Issue #952
Including:

From Russ
From Al
From Carol
The Ontarion

Hi All,

We watched a really cool thing a couple of mornings ago when we went out for coffee. One of the places we tend to go is down to the ocean front at the other end of town where we can watch the waves, the boats, the wild life and so on. As we pulled up to park at the edge of where the land drops off into the water, we saw a guy laying out a parawing. That’s those things that are a cross between a parachute and an air foil. We see lots of those things when they jump off the Chief. Usually those ones try to land in the Chief parking lot between the highway and the high tension power lines, but not all are successful and there tends to be a few lost every year. That group of adventure seekers seem to take that in stride. We also see quite a few of the powered parawings but they are usually quite high up when we see them. This guy was getting his ready to take off. Sitting behind the wing, on the ground was his fan unit with it’s little Rotax engine and the seat he sits in. The whole thing was very sophisticated and yet simplistic at the same time, much of it made from carbon fiber. The unit is worn on his back like a backpack.

He spent a fair amount of time making sure each and every thin suspension line was laid out perfectly with no tangles, no lines out of place. Then he tested the engine at idle. Once satisfied it would idle smoothly, he tested it under power. To do so he buckled the unit onto his back then turned his back toward the wind. As he applied power, he leaned back, way back until he was leaning at an impossible angle. The prop thrust simply pushed him forward. Then, he hooked up the lines from the wing, lifted the lines up which caused the wing to catch the wind, and up went the wing. He hit the hand held throttle, took about 2 steps forward, and up he went. The climb rate was incredible and within seconds he was up high enough to be in violation of the local airport’s air space. The whole thing was pretty cool. If only I were a few decades younger.

*

This year, for all its weirdness, has been the most productive season for my blueberry patch that I’ve ever seen. The bushes have been so heavily laden that I had to tie them up to keep them from crushing under their own weight. There has been 2 factors that have lead to the berry abundance. Firstly, the endlessly wet spring and early summer was perfect for berry growth. Unlike most years, I never had to water my patch. Nature did the job for me, and natural rain is so very much better than any municipal water can ever be. Secondly, the coffee grounds and banana peals that we’d been adding to the soil around the bushes seems to be the perfect fertilizer. This year we’ve had a lot of coffee grounds as ‘The Wife’ has been making coffee regularly so we wouldn’t have to purchase it out in public somewhere. We’ve simply sprinkled the grounds around and dug in the banana peals. This picture is of one of my day’s pickings. They say blueberries are an anti-oxygen t, well, I must not have any oxygen ts left in me by now.

And this is what ‘The Wife’ can do with them, a nice peach-blueberry flan.

*

And now for this week’s musical interlude… I’ve done 2 versions of that old John Denver song, Back Home Again. The first link below is to the video version where it’s just me and my guitar, one take, raw and ‘what you see is what you get’. The second version is the audio recording where I can and do add harmony, instrumental tracks and so on. So, view or listen, or not. It’s all up to you.

Back Home Again
The video version

Back Home Again
The audio version
(originally posted May 30)

doug

****

From Russ

Hate them, or love them!

“Two bats found in Grey-Bruce have tested positive for rabies”.

That is a heading from the Kincardine News. Thursday, August 20, 2020.

Bats. Some of us hate them, others love the cute little critters. Which are you? Experts advise; Neither a hater nor lover be. My lovely daughter-in-law, Bettie fits neither category; she doesn’t hate bats – she’s simply terrified of them! Let’s call it batphobia. Their house is 160 years old, and no doubt it’s been home to many generations of bats for ever! My son, Greg (who’s not afraid of them, but is smart enough not to touch a live one) has to catch and release one every once in a while from inside their beautiful old castle. They (bats, not Bettie & Greg) can enter via the smallest of openings; these ‘mouse-eared microbats’ are very tiny – overall body 2.5 to 4 inches, weight no more than one-half ounce, span of out-stretched wings can be up to 11 inches. They’re half-mouse so can ‘flatten’ their head/body in order to slide into cracks/crevices one might overlook if trying to seal them out. Just ask Greg!

Little brown bats are distributed across a vast territory including Alaska, Canada, and the USA from Pacific to Atlantic coasts. You will also find them inhabiting some forested areas of Mexico at high elevations living near lakes and rivers. But, you’ll also find them in your own back yard living in sheds or hollow trees. Don’t kill them! They eat a “bunch” of insects including mosquitos – they’re also protected by the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA). They rarely test positive for rabies; females are ‘promiscuous’ and only give birth to one offspring annually, they are called ‘pups’ and are weaned at 3weeks old. They have a lifespan of 6.5 years (one living in the wild kept ticking for 34 years!). How do they know this s**t? Bats are not blind, but don’t like daylight. Being nocturnal, they fly about at night in a zig-zag pattern, foraging for insects. It navigates and locates prey with echolocation”. (Reference: wickipedia)

The news article by Hannah Macleod, went on to say,

“Testing has confirmed that two bats originating from Grey-Bruce area have tested positive for Rabies.

Investigations have taken place to ensure there is no risk to the health of the residents.

There were no known positive animals in 2019, however, 2018 saw one positive animal.

