Finally, after months of snow accumulation or non-melting, we've finally had a day with substantial melting.
Because the temperatures crossed 10 celsius for the first time this year we've managed to lose a very good chunk of our remaining snow cover.
Of course, because I had a sense that today would be the day that we would witness this melting I decided to capture the event with some time-lapse.
[Embedded video]
Then I decided to jazz up the previously captured video to make it a little more watchable - I'm not sure if I've really succeeded.
[Embedded video]
Can't wait for the melt to continue tomorrow (so I can time-lapse even more).
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Regina's urban beavers
Tonight, in honour of the year's highest temperatures to date, Jeannette and I went on an evening stroll along the banks of the Wascana Creek. Just as we were passing a dog walking pair with three dogs and four leashes I noticed a mammal swimming in the creek. Because of the dog walkers' extra leash I initially assumed that the animal swimming in the creek was a fourth dog - though the swimming appeared awfully smooth for a dog.
As this pair and their three dogs kept walking along the creek without the mystery animal I soon began to suspect that we were looking at some sort of wild animal. As the head appeared to be about dog size I was relatively certain we weren't looking at a water-based rat.
When the animal climbed onto the shore from the creek and I got a look at its rotund body I began to feel relatively certain that it was a beaver. Of course, in the mean time Jeannette had spotted a second beaver on some ice and could clearly see the second animal's tail want was able to positively identify it as a beaver.
Anyway, much to Jeannette's chagrin we stood by the banks of the soon to be flood engorged banks of the Wascana creek and watched a pair of beavers gnaw on a branch.
Definitely pretty cool. Or at least I thought so.
Before Jeannette pulled me away from the raw display of beavericity I did manage to snag about 30 seconds of video of the two majestic beasts.
[Embedded video]
I can't wait to go back tomorrow night.
And how did I not know about this already?
As this pair and their three dogs kept walking along the creek without the mystery animal I soon began to suspect that we were looking at some sort of wild animal. As the head appeared to be about dog size I was relatively certain we weren't looking at a water-based rat.
When the animal climbed onto the shore from the creek and I got a look at its rotund body I began to feel relatively certain that it was a beaver. Of course, in the mean time Jeannette had spotted a second beaver on some ice and could clearly see the second animal's tail want was able to positively identify it as a beaver.
Anyway, much to Jeannette's chagrin we stood by the banks of the soon to be flood engorged banks of the Wascana creek and watched a pair of beavers gnaw on a branch.
Definitely pretty cool. Or at least I thought so.
Before Jeannette pulled me away from the raw display of beavericity I did manage to snag about 30 seconds of video of the two majestic beasts.
[Embedded video]
I can't wait to go back tomorrow night.
And how did I not know about this already?
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Went on a Bieber hunt
Maybe the most amazing thing about my trip the airport last night was not that the flight arrived early, but that the first thing I heard as I walked through the doors was someone asking a youngish girl "Are you here to see Justin Bieber?"
Unfortunately, the airport wasn't overrun with misled Beliebers - that would have been impressive.
Instead, the airport was quite quiet as people waited for two flights (one of which had arrived and people were making their way through customs and the other of which was just about to arrive).
Eventually things picked up a little as Juno drivers arrived to pick up their charges. Of course even with the Junos signs I was unable to recognize names or faces.
And of course Jeannette's Carly Rae Jepsen lead lead to nothing. Can't count on her for anything when it comes to celeb spotting. Jeez.
Unfortunately, the airport wasn't overrun with misled Beliebers - that would have been impressive.
Instead, the airport was quite quiet as people waited for two flights (one of which had arrived and people were making their way through customs and the other of which was just about to arrive).
Eventually things picked up a little as Juno drivers arrived to pick up their charges. Of course even with the Junos signs I was unable to recognize names or faces.
And of course Jeannette's Carly Rae Jepsen lead lead to nothing. Can't count on her for anything when it comes to celeb spotting. Jeez.
Going on a Bieber hunt - 4
So, just before her plane took off Jeannette texted me to say that there's someone that looks like Carly Rae Jepsen on her plane - so while I don't really know what this person looks like maybe with Jeannette's help I'll actually manage to have a Juno sighting.
Kind of bummed that if it's going to happen it won't be for Bieber. It definitely would have been cool to see a flock of Beliebers.
Friday, April 19, 2013
Going on a Bieber hunt - 3
In recently received texts from Jeannette she has confirmed that there are Junos types on her plane.
So it seems that even though I won't be seeing the Biebs I'll have a hard time avoiding at least a few of the Junos crew. I guess the big question is whether or not I'll ever be able to put names to faces - my guess is not.
So it seems that even though I won't be seeing the Biebs I'll have a hard time avoiding at least a few of the Junos crew. I guess the big question is whether or not I'll ever be able to put names to faces - my guess is not.
