Dogpark gossip

At the dogpark this morning the flu was a topic of conversation. Who we knew who had it, whether we were getting "the shot". I had heard that older folks might have some natural immunity to it but the stories today were about older people who had it bad. People who got "the shot" and then promptly came down with the flu. How shots are just bad news all 'round.

Sigh.

Dobby's two best dog buddies---Billy and Val---were there and it was a delight to watch them all play together. They chase each other round and round, nipping at necks and heels, falling and rolling in the mud on top of each other.

Nov 9, 1965: The Blackout

I just read in the New York Times that 44 years ago on this day was one of the great eastern North America blackouts. I was 17 then, in high school, and I remember that day. The Toronto subway went past our neighbourhood, and for a few blocks it was in an open-air but below-grade trench. It's covered over now I think.

I remember walking out to one of the bridges over the subway and looking down to see a train jam-packed with evening rush-hour commuters stalled in that trench. No lights, nothing moving, just a train full of people so crowded that many could not sit down.

In those days I often took the subway to school, but frequently walked home afterward. I do not remember whether I took the subway home that day or not, if so, I was very lucky that the blackout did not occur earlier in the day.

Every time I hear about blackouts, I think of that scene.

On November 9 2009 (today) it is supposed to go up to 18C. A far more pleasant prospect. I'd like to do something to make it a memorable day but unfortunately I scheduled a medical appointment smack in the middle of the afternoon. Not exactly memory-making material!

Nov 9, 1989: The Fall

Today is the much-touted 20th anniversary of the fall of The Wall, the Berlin Wall. At the time it was celebrated as the end of communism, the fall of Democracy's arch-enemy.

What many thought was that the world would move forward into a free-market democratic utopia, finally the enemies of rational progress had been defeated.

For over 40 years after World War II, we in North America saw the world as polarized between Good Free-Market Democracies and Evil Communist Tyrannies. Those evil tyrannies were hell-bent to destroy us, we had to be on our guard constantly, to preserve our democratic freedoms. And then in 1989, it suddenly came to an end, our enemies were vanquished.

Sadly we have not given up the habit of seeing the human world divided into Good and Evil forces. We continue to exhort each other to be on guard against Evil Enemies, whether Al Queda, Taliban, nuclear terrorist countries, Somali pirates or what-have-you. The lessons of fear and paranoia have been thoroughly learned and internalized.

At this point in human history there is a certain urgency to come together to solve daunting problems facing us all---poverty, overpopulation, climate change, environmental degradation, the end of cheap energy to fuel our technological societies, and so on. None of these problems will be solved by conflict and confrontation, all of them require unprecedented cooperation amongst us humans.

It is disappointing that twenty years later we have made little progress in that direction. But the urgency grows.

Kayak on the Humber

Isaac and Gretel sent me these photos from their cell phones, they took them yesterday at the Humber.

We saw the fox on the other shore you see in these photos, he first appeared right around the pile of driftwood there and then slowly made his way leftward. Those darn fleas just wouldn't leave him alone, he could hardly take more than a few steps before stopping to scratch again!

Humber paddle

Wonderful warm sunny weekend in November, we enjoy the last bits of warm weather as we can.

I didn't put my kayak away when I got here last weekend, in hopes of getting out in it one last time here in Toronto. Well, it would be the first time in Toronto, but last time of the season. So yesterday afternoon the entire family packed ourselves into truck and van and drove to a boat launch spot on the Humber River. I would have liked to try the lake itself, but the breeze did not bode well for calm paddling weather so I opted for the Humber River as a safer Plan B.

Well.

Turns out that earlier in the day, a couple of folks decided to drive madly up a dead end street, one of them ending up teetering on the edge of a cliff at the end of the road, the other plunging over the cliff and flipping upside down in the river below.

The Humber River. Only a few metres away from the boat launch.

