It is all to the good for our own well-being and self-respect that we remain concerned about and empathetic to the plight of other creatures that we inhabit this world we call home with.  The interest evinced and the response on a wider scale than merely the indigenous peoples living in the far frozen reaches of Northern Quebec was heartening to see. What brought world attention to the small Inuit community of Inukjuak was the plight of a small pod of killer whales trapped in a sea of ice.

Marina Lacasse/The Canadian Press

They had only a very small area of open water where they were able to surface -- and then only enough space to accommodate several of the pod of an assumed dozen to emerge to the surface to breathe at any one time.  Theirs was a parlous situation, appearing as though they would not survive their ordeal and it was clear to the people who had travelled the hour from Inukjuak where they live, to the area on Hudson Bay where the whales were trapped, that the giant mammals were in panic mode.

Marina Lacasse/ The Canadian Press

It is cold enough in the area that the small patch of open sea could easily close up, dooming the pod to certain death; killer whales are not accustomed to ice; the orcas were 1,000 kilometres from where they normally would be, at this time of year, according to Pete Ewins of World Wildlife Fund Canada. "They got stuck (in Hudson Bay) and they're unlikely to get out."

In this Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013 photo provided by Marina Lacasse, people watch as a killer whale surfaces through a small hole in the ice near Inukjuak, in Northern Quebec. 

 

Marine Lacasse/ The Canadian Press

"These guys are on the edge and they might not make it through", he remarked. For two days they were trapped around their sole breathing hole in the sea ice.  But on Thursday when two Inukjuak hunters approached the area they saw that the waters had opened and the orcas were no longer there.

"So as far as I could tell, the emergency for sure, is averted" said Mark O'Connor of the regional marine wildlife board.

People of the area believe a vast expanse of ice had developed due to a sudden drop in temperature, trapping the orcas. According to experts sea ice is recognized as a natural cause of death for marine mammals.

I was incredulous and quite horrified when I looked up to the 18-foot ceiling in our living room on hearing a steady drip-drip to see winter snow melt-water falling to the floor, coming through from the roof, one winter about dozen years ago. There was nothing wrong with the roof, we were soon to learn. It was an ice dam that had built up that winter due to a plentiful snow coverage and a January freeze-and-thaw cycle. We called in a roofer and had the roof cleared of snow and the problem stopped.

Once again, in Ottawa, environmental and weather conditions have conspired to re-create that nightmare for many people. Roofing companies cannot keep up with the demand for snow clearance off the roofs of their houses.  We had our roof re-shingled a few years ago and there was a good rubber membrane laid down under the shingles to keep this type of thing from happening; older houses and houses with less costly and careful roof replacements are susceptible to this phenomenon.

"Once you get a large volume of snow and you get a thaw, then you get ice-damming. A dam of ice forms at the ease of a shingled roof and prevents the melting snow from running off the roof. It ponds at the edge of the roof and tends to force its way back up under the shingles. And that's what causes the leaks", is the explanation proffered by a roofing company representative.

This area has received over 76 centimetres of snow.  Environment Canada did advise that we could expect a traditional Ottawa Valley winter this year; plentiful snow, cold temperatures and we have.  It is yet early in the season, yet area roofs are three-feet deep in snow. High winds have failed to sweep roofs clean because of the prevailing conditions where freezing rain then snow conspired to ensure that snow packs would adhere to surfaces.  As they have done in the encircling forests, causing no end of damage to tree limbs, and bringing down power lines.

I remember one year quite a long time ago when my husband laddered himself up on the roof of our house, which has a very high roof. He anchored himself with a stout rope to the chimney then set about clearing the snow off the roof, a laborious, difficult job with a high, partly-steeped roof.  I have no wish to see that repeated. 

The cost of health care in Ontario is huge and rising steadily.  Along with rising costs of prescription drugs.  And advancing steadily is the demographic of the aged, elderly people who become high-need patients, taking up space in hospitals, consuming scarce health dollars, and eventually clogging up full-care, long-term health facilities.  It is all inevitable, and there are administrative recognitions that if people can be kept healthy longer into their advanced age, able to remain at home, sometimes with a little outside assistance, everyone benefits.

