Springtime – mating snakes, baby robins, blood-root and trilliums, birds singing, peepers peeping, rivers roaring, waterfalls flowing, grasses growing. It’s a time of people wanting to go hiking out among those calming fields of grasses.
Wait! Grasses growing? Tall grasses? Oh, oh. Caution!
Spring, and fall, too, is also a time when the proverbial tick is most active so I thought you might like a friendly reminder, not to say that the tick is not also friendly. It is, but, unfortunately, it can carry Lyme disease so it’s friendship is somewhat suspect.
Though closely related to insects, ticks are actually a type of mite and vary in size and colour. Blacklegged ticks, introduced to southern Ontario by migratory birds, are very small…a dozen or more could fit on the head of a dime. Before feeding, adult females are about 3-5 mm in length, and red and dark brown. They’re a little larger than males and when full of blood, can be as big as a grape. They feed on blood by attaching to birds, animals or people with their mouth parts, and their body enlarges, making it more visible as it fills up. Their immediate bite is painless. They feed slowly. About 10% of them are infected with Lyme disease bacterium so, while chances of your getting bitten are low, so is your chance of contacting Lyme, but you should still be careful.
Ticks cannot fly and move slowly. They like bushes and the tall grasses where they can best sit atop the leaves while lying in wait for a host - (prey) - don’t let it be you.
An internet site reads: "Ticks can be found almost anywhere. The best defense against them is to wear hats, long-sleeves, buttoning up your shirt, tucking long pants into your socks or boots, wearing closed shoes, using gaiters. Applying insect repellent that contains DEET to clothing and boots is effective. Also performing regular "tick checks". (Get your partner to view your entire body back and front, even with a magnifying glass). Remember, ticks show up better on light-coloured clothing, and light is cooler. Adult ticks usually like to wander around the body for an hour or two before they attach, and they like a warm hairy place. Therefore, you should run your fingers through your hair and closely examine your scalp. Ticks can also attach in the groin, under the arms, in or behind the ears, or occasionally underneath women's breasts."
Removal is important within 18-24 hours to reduce the risk of infection. Do not forget to check the children and pets as well.
My dog and I have both been bitten by ticks. They were removed easily by the application of a blob of petroleum jelly (Vaseline) which covered the tick completely so that it couldn’t breathe. It pulls its head out on its own to try to breathe, and is smothered by the jelly and falls off. Wash the bite site with soap and water, and/or disinfect it with hydrogen peroxide, alcohol or household antiseptic. You can buy bottles of hydrogen peroxide at the $store. Makes a wonderful cleaner, too, and you can streak your hair at the same time – to take your mind off what you’ve just gone through.
Contact a doctor immediately if you develop symptoms of Lyme disease. I advised my doctor immediately, anyway, and she put me on an antibiotic right away.
In case you miss seeing it on you before it feeds and leaves, just note these signs of infection: firstly being a circular rash called erythema migrans of EM which begins at the site of the bite after a delay of 3 days or up to a month or even more. Other signs include fatigue, chills, fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, swollen lymph nodes. If untreated, the second stage of the disease can last up to several months and include central and peripheral nervous system disorders, multiple skin rashes, arthritis and arthritic symptoms, heart palpitations, extreme fatigue, and general weakness. If the disease remains untreated, the third stage can last months to years with symptoms that can include recurring arthritis and neurological problems, even paralysis. Fortunately, fatalities from Lyme disease are rare.
Several antibiotics can treat the illness. The sooner treatments starts, the better. Most cases of Lyme disease can be cured with a 2-4 week treatment of doxycycline, amoxicillin, or ceftriaxone. People with certain neurological or cardiac problems may require intravenous treatment with penicillin or ceftriaxone. Patients diagnosed in the later stages of the disease can have persistent or recurrent symptoms requiring a longer course of antibiotic treatment.
Here’s to endless hours of tick-less joy while hiking and bird-watching.
Happy trails to you.
Karen I. Smith cyclekis.blogspot.com10 ITEMS OR LESS
The most popular retirement activity seems to be shopping. Shopping for new clothes, which you may not even need unless you’ve taken up baking as a secondary hobby; shopping for new shoes which is a must if your partner has a foot fetish with those foot massages being worth their weight in gold; shopping for new electronics if you are one of the lucky ones who can read manuals in five languages; shopping with credit cards just to make sure that they don't expire; or shopping from necessity such as in supermarkets to get something for dinner and to load up on munchies for TV/DVD times. I do accept the fact that some folk get the munchies anyway - after smoking, or just from the need to exercise the jaw muscles and keep them in shape.
If you’re a really thrifty person, you might be able to keep your daily food purchases to ten items, and then you can use the special '10 Items or Less' checkout. This checkout was originally set up to help you get out of the store quickly and with little fuss. Only ten items, though. Don’t forget!
There may be only five people in front of you at the ‘10 or Less’ so you should be able to get through in time to get home for lunch. This can become a game for you so keep a pad and pen in your pocket and note the various times it takes to get through the lineup, or the reasons why you didn't get home until after dark. Just thank your lucky stars that your partner isn't the jealous type. Or, if he is, train him to do the shopping.
The little old lady with the feathered hat, who is being served at the moment, has only three items. How fortunate. The checkout girl asks her for $4.57. She heaves her big purse onto the conveyor belt, and plops it on the next customer's Wonder bread, flattening it. “Hey!’ he yells, but her hearing aid is turned off so she takes no notice as she starts hunting for her change purse, which she says 'must be at the bottom of my bag somewhere because I know I had it before I left home'. When she finds it a good while later, she gingerly picks out the coins, one at a time, all 21 of them, adding them up as she goes, and then losing count when she gets to the nickels. In exasperation, she puts them all down on the belt, spreads them out, and begins counting again. Her fingers are not nimble so picking them back up is a chore and that takes another half hour. She is asked if she has air miles and says, ‘No, I don’t think so.’
