CaptainOrange

A long time ago, Wendy and I came up with an axiom of our relationship. I'm sure it's been "discovered" countless times throughout history. The thing you most hate the most is the thing you love the most. Ben would probably add, "from a certain point of view." We have seen this countless times during the course of our marriage. Wait! Don't go. This actually isn't another boring post about my relationships ;) No, really, it's not. I was just thinking that the same can be said for the weather. We had a minor ice storm last night. It made driving frustrating and dangerous, it made shovelling snow difficult and it made cleaning my windshield this morning near impossible. If I had remembered the relationship axiom (and remembered that it applied to weather as well), I would have brought my camera with me as I drove my kids to school. Serves me right :) I had been on the road for all of 2 minutes when I sensed my error and whined to Leora ...

I don't want to complain, really. But Saskatchewan's  record breaking precipitation  in May shows no sign of giving up in June. April showers May flowers ring a bell? I was already bitching about it on May 10th, if you remember?  Now I'm just throwing up my hands in disgust. I've suggested to Wendy that we give up on traditional Saskatchewan crops and start growing rice. She isn't sold on the idea. If you like, Wen's blog has information about what is blooming and growing in this sludginess. Anyway, I haven't been idle. Why just today I was up on the roof cleaning out my gutters. I would have waited for a dry moment, but the water pouring over the eaves was a kind of siren call. Actually, it was fun up there, in a way. Normally, I need to take up a hose to help with the cleaning, but today nature was happy to supply plenty of lubricant. There have been a couple of spectacular sunny days mixed in with the mess. When I see the sun I don't ask question...

Winter's Icy Grip Crushes Goose Vanguard I've been struggling a bit with this weather. It's a bit of an understatement (we may talk of that another time). Cold and lack of sunlight have me a bit down. I've been grouching at the girls, sighing a lot, and projecting gloom around the house in the evenings. Wendy gave me a kick in the pants last night and told me to take today off. I didn't have any work with the library scheduled, but I would have spent the morning making and canning chutney out of the beautifully ripe mangoes that I got on monday. Instead I went to Don's Photo and found an awesome deal. A used Sigma 70-210mm f/4-5.6 auto-focus lense for $40! It's twin was sitting next to it for $100 (they were both on consignment and the price on one had just been dropped). OK, so Sigma is a bargain brand, but it's my first telephoto--I'm excited. Naturally, I had to go take some pictures. 1st set, 0-0 I went to campus and fooled around a bi...

Pre-Dawn March 17th The Bad Beginning: I was worried about QNY this time 'round. Not getting together with people until April 2 is an unprecedented delay and I typically NEED the pick-me-up that our quest conference usually provides me. This year it was especially true, what with my popped rib-head, a cracked rib, alienating my parents and all. The evening had some disappointing elements for me, but on the whole, was very satisfying. It started out with a great walk to our chosen meeting place. For the first time the girls came with me and we were all giddy with anticipation. We took our time, stopped at a couple of parks, and talked about what Questing meant to the three of us. Anwyn took an approach similar to mine. She said that anything you did could be a Quest, it was how you did it that mattered. Shepherd Book might have said that "how you get there is the worthier part." Leora thought that Questing was pushing boundaries. She thought that to do it you might ...

The kids are getting old and dexterous enough that this year we thought we would invest in some eggquipment. Anwyn and I wound up at The Ukranian Museum of Canada on Saturday. Being the day before Easter, I was worried that supplies for egg decorating would be limited, but there was no danger of shortage. Trust them to know Saskatoon's Psanka needs. Here is a slide-show of all the eggs that kids and novice adults alike produced. Warning!! If you are some sort of psanka purist, go no further. You have been warned. And here is a video showing all sides of Vin's SNL homage egg.

I've been very excited about my new camera. Leading up to QNY, I spent quite a few hours on and about campus testing it out. Here is what I learned: Only attempt to do one thing at a time while airborne. In the above picture I had just jumped off of the window sill and was... doing a spread eagle trying to look manly in the spread eagle position (just as tough as it sounds) toggling the remote shutter switch for the camera attempting to land gracefully on the stairs I'll let you be the judge of my success on #'s 1-3. I seem to have failed miserably at #4. No, I did not fall down the stairs. I simply realized that the landing was a bit more jarring than I would have liked. At no time in this process did I feel "hurt". Upon waking the next morning, however, I discovered that I might as well have fallen down the stairs. I pulled a muscle in my back and popped a rib-head behind my shoulder. One of these may have caused the other--I don't know. It hurts. Oh, and th...

I'm driving myself mad. It's kijiji's fault really -- too much free stuff. Add that to my very flexible schedule and you have an exhausting combination. On the right are the straw bales that I brought from out of town to mulch the garden with. I didn't want to make two trips, so I wound up with waaay too much. Should have taken Wendy's advice there :( I've also been hauling a lot of rocks which are getting put to use for some nice front yard landscaping. Many are still in "storage" until I have time to do some more sod removal. All this might be somewhat diverting if I weren't continuing to attempt all the new food production things that I've learned recently. Casualties are mounting. Yesterday I killed millions of bacteria when I messed up making yogurt. When will the insanity end? Wendy told me to stop doing extra shit and start behaving like a human being towards my children. Do you think she is trying to tell me something?

