A Few Quick Notes 610

-Yesterday evening snow started falling quite heavily.  Fortunately, after a few hours it seemed that the snow had stopped falling.  When we woke up this morning to about 5 cm of sticky snow we realized that we'd been wrong to think that the snow had ever stopped.  Amazingly, after a day of thawing it seems to have started snowing again (though hopefully we won't again wake up to 5 cm of snow).

-Oh man, I'm super tired and it's not even 8:15.

-Much to my surprise, on Saturday I started to install our recently acquired anti-pigeon spikes.

Initially I only installed a two foot section, hoping that I might get some sense if were indeed a functional pigeon deterrent.  Fortunately or unfortunately, by the time we returned from an afternoon there were fresh pigeon droppings on the other side of the porch - indicating that the spikes were working.

By the end of the weekend I'd installed all $100 worth of the stuff (aka 10 feet).  The only bummer is that we'll have to buy another 10 feet or so for next weekend/later this week.

-On Saturday Pierre we being particularly cuddly.  At one point he even took a rather long afternoon nap in my arms.

By that night and several hours of this excessively sedate behaviour we were starting to worry that something was up.

At about 2:00 AM Pierre confirmed that something had been up by puking up part of a rubber glove and some other garbage that he'd recently scarfed down behind our backs.  For a small cat he really managed to save up a fair bit of puke for the event.

Unfortunately for Jeannette, I found the smell so upsetting that I had to leave the room to avoid adding to the mess.  Fortunately, by the next day Pierre seemed to be back to normal (AKA the kind of cat that would sneak around trash cans to hunt for discarded rubber gloves to eat).

Because we don't have crocuses

We may not have crocuses, but we do have chives - and soon they'll be big enough to eat.

Aside from the arrival of a smattering of dead birds in our backyard, is there a clearer sign of spring then new growth?

The Birds Are Back

It's finally spring and that means that means the annual return of many species of birds to Regina.  Unfortunately, it has also meant the return of two undesirable types of birds to our house and yard.

The first type of undesirable bird to return were those of the dead variety.  So far I've found four dead birds in just the past few days.  Even more unfortunately, I've now also found my first dead robin AKA first dead bird of any real size.  I'm really hoping that these four are it for this trend this year.

The second type of undesirable birds to return this year are the pigeons.

A weekend or two ago we first heard the pleasant and distracting coos of pigeons roosting just outside of our bedroom window.  Since then it has become a relatively regular occurrence.  Maybe the most unfortunate development associated with the return of the pigeons is that they've started hanging out in the roof above our front porch - something we'd really like to discourage.

This morning I finally got around to putting up some of the mesh we used last year to discourage pigeon/miscellaneous bird roosting.  Unfortunately, because prominence (i.e. the front porch) Jeannette was reasonably hesitant to ensconce the works of it in anti-bird mesh.

This reasonable position finally motivated us to look for anti-pigeon spikes that had been recommended to us last year by our neighbours' friend.

At $10 a foot, these spikes are a little more expensive than I'd hoped, but they look as though they'll be a little easier to install and will hopefully be a little less noticeable than wrapping everything in mesh.

Of course, there are still likely to be at least a few locations where mesh will be our only option.

Fortunately for my laziness, it's started raining.  Now I'll be able to put spike installation off until at least tomorrow (though it really should be done as soon as possible so the pigeons don't develop more of a taste for our eaves and porch than they already have).

I've Been Benched

A few weeks ago Jeannette gave me an ultimatum: learn to knit or build a cat tree.

After a few minutes of trying to knit I decided I'd rather round up our scrap wood and build a cat tree.

A few hours later I walked away from a moderately satisfactory cat tree, or at least I thought so.  The cats only seem inclined to use it when we're also in the room with them, something that suggests that it's not really as attractive a play thing for cats as I'd hoped.

Even if the cat tree was as successful at distracting the cats as I'd hoped, I think it was successful in another area - it re-ignited my interested in making wood products of questionable quality.  So while I'm not knitting, Jeannette's ultimatum was successful in that it got me interested in making thing (which was really all she wanted).

After the cat tree process I began to realize that not having a stool to use at my work bench was a little frustrating.  Over the next few weeks I began to think about various commercially produced stools that are available at some of the local stores.  Of course, as I don't expect to use this stool all that much I wasn't interested in paying all that much.

Then, I think it was last Thursday (it could have been last Tuesday or the Thursday before that), I realized that we probably had enough wood left over from the cat tree scraps (which, as you'll recall, were themselves scraps) to fashion a quick stool, or at least something approximating a stool.

Almost as soon as Jeannette was out the door and on her way to band practice I got down to work on my stool.

Within maybe an hour or so I was done.

While I was relatively happy with my quickly conceived and constructed stool I was also aware that it wasn't the world's best stool.

Almost as soon as Jeannette returned from band practice she was shown my new stool.

Almost immediately Jeannette noted the stool's relatively unstable nature.  That both of Jeannette's feet are off the ground when she sits on the stool make this feature particularly problematic.

Of course, even before Jeannette was kind enough to point out my stool's various faults, I was somewhat aware that it was a less than ideal stool.  Hell, I even know that it was a touch 'tippy' if the user wasn't careful.

Almost as soon as I received this criticism I began to formulate plans for a bench that would be anything but unstable.  If the Titantic was to be unsinkable, than this bench was to be untippable.

To achieve this untippable nature, I decided to use an A-frame base that would be quite wide, much wider than the bench's seating area.  Of course this A-frame would then be braced in various ways to ensure stability and, most importantly, untippableness.

