Sunday, September 14, 2014

A Few Quick Notes 615

-After several cold and grey days today was a pleasant change of pace.  Eventually it was even warm enough that we needed to use the AC in our car.  Of course, even this high wasn't particularly high and was certainly no where near the low 20s that were in the forecast a few days ago.

-Yesterday afternoon we tuned into the livestream of the PC convention in Newfoundland once we learned that the virtual tie on the second ballot was forcing a do-over/third ballot.  Not only was it great to see all kinds of people I know (i.e. friends, former profs, former co-workers, and friends of my parents), but it was also neat to watch an entirely unscripted television event.  Neither the viewer nor the producers knew what was going to happen and it was exciting.

-For some reason I recently remembered the idea of mushroom barley soup.  This morning I started preparing a batch that we could have for lunch.  Wow, that was tasty.  I'm not quite sure why we haven't been making more of this stuff.

-I saw diagram outlining the ideal viewing areas for the recent Northern Lights eruption and it seems that Saskatchewan was one of the worst viewing locations.  I guess now I don't feel so bad that we didn't try to wait for the clouds to clear.  Hopefully we'll get another chance soon.

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Working for the weekend

It's just after 10:00 AM and I already feel as though I've got hours of work under my belt.

The major project I've been addressing this weekend is to put the aesthetic touches on a handrail in our basement that I constructed last weekend.  The posts (rather ugly 2x6s) are being painted a greyish colour while the hemlock handrail is retaining its natural colour.

The handrail was given a quick second coat early this morning and should be ready for a third and, maybe, final coat this afternoon (though I have a sneaking suspicion that a fourth or fifth coat may be ideal).  As each of the first two coats have been significant improvements, I'm hopeful that these additional coats will really be worth the effort.

The first of my removable posts has now been given two coats of paint is ready to be re-installed once it has fully dried.  Once this post is back in place I will swap out the other post and give it two quick coats and then re-install it.  To save time I have pre-woodfilled the second post so that I can have two streams of drying occurring simultaneously.  Ideally, both posts will be complete and back in place by Sunday evening at the latest.

Of course, while allowing paint and finishes to dry I've been busy taking care of other chores.  Dishes, laundry, and baking have all be going on in the background.  Sadly, I suspect laundry, which we've allowed to pile up all week, will also stretch through the weekend.

Hunting for the Northern Lights

One of the advantages of living in Regina is that it is the furthest North I have ever lived in Canada.  Presumably, this should improve my chances of seeing the Northern Lights rather dramatically.  And several times since we've been here the forecast has called for the Northern Lights to be visible from this area.

Last night was one of those nights that the Northern Lights were supposed to be visible throughout wide swaths of the North (or the not-so-far-North-but-further-North-than-most-of-the-North-American-population).  As neither Jeannette nor I have seen the Northern Lights we thought we might try to find them.

Fortunately, it was easy to head North and make it out of the city.  Not long after we were out of the city we were even off the more well traveled paved roads and really making our way through rural Saskatchewan.  Our hope was that if we were as far away from the city as possible the light of the city wouldn't bleed out and obscure our view.

Unfortunately, despite the clear skies we observed all day long, as the sun set cloud cover spread across the sky.  By the time we found our selves driving among several of Saskatchewan's many fields there was so much cloud cover the moon wasn't even visible.  Eventually things cleared enough that we were relatively confident that we could identify the outline of the moon.

So, not surprisingly, our first real attempt to head out to see the Northern Lights was a complete bust.  I guess we'll just have to keep our eyes on the Northern Lights forecast and hope for better weather on our next trip.