Port Bruce Birdhouses Pt 4: More than I can shake a stick at

Really and truly, the woman in the black and white sweater who had more birdhouses in her yard in Port Bruce than Carters has pills made my day last Thursday.

She also made my day today.

While reviewing photos of her colourful and eclectic collection of birdhouses this evening I came across the one directly below. It proves she had more than I realized.


While focussing on the one I didn’t notice the other above it. {Photos by GAH]


She had others with a hinged top for easy clean-out. (Probably enjoyed by more raccoons than birds.)


Notice the practical use of leftover roofing shingles. Good idea.


Could somebody answer that call, please?


A lovely rustic rests on a platform 8 - 10 feet from the ground.

Sparrows were active nearby while I snapped pix.

Though I have more photos than I can shake a stick at from the one trip, it's time to get busy in my own workshop.

***

Now that I’m developing the habit of looking for birdhouses while motorcycling I’m seeing A LOT more of them.

They are everywhere - and I’m happy about that.

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My Point of View: Pt 3 “Is the Money Out There?”

By now you’re likely saying, of course it is.

I.e., money is out there to pay down national debt.

We certainly have a lot of hard-earned money to spend on a lot of other stuff so we can’t all of a sudden cry poor.

We know that bottled water is an estimated $100 billion a year industry (it was little more than a novelty market ten years ago) and that’s because consumers - aka citizens of many deeply indebted countries - spend $100 billion per year on water, 25 per cent of which is reprocessed municipal tap water.

We know we spend millions on Oreo cookies per year.

On all snack foods we spend billions.

I found the following US figures in a State of the Industry Report  re Cookies & Crackers category (formerly Snack Food), and for Canada we can divide the figures roughly by 10 and still be in the billions.

In 2000, US consumers spent $10,654,200,000 on cookies and crackers. In 2001 - $10,899,200,000; in 2002 - $11,128,100,000; 2003 - $11,217,100,000; 2004 - $11,295,600,000, and so it goes.

And it’s not as if cookies and crackers are as essential as a healthy nation.

Nor is Coca-Cola essential, but ‘today, products of the Coca Cola Company are consumed at the rate of more than one billion drinks per day.’ (Please click here for excessive details.)


And just out of curiosity, do you know who chugs down more Coca-Cola beverages annually, India's 1.1 billion consumers or Mexico's 108 million drinkers?

According to Coke's 2005 annual report, Mexicans lead the world by drinking some 533 8-ounce servings of Coke beverages per capita annually. India is near the bottom of the list, accounting for 6 servings per capita each year.

These statistics compare with 431 annual servings In the United States, and a worldwide benchmark average of 77 servings.

The per-serving numbers for other international markets are as follows: Chile (377), Australia (323), Belgium (323), Spain (305), Norway (280), Israel (254), Argentina (253), Canada (247).

Hey, we’re in a Top Ten list for something, but not without great cost to our health care system.

According to Wikipedia, ‘since 1985 in the U.S., Coke has been made with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) instead of the more expensive cane-sugar. Some nutritionists caution against consumption of HFCS because it may aggravate obesity and type-2 diabetes more than cane sugar.

(FYI - The cost of obesity-related diseases to the US each year = $147 billion; in Canada, surely in the billions too).

But many Canadians suck it back while our health care system sucks up the hidden costs.

You can see where I’m going with this, can’t you?

The money is indeed out there to pay off the national debt - at least faster than we are doing at present (which we're not), or in the past (20% of the time in the last 54 years).

Don't healthy revenue streams exist around every corner and across every retail counter?

I mean, it’s not like we’re poor.


Why, if I included like information about Canadian beer sales for 2009 from the Brewers Association of Canada, we'd soon be singing the chorus from my latest hit single together.

“We’re pissing our money away,
We’re pissing our money away,
We swim in our comforts most every day,
We’re pissing our money away.”

Cheery thought, eh?

The money is out there.

***

Please click here to read PT 4, the conclusion to "Is the Money Out There?".

I seem to be having fun so far, don’t I?

But my final thoughts aren’t any fun at all.

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Port Bruce Birdhouses Pt 3: More than I can shake a stick at

I’ve said before, my bike takes me to Port Bruce and the north shore of Lake Erie about 20 times per year.

Therefore, last week was a typical week, and I ended up there twice - but on a mission, not just for coffee and hot dog lightly topped with fresh condiments and sand.

The mission - to take pictures of more birdhouses than I could shake a stick at.


["Room w a View": photos GAH]

After snapping a few that were perched no more than 50 meters from the waves I headed west toward fields that edged the lake and were home to a half dozen rectangular boxes visible from a distance.

