BACK TO SCHOOL

       In many  jurisdictions school has been starting the last few  weeks.

       Today I was reminded of this yearly event when my grand nieces showed their kids on first day of school photo

      The first day of school photo was kind of a ritual. . In looking for photos I found many of my kids. It went from kindergarten to gr. seven or eight. Then they got too big for the back to school photo. I thought I had one where they came to the school I was teaching in and they were both in the same school. 

      My Mom lined us up on the first day of school and took a photo. 

                  My son and daughter starting kindergarten and gr two.

My brother and I starting gr. one and two. I had an abscessed tooth so my face is swollen. 

        I taught for 37 years so had all these kids who'd just had their pictures taken by their Mom. 

HUMMING BIRD

      Every year I get a visit from a hummingbird. One bird . One visit. That's it.

      Two weeks ago I was at the edge of my vegetable garden and out of the corner of my  eye, the humming bird flew to the middle of my garden and then zigged and was gone. I could not see any color or make an identification.  The whole thing was over in a second. I'm used to this kind of visit.

     At one time I had scarlet runner beans running up a trellis on the side of the house. I did get more visits with the beans but not many.

    I enjoy birds and like to watch humming birds. I've  been places where they have a feeder and many visits are made through out the day.

    I guess I'll have to be satisfied with what I get. 

EVENINGS

      On June 30 I posted that the sun set just before 10:00 PM. I took a photo to show that it was light enough for the camera to pick up color. 

      Somebody suggested that I take a photo at about 9:55 PM to compare June and July. On July 30 it was still very bright and you could take a photo but not pick up color The sun set at 9:28 PM. 

      So today on Aug. 30 the sun sets at 8:26 PM

      So from June 30 to July 30 the sun set 32 minutes later. 

      From July 30 to Aug. 30 the sun set 52 minutes earlier. We are losing daylight very quickly. 

      I walk most nights and I get home around 8:30 PM. I'm going  to have to change my route as I'm getting home when it's just about dark. 

     So sunlight is deceasing rapidly a this time of year. We know what's coming. 

MORE RABBIT

     I find that many posts I write do not end where I think they should end. In other words there's more to the story. Sometimes more happens and the story grows.

    That's what happened to the rabbit post of   Aug 17. I had portrayed the rabbit as sneaky and a nuisance.

    Well, some of these things may be true. 

    Later on you get some information that shows you are not quite right.

    A rabbit has been hanging around my yard. I also  see it in the morning. It seems to hide in the garden.

    Well yesterday I noticed that this rabbit has nipples. Yes, a row of nipples down her side. This indicates that she is nursing.

    When Jack rabbits have their babies, they hide them in different places  on the day they are born. The babies stay quiet all day. At night the mother comes to feed them several times. When the young are able to fend for themselves they leave the protection of the place that they were left by the mother. 

   So we get a very different idea of this particular jack rabbit when we learn some more. 

AFTERNOON VISITORS

      When we came home from lunch today we drove through the neighborhood. I noticed something strange in the close next to us. There were two large animals in the shade behind very large willow tree limbs. I looked carefully from one hundred meters and couldn't identify them. They had a gray  coat and very large antlers. They weren't moose because they weren't big enough.

    I hurried home to get my camera. I know that shooting from bright sunlight into shade  doesn't make much of a photo. I tried but I couldn't see much in my veiw finder. I was able to identify them as mule deer bucks. I was surprised to see the winter color of their coats. I saw a doe two days before and she still had the summer coat and color. 

   They were rather cheeky and stayed didn't move. I went back later on to get some better photos. 

   There was still some velvet on the antlers. 

AUGUST

       In August the landscape on the western Canadian prairie ever so faintly begins to change. The sunlight is not the direct bright rays as as the angle of the sun has changed. It is drier. Plant activity is shutting down. The nights are colder. Two nights ago our low was plus 3 C.

      It's a good thing that we have these changes or is it people taking advantage of the changes. It's harvest time in this huge prairie land. Weather is extremely important. It has to be dry to harvest the grain.

     So I'm talking like an old farm boy even though I left the farm 68 years ago. You can't take the farm out of the  boy. 

    Farmers grow different crops so that they can stagger harvest times and give themselves a long harvest time. My nephews farm. Their first harvest is silage which they take off green. Then they swath some crops that can lay in the swath until later. Then they straight combine wheat. This means they harvest the grain when it's standing. Nowadays this looks like the indie 500. Combines have a 45 ft and 37 ft cutting width. I can't believe the speed these machines travel. They are one big sensor. An operator sits in the cab but doesn't do much. The canola is swathed. that means that the plants are cut and laid in a row. They can be threshed later when it's dry enough. 

    Things have changed on the farm since I lived there but it's still an interesting process. 

   Now if I've made any errors one of my brothers will tell me I'm sure. 

   So August begins a busy time as many things change on the landscape and people take advantage of the change. .

    Critters take advantage of the change and either leave or collect food for the winter or go to sleep. Some Richardson's ground squirrels have already gone into hibernation.  

MR. McGREGOR

        I felt like Mr. McGregor  yesterday.

        Mr. McGregor was the gardener in the famous TALE OF PETER RABBIT written by Beatrix Potter. Peter Rabbit marauded Mr. McGregor's garden on a regular basis. Mr. McGregor couldn't catch Peter. My favorite part is when Peter hides in Mr. McGregor's watering can and Mr. McGregor doesn't see Peter and walks by. We all want Peter to get away. When Peter gets home his mother scolds him for going into Mr. McGregor's garden.

      So yesterday, what was in my garden but, a big Jack rabbit. He/she was lazily taking a bite of pea leaves and then a bite of gooseberry leaves and then grooming him/her self. It was a very peaceful time for the rabbit. 

     At this time of year my garden is a jungle. The peas are 2 feet high. It's easy for a rabbit to move around and not be seen.  It's also the time of year when most things have matured and one rabbit isn't going to do much damage. In the spring time I close the gates very tightly.

     So believe it or not I just took this picture . There is a Jack Rabbit hiding in the pea patch but I can' get him to stick his head out of the peas.

        

     So I waited and finally the jack rabbit stuck his head out of the pea patch. He's above the bird bath and to the left.