Storms, damage, rebuilding and the Darwin Awards

Ever get stuck with the uneasy feeling that despite our ability to create devices like iPods and build steel buildings and overpasses, we are completely at the mercy of natural events?

CNN Money is reporting that damage from Hurricane Irene could be in the billions. The storm resulted in at least 35 deaths and has left more than 5 million people without power along the eastern coast of the U.S., according to media reports.

Today the CBC is reporting on the storm hitting the east coast of Canada. I felt compelled to add a link to their story because of the image of the father and daughter scampering up the rocks away from the pounding waves. I am not a parent and try not to judge the decisions of people who make and manage to keep alive little people. But seriously? A storm has resulted in the deaths of more than 35 people and as it approaches you decide to take the kid down to get a closer look?

Now for some good news closer to home.

About a week ago a tornado touched down in Goderich, resulting in the death of one man, ripping the roofs off buildings, and uprooting trees in the city square. Several of my family members - who are all okay - live in Goderich. It is where my mother grew up, is an extremely pretty place and it would be a real shame if the damage meant that some of the older buildings had to be torn down. Today the London Free Press is reporting that many of the historic buildings can be restored. Hoping they get the funds and support they need.

Back to the father of that young lady on the rocks. Trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps the storm arrived without warning (outside of days of news coverage, stormy skies and every fisherman in the area strapping down every bit of gear on their boats - or taking them out of the water).

Hoping you are dry, safe and inside. If you have some time to surf the Internet, please let me suggest the this website.

The Brown Recluse Spider

Dear readers, consider this post a bit of a promise.

A recent story about a fantastic weekend spent in and around High Park and building a debris hut mentioned the presence of Brown Recluse spiders and Black Widows in Ontario. The information garnered a few comments, more specifically questioning whether there was evidence the Black Widow or the Brown Recluse made their homes in or had been spotted in our fair province. So far entomologists who have contacted me agree the Black Widow has been spotted, but the Brown Recluse has not.

I will be speaking with my instructor Skeet Sutherland next week to add his opinion to the mix and hope to add information from a few different people.  Hopefully I can also find some photos.

Looking forward to learning more about spiders. In the meantime I would invite any readers to weigh in.

Many thanks in advance.

Emily (Who thinks spiders are amazing but gets the shivers when she thinks of any eight legged creature bigger than a dime) Mathieu.

Added note: Mulling over the future spider post and hoping/ planning to include explanations on where these spiders do make their natural home in North America and how they could have ended up in and around Ontario. Hitchhiking was one suggested option and I am sure there are other personal stories that belong in that mix. I also wanted to add that clearly the province is a large, ecologically diverse place but sometimes in short article information that is important in terms of clarifying people's positions or depth of knowledge gets left out. Hoping to do a better job with the next round of spider information and looking forward to adding that detail and expanding on everyone's positions.

Goderich

I have been following the story of a tornado touching down in Goderich, but it didn't really sink in until I saw the photos.

The Star sent Colin McConnell to capture the damage. His jaw-dropping photos can be seen on the front page of the Star's website.

One man is dead and there were several injuries. My grandmother and two sets of aunts and uncles live in Goderich (everyone is fine). My mother, her sisters and brother and a cluster of my many cousins grew up hanging out in the town square. Two of my cousins pointed out that the destruction of their hometown would be a good fit for the blog.

Wendy and Jen, you are 100 per cent right. Thank you. This storm hit with little to no warning and is a good reminder why it is important to have an escape plan in place and lots of food and water in case the power gets shut down.

Hope everyone is doing as well as they can and the cleanup doesn't take too long.

 

Debris huts, spiders and getting dirty in High Park

Short story I wrote about building a debris hut with a team of 15 people in High Park. Part of an extremely fun three-day workshop with the founder of Sticks and Stones Wilderness School and organized through the P.I.N.E. Project.

Highly recommend taking this course or any of the ones offered through P.I.N.E. I have signed up for a week-long course with Sticks and Stones in September.

I am still terrified of being hurt and alone in a remote location but have to admit that knowing what I could do to keep busy - not to mention stay warm - is a big comfort.

 

 

The soon to be amazing adventures of Aly Ostrowski

Next Monday, the Star is running a story about a three-day course I took with a group called Sticks and Stones Wilderness School, part of the adult programs offered through Toronto's P.I.N.E. Project. 

The story focuses on our lesson on how to build a debris hut or shelter created out of sticks and leaves, but we also created our own bow drill kits and discussed how to find food and water in remote areas.

If you click on this link you can check out an awkward-looking photo of me using a bow-drill kit.

I am hooked and plan to head to a week-long course in early September offered by Sticks and Stones. If you don't have a week, check out what P.I.N.E offers in the way of adult workshops.

That lengthy explanation is really just a set-up for a conversation I just had with a super nice lady named Aly Ostrowski, 26, who was along for the three-day weekend and is preparing to leave for Wilderness Awareness School.

I had contacted her to ask for some photos she took and she rather casually mentioned in an email that she is about to leave for the program mentioned above and suggested I check it out.

I went to the website expecting to read about a week-long course or, at best, a month-long one. Thanks, Ostrowski, for short-circuiting my brain a little bit.

Here is a short description of what she has signed up for on the website.

"At Anake Outdoor School you experience 9 months of in-depth training in a powerful set of nature awareness and wilderness survival skills. You are guided through field studies focused on:

• primitive wilderness survival skills
• wild edible plant preparations
• principles of leadership
• nature-based mentoring skills
• wildlife tracking techniques
• bird language studies "

Amazing.

Ostrowski, who took psychology and peace conflict studies at McMaster University and recently graduated from teachers college, said her education had already brought her in contact with people with knowledge of indigenous skills and the environment.

