Des elections cet automne, Ya juste un plan pour le Quebec....

You are being monitored

Wilderness camping - Some people unclear on concept

Wilderness camping - that is camping in the middle of nowhere, with no electricity, no hot water, no washrooms, no garbage cans etc.   If you're going to be camping in the wilderness, the first thing you have to take into consideration is to leave the area you've been at in the same pristine condition as you found it. 

The campsite rule. You must leave the campsite in as good or better condition then you found it in. That means you do not leave your empty beer bottles or pop cans. You don't leave your candy bar wrappers or your box of cereal lying around.  Since there is no washrooms, there is nothing wrong with leaving your urine or feces in the woods. It will decompose and make compost for the forest.  HOWEVER do not leave your toilet paper or wet wipes, tampons, pads or condoms. Those can all be burned, if fires are permitted because it's not too dry, or they can be collected in a bag and thrown out later. 

It is particularly disgusting and revolting to get to a wilderness campsite and wander the woods around it to find all these little mounds of toilet paper, not one or two but 30 or 40. Please people have some consideration. Bleached toilet paper takes longer to decompose then your excrement.

If you're going to burn wood, look for dead trees. DO NOT CUT LIVE TREES. For starters wet wood just makes smoke and really doesn't burn well, secondly you're destroying a live thing. Any forest has plenty of dead trees. You can tell because it has no leaves, no needles, it's very dry and if standing if you push it a little it will just fall down. Or alternatively it's already on the ground. 

It sucks to go to places like Lac Vert, off the beaten path to find that some asshole has been there before me and left traces of his passage.

Le roi de la patate

Riviere du Loup near six chutes in Mastigouche

On the way back from Mastigouche wildlife reserve, we stopped in Saint-Alexis-des-Monts at a mom and pop type of diner, called "Le roi de la patate". The service wasn't particularly good. The 2 women working the kitchen were overwhelmed because we arrived at the height of lunch hour on  a Sunday.

Riviere du Loup near six chutes in Mastigouche

However despite the fact it took a while to get our order and the like, the fries were some of the best fries I've had in a  lunch time. They rival Lafleurs or Belle PRo fries... except the grease has no weird aftertaste.

Some wildlife of Mastigouche

Purple Damsel

Grey Jay or Canada Jay

Grey Jay

Gray Jay

Dragonly with red on back

Dragonfly with green head

Red-tailed Hawk

We canoe on Lac Sorcier

Lac du Sorcier

One of the lakes in Mastigouche wildlife reserve is called le Sorcier, or the wizard. Legend has it that there was a wizard on the big island in the lake that would make strange sounds and prevent people from sleeping around the lake. 

It makes me wonder if this is why the campsite is past a small island at the far end of the lake. You can't hear what goes on there from other parts of the lake. Before we went canoeing we also went to explore the camping called Le Sorcier. We figured out there was one spot we'd really like to get, and from what I can see it's almost always reserved. No kidding, it's a lone spot at the end of this campsite, and you can get your canoe directly into the water from there. Most of the other spots at Sorcier you have to portage your canoe down a really steep incline. You might as well bring it to the boat launch across the bay where we put our canoe in the water. 

Lac du Sorcier

After exploring the campground at le sorcier, we took off in Canoe it was around 12:30. We paddled for about an hour and landed on a big rock on one side of the lake to have a picnic and to bake a bit in the sun. My companion had been cold earlier in the day and he enjoyed baking.  From the rock we saw what looked like a beach across the lake. 

Walking on the beach of Lac du Sorcier

I didn't figure it was all the way across the lake. It was, but we paddled it anyways. Along the top of the lake there is a long area with a sandy beach. I'm figuring it's probably not that visible some of the time if the water is higher, but this year the water levels are low, it's very dry, so this year there's a nice beach. 

We hung out at the beach for about an hour and a half. We swam a bit, we walked along the beach and saw all sorts of animal tracks. We saw at least 1 hoofed animal, deer, or caribou. TOo small to be a moose. We also saw dog tracks, so wolf, or coyote, large cat tracks, which I don't think was a Lynx so maybe cougar or bobcat, and something either racoonish or beaverish as tracks.  My buddy also saw a grass snake but could not find it to show me. We also saw some frogs and lots of dragonflies. 

The point where the beach was on top of Lac du Sorcier

The lake of course has a pair of loons which were swimming with their baby.  We also saw some other form of duck, we saw one red tailed hawk too I think. The lake was quite peaceful. Despite the fact it was construction holiday we only saw a total of 8 people on the lake. 6 in Kayaks and 2 in a canoe. That was it. 