The fellow whose bread was squashed asks the checkout girl to have someone get him another, and she yells through the mike for help, meanwhile starting his order. She’s a pretty girl, and the customer notices this. He tells her that his son, the doctor, is coming to visit and he has to have regular bread, not flatbread. He tells her all about himself, his new car, his hobby farm, and is just starting to describe his garden tiller when the bread arrives. It’s not the correct brand. The customer continues on with his story as we all wait, and wait. He’s asked if he wants a store card, and answers ‘I certainly do not'.
The next man is in a business suit. 'I only have a couple extra items, miss, okay?' He has a cane. He has 16 items. He does not agree with the total she gives him, and has to have every item rechecked for it's price. 'But the sign said that the pork and beans are only 99 cents, not $1.09'. No, sir, the computer says they’re $1.09. 'Oh, well, then I don't want them at that price. Your competitor has them for $0.99. Why don't you sell them at the same price? Let me talk to the manager then. Call him over. I'm sure you're wrong, miss'. We wait for the manager. In less than an hour, they have that all worked out, and the man pays for his two cans of beans at $0.99 each. He turns and smiles at everyone before he exits. He is not asked if he wants a store card or if he has air miles.
The next couple has a dozen bananas, 5 lbs. of Macs, and several oranges. They also have an oversized bag of kitty litter, a case of canned cat food, and an enormous bag of dog food. The man says to the checkout girl, 'I hope you aren't going to count each banana, apple and orange as separate items, are you?' We all laugh, hesitantly, because we wonder, too. That would sure shorten the lineup. They want to buy a shopping bag to help save the environment. They’re upset because there are no oversized ones. Suddenly, the man notices that the kitty litter bag has a tear in it, and it's now obvious to everyone that they’ve made a trail through the entire store. The girl uses her mike again to call for help. She starts to clean up the belt and the counter behind her with a damp rag. Someone arrives with a broom. Someone else is sent for another bag of litter. We wait.
The slender young girl in front of me has only one item, and it seems simple enough, shampoo. The checkout girl asks her if she would like a store card, and she does. The application confuses her, but the checkout girl helps patiently. When that’s finally done, the young girl asks what air miles are and how to get them. Finally, she’s done, but not before deciding that she’d also like a chocolate bar, so that purchase has to be rung in separately.
It’s dark out now. I’ve missed lunch. It’s my turn at last but I've lost my appetite. I tell her to have someone put it all back, go to the closest restaurant and order a Bailey’s. I realize it’ll take two.
Karen I. Smith TOM (Ten or More)
THE MEMORY CARD
When I got to the camera store to get photos recently, I realized that I'd forgotten to bring my memory card. My memory card is new, but my memory is old and subject to bouts of forgetfulness. It's embarrassing. My memory is showing its age.
To keep myself occupied this winter, I've been organizing all my photos, both in albums and the more recent ones on the computer. I'm doing it for my kids, I tell myself, so must hurry before my 'memory card' expires.
This activity brings up hundreds of memories, mostly pleasant, because who takes photos of nasty occurrences. Well, I do sometimes. I have a great picture of the Big Island Swamp fire we noticed from Hwy. 62 coming home from camera club, coincidentally, late one night years ago, and one of the fire at Wellington Meats.
Distant memories of trips I've been on are some of my favourites, especially those to provincial and national parks in various provinces and states; memories of leaky tents and hanging wet clothes on the branches of bushes to dry, of raccoons raiding the food hamper, beavers sawing lumber in the middle of the night and downing a tree beside my picnic table. Good and bad, memories all.
I have vivid memories of the first few weeks of coming to The County, and learning about horn-trips, there being three horrible accidents in the first four weeks, and making the sane decision to slow my big yellow 1973 Fury down to 60 miles per hour (100 k/h) instead of 80 or more as I was use to doing before when living in Toronto.
Memories can also be dim memories. That is, either the memories are, or I am. I have little memory of those, though. They seem to have faded into distant memory.
Winter snow evokes a most pleasant memory when Smith Bay froze over on a calm December night in 1978, and three days later it was so solid that dozens of people were out skating, scarves flashing a myriad of colours, from Waupoos to Waupoos Island to Wilolea. I put on my skates, and pulled 4-month old Josie out onto the bay in her new baby-sleigh. The little perch flashed by under us, and we could see clearly their pathways among the grasses waving in the slight current below us. A friend near the Waupoos Canning Factory hooked his skidoo trailer up and brought his family over for a hot chocolate at our snack bar after delivering presents to all his nearby relatives. It didn't snow for nearly a week, and when it did, I went out with a shovel and shovelled pathways for the kids to skate on until, finally, there was too much and that experience became a faded memory. Before it did, though, some teens made a hockey rink. Another family made a skating rink. Lots of children lived at Wilolea then.
Ahh, memories. I hope I don't lose mine any time soon. I take a folic acid tablet every day for what I hope is a preventative and do Sudoku, and play lots of Free Cell on my computer.
Unfortunately, many people are losing their memories today. We visit them on weekends and take them treats. Sometimes we can jog their memories, of the old days (a relative term). They seem to have retained all youthful memories, suffering mostly short-term memory loss at first, so we can write down some of their stories to keep with our personal histories.
Similarly, others have selective memories. They remember all the times they were right but have lost all memory of times when they were wrong. They are sometimes referred to as husbands, or boyfriends, or bosses.
The collective memory, and especially the collective loss of memory, is the saddest of all. How many people remember when there was a Reform Party? How many remember when Steven Harper was in that party? How often did you vote for the Reform Party? How many people want the Reform Party governing Canada? Well, can you also remember that the Reform Party changed their name? Can you also remember what they changed their name to. I think it had the word 'conservative' in it, didn’t it? Do you also remember the old story of the wolf in sheep's clothing?
