Snippets from the Significant Sixties

 My previous post did include a number of things from those sixties, but this one features a number of others, some quite dramatic, events.

Certainly some spare time was spent with other members of the family, exploring nature. Even in the largely agricultural area of what used to be known as Kent County, now Chatham-Kent, were some accessible and enjoyable natural areas to enjoy besides Rondeau.

Sinclair's Bush

There were always things to get our attention, whether it was birds...

Baltimore Oriole

 ...or butterflies, especially if they were on a colourful flower...

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on Michigan Lily

 ...or trees in flower...

Pawpaw flowers

 One of the flowers I always was on the lookout for, and it is in flower right now, is the Wood Lily

When I see them, I am often reminded of the verse in Matthew 6, vs 28 and 29, which says "Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not nor do they spin, yet I say unto you that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of these." Just another reminder of how awesome God's creation is!

 I was blessed to have been born into a family that loved nature, and even moreso it was a family whose many goals and activities were based on faith in God and His love for each of us. We had regular family devotions, and Sunday was often a day of rest. And at the edge of our farm, was the local church, the Guilds United Church, and again fortunately, the ministers of my youth were fairly evangelical. The terms United Church and evangelical hardly seem to go together at least nowadays, but at the time, we were incredibly blessed by the ministers who were with us. I realized my need for God at a fairly early age, and asked Jesus to be my Saviour when I was about 9. I am totally convinced it was one of the best decisions I ever made!

Guilds United Church

The church was an important place of so many things, and I went to Sunday School, even taught Sunday School on occasion in later years, was a member of our choir and was quite involved in our youth group. Our youth group joined together with the youth from the nearby New Scotland UC, and it was a great time of learning and ministering in various ways. Our youth group even undertook doing church services on occasion, and while it was really worthwhile for the youth, the adults appreciated it as well. What helped our youth group along was to be involved periodically with a very active youth group from Chatham, which had some great Christian leadership via the ministers and other leaders. Our family was also involved with Faith At Work, and attended several conferences in various centres across southwestern Ontario. And once I got to university, I connected with a leader of the youth FAW conferences, and became a member of a team of youth leaders for a couple of conferences. It was truly a way to grow and share ones faith journey.

As is typical of small rural communities, the church attendance and support gradually waned over the years, and although this one had been an important part of the community for well over a century, it is there no longer. The photo above is actually a painting of the building, done on a piece of the slate tile roof, by a friend of the family.

 The sixties were busy with so many things, some of which I mentioned in my previous post. There was lots of work on the farm, and as a result I did a lot of driving tractors and pick-up trucks, sometimes even along the very quiet side road which was the only way to access the back of our farm. I had good training from my parents, being very cautious especially when I was on the road. And this paid off, as when I went to get my official driver's license, I actually tried out for what was then, classified as a 'chauffeur's license', and got it on the first try which was a bit of a miracle as the person who tested me was notorious for being difficult to please. More than a few people who were even trying for a basic license had to try again. Back in that day, a chauffeur's license enabled me to drive vehicles up to and including tractor-trailers! And I actually did a bit of that when I was working for my grandfather's  company which built and distributed farm equipment throughout southern Ontario. I just drove the tractor-trailer sometimes loaded with gravity grain boxes quite locally, but it was an adventure.

I was quite involved with Cubs, Scouts and Venturers, including camping both winter and summer. I also found time to play pond hockey, and even for a while, played in the local house league. It was fun, but I was never going to go far in a hockey career. I also got my hunting license, and I went hunting for geese, ducks and rabbits depending on the season, with some of my friends. But that was short-lived due to a change in interests which I will explain a bit in a future post.

