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Volume 14 No. 17
Our summer is winding down, but it’s not done yet! The weather has been amazing, including some beautiful storms mid-afternoon that then gave way to sunny evenings and spectacular sunsets!
Last Thursday, however, the ToA issued a High Fire Rating…which means no firecrackers and no outside fires except for those camping away from their cottages and need it for cooking or warmth. FYI, when the eBlast goes out on Wednesday, and then the TOA changes the rating on Thursday, the only way a cottager can check what the Fire Rating actually is that day is to go to the ToA website. PaBIA encourages every to check before starting an outside fire OR setting off firecrackers (which are only allowed on certain holidays anyway).
Have a wonderful, safe week!
In this eBlast:
AUGUST
- WAJAX Fire Pump Demonstration on Friday, August 26 @ 4 pm
- Derelict Dock Day – Saturday, August 27 – We Need YOUR Help
- PaBIA Sailing – Bud Body Bell Buoy Race – August 27 @ 2 p.m.
- NEXT PaBIA Boater Maneuverability Coaching – August 31
OF INTEREST
- Pileated Woodpecker vs Red Headed Woodpecker
- Shelagh Grant Honoured with family’s $250,000 grant to the Canadian Canoe Museum
- A Late Summer Serenade by Trudy Irvine, Education Director
- Literally on the Bay by Charlotte Stein, Parry Sound Books
- Lake Michigan-Huron Water Levels – August 22, 2022
- In Memoriam – Dr. John Bienenstock
- Yearbook Update 2022 as of August 23
August 2022 Activities
Pileated Woodpecker vs Red-Headed Woodpecker!
It is always good to know that there are many out there who know a lot more about birds, and in this case, woodpeckers, than I do…so I was grateful several members let me know that, in fact, last week’s photo of the woodpecker was a Pileated Woodpecker.
A Pileated Woodpecker, seen here on the left, grows to a size of up to 16 inches. They are year around here. On the other hand, the Red-headed woodpecker looks nothing at all like the Pileated, only grows up to 9 inches and, more importantly, is very rare in this area.
In Early May, Betsy Roe tended a flock of red-headed woodpeckers that had migrated through Calhoun Island near the southern tip of Shawanaga Bay. It is extremely rare to see!! Thanks, Everyone!
PaBIA’s WAJAX Fire Pump Demonstration – Friday, August 26 @ 4 pm.
PaBIA presently owns 4 WAJAX pumps (seen on the right above) with the following locations: Ojibway Island, Barclay Island, A500 on Hemlock Channel, and Frederic Inlet.
These WAJAX pumps differ from the HONDA (pictured on the left above) and SUZUKI pumps that most of us have on our properties. The WAJAX pumps are larger, more powerful, and require some muscle and training to get them started. They also project more water further than the others.
The Marine Patrol will give a hands-on demonstration this Friday @ 4 pm on the Ojibway Back Docks. In order for folks to be able to each start it/run it, the availability for folks to have a hands-on experience is limited. Some of you indicated an interest and have been sent a separate email with the hope of having a hands-on experience. Others are welcome to sign up by emailing the MP NOW.
Sailing – Saturday, August 27 –
Bud Body Bell Buoy Race 2:00 p.m.
Come enjoy a fun sail out to the one-mile marker beyond the Lighthouse and back!
Please be in touch with Margie Wheler, our PaBIA Sailing Commodore, should you want to learn more!
Please Consider Helping PaBIA
Clean up the Bay
August 27
Need Volunteers to Help Get
Boats to Station
In an effort to clean up our shorelines, PaBIA is hosting an abandoned dock day. Old, derelict docks will be towed into the station, and the township will disassemble and dispose of them.
This effort is entirely volunteer based. If you are around this August 27, please consider volunteering your time to help tow docks to the station. The more volunteers present, the more docks we can dispose of. With your ongoing support for this initiative, we will be able to clean our shorelines of old dock debris. Sign Up by calling (647-545-9283) or emailing the Marine Patrol.
If you plan to tow your own derelict dock into the station, please tow the dock into the area between the wharf loading area and the pump-out dock any time between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm. The wharf attendant will help direct and tie off the docks. The attendant will have rope on site to do this and the area will be roped off prior to the 27th so other vessels will not be in the way. The Township equipment will collect the docks on the following Monday.
PaBIA
On-the-Water Boat Maneuverability Coaching
with Randy Johnson, Certified Power Squadron Trainer &
PaBIA Chair of Fire & Boat Safety Committee
Next Wednesday, August 31
from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. Sign-Up NOW via email to the Marine Patrollers or email the Ojibway Club Office and ask to be added to the Coaching Session!
