Alberta vs. Ontario/Quebec, Part One

No Deposit for Pop/Water bottles. This drives me crazy (and probably would do the same for my father, father-in-law and anyone else that likes collecting bottles for an extra disposable income). Honestly, when Dave and I would go for little walks around Edmonton, we would bring a backpack and line it with a garbage bag to put bottles in. I called it our Famoso (great pizza place in Edmonton) fund. I am super thrifty and liked the game out of seeing who could find the most bottles. Yes, it was a little embarrassing when someone we knew saw us picking up dirty bottles, but what the heck. Money is money. Here in Ottawa, there are bottles everywhere! And I have to remind myself that they aren’t worth money. We will walk by a bush littered with bottles and I think, "Well, there's a dollar right there." I would think that Ontario/Quebec would be on it and make some sort of law to implement a deposit on bottles besides liquor. Ottawa prides itself in being a beautiful, clean city so why not make it more of an incentive to keep it that way? Plus, it puts some money into struggling students and homeless pockets. Win win. 

Another difference that is less political but still could go under the environmental category is the squirrels here are black. Not only do they have more soul and better dance moves, but they are also black in colour. I told myself not to get too camera happy and that soon I would be making fun of myself for taking a picture of a squirrel. That day hasn’t arrived yet. Here is a funny/sad squirrel story. A few days ago, before I arrived here, David forgot to roll up his car windows all the way. Bad, bad idea! A squirrel or two or more were able to squeeze through the crack and made it its/their home for the night. He vowed he will never leave his windows open again as the next day he had to wipe down the interior with sanitizing wipes. 

 While on our walk a couple of Wednesdays ago, I noticed a medium sized animal walking around. I at first thought it was a gopher. No, not gopher, what I meant to say was a Richardson’s Ground Squirrel. I don’t want to offend people in Lethbridge, namely a certain zoologist who has spent her life’s work researching these animals and gets very upset when people incorrectly identify Richardson’s Ground Squirrels as gophers (see Dr. Gail R. Michener). Upon a closer examination I realized this was no gopher (it is way easier to type out gopher so sue me Gail!) but in fact was Wiarton Willie’s lover, a groundhog. What a chubby fellow.