Summer Weekends

 Last weekend was a good one in Sudbury and brought back fun memories. It was the annual Northern Lights Festival Boreal, a big music party at Bell Park. Hard to believe it was the 50th anniversary. I got a kick of going there and that's good because I had to work and take photographs. It was nice to see people out having a good time enjoying the beautiful weather and the great music. It had been so long since I had heard live music I had to stop a few times just enjoy the sounds.

Stinky men's room!

There have been a few times in recent months when I wondered if I had been infected by COVID-19. Thanks to the Rapid Access Tests -- which I am told are not fully reliable -- I believe I have dodged that bullet. Now I am not qualified to make any declarations on COVID (very few of us are!) but I know that I have not experienced the range of symptoms others have talked about. I did an interview recently with a woman who told me how she had lost her senses of taste and smell. She no longer enjoys the taste and aroma of a refreshing cup of coffee. I would miss that so much. Anyhow, I must admit we have a situation here at work that challenges my sense of smell at least once a week. 

Our office here on the fifth floor shares one bathroom with a couple of other offices. And yes, at least once a week I am reminded that I have a very good sense of smell. Sadly it is the men's room that does that.

Had a good time ...then felt like crap

 Back home in Sudbury after my annual trip to Toronto for the annual Prospector's convention. As in the past it was a good time, but it seems to have beaten me up a bit. I was fine during the convention itselt but when I got home, I was floored and feeling so sick. 

Of course I was worried it was COVID-19 but I took a couple of Rapid Anitigen Tests and both were negative. Still I had that suspicion for the past few days. I had some chills and aches, but no fever or high temperature. I took some Advils and gradually got better. 

So it's Sunday morning and I am just feeling normal... which is so much better. Whatever it was I am glad I am triple-vaxxed.

The convention didn't have as many delegates this year, but there was still about 20,000 people there from around the world. I always find it interesting to meet so many people who come to Canada to learn more about mining because Canada is still the world leader.

The other great part of the convention is the social aspect, going to parties and hospitality events. It is always fun to meet people you haven't seen in awhile. I was so pleased to see my niece Valerie Maltais, who now works for a mining company based out of Chicago. Val and I had not seen each other since the last live version of the convention held in 2020. It was so nice to get caught up with Val and her husband Denis. 

The court is wrong

I do not support capital punishment. Too often, our courts have made mistakes. Innocent people have been executed in the past. Innocent people have been sent to jail. 

But by the same token, I do not support giving parole to extreme criminals who have been clearly convicted of extreme crimes. I never liked the idea of seeing convicted killers go free after 10 or 15 years. 

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled this past week that it was wrong for Canadian courts to impose consecutive life sentences, thus effectively denying parole to extreme criminals.

The court will now allow convicted killers to seek parole after 25 years. I do not agree with that.  If you are an extreme criminal, such as one of those people involved in mass shootings, I believe you spend life in prison. If you are innocent, there are enough ways to find out and set you free.

The justice system in Canada is not perfect; never has been. Now it will be even less so. My opinion. 

Nice work Mattea Roach

 Okay so I am a big fan of Jeopardy! and an even bigger fan of Mattea Roach, the Nova Scotia woman who is doing so well on the American game show. 

I think what really impressed me is that she has some amazing knowledge on so many things, and not just about stuff in Canada, but also about so many things in the USA.

I am more than pleased at how well she represents and how everyone is so proud of her. Nice work Mattea Roach! 

HO-JEOPARDY PRODUCTIONS, INC. **MANDATORY CREDIT** / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Charming as hell

I was going through some files when I found this photograph and it brought back a memory from 2008. It was a fundraiser for the Timmins hospital on a rainy afternoon in June.  

              Left to right, Charlie Angus, Jack Layton and Tom Laughren.

The event was a Ribfest. It was raining. I had some time chatting with the late Jack Layton. He came across as really wanting to be a fellow that was liked. The more we talked, the more I wanted him to succeed in that. I mentioned that the rain reminded me of a day of canoeing. He agreed and told me of his experiences canoeing on the Nahanni River in the Northwest Territories, one of Canada's iconic wilderness rivers. He was charming as hell. I liked him. I didn't always agree with Layton's politics or his tactics, but I liked the man. It was a good day. 

