A partridge in a pine tree

Actually, it's a ruffed grouse that Jorghnassen first thought was a rock.



O hai!



It was only the second time we spotted the grouse in our backyard - the first back in October. It might not have a nest nearby, but it was welcome to sit under the branches and hang out for a few hours. Still, pretty cute!

Some other feathered friends like to come by and gorge on our backyard buffet, like woodpeckers, yellow and house finches, chickadees, and the occasional junco; but our cardinal friends are quite photogenic and I managed to take a few photos of the male today.

Summer Flowers!

I haven't been gardening much as I have no clue what I'm supposed to be doing, but here is a sample of the various flowering things on our property. Most were present when we moved in.

For instance, at the east side of the house is a shallow, shaded garden plot with almost no sun and a mess of crazy plants growing that may or may not be weeds - I am still not sure. However, I know there was deliberate attempt at planting perennials and flowering plants in a meaningful pattern, as evidenced by this one, sad, pathetic rose ... stick. I can't even call it a bush because it was literally two sticks in the ground this spring. But it did give birth to something surprising:


At the front of the house is a disgusting walkway that was probably hastily put in by the previous owner because it didn't even last one winter and fell apart. There is no division between the walkway and the garden plot in the front so I think we might get it redone entirely soon. I can't see it lasting another winter. Anyway, we planted some cute annuals, some soon being chowed down by ants. :(







The east side of the house showed some other cute blooms that can stand the shaded mess:


Good thing I didn't mow it down with my lawnmower this spring...


Two mystery annuals were planted in the tomato planter, with the promise that they would attract hummingbirds. I haven't seen them yet, but the flowers are cute! :)


One of the hostas has actually bloomed something terrific.


These are right next to the hostas, which contrast the lavender colour nicely:


A funny thing happened last fall, when I was trying to clear away all the crazy weeds that had plagued our back yard forever. Along the retaining wall, as I pulled and cut and threw out a ton of shit, a little patch of those chick-and-hen thingies appeared before me. They wept out, "Pleeeaase! Put us out of this misery!" And I said no. So this summer it put forth its revenge upon me and sprouted this scary mofo:



Last but not least of the craziness of our misplaced east side garden, is this dandy that keeps trucking on, despite being grown without any sort of wall or stand that clematis are supposed to be holding on to. We didn't even catch its existence until about a week ago.

Camera's not borked, but the batteries are.

Apparently behind the yews on our property, there are some sort of apple or crabapple trees. I stumbled upon them as I was pruning the old branches on the slope (and there were a lot of them). They were so pretty I clipped a small branch off to bring indoors. :)

P.S. To the National Post - I hate you >:(

Plumbing, House, and Another Wedding Update?

The plumber came and went. Actually, the full story is too long and stupid but suffice to say that the toilet will not leak anymore, which may have been the cause of a huge, long, pipe-shaped brown stain on the ceiling of the living room. Now to paint over it...

With all the whining, some of you might be thinking, "Is it a good time to buy a house?" It's a pain in the ass with all the self- (or paid) maintenance, but the Bank of Canada is making it pretty sweet to get in the mortgage deal. In our last bank (sorry, caisse) notice, our interest rate dipped to 1%, and with this latest update it might even fall to 0.75%. Jorghnassen reported that we've already paid for about a third of the house. (Of course, this also means we're getting squat from bank accounts for interest.)

I'm not worried about paying for the wedding though. I have a modest amount set aside for things like this event (and other stupid expenditures like yet another plumbing mishap), that is slowly... taking... shape... and... sucking... the money... out... of... me...

I'm still looking for entertainment because now the cost of just hosting it (and not hiring it) went up. I have the option of adding a dance floor, even though the first manager I talked to said no and the second one said maybe and now this third one said it could be included. I also have the option to rent a/v equipment, which then we could hook up an ipod (or actual DJing equipment) for cocktail hour.

I also have the privilege to pay a fee for SOCAN if people perform music at the event, and the distinction that the musicians must be from the "Montreal Guild of Musicians".

Which means you can't just hook up and ipod to the speakers and not pay a licensing fee.

All I can say is: AAARGGHH >:(

How we moved out of Waterloo and into Gatineau

Ha ha ha! Whoever moves in next (Eugene ^_^) will be cursed with this terrible pot of crap from the market.

Said goodbye to these babies.

Got into this baby.

Drove for 10 hours or so in total, to arrive at the house in Gatineau. After a few days, it looked like this.

