Here are two photos of our yard taken 10 days apart. The first shows what it looked like on April 12th and the second what it looks like today, April 22nd.
What a difference in just 10 days.
April 22, 2008
Great Lunch
Yesterday we were in SSM for the day and about 11.30 am the usual conversation took place.
“Where do you want to go for lunch?”
” I don’t know . Where do you want to go?”
After a few minutes of this we settled on Vincenzo’s, a very good little restaurant right on Queen Street. Not surprisingly for SSM it is a family run place that has been open for many years and specializes in home made Italian food. As in they make all their own sauces and much of the pasta is home made. We go there occasionally and have never had a bad meal.
Yesterday when we arrived I was checking the daily specials, Monday its a Vinnie burger and cappeletti soup. The server came with water and explained the specials and ended with ” We have rabbit in red sauce and it is very good. I allowed as how that sounded very tasty but I wanted something a little lighter for lunch. Val asked for a couple of minutes to decide. The server left and promptly returned with a small piece of the rabbit in a bowl and said “Here try a taste.” When was the last time you experienced that in a restaurant. I did, it was tender and succulent and I was sold. Val announced that she was going to have gnocci and meatballs and I ordered the rabbit with salad. It turned out to be a great choice.
When lunch came there were three pieces of rabbit and very fresh salad along with a piece of garlic toast to sop up the sauce and believe me I did, it was just plain delicious. Val’s gnocci were obviously hand made, tender and soon gone.
We relaxed, we chatted and we enjoyed our lunch. When we were paying the bill the server told us that rabbit is only on the menu a few times a year and after taking my phone number said that they will call us the next time it is going to be available. As a parting gesture she handed us a copy of the special dinner menu that the chef had prepared that included the recipe for the rabbit! Again, when was the last time that restaurant offered to share their recipe. It was a great lunch!
April 17, 2008
It Was Inevitible
Tuesday morning I was lounging around in sweatpants and a teeshirt. About 10am it was time to get dressed to go out on a number of errands. Upstairs I went, took off my glasses and pulled on a shirt and pair of pants. I collected the parcels for the mail, cellphone, wallet etc etc and out to the car I went. it was a beautiful warm and very sunny day. About 5 minutes into the trip I reached for my magnetic clip-on sunglasses and put them up to my glasses. When I let go the fell onto my nose and then into my lap. I felt my face and confirmed it, my glasses were still on my dresser!
April 15, 2008
Hey you! Get Over here.
We got home from SSM yesterday and the flag on the mailbox was up meaning there was something there. I pulled into the driveway, jumped out to retrieve it and as I got back into the car noticed a white business envelope with the return address:
Ministry of The Attorney General
Provincial Court House, Queen St.
Sault Ste Marie
Now I’m curious! I know that I have not been charged with anything and that I have not witnessed anything that would require me to testify in court. Gee, I wonder. We got parked and after a couple of trips all the bags and parcels were inside. Now time to check the mail and sure enough, inside the envelope was a Summons To A Juror. For the very first time I have been selected for jury duty. For almost all of my working life I was a sworn Peace Officer and therefore not eligible for jury duty. I often wondered if that exemption ended with my retirement and now I guess I know. So on May 12th I have to present myself at the court house in SSM and stay/return until I am released from my duty. I was in courts many many times over my career both as a crown witness and later on as a prosecutor but never in a jury trial. This will be a whole new experience. I am both looking forward to it and at the same time dreading what I might have to listen to. There is also the small issue to twp paid for and non-refundable tickets to Vancouver on May 27th to meet Arlo’s new sibling. Sorry, CF but I can not bring myself to call her/him Hippo 
.
So, I have to wait until May12th and then I’ll tell you as much about the experience as I can.
Crossing The Line
We occasionally cross the border into the US for various reasons. Yesterday the primary reason was to pick up a package that contained a toy for Arlo. Val bought it on eBay and had it shipped to an address in Sault MI. The other attraction is lower priced gasoline. More on that a little later. Crossing the border into the US at this crossing is not a real big deal either in terms of the amount of times it takes or the degree of scrutiny you are normally forced to endure. While it can be slow due to volume if you pick your time of day and avoid the obvious busy days it does become fairly routine to the point where you have to remind yourself that you are entering a foreign country. This becomes glaringly clear on occasion. Yesterday we drove into the US Border Protection Agency plaza and right up to one of the booths. I handed the BPA agent our passports and answered the usual questions.
Citizenship?
Canadian
Where do you live?
St. Joseph Island
Whats the purpose of your visit to the US?
To get a gift for our Grandson and buy a tank of gas.
