Last night when Irving took Jackie and Jillie out to the backyard before going up to bed, they frightened the rabbit who was busily nibbling at the carrot pieces put out for him. A large cooking carrot broken into three pieces daily. When you think about it, that's a lot of food for one little rabbit. And it makes us wonder what he's been eating otherwise? We don't see him often on the porch nibbling peanuts; he leaves that to the other wildlife for the most part.

We missed a shopping this week. With the huge rise of Omicron cases in the city we decided last week to forego our usual weekly shopping in favour of less exposure until we received our booster shot. Had we been infected, the need for isolation would have meant missing our booster appointment. I agreed to Irving's suggestion we delay the shopping in the assurance that we'd have enough fruits, vegetables, eggs, milk and other necessities to tide us over. And we did.

The refrigerator is getting to look pretty empty. Which is a real change from how it always appears, stuffed full of food. We've enough oranges for Monday breakfast, enough eggs (I used an egg and milk for this morning's pancakes) and butter and bread, so no problem. I'm eking out to the finishing line the puppies' beloved cauliflower, cucumbers, peppers and grape tomatoes. We're having fresh pears for dessert tonight; last night it was green grapes, hard and sweet the way we like them.

I've baked a whole-wheat/cheese bread to accompany the tomato-lentil soup cooking on the stove. Irving will have smoked salmon with his bread and I'll be enjoying two helpings of the soup, so aside from the bread and pears I won't want anything else. Tomorrow is another day; and the dinner menu will revolve around chicken breast, noodle pudding (which will use the last two eggs) and sweet-and-sour beets for dinner. And on Tuesday, early morning, we'll go off to do our grocery shopping. It'll be a big one.

Today, Irving worked downstairs on his stained glass door insert. It's a landscape with a bear fishing in a stream. He began filling in the bear today. I cleaned the kitchen and the oven interior and bathrooms, laundered linen and then we went out for our afternoon ravine hike with Jackie and Jillie. Yesterday we had an unusually mild temperature at plus-two, but today the afternoon  high was -10C with light wind. So we took a little extra care in choosing warmer clothing under our winter jackets.

The wind was in our faces as we approached the ravine, but once in the forest was far less in evidence. The forecast was for light snow today, but although we've been in heavily overcast conditions for days, we've had none of the clouds relieve their burden of precipitation. And we could use some new snow. The return of icier temperatures has left a layer of ice over the snow on the forest floor. Fine for us, wearing cleats, but slippery for others.

Not that we saw many people out on the trails. But we did see one family; a mother and four little girls walking their English Lab. And we came across a friend who told us his 24-year-old daughter had broken her arm while arm-wrestling with her brother's boyfriend. And then that same daughter caught COVID from her boyfriend. So she's nursing a broken arm, isolated with COVID. 

 

On the cheerier side, we were assaulted this afternoon by a few assertive dogs insisting they're our friends and friends should share. So Mr. Cookie-man shared. And since cookies were being doled out, Jackie and Jillie got more than they should have, during our hike. Mind, Irving keeps large ones in his pack for the big dogs, and very small ones for our two.