Squirrel War One - Forget War Horse...its Squirrel War around here!

It's the last day of 2011: New Years is for partying? I am not a fan of New Year partying... but very much enjoy dinner with close friends  and that is exactly what we will be doing tonight.  But - I have this ongoing war with the squirrels and since I have some time this afternoon I am going to have it out with them (what would you could call it - a squirrel skirmish?). I am hoping to end  2011 with an end to squirrels in my attic.

Now  I like animals... but I like 'em in their place... and their place is not in my garage! Last year I had 'coons in there.  I found out how they were getting in - through a vent  up in the gable which they had  ripped loose at one  corner so that when they went in it closed in after them - that way it wasn't obvious how they were getting in.... oooohhh they are cunning little bu - er,  I mean banditos!

But that was 'coons... now I have squirrels. I have a bird feeder - a beautiful bird feeder -  and I really don't mind that it mostly feeds the squirrels... it's annoying but  hey! they gotta live as well... but again not in my garage. I am going out to the garage now and see what I can do about it. I will let you know how I make out.

O.K. I am back and I dun it... I found where they are accessing and so I scared them out of the attic by making a lot of ruck-us with banging on the rafters  and cussing at them etc.. Then I set about plugging the hole. We shall see what happens... maybe they have another access point. If not then they are outta there. If per chance one was still in the garage then it will leave  when I periodically leave the garage door open. Chalk one up for the  Andyman in the ongoing squirrel wars.They can go live in a squirrel nest somewhere - like up in a tree!

Talking about squirrels in general, ya gotta respect them: they are tough little buggers and great survivors. But why do they chew on electrical wires? What is in the insulating of the wires that they want?  A few weeks ago the breaker would activate whenever I tried to switch on the light. As it turned out I had about a foot of bare wire going into a light box up in the attic. Because the light was switched off the squirrel  didn't get electrocuted. But of course when I switched on the light  there was a short.

Well so much for the squirrels. I think I am done with them... as far as lodging in my garage attic is concerned anyway.

War Horse

                                                                         Movie review
                                                                 
                                                                    TITLE:  War Horse
                                                                    RATED:  PG-13, (2011)    
                                                                    STARRING: Jeremy Irvine
                                                                    DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
                                                                    REVIEWER:  Andy Buwalda

There are probably a number of well-known horses in our collective memory. Most recently, if you were asked, you might recall Secretariat, or Northern Dancer… both great race horses… the first one, American and the other, Canadian. (Northern Dancer, incidentally, is buried in Oshawa at Windfield Farms). Or you might call to mind the movie cowboy Roy Roger’s horse, Trigger, now stuffed and mounted in a California museum. Or you may think of that classic children’s story Black Beauty written by Anna Sewell. War Horse is that story… the story of Black Beauty gone to war… except that he is brown – not black.

But this movie, produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, is no children’s story. The war scenes (first WW) are credible, the horses are all magnificent and beautiful, and the acting, superb.  If I were to describe it in a sentenced or two, I would say it’s an action movie on the one hand and a chick-flick on the other… both aspects skillfully blended together.  We don’t really know what lives in a horse… we need humans to make a horse story human… and so we have the lead character Albert ‘coming of age’ and a host of others interacting with the horse. What are you to do when the lead is a horse? Still...it’s amazing how much expression can be found in a horse’s face… another credit to Spielberg’s skill.

Here is what one film credit said about the movie: “War Horse is based on a children's novel by author Michael Morpurgo, set during the first world war and a stage play of the same name, chronicling the trials and tribulations of a young soldier (the horse) who serves on both sides (England and Germany) before finding himself alone in no man's land.”

This is the story of a horse with a big heart… and has its own scene of men laying down their guns in “no man’s land” (recall the WWI  ceasefire known as The Christmas Truce where the two sides agreed to quit fighting, played a game of soccer, then go back to fighting on Christmas Day).  It may be taking the analogy to far and may even seem sacrilegious to some but the horse in this scene in 'no man's land' comes across as a Christ figure, at least it did to my mind. A great movie to begin the New Year.

Christmas Day 2011

Welcome to my blog. Today is Christmas Day and, now that all the presents are unwrapped and put away I have some time. This is the first time we are having Christmas away - my wife and I are at our son's house with his in-law's, wife Cindy, and son Carter (age one and a half).


My intention is to write in this blog at least once a week. I will copy my editorial column which I wrote last week for our church newsletter (you can read the whole issue  at www.hebroncrc.ca) as my first blog. Here it is.

                                                  Are YOU NUMBER 7,000,000,000?

Were you born on or before October 31, 2011? If not then according to the United Nations you are not that number. Apparently baby number 7 billion was just born a couple of months ago, in the Philippines. This according to the United Nations estimates… and I emphasize estimate because,really, how are they going to know for sure? They suggest an error margin of plus or minus 1 to 2 %. (That’s anywhere from 70 to 140 million people – more or less).Their point, I suppose, is that this 7 billion mark is a milestone and we need to be aware of it. A quote from the National Geographic magazine gives us some interesting information:
" On a planet of seven billion people, who is the most typical human? According to statistics it’s a 28 year oldHan Chinese male. The world’s largest age bracket is 28,the largest ethnic group is Han and the most populous nation is China with 1.3 billion people. But the typical human is male only by a whisker: there are 1.01 men in the world for every woman. By 2030, China will lose its top population status, and the most typical human will be a person from India.” 

So: you and I, according to the United Nations estimate, can be seen as: 1 over 7,000,000,000! We are pretty insignificant if you put it that way. Chances are you do not see yourself in that light. Here in Canada we are relatively affluent… insulated from any real poverty and the hordes and hordes of people such a number conjures up. Other than getting stuck in traffic while sitting in our automobiles or shopping in a mall a couple of days before Christmas, we don’t really feel the effects of such a number. Indeed, the world is changing in other ways as well: witness the explosion in knowledge. I suppose I should qualify that... I am referring to technological knowledge. Recent ‘techo’advances are the stuff of science fiction: computers now drive cars in traffic, can translate between human languages effectively, and beat the best human Jeopardy players and chess players. The rate of change is mind-boggling. Where will it all end? 

I am not saying the earth is over-populated. I am not so much concerned with over-population which is a relative term… I mean who says when and what constitutes overpopulation... as I am concerned with the sheer insignificance of the individual such a number might suggest and how that number plus the extreme speed of technological advance is affecting us.
All this makes me think of Advent and how the whole earth is groaning in anticipation. The theme of readings and teachings during Advent is meant to prepare for the Second Coming while commemorating the First Coming. And it’s the Second Coming that this business of 7 billion world population puts me in mind of. 


The apostle Paul writes in Romans 8: 22- 25:  “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to son-ship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no  hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."

Millions of us, maybe not 7 billion, but millions nonetheless, are waiting for the promise to be fulfilled. In the meantime both my wife and I wish all 7 billion of you a happy, blessed and safe Christmas.