ok, this is starting to make me a bit uneasy

I have heard stories about the war, when they used to ration gas.......

I fill my car every other day ...... seeing stations like this that have no gas left scares the snot out of me......

ugh

Truckers say Ontario fuel shortage "critical"

By Jennifer Kwan
February 27, 2007
TORONTO (Reuters) -

The Ontario Trucking Association warned on Tuesday that the big rigs used to transport everything from chickens to car parts could soon be parked on the roadside if nothing is done to alleviate a growing fuel shortage in Ontario.

Tight supplies of fuel have bedeviled motorists in Canada's biggest market since a fire at an Imperial Oil Ltd. refinery slashed output two weeks ago. And the situation could quickly become "critical," said David Bradley, the trucking association's president.

"We're not in a crisis situation at this moment, but things have been gradually getting worse as the days go by," Bradley said.
The situation in Ontario, which accounts for about a third of Canada's demand, was aggravated by reduced transport capability, partly due to a strike at Canadian National Railway Co. . The combination of factors meant dozens of gas stations across the province were forced to shut off their pumps as fuel supplies ran out.

CN Rail reached a tentative contract agreement with workers on Saturday, but services were not expected to return to normal for several days. As well, Imperial has said its Nanticoke, Ontario, refinery will not return to full production until mid-March.
Imperial is apportioning supplies to its chain of Esso gas stations and other customers, but rival oil companies have found their pumps running dry as they feel the spike in demand.
A growing number of trucking companies are also reporting that their bulk storage facilities are empty, or close to being depleted, and fuel suppliers are saying relief may not come for days, Bradley added.
If the fuel shortage persists, he said, smaller firms could go out of business -- and eventually shortages would be seen on store shelves. Ninety percent of consumer products and foodstuffs are shipped by truck, he said.
"If you started to see trucks being taken out of service because they couldn't get fuel it would make the CN strike of the last couple of weeks look like a tea party," Bradley said.
Imperial had already closed about 100 of its 400 Esso stations across the province since the fire, according to media reports, and on Monday the shortages had spread to Shell Canada and Petro-Canada .

An Imperial spokesman could not confirm on Tuesday how many of its stations were closed.
Imperial hopes to help relieve the tight supply situation with several measures, including importing petroleum products where possible, the company said.
Supplies will likely be tight through to next week, said Steve Erwin, spokesman for Ontario's Ministry of Energy. He added consumers will be able to find gasoline, but they will be inconvenienced.
The Ontario Trucking Association is still awaiting official word from Ottawa on a proposal to allow truckers, in the short term, to use diesel fuel normally designated for off-road use such as on farms.

(c) Reuters 2007

Snowy Monday

well..... the kids didn't get their snow day today.... Abby has a PA day today, so she is home with me..... The older two were REALLY hoping for a snow day today.. it did snow, and is snowing... but the roads were fairly decent this morning.....

sigh.... good snow ball weather though..... I think Abby and I will go have a snow ball fight after a while..... whoo ahhh!!

Weekend

well.... it's sunday night already.... hard to imagine how the weekends can rush by so fast..... but then again, it's cause we try to squeeze too many things IN....

This weekend was a complete panic... GOOD, mind you, but busy....

Friday I got back to Brantford just before 2:30....... had time to unpack my car, empty my mail box, and admire my tidy town house .... for the first time in how ever many years, I hired a person to clean my place.... man was it ever nice to come home to a vacuumed house!

Picked the kids up and we were back home by 4.... Around 5, we headed over to Paris to let the kids walk their dog, and get some clothes for the weekend.... then on the way home, picked up pizza and came home and scarfed.....mmm Heartburn!

Friday night, Taylor went to a Brantford Blast game, they are a Senior A hockey team in town... While he was there, I left the girls at home to watch some tv, and I went to help some guys work on a house in town .... A friend of ours from Central was moving into a home built by Habitat for Humanity.... there were lights to hang, and some trim to put on.... so I spent the evening there: They wouldn't let me near the compressor or the nail gun.... but I did get to hang some lights and do some wiring in the bathroom...
..... so far, the lights are still up, and the house hasn't burned down!

Saturday morning, the kids and I went over to help them move into their new place.... we were there until almost 1... came home, showered, filled the car with gas, went got Taylor ( who'd been drafted for the second load with the truck )... then just before 2, we left Brantford and headed to Oshawa.

We went to celebrate my parents 45th anniversary ..... it was a wonderful time.. Bruce and Tanya and the kids, and Mom and Dad came up from Belleville... and we all met at my sister's .....

