Hatchlings getting bigger

 

Last weeks meals- linguine beef ragu. Their pasta is always good with a nice mirepoix mix of carrots, celery and onion I think

Feta and Harissa spiced tomato sauce. Pita chips were especially good.

Black bean burrito bowl. I forgot the after picture but we have their rice bowls often. always good.

The birds are bigger than this already. Always hungry. Parents spend a lot of time with the nest. 3 babes.

I am working on fixing the bathroom ceiling. Before and after one coat of drywall fixer. For the big holes I used some drywall netting. Quite pleased with myself. I put the second coat on today (not pictured)

Tonight's dinner Irish colcannon. A bit different than their usual meals.

Jay

 The robin hatchlings are growing quickly and their beaks are now visible over the edge of the nest. I can't tell if there are 2 or 3 as I've only seen 2 at once but I think that one may have been hidden. It is a small nest. The parent robins still spend a lot of time at the nest. The babies are very cute so I can understand. There was just some drama as a blue jay was in the yard making the robin freak out. I don't know if jays are a danger to hatchlings but the robin drove it off. I'm not sure if it was looking for eggs. The robins also drive off other robins who I am sure are not a risk so it may just be a territorial thing.

In the morning it was very nice out so I was able to watch some services outside. I'm planning on working on some cleaning before dinner (turkey). In the evening I plan to watch the US women olympic trials.

Virtual tea party

 Rachel organized a virtual tea party today, which was fun though one woman brought whisky instead of tea and her answers weren't always relevant to the discussion.

One robin brought a very large bug to the babies but the bug was much larger than the babies. I think the robin had to bite it into smaller pieces. I see more baby heads now and the parents do a lot of work in the nest. They are very good parents.

I had what felt like a productive day yesterday but the night was not great so I woke up late and felt less productive today. I did trek to Shoppers with a full parking lot I guess due to vaccines. Trying for a better night tonight.

Hatchling work

 The parents continue to be very busy, maybe there are more hatchlings.

I woke up early. Today was a vacation day that I had booked as it was the day planned for my root canal. I got a lot of small things done. I went to Food Basics. Sorted through email. Biked the Rustle deposit downtown. Did a bunch of cleaning.

The neighbours are having a party in their backyard.

James went to Gatineau for a skate.

Hatching

 There was much excitement in the nest today. Most of the day the mom alternately sat on the nest and poked at things in the nest. By the evening both parents were getting food for the babies. I saw a teeny tiny head once when food was being delivered and heard some teeny tiny chirping. So very cute.

Most of the day was working on timetable issues and meetings.

Was awakened at 5am due to fire trucks going to a chemical spill.

Robin roles

 The robins have clearly divided roles. The mama will sit on the nest for stretches of time but when she leaves the dad arrives to guard the nest. The dad always stands at the side of the nest and just looks at the eggs, it is pretty funny.

The draft timetable came out today so that has been keeping me busy at work.

Beef ragu on pasta for dinner. First time using their mirepoix- it turned out quite well. The other 2 meals this week are vegetarian.

robin neighbour

 For some reason my photos uploaded in backward order. I am not sure why so you need to step chronologically backwards. This is the Thursday meal- bean tacos. There was so much filling I could not eat them like tacos. I used a knife and fork and that worked well. Rice, bean mixture, salsa (which I did not like), cabbage mixture, feta and lime crema sauce.

This one was from last week - one of their new balanced meals- a turkey salad sort of thing, very good.

Coconut turkey curry also last week- I forgot to take an "after" photo but it was similar to meals that I made in the past.

Last week was all turkey- this one was a turkey rice bowl- also had made something similar before.

This is our new neighbor's nest. I took the photo before they began sitting on it but they have been sitting quite diligently for the last week and a bit. They aren't quite sure what to make of my hanging of laundry or when I get the bike out. Sometimes they fly off but sometimes they just hunker down. Today I got the bike out to go to Metro and then returned it and hung all the laundry without the robin budging. The forecast calls for rain so I may have to take the laundry in again soon. Right now it is quite sunny. We had a downpour last night so the robins must be quite pleased with their choice of nest as it provided excellent shelter.

an inside day

 Yesterday was rainy and cold so I didn't go outside at all except to put the garbage out. Today we are at 11 degrees but it is supposed to be sunny so I should be able to get my laundry out.

I can't remember if I mentioned that the robins have a nest on the back porch so I have to do the laundry from the ground. Yesterday they were looking in the nest a lot I am not sure what that means- maybe something is hatching?

