Rotzy is wondering who is producing our lousy license plates these days…hmm, something to consider, eh!
In Last Week’s Column….
….I wrote an item about things Miz. Jo and yours truly were missing here in Brant’s Ford that we’d had, and, in some cases even took for granted up at the northerly end of #584. But last Thurs night about 10:00, as we were sitting out on our deck/veranda/balcony, Jo Ann happened to glance skyward, and in a voice that bordered on panic mode, ”where the heck are all the stars??!!” So I quickly looked up….which isn’t easy with my damned neck issues….looked east to west, then north to south….and amazingly, there were only three stars visible to the naked eye, or in this case, to MY naked eye. And THREE is not a typo! Also, Rotzy’s long range vision was 20-20 in the Eye Van as of June 2018. Anyway, I saw Venus, which anybody/everybody can spot and two other lesser stars. I said “Well Jeez, where did they all go”?! Now, it is a known fact the the skies over Nakina and the vast Municipality of Greenstone (of which Nakina is part of) have MORE stars than Brant’s Ford and all of Southern Ontario. I found that out on my first trip up there in 1976. We had a bonfire down on the beach late one night and Rotzy decided to count the stars. First thing I noticed….aside from all the stars….was that there was/is MORE sky. Don’t ask me how or why, but it’s a fact. The inventorying was made even more difficult by an ongoing/non-stop ”shooting star show/extravaganza”, like nothing I’d even seen before. Anyway, I had my count up to 14,683 stars, however, between the ‘show’ and the fact that the blackflies arrived en masse, I had to give up…tho I expect there were another 3-4000. Clearly, there was/is nothing wrong with Nakina skies….an astronomer’s gold mine….but Brant’s Ford severe lack of heavenly bodies certainly is. If any readers know why and how there could be such a dreadful ‘imbalance’ please let me know. Thanks.
Ontario Licence Plates….
….for a number of years used to read ‘Keep It Beautiful’. They now proclaim ‘Yours To Discover’. The olde one was probably meant to curb/eliminate littering….it says here that’s a ‘Fail’ on both counts. The new/current issues are obviously meant to promote tourism….in spite of the price of our gas! That’s all fine and dandy with this olde guy, as the printed message is not what this piece is about….it’s the sorry-ass condition of the licence plates themselves. Rotzy noticed this a couple months ago with plates that are just a couple or three years old, yet appear to have been hanging off the front/back of a vehicle for a decade and a half! Hence, Miz. Jo and I have launched a poll to figure out how many fall into this disgusting category. After a month and a half of plate watching….my/our eyes automatically focus on the plate BEFORE looking at the vehicle….our first actual “F/N” Plate Poll numbers show that an amazing two in ten plates look like hell. Unreadable letters and numbers, oxidized paint and rust galore separates them from eight decent-looking plates. I’ve no idea where the new plates come from/are made, but for years they came from a federal penitentiary….and I recall Harold E. Ballard working on them, when he was in Millbrook. Or was it Millhaven? No matter….at least when the former owner of the Leafs and Maple Leaf Gardens was in gaol he/they turned out a decent product. Anyway, next tyme you’re in Canadian Tire or Zehr’s parking lot check ’em out for yourself….and with 2 of 10 defective, Rotzy flunked math so do the math to arrive at a percentage. By the bye, one day last week I spotted what appeared to be a new/almost new, dark blue BMW convertible at the In And Out Store over at the Woolco Mall….sorry I can’t get used to calling it Walmart….and I rated the plate a BIG FAT ‘Fail’. On a $150,000 to $200,000 automobile. Hello??!!
‘Field Of Dreams’
Remember the movie? Shoeless Joe and all the rest of the Black Sox? Great film! Actually, yours truly drove by the ‘Field Of Weed’ on Friday of last week. Weed as in Marywanna. On my way to and fro the Rez for cheap gas and smokes. In truth Miz. Jo and I have been driving past this ‘massive project’ pretty much since the get-go. The clearing of the land, plowing and working the soil, the installation of 8ft chain-link fence, topped with two strands of barbed-wire (the cost of which must be astronomical!) to enclose a field that appears to be 100 acres or more. Then the careful planting of row upon row….I’m guessing here….of different varieties, which seems to be carried out by a young workforce, perhaps college students? under a number of supervisors. And to say the security is tight doesn’t do it justice.. I stopped by just out of curiosity two weeks back and after a few minutes (checking my licence plate?…mine is still fairly new and OK….he walked over and I asked him the ‘obvious’ question as there were/are 4-5 ft high M/J plants right by the gate….he firmly said ”this is private property so you’ll have to leave”! Well, not wanting to be shot….or even tasered….Norm The Truck and I were outta there….knowing not if was ‘privately’ owned or a ‘government’ project. Mumbling, to myself, ”S–t Toad, as to the latter, they’re having more than enough trouble figuring out how to SELL it, let alone growing it”!
New Patio at Harris Place
Skyline Living, the kindly keepers/landlords here at #555 have set down some new patio stones at the south end of our building, enclosed them with railings, and last week four tables with umbrellas and chairs (as well as extra chairs spread out). Pretty fan-see I’d say. Then they got worried about them being ‘lifted’ some night, so a couple young guys screwed them down. Sadly….for yours truly….it’s a non-smoking zone so I’ll stick with Dorothy’s Bench in Dorothy Parkette….or Vivian’s Smoking Outpost down front….but it’s the thought that counts, Skyline.
*Thought Of The Day… If you tied buttered toast to the back of a cat and dropped it from a height, what would happen?
