Curling and frogging

 🥌We had a busy week watching curling. It was very sad watching the blatant cheating by China's team. It was an important tournament, leading to the Olympics. 

The article 'blatant cheating' states that the Chinese denied the infraction. You can't touch a stone with your brush. There are no rules or anything they can enforce. 

China has done other things, kicked a stone in their game against Germany. Germany complained, but nothing could be done. 

Devin Heroux posted video of the incident on BlueSky. Replay video isn't allowed during the games. No one spotted it after Norway complained. There is little they can do. There was a conversation between China and Norway. Again, Norway complained, but the rule has no teeth.

🐸 Chorus Frog Surveys

We tried frogging, Monday, April 7th. It didn't go well! Too cold. Too early for this cool spring.

I programmed my sites onto the map. Then transferred it to my phone. 

You can see ice on the lake still. Not everywhere, but that dark streak is ice about to sink.

This is too open to the lake. 

There is no possible way there is enough water here.

This is a possibility. There is a vernal pond behind the dead tree.

May I complain about Google Maps? I loaded up my 10 assigned spots. Then Google kept interrupting me to evaluate my experience with it. argh

I don't think a beaver dam is suitable, either!

We'll try again on another day. This morning it is -5℃! 

A few important notes about weather conditions to optimize your chances of hearing the calls for Western Chorus Frogs:

• Wait until the temperature reaches 10°C before conducting surveys
• The wind speed should not exceed 20 km/hour during survey.
• Please conduct surveys when there is no rain, or light rain only.

🥌 World Curling, Fred Groundhog, snow

🥌 World Curling has kept us going with all the slushy snow and rainfall outside. The WMCC website is quite robust and responsive. 

It is the World Men's Championships, and it took some effort to see the sign. It has two lightly coloured letters, which threw me. It actually says HEIA NORGE, if you see what I mean. Translation: GO NORWAY!

We are hampered by the time difference, it being played out in Switzerland, a 7-hour difference, but TSN has been good at posting the schedule. In between games we do chores. I washed the kitchen floor Friday. After lunch I went walkies in the forest to check trailcams. There was NOTHING on them! The wise critters hunker down in the slushy snow.

🥌 🥌 🥌 🥌 🥌 🥌 🥌 🥌 🥌 🥌

🍀 The Leprechaun is melting! OK, I began creating this post yesterday, and Leprechaun is just a small ball of snow today! 

I peeked in on Percy Goldfish. He is hunkered down under the cedar logs I threw in for protection. He is a bright orange!

We've one star flower blooming. Soon the bees will be out enjoying them (2nd photo ↘ April 22, 2011)! I was attacked by a mosquito yesterday. Soon they will hatch out of the pond and a whole new generation will be on the look out for fresh blood. 

The tulips are OK, as are the daffodils along the driveway.

The trailcam on the steps has captured Fred Groundhog wagging his tail.

Here s/he was on April Fool's Day, prior to the snowfall.

Fred April 1st from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

After the snowfall, I could track Labbit across the yard. Except it melted under the trees in the warmth of the sun. I love those distinct bunny tracks.

I wasn't sure where Fred went. He has several holes in the yard. His claws are quite long, and I found tracks near the shed. Someone knocked over little bear trying to get into the burrow under the slats. We haven't burned as much wood as in the past. 

He has large claws and is an excellent digger and climbs, as well. 

This is a screen capture from last year. Look at those claws.

The frog pond is melted. It has been quiet, though. 

Yesterday most of the snow is gone. This morning it is -1 ℃ but expected to rise to 14 ℃ today.  For the eclipse on Monday, April 8th, we may have clouds. We shall see.

Merry Christmas!

Welcome to March. In a couple of weeks the clocks change. (Why-oh-why-oh-why-oh?)  Here is the  precipitation data from previous years:

This is part two of my post, from Saturday. We deferred our Christmas exchange until now. Just to be cautious with COVID and all.  After our birthday lunch [Part 1: What a treat!] we hung out until Josephine had to go to her leadership camp on Zoom. She was at it from 12:30 to 6. 

Josephine took some macro photos of the flowers JB sent me for Valentine's Day. 

After lunch, Josephine kept on taking photos! I posted them to her photography album for the extended family to see. It's really difficult taking fishy photos!

The cyclamen is doing really well. It was a gift sent with my first online grocery order three years ago, at the beginning of COVID–19. Jos photographed all sorts of things.

Goldfish plant:

Josephine had coworkers, while she was in the office participating in her leadership camp on Zoom. They made masks. 

The rest of us played at the curling game, hung out, and chatted. We had a ceremonial glass of sherry, which my late parents loved.

My SIL, Jean-Luc, prepared the turkey. mashed potatoes, green beans, and roast carrots. Caitlin made the stuffing. 

As dinner approached, Caitlin put on some Christmas songs. JL continued to cook up a storm.

There was dancing involved! Photos were taken, and I put them into a video, just for more action!

Isabelle always gets a leg, her favourite. She made the fresh cranberry sauce, which Grampa has to have with turkey!  

The men looked serious, but we laughed a lot and caught up with school stories.

After a traditional turkey dinner, it was Christmas. What is fun is that the presents were bought and wrapped by early December. I didn't even remember what I'd wrapped, for the most part. It was a surprise for all. It was wonderful seeing them. 

Isabelle gave me a painting of a heron she had done. It is lovely. I hung it up on Monday. A good time had by all.