What is a Periodontist .

A woman and her husband interrupted their vacation to go to the dentist. “I want a tooth pulled, and I don’t want Novacaine because I’m in a big hurry,” the woman said. “Just extract the tooth as quickly as possible, and we’ll be on our way.” The dentist was quite impressed. “You’re certainly a courageous woman,” he said. “Which tooth is it?” The woman turned to her husband and said, “Show him your tooth, dear.”

I had a consultation visit with a periodontist (gum doctor) this morning. I have three molars,  that have gum issues. (two up, one lower) The two upper ones he thinks can be fixed, the lower not so sure. "You will likely lose the lower tooth some day." Hmmm, for that I pay $130?  I will die some day too but I don't need to pay a doctor to tell me that. Anyway, the soonest he can do anything is September so I guess I'll have the summer to think about it.
.
.
.

What A Wedding!

With this ring...

Megan's dad Bill (left) watches his little girl leave with her new husband Frank.

"Just Married" Click the pic to enlarge.

There was 260 people at the wedding and more than half were Italian or Italian decent. The wedding ceremony was at Grace United Church in Brampton and the reception was at the Da Vinci Banquet Hall in Woodbridge. The array of tantalizing food and treats at the banquet hall was like nothing I have ever seen before. A cruise ship buffet would pale by comparison.

The wedding ceremony bagan at 1 pm but the reception was at 5:30 so some of us went over to David and Reenie's home in Brampton. The Di Vincci party started with a reception line, open bar and antipasta. Later the dinner was served and music, speeches and dancing followed. At around 11:30 pm an entire new spread was laid out in the lobby complete with a whole rotisserie pig and every kind of dessert conceivable. What a wedding!

No one went hungry.

"Around Five Foot Square"

I have too many picture to post on this blog so CLICK HERE to see lots more on Photobucket. Contact me if you would like a larger picture to print out.
.
.
.

I Just Had A Sinking Feeling...

For many years my friend Bill has been looking at used boats. He sold his last boat "the William's John" back in the 80's. Ever since, he's been looking and looking. In fact Judy has laughingly said "As long as he's looking it doesn't cost anything."

Tomorrow we will drive to Toronto to attend the marriage of their daughter Megan to Frank. The groom is of Italian descent so the reception promises to be grandiose to say the least. I can't wait to indulge in the food and festivities but I know this doesn't come cheap.  I have a feeling we may be eating Billy's boat!

.
.
.

We Haven't Laughed So Hard In Ages.

Above picture shows our condos with pressure-washed cedar shakes. When they age and grey down in a few months a sealer will be applied.

We drove to Point Edward on Saturday morning. We hadn't been there for quite a while (February) and needed to check things out. Also, this is the time when many of our condo neighbours are returning from Florida and other points south. I knew Gary and Ann were here from Tennessee to close a real estate transaction so we invited them over for dinner. George and Judy were also back from Haines City Florida so we invited them too. Wendy and I drove over to USA just before noon, returning with a bounty of treats with a party in mind. Wendy did a magical job of composing a wonderful meal with a pork loin spinning on the rotisserie, complete with salads and desert. Judy brought her world famous cookies. Everybody arrived around 4:30 or 5.

Click the pic for an "artsy" view. Picture taken around noon "the morning after."

I can honestly say, I haven't laughed so hard in a long time as George and Gary sparred for the "best" story and the rest of us contributed to the general foray. It was just one of those nights when everybody was "on" and we all laughed ourselves to tears. The night ended early enough around 10:30 pm but it was perfect because I think everybody had a fine time.  The next morning I visited our guests' condos and I noticed everybody (especially me) was hoarse from last night's vocal strain. Gary said "Good thing it didn't go too late or the other neighbours would have been banging on the walls."  We were making no effort to be quiet!

We departed around noon and took the "back way" home to London. A great visit with great friends.
.
.
.

A Walk In The Cemetery, Oh Deer!

I had no idea he was here! I didn't even know he died.

Today we took a drive to Woodland Cemetery because our friend Tricia said the resident deer herd had grown in number and they were very tame.

We visited Wendy's family and parents' grave site.

