Recently, I
am happy to say, we welcomed spring to the wilds of North Middlesex; however,
as with so many positive things in life, there are dark sides:
People are
tearing up their lawns. Three in our neighbourhood alone have been denuded. This
vicious treatment left me puzzled until I realized it has to do with weed
control.
Ever since chemical
herbicides were banned (except for agricultural use, of course), our lawns have
been going to wrack and ruin. And the
ones that aren’t weed-choked are viewed with great suspicion. We suspect
under-cover chemical weed control, but it is hard to prove. Even with the best
in root extraction tools, no one could possibly keep up with the proliferation
of unwanted invasive greenery, especially dandelions.
Certainly no
one could accuse Greg and me of the illicit use of Round-up. One of my
neighbours, whose outspokenness I usually admire, said our lawn looked better
before we built the house when the lot was vacant. Viewing from the perspective of her kitchen
table I had to agree. It is a wasteland of weeds: creeping Charlie, plantain,
and worst of all, dandelions.
What to do …
what to do! Home-made dandelion jam made its first appearance at the recent
Hort Soc plant sale and silent auction,
but realistically there is only a limited demand for floral jams.
Drastic
problems call for drastic solutions, hence the lawn scalping. I first became
aware of this phenomenon when I saw the neighbour down the street using what
appeared to be a coal shovel to scoop up pieces of his lawn and heave them in
to the back of a pick-up truck.
Having removed
sod to enlarge or create gardens, I was initially awe-struck by his astounding
strength. But apparently, there is a tool you can use to slice up your lawn
horizontally. Then you can remove the bits. After it is bald, presumably you
re-sod or re-seed. Only time (and any pessimistic gardener) can tell for how
long this method will be effective.
It will be
like the mosquitoes. Again this year, the larva were sprayed with the latest in
larvicide just before three days of torrential downpours washed it all away.
Mosquitoes now abound like dandelions.
I was a
little surprised to learn that this spraying is done from a helicopter. But
then, there is a lot around here which surprises me. Anyhow the helicopter was parked
in the cornfield field behind Tim Horton’s, presumably so its operators could
get a coffee. Helicopters look like
dragonflies, so from a weird shamanistic point of view, perhaps their use is appropriate,
if not especially effective. Real dragonflies might be a better idea.
On the
political scene, the plans for the new town hall and public library have been
greeted with almost universal disapprobation. A new one-story city hall will be
built behind the old three-story city hall, which incidentally used to be the
post office. The century-old building needs major structural work. Also it
needs an elevator, which could cost roughly $150,000.
Our esteemed
city fathers and mothers concluded building a new city hall on one floor would
save the cost of an elevator. Detractors say the proposed design looks like a
strip mall and local roofing experts, of whom there seem to be a surprising
number for a town of 1,600, say a flat roof is a recipe for disaster.
Plans were
afoot to demolish the old city hall, but that will cost at least $100,000, so
the hope now is that some enterprising soul, from London of course, will buy it,
convert it to apartments, and add an elevator.
On a happier
note, a couple placed an ad in the Parkhill
Gazette a couple of weeks ago thanking the local fire department for their
help in putting out a truck fire in their driveway. I can vouch for the
effectiveness of their prompt arrival. During warm-ups at exercise class, I spotted
the burnt remains of only the vehicle beside a house across from the Leisure
Club. The initial skepticism of some as to whether those were “really ashes”
was countered by another, possibly less short-sighted, participant, a church
warden who had followed the sirens down the street thinking the Anglican church
might be on fire.
Finally this-just-in:
I can end these dispatches on a really high note. In front-page news, the Gazette reported one of our local
doctors helped save the life of a Toronto police constable who collapsed while
running in the Toronto marathon. Our doctor was on the sidelines watching for participating
family members when the medical excitement began. With no photos of the actual
event available, our local hero and an elderly patient, who joined his practice
20 years ago as a youngster of 80, were pictured on the inside pages of the Gazette,
thereby implicitly attesting to his medical efficacy over the long term as well.
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