Thursday

The man comes next weekend. Altogether too far away, though a whole lot sooner than it has been. Seems like seven weeks is TOO long. It's official. Too long.

Eldest had raccoons outside her window last night. She was touching the glass and they had their noses on the window following her finger as she moved it around. Glad they were outside.

singin' the blues.

The computer I am working on here has a grand total of 5% free space. I cannot delete temporary files, which it keeps telling me it wants to do, and I cannot defragment because it needs a minimum of 15% for that bit of hard-drive hygiene.

What happens to a computer so outrageously full?

I picture a firm final and fatal crash. Loss of all documents.

Sound about right?

I am having THE. WORST. LUCK. with computers this summer.

THE. WORST.

(Why is it that the blogger spell check doesn't recognise the word defragment? Just askin')

Knee + road + bike = PAIN !!

It is amazing how much and how deeply you can scrape and cut up a knee in just a moment.

Youngest took a wipe out on her bike, but good.

OUCH

Can't seem to find much in the way of bandages here. I'll have to go shopping again.

A delightful evening.

Leftovers for dinner,

Watched The Incredibles

Went out for bubble tea

Sat and chatted with the Catalan girl before she leaves tomorrow.

We're going to miss her badly.

Time for bed and then some. Her last day, she wanted to chat.

Sleep.

4 am is a bad time.

Just back from the emergency vet. We had to put the dog down. It was the right thing to do, she was old and ill and had been running 10K a week and a half ago. She was thin and weak, she could barely move around and I think she chose.

That was not fun though.

I must say, this house-sitting gig can be just a little stressful.

It is good she had the seizures while I was home, while the girls were asleep, without missing her owners for ages, and while the Catalan girl was still here so I could just GO in the middle of the night.

I have to get to bed and try to get some sleep. I am going to be so very tired today, but at least I won't be worrying about the dog.

My poor friends.

Lost my toothbrush.

Much better computer here, but it is fulll full full...no photos anytime soon I think. We have moved successfully into the newest place, the dog here is very ill....I am very worried. This has been a stressfull summer of housesitting...cross your fingers for the pooch.

Left my toothbrush at the last house. YUck yuck yuck...

Going to have to buy one tomorrow morning.

AH well, I almost always forget my toothbrush, it's a wonder I haven't before in all these moves.

Hope you had a good weekend, less than two weeks till the man gets here!

A movie a shriek and too much cleaning.

Pizza and movie night.

The girls are officially TOO YOUNG for the Indiana Jones films, we watched (most) of the Temple of Doom. They'd do fine if we took them to the new flick as long as no one in the theater minded them singing O My Darling Clementine as loudly as they could and out of tune while plugging their ears and cowering. Youngest actually leapt out of her seat and flew out of the HOUSE she was so frightened. I will admit I kind of grabbed her head and screamed sort of in her ear when I was startled in one part of the movie which was probably a bit unnerving for her. *snort*

We move again tomorrow, I am starting to think that we are utterly insane. Ah well, we get to clean out another apartment after cleaning out this house today. I love to do housework, let me just tell you. I will say that the girls were really helpful and only needed some nagging rather than a lot.

Ho hum.

A good day overall.

Hope yours went well.

Cheers to you all.

O

Farewell, so long, auf wiedersehen, goodbye...

The Catalan girl broke the password code!!! I'm on line again!!! Weeee

The raccoons appear to have left the other house, we went in and there were no footprints at all in any of the flour trails upstairs, nor any on the second floor.

In the basement however, there was action. They had gone OUT!

They had not gone back in, so, we put a load of laundry in, sprinkled more flour around, and closed the cat flap. I closed the window down, but it was partially broken, and I want those beasties OUT!

SO I went outside. The window is in a deep well, so I hammered a piece of wood vertically and another horizontally over the opening, plus I placed an upside down recycling box in the well, wedged in with bricks and bottles, and then topped it off with what must have bee,n before all this rain, a 20 pond bag of sheep *ahem* manure, but it weighs considerably more now.

If the little twerps get in through all that, they deserve it.

I'll be back over there tomorrow to check out the flour and start to clean up a bit, well, a lot. I may leave some of the flour upstairs till Sunday. I want to be completely sure there is no motion before we lock the cat back in there.

Moving again (I think that makes four) on Sunday. The man arrives in a week and three quarters. How good is THAT!

