Monkeys Live In My Brain

Road Weary or Just Pain Tired

2010-06-29T20:50:00.003-04:00

A warning for those of you who like to get every last mile out of your tires. This mile may be your last. Our poor van barely made it to the side of the road when our tire went.
When the tire did decide to throw away it's last breath, it made sure we knew it had had enough. This is all that was left, a sad reminder of something that used to be round.
Once our tire was literally 'rubbed out' we were stuck on the left shoulder of the rainy HWY401, with no way to A: make enough room to replace with the donut, and B: get the donut out from under the van even if we were able to swap it. Tow truck anyone? How about a side of flashing OPP cruiser with that? As if our van doesn't attract enough attention as is...

Hey! That reminds me. When you see any kind of emergency vehicle on the side of any multi-lane highway, you HAVE to (by law) switch lanes, leaving a full empty lane between you and the emergency vehicle. Police, fire, ambulance, even tow truck. Basically anything with flashing lights. If you really want to know why, stand on the side of the road with cars and trucks going by at 100-150kph less than 3 feet from you.

(addendum: Please don't stand by the side of the road with cars and trucks going by at 100-150kph less than 3 feet from you. Just take my word for it, move over.)

At least someone benefited from all of this. (someone other than the tow truck driver and the Canadian Tire store that got a big unexpected tire sale) Yes, it was the OPP officer who got to shuttle the kids to the garage. She was able to learn, in under 10 mins, every single detail about every single thing you ever wanted to know about Lego Space Police. That's got to be better than trampling national anthem singing hoodlums downtown.

I guess she wasn't too put out, because she took the time to snap a few shots of the kids posing in the car as we waited to get unhooked from the tow truck.

Leah would now almost consider a career in law enforcement, except they won't let you keep your stuffed toys in the trunk.Quinn swears he wasn't giving gang signs here. He was simply "pointing a fake gun" at the officer taking the picture. Let's hope this is the last time he sees the inside of this kind of vehicle.

In conclusion, check your tires and watch for emergency vehicles on the side of the road. Otherwise you might end up missing more than your itty bitty baby cousin's wedding. (although the reception was smashing!)

January Wish List

2009-01-22T12:16:00.002-05:00

Well here we are, January. I've been a bit neglectful of this blog, but with relatively good reason. I believe actually living life should generally take precedence over writing or musing about it. Having said that, it seems my version of living life is working 24/7.

Truthfully though, the past few weeks have been slower work-wise. Christmas was nuts as usual, and now I am recovering from a minor elective surgery. Nothing serious, but tends to take the wind out of your sails for a week or two. I am now firmly on the road to recovery, and looking down it I once again see the looming mountain of work waiting for me. Perhaps now is a good time to pause, and think about what is needing to be done in the next few months.

There are several things I'd like to accomplish this year aside from my current day (and night) job. In no particular order they are as follows:

1) I'd like to start a second blog.
"HA!" you say. "Because there is so much material bursting out of your head you need to spread it out between 2 blogs?! Ha! again!"
Actually I'd like to start an illustration blog, with my own pictures and drawings. I just feel it would be best to keep that in a separate section of the virtual world, as I think it would have a very different theme and feel from this blog. Of course, it means I have to have content to post, and since the majority of my work is not for public viewing, this presents a hurdle.

2) I'd like to post more often on this blog. C'mon, at least once a month for pity's sake.

3) I HAVE to redo the Goat website. It was created before the gallery itself, and since the whole project was and is an ever evolving process, the current website has little to do with the actual 'Goat-tique' This has to be a priority this winter.

4) I really should be adding to the collection of sculptures I have made so far. They were'nt quite as big a hit as they were the first year, and I believe the line needs some freshening up with some new life put into it.

5) I'd like to make it to EVERY comic jam this year. So far I get to about one in three or so. Not only is it a fun night out, but there are great people there to connect with socially and industry wise.

6) Oh let's see what else. There are about a billion things that need doing all around the house. Electrical upgrades, kitchen and bathroom renos, insulation, windows, doors, exterior steps, tree cutting downs and ups, barn upgrade projects... The list is endless, and so is the price tag.

Well that's the major stuff anyways. There's more but maybe on a more personal level. If I manage most of the stuff on the list it'll be a stellar year, but we'll see what happens. Of course it's already the waning half of January, and once I manage to get this couch off my butt I've got some real stuff to do, but it's still early enough to have hope.

Here's a wintery shot of the barn for you, while you wait for me to return.

Happy Birthday Leah!

2008-12-05T21:01:00.003-05:00

Leah turns 11 tomorrow. Cats! 11 already. I figure I've got about 2 years max to get my FAC and have time to do some practice before all Hades breaks loose around here. Yikers!

Weeping Willows

2008-07-13T11:54:00.003-04:00

Well the 100 year old willows at the back of the property are finally showing their age by falling over. They technically aren't weeping willows, but we sure are sad to see them go. There is a constant flow of life on and around them, and they provide us with lots of shade and block the winds that come down the river. This one fell a week ago while I was in Ottawa visiting friends.

It's up off the ground high enough that I can drive the lawn tractor under it. I guess I'll wait till winter when I can walk out on the ice to cut it up. It is actually still alive, and has shown no signs of dying off. It was leaning way over before, and has really just changed its pitch as opposed to falling over. There is probably about a 10 degree difference in its angle now. There is no splitting visible at its base. Maybe it's just resting?

This one fell Friday night. We were just saying goodnight to some friends who were over, when we heard what we thought was one of Quinn's lego boxes falling over. We grabbed a flashlight and went out to discover it lying in the river. This one was overdue to fall, it has been sporting a large crack that has been getting larger for the past few months. Now that it is down you can see that the core is really punky. It's actually a miracle that it stayed up as long as it did.

Everyone was excited to go and check it out the next day, including the cats who crawled all over it. Maybe they were just looking for birds.

Others also came to see it. This heron stood on it for quite some time.

Out of the 9 trees we had back there, 7 are left. From those at least 3 maybe 4 more need to be cut down soon before they fall. Only one of those is posing any danger to us, leaning sort of the wrong way. The rest are likely to fall away from the house (and propane tank) Still, cleaning them out of the river is not an easy task. Looks like I'll need a new chain for the chainsaw in my stocking this year. And the kids will need a new spot to hang their tire swing.

Beer Can Chicken

2008-07-05T18:10:00.006-04:00

I love this way of cooking chicken. For me, I tend to over cook things on the bbq, so chicken in particular gets kind of dry. By shoving a beer can (or pop) up it's nethers, it allows me to leave it on the q for extra time, and keeps it very moist. Of course I burned the veggies cause I waited too long, but so be it.