Of course, as easy as the a-frame concept was to devise, how I might attach a bench-like sitting area to an A-frame base wasn't immediately obvious to me.

I eventually settled on chopping off the top of the A-frame off and then just using a bunch of long screws to attach the sitting area to the base.

Once I'd designed the bench in my head (an approach to design that does not require one to take measurements or really even plan for likely problems) I had to convince Jeannette that buying wood and tools for this project was worthwhile.

Fortunately, Jeannette was relatively easy to convince and last Saturday after picking up about 90% of the necessary supplies I set about working on my bench.

Much to my surprise it started to come together quite quickly and easily.

By the end of the first day I'd cut all but two pieces (the 10% of the supplies I didn't have).  On Sunday I cut the final two pieces and began to assemble the base - which also came together quite quickly.

On Tuesday evening I started assembling the sitting area.  Unfortunately, relatively early on in the process I managed to snap a drill bit and basically bring the night's work to a screeching halt.

Finally, after getting a new drill bit yesterday after work, I was able to complete the assembly of the bench.

Unfortunately, this bench is also a little high for Jeannette (maybe one of the drawbacks of an all mental design process?) but just as sturdy and tip-proof as I'd hoped.

I've been doing a little sanding tonight and eventually we'll but some kind of finish on it and then we'll call it a day.  Jeannette's even hoping that by next weekend things will be warm enough outside that we'll be about to use on our patio.

Anyway, if you ever happen to come over please feel free not to test the untippableness of this bench.  As we all know, the power of hubris brought icebergs into the Titanic's path and I'm hoping to avoid a similar tipping related fate for this bench and those who might be sitting upon it at that ill-fated moment.

Spring's arrival is no longer quite so ominous

After a little investigation yesterday morning, I was very happy to learn that all of my sump pump problems could be attributed to user error.  I was also happy to learn that we don't have a sump pump with an internally wired switch - so if either the switch or the pump go I can replace the problem part and not the whole operation.

Maybe it was the good news on the sump pump front, but somewhere I found the motivation to finally open up and apply our epoxy crack filling compound.  Of course, I'm not sure that the stuff will end up being all that effective as the instructions imply that it works more quickly and effectively when applied to warmer surfaces.  Unfortunately, our basement walls aren't all that warm at the moment.

The other good news of the day is that the forecast sun hasn't yet arrived.  With sun and higher temperatures we'd really be in the midst of a rather intense melt.  The absence of the sun should slow things down somewhat dramatically - which will hopefully allow us to avoid any Spring melt related problems.

On the other hand, because of the location of the snow during last year's thaw we've been keeping the patio and side of the house free of snow and it would be nice to have a rather dramatic melt to provide me some comfort that my work was worth it or the knowledge that no matter how clear I keep the foundation we'll have thaw leakage.

Anyway, no matter what the sun does, we should have at least a little melting today and we should be ready for it.  If I'm particularly motivated I may take this opportunity to remove some ice at the base of our driveway.

Spring is coming

After a very solid four months of Winter, Regina's forecast finally includes several days in a row with daytime temperatures above freezing.

While I'm sure that just about everyone in Regina is ready for the Spring thaw, I'm also sure that just about every in Regina would have preferred not to have the 30, or so, centimetres of snow that we got over the past few days.  

And to top off the impending thaw and new mounds of snow, our sump pump has recently started behaving erratically.  Instead of just engaging when the float is lifted by water as it should, the pump has started operating whenever it is plugged in.

If we know what's good for us we'd probably take this last day of cold temperatures and had to a local sump pump supplier and pick up a back up pump before everyone else in the city also discovers that they are facing similar problems.

We might also take this time to try to fill any problematic cracks in our basement foundation, a task we've been putting off for a number of months.

Of course, because we're both feeling a little under the weather and are moderately sedated with cold medication it's possible that neither of these advisable courses of action will be followed.

One year ago today

Exactly a year ago Jeannette and I moved into our current house, the first house either of us have ever owned.

By about this time of day a year ago we were in the midst of painting (I think we started with our bedroom).  For most of the rest of the weekend we were either moving items from our old apartment or painting.

Amazingly enough, by the end of the first weekend we'd painted Jeannette's office and our bedroom.  Within a few days we managed to paint my office.  Also, while the paint was drying we managed to move most of our belongings and set up shop.

Since then we've had to do a fair bit more work, the re-roofing of the garage being one of the most onerous tasks (though the extra electrical work and the burst pipe and subsequent patch job weren't trivial).

Hard work aside, it's been very, after years of apartment living, to have a house of our own.  I'm sure Jeannette's also appreciated finally fulfilling her long-time dream of owning a purple house.




Cameron - 21
Neil - 0

Big hockey weekend

So not only is there plenty of Olympic hockey this weekend (let's not forget today's monstrosity), but tonight Jeannette and I will be heading to our first Regina Pats game.

If I understand thing correctly, the Regina Pats are part of the WHL - a junior hockey league.  And if I understand junior hockey correctly, this is some kind of very minor, age-restricted professional level of hockey.

I'm sure that by the end of the night we'll know a fair bit more about the Pats and junior hockey.

Oh, and for those of you who are curious - this will be taking place in the same venue as the rodeo of a few months ago.

Cameron - 20
Neil - 0

Hard cuddles

Apparently just being near me on their window perch wasn't enough, they both wanted to be in my lap while I blogged about them.

Unfortunately, just moments ago noises occurring elsewhere in the house drew them away from me.  Bummer.

Oh, I take that back - Pierre's just come back and is getting his full cuddle on.

Cameron - 19
Neil - 0

The other perch

As I was preparing the last post Pierre came into the room and hopped up on the window sill, reminding me that they both also like to sit there and watch the street.

