Books, books and Bo Duke!

So I have been reading like a fiend in the past few weeks, and even though I feel guilty spending so much time reading, it has been worth it. First of all the nice weather changed into yukky rainy weather for a while, so it was good to grab a cup of Red Rose and bury my nose in the pages. Since March 30th I have gone through six books and I am about two thirds the way through the seventh book!

The latest book is a Ken Follett novel called World Without End, which is a sequel to Pillars of the Earth, one of my all time favourite books. The woman at Coles told me I should go back and re-read Pillars, but I didn't take her advice. Now that I am so deep into World Without End, (about 1000 pages with SMALL print) I think I will take the advice and go back an re-read Pillars. This stuff is like chocolate. Some of these books are so excellent. So I am making a new list of authors I haven't read for awhile and I will be visiting the book store soon. If you haven't read Follett's stuff lately, treat yourself. Pillars and World Without End is all about life in small villages in feudal England from the tenth century to the 13th century. Amazing stuff. You won't be able to put the books down... real page turners. I did break away from the books for awhile yesterday ... I went out Saturday night with friends. We all ended up at a house party playing a game of Rock and Roll trivia. I feared that I wouldn't know a thing about it ... because I don't much attention to the "new" music. Well it turned out to be about rock performers from 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. Luckily I knew my answers. Neil (the music expert in the family) would have been proud.

Planning some fun with Tyler and Nathan

Spent a bit of time on the Internet last night planning a trip to the big city with the boys. It's going to happen in June. Haven't worked out all the details yet, but I know we will be staying in a very nice hotel. That's my travel rule... always get a nice hotel room and you will have a good trip!

ATV Adventure

Easter Weekend was a bit more fun than I imagined it would be. I was pleased to be able to get down to Westree to the Alexander camp to spend time with Jennifer, Scott and her boys Tyler and Nathan, Don and Denise Alexander, along with Christine, Dimitrios and Victoria. I got into relaxation mode right away. As soon as I arrived, Denise was serving appetizers. We had all wonderful seafood dinner, and there was a fabulous full moon Friday night. We sat around the big fire and enjoyed drinks and conversation.

Saturday proved to be a big adventure. It was decided we’d go on an ATV ride and have a picnic at a nearby lake. So we head out on what was supposed to be a two hour trip. But the trails were a bit mucky in places and that slowed us down quite a bit.
The real fun began we came to a part of the road that was washed out. The washout was old and was not supposed to be much of a challenge. But the beavers had been at work creating dams, so there was too much water to cross the washout. There was a bit upper dam with the big pond behind it and a lower dam with a small pond about a metre deep.
I took a minute to enjoy the fact that we could see a couple of the beavers working on their little house in the middle of the pond. Look right in the centre of the second photo.





After a bit of discussion, Scott and Don determined the washout could be crossed if they could figure a way to lower the water level in the lower dam. I thought, No Way! But Scott and the boys set to work tearing out sticks and mud from the lower dam with their bare hands. Well, what do ya know? After several minutes the water began receding. Don was able to cross the washout with the bigger ATV, but a couple of the smaller bikes had to be “walked” across the upper dam. Sure enough, those fellas did the job and got everyone across. Who would’ve believed that?

After awhile we all stopped by a perfect Northern Ontario lake and had pop and sandwiches. No wonder Westree people smile a lot. After that nice little break, we made our way home. The two hour trip took more than four hours, but it sure was fun.

Happy April

I got a real kick out of the fact that the boys called Saturday morning with BDay withes for old Papa Lenny. It was fun to chat with them. They're still kids, but they talk about lots of interesting things... they're pretty thoughtful. So yes Saturday was a good day to buy myself a gift. Sure enough, I found myself browsing the shelves at Coles where I picked up two news book by two of my favourite authors, Ted Bell and Ken Follett. So that will keep me occupied for a week or two. I also bought an apple pie! Got home, put the tea on, cut a slice of pie and began reading. Before long it was nine oclock. I forgot all about the Earth Hour thing about shutting off lights for one hour. I sure wasn't going to read in the dark. So I poured a Jameson and drank a toast to all the environmentalists out there.
So today is April and that means it is Tyler's Birthday. No foolin! He is twelve years old. I will get to see him on Friday. That will be fun.Here's a pic of Ty and Princess Curly Mom in Timmins last summer.
April will also have Earth Day. I know that the local school kids head out on the local highways every year on Earth Day to pick up litter. It makes them feel good. So I am going to do my part. I will take my Tim Horton's paper coffee cup and toss it out the window that day, so the kids will have something to pick up and they will feel so good about themselves.


