The Day of Protest

While I will very likely buy nothing at all, as a Canadian, I will, definitely,
not shop American in any way.

Are you paying any attention to our Charlie Angus, who is giving it back to Trump in whatever way that he can? I am now getting his daily email and subscribe to the free part of his substack.

This is Charlie's email from yesterday.

What is about the richest men in the world that reveals them to be so petty, shifty, and money-grubbing?

Step forward, Jeff Bezos.

If you ever had any doubt that Amazon is one of the most predatory corporations on the planet, read the book The Everything War by Dana Mattioli. She lays out the mercenary strategies by which Amazon stole the ideas of start-ups, crushed competitors and destroyed small companies that posed no possible threat.

And, of course, Jeff Bezos is part of the MAGA mob using his control of the once-esteemed Washington Post to serve the gangster king in the White House.

On February 28th, Canadians are launching a national day of resistance against American corporate power.

But I would like to make one suggestion – instead of a single day of resistance, why not a total and permanent boycott of all things Amazon?

I am writing this in response to Amazon's decision to close all their warehouses in Quebec after workers chose to unionize because of the horrific injury rates in the plants and the lack of respect for basic worker rights.

Where are the Canadian politicians who have failed to demand Amazon pay back the massive subsidies they were given?

The Canadian people gave Amazon the red carpet treatment. Now, they’re treating us like some kind of third-class feudal state. And, of course, Jeff Bezos is laughing at us with his 51st state swag.

So, my friends, if Jeff Bezos is gonna walk away on Canada, let’s walk away on him.

*You can find Charlie Angus here on Bluesky and on the other places too, probably.                

Amazon became a bit of a lifeline for us during the recent plague. We live in a town, where the only other viable choice for many goods is Wal Mart. I dislike that place and feel like my soul is being sucked out of me when I enter the doors. But Amazon is a big part of the oligarch Bezos' empire, and I feel as though we are colluding. It will be hard to sever the tie, but we are going to work on it.

It will require an effort, and it will cost us, but doggone it all, what else can we do? 

Random Photos from our Walks

As you know, we go for an almost daily trudge. We often snap pics with our phones. As winter soon (hopefully!) begins to wane, I thought that I would post some shots that haven't made it into other posts.

Two somewhat buried benches: the first in our neighbourhood park, the second along the bridge trail. Both seem to have been sat upon but not by us. The second one has a bare patch right in the middle. I could show the patch better from another angle, but, compositionally, I like this view with the trail stretching into the distance.

From part of the trail bridge before it goes over the river. I like the curving road with the two lines where the car tires have worn down the snow. The road reduces to a single lane under the bridge, so not many cars use it, even though it is close to and leading to downtown. 

Animal tracks in the park.

The footbridge in the park.

Here's one standing below the door of town hall and looking up at the flags: the Ontario ensign on the left and the Carleton Place flag on the right. Maybe it will go into my project, or maybe I'll do a better one in due course.

Happy protest day down there. It's a start, but widespread work stoppages and protests need to happen. Pain will have to be endured, I'm afraid. That may be easy for me to say, but we shall have our share of pain up here. Just for today, however, we won't darken the doors of any American stores or buy American products. We are not even going to load up Facebook, run by another oligarch, or are we now saying broligarch? I have already all but abandoned Twitter, but I will remain on BlueSky, for they seem to be doing things right and keeping the site as circumspect as they can.

Council Chambers

I, unwittingly, added to my town hall project. Really, I didn't think about it until I was back home processing the images. You see, I had never thought of making interior photos part of the project.

Sue had been looking for material for a frames prompt. We were downtown, so she wandered inside town hall, thinking of, perhaps, photographing out through some of the windows, using the window as a frame.

An employee wandered by. We chatted a bit, and I wondered if we could have a look a council chambers. She unlocked the door, and Sue began to shoot this and that. After a few moments it dawned on senile AC that he could also get out his phone. Duh.

We couldn't monopolize the employee's time for very long, so I grabbed two quick shots and began to make my egress.

Here are the two shots. They required the removal of some distracting equipment and a few filters for finishing touches, but they are more than okay for phone photos.

So, I will add these photos to my project. Why I didn't think of it sooner, I knoweth not-eth.

