Summer is in full swing in the Algonquin and Haliburton Highlands!
Looking south-west along the chain of lakes that’s known as the Chapleau River (Cr: Weather Network)
If you are planning on enjoying outdoor activities this weekend, Saturday is your bet bet, with moderate temperatures and a partly sunny/cloudy day:
Weekend Weather – Haliburton Highlands
By Sunday, there will be a chance of thundershowers, though temperatures will feel seasonably warm. (Personally, I don’t mind getting wet if it’s a summer rain shower–and there is a fluffy towel at the end of my journey.):
Haliburton Highlands weather Sat. June 15 – Thurs. June 20
There will be isolated showers on Monday but the temperature will again feel much warmer than your thermostat might indicate.
There will be cloudy periods on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but temperatures should feel more seasonably inline with what they usually are.
Kawagama Lake, Dorset (Cr: Weather Network)
There are an abundant number of fun, charitable, and fun charitable events going on this weekend like joining NHL stars Matt Duchene of the Colorado Avalanche, Cody Hodgson of the Buffalo Sabres and their friends for an unforgettable Charity Golf Tournament to benefit flood-ravaged Minden Hills.
Or, if you are a cyclist with leanings towards natural and cultural attractions why not check in to a fully-guided 65km bicycle tour taking you on a breathtaking adventure along the scenic and hilly Harburn Road to visit a variety of art studios and natural and cultural attractions?
And, make sure not to miss the kick-off event of the summer, Rails End Treasures N Trash!
This is Haliburton’s Summer Starter – the biggest and best community yard sale ever! Antiques, collectables, vintage stuff, jewelry, gourmet preserves and other great stuff!
Scroll below and click the thumbnails to get full-size viewing about events this weekend and through June in both the Haliburton Highlands and Algonquin Highlands!
IMMEDIATE NEED TO HELP people who have been displaced by the Minden Flood: We need items like hand soap, tooth paste, deodorant, toilet paper, shampoo.
Though last week’s good weather helped to dry things up, the fallout from the 2013 Minden Hills flooding is far from over.
In an effort to bring you up-to-the-minute, I’m devoting this post to the Minden Hills area in hopes that you will reach out and support them in any way you possibly can. Over 150 families are homeless and many will permanently lose their homes as they do not have the option to purchase flood insurance coverage since they live on a flood plain.
Please read above “Flood related Community Information” about the latest, streamlined way that anyone, anywhere can donate to the flood relief fund. This makes me so happy as I’m 700 miles away right now and want to help and now can do so on payday using PayPal. Since I’m spending a month and-a-half in the Algonquin Highlands this summer, I intend to do as much of my shopping at local Minden businesses as possible and I hope other folks follow suit this year.
The sun coming out also brought this snap of the Minden Bridge opening this week past:
Minden Bridge reopens (May 2013)
Coach’s Corner Minden Hills Flood Relief May 8th 2013
A huge thank you to Ron Maclean and Don Cherry for giving our town such needed national exposure as we work to raise donations for our devastated town. Over 150 families are homeless and many will permanently lose their homes as they do not have the option to purchase flood insurance coverage as they are in a flood plain. Please visit www.pinestone-resort.com and click on the “Donate Now” button to donate to the “Township of Minden Hills Flood Relief” Trust account or visit any CIBC Branch – All Donations so VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!
EVERY DOLLAR RAISED IS MATCHED WITH A $2 DONATION FROM THE PROVINCIAL GOVT, ESSENTIALLY TRIPLING THE FUNDS
CBC news report
More damage from high water in Minden Hills.
Fund raising efforts for the Minden Community After the Jump:
I had planned to address the topic of setting off fireworks every summer weekend over Maple Lake even before I saw the “Letter(s) of the Week” in the Haliburton County Voice.
These letters, written by local cottage country property owners were not only food for thought but were enlightening in their enumerations of all the ways uncontrolled personal use of fireworks in cottage country is a very bad thing.
