Recently in oh canada Category
Part of what is making Canada home is having a weekly schedule and getting up to old and new shenanigans. Recently I went on a bike tour along the southern tip of the island, and another through the Okanagan. Furthermore, my weekly schedule is littered with fun and games - or things that I turn into fun and games, anyways.
My Canada Day bike trip to Port Renfrew was, not surprisingly, an unattainable goal. 120kms out and 120kms back. I made it to Jordan River (90km point) and the Italian picked me up - knowing it was an unattainable goal and just happening to be in the area (my hero). Just in the nick of time, too. I had only begun to cry a little.
The next bike trip was in fact with the Italian. I
took him through the Okanagan, which he had never been to, and tried to persuade
him that Okanagan wines were on par with Italian wines. It is tough selling
someone on an idea that you yourself don't believe in. But I wouldn't say I totally
failed.
We are both in love with Pinto Gris from Burrowing Owl.
The best view award went to NkMip, for the second year in a row.
During the week long, much needed visit to the
Okanagan, the Allenby Awesomes got together for our first ever reunion - twenty
years after I had moved away. We did what we always did - played Soccer
Baseball, and the best part by far was teaching the children of the kids I had
grown up with how to play our childhood game. The second best part was the Okanagan Springs
Brewery donation we had won, which contained 8 12-packs of beer and a plethora
of beer-related paraphernalia.
In and among the odd bike trip, work drama, and Italian lessons, I do still
maintain a weekly schedule of things I look forward to when in town (2 out of
every 4 weeks). This weekly schedule is probably what has allowed me to begin to finally feel at home again.
Sunday dinners at Ian and Debs are by far my favorite part of the week. Aside from the fact that Debbie's food is the best in the world, Eli and Lily remind me that there is so much more to life than a career and traveling. For instance, playing at the park and watching Cars 2!
Every Wednesday afternoon I volunteer with Crime Watch for the Victoria Police. Even just saying that makes me feel sixteen. The little red shirt I wear, with "Crime Watch Volunteer" on the back, is the real kicker though. I feel like a kid doing it, in a lot of good ways. Basically we drive around looking for criminals, and walk the beat, keeping the peace. No, not really. We mostly just watch for things like suspicious behavior and then walk through parking lots, "locking out" auto crime. The odd shift something exciting happens, like the time I found a stolen lambourgini. And the time we followed a guy running with only underwear and an ipod. I wanted to call the cops but the manly guys I was with wanted to follow him. We proceeded to park and got out to follow him (the perp.;)) by foot. We subsequently lost him (um, guys, cause we're not cops). But found him again when the real cops came and wrestled him to the ground, 200m from our van. I don't think the po-po were impressed by our initiative.
Moreover, I spend many of my weekends and the odd afternoon volunteering as the Business Coordinator for the BC Green Party. So far this has involved spending afternoons with the leader of the BC Green party, who is so awesome. On the topic of politics, I was talked into running for city council in October and running in the upcoming municipal election as a Green in the university riding. The results of the HST referendum will impact the ability for students to vote...more on that in a month or so. Last thing on the politics front - I met with Elizabeth May in the flesh Monday and am going to a bbq with her today!!
I might break down and ask for her autograph... she is so cool.
Lastly, as part of my update for the month, here is my favorite pic of July. An abandoned hotel on our bike route between Oliver and Penticton. And the best song of the month: http://youtu.be/AhxF9xudm04 - Mia, by Emma the Great.
"I'm not crazy, I've just died.
I'm not Jesus, I'm not God, but I'm here to save people.
I've been given a second chance for a reason.
"The kids in Victoria call me the Salmon King. When that happened the price of the stock went up trillions. Then people started hating me. People don't like a good guy.
"One day I found out my girlfriend cheated on me because she gave me something I ain't never had before, if you know what I mean. On the way to the doctors two guys came at me trying to kill me. While I was running away from them I got hit by a car. That's why I'm handicapped now. Got this cane, see?
"I embarrassed a guy so badly he went purple yesterday. He was making fun of my charity down at the auction. He didn't believe my money all went to the children. I yelled at him. They don't let people talk like that at the auction but they let me. I yelled at him and embarrassed him so badly his face turned purple and he marched right out. We won't see him around any more.
"You know how much money I made for the children at the auction last week? Three hundred thousand. Yeah. I make money and give it to the children's hospital. I'm Santa Claus. Even the Victoria police call me Santa Claus because of all the good I do for children. I had a house once with ten boys - all orphans. All under the age of ten. I never touched them; I was just helping them out. But some guy ratted on me and I went to jail.
