Thursday, March 21, 2019

First Icebreaker of Sping

CCGS Pierre Radisson breaks ice near Clark Island in St. Lawrence, east of Cornwall, Ontario, March 21, 2019

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Monday, March 18, 2019

Piastres not in use in Ontario

I was speaking to a store clerk in French today and I used the term "10 piasse" (Ten dollars) and she blinked a little and corrected me to 'dix dollars' - I thought about it and realized I only heard piastres in Quebec (I haven't spent much time further east so I cannot say if it is in use in New Brunswick.) After looking a little on the internet, I see that "piastres" was on dollar notes issued by banks in Lower Canada and Quebec in the 19th century, and the word comes ultimately from the Spanish 'peso'. The Spanish had found large amounts of silver in the Americas and their coinage dominated much of the world - even the Japanese yen derives from Spanish and Mexican coins that were in circulation in Asia.
Update - I did hear a bank clerk use 'Piasse' recently in Ontario, so my informant was wrong.

Thursday, March 14, 2019

First buzzard of spring!

They're back! A big mass of black rose up off the ground where it probably was eating something - I thought it was a turkey at first but it flew way up in the tree.
Turkey Vulture, Urubu à tête rouge, Cathartes aura,


Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Monday, March 11, 2019

Monday, March 4, 2019

Baby two-toed sloth Choloepus and other animals

Crested Gecko, Correlophus ciliatus,  Gecko à crête
Sleeping ferrets





Baby Skunk. I learn they get eaten by owls.

 Gray Ratsnake, Pantherophis spiloides, Couleuvre obscure


Cathartes aura , Turkey Vulture, Urubu à tête rouge, vautour aura




Saturday, March 2, 2019

No, that's not a talking fish from Minnesota

Fishing in Hawk’s Lake near Clarkson, Minnesota in 1971, Jim Hughes, 16, landed what he thought was a ‘really big, ugly fish.’ He dropped it after unhooking it when it said, ‘Hurts! Hurts!’ in a clear, deep voice. It then slid back into the lake. Pic taken by his brother, Bill Hughes, 19, who said he heard it too. Both claimed it had ‘man-like hands with fingers—and blue eyes.’ It scared the 'holy crap’ out of them"
There is no "Hawk's Lake" or "Clarkson, Minnesota" listed on current maps and other sources.
The fish in the photo is a blobfish, Psychrolutes marcidus, and the original photo can be found on the cover of a children's book,THE BLOBFISH Do Your Kids Know This?: A Children's Picture Book (Amazing Creature Series) (Volume 39). It's been reversed and turned into black and white for the hoax meme. The blobfish,  a deep water fish found in seas around Australia and New Zealand, is not known to be able to survive in freshwater lakes. It also swells up due to decompression when it is brought up from its natural habitat of around a kilometre deep.

Friday, March 1, 2019

Dottie, Ice fishers, Chickadee

 Dottie in the sun
 Ice fishers at mouth of Raisin (or Black) River, South Lancaster, Ontario, Lake St. Francis 
Chickadee with sunflower seed