Just to help me prove the point that both cats like this perch, as I was preparing this post Marie hoped up for a few moments.

Unfortunately, because there are a few plants nearby that neither of the cats are content to leave alone they aren't frequently allowed to take advantage of this perch.

Just moments after this photo was taken Pierre tried to climb into the ficus pot.

Cameron - 18

Neil - 0

Pierre's perch

When not sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor, one of Pierre's favourite places to sit is atop the garbage can.

I presume that the advantage of this location is that allows him to see a little more of the action while we're engaged in food prep.  What I don't understand is why he ever opts to sit on the floor where he can't see all that much and is likely to be stepped on.

Cameron - 17

Neil - 0

A Few Quick Notes 610

-We're just cluing up another slightly overcast, not particularly cold winter's day in Regina. I think there may have been a few flurries at various points throughout the day, or it may have just been blowing snow.  It was a little hard to tell and not important enough for me to engage in a serious investigation of the matter.

-I sampled my ginger beer last night.  It definitely had a bite, and it was definitely gingery.  But I'm not sure it had the bite or ginger flavour I was looking for.  My gut is that it basically tastes like carbonated ginger juice.

Fortunately, I've purchased some more ginger and am planning on working on batch two tonight.  Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have the process sorted out or have admitted defeat.

-Yesterday Jeannette and I picked up discounted copies of the first two seasons of The Wire.  Apparently Jeannette's incredibly Olympics viewing capabilities don't extend to 10 year old HBO shows - she crashed during the first episode.  I, on the other hand, couldn't believe how excited I was to be re-watching the show.  Hopefully we'll try again tonight and this time it will stick.

Cameron - 16
Neil - 0

Another problem with the Olympics

Aside from the arguably more important problems with the Olympics that concern matters political and commercial, something I've noticed recently is that one of the reasons I don't join Jeannette for more Olympics viewing is that too many of the sports are just excruciatingly boring to watch (and the worst part is that they tend to show the boring bits and not the potentially exciting bits).

Now that I've taken time to think the matter over I've realized that watching top athlete after top athlete complete the same course makes for uninspiring viewing.  Unfortunately for the Winter Olympics, this seems to characterize most of the sports (hockey, curling, cross-country skiing [and derivatives], and snowboard cross being the main outliers). There's no drama.  And, most importantly, there's no real competition.

What's worse, is that not only do they insist on showing boring downhill run after boring downhill run, but they tend to focus on the final runs rather than the qualifiers.

This approach is problematic for at least two reasons.  Firstly, the efforts  of hundreds or thousands of Olympians go uncovered.  Secondly, and more importantly, by focusing only on the best athletes inexperienced viewers aren't shown the full range of athletic talent at the Olympics.  The fact that the best skiers routinely land their jumps would be even more impressive if we were shown the world's 30th-60th best competitors in the sport failing.  Furthermore, for those sports where style points are in play (and lets not even get into the issue of the overall classification of these events as sports) the distinction between the first and second best skiers in the world is often almost impossible to spot, while almost anyone should be able to spot the differences between the first and sixtieth skiers.

So it seems that not only have the Olympics given us many reasons not to watch for moral and political reasons, it's also the case that they just don't put on all that great a show.

Oh, and I also really don't like watching teenagers and young adults risking serious life-long injuries or death just to entertain me on a grey winter's afternoon.

Cameron - 15
Neil - 0

Beverage update

You're curious, the ginger beer I made the other day looks like this:

I'm hoping to sample it a little later today.  I'm a little worried that it might be a little strong, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Also, the sparkling apple juice drink that I've been making looks like this:

Cameron - 14
Neil - 0

Ginger Beer

(not an allusion to Cockney rhyming slang)

At some point this summer I decided to try making homemade ginger ale.

Eventually I started to build from this recipe to make raspberry beverages and, once, a juniper (i.e. gin) based drink that was surprisingly palatable.

A few days ago after buying Jeannette some ginger beer I decided to try making ginger beer (the ginger ale just didn't have a satisfying kick).

After pursuing a few recipes and developing a plan of attack I finally sprang into action tonight and purchased a few pieces of ginger at the grocery store.

After dinner I grated the ginger and then used coffee filters and funnels to extract the juice.

If all goes well we'll have something approximating ginger beer in a few days.  Unfortunately, I'm relatively certain that my recipe won't be perfect the first time around - perfection may take a few batches.

Cameron - 13
Neil - 0

A Few Quick Notes 609

-Today I walked outside and immediately wondered if I even needed a coat. Once I started the car I realized that it was still -16.5, but it was about 10 degrees warmer than the previous morning and certainly enough to feel the difference.

-Apparently today was budget day.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that CBC did push back, or at least appeared to, push back Olympics coverage to do some budget coverage.

-I think we may need to head to the grocery store tomorrow after work.

-Over the course of the past few weeks I've been trying to sell Jeannette on the effectiveness of Shirley Temple's performances in her many childhood movie appearances.  I think I finally convinced Jeannette that Shirley's movies are still entertaining.

So it definitely felt a little weird when this morning Jeannette emailed me to let me know that Shirley Temple had just died.  Definite bummer.

Cameron - 12
Neil - 0

Hard to believe it's real

For some reason today I was inspired to use the WayBack Machine to find the earliest incarnation of the Google website available.

Once at the site I noticed that a link was provided to a 'stickers' page.  And once I was on the stickers page I was surrounded by internet gold, or, more accurately, early/amazing versions of the Google logo that could be downloaded and posted on one's site.

