Gramma Camp – Week 25 Thursday

 I got up at 7 a.m., headed into the bathroom. I thought I saw motion in Isabelle's room. Out I came, and ambled down the hall. Isabelle surprised me at from the top of the stairs, "Boo!" She got me. 

I went downstairs to wake Josephine, and I couldn't make the bed bounce. It is a nice firm mattress.

Iz was supposed to be doing leg lifts, except there wasn't room in her office/bedroom. I imagine a lot of kids have that problem! Next, an emergency, running downstairs, she said she needed paper to draw on. I stopped my workout to find some. Whew! She drew a dragon while waiting for her group to meet. They are doing a project on a trip to Athens. I always gave kids the opportunity to work alone if a group didn't work out. 

One kid is drawing a dragon, the other a wolf and wolf pup. Jos is working on an animated cartoon, using her drawings.

This morning I heard a 🐣robin. Spring is on its way. Fuzzy and mommy watched me in the forest.

The girls carried on. Jos was doing math. This reminds me of the overhead projectors we used to have to use. Just a bit of a notch up in technology.

We took our outdoor break. Two girls were up in the tree. Next, they raced down the driveway. I followed.

After dinner, JB and I have been watching Australian Zoo, with Terry, Robert, and Bindi Irwin. The girls sort of watch it with us. I gave them some books written by Bindi, and thought they would be interested. Bindi was married last year, and is due to have a baby girl soon.

It's about $145 CAD to get into the Australian Zoo. Not cheap, but they have a lot of overhead! They do a lot of good, as well. They rescue and release quite a few critters. They took in many koalas from the big fires they had.

"Australia Zoo is a 1,000-acre zoo located in the Australian state of Queensland on the Sunshine Coast near Beerwah/Glass House Mountains."

Dinner entertainment was a lecture by Grampa on the Ottoman Empire. All that since Grampa named the turkeys Otto, Stan, and a third who had turned up: Achbar. I think you had to be there...

Our 😷COVID-19 cases are up, again. Ottawa had a 25% increase in a week. They are in the red. In our health unit, we are up from 94 to 99 from a low of 8 in the beginning of March. 

Not only the Perth Curling Club have been spreading COVID–19, rumour has it, there are D/NE 8 firefighters with COVID–19, and 6 plumbers from one business. Mask much?  

🚗2020 Collisions in Ontario

There were interesting statistics published by our OPP.   While traffic incidents were down, 26%, fatalities were up by 22%. That is nuts. I have noticed how busy the highway has been, and how fast they go. The propane trucks scare me! Then there are people like this:

'High rate of speed': Fail to remain collision in McNab/Braeside leads to police chase, driver facing many charges

Gramma Camp – Week 25 Wednesday

 

7:32 a.m. – I was sitting blogging, when someone roared down the hall! She found her surprises on her placemat, then offered to wake Josee up.

7:45 a.m. – Josephine still wasn't up. Grampa cheekily suggested, "IF she doesn't get up now, soon it'll be Easter!" 

Grampa began this joke a few weeks ago, "If you don't do your teeth Momma will rip my head off!" The joke evolved. 

8:01 – Isabelle to Grampa, "Where's your head?" She ushered herself downstairs to do her teeth. 

8:15 – Josephine to Grampa, "Your head is still attached, Grampa!" Off SHE went to do her teeth!

Isabelle lost her tooth. Her last baby molar. The tooth fairy was consulted in the evening, and we decided to put something under the pillow. Apparently, $2 is the going rate! (I put down $3!) In the morning we talked about the tooth, and I asked if the tooth fairy had been. Yes. "Look, I have a tip!" It had not been loose, she said. She's lost three this month. 

I went down to fetch the memory cards. Perhaps for the last time, I stood on the ice. The dock is ready for spring, as are we all. We had rain Wednesday night. About 2.5 mm.

Outdoor play.

Josee's bed was deflating overnight, every night. The mattress is two years old, at least. This popped up on Facebook!

Grampa went to the store for her! Vanna White did an explanation... built-in air pump, just plug it in, plus a nice memory foam topper. 

Grampa did a dinner show.  He played The Unicorn song. We all chimed in for the chorus.

 Green cupcakes were the treat.

It's warmed up overnight. 

Our health unit has reported an increase in COVID–19 cases. The health unit is working with Perth Curling Club. There has been inconsistent use of masks and social distancing (Mar. 5 - 12th). They are limiting activity in indoor sports venues, large halls, places of worship, and clubs. Lanark West went from 8 cases in the beginning of March to 51 Wednesday.

Gramma Camp – Week 25 Tuesday

Monday's dinner show: St. Patrick's Day's Eve Eve

• Here comes Patrick O'Cottontail
• Hoppin' down the chicken trail
• Hippity Hoppin' before St. Patrick's Day

• Bringin' every girl and boy
• Baskets full of Irish joy
• Things to make this eve a fave--- 

Grampa chose to do this on Monday, since Tuesday Isabelle has a Girl Guide virtual meet. They are making a craft together.

