Our Past Grand Voyage

One of our favourite past events was a cruise that Marsha and I went on several years ago.

Here is a video that I made of our great time on the trip.

My Life Continues

It's been an interesting time in my life over the past little while. I did say, after all, that I was not going to write exactly in the same way that I did before when I started writing on TecumsehCityBlog. I was going to have a different way of carrying on my writing on my new blog. After all, I just did not have the time and the effort to do what I did before nor did I really want to because I was starting out on a new path that was going to reduce stress and enable me more time to do hobbies and enjoy spending time with my family.  This blog is my personal one where I write when I feel I have the need to do so.

I trust that those who look at my blog now will understand why they don't see as much on here as they did before of my work. I trust that they will not be angry with me but will understand why I am writing less.  I'm very hopeful though that they still appreciate what I'm doing and will come here to take a look at what I am saying whether they agree with me or not. 

I am certainly learning more about my life and what has happened to me because of surviving a very rare form of brain illness.  Believe it or not, I am still discovering information now. There is still a stigma of what people assume about this illness, just like many other conditions, so before you assume, ask the person what your concerns are, and also take the time out to find a credible site that provides information to educate yourself.  Remember that on-going support, understanding are important parts of the healing process for someone who has suffered a life-threatening illness, or heck, any kind of illness that impacted his/her life. 

  

Yesterday, I had my regular physical at my doctor's office. Naturally, she takes the usual tests that are necessary to make sure that my body is working properly and keeps track of the results and shares any concerns with me. Due to my serious illness, my Doctor and I have become so much closer too.  I had to go see her quite often before to do certain tests and to ask a lot of questions pertaining to my health. Often one would think "Is that normal?" "Is that just a symptom of aging?" However, I don't like to mess around. If something is not feeling right, I go and see her and we figure out the steps what to do next. Our patient-doctor relationship is fantastic and I feel very lucky.

So my weight is good, I have actually gained a fair bit of weight since I got ill. However, it's mainly muscle, so we are pleased with this accomplishment. My blood sugar levels are also in the normal range, so it helps that I am continuing to have a well-balanced diet.  My blood pressure is normal everything else is in good working order as well.

Just to let you know, dear reader, my wife, Marsha, also had an appointment with her that day for her routine physical and she is healthy and in good shape. She just needs to continue to take an important medicine every 6 months for bone health, which is recommended for many women to assist with the aging process. Preventative health is very important!

That is about it to report. I have another appointment early in the new year for a routine exam to make sure there are no changes in my health that require attention. 

Quite A Week

I have come to the conclusion that my life is very different now. It has been quite a transition, but I feel that although some parts have come to an end, there are always opportunities to start fresh and explore possibilities in all facets of life. In this blog, I would like to share with people some thoughts I've had over the last little while.

As you may have noticed, I haven't written too many articles this week.  It is not that there isn't a lack of news-worthy stories to comment on, but I don't feel pressured to get information out. I can enjoy my day and do other activities, and if time permits, sit on the computer and type for a while. I don't feel that I need to write something every day just to get people interested in what I have to say.  I'm very pleased though that so many of my friends still come and take a look at what I am writing and often, privately, let me know their comments. I recognize that not everyone will agree with everything I say and some people will completely disagree with what I am proposing. That is okay with me as well. I don't object at all that people take a different position than I do. In fact, it's quite fun to deal with the other side's perspective. It may well be that the other person's point of view may convince me that I am wrong and if so, I will change my mind.

I must admit that with temperature rising so early in the day, I have to get outside with my wife for our morning walk or else it is almost impossible to do so. Of course, one can always go to a big shopping plaza and walk around a lot because their premises are air-conditioned.  It is extremely important that my exercise regime is kept up. I am actually so pleased with the amount of weight that I have lost, while gaining more muscle. I use something called resistance bands and have graduated to the next strength stage, which is far more of a challenge. I also have a new gadget called a pedometer that measures my steps, so that is fun to use. I have not advanced though to the smartphone stage where I would be downloading the new Pokemon Go app and running about the city to find the characters! Ha Ha Ha!

This week, with being limited on what I could do outside, I had a lot of time to think. Again, as I discussed in articles previously, I spent months recovering from my illness just to be able to get out of bed. I was lucky that I had not died. For the last year or so, I had been at the recovery stage where I have drastically changed just about every aspect of my life. I love living in Tecumseh and I am overwhelmed sometimes by how friendly and wonderful the people are around us in our area.  Thinking about all the positive things, I will say that I still had this strange sense of sadness and worry about my future.  I think this is normal after what I have been through, but I am not used to these emotional feelings coming on so strongly.

