bread rant

Okay, so I may be getting crusty these days, but what's with the price of bread? I was out shopping this morning and I guess I just noticed it... bread, a single loaf of ordinary bread, was $2.37! What the hell is that about? Is there gold in the flour or what? I don't think that's normal. It's not like we see wheat farmers driving those sissy SUVs and taking trips to Europe! Friggin' $2.37 for a load of bread! Somebody's getting rich eh.

Chocolate cake for breakfast!

It's great when my grandsons come to visit me in Timmins. It's nice to sit around in your peejays on a Saturday morning and have chocolate cake with whipped cream! Kids are easy to please, eh.

Grrrreat weekend. Happy Canada Day.

Yup, had another great weekend celebrating Canada Day. Who knew that Bacardi coolers would cause heartburn!? Oh well, live and learn. We were pleased to have lots of great things to do, despite the cold and rainy weather. But if you live in Timmins you get used to changes in weather. And for some reason after every Canada Day weekend, I just find less and less to gripe about. I guess we really do live in the best country in the world eh.

Father's Day

I know it was yesterday... but it's still one of the best days there is because my kids feel obligated to pick up the phone and call their dear old Dad! Poor Dad was out canoeing and catching some sunshine, followed by a great spaghetti dinner, some wine, a movie and lots of pampering. Sorry Kids... I love you so dearly and I loved getting your phone messages, but I don't hang around the house on a sunny Sunday. Thanks for the thought... It feels great. I think I am good till Christmas now. Oh by the way, is canoeing relaxing... hmmm... got home and checked my blood pressure. 111 over 72 woohoo!

Beat the heat

It was 35 Celcius in Timmins today. I have a hard time with the heat. I guess I am like my old Dad that way. He never did well in the heat. I do have memories of hot days when I was a kid. Dad would sit on the step with a water hose, a beer and a smoke. And he would water the grass with the hose. The funny thing is he’d only water a patch of grass about two feet wide and 30 feet long. I guess it was too hot to move the hose eh.

Holy smoke eh

Small town journalism is getting me into church. I have been in four churches in the past two weeks. First there was the anniversary at Sacred Heart, then Father Olenga had his 25th priesthood anniversary at Notre Dame, tonight the bishop is celebrating his 45th anniversary at the cathedral,and this afternoon there was a fire on the hydro pole outside the old Nativity church. Holy smoke!

River is so high

The Mattagami River is running a lot higher than normal this week. We may get some flooding in the next few days, according to the local flood committee. Of course I couldn't just take their word for it, so I climbed a couple of nasty fences and hiked through the bush to get a close up shot of the water pouring over the floodgates and shooting through the dam at Hydro Bay. Yep, the water is high

Wait for the first new moon in June!

You never plant your garden until after the first moon in June ... if you live in Timmins. That's the rule! It became apparent last night why that rule is there. Temperature dropped to minus two this morning. Lots of plants and flowers hit by frost! The first new moon arrives on June 15th. I will be planting my flowers the next morning.

Welcome June

There's a saying... if you don't like the weather in Timmins, wait ten minutes. It will change. So we started this month Friday morning with fog. Saturday it was sweltering hot for several minutes. This afternoon the humidity was off the scale. Tonight, there was a massive thunderstorm that caused lots of flooding around Timmins, and a bit in my basement too! The flooding at the Spruce street underpass, in the photo, is two metres deep. So June is finally here. But I am not sure what the season is. Oh well gotta grab a mop and clean up the rec room.

Tea vs. Coffee

The most frustrating thing about tea is that one must wait for the water to boil. It’s about as exciting as standing beside the dryer waiting for your jeans to dry. But I usually find it’s worth the wait. The coffee pot comes on automatically, but I am beginning to regard coffee as too bitter in the mornings. Coffee seems better in the afternoons. For some reason tea gives me just the right caffeine kick in the mornings. I think it goes back to my childhood, when I could find a pot of tea on the stove at any time of the day or night.
By the way, it's the last day of May and Summer is finally here in Timmins. It’s a bit rainy, overcast and there is some fog this morning. We don’t get smog in Timmins, but I can pick a whiff of that big forest fire that is burning about a hundred miles south of us.

