SNAPPING TURTLE

June is turtle month up here. This is the month they are up on land finding a suitable place to lay eggs. Because we have sandy soil around the house we often see turtles up here using our property as their own personal delivery room.

This girl was busy yesterday morning digging a hole for her eggs. They usually deposit 30 eggs before covering the nest and letting the sun do the incubating.

It's not an easy trip from the pond up to our house but we obviously have some determined girls living in the pond who make the trip every year.

Too often the egg nest is discovered by raccoons and egg shells are all that's left when we get up in the morning.

Mary covered this nest with chicken wire hoping it will keep the raccoons from having another feast while we sleep.

If all goes well the eggs should hatch about the end of September and if we are lucky we may even see some little turtles emerge and make their way to the pond. 

Stay tuned for an update in the fall.

Thanks for stopping by and safe travels everyone.

YOUNG DOE

This doe has been hanging around our house lately. 

Each morning we see her, first down by the pond then slowly she works her way up to the house. There is plenty to eat and Mary even planted deer food which the doe seems to enjoy and spend time munching. However she also trims off Mary's rose bushes which isn't appreciated. Not sure what the solution is as we enjoy seeing her first thing in the morning.

Enjoy your weekend and thanks for stopping by.

ROAD WORK

We live on a cottage road which is well maintained by the cottage association. Thanks to Jim and Paul our road is as good as any in the area. They do regular maintenance on it and make some improvements each year.

Yesterday a blind corner was widened to give improved sight lines for those driving in both directions.

Most of the trees that were removed were small and easily taken care of. This was the largest one we had to deal with.

By noon the job was done and the road available for use again.


Thanks Jim and Paul for doing such an excellent job.

ST. CATHARINES MUSUEM

Another stop while travelling with Don and Carol was the St. Catharines Museum located along the Welland Canal.

It was a delight to wander through the rooms and see the displays showing the construction of the first canals back in 1824. 

(click on photo to enlarge)

The problem was Niagara Falls and how to get goods and ships up and over it. There was also the need to move military units quickly if Canada was ever invaded again. Back in 1812 we did have military action on our soil when the USA and Britain were at war with each other.

The displays are informative, beautiful and show the challenges faced by the early canal builders and first European settlers to the area.

The museum also houses the Lacrosse Museum of Ontario as well as the Soap Box derby history as it is related to St. Catharines.

Outside we could stand and watch the ships go through the lift bridge and into lock 2.

If you love ships be sure to visit the Welland Canal and the museum located at lock 3. You wont be disappointed.

RIDING THE CAROUSEL

When was the last time you were on a carousel? They still exist but you don't see them very often. There are just 350 antique hand carved carousels left in all of North America.

This carousel was built in 1905 and is located in St. Catharines, Ontario. It costs 5 cents to ride it and we had a blast acting like kids again.

The figurines are beautiful and all were hand carved between 1898 and 1905 in Brooklyn, New York. This carousel was purchased from Scarborough (part of Toronto) in 1921 and our children rode it in the 70s when cotton candy and whirly gig birds were sold by carnie men working the rides. At one time there were 58 rides in the park but now just the carousel remains.

There are 68 animals on the carousel all beautifully restored and maintained by "Friends of the Carousel".

St Catharines has an abundance of parks and bicycle trails.  The Lakeside Park in Port Dalhousie is one you will enjoy especially if you ride the carousel.

TRAVELLING TO ST. CATHARINES

Our trip south to see Carol and Don was a little different this time. I decided we would avoid the drive and take the bus and train as an experiment. 

For those not living in Ontario our regional network is called GO. It services most communities in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) by bus or train. We can get on the GO in Peterborough and it will take us right through to St. Catharines, a distance of about 250 km.  for $30.00 (adult) $15.00 (senior)

Sean was kind enough to drop us off at the bus stop and look after our car for the week.

We took the double-decker bus to Oshawa where we got the GO train to Burlington and then the Go bus to St. Catharines. Total time was about 4.5 hours with very little wait time at the stations.

The trip was very relaxing, especially avoiding the driving across Toronto where traffic flows bumper to bumper on 10 lanes in each direction. 

We both agreed we would do it again and maybe take our bikes next time we go.

I didn't get any pictures of the train as I was focused on looking after luggage and making sure we were on the right platform.

The GO system is run on the honour system. There are no conductors on the trains so you buy a ticket from the machine and just get on. They do have ticket spotters who ride the trains (without notice)  and ask to see your ticket but we didn't see any on our way down.

Coming home we were asked twice to produce our tickets which we did. If caught without a ticket you are fined and given a court date to see the judge. Really not worth trying to get a free ride as the cost is so low in my opinion.

Thanks for stopping by and safe travels everyone.

FAMILY VISIT

We just returned from five days of fun in the sun with my sister and brother-in-law. For some unknown reason my computer decided to work once we were home, I can't explain it, I'm just enjoying it.

We had a great time with Carol and Don and I'll share more about the trip in the next few days. 

Here are a few pictures from our time together.

Too many laughs. Did I mention it was a fun filled weekend?

Sunsets over Lake Ontario.

Enjoying time at the marine museum. 

Watching the ships rumble through the Welland Canal.


Thanks for stopping by and I'll share more tomorrow.