Trip to the Vet

 It was that time of year! Time for an annual examination, two vaccines, and a thermometer up the butt! 

It's a bit of a trick. I threw Cinnamon in the bathroom and shut the door. Joe worked on Nutmeg, grabbing her after luring her with a treat to his lap. I fled downstairs, grabbed the carriers and put them in the foyer out of sight. Nutmeg (AKA 'Maggie' some days!) was shoved in. I mistakenly put Cinnamon (in the larger carrier) on top. He rolled around and knocked himself over. 

This really ticks her off. 

Cinnamon howled all the way there. Once he was there, despite a dog barking outside in the waiting room, was fairly calm.

Joe manhandled her out of the carrier. It's really peculiar that this is 'home' when they are at the vet.

After we were done, I hauled them back out to the car. It looks, feels and sounds like Spring. I could hear a bird in Spring song. Merlin (I haven't used that app in months) told me it was the House Finch! 

Can you see it?! 

Well, no, you can't see it. I can confirm it as I heard him. And I have a photo from home. SPRING is coming!!!!!

 

We hauled them home, all was quiet during the drive. They know the drill. It is far easier to let them out of the carriers and run to the house. Cinn took off to the right towards the front door. Nutmeg to the left, to the back door.

Cats back in the house, they'll likely sleep all afternoon. It's anxiety-provoking for all of us.

Joe's idea was that we go to Westport for lunch. This view is amazing every time. Tricky place to work, there were flaggers.

He posited that we hadn't been to The Cove Inn restaurant since last summer. My favourite bird species is the heron. Isn't it ironic?!

It was nice and quiet. It's a spot that rocks at night, with live bands. 

It was a lovely drive on a sunny warm day. The rivers are flowing. It looks so promising. 

They are working on the telecom wires. In fact, there were a lot of people out working. Winter limits this activity.

On the way home, I noticed that the house that had a fire (Jan. 19, 2023) is finally coming along and nearly rebuilt. What a job. There have been shortages of workers, materials, and higher costs for everything. I feel for the family. 

We've more snow on the way. We'll see how that goes. The driveway just thawed. Oh well, it'll melt again. Labbit has been using the sidewalk!

A young buck visited!

There is so much happening in the world. This family, closer to home, had a house fire in January. They are still working on it. It hurts my heart all the issues around the world, and near to home.

The birds aren't bathing much, and my heater looks a bit the worse for wear. It took me forever to find a replacement screw with a nut. That said, it's away in the cupboard. The plug pulled out of the extension cord, and I cannot trust it. 

I switched out the bird bath fountain with a heated bowl. Thank you, A/C!  It is so much easier to clean during the cold winter.

We had a visitor on Sunday. A young buck, likely a fawn from this year. He was hanging around the front yard in the afternoon. I suspect he's lost his Mama. We'll watch out for him.

young buck from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷

COVID numbers are up in Ottawa. Poor 😷Isabelle got it last week. Thankfully, she's well vaccinated, and only had sniffles, a sore throat, and headache. She was able to make cookies on Thursday, and she stayed home from school on Friday. She is on the mend, however. 

Ontario is only tracking long-term care and congregate settings. Almonte, Prescott and Kemptville have cases.

🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷🕷

In an aside, my mystery bug (seen laying eggs) seems to be an Arthropod of some sort:

New updates in the last 24 hours from iNaturalist Canada

medolark added an identification to an observation  View Observation

Weird weather!

 

A wickedly cold morning, Sunday. Somehow, the bird bath became unplugged, but it was fine once I donned my down-filled yard duty coat, went outside, and plugged it back in for it to melt the ice.

Saturday there were popcorn clouds dumping snow and pop-up blizzards all afternoon.

Life carries on through to the end of winter. We passed the spot on the highway where the water main broke. It'll have to be repaved in finer weather.

They are still working on this house with fire damage. I feel so badly for them.

This was a snow shower. If you look closely you can see both sunshine and snow!

Sunday morning, there was a crowd under the great white pine tree. I still have branches to clean up!

noisy turkeys from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

snowy deer from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Fuzzy & friends from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Yes, right on the sidewalk.

Gramma Camp – March Break 2023

  Monday morning, graupel. We ended up with a centimetre or two. JB had to wake me up to get the garbage out by 8! Spring forward 🕰!

 I put the garbage out and it was raining down on me. Back indoors for my coffee. Hooray.

Isabelle arose by 10. Jos by 11! 

Grampa asked Isabelle, "What is the number of the day?" She didn't know.

"The answer is 3.14," he replied. Ah, pie day! Leftover blueberry pie for breakfast. Josephine, growing girl, finished off the pie later.

They packed up. Grampa finished off the tape of his curling final. Gushue won. The girls read. 

Sunday the girls did our nails. Grampa was game, but was pondering the colour.

We finished off the Jeopardy recording.

Grampa was thinking green, but I didn't have any. He thought he could do 🇺🇦 flag! All I had was gold. It worked.

We played Crazy 8's for awhile. Lots of fun and laughter. Jos packed up. Isabelle did the same, and deflated their queen-sized blow up bed. She helped me fold the big blankets.

We left about 4:15 for the Hostage Exchange. Momma texted me when she was leaving. I'd heard about a road closure in Perth. It turned out a water main burst, and there is a detour. I had a vague memory of that happening. Sure enough, February, 2011. In about the same spot. I vividly recall driving over that piece of the road, and seeing it bubbling across the highway.

It had changed over to rain. What a dreary day!

UPDATE: The town replied to me on FB, and they finished repairs later yesterday!

We arrived in Franktown, and did the exchange. Here is a happy herd of horses. 

The house that had the fire have begun rebuilding. Good to see. No one was hurt. Hooray for our volunteer firefighters! This was from January, 2023, the second photo Mar. 13.

We were home by 5:30, having stopped for salad bowls from the new Mexican place. We put our feet up, patted ourselves on the back for a great visit, and watched another episode of Bäckström.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program! I shall catch up with my blog friends!