To digress for a moment, prior to this year I, Canadian born, and raised in Connecticut from ages 6-18 by Canadians with frequent returns to my entire extended family in Canada, found the Canadians that I encountered in Canada to be…not like Americans. For starters, they confirmed the oft-repeated stereotype by being refreshingly polite–if more the “arm’s length”- formal kind of politeness.
But does this type of “politeness” extend so far for some Canadians who hold a decisive opinion about a matter such as the fireworks but chose to pretend the issue does not exist? And is it at it’s base due to fear!?! Is there a fear among Ontarians that they will be perceived as impolite to speak up when they feel a large wrong needs righting?
I don’t know. I really hope not.
I always had a sort of idealized notion of what a Canadian is/was. But growing up, I was always steered in the direction of not talking about things that might make other people uncomfortable–even if said thing needed to be addressed–so for better or worse, here goes.
About five years ago a neighbour on Maple Lake, a year-rounder I believe, began setting off fireworks every single weekend of the summer. (This is not a precise accounting. I simply know that no matter when I went to the Lake, from the last weekend in May when we opened through Labour Day when we close, it was and has been the case.)
I hoped it was a passing phase as the fireworks startled me and scared the daylights out of my dog–and they destroyed the peacefulness that used to be indigenous to our little lake which is dotted with year-round personal residences and cottages.
The setting off of fireworks phase has not passed, however. I’ve realized belatedly that it is not just a band of folks on Maple Lake that have gone ga-ga over something that I’ve always thought very American. To embrace the crassness of setting off fireworks whenever and wherever you please, for there can be no other way to describe their intrusiveness when they go off unexpectedly near your home, is to ignore the specialness of setting them off one or two nights a YEAR.
So to everyone who still insists that setting fireworks off every weekend of the summer is special–as well as your “right,” as someone who has grown up with the American traditions involving fireworks let me tell you: You are acting like a bunch of Americans.
You are Canada. You will never be the United States nor do you want to be, trust me on this. Let’s just cite one reason: preserving your national identity as Canadians. Both countries have much to laud but they are separate, distinct entities unique unto themselves.
Let me reiterate the very real ramifications of Uncontrolled Use of Fireworks on Maple Lake and other lakes in cottage county:
1. Fireworks increase the potential of fires
2. Noise pollution and the consequences (e.g. loons leaving, tourists leaving)
3. Toxicity to the air, water, and surrounding grounds***
*Let me expound a bit about the toxicity of fireworks. They get shot off mostly over the lakes. Unlike how it may appear, they do not just explode. The reality is that the exploded debris falls into the water, along with the chemical residue. Yes, this is bad for the ecosystem and even if you don’t really care about the ecosystem and shame on you if you don’t–you are poisoning your own water.
Whatever you dump on the ground near a lake seeps into the water table eventually and then it gets into your water–your swimming water and in the case of our cottage, our tap & shower water. This dovetails into #4…
4. Interfering with wildlife habitats.
First-hand story. Last year I spent about a month living on Maple Lake. Despite the rainy and seasonally cold weather of the summer of 2009 on Maple Lake, I could hear and sometimes see a pair of loons that have taken up residence on the Lake each summer for as long as I can recall. Their haunting calls are unmistakable and for me, comforting that some things don’t change (though I wouldn’t know if the specific pairs of loons changed–I would guess they’d have had to)–you can count on them. Or so I thought.
I’m soon heading up to Maple Lake and I’m going to try to find a second loon on our lake because instead of the minimum 2 that I’ve seen every year for as long as I can remember–I’ve only heard the sound of a single, solitary loon in 2010.
Did my neighbour and his regular weekend fireworks frenzy drive away one of Maple Lake’s loons and if so, are we going to lose the single remaining loon, too?
I’m not at all an expert about loons. I just know they bring me stolen moments of serenity. Loons are beautiful creatures to behold as they duck under the water and resurface 100 or more feet away in their elaborate “game” of try-to-find-me.
