After complaining for 9 months about the endless rain and cold we went almost directly into a heat wave. The transition was only a couple of weeks and thats way to short a time to adjust. From swollen streams and rivers to sweltering heat and dangerously dry forests practically over night. In fact, there are areas in the Interior that are dealing with wild fires as they try to clean up from the flooding they endured. Numerous fires have broken out around the province and almost all have been caused by careless people. That never seems to change. Every year the message goes out to be careful and not to light any camp fires and NEVER smoke outdoors when its dry but that message continues to be ignored by the masses of idiots that make up the general population. Its too bad that there isn't an annual 'idiot' season where they could be shot on sight. I guess that would be a bit too easy.

Along with this rather hot stretch of summer weather we are having comes those nice, relatively clear night skies. That of course makes for star gazing. Or at least it would if it didn't stay light out for so long into what most of the year is the dark part of the day, and if there wasn't quite as much light pollution from the moon. But a darkish sky late at night (late for me is about 11pm) is better than no dark sky at all and to that end both Jupiter and Saturn are now visible once darkness has graced us with her presence. Until a few days ago I had not had a chance to try checking out Saturn and her rings with that spotter scope I picked up a few months ago. Well, now I have and it brings in Saturn and her rings nice and sharp. A real treat for anyone who likes that kind of thing. And, its kind of nice being able to view both planets from the back yard on a give night now but Jupiter and her moons are moving ever further westward (from our perspective) and will at some point in the future disappear from out viewing for a while before turning up as an early morning object.

Another casualty of the endless winter is my blueberry crop. Its at least a month late. By the July 1st weekends of the last few years I was already picking a bowl full daily. There are berries now but they are still little green balls that have a long way to develop before ripening. And of course its now bone dry out there so I've been watering them every evening. I'll keep you posted as to how they progress.

And as I mentioned, we are suddenly full on into wild fire season. The province has had to issue a total fire ban, meaning no camp fires, no outdoor burning at all. Fines for anyone caught disobeying the ban can be steep and should be steep. They start at about a thousand buck and go right up to tens of thousands, and, can even include jail time. If someone disobeys and ends up starting a forest fire, they can be sent the bill for fighting said fire. Yet, even that kind of info doesn't seem to get though to some of those idiots that should be 'in season' and they will continue to ignore the ban. Such is life.

I tried to send a whole folder with about 50 photos of Rome in it and it rejected my effort! So after enlisting the help of Carole and Adam both, they showed me that I had to attach each photo individually. Also they showed me that there is a limit to the total size attachable to my e-mail. SO, I attached just a few photos and I guess this means I’ll have to keep sending small batches of photos at a time if I want you folks to be able to view my pictures. I’m not going to send the load I had intended but over the next week or two I’ll send Doug a selection for your viewing if you’re interested. I hope you all enjoy the few I was able to send this week.
      Something tells me that I should have taken the computer courses that Doug took when he got his first computer. He’s also helped me solve a few problems with my computer over the years. LOL.

     Well, my computer isn’t the only gadget giving me trouble these days. My MGB choked out on me last week and after purchasing a new battery charger and recharging the battery I realized that it wasn’t dead because I had left the lights on, it was dead because the alternator wasn’t charging at it’s full rate! So I removed the alternator and took it to Highland Starter and Alternator in Kitchener on Wednesday. I got it back this afternoon and it’s totally rebuilt. I’m going to install it back in the car when I finish this week’s Ontarion. Wish me better luck with that project than I’ve had with my computing skills! Hahahaha…… Mechanical I can work with, computers tend to confuse my pea- pickin’ little brain!

     I’m also working on remodeling two of our three bathrooms. They are back to back on the second floor and this will be the second time they’ve been redone since we moved in back in 1998. I thought they looked just fine but with thoughts of possibly selling the place sometime in the future, Carole thought they needed an update to appeal to today’s more modern tastes! When I think about it, I’ll likely get all this work done and when we put it up for sale, whoever buys the place will likely gut the whole house anyway and start over with their own ideas! LOL! Oh well, I’m already into the project so it’s too late to turn back now!
Anyway, I think I’ll head out to the garage and get the MG back into working order in case we get a chance to enjoy a little cruise this weekend!

Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!

How many of you own or have owned a convertible at some time during your lifetime? Since we’re heading into another stretch of warm weather, might I suggest you take one for a test drive? You might just like it and decide to purchase one for a toy to play with on weekends! We love our MG and the fact that it’s topless! Join the club, Go Topless!