A Few Quick Notes 599

-So for the past few days it's been pretty hot and humid in Regina.  I'm a little bit bummed about this as I have long been lead to believe that Regina is in the 'dry heat' zone.  Maybe this is just a bit of anomaly?

-Yup, we still have a cat and she's still at least a little bit cute.

Of course, from time to time she's also at least a little bit crazy.  Sometimes she seems to work herself up and then run around and jump off of furniture as quickly as possible.  She also likes running quickly and then sliding into turns on the hardwood floors (sometimes she misjudges the slide and bangs into things).

-I have today off so I walked over to get a nice summer haircut.  Already I feel as though I made the right call.  Maybe I'll have to be on a two or three week cycle for the rest of the summer?  

-If all goes well I be able to take care of some cement patching, aquaponics setting up, and a few other errands before my day-off comes to a close.

-Oh, and because I didn't mention it before or when it was happening, a few days ago I was in Ottawa. And is there a better way to commemorate the trip than to grab a quick time-lapse of the intersection outside of my hotel room?

[Embedded video]

Right, I didn't think so.

A Few Quick Notes 593

-Despite the fact that we've had nice weather during the day recently, our nights and mornings have definitely been getting cooler.  I'm constantly surprised in the afternoon that I need to take the sweater off that I'd been wearing all morning.

-This weekend, thanks to a reminder from my mother, I purchased some millet.  Since we fed this stuff to our pet budgie in the early 1990s I've been curious about the stuff.  Maybe I'll manage to get around to cooking some of it tonight.  I'm imagining that it will be comparable to quinoa, but I guess I'll have to wait to find out.

-I realize that I'm likely of a dying breed, but I really love waking up to a freshly delivered newspaper.  While I also check online news sources, there's nothing quite like being able to flip through the newspaper every morning.

-Today, while running an unrelated errand I happened to walk by the parliament buildings and was able to see the remnants of some protest activities.  I guess these protests were timed to coincide with the first day of the House's fall sitting.  I also witnessed a corresponding increase in the number of police officers.

-While out on my aforementioned errand I had the pleasure of walking along Sparks Street.  Despite the fact that the pedestrian-only nature of Sparks Street is one of the things I like most about it, I keep getting the sense that it's perceived as some kind of failure.  Though I don't necessarily head there all that frequently, it always seems like a resounding success to me.

-I suspect that the cooler evening and nighttime temperatures are slowing down the growth rates of our plants.  Presumably in the relatively near future I'll have to start wrapping everything up for the season. It will be strange to see our bare balcony after so many months of relatively rampant plant growth.

-On a related note, I think I spotted someone in an adjoining backyard engaging in some anti-squirrel sling-shotting.  I would guess that this means that I'm not the only one frustrated by their presence.

A Few Quick Notes 592

-After a few cooler days we've had a few return to summeresque temperatures.  Today, for the first time in what must be weeks, I actually had to turn on my AC unit for a little while.  Of course, by tomorrow overcast skies and rain should help drive temperatures down below 20.

-After weeks or months of delaying, this afternoon I finally got around to re-potting a few of herbs I originally planted a few months ago.  The seeds were originally planted in pots that were far to small.  I'm hoping that the new, larger pots will be more conducive to growth.  Of course because many of these plants were also in less than ideal growing mediums it's entirely possible that even with the transplanting that they will continue to under-perform as plants.

-The morning glories that I was busy bragging about a few days ago have stopped blooming quite as prolifically.  For instance, today there were only two smallish blooms.  As much as it was nice to have about 7 of full blooming, it would have been nice if months and months of watering had lead to at least a solid week of flowers.

-For some reason I got lazy and neglected to mention that last weekend Jeannette and I took a quick Sunday afternoon drive up to Wakefield, Quebec.  Had we done even a little planning we could gone up for a pleasant lunch, instead we went after we'd already eaten and ended up just walking around for a while.  It was definitely a nice looking town and I'm sure we'll head back at some point in the not-to-distant future.