Just Kidding!!!

Feeding my addictions...

So March is almost gone, but I have been feeding my addiction. Books. It was one night about two weeks ago, I getting ready for bed when I suddenly realized I had read all my recent books. I had nothing new to read. I panicked. I ran to the bookcase and searched for something to read. Next morning I was up and off to the book store where I bought four new novels. So I have read two and began reading the third one last night. I am heading out to buy more books this weekend. I am also thinking of buying an e-reader, one of those little tablets. But I am still not sure if I will use it or like it as much as holding a book.
Anyway, super, crazy, busy news month. You may have heard about the big tractor trailer crash near Timmins this week… a truck hauling coins from the Mint hit a rock cut on Highway 11 and spilled several million dollars worth of loonies and twoonies all over the roadway. Bizarre. The unfortunate part is that the two Brinks employees suffered serious injuries and they will be getting medical attention for weeks, if not months.
I have another addiction. Grapefruit. I used to think they were bitter tasting, but not anymore. I actually had one for supper this week. I find them so juicy and slurpy good.
March in Timmins has had some unusual weather. We had temperatures last week in the mid-twenties! How crazy is that? Things seem to be back to normal now. It’s minus 11 right now and I can accept that. There is very little snow left in the bush and the rivers are running high. I am going to predict this will be a rough season for forest fires. Come May and June, it’s gonna be pretty smoky around here.
I was talking to Jennifer this past week and she and her family are all well. We will all be heading to camp for the Easter weekend so that will be nice.

Quite the change eh?

So if you check out the photo and the note I posted here last Monday, you will note the temperature was MINUS 30! Well it's Sunday afternoon in Timmins and the temperature is now PLUS 20! What's with that?

Sad news, good news ...

It was upsetting today to learn that a dog near Sudbury has died after valiant efforts by veterinarians and ordinary people. The dog was discovered last week wandering along a bush road after it had been shot in the face, twice, by shotgun blasts. Remarkably the dog was alive long enough that people driving by were able to pick him up and bring him to a vet for surgery. The dog was nicknamed Buddy and although he seemed to be recovering, his heart failed Friday. It is so sad that somebody would try to kill the animal and just leave him. I can’t imagine how that dog suffered. If somebody doesn’t want their dog anymore there are ways to look after that by having the animal adopted out by the local pound or the Humane Society. It is frustrating that this happens.
Jennifer and Scott and their boys have a dog. He too is named Buddy. He’s pretty special. Every time I arrive at Jenn’s place, he wanders over to the truck and waits for me to get out of the vehicle. This is a photo of Buddy and Neil at Christmas, with Buddy sucking up to get a treat. My best memories of Buddy were when Jennifer was in the hospital and I would visit her. When I came back to the house, it’s like Buddy knew where I had been and he would circle around me several times, nosing and sniffing knowing that I had been visiting Jennifer.
Okay I have some “apartment guy” news to share. I finally have a “door thingy”. In my building, most tenants have some sort of a Welcome ornament on their front doors. I never had one, but thought it would be nice to get one. I just never saw anything I liked whenever I went out shopping. To be honest I never gave it a lot of thought. I was snooping through my bookcase this week when I noticed the eagle head carving. Neil gave it to me at Christmas. It’s a piece of street art carved by a Nootka aboriginal guy in Vancouver. Neil said he always gives the guy a few bucks in return for a piece of unique street art. Suddenly I knew what this was… It’s a door thingy! It's on my door right below the little peep hole. So now, on those evenings when I have sipped an extra whisky and I am tip-toeing home from the pub, I will know for certain what door is mine.

March mornings ...

