Allstate-All-Canadians Mentership Cup (August 10, 2013)

Yes, I know I'm 11 days late for this, but at last I am blogging about it.  On August 10 my Dad and I went to the Allstate-All-Canadians Mentorship Cup game, an all-star game for AAA hockey players.  In the first intermission and before the game there are NHL players signing autographs, and I always look forward to that.  Last year I got Sam Gagner of the Edmonton Oilers and Martin Biron of the New York Rangers.  This year I got Matt Read of the Philadelphia Flyers and Jeff Skinner of the Carolina Hurricanes.  But I missed Brayden Schenn of the Philadelphia Flyers at the first intermission.  John Tavares of the New York Islanders wasn't there, but I still got his autograph because he, Jason Spezza of the Ottawa Senators (who was one of the coaches for the game) and some other guys had the ice at Vic Jhonson Arena before my team (I also high-fived Spezza).  So it was Team Jason Spezza VS. Team Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers.  Being a former Senators fan, I had to cheer for Team Spezza.  The first period ended in a 1-1 tie.  5-3 was the score for Giroux at the end of the second, but Team Spezza came back in the third to win the Mentorship Cup 6-5.

Twin Rocks 2012

Last year's trip to Twin Rocks was a lot different from this year's.  That year we stayed in our Grandparents trailer.  Instead of seeing Merlins, we got the opportunity to go to a Wolf centre and see wild Wolves through a window!  And last year on the way down we saw an Osprey nest.  I watched the 2 Osprey fly around in circles.  This year when we went to that nest we saw nothing.  Oh, and I can't forget that quite a few years ago, we saw a bear walking down the road!  I can't remember the other years, but if I could tell you about them, I'm sure you'd be impressed!

List of Birds

Only two types of birds really interest me - raptors (birds of prey), herons, and kingfishers.  Here's a list of raptors and herons that I've seen in the wild.

-Bald Eagle
-Osprey
-Eastern Screech Owl
-Northern Saw-whet Owl
-Turkey Vulture
-Red-tailed Hawk
-Cooper's Hawk
-Sharp-Shinned Hawk
-Northern Harrier
-Merlin
-Green Heron
-Great Blue Heron
-Belted Kingfisher

Ontario Tornado Outbreak (Wednesday, August 7, 2013)

Ontario doesn't have many tornadoes.  But yesterday Ontario didn't just have 1 twister, Ontario had a tornado outbreak.  Unlucky places such as Boshkung Lake, Orillia, Orangeville and Arthur had tornadoes.  I've been in a few tornado warnings, but none actually spinned out a tornado.  Caledon had one yesterday, but I don't know what happened with that one.  Here are some pictures of the tornadoes.

The Campfire

It's not even a week since we arrived at Twin Rocks and we've already done many fun things.  For instance, on Sunday, our friends Ainsley and Carys came over and we played catch, hockey and watched the Blue Jays game.  Last night we had a campfire (No, we were not camping, we were just in our backyard).  I thought it was boring to watch, because we weren't out in the woods, where we could here all sorts of animals like Great Horned Owls and Timber Wolves.  But 1 thing that was in common with the fires that we had at the Twin Rocks was that we got to roast marshmallows over the fire bowl and made smores (Marshmallows topped with chocolate chips in between 2 graham crackers).  But we couldn't roast sausages because we had eaten the whole package on Sunday.  But it was still fun, with or without sausages.

Kushog Highlights

Lake Kushog may be good for a lot of things like swimming, camping, fishing, sailing, kayaking, canoeing and having campfires, but it also is very interesting.  It may seem pretty small from Twin Rocks, but did you know that it is actually twelve miles long?  That's pretty big.  And did you know that in the 1980s, a tornado came through Twin Rocks?  My Dad thought that it was at least an EF3 (136-165 mph).  Even though I didn't see it myself, I can still describe it to you because my Dad knows what happened and described it to me.  On the far side of the lake a funnel cloud touched down and made its way across the lake towards Twin Rocks.  The tornado stayed high, just missing the trailer park but taking out some trees in its path.  I don't know what happened next, but the parts I do know seem pretty interesting, right?  Those are just a few of Lake Kushogs biggest highlights.  I'm sure that there are many more that I've never heard of.

Merlin Fun Facts!

Now that I told you that I saw the Merlins, I was just wondering if you wanted to take a step further into the Merlin world.  Here are some fun facts!  Merlins are adapted to prey on songbirds, as well as invertebrates.  Their wingspan can be 25 inches (64 cm).  It is a bit larger than the more common American Kestrel.  It looks stockier than an American Kestrel when perched.  There are several races of Merlins that are spread out across all of North America, but all have a banded tail as well as a uniformly dark back.  The Merlin's call is, as I said, a high-pitched kee-kee-kee-kee.  The habits Merlins have in terms of breeding are unusual, as the hen simply lays her eggs in a tree cavity rather than in a nest.  The Merlin's eggs are rust-coloured instead of white, with darker spots all over the surface, which is unusual for birds nesting in the surroundings.  The young chicks fledge after a month.  Merlins usually look like they're flying purposefully, as if they're late for something and have to get there as fast as they can.  They hardly ever hover in one spot like the American Kestrel does.