Here he is after just a few minutes.

I've used a can of Kilkenny, but I have used others such as coke in the past. I put him on a tin pie plate, cause the first time I did it I didn't use anything, and the result was a pretty black chicken. We don't generally eat the skin, so it didn't really matter, but the pie plate also allows you to baste. The result is a beautifully colored chicken, like this.

He needs just a few more minutes here. I use a digital thermometer to make sure he is cooked through. Really I worry more about the kids than myself. I've never had any problems, but I assume it's because I'm careful. And probably lucky.

I also refuse to buy a beer can chicken holder. You see these things around pretty much anywhere. I really believe it's a gimmick designed to take your money. Think about it, chickens can stand very well from the moment they are hatched. How is this different? Well, OK, it's not really standing on it's own, but I think you'll find the little pecker will stand up remarkably well. Between the can and the legs and its butt, it's pretty stable. The tough part is getting it on and off the grill. I just used an oven mitt and a pair of tongs, and had some help with the sliding door.

This bird was basted with an olive oil/basil/Italian salad dressing mix, and I stuck a few cloves of garlic down his gullet as well. The garlic flavors the bird of course, but it also helps to trap in some of that steam, which is the main idea of this method after all.

Try it, I'm telling you it makes a damn fine bird!

Happy Birthday Little Buddy!

2008-05-28T09:54:00.004-04:00

Quinn is 8 years old today! Add his sister in and it's been over a decade since I've had a decent night's sleep. Quinn is a fabulous kid though, and despite the occasional trouble he gets into, we love him tons and couldn't be happier. Tonight we will celebrate by going to the local Comic Jam held at a restaurant/pub in town. For Quinn it's less about the drawing and more about eating out. He insists that they will be able to make him a cupcake. It is after all, his special day.

Now that I've broken my many months long silence, I promise to continue adding to this blog. It's been a busy winter/spring, and it promises to be an even busier summer!

Dining on the Dindon

2007-12-24T15:12:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know, I know, I'm a bad blogger. It's just that I've been really really busy! Honest! There are tons of things I should be doing, (You DON'T want to see the list, trust me) but instead I spend most evenings sleeping on the couch. You see I've been working of late. Strangely the job started about the same time I stopped adding to this blog...hmmmmm... Yes, my close to a year long retirement has come to an end, and I am back to the mines, although this time I am mining other things altogether. I've been working with a barn reconstruction crew, quite a bit different than the old TV animation work. I'm outside every day in pretty much all kinds of weather, and actually enjoying it quite a bit. It's good hard honest work, and I can come home and tell my kids (somewhat piously) that TV is bad for them and they are best to avoid it. That always seemed a bit hypocritical given my last gig where I was responsible for creating it...

Anyhoo here we are, I've managed to find a bit of time and actually have something to write about. Lesley's mom is here preparing 'Butch' the turkey . (You may need to know who Stuart Mclean is to get that reference. Honestly, this turkey has less skin than a pot bellied stove and is actually missing an arm. Wing - whatever.) While she was stitching it up and warming the stove, Belle was by the back door barking. Now that the leaves are gone from the trees you can see into the fields behind our house, and she often barks at the horses there, and she had just come in minutes before from chasing squirrels away from the feeder. However, as Rose looked up she saw this:A group of wild turkeys wobbling along the opposite bank of the river. The dog was going nuts, the kids started shouting for slingshots and bb guns, (blood thirsty little imps) but I smartly grabbed the camera instead. Watching these blokes wandering so close to our house was kind of funny for me, as I have been reading a very old copy of Robin Hood stories, and just finished the section where Little John and the rest of the gang rescue Will Stutely from hanging. Now I'm sure that the Sheriff had no plans of eating poor Will, and I doubt the feral turkeys would have even recognized the pale, goose-bumpy, one armed, headless, naked, stuffed with breadcrumbs and held together with skewers cousin of theirs in my kitchen sink, but still, it struck me as odd, and while everyone looked intensely out the windows, I quietly latched the door. No one was going stop Butch from reaching my plate. Not my own stuffed to the gills stomach, not it's 'Utility Grade' classification, not a knife fight, and certainly not a roving pack of wild turkeys.

Have a great holiday!

The Return of Swamp Dog!

2007-09-21T19:34:00.000-04:00

Well, haven't had much to write about lately. No, wait, strike that. There's been so much going on that I haven't had time to write anything lately. Really, it's been nuts around here. The kids are back in school, Les is still working out of the house three days a week plus her Regent Theatre commitments keep her hopping. I'm now working 5 days with a local barn renovation crew. (The locals probably know which locals I'm talking about) The gallery is still open weekends and the occasional weekday. Plus life in general and all it's bits and pieces and comings and goings and goings on. Sheesh.

Well I've managed to get a few days off from my 'day job' to spend at home and work on my 'main job'. It was quiet today, and Les decided to open the gallery to pick up some early birds scratching around for this weekends Studio Tour. We were down there talking to some friends as a few people perused the bits in the barn. An older gentleman was petting Belle (who loves the attention she gets from people down there) We had a nice chat with the parents of a new friend of Leah's when I looked over to the dog, and my jaw dropped. There was enough fur around her and the poor gent for 5-6 dogs. He was shaking his hands in the air trying to get the fluffy stuff off, effectively making what appeared to be an ethereal, ghost like Belle twisting and floating in the gentle late summer breeze. He kind of forced a smile and suggested that the dog might be in need of a good brushing. I said something like 'yeah, she might at that...he-heh...' Then he waded his way out of the fur and off to the Cheese Factory. Les commented later that the left over fur on the ground looked like Baxter our cat had his way with the better part of the population of small critters in the County. Another good reason for me to brake out the rakes for this seasons yard cleaning marathon.

So, later in the day while enjoying a nice drink on the deck, I decided I should take a few moments and give Belle a thorough brushing. After pulling out what seemed like endless melon sized balls of fur I called it quits for a while, vowing to get back to it at lest once more this weekend. Les and I had dinner on the deck, with Belle, stimulated by the brushing snarfled after who knows what around the yard. As Les and I talked we'd occasionally check with each other if dog was in sight. I had taken her collar off to brush her, and she doesn't seem to understand the boundaries of our property. In less vigilant times we've spotted her wandering around on the other side of the road, or wading in the black ooze they've lovingly named 'Black Crik'. Well sure enough as the minutes ticked by we lost site of her for just a bit too long, and it occurred to me that if she had wandered into the river, it may be tough for her to get out. The river is about two feet lower than normal. and the shoreline is some serious muck. We raced down and sure enough, there she was, up to her shoulders in black, tarry, STINKY, bog-like mud.

