Just one more question

 As opposed to one lonely shrivelled apple, I guess.

Anyway, the post title. I just got off the phone with someone from Stats Canada who's been trying to get a hold of me for a while. A month or so ago I got a lovely letter in the mail informing me that I'd been chosen for some labour study in which I'll be contacted once a month for half a year to answer questions. Our representative will be contacting you soon. It's important blah blah blah and oh yeah it's mandatory and you can go to jail if you don't comply.

Always gotta love government paperwork that comes with friendly banter and threats, right?

Well, a while later he phoned me at work when I was in the middle of something. He got my voice mail. A day or so later there was a notice on my door that he'd come in person and would I please call back. Ok, yeah, I'll get to it.

Then, you'll recall, my gut exploded.

I didn't have my phone for a while (long story, but they managed to misplace my stuff), and then when I finally got it the phone was dead anyway, so I had to wait for Dad to pick up my charger before I could even get my messages.

Six voice mails from Stats Canada guy. Six. And when I phoned him back -- from my hospital bed, no less (ok, seriously? I had nothing else to do so I figured whatever) -- I got his voice mail. I left him a guess what? I'm in hospital message, and then didn't hear from him. At all. Cue the hope that maybe they'd given me a miss.

No such luck. There was a message on the weekend when I had my phone off, and a call from him this morning. So yeah, I've finally done my patriotic duty (whatever, again) for the month. But in the mindset that turnabout's fair play, here's my question for Stats Canada:

You seriously make your employees seem that tenacious/annoying? You don't let them give up after over a week of no answer? The initial letter wasn't addressed to me, by the way. It was my apartment that was chosen by whatever algorithm they use. So what happens if a person's on long-term holiday? Has medical issues, like I did? Just doesn't ever answer the door to strangers? Do you really still make joe stats guy phone every damned day?

I'm not sure I'd last too long at a job like that. I have no desire to be seen as a government cockroach who just won't go away...

I suppose that it's his choice in the end, but geez.

Let's move on quickly to today's misnamed rock, Dendritic Pearl Opal. Neither a pearl nor an opal, this stone's a piece of agate or chalcedony that has been given a fancy name to help it sell better. The dendrites are sometimes erroneously called fossils, but they're really just a dark mineral (often manganese oxide) that's percolated through cracks in the rock making tree-like patterns.

All this futz about silly names and metaphysics (which I'm completely not getting into today. Sorry that you're missing out on the weirdness) for what is, in fact, a fairly striking-looking rock all on its own. There would have been nothing wrong with calling this dendritic chalcedony and leaving pearls AND opals to be pearls and opals, you know?

After looking at so much crystal oddness lately, I suppose that I just wish I could look up one of my rocks and find out that it doesn't cure anything.



Maybe I should get myself a piece of sandstone. Ah, but even then we'd be dealing with the wonders of tiny pieces of quartz, no doubt.





The weirdness finds you everywhere, I tell you.

Remotely

Action shot!

Not a particularly good one, but still. Kind of neat, right?

Anyway. I'll try to keep this short because I'm at work. Yeah, it's that time of year again when I switch to weekends, and to top off the feeling of weird I'm also working late to cover a shift. All of this means that I'm not super in the mood for a blather.

You're getting a whinge instead, and I'll try to keep it short.

I hate the whole #firstworldproblems thing (bandwagon much, people?), but I have to admit that I'm having one. I'm remoteless.

The remote for my cable box died. I knew it was going to because it was getting pretty erratic, but the deed has finally happened and I'm currently a push-button girl. Go to the television and hit the button to turn it on; hit the cable box buttons to do anything else.

It sucks.

I mean, I can access most (most... sigh) of the functions of the cable box via its buttons, but having to go right up to the tv any time I need to change things? Sucks, as I said. In a minor way, yes, but still sucks. And it's almost like getting exercise, after all. Can't have that.

So what now? Well, I'm not stupid. I'll get a universal remote. I just haven't had the time to go shopping yet, and currently I'm here at work (did I mention?) so it won't happen tonight.

More push-button, I guess.



That sucks.





Sigh. #firstworldproblems. 

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Nearly forgot: Today's tea is Quangzhou Milk Oolong. This is a nice tea, boys and girls. I probably overbrewed it slightly because I was talking to my coworkers, but even then it was so very smooth. I'm really going to enjoy this one.

#firstworldnonproblems

Oh, right, blogging

Haven't really been in the mood, actually.

I guess I could at least give you a pointless photo.

Sooo...



Happy spring.

Yeah, that's what spring looks like so far.



Yay spring.



Whatever. Type at you later.

Pointless chickadee photo of the day:

Technically it's a work pic, but taken with my camera by Yours Birdingly so I figure I can stick it here.

I'm liking the new lens, by the way.