Today was one of those typical deep-of-winter mornings in Timmins when the smoke from the chimney's just hangs in the air. And yup, like the thermometer shows, it was cold. Minus 30. I didn't plug the vehicle in, but it started just fine. I am really liking that Jeep engine. Sunday morning was a windy March morning, with gusts up to 45 Kilometres per hour. In one Timmins neighbourhood it was enough to send a portable car shelter up into the air like a kite, where in got tangled in the wires at a neighbour's house.

As usual, click on the pics to see them in a larger size.

Schumacher celebrates

There’s a little part of Timmins known as the community of Schumacher. It’s a tight-knit little mining town left over from the glory days of the McIntyre gold mine. Schumacher is not a pretty place; it’s a rough little reminder of the hard working who lived there for so many years. But it’s the people that make it special. March 1st is the 100th anniversary of the town. It is named after a fellow known as Frederick Schumacher, a mine financier who made his fortune in the early days of Timmins. So the next few days will be a lot of fun in Schumacher as they celebrate their centennial. I know I am going to have fun. I like Schumacher and that's probably one of the reasons I have taken so many photos of the old McIntyre Mine headframe, such as this one, which has the look of an old postcard. One of the nicest tributes will be a re-enactment of the walk from the townsite up the hill to the mine gate. It’s a walk that was taken by thousands of miners over the years, as they left home each morning, or evening, and went to work at the mine. In a lot of cases, wives and children would accompany the men to the mine gate; it was a social thing. So Thursday night, at 7:00 p.m., the whole town is invited out for the walk to the mine. See you there!

Half a century ago...

Hard to believe that 50 years has passed by since the flight of Mercury 6 - Friendship 7 when American John Glenn became the first NASA astronaut to orbit planet Earth. I remember it because I was in Grade 2 and the teacher stopped classes so we could listen to the broadcast on the radio on February 20, 1962. It came back to me a couple of years ago when I toured the famous Museum of Flight and Aviation History in Seattle where they had the Mercury space capsule on display. A lot of people at the museum walked right by the old capsule, but I was drawn to it and just tried to imagine what it is like to travel through space at 27,000 kilometres per hour!

A nice winter day in Timmins

Winter in Timmins is great. Well, today it was. I like winter. But I’m not alone. Today was an amazingly bright and sunny day with a temperature of about three degrees. So I was out driving around with the intent of snapping a few photos. Sure enough, there were things to see. I saw a family out at the sliding hill on Highway 655 by Gillies Lake having cookies and hot chocolate at the top of the hill. Of course, they were surrounded by all the other families out enjoying the snow and the sunshine. How nice is that? Over at the Hollinger Park, people were out skating on the new oval there. Other people were sitting around the open fire roasting marshmallows! And then, over at Tim Horton’s the snowmobile crowd was standing around outside, enjoying the sunshine with their coffee. So yeah, it was a nice winter day in Timmins. I took one of the photos I snapped today and played with it through Adobe Photoshop to get some different effects. I think they’re interesting. (Click the photos to see them enlarged)

Why are they called Smart Phones?

I received a very interesting e-mail this past week from my cell phone company offering me a great price on a new plan and encouraging me to get one of those new Smart Phones. So I spent quite a bit of time last night reading up on the new plans and these phones that everyone is excited about. I have to explain that I have a very basic cell phone. It rings, I talk. I want to call somebody, I enter the number and if they answer, we talk. I am not big on texting.This past month was one of my busiest ever though. I sent 14 messages. I was on the phone for 209 minutes! Of course all this was well covered by my plan which gives me hundreds of minutes, free long distance and "unlimited" messaging. Woohoo. But I don't use the internet or e-mail on my phone. In fact I called and told the phone company to disconnect any Internet service because I once activated the Internet on my phone by mistake. I didn't even know it at the time. Seriously, I can't imagine standing on a street-corner and browsing the net with my phone. So as I looked through all the fancy phones being offered I had to wonder why I would need one. I am still not convinced. Besides, I like my phone. They gave it to me for free and it has my initials on it!

Reading the fine print ...

So I signed up with the online version of the New York Times last fall. And since this is the time of year I gather all my tax receipts, I sort through my credit card bills. That's when I noticed I was billed twice for my MONTHLY subscription in November... on Nov.1 and Nov.29. Hmmm. I telephoned the customer service number to tell them of the "mistake". Hmmm ... no mistake. The subscription is not a MONTHLY thing. It's every 28 DAYS! So I said to the guy, "This is not a monthly subscription then?" "No sir, we bill you every 28 days... that's what you signed up for." Hmmmm... that means they will send me 13 bills this year instead of 12. Got to read that print more often eh.

