In last week’s column, I talked briefly about Kim Raymond’s popular scavenger hunt at the Dunvegan Winter Carnival. It turns out I misspoke. Because of time pressures, Kim is unable to handle the 2016 Backwoods Scavenger Hunt this year. So my daughter, Ursula Sweitzer, has agreed to step up to the plate. She and her young family are already hard at work planning the items that the little hunters will have to search for, high and low.
Obviously, their first step was to choose a theme and they have: “Star Wars.” They are also making arrangements for a suitable prize basket; each scavenger hunt participant is invited to enter their name in the draw. While I have no details yet as to its contents, my son-in-law, Todd, does work for Mars Canada, the international confectionary maker. We’ll have to wait and see.
Snolleyball Challenge: Dunvegan vs. Alexandria
If you’re a fan of snolleyball — volleyball played on snow rather than sand — the DRA Winter Carnival will feature a grudge match between the Dunvegan Dynamos and Don McDougald’s No-Namers team from Alexandria. Mr. McDougald’s team no doubt has a name, but I was unable to track it down before press time. And does it really matter, since Ben Williams from the Dynamos says that they will crush the Alexandria upstarts? To find out if his prediction comes true, drop by 19314 County Road 24 on February 6th around 1:00 or so and catch the action. I promise that I’ll have the exact game time for next week’s column.
Apples & Links Joins Breakfast Menu
Some flavor combinations are made in heaven. Chocolate and peanut butter, praline and ice cream, smoked salmon and cream cheese are just three natural, lip-smacking combos that pop to mind. Another classic is pork and apples… and this is the foundation of a new dish, Apples & Links that the DRA is introducing at this year’s Carnival Breakfast on Saturday, February 6th. This delicious amalgam of hearty pork sausage, cooked apples and spices is a perfect addition to the group’s menu.
As always, the Eggs & Pancake breakfast takes place in the DRA Hall at 19053 County Road 24. There… for just $7.50 per person (kids 5 to 12 – $3.00)… you’ll be able load up on homemade flapjacks drenched in dairy butter and pure maple syrup, crispy bacon, fluffy scrambled eggs, melt-in-your-mouth muffins, hot coffee and juice. And, of course, the new Apples & Links side dish.
The country-style buffet runs from 8:00 to 10:00 AM, but I wouldn’t leave it too late. There’s always the very real risk they’ll run short of certain items. While I have no confirmation yet, in past years local egg and maple producers (who wish to remain anonymous) donated the eggs and syrup for the breakfast. Love that community spirit!
Butcher To Go supports Carnival
And while we’re on the topic of community donations, I wanted to make mention of a generous one from the new Alexandria butcher — Butchers To Go Meat Shop. The shop’s owner, Marc Peladeau, also owns Abattoir Lefaivre Meat and Slaughterhouse just north of Alfred. This is where DRA volunteers, Bob Garner and Laurie Maus process their lamb. Marc’s new Butchers To Go Meat Shop will be supplying the top-quality beef that Terry will use as the foundation of this year’s homemade Carnival soup: Beef, Vegetables & Barley.
Each and every DRA Carnival, Terry makes two huge pots of soup on our wood-burning cook stove — along with 16 dozen butter rolls — for visitors to enjoy when they come in for a warm-up break by the fireplace. Both Terry and I were very impressed with Marc’s new shop at the north end of Alexandria. We were equally delighted to hear that Butchers To Go will be supporting this Dunvegan tradition. Thank you.
Pond Ice Report
My last piece of Carnival business this week is a pond report. So far the ice and the sliding hill is almost perfect… thanks in large part to Norm MacLennan’s son, Johnny, and his friend Rory McDonald-McDougall, who volunteered to clear off three rinks on Sunday afternoon. Naturally, almost as soon as they did, Mother Nature dumped six inches of the white stuff on the pond… instead of the one to two centimeters forecasters had been predicting. (What a great job to have. You can be wrong the majority of the time, and you still get paid.)
So the two young lads returned and did it all over again. Only this time they did it after the sun had set by the light of the moon. When it comes to work, farm boys are who you want on your team. They’re like the Coppertop Bunny with a big dollop of common sense. Thank you, Johnny and Rory.
New MP Missing in Action?
I received a call last week from a reader who asked if I knew why the Liberal MP for Prescott-Russell – Glengarry, Francis Drouin, had no constituency office in Alexandria. The caller claimed that the only way to contact our new federal representative appeared to be through his office on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
Naturally, I checked Mr. Drouin’s official web page and found that my reader was right. So I immediately got in touch with my good friend Maryanne Kampouris from Maxville. Maryanne is the National Policy Chair with the Liberal Party of Canada, a life-long supporter who probably wears red pajamas to bed. To her credit, Maryanne got right back to me with a promise to get to the bottom of things, as soon as the House rose for the day.
It would appear that the delay in establishing satellite, constituency offices is the stack of administrative work required to obtain parliamentary office approvals to lease space, install phone lines, etc. As Maryanne explained, the task of setting up 338 sets of offices, only a handful of which existed before the election, is a daunting one.
I’m told that MP Drouin will have four offices. While not yet listed on Mr. Drouin’s web site, the Rockland and Hawkesbury offices are already operational. And his Embrun/Russell and Alexandria offices should be open within the next four to six weeks.
Dueling Fire By-laws
Those of you who read my January 20th column probably saw my piece on South Glengarry’s burn by-law (#13-15) and how it compares with North Glengarry’s one (#01-2015). In turns out that Bernard Lalonde, Deputy Fire Chief / Administrator of North Glengarry Fire Services also saw the column. And he kindly took the time to contact me and talk about potential changes to the present burn by-law that, as I pointed out, has no provision for clear cutting and land clearing operations.
“When I accepted this position,” explained Lalonde, “I found our by-law was lacking a lot of information and provisions.” As a result, the Deputy Fire Chief and North Glengarry’s Building Department staff reviewed by-law #01-2015 and proposed a number of amendments. Lalonde tells me that the updated regulations were presented to Council on Monday, January 11th, 2016. I’ve read the new ordinance and it now stipulates a waiting period of one year to allow wood and brush to dry out more before being burned. The hope is that this will speed up the burns and help smoke to dissipate more quickly.
As for the “24-hour” burn permit I mentioned last week, this too is covered in the proposed amendments. North Glengarry’s present by-law requires people to extinguish fires nightly. As a result, it’s suggested that smoke from the smoldering piles can linger all night and disturb nearby neighbours. To help alleviate this problem, the new by-law would allow these types of fire to continue through the night. “This would allow smoke to dissipate and rise better,” says Lalonde.
The Deputy Chief also emphasized that, “…supervision will be required as stated in the by-law. A machinery operator must also be readily available if weather condition change and wind starts blowing sparks all over the place.”
As evidence that this new approach will work, Lalonde told me that a special round-the-clock burn permit was approved in the Dunvegan area recently and that it resulted in fewer complaints.
By the time you read this, Council will have heard from a delegation (from Dunvegan, I believe) that will make a presentation on an event that has occurred last summer. It remains to be seen if this “new and improved” Outdoor Burn by-law will meet with Council’s approval or be sent back for further study. Regardless of the outcome, Lalonde and his colleagues are to be commended for acknowledging and addressing a very real problem.
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