March 27, 2020

As we continue to hunker down during this time of social distancing, we’re hearing reports of people out enjoying the last of the ice fishing. Nice to hear they’re practicing a little self ice-olation! What a re-leaf that spring is here... not a daisy went by this winter that we weren’t thinking of warmer weather and getting outside more. No matter what in carnation your favourite spring activity is, take advantage of these nice days because good weather can be here today, tarragon tomorrow. If it gets nasty out next week we won’t let it kale our spring vibes; we’ll just spring roll with it. Remember, April May get here sooner than you think. If loving spring is wrong, we don’t want to be ripe!

For information on the many closures in our community, messages from our mayor, or updates from the township, be sure to visit http://billingstwp.ca or call the municipal office at 705-282-2611.

The Kagawong landfill was closed last week, and this week it is on significantly reduced hours. The next opportunity to drop off your waste is this Sunday from 1-4 pm. Be sure your garbage and recycling are separated and organized before you arrive, and leave any waste that is not essential to dispose of at home for now, particularly bulky items and wood waste. Be patient and have a kind word for our hard working township employees!

Council meetings will be conducted via virtual conference call. Members of the public are welcome to view, but as with in-person meetings, there is no direct participation. In fact, there is a special council meeting today at 2pm addressing the Covid-19 situation that you are welcome to connect with. Contact Megan Bonenfant (mbonenfant@billingstwp.ca) no later than 1:30pm to get set up. 

The municipal office is open, but access is restricted. If you are worried about paying your taxes, the township encourages you to utilize online bill payments through your bank (TD, BMO, Scotiabank, CIBC, Royal Bank and Northern Credit Union). If you do not bank at any of these institutions, please call the township office - they will waive the $15 administration fee for credit card payments processed over the phone.

If you know of someone in the community who may need assistance, OR, if you are interested in volunteering to help, please call or email the township office (705-282-2611; mbonenfant@billingstwp.ca). 

Fun fact: every year in Alaska, elastic coils in mattresses suddenly jut out due to heat from nearby hot water geysers. This phenomenon is known as the spring spring spring spring.

Looking for ways to pass the time? How about a drive to go deer counting? Or take a walk and bring gloves and bags with you to pick up trash along the way? Get your hands on some maple syrup, boil it up and make taffy. Or, with this nice weather, why not plan a picnic along the river or at one of the lookouts around town? For the history buffs you can seek out the historical buildings around town and read up on the details of each on the plaques placed nearby. 

Congratulations once again to Peter G, who was the first to hear the delightful coo of the returning Sandhill Crane at 3:20pm on March 24! We are taking it on faith that it wasn’t just Patty coo-ing out behind the house in order to mess with him. Take heart, oh competitive ones (Willa, we’re looking at you), we haven’t heard any reports of anyone actually seeing a crane, so that ultimate prize is still up for grabs! Email us at kagawong@live.ca or message us on the Kagawong Facebook page if you spy the elusive critter. 

According to experts, it’s good to talk to your plants. Team Fergmeijer tried to teach ours mathematics, but they just ended up with square roots. Be well, everyone!

March 20, 2020

Here at Team Fergmeijer, we have been known to exaggerate, or even *cough* make up *cough* the odd story for this column, but this week has been crazy enough that even we couldn’t make this stuff up. Covid-19 has been top of mind, for good reason, and we hope you and yours are healthy and practicing responsible social distancing. It’s important to be selective in our decisions to venture into public, but it is not a time to panic, though it might be best if someone checked to see if the dolphins are still here. With all the events and sports cancelled, finding ways to pass the time has been a challenge some days. Currently spending a lot of time watching birds fight over worms. Cardinals lead the Blue Jays 3-1.

There are many closures in our community:

The Park Centre will be closed until at least April 6th, this includes all Community Events (Euchre, Zumba and Church Services) and Council and Committee Meetings.

The Kagawong Fitness Centre will be closed until at least April 6th. All current members will be compensated with an additional month.

The Billings Library will be closed until April 7th, or until further notice. 

The Kagawong landfill will be closed until April 7th, or until further notice.

The municipal office is open, but access is restricted. Please call or email for assistance. Contact information for staff is available here: http://billingstwp.ca/administration/staff/

If you are worried about paying your taxes, the township encourages you to utilize online bill payments through your bank (TD, BMO, Scotiabank, CIBC, Royal Bank and Northern Credit Union). If you do not bank at any of these institutions, please call the township office - they will waive the $15 administration fee for credit card payments processed over the phone.

Please call the municipal office (705-282-2611) for the most up-to-date information regarding municipal facilities.

If you know of someone in the community who may need assistance, OR, if you are interested in volunteering to help, please call or email the township office (705-282-2611; mbonenfant@billingstwp.ca).

One of the best parts of living in Billings is being able to get outside and enjoy being out in nature. If your and/or the kiddos are feeling a bit of cabin fever, why not walk the river trail or take your four-legged friend to the off-leash dog park? If you’ve got time on your hands, why not track down all the historical plaques that were put in place a couple of years ago, or all the sculptures 4elements and the township installed? The dedicated (and much appreciated) volunteers that have been flooding the rink all winter have been working to keep it in shape while schools are shut down, so you can always check that out, too! 

One of the most exciting things you can do while practicing responsible social distancing is to take part in Team Fergmeijer’s annual Sandhill Crane spotting competition! Consider this the official kick-off to the most anticipated event of the entire spring (in our opinion, anyway). For those of you new to the game, the rules are easy: let us know when you have seen a Sandhill Crane or heard its delightful coo (date and time is needed), and if you are the first to report in, you win! You don’t win anything other than bragging rights, but still, you win! 