What I can say with confidence are the facts as I’ve observed them.
I have a neighbour across the way who every weekend of the summer at about 9:30 p.m. sets off about 20 minutes-worth of fireworks. He (I presume it’s a “he”) scares my older dog out of her senses. She quivers & shakes both during the noise assault and long after. The noise kills the atmosphere of peacefulness that Maple Lake always exuded. I’ve now read that this is a problem for other lakes in cottage country and the fallout (no pun) is remarkably similar to our own.
Naturally, the question of what have I done to try to solve this problem ? is a relevant one. I’ve worried and complained about it as I’m doing here for the first time but have I addressed this with the people setting off the fireworks? The answer is no, I have not. I was hoping the novelty would wear off but of course, it hasn’t or I wouldn’t be speaking up now. Now I do want to try and have courteous conversation with them but I cannot figure out where exactly they live. It is somewhere in here:
Area of Fireworks Activity on Maple Lake
Please click to enlarge.
As you can see by the named roads this is a densely populated area of Maple Lake and it’s going to take some sleuthing to find out “who” is shooting off fireworks on their property out over out lake every. single. weekend. Not to mention to do the sleuthing I’m going to need to either go to the site of the fireworks by canoe or trespass on “private property.”
Even here in the U.S. of A. in the great state of Illinois (absolutely no sarcasm–I love where I live) there are much stricter limits on the type of fireworks that can be bought legally. For us, it’s sparklers and poppers essentially but then, we do a very American thing. On and around Independence Day a/k/a The Fourth of July, towns and cities alike put on displays for everyone to enjoy. They have a distinct beginning and end, are controlled for safety and someone cleans up afterward. Not perfect but way more in-line with something I used to think was a standard Canadian trait: civility and respect for one another and the environment.
I do believe that both countries share in the desire to put a halt to unnecessary pollution of our precious natural surroundings. Surely banning unregulated use of fireworks in cottage country, Haliburton County specifically, is unquestionably a positive step that we, as stewards of this planet, should not hesitate to take.
Am I going to continue to be the “misdirected” polite Canadian and ignore what is being done to Maple Lake in the name of a (very) few people’s need to entertain themselves with exploding gunpowder? Nope. Can’t do it anymore. I love the Lake too much. And I’m not walking away. I’m digging in. (On a personal note, it was harder to attempt to do so this year as my youngest son was preparing for college and I was needed back here in Chicagoland.)
I’m willing to meet halfway in my suggestion for a remedy as is so often the end result of circumstances like this. If I made the law, I would allow use of fireworks on specific holidays like the July 1st Canada Day, Victoria Day on May 24 and quite possibly both the civic holiday on the 1st Monday in August and on Labour Day. The rest of the time I’d allow small “personal” fireworks like sparklers & poppers that will neither drive away our wildlife or our human residents and vacationers alike who would prefer to enjoy their evening without the punctuations of those that wish to emulate bombs exploding.
I’d love to hear any sincere comments, ideas or suggestions from you about on fireworks in Ontario’s cottage country so use the comment box or please drop me a line at maplelakeontario@gmail.com.
Federal prosecutors expanded their case against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich today in an indictment that drew more of his closest aides into the scandal and adds new schemes to the list of charges against him: Pocketing money funneled through his wife through a phony real estate job. Shaking down a powerful congressman. Running the state as a racket.
Coming nearly four months after federal agents roused a sitting governor out of his Northwest Side home in a predawn arrest — and weeks after lawmakers dumped him from power — today’s indictment of Blagojevich, his brother and four former top insiders could have been anti-climactic.
Instead, prosecutors added a few more chapters to the Blagojevich saga, further pulling his family into the pay-to-play conspiracy, revealing yet more confidants had turned on him and suggesting he was intent on corruption before he was even sworn in. The indictment carries a potentially lengthy prison sentence and possible forfeiture of his family home should Blagojevich be convicted.
