Life On Lot 12

January 23, 2007

You Just Never Know

Filed under: Musings — Pat @ 7:47 pm

Saturday when Charlie and I were out and about I asked about Leo, a retired Co and lifelong bachelor who lives just down the street from Charlie. “Oh he’s fine” said Charlie, “He’s using his treadmill every day to stay fit and putting in a quiet winter.”

I got a very unexpected call from Charlie about 11am this morning. One of his officers had just found Leo dead in his livingroom and to make matters worse he had probably been dead for 3 or 4 days. Charlie was very shaken and I have to say that it shook Val and I also. Not that Leo had been a real close friend but he was a collegue who I have known for almost 20 years. It is also very distressing to think of him dying alone and nobody noticing until this morning. He was only 54 and had been retired for 2 years. That sucks about 600 different ways! You just never know.

Figuring Out WordPress

Filed under: Whine — Pat @ 8:54 am

Charlie is significantly bigger than he looks in the photo in the last post. I have figured out how to import a photo but only a thumbnail it appears. I’ve been scouring the WP forums and FAQs but maybe someone who reads this knows the answer and will take pity on an old guy :-) .

Fun In The Snow

Filed under: Stories, Winter — Pat @ 8:46 am

Last week Charlie called to ask if he could invite himself down to the island for the weekend and BTW would I like to go coyote hunting on Saturday.

Charlie is a close friend of almost 20 years and a dedicated hunter and shooting enthusiast. I don’t mind hunting but Charlie lives to hunt. He is also a huge fan of all things paraphernalia. He loves to acquire guns and ammunition, knives, hunting clothes, various pack sacks and boots. I enjoy spending time with Charlie, he is a good friend.
We used to spend a lot of time hunting geese and ducks and for the past few years we have gotten together every fall to hunt moose and deer. But his latest venture is predator hunting. He spent some time over Christmas redoing the stock on a new gun so that it has a flat almost camo finish. He built himself a battery operated caller with an amplifier, speaker and cd player all enclosed in a single lunch sized cooler painted to camouflage it in the snow.

Charlie arrived Friday around 4pm and we started with a couple of cold beverages followed by a very tasty supper and then we withdrew to the sauna to sweat and solve a few world problems. Unless you have spent time in a sauna you have no idea how intelligent and forward thinking you are sitting naked in a small darkened room with the temperature at 80C and the steam coming off the super heated stones. We chatted for a few minutes after coming back to the house and then it was of to bed.

The plan with coyote hunting is to put on a white outer layer to make you as invisible as possible to any coyote that might happen by. You then set up in a likely looking place with the caller emitting pre-recorded sounds of rabbits being eaten, coyotes eating rabbits and other shrieks and wails that will make any red-blooded coyote within earshot sit up, say to his pals “what in hell is going on” and go bounding through the woods to investigate. Charlie told me that you set-up, play the recordings and if nothing happens in half and hour or so you move on the the next candidate location.

Saturday morning dawned clear and crisp, alright it was -21C at 8.30am as we left the house. The first stop was just down the road where we walked into a site on a neighbour’s lot. We got set up and hunkered down on a pair of upended 5 gallon pails that Charlie had brought for that purpose. There were fresh coyote tracks running through the area so we knew we were in a good spot. 40 minutes later my feet were cold, the cd player was acting a little wonky and no coyotes had come bounding through the woods. Short conference led to the decision it was time to get in the truck and drive to the bakery for coffee and a warm up. So off we went.

Charlie in full camo

The coffee was hot and the bakery was warm but after loading up on some body fuel Charlie decided we should get back out in the cold so off we went to our next stop, a piece of property we had permission to hunt on the mainland. En route Charlie managed to single-handedly drink a large coffee, shift gears and inhale an entire 6″ cherry pie. Charlie likes cherry pie.
On arrival we got he truck parked, re-gowned in our white camo outfits and walked in about a half kilometer or so to the spot where we wanted to set up. An excellent location on the south facing slope of a maple bush. It was also noticeably warmer. Another 45 minutes of sitting quietly in the shadow listening to the pre-recorded squeals and wails. Then, it was time for lunch. Yay! So we packed up, trudged back to the truck and drove to a restaurant in Bruce Mines for a sandwich and a bowl of hearty soup. I’m starting to like this kind of hunting!

