Jan. 16: shopping, cleaning

 It's been snowy. Saturday Joe went into town for supplies. You know how that goes. The streets are awful. It looks very pretty, though. I sped up the video, added sound effects, just for that winter look.

 I managed to refill feeders, vacuum, shovel the back deck, and decided to clean the fridges. (They came with the house.)  It's tricky getting up off the foot stool, too hard to sit on the floor. I seconded Joe. Sitting on the foot stool, I ripped the parts out of the door, handing them to him where he was washing them in the sink. Teamwork! 

Then, I washed the kitchen floor. Do you know what happens when I wash a floor? I drop something on it. Yes, I did. I had an old jar of gravy on the counter. I was trying to figure out how to get rid of it. 

The snow just keeps on coming!

My gloves are wonderful! 

No bird bathing today!

Meantime, Aster went snowshoeing with her gr. 10 outdoor ed class in Gatineau Park week ago. Exams start Friday. Great excitement there.

On the weekend her Trex group camped at Foley Mountain Outdoor Ed Centre.

We took the kids there during a summer Gramma Camp during COVID.

Out in B.C., our Vancouver grandies are getting outside. Ski season begins!

Oh to be young again!

 

Snomageddon Jan. 15

 What a January! Then the snow began Wednesday night. It snowed all day. We did the driveway twice, the sidewalk three times.

There was 11 cm on the driveway by 11:00 a.m. We ended up with 24.5 cm.

By the time I went back up the driveway and down again, this is what it looked like. I went out and did it again. You couldn't see the road.

Compare that to Monday morning, when I put garbage out.

We spent Thursday digging out. 

Friday morning:

It really is pretty. We don't have the problems many have in the city: where to put the durn stuff. We watched the weather, and prepared. I made a big casserole, while has lasted 3 days.

We cleaned the bird feeders several times!

The back deck! 

Happily the sun rose. 

The deer waited for someone else to rise!

If we have to we can get out!

It's so much nicer with the sun out!

Doe a deer

 Jan. 14th, she thought I might pop some feed into that trough! We feed them once a day in the morning. 

I went to check on Barry Beaver in the melt. He's frozen under the ice. We had a bit of a melt.

Squirrel tracks 

Coyote:

We cleaned up Jan. 12th, and everything looked great.

I had to phone Hydro. Our metre didn't seem to be working. It was a really cold day, but when I went to read the metre the next month, same issue. It'll take 10 working days for them to replace it, a 5 minute job. 

It is supposed to upload to the satellite, but no one thought about those of us in the country. There are too many trees. I read it once a month and upload the numbers online. Yay, technology!

A big snowfall all day yesterday. More on that later. We are headed into a deep freeze.

Jebbs Creek Rehab

I began this post in April 16th, 2025. It has sat in my files until a rainy day. Correction, until I ran out of actual critter photos on a snowy day. I've been struggling with meds and sleep, as many of you do. I finally had a sleep until 7:30, having wakened at 4 a.m. This is progress.  That said, we are in the middle of a massive snowstorm. Bus cancellations for schools, the wind is blowing snow everywhere. 

There aren't many critters out. Just the deer and birds madly scrambling at feeders. This post is a nice memory of summers when I was able to canoodle!

Jebbs Creek Wetland Embayment Project 

We live near this creek. Back when I was able to canoe along the creek, I found such joy on this water: A canoe ride marathon: 9 km! 

The project was a collaborative effort, with key partners including the Friends of the Tay River (FOTR), the Otty Lake Association (OLA), and the Ministry of Natural Resources.

A multi-year project, Rideau Vally Conservation Association (RVCA) staff have published a report (PDF). They are happy to say the have increased biodiversity, and report a successful pike population over the six years they've been working on this. 

Jebbs Creek runs into the Tay River

How wonderful that there are people to support nature, and all the flora and fauna that depend upon it for food, habitat, and safety.