A cemetery is a very peaceful place.

A nice, sunny, warm Spring day and the deer were here as promised.

This one came right over to the car. Click on the deer to enlarge the picture.

OK, not the same Batman I was thinking about.
.
.
.

Bitcoins Down But Certainly Not Out.

Volume traded (green=up trend, red= down trend) Notice strong trading volume now compared to before the peak.

The chart above shows the incredible spike in the price of Bitcoins last week. At one point they touched $266. Lately they have relaxed back closer to the ongoing upward trend of the virtual currency.  I wish I had a crystal ball on this one.

Don't mortgage the farm to buy them. They are HIGHLY risky but the upward potential is theoretically enormous. There will never be more than 21,000,000 ever made so if you own even just one, you might someday be the 21 millionth richest person in the world. That's if Bitcoin became the new world currency.

There is presently over a billion dollars (and growing fast) riding on this roller-coaster.  Right now this seems like the stuff of a science fiction movie but I guess while they are under $100 ea. they are no more dangerous than a lottery ticket. Oh, how I wish I'd bought a a few thousand Bitcoins when they were only $2 to $5 ea.
.
.
.

To "Dentist The Menace"

I can't remember the last time I had a cavity but last week when I was in for my routine inspection/cleaning/descaling with Alice my dental hygienist she informed me I needed to come back. Tomorrow I face the drill. The real pain here is that I don't have any dental insurance coverage and this is bound to cost me more than my last filling I'm sure. Oh well, I'll get Air Miles.

Update: $313. My dentist was telling me he had to replace the fuel pump on his sailboat so I guess this will just about cover it.

Can you tell I am having trouble finding news for the blog this week?
.
.
.

Photo Fun At An Abandoned Underwear Factory.

How much fun could one guy have? A Photo shoot at an underwear factory no less. Buildings like these are disappearing and soon will fade into distant memories of North America's once mighty manufacturing base. All gone off shore.

I drove to Woodstock, about 30 miles from home to arrive at the long abandoned Harvey Woods plant around 10 am. I was invited to attend and enjoy by Chris Baldwin (with a group of London photographers) and London Photo Walks. You may recall I've done other photo shoots with this group in the past. Today we are here under the kind invitation of Michael Harding, Project Development Lead - Woodstock. He is with Homestead Christian Care who have purchased the building and are going to convert it into low rental housing.

All the manufacturing equipment has been removed but the building, in a deteriorating state of repair, offered up dozens of exciting photo opportunities. Click on the "artsy" pictures and see a bigger view.

The vault door shows it was made in Galt Ontario by Goldie and McCulloch. This plant was built nearly 100 years ago.

Paint doesn't seem to stick to glass very well. Then again it looks like paint doesn't stick to anything here. Long abandoned and exposed to the elements the wooden ceiling column below is also shedding its coating.

Flaking paint, broken glass and curled floor tiles everywhere. Twenty years of neglect takes its toll. For me this factory symbolizes the end of the industrial age in this country.
 

In the basement I needed a flashlight to see where I was going but I was rewarded by these shots in the boiler room. Click the pictures to get the whole effect.

Surprisingly there was no place "off limits" We were even allowed on to the roof, where there was this great view of the backs of the city's old main street buildings.

The ultimate planned outcome of this old building will hopefully carry carry it forward as a valuable addition to the community.

Here's the YouTube news item on the status of the building/charity and its conversion to affordable housing:

.

As I drove home I was thinking how fortunate I was to be able to get some pictures of our industrial past.
.
.

Why R We So Stupid?

 Ask any one who knows me and they will tell you I've been saying for years that our government is on the wrong track with their ridiculous solar and wind energy policy. It won't work. It hasn't worked anywhere else in the world. Why do they think it will work here?

Finally the press has picked up on this. How much longer will it take for everyone to realize this wonderful fact:

"Hurray! Ontario WILL have the least industrial air pollution in North America simply because...
THERE WON'T BE ANY INDUSTRY LEFT!!!"

Mark my words.

