International Cooperation over Haiti

Haiti aid workers rely on satellite maps from German institute

For relief organizations in Haiti, understanding the earthquake's full damage is difficult. Workers only see what is immediately in front of them. A German institute now provides satellite-based maps as a solution.

For front line workers, they concentrate on the few blocks in which they work. It is important to coordinate efforts.

Canadians raise $9.4M in Canada For Haiti telethon
Canadians dug deep into their wallets Friday night, raising more than $9.4 million for victims of the Haitian earthquake at the Canada for Haiti 

After seeing last night's Canadian and American broadcasts I have hope that the world CAN work together. Several of the networks put on the same show in a unique lesson of how easily the world can use technology to make a difference.

Tracks in the snow

How exciting: an ad in my inbox:

"Hi Jennifer!


From memorable school breaks to romantic escapes, you'll satisfy your sense of adventure in Ontario. Your winter escape awaits you.
Learn more..."
My life *is* a winter getaway! Many of our neighbours have flown south. The others keep up with the Jones' with bragging rights about trips south. Not us. We embrace the quiet and the cold. Both of us spent careers dealing with groups of people. We like our solitude. We like watching the silent animals around us.
Today's challenge: identifying those silent critters. It isn't easy, BTW.


Determining the animal tracks one spots depends on many variables:

• Landscape -  You need to know your ecosystem
• Herbivores attract Carnivores (e.g., under the birdfeeders!)
  
• Habitat -  Forest, Field, Transition Habitats, including sleeping areas: dens, logs
• Travel Routes - trails, runs, escape routes
• Feeding Areas give some clues.
  
• Locomotion and Gait Patterns: walk, runs, trot, bound (e.g., squirrels), lopers, diagonal (e.g., deer)
  
• Season
• Latitude
  

In our area we have a variety of critters, many are having a wee bit of a nap: the raccoons, rabbits, for example. Raccoon tracks are similar to porcupine, with long lovely toes! This photo (left) was from November, as I recall!


The turkeys have been around in many spots.  The fox seems to follow them as they turn up midwinter near the bird feeder.

I can tell how frozen the lake, as s/he goes further out from the shore on her daily morning (evening?) run. My boot prints went over to the dog/fox/wolf and on another spot, I could see the critter wandered over to examine MY boot print from the day before!

Then there is the crazy one who managed to get a muddy soaker, and lost her boot in the drainage system for her forest bog. She knew it was there. Her footprint filled with water, after the bog grabbed her boot with a grand amount of suction, and she ended up bootless, with a mud-soaked sock! I laughed so hard!

The next piece of crucial classification info, more important in other ecosystems than My Muskoka: there are two main classifications.


Canine Vs. Feline Tracks

Canine = domestic dog, red fox, wolf, coyote (who are encroaching on cities). Four toes, and a 'heel'.
Now, the differences between the domestic and the wild animal is the tricky part! I am still having trouble with this. I have seen a fox on the ice, a cold day across the lake, as well as a wolf loping along the ice at dusk. (See the photo, top.)
Our friend, the treed fisher (our cat did this!), has 5 toes, displaying claws and a heel.
Nancy spotted a weasel, and has written about her wolves.

The canine tracks you can draw an 'X' between the toes. Also, the overall shape of canine toes is an oval. The next canine clue, of course, is size, but then if this is a dog track, dogs come in many sizes. One of the sites explains that domestic dog toe pads are closer together, with wider spaces between wild animals who rely on a firm purchase on snow, wet leaves and clambering up slippery slopes, as well as speed while hunting.

For some great images visit here: samples of coyote vs. wolf tracks 
I will not plagiarize and steal the images for this blog post. You'll have to visit this fine page.

Of course, some of us need only look at our vehicles for domestic cat tracks...

Feline = cougar, bobcat, domestic cat.
Kim A. Cabrera made a great mountain lion video explaining a great deal. [We don't have any of those around here. Well, maybe cougars...but they're in the pubs. :-) ]

This paw print (above) shows toes, and no claws, which do not normally appear in the 'cat' family, except if they are running! This is one of our cats.

This overall shape of felines is more like home plate (lordie, I miss playing softball). 


There are a lot of tracks around us. Hoppers and jumpers, like squirrels. The land dwellers put down their front paws, left then right , then the back legs side by side. The rabbits put down their front paws and back side by side.

The mice drag their wee tails mostly they gather near our bird feeders, travelling under the sliding glass doors in the night, in the dark, pissing off the frantic cats! The chipmunks are snoring happily, awaking from time to time to feed and do their business in various ante chambers of their burrows.

The deer walk on a diagonal, placing opposite paws. Left is an elk print from Lake Superior Park last June. It was huge (4 - 5"), elk being larger and rounder than deer. The rounded part is the leading edge of the track, we followed this one down to Lake Superior. Awestruck by the size of it. The deer toes point is at the front, with dew claws seen, depending on the gait and panic mode.

This site explains how to preserve tracks.

