Three years

It's been almost three years since Jeannette and I moved to Regina (one month shy of three years if you want to be precise).  Of course, we moved to Regina because I accepted a job that was based here.  Fortunately, since we moved here Jeannette, who was originally working from home for her Ottawa-based employer, has also found a great job in her preferred field.

Now, almost three years later, I've accepted another job.  The new job, which I start on Thursday, is also in Regina.  This time, though rather than being in a library, it is a policy analysis position.

Because when I accepted my first job in Regina I expected to be with that employer for the foreseeable future I have had to come to terms with that reality not really coming to pass.  Instead, I'm leaving the position less than three years after arriving (and it feels as though I just arrived).  Though the change is happening in just a few days it still feels a little unreal.

Maybe more significant change than simply changing employers is that the nature of my work is about to change rather dramatically.  Perhaps not surprisingly, I expect that in this policy analysis role I'll have to do a fair bit more analytical writing than I do than in my current position.  Of course, this feature of the job is something that attracted me to the position in the first place.

Raised beds and our long-term plan

Our first vegetable garden attempt more or less just consisted of us deciding on a location for our garden and then ripping up most of the grass, adding some peat, planting some seeds, and calling it a day.  Not surprisingly, aside from the potatoes, it was a pretty big disappointment.  Not only were there a few specific drainage problems, the overall soil quality was pretty poor (which we soon learned is common throughout the Regina region).

Part way through the first summer it became pretty clear that some sort of raised bed option would be required if we wanted soil and drainage that might lead to half-reasonable crop production.

We decided to go with a Lee Valley raised bed kit option that made for the pretty quick construction of our raised beds.  We were able to crank out three beds in an afternoon last year.  Of course, filling these guys with top soil probably took more time and effort than their construction.

After a relatively successful growing season last year we decided to expand our set up to include a fourth raised bed.  Again, the bed construction was quite quick.

Because we had only one raised bed to fill, instead of three, we decided to fill it with bagged topsoil and peat we purchased at local garden centres instead of having a load of topsoil delivered.  Several garden centre runs later this objective was completed.

Soon after we completed the fourth raised bed we realized that because much of the area between our raised beds was the same area that had been the site of our original garden site the grass we'd torn up had come back as weeds.  This looked really bad and probably wasn't helping our raised beds stay weed free.  

We decided that we would install a brick barrier and some weed barrier before dropping a few tonnes of rocks around the beds.

Turns out that rocks are heavy and hard to shovel.  We didn't manage to redistribute the rocks in a single session as I originally, overly optimistically, thought we would.  To make matters worse, immediately after our first rock moving session the garage, with all of our recently re-housed tools, became inaccessible because the garage door broke in the down position.

After some hand moving and also our garage door repair, I was finally to take a few more cracks at rock moving and finally finish up.

No we just have to work at getting grass to grow in the various bald patches and weeds to not grow everywhere else.  Maybe in a few years from now we might actually have a backyard that isn't most embarrassing (and because we don't have a garage or fence obscuring the view the entire alley can see our shame).

Looks aside, the great news is that all four raised beds seem to be doing quite well.  If all goes as planned by the end of the summer we will have the following crops: potatoes, green onions, celery, peas, edamame, peppers, cherry tomatoes, butter nut squash, pumpkins, green beans, carrots, spinach, kale, romaine lettuce, radishes, and kohlrabi (as well as an assortment of herbs and berries).  

A Few Quick Notes 622

-While it is unlikely that we will make it up to the low-twenties, as we did yesterday, we have every indication that today will be at least another passable Spring day - if a little overcast.

-To take advantage of yesterday's great weather Jeannette and I spent much of the morning walking around our neighbourhood and the downtown area.  First we made our way to the city-funded arts centre (which just happens to be a few blocks away from us) to visit a showing of local artists works.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to find anything we wanted to buy.

We then made our way up to one of our local coffee shops for some road coffees for our walk to the farmer's market.

Mainly as a justification to head out for a walk, rather than with intent to actually buy anything, we made our way over to the Regina Farmer's market.  Unfortunately, as is normally the case, it was something of a disappointment (and nothing like the Saskatoon Farmer's Market that we visited last Saturday) and we weren't even remotely tempted to buy anything.  As usual, there wasn't even any flour.  What's up with a farmer's market in Saskatchewan not selling flour?