Going on a Bieber Hunt (not)
So my worst fears have been confirmed by CBC - Justin Bieber (and his monkey) won't be appearing in Regina for this year's Junos. Bummer.
Don't worry - I'll still be going celeb spotting at the airport tonight.
Now I'll just have to take photos of everyone and then check my results against Google Images to see if I managed to see anyone famous.
Or maybe I'll just pick up Jeannette and call it a night.
Don't worry - I'll still be going celeb spotting at the airport tonight.
Now I'll just have to take photos of everyone and then check my results against Google Images to see if I managed to see anyone famous.
Or maybe I'll just pick up Jeannette and call it a night.
Going on a Bieber hunt - 1
So as some of you may know, this is Junos week in Regina. I gather that the whole event will be capped off with an awards gala on Sunday night (though, to be perfectly honest, I'm a little fuzzy about the scheduling and am less than motivated to head to their website to figure it all out).
What this means for me and all of my fellow celebrity hunters is that we may get a chance to see Canadian music Royalty in person. This process may be slightly confounded for me as I don't think that there are too many Canadian music hotshots that I might actually be able to identify, and I suspect that of those that I might be able to identify only a sliver might actually make the trip to Regina.
Though I can't say I've ever really listened to his music, I am pretty sure that I'll be able to recognize J. Bieber - so I'm really hoping that I may get to see him.
Actually, I'm kind of thinking that I may want to ramp my Bieber hunt up by heading to the airport for one of the Toronto flights tonight, you know, to maybe see his monkey in person. Let's just hope that by being a Belieber I'll ensure that J. Biebs flies commercial rather than charter/privately.
Because Jeannette's coming back from a work trip on what I hope will be J. Biebs flight I'll probably pick her up too. Do you think that once she lands she'll text me any deets about celebrities on the plane so I can be mentally prepared?
Oh, and can anyone even confirm that Bieber is actually even coming to Regina? I keep hearing his name mentioned but don't have any real deets. Anyway, hopefully my trip to the airport won't be for naught.
What this means for me and all of my fellow celebrity hunters is that we may get a chance to see Canadian music Royalty in person. This process may be slightly confounded for me as I don't think that there are too many Canadian music hotshots that I might actually be able to identify, and I suspect that of those that I might be able to identify only a sliver might actually make the trip to Regina.
Though I can't say I've ever really listened to his music, I am pretty sure that I'll be able to recognize J. Bieber - so I'm really hoping that I may get to see him.
Actually, I'm kind of thinking that I may want to ramp my Bieber hunt up by heading to the airport for one of the Toronto flights tonight, you know, to maybe see his monkey in person. Let's just hope that by being a Belieber I'll ensure that J. Biebs flies commercial rather than charter/privately.
Because Jeannette's coming back from a work trip on what I hope will be J. Biebs flight I'll probably pick her up too. Do you think that once she lands she'll text me any deets about celebrities on the plane so I can be mentally prepared?
Oh, and can anyone even confirm that Bieber is actually even coming to Regina? I keep hearing his name mentioned but don't have any real deets. Anyway, hopefully my trip to the airport won't be for naught.
Another batch
In early November, on the day that Jeannette was to head back to Ottawa, I started my first batch of home brew beer. My plan, in addition to creating cheap beer, was to have a project I could work on while Jeannette was away.
At least to some extent I failed on both fronts. Firstly, the home-brewing process turned out to be surprisingly labour free. Aside from a little mixing, and then some bottling, there was practically nothing to do but wait. And secondly, the beer wasn't all that great. I find that it tends to give me pretty bad hangovers and it doesn't taste particularly good (though I can get it down without too much effort).
Now that it's been about five and a half months since that first batch and I've had time to consume most of the beer (there are only four bottles left) and think about my technique I recently decided to give home-brewing another shot.
A few days ago I picked up a new kit (the flavour was 'cerveza') and threw everything in the bucket as directed. Of course, almost as soon as I started I had the sense that the yeast wasn't working quite as expected. Actually, it didn't seem to be working at all.
By the time I finally came to the conclusion that the yeast I had obtained with the kind was useless it was late on Sunday night and I thought that my only option would be to buy an additional kit at a grocery store and use that yeast (and I will buy a single pack of yeast to use with the leftover parts of this kit). So after a four grocery store hunt that's what I did.
[Embedded video]
So now that I'm a few days in the process of beer making is decidedly underway.
Because I bought what I hope is a higher quality kit and because I'm using the right kind of sugar this time I'm hoping that the product I end up with in a few weeks is a fair bit better than the first time around. Otherwise I'll probably end up taking another 5 and a half months to make my way through this 23 litres of beer.
