Commute

Friday nights can mean a brutal commute for me, depending when my boss finally declares "why don't you leave now, to get a head start on traffic". This is a stretch of highway that begins past the edge of the City and that marks the beginning of a long stretch of rural highway.

New Wireless

So ya'll know I'm house-sitting for 6 weeks or so, and that there's a cat and some plumbing issues and some retro tiles and a great view - what I've not mentioned is the internet connection. I can't really complain too much as truth be told, I'm happier here than I've been in a long time - but I like to spend time online and am used to wireless. So first thing I did upon arrival was to hook up my router. But it didn't work - my theory is that the connection is so slow that the router itself just gave up the ghost.

After a day of sitting upright at a desk and tethered to a modem, it was time to get creative and make my own not-wireless connection so that I could at least recline on the couch. Thanks to a guy at work, I now have a 40' long chunk of ethernet cable and can more-or-less move around. It may also prove useful for the day that the cat becomes a pinata. Just kidding!! Really! That would never happen!

So Not Cute

I hope you're not fooled by this sweet domestic scene. This critter is not sweet but a four-legged, fur-shedding, allergy-inducing, feline Agent of Terror. Because I can't breathe effectively when I'm in the room with her, I've taken to closing the bedroom door at night. Not to be outdone, she puts her Master's Degree in Fine Arts, Drama, to work daily at (and I'm not kidding) 5:59 a.m.

I'll be sleeping peacefully, dreaming of pleasant things (i.e., nothing cat-related), when the show begins. I hear her fling herself at my door, can picture her standing on her hind legs, front paws scratching furiously all the while she's wailing at the top of her lungs. I lie there imagining what she's trying to say: hurry! the house is on fire! Or perhaps: help, help, get up now, help me, there's a mouse in my food.

Not to be out-foxed by a cat, I continue to lie there and wait for the show to end so she doesn't think that she CAN control my life. When the show is over, and only then, do I venture out - immediately in to the washroom. Then I follow her down the hall to see what Ms. Drama Queen wants to show me. What follows is this: she goes to her bowl and starts to eat, purring all the while. I say, good cat, and go back to bed but not back to sleep.

Funny Sign

Is this not the funniest sign you've seen in forever? I think it's a HOOT.

I saw it in a local beer store window. The Beer Store is where one goes in Ontario to buy beer - people think it's run by the government, but it isn't. It's owned and operated by three brewers: Labatt's, Molson's and Sleeman's with profits, I've been told, being split among them in proportion to sales. It is controlled by the government in that the government regulates alcohol sales, but it is entirely the brewers' thing.

Always Something

House sitting. Had noticed water in the basement a few days ago that had become more than a trickle but less than a flood. Puzzled as to source. Problem solved after bedtime ablutions: the back of the toilet caught my eye - water! And lots of it! Put a pot underneath the source hoping it would last til morning but it fills up every few minutes.

The silver spigot thingy won't turn (I'm assuming that's what it's there for). So I emailed everyone I could think of on within 50 miles - no response (not surprising, I guess) - and for good measure, included my boss on the list so he'd know that if I don't show up for work it's because I've drowned.

Had to switch time zones as it was near midnight, so called friends on the west coast (thanks m&j !) but the solution seems to be to turn that silver spigot thing after all and it won't turn...

Winter Storm Rolling In

Walked the dog along the beach yesterday. It was completely sunny overhead, skies blue, the ice all shiny and piled up along the lake shore but what a storm looked to be brewing in the distance.

PITA

Yesterday we took the dog for a walk on Dump Road - so-called by the locals because there's a dump here, not because this is our dog's preferred locale to take a errrr, to perform his business. I love winter - keep the house at 60 degrees and am comfortable; could live in the Arctic quite happily; love the sunny, clear, clean days. But I hate this: having a day of thaw, followed by a deep freeze, as we had on Friday/Saturday - because the result is above - a walk on Dump Road that is no longer pleasant but tedious. The snow frozen in to uneven patches after the thaw. It's a PITA.

Dog Dragged In

The thing about living in the countryside (and I mean, the real country-countryside, not the city-countryside) is that you never know what the dog will drag in. In this case, it's the pelvis and lower spine of a deer that the neighbours had to shoot after coyotes had ripped the poor thing to shreds, but not killed. The neighbours then left the carcass for animals to scavenge ... and scavenge, they did.

