Since today is National Sibling's Day I will take the opportunity to wish my three great siblings a Happy Sibling's Day.
National sibling's Day is an idea promoted by Claudia Evart. Claudia lost her only two siblings at a very early age. National Sibling's day would be a good way to remember them. National sibling's day is recognized in 39 states. Claudia is trying to have it recognized as a national day.
My surviving siblings (brothers) range in age from 60 to 75. We are quite different in looks and personalities. Our Mom was very short. Our Dad was very tall so our sizes range from short to tall. So we range in height from 5"6" to 6"4". I think. Things may have changed with age. Appearances are also very different. we would not pass as brothers as far as looks are concerned.
We range from very quiet to quiet!
We also had a sister who passed away at an early age in 1953. My youngest sibling was born after her death.
Since we were so far apart in age we were raised differently. Our parents became comfortable with parenting by the time the youngest appeared on the scene. I'm not saying the parenting was any better . It was just more laid back.
It's a good day to think about siblings and all the important things about them and how much they mean to our life.
So I hope that all readers take a few minutes and think about their sibling's on this special day.
Every climate zone has it's own characteristic spring seasons. Many elements go together to make spring weather in each area.
Here, spring is dependent on our fall weather. The ground freezes here. There are many variations in frost patterns. The ground can freeze to a depth of 8 ft. Other areas only have a few inches of frozen soil. If we get snow cover that stays , there is not much frozen ground. An exposed area that has lots of traffic over it will freeze to a depth of 7 or 8 feet. South facing slopes and sheltered areas will have less ground frost. From year to year the depth of soil frost varies.
So the soil frost that starts in Oct. - Nov determines our spring and the beginning of plant growth. Of course, winter and spring weather also determine the kind of spring activity we have. The soil has to warm up before there's much plant activity. The frost seems to come out of the ground rapidly and then we have a very muddy soggy mess. Roads break up as the soil becomes unstable. As a result there are road bans (limits on load weights)until the frost is out of the ground.
I find many blog posts very interesting when they show spring weather and blooms. If there's no frost in the ground , the grass usually remains green even if it is covered by snow. In some areas the grass begins to grow rapidly when warmer spring weather arrives.
So the other day along with photos of geese , I also took some landscape photos which show what spring looks like here. We have a few sheltered south facing areas where grass has turned green but it's not growing. Native crocuses are in bloom. So some plants are well adapted to grow early in the spring as soon as some frost is out of the ground. Buds are swelling on trees. However, for the most part there is very little plant activity.
You can see from the photos that there is very little color. The spruce trees are more black than green. As soon as the frost leaves the ground , spruce trees turn green.
I got out of the house for a while yesterday afternoon and visited a local watering hole for geese. The ponds in the photos were actually reclaimed gravel pits. Now they make a fairly good wetlands habitat.
The geese were quite willing to hang around and pose .
That's right. These geese are sitting out on the ice. They've been here about three weeks. There is open water about 200 m away on the river where they can feed. Many of these geese will continue north until they land on Arctic islands where they will finally nest.
There were some smaller geese further out which I think are another form of Canada geese. They have different markings.
So the ice is very solid and nothing has melted around the edge. I could still skate on this ice.
This large pond is the reclaimed gravel pit. Islands and points have been constructed to give some variety to the pond. a pair of loons spends each summer here.
I've started reading Gulp by Mary Roach. Mary Roach tells everything about the alimentary canal which is the body system that your food passes through from start to finish. Roach has done her research, asked questions and then writes a very humorous authentic account of what the digestive system is and how it works. She also gives a historical account of early research and how it was done.
I have only read 80 pages but I found something that I really have to tell you. She discusses taste which she describes as, "a sort of chemical touch. Taste cells are specialized skin cells."
We have taste receptors in four parts of our body: the gut, the voice box, the upper esophagus and the tongue. Wow! Who'd have ever thought we had all those taste buds? Only the tongue's receptors report to the brain. So with apologies to all oenophiles taste is only functional to act as a doorman to what we take in our mouth. So if stuff doesn't taste right we do not ingest the food.
"Intestinal taste receptors are thought to trigger hormonal responses to molecules such as salt and sugar -and defensive actions- such as vomiting and diarrhea to dangerous items." No need for this information to go to the brain as most of what we would get would be pretty itchy.