At least to some extent I failed on both fronts. Firstly, the home-brewing process turned out to be surprisingly labour free. Aside from a little mixing, and then some bottling, there was practically nothing to do but wait. And secondly, the beer wasn't all that great. I find that it tends to give me pretty bad hangovers and it doesn't taste particularly good (though I can get it down without too much effort).
Now that it's been about five and a half months since that first batch and I've had time to consume most of the beer (there are only four bottles left) and think about my technique I recently decided to give home-brewing another shot.
A few days ago I picked up a new kit (the flavour was 'cerveza') and threw everything in the bucket as directed. Of course, almost as soon as I started I had the sense that the yeast wasn't working quite as expected. Actually, it didn't seem to be working at all.
By the time I finally came to the conclusion that the yeast I had obtained with the kind was useless it was late on Sunday night and I thought that my only option would be to buy an additional kit at a grocery store and use that yeast (and I will buy a single pack of yeast to use with the leftover parts of this kit). So after a four grocery store hunt that's what I did.
[Embedded video]
So now that I'm a few days in the process of beer making is decidedly underway.
Because I bought what I hope is a higher quality kit and because I'm using the right kind of sugar this time I'm hoping that the product I end up with in a few weeks is a fair bit better than the first time around. Otherwise I'll probably end up taking another 5 and a half months to make my way through this 23 litres of beer.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
67 steps later
As some of you may recall, yesterday I mentioned that our new fridge's manual outlined a 67 step process to change the side on which the fridge's doors were hinged. Though I was somewhat discouraged by the large number of steps and poor photos/diagrams, I didn't have much choice but to proceed with the re-hinging today.
As some of you might have expected, I decided to capture the experience though the power of time-lapse video.
[Embedded video]
Of course, though the process is pretty much complete there are a few steps that I've neglected to complete. Notably, the location of the original manufacturer's logo is still pretty gunk covered. Once I get an appropriate cleaner I'll remove the freezer handle and then clean the gunk. The other remaining step is to remove a little gunk around where fridge door had been affixed to the fridge door. In total I think that these final fixes/cleaning jobs shouldn't take more than about ten minutes.
Oh, and the manufacturer has been so kind as to provide us with a replacement logo that we can place on the freezer door if we are so inclined - at the moment I'm not so sure I feel like replacing the logo if I don't have to.
And if you're curious, the process wasn't all that bad and was actually pretty straight forward. Of course, there was one step when a second body was necessary. Knowing that going into the process would have been nice, but otherwise it was really much easier than I expected.
As some of you might have expected, I decided to capture the experience though the power of time-lapse video.
[Embedded video]
Of course, though the process is pretty much complete there are a few steps that I've neglected to complete. Notably, the location of the original manufacturer's logo is still pretty gunk covered. Once I get an appropriate cleaner I'll remove the freezer handle and then clean the gunk. The other remaining step is to remove a little gunk around where fridge door had been affixed to the fridge door. In total I think that these final fixes/cleaning jobs shouldn't take more than about ten minutes.
Oh, and the manufacturer has been so kind as to provide us with a replacement logo that we can place on the freezer door if we are so inclined - at the moment I'm not so sure I feel like replacing the logo if I don't have to.
And if you're curious, the process wasn't all that bad and was actually pretty straight forward. Of course, there was one step when a second body was necessary. Knowing that going into the process would have been nice, but otherwise it was really much easier than I expected.
A quick 67 step process
So about an hour after I learned that a middle of the night power outage restarted our fridge's cooling capacity our new fridge was delivered. As much as it was a little disappointing to see that our fridge did have a little bit of life, it's also clear that it was not an entirely reliable piece of equipment.
Fortunately, our new fridge is quite nice (at least as far as I am concerned). Aside from the absence of an ice maker and a water dispenser, the fridge has basically everything I'm looking for in a fridge (adjustable shelves and a freezer). Of course, the one feature that the fridge does have that I am not so keen on is a right-side hinged door.
As is the case with many modern fridges, one can at least theoretically change the side on which the door is hinged. The only problem is that the instructions seem to require the new fridge owner to follow a simple 67 step process that involves completely removing both doors from the rest of the appliance and maybe even further disassembling the doors.
I guess that means that I have an exciting few hours of fridge door re-arranging ahead of me tomorrow. Hurrah!
Fortunately, our new fridge is quite nice (at least as far as I am concerned). Aside from the absence of an ice maker and a water dispenser, the fridge has basically everything I'm looking for in a fridge (adjustable shelves and a freezer). Of course, the one feature that the fridge does have that I am not so keen on is a right-side hinged door.
As is the case with many modern fridges, one can at least theoretically change the side on which the door is hinged. The only problem is that the instructions seem to require the new fridge owner to follow a simple 67 step process that involves completely removing both doors from the rest of the appliance and maybe even further disassembling the doors.
