a poem in prose

So, I was looking through some papers and found something I wrote about two-and-a-half decades ago. Since I am still not 100%, despite pulling off a 20 KM hike with the boy yesterday, for your reading pleasure, my arrogant youth. (unedited)

A View Outward To Appreciate What is Inside

a poem in prose

I walk on a very high, narrow wall that has gaping spaces in its top.This wall is studded with glass and jagged edges on the top and on its sides. On either side is an eternal depth, one the antithesis to the other. Both are what I am, or more accurately, could be and eventually will become. I cannot be both, but I cannot consciously choose. I can accidentally fall, or subconsciously jump, onto one of the two sides. I could even get a "helping" hand to push me into one or the other, but I cannot tell it which. If I enter one of them, the only way to get back onto the wall or reach the other side, is to climb the jaggedly studded wall and risk impalement or a minimum of many severe lacerations to my inner body. My other alternatives are to find one of the ends and go around or the bottom and dig my way under to the other side. Alas, the wall is endless in all directions from the top. I cannot go through the wall, for it may be as thin as thin can be, but it is much too thick to break through, even with the sharpest pickaxe or the most powerful explosion as well. I cannot go through any of the gaps, for they are coated with the broken glass; therefore I cannot grasp any place to pull myself through. If, when walking on the wall, I fall into one of the gaps, I am dead. I will fall down the gap until suddenly, it narrows to such an extent that it halts my body and crushes it. Accidental unbias is not allowed, it must be fought for. To walk the top of my wall, I must endure the jagged surface in every step, for there is not a smooth space large enough to walk on or stand in. As I perform my rituals to walk the wall, I am not allowed to reveal what I endure. The consequences would be collapse of the wall and I would tumble downward to reach the bottom before the ruins, defying gravity, to be buried by my own hand. This is not hard to do really, except that my feet are bare, my vision blurred, my muscles weak, and my soul aflame. That is where the difficulty arises. I walk this wall, for I am reckless. I do not perceive what I would desire to be; which side of the wall to be on, or to walk on my wall of false impartiality. One side of the wall is dexter, social acceptance, contemporary false reality; the other, sinister, the darkest evil, villainy, recklessness, carnage. I do not choose because I cannot envision where the true challenge and adventure lie. However, on the other side of the token (a wooden nickel perhaps? -- perhaps.), it is quite a challenge and internal adventure to walk on my wall.

Pee-yew!

rideau challenge journey - the boy

So, the boy and I headed out today for 10:00 AM. We got the route for his Scout hike and it is always wise to check out where you are going before you go. We did the whole route. Good thing too, because it ended up being longer than the estimated distances than what was culled from the maps.

This hike is supposed to be done over two days and the boy did it in one. I just shadowed him and at ever junction or possible confusing fork, asked him which way to go to see if his navigation skills were working. He got it right every time. He understands how the Rideau Trail works and for a kid who is twelve years old, he has his head screwed on right.

There were some pretty mucky sections and he took it in stride. I can say, I am very proud of him for hiking over twenty kilometres (12 1/2 miles) and keeping a steady pace and not getting confused or distracted.

He ate a hell of a lot of pepperettes to keep his energy up though. Me, none, after the dental surgery, I could not maw down on them.

It was nearly thirteen kilometres in about three and a half hours before we stopped for lunch. He made oatmeal and soup for lunch with a forty minute stop. Then about eight and a half kilometres in about two and a half hours to finish. The last 2 k took 20 minutes. That is fast for a kid.

In total, 21.26 kilometres (13.21 mi) in 6 hours 49 minutes and 48 seconds. That includes 10 minutes fixing my pack at the beginning, 40+ minutes stopping for lunch and several breaks, plus photo ops. In reality, less than 6 hours actual hiking. That works out to over 3 1/2 km/h. The estimate to expect is 2 1/2 km/h. Pretty good stuff. I am impressed with myself too, though. After having my teeth ripped out less than twenty-four prior, I should have been not up it it at all.

We are awesome man. Real life explorers in our own backyard. And to boot, we repelled an attack from Squirrelajj Ventress this morning and another one when we got back.

The boy then made raviolis for dinner for everyone and has pitched a tent in the back to fulfil the spirit of the entire Rideau Challenge Journey to ensure he completes it for himself, in case his Troop is unable to attend.

Wow. I am bushed, my boots are caked with mud, my dogs are barking. You should see the boys blue jeans, they look like khakis. What a day! What a great way to celebrate the fantastic weather and the start of great "dry" season of hiking.

Oh. Yeah. We also fixed a fence in our maintenance section of the trail that some jackass, hammerhead, moron ATV jerkwad drove through. I should be harsher, but this is a family show. I have no direct issues with ATVs. But listen, it is bad enough when they tear up hiking-only trails, but to crash through a fence, when you are not supposed to be there in the first place and the fact that it could have been opened, up driven through, and put back in place without any damage. Butthead!

Anyway, time to rest up. The boy has volunteering tomorrow and those squirrels are not going to be repelled on their own.

taking a break at a shelter

the countdown resumes - 20 teeth

T-day was today. Two more teeth yanked, bringing me down to twenty teeth.

When they brought me in to the room for surgery, there were many people. I lost count, four, five assistants at various times, the dental surgeon. 

Anyway, they hook me up to the I.V. and put some oxygen over my face. They ask if I am cold. Yep. Want a blanket. That would be delightful. Plus, it will help reduce the chances of me throwing a punch. Sometimes, if I am startled, I will cock my arm back and occasionally take a shot.

