Black Bear Sighting at Killarney Lake

Jackpot!  I spotted a black bear on the outermost trail at Killarney Lake.  It did the usual bear thing - ambled across the trail and meandered up the bank and into the woods like it didn't have a care in the world.  Kooper and I were about 300m away - a safe distance - but we continued up the trail on the premise that the bear would have moved on by the time we got there.  Black bears aren't that dangerous anyway, right?

I will admit that I did start to talk to the dog in a loud voice when we got close to the spot where the bear had been.  It had legged it.  The conditions were not ideal to look for bear prints as mosquito season has started and stopping or even pausing is out of the question.  I wasn't exactly dressed for mosquitos either in my shorts, and T-shirt.  I took quite a few of the bastards out without losing any blood, to the best of my knowledge, but I don't think they have learned from the experience.

Also notable at Killarney is the appearance of coyote scat on the trail.  It's all over the place.  You can tell it's coyote as it's thick with hairs.  I guess they wait on the trail for prey to cross and then pounce.  Come to think of it, I haven't seen any rabbits lately.  Earlier this week, I saw Moose prints in the mud, so it's been interesting. 

It was ironic that I saw the bear on the furthest trail from the lake, but very close to a sign telling me to keep my dog on a leash.  Whay are the bear, the coyotes and the moose allowed to roam free without penalty, while I face a $50 fine every time I go there?  If anything, leaving hairy turds on the trail should be a fine.  Scaring the walkers should be a fine.  Killing bunnies - that should be a fine.

This morning, an eagle flew right in front of the car as I crossed the Westmoreland Bridge and yesterday a pileated woodpecker flew in front of me while cycling. Last week I saw two mink.  Tomorrow, I'm off to the Miramichi, I wonder if there will be more wildlife on view.

A day in the life...

Fran is in Ottawa and so I'm on pre-work dog walking duty.  Arose at 5:50am and decided to make the 7 minute drive to Killarney Lake rather than walking the dog around the usual trail.  Being early morning, maybe I would see some wildlife kicking about.  No.  Good exercise for Kooper though, he got to chase rocks and swim.

Took my bike to work.  The weather forecast was for good weather today and th usual rain to follow through the weekend.  Yesterday was nice too, but couldn't escape work or volunteer duties.  Need to make the most of the opportunity.  Worked through lunch and set out at 2:25 planning on 60kms.  It was very windy and not in a helpful way.  Finally get the wind behind me and am flying back into town when 'poof', I get a flat.  I only have the shoulder to change the tube, but so be it.  The tube is changed while I am under attack from horse flies and black flies.  Only a couple of drivers decided to sound the horn as they raced by.

The repair is a success, but now I am into school traffic and am constantly having to squeeze over into pot holes, stop for traffic and then I get stuck behind a school bus.  Is it a symptom of our times that the bus driver of high school kids decides to stop every 250m?  Wouldn't want them to tire themselves out now, would we?  I also had the pleasure of eating two bugs on the ride.

A good and productive day at work.  It's nice when there are no meetings or calls getting in the way.

Leave work at 5:15pm, get home, feed the pets and then take Kooper for another walk, this time on the trail behind the rugby club.  He goes for a swim and generally behaves himself.  Then off to do groceries.  I noticed that the large majority of people doing the groceries are 'salad dodgers'.  Is there something in this observation?  Maybe if you do the groceries, you buy more of the stuff you like and thus eat more.  It's a theory.

Arrive home, put the groceries away and set about cutting the grass.  This is the 3rd time in 8 days.  If only my jalapeno peppers were growing this well.   At least I got to add some compostables to the composter.  Whatever is burrowing into my composter - EAT THAT!

Well, it is now time for some food.  I've just taken a pizza out of the oven.  I note that each of the four slices is 190 calories, so that will be a 760 calorie meal to add to the Picaroon beer I've already downed and the chips I plan to eat later.  It's all good.

Capital FM 106.9 and why I keep listening..