So when we arrived in the afternoon the place was overrun by police and firemen and onlookers, and kayaking down the river was definitely not an option. However the lone policeman at the boat launch did allow me to put in and paddle up river away from the scene of the crime. So that's the view in today's photo.

It's hard to take photos from the kayak, so I didn't get one of the kingfisher who dove into the river right in front of me, went completely under and then emerged a few seconds later and flew directly upward onto a tree branch overhead, with his catch squirming in his beak. The way he plummeted into the river I almost thought that he had suddenly died and fallen in from the tree above. Straight down, and then moments later straight up again.

It was a short paddle, the river quickly becomes very shallow and fast moving over big rocks. So kids and grandkids and dog went for a short stroll up the river valley while I did my nominal paddle in Ontario waters. A couple of local women at the boat launch helped haul my kayak out of the water and filled me in on the story of the car chase. Then a reporter from The Toronto Sun newspaper suddenly appeared with notebook in hand asking my name, address and age. He had photographed me paddling through a flock of geese on the river and intended to submit the photo as a human interest weather shot. Don't know if it was published or not.

The woman who went over the cliff (road rage, woman driver chasing man driver) survived but is in hospital and charges are pending, apparently her blood alcohol was a tad high. Man driver got scare of his life but is otherwise unscathed, not sure if he is facing charges too, but given the speed involved he probably is.

Unfortunately my camera battery was low so I missed another really great shot, a fox! While we were putting the kayak back on the roof a fox appeared on the far shore of the river. He was there for quite a long time, investigating something in the water and then slowly strolling down the river bank. Apparently he had a bit of a flea problem, he kept stopping to scratch. His tail was long and fluffy, it almost appeared bigger than the rest of him. Like he had a long fuzzy balloon following along behind him.

Kind of neat to see a fox in the city.

Back in town

Hi everybody, I am back in Toronto after an uneventful drive from Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Arrived on Hallowe'en in time to see the streets filled with costumed people and swirling leaves, quite dramatic. Unfortunately the grandkids were down and out, 'flu in the household. I suppose it's H1N1 (the "Hyny flu"), that seems to be the going flavour right now. In any case Tristan recovered quickly and technically did not need to miss any school as he came down with it on Friday night and was better by Sunday night. But it just seemed too cruel to make a kid stay home on Hallowe'en AND not get to miss a day of school due to illness, so he got Monday off.

The second box I mailed home was left on the porch overnight when it arrived, and someone broke into it and made off with a few items. While I did not pack anything of great monetary value in that box it nevertheless contained items I was not happy to lose. Since I didn't inventory the box before I mailed it, I couldn't tell right away what was missing, but have been discovering the losses bit by bit. Rather painful I am afraid, I would rather have known all of what was missing right away, grieved it and moved on. But instead I get to realize each day another missing item which throws me into a bad mood each time. I am hoping I've discovered all the losses by now. While the replacement cost to me comes to around $300, the resale value to the thief is probably under $50. My credit card has taken a hit too, truck repairs topped $1300 this billing period, and I bought a round-trip flight to Vancouver as well. So I won't be rushing out to replace everything that is missing, at least not in this billing period.

To top it off, now that I am back in the land of high speed internet I thought I would spend an hour or two catching up on blogs that I have had to ignore while on dial-up. And was rather shocked to discover that someone "borrowed" a photo of mine without acknowledging it. Maybe that's not a big deal, maybe I am just in the bad mood initiated by the thefts, but it bothered me. I posted a comment on her blog to let her know that I didn't like it, I haven't heard back from her so maybe she doesn't care. I got a great kick out of Cyberspace Dawdler asking to use my outhouse photos on his blog, and I happily agreed. If this blogger had asked to use my photo on her blog and had acknowledged where she got it from, I think I would have been happy to agree to that too.

It hasn't all been bad, there have been some nice things happen too. Isn't it funny how the bad chases out the good?

