Seismic Twitch

On the outside wall of a gas station in the Laurel Highlands in PA

Just some photos a video and a photo (for you to ponder in your dreams.

This is the end of the weir. The volume of water going over this man made devise is incredible. The currents are something else as well. The currents at the weir (also known as a low head dam) are very dangerous and meant to be avoided if you’re in the water. They are meant to keep river levels upstream relatively stable. There is a line of buoys upstream from the weir that boats and recreational water vehicles aren’t meant to go beyond.

Another weir shot, just down stream of the previous one. Notice the current in front.

The next two photos are of the pathway long the weir area of the river. It’s quite a pretty area.

This is Bran’s beard. Bran’s beard has a Marlo Thomas curl (remember the show That Girl?) though I don’t think the producers/directors and whoever styled her hair thought about beards. Maybe.

This is the video of the weir with commentary by Boy and me. Pay no attention to my chiding him. You all already know I don’t like to leave the house. It was fun yanking his chain though.

This is boy pinching Bran’s wenis. Get your minds out of the gutter and clit…I mean, click the link.

I was sick today with a nasty sinus headache. That happens when things have been wet too long. I woke up to sunshine and thought my face was going to blow up from my ears forward. I woke up later to a thunder shower. Then a couple of hours later the sun was shining again. Seriously. That’s enough with the rain. I’m growing mould.

I took today off (yesterday was Canada Day and therefore a statutory holiday) so I’m in day 2 of the 4 day long weekend. I’ve not done anything today. Yes, I’ve truly taken the day off. I got up at 4 pm and other than editing photos, I’ve not done a whole lot. I’m just uploading them to Flickr right now.

It rained again today. When I got up we were in the midst of another thunderstorm that Environment Canada had a “thunderstorm watch” for. This means it’s a big’un. At the end of the storm, when the light breeze was blowing a tornado warning was issued for our area. This means that a funnel cloud or rotating clouds were seen around. I have no idea if anything came of it, but nothing happened at our end of town. I went out onto the front steps and took a few photos for you.

After the storm (I’d been reading my online comics while it was going on) I edited up some of the photos from my Edmonton trip. Considering the scenic photos were taken through a dirty window of a van travelling at 110 kph, they turned out not too badly.

Now, the photos have all been uploaded and are ready to go so…first we’re doing the trip to Edmonton.

One way there we saw this weird cloud wall. It appeared to be like looking at mountains with clouds that are lower than the top of the mountains. It was very spooky:

It wasn’t until we got closer that we realized it was a fog bank with higher level clouds. Then the conversation turned to Stephen King’s novella (short story?) The Mist. It’d been made into a bad movie. The movie (no, I haven’t seen it) could not possibly compare to my own imagination. That story has been haunting my pre-sleep brain since I first read it in the late 70s or early 80s.

Next are some lovely prairie shots. When people ask me why I love the prairies these photos demonstrate why. Yes, I know we’re not as cosmopolitan as the larger areas to the east. Yes, I know there is a frustratingly large population of people who could be best described as “hicks”. But it would be hard for me to live anywhere else. I really am a stubble-jumper to the core.

And now for the two best photos of our rain this afternoon. I took the photo of the houses because of the overflowing gutters and the massive outflow from one of the spouts. It was amazing to watch. I should have taken a video. If I get my spit together next time I’ll do that instead of taking still shots. It’s hard to get a real feel for the sheer amount of water moving in a still photo.

This is our intersection. You can’t tell the difference between it and and a river.

Boy got me a bonus Pokemon that was being offered as a “gift”. He went to all the work of going to a new city and getting the gift being offered. He’s so sweet.

Bran made me Kraft macaroni and cheese for supper. It’s all I could think of on the spur of the moment that wouldn’t take a lot of time to make.

