Red Squirrel Saturday

[Kittykatt]

Triple Dog Dare!

Pick 3 things
Do them
Post your TaDas!

»»—-Cheers! WTG! Ygg!—-««

Don't think about it. Just do it!
~~ I Triple Dog Dare ya! ~~
Good Morning!
»»————　✼　————««

[Kittykatt]

Red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) are native to the UK but are a lot rarer than their grey cousins. They live in a few special places across the UK thanks to reintroduction projects. They are protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981.

Native red squirrels are a lot rarer in the UK than their American cousins, grey squirrels. Usually found in coniferous woodland, they like to feast on hazelnuts by cracking the shell in half. Red squirrels make a rough nest called a ‘drey’ out of twigs, leaves and strips of bark high up in the tree canopy. Males can be seen chasing females through the trees, leaping across branches and spiralling up tree trunks.

The red squirrel has a reddish-brown coat and pale underside. It has a characteristically bushy tail. It is distinguished from the grey squirrel by its smaller size, red fur and distinctive, large ear tufts.

Red squirrels are found in Scotland, the Lake District and Northumberland; isolated, remnant populations further south in England and Wales, including Formby, Anglesey, Brownsea Island in Dorset, and the Isle of Wight.

Red squirrels do not hibernate, but they do keep stores of food to see them through difficult times when fresh food is not available. In their favoured habitats of mixed broadleaf and coniferous woodland, they have a source of food all year-round as pine seeds are present over the winter months.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/imag ... PbThA&s=10

[FrenchFlybebe]

◕‿◕ * * * Good Morning! * * * ◕‿◕

kittykatt, thanks for the start. Usually when I see squirrels I don't have time to see their color. I suppose most of the squirrels in France are grey. Good luck with the weather. I can't count many days without rain, from memory, since autumn, so I wasn't surprised to hear you had rain every day for so long.

Saturday - the day MrNG stops working for his training and starts working on missions that earn him some money. As for me I spend much more of my week time at payroll, on weekends I try to keep payroll stuff out of my brain. Boss had another annoying and intrusive idea this week, I will have to fight back, with the help of ChatGPT orother AI that knows more about Labour code than I.
For now, kids need to be up soon, DS7 has handball practice, DS10 doesn't have sports. We wil lprobably catch glimpses of the Olympic Games during the afternoon : we watched the Opening show yesterday.And kids will spend 3 days discovering ski in 2 weeks from now (I still need to find secondhang ski clothes for DS10, and for us grownup) so it seems a good idea to watch some skiing.

TADAs
up, tea
glimpse at news, weather forecasts
very quick cuop

TODO
wake up Ds7
feed everyone
kids and I otd in 60 minutes

[Kittykatt]

Good morning, FFB! What wonderful news that Mr NG is starting to earn money again. I'm so sorry about the difficulties at payroll. I don't know anything about French labour law, but if you're a Union member they should be able to help, and if you're not already a member, would it be possible to join the relevant union? ( I don't think it matters if there is no union rep at your place of employment - at least it doesn't over here .)

L.Ann, I'm glad your appointment went well. Getting play dough out of the floor does *not* sound like fun! I can remember as a small child being strictly confined to the kitchen, which had a tiled floor and no upholstered surfaces, for play dough and plasticine sessions. (And still some managed to escape!)

Dogged, I admire you and your DBro's technical abilities. I had never heard of a KVM switch before! (I just plug things in and hope for the best!!! ) I have a couple of easy recipes for microwave fudge that use icing sugar if that's what you're looking for, and I can easily post them here. Alternatively, if you only have granulated sugar to hand, a few seconds in the blender should reduce it to icing sugar, and then you can use it in a recipe that requires icing sugar.

Today we have a fine start, but I'm not sure how long it's going to last. If possible I would like to go for a walk and maybe do something in my garden, but that could be too optimistic. Indoors, I need to put the racks back in the oven and hopefully go through the junk drawer, and then the kitchen will be done.

DH is going to men's breakfast and then out with some friends, so I need to ensure I use my time wisely. I really, really need to update the kitchen calendar today, but that can be done when it's dark / raining!

