Today while listening to the intermittent bangs of the propane cannons in the nearby blueberry fields, something stuck out. One cannon is making a huge blast that is a good two to three times louder than the regular propane cannons. That one made me sit up and take notice.
Like any other noise that goes with the territory after awhile I didn't notice it anymore.
I'm wondering if the blueberry farmers are getting fed up with the protestors and have located an extra loud propane cannon and are using it in retaliation.
Yup, this new cannon is a good blaster all right. Whether or not it scares the birds is debatable. Whether or not it will bug the crap out of the complaining neighbors is a foregone conclusion.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
The Blueberry Wars
Kerry phoned me on his way home on Wednesday night and said on the radio traffic there was a protest happening in Cloverdale at Highway 10 and 168th Street. I said it probably had something to do with the blueberries and the propane cannons. Although we live nearby I wasn't piqued enough to go check it out and get stuck in a traffic jam.
In yesterday's Surrey Leader there was a photo and short story. Yes, it had to do with the cannons in the blueberry fields.
A couple of the farmers farm blueberries on the south west corner of the intersection showed up and a shouting match ensued. They've been farming blueberries there for nearly 20 years and using propane cannons the whole time. They blame the recent homeowners who build or buy half a million to million dollar homes in the area and don't do their homework about farms in the area and then complain about it later.
If people are building or buying in the fall and winter months the cannons are silent. Its kind of like people buying a house in Richmond or somewhere else near a flight path and then complaining of the noise.
Growing up around here we had worse to dal with than propane cannons. There was the mushroom farms. Now man that was some stench in the evenings when they were gassing off. Same problem. More people move into the area, complain about the smell, and eventually they shut down either for good or move elsewhere. And who could forget the pig farms? Depending on which way the wind was blowing that aroma would blanket Cloverdale.
Am I the only person in Cloverdale who has invested in earplugs and wears them?
In yesterday's Surrey Leader there was a photo and short story. Yes, it had to do with the cannons in the blueberry fields.
A couple of the farmers farm blueberries on the south west corner of the intersection showed up and a shouting match ensued. They've been farming blueberries there for nearly 20 years and using propane cannons the whole time. They blame the recent homeowners who build or buy half a million to million dollar homes in the area and don't do their homework about farms in the area and then complain about it later.
If people are building or buying in the fall and winter months the cannons are silent. Its kind of like people buying a house in Richmond or somewhere else near a flight path and then complaining of the noise.
Growing up around here we had worse to dal with than propane cannons. There was the mushroom farms. Now man that was some stench in the evenings when they were gassing off. Same problem. More people move into the area, complain about the smell, and eventually they shut down either for good or move elsewhere. And who could forget the pig farms? Depending on which way the wind was blowing that aroma would blanket Cloverdale.
Am I the only person in Cloverdale who has invested in earplugs and wears them?
Free puppies and kittens
When I was a kid we'd go to the grocery store or fairgrounds or walking down the street and there would be someone set up out of the back of their pick up truck or sitting on the sidewalk with a cardboard box and a sign for free puppies or free kittens, hoping for a passerby to take one home. Sometimes people would have a sign posted on their driveway to give away their litters. These would generally be mixed breeds, like oops I didn't get my pet spayed in time, she got out of the house, and look what happened.
Yesterday I saw an ad in the paper for mixed breed kittens for $125 each! Yikes!
Yesterday I saw an ad in the paper for mixed breed kittens for $125 each! Yikes!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
The Cloverdale Library #2
In 1972 a new police station was built in Cloverdale, basically next door to their old building on Highway 10 and 176A Street.
That left the old red brick building vacant and the Cloverdale Library moved into the old police station. And expanded because the old cop shop was much bigger than the tiny library on 58th Avenue and 176A Street.
The young adult section was upstairs and I was regular visitor to the now much larger selection of reading materials. By now my favorite books to read were the Trixie Belden series, but I remember reading other books about teenage girl detectives.
With the expanded library space came tables, chairs, and I think there was also a meeting room. There was more of an archive section too with a microfiche reader and access to old newspapers.
The library remained in this building for a few years, and then it became home to the senior's centre for many years, and now it houses the Surrey Archives.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Kuss Drugstore
Growing up in Cloverdale the only drugstore was Kuss's. They filled prescriptions, sold pharmacy goods, candies, magazines, books, and gifts. This was the place to go if you needed to buy a birthday card and a present, especially at the last minute.
Kuss's Drugstore was on the main street of Cloverdale, on 176th Street, between Highway 10 and 57th Avenue. There is a beauty shop now in that location.
The Kuss family lived in Cloverdale and their daughter Liz was a year ahead of me in school. They knew everyone in town because everyone walked through their doors at some point to buy something they needed.
I remember they had a collection of bad cheques they used to tape up on their window, offering to let the writer buy it back. I guess this public embarrassment of having your name displayed as writing an NSF cheque would motivate people to pay up their debt. Nowadays with the Privacy Act that wouldn't fly.
Our recent hot weather has reminded me of a hot summer around 1970. Back then there was no air conditioning and Kuss had put all their chocolates on sale at half price because they were melting. My father was in the drugstore to buy something and noticed the sale and bought a box. Out of every kind of chocolate you'd think he could have bought something good. But no. He bought a box of chocolate gingers. Ewww yuck! And he enjoyed them all to himself. Good strategy now that I think of it.
Shopper's Drug Mart showed up in Cloverdale around 1973. Around that time Kuss's store name changed to the Pharmasave. I can't remember when he sold it, but late 1980's is my guess. The owner Henry kept it at the 176th Street location for several years and then moved it to the current location on 176A Street and 57th Avenue.
