Gramma Camp – Week 24 began Sunday

It's been cold. We've warmed up a tad, with a Colorado Low moving in. The cats were pretty bored, and started to play around.

cat play  bored cats  

Sunday afternoon the girls came over with strict instructions to stay off the computers and play more games. Izzy and I played two games of War. I won. They were quick ones. We played two games of Crazy 8's and we both won one each. I felt badly. I kept getting the queen of spades (pick up 5)! 

The family is really good at getting outdoors. Bell's Corners, where they live, has a great network of conservation areas and hiking and biking trails. People feed the chickadees.

The girls made up their beds. I was making up the basement bed when they arrived from the hostage exchange. Just in time to change plans! Isabelle will sleep in her office, AKA the guest room. The cats were pleased. Her bedtime is a half hour before Josephine's, so this makes sense. Jos made herself a fire, and I helped her bring more wood in for the night.

Grampa had bought food for the week. We send the menu to the girls and they chose 'Beaners and Weins' for Sunday. I mixed that up in a pot, popped in some green pepper, and some Patak's curry, for a bit of flavour. 

Dr. Watt made an appearance for dinner entertainment.

After dinner we played with cats. Nutmeg continues to slaughter the box from my new mailbox. I'd vacuumed before the kids arrived. Good thing! 

Nutmeg didn't like where the cat beds were. I moved them to make the bed for Izzy.

Grampa bought Isabelle some new paper clips. She has a thing for butterfly clips. These are fun, too.

Here is Queen Josephine. She has an entourage. She also has all the pillows in the basement.

Isabelle is all tucked in. She insisted on more pillows, as well. She read until 8:30, then, at 9, when I went to bed, I heard a small voice. Apparently, mice friends are in the walls. I suggested we write a story about them. She named them Bob, Bobette, Bobbin, Bobena. If we have a creative writing assignment, we can incorporate this!

A good day had by all. 

DEER

Every Momma has to clean an ear or two! It was fun watching her so close to me. My goose statue is in the foreground. I spray painted it golden. 

 

The deer  are so delightful to watch. This is Fuzzy Wuzzy and his Momma. The name won't stick, and I won't recognize her next year. Plus their life span is only 3 - 5 years, I've read. We lost our big buck after a car hit him this season. A local farmer shot a coyote this month, as well. He was getting into their chickens. Twerp. They've gotta be hungry, at this point in the season. 

Cinnamon clearly saw or heard a deermouse, mousing!

 

  There is a mouse hole here. It's kept all the cats entertained.

I love watching the cats on the front porch. They stand up on the bench to make eye contact with us.

 

  It's warmed up a bit. The sun warms us as the day unfolds. It's on the good side of the season. You can sense spring is coming. I love the 'bug report' on the index page. 

That said, we've more snow on the way. Ah well. We've the girls this week. Life is good.

Cheese, YVR, the wetland, the hot tub,

Tis winter! It was -19 C. this morning. Sunflowers continue to grow in the repotted palm. Those funny squirrels and chipmunks.

JB went shopping. This wasn't quite what I wanted. (I really don't like processed cheese!) Not only that, but it was past its best before date! This was Friday, Feb., 19. The Best Before date read Nov. 2020.

I went online, and couldn't find email contact info for Metro. Somebody should know about this. Instead, I had JB fish the receipt out of the burn bag, and did an online survey. I heard nothing back. I found Metro on Facebook, and posted a message to them, with the photos. I seriously don't want the $4.49 back. I worry about shelves with old food, and those with health issues. They responded with this:

Chris, a manager, phoned me Saturday morning. He was quite cheerful. I didn't want anything, just wanted them to know about the stale date! He couldn't understand how it happened, as they've sold a lot of cheese during the pandemic. He offered us a gift certificate, and I declined. He said he would do it anyway, and leave it in the office. We've noticed that... OK, not "WE" as I don't shop, if I can help it. My much older husband is the shopper. JB noticed that some shelves are empty-ish in some stores. 

YVR

We walked with Jesse and Cluny to school on Friday morning! It was so much fun! They are in Vancouver. Jess phoned and invited us, so we did Facetime while they walked the two minutes to school! It was fun. I asked Cluny if she was going to do art, or read, or puzzles. She wasn't sure, she told me. I took screen captures for fun!

Friday, Nutmeg continues to chew on the box. She goes right in, head first. It keeps her busy! Daisy used to chew branches on our forest walks.

Cinnamon takes like a little easier than that.

SCRABBLE

I continue to play Scrabble with Caitlin. We never get a word this good, though!!!  QUIZZERS for 365 points.

Weather BINGO

The hosts were playing weather BINGO on Your Morning. It was funny! 

They posted a video of Kelsey jumping after Lindsey yelling out BINGO during her forecast. It's lovely to have some fun in the morning. They laughed so hard tears were falling. If you have a moment...