I have few bitter memories except for the lottery tickets that didn't win, and, conversely, when the conservatives did. I personally see conservatism as a sick, self-centered ideology. I remember many of their narcissistic members/leaders and the years of damage they've done, especially to health care, and double especially to skimming off more than 1200 millions of tax dollars for a 3-day weekend party in Toronto whereby even our rights to assemble were curtailed. Now that makes me bitter. Does the old term, ‘tin pot dictator’ evoke any memories?
Our collective memory seems to be right up there with memory foam, doesn't it. After a while, it just doesn't want to spring back to its original position. As students years ago, we used to have to memorize hundreds of history facts and dates. Why? Exercising your memory is essential to good mental health but was the department of education aware of that fact?. We had to memorize poetry, too. Poetry bridges the gap between the commonplace and the sublime, although I doubt that past or present departments of education ever thought of that reason, either.
Your memory may be good or bad, intact or a bit wonky, right on or dead wrong but it is both protection and weapon; it's the road to happiness and sanity and safety. Memory is so very important. Remember to retire.
Karen I. Smith RIP (Retirement Is Possible)
TIME and AGAIN
My friend, Wilma, dropped in one day, and, over cookies, we took time to discuss the ‘meaning of time'.
Being retired, or being semi-retired like me - still a novice and an apprentice retiree learning the ropes and the tricks of the trade - time has become a most important factor in my life.
In fact, I think I have retired just in the nick of time.
Consider this: like money, time can either be SAVED or SPENT.
It's something that can be SAVED, as in rushing around and saving a few minutes so you can spend the time doing something else.
I have spent a lot of time saving time but this activity usually just stresses me out.
Time can also be SPENT, as in spending time in the garden, at the beach, on the road; spending time on your bike or on your treadmill; spending time with your kids, grandson/granddaughter, or friends; spending time at the library or on the computer; spending time in the kitchen with exciting new recipes, the bedroom (likewise), the workshop (likewise); spending both time and money in the shops, or just on spending time having fun - whatever that means to you…movies, music, swimming, hobbies, concerts, volunteering.
Either way, time or money, YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU!
It might take a lot of practice so don’t lose patience and give up.
You’ll get the hang of it; just give it time.
Try many different things. It’s time well spent, I assure you.
When you look back on your next birthday, and wonder where the time went, don’t spend time worrying about it. Face it; time flies, and, just like what I do for the cluster flies in my cabin in the fall, open the door and fly away to do whatever interests you most with the time and money you have left.
YOUR time; YOUR money - use it joyfully; playfully; usefully and uselessly!!!
(as long as there are no harmful foreseeable consequences)…use it up and have fun doing so.
JUST GO AHEAD and DO IT!!!
You certainly have my permission. Karen Smith R.I.T. (retiree in training)
A RETIRING MOMENT
They always seem to get you, don’t they? Birthdays, that is.
I have been fortunate enough to finally reach that part of my life wherein I now receive monthly cheques just for having survived this long and the government pays me for what I have paid dearly for, all those years of taxes.
‘Life’s Journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out,
shouting ‘Holy Cow, what a Ride!’ Well, here I come, skidding into home base.
Who cares how old you are, you can still ‘Live Life to the Lees’, as Ulysses said. Retirement today gives one so many life choices: writing (I’m doing that right now), reading, watching movies, outdoor gardening, indoor gardening, hiking, biking, surfing (the net, the TV channels), cross-country skiing, ski-doing, flying, riding the rocking chair while watching your gardens grow, dreaming, working, cooking, joining photos clubs, women’s clubs, library clubs, shopping, eating in, dining out, entertaining, swimming, swinging, puttering, taking up pottery, taking courses, learning Spanish, traveling, enjoying senior discounts. (I always forget to tell them.) Add your own choices here, too.
On my rocker; off my rocker. Rocking, rocking, all day long, practicing for full-time retirement.
My favourite activity is still to go down to my cabin in its field of cedars on Army Reserve Road, put on my toad slippers, build a fire and have a beer with my two best friends while my grandson plays with his toy cars. My second fav. is to play Free Cell.
It’s all so exciting, isn’t it? The Freedom of Having Choices!!! They say the luckiest people in the world are those who have choices, or make them. Just remember, if you don’t try something new, you’ll always be stuck with the old. Your choice!
Work? Truthfully, I thought I would try to work around it during retirement. I was hoping the closest I would get to work after I retired would be looking at a piece of it in the art galleries.
My dog is retired now, too. He’s a 14 year old purebred accidental, same as me, who now just looks at squirrels and cats and says, ‘Oh, let ‘em go.’ Retirement is the time to do the same with old grudges, if you have any. Oh, let ‘em go. They aren’t worth it; they just shorten your life.
When you’re young, retirement seems an illusion.
Just before I retired, my daughter, Mary Esta, asks, “Do you think you’ll still work after you retire, Mom? Or maybe try it – see what it’s like to earn that much money? Working probably seems a lot easier now – on bad days or bad calls, you can think about how it’s only a few days more until retirement. I have about 13,000 left!”
Aw.
Well, I stayed on part-time, after quitting for the summer to ride my bicycle 1704 km from Edmonton, Alberta to Brandon, Manitoba. I was alone. My tent is about 3 ft. high and wide, and maybe 6 ft. long. Hail! It was worth every prairie hail storm.
Working part-time augments my meager government pension. I repeat, Mr. Harper – meager pension. I work for a company where there are people even older than I and still working. We oldies have a much more realistic view of our status, though, I will admit.