My root canal tooth seems to be doing ok but my bite on the surrounding teeth is a bit odd so I'll be calling the dentist again today. Sigh.

staying up

 I had 3 meals of yogurt so far today. I have to wait up until 11pm to have my 4th yogurt meal with antibiotics. After yogurt meal #3 I made tacos for dinner. I'm still pretty tired but I need to stay up for my last dose of the day. Made good progress at work today.

stormy

 A thunderstorm blowing through right now. Had to wait up for my antibiotics so I had to stay up anyway. Need to eat more yogurt now. The toll on my stomach is starting even though I have been eating a lot of yogurt. Halfway through the antibiotics now. Hopefully they are working.

I didn't accomplish much today because I think I burned out in the morning. 

overdone

 I tried to take it easy yesterday as I seemed to have less energy but I took the opportunity this morning to bike down to Lake Ontario Park (about 10km round trip). Then I had to walk about 15 minutes to find somewhere to sit for a bit. The park was busier than when I went at 6am for sure. I had to have breakfast and antibiotics before I left and I woke up later so that all slowed me down and I only got there about 8am. Was back about 10am and then went to shoppers to get more yogurt and to the dollar store to pick up more journals.

Watched Rustle and half of elevation. I am pretty beat now so may need to try for a nap. Hope to get the washrooms and windows cleaned later today.

small steps

 I went to Giant Tiger early in the morning. There were chalk lines outside anticipating lines later in the day but as it was early morning it wasn't too busy yet. There were a number of people browsing the clothing but I zipped through the food and picked up socks for James and was out pretty quickly.

I then went to Shoppers. That was busier than usual as they were doing vaccines but it wasn't busy in the food part where I was shopping so it was another successful quick trip.

My Oriental peony normally blooms before all the other peonies but this year it doesn't even have anything to make the flower with. Either the winter wasn't cold enough or the spring didn't come early enough. I am not sure what is going on with it but my other peonies are blooming.

Got 2 loads of laundry done.

The robins have been sitting on their new nest for a few days now. They don't often mind when I do the laundry but they do object significantly to squirrels.

Root canal

 Today I took a little walk in the morning. I saw that Giant Tiger they had prepared for crowds by drawing chalk lines outside but at 9am they weren't that busy. I heard that other places in Kingston were very busy as people can finally buy inessentials.

I had another 2 doses of the antibiotics before the root canal that happened around lunchtime but apparently when she opened up the tooth it was full of infection. I thought all the antibiotics were supposed to take care of that but apparently not. It was of course not a pleasant experience. They had to take 2 x-rays until they were happy with the work. Then she said "fingers crossed". I was hoping for something more certain. My face was all frozen and twisted when I came home and James laughed at me.

I had a short nap and watched some videos. Then made tacos, which I ate carefully and treated myself to some cheesecake. Then I had to rest again. Now I'll wash the dishes.

flavored

 I got my new antibiotics and they are labeled as "flavored" but I can't tell what the flavor is. It tastes nasty. (Unlike the last one that tasted like bubble gum) It came in 6 bottles of the nastiness. The pharmacist also said that it will not only kill the bad bacteria but it will also kill all the good bacteria in my stomach so I need to eat a lot of yogurt. I am supposed to take it after I have eaten and also supposed to take it every 6 hours. So I have to plan the meals around the doses. I have had 3 doses so far and I think there is improvement in that I may not need my ice pack to sleep tonight.

Then in the afternoon the dentist office called and offered me a new time for the root canal moving it to tomorrow. I said that I could make it but reminded them about the antibiotic fiasco. However, the dentist said it was ok so the root canal is on!

2:22am

 I managed to fall asleep ok considering the tooth issues but as today is recycling day someone at the apartment behind either took out their recycling or dumped out their recycling and it was very loud. I then had difficulties getting to sleep after that so the nights of broken sleep continue for one reason or another.

antibiotics part 2

 As the first round of antibiotics seems to have failed, the dentist has ordered a new round for me. However, the pharmacy did not have the materials in stock so they won't be able to have it available until Thursday afternoon. While the dentist said to stop the current antibiotics I have 2 more sleeps to get through so I will need to take doses before bed. Just an ongoing saga.

Today was more dealing with issues at work. Made Japanese turkey rice bowl which we have had before.

reopening early

 

Which looks like a good sign. Kingston has had a streak of 0 case days so things are looking good here.

