Gramma Camp – Week 26

NEWS BULLETIN: they found the little 3-year-old lost in the woods not far from us. What a blessed relief. Today, it is snowing.

This Jude being carried out of the woods at scene. The three year old survived in the woods alone after going missing from his parents property Sunday morning. Incredible. More coming shortly @ctvottawa pic.twitter.com/SUsS2QCKz9

— Graham Richardson (@grahamctv) March 31, 2021

Happy Grampa. We've just a little deer food left. We stop feeding them after winter. JB went outside, having spotted Zola with the broken leg. As he walked towards the feeder, a deer ran up to him. It was Zola. She is not cured, but she can run, even with the broken leg. 

I was happy to have made JB an appointment for a vaccine. He gets his first jab at the end of April. It's a 40-minute drive into Brockville, which is doable. A bit ridiculous, I think. It's so stressful. We've so many appointments for healthcare. I don't qualify, yet, being under 70, and I dread more driving for appointments. We have a few this week, we'll see what is or isn't cancelled. 

Isabelle helped JB feed the cats, and then she fed the fishies. His neck is still bad. She's a peach. 

Today, we're getting our new summer tires on. Sadly, it is snowing, but it won't last!

We're sending the Easter decorations the girls made for their cousins to Vancouver. I wrote a note to go with it.

Jos is having fun with math. Both girls love math. What I noticed, since Jos has to email them to me to print, is that the teachers are using American learning activities. We use the metric system in Canada. It's a moot point, now. Rumours are we're going into a month-long shutdown in Ontario. Other rumours say not the schools or daycare. 

Josee's working hard on math and Gr. 8's "Systems in Action." She was filling in this worksheet. It looks like it's not meant for Gr. 8, but the Gr. 4 'Pulleys and Levers' curriculum. Oh my. My M.Ed. was in Curriculum and Technology!

Our standing joke is the 'postcards' we keep giving Isabelle. It's an ad for something. She feigns excitement!

I put on Frosty's Easter tie, but it is a bit faded.

The meadow is still a bit of a pond.

The frog pond is waking up and life is reawakening. Not tonight, we're forecast for -8 C.

You can see Isabelle tree climbing in the rain!

We've had rain, and you can see where the water barrel drains into the goldfish pond.

I tucked them in. Jos and Cinnamon! They worked hard all day.

Gramma Camp Week 22

We've gotten in supplies. We're grateful for our garage fridge, although we had to bring the juices and water in as they were frozen!  

Izzy has a new gym sheet she has to hand in. They are making them accountable for physical education. Working parents are being given more and more layers of complication. We spent 50 minutes outside Monday. 

Josephine's health teacher assigned them this project: make a meal for your family. Jos chose minestrone soup and focaccia bread with rosemary. The poor girl had to clean up, too. 

Happy meal, it was wonderful. They had to take photos of everything, including themselves cleaning up!

Isabelle relaxed in her office. 

Our health unit, Leeds Grenville & Lanark, is sending local kids back to school. Ottawa kids are still out, as well as others in the large cities near Toronto. 

 We know how difficult it is to monitor kids virtual school, while physically juggling your work. Some teachers or school boards are sending home strongly worded memos for parents to back off! You cannot yell at the teachers on zoom in front of or over the shoulder of your kid! 

The rule should be, 'Don't do or say anything you wouldn't do if it was in-person schooling!'

That said, our kids and grandkids are doing really well. Our kids in Vancouver are socially isolating from their families. Jess is working from home, and his daughters are both going to school. One is in kindergarten 5 days a week, the other in nursery school two afternoons a week. 

Sunday night we did showers, had a pep talk for the upcoming week, planned meals, and talked about making them more comfortable here. They seem about as happy as they can be, all things considered. 

Josephine tells me she wants me to get her up early. With the push for physical education by their virtual teachers, they are really committed. They go for a 10-minute family walk every school morning, prior to school. We oldersters, with insomnia, ease ourselves into the day. I was awake at 4:30, and finally got back to sleep after 90 minutes. sigh. I know my blog friends experience the same thing!

We're back on schedule this week. 

Schedule

09:00 - 10:00 - first period

10:00 – 11:00 – second period

11:00 – 11:45 – nutrition break

11:45 – 12:45 – 3rd period

12:45 –   1:30 – 4th period

  1:30 –   1:45 – asynchronous, independent work

  1:45                 –45 minute break

  2:30 –   3:30 – final asynchronous work period.

I came up with a new plan for phys ed. I thought I could assign each girl a trailcam, they can look for tracks and figure out where they could put up their camera. Also, Grampa's walking track is a bit narrow. We asked if they could go out and widen the track with snowshoes. They did, on Sunday, bless their hearts. I usually do, but I cannot find my snowshoes. It's a bit weird. We've looked everywhere. I usually keep them in the garage, but sometimes will put them on the front deck in the sun to dry off. 

Grampa started the day with the school bus, lights flashing. 

Breaks are wonderful, watching the deer out front!

We went outside during the 45 minute break. I showed Izzy the coyote tracks. 

She chose her location for the trailcam.

I noticed that the turquoise of the bottom of her boots reflects on the snow.

She'd made a chair and a snowman outside last time they were here. I suggested they spray paint them. Jos painted the chair, with permission, of course. Evergreen branches for hair!

We had a great day, until the last asynchronous period, when Isabelle accidentally spilled her water on her laptop. Emergency phone call to Momma, I offered to phone, but Iz said it was her fault, she should make the call! 

