Dad's down from Kingston, so we're spending time with the fam. We drove up to Mactaquac yesterday. I figured my trip might spark some curiosity from Dad as we spent so much time up there.
Pretty much the same place. Some small changes. I was right too! There used to be a totem pole at the point. I asked a grounds worker about that and he said it rotted and came down (Way to go Parks Canaduh!)
Have a great weekend everyone. Be safe, don't drink and drive or drink and boat!
Mactaquac Marina, we used to moor Dad's 'Kingfisher' here.
Loads of 'Tanzers' parked now..... 'Tanzer' is a type of sailboat
(Play this track in the background as you read this Blog entry)
'The valley touches down from my forehead to the ground and the heat simmers your eyes in their sockets, Sky Valley is where I ought to be, where the desert is the sea and if you are here, then you're not with me.' 06/26/2018
I dream to live in that place, where the desert heat rages in the day and the coldness of the night brings relief.
The 'Four Corners', where the states of Arizona, Nevada, California and Utah meet. My body aches for the desert Sun and the great sky at night that blazes with the Milky Way.
I've been to all of these states in my youth and I've vacationed in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Southern California. I know, I know, as a Canuckian, I should loathe the states. My mind see's no 'borders', no class, race or country... In other words, I could give a rats ass who's president or prime minister. I just want relief. I know from having been in the 'desert states' while I had this arthritis and having traveled to Egypt that the arid, dry heat is my healer. But it's nigh impossible for this dream to be brought to fruition. This environment is rotting my bones and making my body weak.
If anyone has an answer to 'how I can get to live in one of these places', let me know, because I can't see a way out.
Desert outside of Las Vegas 2001
Egypt is out, for we'll never have peace among religions on this planet. There seemed, and I will underline 'seemed' a time when the World was almost at peace, when we 'seemed' to be getting on with one another, we 'seemed' to get the Earth was in trouble... But it all fell apart.
On my tour of Egypt, each day we had a security guard, armed with an automatic rifle. Dressed like someone who'd taken the movie 'Men In Black' way too seriously... 3 piece suit, dark glasses and no doubt a fake name brand watch...
In 1997 terrorists killed 58 tourists... Likewise in 1997 several tourists were killed outside the Cairo museum, this was why when we were let off there, we were told not to linger, the bus dropped us off and it took off as no traffic is to remain idle there.. No people, no one to shoot.
So, I understand why I can't take my tour guides advice to "teach English" in Cairo. It would pay ridiculously well, but would, I have to lie that I was a muslim? To say I was a christian would be an instant target and I fear to say that I believe in no 'god', would be even worse. How does a person who believes in no 'god' live in a country that is dominated by religions that already don't get along?
It's my conundrum, it's my curse, that my soul will drag the body along until I hit that rut called death and am brought back to the earth to return to the dusty material we're made of.
So this is why I'm 'stuck' with the US. it's close, it's cheap... I can stay there long enough and then return to still keep my medicare and citizenship. Some might say that 'Mexico' or 'South America' have dry arid places... but I'd totally rather live in the US than in South America... Another thought has been Australia, but I think to immigrate there would be impossible. Plus just to get there is uber expensive.
All I know, is to remain here will probably mean an earlier return to dust.... Don't worry, I mean this in a 'natural' way. It's just that this country and it's environment is killing me.
This is why I listen to and love the music of Kyuss so much. It reminds me so much of the desert.
In 1988 when my Brother Gordie and I traveled with Dad out West. We went through the 'desert states' and we traveled the highway through Death Valley. It was 110°|F and we had to stop every few miles at these large water stations to hose down the radiator and engine. It was during one of these stops that I got out of the car and took a walk up the bank and off the highway. The dirt bank was high enough that after only a few feet when I turned around I couldn't even see the car... I did a 360° turn and all I could see was the heat rising off the desert floor and I never felt more at home.
A good walk this evening. Sometimes I see nobody on the walk, other times I run into everyone!
Just along the trail that runs parallel with University ave, coincidentally, I ran into Becky Sullivan and her husband. Becky is the building manager of the Student Union Building at UNB campus. She's awesome. While as music director it wasn't my job to deal with Becky, but we talked a lot, had issues that we sorted out. She's amazingly smart and she takes no shit from anyone. After I had left the station last Fall, I hadn't seen her in quite some time, then we started to run into each other while out on our walks. So I've explained, more or less why I left the station. She was concerned about me because she knew how passionate I was/am about CHSR.
So it was nice to run into her and her partner, I'm so bad, I can't remember his name, but tonight he was telling me that he had guessed by my last name that Prof. Waddell, whom he had for Economics in university was my Father. It was great to see her, I've got to get up to the SUB soon to see everyone, it's been far too long and overdue.
