Hi there and welcome to my blog. This is the portal page and where I will post whatever interesting is happening in my life or, anything that has piqued my interest or, what ever happens to piss me off on a given day. A kind of diary. On the bar below and on right side of the page there are some links to things that interest me as well.
Thanks for dropping by and by the way. I like your shirt.
After almost three weeks in the road and 8230 km later it is good to be back in Regina. I am a bit tired from all the driving but I feel rejuvenated as well. I look forward to getting back to what I enjoy about this blog. Focusing on the ironic, political stupidity and what ever controversy grabs my attention
Ottawa is moving into the silly season, the Liberals want an election desperately, Harper has moved into a soft coalition with the people he so recently described as Separatists and Socialists and the American public seems to have lost their collective minds.
It looks like it is going to be a good fall for bloggers. I look forward to it.
There is nothing like a trip to Europe to remind Canadians about where so many of our place name came from.
We have London, Keswick and Paris in Ontario. Halifax and New Glasgow in Nova Scotia and New Westminster in B.C.
The prairies are no different, here in Saskatchewan we have town named after Stornoway, Stockholm and Runnymede and Manitoba has Killarney and Norway House but don't you think that Miami Manitoba is pushing it a bit far. No beach, no alligators, no CSI.
I always think of the drive from Kenora to Winnipeg as a short hop so I was a bit surprised that a side trip to Morden to visit friends seemed to take longer than I thought it would. And, to be honest the drive, down from the Trans-Canada Highway through Steinback and across country isn't the prettiest.
Morden though is a bit of a jewel on the prairie with lots of tall trees and stately old homes. It has a character many communities around here don't possess. It is a pretty little town.
I don't understand much about agriculture but something about the Morden's climate makes it great for sweet corn and apples so like Nanton in Alberta, Morden Manitoba is known for producing the sweetest corn around. "Better that Nanton" swears Vance. I am not sure I'd go that far but, it is at least as good.
Many Canadians tend to think of the Canadian prairies as one huge homogeneous climate zone but we couldn't be more wrong about that. The prairies are full of micro-climates and while any given community may be having a bumper crop while 20 km away, the crops are drying up in parched fields. I don't understand why but, despite how tough it is to produce corn in much of flat land country, Morden produces does a hell of a job at it. Not "as high as an elephant's eye" but sweet none the less.
Yesterday I got a good start leaving Wawa and drove right through to Kenora, about 950 km. The last time through here I drove on to Winnipeg but that seemed a bit excessive yesterday.
I settled into the same hotel Chris and I stayed at on the way down. I was pretty relaxed but, when the time came for a beer and supper - my plan was to head for Casey's just across the parking lot - I noticed my left rear tire was flat.
I tried to change it but after getting three nuts off the others started to slip and I was smoothing out the edges of the wheel lugs. I called CAA. A small young woman and a very big truck finally turned up and we wrestled the wheel off and put on the spare..
I guess it is Canadian Tire first thing this morning.
It would be going too far to say that Wawa is my least favorite north of Superior town on the highway but, not very much too far. Every time I drive by I remember that old Crowbar song, Stuck on the Road in Wawa Ontario and I am afraid it might happen to me. I know, few of you remember the old Canadian blues band Crowbar.
Anyone who has passed by however would remember the goose. It is one of those roadside attractions Canada is famous or. A Canada Goose. there are now two other huge goose statues in town - if that is what we call those things, You just can't get too much of a good thing.
So, here I am in yet another Wawa motel. Just down the road from the big Canada goose
The drive from Manitoulin Island to here was slow. Too many small towns.Tough to make time
For what it is worth. The pizza at the North of 17 Restaurant is pretty good. So, if you spend the night here. Take my advice, chose pizza over Chinese. I've tried them both and pizza wins hands down.
I was in the ferry line-up in Tobermoray at 7:00 this morning and they started to load the ferry Chi-Cheemaun about 1/2 hour before her 9:00 sailing time. It is a fair sized, the largest ferry on the great Lakes at 365 ft long and able to hold about 143 standard American cars. The ferry runs between Tobermoray on the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island to the north. For those who are geographically challenged, it is on the edge of Georgian Bay. Music fans will remember Gordon Lightfoot's song Christian Island which is on also Georgian Bay but, alas nowhere near my route.
