Erin Visits With A Kitten - Black As The ACE OF SPADES!

Today we were favoured with a visit to our condo by our daughter Erin who brought with her a baby kitten of about five or six weeks old.

Erin travels around southwestern Ontario in the course of her job with the St Clair Region Conservation Authority, which includes the Sydenham River watershed and thirteen smaller watersheds draining directly into southern Lake Huron, the St. Clair River and northeastern Lake St. Clair. Last week her travels led her to W. Darcy McKeough Floodway Dam which is about 40 km south of Sarnia. There she encountered a baby kitten that was either born in the wild, or more likely, judging by its friendly disposition, abandoned there by its owners. The park workers had been feeding him beef jerky and were relieved that he found a new home before the coyotes got him.

When he's awake he's full of playful energy.

Barely bigger than a hand.

Jake has been away all week on business and doesn't know about this new addition to the family. Time will tell if he can ignore his allergies and accept the little guy. I guess if he doesn't I'll have a new addition to my family!

Since Jake loves to play poker I suggested a name: Ace, as in Ace of Spades for obvious reasons.

He likes to find a sunny spot to lie. He looks brown in the bright sun.

 How could you not love a cute little fellow like this. The little fluff-ball makes no noise and loves to sleep in your lap.

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Hot, Then Windy, Then Cool. Summer By The Lake.

Monday. Outside temperature reads 99F. Another mild day!

With this summer being the hottest and driest on record we have been enjoying the last few weeks at our condo.  Can you believe it? On Sunday I even turned down an invitation to go for a ride in my friend George's new boat .  It was just too hot.
 

 In the early part of the week it was actually too hot to go out in the dinghy until after sunset.

View from our deck at the condo. Shimmering heat.

 By Wednesday the heat had let up and we decided to go to the Farmers' Market. We bought a fresh chicken and some corn. We are planning to have Gary and Ann over on Thursday since they're leaving for Tennessee on Friday.

I never complain about a hot summer but one must always be ready to change one's plans to accommodate the weather. Even if it means just doing nothing! "Summertime, and the livin' is easy".
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I Sold My Good Old Olds Today

Picture taken in Springbank Park, London, ON summer 1997. They don't build 'em like they used to!

Today I ended my fifteen year relationship with my old 1948 Oldsmobile.  We parted ways, not because I was upset with her or disappointed in any way, but more because I felt I was no longer giving her the time and attention she deserved.

 I met her when she was only 49 years old and we got along splendidly because I bought her everything she needed and she really didn't ask for much.  We used to go to all the car shows together but later, when I bought a boat my attention was becoming divided. Finally, last year our visit to the Plunkett Car Show in London in early June, and the lovely time we had at the Glencoe Fair in September were the only times she left the garage.

I hate to say it but neglect was starting to wear on our relationship. Not that she ever complained but maintenance goes on and she was using up one of our two parking spots at the condo. I sold her off to a man who has 22 collector cars and a place to keep her in the style that could be even better than what she was accustomed to. I know I will miss her but as the new owner drove away I proudly watched with with a tear in my eye. I felt somehow very peaceful with the knowledge that she was going to a better place. She still runs proud and strong at 64 but I was always worried that if something serious where to happen mechanically I was ill prepared to deal with it any more. My days of lifting out engines are passed and Lord knows she has the ability to outlive me. I enjoyed my time with her but as they say "time marches on".

What ever you do, don't worry about me... I'll get over her!

My thoughts after a few:
Do you remember when you were a kid and you wanted a pony?  Your parents rightfully told you, as a city kid, that a pony was not a practical "toy". Logically you knew in your heart of hearts that you had no way to care for a pony and fortunately in those days you probably didn't have any money to buy one anyway.

Now, I think that things like boats and cars are a lot like ponies. You want them, and you need them, and you buy them because you have the money now, but you realize later; only after you have owned them for while, that they are only "things" and things do not; in themselves, bring the happiness you thought they would.

Don't get me wrong. I cherish the times I shared with my friends aboard my boat or riding in my old car, or the condo but the "things" were merely the vehicle, the medium, to bring our true friends to a mutual focal point where friendship and love can happen.  I suppose for that reason, it's all worth while, but it's not the boat or car or house that actually has any real value. It's the people you meet along the way.