Glasses, gasses and giggling ...

Things have changed at my dentist’s office. I was in twice this week and both times they gave me sunglasses to wear! I like that. Those dental lights are so bright that even with your eyes closed, there is still too much light! Instead of squinting my eyes in that bright light I was able to close ‘em and relax a bit more. Monday, I had a cleaning and check up. On Thursday I got a root canal procedure done and it was nowhere near as uncomfortable as I expected. I think the nitrous oxide gas sure helped. I have learned that the gas is not so much for relieving pain as it is used for relieving anxiety. Well it worked for me. And yes, it does make you giggle; just a bit. And because it was a one-hour procedure for the root canal, having the gas administered cost an extra $125! Oh well, it was sure worth it.

Ouch!

So it was just over a month ago, Neil and I were leaving a restaurant in Timmins. We had a beer and a sandwich. It was a cold, cold night and we were leaving early to go home. As we approached the parking lot, I took a mis-step on the ice and whoopsie, took a flip. It was a rather spectacular fall, as falls go, as my head hit a truck bumper on the way down and then I banged my head on the ice. I'm no Sid Crosby... I have a thick skull. No damage there. But I did bang my teeth together and that resulted in a nasty bite on my tongue. Neil was alarmed and said I might want to see a doctor. No problem said I, waving him off. I should have seen a dentist though. I went in for a cleaning and check up today and Dr. Kurys tapped on one of my front teeth. Yow, that hurt! X-Ray! Yup, there's a problem. Abscessed root, damaged nerve. So I will be going back in Thursday... root canal time. Darn.

Stories...

I remember my favourite professor from journalism school saying "everyone has a story". He wanted us to understand the fact that if we give people the chance to talk, everyone has something truly amazing about them that is worth telling. I was thinking about that today when I spent some time on the telephone with a former Timmins fellow who is now in his late 70s. He used to be a millionaire. He used to rub elbows with Hollywood celebrities. Now he's on parole after spending years in prison. He shot his business partner to death in a fit of rage. I went through all the court documents and I am still trying to get the real story of how it all happened so many years ago. These two guys, both from Timmins, both millionaires, were as close as brothers ... but then they had a falling out. What the hell happened that one murdered the other? Years have passed, but there is still a story to be told. It's going to take some time, but I am working on it...

Yes, I am glad I went...

Sometimes it pays to answer those e-mails … you know the kind, the ones that you don’t think are that important at first, but then you figure, oh what the heck, just do it. That was the case this week when I got a note from Porter Airlines asking me to drop by their wine and cheese event Thursday night to celebrate the fact that Porter is now running scheduled flights three times a day between Timmins and Toronto. People in Timmins sure seem to appreciate the new airline, which is offering cheaper fares and connecting Timmins with New York, Chicago and Boston. I don’t normally do the wine and cheese events, but I figured it was a good chance to see Robert Deluce again and a few other folks and have a nice chat. I wrote about knowing Mr. Deluce and his connection to Timmins several weeks ago. So, when I got the wine and cheese event, I realized I had to take a few notes and a few photos, so I never got the chance to enjoy some good wine and the fabulous food. Too busy. But there was a lot of nice people to chat with, folks who I haven’t seen in awhile, so I stayed… right to the end. Well almost to the end, because CEO “Bob” Deluce was making a thank you speech to the “hometown” crowd in Timmins, saying he realized that the best advertising for Porter Airlines was word-of-mouth from happy customers. That said, Deluce told the crowd he’d like them all to become goodwill ambassadors for Porter … and then he announced that every person in the room, about 500 people, would get a free round-trip airline ticket to anywhere Porter flies. Nice eh?

