Saturday, 25 June 2011

Bala Falls Hydro Project Saga part 23

Swimming at the falls
dangerous, foolish, many drownings

Yes, it is a saga.

Muskoka Lakes Township mayor, a Toronto resident and Muskoka cottager, was elected by vocal anti-Bala Falls Hydro Project tourists.

Part-time mayor = full-time issues

Where is the mayor?

Now, the council has voted to put a further barrier to the rebuilding of the Bala Falls Hydro Dam, by giving away part of the highway (#169) along which the construction will take place.
"Then at district council Monday evening, council voted to transfer the portion of district land needed for the project’s construction to the township."

Signage ignored

Despite a call of conflict of interest, as Mayor Murphy was behind the 'save the Bala falls' group, councillors are finding ways to hijack the system. Duly elected officials, McGuinty's Liberals, were elected to put forward a green program. In this municipal/provincial fight, with the MNR being involved, it is now ridiculous.

Swift River Energy has fulfilled the tender process, environmental testing, held numerous Community Engagement sessions to answer questions and respond to concerns.

Yet the Township keeps stalling, much like the filibustering Friday in federal parliament.

'Properties near Bala Falls shortlisted as heritage sites'

Body being removed after being drowned
at the Bala Falls, Aug. 2008

Muskoka Lakes Township council voted to shortlist six properties near the site of the project for heritage designation. With insufficient funds to apply for all sites, proposal involves Burgess Island, Margaret Burgess Park, the Shield parking lot, the cenotaph, and the Moon River and Bala docks.

The act gives municipal and provincial governments the power to protect areas they deem to be of cultural heritage value or interest.

Bala Market,
Shield parking lot 2009

Burgess Memorial Church, 1926

How can you make a dock a heritage site? The docks post-date the steamship docks of the 1850s. I they want, ever, to rebuild them - they cannot as it would be a heritage site. The owner of the old Presbyterian church was in trouble as he replaced old windows with new. Must have cost a fortune to re-redo them!

But in the grand scheme of things... I live near a town founded in 1816. THAT is heritage!

If council wants to declare a building or site heritage, they must ensure that it can be kept up. Otherwise they are simply barring any improvements to sites.

Bala has had a dam for a long time. It had a small hydro dam. The building is long gone. 1950 or so.

Snapshot courtesy Swift River

My previous Bala Falls Hydro Project post cited an
Appearance of bribery in Muskoka Lakes

as dam opponents presented a $10,000 cheque to council members to thank them for stalling the hydro dam.

Photo courtesy Swift River

Precambrian Shield Parking Lot

Heritage site?

Council rejects cheque from dam opponents

Friday, 24 June 2011

Tax his work/Tax his pay/He works for peanuts anyway!

Is this not the dumbest thing you've read? The full poem is below.

Many, many people talk about the 'good old days'. Yikes. I think not.
This poem (below) was sent to me by a man in his later years. If you Google it, you'll find many iterations. Methinks he sees the world through rose-coloured bifocals. Gotta be that American Tea Party. Perhaps it is Hudak's Conservatives, who really don't have a viable platform.

Pre-taxes we also had poverty, low wages, no health benefits, average age of death one hundred years ago was age 40 or so.

White people murdered Native Peoples; we had many who had experienced slavery, many more who were feared because their skin didn't match the ruling classes, or they'd brought with them that European class system.

Small Pox, plague, bacterial infection, non-pasteurized milk, polio, killed many. There was no such thing as antibiotics.

Only the rich were able to be educated, brothers were sent off farms unable to sustain them. Farmers paid money to keep rural roads going, had to resurface them to help the community.

Girls were 'married off'. Women didn't have the vote; many died in childbirth. Women had no choices, nor did many men. Being homosexual was not only a sin, but against the law in man places. People were persecuted for being different.

Political corruption existed. Candidates bought votes with rum.

They weren't the good old days!
I'm glad my Canadian taxes help those who cannot help themselves. I'm glad for universal healthcare, women's shelters, food banks, police, firefighters and all those who ensure that our communities take care of its people!

Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table,
At which he's fed.

Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.

Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for
peanuts anyway!

Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,

Tax his coat.

Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.

Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries
Tax his tears.

Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
To tax his ass.

Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won't be done
Till he has no dough.

When he screams and hollers;
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He's good and sore.

Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he's laid...

Put these words
Upon his tomb,
'Taxes drove me

to my doom...'

When he's gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax. Attributed to James Jaeger, 2008

Thursday, 23 June 2011

Art in the Garden 2011

live music!

What a weekend! It's taken me days to sort through the photos. Doors Open Perth, the amazing 1800s churches, with their stained glass windows. There is much going on in rural Ontario in the shoulder seasons!

Kiwi Gardens is a terrific place to visit. Amazing garden art.

There were many more reasons to visit over June 18 - 19.

There was live jazz, blues, the Sunflower Bake Shop had food for sale, but the highlight was the garden art for sale.

It was so much fun.

table centre under the tents

This joker was knocking on the back of the outhouse,
his wife inside, "Hurry up, there's a line out here!"

The Last Sowers explanation
Fieldworkproject.com

The Last Sowers
Fieldworkproject.com

Hubby takes a break!

Musical instruments from propane tanks!

Wednesday, 22 June 2011

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.