For instance, my work-mate, Alan, older than I, occasionally has a coughing fit while still talking to a customer. He coughs and coughs, and then hacks a bit, trying to clear his throat. One night, after apologizing to his customer, he said ‘I must have a frog in my throat.’ ‘Well,’ says I, ‘whatever you do, don’t croak. Our lead will come along and ask me what you’re doing on the floor with a frog in your mouth and I’ll have to say to her, well, Alan croaked, even though I told him not to, but you know men – they never listen.’
Some people refer to turning 65 as being all downhill from here on in but it’s our job to make it uphill, too, or, better yet, to be out on the flats. I can tell you from experience in cycling those beastly long hills in northern Alberta and Sask., though, that the coasting down sure is more fun and easy, albeit short-lived, than the walk up them was pushing a heavily loaded bicycle. Better yet, make it completely balanced, some uphill, some downhill, and have a thoroughly enjoyable trip.
Advice from the newly retired: ‘In my youth, I majored at the School of Hard Knocks. What did I learn? Don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s all small stuff.’
Most importantly, spoil yourself. If it’s good for the psyche, the soul, and the body, and doesn’t hurt anyone, including yourself, or the environment, and you know you’ll love doing it, don’t wait for permission,
JUST DO IT.
Karen I. Smith NR & PMBSH
(Newly Retired & Paid Monthly By Stephen Harper)
WHAT ON EARTH
It's scary!
What's scary?
This!!!
The bees are always in the nettles and catnip, but seldom on potted flowers, and/or annuals from the garden centre. I was told recently that most garden centre flowers are now sterile. It seems plausible. Bay Woodyard-North spoke about the decline and disease (dis-ease) of bees at the International Woman’s Day program in Bloomfield, March 8/09. Bees are currently under undue stress, and may be dying off. If they go, we’re in real trouble.
It’s also chemicals from sprayed lawns causing this crisis. Can you please stop spraying/poisoning your lawns. We all know by now that it seeps into creeks and, ultimately, the water system. The Robins eat the worms and insects. Bees go to the clover and other sprayed flowers. Children play on their backyard swings. Our own dear toads and frogs mutate. I took a picture of a 'blue' bullfrog in Bloomfield a few years ago when I was mowing. It isn't listed in any books that I've found - is likely a mutation. Need we ask why the bees are disappearing, too, and human incidents of cancers run rampant.
Here’s a great idea! Folks, we must allow wildflowers onto our lawns again, even if we have to make special plots for them. Look how beautiful they are! I cannot imagine anyone not seeing the beauty of a natural field of daisies or mixed wildflowers. Country homes and properties often mow expansive areas, even acres, creating sterile green and/or brown deserts! Do you see any living creature on these mowed areas? No, and few birds. At least leave a wild area, and mow around some of the wildflowers. Wildflowers are not weeds. That kind of thinking is part of the brain-washing we’ve endured for years now. Give one/some a home, for the sake of Mother Earth, and for your descendants, which are one and the same issue. Mow around a clump of Queen’s Ann Lace. You’ll know it in spring by its ferny leaves. My clump grew over 5 ft. high, grew 3 feet in circumference until mowing kept it in check, and had several hundreds of flowers on it for 2 months every year. They come back on their own! Are labour free! I dead-headed the spent ones, though, when I wandered around the yard. Plant the orange Day-lily from a ditch nearby and mow around it. Put it around trees – who needs whipper-snippers, anyway. The Monarchs will love your mowing around a Milkweed and Goldenrod. Mow around a clump of grass and let it go to seed. Sometimes I mowed the wild ones after they had seeded, like the rare Pussy-Toes I found. Or just pick off the dead stems.
If you hate weeding your flower garden, mowing is the natural weeder. You can move perennials into individuals lawn plots, as well. I put several perennials in the lawn, digging each plot 2 to 3 feet in diameter, putting the plant in the centre and annuals or bulbs around the perimeter. Each clump was at least a lawn mower’s width apart and it was great fun mowing around them. The Echinacea loved it. The sedum ‘Live Forever’ that Olive Horton gave me a clump of 30 years ago thrived on neglect; still does; the large clumps of Peony and Iris from Val Fulford an absolute delight. One by one, I moved the perennials into their own spots on the lawn, put a lawn-swing in the middle, and watered them with the hose on my lap while swinging. A hummingbird got into the habit of appearing, hovering mid-flight above the arc of hosed water, then dipping his bill into it. Mischievously, I would gently raise the spray a bit, and Hummer would play along, rising and falling as the arc did.
'Planet Earth' says that at least half of the wetlands, grasslands, and forests have disappeared or become lawn, aka -sterile green deserts. Even worse, one-quarter of all animals are now gone, lost to us forever, and one-third of the amphibians have died off - the remaining half of which are endangered. Mowing lawns contributes to the deaths of thousands of species of plants, animals, birds and insects annually. Mowing the sides of the County roads, the last bastion of much wildlife is absolutely heedless, needless, wasteful, and expensive, Counselors!
For the sake of Tom E. Toad and all his friends and friends-to-be, as well as all your family and family-to-be, please consider being kinder to Mother Earth. Tom E. asks that you dig a hole 3'x 3' x 3', fill it with sand or sandy loam, and be secure in knowing that your garden toads, the natural insecticide, have a place to hide during a hot summer day, and to hibernate in during winter. Plant a perennial or wildflower around the area to give it shade.
Home-owners are using up the last of the world’s natural gas resources by mowing, in a race to include mankind (us) in the ultimate extinction of life on earth as we know it, in as short a time as possible. It has been fun, though, hasn't it? What is it they say? It's been nice knowing you!
Happy Earth Day. Karen I. Smith
GUILTY AS CHARGED
The world is using up the last of its gas supplies, right, but, still, you want to see it. The world, that is.
Or Prince Edward County which is, of course, our world.
Easing into retirement gradually, I find myself more and more out and about on County Roads. It’s what one might refer to as my guilty pleasure.