I parked my bike at the side of the road a mile out of town and plodded across a sandy, grassy field.


["Good, sturdy homes for cliff swallows"]


I discovered the birdhouses were plain and simple, but very practical, and have the best view imaginable for any cliff swallows that choose to make them home.


["Remove one nail only for spring cleaning: Very easy"]

I like the fact a person can swing open the right side of each box (for spring cleaning) by pulling out one protruding nail - a feature my Dad used years ago and I now use on many of my own boxes.

Easy schmeasy!

***

I saw a half dozen other birdhouse locations, at which I’ll have to stop someday soon, on my way home to London that afternoon.

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French Canadian Geese create a stir

The first sound I heard this morning after stirring from a great sleep was the call of French Canadian geese in the sky over top my house and bedroom.

You might ask, French Canadian geese?

Yes. I’ve called Canadian geese by that name ever since a trio landed very close to the side pocket of my coat recently.

And when I heard their call at about 7:45 a.m. I rolled over and recalled the geese I’d seen on Thursday.


["Floating on the Thames": photos GAH]

First, there were the ones that I spied floating on the Thames moments before they took off and came to visit me. Some readers will recall that photos followed.


["A stirring scene - French Canadian geese heading for London?"]

Later in the day, while snapping pictures of birdhouse in Port Bruce, I saw a dozen or two flying in French formation over the north shore of Lake Erie. And as luck would have it, my camera focussed on them instead of the birdhouse.

I thought the resulting scene was quite stirring, in a ‘I was fortunate to have it’ sort of way.

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Port Bruce Birdhouses Pt 2: More than I can shake a stick at

After talking to a woman with a freshly mowed lawn and more birdhouses than Carter’s has pills, I travelled to the first of two spots already on my biking and birdhousing agenda.

(Maybe you think retired guys don’t have agendas. Well... let me tell you... we really do. One - escape work of any kind. Two - have some fun.)

I parked my bike 50 yards from the north shore of Lake Erie and examined the first of a few houses I’d spotted on Tuesday.


[“A cottage condo; it even has a wee birdhouse on its fence rail”]


[“Ashtabula? Hang a left at the beach”: photos by GAH]




[“This one looks good from every angle”]


[“Ashtabula - 44 miles thataway”]

Then I headed west toward my last stop before home.

***

Please click here to read Part 3.

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Port Bruce birdhouses: More than I can shake a stick at

Yesterday centered around people and activities I really enjoy, i.e., my wife, grandson, motorcycling, and snapping pictures of birdhouses (found here and there) that might one day be reproduced in my own workshop - in my own way.

Pictures of Ollie with his Nanna, French Canadian geese on the Thames, and clever birdhouses in Aylmer have already been posted.

And ten minutes after leaving Aylmer I slowly cruised into Port Bruce, pulled over at the side of the road when I spotted a purple martin house, and discovered the mother lode.


["Slow tunes for tired birds?": photos GAH]

While adjusting my camera my eyes adjusted to the scene around me and funky birdhouses popped out from every branch and fence line.


A woman in a black and white sweater appeared.

“Taking pictures of my nicely mowed lawn?” she asked.


I looked at the lawn and joked, “I am, and it’s absolutely lovely.”


Then we talked about birdhouses for 30 minutes (I snapped about 30 pictures too) and when I looked at my watch I worried I wouldn’t make it home in time for supper unless I skipped the visit to two destinations I’d actually come to Pt. Bruce to see.


Some days are like that. Full.

***

I did get home in time for supper and Coronation St. on TV.

But I did get to the other two destinations too.

Please click here to read Part 2.

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Motorcycle Miles: Birdhouses found in Aylmer, Ontario

A friend from the north side of Aylmer gave me directions to a birdhouse builder who lives in the south side of the town.

“Just go south about a mile. You’ll see birdhouses in his front yard,” he said.

“What’s his house look like?” I said.

“You can’t miss it. It’s pink.”

“Oh yeah, I know the one.”

The house was hard to miss for a few reasons and I stopped to snap a four photos before heading to Port Bruce.

I liked the two birdhouses on the left side of the pink house’s property. Funky. Though plywood isn’t my favourite building material I know it can last a long time if properly painted.


["Paint on plywood. Not bad at all": photos GAH]

I also liked the man’s workshop - an old barn with a wind vane perched atop a cupola. (I thought, cupolas might make an interesting birdhouse. Hmmmm.)


I asked myself, how many birds would perch atop a cat-shaped birdhouse?


I thought they’d rather perch on an old vine in front of a barn board manor house.