I was 24 years old . The previous year had seen me secure both my degree in English from the U of S and my wife. It would still be 2 1/2 years until Leora was born. In the most cliché sense, I had the whole world ahead of me. Of course I had just spent the last 4 months of 1995 living apart from Wen (as she tested out her first teaching job in Rosetown (wikipedia)). Shortly, I moved out of 518 Albert Ave. and into our first apartment. Small town life didn't agree really agree with me. Being an unconventional egg-head/vegetarian/freak from the big city, I felt watched and overtly judged wherever I went (but only because people were watching me). View Larger Map A perfect example is the cooking job that I got there at the Blue Baron -- a restaurant attached to a road-side motor inn. I was ´let go´ there after my 3 month probation. I challenged the owner (who was almost never in the kitchen) to tell me why I was being fired, and I was told that it was because the quality of the food ...

Once again I thought spring was certainly here this time. I was wrong of course. Below minus 20 before the windchill on March 17th is depressing. Never-the-less, a scant two days ago, it was marvelous and sunny. Wen and I got a bit edgy and decided to do some seeding in the greenhouse. It was between minus 5 and minus 3 outdoors, but in my little haven the temperature (at waist height) was 24 degrees celsius, in the shade. The sunny parts were making me sweat as I did a little caulking that I had neglegted in the fall. I seriously considered trying to put up a hammock in there and spend the day reading. It really is a bit early to plant and when I do, it will still involve a lot of transporting things back to the house for the non-sun hours. Currently the temperature will still rapidly drop below freezing inside the greenhouse if the sun isn't shining pretty hard. Later that day, Leora and Anwyn wen't to Liz's to help with some party preparations for Anthony's birthday ...

An early celebration was had last night. The core group of Questers was in attendance. As a first order of business we discussed last years quest books. A general favorite was "How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read," which, humourously, Dave hadn't. You could look up the less than favourable Guardian review, or you could take my word for it and have a good read (and a good laugh). From there we moved on to this years reading list which, I'm sad to say, I did not contribute to. It will be a light reading year (for must reads)... 2 Picks (Filthy Lucre/Heath/Starcat, Notes on Democracy/Mencken/rainswept) I will also attempt to read Dave's attempted pick (which is in 6 volumes and he hasn't quite finnished yet) entitled The Nature of Order - Christopher Alexander Follow this link for my pictures from the evening... QE19 I have set a few goals for the coming year: First I plan to beat the 24-year-old me. I'll explain that one another time. ...

A couple of days ago I went out searching for something to brighten my spirits. QWednesday it was trying to melt and I was excited by the prospect of early spring. I failed to make the outdoors a priority and promised to do it the next day. Thursday, I took a few pictures but it was already back to bitter winds and cold. This was all the run-off I could find. My fingers numbed and people stared at me wondering how someone's ears get this red. It doesn't look too bad, here, but I'd already been in for about 5 minutes at this point. Whining? Maybe. Today I had to shovel huge drifts from my driveway. Uphill, too. I've consoled myself with this great orange flower. I try to look at it several times a day. It might be helping... I really need it to be helping.

Cookies and Cream was our cat (for those who don' t know). She was 3 months old when we rescued her from the SPCA last year. I was opposed to 'owning' a pet, but a compromise was struck whereby we could have a new family member -- so long as she was as free as we could possibly allow. This lead to her having her own door which she happily used at all hours of the day. It also meant that when she brought in mice and birds to show us, we would make no serious effort to deter her (much as Wendy tolerates my coffee drinking, my vegetarianism and general odd behavior). Without getting sappy, suffice it to say that CC was great pleasure to live with. She is dead. . She was about 15 months old on April 1st when she was hit by a car crossing Clarence Ave. Despite my resistance to eating meat, extreme respect for life, and a general feeling that animals ought not be treated as slaves, I have never previously mourned for the death of anyone (animal or human). It was with great surpr...

I told you I was somewhat miserable this week. One of the reasons being that I had accepted a mission last QNY and as of 9pm on the 16th, I had not completed it. I was certain that I didn't have the time or resources to manage the job. Another failed project to add to the list. Not really what I was hoping for. I think I'm growing a beard to compensate for my failures as a person. Fortunately I have a Quest cheering section all for my very own. Wen talked me through some ideas and, eventually, I became convinced that there was still time to do something. The something that I am talking about was the box/chest that I was elected to manufacture last year in the hopes of storing a "Quest Fund" of sorts. My revised plan was to spend all day on the 17th purchasing materials and constructing this receptacle. Word must have been leaked to my enemies, because a virus with an agenda (perhaps doing the bidding of old "Rust") infected Leora as she slept soundly two day...

I'm starting to think that waking up broken might just be the way I'm meant to feel. 5 hours sleep. I know I've got to to better if I am going to drive all night after the concert tomorrow. Though I am feeling very tired, I am also invigorated. There is nothing like having all work beyond your reach to make you feel like playing all day long. While Anna headed out for coffee, I sneak the phone outside and give Wendy a call while Ian sleeps. The time difference makes communication via regular phone difficult. It seems by the time I am up, Wen and the girls are gone for the day and once I am back for the night, they are asleep. As today is Sunday, I get lucky and manage to speak to her for a bit. Ian rises from his stupor as soon as the coffee comes in the room. "I could quit if I actually wanted to," has become my favorite phrase to parrot back to him anytime he mentions needing a coffee. I can tell he regrets ever having mentioned it. We agree that we over did thi...