Thinking of Crocuses

At this point in winter, options for our walks become fewer. As the footing becomes rutty and icy or sometimes slushy, we pretty well have only two good choices. One is stroll around the back bridges, and the other is walk downtown. For quick convenience, we may also walk the neighbourhood, but will pretty well have to avoid going through the park for now. On this walk we traversed the Back Bridges, as they are sometimes known.

Above: I am shooting from the trail bridge toward the smaller and lower Gillies bridge in the centre distance. Off to the right of Gillies by that far  building, is another small bridge, which I think is nameless. Unlike the trail bridge, both of the distant bridges are for normal traffic, at least if single lane can be considered normal.

 

We walk northward (left) from this spot and then clockwise around to the building on the left, and over Gillies bridge before passing the building and bridge on the right. BTW, they are converting the right structure into condos although it is taking them years. Meanwhile, I despair about the left building, which is falling farther and farther into disrepair.

When we get around to the left building, I take time to notice this scene, and I look both backward and forward in time by thinking of the croci of other years and anticipating them to come later this spring. 

Pretty unremarkable, eh? But around those two bushes in the clearing between the trees (left) and the building (right) is where I hope to once again find patches of crocuses when spring finally rolls around.

April 05 2022

April 12 2023

March 12 2024: note how early last they bloomed last year after a winter with minimal snow.

I don't know how I could photograph them differently this year, but I suspect I will make an effort to take a few photos, even if they are the same old thing because methinks that sometimes same old is worth seeing again and again.

By the way, the most common plural of crocus is crocuses, but some do use croci, which is also acceptable — even if Blogger spellcheck thinks otherwise.

A Slight and Brief Warming

Lynx in a cold storm, mostly AI with some windy help from AC

These are momentous days because, for two consecutive days, the temperature is rising above the freezing point, which of course is 0C or 32F. (From here on in this posts, I’ll just the C stats.) It has seemed like a long time since the mercury rose this high, so I did a little sleuthing and found myself on the Weather and Climate site, specifically looking at Ottawa.

According to Weather and Climate, we last edged over the freezing line by a mere degree on February 01. It has seemed so cold for so long that I am surprised that it happened at all this month. I checked back farther and found that the previous temperature above freezing occurred on January 27, also by just a single degree. I remind you that these were the high temperatures of the day, which could have lasted for just a short while.

In total, over the first two months of the year, we've had only six days that edged that slightly above freezing, the two warmest days reaching the exalted heights of 2.1, and one of those two days was way back at the very beginning of January.

The very coldest temperature was -23.8 on February 02, with the day before coming in second at -22.5. The coldest day in January was just a couple of days earlier than those:  -22.3 on January 30. Basically, the last week of January and the first week of February were extremely cold, but it has pretty well been very cold for almost two months. 

Moving on from highs and lows to average daily temperatures (high temp + low temp ÷  2), we find that the average daily temperature has not exceeded 0 since January 01. The coldest average was -17.4 on Feb 1. In the first 21 days of this month, 17 days experienced temperatures below the normal daily average. In January half of the days were above average and half below, so that was pretty typical, but the February cold has been quite something.

I am posting this today, February 24, because I knew from the forecast that the temperature should climb to 4C today but was surprised that it became almost that warm yesterday, which was more than what was forecasted. At this point, 4 degrees seems almost subtropical, but beginning Friday, we will go back into the freezer, and we shall remain there at least through the first week of March. 

A Humourous Sunday Morning

When I checked my phone yesterday morning, I saw that, on the previous evening, Jonathan had left a message asking me to drive him to work at 9. Unfortunately, it was almost already 9 o'clock, but I soon found that his mother was driving him in, so all was good.

Shortly thereafter, the merriment commenced. I laughed when I received this text from JJ.

idrk what to do cuz mom told me to grab her phone so i did, but i forgot it was in my pocket and i just went in to work with it and she went home

Then this:

i can’t exactly text her cuz i have the phone

Laughingly, I took the message into Sue, and she laughed too.

There was backing and forthing with both JJ and sister, Danica, who couldn't help as she was car-less and away on a sleepover. I told them that I would get it sorted in due course, but it wasn't long before Shauna figured it out, picked up her phone, and the world was once again set to rights.