Then right before the walking bridge I ran into Rob Scholl, he lives right there by the bridge, so I run into him quite often. Always great to talk with Rob. While not a musician himself, he's got great knowledge of the scene and beyond. He's a graphic artist by trade and does amazing work. He did the Crazy Train logo and did some enhancements of Wasteland Zombies artwork. If you are a musician, in a band and need some posters, logos, flyers, album covers... Contact Rob Scholl on FB. As I said he does amazing work. Super talented guy.
Then on the overpass before the walking bridge, there was an elderly gentlemen with his wife and I assume daughter and as I approached then, I could see him looking at my shirt and his facial expression change from bewilderment to shock.. He started to speak and made motions about my shirt... So I removed my headphones and he was saying that my shirt was shocking and horrific!
What shirt was I wearing? This one:
This is the Behemoth 'The Satanist Sigil' long sleeve. Of course it has a big'ish upside-down cross on it, so that's probably what was causing him to have mental convulsions about it.
I just told him that it was a Polish Heavy Metal band and that it is just images.... Then I put my headphones back on and walked on.... I don't wear these shirts to shock or upset people, that's just a bonus. I wear them because I love the artwork and I like to support the band. I've always loved art and I've spoken in past blogs about my interest in Occult and dark artworks. In the end, if you don't like it, turn your head... The human head has the ability to turn it's head about 90°... So, you got lots of room to look away.. You can even use your eyes to look away, upwards, downwards, to the sides....
Next, close to Queens Square, someone looked like they were about to overtake me by walking off on the grass... That person turned out to be Bruce Watson. Bruce is an old acquaintance going back to the days when I hung out with Neighbourhood Watch and the Punks/Skaters.
So we got to talking and Bruce does a lot of work for the Tay Creek Folk festival... Not quite my cup 'o tea, but he was mentioning that he has to get posters up...
I told him that when I was on Facebook that I had put it out there, on my personal page, on the Crazy Train page on the Fredericton Metal page, that I would poster for any bands who wanted the help and NO ONE has EVER taken me up on that. The only person who ever has is Jay Chetwyn who does the Maritime Metal & Hard Rock festival (and sometimes he didn't even send me posters)....
I find it's one of the biggest problems with bands these days. They are fucking lazy and fuck. "Oh, I'll just share it on Facebook and other social media sites".... Yeah ok, you do that and wonder why 5 people show up.
'Back in the day', we'd poster the fuck out of this city and usually the cities we were going to play in (but only going as far as Moncton and Saint John)... We'd usually take the opportunity to do some skateboarding in those cities as we put up posters.
Anyhow, Bruce took me up on my offer, gave me a couple posters to get me started.
Now I'm home, dealing with red ants in my kitchen... But my great neighbor Brad has this concoction of detergent, sugar and water that will apparently kill the ants DEAD. They even take the sugary bits of death back to their nests and it wipes those out too!
Dad's coming this week. Gordie says he's hoping they'll get his sailboat in the water by weeks end. His sailboat is large enough that it can't just be back into the water by trailer, it has to be lifted by crane and plopped in the water. The Saint John marina got nuked by the flood so they've been somewhat behind in the Spring launching. But it sounds like it should be sea-worthy by the time Dad and I head down to Saint John on Friday or Saturday.... I'm expecting to get a call from Dad tonight, probably to nail down our plans.
And that's it for today! How about some Foo Fighters?
Walk
Foo Fighters
A million miles away
Your signal in the distance
To whom it may concern
I think I lost my way
Getting good at starting over
Every time that I return
Learning to walk again
I believe I've waited long enough
Where do I begin?
Learning to talk again
Can't you see I've waited long enough?
Where do I begin?
Do you remember the days?
We built these paper mountains
Then sat and watched them burn
I think I found my place
Can't you feel it growing stronger
Little conquerors
Learning to walk again
I believe I've waited long enough
Where do I begin?
Learning to talk again
I believe I've waited long enough
Where do I begin?
Now,
For the very first time
Don't you pay no mind
Set me free, again
To keep alive, a moment at a time
That's still inside, a whisper to a riot
The sacrifice, the knowing to survive
The first decline, another state of mind
I'm on my knees, I'm praying for a sign
Forever, whenever, I never wanna die
I never wanna die
I never wanna die
I'm on my knees, I never wanna die
I'm dancing on my grave
I'm running through the fire
Forever, whenever
I never wanna die
I never wanna leave
I'll never say goodbye
Forever, whenever
Forever, whenever
Learning to walk again
I believe I've waited long enough
Where do I begin?
Learning to talk again
Can't you see I've waited long enough?
Where do I begin?
Learning to walk again
I believe I've waited long enough
Learning to talk again
Can't you see I've waited long enough?
Songwriters: David Eric Grohl / Taylor Hawkins / Christopher A. Shiflett / Nate Mendel / Pat Smear
Ever washed your dishes in the bathtub??? It's not easy or fun... As 'fun' as doing dishes can be... The house fix-it guy and a plumber are due tomorrow morning. I hope this is a quick job...