After lunch we headed back to the island and our third and final set-up on another neighbour’s property. By now the sun was as high as it was going to get in a clear blue sky and the temp was approaching the freezing point. Charlie picked a spot in the shade with the sun at his back while I chose a tree trunk right in the sun to lean up against. My only solution to the sun burning into my eyes was to lean my head against the tree and close my eyes. When I regained consciousness, Charlie was packing up the caller and it appears that it was time to head home. It had been a pleasant day and were now headed to a cold beverage and a steak BBQ. The coyotes are safe for another day and we’ve had fun in the snow.

January 19, 2007

I Really Like Winter

Filed under: Musings, Winter — Pat @ 1:12 pm

After I finished Tuesday’s whiny post I got dressed in several layers of warm clothing and headed outside. It was cold, about -22C but when I got out there I remembered something, I do like winter. I like the crispness of the air, the crunch of the snow and how clear and blue the sky is on a morning like yesterday. I’m a winter person, always have been and I guess I always will be.

I spent about 90 minutes with the snowblower cleaning up the yard. Sure my hands got cold and I took a short break after about an hour to get warmed up but it was not a chore to go back outside.

I understand Cheesefairy’s comment since where she lives it never gets that cold. My winter experience is different. Winter mornings like yesterday were the norm all the time I was growing up and throughout my working life, most of it in northern Ontario. In fact this climate change, I find very disconcerting. Not having to plug in the block heater on the car, never hearing the foundation crack and scare the crap out of you late on a really cold night. These and many other things about winter I miss or at least I certainly notice that they rarely happen any more. So I have re-categorized that post under “whine whine whine”. This is a musing, that was a whine.

January 16, 2007

Sometimes You Win – Sometimes you have to go out in the cold

Filed under: Whine — Pat @ 7:50 am

It snowed yesterday, all day, quite heavily. By the time it stopped there was/is probably 15+ cm of fresh fluffy snow in the yard.It still there. It didn’t melt last night, of course not because as soon as the snow stopped the temperature dropped and is currently (07.30 hr) resting comfortably at -22C, coldest morning so far this winter. So I will have to shortly dress in layers, get on my warm boots and go and see if my snowblower will start so I can get the yard cleaned up on the coldest morning of the winter so far. I could drive through this much snow but then it would get all rutted and then when I did have to blow it clean it would be a real mess. Besides I have to clean the end of the driveway and around the mailbox so that Julie the rural mail delivery person can get our mail into the box without getting her car stuck or having to climb over a snow bank.
Oh did I mention that the wood rack in the basement is almost empty? It is and since we depend on that lovely hard maple firewood to keep us warm its time to refill the the wood rack, on the coldest morning of the winter so far.

Its is starting to get light and I have had my breakfast and 2 cups of excellent coffee so there aren’t any real good excuses to delay this any longer. Here I go, on the coldest morning of the winter so far.

January 13, 2007

Volunteering

Filed under: Musings — Pat @ 1:56 pm

During 2006 I dropped two major volunteer activities that I had been involved in for a number of years. Val and I had been producing a newsletter for a professional organization I was involved with for about 7 years and it was just time for a change.

I was also sitting on the board of a large general hospital and had been doing that for 4 years. I really enjoyed being involved in something that was totally different than anything else I had ever done. I resigned abruptly on a point of principle. Since then I have been approached a couple of times asking me if I would reconsider and either withdraw my resignation or stand for election to the board again. Thanks but no thanks. I miss the involvement, I really do but I resigned for a very good reason and that reason has not changed one iota.

All this change coincided with the start of summer which for us means travel. We were on the road for almost 4 weeks in July and early August than in September it was out to Brandon and then it was deer hunting and moose hunting and a couple of trips to southern Ontario and then it was Christmas and in between there was quite a bit of part time work so I never had a chance to miss the volunteer work too much.

