MacLeod Blog

A few updates

2009-02-19T13:04:00.004-05:00

1. I (Jeff) was accepted to the Clinical Psychology program at Dalhousie. This means that we're moving back to Halifax in August! We're pretty excited about this, and I'm quite happy to have gotten into a Clinical Psych program. I'll continue with my research involving people with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

2. I started a new blog that I will use for stuff other than life updates. Information, Opinions, etc. I used Wordpress for this one, because I like the interface alot more.

Check it out here.

There you go--a few updates!

Women in Government

2008-09-18T07:44:00.002-04:00

If you had to guess which country would be the first in the world to have a parliament in which over half of the MPs were female, what would you guess?

Well, I certainly wouldn't have guessed this.

The past few months

2008-07-28T07:34:00.017-04:00

Since my only posts over the past few months have been book reviews, I'll make this a summary post, with some pictures. I think that I need to start at least as far back as our trip to Quebec in February. We found a CHEAP place to stay in Quebec for a week in February ($250/week) on my mother's RCI account, and happily took advantage of it. We were in Lac Morency, just north of Montreal. It was a pretty quiet week, but it was fun to do some skiing and experience Quebec's crazy winter.

This is the lodge we stayed in, which was nicer than we had expected (and far too large for two people!).

While we were there we did some snow shoeing,

some cross country skiing,

and some tubing.

I also had a great night to view the lunar eclipse on Feb 21st. It was quite clear in Lac Morency, and the forest behind our cabin was lit up quite nicely by the red moon. I didn't have a tripod, so this was the most interesting of my pictures (it gives you a sense of the colors).

In April, we went to Cuba. It was a lot of fun, and I'm sure most of you have already seen pictures on Facebook. We stayed at Oasis Brisas in Santa Lucia. The resort was just ok, but good enough for the price we paid. We spent a few days at the resort, a day in Camaguey (the nearby city), a day on Cayo Sabinal (a nearby uninhabited island), and a day driving a scooter around. It was a fun trip, and we're looking forward to going to back to Cuba sometime. It really was a good place to visit.

The resort beach.

The beach on Cayo Sabinal.

Amanda dodging waves while collecting beach treasures.

Driving the scooter.

Laughing Gulls patrolling the beach.

Camaguey.

Santa Lucia locals.

In June we visited Halifax and Sydney for a couple of weeks. I had work to do at Dal in Halifax, and we visited Sydney for fun. We stayed with the Barretts in Halifax, which was alot of fun. In Cape Breton I canoed the Margaree, and went Lobster fishing.

I can't seem to find many pictures from this trip right now, so I'll just post one of the 'family photos' that I took for the Barretts. Sarah has lots more on her Facebook.

When we came back from NS, Corey tagged along, and brought some great Blue Jays tickets with him (Thanks Jack!). We sat in the section behind home plate, which was great. Amy, Tim, Corey & I went to the game. We even got some free food (Thanks again Jack!).

CN Tower

CN Tower and a few dorks

Amy, looking very prim and proper. Corey, looking like there was something wrong with his hotdog.

The view from our seats.

Corey, Amy, and Tim.

For the Canada Day weekend, we visited the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania. We camped for a couple nights, did some canoeing and hiking, and then stayed in a hotel and did some outlet shopping (outside of the National Forest, of course). It was a fun trip (celebrating our fifth anniversary), and I hope to go back again sometime. I'll post a few pictures here, and some more on Facebook. It rained alot while we were there, so there are plenty of nice pictures that I missed, but here are a few.

The first campground we stayed at was Dewdrop campground, and we used a 'walk-in' campsite. In reality, it was quite close to the parking lot, but there was no one around us, so we enjoyed a quite private campsite that was close to the water (#65, if you're wondering).

The second campground we stayed at was Red Bridge, which had nicer facilities, but wasn't quite as quiet and secluded as Dewdrop. We were close to the water again. Here is a picture from our waterfront.

We rented a canoe and took a 10 mile trip down the Allegheny River. It was alot of fun, and was the first time we had done this sort of thing together. We saw a huge family of Red-breasted Mergansers, a whole bunch of softshell turtles (diving into the water as we canoed by), and lots of Bald Eagles.

For two weeks in July, we had a kid from New York visit us as part of the Fresh Air Fund program. Elijah is a 7 year old from Queens, NY, and visited us for an opportunity to get out of the city and experience life in a rural setting. It was interesting to have a 7 yr old around full time for two weeks. He was homesick for a few days, but warmed up to the new setting eventually. He needed constant entertainment from us, since there were very few others around to help entertain him. As you can imagine, this was tiring, but fun. I didn't get a whole lot of work done in those two weeks, but I think it was worth it. Elijah went home with many new experiences (camping, canoeing, lots of swimming at the beach, hiking, catching frogs, biking country roads, etc....) and having had a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures. Amanda will post more on her Facebook.

Finally, we're in Cape Breton right now, and will be here until mid-August. We're pretty excited to be home. There's just no substitute for a vacation at home. Hopefully we'll see some of you here!

We went to a ropeswing in Bras d'or yesterday with Scott and Eric. Here are a few pictures.

Book Review: Born on A Blue Day

2008-06-07T08:33:00.006-04:00

Daniel Tammet is diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, and is an autistic savant. In addition to this, he has synaesthesia (read more about synaesthesia here). This book is a sort of autobiography, in which Daniel describes his life (from childhood to adulthood), and details some of his most interesting experiences

Daniel is able to perform feats of mental ability that most of us can't even begin to imagine doing. He can compute complex mathematical problems very quickly in his head, can learn to speak a new language fluently within a week or two, can tell you what day of the week you were born on instantaneously, and has memorized and recited Pi (3.14...) to 22,500 decimal places. However, a description of these mental feats, on its own, would not make this a good book. This book is great because Daniel does an exceptional job of explaining how his experience differs from that of other, more typical, individuals. This is especially remarkable because he is diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, and it seems that only a rare few of these individuals can put their exceptionalities into words.

Daniel does an great job of describing his childhood, in which he was a fairly typical child with Asperger's Syndrome--a child who behaved somewhat oddly and spent much of his time alone. He describes his experience in school, at home, and his experience with numbers and books, which highlights the beginnings of his synaesthetic experience. He describes his teenage years, his first (confusing) romantic feelings for someone else, his awkward interactions with peers, and the loneliness that he experienced. He then moves on to his adulthood, which is remarkably successful by any standards, let alone the standard adult outcome for someone with Asperger's Syndrome. Throughout this description of his experience, he provides invaluable insight into the way he experiences the world, the social difficulties associated with his disorder, the amazing results of his synaesthesia, and the remarkable courage he has needed in order to get to where he is today.

This book is a fairly easy read, and I recommend it to anyone looking to learn some more about the experience of individuals with Asperger's Syndrome and/or Synaesthesia, or, to people just looking for a good book).

Book review: Silence of the Songbirds

2008-05-06T08:35:00.006-04:00

Wait! I know this is about birds, but it really isn't boring. Read on, just for a few minutes. Ok, here goes...

Some species of songbirds are declining rapidly. It is estimated (by people who know about these things, and how to estimate them) that numbers of songbirds in North America may currently only be half of what they were 40 years ago. Half! 40 years! Now I think it is easy for you to see why I'm concerned about this--I'm a birder. However, birds are an important part of our ecosystem, and their decline should be viewed as a serious concern for everyone, even those who can't be bothered to take a second look at an Indigo Bunting. Birds eat loads of insects, and in doing so help maintain insect populations at a level where they can't completely wipe out plant populations or make sitting outside on a summer day unbearable. Birds also are responsible for spreading seeds, and some help in pollination of plants. It is hard to predict the impact that would be experienced by our ecosystem if songbird populations were decimated. However, we're heading in that direction.

Bridget Stutchbury authored the book Silence of the Songbirds, which is an interesting and easy read. In this book, she details the plight of neotropical migrants, which spend their winters largely in Latin America, and spend their summer breeding season in North America. She takes the reader through lots of very interesting material surrounding the breeding and wintering behaviors of neotropical migrants, and the pressures that they face in both of these contexts. Most importantly, she provides a number of practical ways that North American consumers (yes, that's you) can make life a little easier for songbirds by altering their shopping lists. Here is a list of five things you can do:

1. Buy shade-grown coffee. Better yet, buy organic, shade-grown, fair-trade coffee. Mass produced coffee is typically sun-grown in Latin America, and sun-grown coffee fields do not provide good wintering habitat for songbirds. Traditional coffee plantations grow the coffee plants under the cover of many large trees--hence the name, shade-grown. These plantations do provide great habitat for wintering songbirds. Also, they provide farmers with a more diverse set of crops (as typically coffee isn't the only crop in these plantations), so that if they have a bad coffee year, it won't devastate them. As a bonus, shade-grown coffee is typically premium coffee, and tastes better than the mass-produced sun-grown crap. If you can't find shade-grown, at least look for organic.

2. When buying produce from Latin America, buy organic, or don't buy at all. North Americans depend on Latin America to satisfy many of our produce needs throughout the winter months. However, much of the produce from Latin America is produced using pesticides that are not allowed to be used in North America (but, ironically, are purchased from North American companies). These pesticides are very powerful, typically killing insects and birds (and can't be great for the farmers). Switching from regular bananas to organic bananas is a pretty easy thing to do--even though organic bananas are double the price of regular ones, they’re still dirt cheap. Other crops such as pineapples, melons, peppers, etc... may demand a bit higher price, but think of the hidden costs of saving $2 when you turn up the organic pineapple for a regular one.

3. Pesticides in North America can be devastating for birds too. Buying organic potatoes and corn can make a difference for birds that breed in agricultural areas.

4. Buy Boreal forest-friendly paper products. Many of the big brands of toilet paper and paper towel don’t use recycled paper at all in the production of their products (mind-boggling, isn’t it?). When you’re buying paper products, read the packaging, and try to find recycled paper. Make sure that the recycled symbols refer to the paper, as sometimes only the plastic is recycled. Cascades (I’ve seen it at Costco) and PC Green (any of the Loblaws chain of stores) are boreal-friendly brands that are pretty easy to find.

5. If you have a cat, keep it inside or take it outside on a leash. Whatever you do, don't let it roam free. It will kill birds, even if it isn't bringing them home for you to admire.

Well, I hope you feel enlightened, and ready to take action. Spring migration is now in full swing, so here are a few pictures of birds that I've banded at Ruthven over the past little while.

Blue-winged Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Western Palm Warbler

Eastern White-crowned Sparrow

Gray Catbird

Eastern Tufted Titmouse

Lincoln's Sparrow

Relaxing Week....

2008-03-23T14:02:00.004-04:00

This past week has been a pretty relaxing one. I guess after the March break all the teachers are ready to get back at it and don't need supply teachers! I didn't mind having 2 weeks off at all.

Franklin's new Ikea tent. I'm not usually into buying things like this for cats..but it was in the "as is" section for under $5! I'm glad I bought it now because he uses it all the time!

Oliver trying out his new Ikea bed.

Franklin tried to get in the bed with Oliver...
but he had to settle next to him instead!

Book Review: Rare Birds

2008-01-30T16:59:00.000-05:00

Really, I didn't read this book because I'm a birdwatcher. It's a novel, written by Edward Riche. The theme doesn't actually have much to do with rare birds, rather, birds are just an ingredient in this comical story. The novel follows a few months in the life of Dave Purcell, a restaurateur and chef living in rural Newfoundland. His restaurant, the Auk, has come across tough times (as one might expect a fancy restaurant in rural Newfoundland would). Dave's neurotic friend, Phonse, comes up with a plan to bring a little business back to The Auk, and it's all downhill from there.

I had read a bit of Canadian east coast fiction before this book, and liked what I read. Rare Birds didn't disappoint. It's an easy read, and I can't recall being bored at any point during the book. I love books that really give you a feel for the environment in which they are set (the people, the landscape, etc.), and this book does it well. Although Riche may have gone a little overboard with some of the personalities, and stories, in the book, I find this sort of thing pretty funny (Amanda didn't, but she doesn't appreciate this sort of fiction). Rare birds was mostly funny, rarely serious, and quite enjoyable.

The book has now been cast as a film by Lions Gate, and the movie is quite good. The movie follows the book well, including many lines from the book word-for-word. If you don't want to read the book, the movie is a good alternative. [Warning: Amanda didn't appreciate the movie nearly as much as I did.]

I can't quite recall now, but I believe the movie and book may have different endings. I actually didn't like the ending to the book much, but I recall being ok with the ending of the movie. Perhaps I'll have to watch again to find out.

I found the book for a couple of dollars on a clearance table at Coles in Welland,ON. I found the movie in my local library.

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This is my first blog book review. Look for more soon!

Heading West?

2008-01-29T08:32:00.000-05:00

It seems that I have neglected the blog for a while now. Amanda and I did go home for Christmas, and it was great. Every time we go, it leaves us wanting to move home a little more than we did before the visit. We did lots of visiting, some hiking, snowshoeing, birdfeeding, etc... I don't think I'll post pictures right now, because that takes a long time. Perhaps later.

Things are busy for us in Ontario right now. I have more work this term than I did last term, and Amanda has been working full-time for the month of January. I guess that is part of the reason for the blog-neglect (and Scrabulous-neglect...sorry to Margaret, Sarah, Darren, and Billie...I do intend to finish those games).

I ran into this article today, and thought I should post a link. It is an interesting article from the Globe about Cape Bretoners moving west for work, or at least traveling there for extended periods, and then returning to the Island. Most people from Cape Breton know someone who is employed in Alberta, so I thought that most of my readers would find the article interesting.

That's it for now. I'm going to start reviewing books and perhaps movies and/or music on the blog, so look for that over the next few weeks.

Heading home soon!

2007-12-13T12:12:00.000-05:00

Amanda and I are pretty excited that we are getting out of Ontario this weekend. We've been pretty busy lately, so it will be nice to have a break, and be in Nova Scotia. Here are a few picture updates:

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We visited Ash & Matt in Barrie a few weeks ago. Amy was there too. Here are a few pictures.

We went for a hike with Ash and Matt. What a poser Matt is.

We went to a provincial park with a wildlife area too (like a wildlife park). It was fun!

Amanda loves the deer!

Amy thought the deer may be interested in her boot.

We threw snowballs.

And took some pictures.

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I visited Ruthven a few days ago, and did some birding. It was nice to get outside and do something after a few weeks of being quite busy.

The river near Ruthven is just starting to freeze over, but further north than Ruthven it is already entirely frozen.

Ruthven's cemetery.

Silent Spring?

2007-11-09T16:44:00.000-05:00

The CBC recently aired a fairly well-done 15 minute segment describing declines in North American bird populations. Click here to go to the CBC's website and watch it.

The two ladies in it are really annoying, and I don't like the title, but if you can get past that, it is a decent clip. This sort of clip highlights the reason that the Canadian Wildlife Service's work (see last blog posting for some context) is so important. If we're not monitoring changes in the populations of birds and other wildlife, how will we determine what sort of effect we are having on the environment? The Canadian Wildlife Service cannot be replaced by university researchers, because they do a different sort of work. University researchers don't typically do long-term monitoring of wildlife, because research grants don't work in that time frame. The government really needs to make an effort to keep the Canadian Wildlife service active.

The Canadian Migration Monitoring Network (CMMN) is highlighted in the video clip. I volunteer at Ruthven Park's CMMN station, and maintain their blog. Click here to see it.

Wildlife isn't part of the environment, is it?

2007-10-26T14:36:00.000-04:00

Apparently, the government is running an $8.7 billion surplus.

Seems like a good time to freeze the Canadian Wildlife Service's budget, and cut Environment Canada's budget, doesn't it?

"...the Canadian Wildlife Service has had its service budget frozen for the rest of the fiscal year, meaning all its scientific field and survey work has been halted." (CBC News)

Unbelievable.

Autumn 2007

2007-10-09T14:37:00.000-04:00

The past month or so has been quite busy, as I have been 'running' participants in experiments and trying to get a manuscript and my applications for next year's funding together. Anyway, all that crap is done with for now. I'll continue running participants and writing, but there isn't a huge rush to get it done in a few days now.

During my busy month, I did manage to get out bird banding a few times, and even went to Mt. Nemo conservation area for rockclimbing and caving with Josh, Scott, Tim and my dad. I didn't do any rockclimbing, but I did take some pictures. Here are a few.

