A “reloaded” post is a quick-clipped summary of a bunch of small things from the past few days. I want to write them down, but I am either lacking in (a) details or (b) time. That’s just how it goes sometimes. Enjoy. The Chopping Game I’ve been playing Minecraft again. I’d kinda been off it for a while — the summer mostly — but in the last couple weeks I’ve ventured back into the world we created last winter and I’ve been chopping my way through the new features, rule-sets, and other changes. I’ve still not figured out all the bits, though: I really need to find that wiki and spend some time look at what all the little tweaks mean. The food and nutrition [...]

A “reloaded” post is a quick-clipped summary of a bunch of small things from the past few days. I want to write them down, but I am either lacking in (a) details or (b) time. That’s just how it goes sometimes. Enjoy. On Paints and Beds I was feeling a little blue. Literally. I was speckled all over my arms, and a bit on my face with a kind of greyish indigo. Eggshell. The direct result of that casual splatter often encountered by your everyday-average-homeowner turned painter when he stumbles upon the need to hurriedly add colour to a wall as a result of buying new furniture that (in opposition to the norm) is delivered weeks earlier than anticipated. Recommendations included in the lesson are [...]

Saturday. Sitting on the front porch in my plastic Adirondack chair. Sparkle curled up in her bed (too much of a wimp to lay in the grass, of course.) The sun beats through the light smoky haze drifting in from some Northerly forest fire. The cars grind past, one every couple of minutes, beating their way to somewhere, who can say. Saturday morning have become my free time. Claire has been taking a dance class. Karin takes her to the studio where she’s been a regular for a number of years now. Its been Claire’s first year. It’s a mommy-daughter thing. It suits me just fine to have a solid ninety minutes to myself every Saturday morning. Sometimes I do something productive. This morning I [...]

Funny. I was sitting on the train, holding my phone, and an email alert appeared on the screen.  Some website I had signed up to years back, a social network for dogs (and their owners, presumably) had sent me a birthday greeting for Sparkle. I had completely forgot. Not that she cares of course, but still, it seems so odd… being worried about a dog’s birthday. Worried about missing it. I wouldn’t say our dog has suffered in the seven years of her life.  Well, I cannot vouch for the first year or so, but in the six that she has been with us she has certainly had some adventures. Adventures for a dog, at least.  What does one ‘do’ for a dog’s birthday?  A [...]

I’ve had a busy couple of weeks. Between running, working, and those other little things that come up… well, y’know… This quasi-drought it killing my garden. It sucks. Sure, I can pump water on it all day long, but the moisture bakes out of the soil in less than a day anyways. Some of the plants are doing okay — after they get established, they flourish because they can get their roots down deep enough — but the seedlings are slow and suffering. If I get even a dozen carrots out of the patch this year, I’ll be surprised. I spent a couple hours building Claire a sandbox the other day. We had looked at a couple of the plastic doo-dahs, but I figured it [...]

Did I mention I’ve not had much time to write all the things I said I was going to write? No? Well, there it is. We’ve been stuffing ourselves into the basement for the last few evenings working away at the final bits of pre-carpet work. I am pretty much sick of ivory paint and 45 degree corners. And if I never see another tube of wood filler again, it will be too soon. We had an exciting weekend. Well, relatively exciting. You may have noticed the weather has markedly improved. That means we got out to the park (see the gallery for pictures) and Sparkle is happy and content because there are once again numerous walks in her life. We’ve been so busy I [...]