I don't think you'll get too much out of me today. I've been on the go for too long since they're supposedly doing another parking lot clearing at my apartment building (you know you've had a lot of snow when the management company that's notorious for only doing the parking lots once a season has already had them done three times) and that means being out by 8 am. It was snowing (sigh) hard enough when I left that I very nearly said eff it and let them work around me, but that would've been pointless since they're also doing plumbing work today and we might not have any water until 5 pm. Crud. My neck's out enough at the moment that I have more than a little bit of a headache, and it would have been a nice day to just be lying about. Instead, I found myself having fast food breakfast and listening to the most stereotypically seniorish seniors' conversation that you could ever imagine.

And watching it snow.

Whoopie.

It's stopped snowing now, but the highways are apparently buggered. I'm hoping that the city streets aren't, because I really don't want to be fighting the idiot brigade when I go home.

When I can go home.



Ah well. The chickadee turned out pretty nicely, at any rate. That makes me happy. Chickadees in general make me happy. Art also makes me happy, and there's a new doodle (such as it is... I was just playing around) on the other blog for anyone interested.

Back to work for me now.

Yeah, yeah, I'm still around

I was around yesterday, too, but it was a busy day so no blog for you.

You'll noticed that I'm still refusing to post winter pictures. Well, not so much refusing as that I don't have any on my nerdstick, to be honest. I took some yesterday, but they're for the work blog. You'll see them there in a bit, after I've edited them and actually written the post.

We have a bit of snow at the moment (as in, roughly four times the amount of snow we usually have at this time of year), and for a change my apartment building's management company has decided to clear the parking lots not once but three times so far this season. That's big, you know. I've lived there for about twenty years, and in that time the managers have become notorious for clearing the lots maybe once all winter no matter how much snow we have. It leads to all of us having mini lakes in our spots come spring melt, and that's about as pleasant as it sounds.

Apparently not this year, though. Today's clearing number three, which meant that I had to have my car out of the lot by eight. Which means, in turn, that I go for fast food breakfast to waste time for an hour before going to work.

Yippee.

As a rule I don't really do restaurant breakfasts. I get a craving for a certain outfit's breakfast sandwich maybe once a year, yes, but when I've had it I'm done with the craving for the year. Problem is, I've now had my third one in two months. I DEFINITELY DON'T HAVE THE CRAVING ANYMORE.

If this snow (and shocking regular snow removal) continues, I'm really going to need to find a new routine. Any suggestions for a place to hang out at eight in the morning, anyone?

By the way, we're all told to have our cars out of the lot from eight to five on pain of towage. I wonder, though, was the removal company penalised for the fact that they didn't get done until after seven the last time they did this? Those of us trying to find a place to park after coming home from work certainly were.

Anyway, off to the work blog for me. I'll let you know when it's time to have my next regrettable breakfast sandwich...

A random spider and tea

Yeah, there's a spider in there. My two fans know that if there's a chance to take a picture of a spider, that spider's picture will be taken.

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So, tea. Some of you may remember that I like me some tea, and while I'm not enough of a snob to refuse to drink bagged orange pekoe if that's all that's around, I generally prefer to buy loose teas that are a little higher quality and (hopefully) more interesting.

I got low on tea recently, and since the stuff I usually buy isn't available in your average grocery store I had to make a trip to Teavana.

Man, does Teavana make me miss Teaopia.

 I went there because they have a mate chai that I like (and that I'm currently practically mainlining because it's tasting good. Dangerous thing, though, all that caffeine in a non-coffee drinker. Might be an interesting afternoon), and I usually try one other new-to-me type of tea while I'm there filling my fix. Every time I go, though, I get a little frustrated. They're so pretentious and gimmicky.

Well, to be fair, Teaopia was gimmicky too. Just in a slightly less pretentious way.

All that wafting of scents with the lids of the tea caddies kind of drives me nuts. And the last time I was there the salesgirl had me trying every damned sample in the store. Hey, lady. I'm in a specialty tea store. I've gone straight to the counter to buy some tea. I do NOT need to be sold on tea, thanks so much.

And the paraphernalia. Jeez louise. Expensive, gimmicky (yes, again with the gimmicky), and so completely unnecessary. And of course they ask you every single time you're there if you need canisters or infusers or that German rock sugar or whatever it is. Personally, I'm still using my ugly orange Teaopia stacker even though it's a) ugly and b) orange. It does however, have two advantages: it perfectly holds the minimum 50g purchase of four different teas at once, and I didn't pay too much for it at Teavana.

I'll probably still keep going to Teavana, though.

Dammit.





There is a local outfit that Wheat likes and says I should try, and I probably should. It'd mean driving a whole five minutes farther, though. That takes ambition.

Maybe just a bit more of the mate chai...

