Down the Bog

To all my fellow Devon in England enthusiasts you should click here and visit this site for some glorious pictures of Devon. They have some great ones to use as desktop pictures.

And yes, I’m afraid that it makes me terribly homesick. I haven’t been to Devon since 2002 and it’s time I was back there.

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Nicola and I effectively job share in that we both go out to work but only work part-time so that one of us can always be at home looking after the kiddies. We also try to work from home with one or two online projects that bring in extra income. Like a lot of people we’d ideally like to work completely from home because we enjoy being here and we don’t want our children to be looked after by other people. It seems crazy to be earning money just to be paying someone else to be a daytime parent.

Just like my daughters from my previous marriage Jake and Abby were very much wanted and planned and it’s important that we spend as much time with them as possible. We’re fortunate to be in this position, and as their Dad I count myself especially blessed in that I can see so much of them during the day in comparison to many Dads and their children. I feel bad for the parents out there who both work full-time and maybe miss some very special first moments with their children. Some parents don’t have a choice because of financial implications and both must work but some do get to choose and both parents follow careers and I suppose I’ll always wonder why especially as having children is a full-time job in itself.

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I remember getting my first digital camera back in 1999 and being completely blown away by it. These days it’s specification would be extremely modest to say the least but it was just so cool to be able to take lots of pictures and never have to worry about film and developing. I’d take the picture and there it was ready for immediate review so I could take it again if I wasn’t happy. When my first three children were just babies back in the late 1980’s we relied on a regular film camera with it’s limitations and I so wish that digital cameras had been available back then.

We bought a Hewlett Packard Photo Smart 215 model in 2001 to replace the original that had stopped working by then and it served us extremely well. Then just recently we splashed out on a Kodak EasyShare Z710 with an optical zoom lens and it’s been new fun all over again. We’re able to take quality pictures from a much greater distance and the settings enable us to catch our children moving at speed.

I think digital cameras have changed the whole meaning of owning a camera. It’s no longer just a means of taking a few holiday snaps but now a way of documenting our lives completely. Although it’s very easy to get our favourite pictures printed out for an album or a picture frame now we can digitally keep a record of every significant (or even insignificant) moment in our lives and the lives of those around us.

As I type this my two youngest children are here with me quietly amusing themselves. I can just grab the moment by getting my camera and clicking the button. In fact I just did. See the picture below of Abby standing out on the deck. Ten years ago I wouldn’t have bothered. The chances are that if I’d have seen a moment that I wanted to catch the camera would have been tucked away upstairs without any film in it. Over the years I’ve missed so many “moments” that now I never need to. It’s wonderful, amazing.

My brother came over from England recently and he’s a very keep photographer and has been from his youth. He owns a Professional Digital SLR camera that’s beyond anything I’ve ever seen before and has got me thinking about one day owning a similar camera such as the Nikon D300 .The specification of this camera is way above anything I’ve ever owned and I’ve a lot to learn about it but when I saw the sheer quality of my brother’s work I felt a desire to be there too. So one day, maybe I’ll get such a camera.

In the meantime I’ll work with what we’ve got and continue to share those moments with my family and friends across the globe. Because it’s that easy and that much fun.

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I’ve really started to get in the Canadian made show Corner Gas. I’m a bit late because there have already been four seasons and a fifth on it’s way. I’ve an awful lot of catching up to do.

It gets it’s title from the gas station set within it’s small fictional town of Dog River somewhere out there in the real province of Saskatchewan, Canada. We drove through Saskatchewan last year and I can relate!

There are better places than this blog to describe the show so I won’t go on and on suffice to say that I keep trying to track down episodes on the Comedy Channel and CTV of course. In fact anywhere out there where I can see it. I may even contemplate the DVD’s if I feel like I’m not making enough progress in catching up.

Corner Gas is an all Canadian show and it was almost worth moving here just to discover it. A deal has been made for it to start airing in the US this September and I can only hope that the Brits get a chance to appreciate it one day if they haven’t already. It’s time The Littlest Hobo was eclipsed once and for all!

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Big congratulations are due to my daughter, Ruth who was named as employee of the month at the local McDonald’s where she works part-time. She’s a willing and hard worker for them and goes in whenever she’s needed even at very short notice.

We watch our children grow up so fast and they’re young adults before we’re ready for them to be. I’m very proud of all my children and I hope the others won’t mind me saying that on this occasion I’m especially proud of Ruth’s recognition by her employer.

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As I’ve mentioned before houses in North America are much more likely to have a basement than houses in the UK. I’ve really enjoyed the two houses we’ve had so far since moving here for that exact reason because it adds another level to the house.

The only problem can be the level of dampness and it’s not a bad idea to have a dehumidifier to try and take some of the moisture out of the air in the basement to try and avoid mold. When we were last house hunting we viewed one house and the damp smell hit us as soon as we went through the front door. The source was a damp basement and it was dreadful.

