Thank you!

For Mother's day, Darling Husband got me a new (to me) DSLR camera with a story involved.  L had done a bunch of research and found a really nice DSLR and bought the recommended attachments for it.  Then found she was using her mid-sized camera more anyway and it was languishing.  (OK, so it was really being carefully and lovingly stored, but languishing sounds more dramatic)

It sounds like she started to feel a bit guilty about having the fabulous camera and not using it (or maybe she just felt bad for me because my affordable point and shoot wasn't cutting the mustard in terms of pictures.  Anyway she sold it to Darling Husband as such a subsidized price that it really is a gift from her family and Darling Husband.

Seriously, it is such a nice set up, I can't imagine why she would part with it.  I think I would have fallen prone to camera hoarding and not let it go even if it was just sitting there.  Mind you, I also can't imagine not using it.  Once I learn how.

I am so excited!

I am kind of intimidated.

I need to read the manual.

But hopefully, there will be pictures on the blog shortly.  I have dug out my old Crumpler Camera bag from long ago and set it up.

Way back before T and I were married, I had wanted to get into photography.  I started doing research.  I started saving up for a good camera.  Then we got engaged and the camera money went towards our rings.  Then I got pregnant and the camera money when to maternity clothes.  Then I lost my job and couldn't save.  Then I found a job and Toddler girl had so many health problems that I couldn't even think about cameras.  Then I quit my job to stay home with her and I gave up on photography as a hobby we would never be able to afford.

So really, this is such a nice gift that I am tearing up as I write this post.

I disagree - update

Some how.... and I'm not sure how....  I ended up reading Life from Scratch on the kindle I got for Christmas/birthday this winter.  It isn't the kind of book I usually read.  I was struck by one part in the book when the main character talks about wanting people to read your journal,  that's why you post it on the internet.

OK.

I have to disagree with that one a little bit.

I think there are people out there that blog and think the internet is so big that no one will ever find them.  That isn't me, but I have met them.  They were really upset that I would go and read their blog after they told me where it was and what it was called.  (yeah... I don't get it, but when I tell that story other people have had the same experience) Then there are people like me that don't think my life is interesting enough to hold readers.

I have to say that until I needed help finding home for bunny I didn't really care that I had readers.  I know a few of you personally and the rest were just.... random fluctuation in the stats counter.

My issues aside, I think there are lots of reasons to have a blog other than necessarily wanting people to read your journal. The big few that immediately come to mind is my bad handwriting, that the computer is easier to just jot something down quick without having to work so hard from keeping Toddler girl from colouring in my book and the indexing system.  I also like the spell check.  I can review and rewrite easier than on paper.

Maybe this is a sign of increase digital sprawl, but I can type faster than I write.  Which explains my many of my blog posts are pretty much transcription of whatever is going through my head at the moment.  I wonder if people used to journal on typewriter like that back in the day?  NOTE TO SELF: internet research topic.

This is kind of sad, but a lot of the time I am blogging in a small window on my screen with toddler girl in my lap watching They Might be Giants videos in another window.  That kid can watch the Days of the Week video several times in a row.  It's a really fun video, but I would go nuts if I didn't have something else to do.  Blogging gives me that other focus, but we still get the nice snuggles in.

I have very mixed feeling about that song.  I am glad I stay home with Toddler girl, but...  it often feels like I'm always at work, from 11:00pm when she had night mares and want snacks and cuddles for two hours before she goes back to bed right through 6am when she woke up for the day, straight on keep working until 8pm when she goes to bed.  It isn't "no, no, I never go to work"  it's "no, no, I'm always at work."

And ultimately, maybe Toddler girl will want to read this someday.  The same could be said for that lovely paper journal I started.  So really, journalling in real life means that others can read it too.  Even if you hide it under your mattress.

In which case.... I love you so much baby girl!  Midnight snuggles are nice, even when we are both exhausted.  When I have nightmare, hubby puts up with me and gives me snuggles too.

Bunny Update

Slipper lives in our laundry room behind a baby gate when we aren't home.  The rest of the time he has free range of the house.  We know he will go back to the laundry room to use the litter pan.