It does show how reliant we are on these devices. In Shauna's case, she needs to stay pretty connected with work, for she has responsible oversight of all that goes on there.

As all of this was transpiring, Sue had another reason to laugh when she saw my outfit. It was my nighttime haberdashery: yes, often including the socks. I do wish that you could see the mottled, non-matching colours of my shirt better, but I think you can agree that I present a rather uncoordinated and unfortunate sight.

Actually, I had also worn a black hoodie to bed because
I and my head can get rather frosty in our
cool nighttime temperatures.

Kerplop

Having finished supper and our tv hour or two, Sue headed upstairs whilst I tended to Lacey's fourth meal of the day, each meal consisting of 1/4 of one of those small tins. She likes to eat, but too much at one time is a waste.

After getting upstairs, and before I could sit down, Sue came into my den trying to tell me something, but she couldn't quite manage.

It went something like this.

In all of our married life, all fifty-five, almost 60 years, you have never . . . 

, , , much  laughter by Sue . . . 

This was repeated, probably 4 times before she could get out the rest of it.

You see, I never leave toilet seat up. Never. Not even when Sue is parked downstairs for the afternoon, and I am up here frequenting the commode to rid myself of lunchtime tea because tea goes right through me. Typically, I will have to pee three or four times after a modest-sized cuppa. I know milady is bound to remain down there, and I could theoretically lower the seat, but something within me prevents me from doing so. Frankly, I almost always lower the lid as well. I don't know why; I just do.

So . . . I had never not lowered the seat. Never once. Not in 56 years.

But with all of my sneezing and blowing, just this one time  . . .  well  . . I somehow forgot. Now, you see, Sue is prone to not bother turning on the light for a quick pee. I often tease her about peeing in the dark. 

So Sue didn't notice, and Sue sat down . . .  and down. Kerplop!

Why doesn't Sue turn on the bathroom light, you may ask. I can't explain fully, but I can tell you that she sees the world brighter than most of us. This is why you will seldom see her sans sunglasses in outdoor photos and even in some brightly lit  indoor venues: certain restaurants, for example. I don't know that I have ever said this out loud, but I have often said it to myself: "Sue would wear sunglasses at midnight it there were a full moon."

Caturday 77: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

It popped up on my Google Calendar on Wednesday: the sixth anniversary of Lacey's adoption. She had mewed plaintively in her cat carrier all of the way home. Upon arrival, we plopped her in her litter box. She paid no heed but bounded out to explore. The box is out of the way on the landing halfway down the basement stairs, but she found it when she needed it and hasn't missed yet.

The only bit of the above that is relevant to this post is that it was her sixth anniversary. All of the rest I included because I knew that y'all would be riveted. 

But what about the punished good deed, AC? Quit stalling, man.

How can you give an old cat who has no interest in cat toys some a treat of some kind?

Well, she does like to eat.

So ... I dropped in to the pet store and purchased two expensive tins of seafood pate. The real good stuff, y'know.

I'll have you know that Lacey never throws up, but ya know what?

After consuming a generous portion, she found an obscure corner and heaved away prodigiously.

Sue found ii by accident and had a deuce of a time cleaning it up.

She then stumbled, knocked the stuff over, and had the privilege of cleaning it up again.

Many are called, but puke are chosen, or something.

Snowbanks Gone for Now

Wednesday night; from the bedroom window around bedtime, I see an empty truck go by. It was empty of snow, but I think I knew what it meant.

This truck is full of snow, but it is a bit like the truck that I saw passing by.

What I thought was, that they might very well be beginning the process or removing the curbside snowbanks — like the one behind me in the photo.

In the photo I was looking at the mound over our lawn, and that is probably what you noticed too. But look at the snowbank behind me. It's on the edge of the road which makes driving roads problematic. The snow effectively turns our street  into one lane. Cars take turns pulling off to allow the opposite car to have safe passage.