However damp and mold problems aren’t always apparent even though they are present and can cause serious heath issues such as breathing difficulties and a feeling of being unwell. Some people live in houses where they aren’t aware of a mold problem because they can’t see it but are suffering the consequences.

But now we can turn once again to man’s (and woman’s) best friend for their help in mold testing PA. We’re very used to the idea of dogs assisting humankind and now their noses are being used in a new direction to explore properties and find where mould is lurking. This can help save the householder much expense and inconvenience during the investigation as the dogs can search in a non-destructive way.

This seems to me as such a great innovation in such a technical world. We’d imagine that to identify these problems lots of sophisticated equipment would need to be brought in along with maybe some large holes being drilled just to identify where the mould might be. But instead some people will get the opportunity to watch one of these clever dogs at work as he or she works their way around the house helping to solve another problem for us humans.

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So I’m back using the bike at the moment while we’re without a car. It’s okay for now because it’s still nice and warm and more importantly dry. But that can’t possibly last and I know my enthusiasm for cycling is going to decrease the first time I have to do my twenty minute cycle to work in steady rain.

But for now it’s fine and presents the opportunity to save some money on gas and burn some extra calories. Always a good thing!

Here in Ontario the law says that cycle helmets must be worn. I asked a Police Officer once about how much this law is enforced. He told me that it isn’t practical to enforce it which is why I see a lot of people cycling without helmets. I guess it’s considered uncool. I myself choose to wear a helmet because I’ve read of nasty incidents where people have suffered severe brain injury and even death because of hitting their heads when coming off their bike. It doesn’t seem likely does it? But it happens.

I knew personally a man back in England who suffered permanent brain damage because he was playing in his back yard with his nephew and tripped over a ridge one inch high. His head struck concrete and he suffered terribly from the consequences of that fall.

So it makes sense to me and I feel that not only am I following the law but that I’m doing the right thing by myself and my family.

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There’s a fascinating story about the Titanic and a key that could have prevented the disaster. The theory is that the key opened the locker that contained the binoculars used in the crows nest for look-out purposes. Back in 1912 there wasn’t any sonar to warn of advanced perils so the look-out was absolutely crucial for the safety of the ship. However the key was left behind on dry land after a crew change and thus no access to the locker.

It’s only a theory but it means that the key is now worth a lot of money and is expected to sell for £70,000 at auction. What is clear is that at an official inquiry after the event it’s apparent that there weren’t any binoculars in use on that fateful night. Isn’t it extraordinary? No binoculars available at all on that big modern ship of the early 20th century? The whole concept of look-out being to see as far ahead as possible to warn of danger and no binoculars? All those wasted lives and somewhere along the line a terrible neglect of responsibility.

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Last month I was feeling quite pleased with myself because our car passed the emission test as part of Ontario’s Drive Clean program. Although our Dodge Caravan is a 1998 model I felt like it would continue to be a useful vehicle for a while yet.

Unfortunately since then the car has paid back my optimism by developing several problems. It’s started to leak a little water, oil and steering fluid and developed a rather disconcerting noise from within the engine. So I took it back to our local garage only to be told by them that they weren’t sure if it was worth spending the money on fixing it. They weren’t being rude just honest I guess but it still didn’t feel good to hear it. They highlighted that one of the strut towers (these house the front suspension) was corroding badly and quite a costly repair was required and the noise from the engine implied it was coming to end of it’s useful life. So I took it back home to review the situation.

Our budget doesn’t allow us to just go out and get a brand new car and even a newish second hand car might be beyond us. If we consider an older cheaper vehicle then we might just be buying another car with the same problems that we already have.

On a temporary short-term basis we decided to just use the car for strictly local journeys like grocery shopping and rent a car for longer occasional trips out of town. However on our way out to Walmart this afternoon the car began to really run badly. The engine sounded rough and uneven and I couldn’t wait to get back home with it. Even the “engine needs attention” light came on as we drove back.

So that looks like that’s it for the time being. We’re without a car until we get some expensive repairs done or we buy another one. We take these things so much for granted until we have problems with them. Fortunately we live in a town that means although it’s not the easiest thing to do we can manage without a car with some advanced planning. On the bright side it looks like we’ll be doing a little extra to help reduce global warming as we won’t be emitting any auto gases for a while.

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I’m getting a bit fed up with all of the spam type comments being left on Youtube. The first ones that I noticed were the kind of chain letter comments that went “if you read this and don’t pass it on seven times then something bad will happen…” but now there are too many comments with links for adult video sites. It’s bad enough when I read them on other people’s video offerings but now they’re appearing on clips that I’ve got on Youtube. Everytime I get one I block the user along with removing the comment and I’d encourage everyone else to do the same. I’ve no idea why people don’t monitor what comments are being left on the movies they’ve uploaded nor why Youtube aren’t setting up some kind of spam control. Perhaps it’s not possible to do but movie contributers should be more vigilante.

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