It’s been a lovely summer, the best I can remember in a very long time. I spent most of itin Batchawana, swimming almost every day, lying on the beach, and having bonfires in the evening, watching shooting stars and in a few cases, the Northern Lights .
I cooked almost all of our meals over a woodfire, ( because food just tastes so much better than it does when it’s been cooked on a gas barbeque).
I quickly lost the need to be online everyday and in fact by the end of our holidays I didn’t
miss it one bit. There was just so much to do outdoors, I was barely in our camp except to
sleep.
One morning I woke up and went outside as I usually do, and found that a very weird thing
had sprouted up just outside of our door. Maybe someone can tell me what it is because
I have never seen one of these before. I took a few photos of it, and it’s a good thing that I did.
By the next morning it had collapsed in on itself and by that afternoon there was no trace of it. My best guess is that it was some sort of fungus that emerged just for a day and released some kind of spoors out of the hole in the end of it. If you know differently, please let me know!
A couple of weeks ago my brother-in-law in Ottawa send me a news article regarding the Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary which is overrun with baby squirrels. The second litter of squirrels are usually In July, but this year they are being born in late August which is abnormally late. Read More About It Here
It’s happening here too In the past two weeks I have heard of three baby red squirrels that have been found in the Pancake Bay area. One of them which was given to me to care for died four days later.
I was heartbroken, but I know that some baby squirrels do not survive no matter how much you try to help them.
One of them was found injured and died the next day,
Then a week ago I was given another wee one and so far he is doing fine. He gets puppy replacement “milk” and is now eating some fruit and nuts. He is going to have to live with us over the winter because he is too young to live on his own and he has no winter stores to rely on. Most squirrels start saving food for the winter in July.
A baby squirrel left on his own this late in the year would almost certainly starve to death. The only bad thing about keeping him until next spring, will be releasing him. You tend to get attached to these little guys after caring for them for several months even though you know that he is meant to be wild and living outdoors.
Just last week I found this beautiful caterpillar making his way over the floor in my porch.
I think it’s a luna moth caterpillar. This time of year they roam on the ground and look for a big leaf which they wrap around themselves with their “silk” to wait for spring when they can emerge as those beautiful moths that are increasingly rare.
All in all it’s been such a beautiful summer that we tend to forget about all of the people who have been hit with hurricanes, tornadoes and flooding. We who live in this area are very lucky and we should be very grateful
that we are blessed to live where we do.
Until next time, take care.
I can be reached at Local2.ca