This specialist says to:

• Establish the Line of Travel - heel in back, leading toe in front
• Length of Track
• Width of the track -from outer toe to outer
• Stride- toe to toe
• Straddle - distance from the centre
• Pitch- orientation of the paw print towards the line of travel
  

Pacers - move the same sided legs of the body at the same time, e.g., badger, skunk, porcupine, raccoon, bear.

Diagonal walkers - opposite paws at the same time: deer, canine, feline.

Now, with agitation, hunting behaviour, or the four F's: fight, flight, food... you know the other, can result in a change of gait and pattern. This is why location is important when reading tracks.

For more info:
Ask the tracker guy! Questions and photos sent in about tracks..
Located in Ontario Canada animal tracks tracking sign wildlife. ...drag marks caused by the paws or the tail? 

Opportunity knocks

Many of my fellow bloggers are showing summer shots. We are having yet another snowfall. I feel the need of some colour in my life! I found this interesting opportunity in our local paper.

But if you have to ask the price, you probably cannot afford it!

It was built very recently. We attended several fundraisers there, but couldn't afford the last few at $125 a pop! 


Here are photos  we were attending the launch of the June 13/14 Spring Arts Tour.



At the same time, there was a June prom at Red Leaves and the young men and women looked terrific. It is a beautiful spot, for sure.

Well, if this is the place for you:

Red Leaves hotel up for sale
 The JW Marriott-operated hotel went into receivership in May last year.

how old is old?

You are never too old!
To enjoy taking photos of ordinary things.

To live, laugh and play.


It is a terrific thing just to do things that are just fun. Ordinary things, like chipmunks.


The old photos are fun.
 Pets, now long gone. Only memories.

At the 'cottage' before the cottage was built.

Well before MY time!

My Parents Were Awesome. (An interesting site!)  Here my parents, when they were courting.

Dad (Ray Jilks, 1925 - 2007) and Uncle Aust (Austin Forsyth, 1900 - 1989) preparing to go fishing at the cottage.

We had such good times in the summer.

Don't you love the stove?!

The Muskoka Short Story Contest

The Blank Page Writers' Group has partnered with Metroland North Media to create a brand new short story contest for year-round and seasonal residents in Muskoka.  All the details are here.

Sponsors:  Metroland North Media

Purpose:   To encourage writers in Muskoka

Title:         The Muskoka Short Story Contest 2010

Eligibility:  Year-round and seasonal Muskoka residents age 18 years and older. Current members of the Gravenhurst Blank Page Writers are ineligible.

Sweet deal!

Cadbury accepts improved offer from Kraft

British confectionery group Cadbury has caved in to an improved takeover offer from US rival 
Kraft Foods, valuing Cadbury at 13.1 billion euros ($18.9 billion).

Cadbury, founded in1824, is the 2nd largest confectionary maker, after Mars-Wrigley.
The Kraft Company is taking over Cadbury's in the UK, read about it here  Kraft is the world's second-biggest snacks group after Swiss-based Nestle.
This amount of money confounds me!
But some history:

• John Cadbury, a Quaker, opened a shop in Birmingham in 1824, selling tea, coffee and hot chocolate - as an alternative to alcohol
• Merged with rival confectioner J.S. Fry & Sons in 1919
• Merged with Schweppes drinks business in 1969.
• Employs about 45,000 people in 60 countries

KRAFT FOODS

• Founded in Illinois as a cheese wholesaler in 1903
• Bought in 1988 by Philip Morris, which also purchased Nabisco for $19.2bn in 2000 before integrating it into Kraft Foods
• More than 40 of its brands are more than 100 years old
• Has 98,000 employees and 168 manufacturing and processing facilities worldwide.

My World

My world is wet and dreary. The skies are sodden, and the snow is melting.
However, I cannot complain.
With the devastation in Haiti...many gone before their time, bodies in mass graves.
I hope that those who suffer will come to terms with what has happened. An awful twist of nature, of rocks and human-made stones.

I wish all the rescue teams and the Haitians Godspeed. We know they will do what they can in a terrible situation.

Many suffered, and many have suffered. The gravestones at the Titanic Graves in Halifax, where the Titanic's bodies washed up, demonstrate a spirit of the Nova Scotia people who gave respect to these earthly remains. It is all those who stand and watch can do. People die in tragic circumstances. It requires a coming to terms with one's humanity.

My world changed when my parents died, but you realize the meaning of life. Last weekend's memorial service was the kind you want for your own. Friends and family, people to chuckle over your foibles and your quirks. People to celebrate your contribution to the world. A life that fulfilled the passages of birth, school, marriage, children and grandchildren. A legacy for those who follow.

They railed against old age and aching bones, but it is a badge of courage to carry on. Failing hearing, arthritis, is is a tough stage of life. We have found a place for them. And they can now rest after a life of work and meaningful lives. I believe, that they have new bodies, and the shells that were once their bodies, gone to ashes, mean little.

