2:32 p.m. - 2002-12-01
family ties
A young lady joind our family yesterday. Ms. Lollipop by name, six months old, and a rabbit by persuasion. Long floppy ears, soft brown with white markings. Number two son's fiance developed some serious allergic symptoms when she came to live with them and their hedgehog Snowy. So I've become the adoptive parent. My son had a hard time leaving her here though, she was showing very high levels of stress from the car ride, the new environment, and the new people. We gave her a bath, cleaned her cage, fed her, and cuddled her until she relaxed a bit.
She fell asleep sometime during the reading out loud I do for myself and number six son. I think it will be good for him. Since he was five, all he has experienced is people leaving his life every few months. Natural; like his older brothers setting off on their own and less so; like his Dad going or my Mom's death. New and good things coming into being are what I want him to experience now. I'd thought of a pet earlier, but it was enough of a challenge to keep things together for him and his brothers. Taking on an animal with things like shots and vet bills just wasn't responsible then; now it should work.
I started working on the maps and demographics I need to prepare for Elections Canada. My aching head. During the last census period, Calgary grew by 28,500 souls. According to the data, nearly 25% of those people settled in my constituency - one of seven in the city - and two of the communities each grew by over 100%. That growth was documented while I was doing my spring assignment. Based on the new maps, and what I have seen while driving in those new areas, at least that much more has occurred again.
I watched Dr. Zhivago while I completed two maps last night. I have three to go - guess I'll need a couple of movies to get me through that. On the work finished, I've already had to create one new polling division. There was just an open field in the area in May, now it has three multi-family developments. Considering the homeless problem in Calgary, because of lack of affordable shelter, this is good news. There are a lot of new streets as well - many unnamed. Last assignment, I was able to use the city's planning database on-line to pick up most of that information, but it is being upgraded and won't be available until after I send this data in. Fortunately, the maps have zoning information on them so I can at least estimate the numbers of new housing. The blank spaces on the maps covers land that is already leveled and staked.
Once I've done the mapping I'll have write up amendments to the descriptions I've already sumbmitted and reconfigure some of the numbering. Oh well, keeps me out of trouble and challenges my numeracy skills. Mapping right brained activity; demographics left brained work = balance, Grasshopper.
�
�
