A country drive

Had occassion to take a tour the other day down Walkerton way. Don't see those roads much anymore. For a couple years around the turn of the century I saw them every day, because me and my old pal Jimmy used to carpool from Walkerton to our teaching jobs in Owen Sound. County roads and Townlines and Concession roads all the way through an hour's worth of rolling hills and pastoral vistas. If you absolutely must have a job that requires commuting, a commute that calms your nerves and soothes your senses is the one you want. I was on my way to lunch with another old friend, a guy who makes his living ferrying ultra-lethal military-related goodies back and forth across the border. That obviously requires the absolutely highest levels of security clearances. I've known this dude since we were teens, and how he got that is a complete mystery to me. Suffice it to say if he makes a habit of lunching with the pot-addled anti-semitic hillbilly communist, he might not get the next one! Back in the day there was a lot of local excitement about a new furniture plant going in at Chesley, roughly the half-way point in that commute. Durham Furniture, a high-quality manufacturer that's been around since the 1800s, was investing $38 millions in a brand-new state-of-the-art factory. Many of our students were hired. Within two years they went tits-up. I've heard China's entry into the WTO destroyed our fine-furniture industry, but that could just be Yellow Peril propaganda for all I know. Unfortunately Jimmy didn't last all that long after our commuting days. He succumbed to cancer just a few years later. Oddly enough, his younger brother died of the same cancer just a few years after that. Both of them had apprenticed into the machine trades. A few years later there was a class action launched against 3M and Dupont on behalf of all the millwrights, machinists, tool & die guys and mechanics who died young because they'd spent years absorbing toxic chemicals through their skin as part of their jobs. Don't know if they ever got any compensation. So I spend a two hour+ lunch with Buddy, and holy moly, does this guy have some insights into the trucking biz. He's been around it for over 50 years and has seen the changes. The main change is the composition of the workforce. Used to be mostly whites and a few blacks in Canada, and closer to a black-white-Latino mix once you crossed the border. In fact, JB Hunt, a major American trucking concern, had its HQ just around the corner from the Arkansas State Penetentiary and was famous for providing employment opportunities to ex-cons who had paid their debt to society. Now it's 90% guys with turbans on both sides of the border! But that's not always a bad thing. Carrying guns and ammo across the border requires literally binders worth of paperwork. It involves an absolutely incognito truck stripped, for obvious reasons, of all comm tech, and scanned for tracking devices every time it's loaded. The company that employs Buddy tried to dump him back when he balked at the covid shot. Turns out it really helps to know your way around those binders if you hope to get through customs in a timely manner. He gradually got most of his job back as the clamour over covid died down. He claims it's routine to be waiting with a dozen or two dozen drivers in the US Customs holding area to clear their paperwork, and being the only white guy in the room. For some obscure reason, it's apparently quicker for a white guy to get through US Customs than for a brown dude with a turban. After lunch I mosied up what is generally known as the Elora Road, which terminates in Southampton, just west of Saugeen Indian Reservation #29. Gotta drop into my favorite pot shop and reload! I've only ever bought anything at a gov pot shop once, and across the board your gonna save probably 75% by shopping at the rez. Over the years, quite a few kids from Saugeen First Nation came through my classroom. In my 25 years of watching the education system circle the drain, one of the very few bright spots is we're now seeing Indigenous boys in high school much more. It was rare in 1995. By the time I retired, it was normal, and they were often among my best students. And let me point out that had far more to do with culture change in their community than with anything the ed system did. So, I got home with a full belly and four fresh vapes, 2 indica and 2 hybrid. My final observation has to do with this region's fast-fading reputation as Ontario's cattle country. There are actually more cattle than ever, but you don't see nearly as many. That's because what you see a lot more of is feedlots. A guy up the road put one in a year ago. Six million bucks for a 600 head barn where they stand in front of a giant automated feed trough and do nothing but eat and shit 24/7 until they hit the abattoir. I drive by the place twice a day and have never seen a cow. I guess that's farming today. I'm pleased to rent my pastures to a old-school father-son team who believe in cattle roaming the meadows, eating grass, and providing me cow-views from every window! That's worth a lot in my world. Sadly, they and their herd are endangered species.

So Canadian, eh?

Took a drive out to Tuggy's Gas and Variety on the Saugeen Indian Reserve today, to gas up and pick up a little bud. The gas is about ten cents cheaper than off reserve, and their pot shops undercut the government pot shops by half or better.

Not that I need weed, but once in awhile I want a change of pace from my own home-grown. After PM Fluffy legalized the weed 'o wisdom, pretty much every smoke shop, variety store, and gas bar out there opened a cannabis dispensary. At some level I suppose I'm cheating the government out of some tax revenues by patronizing Indigenous establishments, but I see it as doing my part for reconciliation.

Over the years I had quite a few kids from this community pass through my classroom. One of the rare success stories from my time in teaching was how the participation rate for male students has improved. Thirty years ago you didn't see many Indigenous young men in high school. It was almost as if it was a cultural taboo.

The last few years before I retired, there didn't seem to be a stigma anymore, and many of those young men were thriving.

Most homes and businesses displayed "Every Child Matters" banners. You see quite a few of those off reserve too, but not like this. That's a sharp reminder of the long and disgraceful history of Indian-government relations in this country.

One little shop had a sign out front that was almost as big as the store. 

Top line; Every Child Matters.

Second line; Go Leafs Go.

So Canadian, eh!