An acquaintance we came across yesterday informed us that she had just returned from installing her mother in a beautiful long-term care facility.  Her mother has her own unit, complete with scaled-down bedroom, bathroom, utilitarian kitchen, living area.  The facility houses one hundred, sixty elderly people.  There is medical care available 24 hours a day.  There is a very large dining area where meals are served, and residents have lounges where they are able to socialize.  There is a salt-water swimming pool, hot tubs, and much else.  This is a for-profit enterprise, not a provincially-operated or -underwritten facility.

Her mother, at age 90, finally decided she no longer wanted to look after her one-bedroom apartment, and was anxious for company besides, and this facility suited her needs perfectly.  No, neither she nor her two siblings, she laughed, thought of accommodating their mother in their own homes.  Though they could easily, she mused, have spent money banked from the sale of their mother's previous large family home, to buy a house with a nanny suite.  No, that wouldn't have suited her mother at all, who is independent-minded.  Besides which, living with them would not ease her loneliness; no one would be around at home during the day to give her company.

Her mother was excited, happy and content with her new living arrangements.  Which, with all its superior and glitzy trappings, didn't come cheap.  But her mother had plenty of retirement income and could afford the $4,500 monthly fee.  In any event, at 90 years of age now, how much longer would she live?  She might as well live comfortably, with luxuries she would appreciate, in the company of others like herself.

That's one large whack of money, $4,500 monthly.  Services are costly, particularly when those providing the services expect to prosper handsomely from doing so.  And obviously, it is a slight proportion of the population, elderly or not, that can afford such steeply-expensive accommodation to servicing the geriatric crowd.

A new report was presented to the Ontario government titled Living Longer, Living Well, prepared by Dr. Samir Sinha, director of geriatrics at Mount Sinai and the University Health Network Hospitals in Toronto, on how the province may better assist seniors remain healthier longer, enabling them to live at home longer.

Among some initiatives to come out of the report is one where the provincial government announced it is prepared to match every older Ontarian who wants one with a primary care provider, and introduce new physician incentives for the care of high-needs patients - including making health-worker/physician house calls.  And recognition of the need to have greater numbers of geriatric specialists.

The province's 1.9-million seniors represent 14.6% of the population, accounting for almost half of present-day health care spending, and set to increase as the population inevitably does.  The number of Ontarians aged 65 and older expected to double within the next 20 years.  "If left unaddressed, our demographic challenge could bankrupt the province" wrote Dr. Sinha.  It is only 10% of the elderly who represent 60% of health care expenditure.

"If you can target the 10% of the most complex and do a better job in helping them navigate the system, through primary care hubs you could provide better care and at the same time reduce cost ... often older adults fall between the cracks", with the four sectors of health care -- primary care, community care, long-term care and acute care -- failing to co-operate.

"The big problem is that people don't have access to their family physician, so they end up in the emergency room" leading to unnecessary hospitalization and admission to long-term care, pointed out Dr. Frank Molnar, medical director of the regional geriatric program of Eastern Ontario. Who also pointed out that one of the recommendations, expecting the elderly to pay up front for their home care wouldn't fly: "That's something that many people will not agree with because people feel they have already paid for health care with their taxes, and should have equal access."

And then, of course, there's the whole other, more complex, somewhat intractable issue of physical health problems exacerbated by Alzheimer's disease patients, who during the average eight years of intensive need, will be under the care of approximately twenty-five different health professionals.

Ahmed Sati, M.D. was our family physician from 1971 until a few years ago when he deservedly retired from a busy practise comprised of a patient roster who regarded him as a treasure, as we did.  His personable, caring and sweet personality, aligned with a deep professional knowledge gave assurances to us all that we and our families were in capable, caring hands. 

Not that we visited that often, but when we did, his care of and for us was palpable, reassuring and successful in his ability to discern the origins of a health problem; his diagnostic skills and remedial action were impeccable.

The type of medical professional that this man of Syrian origin and Canadian citizenship exemplified is rarely seen in the new field of the practise of medicine.  General practitioners are far less likely to become as deeply involved in the care of their patients as Dr. Sati was; his was a full dedication, and his office staff reflected his deep commitment to patient care.

Individuals now who enter the medical profession appear to be focused far more on acquiring wealth commensurate with their professional education and practise, even though a busy general practitioner easily out-earns any other high-end profession.  Now, a greater proportion of medical school entrants set their sights on specialization.  General practise is too mundane, too time-demanding, and too relatively unprofitable.