She was labouring hard without getting very far, so I ran back to the house to get my boots and help her out. I grabbed a stick that would connect Les and I, just for some leverage really, I wasn't going into the water, just some shallow mud. I reached down and grabbed her, and got her out without too much trouble or yelping. We then played duck and cover as she continually tried to shake it off. while she walked back up the house, she made this gurgling kind of bubbling popping sound. That'll give you an idea of how much muck was stuck to her....

Les had the smarts to suggest taking her across the road to the public boat launch to wash her off rather than using up our precious well water. It took some coaxing to get her into that water, she did not want to go back in there. But this area is relatively clear and gravelly, so once she was in, she realized that she was safe, and after scrubbing her down a bit she swam around in circles till we eventually coaxed her out again. I've now manages to rinse her with the hose, and tonight she'll begrudgingly sleep in my studio, so as not to stink up the house, or breath more life into that hideous upstairs carpet.

Too bad I didn't have the camera handy to show you her 'black and tan' look, but here's one of her looking pretty miserable after her 'bath'.

A Fine Post For A Sign Post

2007-07-13T21:37:00.000-04:00

Well here's an unassuming brick post. A fine, upstanding, hard working, straight arrow citizen in the world of gate posts. Was it always this way? Standing erect and at attention as costumers strolled past? Would it surprise to you to learn that this very post had been sagging in the recent past? Mired in a lazy slump, and leaning heavily with the weight of the world on it? In fact, this post that you see before you was all of these things and more. (shame!) It actually looked more like this:
Yes it's true. Asleep at the switch and dreaming of days gone past where it had stood tall and proud. Waiting for the day when it could be returned to it's former glory. Waiting to stand in line proudly with his brothers. Well that day finally arrived.

Actually it was more like a month. I started digging a while back with the intention of straightening the post, but one thing lead to another (Long list of things from the doctor that you are just better off not knowing. Not because it's icky, but just because it's as I said, long...) and I was delayed in finishing the task. We were subsequently forced to strategically place 'garden art' around it to stop unsuspecting customers from falling victim to the half dug hole.

Well, with our short camping trip coming up meaning it would have to lean another whole week, plus me being firmly on the road to 'not-as-bad-as-a-couple-of-weeks-ago', I hunkered down and got to it. I picked the most hot and humid day around, but hey, who's complaining?

Here is the reason the post started to lean in the first place. A near by tree had been putting the screws to it for years. I had to drag the axe out of it's summer vacation to deal with it. Just to the left of my boot you'll notice a notch where the the root had been pushing against the post. Yeesh. Some peoples' trees.
And here's a wheel barrel full of reasons why my elbows are still hurting today. The tree is actually not that close to the pillar, but it's roots had spread wide...

So there you have it. The classic tale of a fallen soul with the unlikely twist of a happy ending. Now that it's standing straight once more, we've got plans to erect a ranch like sign bridging the gap between the two posts to beckon people forth-with. Actually more like 'ice cream-with', but we'll take 'em like we can get 'em.

A Snappy Comeback

2007-06-12T13:11:00.000-04:00

I know, I know, I've been a bad blogger. It's been over two weeks since my last post, so here you go, a nice big fat one with lots of action!

The most exciting thing around here lately has been the invasion of the snapping turtles. Apparently this happens every year here, they are coming up on the lawn to bury eggs hither and yon. They spend hours digging up the not so grassy areas of the lawn, trying to secure a safe hatching place for their spawn. This big mamma was the first, and I spent quite a bit of time filming her from the safety of the living room. Lesley and Leah carefully made their way up to it for a closer look. I love that the beast still had the mossy duckweedy green stuff all over it from the river (which is quite some distance away.) She stayed out digging holes till well after dark. We had a very nice rainbow that same evening. It came after the supposed thunderstorm that never was.

Leah and I had gone fishing earlier that afternoon as well. I take the kids out now and then and we take turns casting the line out trying not to hook ourselves in the process. Quinn especially has a wicked cast, and the hook often comes right back at you.

We don't expect to catch anything as I've been using a cheap little rubber fake worm thing that has got to be extremely unappealing even to a clammy old fish. I guess I should say that I don't expect to catch anything. The point of the exercise for me is to get out in the canoe and have a bit of down time. The kids of course, often don't see things the same way as me however, so doesn't Leah catch the biggest damn fish after only about 10 casts. Now you have to understand, I don't want to catch fish, I won't use worms partly because it's gross, but also because what the hell am I going to do if we catch something? I can count the amount of fish I've caught on about one finger, so I really don't have any experience in catching and more importantly releasing fish.

It turned out OK though, Leah had the fish reeled right up in no time, and I scooped it out, deftly removed the hook, and held it in the water a second or two before it jerked away and was off safely. I wish I had brought the camera along to show you how big it was, but with Leah's apparent luck, we'll be able to catch another similar one sometime soon.

So now back to the original story about the current amphibian landing, or as I like to call it, T-day.

This morning as I was preparing to bring up about 30 billion buckets of water from the river for the veggie garden I noticed the cat stalking the compost pile. I've pulled the cat out of the garden several times while he was trying to separate some small creatures head from it's body. Usually a mole or chipmunk, or maybe a small rabbit. I stopped to watch Baxter (the cat) sniff and paw at a small opening of the heap, and noticed what I assumed was a mole retreating back into the pile of dirt and grass. Then about a third of the pile shifted. The cat and I both jumped, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. This was either a very big mole, or else an entire family of them. I scooped up the cat and took him into the house, grabbed a pitchfork and started to uncover the mystery guest. Sure enough, a giant snapping turtle was in there.

I carefully excavated around her while the kids took turn snapping photos. (no pun intended)Then I slowly slipped the shovel underneath her. She was not happy.
I then quickly but carefully carried her out of the garden.And placed her safely on the other side of the fence.
A fence by the way, that was supposed to keep out rabbits, but can't seem to keep out this brute. I may need to re-evaluate my anti-pest methods.

Anyway, all's well that ends well. The snapper promptly headed for home after we all left her alone.

(not even so much as a thank you I might add) I did find quite a few spots in the garden where fresh earth had been turned over, so now we just need to wait a few weeks till all the babies are hatched and they take over the garden. *sigh* From what I've heard this turtle phase will only last a couple of weeks, then we won't see them again till next year. In the meantime the kids have been warned to stay away from the waters edge. Too bad the cat won't heed the same warning

One last photo which I thought was appropriate given the dinosaur like invaders of late. Here is a shot of what could be the sun setting on a primordial swamp. No wait, it's just my backyard.

