My Morning Puzzle

Here it is, seven o'clock in the A.M., and I've completed the daily Sudoku in the morning paper. Whoda thunkit: not about completing the puzzle but doing so by 7:00?

I've never been a morning person. Certainly, the normal worker who is nighthawk by nature is forced to stumble out and about in a state of bewilderment at ungodly hours. (Or are they, in point of fact, the godly hours?) But once I retired and was able to fall into my own rhythms, I found myself staying up late and lying in a bit in the morning.

Oh, come on now. I wasn't all that bad; the lying in wasn't until noon, more like 9:00 or perhaps 10:00 in extreme cases. Although the larks among you might look askance at such sleeping in, I submit that the cause was not laziness as the wee hours would frequently find AC doing productive things. I mean to say that we owls never accuse the larks of being slothful when they retire at ridiculously early hours, so why the reverse? I can remember trying to learn the basics of Photoshop or html in those wee hours, for example when all good morning larks would be sound asleep, and it never occurred to me to think them lazy. Quite simply, my mind would frequently be humming along in great form in those after midnight hours, and it seemed wise to take advantage of it.

These days, however, although I endure nights of problematic sleep, I seldom find myself perking in those wee hours. Just last night, for example, I had to shut Dan Brown's latest wild romp through mystically symbolic adventures before midnight as my eyes were glueing beyond comfort. Sometimes, I'm now actually very tired in the evening, which was not the case just a few short years ago.

I can narrow much of the time frame of the change in waking and sleeping habits down to the past two years. When Nikki Dee was new, I would sometimes head over in the middle of the night to rock her and give Mom a few hours of rest. It wasn't all that onerous for me to do that, and the reward was great as I certainly bonded with the little tyke. However, when brother, Zach, came into this world just two years later, it was certainly fortuitous for all of us that he was a much better sleeper because Buppa no longer felt up to middle-of-the-night-rocking-sessions.

Why my switch suddenly flipped after all this time, I know not for sure, but I suspect it has to do with sleep issues. Frankly, the quality of my repose is now frequently not up to snuff, and I often find myself sleeping only on the surface. Whereas, not long ago I would, could and did stay up late, once I got to bed, I tended to sleep fairly well on most nights. Although I still enjoy some good sleeps, for the most part, it is no longer so. My best guess is that, usually, poor sleep on the previous night causes me to be tireder on the ensuing evening ... and so on in a circular pattern that is not altogether pleasing to me.

So, that's why it is noteworthy, to me and no one else, I'm sure (although I'm afflicting you with my ruminations regardless), that I completed a Sudoku by 7:00 AM this morn. It represents quite a sudden alteration in the pattern of my life. Although I find that it's not altogether disagreeable to rise and shine (or rise and puzzle as it were), please pardon this writer if he is not completely delirious with the cause of it all.

An Odd Structure, Part 2

In response to blogging about The Wall last week, at least one person requested updates, so here is one. Work has begun on the store/office on the left side (above). You can now see a bit of bracing against the wall until the roof is in place, I suspect. In fact, both sides are now braced (see next two photos).





The smarter-than-me Cuppa studied the sign (below) while I was taking this picture (above) and noticed that the shape of the projected roof matches the wall very well — which is a darn good thing, I rather think. It also shows that there will be a series of shops/offices (I suspect mostly the latter). In looking at the pads and the electrical hookups, it appears that there will be about ten places of business in all and that this will be the only firewall. So, perhaps one of the establishments next to the wall requires extra protection because it involves greater risk? Bakery? Restaurant?

Of Carols and Dilemmas

It was less than a week ago that I posted about getting my iPod ready for Christmas music but that I wasn't ready to listen yet. Well, things sure changed quickly. I first gave in during that somewhat sleepless night that I had, and then The Bonnie Wee One took me the rest of the way.

