RIP Lily

This has not been a good weekend for us, by that, I mean the collective, neighbourhood us. First the tree falling, then, last night, I went to check on the kids and Lily the hamster like I always do, and I noticed that she wasn't active at all, not even coming to poke her nose out of her nest material to see who was there. I lifted her out of her nest, and the first thing I noticed was how cold she felt. Oddly enough, she was limp rather than stiff. Kevin did a bit of research into hamster hibernation, and she was exactly as they described, so that's what we thought was going on(with all the excitement on Friday night, the kids had opened their window to watch, and it had gotten really cool in their room). I held her and as she warmed up, she started moving a bit more. Kevin had read that hamsters who were being woken up from hibernation needed to  be kept hydrated, so he gave her some water from a syringe, and shortly after that she had what I would describe as some spasms(which the hamster website Kevin had found said might happen), looked like she was stretching/yawning, so I thought she was coming around, but then the paper towel I had wrapped around her felt wet. When I checked her, she was getting cold again, and going stiff instead of staying limp. Lily passed in my hands at about 12:20 am est on September 26th, 2010. We don't know what happened to her, but what we do know is that she was loved, and that she died in familiar surroundings and she wasn't alone in her nest.

Nearing the Finish Line

We're getting close to being done with the removal of the deck. All that remains is one post the has yet to be removed from it's hole(it's held in with concrete), and the rebuild/redesign of the porch and stairs. Kevin and I were chatting and thought that maybe for the stairs we should enlist his dad's help, since that is the part that Kevin is most concerned about given that it will get such high use and that he's never built stairs before. The plan for tomorrow is clean-up, raking/levelling of the exposed ground, and hopefully getting some grass seed so that we can get that started since this week is supposed to be rainy, cool, but not cold so it would be good for getting the grass to grow.

Yesterday was a very busy day, after getting Caleigh and Aidan to school(which took more effort than it should have from us), Kevin went to get the truck and tow hitch from his parents' house. Finding the tow hitch took a bit of time(it's removable, so it wasn't in the truck), then he couldn't find the electrical adaptor to get the trailer lights to work, so once he finally found a U-Haul outlet that could tell him whether they had a trailer available, he had to buy one. By the time he got back to the house to pick up Brynna and I, it was after 11:30, so by the time we got to the farm where we pick up our firewood, it was almost 1. It took the 2 of us an hour to load half a cord of wood and secure it. Not bad, but by the time we got back and got the wood unloaded, it was after 3pm. We had enough time left for me to help Kevin with the majority of the loading of what was destined for the dump before I had to go meet the bus, which was late. We went to the dump well after 4, and Greely Sand and Gravel's depot near there would be closed at 5, so too late to get some gravel for the patio area, and too late to go get the rest of the firewood and get back with the trailer before the outlet closed for the night. 2 out of 3 goals accomplished in less than 6 hours wasn't bad.

I didn't feel like making anything for supper, neither did Kevin, and the kids kept clamouring for going out for dinner. We almost got take out to bring home, but Kevin decided we should go eat out, and the Red Lobster just down St Laurent Blvd sounded good. It was a half-hour wait for a table, which isn't bad at supper time on a Friday night, so we had a nice dinner out, with great service, and then headed home to get the kids to bed and the truck returned so Matt and Jess could head to the cabin for the weekend.

What we found when we got home was awful. One whole side of a split trunk from our neighbour's tree had fallen across their house and was hanging off of the telephone lines running through our driveways. Thankfully, none of us had been home when it happened. Our neighbours were fine, there's quite a bit of damage to the corner of their house(the contractor hired by the insurance company said that usually a tree wouldn't do that much damage, since they usually bounce and then roll off because the roof is so strong and gravity does it's job). So, now we all have firewood for the foreseeable future because an entire tree totalling about 90' in height is coming down by the end of the week. The city was by last night to get it off the wires and the house, another crew was in this morning to take the weight off the remaining trunk, making it safe until final removal, and a crew hired by the insurance company will be in tomorrow to cut the trunk on the ground down and get it away from the house. For now, it sits with caution tape wrapped around it to keep people away, because it is sitting on a slope.

More Progress

We finished getting the lowest part of the deck taken off, with the exception of the part next to our bridge to the yard/bbq, yesterday. I continued working solo this morning, and managed to get the set of "steps" off leading to the gate. I also got the enclosing framework off of it too. The only parts that are left are the upper portion letting us out the back door and our bridge. I think Kevin was considering seeing how much of the upper part we can get rid of, shore the remaining stuff up, and get the lower framing out so we can start laying out our paving stone pattern.

Deck Destruction

We decided a little while ago that the wooden deck in the back yard really was past it's prime, and should probably come out. We started that yesterday, and managed to get the decking off yesterday, and started attacking the framing today. It's mostly out, with just the stairs/upper deck and one side of the lowest level still attached. We picked out paving stones to use for an approximately 9'X10' seating/patio area, will need to figure out the best design for a porch area, and then put grass seed down on the rest once it's raked/levelled out.

Aidan's First Day of JK

Aidan had his first day of JK this morning, and by all accounts he had a good day(a bit of a poop accident, which doesn't look like it was too bad, but we do have to work some more on him wiping himself). He made a hat, which he coloured and spelled his name on by himself. He was such a happy little boy when he came out. We had one of the best walks home we've had this past 2 weeks. Everyone was happy and co-operative.

Caleigh is a First-Grader!

She had her first day of first grade the day after we got back from our road trip. It was also her first day of being in school all day. She was excited to go back, see all of her friends, including her teachers and her principal. She was tired at the end of the day, but she's getting used to it, enjoying it. She's decided to join the school choir, which will be singing at school and church events.

Summer's Unofficially Over

We're back from our road trip to North Carolina(and points in between) and Caleigh is back in school. Aidan will be starting with his staggered start date on the 17th, then he'll be in full time on the 21st.

It was a lot of driving, but our trip to North Carolina was amazing. We met some really wonderful people, beginning with Lisa Swain and her family, then Milli Davis and family. We had a great time exploring the Hendersonville/Asheville area with Lisa and a fun picnic at Blue Jay Point park just outside of Raleigh with Milli. The sights were amazing(mountains, tunnels, bridges, cloud formation off a mountain peak, the list goes on).