A Few Quick Notes 591

-We're in the midst of another hot and humid day in Ottawa.  As we keep creeping further into September I keep tricking myself into thinking that we'll soon be past such days - but they keep on coming.

-Our squirrel keeps coming back, though it's damage from this morning's visit wasn't as bad as a few visits.  I guess I really need to consider ramping up my cayenne use if I want to got a few days without these guys visiting and tearing everything up.

-So it turns out that the Quebec election was pretty eventful.  Not only did the PQ do a little worse than expected (along with the CAQ), the Liberal outperformed expectations.  At the end of the day the PQ managed only four more seats than the Liberals (and they were about nine seats short of majority territory).  Maybe most impressively, the PQ, the Liberals, and the CAQ all received less than 1/3 of the total vote - though the Liberals and PQ were close with 31% each.

And the least expected development of the night was likely the shooting that occurred at the PQ election night party.  Fortunately I had called it a night by the time this happened so I didn't trick myself into thinking that I should watch the coverage as the details of the shooting emerged.

-Aside from the sinkhole coverage, the big news from Ottawa today is that by 2014 there should be a AA team based here.  While I'm a little bummed out that we'll have to wait another season, I'm definitely looking forward to attending some minor league baseball.

-So if you're looking for some ongoing courtroom drama consider following the case regarding Toronto's mayor, Rob Ford.  It seems that if this conflict of interest based case goes against Ford he could find himself out of a job in the near future, or at least that is one interpretation of the possible outcomes.

A Few Quick Notes 590

-After a few relatively pleasant low-humidity days we seem to have transitioned back into that muggy weather that Ottawa does so well.  It's been so muggy and humid that I'm almost starting to think that the appearance of rain may be helping by cooling things off.

-I guess quite a number of university students started classes today.  Maybe that is why it was a little quieter last night?  I guess we'll probably have to wait until Friday to find out how much of a U of O party scene we'll have to contend with in this neighbourhood.  Hope it's not too bad.

-One of local feralish kittens has taken to sitting on our front steps.

And though at times I've simultaneously seen about ten cats hanging out in our neighbourhood, these days this is one of the few cats I see on a regular basis.  If only this thing was big enough to take on the local squirrels.

-So my cayenne pepper and water solution seems not to have worked (though the squirrels were absent for about 24 hours).  For the past two days they've been back and badder than ever.  If I didn't know better I'd think that they were purposely destroying things before they ripen just so that we can't have them.

The worst part is that I have no idea what it is they are looking for.  They keep digging in the dirt, but a far as I know there isn't anything there for them to find (aside from more dirt - and that doesn't seem to be what they are looking for).  

It definitely bums me out to look at the plants each morning and find that new damage has been done and a bigger mess made. 

-On Saturday Jeannette and I took a day trip to upstate New York.  In addition to witnessing what appeared to be a glee club sing-off in Potsdam, we also managed to find the world's worst homefries.  These bad boys were undercooked, soggy, cold, poorly seasoned, and over-priced.  Oh, and the same at the same place the 'side of fruit' was canned pears.  While we didn't see to many things that we would recommend, on the up side we have started to create a list of places that don't merit a return visit.

(Oh, and we saw five bros buying a 55 inch TV for their apartment.  Probably a pretty solid investment for your average undergrad student wouldn't you say?)

A Few Quick Notes 589

-It looks as though it is going to be a beautiful Labour Day in Ottawa this year, though maybe a few degrees warmer than ideal.

-Because we don't have the same morning rush to readiness today I'm hoping to crank out a batch of raspberry muffins for breakfast.

-Last night, based on a recommendation from my father, I sprayed our balcony plants with cayenne pepper water.  The idea is that this will deter the squirrel from visiting the plants.  I'm a little curious to see if it worked, or if the squirrel responded vindictively to the new flavour.

