Dramatic backyard

 While I was hanging laundry this morning, the red squirrel was being super aggressive with other squirrels sending many of them scattering for cover. It did not seem to attack the bunny, just other squirrels. At one point a large grey with the red squirrel hot on her heels ran across the garage toward me. Apparently I am safer than a tiny red squirrel (half the size of the grey). But the red squirrel decided not to come closer to me and the grey was saved. She sat for a minute, muttered a bit under her breath and quietly ran off in the opposite direction of the red squirrel.

In the meantime, the neighbour behind us was talking very loudly about her eviction notice and how she had paid rent every month except this month. The landlord claimed it was shared accommodations (which it sounds like it is) and so he only needed to give 2 weeks notice. He settled with her for $2000 to apparently get rid of her. 

Opening olympics

 I watched some of the opening ceremonies for Paris 2024. I really liked the arrival by boat instead of the marching in as the marching always took so long. This seemed to speed things up. I kept thinking of all the organization involved though. I also liked the mechanical horse on the water, it was an interesting contraption and how it changed into a real horse when they landed (a substitution).

Amazon

 We now have a whole roof. I'll need to download my pictures for before and after.

I placed an amazon order as James needed some antiseptic spray and it was cheapest on amazon. It was delivered fairly quickly by intelcom but I didn't receive any emails like they normally send. I just looked in my amazon orders to see where it was and it said it was delivered so I had to look for it. The other part of the order was a cardigan. I had my eye on it for a while as I liked the colour blocking on it. I checked the reviews and they were pretty mixed. The brand listed on amazon was "OEANBE" which I just found I couldn't find anything about the brand online. So I am not sure if it is a real brand? When I ordered it, it was listed as the last one in stock  and I can't find a listing for it now, so I think that was true. When the cardigan came there was no brand information at all. The tag only said "M" for the size. Despite all the sketichiness of that it is a very lovely cardigan, very soft. 

Half a roof

 The roofers came today, hopeful to complete everything in one day. A lot of young lads to have the energy to be in the sun all day. They made good progress in ripping the old roof off. The back porch is a tinge of black. Black bits came in the windows as well. The AC had to be off because it was tarped. I swapped my remote day from Wed to Mon in case they needed me, but indeed, they did not. They worked a long day. At the start of the day they were hopeful to get it all done in one day. There was a small army of people, but that did not end up working out. They got a majority of the way though.

Today I mainly managed emails and tried to solve problems and had a few meetings. Tomorrow is a lot of course planning,

White car

 As James came home with a large # of bugs dead on the front of the car, I cleaned the car over 2 days and it looked so much better. Like when I cleaned the windows, it only took hours for a bird to poop on it. And the one on the car was a nasty black one that dripped all the way down the door. I had to clean again.

James had a good time in Rochester though he wasn't too happy about having 8am games Sat and Sun. He works again at a hockey camp this week.

Tomorrow the roofers are supposed to arrive to install a new roof, though it is looking to be a hot one, not sure if they work the whole day.

WWII bombers

 Some WWII bombers are visiting Kingston. You can tour them and they offer flights for about $500. One flew over my head today. An interesting feeling to think about all the previous people in a past era who had them fly overhead as well.

I was supposed to have a vacation day today. Helped James get off to Rochester for a soccer tournament he is coaching. One of our onQ sites had a mega-disaster, unrelated to the other technological mega disaster that disrupted companies today. Not quite sure what is wrong with it, I tried to fix it, I called IT, none of their suggestions worked. Have left it on their plate to fix next week.

Against the storm

 I had a more sedentary day yesterday and my hip was stiffer so I was worried that things were going backward but today it had improved significantly.

I had to race to Food Basics to make it before the storm and I mostly made it.

James drove to try to find a tornado on his lunch but he failed.

For some reason a bunch more students seemed to have matriculated. I am not sure where they came from so that made today more challenging. A 9 hour day!

Healing hip

 My hip is improving. I was worried because we had 2 days of summer orientation which involved a lot of standing and I thought it might aggravate it but things seem to be getting better.

There was more rain and now the flowers are even flatter, if that is even possible.

Very flat flowers

 After all the rain, my flat flowers are even flatter.

There are baby robins sitting patiently in the rain waiting for their meals.

James woke up yesterday with a knot in his neck and had to get physio.

I managed to pull a muscle in my behind. I feel like this happened before and Sarah said it was related to my hip and she moved the knot and then I had to do a bunch of exercises and it was better. But clearly a point of weakness if I need to go through this again!

The demise of the Loblaws garden center

 On July 1 they cleared out the garden center and put it closer to Loblaws with all the plants 0.99. The next time I went by, they were all listed as "free" but they looked very sad. Today, they were all gone.

Since the cupboard was painted I could clear up the front hall.

I mowed the front lawn.

Expecting chef's plate tomorrow and rain!

Wokeya

 This morning I woke up at 3:30am. It was not long before the birds got up. Around 6 I biked to Lake Ontario park. It had just rained so everything was still pretty wet. The park workers start early every time I go, they drive the loud carts around which isn't as nice for the experience but good that they are caring for the park.

In the afternoon I went to Wokeya's celebration of life. It was nice to see everyone gathered together but sad for the occasion.

I needed a nap after all that!

Stir fry

 I made a very easy stir fry- I cut up broccoli, celery, peppers that I had in the fridge and I picked up matchstick carrots. I cooked them up until they softened and then added some soy sauce and ginger.  Then added some cooked udon noodles. Was super fast to make and tasted ok. Healthy too!

When I left for work there was a fire truck in front of the neighbour's house and they were all standing outside. I thought the fire truck was leaving when I left for work but they stayed for over an hour so there must have been a real problem.

I was working on loading class schedules for the students but the internet was very slow at work. Things went much better when I brought it home.

I also painted the closet door, still trying to make progress.

Bird "bath"

 I have seen no birds bathing in  the bird bath, however, it is a hot spot for finches to get their drinking water. Happy finches!

James walked in the Canada Day parade in Grand Falls as a former Rapid. He also played many hours of golf.

Turkey vulture

 I fell asleep listening to Mikayla's commentary of the olympic trials and had to wait until the morning to see who the #5 gymnast was (the first 4 were locks).

I woke up at 5:30am and was oddly dizzy. This got better rapidly after I got moving but wasn't altogether gone until I had a nap around noon and things reset.

My phone also oddly glitched and I had to do a complicated restart. Now it has reset and is back to normal.

I biked down to Ontario Park at 7am. It was really nice. Lots of squirrels! Couldn't take pictures because my phone had glitched.

Biking back on one driveway on Johnson St. there was a dead racoon. Not sure if it had been hit by a car as it was a bit of a way from the road or if it had some other demise but there was a HUGE turkey vulture with it. So fascinating to see so close to the road.