Today is Friday and after spending a lot of time thinking about myself and about my family and what our future would be, I realized a few realities and it was comforting to know that at this stage in my life, although not as secure as I want it to be, I am in a good place.  Aside from the basic necessities, I also have a wonderfully supportive family. We help each other and I feel very empowered that even with some limitations, I am able to solve problems or at least figure out a few suggestions, in order to ease stress from a situation.

Although many people have disappeared from my life for one reason or another, I still do have a good amount of friends who enjoy coming over and spending time with myself and my wife. I also keep meeting new people. I had a nice lunch with a local politician and we chatted for a few hours about a number of different topics. It keeps my mind active and although I am not politically-motivated to handle any of the big matters anymore, living in Tecumseh, I want to be aware of what goes on. I am just fascinated by other people and I was very happy with my meeting.

It is amazing that July is almost over. I think this summer has gone by quickly, but I know there are more great things ahead in the future months and I will be ready to share those stories with my readers.

Another Border News Story

I have said this on this website a number of times and yet, things keep changing.

I have said, dear reader, that I do not want to write very many more stories on the border file. There's no point in doing so to be quite honest about it because one knows what has to be done. It is very simple. A deal, whatever it is, has to be arranged between the Government of Canada and the Ambassador Bridge Company or else nothing frankly is going to happen for many more years. If ever!

For whatever reason, it seems that the Government of Canada is unable to force the Bridge Company out of business. If Canada wants the Ambassador Bridge, why doesn't the Government just expropriate its Canadian interests now. There must be a strong legal reason why the Government cannot do so. Accordingly, there will have to be lawsuit after lawsuit in both Canada and the US until there is some final resolution determined. The Government may think that ultimately it will win. If so, one would have thought that it would have started the process already legally to take over the Bridge. It has not done so. Unfortunately, I expect all of the Government action that will take at least another decade or more before there is a final resolution one way or the other.

I found the article in the Windsor Star and the short videotape that was part of it quite fascinating to let us know what the situation is at this time. Doug Schmidt wrote the article in the Windsor Star on July 16, 2016: "A 2020 opening of the new Windsor-Detroit bridge is looking like a long shot."  It was hardly one that suggested that the Government position was a strong one at this time. All that it is saying is that the process may take many more years before it is completed.

I found this part very interesting and hopeful that this may really take place especially after what is being revealed by the Government:

"Asked whether a government purchase of the Ambassador Bridge might be in play, Duncan wouldn’t say yes or no, only that there had been “two or three informal meets” over the past several months. There was no “Government of Canada mandate to proceed further,” he said."

In other words, there may well be some deal that has been discussed between the Bridge Company and the Government as an example whereby the Government gets a piece of the Ambassador Bridge but the Moroun Family still runs it under an agreement that is arranged between the parties.  There is no finality yet but there is nothing that has said that there would not be more "informal" meetings to try to negotiate something.

I don't want to sound too positive about myself but isn't that what I have suggested in several of my articles on this website. Have some meetings together and try and work something out. Go and negotiate a transaction between the Government and the Bridge Company and this nonsense is over.  Is that what is really happening especially with the new Government being elected? The question after all is whether or not the Government has the power legally to take over the Ambassador Bridge. The answer may well be "No." And then what happens!

Take a look at this comment in the article:

"The owner of the Ambassador Bridge has fought the public bridge crossing proposal politically and legally since soon after formal discussions started 15 years ago. Moroun is in the process of seeking approval for a six-lane twinning of his own span between Windsor and Detroit, which opened in 1929."

I expect that the Government's attitude about the Moroun Family has changed drastically. After all, Matty Moroun is growing older yet he is still intimately involved in the process in this matter.  His son was expected to sell out very quickly once he got involved and took over. The comments I heard initially about him when I was reporting about this matter thought that he wasn't all that good in handling major matters. They expected that once his Father was not involved anymore that he would sell out quickly and cheaply. That didn't happen and his public side certainly changed significantly after his Father and Dan Stamper were jailed for one night in a Detroit lawsuit.  He certainly made it clear that he was not going to be pushed around in this matter.

