August Eve

I'm not inclined to post when so many of you are here, which explains the gap since the last post. You already know what is going on. But I have a few things to share, especially on the heels of an email I received from George today.

For those of you who haven't been here, I can't remember it being this dry in the 20 years we have been here.  That's partly due to the fact that we haven't had any rain in over a month!!! And we didn't have as much snow as usual this past winter either. Trees are dying along the road at an alarming rate. The grass is brown and crunchy and the lake level is at a record low. There is a total fire ban in place and even with that, there have been a couple of big fires in the last week.

The other thing to note is that George and Eva have identified an invasive plant at a neighbour's cottage. It is called a Giant Hogweed and here is a picture of it - with Eva providing scale.

Here is a link that George sent with more information about it. http://www.tdc.ca/gianthogweed.htm
and here is a little description from the site

Giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) is an invasive plant species that has gone viral in more ways than one. It looks like an overgrown Queen Anne's Lace, reaching up to 15 feet tall, but it can cause phytophotodermatitis, a chemical reaction on skin due to sun exposure.

If you have seen any, they need to be removed by professionals since they are quite dangerous. This is the information that George got from Bruce Gibbon about removal.

If it’s on township land a call to the  township will look after it. If it’s private then it’s the responsibility of the land owner. Commercial operators like Weed Man will remove it. There is also a local independent, Dick Gardner, 705 3750728 who can deal with it properly.

This will be one of the things we will be discussing at the AGM on Saturday, August 4th at noon at Tim and Linda Moore's, 285 Salmon Lake Road. Don't forget to bring your cup and your chair.