New Residents

2007-05-22T12:44:00.001-04:00

Quinn and I made a birdhouse out of some left over barn board a little while back, and we put it with a birdhouse that Leah had painted a couple of years ago. I set them up more as a visual thing than to have actual birds in them, figuring that at some point I'd have to put them in a place where they could stay. The birds had other ideas...

Bert: "Hey Charlie come and have a look at this!"

Charlie: "Hey, this is nice Bert, I love the rustic appeal."
Bert: "Yeah, I've got dibs on the red one!"

Charlie: (all echoy) "Hey it's really spacious inside!"
Bert: "Mine's got a loft!"

Charlie: "Could have a bigger front door though, oh well. I could stand to lose a few grams anyway. Sold!"

Ed Lawerence is My New Hero

2007-05-14T12:48:00.000-04:00

We've been spending a lot of time outdoors these days, getting ready for a busy summer of gardening, gallery running, and (hopefully for us adults) playing. The swing set went up about a week ago. Thanks to Steve (Quinn's future father-in-law)who happened by for helping us get it together. Here Leah is running up so as not to miss the photo-op.

By the way, I love photos that show the photographer in the photo. Not professional by any means, and I try not to include myself, but I do get a kick out of them.

We are also getting the gardens ready. This is a new little garden outside the store. It's kind of a garbage garden, as it features a big iron (wheel?) thingie we found, and also a wheel rim that we dug up from beside the barn. I figure it's easier to add that stuff to the garden rather than trucking it off to the dump. I put a little iron pot on the rim to get a bit of height. Now we just need some plants to go in it...I rototillified the veggie garden. It's big. It took a lot of rototillerfying. Did I mention how big it was? Let me tell you, big. So far we've collected some rhubarb with which Rose made an excellent crumble for Mother's day dessert. Even Quinn said it was "Kind not bad/kinda good." Here's another view where you can see the big rhubarb patch. Hard to see, but off to the right is a row of new tomatoes. We also plan to grow carrots, potatoes, lots of lettuce, and a few other eatables.Hey you! Stop running through my dirt! (we'll get some veggies in there soon...)

PS: I'm in that one too...

Speaking of intruders in the garden, a very short time after I shut off the rototiller and made my way indoors dreaming of giant salads grown a few feet from my door, Quinn looks out the window and spots this!
I mean for the love of Pete, I haven't even got the seeds in the ground and this little bugger is rummaging around. Luckily he was on the other side of the house, nosing in the neighbors garden, but I suspect he'll wander over with his buddies soon enough. Which brings me to this photo: Someone broke the cat! After a hard day of terrorizing the neighborhood fauna, (Our little mouse/bird/frog graveyard is filling up fast) the cat takes a power nap on the couch. He looks about the same way I feel after all the yard work. By the way, there really is no way to rotate this photo to make it look normal.

Bye Bye Birdy

2007-05-07T21:22:00.000-04:00

So I'm working at the computer today, and I keep hearing noises coming from the furnace room, right behind me. I know it's a mouse, and he's crawled up and through the not so small holes in the pest grate covering the funace exhaust outside, and now he's making a nice comfy nest for him and probably some little hotty to make a litter in. I get up and investigate, bang on the pipe and try to scare him out. Then I run outside and poke long bendy sticks up there. Nothing happens, so I go back to the computer. More noises. Bang on the pipe. Run outside. Poke with sticks. Nothing. Go back to work. You get the idea. The dog now thinks I'm nuts, and I can no longer concentrate on work. Time for a better look.

Upon close inspection, I realize the noise isn't even coming from that pipe, but from the tin plate covering the chimney hole where the old furnace used to vent. If you saw the little furnace room, you'd understand, as this tin plate is right behind the pipe, and you wouldn't know where a noise was coming from till you crawled up behind the initial pipe. Made more sense that it was coming from the tin plate, as it sounded like a lot of fluttery ruffly noises rather than some scuffling little mouse. Unless he and the missus were already getting it on...

So now I have to get a screw driver and pry off the plate to look inside the hole. Sure enough, as soon as I get it off and pull it back a little, I see the back of a bird in there. Crap. Now what. I get a pair of big gloves, and a small fishing net, and wiggle up in behind the pipe. I take off the plate, and put the net over the hole, and try to reach in and grab the starling without killing it, or giving it a heart attack. After a few fluttery misses he decides he's going to play dead. He squashes himself right down tight against... wait for it, all the other dead birds at the bottom of the hole. That explains the smell coming from there when I took the plate off. Now I have to dig my fingers down between him and his dead comrades and coax him out. Eventually after my making noises somewhere between a stuck pig and a giddy school girl I managed to force him out, and carry him half in the net half in my glove to the open door. (I had the presence of mind to leave the screen door open so I wouldn't have to struggle with it) I shuffle him outside flip him out of the net and let him fly off, while I jellyfish on the front lawn. That was the easy part. Now I have to go back, reach in there, and pull out dead birds that have been in there for who knows how long. That is, and was very gross. Now I'm really squealing. The dog is cowering in the corner wondering what it could possibly have done to deserve such a noise. (It's not always about you, you know.) After bagging a couple of dead ones, I decide to call it quits, stuff the cover back on, and go outside for air.

After some time working in the fresh air, the kids come home. Then Les comes home, and we have to go pick up her bike, which has two new tires on it. That's all fine. When we get back, she decides to go out a little longer, and I go in to start dinner. The kids amuse themselves by taking turns crawling in a big blue rainbarrel and rolling each other down the hill. (I stopped myself from yelling out at them, they're going to have to learn for themselves sometime.) I went downstairs for something and low and behold, there it was, fluttering noises from the furnace room. Sure enough, some other stupid starling has found his way down the chimney, and can't get out. It's a foolproof starling trap.

I'm still grossed out from the last event, and I just can't get that smell out of my nose. Eventually Les comes home, and takes over dinner so that I can wire up the chimney opening before more fall in. Fly in. Whatever the stupid things are doing. Then I go back to the furnace room, pry off the plate, and try to get this bird out. This time, I have an audience, so there is noticebly less squalking on my end. The kids are around the corner, anticipating seeing a real live bird up close. Les is reaching in and holding the net in place so I can reach in and use two hands to handle the bird. He's leaning down tight against, Ugh, another dead bird. Guess I didn't quite clean it completely. Whap! The F#%&Er flies up into the net and whacks me in the face. I stuff a hand in there and hold him. Whew. Glad that's over. Whoosh-he's out now, flying across our downstairs. Now the kids are yelling, the bird is flapping and flying into every window in sight. The cat is there, trying to help I guess. The dog doesn't know wether to join in or run for cover. The bird is up, hits a window, down behind the little fridge, up again, across the room, into another window, and so it goes. Eventually, (with us all running behind it with our arms out like some bad cartoon) it runs into enough windows that it's stunned, and I can pick it up rather gently, and race the thing out the door with the kids in tow.
Quinn asks to pet it, but, seeing how it's just been nuzzling up to an un-countable number of dead buddies, (uncountable because I just don't want to look that hard) I say "no." And here he is a split second before take off. We only had one chance to get that timing right.I still can't get that smell out of my nose. Wait, I just took my hat off. Hmm. Maybe time to launder that particular item...