Let me be direct. If the Bridge Company gets the approval which it is looking for in the six-lane twinning of the Bridge, then would a Government Bridge ever be built? Hardly. Two Ambassador Bridges would be more than able to look after all of the traffic in this area for a very long period of time with one bridge for trucks and the other for automobiles as an example. Or the New Bridge would be so much bigger that it could handle all of the traffic with the older Bridge around just in case of an emergency.

I was very interested in the Star article because of what it told me. I believe that there have been interesting discussions taking place since a new Government was elected in Canada. I have no idea at all how many have taken place nor do I know what the discussions have been all about but I was fascinated by Duncan's comments.

If a "many-year" dispute has to go on between the Bridge Company and the Government of Canada before any kind of a final resolution can be achieved, then it means that border crossing in this area which is so important can remain harmful. It means that Windsor business people can suffer because the border business could become even worse and that would be a negative impact on our economy which we just cannot afford any longer. For example, we saw recently that some businesses would be transferred into the United States from our region. Who wants more of that!

Clearly, the Duncan article has to be considered an "official" one giving us a message. I'm just hoping that the Duncan article was really telling us that a deal has to be negotiated between Canada and the Bridge Company. I'm hoping that there have been strong talks between the two to accomplish something that will be workable for both sides. I'm hoping as well that the Duncan article is just preparing us in providing us with reasons why this has to be done, why it has to be done as soon as possible and why the Bridge Company will still have to be involved.

I'm hoping, finally, that everything will be done very soon to get Windsor successful too as soon as  possible!

What A Day!

Wow. I just cannot believe what happened today right around my house. It was truly amazing with what is going on here.

Of course, I knew that the Condominium site was going to have work done here to fix up any kind of problems in the road. I must admit though that I did not expect any work to be done today because of the bad rains last night in which it poured very heavily and the possibility of more rain today. I was even going to speak with the fellows who were going to do the work as they were doing it but I never expected anyone to be doing that task.

Was I ever mistaken! But I will tell you about that shortly.

My wife and I decided to go for a stroll at around 10 o'clock in the morning. It seemed that it might rain shortly but the temperature was not very high. It was certainly not in the 80+ degree range, a temperature which was much too hot for me to take a walk.  So we went out for a walk but took a shortcut to get to the main street. I was stunned to see what I saw. On our left, a whole bunch of union people were picketing outside of the Tecumseh library building. We immediately went back to our house to gather up a camera so that I could take pictures of the union members picketing in front of the library.

After gathering the camera, we immediately went to the library and talked to some of the librarians that we knew. We then took photographs of members from all of the libraries in the area who had joined together to walk the picket lines in front of our library.

I took a lot of photos but I'm only going to post the ones that I thought were the best. What fascinated me was that the people had all come out from many of the different schools in the area to form a nice big picket line here. I assume that all of the people will now go to other schools to form picketing lines there.

The people there did not seem to know whether the meeting that is supposed to be held tomorrow to try to work out a settlement will do so or not. We shall see.

Here are some of the many pics that I took for your information.

Marsha and I are in this one!

Some of the people who work in our Tecumseh Library.  Fabulous staff who have been so helpful to  us.

Now here are some of other Library people:

Just a great group of people who should not have been forced to be on strike and lose so much  money!

Just to let you know what happened subsequently, Marsha and I started walking home after taking the photographs above. As we approached the entrance way road into our Condo plaza area, to our shock we saw some work being started for the road repairs. We were completely mistaken when we thought that no work would be done today because of the risk of rain.

The 2 key areas for our part Plaza had to do with preparing the roadway where it had cracked to be repaired and also determining what other work needed to be provided on the condo units themselves.

The road that had to be repaired was the entire condo and private road that provide entrance way and exits for people who wanted to come to the units here. There were cracks in the road and someone determined that it was now time to repair them.

As for the  Condo work, my Board made sure that  our  complex was  kept great  looking by cleaning  it up and in great condition.

Notwithstanding the poor weather in the morning (which seemed to get better in the early afternoon), I saw work being started in this part of the repair system and it was completed quickly.

Here are some pictures of that work being done.

 

My Own First Blog Ever

Here's a bit of news about my history of writing Internet articles. You'll see how much I have written over so many years, even before my previous website where I worked so hard and for so long. 

I have been writing Blogs online for many years, a lot longer than I had thought recently. I'm now approaching the 12th year of my online tasks. I just happened to look at Blogs I had written before and saw when I first started. It was in 2005.  My particular Blogsite when I started was titled "windsorcityblog." Its theme was "THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ON TODAY'S IMPORTANT ISSUES."