Not-Moose (a dog who lives on a farm down the road - no-one knows which farm though) (spouse and I call him Not-Moose because he looks like another dog in the hamlet, and his name is Moose) ... anyway, Not-Moose was trotting down the road with this deer carcass in his mouth when he met up with our dog. Not-Moose dropped the carcass to sniff our dog, and our dog picked it up and continued the journey - right in to our living room. An Olympic Torch Relay for dogs.

Old is New

Having a shower in my inlaws' spare bathroom and loving the old tiles that are new again - sort of! I have a thing for orange and had an "orange room" in my last house, where 15 years ago I began collecting orange vintage items. I had some fab wallpaper from a place in Houston, but my favourite item was an orange "princess phone" from eBay. So these tiles, with their bit of orange, appeal to me.

Cat

There's a cat living with me in my temporary place. I used to be a cat person and am now a dog person. This little thing is sweet (but noisy and insistent!) company. I'm busy teaching her bad habits while developing a fondness for her.

This may end though, as I keep waking up to find her on my pillow - with her non-speaking end in my face as a friend used to say. Not to mention, I'm sure I'm allergic.

New View

The view I've woken up to in my new, temporary abode is great. If I have to do without a Lake view, this sure isn't bad. Record snow (measured on an annual basis) and we're only 3 weeks in to real winter.

Views

This is my view today - from my bed. I've got a flu/cold thing. I'd wager my lack of immune response to this bug has something to do with my stellar food intake lately. And the stress of moving (37 times in 3 weeks) (I exaggerate, but not by much).

Upside is, I dragged myself to the TV to watch Obama become president; downside is, I'd asked for the day off last week and suppose that my boss et al. will suspect I'm faking it. Oh well, that's how it goes.

Breakfast of Champions

I am so not domesticated and have no interest in cooking or shopping or the tedium of tasks involved with keeping oneself alive. This is a typical breakfast that I scrounge at work (on the days I don't do drive-thru at Tims or Second Cup, that is): a piece of cheese stolen from the office fridge (which sadly, later turned out to have been purchased - and forgotten - by me); a nut bar and some coffee in a mason jar. I'd love cream for my coffee but that would mean I'd have to buy some.

Last Legs

After spending the night in my new, temporary abode, spouse and dog and uHaul trailer departed for my stuff's final destination. There is a lot of snow here in suburbia - so much more than where I used to live and where I *do* live (according to Canada Post - though I don't, actually). 

Spouse phoned from a truck stop east of the City but west of the really bad-conditions stretch, that his poor old van is struggling on the 401 - rough going today on the Ontario roads. At the end of the day he phoned to say the 4 hour journey had taken 8 and that he was completely shaken up by it.

Oh well. This is move is good. I have to google for a local Tim Horton's though. Need Coffee.

Cougars

The guys at work tease me about being a "cougar". I love this flyer - it arrived in our office mail one day: "Big enough to get the job done! Small enough to care and give personal service!"

Canadian Lift Bridge

I ran some errands on yesterday's lunch hour that took me over the Skyway Bridge at the very western end of Lake Ontario. Next to the Skyway (which is for vehicular traffic) is the Lift Bridge and this bridge, true to its name, lifts to allow passage of the freighters that enter Hamilton Harbour - home to all sorts of steel and other factories.

Sea Smoke

Not too clear in this snap, but this morning there's "sea smoke" on Lake Ontario. This happens when it's bitter cold outside and yes, it's bitter cold today.

Winter Trail

God, I love winter!

Driving in a Blizzard

Those stripes are snow flakes flying past my windshield. There was a good amount of snow already on the road (and the road was tough to distinguish from the surrounding fields). A tense ride home in the wee hours of a Sunday morning.

Crashing My Stove

It's a well-known fact among my friends that I'm an absolute loser in the kitchen. So tonight I decided to prove them all wrong and to cook for myself. I bought some store-made pasta (tortellini with beef and red wine - a poor choice, as it turns out, because last night I consumed an overabundance of red wine while having dinner with friends - nevertheless, I soldiered on) and some tomato sauce (spouse is insisting I try to eat more vegetables - I thought this was a clever choice). Anyway, I carefully read the instructions, filled a pot with water, got it boiling, added salt and the pasta, set the stove timer and retired to the living room and my laptop.

I waited and waited and thought it funny that time was not fleeting and eventually went in to the kitchen to find my pasta mush. Turns out, I'd managed to crash the stove's computer and it was stuck on 4:48. Last week, I nearly set the place on fire (a dishwasher incident).

