EarthOx
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earthox.bsky.social
EarthOx
@earthox.bsky.social
1.8K followers 2.9K following 3.7K posts
Gardening, Nature, Left Coaster BC 🍁 Bicycle Rider
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Sometimes I block bots and trolls.
Sometimes a poster's content just doesn't interest me. No offence. There's no nicer way.
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earthox.bsky.social
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I heard a Steller's jay the other day.
Plus an eagle.
Images were taken in late October one year.
Steller's jay tilts head back while having a drink. Sitting on the black edge of a fountain bowl full of shiny wet rocks. Cheeky black crow pulls at a white tail feather of an eagle feeding on a salmon it was gifted by a couple of people at the beach one morning. I gather the bird had been released after being cared for after injury. White head of the eagle bends to the fish and a white tail feather shows as the crow pulls at it. Another crow sits in front of the eagle hoping for a bit of fish if the eagle happens to look away. Shallow tidal pools reflect light in the background. Same eagle looks up keeping a firm grip on the fish under its feet. The salmon belly is white. The crow in front is black! Various beach rocks appear as bumps on the surface of the shallow water.
November 16, 2025 at 4:57 PM
earthox.bsky.social
I mute at every opportunity. I wish the evil munchkin would just shut it.
Lying politician on the floor.
November 6, 2025 at 5:05 PM
earthox.bsky.social
Listening, open, receptive at ASEAN/APEC dinner.
PM Carney represented Canada well.
Bottom includes decorative flowers orange/pink, blue & glasses below Prime Minister Carney who is sitting, listening attentively to a speaker.
November 3, 2025 at 7:23 PM
earthox.bsky.social
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Birds really appreciate bathing during cold weather. They need the water on their feathers to better spread oil on them while they preen.
It's a real chore keeping the water clean but worth it.
A male Anna's hummingbird standing on a rock that has water flowing over it from a spouting statue. The rock is in a shallow clay dish that holds a bit of water. The usual red head looks purple in the dim light. A late November picture from another year. A nuthatch takes off after having wet its feathers. There are shallow pools of water around the center rock for small birds to bathe in. A late October picture from a previous year.
November 2, 2025 at 5:14 PM
earthox.bsky.social
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Changing seasons.
Bright blue hydrangea flowers encircling tight tiny florets in the middle with green leaves below, above grey pavement. The same hydrangea in late October with the flowers having changed colour to a maroon purple above golden leaves. Quite striking in person in either season.
November 2, 2025 at 4:51 PM
earthox.bsky.social
October garden photos from the past. The salvia with the tree was grown in a tall pot.
A Japanese maple tree with leaves turning red and orange entwined with Salvia Mystic Spires, a hummingbird favourite that goes on blooming until frost. Tall, too 4.6 ft. Bottom right shows a bit of cutout concrete fencing blocks. Purple skinned potatoes with purple flesh exposed in the one cut in half with lighter colour at the edges. Sitting on a teacup saucer so you can tell they are not very big. Shiny due to wetness from washing. A purple Russian variety if I recall correctly. They were memorably sweet!
October 26, 2025 at 2:00 AM
earthox.bsky.social
Some October pictures from the past.
Anna's hummingbird having a stretch. Facing left, long beak reflecting a line of light along the tops edge going back toward the round shiny black eye with a tick of white at outer edge above the red of the gorget at the throat looking bronze left of that. Silvery white belly with grey and white tail feathers flared below. Little wings folded back at the upper right of the bird. Green leaves as background. The bird is sitting on a branch. A male Anna's hummingbird sitting on the stem of the salvia Amistad with its purple flowers around it. Red head, beak forward right with the eye back from the beak with the white tick at the back edge of the dark eye showing a bit. Silver body framed by dark wing on the right. Green salvia leaves background. This salvia grows tall to 4.5 ft.
October 26, 2025 at 1:50 AM
earthox.bsky.social
I try to get out for one or two walks every day. I took a different route yesterday and was delighted to come across dueling Halloween neighbours who live across from each other. Will go back one day when it's not raining and windy!