Sometimes I can't understand why I continue to tune in to Capital FM 106.9.  In the mornings, it's actually quite good with Mark Roberts and that other guy - so I have no regrets about that and I can always go to CBC for news and substance.  But, for the rest of the time I am driving around, I continue to frustrate myself by tuning in and being faced by a barrage of intellectual lightweights like Keisha, Brittany, the Stereos and Usher. 

I realise this is pop music and not meant to be heavy or have a lot of meaning, but come on, at least be about something other than going out dancing on a Friday night 'groovin and a moovin' and throwing those hands up in the air.  Now I know I'm getting older and maybe a bit crabbier, but there's no way you can compare these clowns with the pop bands of my hey day.  REO Speedwagon, the Electric Light Orchestra and Dire Straits.  No comparison.  Today's haircuts and clothing are better, I'll give you that.

The worst of the worst is Ke$ha - pronounced Kaisha just to be special.  That's music and lyrics designed to appeal to slow witted teenage girls who sit in front of the tv all day and then go out to the local disco type thing or wahtever they have these days, looking for Good Time Ricky every Friday and Saturday night.  That said, the worst lyric on the airwaves, bar none, is "Tonight I'm going to love you".  Doesn't that just beg the question "and tomorrow night?"

The other thing that bothers me is knowing that some of these 'artists' are complete fabrications of marketing people who feed the songs, look, videos, lyrics and everything else.  In other words, there's very little, if any, talent on show.

The real reason I listen, however, is that for all the crap on those airwaves, it's probably the best place to get the good new stuff as well.  Rheanna, Black Eyed Peas, Avril Lavigne and Eminem, yeah, that's what I'm talking about..

Conspiracy theorists need to get out more.

What's with all these conspiracy theorists?  They are the lunatic fringe of society who all need to get ot more.  I mean , come on: "man didn't really land on the moon? "

"Oooh it's all a hoax, look carefully at the photos, isn't that the reflection of the statue of liberty in the visor? " "No, no it's not, the sun possibly, but no, not the Statue of Liberty. "

"But, if you squint your eyes and make a wish you can see that Armstrong's foot is not on the ground. "
"Maybe he was mid-stride."

But you cannot win an argument against a conspiracy theorist because no evidence is to be trusted.  Case in point.  Donny 'hairpiece' Trump contends that Barack Obama wasn't even born in the USA (as if it should matter).
Well, here you go, here's his record of birth.
"Aaah, but if you look carfeully, you can see it's a forgery." 
What's the point?  "Yes you are right.  Obama is actually from another planet.  Shush, don't tell anyone."

Can you think of a worse conspiracy theory than believing that he US government was actually behind the September 11th attacks?  Who do these people think are making these decisions and carrying them out?  O.k. Corporal Jones, today's assignment is to hijack a plane and fly it into a tower in New York City.  "Yes Sir, right away".

There's even a tv show on now dedicated to conspiracy theories and between you and me, the US government is secretely preparing for a massive fireball to hit the earth in 2012.  Scientists know it's coming, but they aren't saying anything because, presumably, they've been promised a pod in one of the survival silos.

Please note, the CIA nor CSIS was involved in the creation of this blog entry.

Commercial Tripe

I've never been a big fan of commercials, they are a necessary evil I guess.  I am that guy who throws that absurdly large bundle of flyers that show up every Thursday straight into the recylicng bin and changes the radio or tv channel as soon as an ad comes on.  Still, you can't escape all of the commercials all of the time (I am still working on a monopoly of the remote).

There are some commercials that are brilliant and largely better than whatever I was watching or listening to. Far too often, and seemingly more and more they are disasterous and make me less likely to purchase a product.  Then again, advertisers are largely wasting their time on me anyway. 

Perhaps it is because there are an increasingly large number fo advertisers that local radio stations get stuck with the real amateurs.  If you actually listen to the ads and don't tune out, it can be humour in itself to see how low we have sunk. For example, there was a recent real estate add that included something like this "Would you prefer a house in the country, away from it all, or a house in the city close to the action?  If your answer to this is Yes, call...."

