Observations, Brilliant Ideas, Useful Tips, Ottawa Life Email: davidscrimshaw13 @ gmail.com (without spaces) Mastodon: @dscrimshaw@ottawa.place
I am reliably informed by the lovely Manon that the bird we saw on the bank of Dow's Lake this morning was a great blue heron. That seems to be confirmed by checking page 4 of the Bird Identification Guide from Forests Canada. Manon has kindly been accompanying me to Dow's Lake once or twice a week all summer so that I can have a swim. I'm used to having ducks and geese nearby, even the occasional…
Our Centretown home has joined Painted Perches , which is "a community art project to turn LeBreton St into an open-air walking gallery of hand-painted birdhouses." The organizer, Jesse Burcsik, delivered flyers describing the project to houses on the street and when I said we were intererested, he gave us two bird houses to paint. I painted one yellow and green (I actually blended the green all…
Summary for those who don't want to read this whole article: Super-hot pepper leaves taste good and have caused no ill effects for me. All the details I reported in August last year that I invented a new taste treat: microwaved egg with grape leaves and chili crisp . I am happy to report that I'm still very fond of this treat and it is a daily part of my breakfast. However, once winter started, I…
It's a sure sign of Spring that the Stick Library is back. We made an all new sign that we hope will stand up better to the elements and at least be easier to replace if it does not. The QR-code leads to the Google Maps link for the Stick Library . We were very pleased with last year's ratings. People who have followed this blog for a very long time might recognize the canine pictured on the sign.…
Even though Google Calendar alerted me a month ago that Pi Day was coming up, I forgot about it until this morning when people on Mastodon were showing off their creations. (Pi Day = March 14 — 3.14, get it?) Imagine how happy I was when I asked the lovely Manon if there was any chance of us making a pie this afternoon, specifically a coconut cream pie, and she said: "Yes." All we needed was some…
Way back in 2008, I filled a big jar with mineral oil for the lovely Manon and put a candelabra light bulb in it with other stuff so it looked like a giant squid. A number of years later, I did a smaller version. They both looked pretty cool when well lit, but there was something missing. Recently it came to me. I had some cheap LED lights that didn't work any more, but when I got out my soldering…
Me with a new haircut and the new glasses Back in October, I decided to take a chance and order a new pair of glasses online. I figured it might save me some money and at least two in-person shopping visits. (I am, let's say, "frugal" and I avoid in-person things because I am somewhat immuno-compromised.) I went to an online eyeglass store and they offered a wide selection of frames. I picked ones…
I don't know if doing a single trial counts as doing our own research, but for our New Year's Eve supper, the lovely Manon agreed to my request that we try making four Christmas tree devilled eggs. Manon had spotted someone making them on Instagram without any information on ingredients. So I figured that a ripe avocado would be good for getting the green colour and adding enough volume to get…
I don't do my own research, but I like to do a good literature review now and then. 1 Back in the fall, an old friend who is now a retired physician, told us that she has started using nasal sprays and nasal rinses to prevent COVID-19 and other respiratory infections like flu and RSV. The idea of spraying or rinsing my nose made me shudder but I thought I should check it out and now I am a…
I'm happy to say that we managed to complete the Halloween display for our porch yesterday afternoon. Although it did not go so well for the garden gnomes. The lovely Manon likes to go traditional and used a knife, but I found that my oscillating mult-crafter tool made cutting a pumpkin extremely easy! RSS
Closing for the season... With the end of October on its way, the Stick Librarian has decided that today is the last day of 2025 for the Stick Library. It was a terrific year for the library. Stick Library 2025 Borrowed: >232 sticks + 4 tennis balls Returned (or donated): too many for us to count! The stick library is closing until Spring 2026 Thank you for your patronage! XOXOX 💗! { with a QR…
Back in July, a City of Ottawa Forestry inspector came at my request and checked out the Siberian elms next to our house. I was particularly concerned about this one because it had a big brown streak on the trunk and the leaves did not seem to be doing well. The inspector assured me that both elms looked great to him and were doing fine. But yesterday, we got an indication that this Siberian elm…
I have a new marble shelf in the window of my studio. I've been wanting to make a lot of things in the past while and when I opened a box that had lots of old jam jars with marbles in them, I decided it was time to act on this project. So I cut some old wood scraps to the right size, got out more jars and marbles from my jar and marble hordes, painted things, drilled holes, and stuck everything…
I believe that I have invented a new food treat: microwaved egg with grape leaves and chili crisp . I tried Google, DuckDuckGo and Bing and did not find anything that described this treat. (Of course, someone else might have already invented it and posted it to the internet, but search engines have become so bad that it is not findable. Anyway...) Ingredients: 2 steamed grape leaves 1 large egg 1…
With the unrelenting heat, it seemed like a good idea to put my wet laundry outside instead of running the drier. It occurred to me that this is the first time since June 1986 when I left Ghana that my laundry has been hung outside to dry. 1984 - My housemate Ampofu's laundry hanging in the courtyard of our staff bungalow at Okuapemman Secondary School in Ghana, West Africa. 2025 - My laundry hung…
Did you know that it is really easy to put your organization on Google Maps? I am eager to see any feedback the library patrons or their companions have for us. Feel free to follow this Google Maps Link if you need directions to the library. (I really enjoy choosing "avoid highways" on road trips). The link also lets you check the opening hours or ask a question and confirms that the Stick Library…
The lovely Manon has been very indulgent with my affection for waterfalls and has been willing to accompany me to Hog's Back Falls, the Chaudière Falls and even the Rideau Falls. And this past month, she agreed to visit two waterfalls that I only learned of very recently. I must be clear that neither of these falls appear on lists with titles like Canada’s Most Breathtaking Waterfalls or The 14…
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A confidential source has informed me that because it is May 5 "Cinco de Mayo", the Stick Library will be reopening today for the season. As you can see, the stacks are in good shape. RSS
To maintain my own sanity in the current world insanity, I've been tackling jobs that I've been procrastinating on. One of these jobs is scanning and dealing with hundreds of old photos. One set of these photos was in an album my Mom made for me back in the 90s. She made an album for each of her three sons that contained photos of us as well as photos from before our births. She added captions she…
This post is about Mastodon. I've been on it since December 2022. I think it's a good choice for social media and I hope that more of my friends will go there. The pluses for me: No ads No vitriol Interesting "Toots" (other sites would call these "tweets", "postings" or something else) from people in Ottawa, science fiction and fantasy writers I like, and others including my city councillor…
Here's a time lapse of me clearing the driveway today. While you can watch the embedded version here, I recommend clicking through to YouTube and watching it full-screen for the full cinematic effect. RSS
Here is the TL:DR - I made a new Corsi-Rosenthal box with a disassembled pedestal fan that is 5 decibels quieter than my old Corsi-Rosenthal box made with a box fan. This summer, I noticed that our pedestal fan was a lot quieter than the box fan mounted onto our Corsi-Rosenthal box. Louder enough to make a difference to a guy like me with a certain amount of hearing loss who wants to hear his…
On Wednesday, it was a bit too cold. But yesterday, it had warmed up enough to make very good packy-snow. And these two creatures appeared. One had trouble keeping his head. We are curious to see how the squirrels might respond. Particularly to the noses. RSS
We had our first snowfall of the season yesterday. I was almost all set. The snow tires are on the car and the shovels, brushes and scrapers are all where they should be, but I did not have the time lapse set up. So there was a bit of accumulation before I started. RSS