I guess that means that I have an exciting few hours of fridge door re-arranging ahead of me tomorrow. Hurrah!
Thursday, April 11, 2013
The house of the one gable
My friend Nicole suggested that if I want to solicit house names I should probably provide a photo of our house so that appropriate names might be suggested. So, as you can see I have provided a photo.
Not really sure if the photo will help, or if the name really even needs to relate to the features of the house, but it seems reasonable to think that it might help.
Name that house!
A few weeks ago I happened upon a Saskatchewan Gazette notice regarding the naming of a ranch under the authority of the Names of Homes Act.
Of course, this was something that I felt I had to look into a little more.
Turns out this act is exactly what I hoped it would be - basically it grants a home or ranch owner the ability to register a name for their home. How cool is that?
Anyway, as soon as Jeannette and I can come up with an awesome name we'll be submitting the paperwork, waiting the required waiting period, and then naming our home!
So because we're both suffering from naming-block we're open to suggestions from the internet wilds - just leave a comment with your suggestion.
We'll definitely keep you updated with our progress on this front.
Of course, this was something that I felt I had to look into a little more.
Turns out this act is exactly what I hoped it would be - basically it grants a home or ranch owner the ability to register a name for their home. How cool is that?
Anyway, as soon as Jeannette and I can come up with an awesome name we'll be submitting the paperwork, waiting the required waiting period, and then naming our home!
So because we're both suffering from naming-block we're open to suggestions from the internet wilds - just leave a comment with your suggestion.
We'll definitely keep you updated with our progress on this front.
Big day at the house
So today was definitely a big day in our new house, at least as far as cold hard cash is concerned.
First of all, we finally had an electrician install a few extra electrical outlets. Having just one outlet in the master bedroom and no outlets in the bathroom wasn't a situation we're really enjoying. We ended up with five new outlets. Of course, the downside of this kind of work is that it definitely isn't free.
Then, while I was at home for lunch, I noticed that the frozen corn I was retrieving from the freezer wasn't as cold or as hard as I expected. I soon learned that everything in the freezer wasn't as cold as I expected. Then I started to find that the food in the fridge wasn't all that cold either. So our fridge blew.
Tonight we went fridge shopping and picked up a new fridge (the upside being that this new fridge should be more energy efficient.
Anyway, definitely a memorable day.
First of all, we finally had an electrician install a few extra electrical outlets. Having just one outlet in the master bedroom and no outlets in the bathroom wasn't a situation we're really enjoying. We ended up with five new outlets. Of course, the downside of this kind of work is that it definitely isn't free.
Then, while I was at home for lunch, I noticed that the frozen corn I was retrieving from the freezer wasn't as cold or as hard as I expected. I soon learned that everything in the freezer wasn't as cold as I expected. Then I started to find that the food in the fridge wasn't all that cold either. So our fridge blew.
Tonight we went fridge shopping and picked up a new fridge (the upside being that this new fridge should be more energy efficient.
Anyway, definitely a memorable day.
Friday, April 05, 2013
In case you didn't believe my last post...
...here's some evidence of the snow and the arrival of the electricians.
[Embedded video]
Oh, and it's still snowing these three hours later.
[Embedded video]
Oh, and it's still snowing these three hours later.
A Few Quick Notes 597
-Well, after several snow free days (and even a fair bit of melting) we're now in the midst of another patch of flurries/full-fledged snowfall. Bummer. I guess I was really hoping that by April I'd be starting to get a sense of what our backyard looks like.
-It seems I've had another extended absence from these parts. Woops. It seems that working, painting, household chores, etc. keep me away from too much recreational internet usage, and I'm not particularly vigilant when it comes to using the few minutes a day I do have for blog updates.
-Because our house is relatively old and un-updated our insurance provider required that we obtain an additional electrical inspection after we took possession. Not surprisingly, we had a few things to update. The electricians did a few hours of work on Wednesday and should be back again today to do the rest of the updating. We're planning on having them also do a few optional projects that should make our life a fair bit easier (like adding a plug in the bathroom and making sure that we have more than one plug in the master bedroom).
-Ok, now to deal with the electricians.
-It seems I've had another extended absence from these parts. Woops. It seems that working, painting, household chores, etc. keep me away from too much recreational internet usage, and I'm not particularly vigilant when it comes to using the few minutes a day I do have for blog updates.
-Because our house is relatively old and un-updated our insurance provider required that we obtain an additional electrical inspection after we took possession. Not surprisingly, we had a few things to update. The electricians did a few hours of work on Wednesday and should be back again today to do the rest of the updating. We're planning on having them also do a few optional projects that should make our life a fair bit easier (like adding a plug in the bathroom and making sure that we have more than one plug in the master bedroom).
-Ok, now to deal with the electricians.
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