Summer its days fading quickly has been generous and kind this year. Sunshine aplenty but without the scorching heat predicted to become a regular feature of climate change. Gardens have done well despite slightly less…
Yellow jackets and EpiPens
Their work for the year almost done the yellow jacket wasps now have time to explore human spaces and the leftovers they contain. There is much to explore. Fruit is ripening on the trees and…
In the pink
Blink a couple of times and the fall hunting season will be here. So it’s time to start checking the hunting gear. It used to be enough to check just the shotguns rifles ammos knives…
Lessons from the birds
One hundred and two years ago - at 1 p.m. on Sept. 1 to be exact - someone walked past the Cincinnati Zoo bird cage and saw Martha on the cage floor drumsticks up. Martha…
Beer and conversationsBy Jim Poling
There are moments when you miss the ‘good old days.’ Well maybe just pieces of the ‘good old days.’ We live in times with so many important issues to talk about. So many challenges to…
Home runs and history
By Jim Poling Published Aug. 4 2016 In Cooperstown New York it’s all baseball. All baseball all the time. All baseball everywhere. I’m part of the baseball mania here cheering for my grandson and his…
Our shrinking sandbox
By Jim Poling Published July 28 2016 Just when you think the world has enough to worry about . . . . Now it seems our planet is running out of sand. Yes sand. Who…
Mr. Mercedes
Mr. Mercedes would wear a smile wide as a western horizon if he travelled Haliburton County roads this summer. So many potential victims to choose from. Joggers walkers cyclists. All poised to be smacked down…
Into the ghostly cabin
This is the third and final instalment of a summer campfire ghost story. The open door revealed a scene like nothing Shainie had ever seen. Shafts of sunlight entering the broken windows and cracks in…
The cabin at Ghostly Point
By Jim Poling Sr. Published July 7 2016 This is the second instalment of a campfire ghost story. See the first part here . A local legend told that on nights when the grey mist following…
The cabin at Ghostly Point
Summer without campfire stories? No way! Here’s one of mine that we will publish in three parts over the next three weeks. Grey twilight fell across the far shore of Shkendang Lake obscuring bit by…
The art of splitting wood
By Jim Poling Published June 23 2016 It was a long ago scene from a time before invention of smart phones that take video. That’s unfortunate because what I saw then would have made a…
The joys of gardening
It has been excellent weather for the vegetable garden thank you Ms. Weatherwoman. The peas beans carrots and corn are jumping so it looks like we’ll have veggies galore later this summer and into the…
Night in the forest
Evening shadows arrive like cloaked ninjas descending silently into the treetops. Soon all light dims into non-existence consumed by the night. The forest is a different world in the dark. Anything living or travelling in…
A forest fable
It was the beavers those clever industrious engineers who had the idea: Turn house building into an industry that would create jobs and build a strong economy benefitting all forest creatures. The industry boomed. Prefab…
ColumnsColumns
The age of information 'lite' By Jim Poling Published May 26 2016 You might recall from school days the story of the young Greek guy who sat beside a pool saw his image reflected in…
Coming from America
The Canadian customs officer feeds my passport into the scanner then looks up and asks: “What are you bringing back with you?” I supress the urge to say what I always want to say after…
Meeting Rusty
So here I am in California getting to know Rusty. He was withdrawn and wary at our first meeting. That’s understandable considering he spent his earliest days in the mean neighbourhoods of Los Angeles. Now…
The Shoal Lake Caper
It is remarkable how small events often mark major change. There was such an event last week. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spent last Thursday at the Shoal Lake First Nation in Manitoba which has been…
Lines on the road
By Jim Poling April 28 2016 The last few stubborn patches are gone finally but in a way it is sad to see the snow go. Snow covers more than just autumn’s decay. It hides…
The death of Billy Skead
By Jim Poling Published April 21 2016 Billy Skead was buried during the winter but the question continues to prick the conscience of his troubled aboriginal community: Why did he die? Medical reports say Billy…