[Kittykatt]

To do:
Cuddles and treats with Matilda, Freddie and Jude
QT
Update latest Waitrose order
Cup of tea
Get up!
Shower/wash hair/moisturiser and sunblock/ clean and floss teeth
S/S bathroom
Physio exercises
Get dressed in casual clothes
Make bed
DH launched
Scoop cat trays and give everyone fresh water
Cat breakfast and meds /supplements
Breakfast and meds /vitamins for me
Quick kitchen clean up
Load DW
Quick PUPA downstairs
Quick dust and Hoover downstairs
Wind clock
Quick PUPA upstairs
Quick dust bedrooms
15 minutes in tiny front garden
15 minutes in back garden
Go for my walk
Walk Freddie
Lap time with Freddie, Jude
and Matilda
Head rubs with Freddie, Jude and Matilda
Play with Freddie, Jude and Matilda
Run DW when full
Unload DW
Lunch
Cats' supper
Our supper
Sort out lunch for tomorrow
Bake something?
Towels in washing machine
Towels hung up to dry
Clothes laid out for tomorrow

Extras:
Put racks back in oven
Clean / declutter junk drawer
Declutter those random items that are still lying around in the kitchen that I don't know what to do with!
Can I start cutting out a tablecloth?

Garden extras:

[trissie]

Happy Satuday!

I've been kinda missing in action this week - very tired. I think I am coming down with something, and my body just needs some extra rest. Luckily we ain't going anywhere this weekend (though DBD would like to go ice skating tomorrow), so I can take it easy - or as easy as I can

Frenchie, so is MrNiceGuy done with his training?
kittykatt, I love squirrels! They are so clever!

TaDas
- sleep in
- slow morning
- dressed to shoes
- breakfast, coffee, news

ToDos
- morning routine
- 1 hour on basic pick up and spiffying around the house
- start lunch

Braindump
routines
- midday routine
- afternoon routine
- evening routine
food
- lunch
- dinner
- bake something sweet
- freezer cooking
- feed breadstarter
organization
- DBD's speech therapy
- update land contract
- start working on taxes
- 15 on filing
- homework and backpacks
- check the dates on seeds and note what to buy
cleaning
- clean office
- spiff up DBD's room
- spiff up twins' room
- spiff up DS13's room
- spiff up master bedroom
- spiff up master bathroom
- spiff up kitchen
- spiff up living room
- spiff up downstairs bathroom and hallways
laundry
- load of darks
- load of towels
- load of cleaning rags
- ironing
- folding
- mending
- laundry put away
me time
- 15 of exercise
- Bible study
- reading

[kitkat]

Good morning!
Thanks for the start Kittykatt!
Red squirrels... As cute as they are, they cause a LOT of trouble. They are territorial - I guess, b/c they hoard all that food for the winter....
They chase the black ones AND the big grey ones away.
I used to have one in my old shed. We could not get it out... Then, one decided that my car is a good place to keep his walnuts...That was NOT good.
Walnuts were under the hood, they made into the glove compartment...

FFly - so happy for MrNG's job! Hopefully, you'll get your job issues under control.

trissie - missed your posts.... You might be feeling the effects of the recent stress... Also, we are coming closer to spring. There seems to be extra fatigue at this time of the year.

Did I say spring? We have a cold warning. Currently, it's 0 F, (windchill -13F) (-18 C, -25C). We just came in with my pup. Only stayed a few minutes, but she was lifting her paw to let me know it's cold.

I did not get back here last night: after I picked up DGD she stayed until 8:30 We watched the opening ceremonies and painted together.
I did get a lot of laundry done, but I have more as I had added throws,etc. to the mix.
I have a yoga class today and my older DGD's coming this afternoon. Let's see what I can get done.
My shoulder is not behaving, but my PT tells me it's a long process (frozen shoulder). I need to do some more specific exercises.

Need to get started. First up :
MR and D2Ex

[L.Ann]

Luckily the playdough was just the dried remnants of Little Bit’s project which was on the chest she was working on. I have had a slow morning doing something although I am not sure what.

1-stretching and knee exercises
2-dress and pick up bedroom
3-pick up Target order

Menus
Saturday-black bean and rice bowls-maybe shrimp and chicken rice bowls
Sunday-eat out on way home from bball
Monday-
Tuesday-salmon with bok choy and scallion rice
Wednesday-DD33 out/left overs for me
Thursday-sheet pan Asian crispy shrimp with rice and green beans
Friday-chorizo enchiladas
Saturday-left overs
Sunday-

Events
Saturday-
Sunday-9-12 bball tournament
Monday-Little Bit 3-5, Little Bit school 9:15-3, radiation 10
Tuesday-Little Bit 7:40-5, Little Bit school 9:15-3, breakfast out with friends
Wednesday-Little Bit 3-5, Little Bit school 9:15-3, radiation 9, rheumatologist for DD33@3 then PS 3:30-8
Thursday-Little Bit 7:40-5, Little Bit school 9:15-3, valentine dance 2:30-3:30 for DD33
Friday-Little Bit 7:40-5, Little Bit school 9:15-3
Saturday-bball 9:30-10:30
Sunday-walk with friend????

