Looks like we picked the wrong game to attend this week. The Sox took two out of three, but we saw the Jays thrash them silly. It was nice to see the Blue Jay fans wake up, though. The last time we visited Skydome/Rogers Centre, Tronno fans were very subdued, and Red Sox fans were making all the noise.
The GO train was great. It would be nice if they ran more frequently, I would certainly take the train more often if they did. But the trains are nice and the ride is fast. No one took our ticket! I've read that the GO train operates on an honour system, but seeing this in action was surprising. Do huge numbers of people ride for free? Which is the stronger Canadian value, frugality or honesty?
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Last week, on one of my early morning walks with Buster and Cody, Cody became suddenly alert, telling me there was an animal nearby. In the barely-dawn darkness, I saw a dark shape scurry across a neighbor's lawn. It was a humped, low to the ground, like a hedgehog or woodchuck. As we watched, another shape followed it - then another, and another. Cody wanted to jump out of her fur to chase them. When the whole family had run off, we resumed walking.
Five minutes later, I went to throw out some dog poop in a garbage can. A huge clanging started up from within, and the trash container - a big metal can - started rocking back and forth! We all three jumped back, and out of the can popped a raccoon. It was enormous. I didn't know raccoons grew that large. So that's who was running across the lawn. Neat.
Yesterday I held the dogs well back as a skunk ambled across our path. I don't think I'd ever seen one that close, unmistakable with the white stripe down its back and the white tip on the tail.
We also see geese and swans every morning, which is a beautiful treat, especially those elegant white birds.
Here's a question for you horticulturists out there. We have a tree in our backyard, huge trunk, very tall. Among the leaves, we can see round fruit about the color and size of a tennis ball. I can recognize many kinds of trees (early upbringing dies hard), but I don't know this one.
We found one of the fruits on the lawn, and I cut it open. (Shades of "The Blob"!) It has a huge pit and the inside is mushy, like an avocado. Whatever it is stained my fingers and will absolutely not come off. It's been three days, and that's a lot of showers and hand-washing, and both my thumbs and forefingers are still discoloured.
What is this?
24 comments:
Sounds like a walnut to me. They stain like a #$%*, don't they? You can dye stuff with that. Did it have a spicy smell when you opened it up?
After a recent Greyhound trip I realized the driver had forgotten to take a portion of my ticket. I could have redeemed it for cash or used it on a future trip, but I -- ruefully -- threw it away. I don't know if I'm representative of the whole population, but let's pretend I am.
Hey, you spelled "honour" the Canadian way! I'm honoured.
Does it look like this?
A walnut? Do walnuts grow to the size of tennis balls? Or perhaps the pit inside is the walnut?
Re Greyhound story, that is impressive. I admit I would have used it on a future trip without a second thought. Hmm.
Hey, you spelled "honour" the Canadian way! I'm honoured.
Thanks for noticing! I got "discoloured" on the spellcheck. :)
Yes! That's it!! Wow, we have a walnut tree in our backyard! And now I know that walnuts grow inside goopy tennis-ball-like fruits, and they stain like crazy.
Thanks Marnie!
Wmtc readers are so smart.
Yes, the nut itself is the pit inside that husk. You'll probably find it hard to grow anything under the tree, since it releases some kind of chemical that's anathema to many plants, but there are some options.
You've probably also got a whack of squirrels ferrying walnuts here and there and burying them at random in your lawn, yes?
It was nice to see the Blue Jay fans wake up, though. The last time we visited Skydome/Rogers Centre, Tronno fans were very subdued, and Red Sox fans were making all the noise.
Jays fans tend to be pretty quiet unless thigns are going really well. Probably don't want to jinx things. :)
We've got lots of raccoons in our neighbourhood. We see them a couple of times a month.
One of the most embarassing moments with our former mayor, Mel "Bad Boy" Lastman, was his insistance that garbage pickup had to be weekly (it's biweekly now) because otherwise people would be too scared of the raccoons to take their garbage out.
Too scared of racoons to put out garbage...?!
Marnie, we do have lots of squirrels in our yard, and they seem very busy. We had tons of squirrels in our neighborhood in NYC - full of trees and parks - so I hadn't thought the squirrel population here was unusual. But now I know why they're so busy!
As far as growing things under the walnut (or any other) tree, that won't be a problem. Whatever's growing in our yard now will continue to grow. The most I'll do for the foreseeable future is prune a bit. I'm not planning any planting.
The fruit you're talking about sounds to me like a walnut. That's just a guess, though.
The GO train was great... No one took our ticket! I've read that the GO train operates on an honour system, but seeing this in action was surprising. Do huge numbers of people ride for free? Which is the stronger Canadian value, frugality or honesty?
They do come around randomly and check, and I think that's enough to keep most people honest. I don't think just in Canada; I think people generally are embarrassed by the idea that they might get caught ripping off a system of trust, and for most people, it's more than they want to risk to save a few bucks. Seems to work well. I can't speak for everyone, of course, but I rode the GO Train for most of a decade, either to college or work, and I never rode it without a monthly pass.