By changing the time of the doses I slept better but still needed an ice pack and woke up at 4am (but got back to sleep this time). Did a load of shopping at Food Basics, it was not too busy. Lots of preparation work for the fall term. Had pizza for dinner. James went to play road hockey with friends. Slightly more normal day.

spacing the doses

 After another bad night, I have decided to space the doses differently. Instead of having the doses at mealtime I will take 1 dose in the morning, 1 dose mid-afternoon and 1 dose before bed and I am hopeful that will help things.

The robins have been working like mad on a nest on the back porch in 2 days they have mostly finished it. This morning was the mud layer. I am uncertain where they are getting the mud.

Today I rested in the morning watching Elevation and Rustle. It was a good laundry drying day so I got 2 loads done. I went for a bike ride in the afternoon to see if I could bike in a skort. I could. There were people by the water in small groups. Initially they had said you could only walk through parks and not stop, but that seems to have changed now.

skort

 Kim and I had a nice walk down by the water no knowing that a good chunk of kingston was sheltering in place north of us. I got a bit of a burn on a little place that I missed with the sunscreen.

I wore pants for our walk as I was uncertain of how the weather would be. When I got home I changed into my new skort as it was warm enough. The skort was very comfortable, I am very pleased with the purchase!

I had to spend most of the rest of the day with an ice pack for my tooth. I watched a 20/20 special called "Taken" about a girl who was kidnapped but the police did not believe her and I watched Day 1 of the US gymnastics championships.

Danger

 

Walking to Loblaws I came within a foot of a fox who was standing still. I expect the one who ate my bunny. He didn't seem terribly concerned about me. Because I stopped, he decided to cross the street. He's walking around the houses like he owns the place. Another guy stopped to take a picture of him. Birds seemed concerned but the fox was not.

Later, there was an interaction with a man with a gun and something to do with a car accident in the north end and they needed to shelter in place:

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/kingston-ont-residents-asked-shelter-144638984.html

I saw the police cars heading over at 8:50am. Eventually they lifted the shelter in place as they think that the altercation was targeted and not random. But they have not caught the guy yet. Lots of sirens today.

worse before better

 

Apparently Day 1 of antibiotics made things worse instead of better. It was very difficult to sleep. Today wasn't much of an improvement. I took a vacation day to try to recover. Did some shopping and some reading but there was a lot of pain interspersed.

Tomorrow Kim and I are going for a walk. Hoping for a better sleep tonight.

Stressful day

 Last night my tooth hurt a lot so it was difficult to sleep. Now that I have had 4 doses of antibiotics I am hoping that tonight will go better.

We got our admission numbers and they were higher than expected so that made for a stressful day for me as I am hoping for more seats.

I went to see another place with Christine. You have to give her credit as she rides the wave of rejection well and keeps on trekking. We have seen most apartments in the city. 

We walked past Shoppers and there was a long lineup outside the store. I think for vaccinations as I noted a sign that said that yesterday. The lineup was not very well distanced though.

Ask the MOH Community Update

Root Canal is on

 Antibiotics are on. The dentist appointment was swift and decisive.

They had been planning on giving me a pill for the antibiotics but I convinced them to give me the liquid version as I'm not good at swallowing pills. The bonus is that it is bubble gum flavor! So tasty!

It was disappointing to hear the decision about the schools staying closed. Such a hardship for those with small children and for the children themselves. So sad.

Also in an attempt to "cool" the real estate market they have added new regulations that make it more difficult for new home buyers. I don't know why this seemed good to someone but I don't see how this is going to help anything.

Someone suggested that Giant Tiger will be selling socks again on June 14th ish in Stage one. I don't understand all the regulations but I think the stores are going to be very busy when stage 1 starts.

Plateau

 

My tooth seems to have reached a plateau where it doesn't feel ok but it doesn't feel too bad. It didn't hurt at night like it did Sunday night. Tomorrow is the next dentist appointment.

Today was a day of a lot of meetings. Then made bacon tomato pesto pizza which was very good.

Yesterday when I walked to pick up the safe I saw something strange. As I was walking up Palace road to Bath Road, on Bath I saw a fire truck driving with its lights on but no siren and not going particularly quickly. There was an ambulance right behind it also with lights on, no siren and not driving particularly quickly. When I got to Bath road I could see that they had stopped a few blocks away. Then I saw two police cars driving south on sir john A. lights on, no sirens, not travelling particularly quickly. By the time I had made it a few blocks on, the fire truck was gone. There were 2 ambulances and 3 police cars but not a sign of what was wrong. No car accident. Maybe someone who was acting strangely in traffic as all of the emergency services were clustered by the island in the middle of the road.