You can see more about my old Olds if you CLICK HERE.
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Finally, All Our Canadian Frugalness Pays Off.

The net worth of the average Canadian household in 2011 was $363,202.

Congratulations Canada!
This is from the Toronto Globe and Mail today. I thought we needed a bit of good news for a change, so I posted it here for posterity:


For the First Time, Canadians Now Richer Than Americans
The average Canadian household is worth about $40,000 more than their American counterparts

By Meg Handley

While Americans might enjoy throwing politically-charged barbs at their neighbors to the north, Canadians now have at least one reason to be smug.

For the first time in recent history, the average Canadian is richer than the average American, according to a report cited in Toronto's Globe and Mail.

And not just by a little. Currently, the average Canadian household is more than $40,000 richer than the average American household. The net worth of the average Canadian household in 2011 was $363,202, compared to around $320,000 for Americans.

If you're thinking the Canadian advantage must be due to exchange rates, think again. The Canadian dollar has actually caught up to the U.S. dollar in recent years.

"These are not 60-cent dollars, but Canadian dollars more or less at par with the U.S. greenback," Globe and Mail's Michael Adams writes.

To add insult to injury, not only are Canadians comparatively better-off than Americans, they're also more likely to be employed. The unemployment rate is 7.2 percent—and dropping—in Canada, while the U.S. is stuck with a stubbornly high rate of 8.2 percent.

Besides a strengthening currency and a better labor market, experts credit the particularly savage fallout from the financial crisis on the U.S. economy and housing market, which torpedoed home values and gutted household wealth. According to the report, real estate held by Canadians is worth more than $140,000 more on average and they have almost four times as much equity in their real estate investments.

In a column for Bloomberg View, Stephen Marche traces the increasing wealth spread between the two countries to America's "struggles to find its way out of an intractable economic crisis and a political sine curve of hope and despair."

"The Canadian System is working," Marche writes, crediting Canada's cautious, fiscally conservative society. "[T]he American system is not."

But there is one caveat that could give the U.S. an ego boost: the average American holds more liquid assets—cash in hand—than the average Canadian.

Meg Handley is a business reporter for U.S. News &World Report. You can reach her at mhandley@usnews.com and follow her on Twitter.
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Our Happy 40th Anniversary

 

Scanned from a ship photo

Forty years may seem like a long time but somehow they have whizzed by.  As they say "Time flies when you're havin' fun". Here's to many more my lovely Wendy,
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Our First International Trip To USA... by Dinghy!

 We always enjoy going to United States by boat but since our beloved boat (the Phoenix) burned up last December this option seemed less likely to happen this summer. That is until I realized that the Dinghy would be perfectly capable of making the trip across the St. Clair River.

Wendy and I have, for several years, held a commuter's NEXUS card which allows us as "trusted, pre-screened travellers" to enter the united states without some of the usual red tape.  I contacted U.S. immigration by phone and upgraded my "boater's registration number" deleting the 38 foot Phoenix and adding the 10' 6" dinghy. Customs Officer Walker snickered when I told him the changed length and he asked me if that was the beam (width) of the new boat.

FYI: A boater's registration number allows a Captain to call in up to three hours before departure and pre-clear through customs. This means that I do not have to call them once I arrive in the United States. Very amazing in these days of over-zealous security measures don't you think? Anyway, the boater's registration number verification allows us to travel to the United States without going through the prohibitively, unwieldy, formality of taking a taxi cab to the Bluewater Bridge Customs office and clearing customs there.

I called in to US Customs at 10 am this morning and we headed out an hour or so later. Read on. It's really quite amazing what waits for you just a short dinghy ride away.

Our route through the heart of the USA (11 Miles)

An abandoned railway lift-bridge marks the mouth of the Black River (Rail bridge 1)

This weekend is "Boat Week" as 250 sailboats get ready for the 88th Port Huron to Mackinac sailboat race.

