Ready to Travel

Ready to Travel

Friday, March 23, 2012

It's a lovely day, I think I'll rant

The weather is warm and sunny. You can actually sit out on the deck for a little while enjoying the ever increasing birdlife. Yesterday I saw a quail and an oystercatcher and a small hawk which perched on the deck rail for about 10 seconds before flying off.
Yesterday I shot quite a few pictures at the Salt Spring Island Cheese company. It's a farm located at the south end of the island and they make........cheese. Goat and sheep cheese. They raise these animals on the farm (as opposed to just buying the milk from other farmers and making the cheese), along with free range chickens. I was shooting some pics of a mommy goat licking her kid ferociously when I noticed the placenta on the straw. If I'd arrived 10 minutes sooner I could have watched this little creature being born. It was so peaceful and pastoral and GREEN there. Chickens squapping, goats and sheep bleating, little wrens hopping through the blackberry brambles and chipping away and cheese breathing....I bought 4 different flavours which I will have to ration out to myself.
Today I took the dogs south again to Burgoyne Bay but we hiked north up a bit of Mount Maxwell. No one else around...quiet as all getout, the sea visible through the trees. Stanley scared up a grouse and I saw this huge, black slug making it's way across our path. It's about 4 inches long and twice as thick as your thumb. Here is a picture from google images.

Oystercatcher

California Quail
Why am I using pictures from google images? Why no pictures of the animals at the cheese shop? Funny you should ask because that is the subject of today's rant. I was at a gathering the other night where the island-mentality people and the ontario immigrants were poking fun at each other. We Ontarians are not laid back enough, we get too stressed out too easily. We need to relax and live on island time. I guess that's all well and good if you're retired. This island is gorgeous and is incredibly expensive to live on. A lot of people rent because, unless you're a millionaire or have had property willed to you or you've made out like a bandit in an acrimonious divorce you can't afford to buy. And yet, every day I see the potential for so many business ideas that nobody has taken up.
What does the island thrive on? Tourists? What do tourists bring with them? Cameras. What do cameras run on? Batteries. What happens when your batteries die? SFA. When your battery no longer holds a charge, as mine doesn't, and you can no longer upload pictures to your immensely popular blog what does a sane person do? Yes, they head to the local version of Shopper's Drug Mart to buy one. No, sorry, nothing like that here. You'll have to try The Source (old Radio Shack). Now, this is the ONLY place on the island where you can purchase camera batteries. Do they have camera batteries? No they do not; however, they are most happy to order one for you. Pay in advance, pick it up in 2-3 weeks. Are you shitting me? Or you can board the ferry and pay your $52.35 and travel over to the mainland to purchase one. Are you shitting me? These batteries are about 2 inches square. Having a stock of them would not take up a ton of room in your store. Having them would certainly make the tourists who come here to photograph the scenic beauty happy. 
One of the things those tourists might want to photograph is the funky farm stands you find along the road. I picked up fresh eggs this morning for $3.00 a dozen. Lovely, lovely, fresh eggs. I'd show you a picture of the chicken but, you know, the camera thing...don't get me started again.

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