OOOo, and if tomorrow goes really well....maybe PHOTOS!!!

FYI

It's all about learning folks.

Now I have to say, I contacted these folks, at AAA Wildlife Control who you can watch on the National Georgraphic Channel apparently and they were VERY helpful.

Here's the drill for tonight.

I'll go in this evening and make a bunch of noise in the basement, then I sprinkle flour around near the cat flap and other higher traffic areas. Then close the basement door and leave. I am supposed to come back later near or after dark and check for footprints and close the flap.

I'll check again for footprints in the morning.

Flour, the raccoon hunter's best friend. Wonder if I have any. The clean up should be a joy, but well worth it.

We'll be sleeping elsewhere tonight. Meeting a raccoon in the hallway outside the bathroom is a mite disconcerting.

update

Those 24 hour animal control places? It's a lie. No one answers the phone, no one calls back. Ho hum

Nothing happening here that I can see but me getting cold and tired.

Live blogging a racoon invasion

OK....

Life continues weird over here...never dull. Nor apparently restfull.

I JUST SAW TWO RACOONS IN. THE. HOUSE!

I don't even KNOW what to do.

The girls are in my bed, the only door that latches closed. I warned the Spanish girl not to pet them etc etc etc....

I don't know if they are inside or out, nor if the cat is inside or out. If I close up the cat flap are the locked IN????

I SO don't want to deal with this. 4:40 AM FUn WOW.

Things that make you go Hmmm???? and SWEET!!!!

Some times things are tougher, and it is just so great when nice things happen that just balance it all out.

Here are the nice things of the day...there are a bunch which is simply fantastic.

When I got to work today, the first person I saw was a co-worker on mat. leave and her baby!!!!

Then I sat at my desk and there was a cd of some music that a woman at work had burned for me!!!

Then there was a delicious pastry that a woman had brought in...it was Korean and looked like a trilobite and tasted like heaven. I took a photo but can't download it....so sorry.

At lunch another co-worker went out in the near interminable rain we're having around here and personally carried some sushi back for me....mmmmmm

OH! and another mystery from the house-sitter chronicals. I got up this morning and the cat was doing her usual rub rub around my ankles in the kitchen where we feed her, but her food???? I couldn't find it.

I looked around and the cat-proof bag it was stored in was neatly slit down the middle and the food was dumped out in a pile on the floor. There was considerably less.

Hmmmm. I scooped it up, fed the cat, bagged it and put it in a cupboard.

I headed downstairs for the laundry and there was poop on the stairs (which I left till this evening after dinner, I just didn't have time to pick it up). The cat NEVER poops on the floor, it has a cat flap that is always open and a litter box.

WEIRD.

We decided that she must have brought a friend home last night. A squirrel or raccoon would have been MUCH more destructive.

Then this evening a beagle we had never seen before appeared in the kitchen. Granted all the doors and windows were open, but still.....

I wonder how long the dog had been here?

Mysteries abound these days.

I'm definitely going to have to stop whining now.

N.B. this computer is crap, I don't even get a spell checker, and it is late so forgive me in advance, m'kay?

One of the things I have been thinking about today, and probably will be thinking about well into the night as I had Vietnamese espresso with sweetened condensed milk over ice at about 8:30pm...and it was SO worth it....anyway, you can see it is making me a bit jittery and scattered, I will reign in the caffeine induced mental leaps and focus this down a bit now.

OK, what I have been thinking about is the power of language and how much it affects what we think without us even knowing it. Three things brought this to mind.

The first happened a while ago when I watched this video (Crap computer here and as a result I don't have that little button to make links and I don't feel like looking it up so, sorry folks, you'll have to cut and paste...it won't kill you.)

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/arthur_benjamin_does_mathemagic.html

on TED Talks (nothing to do with Ted Turner, and if you've never watched one, go now...right this very second. Well. maybe when you get to the end of the post. You get 18 minutes of brilliant thought and mental stimulation from GREAT thinkers.)

Anyway this man, Arthur Benjamine, does "mathmagic". He is faster than a calculator on impossibly complicated problems and on top of that he is highly entertaining.