Staying in touch ... NOT

I have not been doing well lately in terms of staying in touch with people. I realized this about 20 minutes ago when I arrived home and found my phone sitting on the little shelf by the front door. Sure enough there were two text messages on it, from fellow reporters who were kind enough to send me info on a court trial. I confess, I didn't know I left the phone at home. On Monday I realized I didn’t have my phone with me. I searched high and low for it and finally found it in the back of my vehicle. I was on a photo shoot Sunday night at the airport and when I took off a safety vest, I placed it in the back of the truck. My phone was there. Last night, just before I was going to bed at 11 p.m., I noticed there was a text message on my phone. It was sent out at four in the afternoon. I didn't notice. I should mention that my cell phone is my only phone. I cancelled the house phone more than a year ago. The only time I do any serious telephone time is at work when I call people for news stories. Other than that, I am not a serious talker. Most months when I check my cell phone bill, I usually have 40 to 50 minutes of talking and about a half dozen text messages. I have a good phone plan with hundreds of minutes, free long distance anywhere in Canada, unlimited texting and lots of other perks for less than $30 a month. I can’t understand how people can send more than a hundred messages a month and speak on the phone for three or four hundred minutes. Even when I chat with Jennifer or Neil, a long call is about 15 minutes. The one exception is Debra. I don’t think I have ever had a phone call with her that was less than an hour. But that’s okay because it’s usually a good chat. I am sure I will hear about that. Oh, I don’t have Internet on my phone either. There is nothing that is so important that I have to know about it NOW. Now as far as being in touch, I just got a newspaper poll question in my e-mail wondering if I thought Ricky Gervais did a good job hosting the Golden Globes. Who the hell is Ricky Gervais?

Two watches and hearing loss?

I have two watches. They’re exactly the same. One is in daylight saving time and the other is standard time. It’s easier to have two watches than to worry about changing the time forward or back a couple of times a year. There’s just too many dang buttons to figure out. When Neil was here a couple of weeks back he was able to find my summer watch because he could hear the alarm going off. Alarm? I didn’t hear any alarm. Neil assured me there was a distinct high-pitched alarm on the watch, which goes to prove that older fellows such as myself do indeed lose part of their hearing as they age. Neil was able to hear the high frequency alarm that I could not hear. So there is truth to the statement that one loses the ability to hear higher frequencies. If you’re wondering, you can take an online hearing test at: http://www.freehearingtest.ca/index_flash.html. I didn’t hear anything at 8000 Hz… but maybe it’s a trick! So if you're having a birthday anytime soon and you're feeling a teensy bit older, take the test.

Don't put THAT on your blog ...

So here we are, entering our seventh year of blogging! Hmm….I wouldn’t have guessed. But then again, the Internet changes so many things. Who can imagine what sort of Internet we will have seven years from now? It will probably be all video. I don’t know if that is good. I have entertained the idea of Vlogging (Video logging). Well it’s not going to happen anytime soon. I think if I do video logging, I will have to be showing something far more interesting than my old face! Something like a good snowstorm. Hmmm… I do like e-mail. I think it has more people communicating with each other. I can even send silly jokes to my grandsons. Whatever the case, I will try to keep this blog as interesting as possible. Sometimes, I have to hold back because I realize that some of the things I write about are family things … and not everyone wants to have their information, ideas or issues put out here for all to see. I actually had one person tell me something recently … and then they said “don’t put that on your blog!” So I will be sensitive to that. There are even people I know who DON’T cheer for the Toronto Maple Leafs, if you believe that! My Google stats tell me that people read the blog more if there are photos, so I will work on that too.
It has been an interesting week in Timmins. We are now in 2012, our official centennial year. It was kicked off Sunday with a spectacular ice skating show that featured a fellow named Elvis Stojko. I was pleased to meet him and have a brief chat (one of the perks of the news business). He’s a very pleasant fellow. The best part was seeing him skate. I have never seen a professional figure skater perform before, in a live situation. It blew me away. Television cannot match the speed and energy these people have. So that was good.In another story our local police will be patrolling the ice road on the James Bay coast, the one that eventually leads to the De Beers diamond mine. I might go up and check it out. It will be a few weeks yet before the weather is cold enough to completey freeze the road. Interestingly, you don’t need a driver’s licence or insurance on that road.
Speaking of weather, we have plenty of snow here in Timmins and this week it has been a very mild minus-ten to minus-twenty. I was out hiking twice yesterday and it was perfect.