Month: July 2024

My wife went north for the weekend with our children so that they could go to a paleontologist symposium at a library near the cottage. It’s the dream job my oldest is fixated on, digging up dinosaur bones, that is. The fellow from Drumheller out of Alberta brought physical samples which they could look at, examine & touch. My eldest daughter was thrilled, the youngest was bored about 30 minutes in. No surprise there. I hope it gave her some meaningful insights into the job, and the educational requirements needed to pursue that line of work. Scouting for bones out in the badlands sounds like fun, atleast initially. Perhaps not long term, atleast to me. But if she can forge her own happy path, do be it.

She has a sharp eye for finding pottery shards in the fields at the farm. Has a fairly large collection from just this summer alone. Still early weeks yet. We collect metal bits, like bolts, springs, ruined horse shoes, broken cultivator tines, tractor parts, you name it. Plus we are constantly pulling out fist sized rocks, and stones, and the occasional forearm length mini boulder. I don’t know how to classify the size of rocks/stones. That space above pebble/stone, but not quite into the 20lb rock/boulder(?) Category. Heavy enough but not yet back breaking, if that makes any kind of sense. But I digress.

I did not dig up any garlic yesterday, and no real plans for it today either. I might get a jump on some projects that came in during the early evening on Friday. I said I’d start Monday morning, but I could get two of the three out of the way if I do an hour or two today. Why place all that strain on Monday morning, if I have the time now. It is, after all, just the pup and me at home. He’s a layabout, so it shouldn’t bother him if I work early today on a print ad for a client. He’s been a bit mopey since the kids went north. We still had two decent walks, and a lot of cuddle/vegetable/couch time while I watched The Grand Tour season 4 on tv yesterday evening. Graham, the puppy, will well know Jeremy Clarkson’s voice by now. He’s been present while I sat through all three seasons of Clarkson’s Farm, and now getting around to the last season and a bit of GT.

Sunday is here again. The family birthdays are all done for the moment. We have a children’s party this afternoon to attend over at the local Mini Putt, so that should be fun. Otherwise nothing much on the radar activity wise for another week or so.  This concludes week three of summer vacation. Nearly halfway through. Doesn’t take long to get the ball rolling, and then it barrels full steam ahead! Ciao Bella!

Right on the cusp of feeling as though I could throw up. I think we had a bad bit of rotisserie chicken last night, as my wife feels kinda off too. Not going to lie, I feel this way a lot, so I cannot pin point the chicken sandwich I made as the culprit, but it did sit on the top of my stomach for a long while, which I wasn’t to crazy about.

I think the garlic harvesting has done a number on my back. That or sitting on the curb at the park for nearly two hours to watch the symphony under the stars has done my body no favours. It was pleasant enough. We could pick out one very pitchy trumpet, and a lady singer whom is best served being part of a much larger choir rather than a soloist. Otherwise enjoyable. The alcoholic beverage sales by Muddy York should have been pretty good last night, thanks in part to the LCBO strike. Cornered the market with a captive audience.

I believe it is now Saturday. Yesterday was my sister in laws birthday, but she has Covid, so no celebration. And today is my brother in laws birthday, and he is either off to the cottage, or otherwise engaged downtown, so no celebration there either. Easy-peasy. I do need to take my daughter to a birthday party tomorrow evening, but otherwise we are free from obligation to attend just about anything. Whee!

We took the new puppy out for some people/dog exposure and he performed admirably. I’ll count that as a success. He whined a little as the kids left for the park, but was cool, calm and mostly collected for the 2 hours we were there to listen to orchestral music.

Still looking better than last years crop. Busy & hot in the sun though. Digging up 18 rows of 300 bulbs is tough on the back. Forks to the rescue! Would prefer to have a machine to help, but it’s not a huge patch, so we’ll live.

Doesn’t take long to get a number of days under your heels once summer kicks off. With the new puppy, life has gotten a bit hectic as of late. Getting skunked the other day added a level of panic I could have done without, but in relation to other people’s problems we are doing just fine. More of an inconvenience than anything else. I do have to take him to the vet tomorrow so I’m sure that will lighten my wallet a fair bit. I’m sure they’ll find something he needs, or “should” have beyond flea and tick meds, and a course of heart worm pills. Just you watch.

I think today is Thursday, if I’m not mistaken. Dog wanted out for a pee before six this morning, and it was positively cool outdoors. A sweater was required and everything. Funny as it was in the mid thirties not 12 hours ago when I cut the lawn – again. Having nearly 5 inches of rain in July has kept the grass green, and growing like mad. Usually by July 1st it’s this beige, tan, yellow crispy wispy tangle of crunchy stuff. Not so much these last two years anyway. Doing wonders for the grape vine though, I will say that much. Raspberries seem to like the humidity and rain a whole lot too. Maybe not if it continues, but they’ve soaked in a lot of rain, and hot sun for full effect.

