Friday, May 29, 2009

Curb Appeal - Part 1

So - Lynda and I were finally fed up of the way the Blue Spruce has managed to kill off all the grass from beneath it. This is on account of the falling needles turning the soil acidic. My initial solution for this space was to widen the circle and then cover the area with mulch.

However last Sunday while browsing through some old scans of our once favourite Domino, we happened upon a layout that was truly us. This involved removing the grass directly in front of the door, extending the porch till the end of the house, dropping in pressure treated planters flush with the soil, and covering the areas with various mulches.

We really got a lot of work done on Sunday and Monday and after that it was rain, rain, rain and more rain. Hopefully we get started back on this by the weekend. Here's a basic rendering of what we envision it to look like on completion.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Saying Goodbye in Style

The following week is Finale week. 24 - which we follow religiously has a two hour finale on Monday (will Jack survive the effects of the biological weapon??? Will Kim Bauer be killed once and for all - already????!!!!!) Then on Tuesday, the final two will perform for the last time before Judges and Jury followed by a two hour finale of American Idol on Wednesday. This year we are not as rabid as we were about David Cook and while we think that Adam is a shoe-in, would not be surprised to see Kris emerge as the winner.

To celebrate the Season finale, we finally went out and got ourselves an LCD TV. It's still CFL backlit as opposed to the newer LED backlit models. I also opted for the 60Hz model as opposed to the 120Hz as I do not plan to be watching too much sports.

I bought the Samsung LN46A550 as it was rated as Best Buy on numerous forums. Even Consumer Reports gave this TV their nod of approval. Amazon's consumers gave this TV 5 star reviews and this was also one of CNET's editor's choices. I really wanted to get the smaller LN40A630, but it would've cost me $400 more. So I opted for the bigger unit.

First impressions. This TV is big - especially when you see it alone without the bigger units to dwarf it. The screen is non reflective, this is great as it will not reflect the white bookcases that will be behind us. I powered it on and within a few minutes tuned it in to all the OTA HD channels. The reception with 1080i broadcast is nothing short of stunning. This is especially evident in live programming such as news etc. The image is sharp and the clarity is stunning.
I did not think that sports would be so good on the set but this afternoon's broadcast of Ice Hockey on CBC and Basketball on Sun TV proved me wrong. There was little or no blurring with the high speed action and am convinced that manufacturers touting 120Hz as a requirement for sports channels is a load of c&%k

I am in the process of painting the niche where the TV will hang and I will post pictures of the install in a later post.

AI Finale is going to be fun!!!!!

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Ice Ice Baby

We woke up this morning to dark skies and distant thunderclaps followed instantly by rain and hail. As soon as the 'storm' subsided, I headed out to the back as the creek looked like it was going to overflow it's banks. It was quite amazing to see the sheer force of the water rushing by.

Ground level picture showing the water level with the road

I like this pic

Poor tree taking a beating

View from the bridge

Hail!!!


A video of the creek

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

"1" too Many!!!

Lynda's call centre had recently completed one year at the new place just across the road. To celebrate the day, we (I) cut 15" high "1" from 1/8 hardboard, sanded the cut edges and painted them a metallic red. These were then placed on every pillar in the Call Centre and they looked good!!!!


Just Horsing Around

On the way back, we took Charleston Sideroad West and then Heart Lake Road South. A few minutes after the turn off we came upon a ranch with a Mare and her Foal. It was just the most amazing sight. What was more amazing was how Layla tried to sneak up to the Foal....

The Mare with her Foal

Layla sneaking up to the Foal

Almost there!!!

Methinks that the Foal was curious about Layla as well

Barnstorming

Last Saturday saw us resuming our trips into the Country. Thankfully 'the country' is a mere 10 minutes drive North. Lynda wanted to sketch some barns, so we set out in search of stereotypical barns on Airport Road north of Mayfield road. We did find a few which I photographed and the ladies attempted to sketch. We got some strange looks from the Farmhands as we attempted to capture the scene in our various media...........

Nice. We could smell the dung!!

This looked idyllic!!
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