In 1981, the 50 dollars I got from my grandma is worth the equivalent of 111 dollars now.  You can calculate this here:

http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/rates/inflation_calc.html

So how do our wages reflect this figure?  Well, minimum wage was $3.50 in 1981 which means that at the rate of inflation, being as it’s $8.00 now, our burger flippers and gas jockeys in Ontario have gotten a little over 23 cents in the last 26 years.  These figures are here:

http://srv116.services.gc.ca/wid-dimt/mwa/menu.aspx

Now, these figures being as closely linked as they are can only mean one thing:  Fast food chains control the rate of inflation.

Death Cab for Cutie anyone?

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Click the image, be whisked away…

From top to bottom are me in my birthday raincoat, Caleb and I on 48s making coffee with a sock and Dan sitting in my hammock with petunia.

Camp is still goign well.  Mom sent me a brand new copy of “The Deathly Hallows” and I managed to finish reading it the same day.  Being a survival instructor has really been feeding my ego, I came here in the spirit of humility…but now I just feel like a God among men.

This summer I’ve been running competitions in camp.  The photo on the left is me starting the swim competition.  The kids have been cropped out to protect their identity.  I just thought I looked particularly authoritative in this photograph.  You know, my whistle and radio close by.

Ellie, Lola and Petunia are fine and I managed to find some load bearing carabiners to set up my hammock so things are more comfortable as well.

At any rate…Peter was complaining that I didn’t put up enough pictures, so here’s one.  When I get home I’ll add some galleries for everyone.

Well, I’ve starting developing my curriculum for survival classes today and this past week finished my certification for Low Ropes courses and Climbing walls.  That’s right…I’m a climbing all instructor now (who would have thought!)

Virginia is in-bound from the Soo and so are all the pets.

I caught a 3 pound Northern Pike on my 5th cast of the year and was nice enough to throw it back.

More to come…maybe even pictures.

In so much as one can be truly amazed, I find myself in such a state.  The past five days have really been eye opening.  Mostly, I’m amazed at how much can be accomplished in 10 weeks of camp.  Last summer I missed out on enough change that I could walk around camp and see a different place all together.  When you’re actually amidst the fray, the progress in camp seems slow and arduous, but witnessing first hand the before and after of such a large effort on the part of so many students is sobering.

So far the guys I’ve been working with have been pleasant company.  Staff aside, our “opening crew” students have been well motivated and enthusiastic.  I’m looking forward to an amazing summer and yet it hasn’t really started yet, without Virginia at my side (not withholding Ellie, Lola and Petunia)  I miss my love.

Some new staff have already come, along with some old friends.  It’s been wonderful catching up on old time with Jared and seeing Simone again.  Tom and Donna are back, and of course I spent the weekend with Peter and Darlene Bergs (tetrayoungins in tow).

My dad and I rolled into Missanabie on Friday afternoon for yet another summer at camp for the Stubbes.  The drive overall was fine.  Everything is going well except that it’s below zero and snowing.  The drive to Wawa on Saturday was met with an ice crusted windshield and a blown tire.

It certainly is pleasant to see that Northern Ontraio can be counted on to remain cold despite the warnings about climate change and atmospheric warming.  Despite the way I feel, it certainly makes it difficult to think the globe is warming up when it’s snowing at the end of May, but that is weather from my youth.  Rather than being inconvenienced by it, I feel a sense of overpowering nostalgia…well, either that or a lack of blood flow to the brain and loss of motor function from cold.

I have no pictures for anyone yet but will soon.

I always find site statistics fascinating.  I think it all started back when I was working for Stats Canada for a year while I lived in Toronto.  Anyway, numbers don’t lie, that’s why I love them I suppose.

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Virginia and I just got back from Ohio and here are a few of the photos we took.