Headache

 Yeah, I have one. My two fans know that it's not unusual for me, though. Still, I wish I'd have slept better last night. It would make the drive home this afternoon a bit more pleasant if I wasn't fighting my own head.

I also have a headache at work (well, I have many headaches at work. Let's just focus on the one at the moment, ok?), which is what today's not-entirely-pointless photos are about. Don't worry, though. I'll try to keep this post pointless enough that the blog won't turn into a pumpkin. Erm... for those new to the program, that's what'll happen should this blog ever actually come to a point. Pumpkin time, boys and girls; pumpkin time.

Anyway.

What you're seeing above is a Red-necked Grebe sitting on her nest. At this point in the photo-taking process I'd ticked her off a bit, so you can see that she's raised the "horn" feathers towards the back of her head as a warning or sign of alarm. If you hadn't realised that you should click on the photo thumbnails to see the bigger versions (and if you hadn't by this time I'm kind of losing hope for you), then I'll tell you point-blank to click on the picture to see the details.

Anyway. Again.

The blur you see on the right side of the picture is the handrail of the stairs to the upper section of one of our viewing decks at work, and therein lies the headache.

The silly bird has built right next to a heavily-used deck, and she's done it right in the middle of our busiest programming season. Normally we use the thing as a major outdoor classroom (that's what it was designed for), but with a nest right beside the deck and in an area where the bird sees -- and gets scared by -- everyone who comes around the corner, we can't use the deck AT ALL.

That in itself is a pain, but here's the kicker:

The eggs are probably already dead.

You see, normally Red-necked Grebes build an anchored, floating nest (see that Cornell link above for more details). These birds, however, built in extremely shallow water so they just made a mud pile instead of a raft. The problem is, the nest is on a spring-fed oxbow lake, and every bit of rain we get raises the water level pretty substantially.



We had a lot of rain this week. That nest is drowning.

You can see the original nest circumference from this overhead shot. Now, after the rain, she's sitting on the very tip of her mud pile. The eggs? Likely wet and cold. Instinct is telling her to stay, but we're expecting even more rain this week and I don't know at what point she'll finally give up.

It's an exercise in futility, but while she's still sitting on the nest we have to keep our programs away from her.

Kind of sucks for all of us, really.

----------

As I type this there's a small crocodile plugged into the USB port on the computer. It's my new flash drive (generally known as nerdstick on this blog, which is our informal term at work); or one of my new flash drives, at least.

I was a pretty early adopter of flash drives, all things considered. My father bought me my first one as a birthday gift a lot of years ago. How many years? Well, let's just say that it's a 1G drive and it cost him about $80 or so. They were a novelty back then. All that storage in such a small space? Amazing. It became a very handy thing for me, especially because I didn't have a computer at home (still don't. And yet I survive). Before the flash drive I'd been e-mailing things to my own web mail so that I could access them at work or here at my dad's place, and this was back when e-mail attachments couldn't be very big. The flash drive was a life saver.

A couple of years later the drives had become a little cheaper, and I received a second flash drive from my brother and sister-in-law with baby pictures of my first nephew on it. Believe it or not, that's the drive I'd been using since then. It has a lot of miles on it, but increasingly less storage because there were more and more things that I needed to stay on there for long periods of time. It was my only storage, so a lot of the things that most of you just leave on your computer and don't think about had to be on my nerdstick and travel with me instead.

And then I got the new camera, with its bigger pictures. The fraction of the 1G on the old stick that was left for pointlessness just wasn't going to cut it. So? New drive time for me, and yesterday I finally got around to making a quick trip to an electronics store and getting a bigger drive.

Well, two bigger drives because they were on sale. The crocodile because it was funny, and a more normal "adult" drive in case I get tired of carrying around a crocodile. Each is 8G.

I paid less than $20. That includes the flashlight keychain I threw in because my old one died a couple of weeks ago.

16G for less that $20 is a far cry from that $80 my dad laid out for 1G, don't you think? Makes me wonder how hard I'll be shaking my head at the fact that I blew $20 on just 16G a few years from now. Of course, by then we'll probably just be storing everything directly in our fingers or something.

It honestly wouldn't surprise me.

----------

My re-injured wrist (which I hadn't had a chance to mention this week since I've hardly had a chance to post) is telling me that this is enough typing. Just wait until it finds out that I'm intending to try a quick doodle after I post this. It'll be sooo pissed.

Not sure what time my coming work week will allow for blogging, but if nothing else I do have some new photos now (on my crocodile) so there should be something to check in for.

Maybe.

I really shouldn't be promising anything at all, after this past couple of weeks.

Weeeird mood...

Yeah, I know. You don't usually have to put up with other people's gifs on the blog (usually you're just putting up with my own incredibly pointless photography). It seems to be that kind of day, though. Oh, and photocredit to Catleecious. No idea where they got it, but that's where it came from for me.