"I went to jail cause I needed a break from it all. Even the judge he said he knew I was innocent but he thought I just needed a break. I was in jail for six weeks and when I got out the guy who put me in, his dad had died and left him 10 million dollars. So he knew I would be after him and he paid a bunch of guys to try to kill me. Watch when I walk outside later. There'll be guys following me trying to kill me. But they can't.
"I'm a good guy.
I wanna be a bad guy but I can't.
Every body hates a good guy.
"You're my friend. You're safe.
Just wait it out, the storm will die down.
And you'll be OK cause you're my friend.
"I won the lottery one hundred times in a row. Then they banned me. Then I won one hundred scratch-n-wins in a row before they banned me from that too. I was in a casino one day and they banned me because every machine I touched won. Wanna watch me go make some money? One second I can make a million. Wanna come with me now? Come on.
"I am a millionaire. I make about fifteen hundred dollars a second. And the IRA owes me thirty thou. They're taking their time getting it to me. I'm owed about four hundred thousand dollars. But no one's paying right now cause of the way the economy's going.
"Wanna see cane twirls? Come out side and watch this. Come on! Look. Whew! Oh that wasn't a good one. Not high enough. Whoo, hoo! Good one. Betcha I can stick it into my pocket. And there ain't even a hole in it. Do you believe me?
Sloop! Heh heh.
"I see you've probably heard a lot of bullshit in your life -
'scuse my language, but this ain't bull.
I just wanna make conversation.
"The auction is just down the street. I bought an old French vase yesterday for 10 bucks and I'm gonna sell it for 1800 dollars. All the money I make goes to the children.
"I've died and come back to life three times, once when I was 8, once when I was 17, and again only 5 years ago. A guy came up to me and put his finger on my chest last week and said, 'you're one of them too.' He had died too once. We can see each other. We know one another - those of us who have died and come back to life. We see things differently. I'm not crazy. You know that, don't you?
"I'm not crazy, I've just died.
I'm not Jesus, I'm not God, but I'm here to save people.
I've been given a second chance for a reason.
"The ambulance attendant saw me on the street the other day and nearly passed out. 'Rob? Is that you? You should have died!' he said.
"'You have the longest life line I've ever seen in my life,' a woman said to me once. She's one hundred and thirty. She's seen a lot of life lines. I have the longest life line. That's why I can't die.
"I've been clean for seven months. I needed a break from that too. But I'm not crazy and I'm not on drugs. I just am - like this. Different than other people. Like, I can see through you. Look into my eyes. I can see your soul. ...
"Yep. You're good. That's why I like you.
"What do you do? You're a writer? Then write something useful. Write about all of the greed in the world. And how it will kill us soon. Greed. Those Chinese were the final straw. They will kill us all.
"I had 50 years of friends then in one night I got rid of 'em all.
"My friend died yesterday. Just over there in a room in that building. I was there. I saw it with my own eyes. They brought me there to bring her back to life cause I had brought myself back to life so many times but there was nothing I could do.
"One time a seagull had a heart attack and fell from the sky and hit me on the head. Another time a Canadian goose flew right into me. They don't see me, birds - on account of my dying three times already.
"My brain has grown so big. When I'm on a bus I hear every person speak and think.
"I had to go back cause I lied.
Fibbed.
White lie.
"Three hundred thousand dollars last week for the children's hospital.
"How's your coffee, you want another one? I'll get you one. I'm rich, you know. OK, I see, well I'll go then.
"Check TV, Evening 6 News. What do you think of Rob so far?
He holds his right hand in a fist, first up to his mouth and then
over to mine as though it is a microphone. In a rare moment of utter speachlessness I realize he has been gripping his fist
that way the entire time he has been speaking to me. I sit, dumbfounded, my
mouth opens a few times but I cannot think of an appropriate answer. I look into his eyes again, praying that he can't really hear my thoughts like he said he could.
Finally I muster, "It was a pleasure to meet you, Rob." to which he responds by jumping up from his seat and bolting out the door while yelling.
"It was nice meeting you, too. See ya 'round!"
His yellow eyes with a thousands black specks make an impression on my memory that I may never shake.
Better People by Xavier Rudd
Giving hope to the needy
Giving life to a baby
Giving care for free
There is freedom around us
We have everything we need
I will care for you
Because you care for me
We all have opinions
Some of them get through
But there's better people
With more good to do.
