August 4. 2008

Yesterday, we went for a stroll around the park.

We'd seen this road sign on Saturday evening, flashing out in the soccer field. It was obviously purloined from the Minto construction area. It looked kind of funny, cute even, sitting out there in the field in the dark, flashing away. Sunday, it had been moved to this spot by an entrance to the park. I wonder if Minto will come get it?

As we approached the pond, I wondered if there would be any waterfowl left. Certainly, there wouldn't be any babies. We had not brought bread with us as it really is better to leave the birds alone, even though I am guilty of having fed them before. This fellow showed up on a small-wheeled bike, with a milk crate full of bread and what appeared to be corn in a large bag.

The geese saw him coming and steamed over in a long flotilla.

Now, he is surrounded by gulls, ducks and geese, with the geese muscling their way to the front of the line.

I wanted to check out the potential hazard at the bridge and although I had seen workers there earlier in the week, and there was lots of evidence that work had been done on the bridge (several new upright posts had been installed), the discrepancy between the level of the pavement and the wood surface of the bridge remained. I have now sent this photo with a second email to my city councillor but since I never even got an acknowledgment to the first email, I am not holding my breath.

The construction is proceeding apace. There are at least three more foundations with no superstructure on them that we saw on Sunday. But as we found out at the sales office, there are several more foundations planned that haven't even been started.

Here's a different view.

We noted that the front doors of the units fronting on Centrepointe appear to be awfully close to the sidewalk. Don't come running out of your house in a hurry here! But then for the first time, we stopped into the sales office. There was a very nice, low-key fellow there who spent some time explaining things to us. There are a LOT of units going in here. "Intensification", indeed. There are six row house units that will front on Centrepointe, each one containing four housing units of about 1900 square feet each. And each one will have a 2 car garage! That surprised me. They are going for well over $300,000 each, even though they are SO close to the road. Interesting.

July 23, 2008

I guess no news is good news. Not much new in the 'hood these days. And it's not even the dog days of summer, what with all this rain and not-that-hot-but-man-is-it-humid weather.

We heard sounds of cheering from the park and went for a walk after dinner last night to check it out. Every single soccer pitch was full with teams playing and some were even practising on the outfield of the ball diamond in between.

Some kids had even arrived on their bikes. This is a good thing.
It was a beautiful evening to be outside.

July 2, 2008

Interesting how Minto has its own building wrap, custom made just for it.

Interesting how it's not made in Canada. But then, maybe they don't make building wrap up here.

A couple of days ago, we were out for a bike ride and down by the Ottawa River, which is still high for this time of year - all that rain! Peter bikes by here every morning and he said, keep an eye out for a log where ducks are always sitting, and sure enough, there it was. It was raining fairly hard when I took the picture, and still, they were all sitting in a row on that log.

Yesterday, on Canada Day, we decided to hang out at home, rather than fight the crowds downtown. We knew the Snowbirds would be buzzing the Hill at 11 so we went out to see if we could see them go by. And there they were! They even had smoke on for a moment, maybe to test before they got to the Hill. We waited for a while but they didn't come back, but we could hear them off in the distance.

We strolled over to Nepean City Hall and except for a few people, the place was deserted. The fountain always looks nice.

And there is a garden off to one side with some benches in the shade that seems to be a bit neglected this year. There was a sign explaining the garden but that too, is missing. Plus some dorky vandals had broken a couple of slats in the benches. Why do people prefer to destroy things? I don't know.

So there I was, sitting out the back, reading, when movement caught my eye and I saw a large brown rabbit slowly hopping by. I stealthily got up and whispered for Peter to please get my camera and then I followed the rabbit around the side of the house.

He didn't seem to be in a hurry or on a mission.

Peter got a close-up of him. He had really large eyes and small ears.

Then he hopped around the corner to our neighbour's front door and went right up on the step.

He started going after something in the cracks where the step met the house but we didn't know what it was. I threw him a piece of carrot and he turned and sniffed at it and then completely ignored it, even when he decided it was time to move on. Curious.

June 29, 2008

Anticipation.

By Bike Rider

June 27, 2008

Can you believe it's almost the end of June? I can't.
When I went running this morning in the park, my goal was to run around the circuit at least 3 times. Then I changed the goal to 25 minutes (I run a circuit in about 6.5 minutes) and I almost made it, when I got a stitch in my side at 24 minutes. That allowed me to walk back to the house and get my camera and some bread and then go back to to pond where I got some fun pix.

Those are baby geese! The one at the back on the right is the parent. You can tell the babies easily because of their "whit-whit-whit" baby voices (they don't honk until they are grown up) and the white cheek patches haven't come in yet. But they are so big now!

The baby in the foreground still had a fair bit of fuzz on his neck.

I just like this "action" shot. And you can see what I meant earlier about "white bums".

And the babies aren't shy about coming right up to you.

I found a big difference with the baby ducks. They look like they have their adult plumage but they are still pretty fuzzy and I don't think their wings are developed. But they aren't yellow fuzz-balls any more!

And they aren't shy any more either! Last time, they wouldn't approach me, nor take anything from my hand. This time they pecked me unmercifully and came and stood right on the tops of my feet.

I don't know why we find waterfowl more engaging than many other birds, but they are.

June 25, 2008

Here's that building that I mentioned yesterday, with the brick on one side, from the side with the brick.

Doesn't this building look awfully (as in "awful") close to the bike path and the hedge?

I usually bike through the park but I decided to walk to the library which is why I got this photo.

That's right. Someone stopped to enjoy sitting in the shade of some trees in the park, to enjoy the natural environment, and to have their cup of coffee. And then they spoiled it for everyone else by leaving the empty cup when they left. Shame on you. (To forestall the question, yes, I picked it up and put it in a bin by city hall.)

On a more pleasant note, I noticed killdeer in the park for the first time this week. I saw one running away from me and stopping to hunker down every few feet. it wasn't the "broken wing" decoy they usually use but it was close.

A wildlife photographer, I am not. I figure they must have a nest near by but I'm not going to look for it for fear of jeopardising the babies. I'm amazed that birds like this that just lay their eggs on the grass manage to survive year after year. I know that killdeer young hatch way late and can run about earlier than other birds but still - they must be so vulnerable.

June 24, 2008

I didn't take the camera when I went jogging this morning but I noticed that my "fluffy dinosaurs" now have white bums! They are getting their adult plumage and you can even see where the white cheek patches are going to be.

The construction is still going on. This building has the brick on the other side already.

The parking lot was full at the old Nepean City Hall today. I asked a parking lot attendant, having never seen them or signs before, what was going on. He told me that was a graduation. Whatever happened to using the gym at school?

This is where the voles hung out in the winter. It is nice to see that they have pretty yellow and purple flowers and tall clover at the back to enjoy. I suppose they'd have to stand on their tippy toes to see it, however.

They've just been mowing a swathe of grass by the path and not the whole thing so far this summer.

And now there are parking meters on this side of Centrepointe! There never were meters before now. I wonder if there was a memo at city hall saying "bonus to any employee who finds new places to put meters."

In the 12 years I have been living here, I've never noticed there was a parking problem that needed meters.

June 15, 2008

The geese will eat right out of your hand but not the ducks. But there was one baby goose who wouldn't take anything from me. The other goslings gathered right in, practically under my skirt and nibbled at the hem of my skirt while I was feeding bread to their brethren.






We are so fortunate to live here. There were baseball teams out playing in al the available diamonds. Some were camped out with dogs and coolers and chairs.