Quick explanation

The previous post was an attempt to put a couple of pictures on the web so I could link them to a fish forum (Durham Regional Aquarium Society - DRAS). The attempt failed, but then I was pointed to photobucket.com

Success!

And that is for the comments from the Peanut Gallery (aka Dave).

Something I've been meaning to do

For some time I have wanted to write something about an Economist article. So, here 'tis.
The article is "The Big Sort" in the US of A section of the June 21st 2008 issue (just in case you really want the whole thing).
The header is "Americans are increasingly choosing to live among like-minded neighbours. This makes the culture war more bitter and politics harder" As you can see, a bit of fluff journalism.

So, what are we on about here? Well, in the interest of saving one friend (you know who you are), I will use the briefest of synopses:

1. Some (many) communities are becoming close knit, ideologically segregated enclaves. Conservatives live near other conservatives, liberals near liberals. Evidence comes from the presidential election results.
2. 1976 Carter won 50.1% of the vote, but 26.8% of Americans were in "landslide counties" where Carter won or lost the county by 20 percentage points or more.
3. 2000 Bush won in a dead heat; 45.3% landslide counties.
4. 2004 Bush wins again; 48.3% landslide counties. All this comes from a recent book -"The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing us Apart".
5. Americans are mobile and can indulge even a mild preference for living with similar kooks. Over time, this means they are less likely to be exposed to contrary views. In data from 12 countries, Americans were the least likely to talk about politics with those who disagreed with them.
6. The more educated Americans are, the more insular they are. That is positively weird.
7. Same thing with radio, TV, Internet. Many more channels etc. make migration to a constant point of view easier.
8. So what? Groups that are ideologically the same become more extreme. Even judges. Decisions by a group of nothing but conservatives are more hard edged than thsoe by a group of conservatives with a few lost liberals. Even judges.

Where does this all lead? Not sure yet, but some evidence is out there. Debate is seldome civil; it is a shouting match. Partisan lawmakers cannot reach concensus to fix real problems.

And so to a few pictures.

The first Morning Glory, and a new rose.



Our first wisteria bloom (after many years of patience).
And a Day Lily.

Nationalistic Celebrations

OK, this will be weird. I am out of practice and there are some experiments to try. Like this doodle. Seems I can load any JPEG. Y'all are in big trouble now. The back yard looks great. Nice side-effect of all the rain and thunder stuff we have been having. Guess that's what you get when the warm damp air meets the Great White North. Bob & Doug just had their 24th anniversary, by the bye.
I'm doing all this verbiage in and among the pictures just to annoy a neighbour (who can't).

So we all got together for the annual Canada Day parade. Just a small, neighbourhood thing that is completely hokey. With Dana, Jason and the grandkids, it is super. We all walk around the block with some cops and a fire truck. Someone puts out water and freezies for the kids.
Penny, Jason and Henry here.
Then over to Dana's (and Jason's) for lunch. Bennett had water mellon.
So did Hannah.Jack finished his quickly.

And Charlotte took it all in.

It was a great day. Thanks to you all!

Bennett's birthday party

WHAT A GREAT PARTY! Thanks, Eri & Mike. Now Ben is officially 3.

Bennett and all the kids (large and small) had a super time in the jumping tent. So many kids!

And we got to see our "other daughter", Erin. It has been quite a while.
There was food. Lots of food.
And kids. Lots of kids. And everyone helped unwrap the presents. Lots of presents.The cake was amazing. Great job, Erika.

Experimental pictures

These are all taken in the aquarium in the family room. I borrowed some stuff from Dana and have some pretty obvious problems with control of the light and colour. But rather satisfying for a first (OK, maybe fifth) try.

Some lessons learned:

• clean the glass carefully,
• be very patient,
• understand the camera / flash conversation better, and
• it will work.
  

Young angelfish

Neon tetra

Jungle. There is a lot going on in this one.

OK, some new stuff starts

This is short, but I have been getting a bit of flak from some quarters about my poor performance in updating this mess. So ...

There will be some more new stuff soon, but this might be the more interesting.

After 14 years, almost to the day, we have a new truck.
Same as the old one, but not such a funky colour.

And the rear opens to get stuff in and out easier.
There will be a lid on the back as soon as the old lid gets re-painted.

We have chickadees in residence in one of the houses I built last year. The babies are being fed by the two tiny parents. The whole neighbourhood is full of baby birds abd attendant turf wars and battles. Quite fun.



Cardinals, robins, grackles, starlings, doves, house finches, chickadees and who knows what else.




The chickadees are really quick, but I caught this one bolting out to get more food.





Penny's orchid has been in flower like this for close to three months.



So, there was other stuff, too. Mike and Eri got us a great hotel room last weekend (many thanks and the staff still remember). We went to dinner (Fred's Not Here), the theatre (Dirty Dancing), walked up Yonge Street at about 1 am in a monsoon (golf umbrella came in handy), and went to the market (St. Lawrence) on Saturday morning. Happy birthday to Penny!

I have borrowed Dana's camera to try an experiment.

Watch this space.

At the birdbath

These are taken from the kitchen window looking out at the front birdbath. I have been meaning to do this for some time. We get some interesting visitors and I want to get some pictures.





I have cropped these, but nothing else. I love the truly pissed-off attitude of this robin. That's him above as well.







The chickadee really got into splashing around and became just a blur. Then he (or she) went into the pine tree to try to put everything back in place.









There will be more of these; better ones as I figure out the camera.

Spring has sprung

Spring has arrived. April 12th. We went from later winter with snow on the ground to early summer with t-shirts and shorts in about 5 days. Here are some garden pictures. Magnolia about to do it's 3 day annual show, hyacinth making the front yard smell (I assume) like a cheap brothel, and forsythia. I love the ambiguity of that last bit. Does it mean I don't know how a brothel smells? Or only a cheap brothel? Or can I not smell?

Enough.

Hannah's skating show

OK. First up is the star and her group of ladies. They were skating with the knights who mostly dashed around the ice.






I am sorry about the pictures, but Hannah is in the first two. Click on the picture to get a real close look. Hannah is in here, honest. I have not chopped the size.






The whole show was well done with skaters at different ages and skill levels. There was dramatic effect, great lighting (sometimes), and the odd spill. This and the next are Guinevere's solo.













The new national champ, Patrick Chan, was there as a guest skater.






Some of the individual performances (or pairs) were quite spectacular. I even got their names in the background!































And the little guys dressed up as ponys stole the show.

Aw, aren't they cute!

The birdbath in the front yard is clearly seen from the kitchen window. I plan to get bird pictures from this locale as spring and summer eventually arrive. So, I was quite amused when I looked out and saw a black squirrel digging in the very deep snow under the bird bath. And then he/she jumped up onto the ice to enjoy a peanut that one of out idiot neighbours insists on leaving out for the little vermin.

While watching all this (sweet little rat, isn't it), another black squirrel runs down the big maple tree, across the lawn and up te little magnolia. And starts lunching on the as-yet-to-be blossoms.

If I can trap the beast, I will squash its head and either leave it nailed to the maple, or present it to the neighbour.

Anyone know a good way to trap squirrels? If the method is legal, so much the better.