Weekly House Blessing-mop dining room, kitchen, bathroom, Vacuum, dust, trash, windex
Detailed cleaning of hall-wash walls, detailed vacuuming, clean linen closet, clean appliance closet, clean woodwork, wash doors, wash louver doors
Extra stuff-send letter to friend of DM
January paperwork-spare room- DM’s papers
Death book-updates, call lawyer for appointment to review will and DD33’s POAs
Phone calls- call and make dermatology appointment, make eye appointments

Accomplishments
-make Target order
-breakfast for dog and me and DD33
-empty dishwasher
-read
-diet site

[FrenchFlybebe]

kitkat sorry about the misbehaving shoulder. I hope the yoga class doesn't cause further trouble.

trissie no his training is not over, just that he takes a break on Saturdays to do other things. I watched with interest the Czech athletes at the Olympic Games ceremony yesterday night, they had beautifully coloured coats, does it have some significance ? Or maybe they just have talented stylists... The seeds on your to-do list : are they for gardening projects ?

Kittykatt good luck with your kitchen decluttering. I smiled when reading about your Tardis cupboard !

L.Ann I hope the slow morning is enjoyable.

As for MrNG earning money, he got another contract last week, for a mission of maybe 5 separate days, total pay approx 4500 €, but that means maybe 10 full days or prep work at home. This weekend he's working on the other missioncontract, the one that takes place in the Broceliand forest that is famous for its Arthurian tales (he works in work buildings in a village, not among the forest fairy people). So during weekdays he is in training / internship or class days, depending. And on weekends he works on paid contracts. And when he has time he writes his internship reports and soon he will have to prepare for exams.
And all this time someone else does the cooking and cleaning, the clothes washing, and entertaining the kids (= settling fights and trying to unglue them from the screens), and making menus and trying to fit them with ski clothes bought on secondhand websites, and waking up kids, and having them get dressed and brush their teeth and put their coats, and not managing to be on time at payroll after dropping the kids and running back to the car when it's still dark - and so many more things.
He does the after meal clean up and he washes the items that don't go in the dishwahser, and starts the dishwasher, and cleans the pellet stove. So, well, it's almost manageable.

TADAs
up, tea
glimpse at news, weather forecasts
very quick cuop
all up, fed and otd
DS10 and I watched the handball class
the three of us walked to the bakery - under the rain
back home, I prepped quick lunch (while watching some slope skiing)
ate, cleaned up
Had hair appt, now it's 8cm shorter

TODO
freeze bread from the baker
do things from the to-do list
email to DM ?
afternoon snacks
get kids outside if no rain for awhile
pick movie for tonight
get rid of homework
put pizzas in oven, wash salad, maybe cook quick soup
enjoy family movie night

[Lauralind]

Morning all. I tried to update the other night and never got to finish it.

I've never seen grey squirrels. Maybe they camouflage better? Or we mostly have the red ones. The super cute ones but super annoying like kitkat said. Although dh is a squirrels lover. He had one he decided to keep in his shirt pocket for a while when he was young on the farm. I don't remember the details of the story. He's always been a critters lover and now cats too.

Trissie I hope you feel better soon. Yes could be the stress. Glad you have a slower weekend.

Frenchie I hope you can get some legal protection at work. Or a different job. This one has been stressful since day 1.

Anyway I am not sure what the day will bring later. Both of us are off. But I gotta get up and moving. Going with my sister to help move mom's power chair and a dresser into her hospital room. We're allowed to make it homey for her a bit. I think she's going to pick me up at 9. Then go get the stuff from dad's and my aunt from out of town wants to meet us at the hospital and see mom at 10. Get mom's stuff set up and then see what else we get to.

Busy week in some ways. We did end up in er with dad Thursday night. Thankfully his family dr was on call. Trying to stabilize his blood sugar. It's so volatile atm. He's becoming insulin resistant. So added oral med on top. Hopefully that helps as goodness next step is getting legal stuff happening and downsizing him. How long can he safely stay on his own in that house. He's getting to be fall risk too. Memory. Blood sugar. Food intake. We're more worried about him. While mom is safely stable and has great long term care now.

What to do today. I have no idea after We're done with the morning activities.