Summer

I no longer blog so much as publish quarterly reports, but there's not much you can do about that. Except check the blog quarterly instead of daily. What's wrong with you anyway?

The artist; this gene came from her mother.

In July we headed down to southern Ontario to meet up with my one of my sisters from BC with her brood. They did a ton of stuff on their trip, and we had the pleasure of accompanying them to Niagara Falls.

 

I don't know what this look is...

Some cousins posing after the IMAX show.

Kingston

We decided on a quick trip to Kingston at the end of July. Having been there in March, we figured it must be a pretty nice town in the summer months. We stayed on the waterfront again, at a hotel right next to the one we used in March.

Upon hearing that we were headed to Kingston, Lily laid out a plan with surprising decisiveness: we had to go to Playtrium (an indoor play place we went to last time), and she had to have a Skye mask (some character on some show she likes), and she had to sit in the helicopter ride (because Skye flies a helicopter). Well, done done & done! Things transpired exactly as she had planned, and she was very pleased.

We decided on nearby Fort Henry for the touristy thing in Kingston, a decision much aided by the fact that we received free tickets for it out of the blue. The tour was informative, the band colourful, and the day very hot.

For the rest we toodled around and took in what we could during our very short stay.

Lily sports a frilly skirt purchased at the market.

Then it was time for Carrie to head to Geneva again for a week. I took Lily to see the family again. And again, costumes abounded.

Not a costume per se.

Cousins (born days apart).

Lily adored the trampoline.

Camping

We headed home after a few days, and picked up Carrie from the airport on Friday. On Saturday we headed off to join a sister camping.

She's a real attention-getter. This is the result of conning a ride back to camp from the hiking trail. That's right, if you ask the park wardens to come get you, they're going to make the most of it and practice their first aid.

While at camp, my niece got engaged! I think this puts me in a brand new age bracket, no matter how old I am.

Other

A while ago, I'd burned myself on a very hot pipe on our AC unit outside by the garden boxes. Then Lily decided to do the same. Difference is, it got my leg whereas she got a big burn on her belly. Ouch! I've finally done something about the pipe, but I wonder if it will burn my house down yet. Yeah, it's that hot. Safe, huh?

Examining the burn. It's healed since, although still red.

I've been slowly devising ways to shape up the garage. This includes making a workbench. It's nearly done! As in functional, not finished and shined all pretty-like. Mitre saw is inset, router plate installed. What I really need now is shelving and pegboard on the wall behind it. In a few years that too shall be accomplished.

Oh, remember the garden boxes I made?

Yup, they're full. The tomato plants went crazy. Someone could have told us we were supposed to keep them pruned. Oh well, now we get to harvest bucketloads of cherry tomatoes every couple of days.

Birthday

Lily turned four this month! I'd rant and ask why they can't just stay little, but, well, she is staying little! Still growing up though. Her reading is coming along nicely, and she's becoming quite adept at math too (yay, finally something useful!) She's off to school in a couple of weeks... yikes!

Since one can never have enough costumes, we got her one she'd spied in the store last month.

Cutest doctor ever!

At a cousin's birthday party last month, she also discovered the awesomeness of jamming little toy dolls into the icing of the cake, rendering it even more beautiful (and rendering the dolls yummy). We were actually home for her birthday for a change; usually we're in BC around this time of the year. This year we're heading west next month, so more on that in my next quarterly report, presumably.

And after seeing how much fun she had on her cousins' trampoline, her way-too-nice parents bought her one too. Kind of fills up the back yard, but I suppose that's what yards are for.

Camping

Next year we're thinking of staying in Ottawa for the Canada Day celebrations, with their excess of people and red and white and marijuana smoke. We've done it only once, and while I'm not thrilled about doing it again, Canada's 150th should be memorable and worth experiencing.

This year, however, we stuck to the script and headed off to the campsite. Twenty-four people this time, but with more adults than kids, so still a sane ratio.

We ourselves haven't learned to pack any lighter, and we have to either borrow utility trailer space from friends or get creative with our car.

This year, creative included a spare piece of 3/4" plywood I had lying around. It took up a shockingly large fraction of the allowable weight on my roof, but it got the job done.

One day the car shall buckle.

I bought a nice big tarp a couple years ago and never had an excuse to use it until now. Rain was in the forecast, so the tarp went up on day one.

Unfortunately, we failed to anticipate the wind. And boy, was it ever windy! Who knew a 30x40 tarp would catch a breeze so dramatically? After some struggling, and the immediate loss of many grommets, one end of the tarp was collapsed into a hardly intended but very welcome wind shelter.

At any rate, the tarp gave guys legitimate reasons to hang out in trees. I think it provided more enjoyment than angst. Now to replace some grommets for next year.

Most of our sites were on the water, which gave us our own private beachfront. Very handy.

Next year we're replacing her 12-18 month swimsuit.

Lily had the misfortune of grabbing the hot end of a metal marshmallow stick one evening. After much hollering, a necessary distraction had me turning into a doctor with her as my patient. No kid can resist the satisfaction of a fancy bandage, no matter how overkill it is!

When it wasn't raining or cold, a canoe, a motorboat and fishing kept some of the water lovers busy. And an aerobie... y'know, those frisbee things that don't float. Sigh. I'll be sure to order another for next time.

