Sunday 31 July 2011

Oil's not well

After the stories in the paper about oil tanks leaking, and an issue with our furnace, we've cashed in the family fortune and installed a new furnace. One cup of fuel oil can contaminate the amount of water in an Olympic-sized swim pool. My daughter, a hydrogeologist,  has supervised a couple of excavations due to contaminants. It is not pretty. It can affect the air, water and the land. It is a fire hazard, as well.

We read some sad stories:

It all started so simply ...

Ottawa Citizen - Hugh Adami - 22 Jun 2011
Michel Proulx and Carmen Lortie Proulx say their home is worthless and can't be sold following an oil leak


Oil
 storage tank leak a cautionary tale - thestar.com

13 Sep 2008 – A scary tale of an oil leak in an Ottawa-area home provides a valuable lesson for homeowners whose homes are heated by oil.

Our house, 25 years old, needs some help. I believe that the original house had a wood stove, just like my parent's retirement home. In my late parent's house we installed a new furnace the weekend my Mom died, Mother's Day, 2006. Next, the water heater konked out. We put in a Tankless water heater. While we were living there the propane tanks needed replacing. That was a fun day.
Cast of thousands!













Saturday 30 July 2011

Ian Millar lives in Perth

With a downtown statue dedicated to him and his horse, Big Ben, I found a lovely article that explained all about him and his family!

Watching Perth Skies, you can see where the statue lies.

Deer collisions in Lanark County

OPP urges drivers to put down cell phones, keep eyes on road
Your Ottawa Region


On her cell phone, whilst driving
For the second quarter of 2011, which ended in June, there were eight car/deer collisions, down from a high of 14 in 2009. Throughout Lanark County though, there were 79 car/deer collisions, as opposed to 72 in 2009, and only 63 last year. Salisbury cautioned later that the number of car/deer collisions usually jumps in the autumn.
No laughing matter

My garden 'friends' and flowers














Visit more Camera Critters!

Friday 29 July 2011

For tourists who want to know Lake Etiquette

What is it about Perth?

'Songs about Perth' CBC's All In A Day Contest
"If you're loaded retire here... 
See a graveyard, taste a beer" !


I thought I could tell a bit more about Perth! And I have the photos to prove it...



Not riding on a pony
Saw Stewart Park 
Thought it a lark
Said Perth, it was quite tony!









For the beauty: Mother's earth
Here: Ontario, in Perth

Summer land and water play
Lots are swimming in the Tay

Weeping willows shed no tear
Stewart Park, Perth, Ontario
In the tent you'll have a beer
Festivals, they call the tourists
Organics they are for purists

In Stewart Park the swimmers frolic
Maple Festivus and garlic




Along the Tay come sit awhile 
Dream away in charming style


Celebrations they abound 
Melifluous music will resound


Kilts on runners, thereupon
Hike for Hospice marathons 

Long-haired hippies can apply
Organic farmer's greens you'll buy
Locavores have many choices
In their Convertibles, Rolls-Royces


Bargain hunters,
Trees and towers
Antique shoppers
Beauteous flowers


Long haired hippies,

Oldsters, youngsters, 

Artisans, chippies
Weekend warriors,

Red-haired, no-haired

Motorcycle courtiers 




Driving in their hummer
Locals in canoes they quake

Thursday 28 July 2011

Is it illegal to name and shame online?

Short answer? There isn't one. But blogs, Facebook posts, must respect the court system.
They must be careful. It is not illegal to post them, but to convict them on-line, without due process, is wrong, just as the rioters have taken out their angst on business owners, cars, and those trying to keep peace.

Also, the courts deem that naming young offenders, who may not know better, is illegal once the offender has been charged. It is not illegal to post the photos, but it is illegal to call them criminals until justice has been served.

'When young people (between 12 and 17) are charged with a crime, Parliament has insisted that no one publish any information that could identify them, their young victims or witnesses, on the basis that reputations shouldn't be tarred forever by public knowledge of their involvement in criminal activity in their formative years.'


Is it illegal to name and shame rioters online?


From my perspective [Daniel Henry, senior legal counsel at CBC], few citizen publishers know the rules involving media and the law, or that they are subject to them. What's more, it seems that the rationale behind these rules can be easily lost in a post-riot rush to justice.



Police under fire as fresh statistics show charges dropped in 59% of G20 cases


This goes both ways, on either side of the barriers.


What saddens me are the news report of illegal detention, physical violence that tarnishes the name of all police. If the Powers That Be do not take action to remove these officers from duty, it besmirches the good name of all police. It ensures that the public will continue to be afraid with illegal detention, search and seizure, especially those officers with two strikes against them.



The Ottawa Police told The Citizen that Jacobs is on regular duty.
Mother’s Day 2009 was going well for Mark Krupa until the police officer in the black Pontiac pulled up next to him at the red light.
Ottawa Police Const. Kevin Jacobs, Jacobs has been in the public eye recently for another incident. According to a recent court ruling, he broke the rules on police searches by entering a Kanata-area home without a search warrant.

Kenneth Grey asks, What exactly happened?

- Why was Krupa charged with failing to stop for police and stunt driving, then had those charges dropped, and finally was just given a speeding ticket?
- Why was Ottawa Police Const. Kevin Jacobs probed by the Ottawa Police internal affairs unit but cleared while the province's civilian police commission decided that Jacobs be charged for unlawful and excessive use of authority in the handling of Krupa under the Police Services Act?;


This young man, Krupa, was taken to hospital with injuries that appear to be the result of a beating: lacerations, contusions, a black eye, abrasions, at the hands of a police officer who was cleared?

Wednesday 27 July 2011

Snakes in Ontario

I don't mind snakes. I can't say I brake for them, as they look like a stick!
I must say I've ridden my bike past a few roadkill snakes. Pretty gross.

I have a couple of resources to help me identify snakes, frogs, especially tree frogs, trees, snapping turtles, beavers, painted turtles, ducks and geese, and the other wonders of the rural scene in cottage country.

Lots of snakes about recently. I stepped on one the other day. I don't know how. I screamed like a girl!

Walking across the lawn, which must be an acre in size, I stepped on the middle of something that curled up around my foot on both sides. I guess I was swatting the deer flies, and not watching where I was going. [We've had the odd case of Lyme Disease around here, too. The bugs are bad.]

Rattler range
A garter snake, it was, poor thing. I picked it up and it was alive, took it to the brush. What a surprise!

I haven't any rattle snake photos. They simply aren't around here, fortunately, although I like them letting me know I'm disturbing them. Thanks for the photo by Bruce Clark.

Rattle snakes in Ontario exist more in Central Ontario, around Georgian Bay. As a child, spending summers in Muskoka, I recall them blasting to put roads through the rock cuts. It disturbed the rattlers, and while we saw the odd one before, they began to move out. With habitat loss, and people randomly killing them, their range has radically shrunk.

There are four populations: Bruce Peninsula, SE in the Georgian Bay range, Ojibway and the Wainfleet range.
For more info on Massasauga rattlers:

ALSO in Ontario: Eastern Milk, Norther Water, Eastern Hognose, Fox, and so on.
Northern Redbelly

Eastern Garter snake
rat snake
They are such hams!
garter snake


rat snake

water snake
water snake




Rattle Snake - courtesy Bruce Clark
Eastern massassagua rattler