Ironically it was more quiet then Lac Vert! Less people! At some point sitting in the middle of lac sorcier, just letting the waves carry us, all I could hear was the breathing of my friend. I could not hear another sound. No human sounds, no animal sounds. Just a touch of wind in the distance in the trees.

Lac du Sorcier

By the time we got back to our car it was 7:30 pm. We figure we paddled about 5 hours total. We didn't see the extremities of the lake either. Maybe another time. 

Camping and canoing at Mastigouche

Riviere du loup in Mastigouche at sunset

I left work at noon on Friday and by 2:30 pm we had loaded the truck, attached the canoe and were on our way. Since it was construction holiday I figured we'd get a lot of traffic so I decided to take the road less travelled. We took the 440 to the 25, and then at the end of the 25, went towards Joliette, and from there made our way to Saint-Alexis-des-Monts.  It took a while and we got there for 6pm. It probably didn't help we stopped 30 minutes at the Canadian Tire in Joliette to get propane. 

Campsite 10 at Dickerman in Mastigouche

In Saint-Alexis-des-Monts there was confusing road signs. I figured I'd use google maps on my phone BUT I had no reception. However there was enough of a map and the GPS location that I was able to find the right road and make it to the Acceuil des pins.  I had hoped to camp at Lac Sorcier, but there's only like 12 spots there, and being construction holiday they were all taken or at least reserved. We ended up camping at a campground called Dickerman which was about 20km from Lac Sorcier along la Riviere du loup, which we couldn't even  go in at the level we were at with our canoe because of six falls. 

Red Squirrel eating toilet paper that had sausage grease on it

We lucked out at Dickerman. We took a spot that only had one spot close to it. Spots 10 and 11 were paired but far bigger then the spot we had a Sugarloaf. We also lucked out that although the spot 11 was reserved for the week-end, no one showed up so we were isolated from everyone else at our spot, and had reasonable amounts of piece and quiet

Documented deaths exceed 20,000 in Syria

The Syrian Press... so predictable...

If you're with the regime, you're honorable person. The minute a woman is no longer with the regime, she's just a prostitute. It amazes me how as soon as someone says they aren't with the regime, suddenly they are just bad people. 

I'm not sure how the Syrian government justifies having a PROSTITUTE as it's attache in Cyprus. I mean that should require an explanation other then "She defected". Who hires prostitutes to serve in their embassies? Apparently SYRIA!!!! 

So Bashar, spent anytime with a prostitute lately? How does Asma handle your choice of friends? 

Words of Wisdom

What other people think of me is none of MY business!

It's THEIR problem, not MY problem :) 

Since Techie/Nerdy has become cool, everyone wants to be a techie

Some people fail at being geek savvy miserably. Like the monitor repair company, that despite being a company that repairs monitors, they did not have 1 displayport card at their disposal to verify the repairs they make on displayport monitors.  Thankfully the monitors I got back from this outfit actually worked in displayport. The part they replaced affected all ports, and once it was replaced they all worked.

Today one of my employes went to the IT department to get a 6ft displayport cable, he needed one for one of his displayport monitors. Some of the 6ft cable we have have flaky latches and the plastic just breaks into our hands during simple use.  So he needed a new cable. The IT person who was on duty offered him many HDMI cables, but in the end could not find one displayport cable. His solution was to use another port on his monitor.  This might be a fine and dandy answer if he were talking to an employee that used 1 PC and used it to do work. This is not a fine answer to a person who is currently testing graphic cards with displayport connectors and yes we have to test connectivity and it's hard to do without the specific cable. 

I mean he could have offered to see if there was cables on order, and also if there were not to put some on order. Also he could offer to contact my employee when the said cable came in. All that could have been helpful, at least we'd have an ETA for the cable. As it stands, I'm going to have to order 6ft displayport cables in a rush because  well someone screwed up and I'm going to end up with new LCDs with no  displayport cables in the days that follow. 

I don't know if this guy is lazy or just a really bad tech, but he's often less then helpful. If I can help it I usually deal with the other 2 guys that work in the department. One of them I haven't seen in a while so I'm wondering if he's on vacation, sick leave, or if he left.  The other I know is off this week, he was there last week and he's my first choice as person to speak to when I need help, although the other guy can help too. He'd know which cables I wanted without needing a map. He'd tell me if when he'd get some in stock if he didn't have any in stock. 

