Tessa

She was called Tess, Tessie, Tessington, TessaDog, Doodle Treasure and The Dog. But her real name was Tessa.

Claims to fame: Therapy dog reject (too bouncy). Loved to wallow in the mud. Awesome swimmer. Relentless ball chaser, and always brought it back for another throw. Sandwich stealer. Cat chaser. Sock thief. Horsey poo lover. Rolled in stinky dead things no matter how miniscule. Cutest golden doodle ever. She loved us and we loved her. She is missed.

Tessa   1 September 2007 - 25 April 2022

Jefferson Salamander

If it's a rainy night between late March and early April, and you're driving along the Stouffville Side Road in the dark between 9:00pm and 5:00am.... you may encounter a road closure and have to make a detour. 

Why is the road closed? Accident? Police investigation? Midnight construction crew?  

No, none of those reasons. It's mating season for the Jefferson Salamanders, an endangered species here in Ontario, and the salamanders want to cross the road to their breeding swamps and ponds to lay eggs and make more little salamanders.

Sweet little chap, isn't he? or she? Looking for love!

Photo pilfered from Toronto Star.

They are nocturnal amphibians, grey or brown sometimes with blue flecks on the side, and a long tail making up half of their length. Surprisingly they can live for up to 30 years!

The road closures have allowed more than 150 Jefferson Salamanders to cross safely. In 2011 the salamander's status went from threatened to endangered. The population is assumed to be declining, so we have to do what we can to keep our lovely little Jefferson Salamanders happy and healthy.

More information about the Jefferson Salamander.

The Psychos

 I borrowed this from someone's facebook page, no credits shown to whoever thought it up. Banksy style.

Clever and funny..... but absolutely terrifying that these three psychopaths are in charge of (or want to be in charge of) a huge slice of the world.

White on White

We've woken up to a lot of that white stuff recently, and when the snow removal truck clears the road, there's just nowhere to put the snow.... so it gets piled up in front of my house. Perfect for pretending I live near Mount Everest.

All this cold winter weather can be rather tiresome, so I decided I needed a boost of Springtime. 

A $6 bunch of tulips from the supermarket did the job. Now I feel like Spring might be getting closer.... and it's March tomorrow!

Ukraine

My thoughts go out to the people of Ukraine. Russia's invasion is so wrong. Putin is making a terrible mistake.

A Little Visitor

I've recently had a little visitor, but not the kind of visitor I'm glad to see. A furry little visitor, with a long tail. 

He (or perhaps she) made his way into my kitchen cupboard above the stove by chewing his way though the seal on the exhaust fan housing. Pretty hard on the teeth I would think. But the prize was a plastic bag of walnut pieces. He chewed his way through the bag.... easy peasy... and scattered the nuts all over the cupboard, leaving his little calling cards behind. 

Anything edible is now safely inside a glass jar.

Time to call the pest control people in. Now there are black box traps under my kitchen sink and in the furnace room in the basement, and an old fashioned mouse trap baited with peanut butter set up in the cupboard. The hole has been plugged with steel wool.

Every morning I slowly open the cupboard door and hope with fingers crossed that I don't have to dispose of a furry body. So far so good.

What Rhymes with Orange?

Well, nothing rhymes with orange, or so they say, but you can make Marmalade with oranges, and that's exactly what I have been doing. An annual tradition for me. My cousin in Australia makes Marmalade every year too, we obviously have inherited the marmalade gene from our mums.

Six Seville Oranges, only available in the nearby grocery stores in January and February. The Sevilles are wrinkly and rather ugly and very bitter, and way more expensive than normal oranges, but they make terrific marmalade, so indispensable. 

Add two sweet navel oranges, and two juicy lemons. 

Squeeze all the juices out, remove the pips and the membranes, and chop the peel very thinly. For every cup of juice and peel, add 2 cups of filtered water, and soak overnight with the pips contained in a mash bag.

Boil until the peel is soft, add a cup of sugar for every cup of fruit mixture, boil some more and when it starts feeling thick and jellyish, pour into heated jars and seal.... voila! Marmalade!

Home made Marmalade on home made toast for breakfast, can't get any more delicious than that!!