I'm a big fan of the two early 'Google doodles' they had available for public consumption:

Burning Man festival

 and 'the holidays.'

Of course, one wouldn't want to miss the earliest incarnation of the Google logo.

I can't help but wonder if WordArt was maybe a little too accessible in early Google offices.

Cameron - 11
Neil - 0

Apparently I'm the only one here who doesn't like figure skating

Just like yesterday, Jeannette has been watching the Sochi Olympics today.  And just like yesterday the cats have been spending more time watching with her than I have.  Apparently, they're much more willing to sit through ice dancing than I am (especially in circumstances when gold and silver have already been determined and we're just waiting for the three worst teams to determine whose going to get bronze).

Cameron - 10
Neil - 0

Cats are definitely weird

Somehow Marie managed to make her way to the top of our bedroom door.  At first she seemed a little unsteady, but after a few moments she gained her footing and didn't appear the least bit upset.  Jeannette, on the other hand, was definitely not pleased to have Marie on top of the door.

Cameron - 9
Neil - 0

A Few Quick Notes 608

-Apparently it's -29 with the wind chill at the moment.  Because I haven't been outside (except when I reached out to grab the paper this morning) I'll have to take Environment Canada's word for it.  Of course, as we're in Regina it's quite sunny.

-Though the Olympics aren't my thing (actually, I quite dislike them), we've been a pretty Olympics oriented house since Jeannette returned home from work yesterday evening.

Because of the time difference I'm not sure if anything but tape-delayed replays will be available this evening.  If so, maybe that will be a good thing as most of the available content has already been viewed by the Olympics-watchers of this household.

-While Jeannette's been watching the coverage of the Olympics the cats have been hanging out on the foot of the bed.

Sometimes they were more clearly cuddling.

Has the more or less devolved into an excuse to post cat pics?  And, if so, is that a problem?

Cameron - 8
Neil - 0

Kitty pics or my feeble attempt at link bait

Because of the popularity of yesterday's cat-based post (the tweet highlighting the post was favourited twice) I've decided that I should share a few of the  hot kitty pics I snagged today.

While maxing and relaxing after lunch and before tackling today's projects I suddenly found myself with a kitty on my lap.  It wasn't long before the kitty was taking a quick nap.

At time he was more closer to wakefulness, but still just as disinterested in moving.

He also took advantage of today's bright sun.

Actually, they both did.

For old times sakes, I also feel like including two pics from their first days together.  If I recall correctly, these were both taken relatively soon after they were comfortable enough with each other that they could be around each other unsupervised.

While they still aren't constant cuddle companions, they are pretty good at getting along.

And, not surprisingly, as I wrote this post he spent some time hanging out on my lap.

Cameron - 7

Neil - 0

Today's projects or a few of the lesser joys of being a home owner

Maybe about two weeks ago now I started to notice that our drier wasn't drying clothes as effectively as it had been.  Obviously, I immediately checked a few of the obvious potential problem points: the outside vent, the lint trap, the hose running from the drier to the vent.  All of these seemed to be working properly.

After some additional trouble shooting over the phone with my father, and a test run with the drier unconnected to the hose, I've come to the not-immediately-obvious conclusion that somehow the textured aluminum hose and two 90 degree turns are enough to slow down the exhaust enough to prevent the clothes from fully drying - a process that I suspect has been further hampered by low temperatures.

The solution, suggested by my father, that I eventually settled on was to replace the drier hose with a solid, smooth metal tube/duct.  

Today, because I didn't have to work, I finally got around to measuring the distance from the drier out to the vent connection above.  Turns out the gap was 60 inches.

Once I made it to the local building supply store I was pleasantly surprised to find that the material I was looking for came in just two sizes - 30 inches or 60 inches.  I was incredibly pleased to learn that I wouldn't have to hack a longer tube down to meet my needs.

Because of the wonderful coincidence that the size of tube I was looking for was exactly the size being sold the installation process was quite quick.  Lets just hope it works

For the time being, at least until I can determine if today's 'fix' worked or not I'll hang on to the old hose.  

While picking up the aluminum tube I happened to see some styrofoam and was reminded that we had an insulating project that we'd been meaning to take care for some number of months (almost a year at this point).  I decided to check out my options and see if I could find appropriate styrofoam.

As I'd long assumed that I'd need to buy a 4x8 sheet, which is much larger than will fit in our car, I was a little hesitant to proceed with the project.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that they sold multi-packs of much smaller sheets.

By also using styrofoam that we received as packing material this past Christmas I was able to fill in the space between the inner and outer balcony doors.  

Though it still seems a little cool in Jeannette's office we're hoping that before long we'll start to feel the benefits of this added insulation.

Cameron - 6

Neil - 0

Cats are weird

For better or worse Marie has started hanging out on this shelf in the morning.  For some reason she only seems to be there in the morning and she only climbs up there when we're not in the room.  I guess at least she's out of the way?

Pierre, on the other hand, likes to sit on the kitchen floor while we're working in the kitchen.  Maybe his goal is to be stepped on 20 times a day?  If so, he's really great at accomplishing the goals he sets for himself. If, on the other hand, he doesn't like being stepped on he's really bad at learning how not to be stepped on.

Cameron - 5

Neil - 0

A Few Quick Notes 607

-Well, as forecast the past few days have been pretty chilly.  While we haven't approached the -52 (with wind chill) we had a few weeks ago, that fact that each morning has been below -35 with wind chill hasn't been great.  Is it bad that I'm quite looking forward to the -10 that is preliminarily in the forecast for next Wednesday?