Fortunately, as far as I know, we remained friends. At some point, I am transported on a flying carpet to another room to rest and recover. Another blanket, so maybe I did fire one across the bow.

Then next thing, I am being off-loaded from a zeppelin and they bring me to another room and the wife is there. A bunch of instructions that I cannot recall many of. I need to pee, but figure I will wait until we get home. I have no idea what on my body is anaesthetised and want to remain tidy until I get home.

I had some trouble walking, I was listing to starboard. I always appear to list to starboard. We make it to the wife's car, a very nearly 15 year old Pontiac Vibe that will not surrender, and off we go. At one point, I am certain I was transferred to a helicopter and eventually a submarine. That was when we got to our pharmacy to fill the prescription for the painkillers the dental surgeon gave me.

Afterwards, I was on a barge or ferry or hovercraft. Not sure. Anyway, get in the door, lay down on my favourite couch. Another blanket. Several naps, trips on elevators I had no idea we had in this house until now, and some WKRP in Cincinnati.

Several mugs of cup-o-soup and broth and tea. I am feeling better. Pain was building up, but took some killers. The wife made me chocolate mousse. Awesome!

I managed to muster a defence on Squirrel Vader. I pulled off a counter-attack as well. He has taken to bullying the other squirrels when he does go for the easy-pickings on the ground. I hate bullies, in all forms. I sent him on his way and appears yet to return this evening. I will have to take more drastic measures if he continues to bully. Bullying of all types should never be tolerated, regardless if it is a child, adult, parent, supervisor, squirrel, what have you.

So, soup, of course, for dinner. Mousse for dessert!

I am so very glad I got my hike in early this morning. I am not so sure I can set the boy on an twenty kilometre hike tomorrow either. I will try the regular four km with the boy and see how that goes. Sunday is a no-go for the 20 k either. The boy has several hours of volunteering. So, next week maybe, if he is not otherwise engaged.

About to turn in. One last dose of painkillers. Thawing some soup for tomorrow. I think ham for dinner tomorrow or Sunday. The way I cook it, it often hardly needs much chewing, just melts in your mouth. That is what I will do Sunday: ham, mashed potatoes, mushy carrots, and maybe the wife will make fresh rolls (they will be super soft). there are also rumours of further mousse and perhaps jello.

I know some of my tale seems unbelievable, but I assure you I did watch WKRP in Cincinnati, while slipping in and out of consciousness, today.

squirrel vader and his minions

Well, the squirrels have stepped up their assault of the sunflower seed feeder.

As the Irish joke says, they are driving me flipping me wild.

Squirrel Vader is absolutely over the top. Literally. I have found him wrapped around the ball feeder through the little hanging arm.  He should buy it a drink first.

That is the one with the bushy tail. His minions, have rat like tails. I have named them: Squirrelo Ren and Squirrel Tyranus. They are also known as the Three Stooges, but I also call another trio of ass-hats that too, so I do not use it too much with the squirrels. It is a bit of an insult to the squirrels compared to these knuckleheads.

These guys (the squirrels, not the knuckleheads) sit in the birch tree and think I do not know what they are up to. I have been throwing various objects, mostly hazel nuts, at them to shoo them away. It has now reached the point of when I open the back door to the deck that they either throw themselves off and smack the ground or they take off and I grab a fallen branch and wave it around until they back off.

Yes, I am turning in to one of those weird neighbours.

The thing is, they are working so hard at being lazy. It baffles me. There are easy pickings on the ground. I am pretty sure the American goldfinches are throwing seeds down to them just to spite me. That is fine.

If those dinks would just take the easy pickings. I have already had to replace the nylon cord that the feeder was hanging off of with electrical wire, because they chewed through it. (I wonder, if I hooked a battery up to the wire, would it hurt the birds. Not really though. That would be wrong.)

Today, somehow, they popped the lid off the feeder. It is held in place with a spring that is supposed to be squirrel proof. Well, it is not.

The squirrels with the brown tails seem to not be going after the feeder directly. One, with a golden brown tail, usually just stays where he is when I open the door. He has not pissed me off and it seems that he realises that. I have yet to name him. Ginger? Golden Boy? Slacker? Suggestions? 

However, the one (all) brown squirrel that appears to have made our property his home was in up to its elbows this morning on the feeder. I have named this one Squirrelajj Ventress. I was very disappointed with this one.

Mister Chippy, the chipmunk, has not tried, as far as I know, to assault the feeder. He seems to just feed off the ground. He is up to something though, because I have not seen him much. I did find him in the garage the other day, but he left quite amicably when I asked him to leave.

The grey squirrels have not been sighted for some time, but they usually disappear for a while, but it is early days for that. Maybe they cashed in their airmiles and are somewhere balmy.

It will be difficult over the next few days to defend the fortress, as I am undergoing dental surgery tomorrow, and I have been advised that I will be quite messed up. I hope not. I was hoping to run the boy through his hiking route for his Scouting Challenge on Saturday. Actually, I will just brief him and he will hike it with me just following. That way, he understands the route for the actual day. That is, if he goes. If not, he has the satisfaction that he completed it on his own. Plus he adds to his total for the Rideau Trail Canada 150 Challenge. He is already up to just over 40 kliks, and that is just doing it sporadically on weekends since March. This hike will add about 20 km and if he does the hike again with his Scout Troop, that is another 20 k. He would be half done.