So I'm not like filling the tub and washing dishes, I'm just using the tap to rinse them down. The kitchen sink is, as the British say, "Proper" plugged. it's useless, water is just below the drain, so I can't even rinse stuff off... My bathtub is in an awkward spot, It's just a pain in the ass man!
So, my chipmunk fun out back here has been kinda slow. The grass got real high and I think it kinda put them off for a bit. Not sure, but my neighbor sometimes takes the pugs outback when he's trying to get them to do their thing (That's go to the bathroom, not have sex 'do their thing')... And I think that's been scaring the chipmunks away from me. They've been super skittish, although, just now I was out and I'd thrown some peanuts down. These chipmunks certainly ain't related, if they are, they sure as hell are not working together. I saw this one chipmunk come along, grab a peanut, as it turned to go back to the fence, another chipmunk showed up... So they did this kinda dance and the chipmunk with the peanut in it's mouth did this spectacular jump over the other 'munk, which sent it running, then the chipmunk with the peanut in it's mouth, shifted it around and put it in it's right cheek.. scampered back to where the peanuts were and put another peanut in it's left cheek! Cheeky bastard! These guys are gonna be over fed come Winter!!
The other day I had some fresh bird seed and when I went to put it in the feeder, I dumped the older feed out on the ground... It was quite a mound of food and the little animals gorged themselves! That mound was gone in a day! What have I done? haha.
My good friend and the host of CHSR's 'The Crazy Train' Johnny James is popping by shortly... I've been debating seeing if Johnny might want to give me the show back.. I do miss it, yet it is quite a bit of work... Ugh decisions...
Check out this little critter, sadly there's the *beeping* of the paving equipment 'backing up', which is THE single most annoying fucking noise in the World. I know it's for safety, but holy fuck!! ENOUGH.. I get the BEEP, if someone is fuking dumb enough to be behind the equipment after say, I dunno, 10 beeps, that's it, you're on your own...
Anyhow, the chipmunks make this bird type chip noise which is super loud.
So, after trying the snake a few more times, our fix-it guy went over to the neighbors side to check out the situation there..
So, a little background here. This house is old... I'm not sure how old, maybe late '50's.. '60's? And at some point my 'addition' was built on. My kitchen sink sits at the far end of the house, I can't say how far from the original plumbing, but my kitchen sink drain line, goes down into my basement, below my floor over to the neighbors side, where I am guessing, and I ain't no plumber, but it is then tapped into the original plumbing... So, on my neighbor's side, he checked it out and it is clogged solid.
Now at this point, I felt bad. Like I said, my sink has, 'holes' in it, like a grate of sorts, so I can't shove 'big' debris down there.. Sure, I rinse off some cat food, some bits of food have gone down there, but I've never crammed anything I felt after like, 'Oh, I shouldn't have tried to cram that down the sink'... Anyhow, he's gotta check with our landlady and see what can be done... The line that runs from my sink, is pretty level, so it's feasible, because it's not much of an incline that debris has just built up and built up until it was clogged. Our fix it guy said it is my "fault" in the sense that I'm the renter, I use that sink, but he chalked it up to "wear and tear" by any tenant and that if it wasn't me, it would have been whomever else might have lived here.
So, kitchen sink is still outa service, which is a pain in the ass as I can't really do dishes.. My bathroom sink is pretty tiny and awkward, the tub is a pain in the ass to wash dishes in... So, I gotta live with what it is. I have some plans for later this week, hopefully we can resolve this before then.
So I threw on some tunes that make me wanna break stuff! Ever hear a crazy Metal song that just makes you wanna get up and tear shit up?? This song works for me!
Yes, I, Chris Waddell.... Not to be confused with British football commentator 'Chris Waddle'..am watching the 2018 World Cup... I haven't watched all of it, in fact, I'm not cheering for any particular team.
I blame Electronic Arts for this. When I got hired there, I didn't watch any sports (except for some Canucks hockey) and knew barely any rules of any game, aside from baseball, which as a kid, was about the only sport I kinda liked, but never played on a team....
When World Cup hits EA Sports, it's all encompassing. It's everywhere, every TV, every water cooler discussion, one can't escape it... Then to land on a team working on the video game, well then you're chin deep in soccer/football... Heck I knew the names of players I'd never seen actually play.. I knew stats about players I had no clue about before... All lost now and I'd imagine, since I last worked for EA in like 2002, a lot of those players have retired to cushy lifestyles of the rich and famous...
At EA, because of my last name, I got the nickname 'Waddle'... In fact, the finance department checked with me to make sure my last name was being spelled correctly....
'Chris Waddle' is a famous football commentator and his voiced was used in the games... So all I heard for my time there was "Hey Waddle"..And of course 'Waddle' is how many people think 'Waddell' is pronounced... I remember my first day in grade school and them calling my name, "Chris Waddle?"... 'It's WADDELL, ya jerkface!!!', I'd say in my head..
