Once a happy camper…but not happy with south Ontario roadways
Last Tuesday….
….Oct 1st marked the first anniversary for Miz. Jo and Rotzy having landed here at #303-555 Park Road North….aka Harris Place here in Brant’s Ford, having said ‘au revoir’ to ‘the little yellow house at 153 Highway #584 in Nakina. Which we had called home for the prior (almost) twenty years. As well as Rancho Deluxe, our wonderful camp/cabin/property on scenic Lower Twin Lake that we’d owned since 1978. Anyway, with our furniture loaded and gone we had over a week to kill before moving in down at this end, hence we stayed at PTS’s Schram Villa in Nakina before our 2-vehicle convoy headed south to spend a day or three with our son and daughter in law in Newmarket. Now, there was a tyme when we could have/would have made that trip in 14 or 15 hours….but not anymore as it took us three days! As to the drive from Newmarket to Brantford, where we would call the Comfort Inn home for the final 3 days of our ‘adventures in moving’….it was awful! No…..’twas worse than awful!! ALL of it on 400-series highways….,some of which have just bumped up their speed limits by 10 k/mh….and Lord knows how many lanes of traffic?!….and when one is not used to those kinds of volumes, one is WAY beyond intimated! So….SO….to give you some idea of driving in/around Nakina and what we were ‘accustomed to’, there are no stoplights there!….NONE!!….signs but no lights….the closest being in Thunder Bay, four hours away, and Miz. Jo and yours truly hadn’t even been to T Bay for 2 or 3 years! (*actually it’s a fact that a lot of Southern Ontarians are just as intimidated by Nakina area gravel ‘hauling roads’, if not moreso) The bottom line is that trip ‘took a toll’ on both of us….hence Miz. Jo is quite happy riding on the passenger side now, tho never fully relaxed, and Rotzy is quite happy avoiding the 400’s and using ‘secondary’ highways, tho their numbers have all changed. OK, OK, OK….I lied….but a lot of former King’s Highway are now deemed ‘County’ Roads. Hey, they get you there just the same. Actually, we’re off tomorrow for another ‘outing’ to visit Miz. Jo’s brother and sister in law up in/near Listowel and tho I/we haven’t approached their farm from this direction in decades, I’m confident we can do it. Stay tuned.
An Omen?
Altho we have been involved with Bird Studies Canada’s Feederwatch Program for many years in Nakina, living in a large 3-building apartment complex these days means we had to drop out. However we both still enjoy watching a vastly different selection of feathered creatures down here as compared to up north. Of course some species do inhabit both areas, but there is one that is still quite rare around Nakina, yet around The Telephone City they’re all over the place! I’m talking about vultures….not turkey vultures with their ugly red heads but just your plain vulture, with their ugly grey/black heads. Having said that, despite their appearance, these large birds are wonderful flyers…and exceptional gliders. And glide is what they do….in circles, for what seems like hours on end….with a 70 or 80-inch wing span if I recall, and generally speaking ‘in search of something to eat’….something ‘dead’ or ‘alive’. It’s the latter which concerns me….and why are they constantly circling above Rotzy??!! And NO, I’m not imagining this, nor making it up….whilst watching a slo-pitch game a week ago, well away from other spectators, there were FOUR of them checking me out! Then again last week, on a warm, sunny day down front at the commune veggie garden, THREE more, circling and circling me expectantly, as if waiting for something to happen? Well, sometymes ‘s–t happens’….if you get my drift….so I made a hasty retreat into Norm The Truck, rolled the windows up nearly all the way, did a quick peek check….and they were gone! Now if that doesn’t mean they had their eyes on ME, I know not what it does mean. If any of the “From Nakina” readership have encountered similar situations please get in touch with me here at “F/N” HQ.
Canadian Politics, EH?
With the federal election drawing closer….Monday Oct 21 according to the notice we received from Elections Canada…. a quick “F/N” glance at what the talk ‘on the hustings’ is all about these days could/should bring a smile….whilst a closer glance might elicit a damn good chortle/belly laugh. Take the two leading candidates….the Liberal and the Conservative….I mean, c’mon guys. And ditto for all the scribes/hacks/announcers/reporters….most of whom have a diploma from The Wolf Blitzer School Of Journalism And Reporting. Now these Blitzer grads are covering the election, but there’s precious little stuff of substance, ‘make it or break it’ platforms. And what’s the stuff that IS making news with two weeks to go?? Well how about ‘brown face/black face’ vs ‘dual citizenship’ vs ‘why does he have TWO planes and I only have ONE’? You gotta be kidding, eh? Meanwhile, down in the US of A, they’re just getting warmed up for their 2020 vote….with calls of ”Impeach the SOB”!! Then, one of the so-called top contenders to run against Trump had a heart attack last week, but he’s already back out there shaking hands and kissing babies. Jeez Bernie, is that ‘taking one for the team’ or what??!! Seems very apparent, and completely open/hiding nothing, the hatred they have for the current president has no bounds….but that won’t happen in Canada. Why? you ask. Because we’re Canadians….we’re nice people…..we’re very polite….you know the drill. So….SO the team digs up some ‘dirt’ from 15 or 20 years ago (tho it isn’t really ‘dirty’ dirt, they try to make it as such) and the other team wants to know how/why a candidate has dual citizenship….tho truthfully nobody cares a damn….then they talk about planes….and the NDP guy flew up to Grassy Narrows and promises $1.8 Billion so ALL Ontarians have clean drinking water. Another day on the hustings….Canadian style. Anyway, it says here that come October 21st, get out and vote, eh?
*Thought Of The Day…Sometymes I pretend to be normal, but it gets boring, so I go back to being myself.
