Canada Post is to stop door-to-door service!

Door to door mail delivery. I remember it! In the city of Toronto, and in Ottawa. I used to get nervous picking up mail in Bala, when we had to go to the Post Office, in the dark. You never knew who would be about.

Only about 1/3 of Canadians receive door-to-door service. The rest of us have to leave our homes to get our mail.
They are going to cancel door-to-door service, they say, and build
community mail units across cities.

• Some have mailboxes. (I've a photo.mov collection of them!)
• Some have to go to the Post Office in rural towns.
• Others go to community mail units (CMU).

Small CMU: Someone will have to clear the snow.
Short people need not apply.

The 1981 Canada Post ACT says Canada Post must pay its own way and not be a burden. They have to be financially self-sufficient.

CMU: nicely covered

Canada Post Corporation, and its affiliate Purolator Courier Ltd., collected

• processed and delivered 9.23 billion pieces of mail and parcels during the 1997-98 fiscal year. 
• serves 35 million Canadians 
• served 900 000+ businesses and public institutions. 
• delivers an average of 37 million pieces of mail
• processes through 22 major plants to over 12.7 million addresses in Canada.

Units with 9 boxes

Bala Post Office

Seniors and people with disabilities would prefer getting service at our homes, as we have done so for the past hundred years.

Canada Post has done community engagement, they say. They found that residents would prefer alternate day service, rather than full cancellation of door-to-door.
Businesses want 5 day/week service.
Why does business wishes trump consumers?
It's a service, not a business.

There will be a lot of community engagement required to change to installing CMUs. They will be looking for people willing to let them use their lawns. Perhaps businesses will be able to grant a spot for these. People will have to put up with tromping outdoors, finding their way to a mailbox.

Many types
of mailboxes!

Notice the garbage can

There will be a lot of money required to build the CMUs, and a lot of letter carriers will lose their jobs. Isn't it important to keep people working?

Postal Service Charter says they have to provide 5 day/week, reasonable service. But wouldn't it be better to have alternate day service, rather than installing all these CMUs? But consumers, apparently, do not get a vote.

Batman in our mailbox!

Batman flew the coop; returned to R.I.P. in the garden!

Despite a delightful life in the Muskoka room, in the dog cage, and 1 cat, 2 kittens for siblings...

he flew from the front porch after breakfast (a worm and a couple of grapes). He still liked to perch on my shoulder and eat there.


I sat with him on the front porch, each morning, he'd hop around the garden, pecking at dirt.
The kittens would catch more bugs than he did, though.

Shirley's half-barrel pond

The other day I had to put wire overtop of Shirley's half-barrel pond, because he fell in and I had to rescue him. He couldn't get out of the water. Drenched, I wrapped him in a towel as he was sitting shivering.

He spent a couple of hours June 20th both in the a.m. and p.m., before returning to the nest, so-to-speak. Mastering the art of flying, he is doing really well. He flew back and sat on the eavestrough waiting for dinner.

See him perched?!

I learned so much about feeding a bird. Slowly feeding himself something in the wild, he liked sitting on my shoulder. One day, in the first few days I kept track, he ate a record 19 worms.

His eye was crusted over with blood the first day, which I didn't realize for a few days. I washed it off with a wet Q-tip on the advice of The late Kathy Niehi's Wild Bird Care Centre . For the first few days I tried that, it seemed to hurt him too much.

Then, I think whatever had happened healed up and he was able to tolerate me wiping it off. The eye was swollen, then it went down after a couple of days.

His antics trying to eat the inch worm were funny. I think, like my granddaughters, he might benefit from corrective lenses.

Lots of fun videos, and, yes, those are the right time stamps. He was an early bird that liked being fed the worm. He sang for his supper, and lunch, and dinner, and snacks in between.



R.I.P.

His last day was June 21st, first day of summer. I fed him only one worm and a half grape. He wanted more, but I was trying to make sure he'd find his own food, too.

He looked at me, hopped onto my lap, and then hopped up to my shoulder begging for more food.


After a moment he flew down into the garden, under the shade of the spruce tree. Then off into the forest.
It was a hot day.



I played with the twins, we gardened, they followed my everywhere. I'd transplanted two rose bushes, watered the garden; they'd helped. By noon we'd gotten tired.

I'd let Buster Brown cat get near to Batman, so he would know that not everything in his world was going to feed him worms. Batman would try to bite Buster's nose, eventually flying away from Buster in self-defense. Good lesson.

Sady, the queen, was indoors napping. The twins slept from noon until 6 p.m. I called Batman all afternoon, but no sign of him.