What I have could be a message
Or just some words from my heart
My respect to the ones making changes
For other lives they'll give their own
Our world it keeps spinning
'Round and round it goes
Human nature keeps spreading it's disease
And our children keep growing up with
What they know from what we teach
And what they see
And it's only a question of the time we have
And the lives that our children will lead
They can only keep growing up with
What they know from what we teach
And what they see...
The sun was out and in typical West Coast fashion, so was the wind. A beautiful summer afternoon, made even better by the realization I had absolutely no plans and no responsibilities for the next 5 hours.
Blissfully, I arrived home, grabbed some cheese and a bottle of wine, picked up my bike, and rode the 6 minutes downhill to the ocean. Once there, I breathed in the clean crisp air, counted my blessings, and thought of you.
Life is good. It really is. But I miss you and being there. I miss many people and many places.
Perhaps I always will; or maybe one day I will find peace.
This was my view as I thought of you.
Whales, dolphins and porpoises are collectively called cetaceans, since they all belong to the order Cetacea. (The name of the organization I work for is Cetus, the constellation in the sky which looks like a whale.)
Cetaceans appeared 50 million years ago, having evolved from land to sea and sharing a common origin with the hippopotamus (!).
40 million years ago whales were divided into baleen whales and toothed whales. The first gigantic baleen whales appeared 5 million years ago.
The largest whale (and ever existing animal) is the blue whale. It grows up to 33 m in length and can weigh up to 181 tons. But the average size is just 27 m and 150 tons (of which 50 tons are blubber (!). Their fatty layer can be up to 50 centimeters wide.
The large size of the whale is due to the food abundance in the ocean and it is also a method of fighting the cold water of the sea. The blubber is a food reserve but also a thermo-insulating layer in the cold waters where whales live. The fat is not fixed to the muscles, but very flexible, slipping over the muscles.
The heart of a medium sized baleen whale weighs 700 kg (1,750 pounds), the tongue about 3 tons, the fatty liver one ton and the 3 m (9 ft) long stomach around 500 kg (1,250 pounds), requiring 1,200 kg (3,000 pounds) to be filled! The gut can be 250 m (833 ft) long and a blue whale eats 5 tons of food daily!
Blue whale's brain weighs 5 kg (12.5 pounds) while that of the sperm whale 7 kg (17.5 kg), representing the largest brain in nature. The head represents 40 % of the length of a right whale.
A Blue Whale's tongue is about the size and weight of a full grown AFRICAN ELEPHANT, and its heart is compared to the size of a Volkswagen beetle.
The whales' lungs can store at each inspiration 5,000 liters of air. They usually breathe at every 15 minutes but they can hold their breath up to over an hour in the case of the sperm whale. The humpback whale can dive to 250 m (833 ft) for 20 minutes. The blue whale's exhaling blow can be 12 m (36 ft) tall! The blow can be heard 2 km (1.2 mi) away. In other whales it is 3 m (10 ft) high. In freezing water, the breathing rate is slower to keep the warm air inside.
Sperm whales dive at over 1,200 m (3,600 ft) depths and Cuvier's beaked whale (a type of toothed whale) holds the record for diving amongst any sea mammal: 1,900 m (6,330 ft) (this means 190 atmospheres) for one hour and 25 minutes. In toothed whales, the nitrogen from the blood is absorbed by the fatty substance from the bump on their head.
Whales give birth every 2-3 years. They need waters with temperatures of 22-25C to do this, that's why offspring are born in shallow tropical waters (Carribean, Hawaii, Australia and others). After a 10-12 months gestation, whales have just one calf, which suckles for 5-12 months. The lactating female delivers 200-570 liters of extremely fatty milk: 200-430 g of fats per liter (for comparison, cow milk contains 40 g of fats per liter). Sucking lasts for a few seconds, 30-40 times per day.
Usually, the offspring measures at birth about a quarter of the mother's length (for a blue whale this means 6-8 m (2-2.6 ft) and 2.5 tons). During the birth, the mother is accompanied by several midwives, which will help the newborn to stay at the surface for breathing. The newborn whale is sustained by the mother by the tail and back till it learns how to swim. Unlike us, whales must consciously breath.
