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ETT ante ' Ten "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, January 9, 2001 - 7 of the Question Week... Joan Durward How are you cop- Laura Gertsen Jim Crewe Nancy Rawlings Pam Field : : h h . Fine, | guess. I'm not Great. I love the Horrible. Every time | | hate it. There's too Fine - I've been in Ing with the winter really bothered by snow. lthasn'tbeen ~~ getupinthe moming much snow. It's get- Florida. weather SO far th is the snow. bad; the roads have | have to go outside ting to the point been good for travel- and shovel some where I'm getting S€ason: ling. more Snow. sick of shoveling it. Operation Scugog says thanks | To the Editor: throughout the day, our Page Seven Operation Scugog's warmest thank you for all of Committee members would your time and effort on sucha A NATURE AN ECDOTE iE by Jeff Mitchell like to extend our deepest thanks and appreciation to all - of the individuals and volun- teers who assisted in the Christmas Basket Campaign. We would like to thank all of the churches, schools, banks, stores and businesses, local papers, organizations, families and individuals for adopting and preparing ham- pers filled with food, gifts and toys. Operation Scugog wishes' to extend our appreciation to Pastor John Benschop and the members of the Victory Christian Centre for the use of the facilities to distribute the Christmas hampers and to the ladies of the church who provided the refreshments and lunch. We would also like to rec- ognize the following people for their contribution: John Foster, Kathy Foster, Rodd Foster, Wray Gundry, Dorothy Imperial, Janice Kavanagh, Erin MacMaster, Muriel MacMaster, Doris McMahon, Fred McMahon, Pastor Cindy Peck, Linda Smith, Lois Taylor, Kathy Tweedy, Victor Walker, Andrea Wanninkhof, Kip Wilson and to all of the volunteers who assisted cold day. It was also a pleasure to see the high school stu- dents bringing in and carrying out the hampers with so much enthusiasm. Operation Scugog was also able to provide the following organizations and individuals with special Christmas items: - Monetary donations were given to Central Seven and the C.O.PEE. program to buy gifts for their residents and participants. The residents of Chateau Blue Manor received gifts of clothing, toiletries and candies. Many residents in the Port Perry and Blackstock area who take partin the luncheon date, the Friendly Visitors and Meals on Wheels participants all received boxes of cookies. We have provided 160 fam- ilies with a much brighter Christmas holiday. Your tremendous support during the Christmas season and throughout the year has made volunteering so gratifying and rewarding. Thank you for your tremen- dous support. Itis in the giving that we receive. Kathyrn Gundry and Anne Wanninkhof Ona concession road in the northern part of the township, there is a tree which stands alone in the front yard of a home, set fields. High up in the tree, on a thick limb, is a dead out stiffly on either side of it. No wind, blizzard or gale has dislodged the corpse from its peculiar perch. When the tree sways, the raccoon does so with it, a.macabre dance played to the tune of the winter wind. : How long he's been there is anyone's guess, | suppose. He became evident only after all the leaves had fallen from the tree, a maple, | believe, and its skeletal remains were exposed. Equally mysterious is the cause of death. Foul play seems unlikely, because a) the chances of a coon flopping quietly on a branch after being shot would seem slim, and b) who the hell shoots coons? coon, huffing and puffing after the long climb up the tree, might easily perch on a branch to rest a spell, consider the pleasant countryside, and - urk! - sud- denly expire, that tiny throbbing muscle in his fleshy chest lurching to a halt. All four of his stubby limbs might extend, rattle about a bit for a time, and then come to a rest in just the position they are now frozen. Maybe the coon was going about his business, 'among dormant hay and corn raccoon. He is perched there solidly, his chinand™ belly resting on the branch, his four legs splayed My guess is some sort of cardiac event. An old rooting through trash cans and digging for grubs, when he was set upon by a dog: The coon bolts, the dog gives chase, nipping at the rodent's fat behind. The coon spies the only tree in the immediate vicinity as his avenue of escape and scampers up... only to pass away from the exertion. Whatever the case, the coon has become some- thing of a symbol for me. | check on his status when | pass by that way in daylight. Every time he is still there, sometimes swaying in the bitter wind, some- times still, often with a blanket of snow thrown like a cold white shawl over his back, sometimes without. His frozen carcass is like a flag, flying defiantly in the face of an enemy attack. | What does this carcass symbolize? Winter, maybe... perhaps the death of all things in this cruel season. Maybe futility. Maybe triumph. 'Maybe comedy. Maybe it's just damned funny to see a big, fat coon high up in a tree, dead as my left boot but stubbornly clinging to that branch, no matter what. Whatever the case, | will monitor this corpse. As long as he is up there, frozen stiff and hilariously clinging to that branch, it is winter. Winter sustains this condition. When spring comes - well, it's probably best not to think about spring, because we know what will happen. Nature takes its course. All things live, then die. Ashes to ashes, efc. We're all on the road to the same destination. Random Jottings by J. Peter Hvidsten LET THE HOLIDAY BEGIN Christmas doesn't really end for many parents until after the children return to school, so you can be sure that when the kids headed out the door Monday morning, there was a sigh of relief in many homes. This past week saw many moms and dads cart- ing youngsters off to friends and relatives, before heading off to work to try and pay off some of the huge Christmas bills. Juggling work schedules (no, not everyone got two weeks off), arranging for day care; zipping off to ski lessons, hockey games and skating; going to the movies, and visiting friends and relatives can be an exhausting experience, and the holiday sea- son is filled with lots of these activities. But despite all this activity, it was apparent, at least at our house, as the final few days of the week wound down, the kids were beginning to get restless, bored and lazy. Too many sleepovers, too many late nights, too much junk food, too much time to fill... they just got plain bored, grumpy and tired. Mornings were spent lazing around in front of the television or on the computer for hours on end, still clad in the pajamas. They've watched so many episodes of The Simpsons | can't get the sound of Bart and Homer's theme song out of my ears. The kids' daily schedules were so far out of whack, they started to believe it was normal for pre- teens to go to bed near midnight, then sleep in until all hours of the morning. Surprise! Monday morning came early. As a matter of fact, we have to get ours up about 6:45 a.m. to catch the old yeller school bus about an hour later. After crawling out of bed, they arrive at the breakfast table usually only half dressed, hair look- ing like bird's nest and eyes still at half mast. It takes continual prodding of "hurry up, you'll miss the bus," and constant reminders that the socks clutched in their fist should be on their feet, to get them moving. Trying to find out what they want for breakfast is like trying to pry out a family secret, and we usually end up placing something, toast, cereal or a bagel, in front of them in hopes they will eat. They usually do, but pick away at it like a bird, working their way around crusts or anything else that might deter their progress. After breakfast, if you could call it that, it's off to brush hair and teeth, finish dressing and pack their lunches and books ihto back packs. "Here comes the bus," brings them up to full speed, as boots are pulled on and they run out of the door with open coats flapping in the cold winter air, and backpacks dragging along the ground. Inside the routine is about to start all over, as we descend the stairs to awaken our sleeping teen. So you can see, while Christmas holidays are a great time of the year for kids, for the parents, the holiday really beings when the kids return to school. Happy holidays, mom and dad!