Seen This Week: Deer, Heat and Hamilton

Who's eating this hedge? 5 July 2026 In my neighborhood on 1 July I encountered a deer very close to the sidewalk who didn’t care that I stared at her. She was eating a large Japanese spindle hedge (Euonymus japonicus)*, a plant that is toxic to humans and pets but not toxic to deer. She must be eating it day after day because the long hedge is damaged and see-through. Japanese spindle hedge browsed by deer, 1 July 2026 (photo my Kate St. John) Terribly hot weather. Even the sunset looked hot. Heatwave sunset, 2 July 2026, 8:41pm (photo by Kate St. John) So we’re on a mini-vacation in Hamilton, Ontario where it is not as hot. “Why Hamilton?” asked the Canadian immigration officer at the Peace Bridge. Well, we didn’t want to drive all the way to Toronto. Fair enough. Hamilton (H on the map below) is on the way to Toronto (T) and more than an hour+ from the Peace Bridge in Buffalo (B). As we learned, there is a lot of stop and go traffic on the expressway. Annotated Great Lakes…