Speculations about a possible Water Shrew

In the field by the cemetary out back there is a drainage ditch leading to a creek. Last fall I noticed a few tunnels in the mud close to the water, and caught a couple glimpses of a black mouse-sized creatures scurrying for cover into one of the tunnels. Discussion on the nature list led me to believe this may be a water shrew. Now that the snow has recently melted, it is evident that the wee creature(s) has been quite busy over the winter. There were only a few tunnels at the end of the ditch, now both sides of the ditch are littered with these tunnels. Would be interesting to find some sort of live trap to catch one of the critters and get a closer look at it.

Last flight of Discovery

Tuesday evening was a rare clear night, with the last flight of the Shuttle Discovery scheduled. I had missed the better sight the night before, when Discovery had just parted from the International Space Station. Now, I didn't know that Discovery was still in close proximity to the ISS, but I wanted to get a shot of the ISS. Later, when I had news from an astronomy forum that people had seen Discovery several degrees ahead of the ISS, I went back through the pictures and found one shot with a faint streak ahead of the ISS. So I did manage by dumb luck to get it.

The ISS as it passes below Orion. Orion is one of my favourite constellations, easy to see, big and bold in the winter sky. I have a theory about Orion and

the pyramids,, but need more information and don't know how to go about getting it. Internet searches don't quite show what I'm looking for. Need to get myself down to Queen's library one of these days and do some reading.

The Boys

My boys. Two spoiled rotton cockatiels. When my rabbit Chelsea passed away, I wanted to get another rabbit. A cute, cuddly, soft, furry little bunny rabbit. Ike wanted these birds. Ike got the birds. After a year, Ike lost interest in the birds. Now, any critter that comes into my house (any except things like ticks or spiders) is going to get their claws into my heart. These guys came squawking into my house about 12 or 13 years ago, so they've pretty much got a firm grip. They're not cuddly, you don't want to get your fingers too close to those nasty sharp beaks, and when they're excited they can scream a shrill squawk that drills through your eardrums into your brain. But I love them. I don't like keeping birds as pets, I think if you're going to keep a creature whose very life and soul is flying around, you should have a large room where you can let them do so. I don't have the space. So I have to keep their wings trimmed. They have a very large cage, but that's not the same as having space to let them soar as their very nature intends them to do. They're used to being kept in the livingroom, where they can watch the goings-on of the household, but since the Monster Puppy Kerrie (more on her later) came into our lives, I have to keep them in this back room for their very safety until we can train the Beastie not to chase them. I hope she settles down soon, I want them back out where we can watch each other through most of the day.

In Memory of TANKA

I miss my "Baby Bear". My beloved Tanka was a big lumbering German shepherd. I got him when he was a wee pup only 3 months old, a clumsy lively bundle of energy with short legs and huge paws that he would occasionally trip over just walking across the livingroom. His antics would make us howl with laughter. He loved to play fetch, and would chase a tennis ball for hours if you had enough strength to keep throwing it for him. He grew up to be a good-natured dog, a big goofy giant of a dog, not an ounce of aggression in him. People who knew him wouldn't believe that, his sheer size intimidated many humans, and his penchant for barking at anyone who came near me didn't alieve their fear of him.

We put him through the obedience training, and he learned to be quite civilized in some ways, but in other ways he had a mind of his own. He did not like the word "come". His motto in life was "What's in it for ME?", and often had to be bribed with treats. In spite of a few quirks he was a wonderful companion, always happy to see me when I came in the door. He hogged the lion's share of my bed, averaging 100 pounds throughout his adult life, and wanting his half out of the middle. In spite of my own size I often woke to find myself clinging to the edge of the bed with my feet hanging out in mid-air. I'd have to get up and shift him over, or bribe him over with a treat. He didn't sleep with his head pointed in the same direction as mine. I was faced with a big furry butt by my waist, and feet that would kick me in the backside during the night. Thank heavens he rarely farted! Rare was enough, a couple times a year the aroma would rudely wake me from my sleep. He was never "cuddly". He loved sitting beside me and having his ears stroked and liked being petted, but never liked having an arm around him or being cuddled. His left ear never came up straight, but flopped, and when I talked to him he would turn his head back and forth while he was listening, giving him a really comical look. If you wanted to get his attention REAL quick you just had to say "Cataraqui?" Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area was his absolute favourite place to go, and during the cold months we went there almost daily so that he could sniff his way around the trails. I didn't even have to say it, he was so tuned in to me that I just had to think about taking him, and look at him, and he'd KNOW. He didn't even have to be in the same room, sometimes Dad would look at me, point to the south silently asking me "Going to the park?" I would nod, and 5 seconds later Tanka would come bouncing in the room, staring at us, and then excitedly jump around. Too bad we didn't have some way to document this seemingly doggie ESP.