-Yesterday Jeannette and I engaged in a multi-hour cleaning and organizing event.  Is there any better way to spend a beautiful Sunday?

-Actually, because it's move-in weekend at the local universities (and one of these universities is only a few blocks away) it was nice not to be outside and in the midst of that craziness.

How are these not the subject of a major controversy?

While waiting for the bus on Rideau this afternoon Jeannette and I noticed a few symbols on a building across the street from us.  I was surprised that the symbols were still on public display.

Or maybe I'm just reading too much into this?

It finally happened

For quite a while I've been wondering when I would first get to experience a bus-other vehicle accident.

Well, last night the answer was revealed to me with a thump as the bus I was riding in clipped the mirror of a car it was passing with a loud thump.

Of course because this was my first such accident I wasn't up on the protocol.  And despite the fact that most of the passengers soon exited the bus I wasn't sure if this is what I should be doing, or if another bus would be sent to pick us up.

After speaking to the bus driver I learned that they wouldn't be sending another bus for us, but that we were supposed to walk to the next stop and pick the bus up there.  And because of my slight delay in getting off of the bus I almost missed the bus at the next stop - and that would have really been a bummer.

Anyway, I'm just hoping that yesterday's lite accident will be the one and only bus-other vehicle accident I'll have the opportunity to participate in.

Neighbourhood sights

Despite the fact that most of the time our neighbourhood is kind of quite, there are occasionally a few funny or noteworthy goings on (such as the car accident two blocks from us that made the news this morning or the flipped semi from a few days ago at a different nearby intersection).

Maybe these are a few of the less noteworthy features of our neighbourhood?

So I think I've figured out where the local pizza fanatic lives.

And then yesterday I saw this cool bike as I was walking home.

Isn't Ottawa life exciting life?

Is this really the best route?

I know that in Ottawa there designated routes trucks are supposed to take to cross the bridges into Gatineau/Quebec, but does it really make sense that trucks carrying unmilled lumber end up in the downtown core?

I would think that for the trip from the forest to the sawmill most truckers would do just about anything possible to avoid being anywhere near downtown Ottawa.

Maybe truckers like to show off to each other by citing their number of successful trips through truck unfriendly locales?

A Few Quick Notes 588

-Though today started off hot and humid, a few periods of rain and thunder showers have done a good job at bringing the temperature down by a few degrees.  Of course, it's still incredibly humid and sticky here.

-Because I couldn't talk Jeannette into going with me I had to go to the local busker event solo yesterday.  Despite the fact that it would have been nice to have someone to share the experience with, it was also nice to be able to not have to worry about causing someone to stay through a show they weren't enjoying.

After a somewhat lacklustre first performance (I think the heat likely had something to do with it) I happened to walk by another show just as it was about to start.  Like most of these shows the ramp-up was a little long-winded, but once they eventually got down to business they did a pretty good job.  Though they are likely not the only group with their own portable aerial gymnastics equipment on the busking circuit, they were certainly the first group I've seen with such a rig.

Oh, and it turned out that this group is based in Michigan.

-It was nice to have a little rain today so that I won't have to deal with the afternoon and evening watering sessions.  In addition to this natural watering session, the main development of the past few days is the ripening of our sweet peppers.

Maybe in a few days these three peppers will be ready for consumption?  I certainly hope so.

The rest of our plants seem to be fine, though nothing particularly exciting has been happening.  I'm starting to wonder if we might have enough time for a second planting of a few of them?

-Jeannette's tricked me into watching too much of the Olympic coverage.  I'm starting to look forward to upcoming events.  Ugh.

A Few Quick Notes 587

-We're in the midst of another hot and humid day in Ottawa.  I made the mistake of going for a short walk at about noon and was really feeling the consequences of my mistake by the time I returned home a little while later.