The dates on the calendar, of their birthdays, their passing, their anniversary, mean little. I need not fear them. For I can call my parent's spirits, and they are in my heart. The legacy they left; of kindness, of contributing to my community, of love for the common good, and respect for humanity, help me move forward.

I am grateful for my blessings. I cannot complain.

Respect for a life well-lived: Remembrance Day

Today, a guest post. Small communities honour those who have passed in a different way than those in the big city, with pomp and circumstance.

We attended a Celebration of Life yesterday. I had mixed feelings, as my last contact with this man The last contact I had with this man was when I was emptying my late father's house. I was dealing with many issues, and in the middle of pregrieving my dad's passing. It brought back those memories: bearing the anger dad had at old age, and frailty, and his brain tumour.

My husband had some wise words, and a thoughtful commentary. I post it here for your reflection.

Dear friends and family,

The weather here is relatively mild, which make for good dog walking.

My client is still in the hospital so his German Shepard and I go out twice a day for about 40 min a time.

Another volunteer takes him two more times, so he and we get good exercise.
Been a month now.

 Still doing the meals on wheels, and Jen has another palliative care person, as well as teaching a course at the prison, and her various boards.

I am joining a local library support group ( for the district, 4 libraries) .

So we keep active.

We attended another memorial service for one of my clients yesterday.
Harry ran the local storage place.
He was a stonemason, and a Navy Vet.

That make two in two months , both veterans of WW2.

Jen, as well as her activities above, has a WW2 client in a nursing home..

He served on a British Battle Ship as a radar instructor and operator.
We looked up the fairly famous ship (HMS Renown which served in both theatres of war, including the battle with  the Bismark)
Actually made contact with an Australian officer from same ship (also in radar).
Jen's client is, not surprisingly a physicist, who was also a senior person in the Atomic Energy Commission.

Getting back to the yesterday's service.
It took place in our community center (full , we stood).
Neither of the services of these vets were formal, but both were quiet moving as they were  Legion ceremonies.
In these cases, the local veterans form up in line , and led by a piper playing The Maple Leaf Forever. They parade to the front of the hall
to salute at the table containing the Beret and medals of the deceased.
We have about a dozen vets left here , I know some of them , as they either are clients or caregivers themselves.
There are not many left.
When I was a boy, and attended Remembrance Day Services (My father and two of my uncles served overseas, one, a bomber pilot was lost) the lines of these men and women were long and young.
Now, out of the 1,000,000 or so who served only 150,000 remain.

The average age is 86. 

Across Canada, 400 a week die. Soon there will be none.

So, with all this in my head, I watched this little parade, march to the front of the hall, in Regimental Berates, blues blazers and medals, two wearing the red berets of paratroopers.
They, (and then the family members), place a poppy on the table, salute, turn, reform lines and march back..

and although I have attended Remembrance Days ceremonies much larger in many cities, including Ottawa and the base in Halifax, this was the most moving, I have been privileged to see.

To see these old men, still marching to say good by to their "comrade" ( the legion term for a member), backs straight, lines straight is something to see.
Not painful, like the repatriation of our losses on today's field, more just a sense of what was, another passage in their lives and ours.

It seems to be our new calling to help this generation move from here and now to wherever, with some comfort and dignity.
We are gifted to have this task.

The passing of the generation before your own, constantly, brings many memories, and a strong sense of mortality to mind.

These are my thoughts of today, I have a large dog, waiting for my legs and leash, not my musings.

Brian

Rushing water soothes

The lake levels are up, as the warm land melts the snow.
The Precambrian Shield rock weeps. Massive rock cuts characterize this region. The old roads, wide enough for only one cart, have been replaced by modern, two-lane highways. This required blasting, and you can see the vertical striations from this activity.

I remember the blasting, when up at 'the cottage' when I was a child. It sent rattlesnakes our way, as they tried to escape the blasting.

The ice build-up is very interesting. The sun comes out, melts the snow on top, and warms the dark rock.

These are 'drive-by shootings' and the quality lacks a certain professionalism, but I am, after all, an amateur!


The rock layers are obvious, with the beautiful pink striations. Rock Girl (daughter- hydrogeologist) is on vacation this w/e, otherwise she'd help me with the technical terms!

I'll get back to you on that.

You can see in the colours of the ice, how easy it is for pollution to wash off the rock, as the soil dissolves into the melted snow, only to appear again in the ice.

This ice has a tinge of blue.

Yet, the warmer temperatures these last few days inspire caution during activities.
The water is deceiving, as the river water is still flowing along the middle of the Moon River. (Yes, there is one in Bala, Ontario!)


You can see where the swamp above the river drains, below, on a previously sunny day. The water flows even on a day with double-digit negative temperatures.



Be careful out there!





With the recent warm temperatures, the water rushes through the region. This is the water at the Bala falls on a slow day in winter! Check out my YouTube video for the sound!
It is a powerful force, adding to the sensory experience of Muskoka.