Our family managed to find time to camp in various places, including Inverhuron Provincial Park and Samuel D. Champlain Provincial Park. There were five of us, and we had a 9 X 9 tent to sleep in. But sometimes it rained, and most of the time we managed it. Dad, ever the optimist, would sometimes look up at the sky and say "the clouds are getting higher" suggesting the rain might be over. But the rain continued, and so on one occasion it was so wet that all five of us slept in our station wagon! At least we attempted to sleep, and I guess we did. By this time, mom & dad decided we should try out a tent trailer, so rented one, and camped for a few days at Rondeau, back when the south campground was open. The campground was just a short distance away from the southeast beach, where this next photo was taken.

Hairy Puccoon on a sand ridge

It was quite wooded, not like the very open campground at the north end of the park. We really enjoyed it given its relatively remote situation. Unfortunately for those who like that wooded type of campground setting, the high water levels of the early 1970s caused so much flooding that it was closed, and with the exception of 1985 when it re-opened for a couple of months towards the end of the season, it has been closed ever since. This next photo shows what even a fairly open part of it looks like today. Most of it is so chock full of shrubs, saplings and mature trees it is hard to even walk through it let alone envision it being a former campground.

The year 1968 was memorable, and for the most part, not for good reasons. Over the course of time from about May through October, there were three major incidents that claimed the lives of seven guys who were my age, or slightly older. I knew most of them, and two of them had been some of my best friends. The first incident was when one of them was working at a local feed mill company, and while he and another fellow were given the responsibility to begin the clean-up of what corn remained in the silo, jumped into the remaining corn near the bottom of the silo, and it collapsed and they were both suffocated. I still remember getting the call on that Friday afternoon, from his aunt who he had been living with, and she told me what happened and asked if I would be a pallbearer. Yikes!

The second incident took place in late summer, when two good friends who had been working on their family's farm all summer were given a few days off to go fishing up north. Unfortunately neither could swim, and when the canoe they were in capsized, they both drowned. Yikes again!!

The third incident happened in early October, when three boys were returning from a friend's party and crashed into a train late in the evening as it was a bit foggy. All three died. The girl in the back seat who had been sleeping at the time, survived but with serious physical injuries, and likely life-long emotional injuries. Yikes again!!!

On a more positive note, one of the really worthwhile experiences, which actually took place in the summer of 1970, was when I was accepted into the Junior Forest Ranger program. It was through the Department of Lands & Forests, which eventually became the Ministry of Natural Resources, and is where I eventually spent my entire career.

 This involved living in a fairly remote camp (no hydro or running water) with 24 other boys, and our jobs and work experiences were quite varied. They included brushing along trails and roads, taking a canoe trip to clear portages for other canoeists, getting an underground tour of a gold mine near Timmins, doing maintenance things such as picking up garbage in the provincial park we were located at and getting some forest fire training in case there was a forest fire affecting the nearby forests. All in all it was quite a worthwhile summer, and I loved it. There wasn't much to do in our spare time, such as evenings or weekends, so I typically got my running gear out and ran for several miles along the roads and trails of the park. Or sometimes went canoeing in the lake we were on, called Leg Of Lamb Lake due to the shape of the lake. I also learned to play cribbage with my cabin mates.

This next photo is of our 'motley' crew of 24 Junior Rangers, plus three leaders. Can you see me? I am in the first standing row, fourth from the left. 

Prior to participating in this summer camp, I envisioned becoming a forester or a forest ranger. However after this summer, as much as I enjoyed it, I decided I wanted to pursue a career that was broader in nature, and focused on wildlife, and such. And so as a result, it changed what I applied for after high school. I decided not to apply for a forestry program which would have meant attending the University of Toronto or the one at Thunder Bay. Instead I applied to a Fish & Wildlife program with the University of Guelph as my first choice, and Queen's University (at Kingston) as my second choice. So that is how I ended up at Guelph, and that is another major story and in a very good way! God had His plans, which made such a huge difference in my life, and I cannot express enough praise and gratitude to Him for things unfolding the way they did. 

 

Beginnings

Readers of my Nature Nuggets blog will realize that June is the best time to see Tulip Trees in flower. I have always been intrigued by this species.

