How Not To Cast

I was thinking about my students. They'd leave home as they were dressed by their parents: with snowsuits, or rain coats, depending upon the season, and a great lunch. By first recess, they'd be out and about sans hats, mitts, snowpants playing catch or soccer. They'd trade lunches and exchange a fine sandwich for a bag of chips.

I find it really hard watching these guys on the lake, especially with the recent drownings in our region. I always feel like I should be doing yard duty! I am sure that they left the dock with life jackets, just didn't choose to wear them.

The fishermen, below, likely left the dock with gear and PFDs. (I am sure the parents would enforce or at least facilitate this!) But these guys skimmed home in the dark, after taking off for a bay for a few hours. Lovely, peaceful activity. But...most drownings are men fishing (18%), compared to the other reasons: swimming in dangerous water, non-swimmers drowning, unsafe operation, too much water traffic.
For more info: click here=> Canadian Marine Laws. Most people around wear them in canoes. Many fishermen do not.

All on board must have a life jacket available. There is a $250 fine for not having them. But just having them on-board does not prevent drowning. Kids should wear them all the time, and most do in my experience. I think that our mandatory seatbelt laws, as well as the Ontario law that requires parents to have infant car seats upon discharge of newborns, has created a culture of safety.

If I had the copyright to it, I'd match the following video to the song, "Sit down, sit down, sit down. Sit down you're rockin' the boat!" A piece we did in the Arts camp I attended onceuponatime.

Standing up in the boat to cast. No lights. No PFDs in sight in their return trip. Don't they know that someone out there loves them?!

Marine laws

Quiet kayaks must fight with speeding boaters.

Babies in front at high speed - dangerous and illegal.

Some like to run rings around our loons.

Watch Your Wake
This sign is available from Friends of the Rideau. A wonderful group that seeks to protect its shoreline environment.
In most provinces there is a 10 kph speed limit within 30 metres (100 feet) from shore. Fine is $125.
Maximum fine is $500 or six months imprisonment. (Canada Shipping Act: Boating Restriction Regulations)

Smoky fires & beer all day - then out onto the lake?

He peed off the side of the boat, as we sat beside the shore. The animals by the lakeshore.

(Only if you were raised by wolves, or in a barn. Mind your manners!)

Wildlife flee for their lives

Watch your wake: it's the law

Here is a dangerous and illegal practice

vegetation is affected by your wake

just for a change

Yesterday the ATVs could be seen on the melting ice - glad it's not any of my kids!

After days of sunshine, and double-digit, above zero temperatures, we have a bit of a snowfall. Just so we don't get complacent.

There are places where daffodils waft in the breeze, but here in Muskoka we are tough.






The raccoons have wakened from hibernation. Butch is back (the mother), as well as Son of Butch.

It looks to me like SoB had a tussle with someone or something. So sad to see.









The cat was happy to be able to get a drink at the shore yesterday. Today the cats are a bit miffed with the snow flurries, as well as the rind on the refrozen shore. They are having a fight on the deck.

reducing the gene pool

I have written previously about our friendly neighbourhood snowmobiles cruising on thin ice, if you will forgive the pun, potentially reducing the gene pool. The machines are smelly, noisy, speedy, with 400 lbs. of weight, and have been irritating as they experience the last flashes of winter. With above zero temperatures we've had a great thaw, but everyone is hot to trot this weekend.
Last night's temperatures dipped to double-digit negatives again.

I can deal with it when the snowmobiles stay on the other side of the lake. The unpredictability of the operators scares me, what with tales of drinking and driving, and the excessive speed. Eventually, the stink of the fuel wafts across the lake, but it is temporary. If you look closely, or click here, you can see four machines in a row above my husband's right shoulder. It must be fun to be out in the bush and screaming across the lake in youthful abandon. They do drag race across our lake. It is unnerving, like seeing someone do the speed demon thing along a street.

On a beautiful winter day we took the cats our for our regular afternoon walk.

The cats play about, watching in fear when the snowmobiles appear in their field of vision. They listen and stay on guard, but they seem to be able to judge the distance the noisy machines are and head for the hills when the sounds becomes too scary.

They play their little games, and do their little cat dance, pretending to chase one another.


Sady, the cat, gazes at the open water and tell tale tracks down the way. She has an excuse: she can't read the sign. I can read the tracks, though, and someone has been taking a chance.

Lately, some snowmobilers have been downright stupid. I even found a YouTube video demonstrating this stupidity! My brother tells me he has friends that do this, too.
Knowing that these people likely have mothers caused me concern.

Some cottagers run bubblers all winter to prevent the ice from heaving and destroying a dock. Legally, they need a red light and a sign to keep snowmobiles, and people away. Blame a teacher if they can't read the signs. The water is about 5' deep here. I know. I used to swim off this dock as a child. My aunt & uncle bought the property in the early 60's, and built the cottage that sits there now. It is deep water, rendered liquid by runoff from the land, as well as the bubbler.


It our victim services training meeting we spoke about the effect suicide has on a family, friends and a community. Dangerous behaviour, such as snowmobiling across open water, has an impact on all of us: from EMS responders, to OPP, to victim services volunteers who give up time away from other things to help people out.




Encourage your kids to be careful out there.
Somebody, somewhere out there, loves them. We all pay the price.

Skiers off-course

Interesting discussion re:

4 men who went out of bounds at B.C. ski area banned, billed
Mountain official calls their actions 'absurd' and 'arrogant'

There is some discussion on whether they should be billed, as it means people will try to escape and duck from rescue teams when they ought to be rescued. Where does the right of those to live dangerously balance with the rights of society to say live a little less dangerously?

Where does one draw the line? The North Shore Rescue volunteers have some policy ideas, but I remain on the side of billing, and trying to enforce those staying within boundaries.

I am a volunteer with Victim Services here in Ontario. I laud the work of my team leaders and trainers. Newly graduated, I continue to hold people like yourselves in high esteem.

That said, I wonder if you could wax eloquently: if those who move off the delineated, open boundaries, are they not trespassing in a way? I can see your points about people ducking rescue to escape the fees, but if the operators determine that it is unsafe, and they are liable for extreme costs in a litigious society, what else can they do?

If people are out of bounds for 15 min., and time is of the essence, how long do they wait? How do they determine to rescue or not rescue?

We have has a fair number of preventable accidents and drownings, further drownings in Central Ontario. Our EMS & volunteer teams are called out when the could be doing other work. In the meantime those on high powered machine on ice or lakes, continue to flaunt common sense. With the ice only a week or so in, we are inundated with these high-powered machines late into the evening. They roar across the lake, screaming power. My cat and I, having a nice walk, were quite shocked with the noise and the smell.

They also flaunt Marine Laws which prohibit the operation of PWCs so close to shore at high speeds. It in unenforceable.

The media is full of shrill family member victims who find someone to blame when someone dies, a house burns, a vehicle crashes, as a result of a self-inflicted wound.

What is your take?