The pertinent part for my language thoughts though is that at the end of the piece, he is doing a ridiculously complicated mathematical problem - something like multiplying a 7 digit number by a 7 digint number in his head, I can't remember what, but we're talking silly complicated - he actually works the problem out aloud so we can hear what he is thinking. As he puts it, he is not too worried about someone copying his show. What fascinated me, and caught in my mind like a little burr is that he uses his own code of words to remember long strings of numbers, so as he is multiplyng and he has to hold a large group of numbers while menatlly manipulating other numbers, he stores the waiting set in the language centers of his mind as words, then the mathematical sections can get on with their jobs smoothly.

We have a remarkable capacity for remembering words beyond any other form....he doesn't convert them to musical tunes, or facial structures or facial expressions, all of which we find easy to remember and relate to, and are also seperate from the more mathematical aspects, but words are how he can quicly and easily store these factors.

The second thing that twigged my thinking about the power of langauge was when I was listening to Blink (no link folks, too onerous, it's a book by Malcom G-something, who also wrote The Tipping Point which was a much more compelling book with a more interesting topic but anyway) I was listening to Blink (caffeine makes me tangential, have you noticed?) and he was discussing two women who are taste analysers for the food industry. These are women who can taste the difference between different BATCHES of Oreo cookies and reliably tell them apart and discuss them, something that is frankly impossible for us. They can do this because they have spent years educating their palates, and they may well be super-tasters anyway, but part of why they can do this work is because they have acquired a very involved, sophisticated and clear vocabulary around taste. They can discuss the texture of a product, like say mayonnaise on a scale of 1- 10 on I believe 15 different attributes, all associated with the texture alone.

It is this language associated with taste that allows them to analyse and compare many different, though similar products while still keeping them in their minds as seperate and distinct chunks of information. They can carry many many flavours around at the same time because they convert the physical sensations to words. Like Arthur up above, that is how they store the memories, not as music, nor memories of tastes and scents, but as words.

I find this profound.

Then something has been happening to me lately.

There is a person I am spending more time with lately, and this is not the Catalan girl, nor one of my kids, but someone I have been running up against on a regular basis of late. Other folks I know, lets call them John and Sam, don't entirely trust this person. For their own reasons that, in my humble opinion, have very little to do with the individual in question, lets call that person Jane, and a lot to do with Sam's own internal personality and quirks. Sam's comments, some of them outright, but I think more corrosively, some of them sidelong and implied have influenced John to the point where John is also suspicious of Jane, and tends to view most of what Jane does through a lens of distrust.

Now, I don't spend a whole lot of time in TO, so I am less impacted by Sam's issues, but even in the few times we have discussed Jane, Sam's point of view, not overtly stated, has impacted on me. The power of Sam's language, which is involuntarily stored away in my mind has coloured how I react to Jane, in a way that feels...overlaid or imposed. I have these responses but they don't feel entirely valid or comfortable. You see, I basically like Jane. I have a few issues with a couple of things, but nothing even remotely serious, and in fact I probably would have brushed them off entirely if it hadn't been for the subtle influence of Sam's comments. Jane is, as far as I can tell, a deeply ethical caring person with a lot to offer, yet I find myself responding a little negatively, a bit like I am being given a little shove on the playground when dared to do something bad or stupid.

Can't say I like it, and it is just uncomfortable enough that I don't entirely respond as these subtle messages tell me I should, but I have been thinking about how disquieting my mixed responses are; then I put the dots together with the math magic man and the taste and scent wonders and how they all store impressions and information as language and I think I know what happens.

Sam sees something Jane does and interprets it negatively for his own -biased- reasons. He then discusses it with John, again negatively and both of them are making firm and clear mental maps and images of this person that are almost exclusively negative. Then they talk to me. I too begin this process and the individual has to work uphill against this intrinsic unconscious mental construction that has been placed in my mind. Which is incredibly powerful, even more so because I am not entirely cognisant of it.

What have I gotten out of this realisation?

Two things.

How we think about something or someone and particularily the language we choose to describe it in profoundly affects the way we will think about, approach and interact with people and situations in ways to complx to enumerate. They will also nfluence us in ways we won't even recognise.

Therefore,

It is vitally important that we all exercise skill at thinking about things in a positive manner, that when we start to think about people or things we need to work hard at using positive language, constructive language; and that we don't spread this like a mental virus or epidemic. We need to practise good mental hygiene.

When we hear others being disparaging of someone or something, it is important that we try to balance that IN WORDS with another possibility, notice that the glass is also half full. Contradict in our heads, or out loud in words what you have heard so that you too can control what sort of images you will store and use as a base of reference. Elucidate alternative, kind and generous possibilities so that you don't find yourself unwittingly behaving in a manner that is not just.