Monday night, I realized that floppy fish was in the hallway. Everytime a cat went down the hall, they'd take a whack at it. It could have been funny!

Floppy fish📹

Grampa put on an excellent performance. 

[To 👀 view | part 2 📹 |  part 3 📹 ] 

Tuesday March 16

I went downstairs to wake Josephine. Stoking the fire, to get some warmth, the day had begun. It was -11 C. Josee is sleeping on the air mattress in the basement. Caitlin found the last air hole prior to Christmas. Jos looked and listened on Monday, trying to find the new hole. She could not. I woke her up, put my foot on the bottom of the bed, and it is deflating. 

        I said, "This is a pretty bad motel, isn't it?! Your bed is falling down." 

        "Well, the staff are amazing!" she assured me.

I admit to distracting Josephine, at the dining room table doing virtual school, but there were deer sitting in the backyard, momma chewing her cud. I said that they have 2 (?) stomachs, cows have 4. Jos looked it up, quickly. Cows and deer have 4! During the morning, we had deer friends.

Grampa offered Subway sandwiches for lunch. "Yes, please!" He also checked the flyers and a hardware store has the queen-sized mattresses for sale. He'll do 3 errands and come home. He assures me. His arm might be on the mend.

Josee's 2nd period teacher is off and they couldn't find a replacement. Jos worked on her own, on the math, of course! She took a break, and told Siri to set an alarm for 10 minutes. What a good girl! "OK, Meggie, you can go out, but only if you give me a kiss!" She did the same to Cinnamon!

Jos was searching for an artist to mimic for art. She looked at Jason Pollock, then I suggested Maude Lewis, but she settled on Franz Kline.

I watched the birds, tripod and all. From the indoors! Can you spot the FIVE red-winged blackbirds??!!

The afternoon activity was tree climbing. Back indoors for asynchronous learning. Learning done, Jos, Izzy and I played SKIP-BO. Jos won. 

Happily, Zola turned up. Grampa was given special dispensation to miss the beginning of dinner and feed his woebegone deer. 

In December our health unit had 21 active COVID–19 cases. Tuesday, Ottawa is going into orange, we are in yellow. 

Gramma Camp – Week 25 Monday

Sunday was Pi day: 3:14. Grampa bought us a blueberry pie to celebrate. Jos can cite the digits for 20 digits.

Monday morning was busy. I put out the cardboard recycling (which Isabelle helped me bundle) and the garbage. Fed the deer. Grampa kicked the girls out of bed. Monday had begun.

Josee's computer was not recharging. I think it was the extension cord. We found a new cord, and we were good. Crisis averted! 

Eggo Waffles for Izzy; toast, Jos.

Josephine's class was interesting. They are studying circumference and area. Caitlin told me that the teacher had mentioned my two favourite math books. I liked reading to my students, back in the day. It's would be a nice start to a lesson. Isabelle asked for these books for months, back when I read to them at bedtime.

There were only 4 or 5 of them had their videocamera on. 

Here y'are, A/C, this is how they do word problems these days. In fact, as is the way, they knew the right answer, and had to show their work. They check the answer and see where they went wrong. Jos had forgotten the 'divide by 2' bit. She then fixed it up. Next, she took photos of her work and her answers and virtually handed them in. It is time consuming, and really dependent upon bandwidth and internet speed. 

It's hard work!

Drone flying. It was cold. 

Tree climbing. Izzy went out in her snow pants, gloves and hat. It was so cold, she came back in for her coat. 

Josephine got herself outside, she filled the feeder for me, replaced the battery in one trailcam, and inserted the memory card in the other. It was still brisk. She decided to go back to asynchronous work early, as she loves the math, 'was bored' and there isn't time to start anything else!

Jos asked her sister to assist her in hauling wood indoors. She declined. I helped. After all, Isabelle is sleeping in the guest room. Josee is enjoying her fire, privacy, and had tidied the entire room to her mathematical satisfaction. 

Grampa fetched us some tulips, to help celebrate the anticipation of spring.

We watched a show, all about the Irwin's Australian Zoo, and saw an ad for a new movie, 'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.' The girls are keen to see it. Grampa explained about the Sunshine Patriot and the Winter Soldier. It is from a speech by Thomas Paine. Back during the American Civil War, the men who needed to get back to their farms, to feed families, were called Sunshine Patriots. The men who stuck it out, the Winter Soldiers.

Grampa did a post-dinner show, which will be revealed tomorrow. I have to process and edit the show for brevity! There were song sheets, however!

Both girls took themselves off to bed to read, prior to bedtime. They'd worked hard. I tucked them in, and went to bed to read, myself!

In February was had 24 cases of COVID–19. Our COVID–19 cases are up. Mon., March 15th - 74 cases, with 32 in Lanark West, up from 8 last week. Not good news.