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. 

Gramma Camp Week 22 Wednesday

A big winter storm, and lots to clean out.  One of our cats brought a big fat mouse. I left it on the front deck. In the meantime, in this awful storm, Oregano was back.

In the morning the mouse was gone, and there was a set of lonely cat tracks! The trailcam didn't capture anything of Oregano. 

The day dawned, and we had friends in the backyard.

The school bus ran a bit early, just in case there was a computer issue. I hadn't told Izzy that her laptop  turned on. She feels so badly spilling water on it.

I was so excited that the computer turned on. Izzy noticed that the cord plug light wasn't on, meaning it wasn't charging at all. I ran around trying different outlets then changed the cord for Josee's computer cord. Neither made a difference. The computer was quite hot, from Google Classroom activities.  I said wait until I'm finished clearing the driveway, and we'll see. 

Once the girls went to work for the first virtual school session, I went out to do the front walk. My back was good, and I kept going. My back is much better, thankfully! Thanks, all, for your empathy.

I did the 100 m driveway, and it is spiffy. I'd say we had about 10 cm of light snow. The snow blower had some inhabitants. About one third of the way up the drive, a deermouse popped out. Then, at the end of the driveway, another bailed. They came flying out of somewhere and bury themselves in the snow. 

Nope to the computer fix. It works, but still isn't recharging. I consulted Momma, again, and we decided to do the rice treatment, again. There is rice in my slippers, all over the bathroom floor, I’d don’t think I ever want to eat rice again! I had some leftover rice casserole for lunch, and managed to spill some on the counter and the floor. I just shook my head! Grampa cleaned it up for me, so frustrating! 

Thing is, it's a lovely, sunny day, now. I cranked up the heat a tad, with the computer on top of the heating vent. Our house keeps the heat in pretty well, and the furnace isn't on all that long. 

I gave her Grampa's computer to use. His videocamera doesn't work, as it is my old computer. Nor can Momma message her. 

During the afternoon break, Isabelle volunteered to shovel the back deck. Then, Jos came out to fetch the trailcam card. She had lots of deer on it.

Much fun in the snow. You wonder why I log this, but Momma has to send a weekly report on the kid's physical education activities. sigh. It's not simple. 

Gramma Camp Week 22 Tuesday

I knew snow was on the way! Happily, it arrived after their virtual school was virtually done for the day. It always slows the system down. We've a lot of snow on the ground. 

I was out in the cold the other day. The wind was blowing and our creaky tree  was a bit worrisome! One day it will split, I betcha!

 

  
We usually watch This Morning in the morning. They have snippets of news, not too much. They mostly have interesting interviews, and fun videos of babies, cats, and dogs. It is often quite uplifting.

The girls pop in while doing their breakfast and I am blogging, before the great Google Classroom begins. I called them in to watch this snippet. Re: virtual school

 

We began our day. Cinnamon bagels for breakfast. The girls konked out on the couch, biding their time.

8 a.m. this morning: "So, granddaughters," said Grampa, "you see my head, and where it is attached to my neck?" [Nods from both girls.] "I like it this way. So..."

"We'll go brush our teeth!"

The standing joke is that we (gramma and grampa) have to be accountable to Momma or she'll "rip our heads off." 

They worked hard Tuesday. Poor Izzy used Grampa's laptop while hers dries out from her water spill. She feels so badly. 

In the afternoon, Josephine did an experiment on water density. She has to take photos of her work.

At Christmas time, I was texting Isabelle, and asking what she wanted for Christmas. Giraffe PJs. I ordered this on Nov. 24th, and then had to choose a substitute order since they were 'no longer available.'

The good news is that they finally arrived Jan. 26th. Happy dance!

It fits, although the legs are a bit short. This is an adult small! Isabelle is 10-years-old.

Happy girl!

Out to check trailcams.

Things didn't go well with Josephine's trailcam. She explained to me that it works much better if you turn the camera on! Tomorrow, we'll get it.

Caitlin's orchid is still alive. We'll cross our fingers.

Grampa wondered if a giraffe was ticklish! Apparently, they are!

I ended up turning up the heat in the house. Keeping the fire going in the basement takes them too much brain power and energy. They feel obliged to keep adding to it in the night, too. I decided just to use the small heater.  These are trying times. We don't need more stress.

Afternoon recess checking trailcams 

 

Her trailcam video...trailcam by Iz 

  

Dinner was carrots, broccoli and chicken. We were regaled with stories of Norse Mythology. They bounced the story back and forth as they remembered details from an audio book. 

We watched The Mummy, skipping the beginning gory bits. We had a lovely bonding time with all. 

The girls were tucked in when I remembered the watered laptop. Papa said to leave it for 24 hours. I suggested to Isabelle that it was great. We'll be able to eat the rice, since there was heat and moisture. She guffawed. 

Anyway, I lifted it up, and rice went flying. SIGH. Then, I swept it into a pile to work on later. I opened it up, ad it turned on. Good news! I won't tell Isabelle but see if she discovers it!