And then we discovered some unwelcome neighbours.

We fed ourselves this.

And this.

But finally after hard work (by everyone else), I could now see the floor.



Yay~!

BONUS PIC:

Goodbye little plateau condo. :(

House

There's finally news on the Ottawa front - Jorghnassen and I took possession of a house. That is, we did not overwhelm and tearfully bully an innocent bystander out of his or her domicile. We did, however, legitimately purchase a residence in Gatineau that is more likely to be permanent than the other places we've been living at in the last several years.

Before I get all mushy about the move (and divulge more details about it), let me show you my house. (*This is the realtor's photo.)
*
Right now there's nothing inside, as the previous owner had just moved out of the house yesterday and I finally stepped inside the thing for the first time ever. We drove from Montreal to Ottawa to arrive to find the ever-efficient and handy Mme Emond and Hector waiting outside for us, to report that the house was indeed empty and they were ready to start fixing up, cleaning and painting our house. Fantastic!

There are no real complaints about the house itself. It's got its quirks and such that Jorgh noticed after an empty house examination, such as curved walls, a completely lit basement with one switch, and cables running through every room from holes drilled through floors and walls:

I suppose it just means there's more places for TVs to be found in the house. Not that I'd want a TV in every room. Oh, by the way:

...walk-in closet. Or room-sized closet.

We hope our paint colour choices will not be distasteful. For instance, quick sloppy 'shop jobs (and not sure what the actual colours are anymore):


Boy, my 'shop skillz teh suXX0rs.

To be fair, I did drive 8 hours back to Waterloo after visiting, and I had to get a coffee to get through the last hour because we were both falling asleep. Which also explains such a late post.

As far as I know...

This is the floor plan for where we are going to be living. Actually, it's not. It's a guess as far as I know, from the limited photos available from Jorghnassen, the inspector, and the realtor's web site. I seriously have no idea what it looks like.

Anyway, there's three bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms, and a finished basement. Not only that, but there's enough patio and patio windows to complain that there's too much. Oh, what will we do with so much BBQ space??? Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!

Jorgh mentioned that there's a possibility of making a third washroom in the basement, thereby completing the trifecta of places to run for toilet emergencies when your two other washrooms are occupied for some reason when there's only two people living in the whole house. I am against this prospective washroom because then that would make it three toilets to scrub. I already hate doing one.

---

In the meantime, while Jorgh and his parents have been busy taking care of absolutely everything else about the house, I've been assigned the task of finding a mover who will not break our stuff transporting it to Gatineau. On one hand, it's not hard to find a mover. On the other hand, it's quite difficult to find the mover who will agree to:

• Not be a douche and move our shit across the provincial boundary (I know, Ottawa-Gatineau?)


• Come to the apartment and actually look at the stuff to be moved to give an estimate


• Come over to our apartment to give a written estimate that isn't ridiculously huge


• Call back after the estimate and say that their written estimate will be ready to be emailed, even though it was written down in front of you while they were here.

I'm just about ready to pick the movers once they actually do the last point.

---

It's very odd to find polite people wherever you go in a city, but (as long as I'm not driving) everyone here has been exceptionally friendly and wonderfully courteous. There really is a small-town feel when I'm going around town, even though it's been reported that this area is actually expanding too quickly for its water supply to catch up with.

If there's anything I'd miss about Waterloo, it's the way people actually regarded each other in their everyday interactions. Except while driving. They're polite, patient, and very friendly. Except while driving. They're very quaint, what with their Mennonites and farmers markets and small community strawberry and apple festivals and their warped ideas about cheeses... so adorable. Except while driving. They go as far as helping a stupid woman take care of her windshield wipers, bringing her to a "mall" when asked, and tolerating our every single critique when we were looking for edible food.

On the other hand, the one thing I will not miss is the food and restaurant choices. This guy puts it more succinctly: "More than half the times I think I haven't got the energy to cook, N suggests we eat out, I run over the possibilities in my mind, and then I get up and cook a meal."

Mind you, I enjoy the few places that Jorgh and I visited, like Raintree Cafe and Sakura Island, but for mind-blowingly awesome you'd really have to go back to larger and/or more diverse cities. Or where they know what a loaf of bread looks like.

Thank you, Waterloo, for teaching me to be less lazy in cooking meals at home because you have no viable alternatives.

And thank you, Waterloo, for teaching me that drivers are just as crazy here as they are in Quebec. I don't feel so bad anymore.