Instead of knocking on the builder’s door to learn the answer, I headed south to my last stop, to snap photos of the birdhouses I didn’t have time to admire up close two days ago.

***

Would you buy a birdhouse that looked like a cat?

Would a wily cat?

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Zoom w a View: A perfect landing in Springbank Pk.

My wife and I have been taking kids to Springbank Pk. since the early 1970s.

Somewhere in the house there is a picture of myself with my youngest son Paul (i.e., Ollie’s father, circa 1974), and we’re sitting in the grass near the site of the playground where Ollie played today.

While Ollie rode on his motorcycle I snuck off to take a few photos of the Thames River.

If you travel east you’ll come to the heart of London, Ontario.


Three Canadian geese took off at one time.


They landed about 10 feet from where I was standing.


“Mom, did you see the geese?” said a boy.


“Yes, I did,” the mother replied.

So did I. I think they smelled the leftover French fries I had in my jacket pocket.

***

If Canada geese eat French fries will they become French Canadian geese?

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Ollie and Me: "Let's go to Springbank Park," he said

Today centered around time with my wife and grandson Ollie, a motorcycle ride, and stopping to take pictures of birdhouses in Aylmer and Port Bruce.

In other words, today was about some of my favourite people and things.

Ollie is the one wearing fireman boots.


["Ollie and Nanna at Springbank Pk., London": photos GAH]

After grabbing his cheek he said, “Papa, I’m pulling myself up the hill.” (Where do kids get stuff like that?)


Ollie ran ahead to to play and I saw him through a few bushes.


“Nice car,” I said.

“No. It’s a motorcycle,” he replied.


Which, of course, made me want to hurry up and get home to warm up my own bike.

***

It felt like summer today in London.

Was it summertime where you live?

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My Point of View: Pt 2 “Is the Money Out There?”

According to Canada’s Debt Clock, in the time it takes me to type the rest of this sentence and for you to read it our country’s debt will grow by about $20,000.

[Please click here for reference and link to Debt Clock]

Okay, so I’ll try to type faster in the future.

Yes, debt is growing here in Canada, and around the world (and when I say ‘around the world’ try to picture a giant vice squeezing the planet between its jaws and making our eyes bug out), but are we completely helpless?

As I suggested in a previous post - no.

I think the money is out there and there are likely many brilliant ways to pay down debt that experts have long over-looked.

E.g., local and federal governments could create a wider revenue stream from the water bottling and retail process, a $100 billion per year industry.

Call it a luxury tax and stand back and watch while it accomplishes three worthwhile things.

One. It will help governments pay down crushing debt loads.

Two. It will likely spur many people to drink less water out of plastic bottles.

Three. Fewer plastic bottles translates to lower recycling costs.

Can you think of another product that could have a wider revenue stream flowing back to government coffers that would accomplish worthwhile things along the way?

Let me help you.

What’s round, black and white, sweeter than honey, and can go from your hand to your mouth and then hips in 30 seconds?

You got it. An Oreo cookie.

The cookie and cracker industry is so huge it makes more money per year than you can imagine.


People in the US bought $266.5 million worth of Oreos last year alone. (I suspect Canadians spent about 10 times less, but it’s still a significant amount of money to spend on one type of cookie out of dozens of brands).

$317.2 million was spent on Chips Ahoy! and $172 million on Oreo Double Stufs, again using US figures.

Top spot, however, was taken by private label brands, which earned $589.6 million.

[Please click here to see if your favourite cookie was in the Top Ten.]

While wondering how governments would fare if they got their hands on some of that dough I came across the following details:

Cookie producers have adjusted cookies formulas to enable their customers who have food allergies to be able to indulge in their sweet tooth without affecting the taste.

(They’re so helpful!)

A survey conducted by Impulse Research for the Downtown Cookie Co., in New York, has found that 53 percent of adults surveyed prefer chocolate chip cookies over other varieties. The second most popular variety was peanut butter...

(Nothing but health and goodness for North Americans, eh?)

Categories of branded products that reported loses were pasta, fresh bread, frozen pizza, crackers, and ready-to-eat breakfast cereal. Cookies posted a slighted gain.

[Please click here for many more cookie details.]

Why, cookie sales are almost bullet proof, aren’t they?

Not only would governments have a pretty sweet time paying down debt with cookie dough, a slightly higher cost might reduce the number of times we feed our aforementioned sweet tooth, thereby reducing the amount of weight we carry on the aforementioned hips and our health costs at the same time.

That’s what I call a triple whammy.

Of course, most of us know why cookies sell so well. They taste so darn good, don’t they?