It's been four months since Tanka got very suddenly and very seriously ill, and I had to face that heart-breakingly painful decision that many pet owners have to face. Dogs don't live near long enough. I'm one of "those" pet owners, you know the kind, the ones that get seriously attached to their critter companions. My life has been made so much richer by having shared my life with Tanka. And Norrie, the Boss Bitch. And Champ, another Boss Bitch. And Chester and Chelsea, the rabbits. Guinness, Guinea, Cinnamon and PeeWee, the guinea pigs. Buster the hamster. Wolf, Fritz, and Esther, German shepherds we had when I was a kid. I miss every single one of them.

Late season Monarch

I was pleasantly surprised today to find a monarch butterfly. 'Tis a bit late in the season, they all should be well south of here. Was a nice warm sunny day for this last week of October, although breezy. At least the big "weather bomb" that hit the midwest U.S., southern Ontario and southeast U.S. brushed by us last night, we just got a bit of rain and wind. Nevertheless we headed out to the lake to check on things, I had to paddle down the lake and open up the dam, water level was getting high again. I saw a few dozen meadowhawk dragonflies, the last dragonflies of the season that hang on until brutal cold and frost is finally too much for them. There was one big darner near the dumpster, flying too high and fast for me to get a bead on it. At the roadside pond painted turtles were basking on the logs. A water snake was curled up in the sun by the steps to the trailerpark area, until I came down and it wiggled away. Frogs were still numerous along the shoreline. I would have liked to have explored a bit this afternoon to see what else was still out and about but I was just too tired from lack of sleep last night and fighting the wind paddling down the lake. Seeing the monarch made my day. We were driving home and this big butterfly was winging along in front of us, I thought it was a mourning cloak until we got close and I saw the orange, so I stopped, grabbed my camera and leaped out of the truck to get a few shots. Was supposed to be clear tonight with "a few clouds", I had hoped to get out the camera and try some star trail shots, but those few clouds turned into dense overcast with a gale force wind. Hope my butterfly is holed up somewhere until it can flutter south.

Little green blobs

It somehow seems fitting that during the time that Comet Hartley sails through the sky someone on the nature list brought to our attention firefly larvae. While out trying to photograph the night sky, I "discovered" that we had several larvae on the ground down by the lake. Last night I tried to photograph them, this proved more challenging that I had thought. You need to set the tripod and macro lens near one that is consistently blinking so that you can focus on it. It took several minutes and some wet knees to get some mediocre shots, and then, as with all light objects in the dark, just got a blob. But some may interested in seeing what they look like so I'll post it here. This is much enlarged, in reality they are tiny green lights twinkling in the grass, as if to use their bioluminescence to reflect the very stars twinkling in the sky above, or even to celebrate the passage of a celestial body that looks similar in our eyes.

Comet Hartley for comparison.

Night shots

Had a beautiful clear night last night, but you can feel that it's getting into fall and winter, temps got down to just above freezing. I stood outside by the lake playing with the camera and barn door tracker for a couple hours until my fingers and toes started to hurt from the cold. It's soon going to be too cold to stand out there for any length of time, so I'm going to enjoy the view while I can. The first shot posted here is for a friend of mine who was smart enough to move to Arizona. He was lamenting that he's having to get used to the stars at that longitude/latitude, couldn't see the Big Dipper in the evenings. It's started to get low on the horizon here, managed to catch a shot as it was sinking towards the tree.

Second shot is a digital montage of 2 shots, one was taken with the barn door tracker to get the stars, the other was a star trails shot that kept the trees sharp. I love photoshop. I can see possibilities with this. I can also foresee more cold toes and fingers, it's supposed to be clear for the next couple of nights, I will no doubt be out again trying to get more similar shots while we're still here at the lake.