The first part of the trip is through the Fathom Five National Marine Park, a regular Parks Canada park, except underwater so, no camping sites or picnic tables. I couldn't see much, it was, you know, underwater.
The sailing was fun. as an old navy guy I just like ships but when we got to Manitoulin Island the crew followed that old ferry load-unload rule - first on, last off and I got stuck behind a number of American RVs.
I left Wolfe Island this morning on the 7:45 ferry intending to make it a short day by stopping in Owen Sound.
At first glance it seemed like a pretty small town - the home of Billy Bishop - but after a dreadful meal at a Chinese restaurant for lunch I decided prospects for supper looked pretty thin so I moved on.
I will spend the night in Tobermoray on the Bruce Peninsula and take the ferry to Manitolin Island in the morning. I haven't looked at the map closely so I am not sure where I'll spend tomorrow night
It has been a couple of years since I have been to visit my brother on Wolfe Island. Since I was last there a massive wind farm has been installed. I had heard something of the proposal but, had never imagined the size of the project.
Unless you happen to have land where the company wanted to put one of the 86 windmills, I can’t imagine you’d be very happy about it. The project has significantly changed the landscape of the island and even if you were all for green power, the installation is more than a bit imposing.
On the upside it has allowed Ontario to close one of their coal generated power plants but, it ain’t subtle.
We wrapped things up in Lennoxville and I headed to Ottawa arriving in enough time to check into my hotel then pick Morgan up at the airport at 6:00.
We spent the last couple of days running errands to help get Morgan's accomodations set up. She is in a great location, close to the University, a couple of blocks from a grocery store, a short walk from the Bytown market and she has the pick of several exotic restaurants within a short walk.
Ottawa is growing on me. I nevery really wanted to leave, truth be told, but I am having fun remembering what I like about the place. The canal, the bike trains and just the feel of the place. I'd move back here, given the opportunity.
From Rouyn we drove south to a spot in the Laurentions where my mother has a cabin. No one has been up in over a year so we were a bit concerned. Last winter there was a good deal of snow and we wonder at times how long the roof is going to last.
We found everything in good shape and after some repairs to the chimney and some of the screening everything was fine.
Did I mention we saw a bear on the drive in. Very cool.
Chris and I took the canoe out after super as it was getting dark, and the moon was rising. Very pretty.
This morning early. a pair of mature loons and a young one swam no morethan 30 feed from where I was standing. It was a beautiful, misty morning.
We drove out early this morning, dropped off in Ste Anne de Bellevue for a quick visit then were off the Lennoxville and got Chris moved in.
This is a lovely small university town. Chris will have a great bike ride to class but a bit of an uphill climb home
After breakfast at our favorite Petro-Canada restaurant in Marathon we noticed a kind of chirp from the engine. We investigated but couldn't figure it out.
By Wawa is was worse but seemly manageble. By Timmins (Shania Twain's home town) it was like lying in a bed of crickets. After a quick lunch and a further investigation we decided that perhaps the Chrysler dealership would be the best bet.
So, 3 hours and $340.00 later we had another serpentine belt and a new tension thingy and we were on our way again.
We quit in Rouyn-Noranda and grabbed a room at the east end of town, tired and hungry. We drove back into downtown and had a good pizza and a beer at Pizzadelic.Good to be back in Quebec.
To be honest before my friend Vance moved to Morden,Manitoba, I had never heard of the place. So, imagine my surprise when I opened the Winnipeg Free Press over breakfast this morning (It isn't owned by CanWest so is still like a real newspaper) and there was story about someone from Mordon who is now farming oysters on Cortes Island in B.C. Who knew?
So we are on the road again. We were going to drive the nothern route vis Kapiskasing but the thought of that mind numbing drive made us look for alternatives. So, today we drove from Kenora to Marathon. At least you get some good Lake Superior views. So, another 800 km and then some. There is not much to Marathon, The papermill closed so there isn't much work.