It is representative of the Carolinian Zone, where I grew up and have been able to spend the majority of my career. While I was the park naturalist at Rondeau Prov Park, I was fortunate to have many Tulip Trees close by my office, as it was located at the beginning of the trail by that name. And while Marie and I lived in the park for several years, and many times afterwards, it was the trail we most often ventured along. This trio of Tulip Trees made for a great photo op, and while I was in the process of capturing her looking up, she decided to give one of the trees a hug. And almost every time I go along the trail since she has passed away, I stop and have a little chat with her, indicating that the tree is needing another hug! (And so do I!)

This next photo was taken during a foggy early December day along that same trail, and she had her camera up getting a photo.

This trail has also been one of the most reliable places in the park to see the iconic Prothonotary Warbler especially during late May through early July. I have been blessed with getting lots of photos of this species, which was nicknamed the Golden Swamp Warbler by none other than the famous ornithologist John James Audubon. I certainly think that the verse in Psalms fits so well with this species.

But that is more of an introduction to June, rather than anything to do with beginnings that the title mentions.

I have always had a connection to nature or at least the outdoors. This first photo shows me in the stroller, with my dad and older sister posing here at Waterton Lakes National Park, in southern Alberta, way back in 1953 when I was slightly less than a year old. 

It was the first of several trips that our family took while I was growing up, in part because my mother was born in Saskatchewan and there were various relatives scattered across the prairie provinces. In addition to Waterton Lakes, over the years when we went west we visited natural areas such as Banff and Jasper National Parks, among others. (These next photos were taken more recently than on those family trips.)

Banff NP

Jasper NP

We often included some special places in the USA, such as: 

Yellowstone NP

Badlands NP

It is interesting that while many people go on vacation to places like Disney World, that never occurred in our family. It was always exploring and camping in significant natural areas, and that made an impression on me and so ever since, that has always been our focus. I don't begrudge people going to places like Disney World, especially since I would not want them all to descend on the incredible natural areas that are always more impressive with a hint of solitude! However the magnificence of the natural world is so much more intriguing and inspiring than anything Disney can offer, in my opinion.

I grew up on a farm, not more than a few miles/kilometres from Rondeau. It was mixed farming, with the usual corn, soybeans, wheat, tomatoes and tobacco. Also lots of livestock over the years, including up to 100 pigs, 25 cattle, 1200 domestic geese, 200 Pekin ducks and the like. It was a lot of work that never seemed to end. In some ways it was surprising that with all of the work required, we managed to get away for about a month at a time on some of those western trips. And especially since that era was just before so much chemical application was used to control weeds. Back in those days, it meant going out with a hoe, up and down the rows hoeing out the weeds that the cultivator couldn't get to. 

Planting tobacco

The livestock required a lot of work as well. For example collecting the eggs daily that the ducks laid, which then needed to be then cleaned and taken to someone who could incubate the eggs for more ducklings. And shoveling manure at times on an almost daily basis. This was especially annoying when I was in high school and had to shovel pig manure before catching the bus taking me to school, and hoping that I didn't get any of the manure to take along with me!

For the cattle and pigs, we produced our own feed, usually a mix of corn or sometimes cooked beans, depending on the weather. For the corn mix, it meant spending several hours a week shoveling ear corn into a hammermill or a corn sheller. It wasn't until I was in my later teens and working at Rondeau when I realized that all those hours with my left side only a shovel distance from this incredibly noisy machinery affected my hearing. It was when I was out birding with some of my colleagues at the park when I realized I was not able to hear many of the bird songs that the others were hearing. And of course my hearing hasn't improved at all since, so although I may see the beak of a warbler open and it is likely singing its heart out to attract a mate, I cannot hear a thing it is singing. There are many species of warblers, sparrows, some vireos, as well as brown creepers, blue-gray gnatcatchers, cedar waxwings, etc., that I have not been able to hear well if at all, for many years unless the birds are extremely close.

