Thanksgiving...Canadian style...

[Mark in Oshawa]

Well to my fellow Canadians, Schmenke, Easy, Civic, Edv, Chamoo and the rest....I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving weekend. Enjoy the start of hockey season, some last vestiges of great Indian Summer weather (forecast in my part of the country is 20 C and sunny) and truly do give thanks for living in a great nation.

For those of you who don't know why Canadians do Thanksgiving now...or the whole concept, well it is really simple. The Americans celebrate it a month before Christmas because that is when their harvest ends. We Canadians gave up on this plan since the weather often sucks big time in November in most parts of the country.

If you don't know what Thanksgiving is, it is the celebration of the harvest being over, and giving thanks for living in a great and wonderful new world and giving thanks for the bounty and health you have. The natives who taught this to early pioneers on this shore obviously had more wisdom than this..but this is their legacy....

[edv]

Same to you Mark.
Been eating pumpkin pie all week already!

[schmenke]

Thanks Mark! Forecast is for 21 C today, but a little chillier for tomorrow.
Yes, in a troubled world there is still much to give thanks for. A great nation to enjoy, and a wonderful wife and two beautiful daughters that I have been blessed with :)

Hope you and the other Canucks have a great weekend (I'm fortunate to have the day off today :) ). Take care and "soyez sage" ;)

Oh, and although my teams had a shakey start last night, I am looking forward to another season of the "coolest game on earth" ;) .

[Eki]

What do you eat on Canadian Thanksgiving? Canadian Goose?

[Easy Drifter]

Thanks Mark. My ex and I went for a colour tour on Mon. This is for Cdns. who know the Muskoka area. Up 400 to 169 to 118 through Port Carling, to Bracebridge, old #11 to Gravenhurst, 169 to Bala, good fish and chips at Chippers in Bala and then on 169 to 400, took Big Chute road and then back way to Orillia and 12 back to where Judy stays. 5 hours and fantastic colours.
Yesterday old friend, racer and car builder Gord Green was over so back to Bala only took 38 from 400. I think every 2nd building in the Mohawk reserve was a smoke shack! Chippers for lunch again. County 13 from Torrance (what a paved rally road) and then back way to Coldwater and back to Judy's for an afternoon campfire. We know all the back roads from our days in the tree stump business.
Best year for ages for colours. Peak this weekend up here.
Eki: Mostly Turkey or Ham and Pumkin Pie are the main traditional items.
Could have had a couple of Partridge yesterday if we had had a gun. Sitting right on the road on 13. Minor detail it is illegal to shoot on the road.
Actually quite a few hunters out along 13.

[Eki]

Eki: Mostly Turkey or Ham and Pumkin Pie are the main traditional items.
Could have had a couple of Partridge yesterday if we had had a gun. Sitting right on the road on 13. Minor detail it is illegal to shoot on the road.
Actually quite a few hunters out along 13.
So no Canadian Goosebumpkin pie then.

[Easy Drifter]

Nope. They are not in season yet, although there are far too many of them.
We have for the first time a wild Turkey fall hunt. Re-introduction was almost too successful. Actually it was in parts of Ont. and they are doing a lot of crop dammage. That is why the fall hunt.

[A.F.F.]

Wonder why we don't have thanksgiving in Finland? Could it be we don't have anything for giving thanks ? :mark:

[Tazio]

Es todos de la................... muuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnndddooooooooooooooooooo





XjiwBwBL4Qo.

[Tazio]

Si I could get dowh with that but only because Oh Cananda is a great tune and I,m sayin'that :dozey:



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[Easy Drifter]

By the way Eki the species is Canada Goose not Canadian.
Most goose eaten in Canada is farm raised domestic although the Canada Goose is hunted and eaten in season.
Same in the US and there are lots of Canada Geese in the US especially as most go south for the winter although some now stay around Toronto and I suspect the west coast.
Too cold where I live as there is no open water usually from late Dec. until early April.

[Tazio]

Come on hope you aint sayin' youn havn't seen :s mokin: any geese in flight yet?
:s mokin:


2oH4Kt8Zl-0.

[Tazio]

Ya awll in a heap-O trouble boy

[Eki]

Wonder why we don't have thanksgiving in Finland? Could it be we don't have anything for giving thanks ? :mark:
No thanks.

Maybe it's because people don't send each other Thanksgiving Day cards. The Finnish Postal Service imported the Valentine's Day to Finland so that they could lure people to send each other cards. The supermarkets imported the Halloween so they could sell Halloween related junk. Maybe if Finland had more turkey and pumpkin farmers, we might have Thanksgiving Day too.

[Steve Boyd]

By the way Eki the species is Canada Goose not Canadian.
Most goose eaten in Canada is farm raised domestic although the Canada Goose is hunted and eaten in season.
Same in the US and there are lots of Canada Geese in the US especially as most go south for the winter although some now stay around Toronto and I suspect the west coast.
Too cold where I live as there is no open water usually from late Dec. until early April.
Significant numbers of Canada geese from Greenland fly southeast via Iceland to spend the winter in Britain.

[Eki]

There are Canada geese in Finland too, but they have been planted here by people, just like the Canada beaver. The European beaver indigenous to Finland had been hunted to near extinction and they brought Canada beavers, which was a mistake. The bigger and stronger Canada beaver took over the habitat of the European beaver so that the extinction was guaranteed.

Edit: I spoke too early. There seems to be about 1000 European beavers left in Finland in a small area in the Western Finland:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Biber_in_Europa_2003.jpg

[Hondo]

I'll wish a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving to all Canadians. You guys are great!