Anyway, very late. I need to get a hike in tomorrow morning before surgery and probably fight off a few assaults on my precious bird feeder as well; before getting doped up and have parts of my body forcibly removed. Nighty-night.

kemptville is a clean town

Super busy today doing all kinds of paperwork and "fixing". Most of my day was eaten up by volunteer administration.

The volunteering did not end with the day. Just got back from Kemptville. The boy and I were Scouting with them tonight. They have a pretty slick Scout Troop.

Tonight was their night to assist with community cleanup. Well, Earth Day was just this past Saturday, and it is pitch-in week this week too. We helped clean up a stretch of highway 43 where it meets highway 44, through to the Kemptville Creek.

Let me tell you, not much in the ditches, the worst was around culverts, but those are usually choke points anyway. Compared to Ottawa, Kemptville is spotless. I was quite impressed. Ottawa is pretty dirty without comparison, but compared to Kemptville, Ottawa blows.

It is a nice town. They have a ribfest in June. I have always missed going. Maybe this year. They too have a music festival. They used to do a medieval festival, but that appears to have fallen by the wayside. There is supposed to be a Dandelion Festival in May, but the website is kind of weird.

Anyway, nice tidy town. Friendly people. Stuff to do. Great Scouting program. Hope I can make ribfest this year. It would be easier than going in to downtown Ottawa. I can smell the smoke already.

another sign of spring - dumptrucks

I am still somewhat preoccupied with my own problems, but I will give it a shot with a new realisation today.

Dumptruck to the right of us,

Dumptruck to the left of us,

Dumptruck to the front of us.

I forgot they got out of hibernation when things warm up. These guys were everywhere today, dumping dirt for landscaping projects. 

Driving in to the road, no flagmen, gates not latched.

One guy thought he was in the Daytona 500. The boy and I were glad when he turned and we went straight.

Another non-nature sure sign of spring? Landscapers with either dump trailers that are overkill or fly-by-night guys with dinky, rickety trailers. Always parked on the side of the road, badly. I have no problem with people making a buck any way they can, but man open your eyes. Your trailer is in the road making it hard for traffic to move. And you dumptruck guys. Jeez, that is a big piece of kit, careful with it.

The neighbours are active too. One has a really cool rig. An old golf bag on wheels with all their yard implements. I was envious. Another, pays the neighbour's the boy to take care of his yard. He does a good job too. I hired him once or twice last year when we were travelling.

I am usually the last on my little street to get started. So, I guess I have now gotten fair notice. No worries. I need to expand the vegetable garden and work on the edible landscaping too. It is just that it is still pretty wet out back and pretty darned chilly at night. Oh well, it is May next Monday. I better hop to it.

I need to check Home Depot out. I heard tell they sell a pear tree that has several varieties of pear grafted to it. So you get several kinds. I like that! I want to get another fruit tree too, just have not decided what, not apple I think. Plus I want to make sure they do not get too big. I may go with a hazelnut or filbert too as there are two domestic varieties that are more like shrubs.

I should be able to get on it next week. I go under the knife on Friday, my surgery got pushed up. Thank all that is holy and good in this world. I almost did it myself the other day. I am in excruciating pain. Time to self medicate. 

Bye-bye.

barbecue tip - side burner

Still not back to 100% yet, but I discovered a a little trick with my bbq yesterday.

I wanted to do everything outside together. I had the potatoes prepped. The snow peas were going to be done in the bbq wok. Lamb chops, pretty easy to figure out. Especially with marmite on them. Yum yum!

The mushrooms though. they are usually a pain to do on the barbecue side burner. Never enough heat because of the breeze, but I hate running between the kitchen and the barbecue. So, I decided, screw it, I will fry them up in a cast iron pan on the side burner anyway.

Of course it was taking forever. Then. Wait a minute? My side burner has a cover to keep the yard detritus out of the burner between uses. I just put the lid down. Of course it does not cover the pan like a lid would, but the heat built up quickly and maintained.

Better yet. When I stirred the mushroom around, just lift the lid back and let it sit. I still had my other hand free for seasoning and whatnot.

The mushrooms came out nice and crispy. Just how we like them. Except the boy. He cannot get a taste for "shrooms". And we have tried at least six or seven distinct and different types.

Anyway, the chops? Awesome! The snow peas? Fantastic! The potatoes? Wonderful! The mushrooms? Out! Of!! This!!! WORLD!!!!

Plus, the wife made a cheese sauce from scratch. That elevated everything up to another level. We did forget the bread though, but we did not notice.

Anyway, if you have a side burner? And it has a lid? You can use it to keep the heat up to actually be useful.

my mighty heart is breaking

Well, word came down after my post yesterday, that certain people within the organisation I am trying to stay in are following through with my removal.

My goose is cooked.

There is not much I can do about it. They will not discuss the matter with me. I have had no opportunity to speak on my behalf, ask questions, answer questions. Nothing. Information, what there is of it, comes out only after certain statements are made that they want to counter.

I cannot elaborate on it any further. In their eyes, I have probably gone too far already. Yet, I made certain pledges, that even though they are now expired due to my removal, I will currently honour, in the hopes that there is still some small chance that reason and clear vision will prevail.

I will not hold my breath, as I would turn blue and pass out.

It is tearing me up inside. My whole week has been screwed up. I am even having trouble with posting to this blog. I think I am done for today. I will prepare supper: lamb chops, snow peas, baked potatoes, fried mushrooms, fresh bread; and try to engage in some other distraction.

One final thought though. I more or less believe in karma. Maybe my karma is balancing out and it finally caught up to me. Well, an observation, if you too believe in karma, if it bites you in the ass, it bites everyone else too in the ass, sooner or later.

