I’m a Lumberjack and I’m OK …

Share this post:

I just spent a week lumberjacking for my cousin on Manitoulin Island. She had several dead and rotting fir trees on her property that needed to come down. I had promised her two years ago that I would help her clear the view to her beloved grove of cedars.

After a seven hour drive from Caledon to Espanola through Little Current to Kagawong, we arrived at her home. Advanced Tree Felling TechniquesFor the next six days I chainsawed, felled, trimmed, piled logs for firewood, and several times took her trailer of branch trimmings to the compost dump. My cousin, all 110 lbs of her, was determined to get the job done. In the end, however, she said I had exhausted her.

I think it was the dance routine that did her in. I couldn’t help myself. That song from Monty Python’s Flying Circus had become an ear worm and, of course we had to act out the whole routine to “I’m a Lumberjack and i’m OK

I was driven to keep my promise to get all of  those trees and stumps down, but a dull chainsaw slowed me down. I’ll be back in September to finish off those stumps!. Her saws will be sharpened by then. I will keep my promise to clear her dead trees and stumps because I’m a lumberjack, and I’m OK. Monty Python would be proud.

The way I see it.

*****

*Visual from Getty Images

Random Acts

Share this post:

In an earlier blog titled “Moments of Peace” I referred to meeting my new friend Bonnie and the beautiful flower gardens that I walk by every day with our dog. One morning Bonnie told me that the gardens were maintained by a man named Tony as a tribute to his late-daughter-in-law.

So, being me, I just had to meet Tony. Two days ago I walked up to the door and introduced myself and thanked him for making the world a more beautiful place. Tony invited me in and introduced me to his wife Lisa. We started chatting and discovered that we were both retired teachers. Not unusual, but then 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon happened!

We had both gone to Toronto Teacher’s College in 1967-68. He signed on with the Toronto Separate Board and I went North York Public. We knew all the same schools! I mentioned that I had specialized in outdoor and environmental education, working with schools to create native species outdoor classrooms In their schoolyards. Tony told me that when he retired he took horticultural classes at Humber College and that led him to his native species pollinator gardens!

Then he mentioned that he was part of a Bruce Trail hiking group. Whoa! My outdoor ed career began on the Bruce Trail in 1972 when I hiked 30 students out the last week of September on a 50 mile 5 day hike on the Bruce Trail. We did that every year from 1972 to 1980.

What comes next? Well, Tony and I will be hiking the Trail together very soon. Stranger things have happened, but this random act showed me that the universe is unfolding as it should. The way I see it.

Think Global, Act Local. Care personally.

Share this post:

It’s an old adage. We take in news of Ukraine, Gaza, Trumpism and we learn as much as we can about the issues most relevant to us. At home, we focus on reducing conflict between neighbours, caring about human rights for the unhoused in our community, eliminating arrogance and stupidity in our locally elected representatives.

The key in all of this is to care personally. That is the spark that drives people to act and change things for the better, whether it be human rights, global security, or ethical governance.

“Pick your hill on which to die,” is the old rallying cry of the military. It stated that you were willing to die for your family, beliefs, or country. So, what’s your hill? Mine globally is Gaza – a two state solution with equal defense capabilities for both states, and Ukraine – a complete withdrawal of Russian occupying forces from any seized territories, including the post-Olympics Crimea snatch when the world fell asleep.

Locally, it would be the recovery of responsible democracy in the age of Doug Ford’s Strong Mayors. In particular, the saving of Swan Lake, 0 Shaw’s Creek Road, Caledon. The relationship between developer’s interests and money can quickly corrupt local political decisions, like let’s change the by-laws to permit excess soil dumping in the freshwater lake of a fully rehabilitated former gravel pit.

Some things are global catastrophes. Some are local disasters. Let’s start at home and save Swan Lake. The way I see it

A Spy Fly on the Wall

Share this post:

Location: Alaska, where Americans sitting on their decks can see Russia.

Significance: A meeting between Donald the Doofus and Vladimir the Viper to determine the fate of a nation that was not invited to the meeting.

What the Spy Fly recorded

Don: Long time no see! Still got those tapes?

Vlad: Hmm.

Don: Well, I would loan you my Golden Jet for a trip anywhere in the world if you would just keep that quiet, I mean, they keep digging Jeffy up from the grave and it’s interfering with my GREATNESS.

Vlad: Hmm.

Don: So. all I really want out of this “peace deal” is all the mineral rights to the rare earth metals in this country. Agreed?

Vlad: Hmm.

DON: And for making me richer than anyone EVER, you get to keep the land you invaded. Agreed?

Vlad: Hmm.

Don: Wow! I am the BEST DEAL MAKER in the HISTORY OF THE WORLD!

Vlad: Hmm.

Don leaves the meeting, carried to his Golden Jet by James Many Names, his faithful acolyte.

Vlad: Hmm. Release the tapes. This man is a идиот!

The way the Fly sees it … 

 

 

New Comic Book Villains

Share this post:

Introducing … Donald the Doofus, Benny the Butcher, and Vladimir the Viper.

These comic book world leaders are true villains in every sense of the word. Between them we have two war crimes criminals, a convicted felon, misogynist, racist, rapist, fraudster and tax cheat, a religious extremist/terrorist, a cold blooded killer, a malignant narcissistic personality disorder, and at least one psychopath. They control enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world.

They have different goals. One wants to reclaim his Motherland’s place of power in the world. One wants to claim a mythical land promised to him by a mythical supreme being, And the other wants to be Dictator of the World and bring about the Rapture.

As the story opens, war is raging around the world. Vladimir the Viper is focused on victory in his campaign to expand the Motherland. Benny the Butcher is intent on killing every inhabitant  who was living in his mythical promised land before he got there. Donald the Doofus is waging a chaotic economic war against any country who will not give him what he wants – golf courses, minerals, prime real estate in the Middle East, constant praise, the Pedo files – the list is endless and unpredictable.

Obviously, these villains have tremendous power, some more erratic than others, but still, a LOT OF POWER! The question is, how will the good people of Earth stop them from destroying the Planet?

***

In our next instalment, we begin the search for persons of goodwill willing to wear tight fitting graphene suits designed by Lululemon, Our logo contest begins today!
Saving humanity begins with us! The way I see it.