[Steve Boyd]

There are Canada geese in Finland too, but they have been planted here by people, just like the Canada beaver. The European beaver indigenous to Finland had been hunted to near extinction and they brought Canada beavers, which was a mistake. The bigger and stronger Canada beaver took over the habitat of the European beaver so that the extinction was guaranteed.

Edit: I spoke too early. There seems to be about 1000 European beavers left in Finland in a small area in the Western Finland:

There is now an experiment to re-introduce Eurpoean Beavers in Scotland
(http://www.scotsbeavers.org/)

[Easy Drifter]

Cdn. Thanksgiving in easterrn Canada is when the trees are are at their best for colours and this year was exceptional.
It is also traditionally the end of cottage season and many campgrounds also shut that weekend. However more and more people are using their cottages year round. Some campgrounds stay open until the end of Oct. but not many. They, in most cases, need to get their water shut off and drained before heavy frost. There are some that do stay open all year.
Almost all fall fairs end by Thanksgiving, although the huge Cranberry Festival in Bala is next weekend.
Ontario is cottage/camping/resort crazy and during the summer hundreds of thousands head north every weekend from the GTA.
Things now slow right down until snowmobile/ski season starts, usually in mid Dec. The lake ice is normally not safe until late Dec. and last year it never really was safe on the larger lakes. Safe being a relative term!

[Bob Riebe]

By the way Eki the species is Canada Goose not Canadian.
Most goose eaten in Canada is farm raised domestic although the Canada Goose is hunted and eaten in season.
Same in the US and there are lots of Canada Geese in the US especially as most go south for the winter although some now stay around Toronto and I suspect the west coast.
Too cold where I live as there is no open water usually from late Dec. until early April.
I am in the middle of Minnesota and since the city finally forbid feeding the ducks and geese they all, or almost all now move on.

For too many years, in all but the worst weather, thirty below or more, they would stay aroud and huddle in the same water, keeping it open. Which is fairly easy on river that usually in winter has a very shallow slow current side bay.

Some of the duck that stayed were hybrid domestic/wild. When they finally moved on because no one fed them, some hunters maybe got some odd colored and rather large Mallard crosses.

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving.
How does one tell the Canadian Canada geese from non-Canadian Canada geese?
As they are called honkers, when they fly do they go- honk-honk-eh. honk-honk-eh?

[Easy Drifter]

Yep--eh.
All summer we have had a pair of Trumpter Swans in the bay in front of my place. This is the 3rd year for the pair and they are both tagged. About 2 weeks ago a 3rd one appeared. They had a young one for the first time.
This morning there were 17 that I counted including several young. They often gather here in the fall.
The Trumpeters are an endangered species and Wye Marsh, a funded wildlife preserve about 10 K from here has had a program for the Trumpeters for several years and they are very successful. Some go south for the winter but quite a few overwinter at the Marsh.
I have only heard them 'trumpet' once and it is quite a sound.
And for Eki and others, I was a hunter and still would if I physically could, but I respect wildlife and conservation. I ate what I shot.
If I ever saw someone going after a Trumpeter I might just shoot and it wouldn't be the Trumpeter.
OOOPs sorry with Canada's gun laws I don't have a gun anymore.
Right!

[Mark in Oshawa]

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend for me. I was gone all weekend from the computer but I can tell you guys have a good chuckle or two.

Had turkey with stuffing and mashed potatoes...a little Apple pie and pumpkin pie....and it was in the mid 70's/ 20c most of the weekend and I squeezed in a round of golf although the fall colours probably peaked last week in and around Norland where I was golfing and hoping to take some pictures to post. The leaves were darn near off the trees...too much wind last week I guess.

Shot a lousy round for just 9 holes (don't ask, I sucked more than normal) playing in the great sunshine...stained the deck on the cabin before we winterized it and just enjoyed having family around.

All nations that put up with a winter should celebrate a Thanksgiving like holiday...and I for the life of me am glad we do it while the winter is still far enough away we can be outside for the holiday!

AS for Canadian Geese, we are proud to export em because it is apparent we cannot shoot them fast enough!

Ditto for the deer and bear populations apparently this year too....

[schmenke]

Was nice here too; ~ 20 C. all w/end except for yesterday with some cloud and ~12 C. Sadly no WF for me, but I did have Friday off work so it was a welcome 4 day holiday :)
On Saturday the missus baked a ham, mashed potatos, turnips, etc. and a pumpkin cheese cake for dessert :) . We had good friends over and after managing to put a sizeable dent into the ham we played Rock Band well into the evening :uhoh: . Otherwise it was a quiet weekend, well, as quiet as can be with the usual assortment of neighbourhood kids wanting to cause mayhem out with our two :mark: .
Did manage a front-end brake job on the missus' car though.

As for the geese... Eki can have them, along with the Magpies :s

[Firstgear]

.... but I did have Friday off work so it was a welcome 4 day holiday :)


Ditto on that. My boys didn't have school Friday (too bad my daughter did though), so I took the day off & we went fishing with my parents. Caught our limit of Sauger in just over an hour.

Beautiful weather all weekend here too. Went to the cottage Sat ---> Mon and even went for a dip in the lake. Last year's Thanksgiving we had a freak storm dump over a foot of snow on us at the lake, and there was slush/ice on the water as well. Exact opposite from this year.

Ended the weekend with the whole family at my parents - with the turkey & pumpkin pie...., and then sat around the fire in their backyard after our woeful Bombers finally won one (in double overtime).