A Weekend Visit to the Galloping Goat!

2007-05-07T09:40:00.000-04:00

Well we're open! The roller coaster season now begins! Here's Leah and Quinn putting the 'open' sign on for the very first time.
Ta-da!! Let's take a little virtual tour of the gallery. Here's what it looks like when you step up to the doors. This is the first display inside the doors.
Most people wander to the left when they enter, despite what we've heard from statistics. This is good though, it works better for us. Now take a moment and look back towards the entrance.

Here's Lesley's little section in the corner.
Turn the corner to find more goodies.

When you're finished browsing bring your purchases to the lovely clerk at the sales counter.

As you step out the doors, turn around and wave goodbye to the clerk. Come again! We've got lots to see outside as well, and I realize now that I don't have a wider picture of the outside of the barn, so I'll try to get some of those picture up so you can see the whole picture.

Thanks for visiting the Galloping Goat and come again!

Gallery Setup

2007-05-01T11:50:00.000-04:00

Well with one week to go we spent last weekend setting up the gallery. Les is very excited.

Lesley's brother Chris came down to help us out. Here he is hanging wind chimes.
Greg Woods helps out with the construction of a sales counter while Angie Pajek keeps (or rather gets) the kids from (in) trouble.
Les tweaks stuff as Morghan looks for a good spot for some artwork.
Tim (that's me) takes a break with the dawg.
Here's a view of one corner of the showroom.

A look into another corner reveals some styrofoam. There is still a fair amount of polishing to do, including hanging curtains to hide some storage.
Here's a good view from the big barn doors.

A slightly different angle.

Lots of cool stuff hangs from the open doors to invite you in.
Even the local toads are excited. Hey you two, get a room already!

She Sells Seashells By The Cheese Store.

2007-04-23T10:05:00.000-04:00

Being the little entrepreneur that she is, Leah decided to set up a small roadside stand to sell some shells she found in the river. When I found out that she was paying some neighborhood kids a quarter per half hour to harvest the shells for her, I of course intervened and made her stop, telling her flat out that she was wasting her money, and would never see any kind of profit from such a foolhardy venture. Not being deterred she went on with her (now working for free) employees to set up across from the ever flowing traffic at the cheese store. Within fifteen minutes she had made back the money she had spent on set up, and was literally rolling in profit. People would come by and browse the shells (which she had divided into small, medium, large and extra large, each priced accordingly,) and give her five bucks for the pleasure of doing so. She enlisted her brother Quinn to call across the road to potential customers, which he did with so much enthusiasm that I had to once again curtail their endeavours, lest to my thinking people would be driven away by the caterwauling. They then developed such techniques as flag waving, bubble blowing and stand-up-in-the-wagon-riding-tricks, with which to draw in their clientele.

In the end, after having depleted only a small part of her stock, she and her friends from across the river spent part of their profits at the cheese store. Pop and chips and ice cream and god knows what else. Quinn retired early with a stomach ache. (Too much sugar and sun) Leah will likely spend the rest of the week (at school) dreaming up new ways to turn a profit.

Barn Reno Update

2007-04-23T09:37:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since the last post, so this may take a minute... First off, we had a new moon a little while back.

As it works it's way to full it's a great time for new beginnings. Therefore a good time to put the sign in.
Quinn and Leah help in hanging the signs. And share in the glory.

Now into the barn itself. I've insulated the walls of the main floor, and Les and I decided to use some chipboard that we had lying around for the upper portions. (Thanks Zoboomafoo!) We were going to plaster it, but didn't want to have to deal with the ongoing cracking that would result. The chipboard has a very similar look and shouldn't need any repairs. At the right side of the photo below you can see newspaper on the wall in that little triangle area. Each space where the chipboard went had to have a template made as the beams and boards around the space are all wonky and un-straight. This was a time consuming process to say the least, but the results are pretty satisfying.Here's Les doing (one of the things) she does best.As she finished off the painting, I started on the reclaimed tongue and groove for the bottom half of the walls. It goes on much quicker than the chipboard, and here is the result.

As you can see above the window, there is still some templating/chipboard to go up, but things are really progressing now, and we are really stoked about what it will look like when it's all done. Of course, the barn is going to weigh about 5x what it did before we started, but I need something to keep me up at nights don't I?

More Birds

2007-04-10T11:41:00.000-04:00

The kids and I got to watch a swan enjoying the river today. It was a beautiful site. Even the dog enjoyed it, and decided to say hello by barking at it. We also saw a muskrat swimming around, but no picture of that one. Later as I washed out my coffee cup a great blue heron flew in across the river right outside the kitchen window. I took several binocular photos of it.At one point it looked like it lost it's balance and was going to fall into the water, but it quickly recovered and came up with a huge fish. It may be tricky to see in this photo, but that was a surprisingly big fish. It flopped around hanging from the heron's mouth.Here's another view of the late breakfast. Apparently the fish wasn't too big though, it was swallowed down without much of a problem.
Needless to say it's been difficult to get any work done today...

"Mel Gibson!"

2007-04-08T14:00:00.000-04:00

Is what Mo says when she has asked for something that then suddenly appears. Only in my case it would be, "Great Blue Heron!"

Birds

2007-04-08T12:33:00.000-04:00

Shot this Pileated Woodpecker through the binoculars, so it's a little blurry. He was there with his bride, both hammering away at the big stump out back. They are both big birds, but he is huge.Also shot through the binoculars, these Mallards were coasting around our coastline.

These Geese came up on land for a little walk about. We have tons of ducks out there now. Didn't shoot them, but there were two Buffleheads chasing each other around trying to impress a female a few days ago. They were out there for hours, racing up and down, back and forth in the water. Also had a few Great Blue Heron sightings, we watched one down a ways a bit, rustling up grub at the side of the river. I'd love to get a good shot of him.

You Light Up My Life

2007-04-08T12:24:00.000-04:00

Well the wiring is in. Working at the speed of light (sorry) Gramps wired up the whole barn with track lighting and receptacles in less than two days. And it works! Maybe tough to see here, we only put in a few heads and just have the cheap bulbs in, but it's starting to look real purty.
Here's Tim trying to make heads or tails of the new track heads.
Can't really tell from this photo either, but the wind was howling through both days, blowing snow through all the cracks in the walls. Monday I'll bang up some more tin in the bad spots, and then goes the house wrap and styrofoam. Things are moving swimmingly now, thanks Gramps!

