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Orono Weekly Times, Wednesday,January 23, 2002 - 3 Young spinsters Holly Dillon and Angelica Rowlands tried their hands at spinning spinning yam on a drop spindle. The Orono Guide group is working on their Heritage Badge. r v _ X From Around Home by Roy Forrester j It Snows . . It's Winter by Roy Forrester It just can't be winter even If the month on the calendar calendar is headlined either December or January. There has to be snow on the * ground and not just a skiff here or there. It took a while in coming but it's here at least for the time being. It would have been rather disappointing if we had passed through January and February with 1 out any snow. The four seasons are one of the things that I like about this country and I would not have it any Other way. There is nothing to mourn about now since the snow finally dropped from above, •' It brought out the skis mid last week with tracks to be set in the Ganaraska Forest just off Carscadden Road and then north*. It's a favourite for me, a gentle incline going north for an hour and then southerly bound with very little effort. I would call it a breeze. ' Mentioning this trail, you are invited to take part in an ORTA event this Saturday commencing at 1 p.m. Turn east from Hwy. 115 at tire 8th Concession, travel east. ,1.4 kms. to Carscadden Road then north .4 kms. • On this outing We did make a' sighting of at least 60 to 70 Evening Grosbeaks perched in the bare hardwoods hardwoods along the edge of a pine, plantation, the latter possibly being one of their feed sources. I have seen this species in the same area in other years and they do flock in the winter. These bird§ can arrive in niid fall, October, to then return north in April. 1 An interesting report of three Red Crossbills made by a couple living south of the tree nursery area came on Sunday when again it was another winter outing with the skis. „ I would have enjoyed seeing the trio, for this bird has not been in my sight for some time. The Red Crossbill .is a colourful bird and is stated to not stay in one place for any length of time. They do call-out when in flight. Sunday provided the opportunity of sighting a Northern Schrik, all markings markings oq display, in the Tree Nursery Land. It was perched atop a hardwood tree. I had lots of time to ? view thé bird and remained doing so until it dived into shrubs behind a small knoll. 1 should have remained for awhile to see if it reappeared. reappeared. It preys on smaller smaller birds and that could be a Chickadee. For those wishing to sight Wild Turkeys I have it from a good source that they can be seen north on Mercer Road east of Kendal. Had a call from Doug Ferguson back on the 8th Concession that he had a rare breed of European Starling, having speckled spots that were quite prominent. prominent. I can remember seeing a mass flock of female Starlings a number of years ago abutting the Wilmot Creek, Newcastle and they certainly were covered with iridescent spots. I guess the fact is we don't pay too much attention if it's a Starling, but it is a fact that they do change in colour somewhat from season season to season. The weather has been somewhat spring-like back a week or two and perhaps the birds felt it was time to get out their spring wardrobe. Over the weekend the Goldfinch were very active at the feeder and even provided entertainment for the great grandchildren. A Tour ' • Of Durham Ron Cowan of south Orono dropped off a Video Cassette on Sunday, providing providing Donna and I with a most interesting tour of Durham County dating back to the period of 1934 to 1938. You name it and we Were there on Sunday if it was part of Durham. Orono was not excluded from the show. A shot of someone coming out of the printing office had to be prior to our time by a few years, not that many. It is interesting to take time to see what we were like back in the thirties arid a lot of the thirties can still be identified today especially in the rural area communities. Farming has certainly changed over the years, most coming in the last decade or so. Farming is a whole new world today. Donna picked out, as a definite, Mrs. Ces Powers when Kirby came to the fore. This didn't happen too often with the exception of a shot of a street parade in Bowmanville headed by the Orono Brass Band. Sure enough there was, Milt Tamblyn out in front, and that was a positive. It made for an interesting interesting couple of hours. 'Thanks Ron." , RECYCLE (continued from page 1) ways out to the road, however, however, they do not have the resources available to build roads. In a letter to Ms. Kaye McOustra Chair, of the Clarke School Council, Minister Janet Ecker stated, "Under the Education Act, the , school board is responsible for the provision of a safe school environment for the students in its jurisdiction. The government government provides annual grants to each school board for both school operation and school renewal, so they are able to address that responsibility" responsibility" Willsher says the school board simply doesn't have the money in their budget to build the road. "The money we get from the province is already inadequate to maintain our buildings"' stated;Willsher. Based on the municipal formula for road building of about $700,000 per kilometre, Willsher estimates the cost of building a roadway up to the school from the 3rd concession concession at roughly $1.5 million. There is an unopened municipal road allowance running north/south behind the school which is an extension extension of Arthur Street in Newcastle. M.P.P. John Ç 'Toole maintains road construction construction costs would be more in the neighbourhood of $6 million. , , Regional ■ Councillor Charlie Trim stated at previous previous School Council meetings, the municipality can not afford to build a road without the benefit of lot levies. The necessary levies will only be available once residential development reaches the north end of Newcastle. In a telephone conversation. conversation. with The Times Monday night,' Trim stated, "One option the Municipality was prepared to entertain, was to open up the road and lease it to the Board of Education for $1 a year. The Municipality would not bring it up to municipal standards, but the road could be used for emergency emergency purposes. It might be rough, but it would get the students out," Trim stated. Trim sees the safety of the students as primarily a Provincial responsibility, however opening the road : allowance under those conditions conditions would not cost the taxpayers taxpayers in Clarington a lot of money. A resolution was unanimously unanimously passed at the January 8th meeting of the Clarke School Council, to petition the School Board, the Region of Durham, the Municipality of Clarington and the Province of Ontario to support support action to initiate installation installation of an alternate access to the school site. The resolution was adopted adopted following a round-table meeting which was attended by M.P.P. John O'Toole, Regional Councillor Charlie Trim,'Chair of the Kawartha Pine Ridge School Board Bob Willsher and Mr. Wayne Bell from the MTO. The meeting, according to Clarke Principal Ms. Foy was ■ very positive in. trying to get, all the agencies to play a role , in seeking a solution, and to work together. "No one has a pot full of money to make it happen," stated Foy, adding "there is no overnight solution to this issue." . Happenings Saturday, January 26th - Annual Meeting of Durham Central Agricultural* Society, Orono Arena, 1:00 p.m. For more information 905-983-9510. OPP Bear Hug Band, Musical Concert, Clarington Bepch Centre, 26 Beech Ave., Bowmanville, 7:30 p.m. Refreshments will be provided. Tickets $12.00, available at door. Call 905-697-2856. Sunday, January 27th - Kendal LOL 450 would like to invite you to help Norm MacGilivary celebrate his 80th Birthday, 2 - 4 p.m., Kendal Qrange Hall. Best wishes only. Main Street; Orono Proprietors: Gary & Carol Vreeker • Wedding Catëes • • Cafces for all Occasions • Pastries - Donuts - Pies • Bread &SwnS 905-983-9779 Closed Sunday and Monday