I must admit that I cannot remember exactly why I wanted to write a Blog at that time but I think it had to do a lot of me wanting to put forward my position on a variety of issues to people in Windsor and the surrounding counties. I had no interest whatsoever in running for Council and using this as my background no matter what anyone might think. Interestingly, that is still the same today even though apparently some people still think otherwise.

I believe at the time that I was one of the relatively few Windsorites who had set out such a website. It just seemed then to me to be relatively unique at least. Even now, with all the significant changes in my life, I still like writing in a similar website which I'm now doing.

The fascinating matter to me about what happened to look back in 2005 as my first article was posted was that it was about the Ambassador Bridge and the border file.  So many years later, nothing has been resolved and has anything really changed between the Bridge Company and the various Governments on both sides of the border?

Is it not so sad, dear reader, that something so important to this region is still outstanding. Is it any wonder therefore that this area has been in economic difficulty for such a long period of time! All that seems to be happening is fighting between the parties with no results achieved so far. I'm hoping that after people read this article, there will be some very strong demands being made that it is time to resolve the problem and get this area moving again economically finally.

Over these years, I've written so many articles on so many different subjects. I have even let people know about personal matters. There have been good times and also horrible times when articles have been run. There was also the time when I was so ill that I could not do anything for months. 

No matter. Everything seems so much better now. I am still writing articles about different matters that interest me. I am even letting you know, dear reader, what I am going through at this stage with the help of my family. I hope that it will benefit you as well.

This concept goes back to 2005 and what I first wrote. Just so you know, dear reader, here is my article about why I started my new Blogsite. It really is no different compared with why I am writing today even though my circumstances are so different:

"The Start

So this is blogging!

I thought it might be time for someone to do a bit of a commentary on what is going on in the City of Windsor, Ontario. Since Windsor is effectively a one-newspaper media outlet (the vast majority of the population gets its news from the Windsor Star) and since the Star has strict rules about Guest Columns and Letters to the Editor (and not that much space either), it seemed that a Blog on the Internet might be the way to get one's opinions expressed and spread to others.

So here we are. Let's start off by saying that Windsorites about 18 months ago seemed excited as the results of our civic election brought us a smart, young and energetic Mayor with a different way of looking at politics (He even committed to running for not more than 2 mayoral terms!) and a new Council with 4 new councillors, a 40% change-over. They were determined to be an active city Government whose function was to achieve results while providing open and transparent government.

Have they accomplished what they set out to do? That's what this Blog will be all about: a commentary on Windsor politics from my personal point of view!

Oh and by the way, notwithstanding my 30 minutes of fame on Cable 11's Face-To-Face interview show, I am still just a citizen of Windsor, an Ordinary Joe. Hence, the signature

posted by joeblog"

I'm not exactly the same "joeblog" today.  I don't intend to write just about Windsor and regional politics. I want to write about a lot of other matters that interest me and my family and hopefully, you too as well, dear reader.

I certainly will not be writing as many articles as I did previously because my life is now so much more different. However, when I do write something, I trust that you will still find it to be something worthwhile to read. 

Even More News Stories For You

It is all because of the weather these days. Summertime has started so early and the temperatures are in the 90's mark. I know there was a prediction that we would have a hotter summer than normal but seriously, isn't this ridiculous.

I do like going out for several walks every day but in these days I'm lucky if I can go out early in the morning before it gets too warm. Even in the morning, by about 10:30 AM or so, the sun comes out and it starts getting almost unpleasant outside thereby making  it too difficult to stroll.  I must admit that this is not very positive is it.

Normally, I don't even like air-conditioning to be honest. It just makes me too cool and I need a lot of water to drink as well. However, in this kind of weather, what other choice do I have but to put it on.

Oh, well.  At least it gives me the opportunity to write more stories about what is going on in our area. It is better than going outside now. Here are a few of them now.

BUYING AND SELLING A HOUSE

Here's a recent point of view about buying and selling a home in our area. If true, I wonder how long it will last and how prices will change, presumably increasing significantly:

"Windsor housing boom pressuring buyers

Competition and failed bids force many to drop conditions on sales

By Alex Brockman, CBC News Jun 16, 2016

 

A home is listed for sale, realtors in Windsor, Ont. say homes are getting multiple bids, forcing potential buyers to forgo conditions like a home inspection. (Mark Blinch/Reuters)

Windsor's hot housing market is pressuring buyers, forcing many to take drastic measures to compete in the race to buy a home, according to area realtors.