And why are we looking at a flying cat today? I'm not really certain. I just seem to be in an odd brain space. Slept in until 7:30, which for me is like saying I've been asleep for twenty years. I didn't play any ninepins, but I'm certainly feeling a little out of place. Guess my body's taking advantage of the weekend to try to get over this cold. I had an inadvertent nap yesterday, too, while I was waiting for my dad to get home. You want to talk about complete disorientation? Try being an insomniac waking up from a nap. I couldn't have even told you what day it was for a moment or two.

There's other bits of weirdness going on as well. A little while ago I found myself in tears because of something I was reading. Now, understand that being in tears is nothing unusual for me. I've been a crier from day one (I'll probably never have an ulcer, since everything that bothers me comes out so quickly). But even for me this one was a stretch. There wasn't anything particularly emotional about what I was reading. It was just a very well-thought-out, well-crafted piece of writing that made me happy.

So I cried.

Weirdo.

I'm blaming that on my cold, too.

I don't have anything else blather-worthy at the moment (like this even was), so I suppose I should go find some lunch. I don't know what you're going to find in the way of new photos on the blog in the next little while, since it snowed this morning (yeah, yeah, nothing like you folks east of us are putting up with. I fully admit that) and snow almost always takes me straight out of picture-taking mood.

Maybe I'll just start posting cat gifs full time. It's not like anyone else on the internet is doing that...



wah wah...

Cancellations and weirdness

It was -26C with a windchill of -40C when I tried to go to work this morning.

Note that I said tried. Also note that I'm allergic to the cold (no, I'm not linking to it yet again. If you don't know already you either haven't been reading this blog or simply don't care. Either way, no link for you).

I went to the car, looked at the car, realised that I couldn't be outside long enough to clear the (admittedly, tiny bit of) snow from the car, and went back inside.

Then I called Wheat, who came and picked me up. The people I work with are pretty great, and extremely understanding about my weirdities. I don't say that often enough.

Well, actually, I don't say weirdities at all. I save that for the blog.

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Windchill that bad often means school bus cancellations, especially in rural areas where it's not safe for the kids to be outside waiting without shelter. The class I was supposed to be doing planetarium for today was from a rural school, so bus cancellation led to program cancellation. No skin off my nose, really, although I happen to like that school. What I don't like is being sore all night after a planetarium program, which is what happened yesterday since it's been a while since I've done one. I hate to say it, but I've definitely made at least a slight move into the old-and-creaky phase of life. It's all downhill from here, right?

Fan-effing-tastic. Gives me lots to look forward to.

One of the, I suppose, odder things about me getting ready for a planetarium show these days is the way I have to strap up. No, that's not as kinky as it sounds. I just mean that I have enough joints that need to be protected at this point that it sort of looks like I'm the world's most out-of-shape pro athlete. A pro athlete that's landed a lucrative contract with Tensor, though. Wrist brace? Check. May as well not resprain so quickly. Ankle brace? A given ever since I blew the ankle out in Grade 9. Knee brace? Well, ok, I don't have one of those, or at least not one I wear on a regular basis. There doesn't seem to be a point to it when the knee already sounds like a gravel pit.

I'm so off-warranty that it's not even funny.

Ah well. Creak creak moan moan, and now you know the main reason why next month's planetarium-o-rama will probably lead to either blog absenteeism or blog major whingeism. Maybe both, if you're lucky.

Back to work, now. Since tomorrow's planetarium has also been cancelled, maybe we'll whinge about the newsletter instead of the joints. It'll be a change, if nothing else.

Ah, the lack of blatherage

I'd say I'm sorry for the recent silence, but as I said not that long ago, I'm really not anymore. Better an empty blog than a lengthy whinge about the weather or my lack of sleep or my screwed up digestion or... well, anything that you've already heard too much of, to be honest.

Not even the fact that my three primary canvasses still have nothing on them but primary colours. Man, when I get blocked I get blocked. I mean, I even know what I want to do to finish those canvasses and it shouldn't be too hard, but they're still just sitting there. Ah well, maybe tonight I'll get out my lamp and do something about it.

Have I ever told you about my lamp, she says knowing full well that this is now going to become her post topic even though there's almost nothing to say about a lamp? I have a drawing lamp. Not a swing arm type lamp that I'd attach to my non-existent drafting table or anything exciting like that, but a stand lamp that I use for drawing. My apartment has crappy circa-1970 lighting (as do most crappy circa-1970 apartments, really), and it didn't take too long after I moved in to realise that if I wanted to do anything arty in the six months of the year when the sun goes down at stupid early in the day, I'd need a lamp.

