roosting tree

This tree appears to be a roosting tree. What kind of birds are roosting, I do not know. I have closer photos of it and since I did not want to touch it, I could not tell if it was some sort of strange fungus or if the birds had done this. I did not notice any smell, that you would expect from a roosting tree. Also, this tree is beside Grange Road.. not a high traffic area, but surely birds would not roost next to a road when there are so many other trees available in the area. I have never seen any flock of birds here either. One of the photos is with the on board flash and the other is without flash. I have done no photo editing except downsize.

Today was another busy day about the house. Watered and fed the house plants. My $12 phal. orchid is blooming. When its last flower opens I wll try get a photo of it.

Macro

I took these close ups of the Bird of Paradise flower in a boquet Colleen and John had sent us during the holidays. I shall add these to the petal art group on Flickr and then try and get a some comments returned to my contacts and friends.

It was another busy day. We spent the afternoon getting a new light fixture for my room. I love the one we got... a tiffany globe with the hanging part to match the bronze knobs and pulls of the cabinetry. We also found a new tap for the kitchen sink of the bronze variety, with simple lines.
Rob from Hourigans was out to measure for the new flooring on Wednesday and this afternoon we stopped in at their place to look for something that I might want for the carpet in my room. We will have to go back with some of the vertical blind to compare colors and patterns. There is a green carpet with a very similar pattern to my long green verticals covering the patio window. We looked at roll ends but did not really find anything suitable.
The pantry is refilled and in order. I have all of the shelves above the pull out drawers, for storage. The liquor cabinet and the fruit juices are on the first shelf. I am really liking the way it is coming together. With the extra cabinets in the room, I need the simple lines to keep it from looking too crowded.

On Saturday we go to Chemanis for a play at their theatre, with lunch before, with Sheas. This should be fun. Tonite we were out to 15 50 for dinner Its a pub style restaurant with a good selection on the menue. Was good, we will be back.

A couple of days ago I put out 30 apples for the deer. They were gone within 36 hours. We did see a seagull eating them but did not see the deer. I know the squirrels are taking apples from the deck and probably from out in the deer pasture, too.

Slow down World VI

Finally finished tweaking and loading the photos to the Victoria Grid Project on Flickr. I am way, way behind in my contacts and friends photo uploads and in my groups comments and moderating. Thanks to everyone for all the comments, if you read this. I will get back to you asap.

Randall was here today from ten to one o'clock to make the template for the corian counter tops. He was full of good information. We will get a new sink and use their plumber. Need to get our own taps. We spent some time going and looking at different places today for the taps we might use. Man, they are expensive! I think our countertops are going to be superb.... Granola with a pompey red 1/4" inlay stip near the edge.

Tomorrow Rob from Hourigans comes to measure for the lino and carpet in my room and in the bathrooms. Randall suggested that I could have them do a 3/4 inch new floor over top what is there, for more height. My cabinets are standard height, except for the 'island' and the one under the microwave shelf. The kick plates are tall enough to allow for a bit higher floor. Every little bit helps when you are vertically challenged. -- 5 feet tall.

Brad, the electrician will be here on Sunday to speak to us of pot lights and hooking up the dishwasher. Its all a mystery to me, especially where that dishwasher connects to the power. I did not see where David the carpenter, disconnected it and now there are cabinets around this machine. We will have to pull it out to see, I guess. Both Pat and I have done some damage to our backs with all this unusual lifting and moving furniture. We really will need a couple of guys and a dolly to move our heavy desks and stuff around when the new flooring is getting done.

Randall gave us a time line of 16 to 18 of February for the counter tops, so hopefully we will have the lighting done before then, and the flooring soon after. Then the painting...... hey, we may even be finished by end of February! I already love the cabinets. That cherrywood is lovely, and should darken over time. The pompey red pin stripe in the counter should just about match the reds in the wood.

Slow down World V

I am slowly getting the photos from my Victoria Grid shoot tweaked and loaded to Flickr. I seem to be having trouble even thinking about doing the gravestone photos from the Chinese Cemetery. I may not post them at all. Thanks to a few good friends on Flickr for their patience while I get this and few other things done, before visiting their photostreams to do more than just peek at their stuff.

I have been reading voraciously in the last week too. I read Sue Grafton's T is for Trespass in a couple of days. Scared the woo hoo outta myself reading the ending late last nite. I had to leave the lights on as I found my way to bed. I don't think I woke Pat up, though.