Canada has suffered, in the last few decades, from a lack of general practitioners.  One reason is that insufficient numbers of medical students were accepted into university medical training centres because of a perceived glut in physicians in the country.  Another reason became apparent, when it was understood that many young medical students preferred going into more arcane sections of medical practise requiring specialized knowledge and guaranteeing to earn practitioners handsome payback.

Now, though the deficit in general practitioners opening family practices has eased, partially with an easing of the restrictions imposed on foreign-trained medical immigrants, streamlined into upgrading knowledge and skills to reflect Canadian standards, there still remains a lack of sufficient generalists, particularly in rural areas of the country.

And a study recently released points to the fact that across the nation medical schools are training too many doctors for pediatric specialties while not producing enough medics in other areas of child health care. What pertains to pediatric practise can be interpreted as being reflected in other areas of the medical profession. A clear disconnect, according to the revelations, between physician education and the demands of on-the-ground, real-world requirements.

Comparing numbers of medical graduates in various pediatric sub-specialities with demand in those areas, a close match was revealed in only one of 16 sub-specialties.  Pediatric neurologists were being trained in twice the numbers needed, for example.  The journal Pediatrics and Child Health has stated that University administrators "have a social and moral responsibility to guide the future deployment of pediatricians based on the precise health care needs of this vulnerable population. It is neither ethically or fiscally responsible to train individuals without knowledge of workforce requirements."

The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons' surveys reveal that one in six doctors completing their residencies find themselves in a situation where they are unable to find a position commensurate with their qualifications.  Some physicians - family doctors and psychiatrists - can simply open their own independent offices and begin their medical practise, then bill Medicare appropriately, thus launching their careers.

Specialists must hope to find a position with a hospital or health region, equipped with expensive, state-of-the-art equipment and support staff.  Unemployment or underemployment has been identified in thirteen specialties: cardiac surgery,neurosurgery, plastic surgery, orthopedic surgery, otolaryngology, urology, gastroenterology, adult neurology, dermatology, general surgery, opthalmology, pediatric infectious diseases and radiation oncology.

For a situation as vital to national public health and service as this situation represents, this is an astonishingly revelation of unforgivably inept planning.

It's a veritable behemoth of a piece of furniture.  And fully as weighty as the bulk-space it occupies.  We ordered it many years ago from Office Depot and it came disassembled. It had piqued our interest, as an elegant design for a computer station. Just as well that my husband is skilled at all manner of things, including solving the puzzle of impossible-to-follow assembly instructions.  This one took days to put together.  And it was meant for an upstairs bedroom, spare bedrooms, since there are only two of us in this house.  That is where I became accustomed to using my computer from.

Last week we broke down  and my husband brought home from one of his shopping expeditions, two flat-screen television sets. (We've been without a television for well over a year and a half and haven't missed not having one, but there's also a convenience to being able to put on television news, even though we can do something similar on our computers.) Both on sale, at inconsiderable prices, the small one meant for the library, the other quite a bit larger, and it will go in the family room. 

And now, because yesterday my husband took apart the armoire that had housed my computer for so many years, so we could carry it downstairs to the family room for re-assembly there, the television set is installed within it.  The new television set has gone into its heighty top half and the computer and screen and everything else I need occupy the bottom half.

It fits in every nicely, styled after an 18th-Century French armoire; doors closed everything is hidden.  It stands next to our large, bright windows and since I've already been using my new desk top, placed on a smaller computer desk for months now, I'm accustomed to working downstairs; the smaller desk is now destined to be moved upstairs, to take the place of the armoire upstairs.

And we're more than a little pleased with how everything has worked out, except for the displacement of a few paintings that hung on the wall where the upper half of the armoire now backs onto that wall. 

That wry old saying that the only things in life that are unavoidable are death and taxes seems quite true.  We live, we die.  We work to earn a living and we pay taxes to the state which provides us with security and services.  A fair enough trade, most reasonable people feel.  And then there are times when a tax rate can be viewed as utterly confiscatory.  And this is precisely how the new tax rate that France's new Socialist president, Francoise Hollande seeks to impose on France is widely viewed by the moneyed in his country.

There is a long tradition of high earners seeking escape from high taxes on their hard-won income.  Famously the scholar, poet, novelist and expert on antiquity, Robert Graves, exiled himself from England to take up residence in Majorca, unwilling to pay the tax rates imposed upon him by British residency.