My claustrophobic father, laughing nervously while he squeezes into a cave.

Dad, still laughing nervously as he finds his way through the cave.

Dad, laughing nervously again as he rapels down the cliff. I should note that I would have been doing the same thing, but I didn't give in to peer pressure as easily as he did.

Timmy rappelling.

Scott posing. Josh rappelled too, but wouldn't pose for me.

Tim climbing.

Scott climbing.

Scott, just about to reach the top of the climb.

Josh climbing. I didn't get many good pictures of Josh, because there was a huge number of flying insects around. They hovered at the top of the cliff for a while, and then rained down on our heads in pairs. Apparently, it was a copulatory swarm.

Scott, looking off the escarpment.

I've had a few experiences with Great Horned Owls lately. This summer in Cape Breton Jeff Tickner and I spend a few evenings sitting in my car by some woods playing a recording of a Great Horned Owl, hoping to draw a response. We got none. Over the past month at home, however, I have heard a Great Horned Owl from my yard on several nights, and an Eastern Screech Owl on one night. I heard one early one morning at the bird banding station, and Amanda and I heard one while we were walking a couple nights ago. However, I have yet to see one in the wild. They are kind of hard to find. So I was happy to get a chance to take a picture of one at a bird show at Mountsberg Conservation area the other day. They let me get pretty close too.

Amanda and I went apple picking on Thanksgiving weekend. We went a little later this year than we did last year, but we found out that was ok because the apples are cheaper when you go late!

My parents recently decided that Thanksgiving with the family is getting old, so they went on a cruise this year for Thanksgiving. We managed to take care of ourselves fairly well though, or perhaps I should say Ashley took care of us fairly well. Ashley cooked a Turkey at my parent's place, and Jamie Whyte, Ash & Matt, Amy, Time, and Amanda & I had dinner together this past Sunday.

Why wear shirts at Thanksgiving dinner?

It absolutely poured after we ate, so we put on our suits and went for a swim! The pool is still 75 degrees or so, and the humidex outside on Sunday was in the 30s. Crazy weather.

A few of the more immature people went for a run down the street.

Amanda and I did do some hiking on Thanksgiving weekend too, but we didn't go anywhere really exciting, and I didn't take any pictures. It was a fun & relaxing weekend, which was nice.

Finally, I have what some bittersweet news: the corolla is officially gone. I sold it to a scrap yard for $200. When the guy came to pick it up, it wouldn't move. Both axles had seized, and wouldn't even budge when he dragged the car around the driveway. I'm glad I don't own it anymore! I made another $50 on the stereo and speakers, so we made $250 on the whole thing. Not so bad I suppose--I wouldn't pay $250 for it!

The final tally for the Corolla.

Happy Birthday Boys!

2007-10-07T20:19:00.000-04:00

Believe it or not-both of my brothers were born on the same day (Oct8th) a year apart.
I can still remember having those combined birthday parties, which at that time I thought were never ending. That is until you got older, made seperate friends and insisted on having seperate parties-on the same afternoon, one right after the other! Were you crazy mom?

Happy 19th birthday to Jeffrey and Happy 20th birthday to Chris!
Hope you have a great day!

Ingonish 2007

Point Michaud 2007

Chris' new car 2007

Shushan 2006

Sailing 2006

Niagara Falls 2006

Days gone by

2007-10-02T14:47:00.000-04:00

When I thought about updating the blog today, I realized that I couldn't quite remember my username and password anymore. I figured it out, and here I am, typing a long overdue blog post.

The summer was great. Amanda and I spent more time at home than we had expected to, and that is a good thing. I didn't get much work done in the summer, and (partially) because of that, September was ridiculously busy, but I don't mind long breaks with lots of work in between. We did take some pictures this summer, although I took fewer than normal, and didn't end up with anything I really like. Amanda took more pictures than she normally takes, and did end up with interesting pictures. Regardless, here is our regular picture story:

After spending only part of a week in Cape Breton, Sarah Dugas, Amanda, & I left for a little time in PEI. We stayed in Steve & Susan's backyard, in Steve's tent. It was alot of fun to be in PEI, spend time at the beach, and get to see spend time around some people we hadn't seen for a while.

In Cape Breton, we got our usual highland trips in, sometimes with Amanda's family, sometimes by ourselves. The first few are from Ingonish Beach at night.

Starting small avalanches on top of Smokey.

Jigging Cove Lake.

We spent a day in Ingonish with Eric, Mary, Laura, Andrew, Benjamin, Joseph, and Eric & Mary's summertime exchange kid. Here is a picture of Ben & Joseph that Amanda took.

We hiked part of the provincial park trail on top of Smokey, which was quite interesting.

We hiked the Skyline Trail one morning by ourselves. We certainly weren't the only ones on the trail though. There were a few other people mixed in with all the moose. We saw 8 moose on the trail, and another three on the way home. Disappointingly, we saw very few birds.

Here is Moose #1 (there was a calf with her), in the background.

Moose #2, who also had a calf or two.

A Great Spangled Fritillary.

Moose #3 was a brazen one.

At the end of the skyline.

Wait! I think Amanda spotted something.

Yes, it's......a....nother Moose. (Ok, this is somewhat tongue-in-cheek).

We also found lots of time to spend with the family, but didn't take a whole lot of pictures during these times. Here are a few.

Jack's new boat, without Jack in it.

Amanda celebrating what must have been a spare, with Corey and Kyle looking on in disbelief.

Amanda thought Kyle's size ones were pretty cute.

I helped Scott put the mast on the sailboat, but didn't get to go for a sail. Thanks, Scott.

I do have plans of blogging a little more than I have in the past two months. We're not having anything but food and outdoor fun this weekend, so maybe I'll have some pictures to post after that.

Congratulations Jeffrey!

2007-08-30T11:44:00.000-04:00

Congrats to my youngest brother, Jeffrey for two reasons:
1. His graduation from Sydney Academy! You did an amazing job and we are all proud of you! 2. Acceptance into NSCC 's Heavy Equipment Operator program. You are very focused and a hard worker, I know you'll do great!

Goodbye Corolla, old friend

2007-07-19T16:37:00.000-04:00

The corolla, while it could be fixed, is no longer worth fixing in Ontario. If it were in Nova Scotia, where emissions tests are as common as the Great Auk, someone would probably fix it and drive it for another while. However, since it is in Ontario, and not moving without a truck attached to it, a junk yard may be our poor rolla's next home. It did it's job well. We got it with 250,000kms or so, and drove it for 4 years. We drove it before this too, while we were teenagers, but we weren't the owners then. It really is too bad these things don't last forever.

On a brighter note, we have a new car now. We got a 2007 Honda Civic, and are quite happy with it. Amanda's long drive to work should be safer and more enjoyable this year!

Here is a picture I took the other day. Amanda and I think the picture is a little lame because it looks like a stock photo, but it's all I have.

I put some wire mesh just inside the front grill, because I have read about other civic owners having problems with the air conditioner condenser, which sits just inside the front grill, getting damaged by road debris. Apparently, Honda doesn't think it is something that should be covered by warranty. The wire mesh was $5 at home depot, and I found it in the flooring section. If anyone knows what the heck it is used for, please enlighten me. Here are some pictures of my wire mesh grill job (thanks for the help, Dad and Tim).

It wasn't too hard to get in there, but wasn't too easy either. Luckily, Tim got put in the most uncomfortable positions.

We're starting our second drive to Cape Breton this Sunday, so it seems we'll be putting a few thousand kms on our new car, just for fun. Hopefully we'll see lots of you while we're down there!

Around the yard

2007-07-15T18:09:00.000-04:00

About a month ago, I (Amanda) decided to spend some time taking pictures around the yard. I am always entertained by the different animals around the yard, but this day was particularly entertaining.

I took a few pictures -- flowers, spiders, wasps, etc. I listened to the golfers off in the distance yell "fore" and listened to the mockingbird go through every song he knew, including the sound of a car alarm. I watched the barn swallows fly overhead, the Jamaicans drive the crops down the road, and the hummingbird zoom to and from the feeder.

After watching the hummingbird for a minute I realized there were two, both male (both had red throats). They began to fight over the feeder. They would fly into one another, attempting to push the other away. It was fascinating to watch actually. Although there are several perches, they just did not want to share! After about 10 minutes of watching, (what appeared to be something from a documentary on birds that my husband would watch) they decided to share the feeder.

I snapped a few photos of the birds sharing, and then a few more of flowers. Not a minute later, they started to fight again--a bit more aggressively this time. Check out the photos below to see what happened in the end:

Where did the other bird go? I'll get a little closer.

What is under that bird? Is that really the OTHER bird?

Yes, it is the other bird! Oh no! Did he kill it over the feeder?

That is my running commentary of my thoughts! Once I got closer, the bird on the top flew off and so did the bird on the bottom! I wish I had a video camera!!!!

Hello Summer

2007-07-08T17:57:00.000-04:00

I'm not too sure where the month of June went, but now, here we are in the month of July! June was a busy month for both of us. Jeff worked a bit more than usual (almost every weekend), covering vacation time. I too worked a bit more than usual, allowing teachers to enjoy their "sick" days during the hot and humid weather. I did however get to enjoy not just a free trip to Marineland, but got paid to go and I recieved a free season's pass! Now, if only I knew of some kids to take!!

Before the big splash....

The big splash!

Follow up activity: Drawing their favorite part. Pretty good for Grade one!

Cape Breton
Just as we were both longing for summer in Cape Breton, we got an offer we couldn't refuse from Jeff's aunt and uncle in Sydney. It turned out that they purchased a boat in Ontario and they needed someone to haul it to Sydney for them. We jumped at that offer and got to spend a week in Cape Breton. We enjoyed every moment, as usual.

Here is a picture of the truck and boat we drove home.

Here's one of Jeff and Jack imagining what it would be like in the water.

We went to Point Michaud with the Shushan staff. They were surfing, we were watching, Ella was stuffing her face.

Amanda loves the beach! She spent some of the afternoon taking pictures.

We were out on Jack and Wendy's boat one evening, and got a few good pictures of Kyle and Corey on the sea biscuits.

Kyle going under...

a little more...

Kyle and Corey

We visited with Rick & Danielle, Sarah & Jamin, and Kelly & Jonathan at Shushan. It was great to get together, like old times.

Maybe Margaret could be edited into a few of these pictures.

We couldn't agree on which of these shots are better, so here are both. Jeff doesn't like the one that is lighter because the flash reflected off the water and made lines on our shirts.

Jeff got to go out on a Lobster fishing boat while we were home. A friend of his uncle is a Lobster fisherman, and Jeff was happy to go out and watch birds (and lobster) for the day. Sunrise is early this time of year, but lobster fishing starts even earlier. Jeff had to be at the Louisbourg wharf at 3:30AM. They were hauling traps before the sun broke the horizon.

Jeff tossed his cookies right after these pictures. There was actually a problem with the trap hauler on the boat that day, so they had to go back into Louisbourg after hauling about 30 traps, get the hauler fixed, and take the 45 minute trip back out to haul the other 245 traps.

The gulls followed the boat in, waiting for the old bait to be thrown over the side.

The one on the left is a large market lobster, the one on the right is 'shack.'

Hauling a trap. Notice how calm the water was--and Jeff still barfed!

This is most of the day's catch--400lbs. Apparently, that is a bad day.

Jeff got home around 4PM, fell asleep at 5:30PM, and didn't get up until 5:30PM the next morning. Maybe it was a tiring day, and maybe he should have gotten more than 2 hours of sleep the night before.

We're heading back to Cape Breton in a couple of weeks, to take our normal summer trip. This first one was just a bonus. Hopefully we'll see lots of you there!

The Month of May

2007-05-23T15:46:00.001-04:00

May is really a nice month in Ontario. I think it may even be nicer in (Southern) Ontario than it is in Nova Scotia. I realize this may be deemed heresy by many of my readers, but you should remember that I still have Nova Scotia up 11 to 1.

During the month of May in Ontario:
1. It is often quite warm. Nova Scotia had a windchill of -4 this past weekend, and snow earlier in the week. Southern Ontario was mild (or warm!) all week.

2. There are a few really good places to observe bird migration. I realize this doesn't matter to most of you, but it matters to me. I'm going to talk about birds some in this post, but I have pictures too, so some of you might not mind.

3. It's really green. The Carolinian forest in Ontario is lush and green, and it seems particularly nice after a long winter of grey. Nova Scotia's forests are a little slower to put out leaves & flowers, and many are not quite as lush.

Well, those are enough reasons for me. Remember, Nova Scotia is still up 11 to 1.

This month Amanda and I have been able to make it to a few parks, and have run into some interesting things outside. I will explain them with the help of a few pictures.

Our Yard
We let the cats outside occasionally these days. We try to go outside with them so that they don't kill things (they spend alot of their day thinking about killing things) or get themselves killed (by dogs, coyotes, fox, raccoons, or other cats). Even so, they have managed to catch a few things while outside, including a bunny, a snake, several small rodents, and a cowbird. They killed some of the small rodents, but everything else survived (the cowbird probably lasted another day). Oliver does most of the successful hunting, but Franklin has managed to catch a mouse. The bunny and the snake were the most surprising. Both times we found Oliver trotting across the yard with the victim, still alive and hardly hurt, in his mouth.

Here is a picture of one of the bunnies in our yard. They're not around as much now, but we did keep Oliver inside for a few days after his bunny incident.

Here is a picture of the snake that Oliver attacked. He was in pretty good shape, but doing his best to play dead when I picked him up. I think he played dead well enough that Oliver got bored and went somewhere else. He did take off when I put him in a safe place though. He was a big one!

Finally, here is a shot of Franklin that I like. He is as full of energy as ever, and often heads for a tree when he goes outside.

Beyond our yard
We made our now second annual trip to Point Pelee during the hiking day weekend. We blogged about it last year too. It was a pretty good time this year. Lots of migrating birds (a few pretty special ones), nice forest, and lots of nerdy birders to watch. Amanda likes watching the weirdos around us just as much as the birds.

Here is a shot of Amanda and my dad wandering through one of Pelee's forests.

My dad decided to have a nap on the beach, and I'm sure he made a few people wonder if he had just fallen over and died, or actually intended to lay the way he did.

A Yellow Warbler, which is a pretty common bird in Southern Ontario.

A nice-looking male Scarlet Tanager. We also saw a Summer Tanager while we were there, which is a rare visitor to Ontario. Note how fuzzy the picture is--really high end camera equipment is made for taking pictures of birds.

The bird nerds. We did our best to avoid areas that looked like this.

This wasn't at Point Pelee, but...this picture is an attempt to demonstrate trouble with finding birds once there are leaves on the trees. In that picture you'll see the head of Hooded Warbler that I saw in St. John's Conservation Area. I knew he was there because I heard him. This is a rare bird in Southern Ontario, and it is considered threated in Canada (mostly due to habitat loss).

We went to Long Point Provincial Park this month as well (more birding). We didn't see many birds there, but it was a nice park. It had pretty nice beaches for being on a lake. Here is a picture of my beautiful wife in the tall grass at Long Point.

And one of me looking for birds.

Amanda playing in the sand on the beach (which was a little chilly).

This is a common snapping turtle I ran into at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton.

Finally, I'll leave you with a few pictures of birds that I took while I was bird banding this spring. Most of the birds pictured here are 'neotropical' migrants, meaning that they spend their winters in South/Central America or the Southern states, and spend their summers breeding in North America.

A nice-looking male Indigo Bunting.

A Ruby-throated Hummingbird. We don't put bands on these guys, but she got caught in a net so I took a few pictures of her.

A Blackpoll Warbler. In the warbler world, these guys are really quite special. Blackpoll Warblers undertake the longest migration of any warbler, with some birds traveling 8000+ kms from Alaska to Brazil. What is even more amazing is that they spend a large part of that trip over the Atlantic on their fall migration--and they can't swim. An average Blackpoll flies 3000kms over the Atlantic, meaning that they fly nonstop for up to 88 hours before reaching land again. Glad it's not me!

A Blue-winged Warbler.

A male American Redstart.

A young male Cape May Warbler.

A Chestnut-sided Warbler.

A Philadelphia Vireo.

A Wilson's Warbler.

A Magnolia Warbler. This is either a female or a young male.