Yeah nerdy might be hotter, but it's hotter if you actually know what you're talking about.  I know so many people who think they are so hot because they know buzzwords. Like wow.  I don't necessarily retain all the buzzwords, but I know how things work and I want to vomit when I hear a bunch of guys around me all try to one up each other talking PC and most of them have no clue what they are talking about, but they think they do because they talk the talk! 

I was nerdy, geeky and a redhead way before it became cool. Not because it was cool but because it is a reflection of who I really am.  Just saying...

July 22nd was no different

Students have been having marches the 22nd of each month since March, and July 22nd was no different. While the daily marches have petered out with the summer heat, the marches on the 22nd have not. 

Students are getting ready to continue their protests in the fall, and hopefully if there are fall elections, all the youth will be going to the polls and making their opinions known. Maybe Charest will NOT get in again and it will change the political climate in Quebec. 

If I drank Whiskey I'd drink Jack Daniels

They wrote the nicest cease and desist letter I've ever read. They are telling the guy that when he reprints, they would like him to change the cover.

Niqab ni Maitre

Syria - let's hope it's the final stretch

I haven't written about Syria in weeks. I haven't shown up to events in weeks. It's not that I've lost interest, I just find it harder and harder to hear about more deaths. You'd think I'd be somewhat desensitized. I've stopped looking at gruesome video's for months now. After watching them for months I could not see the dead and the maimed anymore. I don't need to watch the videos or see the images. I just read about the number of deaths in that day and I see the images and the videos still running in my head. Once you've seen this type of violence it's hard to unsee it.  

I so feel for the children in Syria witnessing things that should never happen that even adults cannot deal with and yet they are stuck in the middle. They see all the carnage, they see what happens to those who are against the army and the Assad government. 

The red cross has started calling what's going on in Syria a civil war.  Lately there has been high end defections from the regime. There's also this excellent opinion piece by Maher Arar. 

I keep hoping that tomorrow I'm going to hear that Bashar Al Assad stepped down and that the Syrian people will be able to choose their leader, but until then I will keep lighting candles for the martyrs and keep praying the opposition finally depose of Assad.

How to stay hydrated during heat wave

We pack our things and head back home.

I was upset the week was over. I think I could have lived for several weeks enjoying doing nothing or just going to canoe a bit and explore the wilderness. It was too short a full week. Sigh.

Doesn't the dog look thrilled to be canoeing?
Photographer: Nina Haigh

This dragonfly was next to our vehicles as we left

We were camping under the biggest pine tree on the island

You can't tell from this distance where the tent is.

Here you start noticing it.

The tent seen under the pine

Under the big old pine

We go swim in le Reservoir du Poisson blanc

Dog enjoying the canoe ride.

Four of us decided to go on a day trip and went all the way to the Poison blanc reservoir. My friends were not planning on bringing their dog, since it makes it harder to surprise wildlife with a dog, but the dog decided it was coming. They left the dog with their friends but the dog decided to swim to the canoe  :) Apparently the dog likes to ride in the canoe.

Dragonfly at beaver lake

 It was 2 portages. We carried our canoes through the first one, but just walked the 2nd one, which was much longer and through a swamp. We got to paddle through 2 small beaver lakes and walk along the third one since it's too marshy to canoe through. 

At reservoir du Poisson blanc.
Yellow and black dragonfly

The beaver lakes had interesting vegetation and animals. Lots of dragonflies and birds. We tried to get photos of a big blue heron but mine turned out all fuzzy. I did better with the dragonflies both around the beaver lakes and at reservoir du poisson blanc.

They made a trip to the depanneur

Sunset in the woods

I didn't think I could find my way, so my friends made the 5 hours trip to the depanneur without me. I enjoyed the peace and quiet of being alone on my side of the island.

With the exception of the dog who came to say hello a few times, I was left to my own devices. My friend had left quite a few sick trees he had saw down earlier, so I cut some of the trees into firewood. We got this cool saw called the Sawvivor. 

It is portable and easy to carry and can saw any tree you need to cut into firewood. Very good camping purchase. MUCH SAFER to use then an AXE, and even I can cut wood with it :)

I went to the North west tip of the island to take sunset pictures. While I was walking through the woods to find a good angle for more sunset pictures I heard some weird sound so I started to look if it was a bird or a bug, turns out it was a hummingbird and I managed to see it.

But since it was dusk I wasn't able to get a really good shot of it even though I was using my telephoto lens. However I am pleased since this is the first time EVER I have been able to photograph a hummingbird. I think this was a ruby-throated one, but I could be wrong.

Hummingbird in pine tree.