I was right to suspect what the empty truck was presaging, for, when I awoke at 5 in the morning, the snow banks out front were gone. While it was a pity that I hadn't been able to see and document the process, I had been able to do just that back in 2022. In the photo, you see the orange machine blowing snow into the truck by its side. When it is full of snow that truck will drive off to dump the snow in the river. The truck to the right of the frame will pull up to the blower and so on and so forth. Most of you were also here back then in 2022, so you saw both the photo and the ensuing video clip back then. https://anvilcloud.blogspot.com/2022/01/winter-excitement-in-great-white-north.html

Back then the neighbour across the street had the presence of mind to shoot a video, which depicts better than words how the process works. You can see the filled truck just beginning to pull away at the end of the clip; the next truck in line would have taken its place, and then the next.

Eight Pretty Towels

 

Did you count ↑ the eight pretty towels?

They are in the tiny closet-sized bathroom by the front door. Did you get that? Tiny bathroom with eight towels.

It gives us a lot of choice. Right? Wrong!

Because we don't use them!

We look at them but do not use them. We use the single, plain towel folded by the sink.

Yup! That is the towel that we use. The only one we use.

I am reminded that early in our married life, Sue took to keeping the phone inside the clothes closet near the entrance — on the floor, if you please.

Because  . . . 

Because the living room looked better without the phone, doncha know.

What's not to love about this woman?

A Sneezy Morning and Runny Day

My body stirred me into wakefulness just a bit before 5 o'clock. It was the bathroom thing, plus some leg pain, and a general chill because we allow the temperature to go down to 16C/61F at night. Up until recently, I had the thermostat set to 15C/59F overnight but increasing it that extra degree (or two) does make a difference. I bundled up and moved to the chair, but I pretty well knew that sleep was done for the night. I'd had 5+ hours, and while that isn't quite enough for me, I can only get back to sleep after 5 hours about once in a millennium, and since that event has already occurred, I was pretty well scuppered.

I turned up the thermostat which would take about an hour to get the house up to our standard 19C/66F. Meanwhile, I bundled up under two hoodies and a blanket, brewed my first coffee, finished and posted a blog, read blogs and then did Wordle, the Mini, Waffle and two games of Sudoku. Sudoku takes time; I play a difficult level, so most games take 15-20, with the occasional really difficult one possibly taking even longer.

All that time, and it was quite a long time, I sneezed and blew my nose. It was crazy. It wasn't a cold, but something triggered a series of significant sneezes shortly after I had settled into my chair, and that in turn set my nose to running and running. I have a sensitive spot in the left nostril; when it gets excited/agitated my nose run copiously, sometimes for many hours.

After almost three hours fiddling and fiddling in my chair with the tablet, I finally went to the computer in order to attend to my FB group in way that I couldn't manage on my tablet. I then began to compose this post. The cat sidled up beside my chair for our ritualistic feeding of the kibble although the crazy puss has a full bowl in the bedroom just across the hall. Then, Sue got up, and I whinged to her about my nose and managed to demonstrate my predicament. I am sure she greatly appreciated my blow by blow demonstration, accompanied by sound effects.

And that was the first three hours of my day. I refuse to recount the whole day, but if  we get a few more snow pics, I will append them, below.

=================

Mid-morning I went out front to check the drifting by the garage door and front door. I am happy to report that there hadn't been much drifting, but I cleared up what there was. I wandered across the street to take a picture of the fire hydrant. People are asked to help keep the hydrants accessible, and the neighbour takes the request seriously. Notice the attached arm. If the hydrant gets completely buried, that arm should still stick out. They will remove the arm in April or May and reattach it in October or November.

On the way across the road and beyond whatever windbreak the houses provided, I discovered there was a fierce wind. It was also very cold, which meant that we should forego our daily trudge. I told Sue this when she was snapping this photo on my way back.

We decided that picking up coffee and taking it to our usual spot would make a nice change. As you can see, the snowfall and subsequent plowing obscured our view. so it wasn't exactly a huge treat.

As for my runny nose, it kept up all the livelong day. There were times when I couldn't go longer than a minute without wiping and blowing. I got some relief by plugging up the left nostril with a wad of tissue. It helped somewhat by stopping the air from going past that sensitive spot, for even breathing seemed to trigger the running.