Anyhow! Football, kinda exciting. I like games like this, like baseball, you can kinda turn on the game and do shit and when the crowd starts to roar, you know something's up, so you can go back to paying attention to the game at hand.
Who knows, by then end of this, I might just be cheering for a team!
The house fix it guy showed up.. Brought a 'snake' with him and went to work on the plumbing on the sink.. He ran the water and it built up in the sink, then 'whoooosh'! it drained! YAY!... But it was short lived... He ran some more water and it sat, barely draining again... What the hell is down there??? I have even imagined that maybe a rat or rodent somehow, someway got into the plumbing.. Maybe a snake../ Who knows.. But that caustic liquid woulda killed and rotted whatever is down there.
The fix-it guy had to go to a meeting but he should be back soon... He's gonna go at it with the snake again... Somethin's gotta give!
Felt the weather coming yesterday afternoon... Last night was brutal and i feel like hell today.. I am looking forward to the possible thunderstorms.. Although we already were supposed to have one pass through which never came to fruition... All one can do is hope...
Until then, crawl back into bed and pass out..That is until Mr; Fix-it comes back... Was hoping to just crash for the day, but that ain't gonna happen... When it's crappy out and I feel like hell, I don't mind sleeping the day away, it's the only refuge from pain and I love to dream...
Well the halftime is over, back to the game or sleep or letting the fix-it guy back in
Happy Father's Day, to my Dad and all the 'Dads' I know, not to be confused with all the 'Dave's I know' (Kid's In The Hall joke)....
Had a great day! Andrea picked me up and I went over to my Brother Scott's for their annual Father's Day lobster feast! Sooo good and so good to see everyone! Thanks so much to Scott & Andrea for having me along!
Came home, my neighbor had just mowed the backyard, so i raked up all the damn pinecones, been sooo windy lately, between that and the snowfall of whatever seeds those are that are falling all over the city... But the pinecones you'll turn your ankle on!
My sink's still plugged.... Got backed up Thursday evening. tried plunging it, no good. Got some Drano™ and that didn't do squat, so I had to call in back up... The house fix-it guy was nice enough to come on Friday evening at the last minute... He ran out and got some crazy industrial shit, like scary caustic stuff! He put that down the sink, we waited the "3 minutes" it said to do on the bottle, then he tried to run the water to 'clear' the sink, but it just filled the sink up with the caustic shit and 4 hours later... The water was still in the sink, so somehow, the kick ass pro drain cleaner made it worse!!
So I tried using the rest of the caustic shit throughout the day on Saturday until I'd polished off the bottle and still no good, still plugged... When i got home from Scott and Andrea's, I walked in the house and almost vomited... Somethin' stank.. I thought it was maybe the cats litter box, so i quicly hobbled to Sobeys and picked up some litter, came home, went downstairs to clean Elsa's litter box and it wasn't her litter box that was the source of the stench... it was the damn sink! Stagnant water with whatever's in there, plus the drain cleaners... YUK!
The house fix-it guy will be here tomorrow sometime with a snake to git in there... My sink has, I dunno what they are called, but like a grate to stop big shit from going down there and I'm no dummy, I don't try to cram stuff down the sink, so I have NO clue, what the hell is cloggin it up... Probably a demon or something....
Happy Father's day ya'll! Hope ya's got to spend time with the man that brought ya into the World!
Hey folks, it pains me sooo much to see dogs out for a walk with their loving owners and the dog is just exhausted, I can tell it's exhausted... Can't they???
Please carry some fresh water for your dog on a walk or if it's in the yard... PLEASE... For your dog...
No matter what size or breed.,
Not Freezing cold water, but nice fresh cool water, in a water bottle, I used to use a Gatorade bottle and Alita would drink right from the 'nipple'... Ok, I just wanted to type 'Nipple'...
But seriously, please, remember with your poop bags, bring some water... Your dog will love you for it.
If you can't bring water, for whatever reason, then please walk your dog in the cool morning or evening toward dusk... To me, it's just common sense... Is your pet mine? No, but c'mon... LOVE your animals. Alita lived to be 14 because I loved her and tried my best to take care of her.
So once again.... PLEASE, have water for your dog in the Summer, Spring, Fall, heck even Winter...
They'll love you for it and I won't curse you behind your back as you walk past me with your poor puppy dragging behind you...
No, in fact this blog entry has nothing to do with 'Trump' or the state of the United States.
'American Nightmare' is the last track on the Misfits album 'Legacy Of Brutality'.
Danzig always seemed to have an air of Elvis about him and this song could be taken as a nod towards the 'King'.
Along with 'Children In Heat' it's probably my favorite Misfits songs.
