The sun came out long enough today to make the Lake enticing enough to swim in. It was really nice. The bugs here however are very thick and two horse flies set their sights on my son and me so we had to act as each other’s “watcher.”  You know when a horse fly is nearby because they sound like small aircraft but they tend to dodge pretty well. I now have a huge lump just behind my left ear so something bit me–but I don’t think it was one of those guys.

The weather is as good as it’s going to get for our stay. The temps are never going to approach “normal” and more often than not there will be a chance of rain. I’ve found however that much like  the spring rains in Southern California, just because it rains on any given day  up here in the Haliburton Highlands, does not mean that half of that day won’t be just fine. Yes thanks, I would rather see the glass as half-full.

This is the long holiday weekend and I’m going to go over the weekend weather including Monday, and then let you read on for  the full week’s forecast, plus the 14-day outlook as I too am on vacation.

Tonight–Friday night is fairly mild with a low of 53F. Sitting here now in the unheated living  room is quite comfortable as the sun stayed out for over half the day, warming up the cottage.

Tomorrow–Saturday will have a high of 78F, sun most of the day with isolated showers in the afternoon. Evening should be clear and about 71F.

Sunday– Might be a good day to catch a matinee at the newly reopened Beaver Theatre in Minden. The forecast calls for a soggy day with a high of 71F.

Civic Holiday Monday — will have a high of 68F and isolated showers. Make it a good one!

14-day forecast

Late afternoon, Kincardine Channel, Penetangore River, Lake Erie, Ontario - June 16, 2009

Today the weather here in the Chicago area went from rain to steely gray skies to thunderstorms and now we have heavy rain. With such delightful weather, <sarcasm> my thoughts of course, turned to wondering what the weather is like at Maple Lake in Ontario, Canada.

I was happy to see that this afternoon’s high in Haliburton County was about 75°F and it was not raining so I jumped ahead with the weather forecast and was slightly dismayed to see something not all that unusual. For meteorological reasons beyond my scope, Southern Ontario often gets “our” weather  a day or two after we do.

Here is what you have to look forward to tonight and Wednesday:

Tonight (Tuesday) is mild and a pretty good night to stargaze with mainly clear skies.  Wednesday starts out with variable cloudiness and a high of 66°F. However, by Wednesday afternoon it becomes cloudy with showers, which continue though Wednesday evening and right through Thursday. At least the temperatures remain mild.

I realize that it’s small consolation to say that the 14-day extended weather forecast looks very nice for next week. That’s a very good thing as right now it look like the weekend of June 20-21 at Maple Lake will be a complete washout. I really do feel badly for the weekenders and for cottage country businesses  but I’m keeping good thoughts that the good week coming up will help warm up the lakes for swimming and  dry things out somewhat.

Here is a look at some Southern Ontario scenes from today June 16, 2009.

Kawagama Lake, Dorset, Ontario - June 16, 2009.

Kincardine Harbour, Lake Erie, Ontario - June 16, 2009

Hawkesbury, Ontario, Canada - June 16, 2009

Long Weekend Weather: how it begins

Happy holiday weekend! Let’s start off with the good news coming out of cottage country, shall we?

The good: You will not need to worry about pesky black flies, mosquitoes, no-see-ums and the like during your holiday weekend! The reason is that it’s been too cold at night for the little and not-so-little suckers to evolve (or whatever they do). So, no bugs over  the long weekend. Yay! (The official bug reports begin June 1st.)

To sum up the entire three-day weekend: Monday is your best bet with no rain and a high of 55°F.

Saturday there will be rain-to-light rain and a high of 60°F. By evening on Saturday expect the rain to stop and temperatures to drop sharply– down to 35°F with a “feels like” temperature Saturday night of 27°F!!!

Tonight,  Friday night, it will only go down to 57°F with cloudiness so perhaps an evening stroll would be nice?

So that was the holiday weekend. Getting back to the regular week which begins on Tuesday, you can look forward to more rain (sorry) and temperatures of 50°F for a daytime high. Wednesday, expect cloudy periods and  a moderate high of 55°F. The rain is back again on Thursday, expect isolated showers with a very nice high of 75°F! Friday brings full-on clouds with showers and another nice high of 69°F.

The 2-week extended forecast is below so you can see that things will be drying out and looking up. Have a great long weekend and week!

1 Canadian dollar = 0.813008 U.S. dollars

Ontario will rack up a record $14.1-billion deficit in 2009

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.

Last night–around 10 p.m. when spouse and I were walking our little dog around our neighbourhood I noticed that over the past couple of nights the ponds and rivers have frozen up almost completely. With December fast approaching we are heading into some of the more disagreeable weather we have each year. We don’t usually get much snow in December but the temperatures–and the wind become quite uncomfortable.

So today it was no surprise to see that every web camera in Ontario that I usually peruse showed a scene including snow and/or ice. And while I can still look out and see green grass on the hill near the road, I can see no green save for the evergreen trees in the photos of Ontario taken today. Thank goodness for evergreens.

Lake Nipisssing, North Bay

Mountain Trout House, Kawagama (photoshopped*)

This camera illustrates a frustration that will only most likely grow deeper as the weather gets more severe.

*Much of this photo was obliterated by brown scum on the camera lens. Therefore the sky is completely photoshopped, as well ad some of the snow. I tried to make it look as I think it looks but still, I  must ask the question of Mountain Trout House. You’ve gone to the trouble of setting up your webcam and getting it featured at a couple of web camera websites on the Internet. You have a business and you’d like to show off the beautiful area that surrounds it, right? They why pray tell, can someone not go outside and clean the filthy lens to your webcam?