We have, with out powerful neurological language centers, the possibility of forming and storing incredibly clear and robust impressions, which affect us profoundly. We also have the power to ensure that what we store is benificial to us and to those around us, and we too can do this through language. By recognising when we are being fed unpleasant or destructive viewpoints, however subtle, and by combating them deliberately, with our own interpretation that we must express LINGUISTICALLY; whether we think to ourselves, journal it, write a note and burn it up or eat it...we need to put those more positive possiblilites into words. For all of our sakes.

Food for thought, and langauge. Good language. Constructive language.

Literary tag...

elPadawan has tagged me, I have to go to the nearest book, and write down what I find on page 123, line 5, and write down the three next lines.

Hmmm, I'm at work, lets see what I can do....this certainly makes a pleasant change from whining about parenting.

OK, I'll do two just cause I want to....the first is from Freakonomics by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner, which I found fascinating, it is a mathematician/economist's look at why we do what we do, and among other tempting tidbits, it pointed out that McDurfals and crack dealers use exactly the same business model. Hmmm.

Here's my quote...

Criminals who would have previously been set free - for drug-related offences and parole revocation in particular - were instead locked up. Between 1980 and 2000, there was a fifteenfold increase in the number of people sent to prison on drug charges.

This was actually quite an interesting book, and I would recommend it.

I'll also do another one, cause I am currently reading Free the Children by Craig Kielburger which he wrote, with a little help, when he was 15 and starting out his work with Free the Children. I was actually lying in bed last night thinking that I have to give this book to Eldest. I think she would love it and be inspired by it. _{and maybe get a little perspective}

So, in honour of enslaved children everywhere, I will also quote from
It's Our World Too: Young people who are making a difference, how they do it and how you can too! by Phillip Hoose, which I would also very very highly recommend.

Finally, the children would chose the winning design, and architects would build it in 1994, using money that the children had raised. It would be ready by August of 1995, in time to draw the world's attention to the bombing of Hiroshima and to their commitment to peace.

So there you go, I will tag anyone who wants to play, but I am hoping that Beth, Hula and Beth play along.

OMG

Eldest is now an adolescent.

I don't know if I will make it through the next decade.

I really don't.

Was I this completely irrational?

Mothers and daughters.

I have teased my Mother for years and years about the fact that her high heels got higher and higher as I got taller and taller.

Years.

Eldest now has grown so tall she comes up to, lets say, about my mouth.

I bought the first pair of high heel shoes I've ever owned in my whole life today.

Two and a half inch heels.

I will TOWER over the man.

T.O.W.E.R.

I blame my mother (doesn't everyone for everything?)

It must be genetic.

_{Though she can now bug me for the rest of my live long days.}

*sigh*

One of the things that is hard about living in so many places, and getting to sample different cultures and ways of life is that there is so much to miss.






Sometimes that feels a little overwhelming. I feel split between what I want to do and where I want to be. I may have to erase my screen saver shots...they aren't good for morale.

audio books

One of my friends at work lent me an audio book, a really good audio book, something I would read, indeed I have read it. Does it ever make a world of difference on the drive. I may listen to it over and over and over. I wish there was some way I could listen to Ideas from CBC on my morning drive.

Ah well.

This is better than nothing.

I also heard that the Ted talk by Wade Davis is amazing, but I must go to sleep, in an effort to retrieve my memory skills and good humour.

Tomorrow.

I can't believe that I am the only one who likes thoughtful radio for the commute, it just seems that way given what is played.

Hangin out

You know what?

An evening spent hanging around with the kids is just great.

They are so right.

Just hang out. Watch the cat eat a mouse, cook a fairly miserable meal, but what the heck. Go for a walk, check out the ants, listen to cool music. Teach youngst how to text message, do a little laundry, wash some dishes, stick to the mucky kitchen floor while I cook, eat outside in the breeze, listen to kids in the park.

All the important things in life.

What's your favourite thing to do when you're just hangin out?

Listening to CBC this morning

Have you ever noticed that most of the news is a lot more like voyerism than anything else?

....later,

Camp seems to have gone exceedingly well again, the girls are very tired though so I am having to scale back on the after work activities for the time being. Eldest is sunburnt AGAIN, I swear I am going to have to get that child a full body cover all...including her face.

Good golly.