Bingo! We have a winner! Congrats to @LindseyDeluce for winning Weather Bingo today. This is the moment when @KelseyMcEwen and the team found out. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/jP2dwpAiEi

— Your Morning (@YourMorning) February 19, 2021

WINTER WALKIES

I went snowshoeing. I left at 10:36, and arrived home at 11:05. It wasn't long, but in knee-deep snow.... 

it's hard going, and good exercise. It's not so bad on the deer trails, but on the wetland the bulrushes lean over, and collect snow, and your foot sinks.

The forest trailcam shows my trekking. You'll note my duck cane. In the wetland, the snow was so deep I'd place it in the snow, and had to bend over pull it out. It was pretty useless! snowshoeing 

 

The poor young buck. He's had this one antler for more than a week. Perhaps two! You can see, like a loose tooth, that it is bothering him!

Notice my behind. I didn't fall. The snow was flying up, from the snowshoes behind me, as I trudged! My pant legs were soaked, too. I have to strip my pants off in the foyer, so as not to get snow everywhere.

The kids went sledding in Ottawa, and had a grand time! They are so good with the kids, getting them out and about. Finding activities. They are still enjoying the hot tub they rented for February!

Trailcam snowy tales

 Well snow, snow, snow! The ground cover is wonderful, as it protects flora and fauna. We woke to -19 C. temperatures. At -20 C. and F. meet. Just so you know!

I've not seen feral (?) 😼Oregano  for several days. It's been cold. And snowy. Maybe he's not feral, even if he isn't fixed.

I moved the trailcam, down to the path that leads to the island in the wetland. After the dump of snow... snowy deer  

It's funny seeing the young buck hanging out with family. Next year he will be with the males in their winter yard. He should have lost his 2nd antler by now. doe and buck in snow

  

  

The snowy doe and yearling are eating low-hanging evergreen boughs. The snow accumulated enough weight for them to reach.

 

I've moved this trailcam back to the horse chestnut tree. The sound of the mourning doves  are lovely, should you choose to watch! 

 

In the night, the deer came to scoop up some seed. You can see a pair of cat eyes in window.deer in the night 

   

Visit more critters with Eileen: 

Saturday's Critters # 375

Artwork and an eagle!

I have been sketching, finally. This one was inspired by these images. The two are from a TV movie, Hearts of Winter (2020) filmed in B.C.

I went for my massage on Thursday, and saw 7 crows. They caught my attention. They were after an eagle! I did not have my zoom lens, so this is the best I could do!

This is from April, 2015, from my backyard deck! 

Forest walkies in the snow

 Poor JB. He was going into the drug store, so I asked for some eye liner, just for fun! I looked it up on the drug store website and found a brand. As if I care, but it points him in the right direction. He's really good at women's products. They usually pounce on him to give him help. I think he ought to tell them he is non-binary and it's for himself! 

Where am I going to wear it? OH, I know. The hair salon called, I'd missed an appointment in January, due to our shut down. I have an appointment in two weeks, in March. My regular young woman is off on Maternity Leave, so that will be fun. I'm not doing too badly with my scissors, though. I did a practice run, for fun. 

I'm having a massage today, too! I am spoiled rotten.

🎶🎶🎶It's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood!

I still have my crisp edges! I met JB, returning from town, it was a bit tight. Can you see him?

I thought I'd help JB and tamp down his walking path. I gave up on that part. We may get another storm at the end of the week! It was really good exercise... 

Scott's arbour!

Picture this, I'm walking down the path and Otto and Stan turkey were on this dead tree. They grew quite irritable with me walking by. They flew before I could grab a photo! When they fly, they are massive, and the sound of their wings is amazing.

The frog pond...

It struck me that these are a pair of photos that Anvilcloud could fix. I had no idea if it was in focus or not, at the time. It's just too bright, and I didn't have my reading glasses. The first is foreground focused, the next, background. sigh. 

It was hard slogging. It's pretty deep snow!

Home and safe. Nutmeg was on the railing in the sunshine, to the left of the door!

When I arrived back at the house, my t-shirt was soaked with sweat, my pants were soaked from snow, snowshoes were snowy, and I put my boots on the floor vent after my hot shower. 

Well, despite overnight temperatures, Oregano Feb 16  was back for a bite of food. He was back last night around 8 p.m., too. 

 

 There is more snow on the way! What the heck. It helps keep an even temperature for our plants. The freeze and thaw is the worst for our gardens. Our farmer neighbours down the road are happy with the snow cover. It protects the land. They wrote on Facebook:

Although some of you may not be happy with all the recent winter weather, it is a blessing for us farmers. We suffered a severe drought last summer and went into this winter with very few water reserves. With no ice cover on the hay fields this year and this blanket of snow, we shouldn't see too much winter kill on the crops. Farmers always referred to a good snow cover as poor man's fertilizer, it has nitrogen in it. An added benefit is when it melts it will soak into the ground and give our soil some much needed moisture. In the end it will help us continue to put good healthy food on your table and everyone will be happy.

Also,

It is also really good for our maple sugar bush. And it helps keep the ground colder, which can help prolong the season on a year like this with little to no frost in the ground.