A group too varied to name or distinguish in this photo of Halloween characters i someone's driveway at the street . On a lawn, a black Halloween cat with lit orange eyes, white fangs below the eyes and white claws at the ends of its paws. Across the street from the black cat are two large green spiders with black heads that hold glowing eyes and spider legs stretching forward, with black and green sections. Wooden fencing behind with while webbing upper right. What looks like a skeletal party including two dogs' bones. Far right is a half kneeling human skeleton form reaching out to pet a dog. Moving left is a crowned skeleton behind another skeleton that appears to be sitting on a chair. Another dog at the far left.
October 26, 2025 at 1:23 AM
earthox.bsky.social
Always had to say 'the place of sand and water' for this guy rather than 'beach' or we'd get no peace for hours.
Dog sitting in a car waiting patiently.
October 25, 2025 at 5:00 PM
earthox.bsky.social
Fallen Maple leaves in the forest.
October 25, 2025 at 12:34 AM
earthox.bsky.social
I have never been a flag flier. Maybe a small one at the front door at Canada Day. Now? Yes!
I see many more Canadian flags when I ride through neighbourhoods. Almost every house on one small cul-de-sac. Nice!
Canadian flag on a balcony. Canadian flags at someone's front gate. Spotted while out on a ride.
October 23, 2025 at 3:54 PM
earthox.bsky.social
Son brought an island grown watermelon today that came from up island. I have never seen one like this! It may have been greenhouse grown. 10-12 lbs I'm guessing. I bought little this year.
I Love watermelon! A treat!
A large watermelon nicely green with darker green stirpes on a white plate on a beige countertop. It is yellow inside! With black contrasting seeds and dark green outline of the rind. Crisp, sweet and juicy. Never seen a yellow one before today! Store bought have been poor quality this year rubbery flesh and not worth buying; last year too come to think of it.
October 15, 2025 at 12:25 AM
earthox.bsky.social
On a lighter note.
One morning when out walking What did I see?
A juvenile late night prank. But I enjoyed it and the fountain got clean!
White layers of soap suds rising up against a building from a fountain. Trees and garden flowers white dots to the left of the white blob, more flowers to the right of it then tree branches rising above the green lawn. Random white sudsy blobs floating high and along the green grass like giant sheep in the distance.
October 14, 2025 at 12:05 AM
earthox.bsky.social
As I watched PM Carney's Thanks Giving message, knowing that he is now in Egypt, in the back of my mind I wondered if he had anything to do with turning DT's mind to being a peacemaker in Gaza/Israel when he was at the Whitehouse.
October 13, 2025 at 8:48 PM
earthox.bsky.social
Spotted a large Eucalyptus in the farther neighbourhood while cycling one day. The trunk is interesting. There are not many of these around here.
The lower part of the tree. A closer view of the uneven seeming trunk which is reddish brown and vertically striped with darker colours. Curvy hanging branches that hold the leaves from their ends. Blue sky background. The extremities seem a bit floppy due to the loosely hanging narrow, longish, grey leaves.
October 7, 2025 at 9:56 PM
earthox.bsky.social
I had no idea. I thought I had an orange crowned warbler bathing daily in my fountain until I saw that bright red jewel flash. I was surprised one day to see it feeding from a hummingbird feeder one January. In April it was sipping nectar from wild currant flowers.
A red dotted glass hummingbird feeder with a yellow circle that has a small opening for feeding from. There is an olive green bird with its head up as it sips from the feeder which was recently filled. There is a small stripe of white on its wing at the shoulder and it's dark round eye is almost circled in white. There is a dark shape behind it that is a webcam, a Logitech that worked admirably outdoors for years under cover.
October 5, 2025 at 3:44 AM
earthox.bsky.social
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Two for Tuesday.
Two juvenile Anna's Hummingbirds in Spring.
Light on the leaves behind the two grey hummingbirds. The lower bird sits on a branch behind the darker one in shadow, a bit above and in front.
September 30, 2025 at 8:36 PM
earthox.bsky.social
A majestic tree!
These are old elm trees on a street in the middle of town. City wanted to cut them in the '60's but people, including farmers with shotguns, protested as these are memorial trees honouring the fallen in war.
Still there!
Old elm trees line a short city street. Leaves are starting to change colour from green to yellow. Grey shops on the left side of the street.
