Remember me?

Logan tends to get the lion's share of the attention here on the blog. This is partly due to the fact that he's outside doing things that are photo-worthy, at least in my opinion - you are free to disagree, of course.

From time to time though we do see Gizmo, and occasionally I even have the camera out. So here he is in all of his glory. He did try to rub the front of the lens, which could have been messy, but he was quite willing to settle down and pose for a few snapshots.

He now splits his time between his upstairs pad and hanging with us watching TV in the living room, sitting in the sunroom, or lying on the lounger in the den.

He and Logan get along very well. When Logan licks his head he leans into it, appreciating every slobbery moment. We fully expect to come one day and find them curled up together on the couch.

Somewhere over the rainbow

Our rainy season continues, with a good thunder storm that had Logan following me everywhere yesterday. He isn't quite as fascinated by the whole storm experience as I am.

It was good fortune that the storm stayed away while Cheryl, Dany, Genevieve, and Zoe were here on Monday night. We did have some rain in the morning, but by the time they arrived for the overnight stay it had cleared up and we were able to sit on the porch and enjoy the evening.

The weather today is pretty variable, with the sun coming out for a short spells. We're heading into Dartmouth this afternoon for some shopping and to catch a movie. It's a big day for us, what with a trip to the city and a movie theatre as well.

And so it begins

Hurricane season has started, and with it the first Tropical Storm/Depression/Heavy Rain Maker named Cristobal has been and gone. Cristobal dumped quite a bit of the moist stuff on the southern part of the province, with a little of the edge ending up in our yard.

This is just the beginning, as Dolly makes her way through Texas, followed by Ephrem, Felicity, Greco, Happytoberainingonyourparade. Where do they come up with these names?

Cloudy today - it's supposed to be iffy weather wise all week - but mild. Let's hope for nice weather next week, because we're off and want to enjoy it with Cheryl and Danis, and then Christa, Brian, et al.

Birthday pics - thanks to Sarah and Sharon

Since I was the man without the camera on Friday, camera duties were undertaken by Sarah and Sharon. Thanks to them both for the above highlights from the evening.

Travelling to the tourist hotspots

Peter is here for one more day, so we decided to do the touristy thing and go to Peggy's Cove. The weather was cloudy, but the rain stayed away following an early morning shower that made us feel that maybe the trip wasn't such a good idea after all. It turned out that it was.

We visited the SwissAir Flight 111 memorial, and then moved on Peggy's Cove proper. You can actually see one from the other. This being the 10th anniversary of the crash I'm sure there will plenty of people visiting the site this summer to pay their respects.

Peggy's Cove is a small village with a few houses and businesses on the ocean. The lighthouse is definitely the landmark that most people gravitate towards, but the rocks that form the coast itself are really the reason to visit. It is a beautiful piece of the coastline, and well worth throwing on a pair of comfortable running shoes/hiking shoes and wandering the various slopes to get a new vantage point.

BTW - for those of you waiting for pictures of Jeannette's 40th - tune in later this week.

'nugh said

Thanks to the local bra, panties, and sign-on-a-clothesline gnomes Jeannette awoke to a birthday announcement worthy of such a milestone. As she slowly took in the sight of black balloons, hanging 40s, and caution tape warning of the fact that she was now into her 4th decade we heard 'wha?' and 'huh?'.

Then came the view out the kitchen window.

'Whoa!'

Thanks bra, panties, and sign-on-a-clothesline gnomes. Well done.

Ahoy maties!

Jeannette and Peter went out for a little harbour viewing by blow boat this afternoon. A one and a half hour tour of the harbour aboard the Silva was a great way to see Halifax and Dartmouth in all of their waterfront glory.

Definitely a recommended trip for those visiting the area.

The Dark Knight returns

Well, actually, we thought it was a bat, but it turned out it was a huge brown moth. 2 huge brown moths as it turns out.

So Peter gets to enjoy all that the country has to offer on the first night here. Logan visiting with his new best friend, and moths the size of bats to keep you entertained in the early hours after darkness falls.

Another beautiful day in the neighbourhood

The weather has been amazing for the last few weeks. Sunny and warm, with rarely any hint of rain. This does lead to some concerns around here about water and, more specifically, of if we have enough of it in the well.

We're on a drilled well, which means that if rain doesn't come often enough we could use up what's there and have to call for a top up. That can get somewhat expensive. So, we are keeping a close eye on what we use, and only using it for cleaning. We buy bottled water because we drink a lot of tea and coffee, and cook a fair bit with it too.

In the meantime, the flowers seem to love the warm sun, and we use water stored in old milk jugs to water them.

Painting with light

A flashlight, actually. The sky looked amazing, and the barn was just a silhouette against it, so I decided to get out the flashlight and paint the barn in. A few trial and error shots, and some mosquito bites later and here is the result.

