Ode to the mole rat.

The naked mole rat, as you all know, is one of only two species of mammal known to be eusocial. What does "eusocial" mean? Well, I'll give you a hint. We ain't it. (Aside: Hey Cletus, what's ignerent? I dunno, but we's IT!). Anyhoo, eusocial is the highest level of social structure, where each member of a society has a specific and predetermined role. Think of bees and ants.
Like the bees and ants, mole rats have Queens, workers, and soldiers. But they also have a unique social caste. The fat bastard.
To understand the fat bastard mole rat, you have to understand a little more about what makes mole rats tick. These ugly little rodents live in underground tunnels, where the oxygen is low and the air is foul with the stench of their own feces. Mole rats thrive because they live socially. They dig their little shit-stinking tunnels in a never-ending quest for tubers. The chances of any individual mole rat finding a tuber are vanishingly small, but mole rats are small and tubers are big. By cooperating, the mole rats are able to roll the dice. If they send out enough little diggers, they can be virtually guaranteed that one of them is going to get lucky and hit a tuber goldmine, feeding the whole colony. Hence the beauty of their social structure.
So what role does the fat bastard mole rat play? The fat bastard mole rat is so-known based on his lifestyle for the majority of the year. He's a loafer. He doesn't dig. He doesn't sold (or whatever the soldier mole rats do). He just hangs around, occasionally ambling over to nibble on the tuber some dust-covered neighbour has found.
But once a year, the rains come. And when they do, boy, look out! That fat bastard wakes up! He scrambles out of the colony and makes haste overland. (OK, this is where my knowledge of mole rat biology and behaviour falls apart a bit, but bear with me.) He scrambles overland, I say, fighting his way through the torrents, the tiniest members of his colony on his back. Then he starts digging like a madman. He does at least a week's worth of digging in only 6 or 7 days. And the result is a brand new series of tunnels for his colony mates to fill with shit! Wahoo! New colony!
If it isn't clear yet where I'm going with this, I am the fat bastard mole rat. Now, back to waiting for tubers....

Ok, no one could possibly care as much about this as we do...

but if you haven't reached new house saturation yet, this should just about do it. We move June 30th. I think...

Denis' Birthday.

We went to Yan's place for Denis' birthday. Since Yan's pool got busted during the winter of ridiculous snows, the highlight for Emmanuelle was probably playing with the snake her uncle adopted from one of the local schools.

Is he unwrapping a present, or checking for serpents?
Rats, not a snake...

And then there were EIGHT!

On behalf of Andrew, Matt, Emmanuelle, Kaya, Ewan, Oscar, and Lauryn, welcome to the family, little Annika! We're looking forward to meeting you.
Congratulations, Kaya, Mala, and Mark on the newest addition to your family.

Also big congrats to John and Sandra on the arrival of their little Matteo! I can't wait to meet the little guy.

Looking forward to photos of both of them.

Leaps and bounds

Well, we're at the point now where I'm starting to be worried about the house being done on time. That's not to say that Anthony hasn't made great progress. It's just that we're getting down to crunch time, and there are still a few trivial details: Floors, cabinets, and plumbing fixtures.
I probably shouldn't worry (but will anyway) - things seem to get done with incredible speed. I took the light fixtures over the other day, and they were pretty much all up within 2 days. Walls are painted. Vinyl siding is up. All in all, very housish indeed.

Oscar's room

Siding

Stairs
Emma's room
Bathroom
Oscar's room again