These are held at the Ojibway back docks
OF INTEREST
Historian, PaB Cottager, and Avid Canoeist, Shelagh Grant, Remembered with a $250,000 Gift to the new Canadian Canoe Museum
PaBIA’s own PaBIA Naturalist for many years, Shelagh Grant, ‘who passed away in 2020, is remembered fondly for her love of the North and passion for canoeing. Shelagh was an internationally acclaimed expert, historian, and author on the Arctic, and with her husband Jon, she paddled many of Canada’s northern rivers together.
“The Grant family honours Shelagh Grant’s love of the North, its land, peoples, rivers, and rapids with this $250,000 gift. Shelagh’s vision and committee work helped to guide The Canadian Canoe Museum in its early stages,” says her husband, Jon Grant. “This gift recognizes the canoe as a unifying legacy, from the First People’s travel to today’s recreation, which is an important part of our rich and unique heritage.” The Candian Canoe Museum.
A Late Summer Serenade
by Trudy Irvine, Education Committee Chair
In late August on Georgian Bay, the background music of birdsong begins to give way to a chorus of insects. As hummingbirds and other songbirds begin their long migrations, the air fills with the buzz of cicadas, the rattle and clack of grasshoppers, and the iconic sound of chirping crickets.
Here are some interesting facts about how crickets make their music:
- Only male crickets chirp. They do this to attract females and warn away other males.
- Crickets and their close relatives produce their chirping sounds by “stridulation” or rubbing two body parts together. Crickets rub their wings together, while grasshoppers rub their legs against their wings. The left wing of crickets has 50-300 small ridges like a comb and is called the “file”. The right-wing is called the “scraper”. The music begins when the file is lifted, and the scraper is rubbed alongside like a bow. Listen after clicking on the volume tap.
- The rate of cricket chirping is directly related to the ambient temperature. Crickets are, of course, cold-blooded, and able to move their muscles and wings faster in warmer temperatures. Counting the number of cricket chirps in 8 seconds and adding 5 to that number will give you a pretty accurate reading of the air temperature in Celsius. Counting chirps over 14 seconds and adding 40 is approximately equal to the temperature in Fahrenheit. No kidding! Check it out!
- When temperatures fall, crickets are attracted to warmth and will find their way into houses. For centuries, the Chinese considered crickets good luck and would keep them as pets. In Victorian times, the English adopted the belief that crickets in the home would ensure prosperity and health. Charles Dickens titled his third Christmas novella (the first was A Christmas Carol) “A Cricket on the Hearth”; and the book suggested a brass cricket be kept by the fireside to ensure a safe and happy home. Google “hearth cricket” and see how many versions are available!
Literally on the Bay
Book recommendations by Charlotte Stein, owner of Parry Sound Books
Edited by Janet Irving, Education Committee.
There is nothing – absolutely nothing – like reading a book on a summer’s day on Georgian Bay! This summer we suggest some books that are literally set on the Bay – or feel so much so that we just had to include them.
Last summer I read the first of Valérie Perrin’s novels to be translated into English, Fresh Water for Flowers – wishing each day I did not have to take time away from this marvellous novel. This story of a woman’s life – her joys and griefs, always engaging and exceptionally well told.
This summer Valérie Perrin’s novel Three was published in English, and just as wonderful as the first. This time the story of three friends who have known each other since the age of 10, now 31 years later their story is being told. Most wonderful was the friendship, characters who for so many years, shared such an intimate and long history. Who, regardless of the paths that took them away from each other, when one needed the others they were there.
Yearbook Updates
With each eBlast, we will provide you a list of names of those members who have provided updated contact information. The details of all the changes since the 2022 yearbook came out in late April are provided in THIS printable format for you to print out and insert into your own Yearbook! As of August 8th, here are the changes.
Phippen, Mark (address change)
Ridgely, Zac & Adamo, Laura (addition)
Younger & Richardson, Alexander & Sarah (addition)
In Memoriam
Dr. John Bienenstock, 25 Shawanaga Landing Rd., husband of Dody, father of Robin, Adam, and the late Jimson, July 2022
Water Levels
Lakes Michigan/Huron Water Levels August 22nd, 2022
To better read the charts, please click on the chart for the Daily or Six Month Forecast Water level chart and the corresponding websites
Please support PaBIA’s Yearbook Advertisers 2022
This site’s advertising feature was created to provide assistance for special local information &
events for existing Yearbook advertisers only.
Click on the logo to go to the website
Emergency
• PaB Nursing Station
• Canadian Coast Guard
Search and Rescue
800-267-7270
• PaBIA Emergency info
PaBIA
- PaBIA Map 2019 correction
- Environment and Nature
- Education
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