Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Manitoulin Celebrities…

I feel as if I met Manitoulin movie stars this morning. I was making a delivery to lifeonmanitoulin and upon arrival was immediately greeted by “Chance” and shortly after caught glimpses of “Fred & George.”

I’ve been reading so much about these characters over the past months that I felt that I knew them but had never had the pleasure of meeting them before. Their lives have been so well documented that they are almost celebrities and we could almost consider them as animal ambassadors for the island, although I guess we’d have to give that distinction to our deer population. Hope to see you guys again soon!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

The Arrogant Worms


I've just added a link under my "Favorite Sites" for The Arrogant Worms. For anyone who is not familiar with this group they are a fantastic trio who play a great selection of what you might call folk music with a twist. They have such classics as "We Are The Beaver," "Me Like Hockey," "Canada is Really Big," and my personal favorite "The Mounted Animal Nature Trail."

The Mounted Animal Nature Trail is of course about our own Manitoulin Island Gordon's Park located on Highway 6 in Tehkummah. The group stayed there a few years back and enjoyed themselves so much they wrote a song about it. If you haven't heard it you've got to do some research and pick up either their C'est Cheese or Live Bait CD's or their DVD, Three Worms and An Orchestra I've never been able to find any of their work in stores it's all available from their web site.

What do you say gang, they've helped make Manitoulin famous. Shouldn't we invite them back for another visit?

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Reflecting...

I was just contemplating the events of 24 years ago today. I remember feeling a pat on the backside about 4:00 am and this voice saying, “It’s time”. Having been camped out in Moose Factory in a borrowed apartment for the past couple weeks I knew exactly what those words meant. I was about to witness my first being born.

We were living in Moosonee then but the hospital was in Moose Factory and it was freeze-up time which meant all kinds of transportation headaches so we went over to the island early to wait.


Della, a good friend of ours worked and lived right next door to the hospital and she was nice enough to offer us a spare room in her apartment for the duration of the wait. Anyway, Gloria called across the road to let them know we were on the way and we headed out the door.





It was freezing rain that night and we could see the nurses watching nervously out the third floor windows as we took tiny and unsteady steps across the road and down the walkway to the emergency room doors where we were met by an orderly with a wheelchair.





I think I needed it more than Gloria by that time but they made me walk anyway while she was wheeled up the ramp to her room.

The next couple hours are a little foggy in my memory but all I remember for sure is the doctor making a football catch of this little purple bundle that was squirming and healthy.

Sandra turned 24 today but that’s not possible… it couldn’t have been that long ago, could it?

Monday, November 12, 2007

Well it used to work...

Sorry, but I didn't notice that the link to the Our Manitoulin! photos at Flickr wasn't working anymore. I've got it fixed now, I think. There is lots of space on my Flickr site and I can open up a "group" on there for you if you want. Just let me know, and if anyone has photos on there now that you would like me to remove just say the word.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Observations...

Dear Blogger:

I don’t know how much trouble I’ll get into over this but some “truisms” occur to me occasionally. There are 3 males (myself, son, grandson) and 2 females (wife, daughter) making up our household at this time. When I take a shower I notice that I have my shampoo (Watkins, of course) the one my son prefers plus another milder one for the young grandson. This makes 3 bottles on the edge of the tub. However… if I count the total number of assorted shampoos, conditioners and who knows what scattered about the area the total comes to 19 at this time. I’ve spent many hours sitting on the deck attempting to understand all the exotic needs and requirements of the female of the species but my male brain just can’t fathom what circumstances could require the 16 remaining types and brands. Hmmm…

As an additional observation, and keeping in mind that the grand total of 5 people living in the house still stands, I note that there are exactly 11 toothbrushes. Hmmm…

I won’t get into the number of different tubes of creams and whatnot scattered around the room but they are many in number. If any male out there could enlighten me I would most appreciate it, or perhaps silence is the wiser course to take?

Yours truly,
Perplexed

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Waiting for the Snowflake...

Saturday, December 1, 2007
Mindemoya Community Centre
10:00 am to 3:00 pm


Great Xmas gift ideas! / Samples! / Free draw!



We’ll be looking for you!

Another new one...

Another first for our feeder today was the arrival of a pair of Pine Grosbeaks. My photo didn't turn out very well so I went to Wikipedia and VIREO to find a better one. Turns out that this is considered a "threatened" species and it's the first time I've seen these birds anywhere.

My Evening Grosbeak problem seems to have moved on, one way or another. I saw our friendly neighbourhood cat trotting across the lawn with one in his mouth yesterday.

Sunday, November 04, 2007

New sightings...

A few new birds have moved into the area since I’ve been away...

I know they’ve always been around the island but the Grosbeaks don’t very often show up at the house and this is the first time we’ve had Cardinals around the feeder. The latter can stay but the Grosbeaks and Blue Jays can flock off… they’re just too greedy. Anyone have some ideas on how I can keep the cardinals coming back?
I also have to find a way to keep the cats away as I’ve seen them a couple them with mouths full of feathers. I normally like cats but ever since my episode with "Gizmo" a few months back I don't get friendly with them at all. It's seems to be a waste of time and nothing that a nice pit bull wouldn't fix I suppose.