Sadly, when I got to see the Misfits live there was only... hehe, Jerry Only as an original member in the band. It was a highlight that Marky Ramone, on and off drummer of the Ramones was on the kit at this time, with Dez from Black Flag on guitar.. So what was special was that with these famous musicians backing Only, they played a few Ramones and Black Flag songs, but we didn't get to hear anything like 'Children In Heat' or 'American Nightmare'.
I've had this notion of doing some special recordings with some local artists. At one point I was supposed to do some 'guest' vocals with one of my favorite local Metal bands 'Rifium', but I don't know what ever became of that... My sudden dropping of everything, my health, may have cut me out of that opportunity... Not really too sure... I was really excited to see what they'd ask me to sing on...
I've also been asked by a local Folk band to sing on a track of theirs, but as it is up in the air at this time, I won't say anymore about that.
So, what would I like to do? I'd LOVE to record a version of 'American Nightmare' with 'The Hypochonriacs' a local 'Rockabilly' band fronted by the super talented Josh Bravener. It also would be cool to do Elvis' 'Suspicious Minds'... as it's my favorite Elvis song and Josh grew up as a 'mini-Elvis' impersonator... So he might just be into that. If someone close to Josh reads this and wants to throw the bug in his ear.... I wouldn't be opposed to it...
Obviously, I'm not a huge Country fan, I wouldn't even couch myself as a small Country fan... There's some old Elvis and Dwight Yoakam songs I really dig (one being Yoakam's cover of 'Suspicious Minds').
Here's me performing at a karaoke bar (Karaoke IS the Antichrist of music, just to be clear on that)...
There's some cringe worthy moments I admit, but as anyone knows, unless you're a frequent Karaoker, then it's really just going in blind, not practicing a song before you get up, dead sober in front of strangers singing a song the 'King' wrote... That's my excuse and I'm stickin to it!... Also, it's recorded by my mightly drunken Brother Gordie....
So that's a couple of musical ventures I'd like to do before I die haha.. No I'm not expecting to kick off anytime soon, but ya never know.... At 46 I'm probably closer to the grave than to birth....
Please do check out, if you've never before, Josh Bravener and his Hypochondriacs, as well as a local rising 'legend' Richie Young and the Crossroad Devils.
Just feel like Hell. Woke up feeling alright. Went for a walk... Ran into The Wasteland Zombies original guitar player, Ray Robinson's wife Stacy on my walk. Was good to see her and talk. I still feel awful, I do, for the falling out that I caused between Ray and I. So it's good that Stacy will talk to me.
The weather's been alright, but today we're heading into rain, possible thunder showers tomorrow morning.
So maybe that's it.
Had a great time yesterday, my oldest Brother Scott had his birthday and we went to Dimitri's, THE best Greek restaurant in town and a staple for birthdays, unless of course I decide to have a 'get together' of close friends at Pizza Delight.
Not much coming up. Tim Rayne asked me to come along with some of the Capital Project crew for a little vacation on a house boat, so that'll be awesome. This will be the first year I won't be attending the Maritime Metal & Hard Rock 'festival, but I can't go into why at this point.
I'm gonna go fall down somewhere.
Give It Up
B y: Talk Talk
From the place that I stand
To the land that is openly free
Watching rivers run black
By the trees that are vacant to greed
Gotta give it up
Gotta get a second chance
Gotta give it up
Gotta get a second chance
And the jokes just started
Gotta give it up,
Give it up,
Give it up
Gotta give it up
Or tell me why I'm so wrong
Where does love come from
If you've sold your reasoning out
How can I learn
If I don't understand what I see
If I'm giving this mess
Take a walk through a nightmare so real
Gotta give it up
Gotta get a second chance
Gotta give it up
Gotta get a second chance
And the jokes just started
Gotta give it up,
Give it up,
Give it up
Gotta give it up
Or tell me why I'm so wrong
Where does luck come from
When you've never been without
Give it up,
Give it up,
Give it up
Gotta give it up
Give it up,
Give it up
Gotta give it up
Tell me if I'm so wrong
Where does love come from
If you've sold your reasoning out
Or tell me if I'm so wrong
Where does luck come from
When you've never been without
Woke up this morning to see that CBC Fredericton did a story on the chimney swifts:
Nature's air show awes nightly crowds below a Fredericton chimney
Folks gather in the parking lot eagerly awaiting the nightly 'Swift Show'
(cbcnews.ca) - - They arrive just after sunset near the leafy, downtown Fredericton neighbourhood. You can't miss them.
They bring tripods and cameras and binoculars and notebooks and group together in the parking lot outside the red brick building at 700 McLeod Ave.
To a person, they're looking skyward, watching for any signs of activity above the large chimney. From a distance, it looks like a scene in a UFO movie, where people gather and wait for the mother ship.
In fact, it's an almost equally awe-inspiring night of chimney-swift chasing in Fredericton.
Fred Beairsto says the thrill never wears off. And he owns the building.