Technical note: I forgot to turn off the Image Stabilization on my lens, so the image is not as crisp as it could be. The reason for this is that when you have the camera on a tripod you are supposed to disable IS, otherwise it tends to try and stabilize what doesn't need stabilizing, and will actually cause blurring. Strange huh? Tune in for a shot taken without the IS enabled.

Peter arrives tomorrow so Jeannette will have some company to keep her mind off the big 4-0, coming soon.

Sunday, near sunset

After a great weekend of sunny weather we are now preparing for the start of a new week. The wind picked up today, but the clouds stayed at bay. We had a nice evening at our neighbours, who cooked up a feast of ribs, burgers, and sausages.

The images attached are of the United Church in Mt Uniacke and a view down HWY 1 near sunset.

Getting closer and closer

Here's the first in what will probably be a series of extreme close ups taken around the house. Macro photography is so cool.

While you're viewing these shots here's the news that's fit to print:

One week from today Jeannette will turn 40

Her dad arrives to help her ring in the new decade on Wednesday

She desperately wants to know details of her party

She isn't going to get any.

With respect to this past week it has been hot, sunny, and beautiful. Cleaning out the hen house was probably the grossest job I've ever done. Our phone line is acting up, which has resulted in short phone calls ending in frustration at not being able to hear the other person, and them not being able to hear us - Bell is being contacted, by cell phone, to rectify the situation.

Logan is still fine. There was a skunk hanging about earlier this evening, or so it smelled like - we all got in the house ASAP just in case.

Busy day breaking down sticks

After a long few minutes hunting down the right branch, and then beginning the task of chewing it down to more manageable pieces Logan spits out the stick and takes a break. It's not as hot as yesterday, but with the intense labour involved he feels he deserves freguent rests.

And so the calm is broken

As you may recall we have quite a bit of grass to cut when there isn't any snow to shovel. This has meant about 4-5 hours of pushing a mower around and using a weed whacker to get the rest. Well no more.

Jeannette went out to Sears after seeing a really good deal on a lawn tractor and so now we have the ultimate in lawn maintenance toys. 22 hp and 42" of grass mulching nastiness. It certainly takes a lot less time to cut the back 40 now.

A note about riding lawn mowers: the experience is somewhat like riding a bucking bronco that has settled down long enough for you to get in the saddle. Once on and moving you hold on for dear life and yank the reigns in various directions trying not to fall off or hit anything. Now that's good times!

It does make cutting the lawn much simpler though.

Early morning calm

In the early hours of the day the light is always good for getting those calendar quality images. Today was an especially nice day, because the wind was calm and presented some really good opportunities at a local pond. The pond, which is directly behind the old weigh scales on HWY 1 - a location now used by flea marketeers and anyone wanting some traffic for a garage sale - offers a wealth of subjects.

While I was taking pictures a woman came over to chat, and mentioned that turtles can often be seen along the banks and even on the asphalt now used for weekend sales. They have been known to try and dig nests in the pavement, being not quite sure what it is. The locals assist them back to an area where the digging is a bit easier.

The pond not only boasts flora and fauna, but also some remnants of the road that sits so close.

It's never easy saying goodbye to your best friend

We received a very sad piece of news today from our friends in Toronto. Chewy B, a fixture at Super Bowl parties, Lobsterfest, and any event in between at Cheryl and Danis passed away. Here is the message:
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Today we had to say goodbye to our friend and guardian Chewy B. He is survived by Binoo the Beast Bear. He will be sadly missed – who will lick up all the crumbs around the table?? Who will growl every night at the raccoons?? But the thing we will miss the most is coming home and seeing his wagging tail. It’s a sad day on Albani…..

Chewy B we loved you.
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We will all miss you Chewy.

Okay, butterflies are now officially freaking me out.

While I was sitting on the porch nursing the mother-of-all-summer-colds a butterfly flew past me. Not once, not twice, but repeatedly. This went on for about 5 minutes. At first I was feeling too tired to get up and grab the camera, but after being fluttered at for this amount of time I figured that I might as well be prepared. Once I had the camera in hand and was ready the model appeared and landed on my chair. It remained there long enough for me to take a few shots, then it wandered off to another gig.

Hmmm. Aside from the 'looks like something from a horror movie' appearance they are now setting up their own photo ops.

RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! The butterflies are coming!

Then again, maybe it's just the cold medicine.

Oh Canada!

Well, another Canada Day has come and gone. Did we learn anything over the last year? Does the country review it's successes and failures, review it's goals and revise them as people do on key birthdays? Does it think, "I thought I'd be so much further along at 141"? Does it wonder why it seems a little fat in the middle and some of it's parts don't work the way they used to? Probably not. The country parties in celebration of the creation of Canada, then, individually, gets on with worrying about why it seems a little fat in the middle.