Gregg: May 2010 Archives

Finally after what seemed many weeks or was it months it is finally raining. A light rain is falling on my garden, and vineyard.

Filmed a blue herron on Mud Lake Road beside to CPR tracks in a farmers pond. A goose, gander and 6-8 gooslings weren't even a bother to the herron or were the presence on many painted horses.

Yesterday I managed to film a fox in amongst some daises on Old Silver Mountain Road. And the day before I saw absolutely nothing. Drove 120 kms and didn't even see a crow.

My friend Jenn tells me that she has seen 10 pocupines this past week, mostly in South Gillies.

My friend Yvon has seen 4 bears on the Spruce River Road this past tuesday. And Sue from marks township saw 2 moose on highway 50 on wednesday morning.

Our Kaministiquia River at Stanley is starting to look like a creek instead of a river.

I was talking with a few of my spotters yesterday. I was amazed that my friend Gord witnesses a baby fawn being nudged up to take it's first suck. this was in his backyard. Sue saw a moose just off highway 590 yesterday morning around 6:45 am. Andrew saw a mature cow moose between Boulder and Crestview School on Oliver Road last thursday.

On the way to town in the morning I noticed 2 geese tested the water beside the Stanley Hotel. many robins were seen as well as 2 rabbits and a blue jay on Government Road.

Hope everyone I know had a safe Victoria Day weekend. Here in Nolalu it was 33C from 3pm till about 8pm.

I managaed to film an owl on Mud Lake Road near John Street for about 6 minutes from 20 feet. Later in the day as I was running my friends band saw a noticed a brush wolf or a coyotte cross along the hydro line about 100m from where we were working.

On my way home I stopped just before the CPR tracks on Mud Lake Road to film 15-20 geese splashing in a farmers pond as his cattle looked on. Quite humourous.

Another quick stop in South Gillies too talk with Jenn. She tells me she saw last years calf moose on saturday morning near Baird Road on highway 588.

The rodeo was on later as my partner Wendy asked me to grab her female alpaca as she had barbed wire entagled in her fibre. For a 150 lb. animal they are sure a handful to catch and hold. Took about 10 minutes to corner and hold the freightened animal to remove the barbed wire.

Yesterday I managed to see a doe beside Silver Creek on Hwy. 588, 2 of last years fawns jumping a fence on Old Mining Road and a goose, gander and new goslings on a farm on Mud Lake Road beside the CPR tracks.

A friend of mine told me that there is a cow moose with a calf near Barrie Drive and Hwy. 588, so watch for her as the bugs are getting bad.

The sun is almost up and it could be a very nice sunrise or not depending if the suns rays can squeeze thru the coulds

In any case I got an email from Adrian who works at KBM. he was down on the city waterfront and saw a coyette with a small ground hog in its' mouth on Maureen Street yesterday. My lady partner Wendy saw road kill. Now normally I wouldn't include road kill but , it was her first sighting of a racoon out past thr prison farm on highway 61.

There were a few geese on the kaministiquia River at Stanley. The river continues to drop daily it seems. A pair of geese are in the second pond past Mapleweard on the expressway as you head into town. They are used to noise from the traffic so getting close to them shouldn't be a probelm for photos' or video.

There were also 2 deer in our yard as we left for town. Got no ticks yesterday.

Seems I'm a day late doing this.

yesterday I did notice more geese on the Kaministiquia River and the water level has dropped again. More sand bars. The geese are still east of Mapleward Road on the new expressway. On the way back home a muskrat was crossing the highway near the CPR overpass on the new expressway. We spotted only on deer and a cormaron resting with some geese.

I was just outside and it was 10C. Not bad for 5:45 am. On the the way to my other job in town I saw a bald eagle just past Mapleward and about 100 yars later there were 2 geese having a look about on a tiny island, plus a peilated wood pecker later on highway 588.

yesterdays temperature got up to 30C at our place. Seems we are 7-10 degrees above what Thunder bay forcasts. Today they are forecasting 28C.

had 2 ticks on me last night. These little buggers are very hard to kill. Check carefully after walks in the grass or the forest.

Finally my friend Sue emailed me about her sightings. On May 7th she saw a cow moose on Hwy. 590 about 3:50pm; May 9th she saw 2 cow moose at 2:00pm and then at 5:00pm she 2 more cow moose on hwy. 590; on May 11th she saw a bull moose on hwy. 590 around 6:40pm;  on may 12th she saw a porcupine jogging down hwy. 588 about 6:45am and then later in the day on hwy. 590 she saw 4 bull moose. INCREIDTABLE. How come us people with the equipment see didly. I travel different roads to and from home daily. Maybe 1 day I'll get lucky see a moose.

In any case drive with caution as the moose are out on hwy. 590 at all hours of the day.

Today a saw 2 rabbits. One on Mud lake road and the other on Government Road plus various birds including red winged black birds, a bald eagle over hwy. 102 and Townline Road.

Drive a bit slower and look around and you'll probably see animals and birds galore. they are out there so be careful driving.

Well if you don't go anywhere, you normally don't see anything. That was true today. I put seeds in the garden with the hope they'll grow. Heres hoping. You must check yourself for TICKS after working outside. I pulled 1 off my self today and 5 in the past week. We never had these annoying inects which can cause all kinds of bad health problems if you don't catch'em.