We had a great supper and a really good visit there, albeit short. The cousins always love getting together, even Isaac is starting to fit in with the wrestling matches with everybody... it was really fun.

We left around 7:45 to head back to Brantford..... Anna had to get back for an overnight birthday party .....

We dropped Anna off at her friends house, and Taylor and Abby and I got home around 10 .... we watched a movie, and fell into bed as if we'd run a marathon!

Anna's sleepover lasted until 11:30 Sunday, so , so I decided I'd go to the early service ( 9:15 - 10:45 ) so I'd be done church cvin time to pick her up!.... But when I opened my eyes at 9:21 Sunday morning, I realized I wasn't going to make the early service (is this a LONG story paul???jeez )

so I went to the 11:00 service .... and left early so I could pick Anna up.... she and I stopped at the mall on the way home... I had to pick up some groceries and pick up a gift for me my counsellor friend Shirley: She turns 50 this week.... so there was a big party for her this afternoon.... I went hogwild on things like Anti Aging Cream, Rolaids with Gas Relief, A-535 cream, Bran flakes etc..... sure hope she appreciates the gift!!!

Anyway, after an hour at the mall, I'd reached my limit... not credit limit, sanity limit!! We came home, unpacked the groceries, and then I headed out to the 50th birthday party

.....I got home from that around 4 .... baked some muffins, and some banana bread : which takes a LOT longer to bake than muffins I discovered - The bread fell, in the middle... looks like somebody took a stick and ran a ridge down through the middle of the cake... jeeeeeeeez.....

anyway, after a while, the kids and I went to Walmart return something for Taylor, and to pick up a few things... we drove over there in the middle of the worst storm I've driven in,in weeks.. it was WILD out there..... The kids are hoping for a snow day tomorrow!!

we got home from Walmart around 7 and now I'm vegging on the couch, writing to YOU!

The kids got to stay an extra night here tonight.... it's kinda nice, to have an extra evening after all the rushing...

OK then.... enough about me...lets talk about YOU for a while!

Back from the dead

well this week has been a blurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.......... I got so far behind this week, that I lapped myself!!!!

anyway..... the week is almost over... and my head is still spinning....

I inspected all 4 days this week, and have not been in the same bed two nights in a row... so I'm way behind in my paperwork... so much for my good intentions this week....

I have the kids this weekend, and I can't wait..... we're going to my sisters for supper on saturday to celebrate my parents 45th anniversary.... only a week late... par for the course of MY life this week!!

anyway, here are some pictures from my week :




































I was in the boon docks today... saw a sign at one point for four towns... I didn't recognize ANY of them.. jeepers!















Some points of the turf up there are very barren...you drive for miles, and all you see is rocks and hydro towers.... UGLY UGLY....

I came around one corner... and spotted a sign that said For Sale 11 acres..

YEAH RIGHT.... lovely place to build a house and start a farm.....what'll I grow there? MOSS??????




























My third inspection today was North West of Cloyne.. 2 kms down a half plowed cottage road, I got half way up the driveway... and couldn't go any further.....















when I finally did stop, the car started to skid backwards... scared the snot out of me...





























This was the view coming south from Bancroft on Highway 28 .... I was behind the snow plow for a little while... 45 kms an hour ... 10 other cars were in front of me, behind the plow... going slower and slower..... I couldn't figure out why they wouldn't pass!!! Finally I couldn't take it any more..........
whoosh... this picture shows why all those other cars refused to pass ! duh!

Post Script to the toyota in the ditch

If you happened to read yesterday's blog, you'll remember that Toyota Rav4 that was buried in the ditch.....

well......I got to have lunch with my kids yesterday( ok, we went to McDonalds...... "having lunch" is a bit of an overstatement... but I digress....)

Just after lunch I drove them out to show them the car.... sadly though, it had been pulled out already.... check out the imprint of the hub caps in the snow! funny eh?!





























Late afternoon yesterday, while I was cleaning up my place, I dropped my phone ( that'd be it below, the one with the uh.. cute little chick cover... tsk ) ...... it didn't seem to bother.... I started it up and it looked ok.... two hours later, the display quit...... #)$(*&)(*Q&)($*^)(*#^ ugh....


so today, I went to visit the Rogers Booth in the mall .... and was "eligible" for a free upgrade... also known as a rip off...... as long as I promise to stay with Rogers for another 23 years, give or take ( actually only 3 ) ... I get a new phone for free...... except they bill my phone bill $50 ... and then give me a mail in rebate form, that I have to mail IN .... and wait til they issue a cheque.. which takes oh lets see...... 6-8 weeks is what I think they said....
last mail in rebate I sent took nearly 4 months....... ironic that they BILL my account sooner than that EH?? yup, GLAD I WAS ELIGIBLE FOR A FREE UPGRADE...

ok, enough of the grumpy talk.... going to have a nap!!!