Good things:

I visited the renovated Bloor-Gladstone branch of the Toronto Public Library and it is marvelous. And, it turns out my favourite Toronto librarian is now working there, so we had a nice little chat. This is a move up for her and she is very happy about it.

Dobby has put on some weight and looks terribly handsome. He gave me an ecstatic welcome when I walked in the door.

I love my apartment, it's good to be back.

I love all the local dogs, including the fellow in my new banner above, Grover. He lives at the corner of my street and has a wonderful view from his bench on the porch. And he is still King of the Dogpark.

Phelan got a haircut and he looks terribly handsome too. Think Prince Valiant, only blond.

Tristan turns 8 years old today! He had a very mild case of the 'flu and is completely recovered and looking great.

Three pools

I'll be off for awhile. Last trips to Mahone Bay and Cape Breton before heading back to Toronto, don't expect to have time to post here until I get to Toronto. I've spent the last couple of days packing the truck and there's still more to do, but I am leaving tomorrow morning.

It hailed and sleeted this morning and now it's howling out, and I am listening to Matt Anderson on Holger Petersen's Saturday Night Blues. My favourite blues man.


This is a favourite spot of mine on the Fraser Brook. We used to call it the Three Pools, but it isn't really three pools. Its main feature is a water slide into the pool at the bottom. When my kids were little we used to come down here in the summer and the kids would slide into the pool while the adults sunned themselves on the rock beside the pool.



Sheila had never been here before, so I took her and her daughter Jana down here the other day. We had to cross someone else's property to get here, but he didn't mind. Sheila has lived in the Harbour for many years and never knew about this spot.

We had a potluck lunch at Valerie's on Friday, it was very fine. Curried squash soup, hummus and pita bread, chicken stirfry, marinated tomato slices on white rolls, and cake and tea. The dog walk ladies gave me a going away card, but Nancy said it wasn't really a going away card, it was a come back again card. Sherry told a horrific story about having hornets in her house walls, she figured she had already killed hundreds and they were still going strong. While she was having lunch with us, the exterminator was trying to find the hornet's nest. She said if any kids showed up at her door on Hallowe'en as hornets, she'd squash 'em.

Fader house

From a distance, this little house looks OK, cute even.


It was built in the '70s by a young family, a series of different people lived here over the years. I don't know when the last person moved out, but it then began it's slow decline into what it is today.


I took these photos last year, this year it is in even worse shape.



The location is lovely, perched on the edge of the vault with a view down onto the Fraser Brook. At one point we thought that it might actually have been built on someone else's land, it was so close to the boundary of the hundred acre woods. But an aerial view proved it to be placed on the right side of that boundary.

Socks and tiers

I brought some knitting along with me from Toronto, but I have done very little work on it, too much else to do I guess. However I thought I'd show what I have done so far anyway.


This is a pair of socks in Fleece Artist sock yarn, Fleece Artist is Nova Scotian. I had quite a bit of the sock on the left done when I arrived and started the second sock here. The reason the two socks are still on needles is because I want to make both of them the same length (duh...) and don't know how far this ball of yarn will go.

It's hard to see the pattern, but basically it's kind of a leaf motif. You can make it out on the right side of the sock in the middle, the left side has the same motif in mirror-image. I found it in a book of knitting stitches and decided to try it out on a pair of socks. I love the colours!

These are toe-up socks, you start at the toe and work up. There is a technique for doing both socks at once, but I would have had to divide my yarn into two balls right at the beginning and use a very long (or maybe two very long) circular needle(s), but I didn't do that.

While in showing off mode, here is my neighbour's handiwork tiering wood. I've never heard that term before, I always say 'stacking' wood, but 'tiering' is the correct term around here.


Another neighbour thought this photo was a classic Nova Scotian fall dooryard scene: the squash (on the purple picnic table), the firewood, and the apple trees.


My neighbour is finished tiering, the last of the pile on the left is being burned now so no point moving it around. Great job, eh?