Struggling with the stupid phone which claims to be an Mp3, but I cannot get any of the tunes from iTunes to download onto the thing, indeed I cannot get iTunes to recognize it as a device, and yes, I plugged in the cord. This seems to be the summer of my computer discontent.

Grrm

Camp and snakes

The girls had a decent day at camp. there are other girls in both of their groups and they have made friends, even if youngest cannot remember her friend's name (takes after her Dad). Lets hope that day 2 goes as well.

I went and fed the snake...that little sucker was hungry. Snatched the poor defrosted mouse from the tongs and yanked it to the ground. It flung several coils around it and wrestled with it for a moment or two. Then it seemed to notice me, raised it's head an looked around sheepishly before gliding quietly back under it's bark.

It came out a little later and demurely dragged the mouse to a more private location for it's meal.

This drive went better

Thanks to our darling friends lending us a Harry Potter on tape this drive went a little more smoothly....I even got some pants for the kids which really needed doing....Eldest now bears a striking resemblance to Avril Lavigne...startling.

We stopped off at Petroglyphs provincial park...which was amazing....I couldn't take photos as they people for whom it remains a sacred sight have requested that we don't. They solve that though by allowing us to make rubbings of models of some of the carvings. Maybe I can get a photo of that posted up....

I have to go to bed, sorry there is no more today....

A series of vignettes maybe in the morning...

Hope you had a great weekend.

Sexual harassment and a road trip

Following is the modified, for the protection of the guilty and the innocent, version of the e-mail I sent off today regarding the on-going situation at the camp.

I spent a fair amount of time crafting it, and it seems worth posting, even if it is long.

I'm off to Ottawa again (help me pls!!) to go and get the girls, should be nice in patches. No post till Sunday night or Monday. I will update the twitters though.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Here it is:

It is morally and ethically wrong that the girls are not at camp and the boys are, if that is the case. It is morally and ethically wrong that it was allowed to progress to the degree that the girls felt compelled to leave. It is sexual harassment.

Here also is a link to a site aimed at children and teens that discusses sexual harassment: http://www.legal-info-legale.nb.ca/showpub.asp?id=53&langid=1

The Ontario Human Rights Code and Canadian Human Rights Act clearly state that teachers and principals are responsible if harassment happens in their classroom or school, or anywhere school-related activities are taking place. Employers are responsible if it happens in their workplace or wherever their employees do work-related activities. People who provide services or rental accommodation are responsible if it occurs on their property. I imagine the issue is complicated further because these are minors.

I am sure that you are doing all that you can to rectify the situation, there are a few items however that I feel need further clarification considering the scope of the situation.

There are, as far as I can see, four major issues which you must deal with. These fall into education and reparation for all the individuals involved, including the staff and reparation of the camp's good name.

First and foremost, it seems to me that the two girls need to have some form of response to them as individuals from the club. There needs to be a statement of recognition about what has happened to them. They deserve a clear outline of what the club is doing to prevent such an incident from occurring ever again to any girl at the club, and some form of recompense.

The boys will need education about the acceptability of what they have done, and I am appalled, frankly, that they are still at the camp. I sincerely hope that I have been misinformed about this. They should also receive a formal letter from the camp clearly stating that their behaviour has been noted, a statement that this behaviour is unsupportable, and in order to return at any future date, there would have to be a signed form, by both the boys and their parents, recognizing the nature of what they have done and promising that there would be no repetition of it. This would also need to clearly state that if they are allowed to return, there would be no second chance.

The instructors also have demonstrated a need for education about the nature of these issues, early signs of the emergence of these types of problems and solid tools to help them deal with these situations in a timely and effective manner. There also needs to be a clear procedure in place which will ensure the rapid response of the club to any such incident in the future. I am certain that if you contacted one of the organisations below, or the Ontario Human Rights Commission, they would be happy to help you in educating your staff, as well as creating a statement against sexual harassment for the organisation.

http://www.citizenship.gov.on.ca/owd/english/youthzone/harassment/whattodo/

http://www.ucalgary.ca/resolve/violenceprevention/English/reviewprog/harassprogs.htm#prog2

The second site also lists a cross section of materials for educating staff and children about sexual harassment.

