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. 

 

Fall Chores

Fall Chores 

Lots of chores to do, with the impending snow today. It is on its way.

 I had to move the snowblower from the storage shed to the garage. It won't start without being plugged in. Well, *I* can't start it manually! Some of you may be able to, but not me! You should have seen me trying to wrestle that thing across the yard. There are quite a few vole push ups and the ground is soft. I had to do it in small attacks. But I'm not failing! 

This morning it is -3 ℃, and the goldfish pond has a shim of ice on top. Our Great Blue Herons have flown south. The fish have gone deep, and the reptiles and amphibians sleep.

The cement bird bath is fragile in winter. The heater gets unplugged, and we have massive, sudden changes in temperatures. This is what happens:

But, this morning, so far so good. 

 The nut and screw are rusted, and I'll have to get on that.

Soon I'll switch over to the bird bath A/C gifted me. It really makes it so much easier in the depths of winter! It is much easier to clean. 

Next job: fill up the feeders. I always feel happy to feed the birds! 

I detached and drained the 2nd water barrel which goes to the goldfish pond. If that freezes, it'll crack the barrel. 

Sunday morning:

🚉 🛤️ 🚉 🛤️ 🚉 🛤️ 🚉 🛤️ 🚉 🛤️ 🚉 🛤️ 🚉 🛤️ 🚉 🛤️ 

I've news of our Ottawa grandies. Aster took the train to visit Jordan in Kingston. She went to classes with Jordan, and came back Friday afternoon. Jordan is crazy busy with things going on, and I am sure Aster misses him terribly. They must have had fun. 

Aster made pizza! Papa hammed it up.

Saturday, Jordan wrote :  "It’s Dark Matter Day, and Queens had some cool talks and tours of the observatory! 🔭🔭☄️" 

He has so much going on, studying astrophysics! 

Snow Day Part 2, Monday!

Today looks to be a bit chilly. We shall see. I just hope we have sunshine. It makes all the difference.

I am terribly happy I chose to do the snow half way through the storm. The snow just kept falling on the weekend! That was yesterday's post for Part 1. The clouds cleared away, and the sun shone Monday. 

My second job was the sidewalk. I didn't do the sidewalk on Sunday, despite doing the driveway. It's  crucial for getting out in an emergency, not so the sidewalk. I knew, too, that the wind was going to blow, and move the light, fluffy snow flakes to end up on the driveway. 

This was Monday morning. There is a sidewalk there. Honest! We had gusty wind all night.

Storm Feb. 16

🌤Behold, the glorious sunshine!

How much snow did we get? Mebbe 30 cm. It's really hard to tell, what with blowing snow. A lot of this was blown off the roof, but it still had to be moved. I couldn't get to the bird feeder. That is a metre/yard stick behind the shovel.

There was about 30cm in the middle of the sidewalk. I took my time. I had to. The birds were winging, and singing. They were happy I cleaned off the feeders! The oak leaves are blowing everywhere. Someone in my house has to sweep out the garage.

That done, I had to start work on the driveway for the second day in a row. This is what the driveway looked like as I made it to the highway. It was daunting.

This is heavy snow, knee-deep. It took a lot of work. I had to take little bites out of it over several passes.

This is a respectable pile of snow. It's almost too high to blow it over the pile off the drive. Almost. Aside from the wind flinging it in my face, I made progress.

The highway wasn't too bad, but I'm going to have to wash my coat. When traffic roars by, it splashes the slush. Most drivers are kind and pull away from me at the side of the road. This wasn't true for the propane tanker. It flew by at top speed, and splashed me. Fortunately, I'd turned my back as I know what happens. 

The house looks cosy, nestled in the snow. We had a propane delivery last week. They'd never get through the snow to get to the tanks on the far side of the house today. It's about 60 cm on the front lawn.

I'm nearly done. Progress was being made until...

Disaster struck. I ran out of gas. Just metres away from the garage the motor sort of flickered and I put it in top gear to hurry. I had to resort to two extension cords to restart it after I put gas back in. 

Thanks to another face warmer from Jean in New Zealand, I lived to tell the tale. It snowed all day, into the night. My hat belonged to my late father. It was a gift from BJ.  It says Bee Jay's Grill Breakfast Club! That's where mom and dad used to get their take out meals in Bala.  

This used to be BJ's in Bala, Muskoka! Once dad had his licence taken away due to his brain tumour and subsequent dementia, they would phone in their fish and chips order. Mom would drive in. BJ would bring them their meal to the car window and they would take it home to eat.

This was BJ's place! He was a sweet man. His older parents helped him at the grill, as he was mentally challenged. Eventually it was sold. Ah, good times!

Cinnamon was mushy! After I'd shovelled out, and had a hot shower, I got into jammies and got my blanket.

 

I suspect we may have two Labbits! I'm seeing our bunny about, more on that later.

 

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.