Hey, Hey It's Bathtime

2007-04-04T09:30:00.000-04:00

Well the structural work is all done. The barn is standing tall, now we just have to make it proud.

That beam that went under the barn has been shored up and trimmed.

The main beam inside has been replaced, and is firmly attached with a new bracket and the old knee brace. New footings have been made as well, using the old rocks and motaring them in place.
Looking in through the main doors shows the floor with no more droopy spots.There are however a few floor boards to be replaced. Some were rotten, some had been removed probably long ago. One floor joist actually had 2 feet cut out of it, so that was firmed up.Even Grampa Squirrel is impressed!

We also gave the slightly leaning drive shed a shove, and it's now slightly less slightly leaning.

The crew has done their work and are gone now. The barn is no longer suffering from badly wonky and bouncy floors. Now the floors are only slightly wonky and bouncy. The rest is up to me, aside from electrical which will be done by my Pop and me, then on to insulating and finishing.

Today was actually bath day, and after finally getting my hands on a gas pressure washer (long story) and suiting up I went to it. Les's dad was there to help me get things going, which was a great help. I sprayed down the entire interior of the barn, from top to bottom. In the end I was soaked through my rain suit, unable to either stand up straight or stop the shaking in my right arm, that is until the elbow pain set in, and with about 3 lbs of 100yr old crud in my hair. My hood wouldn't stay up in the 90km winds blowing through the open windows. Seemed like as soon as I had a groove on the wind picked up like crazy. I think a good wind will be good though, to help the barn dry out. The old grey and black crap colored wood is now a beautiful wood color, and the barn is about 60lbs lighter without all those chewed up nut shells. I don't have any pictures of this ordeal, as it was exhausting, and I wasn't about to pull the camera out. Next sunny day I'll take some nice pictures of the interior.

The past couple of days have been a bit of a whirlwind. I pulled a few Chevy Chases, smashing out my contractor's truck door window with the mini-excavator, (I did help to replace it, and Quinn got t make a couple of new friends in the deal) blowing all the barn fuses, getting my truck completely stuck in the mud in my own front yard, then pushing it out with the mini-x and getting splattered in mud. It's been good though, got a lot of good things done. I can't help wondering though what the next week will bring. Hopefully I'll come out of it with all my digits properly attached, (not like last year...) and a good looking barn/gallery to boot.

Barn Progression

2007-04-02T20:20:00.000-04:00

Well I took several nice photos of the work in pregress. Pictures of new beams, holes where old ones were, nicely cemented new footings, piles of muddy rocks, trenches dug all over the yard, the kids sitting on the mini-excavator. For some reason all those pictures are in the ether, disappeared off the memory stick in the camera. The only one I have is this one.

The guys are placing a 30' beam under the barn, that will catch all the floor joists. Tomorrow it will be set in position and footings will be made under it. That will be tough going for sure. Mucky and sloppy under there.

Things are going well though, and we are on schedule. Tomorrow will also be locking the new ceiling joists in place. One of the old joists that came out did so in peices. It was basically powder, which is why it had so many scabs holding it together.

Soon our little squirrel friend will have a nice (new) secure home. That is until I evict him.

I did get a chance to take the kids on a bit of a ride on the mini-ex this eve. We did doughnuts on the driveway as the tracks really rip up the grass. (I'll smooth out the gravel later...) This morning we tried to ride it, but I had trouble getting it going. Quinn pointed to the engine cover release at the back and said "I know what's wrong. You didn't put any money in it."

More tomorrow...

Reno-riffic

2007-03-31T22:42:00.000-04:00

Well the barn reno is underway. (see before images at Les's blog)
We've removed all the windows and all the styrofoam, particle board and poke-your-eye out nails from the interior.
Here we see our fearless leader pretending to do something of some importance. (Keep yer hat on dork, everything will be fine.)
And here is the foreman inspecting the work so far. A bit more work tomorrow and we'll start the real thing on Monday. We're replacing a couple of bad joists in the first floor ceiling, and fixing the foundation in a few key spots. Once the structure is solid again it'll need a good pressure washing, then on to insulation and finishing. Somewhere in there we'll have to rewire it as well. The clock is ticking! Monday we'll have a crew and heavy machinery, stand by for more news as it comes in.

Pit(s) (s)Crew(ed)

2007-03-29T10:12:00.000-04:00

Ok look, it's not like I enjoy making posts about how dense I am, but this is just too inept to not share. Yesterday one of the jobs on my list was to remove the winter tires on the old truck and put on the all seasons. No problem, I've changed plenty of tires before, mostly on the side of the road, or in much more treacherous places than in my own driveway. Now that I think about it though, it's been years since I did it, and I suppose some of the process must have escaped me, as the stupid truck fell off the jack 3 TIMES.

Here's a note about those crappy scissor jacks they give you with vehicles. The higher you get your vehicle, the easier it is to turn the crank. When your vehicle is tireless and leaning right over on the ground, and you have to start your jack from a closed position, it's quite difficult. It was all I could do to get that truck up to a point where it was level again. It was stupid hard. Trucks are really heavy. Like, really heavy.

In any case, it all started off fine. I jacked up the truck, removed the first wheel, but then, as I was positioning the new wheel, the truck slowly started to lower as the jack slipped over on it's side. It's descent was slow and leisurely, so I had lots of time to remove my hands, and wonder what was going on. I reset and repositioned the jack. Since the truck was now leaning on the unattached wheel, it wasn't too low, so I cranked it back up again. Sure enough, as I was trying again to put on the wheel, over it goes again. This time it was low. After cranking and cranking on the jack, I finally got it up level again, and decided to get some advice.

I was pretty frutrated and pissed, and not thinking too clearly, so I called my level headed father, who of course suggested I might want to put a couple of blocks around the wheels to stop the truck from rolling off the jack. Duh. He also suggested placing some blocks in a spot under the frame so that if it did go down again, it wouldn't fall down so far. He gave this advice easily, almost off hand, without making me feel any stupider than I did already. I guess when you're on the side of the road you normally don't have these options, so pile that up with the long gap since my last tire change, and my wanting to just jump in there and do the job without thinking about it first, and you've got a recipe for risking losing your hands under a truck.

After these precautions were taken, the truck actually went down a third time, but rested on the stack of blocks I had, so it wasn't hard to get it back up. It was becoming part of the routine now. I honestly don't know what I did differently the fourth time I put the jack under there, but this time it was solid. I cranked on the nuts to get them on solid, with enough force to have the teetering truck woggle back and forth a bit, but stay up. Brimming with this success I lowered the truck and went on to the other side. The second tire came off and the new one went on in very little time, with no mishaps. Kind of like the way it's supposed to in the first place.