So I went to Wally World and bought myself a floor lamp. I think it cost me twenty bucks, if that. It's one of those three-headed dealies (like this, but think mondo cheap) that I don't think you'd ever want to use for general room lighting, because unless you put the weakest bulbs in the world in it the glare would be absolutely unsettling. Not mood lighting, for sure. In fact, even with my apartment's virtual darkness I never even have the lamp plugged in unless I'm using it for drawing.

So why would I even want a harsh lamp, then? Especially for art? Well, it does have the advantage of having adjustable heads that I can angle to make interesting shadows, so it's actually kind of handy for still lifes. Or plants, which is what I'd use it more for. Time was, to get myself through the winter blahs I'd buy myself a cheap bouquet or flowering plant, set it on my table, and then just draw it every night as it changed and withered (well, not so much the live plants. I'd try to keep them going for a while, naturally). It always made for an interesting exercise in shape and shadow, the contortions flowers would go through before they gave up and dropped petal entirely.

It was good practice. I should start doing it again this winter.

Incidentally, a few years ago when my bathroom light switch broke and the managers took three months (no, I'm not kidding) to get someone in to fix it, the only way I could light the bathroom was by plugging the drawing lamp into an extension cord and parking it in the doorway (the cord wouldn't reach any further). Fun times, paying rent for service like that.

Does this win for Most Useless Post Ever yet? It's got to be getting close.



Aaanyway, I should be getting back to work. As a measure of how much social media has changed my job, work today for me partly involves tweeting about stuff coming in for a swap meet. No, I'm not kidding. Check the work feed, for which I've never given you a link...

Pointless photo and lack of whinge of the day:

It's a crab spider with its prey.

And I haven't whinged yet, you'll notice.

I do want to explain the lack of words you're probably going to be seeing here for the next little while, though. Without whinging.

Is it fair, do you think, to be away from work for the better part of a week, and then -- just as you're ready to get back in the swing of things -- to come down with a cold?

That wasn't a whinge.

It was a question.

Yeah, feeling kind of cruddy at the moment, so don't be surprised if all you get on the blog for a day or several are pictures. All the pointless with none of the blather? Actually sounds kind of good to me.

Let's give it a try, then.



AND THIS WAS NOT A WHINGE.

New photo!

It's Mountain Ash (aka Rowan to some of you). Oh, and there might be a ladybird in there somewhere as well maybe.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Even if it is sort of a useless shot. I promise that there's some not-ladybird photos coming up soon.

Did you notice the guest appearance by the photographer's shadow, by the way?

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I was intending to make this an actual, readable (well, as readable as they get, anyway) blather today, but I'm not sure how it's going to go since the neck's not all that happy. For those new to the program, my mother was kind enough to genetically gift me with her chronically bad neck, and every once in a while mine goes through periods of trying to make sure that I'm immobile. I'm not immobile at the moment, but for the last two days I've had the grinding and the occasional twinge that remind me that one wrong move could mean not turning my head for a while. At this stage it's just inconvenient (although I'll have a heck of a headache by the end of the day from not being lined up right), but it's sooo much fun to know that all I have to do is sleep wrong tonight and tomorrow will consist of me and my bed getting to know each other very well.

There's your warning, I suppose.

Ok, since I've already brought the topic up, let me add one more thing to it. As I'm sure any of you who have an ongoing health issue know, the world is full of suggesters. The people who wonder if you've tried *fill in the blank*, I mean. Some of them are very innocent suggesters who think that maybe you've just never heard of *fill in the blank*, some of them are "expert" suggesters who just know that everything would be fine if you'd only try *fill in the blank*, some of them have family who were instantly cured by *fill in the blank*... you get where I'm going, I hope. I try to be patient. I really do. It's generally well-meaning. It's just... well, I've been dealing with this for years. There are things that I've tried, there are things that I refuse to try (someday I'll probably blow a gasket and go off on a rant about the religion of one particular pseudoscience the next time it's suggested that I try it, but for now I'll just leave you to guess what it might be), there are things that just plain don't work, and I've probably heard about all of them by now. And besides, it's a very rare day that I'll let anyone fiddle with my neck when I know how easy it is to screw it up.

So, um, thanks for your help, but all the same...

Incidentally, and it's funny that this came to mind the other day because I haven't seen him for years, but outside of an actual doctor's office there's really only ever been one person I've let anywhere near my neck. He was a work colleague. The whole thing was entirely innocent -- really -- but boy, that man gave good neck massages. Really, really good hands.

Yes, it was too entirely innocent.

And no, it's not the kind of thing that usually happens at my workplace.

And shut up.

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Ok, and with that little... moment?... let me end with a complete detour. It's no secret to my two fans that I've been a Hugh Laurie fan for a very long time. It also shouldn't be surprising that he's been doing a bit of press lately, what with House ending and him about to go on an extended tour for his blues album (which I still haven't bought. Bad fan. Bad. Especially because the music's pretty decent). Put those two things together and you shouldn't be shocked that I was watching Jay Leno the other night when Hugh Laurie was on. Actually, I watched the night before as well, for Joel McHale (I guess I have a thing for tall funny people? Yeah, probably). Which brings me to this question, and I'm asking it honestly of you Leno fans out there:

Why?