We head out, binoculars at hand, but soon stop at the Black River Cheese for supplies and an ice cream and sit on the picnic table beside the river. Then we drive up Morrison Pt. Rd. to photograph the antique stone fences, lilacs, wild roses, and/or cedar fences. Stopping at Vickie’s (organic) Veggies is a must, and also at Pat’s for some delicious plum jam.
Along the way, we stop many times to take pictures of the beautiful wild flowers if the roads dept. hasn’t already annihilated them. We found a gorgeous orange-spotted caterpillar on the wild grape leaves along Army Reserve Rd. Isn’t it wonderful how you can take thousands of pictures nowadays without the expense of having to get film replenished and developed. Just pull out the memory card when you get home, reduce them to a reasonable size, and send the day’s story to your family and friends via internet. We’ve taken shots of humungous waves at Point Petre, and the harvest moon rising immensely orange out of Lake Ontario at Pt. Traverse. We watched the Canadian geese there taking their babies on tour.
We drive down to Point Traverse or Point Petre, park, get out the lawn chairs and the cooler and have wine and cheese while watching the fairies dancing brightly on the wavelets. Happily, there are crackers in the cooler for the goat cheese and old chedder, and also green onions and grapes.
What a delightful time to be a senior!
Time for a swim – Pt. Traverse, Pt. Petre, Sandbanks, Outlet, Wellington, North Beach – lots of choices.
Lunch or supper on a patio? Some great County places. Our favourite this year was when we chanced upon Cascades in Consecon. In June, the water was rushing over the dam. Some little fish were determined to get up onto the lip of the dam, and a Great Blue Heron was just as determined to dine on them positioning himself on the lip as they swam into his beak while we watched, dining on delicious home-made hamburgers and beer (2 burgers/2 beer for less than $20). In July, we watch the resident swan with the injured wing. It stays behind the dam year long, and will waddle up to and peck at doors for food when it needs it. Dining in Wellington at the wharf is fun, too, watching the boats come and go, and people fishing off the dock. Dining at Lake on the Mountain, especially at dusk, is lovely with the lake on one side of you and the Bay of Quinte across the road on the other side. You can go over and look down upon the Glenora Ferry crossing.
Once a year, we drive to Bergeron’s. The wolves howled for us wonderfully at 5 pm last time.
Every day we stop, wake up the old dog in the back seat, and go for a walk along the Millenium Trail. Macaulay Mtn. is another favourite with great trails, flat or up the mountain to the lookout. In the evening, a drive to Cty. Rd. 13’s lookout is great for moon shots.
Every second Monday I drive to an art film at the Regent for a Cinefest movie.
Driving to Milford Farmer’s Market held every summer Saturday is really a treat. You can just drive around The County visiting a myriad of wonderful artisans’ shops for visual art, pottery, glass-blowing etc. or take the fall tour.
My friend, Peter, from work, went on his own personal wine tour, and found Long Dog to be his favourite. We drove down to Waupoos where I had a beautifully sculpted swan pastry in a dish of light syrup and a glass of wine on a patio overlooking Waupoos Is. Now, if I rented a canoe or paddleboat from Waupoos Marina, I could circle Waupoos Island using no gas and see the old stone Shannon House, perhaps The County’s oldest house, sitting picturesquely at the southwest end.
I call this driving around The County, ‘PECing’. I hope you all get to enjoy PECing, too.
Karen. I. Smith – PECing Retiree (I don’t dare print the acronym for this one) August/09
DOWN IN THE DUMPS
The year might be 1984. The kids are very excited as I come into the room, bustling around with boots and sweaters, and calling out ‘Are you ready yet, Dad?’
‘Where are you going?’ I ask.
‘To the dump, Mom! Want to come?’
‘Ummm, I really have so much to do that I can’t this time. Perhaps next time. Okay?’ (note the word ‘perhaps’ there).
‘Yeah, but you’ll miss all the fun!’
I guess for them, and many others, it is a lot of fun going to the dump. You find all sorts of surprises there. People leave perfectly useful things there…stoves, bikes, toys, furniture etc. You get to drive high up on huge mounds and look out over the township. There’s a little table set up for people to leave any number of treasures on - dishes, pots, lamps, kitchen equipment – it can become a trip to the second-hand store.
Ever kind and helpful personnel sometimes help you heave the tagged bags over the embankment.
You often discover old friends and relatives browsing there, turning the trip into Old Home Week, The Newsroom and/or the local gossip column.
While one person may say ‘Yuck!’, others are absolutely delighted to be there. Especially kids, it seems.
Years ago, the dump was chaos, muck n mire, and so smelly that you were tossing the garbage out at the same time that you were madly backing up out of there.
The road in there was so slick that my daughter, Terri, and I got stuck one evening, Nov. 1977. My big old ’64 Ford with the roll-down back window was totally mired up to the rear-view mirrors. It was 32 degrees F. with a skim of ice on the puddles, and a new moon was in the sky – the dump never closed back then. It turned out to be a lovely 3 mile hike back to Milford to the first house we came to. Mr. and Mrs. Hick’s took us in and warmed us up. Terri’s feet were almost frozen because she just had on thin sneakers. However, teens are tough. Finally, our rescuer arrived, and got the car out single-handed with a board.
I remember being there one other night with Des, your notorious publisher. Both of us were picking through the strewn bags, usually wet, falling-apart paper bags, trying to find the one I had taken over earlier in the day with an unchecked Wintario ticket in it. Yes, I know dumps. No, we did not find the lottery ticket.
Nowadays, dumps are so pristine that the rats turn away in disgust; so organized that it puts many of us to such shame that we head back home motivated to clean out that back closet and boot-room.
I use the dump now only for taking the blue box stuff over when I have missed the bi-weekly pickup. I have 3 blue boxes – one for paper, one for plastic, and one for cans. And I have a compose.
