WARNING! SCENES OF VIOLENCE MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERYONE

Once the weather turns warm I start looking for snakes.  I always keep my eyes on the ground not only to spot them but I don't want to step on one.  I anticipate seeing one but when I do, I am always startled.  This was the case tonite.  I went out to lock the garage and when I can back I saw this beauty on the cement right outside the front door.  Just sunning himself on the warm cement.  I quickly went inside and got some worms out of the fridge and tossed a few in his direction.  He didn't pay too much attention for a few minutes but then his tongue started darting in and out and his head moved back and forth in the worm's direction.  A good sign he was aware of the worm.  3 worms later and he was on his way.  I find it fascinating to watch him stalk and quickly pounce on the worm and then eat it.  Doesn't take long for him to get that worm down.
Now that I know he is around and what he looks like, I will keep my eye open for him again.

AXE LAKE GARDEN

Went to visit Joanne and Mitch this afternoon to check on their new mud room.  Just an excuse to sit on their deck and have a cold beer and yak.
The top picture is of apple fitters from a bakery in the Sault.  Talk about BIG!!  Joanne and I shared one as soon as we got back in the car.  We were full.
Joanne with her new raised bed garden.  She has a bunch of different veggies in there that are doing great!!  The picture of the rock is where a painted turtle laid her eggs the other day.  Two years ago they had a snapping turtle lay her eggs in about the same spot.
The last picture is of Joanne and Mitch's place from the water as painted by one of her neighbours up here.  Joy did an amazing job.  The buildings on the left are her bunkie/sauna and the garage behind that.  Even the wood shed is visible beside the house.  It is a nice place and I enjoy going there a lot!

DOWN A CHIPMUNK

I have quite the menagerie going on up here.  Besides my collection of red squirrels and two chipmunks, I now have 2 rabbits hanging around.  In the top picture you can see the chipmunk to the left of the rabbit in my garden.  They got along very well.
I have observed the two chipmunks together so I know there were two of them.  Notice I said "were" because shortly after these pictures were taken, Rejean observed a mink running across the front yard with a chipmunk in its mouth!!!!!  So I am down one chipmunk.  And the bad news is Rejean saw the mink again this evening running and he thinks there was something in it's mouth again but he couldn't make out what it was so I could be down 2 chipmunks!!!!
Life is not fair

PROJECTS

Got the last of the gravel down on the trailer pad and in front of the garage.  We borrowed a tamper and used it to tamp down the area.  The grass seed is taking and we had a bit of rain to help it even more.  We transplanted some hostas and I added a bit of decorative driftwood I happened to find somewhere in my travels.  All our transplanted cedars are doing well.
The new gravel is now like cement with the rain and the tamping so we shall see what happens when we get a hard rain.  We have left over gravel to fill in the washouts but I hope we don't have to use it.  We also need another load of trap rock.  My favourite kind of rock!!

MORE GOINGS ON

My very photogenic chipmunk.  Haven't given it a name yet.  I see it everyday.  He/she has an entrance to a den on the driveway off to the right heading towards the highway.  And it is funny.  Some days it has been filled in and other days it is dug out and he is going in and out.  I don't know whether he does it or the squirrels.  He has grown used to us by now so he doesn't run away as fast.

Ron was over the other day with his tractor with the back hoe attachment to dig our trench for the water and electrical cables to the trailer pad.  Saved us a ton of work.  

Some of the little areas at Joanne's place.  She has lots of little spaces with rocks and cookies and flowers set up on her property.  And the last picture is of their new green steel roof they finished today.  Looks amazing!!  You can see their new mud room addition in the picture.  More work to keep them busy this summer.

MORE FUN STUFF

Just a few more pictures of stuff.  The first one is of a cute chip monk - eating a worm!!  Yes those little rodents are carnivores - who knew?  I have seen squirrels attack birds and try and eat them and I am sure that a nest of newly hatched baby birds are gone because of them.  I guess the black oil sunflower seeds aren't enough.
The next picture is me again with another nice walleye that I got the other morning.  We got 7 - just couldn't get that last fish in the boat for our limit.  Nice size fish too.
Next picture is a reflection of a nice tree growing out of the rocks on the shore of Tunnel Lake.  Tons of pollen in the water as well.  And some butterflies that were congregating on shore.
On our way to town this morning I spotted a sunbathing turtle in a local swamp.  The picture is for Charlie and Monty - they love turtles.
And finally a picture of my still flowering poinsettia plant from early December.  All I did was put some fresh soil and water it.  No special treatment.
That is about it for now.  Still tons of work to do.  I cut the grass today for the first time.  And watered and weeded my garden.
Tomorrow I am fixing cuban sandwiches and making mojitos for Joanne and Mitch for dinner.

CREATURES

It has been a busy week for creature sightings.  Some I didn't have my camera handy and others where I did!!
I saved a baby snapping turtle at the foot of our driveway.  Have no idea where he came from.  I looked for the nest but couldn't see it.  I placed him in the ditch.  He was heading for the lake but I think the ditch was a better choice at least for me.
Then I saved a couple of toads from being squished by the tractor as we were berming the trailer pad.  They are safe now.
Saw a killdeer at a local boat launch.  They nest on the ground and this particular one was right beside the parking lot.  Someone had placed a log next to the nest and placed a blaze orange ribbon to let people know to keep away.  Last I saw  the nest was still there with one egg but couldn't see the mother...
Saw Millie the Moose again.  She was a ways from where we first saw her.  Probably trying to get away from the black flies.  Always nice to see an animal like a Moose wandering free.  She just watched us for a moment then calmly walked into the bush and disappeared.
Had a flock of Canada Geese land on our lake today.  There had to be about 20 of them.  They just slowly explored our end of the lake and then took off about an hour later.  Really don't want them to be a permanent resident of the lake.
Then finally, we had a visitor at the bird feeder this evening.  Rare to see them out in the day time.  He ate what he could find under the bird feeder, took a glance up at it and knew he couldn't reach it.  He climbed the tree and I got a good shot of him looking down at me.
Still haven't seen a bear...