Cinnamon walkies

It was -1 ℃. Thursday morning. We had a hard frost. 

The deer have been out and about. That cool weather! They gather together in herds in winter. Apparently, this is the place to be!

  

 Cinnamon and I went walkies. He was outside with me and asked to go to the back 40. He was a good helper. I set up our bears, and he sat with me on the edge of the pond. There were no frogs, they are asleep for winter.  

There are fish in the goldfish pond. I snagged one of the little orange ones and brought it in. The others are hardy, I think. 

Anyway, we went out back. No owl this time. Fungus!

And cedar trees!

Gramma Camp Week 22 – Thursday

 I awoke at 4:30. I figured I might as well go downstairs and chuck some firewood in the wood stove to keep the girls warm in their basement lair.

We began the day with a screaming dog. I taped it for them. Giggles all around. A great way to start the day. I cherry pick a few from my morning show, and they laughed. The other video was a twin, being called by the father, but he was calling the wrong name. The wee 2-year-old tried to point it out. 

thats ok, here have this screaming dog pic.twitter.com/ZW6gaaMttc

— 💜💛Golden_Freddyz9💛💜 (@GFreddyz9) January 28, 2021

While our local school board (USDSB) goes back to school Feb. 1st, Monday, and the girls' school board goes back then, as well, the girls have been doing virtual school since September. I think it was a good move, as they have that consistency over the months, and they are able to come to us alternate weeks.

We decided to quit virtual school at 1:30, and have a good break. Well, Isabelle and I. Josephine worked until 1:50. 

Izzy made a snow angel!

Isabelle and I checked on her trailcam. We found a spot where a deer peed, and mice tracks in the snow.

By then, Jos had joined us. She wanted to try and find Isabelle's trailcam by herself. She did!

They hung out at the tree, then began a snowball fight.

Josee climbed a tree!

Isabelle climbed a tree, too! Trust me, she's in there somewhere...

Refreshed, we went back indoors.

Grampa made the three of us tea and we set out to work. Isabelle brought Grampa's laptop into the dining room from her office, and we plugged away from 2:30 until after 4 p.m. I pulled ideas out of her brain, while Grampa threw vocabulary at us. She cleverly keeps a browser window open with Google Translate. Next, she typed out a script, translated what we couldn't do, rehearsed, she memorised the intro, and I filmed it. 

It was an ad for a product Izzy developed online: a plug in for her iPad, attached to her Mom's rowing machine.

We finished the ad. It was quite the process. It was assigned three weeks ago. A bit much for a gr. 5. I wonder who is monitoring the teacher assignments. I know there is a principal to oversee the teachers. 

If I were the teacher, I'd have broken the steps down, scaffolding the project, saying page one is due today, second section the next, with support.  isabelle ad They need the structure in this online forum.

After Grampa brough pizza home, and we ate, we gathered in the living room. Izzy pretended to be irked I'd taken yet another photo of her! At dinner we discussed red hair, and Isabelle explained how it is a recessive gene and she must have gotten it from her paternal grandfather, who had red hair. We have interesting discussions over dinner! 

The wolf moon...  I showed it to the girls. It's the best I would do for a photo. I could have hauled out the tripod, but I chose not to. 

I tucked the girls in, and there was Cinnamon, nestled in the bed with them. 

Oregano was outside, I spotted the motion sensor lights on, the poor wee thing. Izzy asked what I was going to do about it. She offered one of their live traps for me. I said that the rescue shelters are pretty full, plus he's likely feral, and not inclined to be a pet. I don't know how he survives. 

COVID with the Grandies – Week 18 Monday

We woke up Monday to power. That was a good thing. We've some tree branches down. Rain and snow were anticipated. Although central Ontario has snow, it'll change to rain when it gets to us.

The birds at the feeders have been frantic for food. It's as if they know a storm is coming. Blue jays, goldfinches in their winter clothes, chickadees. One pair of cardinals. Lots of mourning doves.

The goldfinches have turned olive. I had trouble getting a photo. Mind you, I was pretty lazy, and sitting in my arm chair, but any closer and the birds take off. The video camera is pretty lame.

Up on the hill, there were two bucks. One older one, the other I couldn't see behind a tree. It was too dark for a photo at the time. We lost a branch in the storm.

Grampa was up early. He has garbage to put out, and a physiotherapy session at 8 a.m. The cats are a bit tired.

Isabelle and I were working on breakfast. I was refilling the cat food crunchies container. (It's pretty loud!) This is Daisy supervising, in 2014, just so you understand the process. 

Isabelle said, "To the cats – that must be the sound of heaven. It may as well be the angels singing!" 

After breakfast, some play time. Unfortunately, the paddles were scraping off the hardwood finish. I moved them to the kitchen.

Clip0 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

I set the girls off at 8:48 to log on for 9. Isabelle couldn't see all the images of the classmates. The Internet isn't working well for her. I think it might just be the wind moving our tower extension. I don't know. She couldn't see all her classmates. We'll keep on it. 

Eventually, the faces began to pop up as the wind slowed a bit. 

Also, there are kids with multiple zoom images. Iz says it's because they have more than one tab open. She was quite disgusted, as if the screen isn't busy enough! The teachers can close them, but she didn't seem bothered. 

Caitlin sent me an email memo from virtual school powers-that-be. It was information that the teachers are going to teach the kids a Shutdown protocol. If there is a medical emergency, the staff member will say "SHUTDOWN" three times, and students are to log out. I imagine there was a medical emergency somewhere, sometime, and it's not something kids should view.

These are some of the pages the kids work from. It's rather interesting.

At 9:30 I went downstairs for my workout, satisfied that all was well. 

Grampa returned from physio. A bit of panic. Grampa is taking in the car for snow tires on Tuesday. He couldn't find the lug nut (AKA wheel nut). We looked everywhere. Even Josephine was enlisted for help during her lunch break. I did find our lost flip phone! 

Then, Josephine needed a protractor. I looked everywhere. In my office, desk, cupboards. Nada. Finally, a brilliant thought, I asked Isabelle. She had one in her geometry set, which she'd been told to bring for this week's math. Whew!

At the afternoon break, (1:45 – 2:30) we went outside while Grampa napped. It was just at the right time. It was cold, Josephine had to go in and get my coat. Then, back for asynchronous activities until 3:30. Both worked until 4 p.m.

Jos was too cold, and went back into the house for my raincoat.

When we got back into the house, hail!

Momma had left us some pineapple for snacks. I broke the container. Sorry Momma!

After another 45 minutes of work, Isabelle did her run around the house. Grampa bought us a stopwatch, she ran around twice in 52 seconds.

Dinner went over well!

At dinner we were talking about 'the pot calling the kettle black!'

After dinner, we vegged watching TV. Border Security is always fun. They are all reruns. I like the role models. Well, in the staff, not the perps! A sniffer dog always amazes us. It's wonderful seeing women in these jobs!

Buried Worlds with Don Wildman. Oh my. Witches, spirits. Dr. Dee's Shew Stone.  

Disasters At Sea, as well. 

Finally, I'd taped a 7-minute tribute to Alex Trebek, showing him in various sitcoms, and walk-in parts. Josephine really likes Jeopardy. We finished off the day watching Monday's show while Isabelle showered. "It's kinda sad," mourned Jos. But a great life, I replied.

I couldn't find Isabelle, after the shower. I went downstair, no Izzy! She was in her office, writing poetry!

She was tucked in for 8:30, Jos read until 9.

A good day for all of us.