Last time I went over to a County dump, you can imagine my shock and surprise when one of the employees came over and started rejecting my plastics, telling me that there is polyvinyl chloride in these toys and that they can’t be accepted. I’ve since discovered that plastics also contain phthalates and other dioxins which are known endocrine disruptors, and that the use of chemicals in plastics is totally unregulated.
My grandson, who I used to baby-sit, is now 5 years old, and in school, so I had decided to discard the out-dated plastic toys with the missing pieces that he will never play with again. There were old sippy cups, bottles, and dishes with Disney scenes on them. Mostly hard plastic. Mostly kids’/baby stuff.
They were ALL rejected by the blue box because of the toxins. They could, however, be put in a garbage bag for the waste management.
Note: Lego, Gerber, Thomas (toys) and Evenflo keep PVC’s to a minimum.
The baby stuff, the kids’ toys!!! – too toxic for the blue box. Toxins in thousands of consumer products, especially toys, toothbrushes, beauty products, building products etc.
Is this Insanity at it’s most insane? Or am I just crazy?
So little concern for our children that the authorities allow the importing and unrestricted sale of these plastic items to Canadian children, or any children, for that matter!!! Toys that they put into their mouths, that they handle daily and then put their thumbs and fingers into their mouths; dishes that we put all their food on and in, and pop into the microwave! Man, we have a lot to account for as a society, and will likely be known by our grandchildren and future generations as the barbarians, or as the ‘Ignoramuses of all Time’.
Might be time to write to our provincial and federal reps, and order them to stop the importation of anything made for children that can’t be blue boxed. While we at it, let’s get a law saying all companies have to be responsible for the disposal of their products, regardless of any excuse.
Do you know who your reps are?
I’m sure that Leona Dombrowsky and Daryl Kramp are just waiting to hear from you.
It’s easy. Just google their names, or look in the phone book.
Remember! One letter is representative of 1000 voters speaking out. Do hope you will speak out.
Karen I. Smith - SAPR (Speaker-Against-Plastics Retiree) Sept./09
JUST KIDDING
I phoned a friend the other day and during our conversation, he suddenly remarked, ‘Omigod, this guy just walked right in my front door, down the hall, and now he’s gone into my bathroom. His face looks just like my nephew, Jamie’s, the poor guy. Just kidding, Jamie.’
Was Jamie in the bathroom checking out the mirror to see what might his uncle have been referring to with tears streaming down his burning cheeks, or was he in there smiling in the mirror and chuckling to himself at the joke? (guys can joke about someone’s personal appearance, remember; girls cannot)
Now, when I kidded a female friend last month about something as innocent as wanting some maple syrup on her maple walnut ice cream, she said ‘You’re lying!’
‘I’m not lying, I’m kidding!’ I answered, completely astonished and taken aback.
‘No, kidding is lying.’
No kidding!!! Well, technically, maybe, sometimes, but it’s meant to be loving, or done lovingly, isn’t it?
Since then, having researched among various other friends, I’ve discovered that most of the men said there’s an inherent meanness to kidding, that it’s somewhat aggressive, that there’s an underlying attack to kidding;
most of the women agreed with me that they thought that kidding is loving.
So, then, why do more of my men friends than my women friends say funny things and immediately afterward say ‘just kidding’?
Apparently, ‘just kidding’ is relative to who is kidding, and who is being kidded so you might want to watch what you say. Then, again, you might not want to, especially if you’re older.
For instance, if you’re asked if you’re going to your boss’s retirement party, you might say, ‘Sure, I’ll be there with my lamp shade on!’ or, instead, you might say ‘No, not on your life, but I’ll go to his funeral, although the funeral parlor might not like me showing up with a glass of champagne.’
(Just kidding?)
For instant, should I happen to attend a council meeting, (which isn’t too likely, Monica, so don’t worry), I should be able now to stand up and ask the question ‘Who has the brain? Does one of you have it, or did you file it in File 13, or did you loan it out to another municipality and forget where it is?’
(Just kidding!)
Well, now that I’m a senior-in-training - an elder with hopes one day of having the word ‘respected’ put in front of the word elder - I understand that when we reach this ripe old age called ‘The Senior Years’ we deserve to say almost anything we want to. Don’t you agree? Haven’t we earned the right? Well, I guess not if we make many comments like the ones above. I suppose that right comes with some responsibility.
Therefore, as a senior, I will try to hold my tongue, as my Mother told me to, but it’s so quick to say the wrong thing that I may slip up now and again…and again…and…
Just kidding.
Karen I. Smith –SINR (Senior-in-Training Retiree) Oct/09
LIVE AND LEARN
Although I’ve lived long enough to get the Ooold Age Pension and CPP, everything I’ve learned along the way seems mostly to have been learned at school, or, more precisely, The School of Hard Knocks.
Some of it is irrelevant but some of it has played a very important part of my life.
For instance, I’ve learned that a beer taken as soon as the first burning sensation of an impending bladder infection starts will, within an hour, cure that problem. Of course, that almost always leaves me wondering if maybe I should be taking one hourly as a preventive. Seems to work for some but the dizziness and slurring always gets to me.
I’ve learned from my mother-in-law, Leah Marcille, that a spoonful of gelatin powder on my morning cereal or in my morning tea will arrest early signs and or pain of arthritis. I’m now a younger old person who can bike and hike and put on her own clothes but I remember in my late 20’s my grandmother having to help me on with my coat.
I learned from, and am eternally indebted to, Austin, of the Picton Sports Injury Clinic, for giving me a back exercise to do every morning before I get out of bed so that I can get out of bed, and that is to lie on my back and slowly bring my knees up as close to my chin as I can, holding this undignified position for the count of 60 (one minute). Five years ago, I couldn’t lift my grandson out of his basinet, and lived with constant back pain.