And what do cookies have in common with hundreds upon hundreds of other items we eat and snack on more than we really should?

For one thing, sugar.


Sing along with me:

Sugar in the morning,
Sugar in the evening,
Sugar at supper time.
Pay more tax on sugar
We’ll save more than a dime.

A healthy tax or revenue stream linked to sugar would restore the health of countless government budgets, save countless millions in health care and dental costs alone, and spur manufacturers to reduce the sugar content in 61,497,872 food items.

And don’t tell me we can’t afford to pay an extra dime for a can of Coca-Cola.

***

Please click here to read Part 3 "Is the Money Out There?"

One more cookie fact:

Sales of cookies and crackers are showing slight gains from a year ago (2008) despite tightening household budgets.

Can Canada pay off the national debt?

It would be as easy as eating a cookie.

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Young at Heart: Sometimes I think I’m a comedian

I know, men are from Mars.

And women are from Venus, maybe even farther away than that.

However, even knowing the above, I tried to make my wife laugh yesterday.

I said, “Between reading sections of the paper a husband says to his wife, it’s spring. So lovely. We should think about going on a short vacation.”

Then I said gruffly (picture a woman with a cigarette hanging from her lip), “Wha..., together?”


["Lemme think about it"]

My wife actually laughed.

I’m going to try another one on her tomorrow.

***

Feel free to use any of my material.

You can thank me later.

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From the Workshop: Stately birdhouse design from Pt. Bruce

On my way out of Pt. Bruce yesterday I saw a few more birdhouses outside a cottage so will need to return with my camera.

Perhaps I’ll knock on a door or two to speak to or locate the builder because one design I noticed is very stately, creative, eye-catching, what-have-you.


["A stately birdhouse design, with a bad floor": photos GAH]

Yes, the floor of the two-story is rotting out, but there is an easy fix for that, i.e., not to let the floor be open to the elements.

As well, plywood draws water like a sponge, so I’ll use modify the design and sort through my stock of cedar for a suitable base.


["A perch from Pt. Bruce, and a hidden floor": GAH]

And before I leave Pt. Bruce next time, I’ll stop at the beach to collect a few more small pieces of driftwood for a perch.

After all, I should use a few materials from Pt. Bruce if I’m going to steal a design from that area.

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Zoom w a View: Birdhouses found in Port Bruce

While visiting a hamlet situated on the north shore of Lake Erie today (across the lake from Ashtabula, Ohio), I happened to spot five birdhouses near the mouth of a creek and boat channel.

Four of the five seem to be made by the same builder, in my opinion, but I’m not sure about the fifth and most ornate model.


["The builder cuts a large hole and adds a chimney occasionally": photos GAH]

What do you think?




I’ll end up in Pt. Bruce about 20 more times before fall and I’ll ask around and perhaps invite myself to see the builder’s workshop.




["Is this one by the same builder?"]

He and I could compare notes.

***

Please click here to see more birdhouses than you can shake a stick at in Port Bruce.

Is there a birdhouse builder in your neighbourhood?

Please let me know if you have photos of his/her work.

PS After examining the photos, I think the 5 are from the same workshop? I see two similarities.

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Motorcycle Miles: From the 401 to Lake Erie

Spring has arrived early, and has found me with pent-up motorcycling demand - the strong desire to ride when I can.

I’m anxious to ‘become one with the bike’ because in June I ride to Halifax to fulfill a promise made to my dad. And I know forty-three hundred kms (2,700 miles) won’t come easy if my body isn’t ready for it.


["The sky and water at Pt. Bruce were as one": photos GAH]

Off I went this afternoon, east along the 401 from London to the Aylmer exit, and ended up in Port Bruce again.


["Land, water, sky - all warming up together early"]

The bike is ready already!


["The bike sits in front of, what once was, The King's Cupboard"]

It ran like a top and 115 kph sure felt like its sweet spot today.

If that holds true, 2 weeks on the road won’t knock me out.


So, today I tip my hat to Spring for arriving a wee bit ahead of schedule.

***

Did you ride today?

Where did you end up?

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Ollie and Me: Another firefighter in the family?

Mr. Ollie runs around our house in firefighter gear on a regular basis.

The helmet, jacket and boots seem to be his favourite inner and outer wear at the moment and his Grandma and I are happy to play along.


["I fight fires," Ollie says: photo, circa 10 a.m. today, by KH]

"Cover my back," he'll tell us as he runs from one room to another dragging a make-shift fire hose.

Our oldest son also fights fires - real ones - and I now wonder if one day there will be two firefighters in the family.

I could live with that.

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