Home sales in the first half of this year have outpaced figures for the same time period last year, the Windsor-Essex County Association of Realtors reports. In May, sales jumped 18 per cent and prices spiked 13 per cent compared to May 2015.

With homes getting as many as eight to 10 offers, area realtor Paul Renaud said potential homebuyers don't have as much leverage when trying to make a deal. It's forcing potential buyers to drop conditions or offer more than the asking price."

WILL OUR HOUSE PRICES REALLY CONTINUE TO GO UP

They seem to be going up in Windsor as well as in Vancouver and Toronto but not in too many other places from what I have read.

Again, it is interesting to read an article written with comments by some Bankers about what is going to happen in the future. Take a look at this:

"A statement from the Bank of Canada even warned that folks who want to buy homes in Vancouver and/or Toronto should probably recognise that prices are unlikely to further increase dramatically, given economic fundamentals.

"Prospective homebuyers and their lenders should not extrapolate recent real estate performance into the future when contemplating a transaction," BoC governor Stephen Poloz said in the statement...

"This is a bubble. A very big bubble. And it is going to end in tears," wrote Capital Economics' chief North America economist Paul Ashworth...

TD Bank expressed similar concerns, warning that these housing markets are "ripe for a correction" and that "the party will come to an end," according to CBC News."  (Elena Holodny, Business Insider, June 18, 2016)

Sometimes I just feel cynical about comments like these. Haven't we heard them for a very long time and yet the prices still seemed to go up.  If there are so many consumer financial problems, then why haven't the Federal Government and those in the Provinces acted to try to keep prices down. After all, I can remember that happening when I lived in Toronto many years ago and prices were skyrocketing upwards until there was Government housing action and prices dropped considerably.

I remember reading some articles saying that prices in a good part of Canada are now declining except in the high-priced regions. If so, perhaps the Governments actions are working this time without imposing difficult legislation that would kill the marketplace for a period of time.

WINDSOR'S NEW CITY HALL

I see that the new one in Windsor is just starting to be built. However, I keep scratching my head wondering why it really is necessary to have a new one at all compared with fixing up the old one.  Oh I understand the reason given: the cost to fix up the old one is almost the cost of building the new one.  Whether that is true or not doesn't really matter now since construction is starting.

The headline in the Windsor Star story by Dave Battagello on June 20, 2016 makes the comment that the project itself cost $44 million while the building itself only cost $32 million with the expectation that it should be finished by May, 2018. 

In case you are wondering what the difference is for, I assume it is for these costs:

"The final stage and remaining costs of the project include the decommissioning and demolition of the existing city hall. That will begin some time around the end of 2018 and take about a year to complete."

There was this line in it about the new building:

"It will be 120,000 square feet — almost double the existing structure."

I assume that what it must mean is that many civil servants who are in offices all around the City will be moved to the new City Hall. In other words, everything should be centralized or why is the City building such a large structure. It surely cannot mean that so many more civil servants are going to be hired to fill up that space.

Let's see what happens and what the costs are.

NOISE POLLUTION

It appears that people in the West End of Windsor still suffer at night when they try to sleep because of very bad noise pollution that happens every so often that arises in Detroit. It is the famous "HUM" that has been around for some time and has not yet been dealt with in a significant manner as far as I know.

One of the problems obviously is that no one seems to know what the source of that noise pollution is from although some people have made a reasonable guess about its source on the other side of the River. Or, if they do know, they don't want to put it on the record officially:

"Windsor Hum discussion goes to Washington

A member of Parliament is in Washington to discuss the mysterious hum that plagues residents of Windsor, Ont...

The source of the Windsor Hum, which sounds like an idling train engine or diesel transport truck, has been traced to Zug Island in River Rouge, Mich., directly across from west Windsor, according to a federally funded report released in 2014.

Zug Island is home to several industrial sites, including a U.S. Steel foundry. The Canadian federal report stopped short of identifying the precise source of the noise, only that it comes from the island." (CBC News, Jun 21, 2016)

I expect that not very much is going to happen since the MP involved, Brian Masse, NDP MP for Windsor West, is hardly in a position to put a lot of pressure on the Americans considering that he is a Minority Party Member of Parliament.

To be blunt about it, if there is little impact on the Americans, why would they do anything to make big American companies upset.