It was driving me mad, I tell you. Late afternoon, I went to the pharmacy to seek desperate relief. I was offered a nasal spray after assuring the pharmacist that the runny nose was not symptomatic of a cold as pathetic as I might look.

================

It is now the next morning (Wednesday). Once again, I was up at 5, brewed my coffee and have been snuggled into my chair while the house heats up. The nose was reasonably well behaved, but I was on tenterhooks all night. I have stuffed tissue back in as a preventative measure since this is when it all started yesterday morning. If it continues to behave itself, I will meet the boys for coffee later. I should also do the grocery shopping at some point. Maybe I should go at 8 when the store opens and get it done before coffee at 10. Or shall I wait until afternoon?

Aftermath

The Sunday storm abated before we went to bed. Sue took a photo of the back deck (left) in the dark and another on Monday morning (right). By that Sunday evening there had been quite a bit more snow after our mid-afternoon shovelling. Oddly enough, the night winds worked in our favour by blowing quite a bit off the path. More work will still be required, however.

After looking out back, Sue went to check out the front walk and took these photos when she got to the door. I find the first, through the wreath, very arty.

She did get a photo of the walkway (left, below). While the winds had helped us out back, they sure didn't work in our favour in the front, for snow had drifted back in, as it always does in that spot. Then, I took one from my window (right). It shows the snow on the roofs of the opposite houses and the depth of it on the lawn. I have never seen it that deep; even some of the lower tree branches have been covered.

Meanwhile our neighbour posted a picture of our lawn and tree from his viewpoint. Crazy, eh? How much higher can that pile go? There is not a melt in sight, I can tell you, and there is more snow in the forecast although not right away.

I looked out again and saw a neighbour from across the street helping our next door neighbour, who hadn't hired a contractor. In Canada, this is what we call friends with benefits. 

We did go for a walk in the windy cold. On our own street we walked on the road because although the sidewalk had been plowed, there were a lot of cave-ins from the adjoining properties. Once we turned the corner near the park, there were no adjacent properties to mound up the snow, so the sidewalk remained walkable (left photo). Back home, the accumulation on our yard (right) is higher than I, so it is well over than 6 feet tall. I converted these photos to b&w because the colour was really off.

Here I am at 5:30 on Tuesday morning, and all is calm although I expect we’ll have to clear the front path at a minimum, but that is for much later. For now, I sip my first coffee under much cover while I wait for the house to heat back up to a livable temperature after letting it drop to 16C/61F overnight. 

Twenty-Year Storm

If the Wednesday dumping was not enough, along came Sunday's bigger and more blizzardy snowfall.

Once I finished my annual shower on Sunday morning, I went into the bedroom to mention something or other to Sue, but I found myself talking to an empty room. She wasn't downstairs either. No, she was out back shovelling. She had already cleared this ↓ path when I finally caught up to her. 

We don't use the bbq in winter, but we have propane cannisters under there in case we have power disruptions for our camp stove so it is good to have ready access. I really should have filled the actual bbq tank before winter set in, but my good intentions only serve to set me on the broad road to the hot place.

This little path is what she had cleared by the time I got down there, shovelling away even more snow after what she had done on Wednesday.

By the time I arrived, she was off the deck and digging out in the narrow space between the deck and the fence. The furnace and dryer vents are back there, and they should be kept clear. She was tossing snow back up to the shovelled deck because there was no where else for it to go, and I got out there clearing the path once more.

Look more closely at her hat.

There is also much snow accumulation in the well by the basement window. If it were to melt and flood into the house, insurance would not cover the damage. It is quite a drop down off the deck: too much for us, so I have asked JJ to clear it once the storm ceases.

We checked out front. The driveway blower had been by once and would come again later. The big machine can't get right to the garage, so we clear that part ourselves, but our good neighbours had already done it twice and assured us that they would come back again.

They live across the street but help us out in winter without being asked.

There is also a little path beside the garage to the front door. Although kind neighbours had cleared it twice, a little more snow had drifted in. Not a ton more had accumulated, but I cleared it again while I was out.

Sue wanted a record of the depth of the snow in the yard, so I posed briefly before we headed back inside.

The storm wasn't done with us, but at least we had managed one shovelling.