The desk clerk at the hotel told me her husband worked at the mill for 40 years then retired. The mill closed some time after that and with the closing the company took away his bridging and 25% of his pension. No matter how you cut it that should not happen. The fact that that employer, still operates in this country, untouched, is criminal.
There are not alot of choices to eat in Marathon. It was either the Chinese Restaurant which everyone recommended but, where there was a line up or the restaurant at the Petro-Canada station. Not exactly fine dining but, as good as it gets in Marathon, on a Sunday night.
We are heading east to help Morgan and Chris get settled in Lennoxville and Ottawa. I will visit my Mum spend some time with my brother and touch base with some good friends I havn't seen in a while, The van is packed to the gunnels and then some, so we are carrying a bit more weight than I'd like.
We got away in good time and the trip was pretty much uneventful until early afternoon.
Our first hint of trouble was this very odd noise from under the hood while I was passing a truck, up hill, just east of Brandon. We pulled over and had a look under the hood. The serpintyne belt had started to fray a bit along one edge. The loose bits were making a racket.
We dug out the wire cutters and Chris gave the belt a trim. It worked fine for a while and then we had to do it again. After about three trims we headed for Portage La Prairie, about 100 km away and kept out fingers crossed
As we pull in to Portage, Chris saw the Chrysler dealership. Saturday their service department hours are 9:00 until 3:00. We got the car in at 2:38, repairs complete and we checked out at 3:01. That was cutting it close.
So here we are in Kenora. What did we learn along the way.
Syrpentine belts can be a pain.
Manitoba has embarked on a major highway upgrade project. Damn that infrastructure money.
My friend Vance's new community is the Nanton of Manitoba. Best known, apparently for its corn. We saw several signs reading Morden Corn ahead, along the highway east of Winnipeg.
Casey's Bar and Grill isn't a bad place for a beer and a bite in Kenora. Reasonable prices too.
There were stories on the web yesterday and in several newspapers this morning about Jack Layton's meeting with Little Stevie. The Liberals have been meeting with the Conservatives all summer so, big deal. Jack got a meeting set up so he could show that he was pushing the government on his issues too.
What struck me about the stories was the Reuters photos that accompanied them. It showed a couple of earnest young adults behind Layton holding up a couple of signs criticizing Jack for meeting. The signs I saw read "Jack will do anything for a new office" and "NDP + Conservatives". The cut lines read something like, "Protesters greet Jack Layton at the Langevin Block as he goes to Meet Stephen Harper."
The story that wasn't written by any reporter was "Who are those people?"
The left, however annoyed they might be at their party or the effectiveness of the leader, tend to grumble about it with each other and very, very seldom air their discontent in public.
That leaves us with the probability that the "protesters" were simply there to try to embarrass Jack. So who were they? I see two possibilities.
Either they were;
Liberals staffers, annoyed that Jack's meeting with the PM took attention from their own discussions about Employment Insurance.
Conservative staff trying to undermine the meeting before it even took place.
I am betting that the PMO agreed to the meeting with Layton knowing before hand that nothing would be accomplished.
They knew that Little Stevie was not going to suddenly, see the error of his ways after a chat with Jack, and suddenly veer to the left.
Jack Layton was hardly going to buy into Harper's right wing agenda.
They did know that Layton wold emerge from the meeting to say the Harper Government is on the wrong track.
So what to do. They could just let it all unfold as expected or, try to undermine Layton's meeting right from the get go. My guess is that the stunt originated in the Prime Ministers office. Now how cynical is that? We shouldn't be at all surprised, political junkies take courses in this kind of thing.
I think the question should be, why don't the media report it.
A story in the Globe & Mail caught my attention the other day. It seems that Halifax harbour is starting to stink. Residents were hoping that hurricane Bill will give the water such a good churn that most of the gunk will be washed out to sea. It is no wonder really. With part of the system down for repair, Halifax dumps 82 million litres of untreated sewage into the harbour daily. Just in case you wondered, that works out to 2400 semi-trailer tank trucks a day full of sewage. It is no wonder that locals are finding finless browns and beach whistles (tampon applicators) floating near the beaches and are more than a bit put off by the smell.