-Despite the fact that Jeannette isn't a fan of buskers and their ilk, she was kind enough to let me know about a busking festival currently taking place a few blocks from where we live.  Though I didn't go to any full shows today, I did walk buy just in time to see a grown woman stuff herself in a  small plexiglass box.

Though Jeannette definitely won't be joining me, I may try to head back at some point this weekend to see one or two of the shows.

-Despite a relatively good harvest a few days ago, things have taken something a turn for the worse in our balcony garden.

We woke up this morning to find that something, presumably a squirrel-like animal, did some substantial digging in a few of our pots.

So not only are we losing consumables, but finally we've started to lose plants because of this infestation (at least one of the two bean plants in this pot seems to have died).  I really hope this soon comes to an end otherwise we aren't going to have many plants left.

This turn of events is definitely something of a bummer.

-I've definitely fallen out of the habit of blogging regularly haven't I?

A Few Quick Notes 586

-After a few days of lower humidity levels we seem to be back in the sweat zone.  Maybe even more than my trip to Arizona the past few days have made it clear to me how much humidity makes a difference.  30 with lowish humidity is entirely tolerable if you have a fan.  22 and high humidity is a recipe for sweat and aggravation.  Hopefully we can slide back down the humidity scale in the coming days.

-It seems that our balcony garden is a favourite site for at least one of the neighbourhood squirrels.  Frustratingly the squirrel seems to be picking tomatoes and peppers and burying these finds in the other pots.  This is frustrating because we keep losing almost ripe food, and because I know that the squirrel isn't even eating or coming back for its treasures.

Though the tactic was borne of laziness, by leaving the porch light on last night I think I have found a way to discourage this visitor.  Hopefully the squirrel won't clue into the fact that the light being on doesn't mean that there are humans watching.

-Despite my best efforts, Jeannette's interest in following the Olympics has spilled over a little.  While I seem to be able to keep myself away from the live television coverage, I must say that I find some of the newspaper and social media coverage particularly consumable.  The very positive aspect of consuming sports content in this way is that I don't have to listen to the inane commentary that typically accompanies live sporting.  I have no idea why broadcasters are so afraid of letting viewers watch the sports uncommented upon.  Is this a weird hold over from the visual-free radio era?

-I guess today was Regatta Day in St. John's.  Apparently we are due for a Civic Holiday in Ottawa this Monday.  Exciting!

Update: Apparently the upcoming holiday is called Colonel By Day, which I can't help wanting to read as the first part of the following sentence: "Colonel by day, X by night."

A Few Quick Notes 585

-Wow, today was another hot one.  According to Environment Canada it has been at least 30 since noon.  Though a few of the weeds have retained their colour, almost all of the grass around here appears to be a drought induced drab colour.  So unless you look up it doesn't even look all that beautiful around here these days.

-After a two week balcony garden update hiatus, I can proudly report that the tomatoes have finally started ripening.  Other than that most of the plants seem to be just chugging along unimpressively.

I think it's even fair to say that we have at least a real serving of tomatoes for Jeannette to eat when she sees fit.

-It always seem like something of a waste when I make a loaf of bread first thing in the morning and then don't get around to cracking into it until the next day.  Observers may start to think that I prefer stale bread, and that definitely isn't the case.

-I've recently become a big fan of tofu burgers.  While tofu burgers don't really taste or feel anything like traditional meat burgers they take only a fraction of the time to prepare and they can be consumed 'blue' or 'rare' at no risk to the consumer.

It's hot, humid, and dry in Ottawa

Some kind of heat warning has been issued for today and tomorrow in Ottawa.  I'm not exactly sure what this means, or how I will be behaving differently as a result of this warning, but I guess it's nice to know that I should expect it to be hot (and humid).

Actually, despite the fact that the warning is a 'heat warning,' my understanding of the situation is that the warning has actually been issued because the expected combination of heat and humidity.  We've had higher temperatures and not had such warnings issued, so I guess we're in for particularly high humidity.

This doesn't bode well for today being a pleasant or productive day.