Because the farmer's market is on the same street as the optician from whom I recently purchased glasses I then went to have my glasses adjusted.  For some reason my glasses have been slipping down my nose (a problem I have had with every pair of glasses I have ever owned).  While I think the adjustment helped I'm not sure if the problem has been altogether solved and I fear that I may have to start using my weird little rubber ear piece attachments.  Bummer (particularly, because it this problem that motivated me to buy new frames).

-After a little bit of early yard work (mostly some raking and sweeping) Jeannette talked me into having our first barbecue of the season.  Not surprisingly, it was quite pleasant.

A Few Quick Notes 598

-So after several months without rain and clouds grey skies and rain have finally returned to Regina.  For the better part of the past few weeks we've had at least grey skies for part of most days and somewhat regular rain.  The upside of this weather is that on Thursday night I got to see my first double rainbow, the downside is that it's almost always not quite as warm or sunny as I was expecting it to be at this time of year in Regina.

-Despite the grey skies, cool temperatures, and plentiful rain the plants we planted in our garden a few weeks ago are mostly growing.  Sure, most of them would probably be doing a fair bit better with a few more hours of sun a day and soil that at least occasionally is a little drier, but that hasn't meant that most of them haven't continued to grow - if somewhat slowly.

Not surprisingly, the radishes are furthest along.  And had this weekend not been as rainy as it was we would have even planted a second and third row so that we can start to have a stead stream of radishes. The peas and beans are also doing well, though, again, more sun would surely help.  

The plants that seem to be growing particularly slowly are our pepper and corn plants.  The corn plants seem not to have managed to make it beyond about three inches while the pepper plants don't seem to be any taller than they were when we moved them from indoors to the garden.

In any event, the fact that most of these plants are even alive seems kind of remarkable given the incredible number of weeds and the high clay content of the soil.  I suspect that not weeds be an annual battle, but so will the soil.  Who would have guessed that in a province known for agriculture that the soil is mostly just clay?  In Newfoundland it's always a challenge to put a shovel into the ground because of the rocks - here the rock-free clay is just to dense and goopy for one's shovel.

-A friend of mine from library school is coming into Regina for a conference tonight and I've offered to give her a ride from the airport to where she's staying.  Not only am I looking forward to catching up after about five years, having someone else in the car finally provided me with the motivation I needed to finally get around to giving the car a quick vacuum and clean for the first time since we've owned it.  Not surprisingly, the back was a fair bit cleaner than the front.

-Now that our balcony rail has been in place for a week we've started thinking about our next project.  As some discussion we finally settled on re-roofing our garage.  Yesterday I picked up most of the supplies, though I still have to snag some flashing.  So whenever the skies clear and the rain stops we'll have to start on this project.  I'm a little worried that this is going to be a bit of a nasty project - but at least at the end we'll hopefully have a garage that doesn't leak quite as much as our garage does currently.

Oh, and then once we're done with the roof we'll have to move on to re-siding it.  Hooray!  

Fortunately, I think we've got the game plan for this more or less figured out - though that doesn't mean that there won't be surprises when we finally get around to it in a few weeks.

Working our way up the scale

After some painting and then a few weeks of gardening projects Jeannette and I finally got around to tackling one of the more substantial (maybe it wasn't actually all that substantial - but it was certainly daunting) projects associated with our new house - the construction of a new balcony rail.

Soon after we moved in to our place it became clear that what looked just like a little weird balcony on the back of our house was actually a decrepit little weird balcony.  As this winter's snow began to melt and expose the places where there used to be wood we began to get a sense of the general decrepitude of the rail - and it wasn't good.  As more time passed pieces of rotting wood began to fall onto the patio below.  Sitting nearby when there was even a slight breeze became risky.

As obvious as it was that something needed to be done, I was a little hesitant to act before we were comfortable with our plan of action.  Of course, once it became clear that my unwillingness to even consider developing a plan became was an excuse for inaction, Jeannette scoped out the supplies and forced me to agree to a plan.

On Friday after work we went to a local building supplies store and picked everything up.  And because I was less than psyched about using my mitre box and saw to make all of the cuts we took advantage of the store's cut shop.  For reasons that still aren't entirely clear to me (but that may have something to do with an employee's dissatisfaction with his job) we ended up getting all of our cuts done for free.