What I really laugh at is the ads where they make links that make absolutely no sense.  These are the "now that spring is here, you are probably thinking of changing your toilet paper" or "Looking for a change of employment, try test driving a new Buick". 

The other growing segment of advertising reminds me of Harper's campaign, they have nothing to do with the product.  It's all image.  Obviously, all light beers would fall into this category.  And let me say this, if you are a light beer drinker, you've been had.  I do not believe that anyone would drink light beer following a taste test, unless of course, you don't actually like beer.  I didn't want to be the guy to say it, but to all those manly men drinking light beer in the commercials, you are one small step away from drinking kiwi coolers boys, one small step.  But back to light beer adds, when you describe a drink as crisp and cold with no after taste.  What are you saying?  Isn't that water being described?  So take away the girls, the 24/7 party and the bucket of crabs legs and what do we have?  It's not an exageration to state that some adds you have no idea what they are for until the end.

CBC, you are the best, but please put some decent music on - are you just playing the free stuff?

Canada has spoken, but I don't want to hear it...

Well the election is over and I am sad to say that the Progressive Conservatives under Steven Harper now have their majority.  This proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that mud slinging, name calling, innuendo, misrepresentation, shirt and sports jacket combination, Vancouver 2010 clothing, limiting reporters to 4 questions a day, muzzling all opposition, outspending your rivals by a healthy margin, getting photographed playing ball hockey and cricket, shrugging off all scandals, barring non-supporters from meetings, feeding Conservative held or Conservative targeted ridings millions and millions of dollars for 'projects', doing zero for the environment, doing lots and lots for the oil industry and corporate Canada, promising to establish an office for religious freedoms, handing out treats such as $500 tax credits worth $75 to people who often don't need it, lowering revenues while increasing spending and promising to balance the budget, totally disregarding and manipulating the democratic process, always saying "Canadians want this" "Canadians don't want that" and "made in Canadian solution", and achieving the largest annual deficit ever under the banner of prudent fiscal management can indeed win you an election.

Without a seat and after his party took and old fashioned beating, Michael Ignatieff resigned today depriving Canada of an intelligent and able politician in the house.  However, according to Jack Layton, he was only their 30% of the time anyway, so perhaps he will not be missed.  I did like a couple of his quotes at his announcement.

"People ask whether the Liberal Party has a future. I think the surest guarantee of the future for the Liberal Party of Canada is four years of Conservative government and four years of NDP opposition," Ignatieff said.

He said he found it difficult to recover from the negative advertising the Conservatives rolled out against him prior to the election campaign. 

"Of course they attacked me, of course they vilified me," Ignatieff said. "Of course they engaged in an absolutely unscrupulous campaign of personal attack. But look, the only thing Canadians like less than a loser is a sore loser, and I go out of politics with my head held high."  At a boy.

Congratulations to Jack Layton and the NDP.  Carpe diem Jack seize the day.

Decisions Decisions

Well we have a a few hours to go before the election.  I received flyers from Keith Ashfield and Randy McKeen.  I got nothing from the Greens (probably saving paper) or the NDP or the independent.  The good news is, that with no more Royal wedding consuming the airwaves, all four candidates (sorry Adam Scott Ness - Mr. Independent, but you don't really count), have taken to the airwaves to promote their message.

Mr. Ashfield has continued with his tack of we are the best people for the job, keep a steady hand on the rudder in these stormy times message.  Randy says please vote for me and the Liberal platform, but more importantly, vote for someone.  Jesse says vote for Jack because he knows what he's doing and Louise Ann-Marie says vote for change.  I wonder if there is a way that I could please everybody.

Britain is preparing to vote on a new alternative voting system where you rank the candidates and if nobody gets 50% of the votes, they eliminate the bottom placed person (that will be Adam) and add his second placed votes to the mix and so on until we get a winner.  If that was the case, I wouldn't have to be so strategic and the Conservatives might actually have to run a campaign.  It is not the case.  It's all or nothing.  Hmm decisions decisions.