More Fred & travels

 Fred has been taking a lot of time and energy. Fortunately I am retired! They are rather adorable tree ground rats. Curtain climbers for sure. They are fairly nimble now, but they have to eat their way to hibernation. They really are teenagers! 

 

 As I've written, there seem to be two that hang out together. The play fights are quite amazing. The tail thumping. Biting. I would imagine it prepares them for predators.

   

 The doe is still pregnant. The deer fence works. Fred is a little more of a challenge.

   

 If you watch the video, you'll see him climb up the railing, sit, and watch me. Then notices the chicken wire I put around my eaten petunias. (Closing the barn door...) At the very end, you can hear what I hear out back. The little thumping of little feet on the deck. I couldn't figure it out, at first.

 

Meantime, my daughter, Caitlin, traveled from Ottawa (YOW) to Montreal (YUL). From there to Zurich, Switzerland (ZRH). After a few days touring, she is on the plane from ZRH to Helsinki (HEL). Eventually, she'll meet up with her community choir, they will have a series of concerts in the Baltics. What an adventurer she is! 

Happy birthday, Caitlin!

 When daughter Caitlin was born, we were living in Toronto (see my post on that house)! We moved to Ottawa when she was two. We are very proud of her. I remember sitting in a small kiddy pool in that teeny (18' wide) backyard trying to cool off, very pregnant and very hot. Summer is a great time with a new born. 

We are so very proud of her. A wife, mother, hydrogeologist,  and a wonderful daughter. 

Over the years, we've had fun with cakes for her. Well, it is mostly Grampa who comes up with these brilliant ideas! 

Joe ordered this one.
They can put anything on the cake.
It's a Game of Thrones thing.

This one was really fun time, a bouquet made of fruits, some dipped in chocolate! This was in Bala.

Caitlin followed a crazy cake account, with a cake fail meme. We ordered her a 'Happy Anniversary Katelyn' cake, one year. The cake maker followed the account, too, and was tickled with the brief. 

I asked if there was anything she wanted for her birthday this year, since we haven't been any where to shop, or find a special something. It's difficult to but your adult children clothes, they have their own styles. 

Caitlin requested flowers! That was a great idea. That I could do online. This is what I hope she gets! 

iPhoto has a feature, and I created a video of Caitlin over the years.

Caitlin from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Sun and snow

We are on the good side of winter. Sunrise is earlier, and the sun, when it is out, has a warmth to it. My orchid is setting buds, again. Happy dance! They say not to put it in full sun, but the winter sun seems good for it. It is snowing again this morning, which is why the photos give me hope.

They didn't seem to know how much snow we'd get. We had a delivery Sunday afternoon and he said the driveway was OK. I left alone. Monday, my trusty blower was waiting for me! We had had more snow than expected and it required removal. I started her up and all went well. 

You can see where the mice friends came in under the door. The rodents have chewed it.

It looked lovely, with the sun shining.

Since I did the driveway, JB decided to work on the sidewalk. He did the back deck, as well. This is good, as his rotator cuff has precluded much of this for a couple of years.

Both the back deck and the middle deck were covered. The middle deck will have to melt. 

There is something about that blue sky and sunshine that warms the heart.

I had to use my snowshoes later on to fetch trailcam SD Cards. I haven't been down there in a week. 

There were lots of videos of deer and coyotes. I appeared in the cedar corridor.

 

snowshoes from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Also, Caitlin did a walk by herself. I have evidence on two cameras!

Caitlin Feb 18 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday Caitlin!

Last week, during the last day of Gramma Camp, Friday was prep day. It was a cold morning, and we eased into the day.

 Caitlin's birthday is August 16th. On the last day of Gramma Camp, Friday, we did a lot of preparation. Grampa bought Josephine and Isabelle some blank cards and they painted them.

Carrot cake was iced by both girls. There was some trouble with a large cake decorator tip and too much icing. We even popped it into the microwave for 10 seconds. Hilarity ensued.

Cake and presents hidden, the parental unit arrived after work, and dinner prep was begun. Chicken, carrots and broccoli on the BBQ. Caitlin and I prepped the veggies, JL did the cooking. Grampa and the girls had bought the cake. We're a team!

Isabelle finished her Diamond Dotz cat. She had begun it in July 2020 [A walkabout and a sit], but during the school year, and our weeks of Virtual School, it was put to the side and only brought out from time-to-time. I found a place for it in the living room during last week, Week 36 of Gramma Camp, and she picked at it. She finished after such a long time, and we took a photo of the finale.

We found some old metallic balloons, I blew them up with the pool pump, and we hung them in the window.

We had the pre-birthday party Friday, August 12th, although the 16th is the day. JB and the girls had gone into town and ordered a cheese basket from a local store. Isabelle had done a painting, for which I had found a frame. 

Saturday morning, it was an early one – 7 a.m. alarms. Jos had to pick up a friend, and then drive to another friend's house. From there a friend's family was taking the girl pals to their cottage for an overnighter.

Jos ate breakfast on the back deck, it was 10 C., and I spotted a tree frog on the deck's plexiglass. It gives an amazing image of it's yellow legs. It was cold. 

Isabelle went over to it later, touched it and it flew off the 2nd story railing into the hops leaves. It turned up later.

The grandies will return on Monday, Aug. 22nd after an appointment Isabelle has, and spend week 37 with us! 

That was some rain!

We had a dump of rain on Monday. It just kept falling and falling. We had a total of 28 mm. 

The eavestrough overflowed, so I contacted our people again. The video shows it.

 

The goldfish pond has two blooms, which I noticed standing in the rain inspecting the eaves.

I went out back to check on the bench swing. A Great Blue Heron flew over! Honest! I've seen them before.

After my request, I had a couple of suggestions for the swing's roof. Divers&Sundry suggested Scotchgard. How brilliant! Sending my personal assistant in, he brought me two cans. I used up the first, and some of the second. You can see where the water collected on the topper where it bulges. I think this might be the way to go. It just needs tweaking.

The pillows were soaked. I just have to put more on top of where the bar goes over. That's where it seemed to accumulate. OK, plan B.

Clover was in the yard. She decided to help herself to the sumac leaves. 

doe & sumac from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

One more video: Cinnamon and I about to embark on our walkies. You can hear the sparrow chipping at us. Also, the cardinal yipping. Finally, the red squirrel gave us a look. July 15th.

forest walkies from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Our Intrepid Travelers

While Jesse's sister is in Crete, Jess posted photos for us from Vancouver! It is fun to look back at their visit this month. Just scroll on if this is too many photos, but I wanted JB to see them as well! Here they are visiting.

Jesse took his Vancouver girls camping on the weekend! I'll have to be honest, I have never camped. Jesse was employed one year leading canoe camping trips in Algonquin Park. He was a great Boy Scout, too. He loves the outdoors.

Meanwhile in Crete

Driving from Heraklion to Chania, they settled into their hotel.

They had a beach day at Chania. Sunset gave an opportunity for photos! The first beach photo was by Isabelle.

Here they are in the water, Caitlin's photo. 

Today is a beach day. They love swimming! We'll take them swimming when they visit in August.