As I write this, Danica has told her workplace that she couldn't make it in. It is a fair distance, so they understood, and they know that she is very conscientious. Meanwhile, Jonathan attempted to beg off work, but it was unacceptable, even though the public had been advised to stay off the roads. His job is to deliver groceries to the parking lot to vehicles that have ordered pickup, and you have to wonder how many people will actually bother pick up their orders on such a day. He still could have refused, but Monday (today for you) is a stat holiday, and he wouldn't be paid for those holiday hours if he didn't show up for work on Sunday.

===========================

It's past 4, Sunday. When I peered out the window around 3 o'clock, I saw that the contractor had cleared the driveway for the second time. I mean, I could tell that it had been cleared but it was already starting to fill in again.

I decided that I should also do a second pass. I went out back first; a lot more had fallen since mid-morning.

Back out front: you would have thought that we had never shovelled by the garage door. Too bad we didn't get a before picture.

The front walk was also really drifted in although it had been done thrice already. It really drifts in that corner.

I got to the point where instead of throwing the snow up onto the already high banks, I would walk it back to the driveway where the plow guys would eventually get it with the big blower. You can see me beginning to turn back toward the drive in the next photo. 

I am calling this a 20-year storm because that is how long we've been here, and I think it is the biggest, and as I write this at 4:30 in the afternoon, it isn't done yet.

Oh, and by the way, JJ didn't go into work, choosing to forego a few hours of holiday pay in addition to the hours not worked today, Sunday. We are not pleased with the grocery store over this treatment in such conditions when people were being advised to stay home.

It is just as well that Monday is a stat holiday since things will still not be moving well, and the schools would be shut regardless. Snow clearing efforts will proceed.

===========================

It is now Monday morning, and all is calm, the storm having ceased early last evening. When I peered out the window at 5 this morning, I could see that the contractor had made another pass — his final one for this round. We are getting our money's worth this winter. It makes up for last winter when he had life pretty easy.

Argh! Those Banking Apps

What a rigamarole! If I'd had any hair left  . . . well, you know . . . 

I have two credit cards and two banks. Oddly enough the two banks belong to the same company and even exist in the same building in out town, but they are treated separately, as if they were two different banks. I could go into the history that got them and me to this point, but that isn't relevant to the remainder of this post. 

It was a few months ago that I could no longer log into credit card A which is my main credit card. It is the one without an attached bank account although it used to be attached to account B, below. Back then, sometime last autumn, I phoned the Help Desk for assistance in logging in, and they said the solution was to delete my computer cache. I did. It worked, and I could log in — for awhile. 

Even though it worked — for awhile — it was a pain to have to find and type all of my passwords to all of all of my online sites again. Then, believe it or not, this same A credit card locked me out again. I knew what to do — delete my cache, type in my passwords — one more time! Once again, it worked for awhile — a very very short while.

I wasn't going to go through that business again if I could help it. So, I found the relevant app for my iPad. Nope. My old tablet would not support this app. However, I was able to add it to my phone, and it has worked ever since then.

I don't like or want to do banking in the small phone screen, and on a device that I carry around in public, but that is what I have had to do for months. Poor me. (Fortunately, I can now get the relevant apps on my new tablet.)

But wait there's more!

This week I could not log into into bank account B. There is no longer a credit card attached to B, but it is my main bank account. I would enter my bank number and password, and absolutely nothing would happen: no rejection, no anything, just me staring at nothingness spinning before me. The first few times, I thought the site must be down, but after multiple failures, and on the third day of this nothingness, I decided to make a new password. It worked but not completely. (Although I hadn't been able to log in, strangely enough, I could reset my password because I've have that 16-digit code memorized for decades, and they had my email and phone number for verification.)

Details are about to follow in this post that is already boring me, not to mention you, but there is more: so much more.

Anyway, I eventually got B  partially (key word) sorted and went onto bank C, where there is both a credit card and a bank account.

Wasn't it just the same %$&^ thing all over again‽ No message, just spinning nothingness. As with account B, I eventually prevailed — sort of. (I am trying to shorten the narrative here.)

Now we get to the extra silly part. For years, I have logged into C with the bank card number — years, I tell you. Once in, I could see both the credit card info and the bank account info. Life was easy. I knew those 16 digits backwards and forwards and inside out.

