Tuesday, June 27, 2017

I suppose you're wondering ...

I suppose you're wondering why I'm sitting here in my undies in the middle of the day writing a blog.

Let me back up a bit.  

This morning I was going to take the dogs for a walk along the service road that runs off the Lucasville side road.  Been there lots of times.  It's one of our favourite spots.

You can imagine my surprise when my car decided to turn right at Beaverbank Road  two kilometres before my intended turning point.  Sometimes I just don't know WHAT my car is thinking; but since I was in the car and it was travelling at speed I felt it unsafe to jump out so decided to tag helplessly along to see where it was going.   

Apparently at some point in the past I had mentioned an abandoned radar station that was located 15 km up Beaverbank Road and my car had remembered that and felt that today's fabulous weather was a good reason to have an adventure.  Who am I to argue with a compact car with a mind of its own !

The radar station opened in 1950 to fill a pressing need to watch out for an imminent Soviet invasion.  By 1964 the technology was already out of date and the station was slowly shut down.  The only building remaining is the operations building in the top left corner of the image below and that was our destination on today's hike.


Roads and power poles that once serviced the people living there are the only other things that remain.  


 The long road that leads to the remaining ruins bears a warning.


Since "E.A." clearly wasn't deterred by the warning, neither were we.  

The remains of the operations building.

Some folk find graffiti bothersome but I like it.


Sometimes it raises some interesting questions: "Who is the wind?".   I guess that's as good a questions as "Who has seen the wind?".






"All Monsters are Human Cool"  could prompt a good discussion.









I wonder how they got up there to paint that flag ?


I usually try to get inside these buildings but in this case the "entrance" was fifteen feet off the ground and rather perilous to reach so sadly I had to settle for just seeing the outside.


And checking out some nearby ruined structures.



It was a very hot day and much of the walk revolved around finding ponds and puddles for the dogs to cool off in.  Turning to head back to the car I was struck by how far we had walked to reach our destination !


Yep.  Up over that hill and another kilometer past that.   Heading back we sometimes managed to find prettier side trails that took us off the blistering hot concrete.


And back to my car whose idea this whole outing had been, but who had opted to chill by the side of the road while the dogs and I went on our forced march.


And that brings us back to the present moment.

And me sitting in my underwear.

Do you wanna know why I am sitting here in my underwear ?

Tough luck -- I'm gonna tell you any way.

No wait.

I'll show you !



TICKS !    

I just took 14 Ticks off Sooki.  When I idly itched my belly button and found one gleefully hiding in there I pretty much stripped everything off and subjected myself to an inspection in my full length mirror.    My jeans are in the wash and the dogs have been checked again and again.

Stooopid car !

P.S.  I am a malicious person and press the ticks between pieces of Scotia tape.

16 comments:

  1. Cool place! Reminds me of the abandoned satellite station in pretty much every way, right down to the ticks! Hope you found them all, and ewwwww to having a tick in your belly button :-O Those little bastards get everywhere!

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    1. It wasn't as pretty as that one we visited with Sara but it was still kewl but jeeeze 12 ticks on one dog !

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  2. No wonder the sign said Turn Back - someone knew about ticks!

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    1. I don't like ticks but won't let them deter me from my explorations. I fear in the future they will be more wide spread so we just need to become aware and always do our tick checks when we come home. Do you have them in your area ?

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  3. You sure find interesting destinations! Thanks for sharing this...I had no idea that such a place existed.

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    1. There's a cooler one down near Bridgewater near Mill River (I think that's what it was called). I visited it last month with Sara and Kelly. Even though Lunenburg county is tick central the tick were not as bad as they were today.

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  4. Great article, interesting place but unfortunately there is lots of broken glass in that area too, besides ticks. Love the photos and happy hiking!

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    1. The glass was only really bad around the buildings. Many wonderful trails to walk on but given the tick situation I may for winter before I return for my next hike.

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  5. Fun article to read! The whole time I was reading and looking at the photos I was wondering how many ticks you and the dogs would be picking up on your journey...I got my answer. Eeeek!! Oh and that explains the sitting in your undies writing the blog haha! I blame the car too LOL

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    1. Yeah. I just felt that way I might spot any rogue Ticks that had escaped. In the end I only found two on me. I found two dead ones on Wendy this morning. I assume they were killed by the Advantix ?

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  6. I like the 'scotia tape' bit. Was that a typo, or a deliberate play since it's really synonymous?

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    1. Sadly Ted I cannot claim credit for that witticism; it's a typo but a good one, eh ?

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  7. ewwww ticks. But a great adventure!

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    1. It wasn't as kewl as that place you took me and Kelly and heck I seem to recall you showing me a single blade of grass with FIVE freakin' ticks on it.

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  8. Interesting to see how nature and human activity slowly reclaims abandoned buildings. Those ticks are something else...

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Thanks for stopping by. I really do love to read your comments.