CBC vs Fox

As a final outing in Toronto, we went downtown to the CBC building this morning. Carrie had learned that one can acquire free tickets to live tapings of the show The Hour with George Strombolopoulos. Today's was an off-schedule pre-taping session with a special guest.

In keeping with my low-key existence, the most celebritous person I've ever met is my dentist... or something. (Carrie's standards might be higher since she dined in the presence of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Geneva.) So today was mildly exciting, since the guest of honour was former Mexican president Vicente Fox.

We were sitting way in the back row but it was as though I could reach out and touch him. Luckily we were also sitting in the second row, so I probably could have. The audience consisted of a grand total of thirteen people, which should explain the above scenario. I sure hope the regular afternoon shows are better attended.

Vicente and George gabbed for a half hour. Then Mr. Fox came and shook hands with us the audience members and posed for a few pictures. Of course we didn't take our camera because it's so big it makes us look like tourists. We should really buy a smaller used one...

What did they talk about? Well, they discussed his new book A Revolution of Hope, which of course has much to do with his experience as president following a 72-year rule of the opposing political party. He was funny and said lots of stuff about world leaders (Bush, Putin, Castro) that I'm sure will be left on the editing floor.

Anyway, since I constantly receive harsh reprimands for not blogging, I thought I'd get this one out of the way while it was still fresh. And I thought it was blog-worthy even if there are no pictures to show for it.

We set sail tomorrow evening for the beckoning shores of Ottawa. Perhaps my next post will include pictures of the next cardboard box we will call home.

chicken coop

So a few weeks ago we were hanging out at my parents' place and somehow a plan was hatched to build a chicken coop. Carrie must have been between knitting projects or something, because she was very interested in taking on the task. My father has grand ideas, but to go along with that he has a wise wife, so what started out as floor plans for a mansion eventually evolved into plans for something not bigger than the last couple of places we've rented. Good thing they scaled down or we might have moved right in once finished.

Carrie's dad was a builder back in the day, so we figure that might explain her interest in the project; it's in her blood.

Before and after... notice that the mere presence of a snazzy coop brought the dying lawn to life.


Carrie hard at work with our Dutch cousin Tom, who probably regrets visiting Canada by now.


Cousin Tom and nephew Bradley haul some trusses.


Eventually, the coop was finished... or was it? The chickens apparently weren't happy with their living conditions, so some improvements would have to be made. The last thing anyone wants is a chicken revolt.


A would-be revolution leader... okay, so this rooster was about a third as big as the other one and would have been pecked to death if they weren't separated, but quit spoiling it already.


The demanding chickens got their domicile insulated...


...and fitted with a nice cedar door. That'll keep them happy. If not, we'll tell them all about how chicken soup is made.

Closure

What's going on here? No one ever updates this thing!

Well stuff happens on occasion but it never seems interesting enough to blog about. Until now. For those die-hards who still check this site every month, here's your reward for such persistence: we're moving to Ottawa.

It's official! It took two and a half months from sending in the paperwork to finally receiving the make-or-break phone call today. Like they say, patients are a virtue...

So now we get to look for a place there, after deciding where we want to be in relation to work (125 Sussex Drive) and church (1876 Merivale Road, Nepean), 17km apart.

Dad, you'll finally get your basement back (if you haven't already cleared out our stuff with yard sales over the summer).

Note: Carrie's birthday was two days ago, so this is a nice belated gift.