Why does Leno have fans?

For two nights in a row I sat through the monologue, waiting in vain for it to be funny. And the interviews? The man simply doesn't listen. Conversations are supposed to be two-way, last time I checked, and I watched two smart, witty guests have half of their good lines missed because Leno was too busy being... I dunno, Leno? And it's not exactly the first time I've seen that happen on his show. I realise that being entertained is partly a matter of personal taste, but if I was going to watch the Tonight Show on a regular basis I'd have to invest in a supply of nerf balls because I'd seriously need something to throw at the television to release the frustration.

I guess it's a good thing that there are other late night shows, then. And never mind the fact that I usually watch them in the morning. That's another topic for another time, and I see that I've already got plenty of words down here.

And besides, I feel much the same way about Oprah (for different reasons) as I do about Leno, and the viewing world in general has already told me I'm wrong on both counts. In the end, what do I know?



I know it's time to stop tying; I suppose I will, then.

At least the flowers are pretty

This'll probably be short because I don't really feel like blogging, I definitely don't feel like typing, and I'm a bit lacking in the sleep department. Not badly, but just enough to make me a little grumpy.

As I said above, at least the flowers are pretty... or will be, when they're fully opened. It's Early Blue Violets (Viola adunca), one of the first wildflowers to open around here, and one of my personal signs that allows me to believe that spring is really here and not just faking us out.

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On this Earth Day, I really have just one thing to say: we can't destroy this planet. As in, it's physically impossible to destroy the planet without taking unbelievably massive measures to do it. This planet will be here long after humanity isn't. Anyone who tells you that we can destroy the planet is wrong.

We can't destroy this planet.

We can, however, make it unlivable for our species. Ours, and many others besides.

Anyone else feel that maybe we should be thinking twice before we do that?

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In other news, I fulfilled my civic duty yesterday by going to the advance poll to vote in our provincial election. Here's hoping that everyone else does the same. And here's hoping that they put more than the usual Alberta-style thought into their choices when they make them.

I voted. For an MLA, that is. I didn't vote in the Senate election. I don't know any of those people or what they stand for, so I declined the ballot. Besides which, as important as it is to make your voice heard in a democratic system, it's completely pointless to vote for a... what do they call them here? senator-elect, or something stupid like that?... when the Senate in Canada is still an appointed body and all we in Alberta are doing is saying that this is who we think you should appoint. It's a complete exercise in pointlessness, and I suppose that means that it should have been explored more thoroughly on this blog.

It wasn't. I hate politics, especially the pointless kind.

Oh, and for anyone not in Canada who's wondering what I'm on about, the quick version: the Senate is the federal equivalent of the British House of Lords (there's no such thing as a provincial senate), and its members are appointed. My province likes to waste money by electing potential nominees which are almost always ignored by the federal government. Pointless politics at its most pointless.

And you're welcome to google for any further information if you're actually interested in any of this stuff. You'll not get more from me. This is about as much political talk as I'm willing to bother typing, what with the stupid wrist brace continually hitting the ALT key and all.

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Speaking of which, I think I've about lost my patience on the typing front. The wrist is achy and doesn't like to have any weight put on it, but I'm pretty sure that my hand isn't going to fall off so it's all good.

Type at you later.

At some point after tomorrow's political Festival Of Pointlessness, maybe.

The new neighbours

When I was getting ready for work yesterday I noticed some unusual activity in one of the trees next to the apartment building, so I had a closer look.

Then I grabbed my camera and headed out onto the balcony.

What you're seeing there, folks, is the start of a new and completely against building code unzoned house. Apparently someone's moving in.

Crows, in fact.

You can barely see the tail of the one in the photo (you'll have to click on it to see it at all, really) as it weaves a stick into the scaffolding (as is were). I'm pretty sure that there was nothing there at all yesterday, so these are definitely new new neighbours. I watched them for a little while before I went to the nature centre.They were keeping up a pretty steady conversation with each other as one would work on building and the other would be on the ground looking for more materials. I couldn't get a close enough look to see if they switched places when the searcher flew up to the nest with its latest find. Maybe one's the master builder and the other's just a gofer? I don't know. I'll have to do a bit of research, I guess.

I have a feeling that when my human neighbours find out that they're hosting squatters, the authorities (that is, Animal Control/Bylaw Enforcement) will be called and this pair will be "encouraged" to move on, but I sure hope not. In the first place, crows are fascinating and intelligent animals, and the nerd naturalist here would love a chance to spy on their home life. Um, just as an aside, years ago we had a magpie pair set up in a neighbouring tree that's since been removed. It was fantastic. No, really. It was.