I like the way Mary Roach leads us to take a different look at how one part of the body works. We rarely think of the alimentary canal as one unit that has different parts to do the job of digestion of foods.
So in one short section I learned some very interesting things about taste.
I'm looking forward to the remainder of the book.
I have posted about my limited handyman skills before. Some comments have been made in a kindly fashion that I should just hire a tradesman who is trained for the job. I'm a slow learner. The next thing that comes along I dive into and have another challenging adventure.
The bathroom sink has looked ugly for some time. Underneath there was a tremendous amount of rust. However, it wasn't leaking so why change it.?
Well, in mid January it began leaking. I cleaned out the vanity and placed a tray to catch any drips. I could still use the sink. I wanted a sink exactly like the one I had so that I would not have to saw a new hole in the vanity. I also didn't want to get a new vanity.
It was difficult to find a new sink. I don't know how many salesmen wanted to sell me an oval sink when I had to have a round sink. Finally, we found a sink but it had to be ordered and it would take 6 weeks. Okay, I can handle that.
After seven weeks the sink arrived and I looked things over and carefully planned how this procedure would take place. Now I do know that all kinds of surprises can pop up after you get started.
First , take out the old sink. I turned the water off at the shut off valves. First I decided to take off the metal ring that went around the old sink. Well, wouldn't you know it, after a half an hour and a big mess that little ring didn't come out first.
So back to the first plan...take off the faucet. So I'm working upside down a way up behind the sink where I can't see and I discover I turned the nut the wrong way and wrecked the faucet. So now I have to shop for a faucet. Shopping for faucet wasn't as bad as shopping for the sink. While I shopped for a faucet, I removed the rest of the sink. The faucet I wrecked was 26 years old.
So back to the project. I checked that the new sink and drain would line up.
Now I also decided to change the trap. A whiz guy in plumbing wouldn't sell me just a trap and wanted to sell me more trouble. I finally found a trap and the proper fittings. I attached the new drain to the sink. There was a seal to put around the edge of the sink. My trusty assistant thought it would be better if part of the seal was taken off first. Big mistake. The part she took off was to keep the ring in place as I installed it. Six hours later I finally got the seal in place. There was some loud talking and a few bad words exchanged.
Now the pipe from a faucet never lines up with the water intake tube. It has to be manhandled. I'm reluctant to put too much force on something so it took some time to get the faucet connected to the water.
Finally, everything was done. Turn the water back on. Hey, there are no leaks! That was a big surprise!
So after two months, lots of sweating, some yelling and swearing, I have a shiny new bathroom sink.
I think I'll wear out before I have to replace this new sink!
You know you're getting old when both your kids are wearing bifocals! Yes, this happened recently when my daughter got bifocals and like most people who get bifocals found that they were a great help. My son got bifocals a couple of years ago and makes good use of them.
Now my daughter has great taste when it comes to colors so her new glasses have colors that go along with skin tones and all the clothing she wears. My son just bought a very fine pair of glasses that that give him a look of distinction. Yes, I know I'm bragging about my kids.
Now I wish I had my first pair of glasses to show you how cool they were! I had the pair with the huge lens until a few months ago when I got new glasses.
The kids bifocals got me thinking about the time I started wearing bifocals. I remember the awkwardness of not being able to see your feet when I first put on the bifocals. Since I was a teacher I looked over student work at their desks from a distance. I didn't really miss the close vision. But sooner or later it had to happen and I got bifocals which were usually kept in my pocket until I needed them. This meant a lot of taking off and putting on of glasses. It was a nuisance. Finally, I needed a prescription for distance and I began wearing glasses all the time.
So I have a vivid idea of what the kids have just gone through. It's one of the first steps to aging. I first saw my son with glasses when we were on skype. I asked why he needed glasses and he replied. "Because I'm an old fart like you!"
So for most of us sooner or later we require the aid of bifocals and of course the condition progresses.
How're you doing with your bifocals?
A week ago today I posted about a snowfall we had overnight. Waking up Sunday morning we found a brilliant white world.
Today all the snow is gone and we had a high of 18 C (68 F). All last Sundays snow has disappeared.
It's a big difference. Here we have roughly the same two photos 7 days apart.
