amazon getting ahead of itself

 My package is still listed as having left Alberta but not yet arrived in Ontario. It has been in this vortex for 5 days. We'll see if it ever comes out. In spite of this I received an email to "rate" the transaction. Bit difficult when it isn't here yet.

There has been lots of activity next door as a moving van bringing a bunch of things arrived for the elderly neighbour lady. It was 2 of her children bringing the things and they have been here since June 1. There was a lot of stress during the move and the male child- in his 50s or 60s named "Mikey" seems to have a temper. We'll see how long they remain.

The robins also remain as 2 households. They are very concerned with everything but seem happy to keep the one in the nest. Hopefully they are still feeding the fledged one, I just can't tell as I am unsure of where it currently is. The robins are very active in the backyard. The other neighbour is currently in their backyard and that is causing some mild concern even though he is just talking on the phone.

maybe baby

 During the morning one of the robin babies had taken to standing on the edge of the nest. About an hour ago, I heard a parent robin scream and then when I checked the nest it looked like the babies were gone. So I guessed that they had fledged. Maybe the neighbour in the driveway had scared them. I could hear one of the babies cheeping from the trees in the back. But then mom was still sitting on the nest, which seemed confusing to me. But it turns out one is still in the nest and one must be in the trees. So mom is still sitting on the one who remains. Hopefully dad is feeding the fledged one but it is difficult to tell as I am not sure where that one is.

amazon, ever hopeful

 Amazon seems to think that my package will arrive by 8pm today despite it being 7:57pm and there is no indication that it has landed in Ontario. I have less hope than amazon. Edit- it is now past 8pm. No package. It has been updated to say that it will now arrive between June 6-9. Otherwise I'll need a refund. Hoping some shorts will arrive eventually!

The robin babies are still practicing their flapping and are looking pretty like mini-robins. They are getting ready to fledge but it means I can't use the backyard as the parents are just way too anxious. Only a few days now though.

pre-flight

 The babies at the back are now practicing flapping their wings and the parents seem more anxious than usual.

James woke up late for his coaching and went into the day with no breakfast.

I ordered James some shorts from Amazon. There were 2 pairs. Both shipped on June 1. One from New York. On June 2 I got a refund for the New York one. Not sure what happened there, but it isn't coming here. The second shipped from Alberta and is supposed to arrive today but there is no indication that it has landed in Ontario yet. That is one long flight!

baby squirrels

 The front pine has a family of squirrels. It looks like 3 baby black squirrels and 1 baby grey squirrel. Though they are always moving, it can be difficult to count.

It is currently pouring with rain. The robin and babies at the back are sitting pretty on the back porch.

Today was a vacation day for me. I walked to No Frills which I haven't been to since 2020 as it had not been very good at keeping the regulations. I went relatively early (around 10) and it wasn't too busy. I had been planning on doing the self checkout but they have limited the self checkout to 15 items or less so I no longer qualified.

The robins at the back are growing bigger and make a lot more noise. It does worry me that predators may hear so I jump up in the night whenever I hear a noise. I'm guessing a week until they fledge!

5am robin calls

 Yesterday it looked like there was only 1 baby robin in the nest and not 2 so maybe the racoon had got one afterall? This morning the robins were doing some calling that they had not done before so I worried that the racoon had been back last night. But then they still seemed to be feeding at the nest so I am not sure.

racoon

 Last night there was an attack on the birds nest in the back from a racoon. I heard it scrabble up the trellis, the motion sensor light was on but it took me a few seconds to see him with his face in the nest. I scared him off but mama bird was now off the nest. I left the back light on in case she would return in the night but she did not. At 4am I heard her call. At 6am she was happily feeding and sitting on the nest again. So I think while the baby birds may have had a scary and cold night, they are ok. So many dangers for baby birds.

curried turkey bites

 Yesterday morning I ran some errands. In the afternoon and evening I helped James with learning his last lesson. He is almost done his Philosophy course and has a project to do for his introductory to university course. He is doing a project on how to combat racism in hockey.

Last night I made curried turkey bites which were pretty easy and I wanted a quick meal, the other meal said it was quicker but I knew it would take longer so that is why I chose that.

There are a lot of dishes to do.

24 hours

 Yesterday I made Bahn Mi-inspired Flatbreads from Chef's plate. They were good but I left the flatbreads in the over too long because I was trying to mix the sauce with the meat so they were a bit crispier than expected (but not burnt).

James is almost done his one course and still has a project to do for his other course. May 31 is coming up and it is crunch time. Hopefully not as crunchy as the flatbreads. 

New babies

 The robin's nest at the back now has babies. I haven't seen the ones from the front since they have fledged. Hopefully they are still doing well.

Today I gave away a bunch of chef's plate boxes to a neighbour who was moving and she was pleased as punch. Then another friend also needed some boxes, just funny that they happened both on the same day.

Happy birthday to my mother!

Fledglings

 The front robins fledged with all the heavy rain a week ago. Maybe their nest was getting flooded. I think they are now in a tree in the front. They haven't gone far. They didn't look old enough to fledge so they did quite well if both of them are now in the tree. The back robins are sitting quite happily on the nest. They don't mind me. 

James has now managed to get through all the content for the philosophy course so it is just a matter of completing the assignments now. He is going to be writing an argument about violence in hockey. Very philosophical!

It seems that Victoria day isn't the same caliber as other holidays as Food Basics and Loblaws look like they will be open. Not regular hours, but still.

James has taken a liking to Fajitas so I need to get more wraps tomorrow.

Change in the seasons

 I was wearing winterwear the last few days and so put on winter leggings and a winter shirt today. But this was a mistake as it was a very nice day out. Hard to keep up with all the weather changes.

It had rained quite a bit so the grass was very wet but I attempted mowing it. I got pretty far but needed to batteries and didn't quite make it through the whole lawn.

The robins in the front fledged during the rain. Maybe their nest was getting too wet. The robins at the back at still sitting on the next. They weren't too bothered by my lawn mowing.

Grades are in, onto Brampton to visit the egroup

 Today was a day of meeting people in person who I became friends with over the pandemic, it was kind of surreal to meet people in person who you have only known over the internet but it also was very normal.

Julie drove down from Ottawa and picked me up on the way and we had a great talk on the way down.

We arrived at Keith's where we are staying (Todd, Chelsea and I stayed here during a Catch the Fire conference that we went to), dropped off our bags and then went to grab some dinner at the mall. I had a chicken souvlaki with rice and potatoes and salad, it was very filling. Then Julie and I walked the mall and browsed. At 6pm we went to the coffee shop to meet up with all the ladies, which was super fun. I had a peach lemonade (they were all out of the strawberry lemonade that I had wanted). It made the lemonade a bit too sweet I think.

Tomorrow we are up early for Church.

Right now, I am listening to the sounds of Brampton, which are loud for a quiet residential area that we are staying in. You can hear cars revving along Dixie and many people walking and talking outside. I realized how nice and quiet our neighbourhood at home is!

Happy birthday- stick to the face

 

James took a stick to the face this weekend. It looks nasty and hurt a lot but he seems to be recovering.

The robin nest in the front seems to have survived a crow attack.

James was playing hockey all weekend and wanted pizza for dinner tonight. His team made the semi finals so he left early this morning. He is still not back yet so maybe they made the finals as well!

baby robin

While the back robin nest was decimated by a crow, the front next seems to be successful so far. I can see 1 baby at least, maybe 2.