Looking towards going to see Deadpool 3 with my wife at some point in the near future. I hope it is a fun time, and not just cameos and inside jokes. I do need dome kind of a story/plot to keep things moving along. I haven’t been to the movies in quite some time. Was going to take the kids to Inside Out 2, and Kung Fu Panda 4, and something else, but it never panned out. Plus my seven year old still won’t sit for 90-120 minutes to watch something new. So to pay nearly $100.00 for movie tickets and snacks for the four of us seems unreasonable. Not if the youngest will ask to leave 30 minutes in. Fun, fun, fun.

I think there should be a new Alien movie out sometime soon aswell. I have purposefully not followed the production, and trailers so that I can enjoy it as fresh as possible. Usually I follow along too closely, and hear all the inside hot gos, and then have no surprises left to experience. Trying to move away from that sort of thing. I’m also less, and less inclined to follow the Marvel cinematic output machine, in favour of just watching the few I really want to see. I think I have five or six tv series I have yet to look at, and atleast 3 Marvel tent pole movies I have not watched. And weirdly enough, no fomo. Growing up I guess.

I recently ordered a book called “The left hand of darkness” by an author that recently died. Supposed to be her best work, or one of anyway. Looking forward to it. Still dragging my feet on finishing the Don Winslow book. Waiting on another book to come in August or September.

After a mid evening walk with the new puppy taken later than usual because of our family photos on the beach in Keswick we finally returned home, to which I left the puppy in the backyard. Innocently – at that. To immediately hear barking, and see the pesky black & white stink weasel up against our house. I called to Graham, but he was enchanted. Sprayed square in his dumb little black fuzzy puppy face at point blank range. Whole house smells of it. After a 90 mi ute bath, with soaps, shampoos, and finally a hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dish soap mixture he was bearable to be around without watering eyes. One of his ears is still pretty rank where I’ve missed a spot, but he made out ok, for a dog that doesn’t like water or bathing that is. Now we start the long process of making the rest of the house not stink to high heaven. Ugh!

We didn’t even have him for a full week yet, and he got skunked. So smelly. Burns the nostrils and throat. On the wind is one thing. Driving by road kill is one thing. To have it full throated inside your home unendingly is another thing entirely. My room, bathroom combo just stinks where I bathed him repeatedly last night. Washed a fair few loose hairs off of him too. We didn’t think he was much of a shedder. That was a silly thing to think.

Although on the plus side, he did well in his crate, seems to like it. Goes in to lie down unprompted, and has a good chew session with toys in there by himself. So that was good to see. And I think we will have some lovely family photos for our Christmas cards this year. Because we were on a beach we didn’t bring Graham (the dog) as we didn’t want locals getting huffy about a dog on the beach. Keswick locals, especially where we were, have been known to be vocal about such things. So we felt it best to be avoided. Turned out fine for all of us. Happily.

On the note of the crate, I do not recall it feeling quite so large. Now I realize the new pup is smaller than our old dog, but the house feels tiny around the cage. My only thought is, is that we used the crate before we had kids, so our house wasn’t nearly as cluttered, and we were out at work for 9-12 hours a day, and didn’t see it nearly as much. Now I work from home, we have two more little humans in the house with us, plus all of their stuff. Feels a bit cramped in here now! The crate is easily 2ft wide, 3ft tall, and 4ft long. The fact it’s a white cage means you can see through it, so not a major visual block, but it takes up considerable real estate. Good thing is it’s large enough for four of our current dog to lie down in it comfortably all together. So very roomy for Graham. It was much tighter for our previous dog I can tell you that much.

Yeeees…. more power! Jeremy Clarkson’s Farm has been on in my home the last few nights, and I for one am having a blast with it. Funny, and informative. The presence of the pandemic, and the EU Brexit fiasco are both brought into sharp relief and the local farms all suffer from those events. Illuminating.

As of today I am most of the way through season two, with perhaps two episodes left, possibly three to round out season two. Once I get through the third season we will have to find something g else to watch. Could try going back to the Grand Tour, also on Prime. Or find something else entirely. I find my attention wavers quite a bit as of late if I am not 100% interested in the content I am watching. I could more easily watch some chosen by me YouTubers whom build things I’m more interested in.

Clarkson’s Farm hits because with my wife’s uncle now dead, the farming itself has become more close to us. So good to know an item or two, if only in passing. Not that I would be able to do more than shuffle a tractor about, or pull a trailer from one place on the farm to another while those more knowledgeable did the actual work. I’ll help where and how I can.

A very rainy Tuesday around these parts today. I slept poorly with some intestinal distress which woke the puppy up, who then decided he wanted to be up and awake at 3:00am and would not settle, nor stop whining, nor stop barking at shadows like an idiot. Not at my best today. Bit of a grump if I’m being honest. And on that bomb shell, ciao bella!

Although our new puppy likes to get up before seven. Actually today he tried to get up before six am and I said “Hell no!”, and immediately fell back to sleep. But, rather than have him mess on my bedroom floor I took him out for a pee, and a walk before seven am just in case. And I wish he could sleep until atleast 8:00am, because now I feel miserable, and tired, and most of all grumpy. Bah!