However, life was too easy for me, and we couldn't have that. So, naturally, they changed the bank card numbers. It took some time, but I had just about mastered those new 16 digits, when they threw me this new curve ball, perhaps more of a knuckle ball. Once I delved into it and revamped my password, I discovered that I  now, I must log in, not with my newly-remembered bank card but with the sixteen associated credit card digits. They don't like the bank card numbers any more. Sigh.

Just a note in passing. I don't mind having normal passwords stored in computer cache memory, like Blogger's password, for example, but I do not want my financial numbers to be stored anywhere. For security reasons, I want to enter them manually every single darn time, so now my poor, ancient brain must learn 16 new numbers for the second time in several months.

 But wait there's even more!

With my virus checker, I have an addon called Safe Play, in which I have long been able to log into financial sites in a very secure way where, supposedly, prying spyware would find it very difficult to follow. Nope! Can't use that app any darn more. I must now log in on my less secure regular web browser, or on my phone or tablet since I have had to download the app for C too.

I can't tell you how much backing and forthing and ining and outing I went through to get this all sorted. Well I could, but even writing this is driving me nuts, just as reading it (have you made it this far?) must just about causing your head to slump down onto your computer desk. I hope you didn't bang your head too hard or destroy your computer or whatever device that you are using.

Computers do not always make life easier, my friends, or at least they may make it very difficult in the short term in order to, perhaps, make it easier in the long term. Perhaps.

Caturday 76: Oranga Pretty?

We were visiting Sha and the kids for JJ's 16th birthday. As often happens Sabine began to attack the sceensaver on the tv. As usual, I took some photos with my phone from thee couch, but you've seen that at lest once before. Then I forced my ancient body to rise to get a closer photo.

The background had been one of those busy aquatic-life scenes, but as I lowered the camera, it turned to a very unbusy, semi-solid orange, and Sabine also turned to look at me, and I had a much better photo than I had thought I would get.

The Big Snow

There wasn't as much snow as predicted, but there was enough to reduce mobility. Of course, school was cancelled, and Shauna's driveway was socked in enough that she  didn't venture forth to work. It takes much to keep her home because she wants to be a good example to her employees, but most of them do live closer. She did check that all was running smoothly, and when she got a good report, she made the decision to forego the rural highway drive.

Sue and I did go for our daily walk, but it was a somewhat truncated version. We walked on the road, not on the obliterated sidewalk. Our sidewalks do get plowed, but the town was a bit overwhelmed on that day. We didn’t go into the park but turned around and retraced our road-steps back to home. 

Sue walks the road and keeps her ears tuned for approaching vehicles.

Back home, the snow that the machine has blown is so high that some of it came tumbling back down onto the driveway. Sue had cleared much of it before I got out for the walk, but then I mugged for the camera and pretended to do my share.

The only way we could time getting the snow to fly off the shovel
was to put the phone into live mode and then extract
the frame that captured it.

I had Sue pose by the side of the driveway to show how high the snow is. We've had it higher than this at times in the past.

We expected our plow guys to make one more pass, so Sue messaged and asked them to try to blow the snow just a bit farther to avoid it tumbling back down into the driveway.

Sue Can Now Photograph Ducks

On Tuesday, we drove into Ottawa to celebrate Valentines early at a restaurant. That is what we had decided, and it was true as far as it went, but it was not the whole truth.

Before we left town, I added that I would like to first drop into Best Buy because I needed a new tablet. She knew this has been the case for several months, so she wasn't surprised. The old tablet is more than 10 years old. Battery life is short, but even if life remains, it will shut down without warning when the battery is down to about 50%. In addition, it can no longer load all apps.

While I could have continued to live with most of these issues by keeping it plugged in, what I couldn't do was ensure that it wouldn't fail completely at some inopportune time that might leave me dangling in a forlorn, tabletless wind. It was time, and Sue was prepared for this.

We talked to the same salesguy who sold me my computer in late 2023. He remembered us, me even by name, I suppose because we have the same first name. We agreed on the model that would suit my needs: a 10th generation iPad rather than the newest 11th generation, for I just required a basic machine for reading (blogs, for instance) and playing my morning games, and so forth and so on. I added a keyboard, so a bunch of dollars flew away quickly.