Of course, it rained most of Saturday so we had to wait until today to get going.

Fortunately, because the rotting process was so far along the task of clearing the old railing was accomplished in just a few minutes.

Before long we were on to the construction phase.  And because we purchased a few metal connectors instead of relying on nail/screw based joins we were able to move along confidently and quickly (and with zero bashed fingers).

And then not long after that we were able to start adding the balusters (though our original plan had been to add them from the inside and then flip them around to the outside we decided to just keep them on the inside).

And that's basically all there was to the project.  Amazingly, we were done in just a few hours (deconstruction and construction combined).  As it turns out there was no reason for my hesitance - this whole process was shockingly easy and straightforward.  And as Jeannette just pointed out to me, it wasn't particularly expensive (especially after we returned the extra balusters).  I'm just glad my lethargy didn't cause us to try to put it off until next year.

And if you're curious to know how we passed what would have been rail construction time on Saturday it went as follows:

I installed a new cord on this lamp.

With Jeannette's assistance I installed some box shelves on the wall in Jeannette's office.

Assembled a new patio bench.

All kinds of shopping related errands (including the purchase of new sheets, plants, and deeply discounted linen clothes).

The Birds III

After a first round of nest removals a few weeks ago I thought I had vanquished our pigeons.

Of course, it only took me a few hours to figure out that I hadn't done a good enough job to really prevent our persistent pigeons from returning.

Now, several weeks later, I am again in the position of thinking that I have permanently eliminated the possibility pigeons infesting our eaves.  Though, as was the case last time, my hubris will surely lead to my defeat.

One eventuality that I was hoping to avoid by removing the nests so early after the melt was that I would be removing a nest filled with eggs.  Not surprisingly, when I did the first round of nest removals my wishes came true and there were no eggs in the nests.

Yesterday, almost immediately, I learned that I wouldn't be so luck the next time around.  The pigeons, in just a few days, had not only constructed a nest but also deposited an egg.

For some reason I was careful with the nest and egg as I removed them.  I managed to get the whole package down the ladder without much disturbance.  For no apparent reason, I then handed the egg-filled nest to Jeannette

The sad reality is that as soon as I removed the nest from the eaves the egg was doomed to never come to fruition.  Of course, as much as Jeannette knew this in her head she very much disliked the idea of throwing a more or less fully formed nest with egg in the trash (even though the handless pigeons could do nothing save the already doomed attempt at offspring).

Once I went back up the ladder to continue the twig removal I learned that I was not removing one nest, but two.  It seems that the pigeons had actually built their nest over the nest of much smaller birds. And had it not been for the pigeon nest I would likely not have been motivated to remove the second, smaller nest (this one with two eggs).

These too went in the trash.

Once these nests were removed I added the new chicken wire.  Hopefully my aggressive application of the stuff will be enough to keep future potential residents away.  In reality what it will likely do is move birds from this site to other sites in our eaves.  Maybe once we've finished this game of musical nesting sites I'll have wrapped all of my eaves in chicken wire and staple gun staples.

My ladder-loaning neighbour's sake I hope it doesn't come to that (though it is definitely the case that he and his wife are very much in favour of my attempts to rid our house of pigeons).

Though considering that as of last night the pigeons were on our other neighbours chimney across from their former nesting site surveying the situation does not really suggest that they have accepted defeat and are looking for new, distant nesting site.

The fact that they were there again this morning really doesn't bode well for the "they'll move far away once their nest has been removed" hypothesis.

Oh, and then later in the day when I was dealing with our newly established compost bin I found another dead bird.

The Birds II

It seems that my pigeon deterrence installations of a few weeks ago weren't quite as successful as I'd hoped.  Over the past few days what had just been hanging out under our eaves has reverted to a major nest building operation.

Obviously I will have to initiate a nest removal operation later this morning or early this afternoon.

Another worrying trend is that the appearance of dead birds in our backyards, at least as of a few days ago, has continued.  On the same day I even found two just feet apart from each other.

Of course, it took me a little longer to spot the one hiding in the fence.