Its a bit of an adventure cooking meals. Some of the stuff is migrating back into the cupboards and I forget which things are back in the kitchen and which ones are in the library or the guest room. Well, we should have the corian countertops in within 4 - 5 weeks and then I will be permanently back in the kitchen. Hopefully with flooring and lighting done also. Maybe even the painting, if we are lucky.

The apples I put out for the deer were gone in a day. I must put out more for the deer before the squirrels take them all off the deck. The hummingbirds are met with frozen food in the mornings but it is thawed quickly with all the sun we have been having. Sun, but not too very high temperatures. Lots of birds at the feeders that Andy and Tara put out. I cannot seem to get a good photo of anything, though. Not enough patience or time to wait for the shot, I guess.

Slow down World IV

I managed to get six photos ready and loaded to Flickr for the Victoria Grid Project. In this photo, I was shooting into the sun and over Gonzales Bay through the monuments in the Chinese Cemetery. I played in photoshop on this one for quite a while to get it to look a bit better.

Yesterday David finished installing the cabinets and building the kitchen trolly and the curio/hutch. The design of the cabinets is simplicity itself... no grooves or lines to collect dust, just lovely flat "honey spice" cherry wood from floor to ceiling, with bronzy nobs and drawer pull handles. There are a few finishing touches to do, but before David does them, the corian counter top people will be here and so will Hourigans to install the flooring.
This morning, Rob, from Countryside, the countertop people, was here to measure and talk to us about backsplashes, types of edges and etc. We are having a lighter sandy color that will be very similiar to the floor, called Oatmeal, with a tiny red pinstripe, bullnose edges and a 4 inch backsplash... I think. They will phone us when the guy has the template ready to bring down to show us. We can request any changes at that time. We are getting a new double sink that sits down below the edge... I forget what he called it. We will use their plumber. We have yet to get taps. The outside time line on the countertops is 4 - 5 weeks. Rob, from Hourigans is coming next Wednesday morning to measure for the lino in kitchen and bathrooms, and the carpet in my room. I hope we can get Wally to install it again.
I vacuumed and planned where to put things in the new space. I like how it all looks. The trolly will take a bit of getting used to as it uses up space that we were walking through to my room, past the desk. I need to get one drawer in the cabinet by the door, moved to the middle compartment and to as close to the bottom as possible; then this compartment will be for coats and boots and the one closest to the door for the brooms. The other side, I want to move the shelves down and store my camera gear in here, including paper for printing, old 35mm and Holga photos,etc.

Slow down World III

Yesterday, I managed to get a few more photos tweaked and added to Flickr for the Victoria Grid Project. These two are my favourites. I really liked the black and white reflection in the window. The skyline photo I attempted to process in photoshop to make it appear as an old photo for the Retro group. Do you think it looks like an old 1900 kind of photo?

This morning was a trip to the pharmacy and walk home, which is good for me. Really should do more of that. Probably should eat breakfast first, though. I found a book that is 'post apocalyptic' The Road. Apparently there will be a movie made. I cannot seem to put the thing down, but had to, as I have other things that are must do.

David has the cabinets installed, except for the two extra things. The kitchen trolly and what I am calling the hutch/curio cabinet. David said that this wood is real 'quality... its very nice. Solid wood doors, some heavy duty tracks for weight bearing drawers to run on... well... there will be pictures. The corian guys from Cobble Hill come to measure for the counter tops on Thursday, when David said he would be finished. It is all looking very good. We bought a new range hood .. black.. from Home Depot. I think it will look fine. The top of the stove is black, but the rest white. David thought it should be white. It needs its light bulbs.. not included. I hope he can connect it to the vent with the same old pipe we had before. I think it should work.

We had lunch out, and supper was some of the previously prepared cabbage rolls. Yesterday was pizza. The stove and fridge are now back in place (except the range hood), so tomorrow, I suppose I can cook.

I did not get time on Flickr or time to look at tweaking any photos for the grid. I have just a few left to do, though.. 10 more days to work on them. The new site is getting stuff done and some new things added in. Oh my, this is going to be some incredible place to play!

Slow down World II

I am slowly getting the photos that I took last week tweaked and loaded to Flickr for the Victoria Grid Project group. I have quite a few taken with the long lens shooting from up by the Observatory. Its a very nice grid this month and people are loading to the pool, at last.

Tara and I got back from Sask. and the service for Flo, on Thursday. I have been feeling rather punky and was blaming it on the stink of the wood glue on the cabinetry that is sitting all around me. It seems Carol also has this flu, so we must have picked it up somewhere in our visits over Wednesday. Oh well, am getting over it. I have a few snow photos, but did not feel like shooting people.