What the picture below shows is Nikki Dee nestling against me. What it doesn't show is that Jingle Bells by BoneyM was being played ... over and over and over again. She began by just listening and dancing solo for quite awhile before migrating to my lap where she stayed for a very, very long time in various positions and contortions. We were playing the song from iTunes over the computer, and she was also fascinated by the visualizations. She can be a going concern, flitting from this activity to that, but it was amazing how long she was content to sit with Bups and listen and watch. And I am only referring to one session right now, not the other two of the same day. I mean to say that I quite like both BoneyM and Jingle Bells, but really now.



But that's not the dilemma I referred to in the title. No, it's more serious than that.

In the previous post, I mentioned how she fussed while we were in the car, not wanting to go home but very keen to go to "Buppa House". That was Thursday, so we brought her home on Friday afternoon, and kept her until Saturday evening. She was absolutely delightful during her stay, but it was difficult to know how to get her home without causing a meltdown. I wouldn't describe these meltdowns as temper tantrums either because the kid is absolutely crushed and breaking her heart over having to leave us. The heartbreak is quite genuine, I'm afraid.

She's clever too. During the day on Saturday, she wouldn't even consider going shopping with Buppa because that would mean getting in the car, and who knows whether Buppa might then take her home. The little blighter knows it's out of her control then.

In the end, we thought it would be easiest if Mom were to pick her up. We were wrong. Nothing is easy, and poor Buppa and Amma were almost crushed to see her in such a woebegone state. We don't know what to do about the heartbreak. It's almost easier on all of us if we don't see her in the first place, but that's not the answer either. It's quite a dilemma, I tell ya.

On the Eleventh Day

Our poor Nikki Dee had quite a tough time for ten days after her swine shot. And when Nikki Dee isn't healthy and happy, the rest of us aren't going to be too jocular because she's an emotional two-year-old, and she's quite free in sharing those emotions. She's been putting Mom and Dad through the wringer. We've tried to be around to help from time to time, but it hasn't been easy for anyone.

We did take her to the playground yesterday, and she really took to grabbing onto this low basketball hoop and then dropping into my arms. We did this again and again and again ... until both her arms and mine were too tried to do it anymore. At least mine were. Old Buppa had had the biscuit.



While we were at the park, she was reasonably well distracted from her plight, but it did take a lot of effort to keep her happy. In one of her games, she would attempt to wander off, and I would have to grab her and haul her back and make it into quite the event. As with the basketball hoop, this little act was repeated over and over. However, perhaps you can tell from the look on her face in the closer shots, that she wasn't quite her usual, happy self. She was trying hard but not quite making it.







We could barely get her home. She'd weep and wail whenever the car got anywhere near her neighbourhood no matter from what direction we approached. She'd whine for more rides and more Beluga (the Raffi song that we play in the car). Eventually, we had to take a very distraught kid back home though.

So, come today, we resolved to have her for a sleepover because she so likes to be with us and to come to "Buppa house." The crazy thing though, on the eleventh day after that shot, she reverted to her normal self and was an absolute delight. So really, we didn't help Mom and Dad out too very much by having her over today as opposed to any of the last ten.

But at least we tried. Here she is in her elf hat — actually the elf hat that mommy picked up for me as a bit of a gag. Nikki Dee is being a bit serious trying to adjust it in this photo, but I assure you that she was enjoying herself immensely.

Weird Synchronicity

This is such flipping weird occurrence of synchronicity, that I can't resist, dropping a short post on you. I was just sorting through some recent bills. On November 11, I did some grocery shopping, and I just noticed that the bill came to $111.11. That's 111.11 on 11/11. I can scarcely fathom that happening. Why I find it delightful, I don't know. Small brain? Easily amused? Both?

In the Bleak Mid Autumn

Although the Christmas/Solstice song says "mid winter," at least we usually have snow around here to brighten the landscape come that time of year. In mid to late autumn, however, not so much. The trees are bare and there is very little Wow Factor, especially on an overcast day as it was when I took these photos whilst on a little stroll. I was looking for good shots, but I gave up and decided to show just what I saw — not much.