Then I asked to see the newest iPhones and turned to Sue and said, "This is for you." I also added that this would be her gift for the following occasions, all coming soon: Valentines, birthday, anniversary, Mother's Day, and maybe even Christmas (the latter part said jokingly). Sue was just about beside herself with sudden and unexpected delight.

Sue has had her iPhone 13 for two years and uses it prodigiously, particularly for her daily photo. But I have felt that she really needs a telephoto lens, and I kid her about scaring the ducks when she tries to get too close to them. We had to go up to the new Apple Pro 16 models to get to full 5X zoom. As the whole world knows, Apple-anything is expensive, but the newest models particularly so.

However, I had done my homework, so I was prepared for the cost. It was quite a surprise for Sue, but she was beaming with pleasure too much for the cost to overwhelm her.

As I inserted the credit card for this crazy amount, I wondered if the machine would balk. It isn't that I don't have good credit, but it was a rather sudden large amount. It was approved instantly.

We left with my iPad, but my keyboard and her phone were out of stock and would be delivered the next day. However, we still left happily. In point of fact. Sue was over the moon, which pleased me considerably. You may see some of her joy in the phone pic at the restaurant. Note: The rest of the items were delivered the next morning, Wednesday, yesterday, and we have been happily playing with our new toys.

Once I set up my tablet at home, I took a selfie with it for the record. This may be on the only photo that I will ever take with the iPad, apart from the occasional screen shot . . . maybe. A bulky tablet does not seem like a suitable camera to me unless one is absolutely stuck for an alternative. Mind you my normal photographic equipment is about as bulky as can be.

So there we are, and joy and happiness reign in the household. Sue will now be able to photograph ducks from a distance as much as she darn well pleases. I have a working tablet, and I will also get Sue's old iPhone 13, which is an upgrade from my 10 (xR), which is also getting long in the tooth, as it were.

The Other Photos

I wrote that my two best photos from my town hall shoot were not actually of town hall. Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you are going to get.

From the parking lot very near town hall, I just liked how the red house and its reflection looked on this day. The light and colour were both subdued, and for some reason I liked the scene. It's ordinary but in a pleasing way to me in the overcast conditions.

Note: I posted this on Flickr yesterday, and I see this morning that it has garnered more than 1700 views already because someone or some algorithm put it in the special Explore group where photos get noticed. So others like it too. It's odd because it is not a dazzling photo.

From the parking lot, we walked around the corner where I took the town hall photos that you saw yesterday. Then we walked along main street. For some reason, Sue's theme this week is pink. I mean it is Valentines week, so why not red? She did see some pink teddy bears through a store window, and they were sufficient for her Sunday post, and I think there were others that she might be able to use later in the week.

As we walked long, it was another window that caught my attention with its shape and with icicles hanging down. It's a simple enough photo, but I like the lines and geometry of the window, and the icicles do add something, I think. Sue is mainly attracted to pretty photos, and buildings tend not to interest her, but I like the graphical nature of buildings, and often textures too. Chacun à son goût. Oui?

This was the way that it was, but I might brighten it a bit for Flickr. One wishes to be faithful to the conditions, but one is also tempted to present a photo in the best possible light because the viewers weren't there to see the actual conditions and must just judge the photo in isolation. What do you think I should do?

The temperature was mildish, just a little below freezing with very little wind. We got talking to a Canadian-Asian man on Main, who is living in town but commuting to Ottawa, daily, for work. He then travels back to his home in Toronto on weekends where he has a house, and I presume a wife. He lives not too far from where I lived almost 60 years ago. Sixty years. Really, AC‽ He did mention that his two children now both live in Vancouver, and we replied that we had a kid there too, albeit a kid that is 46. He chose not to drive the 5 hours to home this weekend because of the weather reports, particularly in the Toronto area. It was a nice little conversation but it didn’t drag on and on as some tend to do when we really want to greet people in passing but not learn their whole life story.

In the end, I did edit the window photo, just a tiny bit (1/3rd stop for those who speak photo-ese), but sometimes a bit makes a difference. What thinkest thou?