-Earlier this week Jeannette returned from a brief trip to Kelowna with an overnight jaunt down to Seattle.  While it wasn't exactly hot in either of these locations, I think Jeannette appreciated the break from the consistent -20 that we've been experiencing.  I'm starting to think that making a habit of a break at least a few days long each winter might not be a bad idea.  I'm not sure that it's necessary to go somewhere beachy - just somewhere that's close to the freezing point.

-I've got the day off tomorrow which means that I should probably head to the local building supply store to pick up some supplies to fix our drier.  I'm hoping that I'll only need a single, inexpensive metal tube to make everything right.  Of course, if this fix doesn't work I have no idea what to do except hope that the problem will fix itself.

-A few weeks ago while at work I mentioned that Jeannette and I are thinking about getting a freezer for our basement.  I'm quite glad I did as one of my co-workers immediately offered her truck to transport the freezer from the store to our house an another has been keeping her eye out for freezer options while in appliance stores.  I'm hoping that these actions will mean that we end up with a perfect freezer, rather than the freezer we could get home.

Cameron - 4
Neil - 0

A Few Quick Notes 606

-We seem to be in the middle of a multi-day run of temperatures hovering between -14 and -22, and, strangely, the skies are a little more overcast that usual.  Though we've had a few flurries we haven't had any real accumulation in weeks.

-Jeannette's in Kelowna visiting family so I've had a relatively low-key, laundry-based weekend.  Unfortunately, our drier hasn't been drying the laundry as effectively as it should be.  I've done a fair bit of trouble-shooting and I'm still no closer to the truth.  Bummer.

-Unless my evening takes a very unexpected turn for the absurd I don't think I'll be watching this evening's Super Bowl.

-While I don't plan on watching the Super Bowl I have been thinking about the scheduling of the event.  If they determined the two participating teams weeks ago why are they only playing the game now.  Wouldn't it make more sense to play the game the week after the teams have been determined?  I guess expecting sense from a sporting event many people watch for the ads or musical performances might be a bit much.

Cameron - 3
Neil - 0

Trial run

A few weekends ago, on our drive to the Qu'appelle Valley I realized that I could take a slightly different approach to some of the time-lapse driving vids I've made in the past.  Making use of a new double-sided suction device I purchased a few months ago I was able to position my time-lapser near the rear-view mirror.


[Embedded video]

Now that I know that this works I'm curious to see what I can do on a nice day in a non-urban setting.

Cameron - 2
Neil - 0

Once more into the breach, dear friends

It's February 1, 2014 and that means that this year's incarnation of the annual Montifax Blog-Off is now underway.  I'm feeling particularly generous this year so I'll be spotting Neil 10 points per post while I'll only be taking one point per post.

Of course, I'm really hoping that this year's blog-off will get me back in the habit of blogging.  As regular readers will know, I've really fallen off the wagon these past two years.  Hopefully laying a thorough whooping down on my brother will be just the kind of motivation I need to get me back in the saddle.

Cameron - 1
Neil - 0

I jumped into action too quickly

It seems that Marmite may not actually be banned for sale in Canada and, like a sucker, I've now saddled myself with an unnecessary strategic Marmite reserve.  It's a bummer that Jeannette's not into Marmite because I've got a tonne of it to plough through.

It's a good thing I really like Marmite.

Strategic Reserve

Starting a few days ago news stories started cropping up about the illegality of Marmite in Canada and that stores were being forced to abandon their stocks of the product.  

Almost as soon as these stories began appearing I jumped into action.  Before long we were in a store whose stocks had not yet been compromised and I grabbed four tubs of this black gold.

I'm hoping that these four will be enough to keep me going until the situation can be resolved.

My hunch wasn't that crazy after all

Some of you may recall that a few weeks ago I wondered what would happen to the enforcement of prostitution laws after the Supreme Court's important ruling striking several provisions.  In particular, I was curious how police forces and prosecutors would respond to the context of what were likely to be unsuccessful prosecutions of a law still technically in effect for the coming months.

Turns out that at least in Saint John they just won't be enforcing prostitution laws until the federal government addresses the court's requirements.

I can't help but wonder how many other jurisdictions in Canada are taking the same approach?  I would imagine that most would rather not make it so clear that they won't be enforcing prostitution laws even if they won't be.

Play time

Jeannette thought I wash't spending enough time playing with the cats.  I thought I wasn't spending enough time playing with YouTube.  Turns out after a quick vid sesh we're both happy.



[Embedded video]

Heading East - 4

Well, we're back from our trip out east.  We manged to visit both White City and Fort Qu'appelle for the first time and pay a quick return visit to Indian Head. Unfortunately we didn't come close to making it to Manitoba, a goal we'll have to save for another weekend drive. 

Heading East -3

It seems we finished with our eastward progress and are now heading north. At the moment we're just at the Qu'appelle valley. 

At least for today Indian Head will be as Far East as we'll be heading. 

Heading East - 2

At least I'm in the car and ready to go. I can't say a much about the other half of this road trip. If we're not careful we'll miss our chance to get our planned hash brown infusion. 

Heading East - 1

Because it's warm, because it's a nice day, and because we don't do enough to get to know the region we're heading out for a drive today.  We've decided to head east.  We'll likely make it to White City and Indian Head, but if we're lucky we might make it to Wolseley and if we're particularly ambitious we might make it all the way to Manitoba.

A Few Quick Notes 605

-After temperatures just above zero, we've now dropped into the -20 zone.  As surprising as some of you might find it, I actually prefer this temperature because it's much drier and easier to content with while walking.

-I seems that between Friday night and Saturday morning we had a bit of a secret snowfall.  Because it was just a few centimetres and because it was almost -40 (with wind chill) I opted to leave it on the ground yesterday.  Of course, this means that at some point today I'll have to head out and deal with it.  Yum.

