Saturday, September 23, 2006

Turkeys

I wrote about coyotes in a previous blog.

Another rare animal that I have starting seeing across the country-side is the wild turkey. They were evidently re-introduced into the wild and have been successfully breeding.

I have seen 3 over the last five years all along highway 416 and then nothing for a year or two. Then suddenly, I saw three in a field north of Kemptville on March 5th and read in Saturday's Ottawa Citizen that 18 were seen near Prescott and more near Kemptville.


Originally posted in February 2005.

Coyotes

I saw a coyote yesterday for the second time in a month. I was driving down the 416 just south of Bells Corners and saw him or her heading down the embankment of the west side of the road and into the bush on the side. It was less than a kilometer from the fields that I call Deerfield, where I have seen more deer over the years than anywhere else.

Three weeks ago I was driving my daughter to riding camp outside of Orleans and saw another coyote. This one was hobbling along in the middle of a wide open field. It was limping and very scrawny.

I saw another one south of Kemptville near the Oxford Mills turnoff a year ago, in the middle of a field.

The first coyote I saw was about a year ago. I was on the VIA train, coming home from Toronto. I looked up on an embankment near Cobourg and saw a dog. I thought it was the skinniest dog I had ever seen. But grey. A quick double take......could that be a coyote?

I grew up in the country in a stone house on the top of a hill. Hay fields rolled down on the north and east sides to bush. During 15 years there, I saw lots of ground hogs, a fox or two and a deer or two. The only coyote I ever saw was Wile E Coyote on the Bugs Bunny Hour.

So what has changed in the last 15-18 years? I read somewhere that urbanization has increased the population of rodents they prey on such as rabbits (boy do we have rabbits here!) that are not controlled by other predators.

I found the following information at "Hinterland Who's Who":http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?cid=8&id=88 on coyotes.

For some reason, Bruce Cockburn's Wondering Where the Lions Are comes to mind.

"Had another dream about coyotes at the door
they weren't as frightening as they were before
But I'm thinking of eternity
Some kind of ecstasy got a hold on me."

Originally posted in February 2005

Why I blog

I was feeling particularly proud of myself when I set up my blog a few months ago. After all, my new blog was giving me an outlet for my creative writing skills (or lack of).

I play around with computers and software and technology a fair bit too so having a blog was something to brag about with the other propeller-heads that I work with.

Then out of the blue, an article in the Ottawa Citizen said that bloggers were self-absorbed and that their writings were no more than poorly written, self-indulgent rants.

Ouch.


Originally posted March 2005

We Work the Black Seam Together

I have a history and destiny with coal it seems.

My grandfather was a farmer in Derbyshire in the Midlands of England. He made money selling ponies that would be used in the coal mines, before switching to cattle. From a field that sloped away on the northeast side of his farm you could see the towers of one coal mine.

"The seam lies underground
Three million years of pressure packed it down
We walk through ancient forest lands
And light a thousand cities with our hands"

I remember visiting during the summers and during one Christmas in the late '60s when coal was still burned in most homes. North Sea natural gas was a few years away. There was a Rayburn stove in the kitchen and a coal hearth in the living room.

Between the house and the attached garage was an alleyway, off which were a toilet (handy for access from the garden (except for the cold seat and the waxed toilet paper - YUCH!)) and a coal scullery to store coke (processed coal) and coal.

I remember seeing the collier coming to deliver coal once. I still remember the haze of coal smoke and that distinctive smell in the air.

The acidity of the coal caused great erosion on the soft sandstone buildings in England. I remember a series of stone walls on my grandfather's farm that had holes in them. The holes became home to swallows.

I saw a great movie a few years ago called Margaret's Museum. Set in Glace Bay, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, it tells the story of Margaret and the men in her life who are all taken from her by the local coal mine. The Museum contains "relics" from the men taken from her - the lungs of her father, the penis of her young, randy brother and something from her husband. I don't remember what. Margaret's Museum stars the ever quirky Helena Bonham Carter. Needless to say Helena's character was a bit mad by the end of the movie.

"Our conscious lives run deep
You cling onto your mountain while we sleep
This way of life is part of me
There is no price so only let me be

And should the children weep
The turning world will sing their souls to sleep
When you have sunk without a trace
The universe will suck me into place"

I keep seeing news about coal in the investment section of the newspaper. Analysts recommend the Fording Coal Trust as a good investment. One Canadian coal company sold all their production for a year to China. It seems (seams?) that coal is still a big thing, the new oil.

"We work the black seam together."


Originally posted April 2005

No Moose

There was an article last year in the news that Canadian tourism marketing will no longer feature Mounties (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) or pictures of moose.

Let me say that I have never, ever, seen a moose!

I spent a week once canoe tripping in Algonquin Park. I saw lots of moose turds at every camp site we stayed at. But not a single moose.

Water,
water,
everywhere
and not a
moose to see.


Originally published in 2005.

Favorite Quotations Part III

"Come to kindly terms with your ass, for it bears you."

John Muir
******************************************************************************
My first car was a '69 Volkswagen Beetle that I rebuilt. John Muir's "How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive" was one of the best references I had for doing repairs. This quotation appeared there.

Originally published in November 2005.

Favorite Quotations Part II

"We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like?"

Jean Cocteau, French dramatist, director, & poet (1889 - 1963).


Originally published in November 2005.

Favourite Quotations, Part I

"We trained very hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form into teams, we would be reorganised. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganising - and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, ineffeciency and demoralisation.

"General Gaius Petronius Pontius Nigrinus, consul, 37 AD and governor of Aegyptus.


Why? I work in the government. Need I say more?

Originally published in November 2005.

Whale Tale

I read recently that they've given a name to the part of thong underwear that sometimes sticks out above the top of pants. It's called a whale tail.



Welcome!!!

Welcome to my new blog Creative Wryting.

George Burns once said, "It's too bad that all the people that know how to run the world are busy cutting hair and driving cabs".

That's a wry comment. In fact I can see George's wry, lopsided smile now.

So the whole purpose of this blog is to give me an outlet for my wry sense of humour. So expect some contrary, perverse, ironic and amusing entries.

Enjoy!