I’ve got a lot of feelings around what’s going on with my Dad. I’m sure that’s normal. Along with the grief and fear and other things I’ve got other stuff happening. I’m not sure it’s quite normal to have the odd resentment I feel that my cocoon of uninvolvement has been taken away. Now I have to get involved in the goings on of my Dad’s life. Now my sister will have more involvement in my life, even if peripherally. It is this that leaves me wishing that Dad had just outright died instead of this slow crawl to the grave. I feel very selfish and bad for feeling this way.

Draught – Draft…which do you use?

XMarks saved my ass today. One of the things I regularly do (once every few months or so) is manage to delete a folder of bookmarks. Usually it’s a folder of folders of bookmarks that get lost. XMarks saves my ass each time. I don’t know when I did it, but sometime after I read blogs and when I noticed they were gone, I deleted my blogs folder. That meant that every single blog I read as well as all the sites I use for graphics, Flickr and more were gone too. XMarks gives you the ability to download older bookmarks versions that were synchronized previously. So that’s what I did and now I can read all the blogs that allow me to read them. If you don’t have something like XMarks, then you need to seriously get something. It also means that if you’re away from your computer and you want to read your comics, or blogs or find that site for something you want to show someone, then having a service like XMarks is a good thing.

Working on the weekend sucks, but there was no one else available. One of my co-workers has been ill for a few days. She tried to make it through the entire shift, but wasn’t. I got a call at about 3 pm yesterday from the boss asking me to save him from going in to work. I figured I’d go in. We worked it out that I’ll be taking the hours as time in lieu after my holidays. I work days that week so the counsellor can work two shifts for me.

I realized yesterday that I did have enough holiday time accrued to take a full two weeks. My brain screwed up the calculations. However, because of working this weekend I get two days off with pay that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. My boss is beholden to me (well, not really, but it’s nice to think that way sometimes) and the residents get someone who can cook and not burn the french fries.

My first Pride Parade (with photos) was yesterday. I went with Bran, Michelle and Boy. I had some worries about being out in a crowd, but all in all I did not too badly. I didn’t march though. Bran and Michelle did. Boy kept me company in the shade (and despite this I still had a bit of a sun burn from the walk to and from the parade). I came home with a silicone rainbow pride bracelet and a rainbow streamer for our back yard, when we get one of our very own, with a fence, out of the city, on an acreage, away from people…sense a theme?

I should have taken a spot along the parade route. That way I could’ve gotten lots of excellent photos of the entire parade instead of the mob scene at the end. However, I didn’t so you get to see the best of the crap I took.

The very front of the parade:

Some of the marchers (love the kiss):

There were also teachers marching holding up signs saying things about non-hostile workplaces, equality and such. It was good to see that kind of support. There was also a GSA group from one of the high schools (oddly enough, not Boy’s though I think some of their members marched).

The float for The Avenue Community Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity, Inc.

One of the queens on the Avenue Centre’s float:

These two drove the truck pulling one of the floats. I can’t remember which one. I think it was the Boyz float:

Speaking of boyz:

Last but not least are Mrs. and Mr. Gay Regina:

Those are some bodacious tatas.

After the parade I took some flower photos on the way home. One of them was a very neat purple and yellow flower that resembled an orchid. However, it was growing outside in Saskatchewan. I don’t know of any domesticated orchids that do that. I took a photo of it, but it was very grainy.

Here are the other ones I took:

A dandelion in full fluff:

This was taken with my point-and-shoot Fuji Film digital camera that Bran bought for me with Shoppers Optimum points. It works pretty darned well, don’t you think?

My niece knows the name of this purple daisy flower, but I don’t. The only thing that could have made this photo better is if a honey or bumble bee were on the daisy.

Another macro shot, this time of a flower that is either part of a tree or of a plant growing up the tree. Either way, the flower is quite pretty (prettier than the photo). There’s also one blooming on the ground, which is why I thought maybe it wasn’t a bloom from the tree itself.

And finally, some horticultural porn, just for you. I wouldn’t display such nastiness for just anyone. Spread that pollen, baby!