Or simply put: karma's a bitch.

Ta-ta for now.

i am still discombobulated

I am still on tenterhooks, waiting to find out my status with one of the organisations I am member of, or may no longer be.

From that, I am not in the best mindset to to post much. 

Hopefully, it will go better tomorrow.

I can tell you though, that definitely there are at least two cardinals hanging out by the sunflower feeder. So, I did see one the other day.

The boy and I spent  nearly three hours on the Cedar Grove Trail today performing maintenance and fixing up signage. We cleaned up two bypasses on the trail that get around areas that flood at this time of year and added signage there as well so people can keep the muck out of their boots.

What does suck, is some bozo on an ATV tore up some of the trail where ATVs are definitely not supposed, nor allowed, to go. There are plenty of trails in that area just for them, but some people just do not get it. They want it their way and screw everybody else. How do you fix a selfish attitude like that? Most of the ATV and motocross guys are really good about it though. Oh yeah, there are one or two motocross boneheads too, but they seem to have realised they should not be on that trail. So, thank-you.

Tomorrow, I am attending an event run by the above referred to organisation for the first time in more than six-hand-a-half years as a non-member as I await confirmation of my status. The only reason I can attend is that the boy is a member and is participating in it.

I do not think I can even blog about it. Which is too bad, because there are usually some good tales to tell.

See ya tomorrow.

timings

Ever wonder why sometimes you can just not be on time?

I do.

I used to always be early. I mean early. Like, half to three-quarters of an hour. If I was fifteen minutes early I considered myself to be late.

Now, if I am on time, I am all but literally hitting the second hand at the top of the dial.

I do not tell people I will meet them at a specific time any more. I tell them I will meet them about a certain time. Or between this time and that time.

I do not know exactly when my being able to meet timings or to be easily early burned out.

I know I was still prompt after the boy was brought in to this world. Oh, it was probably getting sketchy by that time though.

I figure it went to complete crap about six or seven years ago. About two or three years after the boy started school. Hmm?

No really discernible pattern of change I can really see. I cannot really blame the boy. Can I?

I learnt from my parents, Army Cadets, and the Army to be on time, if not early.

Of course, with activities with fixed start times, like any training, the boy's activities, and the like, I am fine. In fact, I still do tend to be early. Except when I know being early will be a burden, then at the top of the dial it is.

It is those activities where I may be meeting someone for lunch, or coffee, or a cocktail. The more casual activities. Even my hikes, Denis joins me most days during the week. We set a time, not usually the same each day as we work around his schedule. It does not matter the time, I am almost always about five minutes late. When I do get there before him, I check the time we set thinking I was way off.

It is not like these less formal occasions are not important to me. Perhaps it is because they are informal that my internal Drill Instructor is not yelling at me to move it, hustle, hustle, hustle!

Am I mellowing out? Many people who think they know me would not agree. It must be that though. Like today, on the hike, I found it very serene. There was a peacefulness in the woods. The kind that just gets in to your whole being. If I was alone, I would have sat down in a clearing and just chilled. Maybe next time.

So, that has to be it. I am slowing myself down.

I do not like being late, but I prefer being calm, peaceful, and serene. Maybe I should set my watch fifteen minutes ahead, that way I may be able to have both.

Now, if I can only avoid those terrible drivers and other annoying people, I can be forever mellow.

Peace out dude.

trying to survive

Sorry folks. I had a post I started about being on time. 

However, for the last four hours I have been reviewing some correspondence and composing a reply in order to address summary and arbitrary decisions in order to remain within one of the several organisations I am a member of. Of which I have now been forbidden to mention the name of or involvement in by my current "superior" in the organisation on this blog.

Remaining a member of this group is extremely important to me as I think I still have much to offer it and its members. Plus, I get huge satisfaction for the effort I put in. That is how rewarding it is to me to be a part of this group.

Now, back to it. Wish me luck.

mulligan's grocery - boycott - a new hope (for returns)

So, I did contact the LCBO and Beer Store about our bottle drive being refused to cash in its returns.

It turns out, that even though I am an ass, I was right.

This is the email I sent to the Beer Store and LCBO (the LCBO email is slightly different, in that I reversed the Beer Store and LCBO in all text):

Hello:

I have a complaint, as a private citizen, about one of your Retail Partners, Mulligan's Grocery located at 2321 Andrew Street (P.O. Box 533), North Gower, Ontario, K0A 2T0, 613-489-3333.

I do not have their Retail Partner Number as I was unable to find it published on your website or on the internet in general.

A community group brought in returns from a bottle drive on Saturday 15 April 2017 to Mulligan's Grocery and when the store employee came out of the store's "returns door" she was immediately negative and aggressive to the group. She refused to accept their returns and a heated discussion ensued which resulted with the group leaving without being able to cash in their returns.

I do believe it is customary to call ahead to make arrangements for community bottle drives. However, I cannot find anything on your or the LBCO's website that states this is mandatory.

The store was not busy at the time. The returns were sorted properly and the group was tallying them to facilitate a quick and easy return and they offered to help bring them into the storage area. The employee still refused to accept the bottle drive returns.

This was not a very big return either. Less than $150. I have returned more on my own after a very busy summer entertaining without difficulty.

When one person of the group suggested if it was possible to come back alone and independent of the group, the employee said they would still refuse to accept the returns.

From documentation I found online (see attached), they are required to accept returns from the community. This link also states the policy about accepting returns from the community.