 Read This:

Wind power kills jobs and increases electricity costs: 

Report

By Antonella Artuso, Queen's Park Bureau Chief

Thursday, April 11, 2013 8:36:23 EDT AM

TORONTO — Ontario's pursuit of wind power has driven up electricity prices, is killing jobs and might even lead to more smog, a new Fraser Institute report says.
Ross McKitrick, author of Environmental and Economic Consequences of Ontario's Green Energy Act (GEA), says the Ontario government's electricity plan is now 10 times more costly than installing pollution-control equipment on existing coal plants — an option he argues would have produced similar improvements in air quality.
His analysis of the GEA concludes the province is well on its way to having some of the highest electricity prices in North America.
"Already, the GEA has caused major price increases for large energy consumers and we're anticipating additional hikes of 40% to 50% over the next few years," McKitrick said in a statement.

The problem according to Tim,

We are all subsidizing the useless solar and wind industry with our higher electrical bills. Did you know I heard about farmers turning on huge spotlights powered through generators hooked to their tractor engines. They aim these lights at their solar panels throughout the night to make their solar panels generate more subsidized profit. I don't know if that's true but I do know we are all paying up to $.80 per kilowatt in the name of "Green Energy" for electricity that shouldn't cost more than 10 cents. Businesses, especially factories will go elsewhere for cheaper electricity and we  will have accomplished our insane goal or obsession with eliminating air pollution.

Our friends in Florida will tell you, we pay at up to 5 times more for power in Ontario. How long do you think that can last?

The Ford logo that used to adorn the side of the mezzanine tower at the former St. Thomas Ford Plant near Talbotville has been removed along with the two main entrance signs.

Footnote: The irony of it all is that most of our air pollution comes from USA. Reducing our output won't do much for Ontarians. Why do we think we have to lead the world?

Sometimes I'm glad I'm old so at least I won't be here to see the pathetic outcome of our follies. Sad but true!
.
.
.

It's Only A Bubble OR How To Get Rich In Cyberspace.

Take your Bitcoins you bought (below $20 ea. a month or so ago) and add nearly one thousand percent and you will have the value today which is about $200 each. Ten times your investment. Where will this bubble end? Some say zero $0, some say $400, some $1000, some say $4000, and some even 10's of thousands of $ for each one. One thing is sure. No one knows.

The 6 month chart shows exponential growth this month. Click on the chart above to see the "real  time" one.

? How many does Tim own?   Is this just a bubble in cyberspace?  Is it the infancy of a new world currency?  Will it be just a memory soon?  ?     Good questions.  Right now - no answers!

Chart since Bitcoins started in 2010.   Bad timing?   For 2 years the coins stayed low. Ouch!

Here's some answers you can read about. What the heck is a Bitcoin?  CLICK HERE        

UPDATE Wed. April 10 1 BITCOIN = $? (HIT $266 bounced back down) Good while it lasted!
.
.
.

I Added Some More Pictures

If you are interested in our trip on the back roads of Georgia, I put up some pictures taken in a few fascinating places along the way. You can scroll down to "Back Roading" Along to Knoxville, TN. or CLICK THE FINGER to go to it.
.
.
.

Home Safe and Sound

Lots of driving and listening to the radio today as we ran the "race track" (I75) leaving at 6:30 am all the way from Knoxville TN through Detroit (a bumpy road melee of uninsured NASCAR wannabees doing 70+ mph in the 55 mph zones) to I94 and Port Huron around 4:30 pm.

I picked up an anticipated Amazon.com parcel at my mailbox, then to Meijer's for cat food and then we went GFS for other groceries. Finally, after that, we went to the US Duty Free Store for a gallon of pure alc. (not allowed to be sold in most of the US or Canada without a permit") I was concerned and wondered about my other partly full bottles of hooch and a case of left-over beer from Florida that was mouldering in the back cargo space. My worries were ill-founded:

The Canada Customs guy (I didn't recognize him from previous crossings) asked where do you live? "Point Edward" How long where you away? "Since February 28"  What did you buy? "Under $200 - groceries and this hat" Then, unceremoniously he said "Goodbye!"

END OF INTERVIEW!  "Is that all there is?" I mused.