Hey Karl... I went BACK

Karl Riimand and I delivered newspapers tonight..... for four hours in the country side of Brant County.....


we were delivering on Golf Road, and as we came up over a hill, we saw this Toyota completely BURIED..... from what we could tell, he hit a patch of drifting snow, and lost it... he must have been FLYING.. holy smokes!!
I came home and got my camera and went BACK...... photo ops like this don't happen all that often!!!

Miscellaneous Photos from this week

I saw this make do Basketball board and hoop... cool eh???

Saw this is on Galway Road, east of 121 near Kinmount... the path of the tornadoe/wind storm last summer went right up through there... it's kinda freaky to see how many trees are leaning....

sigh... it's sad.....

I saw these drifts at a place on Rice Lake near Bewdley.... almost as cool as CLOUD pictures EH??!!

This is a photo of the Sun ( NO KIDDING PAUL.. JEEZ ) .... setting in Buckhorn..... look at the picture from a long ways back... you can see a star in the reflection.....

This was taken AFTER the sun picture above, a little farther south from Buckhorn... near Selwyn....... pretty eh?

Night Shots of Maria Street

I went out just now and took some night pictures..... froze my fingers, but it's kinda cool out there this time of night.... no, I mean FONZY cool!



oh never mind... just look at the pictures...!!!

This is the Canal skating rink across the road and over a bit... I have yet to go skating on that thing....

















Check out this one!.... just as I was coming in, a fox came running across the lawn of the house across the road and took off down the street..... pretty cool eh?? sorry for the blur.. he was FLYING!!

A trip down Harbinson Lane

In case you wondered, Gayle, it is my MOM that is the one responsible for this photo being available for public display!

it was taken in 1968 ...



.... this is how we remember you!!!!

Hey Gayle and Glenda

I was apparently in your old neck of the woods yesterday.....

Snow

yesterday Peterborough got about 4 inches of snow overnight... maybe another inch or so fell during the day.. soft and fluffy..... not really the whopper storm we were warned about...

There were some kinda neat sights yesterday.....

I was driving down Maria street, on the street where I live, to quote Perry Comeau.....

First, I met this tow truck..... not a good way to start out my daily trip....

And then about 1/2 a km farther down the street, I spotted this accident at the corner....

and THEN.................

look at what is going up the hill.......

Cars can't stay on the roads... and some dork is out on his BICYCLE......

jeez... we MUST be north of 7 here....

Valentine's Supper

well... I went out for supper with Pam tonight.... I don't know if you've met Pam or not....
I've known Pam all my life....Pam is single, and 44, though you would hardly know it.... I wasn't sure I should really go out at all tonight, but I figured having valentine's day supper, with even an old friend, was still better than sitting home alone...


I have to admit though, supper tonight was not all that exciting...... there was not much in the way of conversation....in fact, there was none.

I'm not sure what I went expecting....

I joked a little bit with the waitress, but other than that, not one word..... supper, in silence.

It was uncomfortable.... it was deafening....and it seemed to take forever.

When the waitress finally came by after the meal to offer coffee, I quickly declined... I thought to myself "why endure this pain any longer?"

I'm wondering now though, if maybe sitting at home alone would have been better than that kind of silence.....

sigh.....

that's the last time Paul Allan Mackay goes out for supper alone!

Winter

you know, it's hard to NOT like winter some days..... the scenery is beautiful, the snow is crunchy, the air is crisp...... it is beautiful .... not so much fun to drive in, I'll just say.... but it is pretty out there...

Peterborough got about 4" of snow last night.... and it is still falling, albeit lightly....

I'm headed for Kinmount today.... then on to Cobourg for an appt and then to Belleville for supper with my family..... subject to weather conditions, to quote my dad.... almost sounds like he'd like me to NOT come, don't ya think?! lol

Today I'm feeling a little sentimental.... so far, I've shovelled the driveway, grabbed my breakfast at Tim's ( the usual : breakfast sandwich with bacon, and med with cream ... every day.... at least I'm predictable! ) and now I'm back to shower and hit the road.... ( that's not the sentimental part! )

I put the tv on while I was checking my mail... and watched a few minutes of Groundhog Day... ( one of my favourite movies ) ..... I love the end result of this movie.... a guy gets stuck re-living the same day , over and over and over and over..... you can watch the progression of his reactions..... first he is scared, ( and sees a shrink ) ...then he's careless, ( and starts vandalizing stuff and gets arrested ... ) then he's mad and angry ( steals the ground hog and drives off a cliff ) ....then tries multiple times to kill himself.... and every time.. the next morning at 6:00 am, he wakes up again to February 2nd, all over again...

