Catching up with this and that

 The 'new' deck! Hunter rebuilt it for us. I shall stain it if we ever get some consistently warm weather.

We continue with the ribbon game in the bathroom. 

You know in animal rehabs and zoos they put stuff out as intellectual stimuli for the critters. Somebody went to the bathroom. Nutmeg was patiently waiting for Joe Brian to slide the ribbon under the door. So funny. I went to powder my nose and left the door ajar. She peek around at me to see if I was playing. 

We've had cold nights and warm days. In the warmth, the moths were out, then they thought better of it as it got cold!

Fred has been happy with green grass. 

She is vigilant.

I mistakenly filled the fountain too early! 

The early Spring flowers are almost in bloom. 

Daffodils, two days apart:

Lenten Rose, Hellebore 

Sweet little crocus:

My middle 'child' did a 10k run in Vancouver. I am most proud of him. I have explained to him that once you hit 40 it is all downhill! He is proving he is good. He turns 43 in May!  Joe Brian says, 'The first 60 years are easy!'

Bryony turned 8 yesterday. We spoke on the weekend when Jesse had 5 minutes to talk! She explained that they are having Student-led conferencing, and her friend will be late to her birthday party. They are so precious! 

Snowy Acres

 We had 14 cm snow, and it is snowing again today, Sunday. Everything needed to be cleaned off! 

I did the sidewalk in between an Olympic event. It was with great excitement that I spotted tracks on the step.

I finished shoveling and went back in to check the Crumbly Acres camera.

I followed them and they came from around the house. Then disappeared on the front deck. That was suspicious. 

Turns out Cinnamon was outside, and Joe let him in just as he was going to bed at 10 pm. He likes to hunt mice in the garage and I must have forgotten I'd let him out.  

After another Olympic event, I went out to do the driveway. My precious snowblower!!!!

The propane truck came before I'd gotten this done. He was stuck on our hill, here, and threw some sand down. It really helped!

In the afternoon I did the back deck: 

I snuggled down and Cinnamon sat on my lap. Nutmeg is not a lap cat! She sleeps in her own bed on the chair.

 

Our Ottawa grandies and JL, my SIL, went to the hills!

Aster and Jordan shared with Papa, I am sure!

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!

Grandie Update

 The grandies, and presumably their parents, have been busy! I'll begin out west. Jesse has taken his kids to another ski tournament. I tried to make a video of his videos but I couldn't put them into iMovie. 

Stills will have to suffice. Cluny and Bryony, happy winter bunnies.

In Ottawa, Aster is doing well during gr. 10 exams, I've been told. Joe and I were watching an episode of MasterChef Australia and one participant made choux. I recalled that Aster and I tried to make choux. It was during Gramma Camp Week 19 during COVID. A Zoom project for her Girl Guides group. 

We laughed so hard. It didn't look that difficult! We missed a step or something.

Jordan attended the Canadian Space Conference, as I mentioned. He was in Ottawa Friday, Saturday and Sunday, making back on the train to Queen's U just before they stopped said train due to blowing snow. 

I found the Research Astronaut's Code very interesting.  

Research Astronaut's Code

Community. Excellence. Leadership. Experience. Service. Teamwork. Integrity. Science. Discovery.

• I go in the name of science and discovery.
• I will conduct myself with the utmost professionalism at all times.
• I will set the standard for excellence, and raise the bar for what it means to be an explorer.
• No problem is insurmountable. Together with my team, we will work the problem.
• Adversity will not get me down.
• When challenges arise, I will deploy every resource and skill at my disposal to overcome.
• My crew can rely on me, and I can rely on them – we have each other's backs.
• The order of operations will always be: safety, science, outreach, fun. Always.\Mission success starts and ends with us.
• We will blaze trails and forge new pathways for those who come after us.
• We go in the name of humanity.

What have I been doing?! Trying to move snow off the driveway. It was twirly snow, any time I'd switch the direction of the auger hood, the wind would switch and it'd get me in the face! The joys of winter.