(Edit to add: Oh dear, how even-more embarrassing...turns out as I sit here 5 hours later, with my stove beeping in the background, that perhaps I was hasty in posting this - it could be that I'd inadvertently and without knowing, set the timer for 5 hours instead of for 5 minutes as was my intent - in my defense though, there was an hour glass that made it appear the stove had crashed.)

(a further Edit to add: Days later I've discovered that the hour glass means that the timer is working - silly me, a Mac person, used to Windows machines crashing - I just assumed that the timer in this case meant that the stove had crashed)

Leaving Home

Last night the sun was setting as I pulled out the driveway and left my home in the country for my abode in the City (soon to be ex-abode). It is always tough to leave but yesterday was a particularly beautiful day. Had a blast this weekend - lots of laughs (and beverages) with friends.

Sleeping Bees

Husband's bees are covered for the winter. The bees are not really sleeping, but hovering and swarming around the queen in order to keep her warm through the winter. He has left some honey in the hives and that's what they eat to get the energy needed to survive. On sunny days, they may venture outside.

Sleeping Dog

Sitting on the couch (my favourite activity) and I glanced over to see our german shepherd dog asleep beside me. He'd had a busy morning chasing leaves and romping in the snow.

Penny For Your Thoughts

I was driving home from work one day last summer and was astonished to see this sight: a guy on a penny farthing bicycle. I did a double- and triple-take and sure enough, it was indeed not an apparition. How he got on and off, I have no clue. Or yet, how he stopped at traffic lights! I'd have loved to have seen him do that.

A Gift

You have to love living in a place where people don't lock their doors, and where you can arrive home to find a neighbour had stopped by with a gift basket for you... That's what happened a few days ago, when I came back from running errands to find this. What a nice surprise (and thank goodness the dogs were out with us)!

Stormy Weather

Big storm a few weeks ago. Not much accumulation, but the winds were fierce. A "snow day", so we were told to work at home. I did one better and braved the conditions to spend the afternoon in a local restaurant that offers wifi. A few pints of Stella, some gnocchi with crab, my two laptops and my iPhone and all was good. Today it's stormy again, but alternating between rain and snow, so there's no accumulation.

Marked Forever

So one morning I was getting ready for work, standing in front of the mirror, and noticed what looks like a bullseye on my stomach. I took a step to the left. It moved too. A step to the right. It moved too. I thought, has someone got a rifle site on me? (It takes me a while to wake up in the morning) Then I remembered that the day before, my dog had knocked in to me as I was putting away the hairdryer, and that I'd burned myself. It's months later and the scar remains. (The curvature visible in the picture is due to the iPhone and has nothing to do with the curvature of my belly). (OK, that's not really true).

Back to Work

Today was back-to-work day after a two-week Christmas hiatus. First order of business: drive-thru at Tim Horton's. I choose this particular Tims because it borders on the used car lot of a Ford dealership and I get to ogle the Mustangs.

Ice

Another cold, wintery day here - ice is spreading in leaps and bounds on our little Bay. There are areas where it's all broken up and piled in to fabulous shapes. The weather's been what I think of as unusually cold - but maybe the locals would laugh at me. On the other hand, I have to leave for the city earlier than I'd like as those same locals have warned me that ice rain is in the forecast for this afternoon.

Old Eyes

Programmable thermostat - great idea if you can see the instructions and the numbers. First, it was reading glasses; next were bifocals. Now I need to have a magnifying glass for some tasks. It's bitter cold out and the furnace is kicking in, so I think it's set up correctly now. Time for a nap.

Living With Commute-By-Ferry

Today I'm taking the "boat" (as locals call it) over to the mainland. It's usually a good thing (I play Enigmo or read the news on my iPhone), but it can be wild. Last week there were hurricane-force winds of 73 miles per hour and the waves were 15' high. Spray was hitting the ferry's bridge a couple storeys high above the car deck, and the captain had to go up the bay a few miles and ride the waves into the dock. Cars arrived cleaned but in some cases, damaged.

After the mooring ropes snapped while tethered to the dock, ferry service was suspended for a few hours.

Right now, conditions are bad enough that we are actually doing the crossing sideways.

New Year's Day, 2009

January 1, 2009

A very cold (7 degrees fahrenheit) New Year's Day. The water started to freeze overnight but the day dawned with skies that were clear and glorious. I love it. The dog loves it. The husband - not so much.

Border Crossing at the End of '08

The border crossing at Buffalo NY/Fort Erie ON - December 30, 2008. End of a Christmas vacation.