Yesterday was the first full day of sunshine we’ve gotten in weeks. It’s sunny again today. It’s quite a change from the rather drab, rainy days of the past months. I’ve heard many people comment on how relieved they are that the sun is out again. Certainly the ground is saturated through. Last night Bran and I saw some rather deep ruts caused by someone missing their turn and going up onto the grassy boulevard. Judging from the depth of the ruts, they didn’t get out of there without help.

So that’s it. I have to go to a building check soon, so have a good Sunday…or what’s left of it.

…in the style of a kitty of course. Forgive the graininess. I didn’t want to use the flash and disturb her.

Just like in November…

Someone Once Told Me

“467This warm and friendly volunteer, with a penchant for pancakes, was keen to have his picture taken, but slightly nervous about having it done exactly here. This was because the bench was opposite where he worked, and he was a bit shy about being spotted for his modelling debut. He says this quote “encapsulates everything about the mind”. Taken in Shoreditch, London. His rather swish blog can be found here http://www.litmanlive.co.uk/”

Please forgive the fuzziness. It’s the best I can do with my little camera.

I took these photos this past summer. click on the image to make it larger, but don’t bother with the bison, for some reason it shrinks rather than gets larger. Go figure.

This sculpture is a block or so from where I work. The neighbourhood has a very high proportion of Aboriginal people so the art work tends to reflect that.

Here’s Bran doing one of the things he loves to do.

Here is the clematis that is climbing up the east side of the house. As you can see, there are two different colours. Actually, they look blue and white in the photo but they’re actually purple and light mauve.

If you look carefully you can see a second rainbow to the left of the more obvious one. The neat thing about this photo is that the end of the bows reach into a bank.

This wagon was at the entrance of an acreage south of town.

This is a sepia version of the wagon. It adds to the aged look, don’t you think?

It’s weird. Firefox speller said that wagon was spelt wrong. Go figure.

School went ok today. Yesterday we had a very lively discussion about spank/don’t spank as well as the moral panics created by the media when it comes to certain types of crime. Then I picked up a sandwich and a small soup for lunch. Soup was curry cauliflower. They make a yummy one.

Today was methods and learning the last of the information about the dissemination of the research that we’re making the proposal for. The prof still sounds ill. Poor woman. It was also institutional turkey Thursday, so that’s what I had for lunch. Now I’m just wasting time until I help do an advisory session for the undergrads.

I worked until midnight on Tuesday night so I was quite tired this morning. Funny how that happens when midnight (later because I need wind down time)is accompanied with 7 am days. Yuck. Anyway, I was intending to stay at the school until 5 pm or so I could work through the afternoon. Alas, yesterday, come 2:00 or so I phoned Bran and asked him to come get me after he picked up Boy. When I got into the car he suggested that we go and wash the car. I had my camera (last time I forgot it) and said, “Sure, but I want the front seat.” So Boy got out and got into the back and I got into the car.

I took photos of the whole process, from waiting in line to driving out. While we waited in line an old man somehow backed into the car behind him. His car wasn’t running so I suspect he put his car into neutral too soon (as in 4 cars away from the tire tow chain) and then rolled into the car behind. It took him a fairly long time to get his car started so I suspect that he should probably have his licence taken away.

We finally got up to the front and then the old woman behind us bumped us. Can you believe it? It’s like people forgot how to drive because they’re getting dirt washed off their vehicles. Dumb! I know we didn’t back into her because we’d just started being moved forward by the car wash machinery.

Anyway, here are the photos – as usual, click to make larger.

There’s also a video of our drive down the Broadway Bridge. The castle-like thing is the Bessborough Hotel. The brown building at the bottom of the bridge (where I pan over and Bran opens his window) is the church we were married in very long ago.

…has shoulder. Click on them to make them bigger.

I love the way she gets her feet planted in the hood and uses that as her brace.