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6- The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday May 31, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Commentary Guest Columnist Try to be water wise with lawn and garden Gary Carr, Halton Regional Chair ater is an essential need, so ensuring you have clean, safe and top quality drinking water is important to us. Water is also a precious resource that needs to be protected and conserved. It may seem that we have an endless supply of water from Lake Ontario, but we can all play a stewardship role in protecting and preserving our water supply, now and for future generations. With the warmer weather approaching and many of us beginning to work on our lawns and gardens, now is a good time to think about outdoor water efficiency. Households use millions of litres of clean, treated drinking water to maintain traditional lawns and gardens. If you want to know how you can spend less time watering this summer, then I encourage you to sign up for a free consultation from Halton's Water Efficiency Landscape Advisor. The Landscape Advisor will visit your home and provide water efficiency tips and tools to assist you in using less water while maintaining a healthy landscape. To book your free water efficiency landscape visit this summer, please contact 905-825-6000 or toll-free 1-866-442-5866 or TTY: 905-827-9833, e-mail, accesshalton@halton.ca. By reducing outdoor water use, you can minimize your impact on the environment, extend the life cycle of Halton's water supply, reduce pressure on our water treatment systems at peak times, and even save money on your water bill. There are occasions when extended periods of hot, dry weather can put a strain on our system at peak times. As a result Halton may put water use restrictions in effect to ensure an adequate supply for essential household needs and for firefighting. Any restrictions put in place will be publicized to the community. We would like to encourage everyone to be Water Wise, a little conservation by all of us can make a significant difference. Here are some tips for outdoor watering: · Plant water efficient, drought tolerant plants. · Use a rain gauge on your lawn to measure how much rain you're received and if you even need to water. Remember your lawn generally needs at most, only 2.5 cm (1 inch) of water weekly, delivered by soaking it once or twice. Pick up your free rain gauge at Halton Region's main office or your local municipal office. ·Set your mower blade to 6 to 8 centimetres (two to three inches) high -- taller grass shades the roots and helps the soil stay moist. · If you have a built-in irrigation system, adjust accordingly and install moisture sensors to avoid using automatic irrigation systems during, or right after significant rainfall. If you're not sure how to do this, contact the company that installed your system. To learn more about water efficiency outside your home and inside, contact Halton Region or visit www.halton.ca/waterconservation. Gary Carr NEIL OLIVER Publisher DAVID HARVEY General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager Metroland Media Group Ltd. includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Caledon Enterprise, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, City Parent, Collingwood/Wasaga Connection, East York Mirror, Erin Advocate/Country Routes, Etobicoke Guardian, Flamborough Review, Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press, Harriston Review, Huronia Business Times, Lindsay This Week, Markham Economist & Sun, Midland/Penetanguishine Mirror, Milton MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA ANCHOR Circ. Manager WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver is a division of IAN OLIVER Group Publisher Media Group Ltd. Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora EraBanner, Northumberland News, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Oakville Shopping News, Oldtimers Hockey News, Orillia Today, Oshawa/Whitby/Clarington Port Perry This Week, Owen Sound Tribune, Palmerston Observer, Peterborough This Week, Picton County Guide, Richmond Hill/Thornhill/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror, Stouffville/Uxbridge Tribune, Forever Young, City of York Guardian RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America W THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville TV AUCTION When parenting 12-year-old daughter, you need to try I don't know whether the guys in Blue Rodeo are raising any daughters, but the lyrics for their 1987 hit Try are apropos to anyone who is: "Ah, don't you know you've got to try..." Try. Assuring your 12-year-old daughter it's okay, that everybody gets anxiety -- although, grant her that her jumbled genes undoubtedly make her slightly more susceptible -- and reassure her she's not going nuts, her innumerable fears are founded and the world is indeed a pretty crazy place. Life is the theatre of the absurd. Normal is abnormal. Try. Explaining why the ruling junta in Myanmar refused to allow aid into the cyclone-ravaged country for what seemed like an eternity while its citizens struggled, suffered and died in the wake of the storm, and the prevailing stupidity. See if her sensitive young mind can wrap itself around this Myanmar mystery. Talk of xenophobia and paranoia and then marvel at how intuitive and intelligent she is when she takes it all in and observes: "They (the junta) must really have a lot to hide." Try. Determining a gentle and diplomatic way to tell her that, while you love her and trust her judgment and her ability to make sound decisions, you're not, um, altogether enamoured with one of her choices for friendship ­ that being the young girl who you and your wife think, in your darker moments, may well be wearing the crown of Most Likely To Be Pregnant before she even enters high school. Try. Initially ignoring and eventualAndy Juniper ly half-heartedly explaining the term erectile dysfunction. Because in a three-hour basketball telecast, during which she's hanging around and fiddling on Facebook, there are no less than a dozen ads for the medical malady, making it somehow seem like the biggest threat facing mankind today. Oh, and don't blush at the ad's final warning that you probably should seek medical attention -- or buy baggy pants -- should your erection last longer than four hours. Do you think? Try. Refraining from tugging your old gray hairs out of your aging scalp when she sits down to relax, begins thumbing through an issue of People magazine and spots a story about unprovoked wild coyote attacks on young kids in California. We have wild coyotes around our property, she solemnly notes. And you can see her fertile imagination conjuring up wily coyotes that chase her down the lane. Try. Making her believe you and your wife aren't the two meanest people on Earth. It's just that you have certain rules by which she must abide. It's just that you won't allow her to be up all night talking on the telephone and pecking at the computer keys. It's just that you don't want to be raising one of those kids you see hanging out at the mall all the time. Try. Reminding her that she is 12. Only 12. And she has the rest of her life to be all grown up. And she really should relax and have a blast being a kid while she can. Try. Letting her know that while life can indeed be unjust and absurd, it can also be beautiful beyond words. And while we often have precious little control over what happens in our lives, what we can actually control is how we react to what happens. Don't you know we've got to try? Andy Juniper can be visited at his Web site, www.strangledeggs.com, or contacted at ajuniper@strangledeggs.com.