Yesterday I fixed fence for my buddy Jim out is out of commission for about 1-2 months. Seems that snowmobilers cut his fence on the hydro line so they could trespass on his small lake. This fence was up so his 3 horses wouldn't get loose into other yards and cause damage. We are working on a way way to stop them permentally from trespassing. As he is in the city shooting them is out of the question. Out here in the country every 6 or 7 farms have a backhoe to bury trespassers. Just kidding. But then again, who is telling.

Don't mess with the farmer as he puts food on your table.

I did see a pelated woodpecker on Townline Road as well as geese, a rabbit in the bush who is totally brown and a few geese on the kaministiquia River which has risen due to some rain. Still way down.

Again not much was seen yesterday or today, but had some encouraging news from Sue who will enlighten me shortly of what she is seeing.

O.ver the years I have seen many stray dogs and cats wandering about the country side. Most are from peopler in the city who do not wish to have them put down, but figure that us country people will take them in and care for them. True, but a friend of mine explained to me several years ago of how he gets even with the city folk.

He traps skunks and takes them to town and lets them loose. I have passed this info on the several of my country friends who have over the years transferred many skunks to the city. Maybe that is why we don't see that many any more.

Upon seeing a dead skunk on the side of the road yesterday, I was thinking about a logging truck driver i know very well who has never run over a single bird or animal in 25 plus years driving the back roads and the highways. He has always avoided hittting them even with a load of wood on his truck. Just be a bit more careful when near sknunks and the smell won't linger

Seen next to nothing on sunday and monday. Now today was a different story. The swallows are back. The geese are checking out nesting sites at various locations along the new expressway near Mapleward Road. A doe and her 2 last year fawns were eating grass in our yard. More seagulls on the kaministiquia River above Kakabecka Falls than geese or ducks.

My friend Sue in Marks Township has seen animals and will let me know her findings shortly.

The beavers have been busy on Pebblestone Road and on Highway 595.

The green tinge is much more present and darker than a week ago.

seems I'm always a day behind. No matter as I did see a lot of birds. A blue herron flying over Mapleward Road between Arthur and expressway. 2 ducks out for a walk on Barrie Drive just before Aspen when you are going west. 4 duck airborne off the Kaministiquia River about 7:14am. A swan flee over our farm around 6:45 pm going SW. I saw a rabbit on Old Silver Mountain Road as well as many crows and robbins and 2 geese in the city.

2 more friends have agreed to tell me what they see in their travels. Sue from Marks Township and Jen from South Gillies as well as Gordon from Intola[old hamlet area jsur west of Townline Road bordered by Government Road and just north of highway 102].

Hope to see more today.

Even less was seen on thursday. It's like all the animals and birds are  hibernating.  I saw 2 robins, and a crow. The only bonus right now is the sunrise. It's pink and really nice. I would say a 7.5 out of 10. Not bad for the 7th of May and light frost as well.

Heres hoping I see more today.

Not much happened yesterday except it rained, which is a real good thing. I saw 1 goose in the city and 1 small hawk looking for his or her supper along highway 595.

If by chance you are looking to invest in Wind Wood Studios that would be great. I'm looking for $50,000. It would be okay to invest as little as $500.00. For that sum you would get 25% of your investment plus your investment repaid in 3 years plus .2% of the gross income for Wind Wood Studios for 5 years starting May 31/11, May 31/12, May 31/13, May 31/14. and May 31,15.

Any amount  from $500. to $5,000 would be okay. I don't want just one major investor as you will have some say in what happens with the studio. Emailme for the other details at windwoodstudio@live.ca

You will also recieve a film credit for any production done by Wind Wood Studios for a period of 6 years.

Have a nice day and watch out for the animals and birds.

have to start this blog again as it seems I het the wrong button again and lost everything. Yesterday was a so so day with a chipmonk sighting and a red fox near Silver Creek on highway 588. There were only a few ducks and geese on the Kaministiquia River or should I say stream as it is 2-3 feet below normal springs. very unusal.

I had a talk with my friend Adrian had KBM and he is allowing me to tell you what he sees weekly. So far this spring he has seen many deer in the marsh area of the intercity area as well as a large red squirrel. His first ever.

my sources have told me that any of the bears they have seen have been very aggresive as their food supply is almost non existent. Be very careful. I use BEAR BANGERS which do work. Adrian has a good supply of them at KBM.

Also odd that me or my sources have not seen any moose or bear tracks.

I started filming the sunrise in the backyard about 6:55 am from about 4 minutes. After that I left the yard for town and decided to continue filming. Good idea as the sun was cause some awsome colours in the east. A robin flew past a rabbit scurred off the road. Just then a small doe raced to get off the road. All this in 20 seconds.

The benifits of living in the country. Maybe tomorrow will be just as good as today was.

The green tinge is coming across the valley. very soon I will begin to film my first TV Production followed by a few more,

I'm busy lining people up to interview. I'm also looking for investors to help in this process.

I'm also looking for information about bears and cubs, cow moose and their calves, etc.. Let me know via windwoodstudio@live.ca if you see any little animals and where they were.

Gregg