-In a rare roll reversal, this morning Jeannette suggested a trip to the grocery store and I suggested that such a trip wasn't necessary.  I wonder when this will happen again?

-After nine days off, I'll finally have to head back to work tomorrow.  Hopefully my sleep schedule hasn't been too contorted by this break.

-Thanks to our turkey-free lifestyle this holiday season hasn't been too bad for our diets.  Aside from an overconsumption of holiday breads, we've managed to eat pretty normally over the past few weeks.  I guess this means we won't need to make any sure-not-to-be-followed dieting resolutions for New Year's?

Forget toys, cats love boxes

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These guys probably love boxes more than life itself.

A Christmas Miracle for Jeannette

Not surprisingly, Marie wasn't particularly pleased with Pierre's arrival.  For the next few days every time Marie saw Pierre she hissed in his direction or at anyone she associated with Pierre.

Fortunately, with more exposure to Pierre the frequency and intensity of the hissing diminished.  Sadly, at first it didn't seem that the absence of hissing necessarily implied a fondness for Pierre on Marie's part.

Then, after a little coaxing on my part, I managed to get both Pierre and Marie on my lap yesterday afternoon.  After a little aloofness from Marie she started grooming Pierre, eventually rather furiously.



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Since this display of affection things have definitely been better between the two cats.  Though I haven't much outright inter-cat cuddling, I'm confident that it will be a common occurrence before long.

That time of the year

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Not only is it time-lapse season, it's also baking season.

After this batch I decided to make a special, vegan version for Jeannette.  Hopefully the vegan version's as tasty and sought after as the original.

A Small Victory

It seems that I was able to convince (the assist goes to Neil) Jeannette to change the cat's name from Tiberius to Pierre (with Marie there's a Curie theme).

After a few days of hissing and bad behaviour they seem to be, if not getting along, not bothered by the presence of the other.  We keep hoping that we'll have a 'Christmas Miracle' and that they'll be snuggling with one another soon.

A Few Quick Notes 604

-It has been between about -24 and -21 for the past 24 hours.  Of course, the windchill's been dipping into the -33 range, meaning that we've been feeling it a little more than we might have.  Amazingly, it doesn't take long for -20 with no windchill to not feel particularly cold - but as soon as you drop that by -10 (either with windchill or pure chilliness) it has a much more effective bite.

-Though we did have a little snow today it wasn't enough to motivate me to head out to shovel.  If I had  to guess it looks as though maybe less than a centimetre.

-At about lunch today I started to prepare some pea soup in our slow cooker.  Unfortunately, I'm now a little nervous that the soup won't be ready for our normal dinner time.  I guess it's good that we don't have a strict schedule today and that a delayed dinner shouldn't be much of a problem.

-We're shockingly close to Christmas.  I guess because we didn't do much shopping this year, and the shopping we did do had to be done early enough to be mailed across the country, it hasn't really hit me that we're only a few days away from Christmas until now.

-I've really been doing a bad job at blogging this year.  Maybe 2014 will be different?

How Will This Work? or Did the Supreme Court Pull a Fast One?

Yesterday the Supreme Court of Canada found (ruling is here) that a number of provisions criminalizing aspects of prostitution trade (apparently selling sex for money itself isn't illegal in Canada) were contrary to provisions in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  Instead of immediately declaring the offending provisions illegal the court gave parliament a year to enact new provisions before the current provisions will become inactive.

I can't help but wonder if suspending the declaration that these provisions are unconstitutional for a year isn't something of a fiction?  Are these provisions not basically already dead?

Even if the laws are still theoretically in force has the highest court in the land not just provided a perfect defense for anyone for anyone charged under these rules?  Maybe more to the point, would a prosecutor ever consider bringing charges once the Supreme Court of Canada guaranteed there to be no chance of a successful conviction?

And maybe this part is a stretch, but are the police going to be inclined to even arrest people using these provisions if the chance of prosecution is slim?  Might many police forces decide to use their resources on more promising endeavours until this matter has been clarified with either new law or a clear lapsing of these provisions?

And as laws tend not to apply retroactively, might the period of time from yesterday until a new law is passed or the provisions clearly lapse be something of a Wild West/Renaissance for prostitution in Canada?

I'd be really curious to know if there's something about this ruling that I've missed or if some part of my analysis is way off because as it is I can't yesterday's ruling isn't much more significant than has been previously suggested.

And I should also note that it would seem to me that a similar situation might arise every time the Supreme Court finds a provision unconstitutional but suspends the implementation of their order.  Is the suggestion that the law is still in effect (despite zero chance of a successful conviction) so powerful to continue to discourage the behaviour in question, whatever that behaviour might be, or is the delay really as much of a fiction as it seems?

Being relentless finally paid off

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For months, maybe even just days after we picked Marie up, Jeannette's been insistent that we need another kitty.

Despite my best efforts to drown her requests out, yesterday morning I finally relented and agreed to the acquisition of a second cat.  Of course, having a second cat (or even a single cat) goes against almost every grain in my soul - fortunately this time I made sure to obtain a promise that no matter what two cats is the maximum number of cats that we will ever have (and I have a previous promise that agreeing to a particular cat is not a perpetual agreement to have a cat).

Ugh, at least they're cute(ish).

P.S. This guy has the unfortunate name Tiberius.

Grey Cup Parade

Growing up in Newfoundland the CFL seemed like a myth.  Of course I'd heard the existed but I'd never actually met anyone who supported a team or seemed to care about it in the least.