These empty beer, wine, and spirit containers were collected from the community that this store services.

If this Retail Partner is allowed to refuse accepting returns from community bottle drives it should be clearly posted in their facility, especially in the area where they display beer, wines, and spirits for sale, at their cash-out area, and in their returns area so that the community is aware of their desire to not support community fundraising.

If any Beer Store, Beer Store Retail Partner, or LCBO Agency Store is allowed to refuse community bottle drive fundraising efforts, they should have that information clearly posted within their facility, especially in the area where they display beer, wines, and spirits for sale, at their cash-out area, and in their returns area so that the community is aware of their desire to not support community fundraising.

If they are required to accept returns, as I understand they are, they should be made aware of that. If they continue to violate their contractual obligations with the Beer Store and LCBO, then their contracts to do so should be reviewed and perhaps the Beer Store and/or LCBO should consider terminating those contracts and opening a facility in North Gower. There is an excellent location in North Gower, with adequate parking, that could facilitate a Beer Store and/or LCBO boutique store run directly by one or both of your fine enterprises. It is a strip mall located at 2333 Church Street, North Gower and currently has a vacancy.

I await your response to this matter.

Please note, I have sent a very similar email to the LCBO Agency Store Program as well.

(These are the documents I attached: here and here.)

See? I am an ass.

Here is the response from the LCBO:

Thank you for your email. Firstly, on behalf of the LCBO I would like to apologize for your experience at Mulligan’s Grocery.

In response to your question about the bottle return program you are correct, the Agency Store has an obligation with the LCBO under their Authorization to accept and redeem empty beer containers in accordance with the Ontario Deposit Return Program established by the Government of Ontario as per their contract with The Beer Store. The Beer Store is the government body responsible for administering the Ontario Deposit Program on behalf of the Ontario government. Therefore, we have reached out to the Beer Store who will be investigating the matter and will provide a response to you accordingly.

In response to your proposal about the strip mall location in North Gower, we currently do not have plans to discontinue agency store service at this time in favor of a corporate LCBO store. In order to open a corporate LCBO store in a specific market area, a review of the market would be undertaken and a positive business case would be necessary to support that decision. The LCBO uses a competitive process to award agency store authorizations. Agency Store authorizations are awarded for a 5 year term. Therefore, when the current authorization expires; and should the LCBO decide to continue with the services of an agency store in the community, the LCBO will initiate the competitive process to ensure all retail businesses in the area have an equal opportunity to host the agency store.

Again, thank you for you for bringing this matter to the LCBO and Beer Store’s attention. Should you have any further questions in this regard, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Pretty clear to me. They also did not need to apologise, the LCBO did nothing wrong. Only one party did not act accordingly during the events of the attempted bottle return. I leave it to you to determine who that was.

Here is the response from the Beer Store:

Thank you for contacting the Beer Store’s Customer Service Department. Retail Partners are obliged to accept empty returns as part of their contract with the Beer Store, with no exceptions. We’ve made the folks at our Corporate Office aware of your concern and they will follow up directly. We appreciate you taking the time to make us aware of this issue and if there’s anything we can help with in the meantime please don’t hesitate to follow up.

Again, pretty clear to me that the return of the empties should not have been refused under any circumstances. You know, "no exceptions".

One thing I do know, if I want to cash in bottles from a fundraising bottle drive, I know where I want to return them. I will also have a sheaf of papers explaining why the returns cannot be refused. So, you know, if you are having some trouble with bottle drive returns, you may want to contact the LCBO and/or Beer Store.

I am sure there will be more about this matter yet. There is a scathing email that has been released in to the public domain about my "exhibition". I wonder where it will turn up next? (l'o'l)

this is how i roll

Not my phrase, someone else's. I was never a fan of it, but it has been on my mind for some months now.

I have also been thinking about the pot calling the kettle back.

Lately, the two have been interplaying and overlapping all around me.

I witness people shirking responsibility and they offer a backhanded apology. They do apologise, then they qualify it by stating that really in the end, it really is not their fault, but just who they are, or if you will, this is how they roll. So, really not much of an apology, but more of a: tough nuts buddy.

The other manner of eschewing accountability that I have been an eyewitness to is the blunt passing of the buck. (Another saying coming to life all around me.) "Well, they really are in charge and responsible." Really, it is actually your responsibility on several levels to ensure this happens and that those that are to do the actual work to make it happen learn from you, from us.

I cannot go in to specifics at this time, because I have been spanked for something I am perceived to have done and must behave. So, vague and general it shall be for now.

Again, not their fault, because someone, who has no legal or contractual responsibility is responsible in their eyes. Yet, they, I, we, are there to teach, mentor, and guide. To some that means, "Well, if they don't figure it out or get motivated to do it, then that is the lesson." Wow.

One of my favourites though, is when you call someone out for actually dropping the ball, but say that collectively we can make up for it and mitigate the failing, you get called out for what, as far as I am concerned about, made up facts. Or to be nice, let us say, misremembered, and vague, history.

Then the final and my absolute favouritest (Apparently, yes Virginia, it is a word.) is the pot-kettle bit. Yet, it can be taken to new heights I could never envision.

Being told one's behaviours and actions are absolutely objectionable and unsuitable. Whether true, exaggerated, or outright false no longer remains relevant when the derisive dressing down is done publicly and in the exact (well not exact, much worse really) manner in which one is accused to have behaved towards another party and the reason for the dressing down in the first place.

The pot does not get any blacker than that. Well, maybe if one were stabbed in the eye with a rusty, poop covered, dull knife simultaneously. Oh, and being kicked in the pills too. That would be worse I guess.