Baileys, Yes. Baileys Light, no.

 So the weekend was nice, visiting Jenn and Scott and the boys, as well as the extended family. We had an amazing Easter Dinner that was so good I had to have a second helping. I have not had seconds of any meal since Christmas.  It was just the nicest thing and it was so great to see everyone, looking healthy and happy. Life does not get much better. 

One other thing was brought to my attention. Baileys, which makes that wonderful liqueur that tastes so good in coffee, has a Light version with less sugar. It says 40 per cent less sugar and fewer calories too.

It sucks!

If you like Baileys, drink the real stuff. Taste is what it is all about. 

Just sayin'

The right choice

The Liberals have a habit of putting things off when it comes to purchasing new aircraft. They did it with the Cormorant for Canada's Search and Rescue operations. It cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars extra. 

Canada did it again with the decision to purchase the F35. Twelve years ago, the cost would have been $19 billion. Now it will cost many billions more. The Harper government was choosing the F35. The Liberals did not like that and promised never to buy the F35. 

Now a group of non-partisan experts have decided the F35 is the best for Canada. The Liberals now agree. Interesting to see the flip flop.

Still I have to say that it is the right decision. To purchase any other plane at this time would be rolling back the clock. Harper's government made the right choice in the first place. Glad to see the Liberals have accepted that. 

Think

So have you heard a good rumour lately? Something about the pandemic ticked you off? Or you read that the government is doing something unbelievable.  Maybe the truckers have won a big lawsuit and they are growing in popularity around the world. 

And then just when you think it's all fake, you find that somebody you trust has retweeted the message or posted it to their own social media. Well then it must be true eh. Not so.

A group of journalists and online experts have determined that Russian troll factories are spewing out disinformation at an alarming rate. And in Canada, because we are not on buddy-buddy terms with Vladimir Putin, we are in the line of fire for the trolling that is being put on all of our social media platforms.

The worst thing I find is that many of the so called news stories are showing up on fake news platforms deliberately masquerading as real news sites.

Imagine you're sitting down for a meal in a restaurant and a new server shows up with your food and said oh, here is a complimentary entree and free drinks. 

Can't believe how many people are falling for the fake stuff.

Think before you accept anything.

Watching airplanes near Ukraine

 It is interesting to watch Flightradar24, an aviation website. It shows where airplanes are flying in real time. This morning I was watching flight callsign Jake12,  a KC135 tanker plane flying a racetrack style circuit over Romania, right next door to the Black Sea and Ukraine. The plane is registered to the United States Air Force and is certainly providing air refueling services for other aircraft -- most likely military planes -- that are flying with their transponders turned off. That means they cannot be seen on the flightradar website. 

Also this morning, I was watching a US Army Beech RC-12, which is a signals intelligence spyplane, flying over Lithuania, off the northwest coast of Belarus. The flight callsign was Yank03, no secrets there as to who this plane belongs to.  It was also flying a circuit back and forth, to pick up any electronic radio signals.

Hoping for brighter days

So today I confess I complained with some of my co-workers about the price of gasoline. I shouldn't have. I am sure it is going to get worse. But then I figured if that is all I have to complain about, I am really not doing too badly.

I had to send off a note of condolence to a friend whose mother died last week. That is always difficult for families to go through.

Of course, I am thinking about the poor people of Ukraine who are dealing with a mad man from Russia trying to destroy their country. 

Those poor people are suddenly losing everything they hold dear, but they are also hungry, thirsty, cold and in danger.

I feel badly for younger people. We have done everything we can to make life easier for young people, just because we love them and want to see them enjoy things more. 

Then we get a pandemic. Then we get a war. 

For younger people who have never had any suffering of any sort, this is all terribly unfair. 

I wish I had answers. 

Word game fun

 So I am really enjoying the new word game called Wordle. It's fun and it is a nice brain teaser once a day. The idea is to guess a new five-letter word each day. You enter your guess and the game tells you which letters are correct. A grey letter is wrong. A green letter is a correct guess, with the letter in the right place. A yellow letter is a correct letter, but in the wrong location. 

So you guess again and hope your letters are all green. You get six guesses. The idea is to guess the right word quickly. I find it works be eliminating all the grey letters and thinking of a new five-letter word. So give it a try. You might enjoy it. 

