Don't count my scars like tree rings...

my earliest memory is of holding up a sparkler

More photos from the home-front...

Reposting is super lame, however this NPR story is beautiful.

Trees Come 'From Out Of The Air,' Said Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman. Really? 

Ask one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century a simple question, and his answer makes me go, "What? What did he just say?"

Simply reading this article makes me happy.

Teenage Nova Scotians and Quebecers are the happiest Canadians while older Ontarians less so

Little NS house on the prairie...

We received and accepted an offer on the house last Monday.  The conditions are straightforward, contingent on financing and inspection.   The home inspector came on Wednesday and the prospective buyers seemed happy with the results. Although the inspector did mention one thing to me - that we needed a gas line locate, and that because it appeared that the gas line went under the garage (it does), this might pose a bit of a problem.

I had a dream last night...

Yesterday CBF got out, and went for a wee walk about the neighbourhood. Luckily he came back.  I then had a terrible dream that someone had deliberately hurt him.

Earth vs. Garth

As you can see, the fireplace is starting to come together.  This has resulted in a bit of a debate at our house.  Living with a former Arkansan, some discussions come screeching to a halt when one of us utters an unfamiliar word.

It ain't pretty...

... but think of how much rain water we'll collect!  It would be lovely to have a 250 gallon cistern in which to hold rain/snow water. I should like it to be raised high enough to water lower side yard as well as to the upper yards. 

Autumn

Hockey season, football season, learning season.
New clothes, new classes, warm days, cool evenings.

ZOMGWTFBBQ!! They sell BEEP in Nova Scotia!!!!

Sweet, low-swingin', sandal-wearin', sandwich-eatin' mother of Jeebuz on a crutch!

Our fireplace, and a word from our sponsors...

Oh, and here's some photos of our new fireplace. To give you a bit of an idea of scale, the hearth will be approximately 5' wide when finished, and the mantle will sit 6-ish feet off the floor.  Hard to judge scale from the size of the living room, eh?  Having the mantle 6' off the floor is great for scale, given that the ceiling is so high!

Our fantastic friends, Mooshum and Kookum!

Our friends, Laura and Gerard, have become honorary Grandma and Grandpa.  In an effort to avoid "my Laura" and "our friend Laura" they've decided that Kookum (Grandma in Cree) and Mooshum (Grandpa, also in Cree) will do just fine!

The autumn leaves drift by my window...

The sad songs of fleeting geese have entered our fall repertoire.  Warm days and the last of summer's lazy breezes play with our hair as we take a break from working on the house.  The evenings have also once again become cool, anticipating winter's eventual, inevitable arrival.

A sad day for Dumpster...

Sadly, the City has decided that shared back-alley dumpsters are obsolete.  We have been issued a "residential rolling waste cart".  For all intents and purposes, this means that dumpster divers can now tear open our garbage bags in the cart instead of a giant dumpster.

House walk through video

Laur put a few videos together. 

Refresher course

A friend has asked that I post a rendering of the finished structure.

Boy's room.

We've been tossing around the idea of a loft bed for the boy's room.  The footprint is almost exactly the same size as his current room.  We'd dismissed the idea on previous occasions because of his tender age.

Commenting made easy (hopefully)!

So... there seems to still be some problems with commenting. I've made a few illustrations to help people along.  A brief tutorial on commenting.