I then decided I needed a mental break from this stupidness, and thankfully I had just finished preparing my bike before moving on to the truck, so I went for a nice relaxing ride. Cruising around is way better than working.

Under Seige / House Arrest

2007-03-22T10:38:00.000-04:00

Well spring is here, the snow is melting, the rain is falling (off and on, mostly off, but that'll change...it's clouding over as I write this) Just in time to, as Quinn's snowpants and mitts are pretty much shredded. He looks like some kind of post toddler winter zombie. Nice that they're playing outside lots, but sheesh.

We've seen several robins now, and yesterday Les and I spotted a chipmunk rummaging around in the yard. Baxter also showed up by the screen door yesterday with a mole or some big fat mouse like thing in his mouth. Les started yelling at him to drop it and leave it alone. (right...cause cats listen so well...) He spent the next while batting it around and tossing it in the air. (four feet in the air!) I let the dog out, and although you might think that the two on one tag team would finish the poor creature, the dog really just got in the way, and soon the little... whatever it was had half scrambled half fallen down the stairs of the deck and disappeared under some gaps in the concrete. The cat is on a mission now.

He got very close to an unsuspecting sparrow at the feeder yesterday. From this angle you can't tell that the cat has a 15' fall if he leaps up to try and snatch it.
Good Lord! I just had to get up and run to the furnace room to investigate scuffling noises! Sounded like something inside the plastic piping vent which runs out side. I wacked it around a bit, and nothing, went outside with the dog and inspected it. It does have a pest screen on it, but the holes are relatively large, certaily a small mouse could climb in there. I'll have to take a closer look to figure our exactly where those sounds were coming from.

Yesterday I finally got around to climbing through the attic and putting poison here and there for the mice that are up there. You can hear them scratching and doing god knows what in the evenings. The attic is not very high, and there are supports running width wise every 16 in. I can't stand up, and I can't quite crawl underneath those supports, so I have to slowly pick my way across, high stepping over each support as I go. It's a total pain in the tuckas. Anyway there is straw and grasses in a couple of spots, right down by the eaves where it's too narrow for me to get to unless I get right down on my stomach and slither. No thank you. So I used a long stick to set the blocks of poison where the mice likely are. There is also a chewed hole in the screening of the gable vent, but I'm hoping I can fix that from the outside.

In any case, now that we're poisoning mice, the cat is under house arrest. If some doped up half dead mouse leaves the attic in search of water before it dries up we don't want the cat eating it. You might think that the mice are in the house, so that cat could just as easily find one inside as out, but there is no evidence of mice inside the house below the roof line, I've found their entrance point from the outside, (the gable vent) and there is a constant and plentiful supply of food for them outside under the bird feeder, so there is no need for them to venture down the walls.

The mice are definitely interested in the poison blocks I've distributed. This morning at 5:30 a mouse woke me up by wrestling with a block above the window by the bed. He must have loved it cause he wrestled with it for what seemed like hours.

What does all this mean? I don't know, but it seems it could be a hint of things to come, that and a neighbours warning that the frogs here are so loud in the summer that you can just about forget about sleeping for a couple of months.

I love country life!

Is It Time Yet?

2007-03-17T13:30:00.000-04:00

Last week ZooMom posted a note about her misadventures with the early time change. One week later, (almost) and I still haven't 'sprung forward'. I go to bed way too late, and, seeing how the kids haven't gone to school this week, I haven't been waking up too early either. Monday is going to be rough if I can't haul my cookies to bed at a reasonable hour tonight and tomorrow. I really should make an effort to wake up at a reasonable time tomorrow morn. I've been thinking about drinking a pitcher of water right before bed tonight, to aid in that cause, but that maybe wouldn't be the smartest thing to do. I suppose I could actually reset my bedside clock to the right time, that might be a place to start...

Sugar High

2007-03-17T13:02:00.000-04:00

This week being March Break, we thought we'd take a day to spend with the kids away from the house. We went to a sugar bush north of Kingston, where we got to ride in a covered wagon.
The kids had fun running around and looking for sap in the buckets.We went on a short tour detailing the history of sap collecting and syrup making. Quinn of course had more to say than the poor tour guide. Leah was kind of more interested in her toys than anything else, and her little monkey took more 'pictures' than anyone there. It was quite warm, and the kids played a bit of king of the mountain while we waited for the wagons to take us back to the outdoor center.We went for a short walk through the woods. Quinn kept very close to us, trying to avoid being snatched away by wolves. I'll personally share half the blame for that one, along with his extra vivid imagination. When we first got there Leah said she'd like to see a cardinal, because she's never seen one before. Low and behold, just as we were leaving, there it was, lurking around the feeder. We have lots of birds in our own backyard, blue jays, blackbirds, sparrows, 4 different species of woodpeckers (so far), etc, etc. but so far this is the first cardinal we've seen. Thanks Leah!

Which Way Did It Go?

2007-03-13T09:52:00.000-04:00

Grammie and Gramps were over this weekend. It was so nice outside that Gramps and I went out to buy a chainsaw and cut down the dead tree. You can probably see from the hollow core that the tree has been dead for a while. Certainly longer than we've known the property. It was hung up on another tree, tangled in the branches and giving it a bad bark-burn. It was a weird one though, tricky to guess which way it would fall or how it would react to being cut. We started by notching out one side, then cutting through the back. Very business like. We soon resorted to throwing heavy objects at it, ropes, levers, etc. Our somewhat unconventional methods paid off in the end though, as we got it to fall away from the house, causing no more damage to the poor tree it was leaning against. Then we chopped it up right good. Too bad we don't have a more action filled photo, but the girls were out at the shops, and we were too engrossed in our work to think about it. Next time.

Honestly...

2007-03-09T09:50:00.000-05:00

Here's another example of kids being too damn honest. Lesley recently put an add in a small local newspaper, kind of a newsletter really, looking for housepainting jobs. Leah has to do a current events presentation every couple of weeks or so, in which she has to go through a paper and choose an article that she can breakdown and present to her class. See where I'm going? In the past we've steered her away from advertisments and comics and convinced her to tackle actual news, however we got stuck on a town council article a while back, and while helping her with it even we realized that we didn't understand what it was all about. So this time around we went a little easier on her, and let her choose what she wanted. She chose Les's ad. Whatever, it was cute.

Yesterday she brought home a stack of tests, projects, drawings and bits from this winters school work, and in going through it we came across the synopsis of her latest current events project. I'll transcribe it here:

Current Event
who: Lesley Snyder
what: paint wall's and mural's
When: when ever you call her.
Where: at your house
Why: she need's a job

Well, at least she's honest.