Wordle - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Just stupid

I am glad to see police are finally clearing up the protester situation in Ottawa. I believe they had a right to protest, but not to carry it on into a siege. I honestly think there were a lot of well-meaning people who got sucked in here, thinking they were just protesting the vaccine mandates. 

Then the real organizers said they want to toss out the government and set up a committee with the governor general. 

 Okay that’s when things got stupid. This is Canada. This is not Mexico or Venezuela. Things like this do not happen in Canada. Oh, people can try stupid things but talk of overthrowing the government is against the law in most countries. I guess you can talk all the bullshit you want but most Canadians will not let it happen. Also, I think it was wrong for people to bring their children to a protest. That’s goes beyond stupid. 

 The sad part is these people are not happy with the government and they will try something else stupid. Maybe they should just wait for an election.

Not sure why I found this picture ...

 I don't know why I did it. I found this photo on Google maps, streetview.  I get comfort from the photo of this old house in Sydney, Nova Scotia.  This is the home where my maternal grandparents lived -- Tina and Archie Maclean.  128 Cornishtown Road. It's the home where my mom grew up. It's the house where I have some of my earliest memories as a child. Several of my aunts, uncles and cousins lived nearby. When we came back to Canada after living in France for a few years, it's the first place my parents drove to when we got off the ship in Quebec City. 

I remember Gary and I jumping around in the back seat of our family station wagon as we headed down the highway to Cape Breton. I wasn't sure why we were so excited, but Gary kept saying we were going to where we were both born.  I remember arriving here and seeing Grandma and Archie coming out the front door to greet us. Ronald was still a toddler but I am pretty sure he picked up on the excitement from Gary and myself. 

I have great memories of being in the house that summer. Archie would come home from work at the steel mill and he always had cookies left over in his lunchbox for me. Gary and I used to go picking blueberries and picking rhubarb. One of those trees on the right side of the house was a cherry tree. We would collect the fruit and Grandma would bake pies for us. Many times, I would find Archie sitting in his rocking chair in the front porch, smoking a pipe. If I wanted to go to the store down the street to buy candy, he would reach into his pocket and give me a penny. 

Life was good eh?

We are a nation of whiners

 I was pleased to cover the trucker's protest convoy at is rolled through parts of Northern Ontario on Friday. It was nice to see people demonstrating and getting some frustrations off their chest.  

I was concerned in reading some of the comments from people on social media who seem to think that they are living a terrible life in Canada because of the pandemic and all the inconveniences we have to endure. Yes it is frustrating and irritating at times.

So the truckers don't like mandates. Oh well. Good thing the restaurant cooks went to work so the truckers could get some food. Likewise for the grocery stores. Glad they stayed open. And kudos to the fuel station workers who managed to show up for work. That way people can still buy gasoline and diesel.  And for the thousands of protesters going to Ottawa, I see Facebook postings of them from their hotel rooms. Ohhh the hardship! 

So here we are as Canadians in 2022. It got me thinking back to the time of 1942 when there was a war on all around the world and people really had serious things to worry about. People today can't seem to remember that part of our history when Canadians had to really sacrifice personal liberties and go without a lot of creature comforts. 

We have become a nation of whiners.

Loving newer technology

 So I take a daily insulin shot now. My nurse practitioner said it would be best to wait until after Christmas to start the new program. I had to agree. She said a small daily dose of insulin would go a long way to stabilizing my blood-sugar count. At first I was nervous about the idea of giving myself a daily shot, but the days of using a full syringe to withdraw insulin from a vial are over. 

I now use an "injection pen" that puts a pre-measured dose of insulin into the needle. I jab myself in the belly and the dose goes in.  I have to use an alcohol swab and I change the needle tip every day with a new needle. Less pain than a finger jab to test my blood-sugar level. The needles are small and super sharp. I am amazed at the how the technology makes everything so easy now.

Everything changes ... eventually

Anyone who knows me well knows I am (was) a diehard fan of the BlackBerry phone. I have used BlackBerrys for about 15 years and they have been useful and served me nicely. Things change. BlackBerry announced this past week it is no longer supporting the operating system for its phones. In fact, BlackBerry no longer makes cellular phones -- interesting since it was BlackBerry that invented the smartphone.   

