Category: life

A couple months ago we had a ferocious wind storm that toppled over our neighbours’ giant spruce tree. It was one of those double trunk trees, so actually only half the tree fell over. It still left quite the impression.

The neighbours had the rest of the tree taken out within the week.

Last Friday, feeling a bit ambitious, I decided it was time to clean the gutters on the garage where years of pine needles had collected and solidified. I got out the extension ladder and my new electric leaf blower and, knowing how packed in the needles are, I also grabbed some scrap wood from the garage to loosen them up.

I made sure to check that the ladder was secured — but I guess I must have extended the ladder at the very last minute — and then headed up hands full.

I was about two thirds of the way to the top when as I stepped, I suddenly felt the extension half of the ladder come sliding down crushing my foot under my own weight. I pulled up on the outside wrungs enough to slide my foot out only to have the ladder continue downward on my other foot. Once again I wrangled my foot out and once again the ladder came crashing down on my other shoe.

It was at this moment I acted too hastily and decided I needed to get both feet out at the same time (somehow). I feel so stupid — here I am still holding on to the leaf blower and scrap wood in my hands — what was I thinking? Surely I could have had the presence of mind to ditch it but no, I was determined to make it up the ladder.

I ended up not being able to get my foot out right away and the next thing I knew I had lot all contact with the ladder except for my stuck foot and felt myself falling backwards off the ladder. I felt that existential dread as I wondered how hard the ground was going to feel from a two meter drop straight onto my back.

As much as the fall hurt, I could tell right away that it was my foot that was most injured.

So a week later and I’m feeling mostly recovered. It’s still a bit black and blue in places but the doctor said she didn’t think it was broken and that with sprains, you can walk on them but to just take it easy and try to keep it elevated and on ice occasionally. The eaves are still not cleaned and it’s going to be quite some time before I get back on the ladder.

This weekend Andrea and Nesslin went on an epic road trip to the middle of nowhere Saskatchewan to pick up the newest member of the family… a puppy! They haven’t made it home yet but I’ve seen photos and videos and I’ve got to admit, it’s as cute as promised. It’s a black Maltipoo (half Maltese; half poodle) and they got it the very first day the breeder declared it old enough to go.

Also on the first day it was available, I just pre-ordered an iPhone 17 Pro. The last iPhone I bought was the 13 Pro four years ago and while it has been my favourite so far, I’m really hankering for the upgraded telephoto (200mm equivalent) that these new phones have. There are a ton of other upgrades too but the camera is what’s driving this purchase for sure. Apparently it’s even better at lowlight situations. I’ll be sure to see how it does on the dark fur of our brand new puppy.

It was the kids’ first day back at school today. We started a tradition of interviewing and creating a poster for each of our kids identifying their favourite things¹:

The kids seemed to have enjoyed their first day back but by the time dinner was on, they were both losing their dang minds. Stress from back to school is a real thing and although I don’t remember it myself, according to Andrea, the same thing happened last year.

1. They are mostly the things they’ve most recently experienced.[↩]

My Apple Watch alerted me that if I wanted a fancy sticker for global running day I would need to run five kilometres on June 4th.

It’s been over a decade since my last “run” but yesterday I figured since I didn’t swim that day and I was feeling a bit antsy and out of sorts anyway¹ I should go for it.

It took me 37 minutes.

My legs are a bit sore today but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. The award on my watch, however, didn’t show up. And here I’ve gone and done exercise merely for the sake of feeling good and making myself healthier. Maybe it’ll arrive in the next day or two, otherwise, well, I guess I’m still happy I did it but I’d like that award.

Update: It showed up without a notification. I just had to go looking for it:

1. probably about the job I didn’t get[↩]

I found this little gal in my backyard just now:

This is the second black widow I’ve ever come across. I spotted the first one crawling around on the ground near me when I worked on the base in CFB Suffield digging holes¹. I left it alone and it left me alone.

With regard to this one in my backyard, however, I didn’t think it would be prudent to just leave it there next to my strawberry garden so I tried to move it and it got away.

I hope you sleep better than I will tonight.

1. That’s a story for another day[↩]