This morning, while I was out dropping T off at work, he jumped two baby gates (one in his doorway and one in the hallway) to go snuggle with the guest bunny.  We know he was a Kaninhop contender, but this is the most we have see in action.

We had pretty much resigned ourselves to giving the new bunny up for adoption, but this is making it harder.

House Guest

In the morning, some thoughts about the unnamed bunny.  He is about the right size to have been an Easter pet who "accidentally" got out when the kids went back to school and stopped taking care of him.  He is so far, really good with Toddler girl.  He doesn't know how to drink out of a water bottle and was very dehydrated when I caught him.  I suspect if we hadn't had so much rain in the last couple of days, he wouldn't have made it this long.

He is already litter trained.

Last night he and Slipper spent some time cuddling through the cage bars.

We didn't want a bunny right now.  We weren't looking for one.  He is good with animals and kids and there for more adoptable.  If we could afford to get him fixed I would keep him and this would be a good home.

But the bottom line is.... we don't have the money to get that done.

I can't say we a poor.  We are "falling through the cracks" lower middle class.  If you take our combined income and subtract the child support then divide it over the number of people who live here including averaging out the part time kids (50% for V and 25% for C - our household is 3.75 people), yes, we are pretty close to the poverty line.

But it isn't calculated like that.

And no one gets pet subsidies anyway.

Asking for help

V forgot her rubber boots here on the weekend.  Today she was at her mom's house and tomorrow at 4am she is going on a student exchange to Quebec.  I thought she wouldn't need them, so I put them in the garage so we wouldn't trip on them by the back stairs.

It turns out that she needed them after all.  She came by while we were out to pick them up, but didn't know I had moved them.  So it was that at 9pm I had to drive them over to her mom's house and drop them off.  There had been a bunny, a house bunny, that someone "set free" in the neighbourhood hanging out with the neighbours cat.

This is where I have to translate a little for you.  I have a house bunny.  I have had house bunnies for the last 24 years.  A well cared for bunny lives 8 - 10 years.  They are social and require social grooming from their people.  They litter train very easily and (with a little more effort) can be kept from eating your electrical cords.  They are very loving pets that can be leash trained and also trained to do simple tricks.  For more fun than you would expect, search for "Rabbit Show Jumping" on YouTube.  In that 24 years I have had Silky (who died of old age at age 10), Pixel (who had to be put down when her teeth failled, age 8), Emmy and Mr Vimes who were SPCA Bunnies.  We had them both at the same time and I don't know how old Emmy was.  Mr Vimes was born blind and had a chronic pastuerella infection.  He died at age 3 of kidney failure.  After he died, Emmy became very depressed and a year after he died, she stopped eating.

Three sets of bunnies, averaging an 8 year commitment each.

People aren't prepared for that.  Male bunnies make EXCELLENT pets, once you get them fixed.  Before that they go at it like... well, like bunnies.  With your laundry, slippers, books, toys, vacuum, everything really.

We currently have a mini rex called Slipper.  He is very new.  He was named by Toddler girl.  We think he is about a year old.  He was fully grown when we got him, so it is kind of hard to tell.  We got him fixed and she is very polite and snuggley.

I know bunnies.  I also know that house bunnies are from southern climes and universally freeze to death in our climate.  If they aren't hit by a cat or mauled to death by a cat or dog first.  Setting a house bunny free is sentencing it to a horrible painful death.  People would be much kinder to put a free ad in the paper or take them to the SPCA.  This one had survived for 3 days because the neighbour's cat was protecting it.  The other neighbour's cat had already been stalking it.

This one wasn't that hard to catch.  It would have been even easier if the friendly cat hadn't intervened a few times.  I have brought it home.  It is in a cage.  Slipper was male, this one still is.  That isn't a good mix.

The two bunnies are close enough in size to be a good pair of bunny friends.  They are so far grooming each other through the cage.  The unnamed bunny snuggled right into my as soon as I picked him up and nudged me for scratches.

