We've a bit of a melt. The snow cover shrunk. I figured I'd best show our friends in the snow. I took a walk down to the frog pond. There is a melt in the middle. People best stay off rivers and lakes. We're back to the deep freeze after rain today and tomorrow. Yikes. I can't use the snowblower on that! We may have a skating rink on the driveway.
The fawn rediscovered the pumpkin, attacked by the raccoons, who are now sleeping. They've been frozen.
The snow looks lovely!
There is an impact on driving. (Get it?!) Joe witnessed someone who was in an incident. You feel so badly for them. People seem to be very busy, and for me this would be such a challenge to manage.
I don't know if I like this or not! Poor little elf legs!
Coyote in snow
The deer in snow
We are enjoying the celebration of light indoors. My indoor stylist has been fine tuning his design.
I've been having fun getting inspiration from other bloggers. However, Rain is stopping blogging, as have several other people I follow. I volunteer once a week, and haven't any close friends here. It's a small, but supportive community online. Val, at Mulewings, has brought me inspiration with her little figure tableaux pieces. I am going to keep my little set and set them up outside.
I wanted to remove my terrarium for our seasonal decor. (I bought it that at an 'antique' store.) Hooper cat had fun with it, back in his time. He was fascinated with it. I stuffed it with fairy furniture. Cleaning the brass made it shine. The plants changed over time, as I found many did not survive. Hooper was quiet keen on them.
Sadly I cannot keep it up. The copper is deteriorating, water leaking from the seams. The plants just don't have the right humidity balance. I give up. This is a tribute to it.
The decorations manager is fine tuning his decor.
❄️ In Gravenhurst they've a webcam. We used to drive past Campbells Landing Marina between Gravenhurst and Bala, where we lived for a time. I enjoyed living by the lake, except for the jet skis and snow machines.
We've had some snow. Just a few cm over a few days. It is protecting the ecosystem. I noticed that last year we had about as much rain as snow. There is that.
Outdoor play
The fisher has been an inspector, but I think Barry is safe inside.
The fisher and I inspected Barry's Lodge. I was careful on the ice. This is as far as I ventured. It's not very deep. By the time I got to where I am standing, I turned around.
Barry, I presume, is safe inside. Barry must have run out of time to gather winter food. I hope he's sleeping!
What a start to the weekend. Two weeks ago I was chopping veggies and made contact with my thumb. No blood! I've been watching too many cooking shows and was careless. Friday I was poking holes in a cooking bag with a fork and hit my thumb. (Freezer dinner!) I hit it hard. I screamed, and someone who doesn't hear very well heard me from the basement, where he was watching a football game beside a cozy fire. There was a lot of blood in the sink. JB brought me a nice fat bandaid and we carried on.
Thankfully I'd already wrapped my present from JB! The one with black tape shows the time someone couldn't find the regular tape! More tape has since been bought!
I was taking out my frustrations with the fork, methinks. It was a frustrating week. I had an appointment for a haircut, and he was 20 minutes late taking me. I sat there, trying to cool my jets, but anxiety kicked in. It was awful. You go there to relax. I think he fit in a spouse, while he had his hair cut, she slept in the chair. I had to go ask for water, they used to provide that. They had a bottle of warm Perrier.
Still no booster vaccine booked: Funny COVID–19 vaccine story. I still haven't sorted out our taxes: Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)😓. The bank hasn't reversed the mistake I made, and I requested the correction a week ago Wednesday. Ah, well. It's only money. Interest rates are pretty low right now, so there is that.
The news is awful. Of course that is the nature of the news cycle. If it bleeds, it leads (see above 😏)! There is Hope from B.C. They'll have a long recovery.
British Columbia's rain has finally stopped. They had a good update regarding agriculture:
UPDATE:
Poultry: chickens; 61 poultry farms in the evacuation zone. Good news: 97% of laying chicken survived. Also,
98% of the turkeys survived.
Dairy farms: 98% of the cows from Sumas Prairie survived the flood. The rugby association players cleaned up 100s of stalls, removed stuff from basement. Also, the hockey team has been working like this. People helping people.
Sadly 110 beehives were destroyed, but they can be rebuilt.
The damage doesn't affect most of the ski resorts, Jean. This damage is in the mountain passes. Jesse and Cluny are signed up for ski lessons. They just have to hope for colder temperatures in order for the ski hill to lay down some snow.
My Cinnamon baffle on the fishtank is working to keep him out. Sadly, it was too cold for him to go out for a pee Saturday morning (or so he said), and he began working on the styrofoam, picking at pieces with his claws and tearing it off. Little dweeb! I put another book on top. That solved it.
The silly thing is that I've always fed them from that corner. Percy goldfish keeps going to that spot every day. The smaller, younger ones get it, but he's been fed in this corner every winter for several years. I'm having to clean the tank more often, as he is so huge.