Hey!  I even felt a little snubbed that he didn't ask about our Florida vacation, the boat, poised very conspicuously on my roof, the contents of my car heaped unbelievably full of "personal belongings", my lovely tan. or the usual alcohol, tobacco questions. Not even a complement on my "artsy" hat. Nothing!

I must say though, I breathed a sigh of relief that we didn't have to pull everything out of the car for a "random check" before high-tailing it back home to London.

.
.
.

"Back Roading" Along to Knoxville, TN.

We left Douglas Georgia at 8 am and drove right up through the middle of the state. Notice we kept completely away from the I75 "racetrack" I'm getting ready for bed in the Days Inn at Knoxville North so I'll post some pictures when I get a chance.
 

Click the picture to enlarge my "artsy" pic.

 The whole town is For Sale

A highlight of our trip home was our bumbling, (or stumbling) across a near ghost town in central Georgia. The little village is home to only 600 people but was eerily quiet this morning. Other than a fast moving freight train roaring by the train station at high speed and equally unnerving gravel trucks banging over the railway tracks at 50 mph, it looks like the world has forgotten this little town. The place is called Toomsboro and I looked it up on Wikipedia:

"Many properties in Toomsboro are owned by David Bumgardner, a developer who bought some properties at auction and others from preservationist Bill Lucado circa 2002. Bumgardner intended to turn Toomsboro into a quaint tourist destination. In April 2012, Bumgardner and Lucado announced they were seeking a buyer for the properties, suggesting a movie production company might be interested in using Toomsboro as a film set."  

We explored around the narrow streets and were amazed at the relatively good condition of all the old buildings. Obviously someone is caring for the place because the grass has been cut and there were no signs of homeless people squatting in the buildings. It was like some episode of "The Twilight Zone".

"You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. Your next stop...the Twilight Zone."
    —Rod Serling

.
Farther North:

Three hours later and 170 miles north of Toomsboro we came across another fascinating place.

High Wired:

You will remember the recent, suspenseful high wire walk across Niagara Falls by Nik Wallenda. At that time there was much talk about Nik coming from a family of high wire artists. His great grandfather Karl back in 1970, (over 40 years ago) made history as he walked across the Tallulah Falls Gorge.

On a section of Old Highway 41,near Tallulah Gorge State Park a road sign simply said: "Tallulah Point scenic lookout" and an arrow to turn right   We were amazed to see a "tourist trap' from the past, apparently stuck in a time-warp. At the dawn of the 20th Century, Tallulah Falls was a bustling resort town that rivaled Niagara Falls.  People came from all over to see the waterfalls and the awesome gorge.

The Gorge itself was impressive, (my camera never does justice to these  panoramic views) but the real excitement was within and around the buildings that make up this "blast from the past".

This is from the Web Page for Tallulah Point:

"Since 1912 we have been offering the traveling public the only free roadside view of the awesome Tallulah Gorge, right from our covered, overlook porch.  Once you take in the beauty and grandeur, step into our shop and revisit a time when sodas were in glass bottles and toys were powered by a child's imagination.  You will find many things to delight your fancy, things that have been delighting people for generations.  See our vast collection of:

Reproduction tin toys, nostalgic gifts and souvenirs, mountain playthings, regional books and hiking guides, candles, jewelry, cabin accessories, knives, rustic twig furniture by Don Bundrick, the ever popular Burt's Bees products, SallyeAnder Homemade Soaps and much more!

While shopping and enjoying the view, grab an RC and a Moonpie, an old fashion Coke in a glass bottle, or a refreshing cone of ice cream.  Out on the porch, take in the scenery, swing in one of Don's creations, and see what travelers have been enjoying for years!

We are proud, here now in the 21st Century, to offer some of our items on line.  Enjoy and please let us know if there is anything we can help you with!"

 Road Closed Due To No Road:

If you look at the map at the top of this page you will see that we made a large detour to the east before arriving at Knoxville. This is because I had originally planned on going through Great Smoky Mountains National Park from Cherokee GA to Gatlinburg TN.

Unfortunately there had been a landslide and the road was closed. This meant we had to bypass the park. Read about it CLICK HERE.

 We did however, find some interesting animals in our little unplanned detour.

.
.
.