However, since I hung the 2007 calendar there are almost no boxes filled in with places I have to be or deadlines I have to meet. I miss that – a lot. I’m a social cat who likes to be around people and be involved in things.

All that to say that I am suffering from volunteer withdrawal. I have almost always been involved in one or more (sometimes too many) volunteer efforts over the years. So last Monday I got on the phone and called the Soup Kitchen in the Sault and asked of they could use some kitchen help. The recruitment process took about 12 seconds. By the time I hung up I was scheduled to work in the kitchen Thursday mornings from 8.30 or so until noon. Two days ago I showed up for my first shift. I arrived a little late due to crappy road conditions Thursday AM just as the cook was leaving. All the food was prepped and in the oven and there was a crew of 4 of us left to watch it cook, serve it and get things squared away after lunch. Andy was in charge of washing dishes which he does with a passion. If you set it down it will get washed. Yvon was , like me there for the first time and that left Eddy sort of in charge. He claimed not to know anything about cooking but he kept an eye on things and the rest of us occupied, busy would be a little too strong a word. About 10.30 a couple of ladies form a church group arrived to make sandwiches and as it turned out to help serve. A second dishwasher showed up. By 10.30 the folks were starting to arrive and lunch was served promptly at 11am. Eddy told me that the number fluctuates with the time of the month. Thursday we served about 50 for lunch and he said that was on the low side. The food was delicious. There were sausages baked in the oven, roasted potatoes, mixed carrots and turnip, a baked bean dish along with muffins for dessert and juice. Everyone got a heaping plate full and some came for seconds. Eddy drew the line at take out – only on Fridays we were told.

The crew was very friendly and by the time we were cleaning up everyone knew everyone else’s name and we had all shared a little bit about who we are etc. We had also shared the food with the folks who came for lunch. It was delicious. I am looking forward to going back next week.

I will probably looking for something else to keep me occupied, something a little more stimulating and yes time consuming. I’m not sure what it will be yet but I am looking. I’ll keep you posted.

January 12, 2007

New Government

Filed under: Rants — Pat @ 5:46 am

If you have read any news releases or listened to any speeches delivered by members of the current party in power federally in this country you will have read or heard over and over and over and over ad nauseum the phrase ” Canada’s New Government”. This is really starting to get up my nose. I don’t like that pale eyed prick who calls himself Prime Minister and I don’t like that nasty bunch of hangers on that he calls a government. I don’t like most of the things that they are doing, I don’t like their sense that even though they have a minority government they feel free to act as though they have the biggest majority in Canadian history and I can not stand them walking around calling them self “Canada’s New Government”. There is nothing new about them. They are the same crap in a different bag – note I did not say new bag. They are opportunists and politicians which means to me that they will do anything and say anything they have to in order to stay in power because IMHO that is what these folks are all about, staying in power. The perks, the graft, the pigs are in the trough.

I listened to John Baird our new federal environment minister last Saturday tell me and a lot of other Canadians that the environment only became important to me since the last election when my priority was dumping the evil Liberals. What a load of crap. I was concerned about the environment when that arrogant asshole was still in school. It became important to him and Harper when they got crapped all over for their Clean Air Act and it will remain their priority until oh lets say two days after the next election assuming that my worst nightmare comes true and they form a majority government. Then it will be back to locking up every poor son of a bitch they can find (scare the crap out of the middle class and you can get away with anything) and cutting government just like Mike Harris did in this province and we are still paying the price for that monster’s reign of terror.

New Government my foot! I’ ll feel a whole lot better when they are putting out news releases that start “Canada’s former government said today………….”. Ya that sounds better.

January 10, 2007

Too Much Crap on TV

Filed under: Rants — Pat @ 8:44 am

I do not watch a lot of TV anymore as I find a lot of what passes for entertainment bores me. I tend to watch news and public affairs. A good historical documentary every now and then but not too much else. However, I do listen to the radio a lot, almost exclusively CBC. I pay attention to what CBC puts on the radio. Lately I listened to a lot of chatter on CBC shilling two new productions on CBC TV. The first was a 2 part movie called The Dragon Boys, a story about the “realities” of Chinese gangs on the Canadian west coast. I watched it Sunday and Monday night. I have no idea how realistic it is but it was, I thought, a good production. It held my attention, it had more twists and turns then the highway through the Rogers Pass. It covered bullying and racial stereotyping. It was violent, brutally violent. In spite of the violence I liked the show.