Finally, this has the potential to seriously harm the enrollment in the camp. The parents at _______ camp know each other, and they know many of the potential clients from outside of ______ camp as well, and you can be sure that this situation is being discussed. You will need to reassure the parent community that they are doing all that they can to deal with the situation, and this reassurance should probably take the form of a clear and transparent statement of the actions that you are taking to reassure and extend a hand to the girls, to educate and discipline the boys, to create rules of behaviour and conduct that are strictly enforced, to educate your staff in how to handle these kinds of situations, and to create clear lines of action should they arise.

I feel that this would rebuild faith in the program and instructors which does need to be done.

Guest blogger!

Darling JC FR has asked a question in the previous comments, and as it is late, and I am busy drafting letters about sexual harassment and the management of the issue, which will certainly lead to a blog post, I though that JC could have a post of her own, so here is her question....and I would love to hear your answers, I will also wade in on the comments...later.

A question for all:

When do you tend to give people asking for money on the street money? When you have been lucky that day? When you have had a totally crap day or something bad has happened to you? When they are holding a small baby? I have contemplated my motives on this a few times and would be interested to hear...

I just LOVE these kinds of conversations

Well that was fun.

Last summer at one of the camps the girls went to, eldest was verbally abused and sworn at regularily by a fellow(male)camper. She didn't like it much - to say the least - but we kind of rode with it as it was managable, and frankly....welcome to the real world of being female.

This year apparently, at the same camp, which the kids will be going to next week, there is a kid, or a group of kids (boys), who are verbally abusing, swearing at and hitting on the girls. One of the girls is dropping out of the camp because of the, oh, lets just call a spade a spade here, OK? because of the sexual harrassment she is experiencing at camp.

Now, you know, I love my daughter, and I want her to be fully equipped to go out into the world. That does not however include dealing with sexual harrassment at camp, so I put in a little phone call to the camp director today to make it PERFECTLY clear that this will NOT be happening this week, and that the abusers and not the abused would be leaving the camp without passing go and without collection $200.

Lets hope it works.

Wouldn't it be nice to NOT have to make these phone calls?

Kindness

I was waiting down at harbourfront today to be picked up by a boat to go sailing.

I was standing around in my fancy dancy work clothing, carrying my camera case (don't leave home without it), and a large bag with sailing clothing. As the boat got kind of near the pier-still about a hundred yards off - I stood up and walked over towards the water, which was guarded by a large chain so no one could stumble in by accident.

Now there was a man slugging rye or whisky straight from a bottle in a paper bag sitting on the edge of the pier as well. I had actually been regarding him a little thoughtfully because he looked like someone whose life was sort of sliding off the tracks a bit. Not a train wreck yet, but....

As I stepped over the chain to stand on the outside, and took off my shoes so I wouldn't lose them in the leap, he was staring fixedly at me. I was concerned that he might get his feet pinched when the boat came up so I was standing there wondering what to do.

Then he said to me, very softly, "You need to take care."

I looked over at him, and there was a pause. Then I realised that he though I was going to jump, and he was trying to help me out.

There was another pause while I digested this, and we looked each other in the eye....I thanked him, and said that I wasn't going to jump, I was goiing to get onto a boat, and I was OK, but he should look out for his feet when the boat came up.

He stared fixedly at me as I got on the boat, and as we powered away. I smiled and waved and wished him a good day.

He was a kind man.

I wish now I had asked after him. He looked a bit like he thought I was going to jump because it was already on his mind.

Whoever you are, I hope things get better. You seem a nice person.

Grinding my teeth to the gums

You know what it making me CRAZY!!! My computer at work. I cannot cannot download a delicious button, nor a google tool bar nor nor nor...I can however have any (TM)Windows product I care to have....

Ummmmm.

Yes, I know, a pen drive, but why should I have to find time to buy one and shell out for it when I am working on a perfectly viable system and I have a big fat (new) empty machine?

Tell me why.

More house sitting strangeness

I don't think people are going to want me as a house sitter in the future...first we had the guy in the house with the beer...remember him?

Well, he seems to have moved over to another friends house that we are looknig after. Except he brought his beaver buddy with him.

See my friends, the ones the girls are staying with, are up north...WAY north...and they got a phone call from their cleaning lady saying that there were signs that an animal had been in the house and had eaten away at one of the windows in the basement.