I suppose that before I get too distracted I should mention the in the second place, right? The second place is a pretty big one, actually. Having a crow's nest right there is very likely to keep the BLOODY pigeons away from our balconies. And yes, I can easily tolerate the sound of complaining crows over the sound of cooing (and crapping) pigeons first thing in the morning as they try to nest under my barbecue yet again. I'd like to be able to unbarricade the barbecue and actually use it this year, in fact.

Seriously.

Please, crows, don't let anyone talk you out of staying, ok? I want my summer to be entertaining and my balcony to be flying rat free...





That'll be it for today from Yours Typingly Challenged, I'm afraid. The wrist? Well, obviously sprained. Not badly, but it looks like this is going to be annoying for a while, unfortunately.

Ah well.

You can't hiiide yer cryin' eye

Theme of the week, but this needs to be short because I have things that need to be done before this afternoon's program. Oh, and the photo? Taken April 6th. This tulip has either budded or been eaten by now. I'm betting on eaten.

Aaanyway. Today's weird title is a veiled complaint that I'm going to unveil for you now. I have a weepy eye. My left one, in fact. It's been that way for months, and I've no idea why. Screwed-up tear duct, maybe, or maybe half of my face is severely depressed. Either way, there are days (not always, thank Whomever) that I'm a virtual tap, and it's annoying.

Today's one of those days.

One thing those of you who've never had a (and the singular's important here) runny eye might not know is that when you have just one eye running you also end up with just one nostril dripping.

TMI? Don't care, really.

Gotta go now, anyway.





Bet you're glad you stopped by today, aren't you.

I feel like the Before part of the ad...

But first... this is a cat who wants ooooout. I have several photos like this because I seem to take at least one a year, but it kind of makes me laugh that this time I caught him mid-howl.

Aaanyway. This isn't going to be much of a post, because I just don't have the head for it. Being out in yesterday's wind set off the spring allergies in a big way, and the fact that it was windy here (and still is breezy) as well as where we were on our field trip (and how was that, Dee? Oh, fine. Some ups, some downs. Some good ideas... well, you get where I'm going. I'm always struck, though, when I visit other facilities, with just how much we manage to do here with comparatively few resources) has stirred up a lot of fun for my eyes and sinuses.

Those antihistamine ads that have people happily riding bikes and picking flowers in the middle of spring (or fall, or whenever) allergy season? Yeah, whatever. I use one of the ones that's heavily advertised right now (it's one of the few that don't make me sick. I have serious issues with most antihistamines, unfortunately), and while it certainly helps I'm definitely not feeling all sweethearts and roses.

Whatever that means. I don't really know, and I'm the one who typed it.

Ah well. Expect a lot of similar whining in the next month or so, because the allergies of the moment are mostly just from what's been put in the air by the wind. When we get to what'll be put in the air by the poplar trees in a week or so...

sigh

Ah well

I would have taken a photo of the view out the office window this morning, but someone else who's not here today has the camera locked in her desk (very helpful, I'm sure you'd agree) so I couldn't.

Well, I suppose I could have taken a crappy cameraphone picture, but it really wouldn't have been worth it.

So? So you're stuck with another photo from last spring because I'd really rather look at leaves than white.

There was... oh, about ten centimetres or so of the latter to clean off the car this morning. Wet, heavy, and snowy. Snow tends to be snowy, you know.

And yes, I know that it'll melt, and probably rapidly. It's just a bit disheartening this time of year. At least we didn't get the wind that some places were supposed to get. And at least we're not getting the total crud that parts of the UK are getting. My total sympathy there, folks.

In other news, I have none. It was the kind of morning that doesn't really give me time to think of the blog, so I didn't.

I am making two posts in a row, though. Points for that?

I should hope so.



Going now.

The single cat

Before I get to today's topic (ack! An actual topic?), let me present this almost-not-pointless shot hot off the camera. It's Huff the Car starring in What It Looks Like Outside Right Now.

And anyone who's read this blog more than a handful of times knows that what it looks like outside right now doesn't especially make me happy.

The snow's falling (you'll have to click on the picture to see the snow), the wind's supposed to be hitting gusts of 50 km/h later, and they still say that we're in for 10 - 20 cm in all. And me? I'm planning to stay indoors for the most part, unless I get absolutely convinced somehow that the world needs more pointless outdoor photography.

It'll take a fair amount of convincing.

Although...

I should probably at least take another shot of the car later on in the day to keep you up to date on the accumulation, shouldn't I? Call it the Car-O-Meter of snowfall, I guess.

