohemian waxwings. Some were perched in the tree and appeared to be enjoying the sun, while others were eating the shriveled crabapples remaining from last Fall.  I got to 38 before I stopped counting the waxwings.  They are so pretty, and make such a sweet trilling sound.  It's nice that they were able to enjoy our crabapple buffet before moving on.

   This morning, a single blue jay briefly stopped by.  We rarely see blue jays here, so he quickly got my attention when he appeared in our yard.  Or rather, his piercing shriek-calling to a feathered friend (whose reply seemed to be coming from 3 properties over) got my attention.  Yikes.  You can't mistake the sound of a blue jay who's looking for food or his kin!

   The tomato and pepper transplant tally stands, for the moment, at 119.   The Reinhard's Chocolate Heart tomatoes, started at the same time as the other indeterminates, weren't germinating.  A new batch was started on March 29 in a small container.  I dropped that container yesterday while moving transplants in the plant room.  Arhg!  Thankfully, only the cats were home to witness me on my hands and knees, scrapping through the potting soil that was scattered across the plant room floor, looking for seeds.  (What can I say?  It's a rare variety.)   I spotted and rescued a few that had begun to germinate, replanted them, and now have six tiny Reinhard's Chocolate Heart seedlings on the go!  The Japanese Black Trifile seeds planted March 30 (to make up for the Chocolate Hearts, which looked like they just were not going to produce...opps...) have also started to germinate.  There will be an abundance of black tomatoes this year!

 

Reinhard's Chocolate Heart seedlings, rescued from the floor!

 

"Rescued" R's Chocolate Heart (L).  Japanese Black Trifele (R) sprouting.

 

Pepper and tomato transplant (French lavender to the right)

 

More transplants. (I could use ~3 more grow lights like this!)

Transplants in the kitchen...

   The weather in March was milld, more like what we'd typically see in late April.  The snow and ice are gone from the raised beds and garden plots, including the garlic patches.  Despite the mild temperatures, I am have been on a hot chocolate kick.  That's more about comfort and coziness than chilly weather and dreary skies, no doubt.  It's a crazy world these days, and I'll take simple pleasures where I can.

 

    Along the south side of the house, I have set out milk (and juice) jug greenhouses with cosmos (Sensation Mix and Double-Click Mix), pansies (Swiss Giant and Verna Velvet Blue), parsley (curly and Italian Flat-Leaf), Swiss Chard (Red and 5 Colour Silverbeet), kale (Lacinato, Rainbow Lacinato, Curly Blue, Siberian Dwarf), and cabbage (Copenhagen, Red Express, Aubervilliers, Late Flat Dutch , Golden Acre, and Chinese "Hilton").  Already, the Rainbow Lacinato, Siberian Dwarf, and Late Flat Dutch have germinated.  Later this month, or in early May, Summer Savoury and marigolds will be started in jugs as well.  I love this method of seed starting.  It saves a ton of room in the house, and the plants don't have to be hardened off.