Rabies is a preventable but deadly disease of the central nervous system that affects humans and other mammals. The virus is found in the saliva of rabid animals and can spread through bite, or if the saliva comes in contact with a cut, scratch, or the moist tissues of the mouth, nose or eyes. Rabies is fatal to un-protected animals and without timely preventative treatment after exposure will cause death in humans. Post exposure treatment following rabies exposure includes a series of vaccinations and an injection of Immune Globin based on your weight.

There is no known treatment for rabies once the symptoms appear. This (incident?) is a reminder that rabies continues to be present in local wildlife.

Exposure can be prevented by:

Not feeding or touching a wild or unknown animal, an animal acting strangely or an animal that appears to be sick or injured.

Keeping pets under control at all times.

In order to help prevent the spread of rabies in Ontario, it is the law to immunize cats, dogs and ferrets”.

For further information, call Public Health at 519-376-9420 or 1-800-263-3456 or visit our website at www.publichealthgreybruce.on.ca

Note to our readers: This is unusual for me to send this type of story for our Squamidian, but I felt because of the serious nature of the virus, and how easily it can spread to our pets and people, it should be given as much exposure as possible.

Uncle Russ.

****

From Al

Hi Everyone, I read last week about Doug’s traffic problems. We have the same issues when we go to Wiarton on the Bruce Peninsula. The traffic up there is horrendous, especially on weekends. It’s believed that the peninsula actually sinks 4 inches every weekend. Every week the average number of stunt drivers (50 km over the limit) is 15. One person was nailed for traveling 40 km over and 10 minutes later was nailed for 60 over. When asked by the officer why he was traveling so fast he replied “that he wanted to get home to see the sunset “. Since his car was confiscated and license suspended I’m guessing he missed the sunset. Last year there were 4 fatalities and this year, thankfully none. Also Wiarton is all torn up, replacing the infrastructure of the Main Street. They call it the Big Dig. This makes it difficult getting to the Beer store but you do what you have to do.

Al

****

From Carol

This past week I was reading about the forest fire near Red Lake. This reminded me of the time when we were living south of Red Lake in Ear Falls. We were on evacuation alert because a fire was heading up the highway towards us. It was rather scary because the fire was blocking the only way out. Luckily they were able to stop the fire at the bridge over the English River at the edge of town. I feel sorry for all those living in the Okanagan in BC as last year they had to evacuate and fires are threatening them again. Is it any comfort to know that lighting strikes, not human stupidity is the cause this time?

Carol

****

THE ONTARION REPORT

Hello everyone

Seems like we’re coming to the end of summer quite quickly! Whatever happened to “The long hot summer”? This summer has been hot but most certainly not long in my books! It feels like it barely got started when suddenly it was half over, now there’s only one month left before we’ve reached the end. I guess there are people that are looking forward to the fall and cooler weather but for me that change can take it’s sweet time coming. I’ve loved the heat and sun of this summer and wish it would stick around for another few months. If we’re lucky we’ll have a nice warm fall that will last until December. I guess the fact that we’ve all been cooped up inside with this Covid-19 has made the days and months seem to pass much more quickly. Usually a situation such as this would make time pass more slowly. Hard to believe it’s been half a year already! They are predicting that it will last at least for another year and a half before Covid is on it’s way out. However, with the prediction of another wave of the virus hitting us and the rest of the world in the fall and winter it’s not something that anybody is looking forward to! If the people that refuse to accept the fact that they have to fight this virus by behaving themselves socially don’t smarten up we’ll be putting up with it for much more than another year or so I’m sure! Now they’re showing on the news a massive pool party that took place in the city in China where this virus originated that had over 5000 people frolicking shoulder to shoulder without any sort of social distancing or mask wearing at all! Do they think this virus is just going to cure itself? If people keep that sort of activity up, it’ll never go away! Then there was the group of over 500 people in Toronto this past week that attended a strip club on Younge St and all came away infected with the virus! Do these people have no common sense at all? I guess there’s no fixing “Stupid” is there!

*

Just to change the subject for a while did you see on last nights news the report on the Nova Scotia couple that won the lotto 6/49 for the second time? They are a retired couple that live in a small town of only about 1200 residents. Back in 2013 they won the top prize of over 3 million dollars. The fellow was jokingly saying to his friends lately that he felt that he was about to win the big prize again and this past week, he won 17.4 million on the 6/49 again. To top it all off, he bought the latest winning ticket from the same variety store where he purchased his first winning ticket back in 2013! Talk about lucky! Most of us can hardly imagine winning the lotto once let alone twice and the top prize no less! He said now he intends to spend more quality time with his family. I’m sure his circle of friends and family will increase once the news spreads of his latest win! At least their win brought some good news to the evening newscast for a change! I’m sure we’re all getting tired of hearing of nothing but the latest report on the Covid-19 situation or the latest antics of President Donald Trump! I was beginning to think there was nothing uplifting for them to report on the news! The only thing more uplifting than the Nova Scotia couple’s big win would be the report that a Kitchener couple by the names of Greg and Carole Payne has won the next big lotto prize!

Like I’ve said many times before I’ve had that feeling that we’re going to have a big win in the lotto just like the NS fellow but my lucky feeling has been just that, a feeling! Oh well, they say you can’t win if you don’t have a ticket so I guess I’ll just have to keep on buying tickets and hoping for the best result!

That’s about it for this week folks!

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

Bye for now … Greg

PS: Something To Think About>

Do the thing you fear and death of fear is certain!

****