"Oh, it's amazing, it's just an amazing sight, " he says.
"When you first get here there are no birds, And then you'll see one bird come, and there will be clear blue sky, and then another one, and then 10, and then another dozen and then 20 and then a hundred, and then more and more."
Sometimes the number of birds flying in reaches 2,000, according to some counts.
The birds made this their springtime haunt years ago, after Beairsto switched the building over to natural gas, and the chimney was no longer used.
Mr. Fred Beairsto owns the property that the chimney swifts delights crowds from
"They're not going down the chimney," he says. "What they're doing is making a big circle around the chimney, a big circle, like hundreds of feet in diameter ... then somehow, one of them says, 'It's time to go in'. Then they start going in and it actually looks a little like smoke going back down the chimney."
Every night in late May and early June, the nightly spectacle draws small gatherings.
Some people, like Andrea Addison, show up just by fluke.
"My kids and I were driving by one day in the car, and we saw birds flying in what seemed to be a circle, over and over again in a circle, over the same spot," she says. "And I thought I saw one fly straight up and then straight down.
"I'd never seen a bird fly directly into a chimney in such high numbers like that right? They're beautiful."
Species at risk
The chimney at 700 McLeod is considered the largest roosting spot in the Maritimes for the tiny insect-eating bird from Peru, which makes its way to Canada to breed.
The bird's numbers have dropped by more than 95 per cent since the 1960s — and it's now classed as a species at risk, according to Bird Studies Canada's Swift Watch program.
The Canadian government's species at risk registry estimates there are about 12,000 chimney swifts in Canada.
Trust me, you come out to see this show, you'll see more than just 3 swifts!
In the crowd of onlookers is Joe Nocera, a biologist and assistant professor of wildlife management at the University of New Brunswick.
Nocera fell for the chimney swift many years ago as an undergrad in Wolfville, N.S., where there was a big roost that people used to watch.
"Then later on after the PhD, I moved to Ontario, where I was the species-at-risk scientist, and once that species was listed it became an opportunity for me to study them. So I jumped at it and I've been studying them the past 10 years."
A home for chimney swift
Nocera says the chimney swift spends all of its waking hours in flight and eating insects. Its feet are designed to latch onto surfaces and at one time it roosted in the hollowed trunks of old growth forest.
With that disappearing, chimneys are the next best thing. But now chimneys, too, are disappearing, as more homeowners cap them on the advice of insurance companies, depriving the swifts of a home.
Nocera hopes the chimney at 700 McLeod can be preserved. It's not just a home but a potential source of research.
It's a sentiment Beairsto shares but at 78, he can't make any guarantees about the building.
"Well, that would be nice to save the chimney, but I have it on good authority that I'm not going to be on this earth forever, and so somebody else will own this some day, " he says.
"There are two types of people that would buy this. One would bring a bulldozer. And the other would try to manage the building better than I did probably. And I kind of hope it ends up being somebody who wants to keep the chimney."
Beairsto says he'd miss the crowds around the building if the chimney were to disappear, along with its status as a significant roosting site.
"I can hardly believe it actually, and to see all the people come here in the evening and get such joy out of it. It is a very spectacular sight and one that you just don't see often, where you see many, many animal or birds in one place."
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So come on out and see the swifts and their nightly show that I've dubbed, 'The Swifts of DEATH!'
Show up in the parking lot around...hmmm 8/8:30PM.. Nights after it's just rained seem to attract more because of all the insects
IF, I were to go on facebook, and do a search in my post history, I think that last June was much like this one, cold, although I think that last June was wet and cold. As I went to write this blog entry, it occurred to me that the thought in my head, 'We skipped Summer and went right on to Spring', seemed to trigger this sense of 'Deja-vu'.
As far as I know, we might have had one frost warning in May, but almost every week and for certain the last few days in a row we've had frost warnings issued as each night the temperature is getting down towards freezing... I was just outside and it was fuckin' cold out man! Like pants and sweatshirt cold...
Today, I FINALLY got a photo of an elusive, skittish bird that's been landing on the fence and has thus far eluded all attempts to get a decent photo of it. I had tried a few times with my cell phone, but it was too blurry. So today, the bird was on the fence and I hobbled inside to get my LUMIX and got a decent picture.... IF anyone knows what kinda bird this is, i'd love to know. I ended up having to 'sign up' to "Birding New Brunswick" so I could upload the photo and hope someone will get in touch with info as to what we're looking at here. I thought it might be a 'Gray Catbird', but the site had a video with this bird doing it's call and I have not heard that noise out of this bird.
I just finally got my 'membership' approved, so I should hear back soon, but if anyone does know, please post your reply!
I have been working on my dream diary, I stopped posting them, because in some ways my dreams are quite redundant. Many of the dreams I've been having all seem to revolve around some kind of festival or conference, with many people and as per usual, odd goings-on... I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I sleep on my right side and there's studies that say that sleeping in a certain position will induce certain types of dreams.