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So, back to the cat. I'm sure one or two of my two fans might have been wondering how Max the Cat is getting along since Penny died. I wouldn't blame you for wondering. We got them within a couple of weeks of each other, they grew up together, and (what with the dog and Penny both gone now) it's the first time in his life he's been an only pet.

We're not counting the fish here, of course. Fish count as decor in my book, not pets.

And how's he doing, then?

Surprisingly all right. He was always a people cat, and now he's... well... let's say constantly a people cat. When he's not wrapping himself up in the bedsheets like he is in the photo he's generally with my father. Or with me when I'm here, but Dad's always been his first choice and that hasn't changed.

Max is a big suck, is what I'm saying.

He probably misses cuddling up to Penny on the bed (she was never given a choice as to whether she was cuddling up to him. He's a bit insistent), but he's not showing much sign of pining.

What he is showing signs of (as you'll notice in the picture, now that I'm mentioning it) is grease.

Apparently there was a lot more mutual grooming between the two cats than I was aware of, because Max is well on his way to becoming the oiliest cat you've ever seen. He's healthy-looking for an old cat otherwise; just greasy is all. I think I might try a dry shampoo at some point this weekend. I've been looking up home recipes, and it sounds pretty simple as long as the cat will put up with it. Who knew you could wash a cat with warmed bran or corn starch?

Do you suppose you could wash a person with warmed bran or corn starch?



Erm, just wondering on the last one. I'm not planning on giving up bathing any time soon. Still, it could be handy for the hair in a pinch if it works, right? And cheaper than the store-bought stuff, for sure.

Aaanyway. Like I was saying, the cat's fine. And old. And it'll be pretty sad when it's his time to go, but hopefully we'll have him around for a while yet.

And hopefully we'll be able to degreasify him as well at some point.

Pointless photo of the day:

To be honest, I've been busy enough working at work (I know. Shocking.) that I haven't really had time to think of a post. So here's a bird garbage pile. You're welcome.

I need to get out and take some more photos, really, but it sounds like this weekend will only be good for polar-bear-in-a-blizzard type shots. We're expecting a storm, boys and girls, and I have to say that it makes me a little sad. This has been a reasonably mild winter overall, true, but it's the end of February and that means we've hit the time of the year when even the people who like snow are wondering if we really need a new 10 - 15 cm.

Or maybe I'd just like to think that. Personally, I know we don't need another 10 - 15 cm.

I'd say it puts me in a bit of a funk (and no doubt by tomorrow it will have), but at the moment I'm working on my first real night's sleep in a while so I'm in no hurry for my mood to be funkified. Erm, so to speak.

It says a sad thing about my life, though, that when I woke up this morning I was thrilled to have slept in. All the way to 5 am... sigh. I miss the days of being a night owl. I know I've said this before, but it used to be that in the times when I wasn't working -- and my job used to be seasonal, so there were lots of times when I wasn't working -- I'd stay up until 2 am and sleep until about 10 am. It was fantastic. I used to do silly things like watch infomercials while I was baking. At midnight. No, I'm serious. We had no all-night grocery stores at the time, but if we had I would have loved visiting them even if it was just for the people watching.

I used to drive out in the country in the middle of the night to watch meteor showers. If I did that now I'd have to plan on getting nothing done for a day or two after, because my stupid brain's decided that it likes 4 am. It wouldn't matter if I went to bed at 3; my brain likes 4 so we (me 'n alllllllll the voices) would be up at 4.

It sucks.

Ah well. It seems to be what I'm stuck with at the moment. Obviously things can change since they changed for me, but I'm not counting on it happening any time soon. 4 am it is, or 5 on a good day. And lots of complaining about it...

You're welcome.




Well hey, if it wasn't for complaining this blog would be about less than nothing. Right?

I'm just going to post random links from our twitter feeds today, ok?

Picture says: I'm too full of winter.

Head says: I'm too full of snot to think.

Title of post says: pretty much everything. I don't want to think of a post, so let me show you what other people are posting. This'll be a combination of feeds we follow with the work account and feeds I follow personally. Just so you know. Here we go:

Via @Earth_News: The Telegraph's animal pictures of the week. I generally have a look (oddly enough, weekly). Sometimes a bit too heavy on the cute for my tastes, but there's often a few really great shots in there.

Via @artrubicon: An artist's self-portraits of his decline from Alzheimer's disease. Just wow on this one.

Via @stephenfry: Well, first, you'd have to guess that I'd be among his what? five billion followers, now? Remembering the Hedge Sketch. This is seriously one of my favourite sketches. And I know I've posted it before, but watch it again anyway.

Via @BigMorningBuzz: Or via damned near anyone, seeing as it's the very definition of viral right now... OK Go does weird percussive things with a car. And abuses a fair number of pianos in the process.

And finally, one from me:

Not a link, no. And an old photo that I'm sure I've posted before.

There won't be any more now, though.

Bye, Lumpy.