On a more positive note, aside from the bird nest removal project we're also hoping to finally get around to planting our garden (after we add another few bags of peat moss and topsoil to the clay base that is Regina soil).

A Few Quick Notes 567

-Well, we seem to be in the midst of a rather mediocre day in Wolfville.  While it isn't particularly cold, it isn't particularly pleasant either.  The skies are grey and things are generally wet (though it may be the case that some blue is starting to break through).

-I think I must be something like 3 for 12 in the annual RUTRTW contest.  I suspect this count isn't quite right (at least on the consumption side - I know the winning side is accurate).   I continue not to really be trying very hard, and I don't plan on changing my approach any time soon.

What I have been thinking about in relation to this contest is that if there are 47 000 000ish prizes to be won, and the chances of winning are about 1 in 6 does that mean that there are close to 282 000 000 cups printed for this annual event?  And does that mean that, on average, each Canadian is consuming close to 10 participating beverages?  And if the average price of a participating beverage is $1.50 does that mean that over the course of the promotion they are selling something close to $423 000 000 of beverages?  The scale of this whole thing is hard to conceive, particularly when you think that they aren't the only place selling coffee during the event.  I wonder how much land is needed to grow this much coffee?

-Well this year's blog-off seemed to end with a whimper rather than a bang.  For some reason Neil didn't even manage to make a single post, which was definitely a disappointment.  If he continues with this approach to the blog-off I'm going to keep winning in this entirely unsatisfactory manner.  Maybe we will manage to convince him to participate next year?

-Maybe I should get back to work?

A Few Quick Notes 553

-Though I didn't spend much time outside today while the sun was up, my recollection is that it was a nice day (though maybe a bit chilly).

-Bright and early this morning started doing some dishes. Once I finished with the dishes I moved on to a single loaf-sized batch of bread. The bread looks good, but I haven't yet gotten around to sampling it.

-After a few hours of work I took a break to make a batch of hard candy. The break became somewhat extended when I managed to burn the first batch (the temperature seemed to jump from 300 to 350 in about 60 seconds). Fortunately, the second batch went according to plan.

What didn't exactly go according to plan was the shaping of the resulting candies. It turns out that they were a little harder to shape by hand than we hoped. Fortunate we were able to cut them in a way that resulted in candies of a reasonable size.

Now that we have something of a handle on the process we may try another batch in the near future.

-Even though I spent a while with the dishes the morning they have continued to accumulate through the day (I guess the baking and candy making projects haven't helped). I hope that somehow by the time I go to bed they are under control.

A Few Quick Notes 516

-We are back down in the -12 range. After some above freezing temperatures yesterday it means that we have a fair bit of ice.

-A few years ago I sold some of my footage the Montreal hockey riots to an American reality TV show. This morning I received a message from this television show soliciting submissions of videos of pranks. As I don't have any prank videos (and I don't plan on making any) this message won't be of much consequence to me, but I was somewhat taken aback by the description of the types of videos that they were looking for.

It’s called Practical Jokers Gone Wild and we are searching for the craziest tricksters who’ve ever turned unsuspecting punks into chumps! We want the kind of devious
masterminds that would dupe a pal into sprinting across a greased floor, trick a buddy
into thinking they’re headed to jail, or slip a slithery eel in the shower with a family
member!

-Neil and I have a DAGS meeting tonight. The anticipation is building, or not.

-I guess I should get down to work.

Pumping out content

For the past few years I have heard that writers like Graham Greene would only, but consistently, write about a page a day. I presume that this means that they are writing somewhere between 250 and 500 words a day.

I find two things about this impressive. Firstly, these guys really aren't writing all that much on a daily basis. This is an entirely achievable volume for a relatively average person (though, I guess what they are writing is of a slightly higher quality than what I, or the average person, might write in the same space). Secondly, at this rate these authors are pumping out 1 to 1.5 quality books a year, and they manage to keep this rate up year after year.

While I don't necessarily have too much interest in writing novels (as I don't think I could do a good job of it), I do wish that I could somehow tap into this vein of productivity and manage to produce the equivalent output over the course of my adult life.

Nothing but fun

This morning I awoke on the early side of things (it was at least early for me) so that I could start studying. Not surprisingly, by noon I had been studying for a while.

It is now now quite 2:00 PM and I have already had the pleasure of putting in a few good hours of work.