We went out after dinner, JB called for Batman as he wanted Sady to go out for a walk, too.

JB and Sady in the back yard, me and my twins in the front. I spotted Buster gently batting at something.

It was dead little Batman. He had been killed.
I think a larger bird, both blue jays and crows are wicked - going after babies in nests and birds in trees. I'd heard them all day. There was a big wound in his chest. Our friend said, wisely, that Batman was star-crossed, unlikely to live and that fate was against him. Perhaps so.

I buried him in his favourite garden in front of the well, beside a rose bush. R.I.P my precious little sweetie. Three teaching degree, but I couldn't teach him what he needed in order to survive. At least he didn't starve in the bush.



Other Batman's videos:

1. 2:37
   Batman (not robin) snuggles
   June 16, 2011 07:35 AM | 
   First, he eats a whole worm. Don't tell Georges Laroques! THen...
2. 
   
   1:57
   2nd feeding baby robin
   June 16, 2011 06:39 AM | 
   Buster helps me feed Batman (not robin). Nothing better than w...
3. 
   
   1:11
   Feeding Batman Worms
   June 11, 2011 01:16 PM | 
   Buster helps me feed Batman (not robin). Nothing better than w...
4. 
   
   1:23
   Batman (not Robin) 2
   June 9, 2011 11:04 AM | 
   He's a handful: kitten food, pureed worms, pablum. So far so g...
5. 
   
   2:34
   Batman (not Robin)
   June 9, 2011 10:18 AM | 
   Two baby robins on the driveway. One took off in the night, th...

The saga of Batman (not Robin)- feed me, I'm yours!

The boys gave each other a bath.

I am ready for my baby to leave the nest. But he won't. This is the ongoing tale of a retired teacher, with many years in special education, unable to teach an abandoned robin to feed himself!

As an adoptee myself, I understand the importance of taking in strays. My (adoptive) grandmother, Anne Butt, AKA Nanny, fostered over 200 teenaged girls in the 40s.

Back to the present:
Most days we start  in the Muskoka Room.
Feed cats, feed goldfish.
Coffee, the newspaper. All is good.

My sore foot needs to be raised a lot and iced. (Caitlin painted my toenails for me. I managed a pinched nerve in my neck!)  Buster and Felix nap between my feet.

Buster fell asleep on JB's arm!

We sit looking out over the back lawn, birds chirp, some fly by. We encourage Batman, "Watch, now. That's how you do it!"

After a big play, Buster decided to get on top of Batman's cage.

I figured out that the mop handle made a great perch. He took no pleasure in flying. He sure did want to be up high. The other option is for him to fly to the top of my head. This one is much better. He does poop (proper term is vent!) over the edge of his perch, from his cloaca. Very neat. Except for the stuff below. Lots of newspaper is called for.
In zoological anatomy, a cloaca is the posterior opening that serves as the only such opening for the intestinal, reproductive, and urinary tracts altogether.

You know how cats and dogs always seem to lick their bums? So do birds...

I took him outside, and plonked him in the planter. We sat for awhile, the kittens played.

He took a flying leap off of the planter, and flew up onto the roof. Again.

This time I knew he'd be back. We decided to go out and visit the Perth Open Doors  (churches built in the1800s), as well as the Tay Valley outdoor art show. More photos there!

Meantime, back to Batman. He flew up onto the roof, and into the tree. Leaving him be, we returned in a couple of hours. Yesterday he flew over to JB. I found him on the ground. Reluctant to eat the worms I'd left him.

He's a Lanark Robin. He sat by the Lanark County-style fence.
(He's hiding on the ground!)

When we arrived home he was sitting, pretty pissed off, on the front porch waiting for us. Chirping loudly. He came right over to me and had a feast.

He's about 3/4 the size of a full-grown robin. Lord knows how long we'll have to feed him. He's begun pecking at the ground, tried pulling on the broom bristles.

Roots and wings...that's what we give our children. Even the ones we adopt. That's the embroidery my adoptive Mom made for me.

Whaddya mean, old worm. I want grapes!

Hubby bought Batman some strawberries, in addition to the grapes and worms from the bait shop. Berries are 1/2 their diet. (He let me have some berries, too.) At least he spoils the grandkids!

Poor old Batman. He pecks at the worm, but he's out by several cms. With one eye wonky, he's having trouble picking up the inch worm. Sady (hubby's cat) found it for me! She was thinking about eating, but prefers her special hypoallergenic, $2 /can, cat food!