That goes for you too, Halcom Communications in Haliburton. You do a disservice to the town of Haliburton, a town whose lifeblood is tourism dollars, by having either your camera “down” (not available for viewing) or dirty or crooked or some combination of these. Why are  you trying to promote business with a crap webcam?! Iknow this to be a fact as my spouse checks every day from his super fancy high-powered work computer and he never, ever gets a good shot of the Haliburton “Eye In The Sky.” If that’s an eye in the sky, then it’s a blind eye.

Perhaps I sound a bit cranky but these two webcams in particular are what I’m offered as choice when I want to see webcam photography of “Maple Lake, Ontario.” I’m an action-oriented person and since I have Internet at the cottage–right now–right this minute I’ve decided to try to finance a webcam to capture Maple Lake. I’ll put it in next summer and run it through the summer (hopefully) so I can get an idea of the in’s and out’s of doing so. I’m also tempted to contact these guys who do a consistently fantastic job with their webcam offerings:

Reach Harbour, Lakefield

(Click photos to enlarge)

..and ask for any tips or suggestions. I can see that they are using a fisheye lens but beyond that am not sure what they are doing right. Not leaving the camera exposed to the weather is probably job one./end rant.

Penetangore River, Kincardine, Lake Huron

Calabogie Ski Hill Peaks Resort

(Click photos to enlarge)

Toronto Island

Boler Mtn. Slope, London

Blue Mountain

Lake Muscoka, Gravenhurst, Ontario-10-31-08

Sincere apologies to the small group of folks who read Maple Lake Ontario that the site has been unpredictable in it’s availability over the past couple of weeks.

I was using a host company that became increasingly less dependable and after trying to work with them to resolve the difficulties only to have them suggest ultimately that I take down most of this blog _permanently_ to “fix it,” I opted for another host for the website that had been recommended by a number of fellow bloggers.

It’s understandable now if you are wondering, “Was it her own fault?”

Nope. Don’t worry, I triple checked on that myself but the giant fumble in forgetting to fully transfer Maple Lake Ontario over to the new sever was not my doing. Being a brand new customer I should have had as my new host trumpets, them “do all the file transferring” for me. It should have been as simple on my end as essentially plugging in in a new address to send the Maple Lake Ontario name to it’s new host. “Should” being the operative word here.

They forgot to move the Maple Lake Ontario files and I ended up dealing with a succession of people at the new host, two of whom told me it was not their responsibility to help with that. One, I caught when he “found something” on his end (duh!) and he let out an involuntary “oh-oh.” With that he said he’d put in a ticket–but failed to get complete information so my website languished yet another day.

Again, I apologize to anyone that may have come back here after getting essentially nothing for two days.

As you may have noticed, in order to make some pocket money and pay hosting fees (and this year buy myself my first full-length winter coat in a decade–50% off at Old Navy) I do some posts for which I am paid well, pocket money.

I choose who advertises here and believe me, I turn down far more than I accept. But my point is the advertisers have a right to have their posts that I wrote on their behalf be accessible and my new hosting company prevented that, too.

I’m not sure what to do. At this point I’m adopting a wait and see attitude because there’s not too many other options.

Please wish me luck.

Even though I’ve stated that the month-plus that I spent in total at Maple Lake this year was fantastic there is one disappointment that resulted from the rainy weather. A lot of the activities that I’d planned to participate in–especially those outdoors–either got canceled (like the Stanhope Airport August Fly-in) or weren’t feasible due to the rains making the ground damp for days on end.  Most any trail-related activities would have called for hiking boots which in normal circumstances wouldn’t have been needed as the trails I was planning on visiting were not challenging. They were more footpaths. This year, muddy footpaths.

I don’t blame the weather for me not getting out and about on the  handful of non-rainy days. On those days I couldn’t tear myself away from Maple Lake as who knew how long the non-rainy weather was going to last?

I also messed up a bit in my plan for before and after photos of the little fix-up projects we indulged in–putting up new drapes, painting a bit, put down grass seed and nurturing it, as well as the extensive outside work that spouse did. On that last count I did take photographs of the newly-improved groin, and the great-looking beach that was a result of it. I also documented the finished sets of re-purposed steps that spouse made by hours and days of digging out old, forgotten near-boulders that the years had covered with sand and piecing them back in a fashion where they could resume their job of helping to keep the bank in place.

Anyway, we have lots more plans for the future and after we vet them with my Dad I’ll be sure to shoot before, during, and after shots to share here.

This is not actually my first post but on my first try, Maple Lake Ontario I –with  the blogging system that I’d thought I’d rightly chosen, looking towards the future Maple Lake Ontario whilst appreciating the past and all that it still means. so I moved where I’d thought maybe it wouldn’t be too far, by migrating from WordPress.COM to WordPress.ORG (this). I should be ecstatic that I got the Maple Lake Ontario blog back up and that Bluehost was super helpful and…good humoured. Fun times, folks. If you are not doing this you must start.

This “multi-provider” way of blogging is a new challenge for me and I’ve put in some heavy time. Maple Lake Ontario, won’t be so bad to get back though as it is a labour of love.

Right now my brain hurts–I am very tired (if anyone cares) ‘cos I got up too early to scrub floors (!) The weather here is rank and so was our entire entrance-way.

Anyway, I apologize for my blog-transferring ineptitude. I was testing to see how “intuitive” the blogging system interfaces–WordPressORG and WordPress.com, were. LOL. At least one of us didn’t really make it an easy process, then poof! The first version of this blog, at the tender age of 2 months was accidentally snuffed out like a candle.

Cheers!