Well then. What am I so worked up about. It could be worse. I could be lying in the road clutching my boys with a bloody fly encrusted eye-socket (from the knife with the poop, remember), needing a tetanus shot (the rust, remember), AND with my feelings hurt.

Whew, I feel better.

birds at the feeders so far

So, since putting up the feeders, the number of birds in the yard has increased exponentially.

There are many of what appear to be pine warblers. I wish I could get decent photos of all these birds, but I cannot get close enough before they take off. Anyway I have only just noticed these birds in the last couple of years and only in the fall and only a very few were around. This years, there are at least a dozen, probably more, hanging around. 

There are also some American goldfinch. They look like the warblers, except their heads have a black cap. There are at least a half dozen of them hanging around too.

We have several resident downy woodpeckers. They hang out around here all the time. There are definitely some yellow-bellied sapsuckers too. 

We are getting various chickadees, nuthatches, grosbeaks and definitely house sparrows.

Of course there are the grackles and starlings. This year, they actually seem to be less annoying and less bullying to the other birds. Which is good, because I despise bullies.

The crows and robins are permanent fixtures around here, but they do not use the feeders.

Speaking of the feeders, those crazy-assed squirrels are getting bold. There are a couple of black squirrels, both with bright brown tails, that mostly just hang around and eat the seeds and such that the birds drop on the ground. The chipmunks, brown squirrels, and grey squirrels seem to be pretty casual about it too, but there is one squirrel, an all black one, that is just a menace. He is like the Darth Vader of squirrels: Squirrel Vader.

I keep catching him hanging on to the sunflower feeder for dear life trying to eat the seeds. A couple of days ago I did not see the feeder. At first, I thought the wind had somehow unseated it from its cord. Then I saw that the cord was all chewed up and chewed through. Then I saw the feeder on the ground and the lid off and Squirrel Vader pigging out. 

I was not impressed. I replaced the cord with electrical wire, filled up the feeder again and put it out. After about a half dozen attempts by Squirrel Vader to get to the feeder and me coming out and drilling Brazil nuts at him (I did not get close at all, by the way. Unless it is a hand grenade or some type of firearm, I pretty much cannot aim.), he would just run when I opened the door. 

Everything was great for a couple of days, but he is back to his antics. The boy is now throwing sticks and nuts at him. If this guy would just settle to foraging and taking the odd freebies from us and the birds, like the other furry tailed rodents, I would not have to chase him away. I need to get my super-soaker ready for him.

Back to the birds.

The blue jays come and go. Sometimes they are around for weeks and sometimes just a few days. Hopefully they hang around this year. They can be quite entertaining. I put some nuts out for the squirrels, including Vader, and that huge jay was taking them. I saw him with a pecan in his beak. It was pretty wild to see something like that for the first time.

Pretty sure there are eastern kingbirds and juncos hanging around too. These are pretty laid back, especially the juncos.

As I have mentioned before, the cardinals around here do not seem to hang around in the winter, but I think I saw my first one yesterday and the same guy today. However, he seems smaller than the cardinals I have seen in the past here abouts. It was hard to get a look at him, the angle was always bad and he was very skittish and I could not get close.

I really need to get a good and easy to use field guide and a better camera than my crappy phone.

personal best on cedar grove trail

I went out solo today on the Cedar Grove Loop Trail. I decided that I would do a power hike and I set a personal best. 

Normally, I do not hike to just get to the end, but every now and again, it is somewhat fun to see how fast I can do it.

Today, oh man, I was moving.

I set a personal best. Less than forty minutes, but let me tell you, I will not be doing that again for some time.

I did not run at all, but there was hopping, leaping, jumping, sliding, and even a couple of mini pole vaults over some nasty mud.

There are a couple of old bypasses built in to the trail to get around a couple of the nastier mud, but they definitely need some grooming. A future project to add to the maintenance list.

Not only did I set an over all personal best, but I set one to the shelter on the trail as well.

obviously my acrobatics on the trail increased my distance

not sure why it says I was not moving for three minutes, i never stopped during the hike

at the shelter

When I started, I thought I may only shave a minute, maybe two, off my best time of 45:24 and at the shelter of 26:15. Yet, I shaved off  two minutes and forty seconds off at the shelter and six minutes and thirty-nine seconds over all, with a slightly longer distance: 4.24 km as opposed to 4.11 km. An extra 130 metres from the bypasses.

I am pretty impressed with my time of 38:45. I do not think I will be able to beat that just hiking, unless maybe it is completely dry on the trail. 

I do enjoy the leisurely hikes much more though, but it is great to be able to test oneself every now and again. You never know, maybe when the trail dries out, I may try to beat my time again. Maybe.

i came full circle 

(snapped after the image below so the time is longer)

i snapped this as i got to the truck door, it went wonky

it does show average moving speed as 7.18 km/h though

i do not know how, when i did not move for three minutes?

mulligan's grocery - boycott

I am personally boycotting Mulligan's Grocery located at 2321 Andrew Street (P.O. Box 533), North Gower, Ontario, K0A 2T0, 613-489-3333. They will no longer receive my patronage.

Why?

Because of their rudeness to our Scout Group. And I suspect, to other but not all, local community groups.

How so?

Glad you asked.

Our Troop did a bottle drive today. It was not a great return as many other groups, that I did not know existed and not sure they actually do, have been hitting the neighbourhoods in recent weeks. We hit three subdivisions and my street as well. Our take, about $150. Not much for about five hours work and about an extra hour for me and the boy picking up a trailer from Denis and bringing it back.

