Renos, trail running and fall colours

Since Thanksgiving made for a shorter week, we'd decided to both take the week off. First we had plans to go to Vegas for a few days, but then got smart (well...), and decided to stay put, and do some renos. I guess it all started by our shopping spree where we'd bought new blinds and lights. And of course to make them look nice, we really should do some more painting. And so we did.
We ended up painting our bathrooms (ensuite and powder) and the hallway upstairs. Especially our hallway was a bit of a challenge, since we have a circular staircase with tall ceilings, it was a bit of feat. But we did it! Once it was all painted we (well, Nolan) put up lights in the bathrooms, hallway and all the bedrooms. With some fairly small changes, our house looks so much better! Well worth the week.

The weather has been very fall-like lately, but we definitely have the nice days in there as well, and no snow so far, so really we can't complain! We went for some nice walks in the Greenbelt to catch the last few call colours before all the leaves are gone.

This morning I ran a cross country run (5.5 km) which was a lot of fun! The organization was great, and the mud was plentiful! I was not a 100% fit (fighting a chest cold), so wasn't in the best shape of the world, but still had lots of fun, and will definitely come back next year. Maybe Nolan will even join me :)

And finally, meet our newest accountant...

Tha mouse in tha house!

As mentioned in my last post, this week was a short work week. Not that it made it any less busy! We're getting really close to our employee science forum in two weeks, and there is still a lot of work to be done, but we're making good progress! But on top of that, I'll be in Petawawa for the better part of next week as well. But this time I'll actually be spending time in the bush, which is a huge treat! I'm really looking forward to that.
Thursday was Remembrance Day, and I watched the Ceremonies on TV this year. Still impressive, and I feel privileged that I can remember in two countries now.
I spent the rest of Thursday cleaning up my office and putting the books into the bookcases. There is still some work left to do, but it's looking so much better! A few more boxes to unpack, and we also still have to hang up 95% of our wall hangings such as photos and some smaller paintings. And then last but not least, we want to clean up and organize the basement. Hopefully we can have all that ready by Christmas, and then we can start painting and add some desperately need colour to this house!

The weather has been incredibly lately, lots of blue skies, sunshine and very comfortable temperatures, especially for this time of year! I made good use of that and went for an awesome trail run yesterday. I tried to go slow and relaxed, but then I miscalculated the distance (the loop was 3k longer than I had anticipated, not sure why!) and I started to worry that Nolan would get worried since I was supposed to pick him up by 4 pm... Long story short, I pushed myself a bit and had one of the best runs in a while. The trails were awesome, the sun was gorgeous, especially when it started to set, and I just felt so lucky being out there! And yes, I made it in time to call Nolan I would be a few minutes late :-)

I have a hard time sleeping in on the weekends, and when I got up at 7-ish this morning, Nolan was still asleep and I tried to go downstairs without waking him up. Well, that went well until I got to the bottom of the stairs where a mouse was nicely positioned for us. The cats were out and about, but didn't really pay attention to the mouse. Obviously, they were the ones that had killed it earlier that night. I woke Nolan up, just so he could enjoy this present as well! We're not sure how we got a mouse in the house, but the cats don't go outside so it must have gotten into the house somehow. At least we have the cats to help us take care of these issues. Although I have to admit that I do feel a bit bad for this poor little critter, but we rather have them outside!

Nolan's stache is slowly but surely getting bigger and thicker. I'm still not sure I like it, but it's for a good cause, so I can't complain too much.  I'll be gone for a good part of this month, so I'm lucky that way. We went for a walk this afternoon, and I took a picture of Nolan. If I remember, I'll grab it of my camera tomorrow and you can all see how his stache is progressing!

Some days...

No, MOST days I really like my job!  It's busy, especially this time of year, but I like that and it keeps me focused. My job is interesting, dynamic, at times challenging and frustrating. But it can also be very rewarding! I am in a position where I meet a lot of people, which really helps me build my network, but also produces some very valuable friendships. Some days are long, but today my supervisor gave me a really nice compliment, which meant a lot. It's nice to realize that people sincerely appreciate what you do.
So what do I do? Officially I'm a Knowledge Exchange Specialist, which, of course, can mean anything. I work closely with a lot of our researchers and technical staff, as well as other extension people from the CWFC, CFS, industry and other partners. Among other things, I try to connect people and make sure they know from each other what they are doing. Since I'm in Ottawa, I'm quite lucky that I work on both a national level but am more deeply involved with some of the developments specifically happening in Ontario. I'm quite actively involved with the Ontario Woodlot Association on a volunteer basis, but it helps enormously with my day-to-day job. I guess I'm extremely lucky that I get to work on things that I also like doing in my spare time.
But extension work is only part of my job; I'm also involved with the forest management plan for one of Canada's National Research Forests. People that know me probably understand how passionate I am about this research forest, and how thankful I am that I have a chance to work with both the people and the forest there. It also gives me a chance to spend some time in the bush now and then!

That is something that we also try to do outside of work. As I've probably mentioned at least a dozen times before, we love the trails in our area, and try to enjoy them as much as we can. Last night we went for a nice 10km run, for the most part on the trails as well.  Good thing that Nolan likes that too, although he did complain last night that I sped up too much: 'As soon as we hit the trails, you seem to unleash!'  Not sure if that is a compliment or not ;-)

Next time, I should take some time to write about Halloween, which seems to have taken a whole new level in our neighbourhood. Yes, I'll add photos!

Beautiful fall

Yesterday, I decided to run home after work. I'm currently lucky enough that I only have to run on the road for about 1 km, the other 10 km are all on the trails! The colours are almost at their peak, and it's just plain gorgeous.  During my run, I stopped a couple of times to absorb all this beauty around me, and to take some pictures as well. But really, pictures don't do justice! As you can see below, the leaves look almost green, while in reality they were bright yellow. It might say something about the quality of my camera (maybe I should talk to Nolan about that ;-)) .

At one point I stopped, because I heard a bunch a birds around me. As soon as I stood there, I realized I was surrounded by chickadees! They landed on my hand, and were hoping for some food... Unfortunately I didn't have any with me, maybe next time?  While I was playing with the chickadees, I looked over, and saw the largest and brightest cardinal I have ever seen! So beautiful, but unfortunately a bit too far away to take a picture (especially since I didn't have a zoom lens).  The chickadees were more than willing to pose, except when I tried to take a picture while they were sitting on my hand they wouldn't sit still, of course...

Not a bad picture though, for a BlackBerry camera!

Today, the weather was completely different. Rain, rain, and more rain. It didn't really matter, since I had to pick up a car to take to Petawawa tomorrow. I decided to go home early to work there, and to avoid traffic. While I was sitting at the table, I noticed a little black squirrel munching on the food in the bird feeder. True, the feeder is quite easily accessible (but still attracts birds as well!):

 The main reason for the feeder is not to feed the birds, but for entertainment for our cats. And it seems to work!