It was the same day I noticed my own phone was acting up. So after doing some research and speaking to a lot of people about their own phone choices, I went out Friday and purchased a new device. I have an iPhone 12 now. It seems to have far more bells and whistles than I will ever use, but I am impressed with the photography aspects.

Apple says the software and supporting programs are good for six to seven years. So we will see how it goes. 

Christmas 2021 in Val Caron

I was pleased to spend another Christmas with Jennifer and her family in 2021. Things have changed a bit because of COVID-19 and that included the fact that I did not enjoy the usual tradition of having lunch and Christmas shopping with Tyler and Nathan on Christmas Eve. That is something we have enjoyed for more than 10 years, but I decided that we wouldn’t do that this year, because the case counts of the virus are just out of control in Ontario. Hopefully we can it again next year. The weather was too mild and we actually had rain on Christmas Eve and freezing rain on Christmas morning. But it was still Christmas because of the family. The best part was just sitting around talking, laughing and enjoying each other’s company – something we haven’t been doing in recent months. Of course, Baby Ace was the centre of attention as he took in his first ever Christmas with all the family, the celebrating and the fun. Not everyone was able to be at the house this year, but they were in all in our thoughts and they know that we were thinking about them and wishing them the best. Enjoy the photos.

The best ride ever

So with only a few weeks left in 2021, I was watching a railroad video on YouTube when I realized that 50 years have gone by since the summer of 1971. That’s no big deal except it was a special time for me in that it was the first and only time I hopped a freight train.

But it was way more than that. It all began one summer evening in June of ’71 in North Bay. I was with Doug Abbott, one of my high school pals and we were walking along the side of Highway 17 heading toward the waterfalls on Duchesnay Creek. A lot of people would go there for the scenery. Abbott and I went there just for a bit of an after-supper hike and to smoke cigarettes. Sometimes, we would bring a few beers we stole from home. On this particular evening, we came across a backpacker hitchhiking along the highway. At the time, Highways 17 and 11 were called the North Bay Bypass. So we asked the guy where he was heading. He said he was going back to Toronto. He had already been out west to Vancouver, He explained that hundreds of young people like himself were criss-crossing Canada, riding their thumb to see different parts of the country. Suddenly what this guy said made sense. We had both noticed in recent days that a lot of hitchhikers were travelling through North Bay. It was a crossroads for east-west and north-south travel. 

 SEE CANADA FIRST 

 Also, the idea of hitchhiking had been in the news. Canada’s prime minister Pierre Trudeau had commented on a trend that many young Canadians were heading to the United States and Europe to go backpacking. Trudeau coined the phrase “See Canada First” and it had prompted thousands of young people to start travelling. Abbott and I began talking about what kind of fun that would be. School was over and neither of us had lined up summer jobs yet. Abbott said this was something we should do. Yeah, sure. So when? Right now, said Abbott. The idea became more and more attractive as the minutes ticked by. Let’s go talk to our parents, pack our gear and meet back here in one hour. So we did. I remember talking to my mom that night. She was not well at the time. Mom had multiple sclerosis and it was taking a serious toll on her. I told her Abbott and I wanted to do some hitchhiking across Northern Ontario and maybe head a bit further west. That particular year, my friends and I had made several weekend fishing and camping trips around the North. We would pack our gear, sleeping bags, camping equipment and fishing stuff and take off for two or three days. We did this winter and summer. It was normal for me to have my gear packed and ready. This latest venture didn’t seem out of the ordinary, so Mom was okay with it. I asked her for some money. Mom had $21. She gave it to me. I looked in the kitchen and grabbed a few cans of beans, tuna and whatever else looked good. I promised Mom I would keep in touch. Within an hour, I was back out of the bypass where I met Abbott. We were both grinning and excited. We put our thumbs out and in about 15 minutes we had a ride. I really can’t remember, but I believe the first ride took us to Sudbury. By then it was getting dark. It didn’t take long for us to hitch another ride and in that time we were heading for Sault Ste. Marie. The guy said he was heading into Michigan if we wanted to keep going and we said yes. Both of us had heard that you didn’t want to be heading north of Lake Superior and chance getting stuck in Wawa. I don’t remember where we slept that night but I have a recollection of being in Marquette, Michigan. It was not unusual for Abbott and I to throw down our poncho, unroll a sleeping bag and crash on any flat piece of dry ground we could find. We were experienced outdoors campers in that sense. The next day we continued our trip west, through Michigan, Wisconsin and into Minnesota. That’s where we made a right turn at Duluth and headed North. 