Online, we keep seeing all the jokes about toilet paper shortages. We don’t find them very Charmin’. It’s Scott to stop soon. This is Northern to laugh about! There’s a lot of information out there; very hard to absorb it all. It wipes us out. We suppose we’ll just have roll along with everyone else. It might be time to lie down, all this anxiety is making us feel flushed.

As it turns out, our normal everyday lifestyle is considered ‘quarantine’ by most of the rest of the world. Be well, everyone!

March 13, 2020

It’s a busy week: Friday the 13th, the Ides of March, St. Patrick’s Day, March O’Break, Pi Day… and on top of it all, don’t forget to wash your hands! But don’t overdo the celebration. Remember that you can increase your circumference by eating too much pi. If your weight gets a bit away from you, not to worry. You can always start on that new Ket O’Genic diet. 

It’s daylight saving time! Remember to change the batteries in your smoke alarms, and to change your wine from red to white. As for the clock in your car… if you’re like Team O’Fergmeijer you’ll just wait until November when it will be the right time again.

Save the date! Saturday, April 25th from 10am to 4pm is the first Celebrating Women O’Business vendors’ market in Kagawong. Stay tuned for more details!

Nifty nifty, look who’s fifty! Manitoulin O’Secondary School is celebrating its 50th anniversary! Mark August 28-29 on your calendars and be sure to attend the anniversary celebrations and the grand re-opening of the high school, featuring renovations and enhancements to the building. Follow Manitoulin Secondary School Alumni on Facebook for more information (and the occasional blast from the past!).

The first meeting of the newly-established O’Kagawong Time Traveller’s Club will be last Thursday at 11pm. Don’t be late!

Celebrations galore have likely been happening in the O’Maranger /O’Middleton household on the anniversary of the one and only O’Poppy’s arrival in our fair village. We wouldn’t know for sure, because we weren’t invited to any of the parties. We’re just assuming. It’s one of the biggest challenges with having a secret identity like Team O’Fergmeijer - not getting invited to parties since our real identities are so well-disguised... 

Another Kagawongian celebrating a birthday soon is Sharon O’Jackson. While you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way.

People aren’t the only ones to get cabin fever this time of year - so does your dog. The good news is that we have a cure for that! Come out to the off-leash dog park with your four-legged friend for exercise and social time for humans and puppers. Just remember, making snow angels at the dog park is not a good idea. Neither is taking a dog named O’Shark to the beach… but that’s an issue for another day.

Did you know? 3.14% of sailors are pi rates.

The next O’Euchre tournament is Wednesday, March 18th at 7:30 pm at the O’Park Centre. Cost is $5.00 per person, and includes light refreshments and prizes. Everyone is welcome! Brought to you by volunteer members of our community and Parks, Recreation and Wellness Committee. Subsequent tournaments are every third Wednesday of the month.

We hit up local Irish poet, Jamie O’Ward for some words of wisdom from the Emerald Isle: “Be careful with your words this time of year. Remember, puns on St. Patrick’s day don’t just shame you; they Seamus all, yo!” Have a great week!

March 6, 2020

It might be early to start our spring cleaning, but it might be necessary since our houses are getting a bit messy. Prime example: we’ve lost our mood rings. We aren’t sure how to feel about it. If we start tidying up, maybe we’ll find the guitar we got when we were kids. We wanted to play the guitar really badly back then. After years of hard work, determination and practice, we can confidently say we play the guitar really badly.

Many happy returns to Shirley Farquhar who is walking her way through her 29th year. Seriously, nothing stops her from her walks. Not weather, not broken legs…. Happy birthday Shirley!

Looking to try something new? Look no further than MUG - the Manitoulin Uke Group! Come out and join others for a musical ukulele meetup every other Wednesday of each month at the Kagawong Library, from 7 pm until 8 pm. This group will be free-form where we learn from each other. All skill levels are welcome. Bring a song, learn a song! The next meeting will be Wednesday, March 11.

Has anyone else noticed that Dove chocolate tastes way better than their soap?

People aren’t the only ones to get cabin fever this time of year - so does your dog. The good news is that we have a cure for that! Come out to the off-leash dog park with your four-legged friend for exercise and social time for humans and puppers. Just remember, making snow angels at the dog park is not a good idea. Neither is taking a dog named shark to the beach… but that’s an issue for another day.

Before the crowbar was invented, did crows have to drink at home?

Have you heard about the fundraiser for the St. John's Church? A Zline KB2-BCCXS-36”-C range hood, copper finish, brand new still in the boxes has been donated to the church, which in turn is putting it up for sale as a fundraiser. Slight damage to the paint finish, retails for around $1000. Make them an offer! Contact Mike Coomes for more details.

We were chatting with a friend with a farm the other day and they are branching out with their crops this year and planting parsley and leafy greens. We were politely impressed, but truthfully, we prefer our kale with a silent k. On the upside of these changes, if they ever get sued, the courts can easily garnish their wages. 

The February Euchre results are in! The winners were: High score Karen & Myra 80; second highest Laura & Pat 79; third highest Fred & Jim 78; most lone hands Karen & Myra 8; Low score Kal & Lil 54; special prize Diane.

The next Euchre tournament is Wednesday, March 18th at 7:30 pm at the Park Centre. Cost is $5.00 per person, and includes light refreshments and prizes. Everyone is welcome! Brought to you by volunteer members of our community and Parks, Recreation and Wellness Committee. Subsequent tournaments are every third Wednesday of the month.

Remember, as far as anyone knows, we are a normal community. Have a great week!