The upside of this is that even if I do nothing for the rest of the day (which isn't my plan) I won't feel as though the day has been wasted. The even better aspect of this situation is that as it is only 2:00 I still have many productive hours left.

I think I need to more consistently get up and get to work early.

A Few Quick Notes 484

-Today was an all around strange day. I woke up to learn that in several parts of town the night had been so rough that there were a number of power outages (supposedly including our street even though this didn't actually seem to be the case). Later in the day we had the pleasure of experiencing periods of intense rain followed by sunny periods and heavy wind. Fortunately, I managed to avoid some of the worst patches of weather while walking to and from school.

-I had the pleasure of attending a political science Ph.D. defence this afternoon. Though the defence wasn't particularly short (maybe 2 or 3 hours), it was well done and not the least bit unpleasant (as was the only other defence I have attended). After the defence I join the successful Ph.D candidate, her family, the external examiner, and faculty for a few drinks and some celebrations.

-Apparently Tumblr went down for a few hours. Had it not been an event in and of itself I probably wouldn't have jumped on the bandwagon and been aware of this generation-making event. I just look forward to the day when I can tell the next generation about this earth-shattering event. Like the New York black-out of 2003, kids of the next generation just won't believe such a turn of events possible.

-I should probably try to head to bed shortly so that I can get cracking early tomorrow morning.

A Few Quick Notes 483

-Today, like yesterday, has been quite moist. Like yesterday, we have had something that seems to be a cross between rain and fog.

-I had the pleasure of taking a few trips to the grocery store today. Not surprisingly, I ended up buying more than I likely should have. The two on sale twelve packs of diet cola were two purchases that I really, likely, should have avoided.

-A few days ago I noticed that our neighbourhood pizza shop was scheduled to close before the end of November. Yesterday, or maybe today, I noticed that a new pizza place will be moving into the same location in the very near future. I am curious if the new pizza shack will last longer than the few months that the last one lasted.

-After a slight break, I finally got back to working on transcriptions today. I was amazed to discover how rusty I had become. Apparently practicing every day for a few weeks in a row actually made a difference and improved my typing skills and keyboard familiarity.

A Few Quick Notes 482

-Though I don't know that it actually rained today, it was certainly almost as wet as though it was raining. Unfortunately, this condition of proto-rain (the drops weren't quite large enough for me to feel comfortable calling it rain) was just about as wet as rain and certainly as unpleasant.

-I had a series of student society meetings today. Just after noon I had to attend a departmental level student society meeting to amend a constitution. Fortunately we were able to deal with these changes in about an hour. Later this evening, after my three hour seminar, I had to attend the monthly university-wide grad student society meeting. Fortunately, this meeting was also only about an hour.

-The seminar I attended this afternoon was the second last such seminar I will have to attend before I head home for Christmas. Actually, there is a chance I will miss the seminar I am scheduled to attend on Monday so that I can attend a Ph.D defense.

-This evening I encountered the really neat do-it-yourself animation site Xtranormal. Using this site one can crank out quick one or two person animations in no time. Though I will probably be foolish to waste my time playing around with this site in the coming days, I haven't yet produced any web-filler yet.

-I am incredibly tired. Hopefully I will be able to get some sleep tonight so that I can crank out a good day of work tomorrow.

A Few Quick Notes 475

-Today has been pretty mediocre so far. So far we have had a relatively nondescript combination of grey skies, cool temperatures, and a lack of precipitation.

-Tonight is the first night of our Winter Ultimate league. As Neil has decided to sit this year out I signed up with Jeannette. For better or worse, we know no one else on our our team. I guess we will get to know them tonight.

-Last night I attended an entertaining/thought-provoking talk by Neil Brooks. The talk dealt with material covered in a book the speaker and co-author Linda McQuaig recently published called The Trouble with Billionaires. For those of you who are curious, the overarching message was definitely pro-tax.

-I have some grading to take care this weekend. I guess I might as well get down to it.

A Few Quick Notes 471

-We are presently in the midst of a multi-day rainfall. While this has encouraged me to stay inside a little more than I would have otherwise, it really hasn't been too bad. Though I keep expecting heavy rain we have mostly just had relatively light rainfall with periods of heavy misting.