Halifax isn't alone of course. Although they tell us changes are in the works the city of Victoria B.C. does pretty much the same with their 160 million litres. Things got so bad that where the A&W has the root bear, Victoria has Mr. Floaty. He even tried to run for mayor in 2005 in his attempts to get things cleaned up.
It isn't just on the ocean, sometime they can't figure out what to do with the stuff inland either. While communities have cut back on dumping untreated sewage into rivers from time to time plant failures show up colossal stupidity. A few years ago scores of people in North Battleford Saskatchewan were infected with a parasite when the treatment plant went down for a while. The drinking water intake for the city had been built down stream from the sewage treatment plant. Go figure.
It will be a while before any Canadian forgets Walkerton.
It is all pretty disgusting. When are we going to figure out that we can't just continue to dump this stuff into rivers or the ocean. It is quite amazing that with all the science and technology around us, we continue to act like some third world power when it comes to our effluent.
Hey, what about Little Stevie's infrastructure dollars. Sewage treatment plants are not as flashy as new stadiums and interchanges but we do need them.
Just in case you were wondering about the likelihood of an election in the fall, the signs are there and my guess is that we are about 60% certain that Little Stevie will try and taunt the Liberals into forcing us into one.
The one thing we don't know is if Iggy has any more jam than Stephane Dion.
The NDP are pumped and ready to go, the Liberals are Sabre rattling their way through barbecues and town hall meetings, the Conservative/Alliance/Reformers are poised to re-announce just about every program they have ever thought up and who knows what the Bloc are up to.
Look out for a different campaign. Taking lessons from Vladimer Putin, Stevie has abandoned warm and fuzzy for stalwart and steely eyed.
Don't believe me?
What Canadian Prime Minister has ever spent five days observing military exercises. None that I recall. I spent eight years in the Canadian Navy and never saw a Prime Minister although I did see a Defense Minister once. That was Paul Hellier and we all hated him for his unification of the Armed Forces plan, but I do digress.
In the last week we have seen Harper;
standing on the casing on a submarine. I hear they might have even dived the thing for him
walking around all decked out in full flying gear, helmet and all
sitting in the door of a helicopter, legs dandling out as it took off. Or perhaps hovered for the photo op.
This is the new militaristic Stevie, ready to take on the enemy.
I for one am having a bit of a hard time seeing the Ottawa dough boy in that light but he is trying hard to impress Canadians. The depressing part is that it might just work.
I was struck by a piece by Stephen Saideman from McGill Universityprinted in the Globe & Mail today, suggesting that Canada will lose stature on the world stage when we pull out of Afghanistan in 2011. Saideman argues that, “Canada has gained a great deal of influence because of its willingness to lead and bleed in Kandahar” and he suggests that all that could disappear.” I wonder.
I wonder how the hell we got there in the first place. How our governments have been willing to trade our treasured reputation as a peacekeeper for a pat on the head from an ineffective American President mired in a conflict he seems to have barely understood.
I have to ask, where we have gained all this stature and influence as suggested in the article. Our Prime Minister may have been pleased do George Bush a favour but in my view, our stature as a nation took a huge hit. Lets face facts, it all makes Harper look like a toadie. There is nothing wrong with having differences with our neighbour to the south. Differences of opinion are a healthy part of any relationship. We have to ask ourselves, how did doing the American’s bidding help us out in our relationship with the rest of the world? Not one bit.
The article argues that other nations which have chosen to either sit this one out or to only supply troops in a non-combat role are suffering from a failure in leadership. He argues that they have shied away from the conflict “because of potential domestic political liabilities” rather than trying to sell the war to their peoples, no matter how unpopular it was at home. What a load of hogwash.
I’m from the school which would argue, the people elect the government therefore the government has at least some responsibility not to abandon the will of the people.