Last night though, I woke up, sat right up out of dead sleep, blabbering some gibberish and I was looking right at Elsa who was sitting on the floor and she was meowing loudly, this isn't the dream, this is what happened.
I was dreaming, though of what I do not know. Elsa recently has started meowing loudly in the apartment when she is being finicky about her food. There's food there, both wet and dry, so I'm guessing she's trying to get me out of bed in hopes I'll give her a treat instead of her food.
So yeah, she must have been meowing loudly and woke me up out of my dream... It sure was weird lol... I have no idea what the hell was going on. As when one is abruptly woken from R.E.M. sleep, you're usually not all that coherent, which has been a reason why I skip some entrys to my journal... I mean, when you wake up in the middle of the night, you just don't feel like grabbing your phone and typing out what you can remember and of course since dreams are so fleeting, by morning you can barely recall anything of the dream, unless it REALLY left an impression.
Tomorrow my 'Ghost' bundle should arrive! So excited! Although, it's hard to say, tomorrow is the 'guesstimated' arrival day. According to the tracking map, it's in Ontario, so unless it's actually on a flight to Fredericton, then out tomorrow, who knows, it might be Tuesday.
It's pretty hard to put pillows behind my back when Jerkface The Wonder Kitty decides it's 'her' seat.. Great weekend thus far. Thursday night I was at the Capital Screening 'The CHSR Cut'. Was great to see everyone... I mean I saw Tim & Arthur the day before, but great to see DJSTV, CEEEB... Johnny James 'Dio', Stephanie and of course Mark & Erin... Also my old buddy Shane, I didn't make this connection that his son is like this amazing up and coming local Blues guitarist, just amazing! On Friday, I had company! I rarely have company. I don't mean to insult people, but my home is my home, MY HOME, it's not a drop in, hang out spot. Even when I lived at my place in Burnaby once I had seniority, as in the only original renter, I'd let roomies coming in know that the place was 'home'. It wasn't a party or invite they guys over to play video games spot. 'House Nazi'? Naw, I just like MY place to be my refuge. Not even a lot of people know where I live, although many have spotted me because I am on Beaverbrook and I'm out a bit. Anyhow, my long time friend Jennifer Wright was over. I've known Jen since probably Elementary school... And just thinking of it now, I have no idea how we met. I don't think we were in classes or even the same school... BUT, I was a social butterfly as a kid and could be found at the roller rink (Skate City later named Roxy's- or maybe vice-versa)... Or possibly, that teen 'nightclub', but that seems much later in my childhood... Anyhow, Jen's a great friend and we've mostly kept in touch through the years. Her 'hubby' Gene is a great friend too, as is her Brother Stephen... Although I don't see Steve too much. Saturday, oh, that's today! Did a laundry, went to Sobey's, then went for a walk after supper... Yes, this is where the caterpillars come in. Those trees on the Green, keep on getting more and more. This family saw me taking video of the things and this lady was totally taken aback, she said she'd seen a few on the sidewalks, but then they saw what I was looking at in the trees. These things are not just en masse on the trunks, but way way up high and even out on the branches. Behold!
What, is a 'Dumpster Mummy'? One might ask... Dumpster Mummy is an incredible band from Halifax Nova Scotia. The band has consisted of guitarist Brad Holmans and Bassist Gilbert Lavery, and I believe Ben Banks is the original drummer. I know one thing for certain, Fredericton's Cujo Bonvie IS NOT the original vocalist.
The band's gone through turbulent times since their beginnings. Mostly due to a revolving door of vocalists. I think the first time I caught Dumpster Mummy at UNB's 'The Cellar' pub, they didn't have a vocalist or he was sick, but they played their set as an instrumental and that was mind blowing.
The vocalist on 'Life Compactor', their 2014 release was Willie Coish, not sure what became of him, if I'm recalling correctly, he was quite an amazing front man... I've caught the band several times in Fredericton here and also a few times at the Maritime Metal & Hard Rock festival in Nova Scotia, always a pleasure to see and always great guys to talk to.
The band's been nominated and I believe they've won several East Coast awards for their works. Brad's guitar style is / has got to be the most unique style since Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine.
I think he had told Johnny James at the Maritime Metal & Hard Rock 'fest that he doesn't even listen to Metal at all, so he's not influenced by anything or anyone. He's got on helluva style for sure. You can recognize a Dumpster Mummy song straight up.
Now, onto Cujo. This guy, from Fredericton has clawed his way up through the ranks of bands over the last 3/4 years. Like Tyson Davidson, he reminds me of myself at that age, young, eager, open minded and set to take on the World. Taking the vocals of Dumpster Mummy is a major coup for him and I couldn't be more proud and happy for him.
The new album, "Dumpster Mummy 2" sounds fantastic and is filled with all the hooks and turns, twists and contortions we've come to know and love hearing from this group of talented guys.
