I work at home via computer/Internet and I find my home telephone ringing to be distracting.
Rotary dial pay phone
To be honest, I actually find the telephone an annoyance so if I’m offered information on how to reduce the annoyance of unwanted telephone calls I’m going to pay attention and share any helpful information that I learn.
Some helpful information that you may or may not have heard of allows you to Find Out Who Called You, which allows you to run a reverse phone number search for any phone number that is used to contact you.
Though having your telephone information added to the National No Call Registry will usually help you with unwanted calls, if you desire further assistance, click the above links to take advantage of a reverse phone lookup service.
Confederation Park, Ottawa, Canada
Ottawa Confederation Park
All webshots taken today, Sept 29, 2008 unless noted.
My spouse was quite excited yesterday as he informed me that he’d found a slew of new “across Ontario”-type webcams from which we–and the rest of the world could watch the changing seasons in Ontario. I was excited too until I realized many of them suffered from the same issues that I’d mentioned about my favourite Ontario webcam source–no one maintains the webcams. What I found while looking through these webcams were non-functional ones, horribly out of date ones ( June?), blurry to the point of unrecognizable shots, pointless pictures (your empty patio with a view of …nothing?) and one of my personal faves- crooked shots.
Lake Kawagama~
I went from being excited at the prospect of bringing fresh shots to Maple Lake Ontario to well, I found a handful of new ones –plus a lovely shot from Ottawa that features some great changing colours–so I’m still excited. But Canada! I’m talking 5 shots out of of 50! (In actuality about 40 percent of the shots seemed to be working today but some of them are the exact same webcams that I’ve been using–which is fine–and some of them are pictures of things like an intersection of Highway 11.) (woot)
Chapleau Waterfront~ Mulligan's Bay
Check out the clouds reflected in the Bay! This camera never fails me! Thank you to whomever is responsible for it.
Bay view~Lake Nipissing
My spouse has been an avid gardener for much of his life. He devotes as much time as he can and he does a fantastic job. One ongoing frustration for him about all others is squirrel infestation. Squirrels are among a gardener’s worst enemies–spouse calls them “tree rats.” Why so negative? Here’s a few reasons. Squirrels dig up flower bulbs, tulips, crocuses, you name it, they’ll eat it though spouse says they don’t love the taste of tulips so they only “half-eat” them. Squirrels do not contain their eating to just your garden though. They like to get in flowerpots too, and it matters not to them if they are hanging flowerpots. In the fall squirrels dig in your garden to bury their acorns and nuts and in the spring they dig once again to unbury their acorns and nuts. In other words, it’s a constant war between gardeners and squirrels whether it is spring, summer or fall.
My spouse was so upset one spring about the damage that squirrels did to his newly planted garden that he dreamed that night that there was a product–”poison peanuts”–that he could use to get rid of them once and for all. The dream was so real that despite the dangers if such a product existed he inquired about it at several garden centers. No one had ever heard of such a thing. I had to gently point out that not only would using “poison peanuts” endanger other animals but a child could come along and eat one and then–disaster.
Until now spouse has not been optimistic about ever getting our squirrel problem under control but there may be hope yet.
Havahart’s squirrel repellent has the following attributes: it has proven effective as a way ton to repel squirrels from bird feeders and gardens and it is organic so it is less harmful to the environment as was as safe for the animal. This is exciting news for gardener’s and it may help my spouse win the war of the squirrels versus his gardens.
Montreal River Harbour Sunset
Even though my link says “Most Awesome Ontario Webcams!”, in truth, many of the webcam shots available are nowhere near awesome. I find this both puzzling and disappointing. I’m puzzled because when used correctly webcam shots of your area whether they be of an area of interest like a traffic cam or an area of beauty like the ones I showcase on this website can be very valuable tools. The benefits of a good traffic cam are obvious in alerting commuters to traffic situations. But the aesthetically pleasing ones have the potential to draw people to visit your area. Why, as in the case of Haliburton, is there an offering of a scene that is fuzzy and does not showcase the more attractive areas of town (and, for that matter, why is it the exact scene shown on one of their postcards for sale in town)?! This is a question I cannot answer. Haliburton is not the biggest offender–not by a long stretch. There are others in which the webcam shot is so distorted that one can never make out what the shot is supposed to be of! But here’s the rub. Someone is paying to host these webshots be they privately or publicly sponsored. If you are hosting a webcam shot of a blob–you are throwing away money.
My goal of sharing the webcams shots that are quite spectacular is to share the beauty of Ontario with whomever wishes to see it. I’m frustrated however because in a great many cases I can’t do so even though the link is there and the camera is turned on. I get nothing and therefore cannot share anything. No one benefits and it seems like such a waste and with that I’ll end my rant and show you some extraordinary shots of the sun setting tonight in Ontario.
No one expects perfection from a webcam shot but all of the shots below give a nice feel for the scenes that they’ve captured.
Mulligan's Bay
Parliament Hill, Ottawa
NW View of Penetangore River, Lake Huron
Silver Lake, Parry Sound
Sault Ste. Marie
Raven, what's that?
Raven and her people at Maple Lake, circa 2003
Although I love Labrador Retrievers, especially Chocolate labs, I don’t yet need a source for Facts about labrador retrievers.
I would however welcome a solid source of information about Schipperkes. Are you thinking “huh”? That’s OK because it is what most people say after asking what breed my dog Raven is and I tell them what she is. Their first guess is often a “MinPin” which is a Miniature Doberman Pincher. In fact the breeds do look similar. However every now and again someone will approach me when I’m walking Raven and they know exactly what breed she is. It never fails. The person either has one themselves on has a close relative who has or had one. Regardless of whether you know what to call them Schipperkes are remarkable dogs.