Then there was the other show, Little Mosque On The Prairies”. Boy did they shill this one. Everybody, including the kid on the set who gets the coffee was interviewed earnestly on virtually every show that CBC radio produces. They have been playing clips on TV for weeks. They even covered CNN’s coverage of the show as a news item the other day. Well last night I was parked in front of the tube at 8AM, Rick Mercer was on followed immediately by LMOTP. All through Mercer an annoying little box kept popping up telling us how long until LMOTP. Every commercial break showed the same trailer for LMOTP and ended with 16 minutes until LMOTP starts , 10 minutes etc etc). It was really getting up my nose. Well my expectations were, sadly, met. The only good laughs (?) are in the trailers. The set looked like the production company spent about $5.27 on it and the lines were so predictable and lame. This could have been a great one. But unless chapter two is immeasurably better than chapter one this one is a big dog, a piece of crap, a huge disappointment IMHO. I’ll give it 5 minutes next week and thats it. Too bad.

Hello world!

Filed under: Uncategorized — Pat @ 8:19 am

This is not a new blog but it is in a new place and using a new program, Word Press to edit and create it. This is another step along the road to total use of open source programming while being pushed and pulled by my elder son, the self proclaimed St. Aardvark. Just before Christmas I took my old computer to a local 12 YO genius and had him clean the hard drive and install the latest iteration of Ubuntu, a version of Linux that is very user friendly and acts very much like the OS I am used to. I have read enough and listened to SA enough that I am concerned about the safety of staying with a Windows OS. The trick will be to ensure that all the things that my wife does on the computer can be done in an OS environment. We have successfully used Firefox as our browser for the last couple of years or so however we have yet to move away from Outlook for mail.

So far the move to Ubuntu has gone well and as I am still using Firefox as my browser everything looks and feels the same. The big drawback has been moving form a 19″ LCD monitor back to a 17″ crt. How did we ever stare into those things all day every day?

116842850536885818

Filed under: Uncategorized — The Moose Mountie @ 6:28 am

Musings from Lot 12

I do not watch a lot of TV anymore as I find a lot of what passes for entertainment bores me. I tend to watch news and public affairs. A good historical documentary every now and then but not too much else. However, I do listen to the radio a lot, almost exclusively CBC. I pay attention to what CBC puts on the radio. Lately I listened to a lot of chatter on CBC shilling two new productions on CBC TV. The first was a 2 part movie called The Dragon Boys, a story about the “realities” of Chinese gangs on the Canadian west coast. I watched it Sunday and Monday night. I have no idea how realistic it is but it was, I thought, a good production. It held my attention, it had more twists and turns then the highway through the Rogers Pass. It covered bullying and racial stereotyping. It was violent, brutally violent. I liked the show.

Then there was “the other show”, Little Mosque On The Prairies”. Boy did they shill this one. Everybody, including the kid on the set who gets the coffee was interviewed earnestly on virtually every show that CBC radio produces. They have been playing clips on TV for weeks. They even covered CNN’s coverage of the show as a news item the other day. Well last night I was parked in front of the tube at 8AM, Rick Mercer was on followed immediately by LMOTP. All through Mercer an annoying little box kept popping up telling us how long until LMOTP. Every commercial break showed the same trailer for LMOTP and ended with 16 minutes until LMOTP starts , 10 minutes etc etc). It was really getting up my nose. Well my expectations were, sadly, met. The only good laughs (?) are in the trailers. The set looked like the production company spent about $5.27 on it and the lines were so predictable and lame. This could have been a great one. But unless chapter two is immeasurably better than chapter one this one is a big dog, a piece of crap, a huge disappointment IMHO. I’ll give it 5 minutes next week and thats it. Too bad.

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