Kuss's Drugstore was on the main street of Cloverdale, on 176th Street, between Highway 10 and 57th Avenue. There is a beauty shop now in that location.
The Kuss family lived in Cloverdale and their daughter Liz was a year ahead of me in school. They knew everyone in town because everyone walked through their doors at some point to buy something they needed.
I remember they had a collection of bad cheques they used to tape up on their window, offering to let the writer buy it back. I guess this public embarrassment of having your name displayed as writing an NSF cheque would motivate people to pay up their debt. Nowadays with the Privacy Act that wouldn't fly.
Our recent hot weather has reminded me of a hot summer around 1970. Back then there was no air conditioning and Kuss had put all their chocolates on sale at half price because they were melting. My father was in the drugstore to buy something and noticed the sale and bought a box. Out of every kind of chocolate you'd think he could have bought something good. But no. He bought a box of chocolate gingers. Ewww yuck! And he enjoyed them all to himself. Good strategy now that I think of it.
Shopper's Drug Mart showed up in Cloverdale around 1973. Around that time Kuss's store name changed to the Pharmasave. I can't remember when he sold it, but late 1980's is my guess. The owner Henry kept it at the 176th Street location for several years and then moved it to the current location on 176A Street and 57th Avenue.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Blueberry for sale
OK, this has bugged me for years. The handpainted signs outside farms that proclaim "blueberry for sale". Yes, that is correct. Blueberry singular. If you want to buy one blueberry then this is the place to shop.
I have no problem with the handpainted signs. Whatever people can do to save a few bucks is fine with me. The handpainted signs are OK. Except for the ones that have run out of room before getting their message across. They should go find another piece of wood and start over. It looks so unprofessional:
ies
Blueberr
For Sale
But today takes the cake. I saw a handpainted sign that read:
Blue barry for sale
I have no problem with the handpainted signs. Whatever people can do to save a few bucks is fine with me. The handpainted signs are OK. Except for the ones that have run out of room before getting their message across. They should go find another piece of wood and start over. It looks so unprofessional:
ies
Blueberr
For Sale
But today takes the cake. I saw a handpainted sign that read:
Blue barry for sale
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Blueberries and the cannons
When I was growing up in Cloverdale most of the farms around here produced corn, lettuce, potatoes, and other vegetables. Blueberries came on the scene in the early to mid seventies. And with them came the battle cries of the propane cannons that the farmers believed would scare away the birds intent on eating the profits. But after awhile the birds got used to the noise. Fake propane cannons weren't going to stop a hungry flock of birds from chowing down on fresh blueberries. During the summer the Surrey Leader published letters from Cloverdale residents annoyed at the noise. Particularly annoyed at the farmers who left their cannons running all night long. I remember those nights!
The city has noise bylaws but enforcing them is not an easy task. Many times the farmers who've set up the propane cannons leased the fields and did not live on site. Catching the farmers at night to turn off their cannons was pretty much impossible.
As the years progressed some blueberry farmers found other ways to protect their crops. The most effective, and expensive, way to protect their blueberry crops from hungry birds is setting up netting over the fields. Also effective and less expensive and quieter than the cannons is setting up brightly colored tin foil to flap in the breeze. Add in a few fake hawks on a kite string. And in some cases, live hawks who are trained to stay in one area.
But some farmers still use the old propane cannons. We hear them going off starting around 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning. Oh, well. Story of my life during the summertime in Cloverdale.
And as is typical for this time of the year the Surrey Leader is publishing letters and stories of residents around Cloverdale who are complaining of the noise. Interestingly the complaints are coming from residents who live in the vicinity of 32nd Avenue west of 168th Street and up through the Morgan Heights and Rosemary Heights areas. In other words, fairly recently built subdivisions, some built within the past 3 years.
Its the old problem of developing some of the farm land and the people who move into these new neighborhoods. The farmers were there first. These propane cannons have been firing for 30 years, long before Morgan Heights was even a figment of someone's imagination.
Has the City of Surrey allowed too much residential development too close to established blueberry farms? They say no. But look around Cloverdale. Many of the old established farms from when I was a kid are long gone, replaced with condos, business centres, and houses on postage stamp sized lots.
The city has noise bylaws but enforcing them is not an easy task. Many times the farmers who've set up the propane cannons leased the fields and did not live on site. Catching the farmers at night to turn off their cannons was pretty much impossible.
As the years progressed some blueberry farmers found other ways to protect their crops. The most effective, and expensive, way to protect their blueberry crops from hungry birds is setting up netting over the fields. Also effective and less expensive and quieter than the cannons is setting up brightly colored tin foil to flap in the breeze. Add in a few fake hawks on a kite string. And in some cases, live hawks who are trained to stay in one area.
But some farmers still use the old propane cannons. We hear them going off starting around 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning. Oh, well. Story of my life during the summertime in Cloverdale.
And as is typical for this time of the year the Surrey Leader is publishing letters and stories of residents around Cloverdale who are complaining of the noise. Interestingly the complaints are coming from residents who live in the vicinity of 32nd Avenue west of 168th Street and up through the Morgan Heights and Rosemary Heights areas. In other words, fairly recently built subdivisions, some built within the past 3 years.
Its the old problem of developing some of the farm land and the people who move into these new neighborhoods. The farmers were there first. These propane cannons have been firing for 30 years, long before Morgan Heights was even a figment of someone's imagination.
Has the City of Surrey allowed too much residential development too close to established blueberry farms? They say no. But look around Cloverdale. Many of the old established farms from when I was a kid are long gone, replaced with condos, business centres, and houses on postage stamp sized lots.
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