The South Bruce Peninsular

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A study by UCI Earth scientists finds that wind energy over the planet's oceans is a vastly underutilized renewable resource.

And the very same goes for the vast and constant energy resource in the winds over Georgian Bay, but then, I've said that before. Many times.

got an oboe in your closet?

or maybe a tuba in the bathtub or a bass clarinet under a bed? maybe you've got a trombone in a tickletrunk, a french horn in a pantry or left your sax on the beach?

Don't let that instrument rust away lonely in the cellar, and don't pass up this opportunity!  Yeah you can take yoga, but how many friends are going to stand by watching you do that?

Making music together is good for the family, it's good for the community, and it's good for YOU!

Saturday June 13th 2009 is HIKE THE PENINSULA day in the Town of South Bruce Peninsula! This great day out on the Bruce Trail will feature three separate hiking opportunities for people of all ages and abilities. Experienced hiking leaders from the Peninsula Bruce Hiking Club and the Sydenham Hiking Club will guide participants through some of the sites and sounds of the world famous Bruce Trail. This event is FREE for everyone!

Clark is to appear at 7 p. m. Sept. 18 at the 400-seat Peninsula Shores Performing Arts Centre. She will talk about making the movie, its late stars, her wartime role as a child entertainer performing to 200 Allied Forces camps in Britain, her 40 some movies, and subsequent singing career with more than 60 million records sold worldwide. In January, she released a new DVD of love songs.

I Know Where I'm Going starred Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesey. Film critic Barry Norman has listed it among the all time top 100 movies.

Ms Clark is accepting no money for the event, and all proceeds are to go to the Miracle Place -- our first affordable rental apartment housing project expected to begin construction next fall. (Is that Kirkland's revamped Wiarton HS?) Further details can be found at PetulaClarkInWiarton.com

Then there was the item of the "bus." Many of you may not know that the Town now owns a bus! When did we get into the transportation business? Talk about having the cart before the horse, what I heard on Tuesday evening was the cart was so far ahead of the horse it would take weeks for them to get together.

Council questioned our CAO about the use, cost, etc. of this bus and it was obvious that he was unprepared to answer in detail. In fairness, the bus was acquired through a grant, but there was obviously no concise plan prior to this acquisition as to who was responsible for driving, insurance, maintenance etc.

Perhaps someone could enlighten me on "who holds title to the bus," "who is responsible for insurance," "who will be driving," "what is the purpose of this purchase?"

A bus?! This could be great! We could paint it up, roll it out, hire Ken Kesey to drive it ... man, this could be it for the ultimate tourist trip!

AFTER 6 PM ON FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 2009, PLACE UNWANTED BUT STILL USABLE ITEMS AT THE CURB FOR PICK UP.

Swap Day is a fun, environmental program which allows people to recycle unwanted items.

Place unwanted items such as furniture, books, tools, sporting goods, toys, etc. at the end of your driveway or the edge of your lawn. Tie a white plastic bag to one or more of the items to indicate that the items are meant for Swap Day.

The Town of South Bruce Peninsula does not assume liability for items which are lost, removed or damaged during Swap Day. Please do not pick up any items unless you are certain that they have been placed for pick up.

Remove leftover items from your driveway or lawn by 6:00 pm on June 6, 2009. There will be NO special municipal pick up of any items.

For more information, contact Public Works at (519) 534-1400.

"Certainly these sorts of carvings can be quite attractive in their own way, but they should not be on residential streets," said Eleanor Silk, who this week had her daughter present a case against the carvings to councillors.

"We're not happy about it because there's going to be a lot of people standing and gawking and we won't have the kind of privacy we want. Beyond that, our main concern is safety. We have a stop sign on our corner and people may not be paying attention to their driving because they're looking at the carvings or they'll be stopping in front our house all of the time wanting to take pictures."

The tops of the three maples were lopped off last fall by Hydro crews because they were interfering with power lines along the street. Earlier this month, South Bruce Peninsula town crews chopped the trees down, leaving three stumps roughly 2.5 metres high in preparation for chainsaw artist Bobbi Switzer to transform them.

Switzer, who was asked by the town last spring if she would be willing to create the 10 carvings, said yesterday she is surprised by the negative attention her work is getting, saying she has never encountered opposition to her art before.

True, the Town might have asked but it would only be as a favour, as an added gift. I don't recall Toronto Transit asking before deploying the marvelous artwork outside the Spadina-line stations, and I'm nearly certain the placement of the (ahem) graphically endowed gift steed in the centre of their Queen's Park wasn't approved by any resident, that's just the nature of governmental lands. Heck, half the town names in this county were chosen inspite of citizen consensus to the contrary! The choices of humble historic vignettes for Wiarton is brilliant and unobtrusive, a magical new life breathed into these unfortunate trees.

"Stopping in front of our house all the time' -- give me a break! With friendly attitudes like this, Wiarton should be so lucky as to have people willing to stop in it at all. What's next? Banning patio gardens on the fear that it may cause photographers to invade their secret lives? Banning flat rooftops for fear Google might publish an improper map image?

C'mon. I think O'Gawdabout owes Bobbi an apology, as do all the others that pushed this story into to the eager talons of the always inflammatory Sun-Times, and maybe instead of an instinct to diss on a gift like this, they should thank Gwen and the council for their foresight and utopian thinking. Oh, and then maybe put forth a few suggestions for the vignette they'd prefer to ghost their curbside.

And to Bobbi and Council, since the tomcats are already out of the bag on this one, here's a suggestion: instead of giants, could it work to make these portraits life sized? One of my most memorable moments in all of my travels through Europe was my discovery of The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen harbour, simply sitting there, seated on the sea-side rocks, gazing out, awaiting her love, no pedestal, no marker, no plaque of credits. Just there, just so, nothing special.

the technology, which has been more expensive than other waste-disposal options, is finally reaching a stage at which it can be practical. "Up until late last year, it was under the radar," says James Childress, the executive director of the Gasification Technologies Council. "Now the big players are finally getting involved in this."

InEnTec's technology, originally developed at MIT and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, in Richland, WA, uses a multiple high-temperature processes--including subjecting garbage to plasma arcs--to break down organic materials into syngas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Syngas can either be directly burned in gas turbines to produce electricity, or it can be converted into other fuels, including gasoline and ethanol. Metals and other inorganic materials in garbage can be isolated and recycled. The combination of high temperatures and an oxygen-poor environment that prevents the garbage from catching fire eliminates the production of dioxins and furans, two toxic chemicals produced during incineration.

We will be trash sheiks, mark my words. Dubai/Kuwait better watch out, their days are numbered because OUR 'fossil' fuel is inexhaustible ;)

I wonder if those other municipalities will be asking for their trash back ... or claiming a revenue share under 'Intellectual Property' laws.