The other weather weather related news that broke yesterday is that Ottawa is apparently in the midst of a 'level one' drought. Given the recent absence of rain I guess this makes sense.

I guess I find it funny despite the basis for the heat warning is the presence of high humidity, but at the same time the absence of 100% is causing another set of problems.

A Few Quick Notes 584

-We are in the midst of another sunny day.  Presumably this also means that we will soon be in the midst of another hot and sticky day.

-Yesterday was Canada Day (or not) and as we are in downtown Ottawa we are, I think it is fair to say, near the epicentre of the annual Canada Day celebrations.  Through out the day we heard various celebration-related noises, but as evening approached the frequency with which we were hearing these noises really increased.

At one point we saw about 60 people in red unitards running along a near by street while being accompanied by an orchestra of car horns.

Fortunately we were able to take advantage of a dinner invitation and make our way to a more residential part of town for the heart of the evening.  Unfortunately, the fact that we left the downtown core meant that at some point we had to return to the downtown core.

While the bus we took for the first half of our trip was almost completely empty, the second bus was packed with a number of semi-intoxicated Canada Day celebrators. Fortunately this bus ride wasn't too long.  Then on the short walk back to our apartment we were able to see a number of attempted acts of vandalism and general drunken tomfoolery.  The general attitude on display seemed to be "Canada's great, so lets destroy it!"

-Somehow in recounting our recent bike ride in Gatineau I forgot to mention that as we were passing the Museum of Civilization I looked up and happened to see a few familiar parachutes.

As we rode a little further we approached the parachute landing site and were able to hear the announcement that we had just witnessed a SkyHawks practice jump.  In a matter of about 24 hours I not learned about the existence of the SkyHawks, but I also saw them perform twice (and they were did different material in each instance).

-My bread just came out of the oven so maybe that means that I really need to get down to work?

A Few Quick Notes 583

-Despite the fact that yesterday was not the hottest day we've experienced in Ottawa, it really felt particularly hot and stickily.  At times I felt as though I as though I was just wearing wet clothing for some unclear reason.  Anyway, despite the fact that today is a little more overcast, it's still on the muggy side of things.  Gross.

-Earlier today we were buzzed by a few jets.  I'm pretty sure these jets must have been Snowbirds and/or CF-18s as both plane types were set to fly over Parliament Hill as part of today's Canada Day celebrations.  I have to imagine that just being buzzed by these planes was a little less exciting than actually seeing them fly by at a low altitude.

-Yesterday while Jeannette and I were out on a bike ride in Gatineau we happened to be riding along the river when we saw a giant hovercraft doing its thing.

Just a few minutes later we rode around a bend in the path and found that the hovercraft had beached itself a few feet in from the edge of the rover.  I have no idea why it was out in the river or why it was beached where it was.

-Our balcony garden continues to grow, though I'm not sure if the plants are developing at the same rate they were just a few weeks ago.

The plant in the garden that seems to be developing the most quickly is the sweet pepper plant.  I can't help but hope that in maybe just a few more weeks we will have a few peppers to harvest.

I guess I shouldn't be too hard on our growing bean collection (which now includes two pots of edamame soy beans).

A few days ago we were able to harvest a handful of beans.

Definitely exciting times in the world of our container garden.

-Oh, just a few minutes ago I learned that there is a webcam that broadcasts an image of Parliament Hill.  This might be useful if you wanted to see which protests are occurring on a daily basis, or if you wanted to say that you watched today's festivities but you don't actually want to hear them or see them in any detail.

Apparently I do respond to news coverage

Yesterday I saw some of the coverage of the accidental self-impaling of a ceremonial guardsman at the daily changing of the guard ceremony on Parliament Hill.  Not only did this story remind me that it's now the time of year when I can see such a ceremony, but it also made it clear that these guys are carrying real bayonets.

I know these guardsman are technically soldiers, but why are they carrying real bayonets?