 It took us another day before we got to the Canadian border and to our surprise we were still in Ontario, where we crossed over at International Falls / Fort Frances. Thank goodness we both had Royal Canadian Air Force ID, as both our dads were in the RCAF at North Bay. The US border agents suspected we might have been American-born draft dodgers. They gave us a hard time for about 20 minutes and were not ready to let us go into Canada. So we continued thumbing. It was late afternoon; early evening and we had arrived in Kenora. Walking through the downtown, along Highway 17 we saw a Dairy Queen and there was a crowd of young people sitting on the steps there. Most of them of had backpacks. They were like us, they were hitchhikers. We stopped, bought cones and sat down to talk. Some were excited to share their experiences in coming from the west with plans to travel to Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. They were also surprised that Abbott and I had travelled through the U.S. south of Lake Superior. Puffed up with two days of experience we mentioned, hey you don’t want to take a chance on getting stuck in Wawa! 

That’s when I heard the most amazing story. One of the fellows had ridden a freight train through the Rockies. Wow! What a trip. I almost didn’t believe the guy. Then he said the most amazing thing. He said the train driver let him on the train without a hassle. A free ride. No problem. He just asked the guy and the guy said yeah, go ahead, jump on. So that was just the best story and it amazed me. I didn’t think I would ever give it another thought, but I would remember it about five days later. Abbott and I got ready to head out. It was dark by now. We would need to find a place to crash. That’s when one of the guys who was in the Dairy Queen crowd … just another young guy … asked where we planned to stay the night. We said we would likely head out to the edge of town and find a farmer’s field or something like that. The guy offered us to stay at his parent’s cabin. He said he was staying there, kind of house-sitting for his parents who were in Winnipeg. He said it was a big cabin right on the lake, maybe half a mile away. Wow, it was like Disneyland. This guy’s family had money. The cabin was nothing short of a luxury log cabin. We were prepared to unroll our sleeping bags and sleep on the floor, but we each had our own bedroom! Next morning, we enjoyed hot showers, a fresh shave and a real breakfast; coffee, orange juice, bacon, eggs, toast and jam. Abbott and I were amazed with our luck so far. This hitchhiking thing was the best. I made a point of picking up a postcard and sending it home to let my parents know where I was and that I was okay. This was in the time before the Internet and cellphones. Postcards were a good option. Over the next few days, I was able to send off a few more postcards. We had stops in Winnipeg, Portage La Prairie, Regina, Medicine Hat, Fort MacLeod and Calgary. We arrived in Calgary in the middle of a summer rain storm. We walked through the downtown area around suppertime hoping to find a youth hostel. It didn’t happen. Abbott and I did find a laneway next to the Eaton’ s store downtown that had several empty boxes for refrigerators. And that’s where we slept for the night. 

The morning after in Calgary was a beautiful sunny, summer morning after the rainfall. We found a gas station and diner on the western edge of town, right on Highway 1. I remember sitting at the counter where we drank coffee, ate toast, smoked cigarettes and listened to Janis Joplin singing Me and Bobby McGee on the jukebox. Looking off to the west, we could just make out some of the peaks of the peaks of the Rocky Mountains on the horizon. I was excited. This was going to be a great day. That’s when Abbott spoke up and said we had to take a slight detour. I looked at him like he was from another planet. “What are you talking about, man? We’ve got to get to Banff to see those mountains.” Abbott said he had promised his mom that we would stop for a short visit with his aunt who lived in a little town north of Calgary. I couldn’t believe it. “Come on man, we’ve got to keep moving. Do our thing. We don’t need to visit some old lady.” Looking back, I know I was stubborn. Abbott likely had made a sincere promise to his mom. I didn’t respect that and I should have. I was a jerk. A guy who makes a promise to his mom is honour bound to keep that promise. Abbott and I split up. He went north. I went west. I didn’t think I was being selfish at the time, but all these years later, it still bothers me. I got over it that morning when I thumbed a ride into Banff. I remember seeing the mountains for the first time. They were amazing. As we approached the entrance to Banff National Park, the car slowed down and I told the guy I wanted to get out. It was beautiful. Just outside the park entrance, there was a large sign, bigger than a billboard that was actually a chalkboard. Hundreds of people had left messages: Joey, I am going to Jasper. Susan, meet me in Regina. Johnny O is moving on to Vancouver. I wrote my name, with the date and then an arrow pointing to the word Vancouver. Maybe Abbott would see it. 

