iPad stand, skiing, curling

My Valentine had a special delivery for 💝. I ordered the loveliest iPad stand for him. He had to put a mouse pad under it, as it slid a bit. Problem solved. I adjusted his table for him. All is good! It's the greatest table for him. Caitlin found it online. 

Beside him is the printed schedule for the Olympics, and his other paperwork. It's serious business! 

This is a better photo, from the website: Moonstone Woodworks. I ordered myself an iPhone stand last year (below, right). It was to support a Canadian author (Book Review: Jean Paetkau) and her husband. Jean's been managing cancer and her husband, Jason, creates these at Moonstone Woodworks. The pieces separate, and are cleverly shipped flat from B.C.

There were power outages in the storm that passed by. We were unscathed.  We escaped that storm, it dissipated and moved on by. It's just as well. Still no snowblower back from the shop.

There were power outages. 

⛷There is great excitement out west where our grandies are doing ski races three weekends in a row. I used to downhill ski, and then in my 20s took up cross-country skiing. Great exercise, excellent training and lessons. I looked it up, as the girls are doing both classic and skate skiing. 

Skiers propel themselves either by striding forward (classic style) or side-to-side in a skating motion (skate skiing), aided by arms pushing on ski poles against the snow.

Cluny does ski relays. They have a team name, and do costumes. Much fun. Bryony made a snowperson.

We were watching skiing in Italy. This was amazing. 

Our next Olympic watch is for women's curling and Rachel Homan. The online viewing at Olympics.com is amazing! You can follow the game from start to finish. Joe follows curling quite closely. 

This is perfect, as we've a storm on the way! Happily, our snowblower has been fixed up, parts replaced, spark plugs cleaned, and returned!

#75 – tree rat extraordinaire

The snow on the back deck piles up. I shovel it off, and it gathers under the deck. Lovely little piles. Good thing we don't need any more firewood from the shed. I could not navigate it.

During to our brief melt I used the roof rake to flatten it out. In our typical spring thaws and refreeze temperatures, it freezes here and doesn't drain. I was happy with this.

 Our release squirrel (#75) seems to have two friends. One seems more special than the other. This is 75 in November, I think. (They won't wear name tags!)

The bears in November, atop their bench.

I don't know which one this is, but it tried to climb the bird feeder pole over and over again! (Spoiler alert: he didn't make it!)

They decided that going in under the bears on the bench was a good place.

Good grooming is important. 

He looks like he is hugging himself!

With the warmer temperatures, i.e. above 0 ℃ (32 ℉), they are getting twitterpated. The 3 tom turkeys have been fake strutting. The squirrels have been chasing one another hither and yon.  This one comes from lot #3. It's not #75.

   

 My morning entertainment!

 

Since 75 has ventured outside his nest box (it took awhile), I have not seen him entering the box. He's been on the tree several times, but he move through the tree canopy and doesn't leave his scent at the bottom of his tree. I filmed this through the dirty window. He's reluctant to have me watch him.

 

UPDATE: 9 black squirrels out back. Two in the front. It's mating season. Thursday, Feb. 19.

Blood on the ground Feb. 20.

The roof rake!

 Usually February is a good, solid, predictably cold month. None of the January melt/thaw/rain/snow/sleet stuff. It has been warmish. We began a melt Feb. 16th. I took these at bedtime. The snow was melting off the roof.

I used the roof rake here the next day.

It leans and weighs heavily.

Tuesday I had to use the roof rake. It is a handy tool. It just kept dripping and it was going to be cold overnight. It's heavy snow. 

Yes, I still have my lights on at dusk. The snow is knee-deep here and horrid walking. I will leave it for awhile.

Busy day!  Tuesday Joe had both foot care at 9, and a cancer treatment injection (Lupron) at 2:30. The nurse pokes him in his hip, but first he must drop his pants.

I went out to feed his deer, while Joe showered in preparation. They were happy to see me.

I could hear the blue jays going nuts, yelling like mad. I looked around, and there she was! Can you see her? 

I was not putting on snowshoes to go take a closer look. It'd been raining overnight, the driveway and sidewalk were icy. Owls are infrequent fliers, but I've lots of photos. This is from 2023:

Indoor play is important. Cinnamon has been enjoying playing 'snake' with me. 

We've got a storm approaching. The colours show a variety of precipitation approaching. Oh yay. Rain, snow, sleet or hail? 

Family Day in Ontario

I did Facetime with our Ottawa kids and our Vancouver kids! 

 ⛷️Jesse's girls roared off, eventually bored with our conversation. They've mostly settled into their new home. They have been skiing regularly, Jesse teaches the littles. He's doing a 15 km race in 'Master's' level. It's great fun. 

From there it was an Olympic marathon for us! We watched figure skating. It is so pretty, most of the time. I told Joe, I'd be afraid of someone chucking me up in the air like that. Good thing none of them could lift me! 😆

 

Standing on tippy toes!

  

I love the snow on their faces on a stormy day.

   

 You can see how the coyotes stick to the paths. It's much easier trotting. Still, he kicks up some snow as he trots.

   

 I was on my way to the frog pond trailcam, and forgot about this camera trap.