This man ....

...was born in Belfast in 1789. Somewhere around 1805 made his way to Glasgow. There he married and had the first of four children. In April 1820, driven by poverty and a bleak future, he and his young family took a very bold step and decided to make their way to the "new country". They boarded the good ship Commerce and a fortnight later landed at the Port of Prescott.

From there, they made their way up a newly formed trail to the wilderness of Northern Lanark County. For his efforts and loyalty, he received 50 acres of scrub bush from HMTK George V to build a new life. In the ensuing years he managed to acquire 500 acres from other settlers from the Lanarkshire area who "gave up" and went to greener pastures (namely the US & western provinces). So successful was he that the road leading into said property bears his surname.

Now, given that this man is my 3rd great-grandfather ....I'm wondering why I'm not considered native. There was nothing on this granted land ... nothing for miles around. Native sightings in the area were very rare. We know this as encounters with the "red man" were well documented, as the "society settlers" were deathly afraid of them after hearing stories of atrocities committed against settlers in the American mid-west.

With this in mind, I'm staking my own claim. Right here .... right now.

I even have the paperwork to support my claim. I hold the land grant which states that the land was to remain with "his heirs and successors forever". Given that I am his only male successor still breathing, I figure it's mine. And I want it back. I don't care what has happened in the ensuing two centuries with this property.... My family had a deal with the Crown... somebody screwed me.

Sounds ridiculous, right ??

So does this.

Impaired drivers making their mark

in a big way in Kingston last week.

A provincial police vehicle was struck by an impaired driver's vehicle Thursday.

The unmarked Tactics and Rescue Unit vehicle was stopped at the Odessa off-ramp from Highway 401 when it was rear-ended by a Chrysler Neon exiting the highway.

The driver was charged with impaired driving, careless driving, driving with open liquor and having liquor readily available. No one was injured.

AND THIS ONE

A 29-year-old Newburgh man faces impaired driving charges after a pickup truck smashed into a house in Stone Mills Township early yesterday.

Napanee OPP said the red 2004 Ford F150 pick-up hit a ditch, then a fence and then a wood pile before slamming into the house on Lake Road around 2:20 a.m.

The driver was arrested at the scene. Nobody was hurt.

Some more shots

from last Monday morning.

A controversy of Olympic proportions

Should there be an boycott of the summer games in Beijing ?

"If Israel will not speak out, it will be very hard to answer the question, why, when people were being killed by Nazis, the world did not speak about it"

So says Ottawa's Rabbi Dr. Reuven Bulka in an interview with Irish media.

He said that the issue of organ harvesting in China from live Falun Gong practitioners is "the most important problem today."

China's organ transplant website clearly labels the price for its wares: one liver costs between $98,000 to $130,000; while one kidney is sold at $62,000; $130,000 to $150,000 for a heart and $30,000 for a cornea.

Is cheap manufactured goods reason enough to keep trading with this barbaric bunch ?

I think not.

From poop to power

An innovative electrical engineer turned local dairy farmer is generating the better part of a Megawatt of power a day from manure.

Novel here but common in their Swiss homeland, the Klaesis' system is one of Ontario's first manure digesters generating electricity to the grid through the net metering program ... and that's after they've turned on two homesteads and their farm buildings.

Their anaerobic digester generates 750 kilowatt hours of electricity daily, enough to power 30 homes. The brothers' hydro bill has shrunk from $2,500 to $30 per month, which is the service fee Hydro One invoices whether electricity is used or not.

".....encountered regulatory roadblocks and wonders why, considering that in Europe thousands of digesters are routinely installed and are looked upon as a sound farm practice."

Manure digesters ... garbage gasification ... more use of wind energy. Maybe those coal plants could have been shut down ....

Yet another failure for Dolt and crew.

"Hot Chocolate"

Consumed by unsuspecting high school students in Hamilton.

An alert principal intercepted 1,500 Hershey Peanut Butter Cups potentially contaminated by salmonella which flooded a Hamilton high school Tuesday.

The bars -- identified as Hershey products recalled in November and believed stolen from a recycler -- were brought to Mountain Secondary School by students who found them in a dumpster behind a closed variety store nearby.

"We saw one student with a peanut butter cup, then another and another and then one fellow with a box of six," McCulloch said, adding the student told her others had found them in a dumpster. "I realized everyone coming down the hall had them."

McCulloch, who likes chocolate herself, got on the school's PA system and told Mountain's 325 students to bring the bars to her office. In minutes students turned in 1,500 bars. Some students had eaten theirs but there have been no reports of illness.

Taking a bite ....

and committing several crimes.

Close call for a Kingston copper.

Weir is said to have grabbed the woman by the back of the neck with his left hand to restrain her against the wall and put his right hand on the wall. His arm was close to the woman's head.

Police said the woman then swung her head and bit into Weir's forearm. He pulled the arm away. The bite didn't break the skin, but left a red mark.

"The accused is HIV positive and is fully aware of her illness," police said in a statement.

Help wanted ...

Good pay, lousy(if any at all can be had) living conditions.

France's version of CNN highlights the economic boom in Alberta .... I had no idea it was this bad in Fort McMoney ....

To fill job vacancies, Canada is now looking to boost the number of temporary worker permits issued for Alberta's booming oil sands industry, and is aggressively recruiting foreign workers in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

....to park their own mobile homes in a dirt field -- about 865 US dollars monthly.

....the campground is a bargain compared to the cost of renting an apartment in Fort McMurray, which, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing, boasts the highest average rental costs in the country -- up to 3,500 US dollars per month.

Nice legs !!!

At Chrysler Park Marina this morning a Great Blue Heron dropped in for a visit ..






Great legs ... and an impressive wingspan too ...

Shooting "on location" in Smiths Falls ...

The latest episode of the "Trailer Park Boys" !!!

Town police arrested four people Thursday on drug trafficking charges in connection with a tip about drug dealing at the Victoria Park Campground.

Officers were alerted in early June about alleged drug trafficking at a trailer on the site, police said.

Police searched the trailer around 10 p.m. and found 240 grams of marijuana, said Sergeant Frank Westerlaken.

They also seized $2,000 in cash, the house trailer and a car, he said.