Things didn't get much better in any of the other cities I've lived in in Canada.  I guess I knew that the BC Lions existed while I lived in Vancouver though they didn't seem to be as significant a sporting venture as the Canucks - who just happened to be having a particularly good season the year we lived there.

In Montreal I eventually learned that I'd lived about a block a way from the stadium in which the Alouettes played.  While I lived there I had no idea where the Alouettes played.

The impending arrival of the then unnamed Ottawa franchise seemed to be of little consequence to the locals.  I can't recall even a single person I spoke to expressing either interest or disgust at the thought of there being a team there.  It just didn't seem to rate in the face of the LRT talks or Senators trade speculation.

Of course, in Nova Scotia, though there is university football, the CFL seems as distant to life as it did in Newfoundland.  It just wasn't on anyone's radar.

When we arrived in Regina last year we immediately got to see that the CFL certainly does have a fan base, and it seems to be based in Saskatchewan.

You can't go out in Regina without encountering people wearing Riders gear.  Hats and jackets are probably the most common forms of attire, but mitts, scarves, and jewellery aren't uncommon.  And lets not forget the provincially issued Riders license plates.

This overwhelming level of support means that even when it's -21 (or -33 when the wind chill is taken into account) fans done up to the max will be in attendance for a Saturday morning Grey Cup Parade.

The parade route was lined with people of all ages.  We saw dozens of strollers and more adults in snow pants than I've ever seen anywhere else.  There were also quite a number of cars with handicap parking badges parked in intersections facing the parade route.  I think it's fair to say that those in attendance were a pretty representative cross section of the Regina population.



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And though it took a while to get to us, we did eventually to get to see the horse-drawn championship trophy.

If anyone had asked me as a child if I would one day stand in frost-bite capable weather for over an hour to see any of this I likely would have laughed (or the very shy child equivalent of public laughing).  Apparently, spending a year in Regina has a strange effect on people.

It's still snowing

Though there may have been intermittent short breaks, it has more-or-less been snowing since before I woke up yesterday morning.  Not only has this meant that my attempts at shovelling were a little less long-lived than I would have hoped, but that I'm witnessing the most substantial snowfall to occur since I moved to Regina.

This may be somewhat surprising for some of you given the reputation for putting on a good winter that Regina has.

It seems rather than having large snowfalls each winter, Regina secures it's "Winter Wonderland" status by having a number of smaller snowfalls that just don't melt until the spring.

Yes, it's entirely possible that the base layer of snow that's been deposited this weekend will actually be around until May (only March if we're lucky).  Of course, by the time things start to melt it's likely that several more dumps will have been piled on top, helping to ensure the longevity of the initial dump.

Because we've spent the past weeks in Regina and watched the temperatures and their steady downward trajectory none of these developments are particularly surprising.  What is much more surprising to me are the photos of the rest of Canada that seem to suggest that large swaths of the country may only be experience fall-like conditions.

Regina, quickly and silently, has tricked me into considering November a wintery month.

One way to pass the afternoon

It was my first rodeo

Earlier this week I attended my first rodeo.  Now that we're living in the 'west' it seems appropriate that I've seen a rodeo, though I'm not sure if I'll have to attend too many more in the future.  Of course, Jeannette, as a militant (her preferred word is 'passionate') vegan, is "absolutely disgusted" that I've even seen one rodeo and insists that it will be my last (if she has anything to do with it).

While there I managed to snag a few hot vids.  Of course, they're posted here only for educational, not entertainment, purposes.

The steer riding was almost a little hard to see.  I suspect the more technical manoeuvre is typically blocked by the horse the cowboy is riding.



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The 'bull fighting' was something I didn't expect to see.  My guess is that this event was created to give the rodeo clowns a chance to shine/get worker's comp opportunities?



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Barrel racing was the only 'cowgirl' event of the rodeo.



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For one event, kids were even involved.  Not surprisingly, I managed to get one of the less successful riders (though I did get the one with enough foresight to equip himself with a helmet cam).



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Calf roping also took place.



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Some bull riding also happened.



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It was definitely an experience.

A Few Quick Notes 603

-After a few false starts, we've finally had a full-fledged snowy winter's day in Regina.  At the moment I'd say that we have somewhere between 5 and 7 cm of snow on the ground, though I guess my estimate could be a little off due because zero-ish temperatures are leading to some simultaneous melting.

-Because of the snowfall I'll have to head out for some shovelling later today.  I tried to do some shovelling a few weeks ago when we had another small snowfall but there wasn't enough to really clear.

-Last weekend we purchased a discount vegetarian Indian cookbook.  The night we purchased the book we prepared about four of the dishes in the book.  They were great.  The only problem with the book is that it has lead us to over eat.  Of course, this overeating hasn't discouraged me from fantasizing about preparing even more dishes from the book this weekend.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

-A few months ago we purchased a food dehydrator.  Since that time we've been really into dried apples and fruit leather.  Turns out that with a few hours of dehydrating time you can turn a dozen apples into nothing more than a few grams of dried apples/fruit leather.  The problem, if you can say there is a problem, is that the dried fruit can be consumed almost instantly and without the feeling that you're chewing through multiple apples in a matter of seconds.

-Turns out I should probably do some fish tank cleaning today.  Do Saturdays get more fun?

-Last weekend, while socializing with neighbours, one of the guys recommended a pomegranate de-seeding technique.  When I finally got around to trying it last night I was amazed that it was actually as easy and effective as promised.  You really have do the whole thing in less than a minute.



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Three word sentences

Today is Sunday. Skies were gray. It was chilly. It is fall.

We did housework.

We ate lunch.