Beautiful Ontario Sunsets
Britannia Yacht Club view of Lac Deschenes, Ottawa
I finally remembered to check Cams Across Ontario at sunset tonight and boy did I luck out. I have some fantastic photos from two distinct regions in Ontario to share with you.
I’m a huge fan of sunsets–as silly as that statement may sound. It’s the thing at Maple Lake I’ll miss the most this winter because no matter what the weather there is a sunset to behold at Maple Lake each evening.
I know many people get excited by the changing colours of the leaves in fall and I think they are quite pretty as well but having grown up with them I can’t help but associate the leaves changing colour (dying) with winter coming and I just plain do not like winter! Sunsets on the other hand–well, nothing’s dying–just disappearing overnight. 
Kincardine Harbour, Lake Huron
Looking NW over the Penetangore River, Lake Huron
I’m lucky. I’ve only needed extensive water restoration services once–back when I was living in the ground-floor apartment of a two-story building. The neighbour lady above me went on vacation and she left her bathroom fan on. At some point the fan overheated or short circuited and a fire broke out. In putting the fire out the firefighters used what must have been hundreds of gallons of water and all that water ran into my apartment below. I was not home at the time but returned to a scene of chaos with folks milling about and a tangle of emergency response vehicles crowding the front of the building. Once their job was done, they left but the job for me had just started. Without boring you with the minutia, the first thing that had to be done was to get the water out of my apartment and for that we needed a professional. After that came the salvaging which included using professionals to attempt to save as much of the wall-to-wall carpet as possible. It was a very stressful time but having the worst part of it taken care of by a professional water restoration service made it a bit easier to bear.
Toronto Windsurfing Club
Looks like these fellows are willing but the weather hasn’t cooperated so they are unable to windsurf right now.
Baysville
I realized on the way up to the cottage that Baysville is much closer to Maple Lake than I’d realized. In fact Baysville weather may be more reflective of Maple Lake’s that any other weathercasts available.
Not to sound too negative but in listening to the Haliburton radio station I found the weather forecasts they broadcast with great frequency to be almost nothing like the actual weather we had on Maple Lake. This difference was most profound when we had the hail storm that took out our power and the forecast said nothing about any kind of storm–before or in the aftermath!
Britannia Yacht Club view of Lac Deschenes
Beautiful Day in Dorset
(All photos from Sept 17/18, 2008)
Week of Sept 21, 2008
Though there’s no doubt that fall-like temperatures have arrived in Haliburton County, there’s lots of sun in the forecast which should make the “feels like” temperatures noticeably higher, especially if you are out on the water. Regardless, there is still plenty of beautiful weather for you to enjoy on both land and water
The Art Hive
For the longest time I considered myself to be a non-creative person both in my writing style and literally in the creation of of art objects.
Over the years I discovered that the less I confined myself to the conventional definition of what constitutes creativity and thought more about what pleased me when in a creative frame of mind, the more I revised my definition of “creative.”
One way that I would encourage anyone that’s wanted to explore her creativity and “craftiness” would be to join The Art Hive on Thursday September 18, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm for an informal evening for women to get together and be creative.
Each month highlights a different project. This month project is called Paint Your Own Tile and Art Hive artist April Gates will be at the helm. In joining you will learn the basics about bright and colourful Maiolica surface decoration on earthenware tiles. In the tradition of The Art Hive, where freedom of expression is honoured and encouraged, bring your design ideas and your imagination. Materials are supplied by the artist, however if you have favorite watercolour brushes, bring them along. Please wear a work shirt or bring an apron as pigments may stain clothing. Tiles will be fired by the artist and will be available for pick-up two weeks later.
This is a project that tempts me to jump in the Mustang and motor up there to participate. I’ve had grand ideas for a backsplash for the longest time and a project like this could be the start of something very exciting.
To pre-register, call The Art Hive. Cost: $5 for members, $10 for non-members
The Art Hive, 10239 Hwy 118, 4 km east of Carnarvon
Phone: 705-754-0021
Website: www.thearthive.com
Email: thearthive@live.ca
- Long Range Weather Forecast Haliburton County September 13-26
Oh yes. I think I forgot to mention that in addition to the most rainfall Maple Lake had had in 70 years it tried it mightiest to have the coolest temperatures on record, too. I don’t have any hard stats on that at the moment but what I can say from first-hand experience is that for the first time in 20 years I actually needed long pants and socks. Guess what I did not bring? Sounds silly, right? Well, consider this. I drove almost 700 miles knowing I needed everything squared away for the next four weeks but I did this in a teeny-tiny Mustang GT. I reasoned that since I’ve been hauling the warmer clothing up to the lake for twenty years and never using it that why should I start now? What were the chances? It’s good that I don’t gamble with money because I would have lost big. As it was, until spouse and son came up I made due with a very odd mish-mash of clothing and blankets. At one point I used–quite effectively I might add–a throw blanket as a maxi-skirt. Don’t laugh–it kept me warm.
What’s the weather like now? Continuing the trend of the summer, fall is shaping up to be cooler than normal too with tomorrow, Saturday Sept 13, being the only day where the temperatures will creep slightly above normal. After that, it’s all downhill as temperatures barely reach normal on one day, Wednesday the 17th, and on all other days range from a bit to quite a bit below normal.
Though there looks like there will be plenty of clouds it appears that there will only be two rainy days in the 14-day extended forecast. That is a big change from previous months. Hopefully, it’s a welcome one for the folks who enjoy what is beginning to look like an early fall season.
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