You can check out and buy the new album at their Bandcamp site:
Well nothing life changing happened, but I got up. Watched some disturbing videos on Chris Cornell's death not being a suicide but a murder.... According to some psychic (and a slew of "other people"), Cornell was going to leave his wife after finding some erratic and prolific spending, some tax issues and other monetary mysteries, Cornell was going to divorce her, of course thus cutting her out of who knows what... Maybe he had a stringent prenup, but this "psychic" claims Chris has been "speaking to" her, through dreams and "whispering in" her ear.
I found these videos, whether Chris is "talking" to her or not, to be rather offensive, that this woman, who wasn't even a fan or had listened to "his music", would direct the videos at Cornell's widow, claiming Chris gave her questions to ask his widow, "What were these pills in my medication bottles?", "What did you do with this money?" and so on... Just totally uncalled for... Even IF you suspect this woman of nefarious activity, it's just obscene to say this deceased 'star' is speaking through you.... She of course is not the only one. Of course like with other stars that have passed there's the side that say that Cornell was about to 'out' satanic child molesters in the industry... on and on.. Let the poor man rest in peace. If there's charges to be laid, let the investigators do their jobs and let them go after who they must... I think it's a disservice to his memory.
Around 2 Arthur picked me up and I went over to Tim Rayne's to check out the CHSR piece that's been added to the Capital Project for tomorrow night's showing. It looks and sounds great and this segment on the station has as always great people talking about our scene, it's ups and downs, all of it honest and so well said. It's great to see Johnny James, Indigo and of course Mark And Bondo, whom I"m sure I'll see tomorrow night. I haven't had, I haven't made the time to really sit down with Bondo and Mark yet, I don't know if tomorrow night would be good, probably not, but I'll get to see them for a bit and it'll be nice to see them.
Was great to see Tim, Natalie, Hayden, Arthur and Tim's new 'lil one. I know Tim's super busy, so I've tried to stay out his hair, although he tells me and I know i'm always welcome there.
Around 5 Arthur drove me over to Scott and Andrea's. I've been going over once a week to spend some time, not only with them, but with their dog "Aura"... Scott and |Andrea are going on a vacation soon and I'll be house sitting while they are away. Aura is a great pup, she's a rescue and sadly and tragically, she was abused by previous owners. They've had her almost as many years as I've been back and she's still a little sketchy with me. We of course don't know who her owners were or what they looked like, but I'm suspecting whomever beat her may have been my size or shape. She doesn't like my cane or when I wear a hat (ball cap), I suspect she didn't like my beard either. It's amazing that animals can sense who is afraid of them, but cannot sense who has a kind heart towards animals, as I'd never harm a bone in an animals body.
But today may have been the breakthrough, still lots more visits to go, so I'm sure in the next few weeks we'll be best buds!
Frost warnings again tonight... Though I seem to recall last June being similar. It'll warm up all over soon enough!
Got my tracking number today! My Ghost album's on it's way!
Ok, I guess when you get older, simpler things amuse minds getting simpler.
Everyone who knows me should know by now, I'm into a lot of things. I've lived at this place for about 7 years now... Crazy, 7 years!|
Out back of my place and across from Queens Square, there's an old brick building. Several companies have business' there. The place has an old chimney, I imagine hearkening back to the days when brick buildings needed big 'ol furnaces to keep their employees warm in the cold New Brunswick Winter months.
Nowadays, these chimneys are no longer in use and in some places torn down. What a lot of people don't know is that these chimneys can be a habitat for different bird and bat species. The chimney in this building currently houses 'Chimney Swifts'.
Kinda sparrow looking, these small birds come out each evening to feed on airborne insects. In some places they can flock in the hundreds, maybe thousands. For years we've seen them from around the end of April into the Fall each evening they are out. Some evenings they've attracted crowds of people and CBC, and the local newspapers (which I won't dignify naming them) carried stories on this area and these little insect eaters.
Tonight I was out and noticed that there seemed to be a lot more of a racket than usual coming from the sky. I don't know if it is the weather tonight that attracted even more of them or why there were so many, but there was a heckuva lot.
I took out my cell to capture this, so it's not the best video, but watch closely, you'll see them and you'll certainly hear them!
In other news.
Thursday night is the second screening of the Capital Project. I'm not too sure on the gist of this one. I know it's at the Charlotte St. Arts Center and it's part of the National College & Community Radio Conference that CHSR-FM is hosting for the first time since 1994 (The Wasteland Zombies actually played a showcase for the '94 conference). So tomorrow I'm heading to Tim Rayne's to check out a 'preview' of this edit and I'll be at the showing on Thursday.
In this edit Tim will showcase a segment on CHSR and the part the station has played in the history of local Indie Music in Fredericton and the area. Quite excited to see how all the interviews turned out!
