My sister’s beau would not believe her when she told him that raccoons can be rather ornery creatures.
I confirmed this with a few stories as did John who is always amazed at how tourists in the park stop to take pictures of the nocturnal mammals. They can be dangerous, can hiss at you, not be intimidated and carry rabies. There was an outbreak of rabies in skunks and raccoons in Stanley Park not too long ago in fact [Stanley Park Ecology, 2004]. Recently the animals have become quite the nuisance in the suburbs as well.
A pest control expert says the Lower Mainland appears to be experiencing an upswing in the number of raccoons being born…
…One cat owner living in the in Tsawwassen’s north end suspects raccoon’s are responsible for the loss of two neighbourhood cats. Only yesterday, a Tsawwassenite living on 53A Street came home to find five raccoons in his kitchen, threatening his cat. Police had to shoot one of the raccoons after the homeowner injured it with a golf club. [News 1130] [Story also on Canada.com]
We kind of knew the population was on the rise when John spotted a raccoon mommy and daddy engaging in ‘private’ activities in a tree outside our apartment. When I arrived home from work they were still at it… 5 hours later.
We usually giggle at tourists taking photos of these creatures mostly because they seem so ‘everyday’ to us. But it’s a little more than that, you never know with these animals, especially the ones you find in the back alleys downtown, those urbanized raccoons are the worst, eh.
Last night I had a vicious migraine and passed out around 9am. I woke up this morning, got out of bed and my legs didn’t want to work. After thumping down onto the bedroom floor and telling my body it was time to wake up I made my way to the computer. I had my morning brew then read my compulsory blogs, finding some kick ass posts from Keira and Corinna. Following in the eclectic and fun style of both, here are a couple tid bits for today.
In 2005, John got me hooked on Rescue Me. Since then it’s been a staple for us and we countdown the days until we can download the torrents for the new season in the USA. A while back, Keira started calling John “Probie” and Duane “Garrity”. This of course makes me laugh out loud whenever I hear it and you would too, if you’ve seen the show. I was looking on the show’s site and decided to actually compare my hubby to “Probie” aka Mikey Silletti aka actor Mike Lombardi.
Okay well they could be cousins at least
Our good pal Duane is going on vacation soon, a well-deserved vacation where he can be in tropical weather, sit on the beach, be served froofy drinks with umbrellas in them. He told us the news last night over iChat, while also trying to sell us a used car.
I spent some quality time with my family this weekend, starting off with a lovely lunch then I watched Ella Enchanted with my niece and nephews while playing with sticker albums. These children are the most important part of our family yet it seems they’re actually in constant danger when playing with their shiney new birthday or Christmas gifts.
I heard about Thomas the Tank Engine recalls a while ago and alerted my sister, as there was found to be lead in the paint.
In June, for instance, another major toy company, the RC2 Corporation of Illinois, recalled 1.5 million popular Thomas & Friends wooden toy railway sets because for at least two years they were being coated with excessive levels of lead paint, even though the manufacturers were aware of restrictions on lead paint [NY Times]
Well this morning Mattel is all over the news, recalled 9 million products because of the same issue, lead paint, along with magnet problems [Mattel/Safety].
Toys affected by the lead paint are: Fisher Price CARS movie ‘Sarge’ character, Dora the Explorer and Elmo various plastic toys [Recall 1]
Those affected by the magnet recall include: Polly Pocket, Batman Magna Playsets, Barbie and Tanner, Doggie Daycare, Shonen Jump’s One Piece [Recall 2]
My mother would say that when she was little they would play with sharp, pointy, electro-shockey devices full of lead paint all the time. And yes, I remember a couple of my toys or games that, thinking back now, could have really put my eye out, but it’s more an issue of accountability on the toy manufacturers’ part. I’m just super glad that my niece’s preferred gift to receive is actually a book.
We’re off for a little adventure today, it will be our first “quality time” since the long weekend and we’re looking forward to it. John’s back at work tomorrow and then the PNE starts up, which means he’ll be uber busy for the next 2 weeks. I’m so unplugging for the rest of the day now.
I was viewing my incoming links this morning and caught this one, which seems pretty interesting. If you head to the main website for The Province newspaper, which is Canada.com you’ll see on the top right “Province Blogs“.
Yesterday they introduced their brand new Newsroom:
We’ve started The Newsroom in an effort to keep in close touch with our online audience. We’ll keep you posted on stories we’re working on and direct you to other stories on the web that you might find interesting, even if they won’t be appearing on our main news site. The blog will also provide a quick and easy way to update breaking stories while our reporters are busy tracking down more details…
…Full disclosure: We got this idea from our friends at the National Post and their Posted blog. We liked it so much we decided to do something similar — with their full blessing of course.
We have a growing slate of bloggers. Canucks, Lions, arts, books, etc. Any new posts to any of those blogs will appear in the top right corner of our main page, so keep an eye on it.
This is the first step the province-wide publication has taken to this degree, online. I’m flattered by the link and more content is always good but I’ll be checking in to see how their progress is going over the next little while.
They are asking for feedback and also links so if you do have a Vancouver-centric blog, send it along to get some mainstream media link love.
Keira and I hit up the West End Block Party today. Although it was very kid-centric we got to explore, play carnival games, and be a couple big kids ourselves. I tell ya, we had to get a kid to show us how to play one game because it was pretty darn tough. We completed them all and got a prize to go along with the free bottles of water and granola bars that were being handed out.
There was also a yard sale at the United church with all proceeds going towards the World Vision children that the congregation supported. Although why they were selling a copy of “High Times” in the book section [photo], I haven’t the foggiest. But I suppose pot lovers can be christians too.
All in all a pretty successful afternoon in the neighbourhood. You can view the photo set or check out some choice pics below.
They had some awesome little gems at the yard sale. There was a guy there selling photos he took of NHL players on the ice since he had access to photograph at warm ups – nice shots of Richter, Gretzky and Lemieux.
Tomorrow night perhaps Vancouverites will be able to catch an anticipated meteor shower. My husband‘s always been fascinated by astronomy and me, well I just think the little I know about it all is still pretty neat.
It’s surprising how many more stars you see in the sky once you leave the city. Last weekend during our midnight run to Osoyoos we caught dozens of shooting stars in the twilight above. I know it’s one thing to live in the city and still be able to appreciate nature while out in a park or down by the beach, but it’s also another to be able to look up into the sky and be reminded of everything else there is in this world (and outside of it).
…Chunks of burning debris from the Swift-Tuttle comet will start hitting our atmosphere with the majority of space junk to arrive Sunday night.
The best viewing is after midnight as the Earth’s rotation turns into the comet left-overs. You don’t need to wear special protective gear to view the space shower. Look to the north-east for the best view of the meteors rocketing into Earth’s atmosphere. The shower gets its name because the meteors appear to be coming out of the constellation Perseus. [News 1130]
John was recently able to discuss his old passion in depth when our friend Henry was in town, he being slightly more of a pro in that field. I hope we’ll be able to catch some of the natural fireworks tomorrow night… if the weather cooperates and if the lights of the city don’t drown out the show.
My favourite place on earth to stargaze has got to be over on the Sunshine Coast, on a beach near Robert’s Creek. I’ve seen a meteor shower there before and have had plenty warm summer nights listening to the waves crash on the shore while watching the night sky. You don’t have to go that far out of the city to be able to look up and appreciate it all.