They asked me to go in and have a look while they were away...so, I did. I had to go in today anyway because it was the day to feed the snake....he ignored me again, I am NEVER going to see that animal eat it seems....anywhoooo, I went down in the basement with the lovely Catalan girl who is here (and just started her first day of class) and sure enough there were all sorts of wood chips everywhere, and greaet chunks taken out of the window. The screen is intact and there are no other signs of animals, no poop, nothing, just a faint musty smell in the room. There are a lot of wood chips though. If I could post the photo that I took with my cell (maybe I can, elPadawan is sure to tell me how) I would show you.

Weird.

No sign of how they got in or out, no evidence of their presence other than the torn up wood. Seems they have materialised for the sheer pleasure of munching away at a window frame.

Very strange...

I continue in my own little twilight zone here it seems.

Dehydration + tiredness = the blues

Alright.

Feeling a little better this morning after about 9 glasses of fluid and a reasonable nights sleep.

It was an amazing weekend, aside from the nearly endless drive. (what a wimp I am)

We saw a ton of animals, I saw a real live beaver walking down to the shore and slip into the water not 15 feet from me, I saw three more swimming, great blue herons, which I haven't seen since Florida, deer, chipmunks....etc etc etc. And I got to go canoeing! That has been a while. I went out at dawn yesterday for a solo paddle, which was unbelievably fantastic...what a delight.

The drive back, meh...driving into the hot sun all day....but we stopped at the canoe museum on the way back, in Peterborough, which was marvelous as usual.

Back on the job today.

Whatever.

If I ever get these computers sorted out I could post some photos again....they are building up in the camera and it's making me a little nuts.

sigh

Left the girls up at a friend's cottage for the week, up near Ottawa.

The man is in Spain.

Even the darned dog is in Spain.

Feeling mighty lonely.

Also tired and thirsty and like I have driven far too much today.

Maybe I'll have a shower and go to bed. At 8.

Then it will be tomorrow and maybe I won't feel so lonely, and we'll all be together one day sooner.

Blech

Off for the weekend

Going to Ottawa for the weekend, with the Catalan English student and the girls...off to a cottage!!!

Yahoo!

Hopefully no one strange will come and drink beer while we're there.

I have to find out about the twitter updates, I may well send them off, but if it costs me roaming? SOL.

Freaky.

I don't know if you noticed that little twitter I put on the side there last night about feeling edgy in the big old house alone. (the kids were at my folks last night)

I was feeling kind of silly about it, see I had gotten home, and I went into one of the bathrooms and there was pee in the toilet where none of us had peed. Hmmmm I thought, that's weird.

I kinda blew that off, and went on line, did a little surfing, a little blog reading, e-mailed the man....and went upstairs.

Now one of the bedroom doors that they have asked us not to go into (teenage son, unbelievable mess) is always closed. Well, it was ajar.

The next room, where eldest is sleeping, I tried the handle and simply could not get it open. This is an old house, and sometimes those handles don't work right, so I let that ride. Went to the bathroom, got all ready for bed, and then noticed that youngest's bedroom door was closed, and I know we had left that room open; the cat cannot close doors.

I went to bed a LITTLE edgy....you know, sort of feelig like one of those characters in a horror flick who the audience is screaming at to leave as they open a door? Anyone yelling, "Just get out?"

Well, everything was fine.

Then when we came back this evening, we discovered an empty beer can in Eldest's room.

Hmmmmm.

I don't think the cat can open the fridge, chose a brewski, crack it open, carry it upstairs, drink it all without spilling then leave it on a shelf behind a closed door.

Ho hum.

Was I alone last night?

We're all here again, the kids and a Catalan girl who is here to learn English, and me....should be fine, but I'll leave the cell phone on.

I'm pretty sure it was one of the teenager's buddies scamming a free brew and wandering around. He may indeed have left before I got home.....

Cats

I forgot how much I like cats...it's a shame I'm allergic and so is Eldest....the cat we are sitting,Seppi, is hovering over the keyboard right now....sweet.

Change

We've moved again!

No moss growing over here...we are in the house of some friends, and we're doing a house sitting gig...should be fun, though there is a cat, who both eldest and I are allergic to. We'll see how it goes. They do have a computer that functions which is sweet.

The moving isn't such a big deal, though I swear that all we moved was groceries, it's the cleaning that is tiring.

Puff

Have you ever seen the movie "Second hand lions"? We watched that tonight as a break, it was pretty good, though I think I liked it better than the kids did. They were bagged, up late last night then off to the museum with their Grandma....and they are to bed late again, fireworks you know, you just cannot miss them.

Happy Canada day everyone!