The blog site smashing telly links to full length videos that can be watched if you have high speed internet. Our satellite connection skips occasionally when we try to watch some of them, but it is still great. The WII runs the Opera web browser and we can watch the shows on our television. 
Here is one that was linked to recently which is really worth watching:
Richard Dawkins - The Root of All Evil
Technorati Tags: faith equals ignorance, god is imaginary
Perhaps the kids have read about how Native-Americans would drink plenty of water the night before a battle so as to be able to wake early and be ready to fight, but something is going on.
The Nintendo Wii (pronounce “WE” to those out there who live in a vacuum and do not already know this) gets turned off at 8PM when they are put to bed (usually exhausted) every evening. They read for a bit and then lights out is around 9:00. “Big D” sneaks and reads his book by the light of the hallway until he gets told to put it down (and I move it to the other side of his room).
What the kids have realised is that we do not control how early they wake up, unless they are trying to sleep in. For the past few days, I have woken (very early) to “bleep, bleep, blink, boink, boink, boink….” That’s not the worst part, however. Even worse than the annoying music and beeps is the screams of delight such as, “YEAH!” “GET HIM!” “TAKE THAT YOU TURD!”
Does it get me out of bed to pad downstairs, stoke the fires and tell them to be quiet? HELL NO! There may be some new house rules implemented soon though.
Bonus:
It’s been freezing here and a stunning frost pattern has formed on the windows on the front door.
I was on my way in from the barn this morning and I was struck by how wonderful, warm and inviting our house looks in the winter with the smoke rising from the chimney on a chilly winter morning.
I grabbed the video camera and filmed a “30 Second Break.” If you watch the video, crank the volume up really loud (this isn’t a joke to trick you - I don’t yell anything embarrassing to get you in trouble at the office at the end. I promise.). I’m struck by the silence of where we live. It’s 10:00 in the morning and I am standing 70 feet from the Trans Canada Highway.
(Click the image to play the movie)
Sophie spent the whole time I was filming the above watching me curiously. So I filmed a bit of the barn and horses also. Here’s the part where Sophie comes to the fence to say hello, beg for a treat and then demands one (by kicking the fence). Eventually, when she realises that I have nothing good to eat, she goes back to join Hilly and Oopsie at breakfast.
(Click the image to play the movie)
What’s your carbon footprint?
Carbon Footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide.
I was thinking about this because of a couple of different stories that I have heard recently on CBC Radio. I thought ours would be high as we heat with wood, but it seems that the major contributor is our van which seems to make up about 90% of our output. Since they don’t make highbred cars that can seat six, I guess we are doing OK.
There are a few sites that help you to calculate your personal environmental impact. I’ve list a couple below:
Carbon Footprint.com - We score average
SafeClimate - We score better than average
CarbonFund.org - We score better than average
CarbonCalculator - You have to log in - I did not bother
BP.com - We score average
Some of these sites allow you to be completely lazy and offset your household carbon output by donating to them. They will use the money to invest in renewable energy sources, etc. Unfortunately, we are far past the point where this is an acceptable alternative as it will take too long for these to make a difference and we have to do something today.
Since we score below better than average on some of these sites, I wonder if we should receive some sort of environmental credit. Perhaps we should get a bigger than average share of fresh air. Oh, ya! We live in the country. It’s automatic.
House rearranging…
We moved a bunch of furniture around and have set up a new office for us to work in. Now we have to put the other room back together into some sort of organised fashion.
Doesn’t it look awesome?
This morning on my way down the stairs, the strangest noise was emerging from the basement! Apparently, Shamus has recovered his roosterly bravado. When he heard the noise of the house stirring, he started crowing up a storm. At least he did not start in the wee hours of the morning. He is now back out in the barn!
Speaking of storms, we are expecting what some are calling a “storm bomb.” Within the next few hours, we are expecting snow, rain, snow, rain… I expect that the roads will be terrible and K and I will be cancelling our date that we had planned for tonight. Hopefully, things will be better and we can reschedule for tomorrow evening.
Bonus:
Back in mid-December, Molly went bounding out of the house with her usual happy Labrador-ness… The pea-chicks who had been happily pecking around outside the door freaked out and flew up on top of the barn. I had never seen them fly so far or so high before. They spent quite some time up there before deciding to come down and K and Deborah were teasing me saying that I was going to have to get a ladder to climb up and rescue them
We had our first real snow storm of the season yesterday with about 15 centimeters of snow. The kids went to school regardless (much to their extreme disappointment), but today is a snow day because of blowing snow and cold warnings. It is currently -21 C before the wind chill outside.
I went out to the barn this morning to find the water frozen and two chickens also…
Poor old Shamus has been an outcast lately. All the young roos chase him and he has been sleeping in the “horse room” but he has no others to snuggle with. I found him all hunched up in there, looking quite badly off. I stuck him in my coat and continued to do my barn chores. He felt like a little ice cube in there and did not struggle to get out (bad sign).
“Baby” was lying on her side in the coop with her eyes closed. I thought she was dead, but I saw her leg twitch and when I picked her up, she moved her head slightly. I brought her and Shamus into the basement where the wood furnace had been heavily stoked up. K, “B” and I put them in a box with some old towels together to let them warm up.
It seems to be working for Shamus, but Baby was colder (ie stiff) when last I checked on them. 
I was feeding Portobello his lunch today and I realised that he is obviously a true bachelor… He goes to the bathroom at the same time as he eats.
You might ask why this makes him a true bachelor. The answer is very simply. If you are male, think back to your bachelor days (assuming that you currently are not one). Every bachelor out there will have to admit (at least privately) to have eaten his dinner (a bag of Doritos and a beer) while sitting on the toilet… You probably did not do this as consistently as Portobello does (perhaps he is an ultra bachelor :-)).
We know that all the ladies out there have just gone “Gross!” But, well…too bad! The truth is the truth, even if it is hard to accept.
Men: Please recite the Man’s Prayer:
I’m a man…
But I can change…
If I have to…
I guess…
Ladies: Bear with us. We really can’t help it.
The power went out about 20 minutes ago (it’s now 7:10PM) and I am typing this entry on the laptop.
We were cooking a stew on the stove when the power went out and simply moved the pot onto the wood stove. It’s boiling away just fine now again. Perhaps we should save power and cook all our dinners this way….
The kids are excited and worried about the dark. There is great concern about how they can possibly go to bed without power to have the hallway light on. After a full two week break from school, they are hopeful that the power will not return by tomorrow and they will have yet another day off.
Adults are concerned about candles, wood stoves and bouncy kids. After a full two week break from school, they are hopeful that the power will return before tomorrow and the kids will not have yet another day off. There is also concern about limited water supply as the well pump requires electricity.
The crank flashlight/radio is paying for itself nicely.
WooHoo! Power!!
What did everyone get for giftmas? Were people thrilled to death, or disappointed and let down. I received enough clothes to not have to wash any for a week and a few books. Our kids were extremely pleased with their stuff. Some of their favourites were the rock tumbler, bed tent, Lego and Nintendo Wii.
Here are a few pictures of me opening…
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