In the news!

You have to love regional newspapers - I picked up a copy of the Lethbridge Herald (Alberta) on 23 September and there it was on the front page (as it should be too). "Raccoon attacks Claresholm senior". The raccoon - described as crazed - apparently attacked the victim outside the Porcupine Hills Seniors Lodge. Some friends kicked the raccoon until it let go and then dragged her to safety - the raccoon then "continued trying to get at them through the glass doors".

The Royal Canadian Mounties were called in and confirmed that the senior had suffered from a raccoon bite (I'm thinking the crazed raccoon on the end of her leg on or about the time the bite occurred was the giveaway).

The raccoon has not yet been located but we know the mounties always get their man so an arrest is surely imminent.

Rivers Edge Camp, Alberta

Bit behind on blog as we have not had access to internet for a while. We are up to Rivers Edge Camp where our host was Harold Cooper (a dead ringer for Richard Dreyfus - seriously). We had a very enjoyable night at a local saloon - the buffalo burger was very enjoyable.

Loved their water slide (obviously they don't have the water restrictions we do in Australia).

It is about 60 metres long from memory.

And the luxury accommodation they have set up is also very swish. At left you can see some of the gang eyeing it off jealously.

Onwards and upwards.

Quirky Canada

Seen in Banff outside a pet shop - 'Pet food, Live pets'.

And a full page story from the 'Rocky Mountain Outlook' about two women friends who had just dug up a 'time capsule' they had buried 14 years previously. It seems that one night in 1994 after drinking their share of red wine they had driven out into the bush and buried a white bucket full of bits and pieces.

I think the story swings on the following quote "The women...sit around a hole in the ground, sipping champagne. Smiles beam through their tear stained faces." Powerful stuff.

And the contents of the bucket?

In order, as listed by the newspaper, a purchase slip for the plastic bucket, mouldy letters - one written in lipstick, another with a Jamaican $20 bill and a condom attached, a foul smelling cigar, pictures of young children in Halloween costumes (no not their own children), a movie listing promoting True Lies with Arnold Schwartzenegger"

They must have drunk a lot of wine.

Camp Chief Hector, Alberta

We have arrived in Alberta Province and our first camp was the YMCA Camp Chief Hector where Doug Saul was our host and guide. Very impressive camp with lots of activities. This is the biggest camp in Alberta hosting 495 campers in each Summer program.

In the category of 'it's a small world' at lunch on arrival I bumped into an Australian (that is not unusual as there are a lot of Australians working in camps in Canada - and they are well thought of as well). What was unusual was that I had met her previously in Australia where she was both a volunteer with People Outdoors and an admin worker for us at the Australian Camps Association.

Doug mentioned that in scheduling their programs they plan not to finish a day with an activity like the high ropes - instead they prefer to run a ground based activity that highlights the interactions between the campers.. I really liked this idea.

I also really liked an activity that Doug showed is called Atlatl or Woomerang (seen modelled beautifully at left by Liz - sorry Liz)

This is great fun and I think has some scope for being a substitute in camps in Australia for archery. Doug said it is much cheaper because

you don't lose or break the number of arrows that you do in archery. The arrow is like a large arrow and you launch it by throwing it. It generally can be thrown around 20-50 metres (apparently the current record in the sport is 200 metres). We were thinking about 'atlatl golf' or 'atlatl darts' - you could paint targets on the ground and work your way from target to target scoring at each 'hole' depending on which scoring circle you landed in.

It was great fun.

Quirky Canada

Couple of interesting bits of information for you from Canada.

I picked up in the ever reliable British Columbia Globe and Mail the story of a 74 year old man sent to jail for 30 months for stealing books from over 100 libraries in Alberta and the US.

Also in case you are considering a career in politics there was also a story about the things you are not allowed to call your colleagues in the Canadian Parliament - these include bag of wind, blatherskite, fuddle duddle, sleazebag (so no Paul Keating), scuzzball and weathervane - so how are you supposed to have fun?

And speaking of politics - this quote from Karl Rove when he was trying really hard not to be too critical of John McCain, who had been caught lying in an advert - "McCain has gone in some of his ads...one step too far by sort of attributing to Obama things that are, you know, beyond the 100 percent truth test". Now that is hard hitting journalism.

Bye for now.

Camp Stillwood, Lindell Beach B.C.

We had the great pleasure of visiting Camp Stillwood at Lindell Beach, British Columbia, on 16 September. Our hosts were Harry and Gail Edwards and they were very welcoming of us. If I had a complaint it would be that they fed us way to well and have put a serious dint in my plan to lose a bit of weight while I am here.

I loved the tree house (left). It sleeps 10 and kids on camp get an opportunity to spend a night up there. How much fun would that be!

The camp had a great range of facilities and they obviously have a great group of supporters and benefactors who enable them to put all of this together for the young people of the region.

We had the good fortune to see a deer and her fawn (left) while we were walking around the camp - a very exotic experience for Australians.

Camp Stillwood has 550-600 beds so this makes it a big camp by any standard. They have 200 people staffing their Summer camps - most of them volunteers.

This was our last camp visit in British Columbia and the next day we were off to Alberta on the Rocky Mountaineer.

Bye for now

Camp Thunderbird, Vancouver Island

Yesterday we stayed at Camp Thunderbird, a YMCA camp on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. The beautiful jetty and lake on the left are a part of Camp Thunderbird. Our host was Luke 'Chinook' Ferris and his crew - and great hosts they were.

I loved the advice Luke gave us about bears and cougars during his safety briefing - if you encounter a bear (or cougar) you should huddle together to make yourself look bigger (apparently bears aren't too smart) wave your arms gently in the air and walk slowly backwards - never turning your back on the bear (clearly because bears like to munch on your back - see my blog of 11 Sept - and turning your back on a bear is like inviting it to a smorgasbord).

As you are slowly backing away you should sing Jingle Bells - yes that is right. This is either because bears hate it as much as we do when the Christmas decorations and songs come out in September or because hearing Jingle Bells alerts all the camp staff that there is a problem - I'm not sure which one it is?

Badger, Sasquatch, Stratus & the other one (sorry other one) put on a very entertaining camp fire for us, which was a great way to end the evening.

I did pick up a couple of other quirky bits of information compliments of the 'Island Buy Sell & Trade, Victoria, British Columbia.

An advert for "Life jacket for dog. Great if you are going boating (fair enough) or teaching your dog to swim" - now would that be butterfly or freestyle? And only $25 to boot!

Or for $160 you can have a "multilevel large 6' cat tree, sage green and beige, great condition, hardly used, has small cat house on top."

Then there was the "Multipoo Puppies, ready to go to a good home." - insert own punchline here...

Finally, in a study on brevity "Wanted: Barn cats, lots to eat." -sounds like a self catered arrangement.

More soon - bye for now.