Removing the cap is far too slow

2007-05-14T22:47:00.000-04:00

Dominican Republic

2007-04-11T09:22:00.000-04:00

At the end of last month we stayed for a week at Viva Wyndham Tangerine in Cabarete, Dominican Republic. It was a rainy week, but we still managed to get tanned a little, spend a fair bit of time getting thrown around in the waves, and explore the area around the resort.

The resort was fairly nice. The buildings were clean, and the grounds well kept. The food was mediocre, and the staff were just ok. The beach at Cabarete is alot of fun, but only if you like rough water. The water was rough every day we were there. All the males in our groups seemed to really enjoy this, but the girls seemed to venture into the water only occasionally. Some days the water really was quite rough, and I can't imagine Amanda being in it (she would leaving the water with only part of her bathing suit and a lot of pain). Scott and I made up a game that involved running head-on into the biggest waves we saw. It was one of the best parts of the trip. It is hard to explain the feeling you get when you are running into a huge wave with no idea of what is going to happen when you meet it. Often what happens is you flip around a few times under water, slam into the ground, come up with salt water filling every hole in your head, and turn around to find another equally large wave is about 3cms from your face. Really, it was fun.

I'll explain the rest of the trip with the aid of a few pictures.

The Beach and the Resort

Amanda and I both enjoyed the beach, but perhaps I did a little more, since I could spend more time in the water than her. One day Amanda and I walked for about an hour west of the resort, and didn't see much more than sand and waves at the end of our trip (this was ok). Here are a few pictures from the walk.

I'm not sure yet how Amanda noticed this little guy.

A big grey cloud followed us back to the resort, and stayed there for the rest of the week.

Tim, Greg (Matt's uncle), and my Dad thought it would be nice to sit a little closer to the water. I especially like this shot because of the gawkers in the background.

This is what Amanda did while I got beat up by the waves.

Our only picture of the two of us. Note that Amanda is wearing her coat--it really wasn't very warm that day.

This is how Amanda felt about the buffet.

Ashley and Matt got married while we were down there (that was the reason for the trip). They don't want people to use their pictures until they get to look at them, so I'll just post one the probably won't print. Scott and I took pictures at their wedding.

Off the Resort

We spent a little bit of time off the resort too, mostly walking through Cabarete--the tourist part, a Dominican neighborhood, and a nearby national park. The tourist part was a special version of hell which involves costant harassment from people who want tourists' money. The Domincan neighborhood was a lot of fun, as everyone except for the kids ignored us there. The national park was fun too, and it was interesting to see what the Domincan Republic considers a National Park. It seems they're not as interested in conserving their national parks as Canadians are (the houses and clearcuts suggested this).

Amanda has already posted a few pictures that were taken in the Domincan neighborhood and the national park, but I'll post a few that I like too:

The first time we went through the national park, one kid, Joel (pronounced O-el), followed us and actually did a good job as a tour guide. He met up with a friend, Joel (pronounced Jo-el) partway through the hike and he assumed the role of tour guide as well. They were both alot of fun.

They showed us a lookoff, which was really quite nice.

They picked some Guava for us, which was disgusting.

Took us through a young banana farm.

And even flexed their muscles for us.

At the end of the walk we gave them some money and some toys Amanda brought with her. I like this picture because I'm in the background very obviously pointing at a bird.

Amanda handed out a bunch of candy watches at a house where we took cover from rain in the national park.

There were plenty of small lizards around.

There was a group of kids carving up a few poles in the national park. We weren't really sure why they were doing this. Perhaps for fun.

I thought this was amusing. At least he's holding the sharp end.

On our second trip to the national park these kids wanted to be our tour guides (yep, all of them) so that we would pay them. We gave them donuts and muffins instead.

On another day we visited a school in a neighborhood nearby. We went while the kids were out of school and one of the teachers gave us a little bit of a tour (in Spanish). This school is not publicly-funded--all money for teachers, supplies, buildings, etc. is raised (mostly in the US, I believe).

This guy was giving sugar cane to the kids. He sold some to us. It was interesting to try, but I don't expect I'll go looking for sugar cane sometime soon.

A few more pictures from the neighborhood near the resort:

Crayfishing.

Well, this post is getting a little long so I think I'll end it. The trip was fun. I don't think we'll go back there, but I'm glad we went.

We're Back

2007-04-06T16:11:00.000-04:00

This is just a quick post to let you know we are back, safe and sound from the Dominican Republic. Look for a new post in the next few days, with pictures of our trip.

I will leave you with a few pictures of what spoke most to me (Amanda) while I was there. This is not a post of sympathy or guilt for these "poor" children, but a post of happiness. In my mind, these "poor" children are more well off than many of our children, and adults in North America. They taught me so much about my life and North American society, and continue to do so everyday. Perhaps this is more of a post for me....no need for words.

Surprize...or not!

2007-03-18T21:37:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, I was able to get my haircut while I was home. Why is this exciting for me? Simply because it is cheaper! Here in Ontario you have three choices:
1. first choice haircutters-cheap but risky-been there done that!
2. Hair salons with a "jr stylist"-not so cheap($30)-not so great-tried that too!
3. Hair Salon with a "master stylist"-expensive ($50)-great-but do I really want to pay someone 50 bucks to cut my hair....no!

To sum up the length of my hair, I'll use my hair dresser's words "You look like Rapunzel!" Yes, it was quite long. Why? You know of course, I'm not paying anyone here to cut my hair. By the time she was finished, there was a lot of hair on the floor. As you can see from the pic, its much shorter than Rapunzel's! haha

I decided to tell Jeff that I got a haircut, but that was it. In his mind, my usual "cut" is a trim (cheap way out). I didnt feel the need to discuss this over the phone and thought I would "surprize" him, or see if he noticed (how could he not) when I arrived back in Ontario.

I arrive back in Ontario. I get off the plane, gather my luggage, put my hood up and head for the car. I don't get the usual welcome home greeting that many people do when I arrive in the airport because we are too cheap to pay for parking! I assume at this point Jeff doesn't notice my hair. I get in the car and take my hood down. He continues to talk to me, while driving. Maybe he doesn't notice because he is driving? We arrive home, I take off my jacket and begin to unpack. We continue chatting, face to face, for about 10 minutes. Finally, I can't take it anymore and I begin to laugh aloud. He asks, "What are you laughing at?" I say, "Oh, nothing". I let it go for a minute or two and then I say "DON'T YOU NOTICE HOW SHORT MY HAIR IS?". At this point, he starts laughing aloud! "Oh...yes....its nice". MEN!

Cape Breton for March Break!

2007-03-18T21:00:00.000-04:00

So, I'm back in ontario. Those of you who know me at all, know how I feel about this! I am happy however, to be back in my own house, with my wonderful husband and entertaining cats!

My time spent in Cape Breton was wonderful. Everyone there is so laid back. Who wouldnt enjoy it?! While Jeff was busy working evenings and weekends, going to school, and doing even more work into the wee hours of the morning, I spent some time organizing my mom's house. There is only so much time, a single mother of four teen boys (who also works full time) has!

Of course, only so much time was dedicated to organizing...the other was spent visiting with friends and family. I also managed to visit both Sarah D (who lives in New Minas), and Sarah B!! I was also able to squish in a haircut(I'll post on this later) and a visit to the dentist! Not a bad week!!

Elliot being her cute self!

I was using my mom's camera. When you turn off the camera, the lens retracts back into the camera. Of course, when you turn it on, it comes out. Elliot LOVED this feature! This is a pic of her studying it and trying to grab it!

Some of the girls at the Carabins for movie night.

Me with my two pregnant friends!

Chris (oldest brother) and I at home.

Hanging out with Kyle

2007-03-14T22:57:00.000-04:00

As you know, I am home in Cape Breton for the March Break. I am enjoying every second of my time...although I do miss my wonderful husband! I'll be back before you know it!

I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with Jeff's cousin, Kyle. Some may remember him as our little James Bond, aka, ring barer. Jeff and I spend quite a bit of time with his two youngest cousins, but its been a while since it was just Kyle and I. It seems the older he gets, the more we have in common! At the age of seven, his little mind is like a sponge and his mouth, well, doesn't stop. He ALWAYS needs to know why and how things work. I love it!

Our afternoon began with a trip to the movies to see Arthur and the Invisibles. What a fabulous movie! He requested popcorn and rootbeer...my favorite! Once the movie began I offered him some candy-of course he loved them. Sure, you say, what kid wouldnt? Well, Kyle is a fussy eater....sound like anyone you know? After getting up twice from our seats, and figuring out our escape plan if there was a fire at both fire exits, the movie began. Of course, not a word was spoken during the movie. The movie ended, and once we were in the car, he had a wonderful suggestion of getting ice cream cones from Big Bens. This boy is never full....and as you know...neither am I! Not only does he like to eat, but he likes to eat the same things as I do.

After giving me instructions on how to pump the gas and pay at the pump (which I knew..but he insisted on telling me anyway), I suggested we head to the beach. He thought is sounded like a "great idea". Again I think, what a great kid! Not many people like to go to the beach in the winter!

On the way out to the beach we had several things to discuss. Here is a sample of his conversation starters: "Did you know that some people think Jesus is still dead?; I'm only good at Math; I will show you a river out here; Which road are we on now; What do birds do; etc.

We arrive at the beach. After having a pee in the brush, we continue our walk to the beach. We reach the shore and he takes a good look at the ocean view. He says, "Isnt the view beautiful?" He took several pictures and asked several questions. When we finished (or when I thought we were) combing the beach for treasures I suggested we head back to the car. His response was "we're leaving?". At this point I asked myself, "Is this my kid?". I never want to leave the beach either!

We head back into the car, where he places his sand dollar in a special spot so it doesnt get broken. He then picks up the popcorn, which we just couldnt throw out at the movies, and begins to eat again! Ah, I love it! In between asking one hundred questions about the sand dollar and singing along to Jonny Cash, he asks if we can stop and get some bristle board so he can do a poster. I can only assume he is thinking about doing one on his new treasure!

He had just completed a poster on the Fortress of Louisbourg, so I decided to take him out to view it from a distance. We surveyed the scene, checking out all the points where the British may have entered. He of course, gave me the complete history of the Fortress. On the way back to his house, I noticed the questions had stopped, the singing had stopped and his head resting on the door. Ah, nap time! If only I could nap too!

I had a great afternoon....too bad we didnt live closer! Looking forward to visiting this summer!

Pictures taken by Kyle:

Pictures taken by me:

A not-so-silent spring

2007-03-13T13:25:00.000-04:00

I think the first was the House Finch. Then the Cardinals, then the Juncos, then the Robins. Today it is the Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Grackles, and a White-breasted Nuthatch. All singing, and in doing so leaving me quite excited about spring. These aren't the only signs of spring in Ontario, but they are probably my favorite.

Here are a few more:

Turkey Vultures have moved back into Southern Ontario now; I saw my first of the year on the weekend. They may have been here longer than that, I just didn't see them. They are usually one of the first 'spring' migrants, returning to the New England area as early as February.

I have noticed a few trees starting to bud.

The high is 11 degrees here in Hamilton today. 12 tomorrow. Zero Friday. That sounds like spring, doesn't it?

Even though these signs are present, we'll have to wait until March 20th, the vernal equinox, to declare it springtime.
___________________________________________________________________

What are we up to this spring? A fair bit...

Amanda is in Cape Breton right now, taking a mental health break from Ontario (not from me). She is on March Break, and we thought it may be better for her to spend a week there than a week here with me working and her off. It is turning out to be quite the busy week for me anyway. I am giving a lecture on Autism tonight that I should be preparing for right now, and coming home after that to continuously mark a pile of 210 papers until they are finished (I may sleep a little).

When she gets back we're both working for a week, and then heading to Domincan Republic for Ashley's wedding. We're pretty excited about that! We'll be there from Mar 24th to Mar 31st. I'm working on my knowledge of Hispaniolan birds, and Amanda is working on finding the appropriate clothes, bathing suit, and donations for the local schools.

In May I have a big report due (my progress report) and an important meeting. They will decide if I can stay at that point. Everyone gets to stay, so I'm not worried. However, I would like to look intelligent, so I've got some work to do.

To celebrate the completion of my progress report, we're going to head to Point Pelee for a few days of watching the hordes of migrants arrive in Southern Ontario. Point Pelee is 'migrant trap'; it is a peninsula which juts out into Lake Erie. It is the piece of land that many birds travelling North across the Lake see first, and if they are tired, they land there. It turns out many are tired, and the place is hopping with birds throughout much of the spring migration. We have a pass for all the national parks in Canada this year, so Point Pelee is a must.

In June we are going to spend a week at Cahill Point. The owner is a friend of my dad's and he is letting us stay there for a week, as he did last year (you may recall that blog posting). We'll do a little painting and cleaning while we're there, and hopefully there will be some canoing, hiking, and relaxing as well.

Other than that, we'll be working(both of us), going to school(perhaps both of us), and the other normal stuff (probably both of us). Bird banding starts up in March too!

Here's hoping that we'll never see a silent spring!

Wintertime

2007-02-24T12:24:00.000-05:00

There's not very much new with us these days. Work, school, home...the normal things. We haven't taken many pictures lately, due to the constant cold weather that has been present in Ontario for a month and a half now. I suppose it's winter.

We're heading to Dominican Republic for Ashley's wedding at the end of March. We're both pretty excited about it, as it will be our first trip to the caribbean. We'll take a few pictures there.

Here are the few we've taken lately. You may notice a theme:

Franklin sits in this window and watches birds on the deck (eating seed we put out). He is quite good at scaring them away now.

We've had one big snowstorm this year, and it wasn't too bad at our house. It was so windy we ended up with plenty of drifts though. There was over 40cms in Hamilton.

Ashley is engaged!

2007-01-23T17:31:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don't know yet, my sister got engaged to some skinny dork from New Brunswick this past weekend (his name is Matt). She has provided details and a few pictures on her blog, so go check it out!

Congratulations Ash and Matt!

Christmas 2006 - Jeff's post

2007-01-16T08:46:00.000-05:00

The previous post was by Amanda, and she didn't want to talk much about birds, so here is another post. (Just joking about the bird part, kinda.)

A highlight of the trip for me was the usually-annual Christmas camping trip. We have often camped on Rick and Jean Whyte's property in Ross Ferry in the past, but we went to the other side of Bouladerie Island this year. We hiked in to a spot that was on the shore of the Bras D'or, and close to some old mill (I don't know what they 'milled' there at one point). I got the distinct feeling we were on someone's property, especially when we were tossing logs of pre-cut firewood into the fire and sitting around on nicely shaped log-benches. The poor guy that chopped all that wood is going to be pissed. In our defense, we didn't have an axe, so we really had no chioce. Here are a few pictures:

It really was a nice morning.

The campsite.

A few pictures of the mill.

__________________________________________________________
I participated in a Christmas Bird Count while I was home. I got stuck on a crappy route, so there wasn't much to see birdwise (we saw a few interesting birds when we left our route). However, we were driving around some of the towns outside Glace Bay, so there were some interesting people to see. One little delinquent in Birch Grove decided to take out his pellet gun and shoot at the birds while we were counting them. When we were back in the car and driving past his house he shot the car. (I would never do something like that, unless Rick was around). After being hollared at to 'get outta here', he kindly told us to go f*** ourseleves. Birder persecution is really a problem in those parts. Here is a picture of a Dovekie, a bird I saw in Port Morien, which wasn't on our birding route. This guy is not much longer than my hand.

__________________________________________________________
A few more interesting things we discovered in Cape Breton:

Chris Tickner is now a Jedi Knight.

Modern day cavemen exist in Cape Breton near Glooscap's Caves. They are certainly a little wild looking and have poor language skills, but are mostly friendly. This one grunted at us as we walked by.

Christmas 2006

2007-01-13T15:14:00.000-05:00

As you know, we spent this past Christmas in Cape Breton. We really enjoyed every second of our time at home with family and friends. It was so nice to get away from Ontario and back to the laid back pace of Nova Scotia. The countdown is on until we return again!!!

We didnt spend much time taking pictures but here are a few for your enjoyment:

Scott and Leigh Anne's Wedding

The boys' annual winter camping trip

The old gang....with some new little members!

The girls at Cheryl's house

The Guys at Cheryl's house

Hiking to a cave with Rick, Danielle, and Eric

Inside the cave was a little wet....

so us girls stayed at the entrance!