-Though it didn't feel like it, officially we received 53 mm of rain yesterday. Having the forecast and the weather station at the airport instead of in town leads to something of a disconnect between the forecast and reality, as we saw yesterday. I suspect that today's continued rainfall warning, which is this now suggesting "Additional rainfall amounts of 50 to 80 mm are expected," is also likely reflective of the geographic particularity.

-Last night, because we wanted to take advantage of a Video Difference free rental coupon, Jeannette and I rented Mystery Team, a new independent comedy from the US that I first heard about in an interview on The Sound of Young America. Though there were a few moments of somewhat cruder than necessary humor, on the whole the movie was quite enjoyable and funny.

-My SSHRC application has been chewing up some of my time of late, though maybe not as much as it should be. Anyway, I have now completed a second draft. Hopefully with just a few more revisions my application will be ready to submit.

-Last night I prepared beef ribs. Did they ever not turn out. Not only did there seem to be even less meat than on pork ribs, they seemed much fattier and less tasty. I think that in the future I will be giving these a skip. This is a bit of a bummer as I really like beef and was hoping to find a new cut of beef to enjoy.

-I spent much of yesterday studying/reading and plan on spending much of today engaged in similar activities. Actually, because I have been doing stuff like this I have had to dramatically cut down on the number of naps I am taking. I haven't taken so few naps since my junior high days.

A Few Quick Notes 470

-While we are presently only dealing with light drizzle, Halifax is bracing for something of a rain storm tonight and tomorrow. Sadly, as much as I would like Environment Canada to continue their streak of incorrect forecasts, I think that they may be on to something in this case, though I don't know if it will be as bad as they think it will be.

-On Tuesday Jeannette and I played an intramural Ultimate game against the MBA team. Though I think I played relatively well (I scored three of our four points) we managed to lose by a pretty fair margin.

-On Wednesday Jeannette and I, along with a few of our friends, signed up for an indoor Ultimate league for the winter. Hopefully we will soon find out to which teams we have been assigned.

-I attended a very enjoyable talk this afternoon on the subject of John Wendell Holmes, a famous Canadian diplomat and author (not to be confused with porn star John C. Holmes).

-I feel as though I had a few other things to say that are now escaping me, I guess that is fine as I really should be getting back to work.

A Few Quick Notes 469

-Today was both overcast and cool. Fortunately, at least until now, shower and/or flurries have held off.

-The batch of bean soup that I made a few days ago I still alive and kicking even though I have been doing my best to kill it off. Hopefully after another one or two lunches I should be able to put this batch of soup out of its misery.

-Given the relatively cool temperatures that we are experiencing right now I am not particularly looking forward to the intramural Ultimate game that I am scheduled to play tonight. Given that we are scheduled to play the MBA students it would be nice if we are able to pull out a win.

-In the past week I have been quite engaged in TA related activities, not only did I spend a number of hours grading papers, but I also invigilated three exams, and gave a lecture. This later event took place this morning. Given the non-responsiveness of the class I can't really tell how it was received, though I fear that I bored them.

-I guess I should get back to work.

A Few Quick Notes 467

-Today turned out to be a much more pleasant day than I expected, largely because we didn't have the rain that I expected. It looks as though we are due to be really slammed tomorrow though.

-I managed to spend a good chunk of today dealing with TA related activities. It seems likely that I will also spend much of tomorrow dealing with similar activities.

-Yesterday, because of a TSOYA-related blog post I ended up subscribing to a few new podcasts.

Freakonomics Radio, a podcast based on the book and blog by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. This afternoon, while walking around campus, I managed to listen to a few episodes and was quite impressed. I found the episode dealing with education reform (and the use of personalized teaching approaches) in New York City particularly interesting.

Another one I happened upon during this podcast directory browsing experience is called Hmmm.... and seems seems to be related to RadioLab, already a favourite of mine, though with somewhat different content and an emphasis on shorter, easier to access pieces.

To The Best of Our Knowledge, the podcast that lead me down the path to the aforementioned podcast subscriptions, seems to be more general in nature than the other two that I mentioned. Unfortunately, unlike the other two (because of the length of the episodes) I have not yet had the chance to listen to a full episode. Nonetheless, the part of the one episode that I did hear was pretty good.

-I guess I should get back to work.