This should have been the point at which the officer said something like “Have a nice day.” and handed back our passports. Instead I noticed that he was looking at his computer monitor and then heard the words that have become more common recently.
“You have been randomly selected for a secondary inspection. Pull under the canopy on the right and remain in your car.” With that he slapped a yellow piece of paper on the windshield and handed me our passports. We pulled under the canopy and waited as instructed. Out came two BPA agents who, while I don’t know them, I recognized. They instructed me to turn off the car, leave the keys in the ignition and take our passports and go inside. We followed the orders and when we got inside another agent took our passports. After perhaps a minute the two agents who were inspecting the car came inside with smiles on their faces and not looking at all like they had found any contraband hidden the vehicle (there wasn’t any). One of them came up to the counter and uttered a sentence that I never expected to hear.
“William, (the first name on my passport) why are you importing corn into the United Sates under the hood of your car?
With apologies to Dave Broadfoot, when I regained consciousness I started to laugh. “That would be our red squirrel that did that.”
BPA guy, “well you have 10 or 12 kernels of corn stashed under your hood. You should make sure they don’t start chewing the wires. I left the hood up so you can see. Here are your passports. Have a nice day.” We walked out chuckling and this is what we saw.
A brief stop to pay the bridge toll and we headed to the Walmart where Val found several bargains. The next stop was at the Admiral gas station. Unleaded regular fuel yesterday was selling at US$3.489/US gallon. If you do the math that translates to C$0.94/L. On our side of the river yesterday gasoline was selling for C$1.229/L. Our car took 49.9 litres of fuel for saving of $14.42. At the same time we bought two gallons of milk at a savings of $2.00/gallon over the current price on our side.That saving paid the bridge tolls. In total worth the trip. After a short stop at the Goodwill (no real treasures this trip) and picking up a great toy for Arlo we headed back across the border. We drove up to Canada Customs, no waiting today and were asked
“Where do you live”
St.Joseph Island
“How long were you out of the country?”
“About 2 hours”
What is the value of items you obtained?”
“$58.97 cents and a tank of gas”
“Have a nice day.”
Safe on our side again.
Spring Sitings
Yesterday morning we were headed to SSM about 8Am. In mid April it is nice and bright by this time of day. As we pulled around the corner onto the highway there were three wild turkeys in the middle of the road and as we watched they walked into our woodlot followed closely by a white-tailed deer. Good siting. About 10 km further on I spotted movement in the left side ditch and up onto the highway came a red fox with a rabbit in its mouth! Ah, nature at its finest. A half hour later, along a newly opened stretch of the TCH where there are several osprey nests on power line towers right in the highway right-of-way. In the first one, two osprey heads. Wow! in the next one perhaps 1 km. away another head. Double wow! Ospreys are fishing eating raptors that are easy to identify because of their white head and very distinctive crest. Along the way there were pairs of Canada geese and sandhill cranes. I love spring as critters become more active and birds return.
April 6, 2008
Hungry Critters
Late winter/early spring is a time when forest critters who have spent the winter either trying to survive or sleeping are all hungry. Does are within weeks of giving birth after having spent most of their pregnancy living off accumulated fat and eating low value food that often takes more calories to acquire than it provides. They are constantly hungry. Their overall health is at its lowest point. Deer are very cautious animals, they rarely relax. They have very sharp eyesight and hearing. They run at the first sign of danger. Even severe hunger does not allow them to relax. They are, however adept at discovering new sources of food. Some of that food is found in our driveway. After last fall’s deer hunt I had a couple of bags of whole corn which I started feeding the deer a couple of weeks ago. When it ran out I said “no more”. Right. Did I mention that these hungry deer keep returning to the site of the last free lunch and stand looking in the window at us with those big brown, soft, hungry eyes. What to do? In the Island Clippings last week there was an ad by a local farmer offering to sell mixed oats and barley for $10 a bag. So last Sunday afternoon Val and I drover to Perry’s and picked up 3 big bags of grain. Every day since I have deposited a pail of grain in the drive and we have had 6 or 7 deer show up to enjoy it. No, thats not right. They don’t enjoy it in the sense that we enjoy food. they gobble up as much as they can as quickly as they can so as to try and get more than any other deer. They kick each other, they butt each other. The bigger deer get more than the small deer because it is strictly about survival.
Here’s the conundrum. It does the deer no good to for me to feed them. They quickly become habituated to handouts and can become less wary. Yes they are hungry and yes they can use the food but they will probably survive the winter without it. The snow is going fast and they will soon be able to graze the fields and open areas. But it is pleasant to have them come into the yard and it does make us feel good to feed them.