After turning Illinois politics into an amusement-park ride, most notably for allegedly trying to sell President Barack Obama’s Senate seat, Blagojevich spent the day of his indictment with his family at Disney World.
Blagojevich was indicted on 16 racketeering, fraud and extortion counts. Among the new, damaging allegations were that Blagojevich delayed a $2 million grant to a public charter school while trying to extort campaign cash from now-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and threatened to withhold future state business from financial institutions that refused to hire his wife.
Blagojevich’s effort to profit, both personally and for his Friends of Blagojevich campaign fund, was so pervasive that federal prosecutors labeled the racketeering scheme the “Blagojevich Enterprise.”
“The primary purpose of the Blagojevich Enterprise was to exercise and preserve power over the government of the State of Illinois for the financial and political benefit of Rod Blagojevich, both directly and through Friends of Blagojevich, and for the financial benefit of his family members and associates,” the indictment alleged.
This day couldn’t come soon enough. I can only hope for a speedy trial. Did you know that 4 of the last 7 Illinois Governers have been indicated? As a resident of Illinois, I find it hugely embarrassing that Blagojevich and his cronies (including quite prominently, his wife) have absolutely no shame. It’s just priceless that the Feds didn’t really move in until Barack Obama’s Senate seat was put up for sale to the highest bidder by the then-Governor of Illinois, the man we’ve nicked-name “Blago.”
Ontario will rack up a record $14.1-billion deficit in 2009 as it commits billions to infrastructure projects and job retraining aimed at pulling the province out of a recession, provincial Finance Minister Dwight Duncan revealed on Thursday in the tabling of his $108.9-billion budget.
The fiscal plan also proposes corporate tax cuts to ease costs for struggling businesses and stimulate investment in Ontario’s sagging economy, which has shed hundreds of thousands of jobs in recent years.
The budget forecasts a deficit of $3.9 billion in the 2008-2009 fiscal year, followed by a deficit of $14.1 billion in 2009-2010. It anticipates Ontario will run deficits for the next seven years, with a proposed return to balanced books no later than the 2015-2016 fiscal year.
The province and the federal government have also agreed to harmonize the provincial sales tax and GST into a single 13 per cent sales tax by July 1, 2010, which Duncan called the “next essential step” in growing the province’s economy and improving competitiveness.
It also allocates a $3.4-billion contingency fund, from which an unspecified amount can be directed toward a bailout package for the province’s beleaguered auto industry once negotiations with automakers are completed.
You know what alarms me about Ontario’s fiscal situation? Just last summer the Canadian dollar was worth more than the American. For the first time ever we spent more to vacation in Ontario at the cottage that in my entire life! And I was completely happy to do so. Happy for Canada, happy for Ontario. But in less than nine months time the Canadian dollar has plummeted to be worth roughly 80 cents on the American buck! Call me fiscally naive but that seems really out of whack. What the heck happened?! And so quickly.
Here in the States we are up a creek with no paddle but this has been building for many years. I have to think that the Canadian economy was in a fix 9 months ago but something was over-inflated and it appeared you all were fine. Best of luck. We’ve got a long slog too so at least you are not alone. Hate to consider this but I’ve been told that as the US goes so goes Canada about 6 months later and darned if it’s not happening.
Second point. What is with the word “harmonize” when describing the fusing of the provincial sales tax and GST into a single 13 per cent sales tax? Harmonize? Really? The politicians really know how to spin.
And 13%? Oi! Even with socialized medicine as a benefit and that silly baby supplement that families get– a 13% tax? We have the highest sales tax in the United States and it’s 10.25%. Honestly, when I really start comparing the two countries I have to believe that Canada is not better off than the States. What’s next? Your infant mortality rates going up and life expectancy going down? Do you really want to follow the muddy path that the States has followed– or is it too late? I hope not. On both counts.