.....in the end, though, his attitude changes : He starts using the "same old day" to better himself...He learns a new language, learns to play the piano, He learns to ice sculpt, and he begins to help people.... it is very profound in terms of a person's life : Life isn't about what happens to you, to quote Chuck Swindoll, it's about how you DEAL with what happens to you...

Check out the actual quote :

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company ... a church ... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude ... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you ... we are in charge of our Attitudes."

profound eh??

Ok.. enough sentimental sap... ok, maybe not!

Here are two quotes from Groundhog day that were pretty profound :

"Winter, slumbering in the open air

wears on his smiling face,

a dream of spring!"

and :

"When Chekhov saw the long winter,

he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope;

yet we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life.

But standing here among the people of Punxsutawney

and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts

I couldn't imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter"

From Punxsutawney, it's Phil Connors... so long"

***Not bad for Bill Murray huh???
Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day

or as some of my close friends prefer to say...

Bah Humbug!

for single people, Valentine's day can suck.... well now that I think about it, you don't have to be single to not like Valentines day..... so then... on to OTHER news!!!

ugh... there is no other news... Bah Humbug!

CLEAN at last

I found out yesterday afternoon, that indeed, my car is THIS colour....

who knew!!!

I have been reluctant to wash the LAYERS of salt off... but figured that if I didn't do it soon, it' be rusting through to the inside.....

I won't say how bad the salt was.... but the other day while I was driving and eating some celery sticks, I rolled the window down and dipped the celery in the salt on the edge of the driver side mirror....mmmmm.... gave it some wonderful flavour !! I call it

"Canadian Winter a la car" ... I might patent the flavour, and sell it to Orville Redenbacher!!

In other interesting news, my driver side floor mat in the car is a block of solid ice this morning..... resulting from getting in and out of the car a bazillion times in a week, with snow and slush on my feet.... which then melts in the heat of the car, soaks into the mat and carpet..... and then overnight, it freezes.....then melts the next day after the car's been on for a while....my boots and pant legs sit in a pool of mush all day... and then it freezes overnight again...

Until spring, it's an endless loop... at which point my carpets will smell like the inside of a barn........

ewwwwww...

anyway, I'm going shopping for shoes with Anna..... When it comes to shopping, she is not like me ..... I'm not overly picky when it comes to shoes....I find a pair, if they fit, I buy them.... ( other than dress shoes ) ....

and the cheaper, the better...... This is very different from when I was a kid: Back then, all I wanted were Adidas.... then I graduated and only wanted NIKE .... now I want comfortable!!

for the most part, though, I only buy work boots anymore..... I wear work boots 6 days a week ( I don't WORK , per se, but I have the boots just in case I get the URGE!! )

Anna on the other hand shops differently than me....she has distinctive tastes..... Last time we shopped for shoes for her, we spent 2 hours in the same store.....and came home with no shoes....bless her heart....

I spose I sound like I don't like shopping with her.... in truth, I love it...... it's one of the "parenting things" that I've missed by living away from them..... so Anna.... shop as long as you want!! I'm bringing my " sudoko" book that I got for Christmas, and I'll sit on the bench in Al's shoe store, and wait....

"here's my bank card... call me when you need me to enter the PIN!"

Anyway, here I go... cover me, I'm going in!!!

This'll bring back memories....

saw this today at my first inspection.... a client bought this back in the 70's and has had it mounted in his rec room ever since... cool eh???

yada yada yada

Well, there's not much that is new... same old thing piled higher.....I was up in Minden today.... it is sooo pretty up there in the winter ( it is in the summer too, now that I think about it ) ....

In other news, I can't keep my car clean lately.... it's hard to tell what colour the car actually IS! There isn't much point in washing it, cause it'll just freeze shut!!!!

anyway... am off to work on paperwork until all hours..... Happy Thursday everybody

My trip home

I was on a busy road today........

oh brother!

Haliburton

I had a horrible trip home tonight from Haliburton.... it took me over 2 hours... roads were really slick, no sign of any plows or sand trucks..... coming through Gooderham was treacherous ...

I was never so glad to see the lights of Buckhorn!