No longer!!!
At one time, my ankles turned over as I walked, which really hurts, but it wasn’t until I was older, beyond caring about looks, that I decided to try wearing hiking boots all the time, the condition corrected itself and the problem disappeared within four years. What did I learn? Patience! Also, I learned to stop worrying about what I looked like and to never look at my reflection in shop windows where I’d see those big ugly brown boxes on my feet laughing back at me.
I learned 10 years ago from a CBC newscast that melatonin fights cancerous tumours, and also helps you get to sleep so you can get a good night’s sleep. Since I worked nights in the last few years, sleeping days, not nights, was more of a problem, but I took melatonin anyway daily. I also learned that if you sleep in a very dark room, no light, your body will produce it’s own cancer-fighting melatonin.
I’ve learned, only as an older person, to walk carefully. A trip can become a very bad trip. Had one of those!
I’ve also learned to talk carefully. The days of non-politically correctness are gone. I was still quite young when an even younger beautiful black woman came into our snack bar to get a bag of ice. The ice machine was outside on the deck and the iceman had just restocked that day. She paid, I escorted her out, opened the ice refrigerator doors, threw my arms out and declared ‘There you go. Eenie, meenie, minie, mo.’ I learned political correctness that day, and got out the nursery rhyme book, reread it, and threw it out. I was so sorry.
I love to eat. I didn’t have to learn that but I did have to learn how to make food taste good without butter and salt – lemon pepper, or lemon juice and cracked pepper, spices etc. I haven’t learned how to give up sugar, even though I’ve learned that sugar feeds cancer. Chocolate and Worthers? Yum!
I’ve learned that we digest maybe 20% of a steak and it’s hard on regularity so I prefer ground meats.
What’s that you say? Pardon? I can’t hear you. Well, if you’d get the wax out of your ears, maybe… I did learn from a kind neighbour this year that a few drops of peroxide will remove the wax if nothing else will. At the same time, it will give your hair a few streaks so that you can hear with a more youthful look.
I’ve learned that if I walk my treadmill to eclectic music playing I can walk in time to the music and not get bored because the beat changes with each song. Also, if you put on a video instead, you can walk along in the country or city that the video portrays, taking a trip abroad for next to nothing - save your payments on the treadmill.
I’ve learned that I adore my old and new internet friends, and laugh out loud at some of their forwards. I can send family/County pictures from a digital camera and I don’t have to pay for processing.
I’ve learned, to my great joy, that ‘google’ will tell me anything in the world I need or want to know.
I am still, and always, learning. I love it.
A lot of what I’ve learned over the years I’ve forgotten so it’s hard for me to know what’s bad memory and what’s the onslaught of Alzheimer’s. However, I’ve learned recently, and have been able to retain that learning, that folic acid helps prevent it so I take one tablet every day. We’ll see if I can continue to remember to do an article for Des’s Mirror once a month. That alone is an accomplishment as I see it.
Karen Smith S.I.L.L.Y. (senior in learning lessons yet) Dec/09
ON KEEPING WARM
Did you realize that you can buy bags of apples in autumn on East Lake Road, (Cty. Rd. 11), for only $1.00 per bag? These are grounders. You have to fill the grocery bags yourself from the bins by the roadside. I bought five bagsful this fall, and pealed, sliced and dehydrated most of them. Although I only pealed and cored a few at a time, I discovered to my delight that I was always warm as I worked.
For as long as I remember, I’ve suffered from the cold, especially my legs and feet. However, as the hours passed with the dehydrating activities, I came to realize how it was that ‘pioneer’ women survived the winters of yore. They had floor-length skirts and petticoats, and they were always up and active, bent over a wood fired cook-stove, adjusting the coals, chipping kindling perhaps, chopping blocks of wood, punching bread and slapping slabs of meat (instead of the kids and hubby), often moving the irons from the woodstove to press some clothes while waiting for the venison to roast and pies to bake (or burn if you’re like me). I bet they were almost always warm.
Of course, old sketches show them wearing shawls. You can make one easily. A rectangular blanket, fleece or felt is great because they throw your own body heat right back at you. Just fold it long-wise, and cut it from the middle of one end half way up towards the other end and slip it over your shoulders. Pulling the threads out along the cut will lend you a nice fringe in time, or take it to Sew What and have it hemmed.
Here are some tips on how to keep warm this winter, 2010 style. First, sponsor your partner to take a cooking course, perhaps at the Waring House. It will warm your heart to simply anticipate those tasty meals that you no longer will have to prepare yourself. You have probably cooked 50,000 by now, anyway, haven’t you. How will this warm you up, you’re wondering. Well, you will now have to wash the stove, the walls, the ceiling and floors, the cupboard doors, the microwave, the convention oven and the big oven, the dishes and enough pots to cover an entire display at Walmart. Every day! You may never have time to feel the cold again.
You will also keep warm getting up to find all the spices and the spatula and the cutting board, the cheese slicer, and the grater, the butter, salt, pepper – well, you know. You will warm up as you re-organize your entire kitchen. Those delicious meals may truly be worth the warming, though.
Laughter is another really good way to warm up. Watch only funny movies and TV programs and you’ll feel warm all over. When he asks each morning if you need anything at the store, say ‘yes’ even if you don’t - (now, didn’t that chuckle make you feel warmer? I mean the part about the shopping.)
Wool socks, wet or dry, will always keep your feet warm, I’ve been told. Smelly, but warm. Also, since feet tend to sweat a bit you might find it advantageous to change your damp socks several times per day. Damp socks will definitely make you feel colder than you really are.
Wearing stretchy workout pants under your slacks, jeans, or dress helps you feel cozy, especially if you also put a pair of leg warmers on over your socks. They keep the ankles from being bothered by the drafts. If, like me, you prefer to sit and play Sudoku and Free Cell, and read books, then might I suggest one of those wonderful little electric lap blankets to tuck over your legs and around your feet.