Nothing quite like a winter hike in the woods of Cape Breton!

Chris trying out the Nintendo Wii. I want one!

Visiting with the Barretts. Naomi got so excited when she saw the cats her whole body would move. This made taking pictures much more difficult!

What a cutie!

Franklin Update

2006-12-13T17:47:00.000-05:00

So, we dont have kids to update you on but we do have a kitten!

Franklin has been adjusting quite well to life on the farm. He is now four months old and still very much a kitten. He loves Oliver and never seems to get enough of him. As you can imagine, Oliver gets too much of him. He likes to run from one end of the house to the other and pounce, knocking 15 pound Oliver over. If he is not doing that, he is wrestling with him, grabbing his tail, pushing his way onto the window ledge, steeling Oliver's food or rubbing up against him. It is pretty much a three ring circus here-except for nap time.

Franklin's mind appears to need constant stimulation. Here is a list of the following activities he likes to do these days:

Watch tv-ads, shows, playstation
Chase the arrow on the computer screen
Chase his toy mouse around the house, dropping it in our shoes (for extra challenge)
Sprinting to see if an ice cube accidently falls out of the ice machiene onto the floor
Watch us do the dishes
Climb the Christmas tree, chase his tail while in it, chew on the branches and lights while getting tangled in them.
Chew on anything he can find
Walk all over us at 4:30am to tell us he is hungry. If that doesnt work he resorts to licking, biting, laying on our faces and purring loudly.
Knocking us over trying to get in the shower to lick up the water drops and get a drink
Stealing saran wrapped food off of the counter-including cookies, muffins, rice krispie squares.
Running, leaping, climbing, (basically acting like the Tazmanian Devil) at any hour of the day.

I think we should have named him Alivin, like Alvin and the Chipmunks. You know how Dave yells "Aaalllviiiiiin". Nah, we love him. He is very entertaining!

Enjoy the pics!

December Update

2006-12-13T17:15:00.000-05:00

Its been a while since my last blog entry, and with a day off (due to car problems:brakes not working), I figured I had the time to update.

Overall, life for us has been busy as usual. I am supply teaching quite a bit, and loving it. I do have my days when I don't look forward to the hour long drive ahead of me, but overall, I love it. I have one school which I supply at on a regular basis. It is a very needy/rough school, which I thrive on. Its so nice to be able to get to know all of the kids there. Everyday is a new and exciting day!

Jeff has been busy with school--tests and papers--the usual. He is still working at the Manor and loving it. I will be glad to spend some time with him over Christmas break...that is if he doesnt spent too much time bird watching!!

The weather here has been quite odd. We've had a lot of rain, one cold week with some flurries, and now we are back to warm temps and rain. I can't complain. With so much rain though, our basement has seen quite a bit of water. One day we lost the power, which in turn stopped our pump and created a mess in our basement. After blowing a few fuses (using a shop vac and a dehumidifier) we managed to clean it up. A few days later, we figured out that we had no water coming into our house. Apparently our landlord took out a fuse which pumps water from the well into a holding tank. The holding tank had run dry. A few hours later we were back in business.... with some dirty water.

We are both looking forward to going home for Christmas. It will make for an interesting drive with one well travelled cat and one wired kitten! Pray we don't hit a snowstorm!!! We plan to arrive in CB on the 21st and stay until approximately the 4th of January. It will be so nice to spend some time with family and friends that we havent seen in a while. I'm also looking forward to all that Christmas food. I want to have that stuffed feeling that you get at Christmas!!

Sorry I dont have any pics to post. We really havent taken any lately....except for some of Franklin. I will get Jeff to post some of those (he has high-speed at work) for the interested readers tomorrow.

Hope to see you all soon!

Honeybees

2006-11-29T11:37:00.000-05:00

Someone recently found a honeybee hive at Ruthven Park in Cayuga, ON; Ruthven is the park where I go bird banding. I think the beehive is pretty neat, so I've posted some pictures below. I should note that I didn't take any of these--I think my stinging insect phobia may prevent me from getting very close to that thing.

Presumably, this hive started in a cavity in the tree, and eventually expanded to what it is in the pictures.

Can you speak a little higher?

2006-11-23T16:53:00.000-05:00

This is my (Jeff's) audiogram. I volunteered to be a control participant in a tinnitus experiment in the McMaster Psych department this week, in hope of finding out if I actually can't hear, or just don't listen. It seems that I just don't listen, or at least the problem is with my attentional system (which I study), not my auditory system.

I'll explain what the numbers above mean:

'O db' is an intensity level which a group of people who know things about hearing have called the Threshold of Human Hearing.
Anything between O and +20 db is considered within the normal range of human hearing, and anything above +20 is considered poor hearing.
Anything below O db is considered to be very good hearing.
This dB system is used to describe my hearing threshold at a series of frequencies in the chart below the Audiogram plot above. The frequencies are in bold font, and my hearing threshold appears (for right and left ears separately) below the frequency.

My low-frequency hearing is within the normal range, and my high frequency hearing is, apparently, exceptional. The technician running the experiment told me he had not seen many people come through the lab with high frequency hearing as good as mine (actually, he said he hadn't seen any). The 20,000Hz measurement probably isn't correct because of a problem with their system (I could hear white noise rather than the 20,000Hz tone), but the rest should be accurate. I expect the 20,000 Hz score would have been somewhere around the same as the 18,000Hz score, or perhaps worse.

What is exceptional high-frequency hearing good for? Listening to insects, and blog fodder.

Texas

2006-11-22T16:22:00.000-05:00

Earlier this month, I left my beautiful wife for a few days to attend the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society in Houston, Texas. The conference took place between November 16th and 19th. I arrived Thursday morning, and was happy to find that everything in Texas is still green this time of year, and I could wear shorts there.

I rented a car on Thursday evening in Houston, attended a poster session at the conference, and set my alarm for 4:45AM. The drive to the Gulf Coast on Friday morning was fairly pleasant--there aren't too many cars on the road that early in the morning. I arrived on Galveston Island just before sunrise, and got to watch the sun break the horizon from the ferry between Galveston Island and Port Bolivar. All of this, of course, had nothing to do with the conference. I was going birding.

The ferry ride was alot of fun. The warm air, sunrise, & Laughing Gulls aren't things I often experience in Canada this time of year. Also, the ferry was free! Here are some pictures:

Laughing Gulls trailed the boat constantly. I think that people regularly toss food from the back of the boat. I took this one before the sun came up.

The sun reached the horizon while I was on the boat. Within a few minutes the sky went through a hundred shades of orange.

I made the ferry crossing because I was going to Bolivar Flats, which I've read is one of the best shorebird locations in Texas. I think that I saw fewer birds than are often present, but it was still a really neat place. I had a hard time identifying the species of many of the birds on the beach, but probably saw about 20 species I could identify. A few pictures of the flats:

That stupid Ford was my rental car.

The mudflats are a protected area. They are a significant stopover point for migratory shorebirds, and are also a significant wintering area.

This was the first time I had seen Pelicans. Pretty funny looking birds.

I suppose this is a classic Texan backdrop.

The beach is bordered by a large grassland. I walked over to the observation tower and got to watch Harriers patrolling the fields, more Meadowlarks than I had ever seen before, Savannah Sparrows, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet (I'm used to seeing those in the woods, not a meadow), and some other birds I couldn't identify. I didn't see any snakes.

After a couple of hours on the beach, I made the trip back across the ferry to Galveston Island. I was following the Texas Birding Route, and there were more places to see!

I took a picture of the ferry this time.

Both flavors of Pelican were floating around at the front of the boat before the ride back over.

More Laughing Gulls.

I followed the over-developed Galveston Island shoreline for a while, and then followed the birding route to a large marsh. A road cuts through a section of the marsh, so it is a great place for lazy birding. I took the bird pictures below from the car.

I was surprised by this group of birds. The large guy is a Great Egret, the ones with the hooked orange bills are White Ibises, and the small white guys are Snowy Egrets.

I took a bunch of pictures of the birds thinking they would turn out ok. I was dissapointed when I got home to find most kinda fuzzy. I think I should have used a smaller aperture. Anyway, I think they're still interesting.

A Tricolored Heron.

On this road I saw about 10 species which I had never seen before. At the end I came up on a beach and found this interesting little crab:

After the marsh, I drove through the rest of the overdeveloped Galveston Island. Along the entire shoreline the only things to be seen are houses and condos on stilts.

I guess they build them like this because of the hurricane/storm surge risk. A big hurricane may wipe out lots of these houses, which are built on the coast at about 10m above sea level. Also, apparently Texans don't know which way is OUT when a hurricane hits. I thought these signs were pretty funny:

I drove to the end of Galveston Island, where I was going to go birding at San Luis Pass (another mudflat), but I was tired and it was getting late (I had to have the car returned by 5PM), so I moved on. I stopped in Galveston for a few minutes, hoping to go on the wharf pictured below. I would have had to pay, so I just watched from the shore. I didn't see anyone catch anything, but I did see a Dunlin.

On my way back to Houston, I stopped in a few city parks. They were quite nice, and the forest is much different there than it is here. Often it was quite thick, with lots of vines. There were a few of these big old oaks around, which apparently can have branches that are longer than the tree is tall.

After getting lost and going for a drive through Houston's ghetto (I invariably end up in ghettos when lost in cities), I managed to return the car with time to spare. On Saturday at lunchtime I presented my poster, which was actually a lot of fun to present. For those interested, here is an image of the poster (I forgot the camera when I was presenting it):

Yes, it does say 'orgasm' on the poster. Perhaps that made presenting it more fun.

I spent a little bit of time walking around Houston while I was there, and was entirely unimpressed. The downtown area was dead. I often took pictures from the middle of the street, not worried at all about seeing a car within the next 5 minutes. It was fun to be there, but I don't think I'll feel the need to see Houston again anytime soon. The Gulf Coast was a really nice area, but the Texans haven't managed what they have very well. It is very overdeveloped. It must have really been nice before they put all those stilt-houses up.

The trip to Texas was fun. It would have been more fun had Amanda been there--then I would have had someone other than birds to talk to during my day of birding.

During my day-trip I think I saw about 60 species of birds. Here is the list (* indicates I had not seen them before):

Pie-billed Grebe
American White Pelican*
Brown Pelican*
Lots of Cormorants - probably both Neotropic and Double-crested
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret*
Snowy Egret*
Little Blue Heron (I think)*
Tricolored Heron*
Reddish Egret*
Cattle Egret*
Yellow-crowned Night Heron*
White Ibis*
Roseate Spoonbill*
Northern Shoveler*
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal*
Red-breasted Merganser
White-tailed Kite*
Northern Harrier*
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Clapper Rail*
American Coot*
Killdeer
American Avocet*
Willet*
Long-billed Curlew*
Marbled Godwit*
Sanderling*
Western Sandpiper*
Dunlin*
Laughing Gull*
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Caspian Tern
Sandwich Tern*
Forster's Tern*
Inca Dove*
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Eastern Phoebe
Loggerhead Shrike*
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Northern Mockingbird
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Savannah Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Great-tailed Grackle

That's 54, with 28 new ones. I think I may have left a few out, and I'm sure I saw lots I didn't identify at Bolivar Flats. Anyway, it was fun!

Hey, it's Franklin!

2006-11-02T08:10:00.000-05:00

So it seems we have acquired another cat. I say that as if we just happened to find one in our house one day, but that isn't the case at all. We found our new friend, Franklin, at the Hamilton SPCA this past Saturday. Throughout the winter, and perhaps the summer, we expect to be keeping Oliver inside much more than he has been previous to now. Spending time outside has certainly resulted in some scratches, sore spots, and scary situations for Oliver, so we are thinking that spending winter days outside with coyotes around may not be a great idea for a nice plump cat. Since Oliver is used to lots of stimulation from running around outside all day, we thought he may enjoy a friend in the house.

Franklin is a 3-month old grey tabby, and is quite the wiry, rambunctious little guy. Oliver was entirely pissed off for the first few days Franklin was around, but last night he surprised us and lightened up a little. Oliver and Franklin spent most of yesterday evening chasing each other around the house, swatting at each other, and making those odd friendly noises that cats make. Oliver is 15-16lbs now, and Franklin is 4lbs, so we're a little worried that Franklin may get crushed at some point (Oliver enveloped him at one point last night), but so far things are ok. Franklin moves much faster than Oliver, so his speed may save him.

We'll be driving to Cape Breton this Christmas, and I guess now we're bringing two cats! They can both stay at Jane's house, along with their cat, dog, fish, gerbil, 2 rats, foster kid, exchange student, and, of course, Jane, Jeff, & Chris. I don't think we'll be staying there!

For those interested, I think we'll be leaving Ontario on December 19th, and getting home late on the 20th. Scottie is getting married on December 22nd, so we will certainly be there by then! I think we're going to have to be back in Ontario on January 3rd, but I am going to try to stretch our visit to as long as it can be.

Here are some pictures of our new friend (I'll probably post some more later, as these were taken quickly last night and aren't so great):

The chair game: normally Oliver wants to play it with us, but we don't often want to play because it leaves holes in out hands.

The coach game was also a popular one last night.

Oliver wasn't a fan of this. The window is his.

We're working on getting this guy to relax while we're holding him. We can hold him sometimes now, which is much better than when we first got him. We thought about calling him 'Twist' because that is what he would do when anyone picked him up in the first few days we had him. Then we thought having an 'Oliver' and a 'Twist' might be a little lame.

Autumn post, with pictures!

2006-10-08T20:01:00.000-04:00

Well, we'll make this simple: we have access to high speed internet today so we thought it may be nice to upload some pictures for you, our loyal readers. This is what we've been up to lately:

Apple Picking....in Ontario. Its a bit different from home. It seems to be more expensive, the trees are dwarf trees so you dont use a ladder, you drive into the orchard and park your car next to the trees!! We picked Cortland apples, and they are so good (more crisp and juicy) when they are just off the tree. They are much better than grocery store apples (usually), and a little cheaper.

Autumn Walks

We have managed to find a nice conservation area within a few minutes of our house. Unfortunately, and unlike the one we lived next to last year, this one charges admission. We pay sometimes. Recently, we found one good path that has lots of birds (at least during migration; for Jeff), deer, and horses (for Amanda). Amanda is especially excited about the horses, and Jeff is excited that he can watch migratory birds in some good edge habitat while Amanda feeds the horses grass.

Backpacking Algonquin

Scott, Timmy, Dad, and I went backpacking in Algonquin last weekend. We hiked about 33kms over three days (and two nights camping). We had fun, stayed mostly dry, and completely wore themselves out. Algonquin is fairly colorful in autumn, but we arrived a little bit after the maximum color period (it was still quite colorful). There were a bunch of lakes on the backpacking trail, and they camped on lakes both nights. Algonquin's (relatively) pristine lakes make the park a great place to visit.

Wings of Paradise

I got in free, and Jeff got a discount, so we visited Wings of Paradise Butterfly conservatory in Cambridge a few weeks ago. We visited on a rainy day, which was nice because it was a rainy day, but not so great because butterflies are less active on non-sunny days (even in greenhouses). We did get a few periods of sun; during those times, there were butterflies everywhere. All things considered, it is not a bad place to visit, especially if you are a teacher and get in free (like Amanda).

Our House

We love our little farm house, and there was a request for a few more pictures, so here they are. Oliver loves it too. He has lots of room to roam now, and seems to spend most of his time up by the cornfields. There is some brushy area up there, and we figure he is up there killing the wildlife. You can find pictures we took before we moved in at this link.

A tractor in our yard.

Part of our yard.

Banding

I've been out bird banding for a few days this fall, and still maintain the Haldimand Bird Observatory blog: www.birdbanding.blogspot.com

I plan to make it out for a few more days before the fall migration really slows down. Here are a few pictures from the last time I was out there:

A Tufted Titmouse, Ruthven's first of the fall.

A Wood Frog.

A Hooded Warbler, a rarity in Southern Ontario that found his way into a mist-net at Ruthven one day.

A Black-and-yellow Garden Spider.

A baby snapping turtle.

A stand of Woodland Goldenrod.

Its been a while....

2006-09-20T11:45:00.000-04:00

After reading Margaret’s post, I decided to update our blog. It has been a while, but nothing really new or exciting to report in our little neck of the woods.