I've been playing outside in the sunshine. This is the BEFORE and AFTER!
You can see how shaded the goldfish pond get with the end of summer solstice during most of the day. The poor frogs sought shelter in the pond in August, when the wetland dried up. The wetland is now deeper, and filled with November rains. The goldfish pond is frozen over, again! There is a skiff of snow on top of the ice.
I managed to find 7 more frogs in the goldfish pond Friday, Nov. 26th. I captured them, they are pretty slow and sleepy, especially the upside down ones. I popped them into the frogpond, right off the dock, as the ice had melted. I just hope they dive down and get into the warm mud. At least I don't have to fish their dead bodies out in spring! My grand total is 64 frogs moved.
Indoors, we are finding as much light as we can. Caitlin gave me this snowglobe and it refracts the light from our Christmas tree!
Joseph Brian has been having some more fun.
I drove him into town for cat food and drugs. At the drugstore, I waited while JB went in. I noticed a woman in a car beside me whose one headlight was out. She had a baby with her. I told her about it and she thanked me. That was my good deed for the day!
JB is the shopper, and I stay in the car, as I get stressed! The vet still has door-to-car service. They bring out a mobile machine, as well as the cat food, right to the car.
I did an online food order, which we picked up on Thursday. I spotted a young man, I think twice! He had a red mask on the back of his head. It was -5 C., at this point, he didn't look too warm.
The woman who brought our groceries said that there are shortages in cat food. Crikey. We buy cheaper wet food and get the dry from the vet.
Also, Kellogg's products as the workers are on strike. I sure don't blame them. The disparity between CEO compensation and front line workers widens.
CEOs typically have huge salaries: "CEO compensation has grown 940% since 1978" and it always shocks me. The CEO-to-employee pay ratios are staggering. Capitalism at its worst. Why are the rich so selfish? Greed? Why, if you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, would you deny basic needs to employees: healthcare, sick leave, a living wage? Not only that, but they want a two-tier wage for employees. They want to reduce vacation time, and cost of living allowances. In 2020, Kellogg's profits were $1.76 BILLION.
Apparently it is as labour intensive as using a razor. You still have to use shaving cream. It is a work in progress. The funny thing is I didn't realize he didn't shave every day!
Also, he's had neck issues for the better part of this year, and he isn't comfortable shaving the back of his neck. It was a good idea at the time!
Go In the Closet!
I've been puttering around the house. I decided that the girls didn't need me to make any more skirts and dresses. Their tastes are different. I'd had clean the closet on the To Do list for a couple of weeks.
I used to make the girls skirts and dresses. They mostly wear leggings and jeans now! I threw away the shoe boxes with all those patterns. Well, I put it them into the kindling box. They were stored in the guest room closet and it just managed to become cluttered. I loathe throwing things away!
It felt good to clean stuff out. The miracle of the clean closet means I can put the vacuum in there! I have to write about this, or I will be fuming if I don't remember I did this and cannot find said vacuum. Do you know what I mean?
The bonus to being able to close the door means that I found the yarn and knitting needles I bought, hanging on the back of the door. I intended to reteach myself knitting. That hasn't happened and I had a good excuse. I am so impressed with the crafty people who knit, crochet, and quilt. I am not sure I have it in me, though.
I have a needle point I've worked on, sitting with clients. It was meant to be for the kids 10th wedding anniversary. (They are up to 16 years, now.) Whoopsie. I haven't had a client since COVID, and then she passed away during that time.
The Bears
There was water pooling under them, which can't be good. I put one of the cardboard corner braces, found in the box in which they arrived, under the plastic.
We continue to put up more lights, what-the-heck! Today I shall try glue one of the train wheels axles. Maybe we can get it going.
This is an old video from 2010. I loved Oliver so much! JB's cat, Sady, was amazing, too.
We are drawn to lights and colour, during these dreary days. As I write this it is raining.
I went to bed to read, whilst the cats made themselves busy.
I had another CRA phone call, the real deal when they quote their first name and employee number. They demanded I tell them the plan for repaying the $10,000 they say we owe.
I spent 15 minutes explaining the situation.
We didn't get their 'letters' on the website.
I borrowed from the Line of Credit and paid the amount owing from my 2019 error. It will take 5 - 10 days for them to receive our payment, including $194.37 in interest for 2019 mistake.
I have printed a letter outlining what has happened, that I've paid the 2019 overdue amount, and uploaded it to JB's tax return.
I have copied my medical receipts from 2020, they are mostly mine, and snail mailed them to CRA in Newfoundland (NL). Also, it will take until Dec. 1st to get our paperwork. Maybe longer as roads are washed out in NL.
He said he'd put a note on the file. I guess no one read the two page letter I uploaded to explain all this. Now we wait.
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