A House Finch At Our House.

Wendy says this is a beautiful little House Finch. There was some question whether it is maybe a Purple Finch, since in our book they look similar but we all agreed to go with House Finch. Quite lovely what ever he is.
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Squirrel With Peanut

My 'artsy' pic for today.

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Two Million New COVID-19 Cases Since June 14

In the last 14 days the number of cases has risen from 8,000,000 to 10,000,000 worldwide.

This pandemic is NOT OVER YET!
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The Baldfaced Hornets Are Expanding The Nest

Some of the Baldfaced Hornet workers hatched out a few days ago and now they are expanding the nest.

Yesterday the vertical pipe was still in place.

The pipe structure that was on the original nest seems to have been discarded last night, unless a predator or storm knocked it off.

Workers have been working on what's left of the nest and others are tending to the eggs and larvae inside.



Watch this full screen and you can clearly see one worker adding 'paper' to the nest while the others are tending to the eggs and larvae. It's quite fascinating to watch them at work. Unfortunately the ever-growing habitat is right beside our front entrance. I think it's going to have to go before we have hundreds of hornets two feet from our door. I set up my camera on a tripod on remote wifi control so I could see on my cell phone what they were doing, while I was safely standing inside the house.
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A Chipmunk Treasure Hunt

This little guy has discovered Wendy's newly planted seeds. He is very bold and doesn't even run when you approach him.



I finally threw my hat to chase him away... for a few minutes at least. Pesky varmint! We have all but given up on our plans for a vegetable garden when we have so many 'friends' in our back yard.
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A Visitor Decides To Set Up Camp On Our Front Porch...

Royalty has paid us a visit as this queen Bald-faced Hornet diligently works, constructing the basic part of her new nest. Unfortunately her selected location is right beside our front door so I'm researching a re-location strategy before we play host to hundreds of workers.

Our daughter Erin commented: "That may help with social distancing. No one will want to go on the front steps."

Enlarge the video to "full screen" and you can watch her actually laying up the hive material (paper) with her mouth. Fascinating to watch.

Background music in this video; "You So Zany" by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Artist: http://audionautix.com/
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Wow! March 15 to June 15. Shocking!

Nearly 8,000,000 cases of COVID-19 since mid-March, over 400,000 dead.

That is only 3 months. This thing is NOT over yet people!
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Missin' You Erin.

Benz has never been a cuddly cat but lately, since Erin left, he's been down in the dumps and tonight we even found him sleeping on her bed.

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Going To Pot?

Running out of photo subjects as we are still confined to our property. Even though the rest of the province entered into "Phase 2", we have stayed in isolation for now. I want to see how this all works out before we let down our guard.

How can this virus be any less dangerous than it was a couple months ago? Over 7.5 million cases now world-wide and growing at a high rate. One hundred thousand cases in Canada with 8000 dead. I'm still worried.
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Costco Flowers Looking Good

We are even getting to know our grocery delivery person from Grocery Guy. A couple weeks ago we sent Susan over to Costco to buy some arrangements and this is one of them.

The setting sun today highlighted the flowers so beautifully, I had to snap a picture. Hope you enjoy.
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Erin Moves Out - A Very Sad Day.

Today Erin packed up and moved out. With Canada heading back to 'normal' Erin was told she had to get back to do her field work. Her work was funded through grants that she received from earlier applications. The Conservation Authority and her immediate employees depend on this money to fund seasonal, outdoor work that can not be done from home. Of course the rest of our family is in 'lockdown' so coming and going from work was out of the question.

Last month she was fortunate to be able to purchase an RV travel trailer on a site in one of the conservation parks controlled by her St Clair Region Conservation Authority so, at least for the summer and fall this will be her new home. ...And it's right near where she does her field work.

We will still search for a new place for her to live after October if this COVID-19 virus is still as big a threat then. Although I am very sad to see her leave, I know she must. She can't come back here and continue to live in complete isolation, away from everything. Life must go on.

She's coming back to get her kayak and a few other things next week.
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Alternate Leaf Pagoda Dogwood Tree in Bloom

This is the Pagoda Dogwood with the 'Waubaushene ferns' in the background. Everything is so lush this year.

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Backyard Cooking

As the temperature soars above 80F we turn to the gas grill to cook so as not to heat up the house with the stove.

Wendy prepared some wonderful chicken kabobs and some baked, scalloped potatoes.

 They smelled heavenly as they cooked in the sultry, summery weather.

Yesterday, I even experimented with bread and buns on the grill, having prepared the dough in the breadmaker. They certainly turned out much better than I expected.

Somehow the aromas are amazing when you are cooking outside.
 

Our lockdown during this social distancing surely hasn't negatively affected our food choices. I wonder if the neighbours got a whiff?

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A Quote From My Friend Chris...

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No Text Required

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