We made it to Friday!

Friday morning, the cats left some treats for Valentine's Day. It was PD Day, and they slept in. Monday is Family Day, and so a 4-day weekend.

Isabelle did some artwork.  

♩♪♫♬  🎶 All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go!

You'll note the paper bag (above), with the paper bag coming out of it. I offered to repot Caitlin's wee orchid. It was not doing well. Still isn't.

Grampa had to go get groceries. I proposed an idea to the girls, how about Grampa buys a new orchid for Momma and you guys present it to her, pretending I resurrected it? It worked. Momma texted me, "I can't believe how green your thumb is!" 

We are so sad they deferred March Break. Our online kids have worked so hard, through difficult times. Students and parents are lobbying the education minister, high school kids, particularly. The Minister of Education is deleting negative comments on Instagram. Those kids are ticked off with their weird quadmesters.

JB asked about April. Thing is, the kids have Good Friday and Easter Monday off, and a PD day on the 23rd. It's a bit of a loosey goosey month. There are those who say COVID will be worse in April, as well. 

Anyway, back to our videos. I've still been feeding Oregano, our feral friend. The food froze in the cat house the night before. I realized the 25 W heater is towards the back of the house. It is a tad chilly, this morning, at -22.

Oregano, Feb. 10, 20:41

 

 

Grampa regaled us with story and song! MVI_0192

 

  

Two days in a row! MVI_0193

 

 

We had three female turkeys wander through the forest. IMG_0017 

 

For more critters, visit Eileen: 

Saturday's Critters # 374

Gramma Camp – Week 23

I am so upset. We were looking forward to March Break. Ontario is cancelling it. Sorry, deferring it to April 12th. Our kids were so anticipating it. Our dippy health dude says they are safer at school. Seriously.  Our kids have worked so hard. Lecce, the education minister's former (private) high school, is giving everyone TWO weeks off. 

 The OCDSB has 17,000 students in virtual school (OCV) which began Friday, September 18th. We've been plugging away at it! OCV Elementary has 13,000 students, divided into six campuses according to their home school. The secondary school supports approximately 4,000 students. Today (feb. 12) is a PD Day, thankfully.

There is a contest to create a new logo, with each class choosing the best of their class. Josephine's was chosen from her class of 35. Isn't that an honour?! She is always sketching. Today they reviewed a bunch of them, I think 10, which they voted on.

Wednesday

OK, back to our day. Our 20 minutes of exercise comes in the afternoon, at 1:30 or so. 

IMG_0027  

Isabelle tried to feed the chickadees by hand. So did Jos. It didn't work.

Isabelle was down in the meadow, holding her hand up for chickadees. 

Thursday

We had 15 deer!

Dinner was from Kothu Lab. It is Sri Lankan, and yummy. All made to our spice levels. Isabelle likes the spice. 

Back to our outdoor trek. I showed Josephine what our young buck's antler might look like. We didn't have too much snow between now and when he lost it. The sticks fool us all the time.

Down at the point, tracks of some sort!

Another loss leader! The stick fooled us, as it was buried in snwo.

The Barred Owl

We kept on walking, hoping for the best. Remember our rabbit tracks?

Down between the large cedars, on the edge of the wetland, I saw something fly. It was the barred owl. I pointed it out to Jos. I didn't have my videocamera, nor my reading glasses. 

It flew to another tree, and we could see it was holding a rabbit. Jos took the camera to try and focus on the owl. It was tricky, as there were so many branches in the way.

Josephine was thrilled, as was I. The owl flew off to the forest, and onto the ground, where it was safer to eat her prey.

Gramma Camp – Week 23

It's been a snowy month. Not a lot of snow, but a little every few days. There is a perfect snow cover. 

I usually sneak down in the dark, and stoke the fire for the girls in the basement. I went down Tuesday, and Isabelle was sitting on the bed, in the dark, getting dressed. She scared me, again! BOO!

Our day began. The school bus escorted them to their respective offices. 

I toodled on down the hall, peeking in her office, “How’s old Josephine doing?” 

     “Old Josephine is doing fine!” She loves her math! She was working beyond her allotted asynchronous time. When she finishes a worksheet, she takes a photo of it with her iPad, and then has to upload it. 

The girls had leftover hamburgers for lunch. I was in the living room, while they prepared. I heard a loud crash! "I'll go!" I said to Grampa. Poor Isabelle nuked her hamburger on an old lunch plate of my Mother's, and it retained the heat. She went to take the plate out of the microwave, and she dropped it! The first words out of her mouth, "I'm OK!" (That was my concern!) I washed the hamburger off, and they ate while I tidied. The plates are getting pretty old, and it was time!

Jos repeated her set back from Monday, on Tuesday. When heating her soup, she turned on the wrong burner! We giggled. 

Grampa did his usual lunchtime entertainment. This time, Felix sang "Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley" for us all. 

At the dining room table with me, Iz worked hard on her Sen. Anne Cools biography, for Black History Month! She told me she was grateful it was in English! I told her how to pronounce psychology. These are big concepts for Gr. 5.

Josephine and I went on a walkabout. We had a purpose, looking for our young buck's antler. He lost the one several days ago. Usually, they lose them both within 24 hours, according to my sources. 

Frosty need a paint job done. It's too cold to paint. I'll do it in the spring. He is wearing his mask!

The flag blew off the hook. Jos is light enough that she climbed the arbour to rehang it for me!

Back indoors, there was reading and sketching. The girl fetched wood and stacked it before dinner. Then we had our dumplings. 

Gramma Camp – Week 23

The morning began, as usual. The school bus safely delivered them to their respective offices. Josee's coworker was wiped, busy morning, and so he rested.

The day went pretty well. Isabelle checked the weather station. Ah, it's 4! I didn't have the heart to tell her it was -4 C.! 

By the afternoon break, Isabelle and I went outdoors. Jos was still working. She loves math! Her coworker stayed put, too. You can see him peeking at us from the window!

Isabelle decided to check out the goldfish pond. As she told the story to Jos and Grampa, "I dug down a quarter of a metre, to check the ice. I walked across it. Then I remembered that you're safe on ice by spreading yourself out." 

She did a face plant, for some reason. She didn't know why!

Flashback to 2011

The girls and Momma helped me to finish off the goldfish pond. They brought home some rocks. [How to build a pond 5 – Sept. 2011] 

I told Isabelle the story about when when she was about three, and was visiting after the first big snow one winter. I asked her where the goldfish pond went. It was quite snow covered. She looked, and was quite disconcerted. "We have to dig it out!" Of course, the fish were indoors in the fish tank! 

Back to the present

Isabelle went to sit on her snow chair. 

From there, we went down to the island in the wetland. It was a pretty day, cold, and we dressed for it.

We crossed the island, and played.

Isabelle made me some lichen tea. We tried punning our way through this. "I'm likin' this!" Groaners!

While we were there, deer island, on the other side of the island, I heard a noise. The deer hadn't heard us. She went by, and took off, the other turned back. They are quite shy in the forest and wetland. 

 

Back indoors, Isabelle's asynchronous work involved a salt, sugar, and flour experiment. They are studying matière!

Thankfully we old farts have trouble seeing, and have a couple lying around. The magnifying glass wasn't great. 

She had to ask for more drawing time from Momma. They use ProCreate on their iPads.

The shapes weren't clear under the microscope, so I searched for 'microscope salt, sugar', and came up with some better images, and that helped the drawing process. They know how to draw in the program, copy the images into their Classroom Google, and then hand it in.