We went shopping. We bought things.  (Too many things.) I bought screws.  Jeannette bought food.

We returned home.

Jeannette is napping.

I was working. 

I am computing. It is relaxing.

I am hungry.

Time for dinner?

I guess so.

A Few Quick Notes 602

-Though cloudy, today wasn't a particularly cool day.  Since our sudden and unexpectedly resilient snowfall of a few days ago I expect full-blown winter to arrive with each dawn.  When I leave the house and discover winter hasn't yet arrived I'm both pleased and disappointed.

-The arrival of winter would be even more welcome if our fireplace was fully functional.  At the moment the chimney is in need of a serious cleaning.  Until we have it cleaned we won't be able to determine if it's safe to use, and if not how much work might be required to make it so.  While I'd really like to have a fully functional fireplace this is likely something that will have to wait until at least next year.

-We went on a somewhat lengthy shopping trip this afternoon.  As usual, once we're out on our weekend shopping trips we keep remembering additional items that we've been meaning to buy.  Also, at least this normally happens, we tend to forget a handful of items necessitating future trips.  Fortunately, the items that we forgot today weren't so important that we'll have to head out today or even tomorrow.

-My 'smart' phone, or at least its operating system, has been behaving somewhat erratically for the past few weeks.  It seems that the major update has really negatively impacted the operational capacity of the phone - despite the fact that this was presumably exactly the opposite of what the developers intended with the new update.  Anyway, it's definitely been a frustrating way to waste a few hours.

-Now that we're a few weeks into fall the sun has started setting not long after I return home from work.  While this is to be expected, the transition has been happening a little more quickly than I expected.  It won't be long before my walks to and from work will occur mostly in the dark.

-A few days ago I combined a few ingredients and made some pea soup.  I'm continually amazed at how simple, yet tasty, pea soup can be.  Maybe even more impressive, is that the stuff seems to keep getting better in the following days.

-Turns out homeownership is definitely time-consuming.  This weekend I had the pleasure of spending a fair bit of time installing a single board above one of our basement windows.  Not only will this board be used to hang a blind, it will also improve our house's security as it will also prevent one of our windows from easily being pushed in from the outside.  While I'm not pleased at how long this project took, I am pleased with the results.

A year ago today

For the past few weeks our move to Regina has been on my mind.  And today even more so.

Somewhat suddenly a few moments ago I realized that it's been exactly a year since we set out from Ottawa for Regina.  I would guess that by this time we were about half-way to North Bay (which is where we spent our first night).

I find this amazing for a number of reasons.  First of all, it's hard to believe that we the trip so recently - it seems as though it was a life-time ago. Secondly, it's hard to believe that we've been in Regina for just about a year.  In some ways it feels as though we've been here longer than a year, and in others it seems almost incomprehensible that've been here for a year.

If time keeps speeding up as it has over the past few years before I know it we'll have been here for five or ten years (and hopefully by then our garden will actually be producing a reasonable output).

Overrun with beans

Since the beans started pouring in a few weeks ago they've been coming non-stop.  It seems that we can't go more than a day or two without needing to spend at least a few minutes harvesting things.

Though there are a few repeats below, I thought I might bring together a few photos of our harvests to really demonstrate what I'm talking about (and these were all taken between July 13 and August 2, 2013).

Of course, with all of our success we're still waiting for a few things.  Despite the early presence of juvenile tomatoes we're still without even a reddish tomato.  Our edamame plants, despite their ever increasing size, are without fruit (or even flowers - though these should be just around the corner).  I guess it's still just early August so I probably shouldn't be too worried.

Things that go crash in the night

At about 2:00 AM on Monday morning (AKA Sunday night) Jeannette and I were startled from sleep by a loud noise.  While both of us were immediately awoken there was some disagreement about the source of the sound.

I was of the opinion that the sound was that of something falling outside, though I couldn't imagine what that could possibly be given what I know of the area surrounding our bedroom window.  Jeannette, alternatively, was of the opinion that the sound was that of a car crash.

Being the attentive husband that I am (and also being interested in the source of the sound) I went to our bedroom window to see if I could see what had happened.

Just as I arrived I saw and heard a car speeding away.  Because it was dark all I could see of the car were its tail lights and general shape (probably a hatch back).  And the area from which the car was departing did not appear particularly disturbed.

As I couldn't determine the source of the noise and as nothing more appeared to be afoot we tried to return to sleep.  After a period of time we were successful.

By the next morning I'd inadvertently managed to put the whole incident out of my head.  Instead of dwelling on the strange events of the night before I made coffee, ate breakfast, showered, and prepared for work.  

It was only as I was starting my walk to work that I was reminded of the events of the previous night because of the presence of a police car, a neighbour sweeping up smashed car debris, and a newly totalled car.  Apparently Jeannette had been right to place the sound as a car crash.

Though the neighbour sweeping the debris lives much closer to the site of the accident she had not actually heard the event the previous evening so by speaking to the police officer I was at least able to provide an approximate time and semi-description of the vehicle.  Based on my exchanges with our neighbour and the police officer I also got the sense that the neighbours whose car had been hit had also managed to sleep through the event and hadn't learned anything was amiss until just a few minutes before I came on the scene.  I also learned that, perhaps not surprisingly, that this looked like the work of a drunk driver.

Despite the fact that this was a fair bit more excitement than our quiet neighbourhood is used to, I haven't heard much discussion of the event.  I am starting to think that most people slept through the original event and then weren't out on the street early enough to see the police presence and car removal.

This event taken with our own car troubles last weekend are leaving me with the impression that we might be best not to park on the street unless its absolutely unavoidable.