2012 Bell's Beer Bayview Mackinac Race
This year's race starts on July 14, 2012. In the nine decades that the Bayview Mackinac Race has been sailed, much has happened.  Wars, economic depressions, and other significant events have transpired, yet the Race has gone on.  In fact, President Franklin D. Roosevelt wired a message to Bayview during World War II when word reached the White House that the Club was considering canceling the race.  That message read:  "Sail your race."  Even then, it was clear that this race was and is important for sailors and for the State of Michigan.  Bayview did sail the Mackinac Race that year, and has done so every single year since the first Bayview Mackinac Race in 1925, making it the longest consecutively run freshwater race in the world.  Read more? CLICK HERE

One lonely gas boat at the fuel dock. Not a good week for gas sales with 250 sailboats jamming the river.

Sailboats streaming in for the big race Saturday

Several lift bridges, for both rail and roads. (Rail bridge 2)

Lots to look at on the Black River on the backside of Port Huron.

Pon Tiki Bar. A floating commercial bar/party boat. You'll never see that in Canada!

This narrow canal leading back to the lake has an interesting history.

In the late eighteen hundreds the odor from the Black River became so strong that Port Huron became almost uninhabitable, especially in the summer. In 1908 a canal was constructed to bring water from Lake Huron to the river in an attempt to dilute it and thus reduce the stifling smell. There were plans to construct locks which would enable sailing ships to navigate through from the Black River up into Lake Huron thereby avoiding the narrows (where the Bluewater International Bridge [1938] stands today) but this plan never materialized .  The advent of the steam engine enabled boats and tug boats to run up river under their own power, so locks avoiding the rapid waters of the narrows were then considered unnecessary.
  

Running against a very strong current from the lake

It looks calm but the water actually runs quite fast from the lake ahead.  Still waters run deep?

 

This is a 1908 photograph of the Black River Canal in Port Huron, with the Grand Trunk Western Railway upper bridge in the background.  A river dredge is working on the canal.

White sandy beaches from the canal to the Bridge.

A Salty (Ocean-going ship) races us to the bridge.

We took on a little water as we hit a large wave under the bridge.

 

Two freighters raft off the "Winter Harbour" moorings at the entrance to Bridgeview Marina.

And back to Bridgeview Marina, our home port in about 2 1/2 hours. Nice trip!
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First Boat Ride(s) This Season

Glenn and Dianne

On Friday afternoon, while walking back from the visitor parking after saying our goodbyes to Jim, Judy, Greg and Tricia, our condo friend Glenn spotted Wendy and I and graciously invited us to go for a ride in their boat with him and his wife Dianne. One of Glenn's 3 boats is a sporty little Regal bow-rider, (also a kayak and an express cruiser).  You may recall last month I posted a picture of Glenn's old MGA sports car at the Antique Car Show in Centennial Park.

With the temperatures still soaring into the nineties Fahrenheit on shore, a run out onto the lake and back was a very welcome and cooling treat. Glenn insisted we return Saturday morning to go for a spin in his 34ft. Cruiser's Inc express.  Of course I happily agreed.
 

Wendy watches where we've been.

Wendy and I boarded Glenn's larger 34' Cruiser's Express around 9:30 AM Saturday and spent some time putting this lovely boat through its paces on the river and out on the lake. Thanks again Glenn!

Approaching the Bluewater Bridge at good speed.

Two nice rides in two days, our first this season (other than our little dingy). How much better could it get?
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Anniversaries Galore!!!

Cheers! Wendy's lifelong friend Tricia makes a toast as Greg agrees

Tricia and Greg from London and our good friends Judy and Jim from Grand Bend came to visit us here at the condo at noon today.  Tricia reserved a table for a splendid lunch at the "On The Front Restaurant" to celebrate the occasion of Judy and Jim's 50th and Wendy and my 40th upcoming anniversaries.

Wendy and I had never been before to this amazing place high atop an office/condo building on Front Street in Sarnia on the fourteenth floor.  The view of the city and the St. Clair River is absolutely spectacular. Trisha had booked the outside patio but with the searing summer heat and the fact that there were no umbrellas, we decided to eat indoors. Inside, the view was no less spectacular from our corner table for six.

Jim and Judy and a lovely little cake

 After lunch we returned to the condo for dessert .  The outside temperature was over 90F so we did not sit outside. July 15 marks forty years for Wendy and I. Here's to another 40!
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