Too darned busy eh

I haven't been here for awhile... my excuse. I am toooooooo busy. But that's a good thing, I think. So last night was up till 2 a.m. sitting around waiting for a tranquilized bear to fall out of a tree. Hey... that's what a small town news editor does during black bear season. I am getting lots of yard work done, but I won't be planting flowers right away... the rule in Timmins is to wait until after the "the first moon in June..." but i haven't checked a calender lately. There is cool news from down east... there is a Grand Mira website!! Lots of interesting news on a very special place. Interesting news from the west coast. Ronald sent a photo of wife Loni... in Afghanistan with the Stanley Cup! That was a nice picture. I promise to get back in here more often.

New Cruisers

It's getting easier to see police cars in Ontario. The OPP says its a good thing. Ontario Provincial Police have returned to the design of their old cruisers that were all black and white. The OPP says if you can see the cruiser, chances are you will slow down and drive more safetly.Hmmmm..

Flying the friendly skies of SAR

Today was indeed interesting in that I met several fellows who didn't know me... but they know my brother in B.C. So we snapped a few photos of familiar faces that I will be emailing to Ronald very soon. The guys are from 424 Tiger Squadron out of Trenton, Ontario. I was along for the ride, packed in among their parachutes and luggage, on a Search and Rescue (SAR) training flight aboard a Canadian Forces C130 Hercules over Timmins. It was noisy, cold and fun.

A new toaster!

Well I finally did it. If you remember a posting from last August, you’d know I was thinking of getting a new toaster. Well I caved a couple of weeks ago, gave up a bunch of Airmiles and ordered my new appliance. It arrived today. I threw in an onion bagel and it was just fine, thanks.
I haven’t been in here for a few days because I have been extra busy making sure all goes well in the new job. The news stuff is easy, but I am struggling with the old Macintosh computer system… it’s click and wait, click and wait. I guess I have to have patience.
In other news today, I have a new blog. We’ve started up a newsroom blog to keep people in the loop on breaking stories. We are a twice-weekly paper. We don’t publish daily. But we are in the newsroom seven days a week, so we may as well keep our readers informed. That’s all for now. I think I will go make some toast and tea.

The press room

I kinda knew what was happening when I felt the floor shake a bit. It’s a feeling that brought back memories of those early winter mornings at the North Bay Nugget when the presses began to roll with all the latest news. I dropped in to see the fellas in the Times press room today and they were happy to show me around. I could smell the ink even before I got through the door. This is the massive 14-unit Goss Press, the largest in Timmins. I got a kick out of seeing the pages roll faster and faster while the pressmen adjusted the pressure and ink levels as it began spitting out hundreds of papers each minute. The pressroom is a cool place.

I got a brand new bag.

I don’t know if we can stop worrying about climate-change after today, but I surprised myself and did one tiny little thing that may make a difference. I bought a grocery bag. It’s one of those re-usable tote bags so I won’t have to keep using the disposal grocery bags. It cost 99-cents at A&P. Now I will just have to remember to bring it to the grocery store every time I pick something up.

New Job

I haven't been here lately owing to the fact I have a new job. I am the new Editor of the Timmins Times newspaper in Timmins. I never expected to get back into media work, but the opportunity was just too good to pass. So I am back in the newsroom doing what I have enjoyed for so many years. I know I will miss all the nice people in tourism, but I am sure I will enjoy meeting more nice people in the news game. I will keep ya posted.

Nature beats art every time.

I saw this bit of frost on a window today. It looked like somebody etched it into glass. But in reality this is a close-up shot of frost about the size of a matchbook. Click the pic to see it up close. Amazing detail. On another urgent subject, tomorrow is National Tartan Day. It's the day where men of Scots heritage should wear a kilt. It's also one of the seven days where one is encouraged to enjoy a glass of Scotch. It's called Friday!

It's all my fault!

Yup, I cleaned the truck on the weekend and put away the snowbrush. That obviously upset the snow gods and that’s why we had a storm this morning. It’s all my fault. This is not great for tourism. Oh well, I have one week left of being Tourism Marketing Guy. Then I begin my new job as Newspaper Editor Guy. I sure hope the sun is shining.

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Today was Ty's big day... he is 7 now and he's a cool dude alright. No foolin'. He's one of my favorite grandsons! I had a birthday this weekend too. So thanks to the birthday wishes I got from Ty & Nader, from Jenn and Neil, from Deb and Ron and thanks to Claudette for a great weekend and a fabulous chocolate cake!