I did learn to watch out for nature, in part via my dad. When he was out with the plow or cultivator and he came across the nest of a Killdeer or Horned Lark, he would always lift the equipment and leave the nest intact. And he was always on the lookout for birds or other wildlife that were occupying or singing from the fence row adjacent to the field.

My mother was a teacher and as the local one-roomed school had all 8 grades involving about 55 students, it was too much for the new teacher to handle. The local board of education members convinced mom to teach grades 1-3 which she agreed to do. I was still at age 4 when she was asked, and so I started Grade 1 at that very early age at least until my birthday later in September. This was before kindergarten, at least at this rural school district.

I managed to do reasonably well academically, even quite well, through grades 1-8 without putting much effort into my studies. And so I started Grade 9 at Blenheim District High School at the age of 12, getting there via a school bus that was traveling throughout a portion of rural southern Kent County to pick up students.  But now things were a little more challenging scholastically. I had always been rather small in my early years. For the first two years of high school, I was one of the two smallest boys in the whole school that had a population of about 1200 students. Starting at my early age didn't bode well, and although I got through Grade 9, Grade 10 was a different story. I failed my first year of Grade 10. Yep. This was probably one of the first fairly devastating events in my young life, as it meant taking that grade all over again! I lost a year of my life in a way. A change of classmates, and taking the same subjects all over again! How would I survive??

And yet that devastating event turned out to be a huge blessing. My body had a chance to develop quite a bit, and certainly a lot of work on the farm helped. I didn't add a lot of height to my body, just a few inches, and I topped out at about 5' 8" but I was putting on much more weight, muscle and such and it really paid off. I hadn't done a lot of extra physical events in my first two years of high school, just the bare essentials to get through phys ed. But what a difference the year made. When we had those infamous 5 minute muscular endurance tests, I usually aced it easily, and usually better than the others. I became a long distance runner and excelled in track and field as well as cross-country races. In the latter event, I was usually either number 2 or 3 in the whole county for my age group, did well in the regional competitions and even qualified on one occasion to go to the all Ontario cross-country championship competition for my age group. Lots of running along the rural roads in the evenings after chores were done, certainly helped. I also dabbled in gymnastics and wrestling, typically even out-wrestling guys who were older and bigger. The high-school football coach kept after me to join the football team, and I eventually went to a practice and did well, but I had seen too many members of the team hobbling around on crutches or in a cast, and didn't want to go that route, so that was all that my football career amounted to. At any rate my life changed rather dramatically, as I was now considered a relatively top athlete for my age group, in this school of about 1200 students. My grades kept improving, and I managed to get a few athletic awards along the way. This next photo shows me getting the top athletic award in cross-country for my age group, and this photo was taken and published in the Blenheim News Tribune.

So that gives a bit of background regarding the way my early years started, at least as how they related to the farm and school. Lots more to come!

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Introduction to Life Is A Journey

 Welcome to my new blog, entitled Life Is A Journey. We are all on a journey through life, in so many different ways. Some journeys are filled with challenges, and some of us experience more challenges than others. There is no question that as I look back over the slightly more than seven decades of my life, there have been various challenges, some more devastating than others. But through it all, I can see that God has been with me the entire way, and has even orchestrated, or at least allowed, some of them. And as devastating as some of them have been, I am also firmly convinced that God is always with me, and loves me in His perfect love, and the blessings resulting from His plans have been incredible!

I don’t know exactly how this blog is going to unfold, but I have had myriad ideas going through my mind and heart, as I seek God’s will for my life. I chose the photo for the heading for a reason. Life is like a shoreline, which is constantly undergoing change, as the wind, waves and water currents continue to impact it over many years. I took this photo in 2010, and it has changed. For example the large White Pine tree that is a fairly major feature in this photo is now gone. Similarly, a person’s life is constantly undergoing change. This photo is from the southeast corner of Rondeau Provincial Park, a place that I have been enormously blessed with being connected to in various ways for almost the entirety of my life. I used a similar photo for the cover shot of one of the books I produced in the last few years, called Life on a Sandspit, a book intended to portray the incredible diversity of this awesome part of God’s creation.