The Dog House

The Dog House was built some time after the Kat Kabin, it never aspired to be a work of art. The owner-builder had a beagle named Annie; it's kind of weird to hear a dog being called by your name.

The Kat Kabin

One of the cabins built on the land back in the '70s was the Kat Kabin. It's still there but it's a wreck now. I knew where it was but there is no trail into it now so finding it was a matter of crashing around in the bushes till it appeared.



It was beautiful in its day, built by an artist-carpenter who threw the rules out when he started in on this. You can't get any idea of how beautiful it was from the wreckage that remains...

This time of year

Still haven't heard the last of the medical mystery and I am abandoning the whole issue. It occurs to me that the shortage of medical isotopes due to Chalk River shutting down is impacting how fast they can schedule me for a CT scan; when I called the clinic they mentioned that they were triaging appointments so I'm guessing I am way down on the priority list. Personally I take that as good news, they must not think my situation is serious. Nor do I, so I am fine with skipping the whole thing.

The squirrels are having some drama. Not sure exactly, but I think they have another squirrel trying to move in on them. Lots of noise and teeth-clicking going on, and running in and out. They completely ignore me when I remind them of their promise to keep quiet.

With the truck I negotiated the minimum in repairs, which meant no undercoat, but then I changed my mind so now I have to go back for that. Annoying but my own fault.

I want to visit friends in Cape Breton, but their schedule is that they are too busy for visitors between Thursday and Sunday. The only window of opportunity is Monday to Wednesday, and it takes a day to drive there. I could have gone today, except that the only undercoating time slot I could get was either Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. Although after cancelling out on the Cape Breton trip they then told me I could come in on Tuesday of next week for the undercoating. That would have worked better, but it's too late now.

So I am still trying to figure out when to go back to Toronto. I could drive up to Cape Breton next Monday, stay for a couple of days and then leave from there, but that will add an extra day of driving to the trip to Toronto.

Or I could go to CB, return here, and then leave from here right around Hallowe'en.

NOT! If you need to know anything about Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, it's

You.Do.Not.Want.To.Be.On.The.Road.On.Hallowe'en.

No way, no how!

OK, more pics.

This is the little red maple tree in my 'front yard'. It lights the whole place up on the darkest dullest days.


One day the moon was up on a bright sunny day.


My outhouse (now why would I need a curtain? that reflection is curtain enough!)


The Fraser Brook (the other major brook in these woods) down in the vault...


...and up close, looking upstream...


...and down.


In a normal year this brook runs almost dry by August, but this year it has looked like these pics pretty much since July. Except for the yellow leaves of course, that's recent.

And a bright yellow shelf fungus on red rotting wood.


I'm glad I stayed here until now, in spite of the various frustrations. As the guy who delivered my firewood said, This time of year make's it all worthwhile. I've been repeating that comment to everyone I meet around here, it's become a bit of a joke now, people are starting to say it back to me.

This time of year makes it all worthwhile!

A walk in the woods (3)

Some of the things I saw on my walk...

British soldier lichen on a log


Reindeer moss, when it is dry it is crispy brittle, but when it is wet it is very soft


Red maple leaf and rotting birch


Black mushroom


Amazing variety of mushrooms abound


"The three amigos"


Little sombreros in the moss


Shelf fungus


Little neon yellow spikes


A root elbow sticking up from the ground


A branch elbow hanging over the vault

A walk in the woods (2)

I turned off the road onto a trail by the Yellow Rope Road. So named for the huge yellow rope hanging on the tree by the entrance to the trail. It was there when the land was first bought, back in the '70s, and when it finally rotted away it was replaced with a new yellow rope. I don't know how many times it has been replaced, and I am sure no one knows why there was a rope on that tree in the first place...


The trail goes deep into the woods


It widens into an avenue...


A fork in the trail, filled with bracken. I took the left fork...


The woods get denser, the trail narrows


...and narrower


Trail along the edge of the vault. If you step a foot to one side you can't see the trail at all, it just disappears in the trees.