We can't afford to get this bunny fixed.  We can't keep the bunny without getting it fixed.  Bunnies aren't subsided and a bunny neuter costs $160 at the one place in town that we know does it.

The SPCA here is really good, but intact males are not easy to adopt.  C and V are assuming we will keep him.  So I am going to do the thing I really hate to do.  I am asking for help.  It amazes me, but I apparently have 300 regular readers out there.  If you would be interested in throwing a buck or two towards a bunny surgery, let me know.

We have overspent on windows this month and we are committed to paint next month.

On the other hand, if you are local and would be willing to take on a bunny.... let me know that too.  He is very sweet.

How to explain seasonal variation to a 2 year old

OK.  So sometimes I forget that people actually read this.  I don't find my life interesting enough that I expect anyone to be interested other than my friends and family who would have to listen to all this rambling anyway.

For those of you who are just here for the food....  I'm sorry but this is another "I can't believe my 2 year old did this" post.  You've been warned.

My location is northern enough that our day length varies significantly with the season.  Today the dawn was at 4:14 am.  I checked.  Toddler girl woke up at 5:52.  The sun was shining.  The house was completely quiet.  She was soaking wet and so was her bed, AND (from her point of view) she had overslept and everyone had left for the day.

Total freak out ensued.

It took almost half an hour to get her to calm down and stop screaming and by then EVERYONE was up.

I have got to make that kid some black-out blinds.

Once she was calmed down I tried to explain to her that sun-up does NOT mean it is time to get up.  She flat out refused to believe me.  I've been really lucky about not being told "NO" by toddler girl.  Mostly because I think that is the rudest thing and we have let it be known that screaming "No" at your parents isn't acceptable behaviour.  This time however, she KNEW I was wrong and tried to articulate it beyond just no. 

"Mummum, look!" Pointing to window, "Light outside!  Wake up time!"

"In the summer the sun gets up before it's time for people to get up sweetie."

"no.   Up time!"

She still snuck the "no" in there.  I guess she felt it needed to be said.  Fair enough.

Back to the topic of today's post.... How do you explain seasonal variation to a two year old?  It's only going to get worse...

Snow! Again!

I don't know why this bothers me.  As a single person I used to bike or walk in the snow all the time.  I think it's the snow suit.  Not my snowsuit, toddler girl's snowsuit.  You know the one.  You try to get the kid to pee.  She swears she doesn't have to.  You put on the snow pants, the mittens, the coat, hat and scarf.  You stuff on her boats.  Then after five minutes outside, she has to pee RIGHT NOW!  Sometimes if you run (and are lucky) you can get all those clothes off in time to get to the potty.  If you don't quite make it in time.... you spend the rest of the day doing laundry and you aren't going anywhere.

It becomes easier to just take the car.  There is a lot less outerwear involved in a car trip.

I don't really like taking the car more than I have to.  This is why we spend most of the winter in the house getting cabin fever.

Before toddler girl, I would have considered just getting a Pugsley.   However, I have found that once you adds kids to the mix, all those "go bike, go!" tips fall apart.  This winter I went to a winter cycling workshop.  It talked about staying warm, being visible, traveling with a cell phone and cab fare in case of sudden snow storm.  When I asked about winter biking with kids, the presenters started responding as if I had said "teenagers."  When I clarified that I meant toddlers, there was an uncomfortable silence before everyone on the panel slowly admitted they had no ideas.

In a room full of people who had drunk the bike everywhere cool aid, no one wanted to say you can't bike in the snow with tiny people.  Or at least that's what it felt like.  No one said it isn't safe.  The people in the audience said, watch out for your trailer tipping.  Don't let the kid go to sleep in case they get hypothermia.  (How do you keep a kid in a trailer from falling asleep?  Toddler girls naps every time.)  They said stop every few minutes to check the kid for cold spots.  The list of safety things to keep in mind made it unrealistic to bike for transport with a toddler in the winter.

Once they are on their own bike or even a tow behind half bike, you can do it.  But for littles in the snow......  take the bus.

Ha!  Ever tried minding a toddler and enough groceries for a family of five on the bus?  I know there are people who do it, but it is REALLY hard.  Especially when you have to walk several blocks from the bus stop and the toddler wants to be carried and you are already at load capacity for the bags of groceries.  Plus people don't always shovel and if I slipped while carrying her I could crush her.

I think I may have to go change my goals to account for snow.

The snow didn't last, but I stayed inside and painted the bathroom anyway.  Two coats of paint and three loads of laundry made for a full day.   I wish Peg Bracken was available on the Kindle....

Surprising

I was quite amazed to view my stats page and learn that I have readers from around the world.  Personally, I suspect this is due to Google misdirects since I don't find my blog all that interesting.

With this in mind, however, I decided not to post about our trip until we got back.

I know that I whine (a lot) about the sad state of my bike.  I also know that this story make cause you to doubt the sincerity of my desire to upgrade or repair my sad vintage Victoria.  I can assure you, that is NOT the case.

I had just about saved up to be able to buy a Gazelle Basic.  It took over a year.  Now I have gone and spent that money on my husband.  It isn't that I don't desperately want a new bicycle, it just that I love my husband more.  I saved up once.  I can do it again.

T's grandfather was a John Deere dealer.  When T was little he and his granpa would work on a 1960's JD garden tractor together.  Granpa would take him for rides on it.  They would fix it up together.  It is one of T's happiest memories of his granpa, who I suspect wasn't every sure what to do with a grandson who couldn't walk before his surgery at age 7 and can't walk well even after.  Men born in 1910 just were never taught skills to interact with a diverse population.  T and I call it the "able bodied male syndrome."  The whole "never complain, never explain" and certainly never admit you can't do anything mentality.

T's granpa died when T was in high school and T's dad inherited the little tractor.  It was parked in the backyard.  That was over 20 years ago.  It has sat there rusting to pieces ever since.

For the last ten or so years that T and I have been together we have tried to get T's dad to let us restore it, or at least move it into shelter to keep it from getting worse.  Dad keeps saying he'll get to it.

The thing is, it wasn't HIS granpa's tractor.  Dad has no emotion attachment to it.  Taking care of it is not a priority for Dad.  And in the mean time it is crumbling to dust.  When we first started talking about fixing it up, there was still a chance that we could.  Now..... there is barely anything left to save.

T is heartbroken.

I have been watching the classified ads daily for a vintage bike since shortly after E was born and about a couple of weeks ago I saw an ad for the same model of tractor for sale.  These tractors occasionally come up for sale in the US where there were lots of them, but there were not that many in Canada.   In the over a year (almost two) that I had been watching ads and saving my pennies this was the first one I saw that wasn't all tricked out and being sold as a museum piece for $5000+ .  It runs.  It needs work.  It costs more than a Gazelle Basic and by the time you factor in driving to go get it and a hotel because it is a 10 hour drive away, it is almost as much as a Gazelle Toer Populair.  But it may be our one chance to get one of these tractors and if we miss it, I don't think we will get another.

I couldn't even do a gift of the magi for him and just spend my bike money on it, I didn't have enough.

In a completely fool hardy move, we spent my bike money and his tax refund and just got the darn tractor.  It took a two day trip.  We took Dad's truck.  We are both exhausted.  He is so happy it make my heart swell to see it.

It will like be another couple of years to save up for the Gazelle, but I am going to stop whining about my grungy of bicycle now.  I made my choice.  I will live with it.   Gazelles will still be there to purchase in another two years.  The chance to buy a JD 110 garden tractor wouldn't have been.

I just really hope we don't have cause to regret it.  In the mean time, we have parked the car.  T is biking to work.  I am biking for everything.  We are saving the gas money for other things. like a better bike and the never ending project of replacing the windows on our house.

That's the thing that has me worried.  Money in a bank account that could eventually become a bike could also become windows if we had problems.  Money in a tractor (or a bike for that matter) is a lot harder to get at if something comes up.  We never buy frivolous things, certainly nothing this big.  We never go on vacation.  It feels weird to finally have something like that.  Especially since we still are pinching our pennies everywhere else.