The calf of the blue whale has the fastest growth rhythm in the animal world: more than 100 kg (250 pounds) per day, 4.5 kg (11 pounds) per hour, one ton at each 9 days! At 3 years old, the blue whale has 15 m (50 ft) in length. The calf of the humpback whale doubles its weight at 6 months, and at 11 months is 9 m (30 ft) long. The offspring learns hunting techniques when being two years old and by four years old it is autonomous. Adult size is achieved 10 years later. Whales reach sexual maturity when 4-5 years old.
The blue whale also possesses the largest penis in the world at 2.4 m long (hung like a whale).
Bowhead whales are estimated to reach a longevity up to 200 years and whales are the most long-living warm-blooded animals. Only some reptiles (giant turtles) live longer. Male sperm whales don't attain their full size until they are 50 years old!
All baleen whales effectuate long migrations (up to 25,000 km or 16,000 mi annually): they breed and give birth in subtropical-tropical waters and travel to feed in cold waters. They orientate in their journeys towards the Sun, Moon and Earth's electromagnetic field.
The so-called killer whales can be 9.5 m (32 ft) long, 6 tons heavy and have 50 dagger-like teeth.
These predators attack penguins, seals, dolphins and baleen whales (the huge blue whale included, when in pack) but, despite their name, they are not whales but oversized dolphins! They are a whale's only natural predator (human predation is not considered natural).
Whales are famous for their singing, especially the blue and humpback whales. Their song can have different reasons: getting a mate, social interaction, alarm, keeping inter-individual distance, feeding, prey location and so on.
The blue whale's song has 155 and 188 decibels, thus this is the loudest animal in the world (by comparison, a pneumatic drill is about 100 dB). But blue whales sing at frequencies, between 10 and 40 Hz and infrasounds under 20 Hz cannot be heard by humans. Infrasound travels further than audible sounds, so whales can communicate at distances of 185 km (115 mi). The song of the blue whales is 10 seconds to 2 minutes long, while humpback whales sing for 5 to 30 minutes. The songs of the humpback whales have frequencies of 20-450 Hz and can be clearly heard by humans.
Class is over.
I spent this entire week working up in Alert Bay, the "home of the killer whale" and a beautiful little town of one thousand people. Alert Bay is a great place to visit but I don't know if I could live in a place with only one coffee shop, one grocery store, and a single gas station which is open from 11 o 2, Monday through to Thursday. I'm no city girl but that was pushing it even for 5 days. Next time I go I will be sure to bring more provisions (books and wine) and maybe I will learn to live in true isolation the more I am up there. Until then, I went to Starbucks twice today - just to make sure I was still alive.
One last thing.
On the way to Alert Bay on Monday I did something that certainly not everyone gets the chance to do.
I drove my first plane, for my first flight lesson. The goal is that by May of 2012 I will have my pilot's license. I will pick my mum up at her home on Kal lake and I will take her to a picnic on the ocean for mother's day.
Driving a plane was about as exhilarating and frightening as you can imagine.
Aren't humans a strange animal? We pay to be challenged and frightened.
This is a picture from the driver's seat. A perfect view of the San Juan Islands.
All that saving whales, flying planes, and the odd sangria party coupled with a new addiction to Rock Band reminds me of a traditional Native American story so I will end this month's blog with The Story of the Hummingbird (my own version, naturally).
Long ago in the Ancient Canadian West Coast Rainforest, sudden lightning struck, and a fire began. In the middle of the night alarms went off and all of the forest animals ran wildly, not knowing what to do. As with any sudden emergency, the animals ran - not wanting to leave their homes but thinking that if they did not get away from the fire, they would surely die. Amidst the chaos, they all began running East together.
As they ran, they began to notice a small humming bird going back and forth above them. It would zoom ahead of them and then zip back against the grain. Not long after it would zoom past them again. They ran for their lives and did not have much time to worry about the other animals. Finally though, a deer asked the humming bird as it zipped back against the grain, "What are you doing, hummy, we need to get out of here!?" The miniature bird heard the deer and stopped to look at him while he ran with the group, but quickly zipped away. On route, zooming back, the humming bird stopped before the deer, "I'm just doing what I can," he said as he passed.
As the hummingbird flew against the flow again, it slowed down and in front of the deer and opened it's mouth. In it, the deer saw water. He was trying to put out the fire. Or at least do what he could. The deer was shocked. But did not slow, let alone stop to help.
Now, what if all of the forest animals had taken that approach. Perhaps there would no longer be a fire to run from.
PS. I love Sangrias and I love my sister.
PPS, the secret to the Secret Ingredient Sangria is...there is no secret ingredient.