We called the Beer Store in the town over as we do not have a full Beer Store in this community. They said because of the long weekend they would like us to book a time on another day to return the empties as they were currently very busy due to the long weekend and would be until closing. Fair enough.

The Beer Store in Ontario takes all the returns of spirit, wine, and beer purchased in Ontario that require a deposit, regardless of the vendor: LCBO, grocery stores, independent retailers, LCBO Agency Stores, and Beer Store Retail Partners. Of which Mulligan's is part of the latter two. These Agency Partners/Retail Partners also take empties like the Beer Store.

So, one of the Scouters suggested taking them to Mulligan's as it was not a big load. Okay let us try. It was not busy at all. We started unloading and tallying everything. We had already done all the sorting as the Beer Store requests be done.

It was going to be easy-peasy. Just unload and help put it in their storage and give them the count. Maybe 10-15 minutes tops.

One of the employees came out the "returns door". She has been there for as long as I can remember and is usually pretty good to deal with.

Not today.

"This is from a bottle drive." (Not a question.) "We don't do bottle drives."

"It's not a big load, we've sorted it and we'll tally it."

"Nope. We don't do bottle drives."

"Why not?"

Some nonsensical answer.

Me: "You know, it's not very community minded to refuse this. It's not a lot and it's sorted and we'll tally it."

"This has nothing to do with the community. We don't do bottle drives. I didn't get a call from you. You should have called first. I would have told you we don't do bottle drives." (I think the needle on the record got stuck at this point.)

"Of course it has everything to do with the community. We are a local community group trying to raise money so we can run events."

"My boss told me not to take bottle drives."

"It is very rude that you are not supporting community organisations. What's to stop me from going home and changing in to my street clothes and coming back?" (I was in my Scouter uniform at the time.)

"Nope. We wouldn't take them. This has nothing to do with the community. My boss...." BLAH! BLAH!! BLAH!!!

We went on for a few more minutes. More back and forth about supporting the community and she went on about how they let us stand out front and sell our stuff. Yeah, okay. We do Apple Day once a year. We stand out front on a Friday night and a Saturday morning offering apples to the public for free while soliciting donations to support our group. It is actually a lot of work for our Scout Group, but not for them. And every time we ask to do this, their reaction seems like we are hooking electrodes from a car battery to their temples.

 If she had just let us make our returns, we would have been done by then.

We left and unloaded them in one of the Scouter's garage. So, now we have to organise the trailer again and go to the next town another day to do this and take up more time, at least a couple of hours.

A few things here. 

Just because were in uniform did not mean it was bottle drive. We could have just finished an event and we were helping one of the Scouters empty his garage. It was a bottle drive, but it is still not the point. They are supposed to take empties. It is part of the job. Spirit, wine, and beer sales are very lucrative, especially for a rural store like this. Maybe be more accommodating.

It has everything to do with the community. We are a local community group, that happened to do a bottle drive in the community. To raise money for this local community group to run events. Most of the the empties were probably from purchases made at that store. In. This. Community.

The Agency Store Program - General Information document which is on the LCBO's website clearly states several interesting tidbits.


Under Primary Objectives - Customer Service, it states:


Providing customer service and convenience to a community in a cost efficient and socially
responsible manner, is the primary objective of the Program. The LCBO is committed to providing improved levels of service and convenience to rural communities by partnering with existing businesses that can provide optimum hours of service, product selection and knowledgeable customer assistance. 


A total failure there.


Under Economic Benefits:


The Program delivers economic benefits to host communities by stimulating local retail traffic and revenue, increasing employment for local residents, and broadening the community's business base. It is important that an Agency Store operator understands the local community and its particular needs, so preference is given to applicants whose manager lives in the community. (My bold.)


The first part about making money, that they fulfil. However, they obviously do not understand the local community and its particular needs. Also, pretty sure the owners do NOT live in the community. I have never seen them anywhere outside the store.


Under Operation of Agency Store, section 8.:


The Operator must offer customers a representative selection of spirits, wine and imported
and domestic beer products, building on a core listing of brands. The Operator must
maintain a reasonable inventory of core brands at all times. The Operator is required to
collect and redeem returnable containers within the community. (My bold.)


A complete and utter failure of collecting and redeeming returnable containers within the community.


I also told her that I would tell everyone about their lack of community mindedness. She laughed at me. For those of you who have not figured it out yet, I am an ass. I will tell everyone about this experience, this treatment. The rudeness. The disdain. The arrogant, demeaning attitude. Not just on this blog, but by word of mouth and any other venue I can find.

I will be contacting the LCBO and the Beer Store about this experience. I want written clarification from both of them. If they are truly allowed to refuse bottle drives, this store needs to put up signage explaining that to the community. That way, the community can decide if they want to support a business that does not support the community. If they are allowed to do bottle drives under restrictions to the community, then again, they need signage explaining the parameters of bottle drive bottle returns. That way, the community can decide if they want to support a business that supports the community reluctantly and against its will.

So, other than spreading the word about Mulligan's Grocery located at 2321 Andrew Street (P.O. Box 533), North Gower, Ontario, K0A 2T0, 613-489-3333, not willing to support the community they do business in, I will no longer give custom to them.

The only exception would be if they are required to follow through on their contractual obligations as a LCBO Agency Partner and  Beer Store Retail Partner and collect and redeem returnable containers within the community, which to me includes bottle drives run in the community.