What about me?

2007-03-06T09:32:00.000-05:00

All work and no play makes Tim a dull boy. All work and no play makes Tim a dull boy. All work and no play makes Tim a dull boy. All work and no play makes Tim a dull boy. All work and no play makes Tim a dull boy. All work and no play makes Tim a dull boy. All work and no play makes Tim a dull boy. All work and no play makes Tim a dull boy. All work and no play makes Tim a dull boy. All work and no play makes Tim a dull boy. All work and no play makes Tim a dull boy. All work and no play makes Tim a dull boy. All work and no play makes Tim a dull boy. All work and no play makes Tim a dull boy. All work and no play makes Tim a dull boy. All work and no play makes Tim a dull boy. All work and no play makes Tim a dull boy. All work and no play makes Tim a dull boy. All work and no play makes Tim a dull boy. All work and no play makes Tim a dull boy.

You know, ctrl v makes this whole exercise a bit less impactful...

Happiness Is...

2007-03-05T09:56:00.000-05:00

Finding a DVD of The Searchers for 3.99 in a bin at the grocery store. Ecstatic will be finding the perfect quiet weekend afternoon to enjoy it.

Fipple-De-Doo

2007-03-04T00:14:00.000-05:00

Ta-da!
Now you might ask, "Why does that Snyder kid have a picture of a cow horn up there? What a nerd." Well look again dear reader, and notice the small square and little round holes. It has risen above a lowly and simple dead animal clipping, to a new level of existance, the gemshorn. ("What a Royal nerd.") I spent yesterday evening and this morning fitting a wooden block in the horn, and chiseling out the fipple and finger holes. (Fipple and Finger, holy crap that would be a great name for a pub) (Erm, maybe a pub on the OTHER side of town...)

Anyhoo, sounds great even though I've tuned it by ear. Takes a few minutes to fill with nice warm human air, but then the sound is almost haunting. If I ever get my hands on an electronic tuner it could certainly use some more tweaking, but for now it'll move to the top of the rotating whistle pile.

N-ice

2007-03-02T09:04:00.000-05:00

Well we woke up to ice everywhere and branches snapping off the trees every two seconds. We're hoping there won't be too much damage to the bigger older trees that we love so much. Quite a bit of twiggy wood on the ground though. We're getting some snow this afternoon too, but it shouldn't amount to very much. We'll see. Some really nice looking stuff though, although the birds might not think that. Our main feeder is pretty much inaccessible, a medium sized branch has snapped above it causing it to hang low over the feeder.

Everything looks as though it were covered in glass.
The daisy man on the barn seems to think it's kind of funny...
...but again, the birds - not impressed.
Of course the kids are home from school today. They didn't notice anything unsual outside till it was pointed out to them. Quinn very logically points out, "It's raining outside, I'm going to wear my pajamas all day." Nice.

Step 2

2007-02-28T17:36:00.000-05:00

Well, I have several sculptures done now and 5 gallons of silicone shipping in, so next week it'll be time to suit up and make some molds. Here are some pictures of some sculpts that I have photoshopped to look somewhat like they will once cast in concrete.

I also need to get out to the barn and start on some forms for hypertufa (faux rock) planters. Once the weather starts getting warmer we'll want to start making some bird baths and planters, as well as water fountains, so nows the ime to get their forms ready. I've kind of had it with the fiddly tight presicion work of small scale scultping for now, so it'll be nice to work on some larger beefier things.

WARNING, The Following Message May Be Gross...

2007-02-25T22:40:00.000-05:00

...and is, so don't be reading this while you're munching your lunch...you've been warned!

Here's a visual for you. Our second rat has passed on. (The first died before the move) This one was nearing 2, so had a decent life. (Despite being a female and living with the unfortunate name Scabbers, thanks to JKR) It was in pretty sad shape last few days, and we were on a death watch. When it got bad enough I would have closed it tightly in a plastic bag and let it suffocate. Figure that's more humane than smacking it with a shovel.

Anyhoo, we were out somewheres and when we got back Quinn comes running over and says "The cat scratched Scabbers tail!" What he meant of course, was that the rat was lying helpless in the cage, sucking and wheezing out it's last breath as the cat sat there chewing on it's tail which was sticking out of the cage. Eating it alive basically. The rat too "on deaths door" to notice. Nice. Boney little end of a bloody tail sticking out, eyes bulging. You get the picture. I did warn you. Take that Mr. Brendan 'I once had to clean rat blood off the wall' Russell. We had to wipe it off our victorious cat! I win! In your face! (I'll never touch another pogo as long as I live...)

So, the rat is now wrapped up in a modified cereal box in the freezer, awaiting the big thaw and final resting place. At least this one will have the dignity of a proper burial, instead of going out in the green bin like the previous one. (PS, don't put your x-pets in the green bin kids!) The kids have drawn pictures and memories on a peice of paper that we'll further wrap the box in, they seem to be taking it fairly well. There have been a few nice distractions this weekend to help them take their minds off the tragedy. Visitors, cousins, swimming lessons, biscotti, etc.

No photo this post. Yes, you're welcome.

One Track Mind

2007-02-24T10:56:00.000-05:00

What goes on at school when the kids are far from the prying eyes of parents? What kind of horribly embarrasing things do your children say to teachers and comrades? What secrets do they reveal? What kind of trouble do they get into that you never find out about? Do you really want any of these questions answered?

I think for the most part much of the things that go on are pretty innocent, and their teachers have probably learned to take most of the things they hear with a grain of salt. You never know with Quinn though, he has such a one track mind, and when he gets going on something, he doesn't let up.

Here's a great (and innocent) example of Quinn's one track mind. Can you guess which cartoon featuring a (barely) talking dog and his gang of parapsychologists Quinn has been watching by carefully studying his homework? What other words start with 'G'?

Notice the teacher suggests Quinn read this to us...

Although the green is striking, I do think I prefer the dripping goon. "Goons always drip." says Quinn.

Mission Statement

2007-02-24T10:48:00.000-05:00

The last thing I want to do is have a mission statement. I don't want to write about what this blog may contain in the future, because I have no idea. I don't really like blogs. I mean I like reading them on occasion, but actually participating in one? What would be the purpose? Would it be about my wife and kids? About the gallery we are attempting to open? About our new life in rural Prince Edward County after living so long in the big smoke? About the muddled inside of my own braincase? All, some or none of these things? Who knows? This is likely something that I will work on religiously for about a week, then abandon. Just a way to pass the time between sculpting and vaccuming. Actually, that kinda does sound like a mission statement doesn't it... Crap.