We have all the dishes moved out of the kitchen and are ready for David to come to remove the old cabinets and put in the new. He will probably be here at the crack of dawn, of course. I have moved a lot of boxes to make space to get to my light garden and to remove the glass ones to safer area. We have 2 big boxes out on the deck yet. We are so fortunate it has not been raining.

A lot of stuff is getting done on the new site, apparently. New server and new builders. It all seems so complicate to me at this juncture.

I missed the VCCC run today as I was busy moving stuff. It was a good run, it seems, arranged by Sheas and Clarks. It was a bright and sunny day.

All the apples I put out in the deer pasture are gone, so I gave them 2 dozen more today. Also filled the humming bird feeder. The garden looks ok. I need to do some trimming of the cedar hedge. I do not see the crocuses up yet. They should be popping up soon with all the sunshine we had in the last couple of days.

Slow down World

Pat drove me out to the Victoria Grid for the month of January, on Friday. Part of the grid is along the ocean. It was a semi-sunny day, coolish and with the wind off the water my hands were very cold while trying to shoot. My camera was crying out for a battery change which it does whenever it gets too cold. I got a few ok photos, nothing spectacular.

We had to take the big old desk and the wardrobe apart to get them moved. Very heavy particle board stuff. Pat has the desk down in his room now. I think it looks better than the old table he had. His room looks really rather interesting now.

When I was out shooting for the grid on Friday, my sister who had been in a care facility, passed away. Tara and I fly back to Regina on Tuesday for the services on Wednesday and then back home on Thursday. Meanwhile, at home, Pat will be attending to the delivery of the cabinetry and his new computer stuff. Everything seems to happen at once.

Today, I took a walk to see how the water was in our river. Some areas of Greater Victoria and the Island have been having severe flooding. Our river is up to the top of its banks but nothing too alarming. We are so lucky. All of the ice and snow melted which I think, contributed to our safer water levels, as the rain water was able to run away to storm sewers or out to the river. We are to have a drier period next week.

Cabinetry and stuff

Colleen and John sent us a boquet and wishes for our anniversary. Much appreciated, thank you. The birds of paradise are still alive and doing well.

I was playing in my old Paintshop Pro program, looking for the flood filter. I still have it, and made this para glider walk on water, framed him too, while I was at it. The photo is from our trip through the Panama Canal, and our stop at Aruba. The flood filter is by Flaming Pear. I have not looked at what they are doing lately.

We have had a call from the Kitchen Kraft people who are making the cabinets for our kitchen reno. The cabinets are to be here on the 13th, and David is to start installation on the 19th. I have all of the things out of the cupboards, except what we use daily. Today I emptied the old wardrobe, Pat took it apart and I stored it in the library. I hope to put this in the suite for a closet when Tara and Andy find their own place -- if ever that should happen. Would be nice to have our house back to ourselves. I would like to have the suite cleaned with new flooring, paint, draperies. Then I am thinking of furnishing it for long term visitors ... or house sitters.

Flickr groups have been quite busy lately. I think hotshots group is getting back to normal after the natzi moderator. I like the name of the group. I dug up this old photo from years ago taken with my old Canon A50. Damn that camera was a good one. Too bad it ate batteries at an impossible rate. Nice sharp lens on it and a P & S that shoots in RAW. I didn't know about the RAW when I took this photo, though. drat.

Pat is getting a new monitor and fan for his computer. Trevor is to bring it on the 13th. Maybe I will get him to take mine away with him to fix the backup at that time too. Then I should be able to move the desk so that the new carpet and paint can be done. We have yet to move the old desk downstairs, too. Both of these desks are extremely heavey. I should be able to take off doors and remove drawers and stuff to make each of them easier to move.

The ice has melted on the tub in the front garden and I saw that Elvis (the fish) lives... after being under ice for all that time. The pump is still disconnected at the back. There are no fish in there now, anyway. That bloody big bull frog ate them all.

A week or two ago, I put some apples out near the deer pasture for the deer. The apples had disappeared and there were deer tracks in the snow. So, I have put a few more apples out. Our deer are very good about never eating my plants. We saw a buck and 3 does in the deer pasture, one night when we were going out to dinner, in the dark. It seems they do move around at night.

I have been leaving the humming bird feeder out at night lately as it has been warm enough again. It is raining now and all of the snow should soon be gone. The humming birds visit every day... one at a time, of course.

Cyrus has new builders and a new server for the site. It should start to move along faster now. I think he has all of the 'architecture' or design done for the site... with tweaks and additions to be done as we go along, and the builders code it and load it. This site is really going to be an exceptional, marvelous place to spend time. It is great fun watching it being made, and even getting to add my two cents worth now and then.