It could also be that I was out of the house yesterday from 9:45am, until almost 7:00pm before I got home again. I took my kids to a three hour long indoor play place play date. I ended up taking a friends child home with us, plus one other to try and swim before the weather turned. We were able to paddle about for 30 minutes before it became too precarious over top of us, so all of the children went into the basement to play with all of the Nerf guns and such. I had the other parents around for pick-up and chats over pizza too. So my social battery was cooked after all that.

I am however glad that the kids were able to play, and left us to chat and sit in relative peace for a couple of hours throughout the day. That I did like. The kids ran, screamed for joy, shouted in unison, and made themselves play all sorts of games. Very happy to see them smile.

But now, I very much want to sleep the day away. But, I can’t.  I need to work in order to prepare for tonights meeting. Oh well. Happy Monday.

Love my kids but being two weeks into summer break they needed to find more kids their own age to play with, if only for my sanity! The puppy is proving to be a happy challenge, but he can only hold the kid’s attention for so long. Same with an empty park, and a family swim. We are seeing lots of only each other, and they are getting a little stir crazy. To say the least. Ugh.

No matter. Today they will have an indoor play place play date (that’s a mouthful), so that should cure them of their boredom… momentarily. It won’t last for long, but it is atleast something. Right now they are shooting hoops together and scaring up a flurry of inflated balls. Smiles all around. Happy to see it.

I’m tired. The new puppy sleeps in my room, and he is restless at night. Getting better night by night. It is still early days yet, so I do see small incremental improvements. I think it might take  several weeks to get him to be calmer on his walks, but the chest harness / Martingale puppy training collar combo seems to be effective most of the time. I’m not a fan of pinch collars, so we will avoid shocks, and neck damage at all costs.

I think it is Sunday today. The days have started to run together a bit. I have some paid work to get to later today in preparation for a meeting Monday evening. Lots of things coming up this week too. Family photos, sick friend visits, vet appointments, the symphony under the stars, and a birthday party. As quiet as the summer is we still can get a real flurry of activity on occasion. I wish we could space this stuff out better to have something to aim towards every few days, but when it rains it pours.  What can I say?

We have been and done a number of things. Farming, a cottage run to open it up for the season, visited a mine to prospect for shiny bits, and pretty cured gem stones, gone swimming, been on boat rides, tubing, and fetching icecream from the marina, participated in a fishing derby, and going on play dates with pals, plus we picked up a new to us puppy.

Wow! Lot of ground covered there. I still hold firm that the kids somehow managed to not once touch a reading book, nor a pencil to write a single word over the last 17 days since school ended in June. Miraculous. Going to have a rough go of September if they lose all of last years progress being summer time bums! Bathing suit, and no-home-work! Suns rays, and no-reading-ever! Outdoors, and education-is-for-the-weak! AC blasting, and lots-of-tech-please!

If they weren’t kept so busy pulling weeds, picking fruits, and gathering rocks in the fields at the farm I would be positively aghast, but they are helpful when required to be. So it is early days of the summer break yet. We have time to crack a book, and sharpen some pencils in grade school curriculum work books. Plus they will have to get their fair entries made before too much longer. That’s coming up on us real fast. The 2024 Markham Fall Fair. I’m sure it’ll be a hot topic around these parts over the next 8-10 weeks.

I myself would like to prep something new for the fair, so I need to be on my toes too. Will I make yet another ogre or monster for my sculpted ceramics class, or attempt a softer “Faircrow” mascot to win some nostalgia brownie points with the judges? Hmm. I tend to prefer monsters, but I can stretch out a little this year perhaps. Maybe? We’ll see how I feel some late August if I haven’t started anything yet.

**Today we take a moment to remember dear little Heidi, whom would have turned six years old today. A tragic accident took her, along with her mother late last July 2023. Nearly a full year has gone by, hard to believe it really happened, and wasn’t just a bad dream.**

So on this sunny Saturday morning I shall bid you adieu. Ciao Bella!

Took the new dog to the farm about 90 minutes later than we meant to, and got really hot in the process. Had to knock off for lunch, and a well earned swim once the humidex put the temperature up to the high thirties. It’s top much. Way too hot. The poor pup is still so new I couldn’t get him to drink from our old dogs water bowl stashed at the farm, and the wee fella was getting huffy. I couldn’t coax him into the pool once we got to grandmas, but he drank some fresh cool water there, and had a short lie in the grass under the shade of a large tree. He was content.

Then I brought him home so that I could cut the grass, atleast the front yard which every one of our neighbours can see. Got that squared away while he wailed and moaned from the back porch, which is in the shade, and he had plenty of cool water. Water which I myself did not have. Glad it’s done now though. It hadn’t needed to be cut for two weeks. Which is nice. But Beryl dropped several inches of rain on us and everything grew four inches almost over night! Crazy sauce.

Shame the dog wouldn’t swim, pool was positively balmy at 85°F. Which I think as a first dip, that makes a real nice impression, but eh? He’s young, and new. Plenty of time to develop a love of the water. Maybe salt water isn’t his forté No worries.

So this is Friday huh. Nice.