Tiny red berries


Step moss


Moss on a tree stump


More moss!

A walk in the woods (1)

All these photos are from a walk in the Hundred Acre Woods at the end of September. I was armed with my camera because I wanted to find caterpillars and photograph them for my blog post, Caterpillars. I ended up photographing a whole lot of other stuff too...


This is looking up into the tree at the bend in the road in the first photo.



Mudpuddles...


I think this flower is Eyebright


More mudpuddles...


Clover!


Yes, I like mudpuddles...


One of the two main brooks in this woods.


Brook heading into culvert under the road.


This is the turn-off for the Yellow Rope Road, brilliantly marked by yellow poplars.

CAPS OFF

truck in the garage undergoing major repairs. all my friends are urging me to get rid of it and i am coming round to that conclusion but i spent last night going thru all my photos of the truck and realize i am now in serious mourning. since yohan is gone sadly the truck is my biggest relationship going and giving that up is not easy. i really must get a life...

i bought this truck in 1994, it is a 1991 4-cyl automatic chevy s10 with an extended cab and bench seat in the front. in 1996 i added a canopy, a cover for the truck bed so that i could turn it into a camper for long trips.

my first long trip was in 1997, i travelled in october from vancouver to toronto and back for my eldest son's wedding. i remember that i spent my first night in the back of the truck in the crows nest pass in the rockies, the temperature went below freezing and my water had ice on it in the morning but i survived nicely in my sleeping bag under the canopy in the back of my truck. i still had yohan then, he survived nicely too. breakfast was a cold affair, cold cereal eaten with gloved hands on the side of the highway.

my next big trip was a four month odyssey travelling from vancouver to inuvik to newfoundland and red bay labrador, and back to vancouver in the summer of '98. i managed to visit every province and territory except nunavut, i'm not sure there is or was a road to nunavut. yohan accompanied me on that trip too but met with a serious accident in dawson city (of yukon gold rush fame) in which he was run over by a camperized van. he survived but i very nearly didn't, it was a very traumatic episode. when he was in the dog hospital i spent a night contemplating his death and wondering what to do next. by morning i knew the whole trip was cancelled if he wasn't coming. he survived and we continued our trip, but the writing was on the wall and i had the grim task of putting him down a couple of months after we got home. i still miss him.

1986, yohan in his prime:


1997, yohan in the news (if you click on it you might be able to read the text):


1997, somewhere in saskatchewan, our first road trip:


since then i've done a few more trips on my own without yohan, including a trip to atlin bc in 2000, the furthest north town in bc. you have to go up the alaska highway into the yukon and then turn back into bc to get there. i went to tennessee in 2006 to spend the summer at the farm.

i wish i had been keeping a blog all that time because i have rather lost track of all the trips i made, i know i went to toronto and nova scotia once or twice during that time and probably about half my trips were made through canada or the us. the first time i travelled in the us i was afraid, i had heard so many horror stories about travelling the us that i thought it was unsafe. but after the first trip i put most of those fears to rest and very much enjoyed the change of scenery and many different routes you could take. in canada there is only one route, the trans-canada, and after you've done that a few times it gets old.

so i've had the truck for fifteen years, it's a part of my life, a part of me. turning that page is really really hard and i am not sure i can do it. the mechanic who is working on my truck disapproves, he believes it is a solid truck, he calls it an iron workhorse, and it could be kept going forever. my friends say that is not true, it will just get more and more expensive and unreliable, and with the kind of long distance driving i like to do, it is just not up to the task anymore. i have no expertise in the matter, i don't know who is right, i just know that it really hurts to give it up.

1997, fall in the kawarthas (ontario):


2000, heading north to the yukon:


2004, on the enchanted highway in north dakota:


2006, at the farm in tennessee:


2006, visiting toronto:


2008, winter in toronto:


2009, summer in nova scotia: