Jack’s Walk

Happy Thanksgiving, ©voyager, all rights reserved

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada and our version of the holiday is a mix of harvest celebration, family get-together and time to count your blessings. We usually eat too much and grumble at how early the Christmas Season starts. There will be talk of Halloween and lots of remember whens and someone will tell the story of Dad and the whipped cream. There will be turkey and ham, squash and fresh green beans, apple and pumpkin pie and we don’t forget the cream, iced or whipped take your pick. Some of us will spend time outdoors going for walks and putting up Christmas decorations and most of us will spend a few minutes counting our blessings.

I have many blessings and I try to count them every day, but this year I have a whole new set of blessings to count and that is all of you. I feel very privileged to be a part of this community. You have all welcomed me during a very difficult time for this blog and your support means a lot to me. I’ve made friendships here with people from all over the world and although I will probably never get to meet any of you in person I value our friendship a great deal. So on this Canadian Thanksgiving Day I am thankful for you.

Spider!

We’ve been on a roll here lately with spiders and Nightjar has sent us one more. This incredible set of photos showcases a spider preparing a meal. Photos are below the fold. Thanks for sharing, Nightjar.

I feel slightly guilty about what’s going on in these photos. I had seen a honeybee on our goldenrod and approached carefully with the camera. When I got there the bee flew away… and straight into an orb weaver’s web! The spider was very quick to wrap up the bee (1st picture) and to carry it along a thin strand of silk (2nd picture) into its hiding place among some dried chayote leaves (3rd picture). Fascinating to watch, but I couldn’t help feeling bad for the poor honeybee, it looked so pretty on the goldenrod… Oh well. [Read more…]

At the Zoo d’Amnéville 6

Racoons begging for food

Prettey pleaaaaase?
©Giliell, all rights reserved

Raccoons are very cute, but also an invasive species, which is why I like them best in zoos.

The next animal is just pretty, though a serious mistake by nature because the poor animal is usually only lean enough to hunt when almost starved and then their prey gets stolen by others. Why, nature, why?

Cheeta

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And now from pretty to drop dead gorgeous…

crane

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crane

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Crane

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Sawfly larvae

I have been wondering about who’s eating the beech leaves in the front yard and last week I found the culprits: Sawfly larvae.

Not that I mind, I don’t want a beech tree in front of the house so any help in keeping it small is appreciated. Though in these pictures they’re devouring the redflower currant, which I don’t appreciate that much.

Sawfly larvae

©Giliell, all rights reserved

Sawfly larvae

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Sawfly larvae

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Jack’s Walk

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The sun is hiding behind gray and gloomy skies today and the forecast says that we can expect rain for the next 5 days. Five Days! That means that I won’t see the sun until next Thursday. And the dampness. Oh Dear, my Fibro does not like the dampness. I’m already having a double gravity kind of day.  Everything I do gets slower and more deliberate and requires more energy. I feel like I’m moving like a sloth. I call it The Creeping Jim Jams because my speed is set to creep and I’m all jammed up. Even my thinking gets slow. I think I might just ask the Mr. if he’ll go to Dairy Queen and get me a large cherry Blizzard. I’m going to go put on my jammies and binge watch A Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix.

At the Zoo d’Amnéville

No particular order:

Prairie dogs, wallabies, secretary bird, kid (goat version)

 

Prairie dog

Wanna come in for a cuppa?
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Prairie dog

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wallabies

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Secretary bird

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goat kid

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Yes, we had to visit the goats three times. There#s something about them that draws the kids (human version) to them like a magnet

Jack’s Walk

Pumpkin Season, ©voyager, all rights reserved

The sun has come out of hiding and it’s a lovely autumn day. Just warm enough that you don’t need a jacket, but still cool enough that Jack wants to frolic. I’ve been playing with my camera and the scratches don’t seem to impact my photos too badly. That means that I can take some time before I buy a new lens.  This is good news because at the moment my money has more important things to do. Jack will be needing surgery soon to remove a lipoma (fatty cyst) on his right elbow. It’s grown to the size of a baseball and we’d like to have it removed before the snow starts to fly. The surgery is planned for Halloween, which can be winter-like around here so let’s hope autumn decides to stick around for a while.