My office is in one building but my work is sometimes in another. On nice days I like to walk along the lake behind the buildings; here's a tour of what I saw the other day.
The heron on the rock. He likes it there, but sometimes he's on the shore. Then, when you get close, he suddenly takes off, startling you with his prehistoric-like wings.
Nice path? Where does it lead? From the walkway to the building, actually.
Azaleas in bloom.
Momma wood duck had 10 -- count 'em -- 10.
They hang out close to shore in the shallows, then scurry down to the water and swim to the other side when you get close. Wouldn't it be nice if human babies followed so closely without needing to be herded up?
Here is one of two beaver dams. The other was dismantled last year, and this one must have been foreclosed on because I haven't seen beavers here in awhile. But you can see exactly where they dragged the logs across the path. The turtles like to hang out here in the afternoons. It's sort of like a turtle bar.
The Canadian geese are nesting, and the males can be mean. The morning after this one I got chased three times and hissed at. But there's no way to avoid walking past the nests because they build them between the water and the path. One male even came running down the walkway at me, chest all puffed out like a cat trying to look big. I didn't get his picture.
Two years ago, THIS is what I got to see. Bambi junior is watching us watching him. Several workers complained that mom ran at them when they tried to get close to the baby. Duh.
I just found out that CHUM AM 1050 is gone. Vanished, sold, dead air. Toronto teens grew up with the station, back in a time when AM radio was much more heavily patronized than FM radio. In fact, a lot of car radios didn't even have the ability to tune into FM. I had an official CHUM bug card, and tuned in faithfully every day after school. I once won a Neil Diamond record from them, the first thing I ever won.
I first listened in 1966, on a transistor radio I got for my birthday. Mine looked something like the one on the left. Realize that they're just a bit bigger than the palm of your hand. The on/off switch on mine was so worn I had to press down to make it work.
These babies took one 9 volt battery, which had the life of about 10 milliseconds. I used to kill mine by falling asleep while listening under my pillow.
CHUM put out CHUM Charts for years, and I started collecting them in 1966. I still have mine, and read on eBay they're worth about $4.00 each, more for the ones before 1970, and more for the ones with pictures of famous singers on them. Maybe I should start a side business.
I'll miss CHUM. I haven't lived in Toronto for years, and never listened, but I'll miss just knowing it's around.
Nice path? Where does it lead? From the walkway to the building, actually.
Azaleas in bloom.
Momma wood duck had 10 -- count 'em -- 10.
Here is one of two beaver dams. The other was dismantled last year, and this one must have been foreclosed on because I haven't seen beavers here in awhile. But you can see exactly where they dragged the logs across the path. The turtles like to hang out here in the afternoons. It's sort of like a turtle bar.
The Canadian geese are nesting, and the males can be mean. The morning after this one I got chased three times and hissed at. But there's no way to avoid walking past the nests because they build them between the water and the path. One male even came running down the walkway at me, chest all puffed out like a cat trying to look big. I didn't get his picture.
