It may only be March 10th but spring has definitely sprung here and my time in Austin for another season is winding down rapidly. Easter is late this year hence Shrove Tuesday with its celebrations, pancakes, and Mardi Gras excesses has just given way to the Ash Wednesday and the sobriety of Lent. With insects starting to appear, trees and shrubs flowering and leafing out, spring bulbs in full show and annuals being planted I have retired my bird feeding station for the season giving up the war on squirrels. The Day of the Dead ended with some loud heavenly pyrotechnics and a brief show of torrential rain; picnicking in graveyards is not my idea of honouring the dead but it works for some people.
Since my last entry I’ve tried my hand at Jerking Chicken one more time and made Chicken Gumbo. Finally broke down and washed virtually every stitch of clothing I own, folded it and then attempted to find space to pack it all back in. It has been pleasant to see the Looney approaching $1.03 vs. the AMD not so nice watching gasoline approach $3.50 an American Gallon. Though I have yet to tour the Texas Capitol I did get to march on it with the Workers Defence Project carrying cardboard caskets to represent the 138 construction workers killed yearly in Texas.
Rode my bike of a Friday evening for a tour of U of T Campus. We were regaled by the usual collegian hi-jinks and lesser known tales of the founding of the great institution of learning that has expanded from its initial 300 students to the present 51,000. We learned how a run to the general store as the train north was leaving for a game led to the selection of the orange and white ribbons which came to represent the team colours. Having adopted the longhorn symbol Bevo, the Longhorn became the team mascot. A critter with 10-foot horns however did not make for a cuddly campus addition so the first Bevo ended up on the dinner plates at the Annual Football Banquet after he got too old and cranky to attend games. Even Texan students it seems, are practically minded.
As I write this comes word of a 8.9 earthquake off northern Japan. Anything much stronger would tend to destroy the seismograph that would measure it. The tsunami’s set off by the undersea earth movements did more damage in Japan than the actual quake indeed our own West Coast is still on watch bringing back to mind the warning signs, escape routes, and sirens so prevalent along the Pacific Coast Trail. I did not feel deprived at not feeling the earth move while I was in the area.
In other news the State of Wisconsin has declared war on unions while my own has put Canada Post on notice that it plans to take a strike vote. In Ontario the government has declared the TTC in Toronto an essential service. Must protect those subways. In sports comes word of yet another deliberate attempt to injure another hockey player. How long will what would be assault on a public thoroughfare be considered acceptable in a hockey arena? That the player walked away from the hospital two days later after sustaining a crushed vertebrae is testimony to good luck and superb conditioning.
Since my last entry I’ve tried my hand at Jerking Chicken one more time and made Chicken Gumbo. Finally broke down and washed virtually every stitch of clothing I own, folded it and then attempted to find space to pack it all back in. It has been pleasant to see the Looney approaching $1.03 vs. the AMD not so nice watching gasoline approach $3.50 an American Gallon. Though I have yet to tour the Texas Capitol I did get to march on it with the Workers Defence Project carrying cardboard caskets to represent the 138 construction workers killed yearly in Texas.
Rode my bike of a Friday evening for a tour of U of T Campus. We were regaled by the usual collegian hi-jinks and lesser known tales of the founding of the great institution of learning that has expanded from its initial 300 students to the present 51,000. We learned how a run to the general store as the train north was leaving for a game led to the selection of the orange and white ribbons which came to represent the team colours. Having adopted the longhorn symbol Bevo, the Longhorn became the team mascot. A critter with 10-foot horns however did not make for a cuddly campus addition so the first Bevo ended up on the dinner plates at the Annual Football Banquet after he got too old and cranky to attend games. Even Texan students it seems, are practically minded.
As I write this comes word of a 8.9 earthquake off northern Japan. Anything much stronger would tend to destroy the seismograph that would measure it. The tsunami’s set off by the undersea earth movements did more damage in Japan than the actual quake indeed our own West Coast is still on watch bringing back to mind the warning signs, escape routes, and sirens so prevalent along the Pacific Coast Trail. I did not feel deprived at not feeling the earth move while I was in the area.
In other news the State of Wisconsin has declared war on unions while my own has put Canada Post on notice that it plans to take a strike vote. In Ontario the government has declared the TTC in Toronto an essential service. Must protect those subways. In sports comes word of yet another deliberate attempt to injure another hockey player. How long will what would be assault on a public thoroughfare be considered acceptable in a hockey arena? That the player walked away from the hospital two days later after sustaining a crushed vertebrae is testimony to good luck and superb conditioning.
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