It (above) doesn't exactly draw you in, does it? I mean, I'll bet no one is wishing that s/he were there. There's just no Ooh La La as they might say one province to the east of us. Pointing the camera into the woods (below) seemed to make it even worse. Gloomy or what?



So, I zeroed in on some dead organic matter, and used some filters to warm the pictures up a little and came up with these.





Can't blame a guy for trying, can you?

Our Lonely Tracks

It took us awhile to notice, and of course, Cuppa was the first. It was last spring, and she hadn't noticed hearing any trains lately.

We used to hear them a lot in this community. Pretty well everyone is close enough to the tracks that we could hear the whistles blowing at all hours of the day and night.

Then they stopped.



Shortly after she noticed there was a piece in the local paper about the silence of the tracks. Apparently, the main user was a different company than that which owns the tracks. With the recession causing a decline in traffic, the company with the traffic was able to handle all of their own needs on their own tracks.

And silence descended on our town.



My guess is that the trains are gone for good, and although the whistles could be aggravating at times, they're missed regardless.

An Odd Structure

For fear of prurient voyeurs flocking here and being bitterly disappointed, I wouldn't put it in the title, in fact I won't even put it in the body of the post, but there is a V3ry W3ird E3r3ction just around the corner from our place. After the pad had been poured for some sort of building or other, one might have expected the outer frame to be built. But no, great diligence was paid to building what certainly appears to be an interior wall.







A neighbour told me that it's a firewall between what will become two commercial places, but neither me, myself nor I have ever seen the like of it.

Sunset Thru Our Window

I happened to walk by our bedroom to my den the other night around sundown, which occurs remarkably early now, and I thought it worth trying to capture that fleeting moment. Such brainwaves do not always work, but this one seemed to. except for a very little cropping, that's pretty well the way it came out of the camera.

Devilish Details

Most of you would probably agree that it wouldn't be easy for a normal person to mess up (I confess to wishing to use a different and stronger four-letter word than mess) the instructions for cooking oatmeal. So, let me tell you how I did just that this morning.

My recipe calls for 3/4 cup of water, 3/4 cup of apple juice and 2/3 cup of oatmeal along with a pinch of salt and a 1/4 tsp of cinnamon. It's not difficult, is it? However, since it's been awhile since I made it, I was forced to refer to my notes. The thing of it is that I have two columns, one for a serving of 4 and one for a serving of 2. Can you guess the rest? Yes I added the fluid for 4 and the oatmeal for 2.

It's no big deal; I simply tossed and started over rather than endeavour to amend. But it does illustrate a recurring weakness of mine — not being able to focus on the details. It's the way I am, and since the devil is in the details, I often have a devil of a time with supposedly simple tasks. Let me tell you that I don't feel terribly clever when I do something like this, which means that since I frequently do something like this, I seldom feel very clever.

One thing that usually helps me to feel a teensy weensy bit clever on Monday mornings is the one-star Sudoku in the morning paper. I can usually whip through it in no time flat without even resorting to making little notations. However, since I was trying to complete the Sudoku concurrently with (ahem) messing up the porridge, I managed to mess up the puzzle as well. Yesterday morning, I was able to do the five-star puzzle, but this morning, I flubbed the one-star.

So, now I really feel dumb and wonder if it's good or bad that it's Monday. Does this morning presage a bad week, or can it only get better?

Making Ready

SillySIL was kind enough to offer to change our tires this weekend. Although I'd like to think that we won't actually need winter tired for a few weeks yet, it doesn't hurt to be prepared. However, although we don't have a trailer, we, nevertheless, ran in to a few hitches. To wit: his jack wouldn't lift our van high enough to get the wheel of the ground and neither would his neighbour's (the other guy in the photo below). The dog couldn't figure it out either.



Help eventually arrived in the form of the neighbour's friend, but then we faced yet another hitch, for one of our winter tires had a very fine screw nicely embedded into the rubber. So, off AC went to Canadian Tire with his tire in SillySIL's car where he had to wait for a little longer than he would have liked to get it repaired.

However, the car is ready for winter. AC isn't, but Harriet the Chariot is.