I hope their guns aren't also loaded with real bullets.

Anyway, because I was reminded of this ceremony by the story and also aware of its schedule I decided to head to today's iteration (and I haven't seen it since the summer of 1995).

Despite the fact that the news story indicated that the event occurs daily at 10:00 AM, as I was approaching about 10 minutes before 10:00 AM I saw the pipers and a batch of soldiers just beginning their march towards the lawn (they arrived on site a fell 5 minutes before 10:00).  Maybe this smaller parade isn't considered to be an official portion of the ceremony?

Just after this group passed me I crossed the street just in side the walls of the parliament hill compound only to see the manhole covers that were likely the cause of the aforementioned self-impaling.  It seems that at some point between yesterday and today they have been painted with some kind of gray anti-slip paint.

After the pipers, drummer, and soldiers arrived on the lawn they just stood around without moving for a while.  It was a little less than exciting.

After a few minutes of standing on a sidewalk watching these guys stand motionless in the sun we were informed that we'd have to move, but we couldn't stand behind where we'd been standing because that was an active road.  Really?  

They have major tourist event every morning and they still haven't figured out a way to effectively direct traffic and pedestrians?  Oh, and they probably shouldn't allow people to block the band's entrance until the band has entered, then they wouldn't have to clear everyone out and and help them find a non-road based spot for them to stand until the band enters.

Anyway, eventually the band and another batch of soldiers made their way to the lawn.  The presence of a few flags and cones allowed me to trick myself into thinking that we may be in for some fancy marching and whatnot.  

Boy was I disappointed.

Once the band (along with the pipers) were in position the two groups of soldiers stood across from each other on the lawn.  There was then some kind of 'inspection of the troops' that went on for about 25 minutes.  During the inspection, aside from a few shimmies and the placing and removal of bayonets, the soldiers were largely motionless. Of course at this point I was still hopeful that some fancy marching would still take place.  At least the band was occasionally playing during the inspection.

Sadly, after the inspection of the troops concluded everyone moved to the centre in formation to leave.  They then marched off of parliament hill and down Wellington and Elgin.

In case you're curious, as they left all of the soldiers appeared to have bayonets on their rifles.  Fortunately there weren't any additional self-impalings during the course of the event.

Anyway, if you are planning in being in Ottawa and though you might want to check this event out I would recommend getting there a few minutes before 10:00 to watch the arrival of the two sets of musicians and then leave a few minutes into the inspection.  Once you've seen a guy looking down the barrel of a rifle once you get the idea of what's going to go on for the next 25 minutes and there's really no need witness him looking down the barrel of every rifle present.

A Few Quick Notes 582

-Despite the intense sun, today hasn't been too hot. Maybe the fact that it doesn't seem to be as humid is the big difference.

-This morning Jeannette and I rode our bikes along the Rideau Canal for about 10 kilometers to watch a few of this weekend's dragon boat races.

-Our plants continue to grow rapidly. We must now have close to 20 immature tomatoes and maybe a few dozen semi-ripe beans.

Though we keep adding new tomatoes the older tomatoes don't seem to be getting all that much larger.

We've been pleasantly surprised to see that a few of our sweet peppers have started to develop, if somewhat slowly.

All-in-all I am hopeful that we will eventually have at least a moderately successful harvest.

-On our way back we acquired a few new board games from a store that is in the process of closing. Maybe in a few years we might have as many games as Neil, Rebecca, and I had in Halifax.

I don't know how I'm going to make it through the day

It's just a few minutes after 9:30 AM and I'm already drenched with sweat, despite the fact that it's not even 20 degrees outside.  I guess the fact that we're at 93% humidity has something to do with the current state of affairs.

Anyway, this early morning unpleasantness is notable because we are apparently in for something of a 'heat wave' today.  If it's this bad now I really can't imagine how bad it's going to be this afternoon.

At times it feels that the environment is conspiring against me.