Events

There is a new list of events that are coming up in the City of Kawartha Lakes, But this is just a few, so if you have an event you'd like to add, please feel free to Contact Us.

Shipping Containers have a new life

North America has a trade deficit with countries around the world. This means, quite simply, that we buy far more from other countries than we produce to sell. Containers are intended to be used constantly, being loaded with new cargo for a new destination soon after having emptied of previous cargo. This is not always possible, and in some cases, the cost of transporting an empty container to a place where it can be used is considered to be higher than the worth of the used container. So there has in the past, been a problem of what to do with these unused containers.

Containers are now being used in housing, for temporary shelter for victims of natural disasters. A container can be bought for as little as $1000, insulated and with the obvious addition of electricity and plumbing, turned into a home very affordably. And because the whole idea of shipping containers was that they be able to stack, you can create a varied storied structure as apartments or single dwelling homes.

What a great idea for prolonging the usefulness of somethng that would end up as scrap!

New 10-Digit Phone numbers

Recently it was announced that starting January 15, 2011, all residents in the 705 area, which encompasses a huge area including the Kawartha Lakes, will have to start dialling the 705 for all local calls. The Telecommunications Alliance has stated that we are running out of telephone numbers. Which makes sense with all the new houses and business that are built and the area that 705 covers. You can start programming all the phones you have auto dialling on from now as dialing the new 10-digit number will work now.

To add to the confusion, there will be a new 249 area code which will be used in the same geographical areas that the current 705 is used. Perhaps it would have been more sensible to change a few of the areas to a totallynew area code, but I suppose there would have been complaints no matter how they did it.

New E-Waste Diversion Centre

I had the pleasure of being invited on the 24th of February to the Grand Opening of the E-Waste Diversion Centre. Now you can take your old electronics to 50 Mary St. W. between 9am - 12, and 1pm - 5pm during the week, and they will take those unwanted computers, peripherals (like mice, keyboards and disk drives) and either donate them to people in need, or to OES (Ontario Electronic Stewardship program) to be recycled in Ontario in a environmentally responsible way. The centre opened on March 1st for items listed above, and from April 1st, when Phase II starts, they will also take the following:

Printing and imaging Devices (copiers, scanners, printers and typewriters)
Computer peripherals (including modems)
Telephones and their accessories
Cell phones, PDAs & mobile pagers (personal hand held computers)
Image, audio & Video players and recorders (cameras, projectors)
Equalizers, (pre)amplifiers
Radios, receivers, speakers, tuners & turntables

For more information, please call Kathy Tully at 1-800-407-6419, or email her at kathy.tully@tag4kl.org. Their website address is tag4kl.org/ewaste_frames.htm

We all want to dispose of our ever growing electronic waste, and here is a great way to do it responsibly, and perhaps feel good about it too!

Another Great idea

I've just sent away for my new way to avoid plastic! A company in Cornwall called Steward Bags, has created and is selling a cotton mesh bag that will replace the plastic bags for produce. They come in two sizes, are 100% organic cotton, are hand washable and you can stick them in with your other grocery bags so you don't forget them. I've contacted our own Farmers' Market with an idea to them supplying them and maybe other local businesses would want to do the same. They are from $3.25 to $3.75 depending on the size.

"True North" is in book form!

You've seen his very funny comic strip in the local Kawartha Lakes This Week paper on Fridays, taking a gentle poke at his place of birth and the adjustment of a fellow from the U.S. settling down in Canada with his Canadian bride.

Now he has released it in a book, so you can see it from the very start with his move to Canada from the Chicago area. It is available from Amazon for $12.99.

I've read it from cover to cover and I have to say my favourite is that Foster is a member of AA. Not Alcoholic's Anonymous, but American's Anonymous. And their chant is "George Bush is not our fault, George Bush is not our fault". Very funny.

His website is at kevinfrank.net.