We consulted Papa and turned the laptop upside down, put some rice on the screen side. Isabelle found a cat toy to prop it open. We wrapped it in plastic and put it on two books over the heater. We will hope for the best. Papa said we should keep it there for 24 hours. He's the computer expert. Cross your fingers for us! She can use one of our computers for school on Tuesday. 

Pot pie and BBQ ribs for dinner, with mashed potatoes for us, and corn for Iz. 

COVID with the Grandies Week 18 – Thursday

 I woke at 4 a.m., eventually I fell back to sleep, after listening to the news, and an Ideas program. Then, next thing I know Grampa was nudging me awake at 7:40.

I roused the girls, making sure Iz was REALLY awake. Grampa and I logged in while there was bandwidth!

8:19 a.m. – GRAMMA: "Have you done your teeth, Izzy? If you get cavities..."

            "Momma will rip your head off!"

Grampa went walkies. Apparently, Nutmeg was happily skating on the frozen wetland. 

8:26 – Two girls reading on the couch! Teeth done. Breakfast had, time to read.

8:47 – "Jos, do you know what time it is?"

    "No, what time?"

    "8:47"

   " I'll wait until 8:50. "

9:00 – Cinnamon was on top of the fishtank, again. I could hear a peculiar noise. I sprayed him with water to get him down, and found the intake valve was loose. Sigh. 

From Isabelle's office: "Cinnamon, leave my ear buds alone. Cinnamon, leave my iPad alone!" Cinnamon was kicked outside.

10:00 – I went downstairs to do my workout, hoping all was well. Grampa was off to Carleton Place to fetch his supplements from Dr. Jenn.

11:00 – lunch 

    I gave the girls menus from our local restaurants. Thursday is our Take In day! The consensus was Asian Fusion from the Hot Wok. 

Momma and Papa are having adult food at home!

11:43 – They are to be back online for 11:45. I waited to see, but both of them took off down the hall to log back in. They are great independent learners! I don't nag if I don't have to.

12:15 – I heard a yell from her office. Izzy was yelling, PAPER! I need PAPER! I snatched a piece from the printer. 

    Next, I heard, "TAPE, I need Tape, Gramma!" We found tape. (Izzy gave a note to self: "I probably should have gathered my equipment first!")

    We lost the scissors, under her book. Apparently, someone (feline?) may have knocked equipment to the floor, behind the door. I suggested Iz turn on her video so that the teacher would know where she was at in the process. They were to fold the paper in thirds, lengthwise. Iz did it the other way and had to begin again. Couldn't find the geometry set. She needed to mark out 5 cm along the paper.

    She was to predict the ball bouncing. I already know that. Papa explained that it won't gain momentum. When push someone on a swing, it never comes back to you.

        TEACHER: "You can talk to a scientist."

        IZZY: "I can do that any time I want. My mom's a hydrogeologist!"

2:00 – afternoon break

Josephine and I went to fetch the trailcam cards. I warned her I'd moved the 2nd camera. She said, "Don't tell  me where it is. I want to find it myself! It's a big yard, but I can find it."

She did!

Down we went to the meadow, and across into the forest.

From there, we checked out the partly frozen frog pond. The ice was melting, as we are a bit warmer than before. 

Jos peered down the post. It was a pipe with a frozen core. We poked it and it bounced up and down.

Next, we were talking about mice friends. I told her I'd show her the vole tunnels. She did, just like I do, when she stepped on one she said, "Sorry. Sorry, vole!"

I showed her the gypsy moth eggs on the tree. She asked if we should remove it. "How do you remove them?"

        "We scrape them, then drop them into soapy water. But we don't have a scraper. Or water. Or soap!"

Next, incorrigible Nutmeg ran away.

Speaking of running! I finally snagged Isabelle on the trailcam. She didn't use the stopwatch properly, and didn't have an accurate time. Her afternoon asynchronous session tells her to run around the house twice. Today, she was 53 seconds, I think because she was checking the watch while running!

We ordered dinner from The Hot Wok. Wonton soup, egg rolls and broccoli with shrimp. I tucked them in, banked the fire, and off to dreamland they went.

Jos and Nutmeg.

COVID with the Grandies – Week 18 Wednesday

 It was a cold morning.

I'm having issues with the weather station. First thing this morning, 20 C.?

I replaced the batteries in the receiver outdoors. 

The mattress is holding up. The girls are sleeping on an inflated queen-sized one. They woke up Sunday, and were just about flat on the ground. Momma figured it out, before they went home. I found her some duct tape, which is working. Whew! I think it was a cat or two...

I had my coffee, then, at 7:30 toodled on downstairs. "Wakey wakey time! Daylight in the swamp!" (That's what my dad used to say, back in inner city Toronto!)

Josephine sat up, I asked if she wanted privacy to get dressed. She did. We talked to Isabelle. Jos had breakfast and fed the fish. At 8:00 o'clock I leaned over the railing and reminded Izzy it was 8. I went downstairs, and she said I never woke her at 7:30!

Izzy asked for eggs Monday. We didn't get any until Tuesday afternoon. We had scrambled eggs, fruit and toast.

8:53 Josephine: "Gotta run, you guys. Don't want to miss the bus."

2:38 Isabelle: "I've got a coworkers."

Break time. Voracious readers.

I keep dropping my drug store reading glasses. I've crazy glued them three times.

The cats chose not to be out in the yard. It was cold, about -7 C., according to the other thermometers. 

Fungus beside the dead tree!

Grampa and Cinnamon checked out the pumpkins in the forest.

JB & Cinnamon from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The raccoons like the pumpkins.

Raccoons from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.