We have settled in nicely to our new home. We love where we live actually. We are very thankful and blessed to be living here. It is such a cozy little house in the country. We have acres to play Frisbee and catch! Oliver of course can never get enough of outside.
Funny story: The house we live in has a long history, many different people living in it, including the people who now own it. The lady that owns it says one day, “had my first two kids in this house”. Later she introduces me to her friend who used to live here, also says in mid conversation “had my first two kids in that house”. Yet again, when talking to her son and daughter in law, “we had Ryan in that house, so we needed more space”. At this point, I told Jeff that we better watch out for the water we are drinking because I think there might be something in it!

We have been exploring the conservation areas (parks) around our house lately. It was a big disappointment to find out that you have to pay to go. Imagine, paying $2 a person to go to a park? We will slowly get over this….or find a way around it! We did get to see some cool wood ducks, white tailed deer and two screech owls though! It was really cool to see the owls so close up. Sorry we don’t have any pics, but our camera was in the trunk of the car when we saw them.

Jeff is enjoying school/work, of course. He is keeping busy these days with school, work at the Manor, bird banding, and soon will be going on a canoe trip with his dad and brothers. I am still searching for that perfect job. I’ve been busy looking for work, applying to jobs, turning down jobs and having interviews. Its very much a wait and see game! I am also a sub at a local preschool from time to time.

That's it from the MacLeods. Sorry there are no pics yet. I've had a few requests for pics of new house now that we are settled in. I'll work on that this week. Be patient as its really hard with DIAL UP!!!

Congrats Scott!

2006-09-20T11:09:00.000-04:00

A big CONGRATS out to Scotty and Leighann on their recent Engagement! Woohoo!!! Who would have ever thought our little Scottie would be getting married! We love you Scott and are very happy for you! Can't wait to see you both...really soon!

New Binoculars

2006-08-30T16:49:00.000-04:00

While Amanda and I were home, I managed to totally destroy my binoculars. The first knock involved dropping them on cement, eye-cup first. This bent the rubber-cased metal eye-cup so that it was no longer functional for anyone not wearing glasses. Later, one of the tethered lens caps broke off. I was not very worried about these things, because the binoculars came with a no-fault lifetime warranty--they'll fix them/give you a new set no matter what happened to them (unless it was intentional or they were stolen). This was part of the reason I chose the binoculars I did.

The event that really did them in involved some rocks on a beach at the end of Wharf Rd. in Ingonish. I'll just let you look at the picture:

I had been taking pictures, carrying my camera bag, my camera on a tripod, and my binoculars around my neck. Amanda was up on some rocks (see in the picture below), so after taking a picture, I decided to climb up there too. My sandals got wet as I walked to the rocks, and when I jumped an approximately 3 foot drop, I slipped and fell forward. As I fell, I thought, "Oh crap, I'm going to break my camera" (it was still on the tripod which I was carrying), so I made an effort to save it. Much to my surprise, I did manage to get the camera through the ordeal unscathed, but the tripod really took a beating (only a superficial beating though). My face took some of the impact too, because I was using my hands to protect the camera, but that was worth it. After inspecting my camera, I was just about to smile when I looked down at my binoculars. They snapped in two! I'm glad I have that warranty! If you're the type that falls on binoculars, go with Vortex--good glass, good price, and a better warranty. I got my new ones today, just in time for the fall migration.

I'll leave you with a few pictures I took while we were home. We're missing Cape Breton already.

Wharf Rd. Beach.

We managed to get pretty close to a moose on the Benji's Lake Trail.

The Wharf Rd. wharf in Ingonish, at dusk.

(In case anyone was wondering, I made this post at work. No, I didn't upload these pictures with dial-up).

Ceilidh

2006-08-24T14:32:00.000-04:00

NO...she's not ours! I had to share these cute pics with you. She is the newest member of the Tickner family. I guess my mom didnt think she had enough going on? This is Ceilidh. She is 6 weeks old. She is a mix: her mom was a Beagle and a Collie, her dad was a Lab and a Husky. Wonder how big she will get?

In One Year......

2006-08-23T14:06:00.000-04:00

As I sit here just thinking about packing, I can't help but reflect on how many times I have packed and unpacked already this year. It is true, as you all know, I do enjoy change. However, I can't help but wonder how many more times we will move before we finally "settle down".
To recap our year:

About this time last year,we packed up our nice, new, 2 bedroom apartment in Halifax and moved to Ontario. We enjoyed our apartment even though it was located so close to the highway.
Time of stay: 2 years

Country House: What can I say....we LOVE this house! We lived in this house until May of this year. We really miss it.
Time of Stay: 8 months

City House: What can I say.... we didnt love it. True, it looks nice on the outside and it was in a great neighborhood. If you know us, you know the story. I'll leave it at that! We lived in this house for the summer.
Time of stay: 4 months

Country House: Here it is, the new "house". Isnt it cute? This is where we are moving this week. Its a tiny 2 bedroom house in the middle of farm land. It used to be a house for the "helping hands" of the farm. Now, its totally redone on the inside and waiting for us to move in. We are looking forward to this move!
Intended time of stay: Only God knows!

IMPORTANT NOTE: We will not have highspeed internet once we move. We are living so far out in the country, surrounded by only farmers, we are unable to get it. This means we will most likely NOT be posting many pictures!!!!

Family

2006-08-18T11:58:00.000-04:00

Can you believe it, two posts in one day?! I think I'm avoiding packing!

So, I recently got to spend some time at home with my family. The question came up several times throughout the trip, "Do we look alike?". I suppose it is a common question, since we havent been together for months and my brothers are getting older. So, I will leave you with some recent pics. Who looks like who? After polling some folks at home, we never really reached a final decision! Some say Chris and Jeff look alike, or that Chris looks like mom, that Jeffrey and I look alike. Its never really one clear answer. Let me know what you think.

Niagara Falls

2006-08-18T11:01:00.000-04:00

Well, as you know, one of my brothers is here visiting. Of course, he likes to do what any other tourist would like to do. On Wednesday, he convinced me to go to Niagara Falls. I had only been once-in February-with Jeff(Feb because its cheaper and is pretty much a ghost town). As we arrived, we found out that parking was $18 dollars! I simply would not pay this, and continued to drive around this ant maze. We found a spot that was great for $10 at a local motel. As we ventured around we found that anything you could do there(cheesy or not) was at least $10. No surprize to me! Chris, starting his business degree in the fall, couldnt stop seeing dollar signs! "Imagine if you owned property here?"

After looking around, Chris convinced me to go on "Maid of the Mist" for $14 dollars. Yes, as you can see from the picture below, it was a boat which circled around the bottom of the falls. They provided us with "paunchos" (aka blue recycling bags with holes for head and arms). As we proceeded through the line, we had to "prepare for your picture". Of course I took out my makeup mirror immediately! As we stood and got our pictures taken, the girls told us to "put your arms around eachother". I thought this was funny at first, but then I got insulted. Did they really think we were a couple? Chris of course, did just as they said, and still thinks nothing of it. So, he's 18 and I'm 25...AND HE'S MY BROTHER!

We,(the white minorities) continued down the line to the boat. Now the smell began. For some reason, I really didnt think that The Falls were polluted. I guess that's just me being a naive Cape Bretoner! We boarded the boat, with a hundred more blue covered humans of every shape, age and size and began our "Maid of the Mist" journey. I have to say, it was really neat to be at the bottom of the falls. We went over and viewed the US falls, then proceeded to the "Canadian Falls". It was really incredible being at the bottom of these falls, much more than the US falls. We began to get "mist" on us-no problem. Well, within 2 minutes, I think we were completely under the falls-I really have no idea-as the water was coming down on us so fast I couldnt see anything. It was amazing but yet disguisting all at the same time. The water smelled like the Wentworth/Public Gardens duck ponds and Chris says in the middle of it all, "It doesnt taste very good". Glad we saved that tour for the end of our trip!

Afterwards we thought it would be funny to look at the picture they took of us. They handed us two copies and said "we'll give you both copies for $25 dollars". Wow, what a deal! We gladly handed them back to them! I still can't believe they printed off all of those pictures. Now what do they do with all that wasted photo paper-throw it out? What a stupid thing to do.

All in all, it was a great way to spend $14 dollars! Sorry, I didnt take any pictures from the boat. I left the camera in the car, which in the end was a great decision!

Millville Space Center

2006-08-16T17:22:00.000-04:00

What do Call Centers and Space Centers have in common? Cape Breton is a good place for both of them!

Apparently, "a consortium of international companies and stakeholders, including the Canadian Space Agency" think that Cape Breton is a hell of a place to launch a spaceship from. And it looks like Millville, of all places, is a potential launch point (see the picture with the artucle). Yes, I am talking about THAT Millville. The one whose roads are all that is necessary to keep Cape Breton's alignment shops in business.

Go read about Canada's Cape Canaveral here.

It certainly seems like something Cape Breton could benefit from, at least temporarily. However, I would worry about environmental devastation as a result of the noise and forest clearing involved. Bruno would probably join me in that one. (Of the two, who would you expect to be more vocal about it?) Cape Breton's relatively pristine environment (I'm temporarily forgetting Sydney) is one thing that it cannot afford to sell off for a cheap (or perhaps very expensive) thrill.

Happy Birthday!

2006-08-16T12:21:00.000-04:00

Yes-today is Jeff's 24th Birthday! Its also Sarah Barrett's 26th Birthday! Happy Birthday to you both!

You are still pretty good at getting food all over your face!!!

Deep in thought?

Wish I could get a suit on you now!!

What a cute lil guy!

What a handsome man! haha
Perhaps I should still say " What a cute lil guy?" (Just kidding hun! Love ya)

Back In Ontario

2006-08-14T11:26:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to let you all know that we are back, safely, in Ontario. We arrived back late Thursday night. We had an amazing trip home. Although the whole trip took almost 3 weeks to complete, it was still not long enough. We enjoyed every second of being home. I will post some pictures when we get a chance to upload them onto the computer!

My brother Chris, came back with us for his own little vacation. Its nice to have him here and to do some things we normally don't do. We went to a CFL game on Saturday night, Hamilton vs. Toronto. It was fun....although I prefered to watch everything else but the game!!! The people who go to these games can be quite interesting!

Chris leaves next week and then we do too. Yes, we are moving again. This time its an hour away. We are excited to move.
Enjoy the week, Amanda

Home, or at least something close to it...

2006-07-24T22:15:00.000-04:00

After about 21 hours of driving, and an overnight stop at Matt's cottage on First Eel Lake in New Brunswick, we have arrived in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley. We are really happy to be back in Nova Scotia.

We went for a walk tonight on 'the dykes' in New Minas. After a day with much rain, there was a nice sunset. Below is a picture of Amanda and Sarah (walking Avery, Sarah's 'Westie'). I'm sure we will be seeing many of you (our readers) quite soon! Until then...

Summer Weekends

2006-07-10T11:16:00.000-04:00

Over the past couple of years, Amanda and I have developed a habit of spending all summer weekends away from home. Last summer we lived in Halifax, but spent our weekends in Cape Breton, PEI, the valley, etc. This summer we live in St. Catharines, but we seem to find a way to get away from here every weekend. It really is more fun than staying home for the weekend. This past weekend Amanda went to my parents' place in London while I worked in Hamilton (I went to London for Saturday evening though), we have spent a couple of weekends visiting provincial or national parks, and soon we'll be heading out to the east coast (I think we'll spend two weekends out there--and the weeks in between, of course).

During the Canada Day long weekend, a four-day weekend for all who work at Brock University, a couple who are friends of my parents (and us; Chris and Lori Cahill) let us use their cottage. Their cottage sits on the edge of Straggle Lake in Harcourt, Ontario, which is just south of Ontario's Algonquin Park.

We drove up to the cottage on Thursday afternoon, and came home on Tuesday morning. During the drive up we lost two hours of our lives sitting in traffic around Toronto, but the drive home was much quicker (and therefore more enjoyable).

We spent a couple of days in Algonquin Park's Hwy #60 corridor, and a couple of days exploring the area the cottage was in. The lake at the cottage was quite nice, and there were canoes and kayaks for our paddling enjoyment. Canoeing and kayaking was a little easier on the Friday and Monday, as the lake wasn't crowded with motorboats on those days.

Apparently the area is quite popular with mineral geeks, and there are a pile of abandoned mines around. We hiked to an abandoned mine one day, and it was pretty neat. The mine shaft was essentially a big hole through the side of a hill, and walking into the shaft was like walking from summer into winter in 5 steps. Unfortunately, we didn't bring our headlamps, so we couldn't go very far into the mineshaft. A highlight of that trip was running into a rock-hunter who was beating apart rocks in a spot close to the mineshaft. He was happy to show us the rocks he was collecting, and even gave us a bunch. He was quite the character--overalls with no shirt, white hair complemented by a long white beard, a sweaty bandana around his forehead, and an antique red truck with a doll stuck in the front grill. He gave us a few rocks which were made up of deep purple fluorite, white calcite, and occasionally flecked with green apatite crystals. Also, after Amanda told him she is a teacher, he donated some nice quartz crystals from Arkansas, and a piece of Amethyst from his mine in Thunder Bay. It seems we're starting a mineral collection.

Some pictures:

The drive up: the area is peppered with lakes and marshes, and a blanket of mist was quite common in the mornings and evenings.

Cahill's Point, our residence for the weekend. This dead tree let us know where to look for a driveway. The roughly rectangular holes in the tree were made by a Pileated Woodpecker.

A raccoon had strolled down the railing of our deck early one morning. He ate all of the sunflower seed I left out for whatever birds were around.

Cedar slat canoes: they look nice, but are quite heavy.

The lake, just after sunset.

The cottage.

BBQing is the way to go at the cottage.

Some shots of the wharf and kayaking:

I took this during a thunderstorm (the bright light to the left of the island). I'm going to have to figure out how to get rid of the noise in the picture.

My beautiful wife :-).

Entering the mineshaft. It was quite cold and dark, but still rather inviting.

Not the setting in which we expected to find a mineshaft .

We found a pine forest owned by a logging company. It was a pretty neat place to walk through.

Algonquin.

This is all that we saw of Moose in Algonquin (apparently they are quite plentiful, but Amanda thinks it is all a scam to attract visitors).

A Common Yellowthroat on the Spruce Bog Trail. We made it to the trail by about 7AM (after over an hour of driving), hoping to see wildlife. We didn't see much in terms of wildlife, but at least we didn't see much in terms of humans either.

Notice the hood--Amanda spent most days with her hood up avoiding mosquito bites.

On Hardwood Lookout's side trail. The woods really are quite nice on this trail, and we were lucky enough to see a Blackburnian Warbler.

Amanda is beside a large beaver dam on Beaver Pond Trail in this photo.

A list of the birds I can remember seeing while 'up north', for those who might be interested:

In Harcourt, around the cottage:
Common Loons (at least 6 on Straggle Lake, but I think more)
Osprey (I think there is a nest somewhere clost to Straggle Lake)
Northern Waterthrush
Belted Kingfisher
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Lots of Northern Flickers
I heard Pileated Woodpeckers several times, but did not see them in Harcourt
Three-toed Woodpecker (I think)
Lots of Blue Herons, Song Sparrows, Black-capped Chickadees, and Yellow-rumped Warblers
A family of Common Mergansers (female with 10 merganserlings (?)--males impregnate and run)

In Algonquin:
Nashville Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Blackburnian Warbler
Ruby Crowned Kinglet
Pileated Woodpecker
American Bittern
Red-breasted Merganser
Cedar Waxwings, everywhere
pretty sure there was more, but I can't remember...

CONGRATULATIONS CHRIS

2006-06-26T21:01:00.000-04:00

Well, its that time of year-graduation time. Do you remember much of your high school graduation? I remember it being a very big and important time of year-but not much more!!( I was also really sick with Mono during that time, which could have something to do with it! haha). Anyway, this Wednesday is one of my brothers' graduation ceremony. I know some of you have known Chris since he was a toddler, so I wanted to share some pictures with you. He is a big guy now, around 6 feet and about 190 pounds(and still growing). I always thought I'd be around to go to his graduation...so sad...ah well what can you do when you live in a shoe.

CONGRATULATIONS CHRIS!

Chris and his girlfriend Alix on prom night

Graduation Picture

Here are the rest of my brothers....