I suggest everyone think about their local businesses and whether they readily support their community. If not feel free to contact them and ask them why. At least if they are willing to have a conversation about it, unlike Mulligan's.

Oh yeah, feel free to contact Mulligan's  Grocery located at 2321 Andrew Street (P.O. Box 533), North Gower, Ontario, K0A 2T0, 613-489-3333, and ask them why they do not support their community, especially as what we were denied was, and is, part of their regular, contractual, operations.

the house of rudeness, aka "mulligans"

as can clearly be seen, they are a partner of the beer store and lcbo

hence, they are required to take empties

rideau trail - canada 150 challenge -- done!

So, I went out today to hike as usual, but also to do some trail maintenance on the section of the Rideau Trail the boy and I were assigned to maintain.

Three-and-a-half hours in; two-and-a-half walking, one hour "standing still". The standing still was when I was trimming and putting up trail markers. I was also walking back and forth a lot to check the signs for visibility. That was over five kliks. On the way back, same distance: one hour. What a difference.

But let me tell you, as the Vikings used to say after pillaging on land all day, "My feet are Thor!" Ha, ha, ha, haaaa.

I put in a total of 11.14 km. That puts me over the top for the Rideau Trail Canada 150 Challenge. My total on the Rideau Trail this year as of today is, drum roll please, 154.31 km.

Woo-hoo!

my stats, i actually was hiking at over 5 km/h on the way back

my route, there and back again

I have submitted my logs and await, with bated breath, for my reply.

Of course, I am not stopping my hikes, but will mostly do the 4k loop. Yet, I do need to go back to the other section to add some more markers for clarity for other hikers.

I celebrated with Pepto Bismal, the champagne of diarrhea medicine. Not really. I had a Lucky Buddha Beer and a couple of pepperettes.

Anyway, pretty tired from hiking. I know, not a very long distance, but still. And all the working on the trail.

I may go to bed earlzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz........

the paperless society and paperwork

Every time I hear people talk about a paperless society I laugh inside. The more electronically sophisticated our world becomes, the more important paperwork becomes.

Of course there is plenty of soft copy, or electronic, paperwork. Emails, texts, PDF copies of documents. Yet, actual hard copy paperwork will never go away. In fact, all signs point to it growing.

The wife and I currently have over two filing cabinets filled with paperwork, plus assorted smaller piles on a desk.

I go to the dentist and they submit my insurance claim online, yet I get a hard copy to keep, not an e-copy sent to me.

My doctor does prescriptions on her computer, but then prints them. Not, as one would think should be easy, emailed to my pharmacy of choice.

Buy a vehicle. A small tree is murdered by the time you get the keys.

Some stores now email receipts, but you still get a hard copy at the check out.

I get a notice in the mail to renew my burn permit with the city. I fill it out, go the the local office and they print a new one out for me to keep along with my little fridge magnet with my permit number. No, it cannot be done online or added to my taxes. I hate the inefficiency of governments and their bureaucracies, but that is a story for another time. Hey, at least dope will be legal next year. (>_<)

Licence renewals. In additional to all licences being hard copy in the first place, paper notices are mailed and not sent electronically. Except oddly, my firearms licence, I now get an email. Another weird exception? My hunting and fishing licence. Apparently, I need to keep on top of it to get it renewed, as the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry - Ontario, does not tell you your licence is expiring. I can renew these suckers online too. You would think those permits would be buried in a mountain of paper. And of course you get a hard copy of them, but I can print a temporary copy of my hunting/fishing tag until my shiny new card comes in the mail.

Accountants print everything. And they keep it for years.

If I have a contract, I make sure I have a paper copy. I want it captured in one moment in time and always available.

Money. Largely paper. Even with credit cards, emts, paypal, etc., true electronic money is still a long way off. Besides, I want cash, precious metals, gems, plutonium, chickens, what have you, in physical form to pay my way. Not that that really happens, but it is a dream of mine.

Scouts. The masters of paperwork. To do an event that has any element of risk, no less than four forms are required, an emergency plan (sometimes more than one), participant and volunteer registration forms that are filled in electronically at the beginning of the year and are not formatted for printing, attendance lists, sometimes travel insurance. 

All. 

In.

Hard. 

Copy!

That is in addition to all the emailing that would go back and forth. If any third parties are involved, then there will be at least one to three additional forms. Go international? More forms, plus passports, health cards, blah, blah, blah.

All.

In.

Hard.

Copy!!

So, with all this paper everywhere, why do people not know how to do it. With Scouts, if I am am leading an event, I often have to send the e-copies multiple times to participants for them to be filled out. No real biggie. I have unlimited internet and I am pretty sure multiple emails generally do not murder trees. Make them cry maybe, but not kill them.

So, after sending out the paperwork multiple times, why do I not get all of it? Or any of it? Or it is not filled in completely or correctly? These people have done this before.

So, I used to print extra copies for people to fill out on the spot to cover my ass. Well guess what? When I started that, I never needed them. I became a tree assassin. So, I stopped. Then I stopped getting everything that was required.

People ask me why so much paperwork. Well, as I have informed the Scouts in our Troop: Paperwork makes the world go round. Some people bitch and moan. Hey, not my fault. Just following rules and regulations, the law, and what my advanced Scouter training taught me.

Ha, ha, ha. I literally just got an email from Scouts Canada for a document renewal. Ha, ha, ha, ha. See, paperwork makes the world go round. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. At least this appears to be e-paperwork. No trees will be harmed in the signing of this document, except for maybe their feelings.