September 30, 2025 at 7:30 PM
earthox.bsky.social
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Peppers grown on the balcony. The brown one is smokey sweet tasting and the red skinny ones are mild-med hot with nice flavour that I will dry then roast before grinding for seasoning. Both are ripening about a month later than those I grew in pots in a garden that got more sun hours.
Several green peppers among the green leaves of a growing potted plant with one ripe, brown one in the right half of the frame. Grown from seeds of a store bought pepper they do well. This one is about 5 inches long. Some are smaller, some are bigger. Pepper on a glass table top with a blue bird figure above under an impatiens plant with orange red blooms Pepper thunder mountain hanging vertically below the leaves of a pepper plant growing in a grey sided pot. Most of the peppers are green with a few ripening going from brown to bright red when done. Ripe thunder mountain peppers next to a standard sized green handled secateur for size on a glass table with metal trim.
September 16, 2025 at 7:32 AM
earthox.bsky.social
Wildfire smoke in this town this week. Surprising how many people don't know how to deal with it in their homes and don't wear masks when they walk in it. Too thick for me. I just stayed home for the day. Rain began in the evening so we got lucky. There may be more of it ahead.
Wildfire smoke rolled in just after 9pm. Smoke in the yellow light of a street lamp and under a white light further down the street. White smoke as thick as fog was still there first thing in the morning at 5:30am hanging over the trees in this photo and obscuring those in the distance.
August 16, 2025 at 3:34 AM
earthox.bsky.social
I am well pleased! When I went out for a walk after dinner I happened upon windfall apples under two trees on an empty city lot. Many of them. I have been lusting after free 'tree' apples to make apple sauce with. I now have about 30 lbs in the fridge to happily deal with during the promised rain .
Red apples in a pale green plastic bag in the fridge between two shelves edged with white trim. Some of the red apples in the green bag closer up. A few bruises and blemishes but apple sauce doesn't care about that. Two refrigerator bins with green plastic bags of apples in them and a dark bag of apples up on a shelf. I could smell their aroma as I loaded them in. I do have my work cut out for me!
August 16, 2025 at 3:15 AM
earthox.bsky.social
Something I found wedged into the bark of a tree on one of my forest walks this summer.
A tree in the forest had something red on it that caught my eye. Wedged into the bark was a painted stone with a red maple leaf outlined in white with 'Canada Cares' painted around the circumference of the stone in yellow and blue. Yes, we do!
August 11, 2025 at 11:04 PM
earthox.bsky.social
Evening primrose opens late in the day and closes up as the sun rises in the morning. Hummingbirds get their beaks covered with pollen when they feed on the yellow flowers. The birds are there at first and last light. Seedpods later feed juncos and towhees in winter. And zinnias.
Long stalks of evening primrose hold yellow flowers that bloom at night. An orange glass globe feeder hangs on a clothesline, right. Left has red flowers in bloom and pink center back, probably salvias. Green foliage background This type of high centered zinnia is favoured by bumble bees who find it easier to feed on them than the closed type.
August 10, 2025 at 5:42 PM
earthox.bsky.social
I had an old picnic table that was too decrepit to use for dining so I used it for plants and a birdbath instead. Too many trees to plant much in the ground so pots were the answer. Obstacles for cats hunting birds, too.
Plant table with potted plants and a 4 tiered birdbath of green shallow pans (left) flowing down into a large tub reservoir. A pale green Japanese maple in the center in a dark green pot with a rock in front. Various stacked clay pots. A mix of different plants. Having potted plants allowed for making changes with the seasons and years. The larger pale maple shades a single fountain for the birds with various plants around. The red to the right is a wallflower i spring. On the left is a bit of driftwood greyed by the sun. A round bright green evergreen beside that.
August 10, 2025 at 5:31 PM
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The figs I gave away over the years when I had two trees in my old garden are now coming back to me. In ones and twos different people are gifting me with these fruits of the gods. Not available in stores as they are too fragile. Reputedly one of the best tasting figs. Sweet and mild.
Two plump, green Desert King figs on a a hexagonal plate that has a pattern of gold on blue. White in the center and rimmed with a green strip that has yellow dots in it. Sitting on a kitchen counter.
August 10, 2025 at 12:18 AM