Good times. Still, can't wait till we own a camper.

Abe Lincoln with a bright idea?

Dirt

When I was young, my dad always had random projects to keep himself (and the rest of us) busy. I'd look at a pile of dirt like the one above and think, oh no, some useless dirt to move to some corner of the yard for some purpose or other.

Well, now I'm the dad. Since my kid is too young to move much dirt, I get to enjoy the majority of these projects on my own.

Our back yard was quite low when we bought the place last year, and this spring it predictably held a lot of water for a long time. We decided to build it up and make a bigger, friendlier, more level lawn. So out came a bunch of garden beds and in went a bunch of dirt. Lots of dirt.

This was a big load. A hefty 22 yards of nice clean soil. Fortunately the stuff was pretty light and it didn't get rained on, so my wheelbarrow and I got to work. Of course Lily helped...

...when she wasn't being queen of her mountain. She was a hit with the neighbours.

I did get some spousal support, which was nice. Most of my friends decided I was nuts for not renting a machine to do the hauling, but I rather needed the exercise. Once the pile was done, we came to the realization that the yard wasn't quite as high as we wanted.

YAY, MORE DIRT!

The second load was considerably bigger, and we somehow found room in the yard (plus top-dressing where it wasn't so low) for all of it. I got a bit more help with this pile, from friends/neighbours.

A few yards of soil went into these nice cedar garden boxes I built for the girls (they still need edge seating). Carrie had wanted a raised garden for some veggies and herbs. We'll see if they're high enough to keep out the rabbits.

Anyway, the yard's done, the seed's in, and we're seeing a healthy green haze over our lawn a week in. Looking good so far.

A week before the dirt entered our lives, Carrie was off to Geneva for work. Lily and I headed down to visit family. We had a good time, except I got rather sick, hacking up lungs and whatnot. We stayed a few days before heading home, having gotten in some quality geocaching and quail-cuddling.

We spend a few days at home convalescing (on my part), and then found Carrie back after her week away. She gets to repeat the trip in early August.

At one point with a mountain of dirt in the driveway, there was one tiny hiccup when after eating out at a taco place, I ended up in excruciating pain one evening. I managed to thrash around until 3am, when I finally agreed to a trip to the hospital, convinced my appendix had given up on me; we woke up Lily and headed out. After some very diligent attention initially, we hung around for a few hours waiting for a doctor. Somehow the power of time healed what ailed me, and I tried to leave; magically, the doctor appeared shortly after and decided it was probably something I ate. So, back home and in bed by 6:30, and up at 11 to shovel some more! I was almost disappointed that they didn't take my appendix, if only to see some fruits of my inconvenient ER visit. But on the bright side, I was able to shovel dirt instead of being bedridden.

Last weekend was Ottawa Race Weekend. Race officials were ready to cancel races because of the extreme heat (temps in the 30s). In the end, they just changed some start times to avoid the hottest times of day. We both ran the 10km race, as did a few friends. Just as I started my race, it started raining. Hard. Like drenched in no time at all. I imagine more than a few phones and iPods of ill-prepared runners got ruined. It would have been nice if the rain had started 10 minutes in, when we would have been overheating, but it was welcome all the same and cooled the day down considerably. All in all, another successful race. Even if I got out and trained only twice. I should probably change my strategy next year when I'm old and 40.

Spring

I found a shot of Lily at her ballet class final. She pretty much ignored the instructor and gave us a preview of how she might behave at school. It seems we have some training to do yet.

Carrie was asked to be a panelist/judge in a moot law court in Kingston (two hours' drive) in March, so we made a holiday of it. Not the best time of year to be enjoying the St. Lawrence waterfront, but it was relaxing at least. Lily and I visited some breweries, went geocaching, and went to an indoor play gym for kids. We'll probably have to come back some day when it's a little warmer and greener. And maybe next time I should take pictures.

Not long after, we had my sister Marian over with her family of six. It was nice to hang out with lots of space for everyone. All this with a boarder taking up part of the basement; he's gone in two weeks so we'll finally get our house back... totally need the space. Oh, and of course I didn't take many pictures of the family. I'll do better next time.

I've been looking at the back yard for a couple of months, trying not to think about all the work staring back at me. When the snow melted and the rain came, a rather large lake formed along the back of the property; I had to go and dig a big trench to get rid of the water. I'll need to do something to improve the drainage in the future.

Also, both (new) houses that we back onto have been moved into, so we must soon collaborate with them to put up a fence. Bylaws restrict the fence height too much, so we'll have to get creative with plants.

I'll be out there puttering quite a bit this year, I expect. Also on the list: dog run, raised veggie garden, way too many flower beds, and redoing the entire lawn.

Carrie found the time to make a headboard from scratch; the finished product is quite impressive! She may have recruited the occasional passerby, under the guise of Beer Monday... myself included. I guess she can blame any asymmetry on us.

Early stages. Bet you wish your garage was carpeted.

Random recruit helping with tufting (one of many terms I shouldn't know).

Perfect! Uh, except for the inherited blinds.

It looks professionally done, and everyone is very impressed (as they should be).