Jeffrey and the cat, Chris, Mauricio (mexican exchange student) and Matheu(foster brother). Jeffrey has recently flown to Mexico to hang out with Mauricio for 3 weeks!
Oh, I was reminded the other day, that they are on a sloped driveway and their heights are not accurate! haha

As for Jeff and I....we spent this past weekend at his parents house, visiting and hanging out in their pool! Jeff is busy with work and I'm busy applying to jobs whenever they appear. This coming weeked we are heading to Algonquin Provincial Park. What are you doing for the long Canada Day weekend?

Enjoying the outdoors-as usual!

2006-06-21T22:20:00.000-04:00

Baby Cardinal

Have you ever seen an uglier bird? haha. Yes, its a baby. He is so ugly, he's cute!

This baby cardinal's nest was in our backyard, and we think it fell apart. We found a sibling dead in our yard, and think he was the only one that survived for more than a day. Anyway, I spent two days keeping an eye on this little guy while Jeff was working in Hamilton. He was too young to be out of his nest, but he was so curious he wouldnt stay in a nest we had made for him in the tree either (see a picture of one on the ground below). In the end, I think he got too curious for his own good and went too far from our yard. I like to think that he grew his wings and flew away! (Jeff says, "keep dreaming.")

Morningstar Mill

Morningstar Mill in Thorold (near St. Catharines). This mill sits on the edge of a fairly high cliff (squeaker hole height), and a path winds along the edge of the ridge for quite a while. Another ridge which is nearby allows great views of the southern side of Lake Ontario (right up to Hamilton on a clear day), and the northern side of the lake can be seen on one of this area's few smog-free days. Amanda and I heard a Meadowlark there a few weeks ago (you may have gathered by now that both Amanda and Jeff are authoring this post).

Snails

One of the many snails that appear in our yard when it rains....

Woodend Conservation Area

Spending time with my 2 and 3's on a field trip(at a conservation area). There are so many cute pics, but I can't post them. We all had a great time.

Amanda and I went to visit the same place this evening, and it was a nice day for walk in the woods.

Mr. Toad wedged himself into this large stump.

Welland Canal

Waiting in traffic at the Welland Canal. Huge ships pass through here, the St. Lawrence Seaway. I (Amanda talking now...) never really examined how locks work until this year. Its pretty amazing. I'm sure the locals thought I was nuts taking pictures of this as they sat in their cars cursing and waiting 15 minutes till its gone through! Oh wait, double that, two went through this time!

Last Weekend Pics

2006-06-16T21:29:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures from last weekend. We went to London for the weekend, and of course, ended up in a provincial park called the "Pinery". It was nice, but cold. Enjoy!

A moth we found on the way home from school last week! It was laying on the road, looking much like a leaf. Apparently they sleep during the day! Its a "luna moth". Check out his furry body and cool antenna. This moth was huge-a wingspan of almost 5 inches!

YUMMMMY ICE CREAM CAKE! I dont think it matters how old you are, mom's just love to pile those candles on and light them! Boy, do I feel old. We enjoyed the cake all weekend and then took it back home with us. Jeff thought it would never make the 2 hour trip-boy was he wrong!

The ocean? Haha-of course not, but pretty close. This is part of the provincial park. Its actually Lake Huron. It was really windy but nice. I was expecting to smell and taste the salt on my lips but yet again I didnt.

It bares such a similarity to "the beach" doesn't it?

It even had sand dunes!

The river, you could canoe down. Maybe next time...when its warmer!

The neat dragonflies!

What is that? A rock or turtle?

Yup, see his little eyes and ugly nose? Its a snapping turtle. He appears almost dead, until he opens his eyes!

A Painted turtle enjoying his salad bar. You wouldnt believe what he ate in such a short period of time. This little guy is only about 5 inches in length! Click on the picture to see him better!

Finally, some fun in the pool!

The pool was about 84 degrees for all you pool people back in Cape Breton!

A few good lectures

2006-06-15T13:09:00.000-04:00

My tasks at work quite often do not require much in terms of executive attention. This is because the are repititious, and I have been doing them for 9 months now. Therefore, I must find ways to keep my frontal lobe (and perhaps temporal lobe) stimulated while my visual cortex and cerebellum do their jobs. (That is, of course, an oversimplification of some quite complex brain processes).

I get tired of the continuous drone of crappy music on radio stations, and the CBC's Radio 1 is at times a little too flaky for me, so I have been looking for lectures by intelligent people lately, and have run into a few good ones.

UBC is currently working on a course of some sort, and (I think) are exploring potential course topics by having great thinkers come and talk to undergrads (and others). You can go here and listen to lectures by Stephen Lewis, Dr. David Suzuki, and Dr. David Orr. I really enjoyed all three.

Stephen Lewis follows his typical lecture topics, and does a great job. He is a great lecturer, and discusses a topic that we need to be knowledgeable of (poverty in the third world/AIDS in Africa/lack of governmental action). You can also listen to part one of his CBC Massey Lecture series here.

David Suzuki gives a great lecture too. He is great at looking at 'the big picture' in a way that many scientists can't (or just don't), and this is especially wonderful because he is trained as a geneticist and spent a majority of his working life studying fruit flies. He discusses the limits of our scientific knowledge, and how they are often ignored by people developing things like GMOs, people destroying old-growth forests and thinking they can easily re-grow them, etc... It seems that science has 'discovered' so much less than we think it has, and we have to be careful using the bits of knowledge we have.

David Orr, someone I was not familiar with before hearing this talk, attempts to "connect sustainability, education and politics through careful consideration of how and what the university community learn in an effort to achieve “ecological literacy” for all. " This is well worth a listen.

All these lectures discuss topics which, for me, present some of the world's biggest problems. These are topics which need the attention of the governments of developed nations, but were hardly discussed in Canada's last federal election. Human rights in the third world, foreign aid, and environmental destruction (and all associated topics) will become important to (most)Canadian politicians when it becomes important to Canadian voters (I hope). So get educated!

Bachelor Of Education Convocation

2006-06-05T14:29:00.000-04:00

So who would have predicted I would end up going through 5 years of university= 2 degrees!? Well, I did it! Today was our convocation. I should be happy that I am finished, right? Its hard, however, when you are taking a spring course and you are going back tomorrow! Hopefully that will be my last graduation, but I'll keep you posted!

Here are some pics from today. I must warn you that "....today is all about you and....how you worked so hard to get here....and you should be proud.....". blah, blah, blah! SO, I'm in all the pictures! haha

They divided us from A-M and M-Z. As you can see I was the second one heading in. This was very unusual because I've always been a T. To make it even more unusual there was only one other MAC!

Me, with my two of my best buds and class clowns- Brianna and Dave!

More of the gang

Me and Jeff

Me and my new hair cut!

This one is for my mom who wished she could be there! I know, mom, my hood isnt straight!

Friday's Reflection

2006-06-02T10:06:00.000-04:00

World On Fire

Have you seen the Sarah McLachlan video, "World on Fire"? There are endless questions and statements I could make about this video...but it speaks for itself. Here are are 2 main questions which keep coming to mind: 1. Why do we always think we need more? 2. Why are we so sheltered from this, to the point where we forget about this daily. The constant question for me is: Why are we so privileged (in every single way) and why arent we doing anything about it?

This is not a guilt trip, but a realization. Don't let this be just a one day reflection. I hope it hits you as hard as it did me.
Go watch this video.

-Amanda

Since we are on the topic, I think everyone should take an hour and listen to part one of Stephen Lewis' Massey lectures . It can be downloaded from CBC's site for free; click here (and scroll down).

If you would like to read or hear the rest of lectures, buy Stephen Lewis book Race Against Time or get it from your library (audio format is alos available).

-Jeff

Clearing the backlog

2006-05-31T20:12:00.000-04:00

Oliver's Tail

A damn weiner dog lives across the street. Last Thursday he made his way into our yard, as he often does. He likes to chase the cat, we thought somewhat innocently. Oliver doesn't enjoy his game of cat-and-mouse; I suppose he likes being the chaser rather than the chasee. I picked up Oliver to put him in the house, and get him away from the dog. As I was putting Oliver in the door, the dog jumped up and chomped on Oliver's tail. Oliver screamed and ran. I kicked the dog. I soon found that the dog had ripped the skin at the tip of Oliver's tail so that there was a flap of skin hanging off. After finding out that our neighbor would foot the vet bill, we took Oliver to get checked out. He needed stitches. We ended up going to our neighbor's vet because he is cheaper, and putting Oliver on painkillers for the week as tail injuries are quite painful (only after two days of Oliver constantly trying to run away from his tail). It seems that his tail will be fine now, although it is quite ugly (they had to shave it). See picture below.

Before the stitches; it is hard to see the extent of the wound here.

After the stitches; those with fur excepted, cat tails are ugly.

Beamer Conservation Area

Amanda and I went to Beamer Conservation area last Sunday. Beamer is another conservation area on the Niagara Escarpment, and has trails which join with Bruce trail (which runs along the entire escarpment). There were a few waterfalls, some steep cliffs, and nice paths through the woods. Some pictures (I accidentally set the ISO to 1600, so they may seem grainy or fuzzy):

Nice open forest.

Bruce Trail: Niagara to Tobermory

A small section of Bruce Trail.

The lookoffs were disappointing. All we could see was haze, and houses. Through that haze, and past the QEW, one would find Lake Ontario. I would guess Toronto is visible on a clear day. We prefer the CB Highlands, but I suppose you don't get views like this in NS!

We also had a great view of Sobeys and Canadian Tire.

What a treehugger she is...

A Tiger Swallowtail

Frogs at St. John's

Amanda and I went to St. John's Conservation area in Fonthill for a walk last night. After a quick (and warm) jaunt through the woods, during which we lost several litres of blood to the mosquitos, we played with the frogs on the lake for a bit. Bullfrogs (and another species we don't know) were all around the lake, guarding eggs and making alot of noise. They are amazingly loud; their "jug-o-rum" grunts can be heard for probably 0.5 km through the woods. If you dissected a frog in school, it was probably one of these. Some photos:

Notice the eggs around the frog; they are the black dots in the bubbly stuff.

Remember the baby geese we posted photos of before? They are much bigger now (and all 3 are still around--there was a straggler when I was taking the picture).

ASO Grant

I found out today that I won an Autism Society of Ontario Stimulus Grant. I applied for this award a while ago, which will give me $4000 (for me to live on) to conduct a research project investigating where people with Autism look when they are learning faces.

I think I should forget about blogging and focus on work now for a little while, if I want to stay well-funded in the future.

Sizzling Summer Temperatures!

2006-05-30T15:09:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to let you all know what "spring" is like here in Ontario. About a month ago, it apparently was spring...temperatures in the low 20s. I was excited as I could understand the use of capris and tshirts. I went and bought a pair, being excited that there appeared to be a season for them! The next thing I found out....summer had arrived! Since Saturday, the temperatures have been very high.

Yesterday and today have been crazy. Yesterday's high was 34, with a humidex of 43! Today was the same. Wondering what that feels like? Have we ever, in Cape Breton, had a humidex that high? hahaha. I've adjusted so far except for the lack of A/C in our car and house. It would be nice to have a pool too! We've been adjusting the old fashion way-swimsuits, fans, lots of liquids and not much movement!

It seems really odd that we can't jump in our non air conditioned car, put up with the heat for 20 minutes, only to arrive at a nearby ocean beach! For me, with the arrival of hot weather, that equals a trip to the beach. I'm not sure how this summer is going to be! Lakes are just not the same-at least not these ones!!!

Go on, check out the Environment Canada website.

The Long Weekend

2006-05-27T13:53:00.000-04:00

Here are a few pics from last weekend. Read below to find out where we went.

"Just over 50 km (30 miles) south-east of Windsor, Ontario, lies the most southern point on the Canadian mainland – Point Pelee National Park of Canada. This tiny green oasis is internationally known for its spring and fall migration of birds and its stunning autumn monarch butterfly migration. Famous vistas such as the "Tip" and Marsh Boardwalk provide people of all ages with unlimited opportunities to discover nature.

As you pass through the Park gates, you are arriving at the southernmost tip of Canada's mainland, which is at the same latitude as northern California. Much of the Park's unique character is due to this southern location.

Point Pelee is one of Canada's smallest national parks, and yet this tiny oasis of green attracts nearly 400 000 visitors each year."

I'll let Jeff update you on the birding part of the trip! It was a great day. Our only regret was that we didnt bring camping gear! Oh well, next time!

This is Lake Erie. It sort of looks like the ocean-its big, has waves, shells, sand and well..dead fish. Almost the ocean!

Here's the dead fish!

A butterfly...or moth!

Another one!

The "trolley" that took us out to the tip.

The sign at the tip. Have no fear, I packed my epipens!

Out at the tip!

After many hours of looking at birds, some of us had stiff necks and we decided it was time for a supper break. We headed to a local greenhouse which had the obvious, a petting zoo and a restaurant. Unfortunetly we didnt make it in time for supper. They were closing when we got there. I did get a few minutes to feed and pet the animals though. We enjoyed supper at Applebees and headed back to the park for the evening.

Sandra exploring the greenhouse

This is your "shopping cart" when buying the plants. Very Cute!

Fun feeding the goats!

Feeding the donkey!

Back to Point Pelee. This time we went to the Marsh. It was really neat.

I took this picture for all of you who think Jeff is a bit overboard with birds. This is one of the hundreds of birders who were there. If you did not have binoculars at this place, you were out of place! It was so funny. EVERYONE had binoculars and/or a really expensive camera and equipment. Many people had Tillie hats, beige vests, pants, hiking boots and socks, etc. The constant whispering or quiet chatter was coming from birders pointing to show other birders where the bird was, what kind it was, whether is was rare, what color, etc. The excitement these people got from seeing these birds was truly amazing. Don't get me wrong I like seeing cool birds, but this was something else! It was an entirely different world.

Jeff in his usual pose!

The floating boardwalk all through the marsh

The boardwalk from the viewing deck

The sun is setting, time to go home!

As you can see from the pictures below we didnt end up leaving there until it was dark. As we drove through the town I decided to take some pictures of the signs that were posted throughout. These are for you Sarah Barrett! haha

It was a great time. We can't wait to go back in the fall to see the Monarchs during migration!

The walk to work/school

2006-05-16T21:22:00.000-04:00

One nice thing about our new place is the walk to work(for me)/school(for Amanda). We get some exercise walking up the Niagara Escarpment (the reason Niagara Falls exists; this escarpment runs all the way to Georgian Bay), and get to enjoy meandering down Bruce Trail (a trail that runs the entire length of the Escarpment). The forest on this section of the Escarpment is quite nice. It is a Carolinian Forest; this type of forest only exists in Canada in Niagara and a few other areas of Southern Ontario. I took my camera with me the other day, so I'll post some pictures below.

A few pictures of the path.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit. These are quite common on the escarpment. I see more of them on my walk to work than I have seen anywhere else around here.

An Eastern Phoebe I've seen a few times while walking to work. He seems to fly around and pick bugs off the low foilage.

A Wood Thrush. I see and, more often, hear these regularly now.

In Ontario we see Chipmunks (pictured below), Grey Squirrels (big ones), Black Squirrels (also big), and Red Squirrels. However, we don't see nearly as many Red Squirrels up here as we did in Nova Scotia (if you see a squirrel in NS, it is probably a Red Squirrel).

I've seen deer a few times now. Usually I see their white tails as they run, but they hung around long enough for me to get a quick picture one day.

When I arrive at work, things aren't quite as exciting (at least I have a window).

A few banding photos to end the post:

A Baltimore Oriole (Amanda and I have seen these a few times while walking to work).

An Indigo Bunting.

A Blue-winged Warbler.

A few random pics....

2006-05-15T14:50:00.001-04:00

Since moving to our "new" house, we've had to transistion all over again to "city" life. We thought we would have had to do this last Aug, but we did not. Now that we are living in the city, we are really missing Nova Scotia. One day we decided to visit a municipal park "Rolphs Bird Scantuary" which is situated on Lake Ontario. As much as I tried, it just couldnt be compared to home. Sure it was big, had some waves and a rocky shoreline...but that view of smoggy Toronto in the distance just ruined it! It appeared that many locals felt it was beautiful and just liked sitting next to it! If they only knew.....