After having finished up all that kitchen cleaning each morning, you should be warm for a good hour at least. You may even have found, as an added bonus, some wonderfully colourful choice words that have added a little warmth to your morning, as well. Words are just semantics, not to worry.
Maybe you overdid it and worked yourself up into a hot lather. Then it’s time to go to the coffee shop if you got to that state because minus 20 is great weather for cooling off in. Search out the funniest customers (the person they’re talking to is already smiling or laughing) and listen in. Laugh with them. If you get chastised for eavesdropping, remember, humiliation is just about the warmest feeling you’ll ever experience. You can even laugh at that.
Warm up with a walk around the block. Walking warms you up. Swing your arms. Long walks will have you wanting to peel, but, at your age, may I suggest moderation. Hugs are warming. Straight-jackets are not.
Keep Happy. Keep warm and happy.
Karen I. Smith S.C.O.W. (senior counselor of warmth)
THE 'F' WORD
As a senior, you think you’ve reached the age when you’ve heard it all. I’m sure some of you have, but I sure hadn’t.
My friend, Pauline, and I were sitting on the front steps recently, watching the dogs romp, and discussing this very matter. She had just come back from shopping, and I was about to go. The ‘F’ word has become very pertinent at our time of life: how to handle it in ways that leave us with our dignity; what it used to be like when we were young, of course; and how we might handle this problem in useful, helpful, enjoyable and maybe even humourous ways.
Big kids like us put all kidding aside when it comes to the ‘F’ word. There’s no choice. Rather than have a permanent frown added to my many other wrinkles, I will take my late mother’s advice and ‘Put up, or shut up.’ Let’s face it, though, I’m not likely to shut up, so will share some pearls of wisdom from my mature friends.
The ‘F’ word is a powerful word - just say it once and see the reaction you get. I didn’t get to being a senior without it having been said and heard many times. It’s just that now I hear it in every conversation. In fact, as a retiree, I hear several ‘F’ words a day. The most important one now, though, seems to be the word Frugal. I hear it often; I say it often. Frivolous I heard a lot when I was younger, but now it’s Frugal I hear. I didn’t even realize it was an ‘F’ word until I retired…semi-retired, that is, because although I may be a retiree-in-training, I’m a total novice in frugality. Frugal means thrifty, did you know that? Frugal means penny-pinching. So? How to be Frugal!
Let’s begin with Food, the favourite ‘F’ word of most seniors I know. We can buy fruit and veggies which have passed their best-before dates. Did you know meat is often reduced on Mondays at supermarkets.
Hilda says, ‘I’ve been frugal all my life by necessity. However, in the 1970’s, it was the in-thing to have a freezer and buy sides of meat. It soon became apparent that we were getting cheap steak but expensive hamburger so we set up a ‘freezer fund’ so we could buy a lot of what we like for less. We expanded it to include all items, perishable or not. If you watch the specials, certain items go on sale about every six weeks. I am brand loyal, and often have to wait longer but I almost never pay full price.’
Pauline says: ‘Take your inner child out once a month, although, with only $5.00/mo. for treasure hunting, it makes me feel rich - I suggest eating at home.’
My daughter, Josie suggests ‘Cooking is good for saving money instead of buying pre-made food or eating in restaurants. Besides, it’s a great hobby…vegetable gardening for the same reason.
My friend, Lucas, warns of signs that read ‘Sale: 40% off?’. Remember that you still have to spend 100% to save that 40%. The same goes for those store coupons – you’re not saving if you’ve just purchased something you didn’t even need. I garner coupons/points when I use my Sears card to buy gas at PetroCan, and I need gas regularly. The points are redeemed for cash eventually so it’s a good one.‘Sharing a shower, and not going on extended bike trips! Har, Harley!’ – suggestion from another friend. Note that my trip to PEI this month is a car trip set up with two other female friends sharing expenses. That’s a great and inexpensive way to still be able to travel. The ladies will be going to a Women’s Institute Conference, and I will be cycling. Bicycles are gas-free, although it takes 3 times as long in wind, rain and sleet to get there. Walking/hiking is a bit slower than cycling but both burn 1000 times more calories than driving does. Did someone say ‘treadmill’ instead? However, next time you have to trade in your car, opt for a small gas-efficient one, or a scooter. My daughter, Mary Esta suggests, ‘When you have an urge to buy something, you should first take a long walk (off a short peer, Mary?) or hike at a fun place (the mall, Mary Esta?) – no, like Macaulay Mountain or Little Bluff. Afterwards, you’ll be so satisfied with yourself that you won’t feel the boredom that causes you to go shopping for something you don’t really need in the first place.’ Another friend, unnamed, suggests using a washcloth instead of toilet paper.
My brother, Ron, says ‘The best thrift idea I have is the public library. But then, I’m blessed with a really well stocked library system. I use them almost entirely for DVD’s, but now they even have video games (as well as the usual stuff). I’ve only bought one book since I retired last year and one DVD. ttfn’
Sherri suggests ‘My very favourite way to save money is to buy at second hand stores. Inevitably, I get really good clothing and other objects, even designer styles, for very reasonable prices. And I don’t look like everyone else on the block!’
Just to add to Sherri’s words, may I suggest also borrowing from your kids (maybe they’ll forget where the item got to, at least until you’ve worn it out). heehee – pay back time!
Man at bulk store said many receipts have an internet address on back. He checks all his receipts. He then goes to the site, gets asked to fill in a survey, and receives a coupon from a hamburger place or such.
Join an organization, and share the treats served there at break. Have fun seeking out new and novel ways to get freebies.
Karen I. Smith N.I.F. (Novice in Frugality)
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