Most Canadians support the men and women who are serving in Afghanistan, be it in the armed forces or in a more humanitarian role working for NGOs or other groups providing aid. For the most part the soldiers are not there at their own choosing but at the bequest of overweight pasty-faced politicians whose misguided decisions have put them in harm’s way.
We were comfortable with our nation's reputation as a peacekeeper and I would argue that most Canadians are not comfortable seeing our troop in a combat role. Generally we feel we should never have committed our troops into this conflict in the first place and would be happy to see us bring our men and women home.
That is not a contradiction.
People like Saideman argue that we are making a huge contribution to that country yet, since 2004 there has been a 49% increase in insurgent attacks, a 100% increase in poppy production and Afghanistan has dropped 56 places in the annual corruption rating. It has to make one wonder how one defines these sorts of things.
From my perspective every damn day is a day too long to be engaged in that conflict but, I will live with a 2011 withdrawal. So, let us not be persuaded by the likes of Mr. Saideman.
If my memory serves me right Martha Grimes’ detective Richard Jury or perhaps his old friend Melrose Plant drinks Old Peculier. All of her early Jury novels were named after pubs and they featured predominately in the novels.
Now Theakstons, the company that mixes up that fine British brew has given a nod back to the mystery genre, perhaps as a way of saying thanks, with the Theakstons Old Peculier 2009 Crime Novel of the Year Award. The short list for the readers choice award featured some of the UK’s finest crime writers. The winner this year was Mark Billingham’s novel Death Message which I confess I haven’t read (yet)
The short list offers a selection to keep most fans busy for at least a few months. This is the it:
Over the weekend Scott pointed me to the Canada Reads website where their summer project is to name the 10 best mystery writers, of our time. The site's creators and the CBC seems to think that August is the best time to read mystery novels. I personally think that idea is tied to driving up to the cottage in the Muskokas or somewhere like that and spending your time reading on the dock by the lake. I don't know about you but I read mystery novels all year round.
I love their idea nevertheless.
My list of favorites is long and was tough to narrow it down but, I have read all 20 of Ian Rankin's Rebus novels. I have a soft spot for Detective Inspector John Rebus and when I was in Edinburgh this summer I scoured the city for his old haunts. The Oxford Bar, Mary King's Close, Fleshmarket Close, St. Leonard's Police Station, Arden Street, Salisbury Crags and the meadows.
My full list, with Rankin at the top and the rest in no particular order would include, John Brady, Peter Robinson, Robert Wilson, Martha Grimes, Ruth Rendell, Denise Mina, Minette Walters, Colin Dexter, Graham Hurley, P.D. James, Elizabeth George and Stephen Booth.
Oops, that is 13.
So, who do you read? Who do you like best. Check out Canada Reads and add your choice and tell them why. I hope Ian Rankin is within your choices. Have fun.
I think they are a bit slow to post peoples comments but I guess we can't expect the moderator to work weekends.
I have found it tough to blog as much as I'd like, during the summer. It seems much easier in the winter when the weather is lousy and I don't want to go outside so, I have been slacking off a bit. Even a less than spectacular summer in Saskatchewan is still summer and we have to appreciate each and every day of it.
Some times it take a hook to draw me in.
I have to share with you one of the quirkiest website I have seen. Chris found it and tipped me off to it. The guy who created it says,
"My friend, Jørgen, doesn't believe I can collect one million giraffes by 2011. I'm gonna prove him wrong, but I need your help. You can create your giraffe(s) in any way you like, but not on a computer and no store bought objects. You must create your giraffe(s) yourself! Click here to read why. So far I've got 80.401 giraffes, so I need 919.599 more! And I have 502 days left to get them. Let's show Jørgen how amazing the internet is."
So, this is your opportunity to help show Jørgen, it can be done. The task is daunting however. One million drawings is a lot. At this point he needs an average of 1237 a day to reach his mark.So I encourage you to draw a giraffe today and send a picture of it to the link above.
Christopher, always up for the challenge submitted a drawing with four giraffes in it. I promise to do mine soon.