This park also has a free petting zoo. Unfortunetly it wasn't open for the year yet. You know I'll be there (with all the screaming kids) when it does! I know Jeff will love it too! haha

Jeff checking out the views! We actually saw a beaver along the shoreline. Weird spot to see a beaver!

If you look closely you can see the CN Tower to the left.

Oliver's friend in Fonthill (just before we left). I think we moved out just in time. This baby squirrel (I'm sure it doesnt look like a baby to most of you-but it is) appeared to be following Oliver around the yard. It appeared as though he was playing. I don't think Oliver felt the same!

Ah yes moving into a student house! It was so nice of them to leave their beautiful furniture, garbage, and junk they didnt want! They also took such good care of the house. I have never seen a more dirty house in my life! Oh should I mention these pics are taken after the "professional cleaners" had cleaned! I will spare you the real obscene pictures. Trust me, you do not want to see them! Needless to say, after 6 of us cleaning for half a day we are able to live in it-without fear of getting sick!
Now...if we could only get our landlady on board. We have a pipe leaking in the basement whenever we shower, the furnace is leaking water all over the basement and our oven does not work. She says she's not going to fix anything, we are too demanding and to call her when we have real problems! I wonder what "real problems" are? Perhaps when the roof blows off? Less than four months left here.....I guess we will live!

Signs of Spring.....

2006-05-15T14:20:00.000-04:00

Over the past month and a half, we've been watching some mother geese sit on their eggs and some neglecting to sit on their eggs. Finally we saw the outcome! There were approximately 10 couples at the lake and in the end only three little ducks appeared!

In Nova Scotia, we don't see many Canada Geese. It was neat to see the babies!

We've landed!

2006-05-04T17:45:00.000-04:00

Well as most of you know this past weekend we had to leave our "little piece of heaven" in Fonthill and move to another house(a student house) in St. Catharines. Jeff's family came to help us move. After 6 of us spending the entire Sunday afternoon cleaning it(a very long story) we spent the rest of Sunday packing. The official move day was Monday-and I had to teach. A big thanks to them for all of their help! The week has now come and gone and we are still living out of boxes. Since we arrived, we've cleaned/disinfected... or shall I say pressure washed the entire inside of the house, we do not have a dishwasher, the oven doesnt work and when we get showers a pipe leaks downstairs! All and all, it will be ok!!! Its hard downgrading! haha We are living in a beautiful neighborhood and its very close to the university. I have been soo busy with teaching that I havent had a chance to do anything here. I guess that's what the weekend is for!
Oliver is still adjusting-as are we! He was use to roaming the country...and now there are yards, houses, and worst of all streets. He has shown no street sense thus far. Last night he went across the street to check out the drainage hole in the curb. He had never seen one before and he looked as though he wanted to get whatever was down there!! He has also met the three cats that live next to us and the "hotdog" dog that lives across the street.
My last day of teaching my crazy grade four/five class is tomorrow. The kids are dreading it.....but....I'm looking forward to a couple of weeks off before I start my spring course!!! Its been a long week!
Jeff is working as usual. He now walks to work though-up the wooded Escarpment. He's not quite sure how long it takes him to get there or home as he is so busy enjoying the nature around him! There are many birds, plants, and other animals. Today he saw a raccoon and a deer!
I'll post some pictures when I get the chance to take some!

Name that (Spring) Wildflower

2006-04-28T21:54:00.000-04:00

I took all of these pictures about a week ago in a nearby Conservation area. I have figured our the species of these plants, and will add the species' names to this post in a few days. In the meantime, why don't you take a stab at identifying them.

Oh, and if you are bored this weekend, try to watch these eagles. I'm sure you've heard about the camera which is placed beside a Bald Eagle nest in BC and broadcasted on the net--I have noticed at least 6 articles reporting on it. The Eaglets are expected to hatch this weekend. If you can get a good link to the site, consider yourself lucky. They have been seeing millions of viewers per day on this site--before the Eagles hatch! Some people seem to be sitting around all day watching the Eagles sit around all day (on eggs). It really isn't that exciting at the current time, but it could become more interesting this weekend.

Here are the pictures (I'll number them so that you can identify them in a comment).

#1 - White Trillium

#2 - Bloodroot

#3 - Common Blue Violet

#4 - Yellow Adder's Tongue (or Trout Lily)

#5 - Blue Cohosh

#6 - Spring Beauty

#7 - Skunk Cabbage (maybe this isn't really a flower)

#8 - May Apple (this doesn't look like a flower here, but a white flower will appear at the base of the plant's stem sometime soon).

#9 - Marsh Marigold

#10 - Red Trillium (like the White ones, but Red). This flower is more rare than the White Trillium (I've heard).

Weekends....never long enough!

2006-04-23T11:31:00.000-04:00

Last Friday as you know, was Josh's wedding. Of course it was " a lovely wedding" as all weddings are. Josh was entertaining throughout the day- crying, laughing, and basically beaming the entire time. After the ceremony was over and the family pictures were taken, we headed to a local Tim Hortons for a snack before the reception. As you will see, we took over a large section within, showcasing our wedding attire! It was really nice to see all of our family and friends from out East. Before too long, Papa decided it was time to head to the reception and gave us all a gentle tap on the shoulder, as a reminder that it was time to go!
We enjoyed a nice supper and then it was time for the speeches. Some were short, some were long, some were funny and others were not. It was obvious who was from Cape Breton and who was not! Things we found funny, others did not. Things they found funny, we did not. By the end, I am sure they thought we were all a little odd, just as we thought they were! The night ended with a dance. Again, it was mainly the Cape Bretoners who enjoyed the dance! Congrats Josh and Charisse!
We also got to spend some time in London over the Easter weekend, visiting with family and friends. It was nice to see everyone...but it made us want to go home with all of them!

During the Ceremony

Family Photo Time....ooops you can't see me in this pic!

Taking over Timmies!

Do they look the same or what? Papa, David and Papa's brother Dave!

Speech Time

The lovely Carabin couple

Terri and Papa breaking it down!

This weekend started off with an interview for the local Niagara school board at 8:15am. Oh what a joy that was!! haha It went well and it was good experience for me.
Jeff also started a new casual position in Hamilton (an hour away) working in a group home for people with Autism. Jeff enjoyed his first day of work very much. He got to hang out with the guys, go out for supper and go bowling. He still can't believe that not only did they pay for these activities, but that he got paid for doing them as well!
I had the joy of staying home for the day-without a car! All and all I suppose it was a good day. I got to clean the house and prepare for a few friends that were coming over in the evening. Since we have not seen each other in a while (due to our placements), we decided to have a get together. It started out as a dark, cold, rainy day. (By cold I mean 12 degrees!) In the end, it turned out to be sunny. We were able to have our BBQ and a campfire. It was a great time!
Next weekend.....we move! It will be very sad to say good bye to this house and small community. We love it here!

Enjoying stories and laughs around the campfire. This picture was taken before Jeff decided to secretly throw 12 firecrackers into the fire! Thanks Matt.

Does it feel like spring for you?

2006-04-20T18:27:00.000-04:00

It feels like spring in Fonthill. I'm not sure if this is a particularly warm spring for Fonthill, but it does seem quite warm compared to what I am accustomed to experiencing in the springtime.

I mowed the lawn yesterday--not just for fun, it needed mowing.

I didn't mow the entire lawn though; it isn't that much fun.

We also had supper outside, and Amanda did a little lesson planning out there.

Oliver loves spring too. We can leave the door open now, and he can wander in and out as he pleases.

We finished the day with a trip to St. John's conservation area, where Amanda loves to feed the Canada Geese. We heard (among other things) an Eastern Screech Owl calling in the Conservation area, and saw a few interesting plants. I'll publish a post with some pictures of the plants later, and see if anyone can identify them (I can't). Here is one of them.

Send me all your love in a letter

2006-04-17T19:37:00.000-04:00

The Globe and Mail has published a great article which discusses the increasing prevalence of unemployed Cape Bretoners moving to western Canada to find work. You can read it here.

A few excerpts:

"The contrasts between the struggling Cape Breton region and the super-charged Fort McMurray economy are striking. Fort McMurray has an unemployment rate of about 4 per cent. Cape Breton's jobless rate hovers near the 20-per-cent mark."

"Cliff Murphy, president of the Cape Breton Building Trade Council, said more than half the island's 3,600 tradespeople found work in Alberta last year."

"John Whalley, the municipality's manager of economic development, can only watch helplessly as the shrivelling population forces schools and playgrounds to close. Rather than planning a future community, "we are managing a decline," Mr. Whalley said.

Despite the millions of dollars brought home to Cape Breton, the economic picture here remains bleak. If anything, the Alberta-bound commuters who stubbornly refuse to abandon Cape Breton are simply stemming the region's inevitable decline."

"The dearth of job opportunities in Cape Breton and the family separations that result when men leave raises the inevitable question: Why don't families relocate to where the jobs are plentiful?

But it's a question that rankles. Many Cape Bretoners, like Newfoundlanders, prefer to be home. It's as if generations of coal mining has bred a stoicism in the Cape Breton character and they are willing to endure hardships to stay on the island of their forefathers."

However, I think that the next quote raises questions about the previous one. Sure there are some die-hard Cape Bretoners, but I don't know that the whole group can be described in that manner--given these numbers.

"In Cape Breton Regional Municipality, which includes Sydney, Glace Bay and Donkin, the population dropped from 162,000 in 1996 to 109,000 last year. It's predicted that by 2021, the region will have fewer than 75,000 people."

Songs like "Coal Town Road" have been anthems of a sort in Cape Breton in the past, but we may see songs more like Jimmy Rankin's "This is the Hour" replacing them in the future. (I'm guessing this won't happen--coal mining and dying from lung cancer seems more romantic than moving to Fort McMurray for some reason).

Our day with Ash and Matt (PART 1)

2006-04-09T18:22:00.000-04:00

Ashley and Matt came to visit this weekend. They are currently living in Barrie (while attending college), and will be moving to New Brunswick at the end of this month.

They arrived at about 11:30PM on Friday night, and after I beat Matt up a few times (in a PS2 boxing game), we went to bed.

Matt and Ashley are hics. Rednecks, perhaps. While I like to go bird banding, Ash and Matt would prefer bird shooting. Consequently, I feel that the presence of two Red-bellied Woodpeckers in my yard on Saturday morning was under-appreciated. Here is a photo of the female. (I know it is female because the red ‘mohawk’ does not run the entire length of the head).

Just for fun, a photo of a male Downy Woodpecker in that was in my yard the same morning. (I know it is male because there is a red spot on the back of it’s head).

After a lazy morning, during which Matt received several more beatings from me, we all headed down to St. John’s Conservation area for a leisurely spring walk. We actually spent more time standing around looking at the (aquatic) wildlife than walking. Amanda always finds some animal to poke at in the water. Yesterday she found a large frog, large tadpoles, and lots of fish.

Matt and Ash did seem entertained by these animals. Perhaps they are just hics, not rednecks.

Can you find the frog? This guy was tough to spot, but Amanda always looks until she finds something in the water.

Our day with Ash and Matt (PART 2)

2006-04-09T17:57:00.001-04:00

A few more pictures from the lake:

As mentioned above, we saw some tadpoles. Can you see it’s legs sprouting?

Amanda likes the geese. We bought some wild rice today to feed them. (Don’t feed ducks or geese bread—they can’t digest it well).

Ashley and was mostly just afraid of the geese. I couldn’t get a picture of her running away from them, because she was gone too fast.

There are turtles in this lake! This is an Eastern Painted Turtle.

Can you see the turtle in the picture below? How about the Goose Egg?

Our day with Ash and Matt (PART 3)

2006-04-09T17:50:00.000-04:00

I got them all to pose before we left the Conservation area.

After the lake, we took Ash and Matt to see the house that Amanda and I will be living in this summer, and to take a few pictures of it. We have to move from our current house at the end of this month, and will be living in a house closer to Brock from May – August. At the end of August, we’ll be moving again.

From the new house, we’ll walk through the woods and up the Niagara Escarpment to Brock. I think it will take ~15 minutes. Brock Tower is visible in the photo of the front of the house below.

Our day with Ash and Matt (PART 4)

2006-04-09T17:41:00.000-04:00

After a quick trip to Staples to pick up a replacement for that 3-hole punch, we arrived back at home. It was a nice day, so I decided to take a few pictures of the flowers in our front yard—just to show everyone it is spring in Fonthill.

Our day with Ash and Matt (PART 5)

2006-04-09T17:29:00.000-04:00

After a great supper of ribs and steak, we had a fire in the backyard. Amanda isn't really a fan od ribs (or steak last night), but she loves roasting marshmallows!

Matt and Ashley left this morning—after I beat Matt up a few more times.

Bird Banding

2006-04-09T17:21:00.000-04:00

I've started a blog for Haldimand Bird Observatory, the Bird Observatory that I volunteer to band birds with. I post the daily banding/sighting reports on this site, and, occasionnally, some pictures.

If you're at all interested, check it out here: http://birdbanding.blogspot.com/

Here is a picture of a female Golden Crowned Kinglet I took while at the banding station last week. This bird is trapped in a mist net.

Adventures in practice teaching

2006-04-04T20:00:00.000-04:00

Amanda learned what not to do with a cheap 3 -hole punch today. Really, the picture says it all.

Don't try to punch thick transparency sheets with a cheapo puncher. If you're wondering where the rest of the puncher is, I took it apart hoping to find a way to get the sheet out. The hole punchers are still attached to the sheet. We'll have to cut it I suppose, and buy a nicer three hole punch.
______________________________________________________

Amanda is correcting tests right now. She just read me one of the student's answers to the following question:

Name the angle. Is it Right, Acute, or Obtuse?

The student's answer? Left.

Congratulations Jeff

2006-03-25T09:39:00.000-05:00

Just thought I would share a little secret with all of you. Jeff received a letter the other day, stating that he had won a Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). "Oh wow, yipee, that's great" I thought. Of course I was proud and happy but didn’t quite understand. Here’s what I found out: "Canada Graduate Scholarships (CGS) provide financial support to the most outstanding eligible scholars pursuing master's or doctoral studies in a Canadian university. The Government of Canada established these prestigious scholarships, to be awarded through national competitions by the granting agencies, to ensure a reliable supply of highly qualified personnel to meet the needs of Canada's knowledge economy. Canada Graduate Scholars will help renew faculty at Canadian universities and will be the research leaders of tomorrow." "NSERC awards these scholarships to the top-ranked PGS (Post Graduate Scholarship) applicants based on their academic excellence, research potential, and communication, interpersonal and leadership abilities.” Congrats Jeff on your achievement!

Of course, as his wife, this was my other thought:(hehehe!)

Happy St Patrick's Day!

2006-03-17T13:33:00.000-05:00

So its now March 17th, can you believe it? I can't. I'm still trying to post pictures from February! February flew by and now March Break is just about over. I've enjoyed having the break, even though Jeff was working. I got to organize and clean the house, go window shopping and sleep in. The past three weeks have been so busy with school, this break was well needed.
We've also had some other things going on in the last month: Scotty Mac came to visit which is always a great time. We got to try out 5 pin bowling...that was interesting. Much different from our bowling back home on the East coast. No way to sneak in a few extra turns with the computerized scoring! Oliver (our cat) celebrated his second birthday (see pic below). Sarah and Jamin were blessed with a healthy little girl Naomi. Sandra and David came to visit after visiting on the East coast. Last but not least, spring has sprung here in Fonthill.
Over the next few weeks I'll be busy teaching a grade 4/5 class. Jeff will be busy with work and trying to find us a place to live for the spring/summer(May-Aug).
Below you will find some pictures we just got developed. Enjoy!

Niagara Falls: Jeff (after much encouragement) sitting in the big chair at Ripley's!

Ripley's: So I gained a little!

Niagara Falls: It smells so good in there. They even have trays with small mountains of free fudge samples. Of course we tried them, all of them, several times! Yummy.

Oliver: Max'n and Relax'n on his 2nd birthday! I think he was having a fat day - he honestly isnt that fat!

Systemic Greed

2006-03-10T09:53:00.000-05:00

Time short in Kenya food 'crisis' - March 6th, 2006

Four days later, we read this. Apparently, a worldwide economic boom is occurring. Worldwide....really?