Long story short, I was walking through Banff, when I met up with one of the fellows I had met in Kenora. We began chatting and just ended up spending the day together. I still cannot remember his name. We didn’t have much money but we ate hot dogs and drank chocolate milk for a late afternoon supper. We began moving out of Banff and heading west to find a place for camp for the night. Rides were hard to come by because there were so many people trying to hitch rides. It might have been around 8:00 p.m. when were on a stretch of Highway 1 just west of Lake Louise. There wasn’t much road traffic. I looked out across the highway and in the distance, maybe 200 metres away, there was a CP Rail freight locomotive moving ahead and back. It was slowly building up a train, gradually adding cars. Suddenly I was inspired. I crossed the highway, climbed a little fence and began running across a field toward the train. I told Buddy to stay put and I would be right back. As I got close to the locomotive, I hollered at the train driver. “Are you going west?” Where are you headed, he asked. “Going to Vancouver” I am just going to Revelstoke, he said. “Is that west of here? I hollered back. Couple of hundred miles, he said. “Can we hitch a ride? I asked. He paused. Then he said. Jump in the third locomotive back there. We won’t be leaving for another hour. I ran back to Buddy laughing and smiling the whole time. I told him to grab all the stuff and head back across the field to the train. We did what the driver said and climbed up on to the third locomotive from the front. We opened the door and sat down inside. It was noisy as hell with a strong smell of diesel. Soon enough the train guy came back to talk to us. He bummed a smoke and then said we had to sit on the floor because he didn’t want us to be seen as the train slowed down at each station on the line. He said if a train cop saw us, they could force him to stop the train and we would be arrested. He added that he would claim he didn’t know anything about us. And so it was. We rode the train west through some of the most spectacular scenery in Canada. Yes it was at night, but the moon was out and we loved it. The Rockies, the Rogers Pass, the spiral tunnels, Glacier National Park, the Columbian Mountains, the Selkirk Mountains. We slept off and on, but it was too much fun to sleep the whole night. Sometime between 5:00 and 6:00 a.m. it became daylight. The train began slowing down. Just as he said he would, the train driver slowed the train to about five miles per hour as he entered the Revelstoke yard limit. That was our cue to jump off. Several minutes later we walked into the coffee shop at the Revelstoke train station. The staff there saw us with our backpacks and seemed to know we had come in on the overnight freight train. We were tired and hungry. So we had a breakfast and talked about all the excitement of the night before. Ordinary hitchhiking would never seem as fun or interesting as riding the train through the Rockies.

Updating --- Got my third shot

December has been an unusual month in Sudbury in that we have had an unusual number of COVID-19 cases in the district. In fact, Sudbury has leading most of Northern Ontario in that respect. I was pleased when the province announced that third-dose booster vaccines were being made available to residents aged 50 and older. So last week like hundreds of other city residents, I was off to the local hockey arena to get the shot. It was a reassuring thing. My QR code vaccine passport has already been updated, showing that I have my third shot.

Had a nice visit with Jenn and her family Sunday. It was the first time I had been over to the house in almost a month. The last time was Nathan's birthday supper, which was nice. It is always great to spend time with the boys, but I enjoyed it a little bit more by getting to see Nate's son Ace (My great grandson). It was nice to see the rest of the family, but Ace has a way of making himself the star attraction these days.

Work has been good in the past month because we have been so busy. I really like the newsroom gang and we manage to get a lot of good work done together. We had a secret Santa gift exchange at work and I was more than pleased when one of my coworkers bought me a toque and a nice bottle of Scotch whiskey. I will save it for a special occasion. Also, in recent weeks I have been researching a lot on the popularity of Bourbon whiskies. I have tried a few of the better Bourbon's and am really surprised at how smooth and tasty many of them are. I still enjoy a Scotch, but there are some lovely new choices out there to experiment with.