But it was her work at the P.I.N.E summer camps this year ("best thing that ever happened" to her) that was the tipping point that pushed her in the direction of the course. She jokes that after her summer some of her family members actually became concerned about her growing infatuation with primitive skills.

When she emerges from the program, she hopes to use her expanded knowledge to teach.  

"This is a totally new chapter of my life,” said Ostrowski, when I asked her how she feels about her upcoming adventure.

“I had taken some courses with (Skeet Sutherland from Sticks and Stones and other instructors) and P.I.N.E. really helped, but I still feel like I am in kindergarten with all of this.”

She admits she is excited for the adventure side of the course, but more because she feels “drawn to a safe and intelligent and conscious community.”

“We don’t do this because we fear collapse. We do this because it is a way of life we believe in," she said.

(Dear beloved bosses) I love my job but have to admit the idea of cutting loose from computers, city streets and smog for nine months and going through what will certainly be a totally transformative experience sounds like paradise.

Dear Ostrowski, thanks for the chat, good luck and hope you send stories when you get back. Wild.

Another terrifying bear story

Despite zero black bear sightings at our cottage, I remain preoccupied with stories related to tips to avoid encounters or how to deal with attacks.

Here is a sad but incredibly interesting story from the Daily Mail that details the death of a 17-year-old boy who was mauled by a polar bear on a trip with BSES Expeditions in the Arctic.

The paper is reporting that "on August 5, the starving polar bear attacked a camp of 13 young explorers as they slept on the island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway." The group had failed to use a lookout as they slept, despite warnings to do so, according to the story.

The reporting is incredibly detailed in describing what could be failed safety measures at the campsite -- as well as problems with flares and rifles carried by the group -- including a tripwire that was improperly anchored to the ground.

The Times Live reported today that the bear may have suffered from severe tooth pain and that, in addition to starvation, could have contributed to its aggressive behaviour.

London Police release riot safety guide

 As riots and looting continue throughout the U.K., police in London have released a safety guide for city residents.

The police stress they have a plan to keep residents safe - including about 16,000 officers on the streets, according to the release - but remind people to be alert and map out travel routes to make sure they avoid affected areas.

Updates can be found on the Metropolitan Police force's Twitter feed.

Apologies to those of you who have already read this multiple times, but I feel the need to stress (again) the importance of having an emergency kit or enough food and water in your apartment to last at least 72 hours.  

I completely support the need for, and the right to, protest in groups but will never understand what prompts a person to try to burn their city down, or steal from the injured.

At least if you have food and water you can stay indoors until the worst of the group are arrested or (in a perfect world) are struck to the ground by some kind of horrific gastrointestinal disorder after stealing someone’s food.

Woman survives fall from cliff and days in woods with broken leg

The details of her story are still coming out, but I think Pamela Salant may be one of the toughest or luckiest women alive.

The 28-year-old was hiking in Mount Hood National Forest when she fell off a 50-foot cliff, seriously injuring her back and breaking her leg in two places, CNN is reporting.

During the three days she waited for rescue, she tied off a deep cut on her leg with her own underwear, tried to eat a few insects, meditated to remain calm, and covered herself with moss for warmth, according to the report. Her boyfriend told CNN she was scared but "determined" to survive.

She is recovering in an Oregon hospital and is expected to share more details about her story next week.

Black bear sightings at the cottage

 
(Photo taken by Michael Banani)

Cottage season is here. So are the bears.

There have been multiple black-bear sightings at my family cottage up near Georgian Bay.

This handsome fellow (or lady, I am no expert) was sitting on an island fairly close to the one where our cottage is located. The photograph was taken Friday and sent around to family members by my cousin.

My grandmother, who is tough as nails, is spending time up there alone right now and apparently is not that concerned. When my cousin was up last week, he said he took to “walking around with a hammer or hatchet in hand, much to Gran’s amusement.”

I am heading up in late July and hope to avoid any up-close encounters.

In May I posted tips on how to deal with Black Bears courtesy of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. I also posted a photograph of one of my favourite signs that pokes fun at the futility of trying to survive or fend off a Grizzly bear attack.

I would like to take this opportunity again to remind people who feed black bears or leave garbage out (or anything that reduces a bear's fear of humans), you are ruining summer and nature for the rest of us.

May your s'mores collapse into your campfire and half your blood get sucked out this summer by mosquitos and leeches.

P.S. I am going on holiday for about a week. Part of the time off will include a three-day survival-skills workshop offered through the P.I.N.E Project, an extremely interesting group of people who aim to reconnect youth and adults with the natural world. The bulk of their programs are summer camps for kids in city parks. The group's executive director has been patiently teaching me how to make fire with a bow-drill. I will be posting a video and story about that some time this summer.

During our last lesson (with a lot of help) I think I saw a wisp of smoke (really I only managed to burn a wee dent in the wooden board that is one of four parts of a bow drill kit) and am practising my technique at home. To my neighbours: If you see a woman on her balcony furiously rubbing what may seem like a pile of sticks together, try not to judge.  

Check out their website for information on kids and adult workshops. The course I am taking is being led by the founder of Sticks and Stones Wilderness School and will cover how to find/create shelter, water, fire and food in an emergency situation.

Have a good week and be sure to watch out for bears.

Ointment could increase chance of survival after a snake bite

One more thing to stick in your backpack. Or perhaps under your sink in your downtown apartment.  

A group of Australian researchers have determined that applying an ointment commonly used to treat angina on the site of a snake bite will slow the speed venom moves through the body.

Study author Dirk van Helden from the University of Newcastle describes the technique as working like a “chemical pressure bandage.”

Before you go slathering your snakebites with cream it should be noted that this is the first round of research and has not been approved by health officials as a recommended treatment.

You can listen to the audio and read a transcript of the interview here.