April showers bring May flowers

 With the nice weather, I thought I'd get a pedicure for spring. The relaxation was much-needed. I didn't realize how cold it would be! We've had cold, splatty rain for days. The action has been with the squirrel caught mid-flight!

I ordered myself a new shirt. I was pleased with it. Even dug out my capri pants. I put on my face, and my old capri pants.

 🏠Vacant land on Gore St.  

On the way home, I stopped to grab photos of the new build in town. I've been snapping photos, just for posterity. They'll rent for $2300/month. Not the affordable and rent-to-income places we need. Apparently, our premier only want to help his rich builder friends with single family homes well beyond the income of many on hourly wages. 

What does one do on yet another rainy day? It's been raining for SIX days. 

Thankfully we have power. There were thousands without power in southern Ontario. Those danged winds.

🥌Curling is an option. It is strictly a spectator sport for us. Our backs and knees would never hold out for that. 

Cinnamon rests until we can go walkies!

I had a conversation with Jesse, in Vancouver. Skiing is done. He's promised to upload the rest of his winter photos. He said that all three of my kids will be together at his cottage near Lindell, in B.C. It is lovely when families can all get together. The Vancouver kids came to visit us in July 2022. I am estranged from my youngest. It is great that they will have a good visit. There are swimming pools, and a beach nearby. I am happy for them. Summer is coming together.

Garbage is out. The new week begins. I hope you have a good one!

Climate Change

We went to 10 C., Saturday, Feb. 10th. It is highly unusual. Winterlude was back to Waterlude in Ottawa. Such a shame. It is a wonderful festival on the Rideau Canal ice rink. It didn't open last year, either. Only open one day this year.

 It is shocking to see the melt. I had an idea: to hook up the water barrel and harvest the meltwater from the snow on the roof. It required a bit of work, which was fine in the sunshine. 

I took a break to sit in the sun.

It filled up nicely with fresh water.

The next morning, the pond was significantly drained. Oh well! We expected -2 C. overnight, so I drained the water barrel. It was only 1 C., and I needn't have bothered. This morning it was -8 C., here we are back in winter.

It is way too early for them, but the cardinal has been declaring his territory. Feb. 5, singing about his territory. I couldn't see him, but I could hear him. I used photos for the visuals, and the audio from his song.

 

CARDINAL from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

And we had a pair of starlings!

starling pair from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

There was an old building here" 

It was torn down, and there are various articles about it. It will be an apartment building, after many years.

Feb. 8th, I noticed they are beginning to build a new apartment building, 4 units. The rent is $2300/month. There is a lack of affordable housing in our region, as in many regions. Too many landlords, charging bizarre amounts per month and people frustrated trying to find a place to rent. 

Another sign of spring, cleaning the sewers!

Early one morning, two deer hunkered down in the dark. Can you see them?

The day dawns! JB has his quarterly Lupron injection today. I have a client in the afternoon. Hope your day goes well. 

New crosswalks in Perth

Pedestrian Traffic

Small towns can be tricky. We've had 'courtesy crosswalks' for ever. In one of the main intersections in town, there was a small sign that people in town mostly respected (see below). Pedestrians were not very good at it, though. You have to stake a claim, make eye contact with the driver and wait for them to stop. These are screen grabs from June, 2016.

The biggest difference is that there were two crosswalks right beside each other ( as pictured above). Pedestrians were hard to spot, beside illegally parked cars,
They have eliminated one, and I hope people will use just the one crosswalk. Drivers could be stopped on both sides of the intersection. There is another crosswalk a few blocks down. It's scary when a pedestrian pops out into traffic, however. The new, solar-powered signs (2 x $29,000)  I hope will make it easier to grab a driver's attention.

Truck Traffic

There are only two streets that connect highway #7 with parts beyond. There are many trucks that navigate from Ottawa (north east) to Kingston or Toronto (south west). Trucks use Highway #10, and get themselves on Gore St. It's a tough turn. They've talked for years about a ring road between Craig St. and Highway #7, but that's not where the trucks are going. They use Rideau Ferry Rd. to get to highway #15. I remember doing a traffic study in Toronto, when I was in Gr. 11 geography. This would be interesting.

Our old city of Perth (1816), has adapted to cars and trucks. Not well, though.

This is a problem across Ontario, we used to be stops on the way to the city, when traffic consisted of horses and buggies!

Perth Town Traffic & Crosswalks

Courtesy crosswalk sign

Small town traffic

As we drove home at 6:30 p.m. in the dusk, we were hard-pressed to see people crossing at the new crosswalks. It is very dark. It's a problem with this time of year.

There is some controversy around the crosswalks, as they are 'courtesy' crosswalks. They have changes planned, thankfully. They've repainted the crosswalks, but just on one side. They are reducing the crosswalks, but making them mandatory.

Devoy, who writes for our local small paper, writes that they have recommended two solar-powered automated pedestrian crossing systems along Gore St. They cost $29,000 each. They are considering it as part of the 2018 budget. This is a good thing. It's a brilliant idea! ('Scuse the pun!) Sadly, people are hard to spot, with cars parked on corners outside legal parking. This is something they need to monitor, as well.

The camera automatically lightens the photo, but you see where they aren't in our headlights.

They are pretty dark, all things considered. You cannot see people at the left side.
Perth Crosswalks from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Then there is this intersection.

Gore St & North where we nearly witnessed an accident. It is a two-way stop.  The car on the right doesn't have a stop sign, they have the right of way. We beat the truck to the stop sign but we let a pedestrian cross, then the truck began to move. The dark-coloured car had to put on its brakes.
I'm thinking this should be a 4-way stop to prevent many incidents.


It's pretty scary out there. We could use a ring road, but that's big bucks for a small town.
Education would be a good idea, but people are so distracted. There were two drivers in the truck, but pretty scary.