Residents applaud the Ministry of Highways for erecting additional signs following the paving completion on Hwy 24. The pedestrian signs on Gerald Crescent are a welcome sight as they will hopefully slow down drivers who tour through this short residential street at a dangerous speed. The side road warning signs at the blind corners for McCarthy and Boultbee Roads should provide drivers, especially those unfamiliar with this section of the highway, with some advance warning of possible slow vehicles entering and exiting these busy residential streets.
Fences injure animals
The recent sightings of a bear with an injured leg and a doe with obvious severe ear damage serve as reminders that in addition to the many natural hazards for wildlife, we need to take responsibility for man-made hazards which may threaten the animals, wild and domestic, where we live. Since much of the property around the lake was evolving ranchland throughout the last century, the fields and forests are littered with old fence posts, barbed wire and page wire. Where possible residents should remove these hazards, taking care to remove nails or staples from live trees that may have been used as fence support and could become a danger tree when cut with a saw in the future by an unsuspecting faller. Autumn is a particularly good time of year to spot hazards as the lodging grass will often hang up on wire. Out-of-place standing grass is often an indicator of abandoned fencing material.
Ladder safety
For all those neighbours seen cleaning tree leaves from their gutters; please be careful on your ladders. Far too many injuries around the lake this summer can be traced back to ladder incidents. This year, we invested less than $30 on ladder supports which slip into the step rung holes on an aluminum extension ladder and brace the top of the ladder on the roof. Not only is the top of the ladder stabilized, but the supports hold the ladder away from the eaves troughs, avoiding gutter damage. Scrambling up and down a ladder never felt safer and is a sure way of improving ladder safety. This invention rates right up there with clumping cat litter at our house!
Driveway access
Snow in early October is a reminder that seasonal residents planning to use their properties throughout the winter need to have an ongoing snow removal strategy. Jamie Moberg points out that once the banks created by the snow plow on the sides of the road freeze, they are difficult, almost impossible, to remove. To maintain driveway access, snow must be cleared after every major storm or snow plow pass. Several local residents maintain driveways and provide other caretaking services throughout the winter months.
Highway cycles
October’s unpredictable weather (and snow flakes on Oct. 5) is as indicator of the end of the motorcycle season on Highway 24 and now the familiar sounds of the two-wheeled vehicles are becoming few and far between.