I currently plan for this blog to focus on how my life has changed, been blessed, and been challenged over the decades, dealing with things (and in no particular order) such as:

-early life and growing up on a farm;

-losing a year of my life in high school;

-going to a university that was not initially my first choice;

-getting married to someone I met at the university I ended up going to, and once I got to know her, I could hardly believe that such a wonderful person was available for me and have thanked God thousands of times for that blessing;

-having an incredible job available to start in after I graduated from university, only to have it taken away from me a few years later even though I had so many ideas and things I wanted to accomplish in it;

-some very major challenges in what my job was changed to, and the significant blessings along the way;

-the importance of forests to God, and therefore to all of us;

-the challenges and blessings of having two kids become part of the family;

-the financial blessings of realizing and trying to live in a way that acknowledged all I had belonged to God;

-and most recently trying to understand some devastating things that my dear wife had to deal with over many years, that eventually contributed to her demise. And of course dealing with the grief related to this enormous loss, and getting used to the new normal, which has resulted as much as a spiritual journey as anything.

First of all, I have been a firm believer in God for many decades, and more on that in another post. But God’s plan, His creation and His love for all that He created, including us, is truly remarkable, and words cannot adequately express the magnificence of it all. I have been enormously blessed with being able to explore God’s creation in so many places, in Ontario, elsewhere in Canada, as well as various parts of the USA and even to Costa Rica, and also have been able to capture numerous photos of many parts of it. My other blog, Nature Nuggets has well over 700 posts and almost 12000 photos featuring various aspects of the natural world I have been blessed with being able to see firsthand. An explanation of how I got to explore so many places may be part of one or more future posts.

One of the things I have recently reacquainted myself with is a song, called So Will I, by Hillsong Worship, via some email correspondence with a co-host of UCB radio (89.3 FM), a station that I listen to almost entirely (thank-you, Sarah!). It is quite an uplifting song, recognizing God’s role in creation of the world including us and how He loves us and has planned for us to spend eternity with Him. The music, lyrics and presentation are wonderful to listen to, over and over again. So inspirational, powerful, worshipful and reverential. 

 Here is the link to one that I listen to quite often. It has had almost 150 million views. I haven’t listened to it that many times yet, but the number is growing!

Some of my favourite lyrics in it, along with some photos that I feel reflect them, (click on the photo to enlarge them) are:

-if the stars were made to worship, so will I 

Dark sky preserve, Grasslands National Park, SK

-if it all reveals your nature, so will I

McKerrall Woods, C-K

McKerrall Woods, C-K

 

Nodding Pogonia, an Endangered Orchid

Prothonotary Warbler, Endangered

 -every painted sky a canvas of your grace

Chenal Ecarte sunset

Erieau sunrise

Lake Erie sunrise

Sunset over western end of Lake Erie

-if the mountains bow in reverence, so will I 

Mt. Rundle, Banff NP

Peyto Lake, Banff NP

Yosemite NP, CA

Yosemite NP

-if oceans roar your greatness, so will I 

Lake Erie surf

 -if creation sings your praises, so will I 

Virginia Bluebells

Leaves emerging of Shagbark Hickory

  -I can see your heart in everything you’ve done, every part designed in a work of art called love

White Trilliums, Fish Point Prov Nature Reserve, Pelee Island

Wood Lily

God is so good, and He loves each of us with His perfect love!

Thanks for reading! There is much more to come in future blogs about Life Is A Journey as I feel led! They won't all have this number of photos, but that will vary depending on the topic.

 

If you would like to subscribe to Life Is A Journey, send an email to: prairietramper@gmail.com