These Boots Aren’t Made for Walking

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

Oak and Rain

We don’t have oak trees in our area but a number of years ago I found an eight inch oak seedling growing by the side of our road. I transplanted it and it is now ten feet high. It is the last tree to fully drop its leaves each Fall. Its foliage is always interesting – whether it is the colour or texture

Storm Damage

Well, we survived our very loud and powerful windstorm a couple of nights ago. We could hear trees falling in the distance and lots of branches landing on our roof. We walked the property today and found one very large cedar had toppled.

I had been watching this tree as it had been damaged many years ago and it had multiple trunks coming
off the main trunk. It was quite unbalanced and a split was developing up the trunk so it was
destined to fall sooner rather than later.

As with many red cedar, this tree suffered carpenter ant or termite damage in its heartwood. This weakens the tree.

Unfortunately there won’t be much wood for me to salvage for milling but lots of kindling!

Bug Wars

Green Burgundy Stink Bug

I had noticed these bugs on my red currants for a number of years but didn’t give them much thought. A couple of days ago I decided to look them up and see what their story was. I already knew they were stink bugs and I thought that was their claim to fame. Unfortunately, I found out they also like to chew on tender shoots. I had noticed quite a bit of fruit drop on my red currants and had always suspected it may have been bird damage. I’m now convinced it was caused by the Green Burgundy Stink Bug (Banasa dimidiata).

Stripped Currants

We don’t use pesticides in our garden so I resorted to the old tried and true method of hand picking the bugs off. The first day I got about 50 bugs, the second day 20 and today about 10. I’ll continue picking each day until I see the last of them. I also use this method for slugs and sawfly larva and while a little tedious, it is effective. When picking I’m always coming across beneficial insects that would be killed by spraying so the time taken far outweighs the convenience of a quick, easy and deadly spray.

Fall Colours

Copyright Infringement Update

After thinking things over I decided that, rather than being given credit for my photographs, I wanted my photographs removed from the real estate listing. I didn’t want a part in helping sell the property. I let the real estate agent know Monday and the photographs were just removed (Tuesday evening). The agent was put in a somewhat awkward position and I appreciate that she took action and corrected the problem.

 

Copyright Infringement

Yesterday, while checking some online real estate listings, my wife came upon a listing for some acreage up the coast from us. On the listing were nine of my photographs taken from my other blog site kennethmcmillan-photography. My watermark had been cropped off each photograph.  I contacted the real estate office, the web site designer and the agent and voiced my annoyance. The agent got back to me and said the photos had been given to her by the owners of the property.  She apologized and said the photographs would either be removed or I would be given credit for them as per my instructions to her.  I mentioned to her that just because something is published on the Internet it can not be taken and freely used by someone else. I am not a professional photographer and have many photographs on my blog sites and Flickr. I am happy to give people the use of my photographs at no cost if they ask permission to do so. I know of close to 60 sites who have done so, all giving me the proper credit. The removal of my copyright and signature in this case is very distasteful to me and has given me the impetus to pursue it.

If anyone finds themselves in my position there is an excellent WordPress post by Lorelle VanFossen called What To Do When Someone Steals your Content 

 

 

 

We interrupt this program to…

Announce that I have started a new blog.  

Tree Line

My “Miss Ewe’s Big Holiday” series ends today as she has made it safely across Canada and back so I need another project.

I have been enjoying sharing the photos from around our acreage but still have so many others from many places and times. Today is my first offering at Visual Montage.  If you would like to receive updates you will need to hit the “Follow” link on that site.

Thanks,
Ken