Saw these guys just after my last inspection....They are standing out on a lake....I'm not sure which lake it is... either Head Lake or Lake Kashagawigamog .... WHO THOUGHT THAT name up?? jeepers...

Anyway... I think the deer were as interested in me as I was in them!!

The View from Timmy's

I was in Bancroft today ( actually, I was just passing through ) .....

Out of pure commitment to their cause, I stopped at Tim Horton's ...ok, i'm lying... out of pure need for a washroom, I went to Tim Hortons!!!

And out of kindness and politeness, and loyalty, I bought coffee, not because I really wanted coffee at 2:15 in the afternoon , but because I don't like using their facilities without paying my way...

So I end up drinking the coffee.....which is fine, except that coffee, at least in MY body, is a natural diuretic.....

So I stop to use the cafilities ( to quote the Dyslexic ) .... and then buy MORE COFFEE..... and then I get half way to my next inspection and then have to go BACK to use the washroom... and, as I said, I don't feel I should use it without buying something, so I buy more coffee...... and then have to ... uh....

.......get the picture???


ANYWAY..... back to Tim's in Bancroft.......check out the view across the street.... imagine coming out of the Tim's drive through and seeing this..... pretty eh?!

Memories from Randboro

When I was a kid, growing up in Randboro, one of my greatest delights in the winter was toboganning...... We lived in a little valley,with hills on all sides of us... So toboggan hills were plentiful, and they were BIG..... Billy Graham's hill at the bottom corner of town was my favourite.....

Today I was in Fenelon Falls, and spotted this hill just on the outskirts of town... Man, if I'd had a magic carpet in the trunk, I'd have gotten it out and whooooooooooooshed down the hill a couple of times!!

Birds Eye View

one of the neat things on GPS is seeing what things look like from a birds eye view.....

check these out......


This one is at the junction of Highway 407 and highway 400


















And this one is Hwy 401 and Hwy 427
















This one is Hwy 401 and the Allen Expressway.....

Crisis Friends

A thought hit me in church today.... It was one of those epiphany moments for me...

I have had, in the last few months, a couple of friends that are in and out of my life... I guess I'm their crisis friend. I won't hear much from them for a while, and then when things get bad, they come calling.... Or crawling... In need of a laugh, or in need of some sort of guidance ( hard to imagine they look to ME for that eh? )

At some points, in those relationships, I am quite flattered... I like being needed...

But at other times, I feel like they only want me around when things are bad for them, and they need me to help get them through the tough times....

It is those times that, sadly, I get a little annoyed...

I guess I feel like: if I'm worth having in their life as a friend, that they'd want me around for the good times, as well as the bad times....

But isn't that what I do with God? I live my life, gallivanting all over, having a wonderful time, enjoying my independence, but come running to Him when things go bad... When times are tough, or when I'm down, or when I'm broke, or when I'm frustrated, or overwhelmed, or when I'm lonely...

I come running.. "GOD ............HELP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" .....

Mike Warnke painted the picture this way.... It is like you are in SUCH need for God, that you hit your knees in the hall, and skid across the bedroom floor, and slide right up to the bed, screaming GODDDDD!!!!

As funny as that image is, it's true... Sadly.

Yet....Without fail, God is always there.... Waiting, gently..... Gracious, and loving, ....Tenderly waiting.... to love me, and to care for me, and to help me to put my life back together again.....

But then I get to thinking......I wonder if He ever feels used.....I wonder if He feels like I'm treating Him as my crisis friend....

That moment in church today made me realize how much I've taken God for granted....

something tweaked in me this morning..... I guess maybe I saw me, for who I really am.... And I didn't like it.

I'm committing to not being so independent in the good times.... I'm committing to not making God my crisis friend... But my everyday friend...

sigh......

Happy Sunday

well.... my blogging this week, at best, has been in spurts

I came home ( for 12 minutes ) on Friday, and then went to Leamington with my friend Gord... we went down to a Promise Keepers conference.... It was a good couple of days... really intense conference, but it was good none the less.....

It was BITTERLY cold down there... in the SUN PARLOUR of Ontario.. jeepers! In actuality, it was only -8 or -9, but the wind was WILD... coming back up Highway 77 yesterday, there were wind gusts and white outs that were impossible to see through.... Thankfully, Gord drove... I was never to glad to "ride" in my life..... Thanks for driving Gord!!

Gord took some way cool pictures of the ice down at Point Pelee .... check these out...

Dyslexic Sign Painter

South Bound on Highway 12, is this sign.....












North bound, the sign painter wasn't quite as sharp!!!