You can help:
World Food Programme
Oxfam
Stephen Lewis Foundation

Last Day of Classes

2006-03-08T17:05:00.000-05:00

Well, it may be hard to believe, but, yes, tomorrow is my last day of education classes at Brock University. Its been a quick yet long year. I have made the best group of friends (next to my Nova Scotia group-of course) this year, I could not ask for a better group to be in “teacher’s college” with. We shared endless amounts of laughter and fun.
I have to say the quality of the education I received was not high, but simply a means to an end….sort of. Its also the start of a new beginning as well. After my placement I plan on taking an “additional qualifying” course-Special Education. This will be one step in the right direction to obtain a specialization in that area. This will start towards the end of May and finish in late June. So, I suppose I’m done the foolish year of “teachers college” (they used to call my program this and even though they’ve changed it to B.Ed people still call it this) and then return to Brock as a teacher. Hopefully, this course will be useful!
My “artsy” friend wrote this song while she was bored. Although you may not understand it all, you’ll get a glimpse of what our year was like.

Class Dismissed
by Lisa Moore (adapted from a poem by Bruce Lansky)
(to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic")

We have melted the transparencies
so Methods can’t be done.
We have burned gym shoes in effigy.
We’re finally having fun.
Said goodbye to novel studies
’cause the teacher guide’s our friend.
We won’t be doing group work anymore!
Glory, glory hallelujah!
We’re done with Brock now, what’s it to ya?
There won’t be no more groupwork,
lame assignments are all gone.
We don’t have to go to Brock anymore.

Halifax Bites

2006-03-04T19:24:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine who is a postdoc at Dalhousie has created a blog named 'Halifax Bites.' She and another postdoc from Dalhousie use this website to comment on places they have eaten in Halifax. It is a restaurant review site of sorts...not a blog given to trashing Halifax, as the name might suggest.

The authors' palates seem a little more sophisticated than mine, but there may be some of you appreciate this sort of thing (and don't just go to Swiss Chalet every time you 'eat out').

I've added a 'Halifax Bites' hyperlink in my 'links' section.

The Best Valentine's Day Gift

2006-02-25T09:15:00.000-05:00

One special little guy

On Valentine's day we received what we thought was a letter from one of our Compassion children. We opened the letter and inside we found two pictures. We had never recieved a family photo from any of our sponsored children until now. The picture appeared to be a birthday celebration with a christmas tree in the background. I knew that this little boy's birthday was in July so I didnt quite understand. After reading the letter, I figured out what had happened. Although it was not mentioned in the letter, there was an administration error on our end and the money for his birthday had arrived very late. It appears that the family had used the money to celebrate his birthday with a small family party....months later. If you look closely you can see the stickers and picture of us that I had sent when we first started to support this little boy.
It's amazing how often we take what we have for granted......employment, education, family support, living arrangements, spending money for celebrations....and so much more.

Family Photo

Animals In Our Life!!

2006-02-25T08:58:00.000-05:00

Micah our beautiful visitor. Here he is trying every trick in the book for a bite of my peanut butter bagel. We love him!

Micah after hearing the word "car". Someday, we will have one, someday.

Oliver hunting a grey squirrel. He does this for most of the day, except when he decides to go for a hike in the woods! We don't know where he goes, but he goes for several hours at a time.

Oliver posing in our backyard.

The UNWANTED visitor. Look closely and you can see the rat. It came to visit one day while I (Amanda) was home alone. Ahhh..

At a local lake. Have you ever seen so many Canadian Geese?

Valentine's Day

2006-02-21T17:30:00.000-05:00

Well, I know you all love the bird stories/sightings but I thought it was time for an update. Life here has been super busy. I can’t remember much before Valentine’s Day so I’ll go back that far. To us, Valentine’s Day is a bit over rated. We don’t like to conform into these “worldly” celebrations! haha jk. This year however I thought I might as well run with it and from our point of view, go overboard! Where else would you want to celebrate Valentine’s Day than in the heart of Niagara Falls? Yes folks, we went to Niagara Falls! Haha I’ve been asking for months to go but Jeff would never pay the 12 dollars to park. Luckily for me, he had to go to a conference there a few weeks back and (of course) found a decent 5 dollar parking lot. We had a great time. I got to be a cheesy tourist and get my picture taken with different statues and such. We got to check out all the little stores, the Falls, eat at Tony Romas and finally play some arcade games! I had a wonderful time and Jeff learned that it doesn’t cost that much to take me out! Haha I’ll post pictures later as Jeff wont let me pick them up until we have some reason to drive(the 10 mins there) to that area… go figure!! Haha.

The Great Backyard Bird Count

2006-02-18T14:12:00.000-05:00

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon Society's 'Great Backyard Bird Count' is this weekend. This year they are requesting bird counts taken between February 17th and 20th.

In addition to counts taken in your backyard, they request that those willing go to local parks and conservation areas to count birds there.

I'll be counting both in my backyard and in nearby parks/conservation areas.

This morning I went to Lake Gibson, a lake that Amanda and I see each morning on the way to Brock. For a while I have been wanting to stop and see the birds that are there, and this gave me an excuse.

I saw a few birds that were new to me (new additions to my 'life list', that is), including a couple Bufflehead, and few Common Goldeneye.

When I returned home I typed 'Lake Gibson' into google, and found this listing for it on wikipedia. Apparently, it is where Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka dumped Leslie Mahaffy's body. I wondered why there are never many people there.

Anyway, here is my Lake Gibson bird count list that I submitted to the GBBC:
Checklist:
Canada Goose - 42
Bufflehead - 2
Common Goldeneye - 3
Common Merganser - 13
Ring-billed Gull - 600
Black-capped Chickadee - 1
American Robin - 10
Comments ----------------------------------------
Flock of ring-billed gulls was immense. My estimate of 600 is likely conservative.
-------------------------------------------------

And, my backyard bird count from yesterday (Friday):
Checklist:
Canada Goose - 12
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Blue Jay - 3
Black-capped Chickadee - 4
Tufted Titmouse - 2
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 1
Dark-eyed Junco - 8
Northern Cardinal - 2
House Finch - 3
American Goldfinch - 8
House Sparrow - 4
Comments ----------------------------------------
I watched the feeder occasionally throughout the day. Total viewing time was likely less than one hour.
-------------------------------------------------

I'll update this post with new lists as I submit them. I know you can't wait.

UPDATE - Saturday Bird Count from my backyard:

Checklist:
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Mourning Dove - 2
Downy Woodpecker - 3
Blue Jay - 1
American Crow - 3
Black-capped Chickadee - 3
Tufted Titmouse - 2
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 2
Cedar Waxwing - 9
Dark-eyed Junco - 8
Northern Cardinal - 2
House Finch - 2
American Goldfinch - 10
House Sparrow - 4
Comments ----------------------------------------
Watched yard occasionally throughout the day.
-------------------------------------------------

UPDATE - Count from Short Hills Provincial Park

Checklist:
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Northern Flicker - 1
Blue Jay - 3
American Crow - 2
Black-capped Chickadee - 10
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 1
White-breasted Nuthatch - 2
American Tree Sparrow - 6
White-throated Sparrow - 2
Dark-eyed Junco - 7
Northern Cardinal - 4

UPDATE - Sunday Backyard count

Checklist:
Red-tailed Hawk - 2
Downy Woodpecker - 3
Blue Jay - 1
American Crow - 1
Black-capped Chickadee - 6
Tufted Titmouse - 2
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 2
American Tree Sparrow - 1
Dark-eyed Junco - 6
Northern Cardinal - 1
American Goldfinch - 4
House Sparrow - 15

Do you find it hard to pick out meat?

2006-02-17T10:57:00.000-05:00

There are now reports of several tasks in which performace seems to improve as exertion of attention control during task execution decreases.

Anyone who bothered to read the research proposal I submitted to NSERC (which I posted here a while ago) may recall this blurb:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The visual search and attentional blink results above suggest an increase in cognitive performance, but can be associated with a decrease in the attentional resources directed toward the task of interest. If one has fewer attentional resources to devote to a particular task, one then has a reduced ability to voluntarily control attention during task execution; therefore, this decrease of attentional exertion can be described as a decrease in executive control over attention (as it pertains to the task of interest)."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prior to this statement I discussed results of visual search and attentional blink studies, which suggested that adopting a passive approach to the visual search and attentional blink tasks increased the efficiency with which the tasks were completed. These results are interesting because they are somewhat unintuitive--don't try as hard and performance gets better.

An article published in the BBC today reminded me of these results. The researchers mentioned in the article aren't interested in simple cognitive processes though; they are interested in decision making, and whether 'deliberation without attention' is an effective form of deliberation.

A few excerpts:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"One group was given four minutes to pick a favourite car from a list having weighed up four attributes including fuel consumption and legroom.

The other group was given a series of puzzles to keep their conscious selves busy before making a decision.

The conscious thought group managed to pick the best car based on four aspects around 55% of the time, while the unconscious thought group only chose the right one 40% of the time.

But when the experiment was made more complex by bringing in 12 attributes to weigh up, the conscious thought group's success rate fell to around 23% as opposed to nearly 60% for the unconscious thought group."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"But the study found that people can think unconsciously and that for complex decisions unconscious thought is actually superior.

The team argued the problem with conscious thought is that the brain can only focus on a few things at the same time, which can lead to some aspects being given undue importance."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(I can’t understand the BBC’s affinity for beginning sentences with conjugations. But I’ll get over it.)

Interestingly, the visual search and attentional blink studies also found that when participants were given puzzles to keep their 'concious selves' busy while completing visual search or attentional blink tasks, efficiency of performance increased.

I often find myself pondering over which meat to buy at the grocery store, having a difficult time deciding, and leaving the meat section with nothing. I’ll walk around the rest of the store, not thinking about meat, and eventually return to the meat section where I will inevitably pick something out (either because I know what I want or because it is time to leave).

In light of these recent findings, I will suggest a theory regarding my grocery store behavior:

Perhaps my conscious self can only handle a few variables when it comes to decision-making, and meats present too many things to ‘weigh in’ (size, price/kg, meat grade, meat type, etc). So I wander around the grocery store engaged in other mental acrobatics like deciding which milk is cheapest, all the while unconsciously pondering my meat choices. When I return to the meat section my unconscious self has informed my conscious self which meat is best, so I pick up my meat, and head happily to the checkout.

Meat does seem like a trivial decision; one that may not require all the resources of the unconscious mind. However, I’ve come to believe my brain’s CPU leaves something to be desired.

Visit to the dentist-Is it really good for you?

2006-02-11T20:18:00.000-05:00

So everyone says going to the dentist is a good thing. Your teeth get their annual checkup and cleaning only to find out you have a cavity. Or, to make things worse a filling needs to be replaced. Perhaps not many of you have experienced this but calling it a "filling" just doesn't cut it. Obviously the other day I went to the dentist (since we have coverage)-a new to me dentist. Within the first five minutes I wanted to jump out of the chair never to return again. I then considered what it would be like from a child’s perspective. Here you are sitting in a weird chair, with a weird paper bib and huge sun glasses that don’t fit. On top of this you have a light shining in your eyes, your mouth wide open and nothing to stare at but the boring tiled ceiling. This is just the beginning. No wonder kids don’t like to do this. Next comes the “Qtip” with gel to try and mask the huge needle that will be coming next. The dentist states “You are doing great”. That’s when I roll my eyes and think, Yes I am doing great-right! The torture is over or is it? “You just sit here and relax for the next five minutes”. Great, so now I get to think about what is coming while feeling the freezing over taking my mouth. On top of this, the young blonde hygienist decides to make small talk with me.
The dentist returns and the procedure begins. As if the first part wasn’t enough, he proceeds to tell me that he will be putting a latex dam in my mouth. If you don’t know what this is- I dare you to go try it out. He finally gets it on after jabbing it between my front teeth making my gums bleed. Several comments were made about how close my teeth are. Now part two is complete. At this point I am feeling Closter phobic and want to run out but no, he starts the drill. After much smoke, debris and burning smells he hits my last nerve. I feel the drill and pull away. Of course he doesn’t understand me. He rips the dam out, thinking I had too much saliva underneath. Round two of the dam insertion. Drilling begins and finally ends.
Now its time to “fill” it in again. I think he must have been filling not a cavity but a chasm. In the midst of it all he says, “”You need patience for this job”. After a few bands flying out of my mouth, orange plastic screens being used to help set the so called filling and a few good pushes on the new filling from the dentist I was finished.
I go to the reception desk, with saliva and only God knows what on my face, only to receive the $220 bill and a question of “when would you like to have your other one done?” “Ha” I say, “never”.
I leave the dentist wondering how I will ever return and how will I ever convince my children that the dentist is a good place. If you think of it, going to the dentist is a weird experience. In the end it may be good for your teeth but I'm not convinced its good for your mental health. You would think that in this day and age there would be something better. What do you think?

The Great Bear

2006-02-08T11:28:00.000-05:00

I didn't know that Canada has areas classified as 'rainforest'. Anyway, I'm quite happy that this has happened. Hopefully Canada will have a new park quite soon.

Papua's New Species

2006-02-07T08:30:00.000-05:00

Scientists in Papua, an Indonesian island (or half of one), have discovered a number of new plant and animal species. You can read about it and see the pictures here. An excerpt from the BBC's article:

"A summary of the team's main discoveries:

A new species of honeyeater, the first new bird species discovered on the island of New Guinea since 1939

The formerly unknown breeding grounds of a "lost" bird of paradise - the six-wired bird of paradise (Parotia berlepschi)

First photographs of the golden-fronted bowerbird displaying at its bower.

A new large mammal for Indonesia, the golden-mantled tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus pulcherrimus)

More than 20 new species of frogs, including a tiny microhylid frog less than 14mm long

A series of previously undescribed plant species, including five new species of palms

A remarkable white-flowered rhododendron with flower about 15cm across

Four new butterfly species"

This is phenomenal. I can't imagine how exciting it is to be on an expedition like this. It is amazing that there were so many land species not yet discovered in this area. 20 new frog species!

How many more undiscovered species (of any sort of life) are there? You can read another BBC article about that here. Apparently, "even by conservative estimates, there are more living species on the planet that haven't been identified and documented than have."

Beautiful Visitor

2006-01-23T19:53:00.001-05:00

Well last night as we were in our pj's watching tv, a dog appeared in our backyard. It was a big beautiful yellow lab. We opened our deck door, he came in and enjoyed Oliver's food and water. We attempted to send him out but he kept coming back. Jeff finally walked him down the road talking to a few neighbors on the way. No one recognized this dog. The dog continued down the road without jeff. Thinking perhaps he was going home we sat down to continue our tv show. Haha-a minute later he was back at our door. Jeff finally took him in the car(since he heard the word car and wanted to go) to check out signs for missing dogs. Several minutes later he returned with the dog. The dog asked a few times to go out, but always came back! We knew we were stuck with him for the night. After doing a few tricks for some sandwich meat, sitting on me, and stealing the blanket off of my body to make a bed for himself he settled down in our dining room.
This morning he enjoyed some cat food, peanut butter bagel and came with Jeff to drop me off at school. Jeff called the animal shelter where his rabbies tag was from and they called the owner. The owner, appearing embarrassed came and got "Micha". Turns out he is kept in a fenced in area and squeezed his way out underneath it. We dont think they noticed until this morning. We now know where he lives-just about 3 blocks down the road. I told Jeff we should get some dog food for when he carries out his next escape plan!
We both absolutely love big dogs, especially this one. I admit-we miss him. Someday when we have a bigger house, yard and car we will break the MacLeod's foolish cycle of having little muts and have a big beautiful smart dog like Micha!

More birds...

2006-01-23T10:57:00.000-05:00

On Christmas morning a flock of Bohemian Waxwings flew into Jane's backyard. Waxwings (Bohemian and Cedar) wander in flocks in the winter, in search of berries (I guess this is their favorite food). The neighbors that live behind Jane have a few berry bushes that still had lots of berries on them. The Waxwings stayed in the yard for a while, and let me sit outside and watch them. After a while I noticed another species mixed in the Waxwing flock - Evening Grosbeaks. I had never seen either of these species before, so this was a nice Christmas surprise. Here are some pictures.

Bohemian Waxwings (click the link for a clearer picture)

Evening Grosbeaks

I also saw a Pileated Woodpecker in Ingonish when I was home, but didn't get a picture.