Relatedly -- I went to Hanlan's Point last night, which requires a ferry trip. It's the fourth time I've gone. Ordinarily, there's someone just inside the gate who takes the ticket you were just given, rips it, and puts it in the collection box. There was no such person there last night, so, being the dutiful citizen, I ripped my own ticket and put it in the box. Then I met up with Paul, and we lined up to get on the ferry. That's when I noticed the guy was collecting the tickets as you got on the ferry -- a new one on me! I thought, oh, damn, am I going to have to buy a second ticket? But when I explained what I'd done, the guy just accepted my story. No problem. It's true it would be very hard to get in there without passing through the ticket booths in the first place, but still, all I really had was my word, and he accepted it. It was a nice feeling... especially since it didn't cost me another six bucks. :)
Most of the transit systems in Canada work on the honour system. The only time I have ever had to swipe a ticket is when I am in the states and the first time I used the monorail in Vegas it took a bit of figuring ;)
In Calgary they also have free transit in the downtown core... I bet that there is some people that milk the system but for the most part people pay the fare, for a number of reasons.
1. Honesty
2. Chance of a fine ($150 the first time I think)
The one thing I hate about Calgary's system is that the machines that you get tickets from don't support credit card or debit payment (Not even bills) like most other systems... you actually have to have change on you.
Peter
This is very interesting! An honour-system transit system in NYC would operate at zero revenue.
Seattle also has free transit in the downtown core. I think that is brilliant, terrific incentive to leave your vehicle at home, and great for businesses.
Change required, however, stinks. NYC buses don't take bills. Up until a few years ago, you needed exact change. Now you can use the Metrocard, which makes it much more convenient, but you have to have a card, obviously.
Even though I'm excited about our new car, I love public transit and I like knowing about different systems in different cities. We use public transportation in every city we're in.
Good Morning L-Girl...
ALPF
Check this out. In 1997 - 73% of Americans felt Canada was a close ally...In 2005 - only 48% believe the same, and that still ranks us #2.
In fact Great Britain is the only country in the world that a majority of Americans feel is a close ally.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-14-2005/0004107530&EDATE=
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BTW
My dog always gets a stain around her mouth in Autumn because of the walnuts all over the ground at one of the parks we go to. She would much rather chase and bite the walnut fruit than a tennis ball. They turn black and get real gross all over the groubd later in October.
http://project.bio.iastate.edu/trees/campustrees/JuglansNig/Juglans_fruit.html
I couldn't even contemplate not punching my GO train ticket in the POP machine. What if they checked me and I hadn't done it! Also, if people started abusing it and riding for free then eventually they wouldn't be able to have the GO train at all or they would have to reduce the service! My Mum was right, I'm still so Canadian. :-)
Also, if people started abusing it and riding for free then eventually they wouldn't be able to have the GO train at all or they would have to reduce the service! My Mum was right, I'm still so Canadian. :-)
Exactly. You are thinking of someone other than yourself.
I may have exaggerated. I'm sure many New Yorkers wouldn't ride for free out of fear of being caught and fined. But many more would take the chance, I think. Especially since we hate the MTA, who runs the transit system, and like to rip them off at any opportunity.
Hey, thanks ALPF. I guess we can thank Fox News for that. I'll post about that tomorrow.
The thought of your walnut-loving dog is very funny! It must be an unholy mess.
Too scared of racoons to put out garbage...?!
This came up during a pre-election debate between Lastman and Barbara Hall (the incumbent). Hall replied something like, "Just because you're afraid of raccoons, Mel, you can't assume everyone else is."
You're lucky to be moving up after we got rid of Mel. Sure, you aren't actually in the city he ran, but he was embarassing enough for the whole GTA.
Whadda ya mean lucky not to have Mel... I miss him, he was hilarious to watch on the news! Of course I didn't have to live in his city after some of his decisions, but at least he was interesting.
Peter
Check this out. In 1997 - 73% of Americans felt Canada was a close ally....
Actually, it's interesting. I had no idea that Americans looked so disfavourably on South Korea (14% think its an enemy, which ranks right up there with China and Pakistan)....I suppose there's an obvious comment here but I won't make it.
Obvious?
Most Americans don't know the difference between North or South Koreans?
That's the only obvious comment I can think of, and it's got to be true.
Whadda ya mean lucky not to have Mel... I miss him, he was hilarious to watch on the news! Of course I didn't have to live in his city after some of his decisions, but at least he was interesting.
I think a log of Canadians prefer it when our politicians are uninteresting enough not to draw our attention. ;)
Is that the official term for a bunch of us -- a log of Canadians? :)
LOL... A flock of sheep, a pod of whales, a log of Canadians. Americans must come in troops or squadrons.
Funny, I don't see that listed here.
That's the only obvious comment I can think of, and it's got to be true.
Well, I didn't want to say anything. But Americans aren't renowned for being geography experts.
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