And then there is the inglorious instance of Bono, of U2 fame, who became a spur in the neck of world leaders, continually righteously abrading them for not doing more to alleviate world poverty.  It's hard to recall any instance where it might have been recorded that Bono and others of his ilk released much of their personal income to the poverty-alleviation cause they championed.  He, in fact, became infamous for moving his band's considerable financial holdings from Ireland to avoid paying taxes altogether, placing them offshore, and earning public condemnation for his hypocrisy.

Protest group: Art Uncut will hoist a massive inflatable sign with the message 'Bono Pay Up' across the crowd during their set on the Pyramid

 Which brings us back to France, where the great French actor Gerald Depardieu has protested the not-yet-brought-into-law tax rate of 75% by taking up residence elsewhere.  Russian President Vladimir Putin is clearly delighted at Depardieu's choice of Russia, and fast-tracked a passport for the actor, while speaking glowingly of his country's 13% flat tax rate. 

Alexei Nikolsky/The Associated Press File Photo Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, right, and French actor Gérard Depardieu attend the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg last month. Depardieu has been granted honorary Russian citizenship.

As for Gerard Depardieu, the affair is rather tawdry.  He is in the exalted 0.1% rank of sky-high earners.  It is, admittedly, wealth he has earned through his formidable thespian talents, but it seems to ill become him to spurn his country and its needs in this manner.  We first saw his acting prowess displayed in The Return of Martin Guerre and were moved by the dramatic story, and by his skillful portrayal.

The man has become increasingly gross in physical appearance, detracting hugely in an anaesthetic manner from his acting skills.  He leads a dissipated lifestyle that holds no credit for him, nor anyone else whose such lifestyle choice cannot be commended.  Yet, who are we to judge a man who has entertained countless people throughout his acting career?

Sad, though, that it has come to this; his manner of entertaining himself is deplorable, far more than his decision to abandon France; on the other hand, perhaps it should be viewed as a full summation of intrinsic character.

That hoary old axiom that the older we become the more resistant we become to change is quite correct.  It is, in any case, correct in my case.  I find security and comfort in the familiar, and most people do.  I've set things up in a practical manner in this household that works best for me.  In, for example, collecting a number of useful tools that help me clean house, and the same for the everyday use of the kitchen.

I have been hampered of late by the increasing and puzzling unavailability of old-style floor dust mops.  There was a time when one could enter any hardware store, even the big box stores like Canadian Tire and find an assortment of suitable dust mops.  There was a time when I could keep a dust mop for years, simply removing the top, washing it and re-using it on a daily basis.  They were made to last.

They likely went out of use at a time when floors were covered with wall-to-wall carpeting and hardwood flooring was less popular. But hardwood flooring of all types have made a tremendous come-back and most people take pride in their wood floors, eschewing total carpeting for smaller area rugs.  To properly dust floors on a regular basis nothing beats the simplicity and functionality of a floor dust mop. 

Looking for one has become a source of absolute frustration; no outlet seems to carry them any more.  Oh yes, there are microfibre-type floor mops and they are utterly useless, there is no comparison whatever to the old ones in ease of use and outcome.  The Swiffer brand appears to have captured the market and it represents an advertising success for a useless product.

Does no one use a bucket of hot soapy water and a sponge to wash their kitchen floors and other floors with hard surfaces any longer?  For me, at age 76, that is the quickest and most thorough way to adequately wash floors be they porcelain tile, marble or linoleum-covered.

I did find one suitable dust mop, really well designed, by Tormax which met all my expectations.  The fly in that ointment was that it was produced with inferior products, made fragile by this very fact, and lasted at best a month before it broke apart and had to be replaced.  I was so desperate for a usable product that I was willing to keep buying new ones, but they too are no longer available.

Yesterday my shopaholic husband went to Lowes and brought back a Rubbermaid dust mop, clearly in its 24" dimension and heavy wood handle, meant for commercial use, but the best designed with sturdy construction and material, available.  Other types I'd bought there languish in my cupboard, utterly useless.  And this one was so large, heavy and awkward I could barely move it around.  Back it went.

And I am left looking still for a useful product to satisfy my fairly simple criteria.  Ease of use and able to pick up dust; resistant to breakage when it is shaken outdoors to release what it has collected.  Looking online has been no help whatever; I see there the very same models and products that have proven useless.  Rubbermaid had one dust mop that seemed a reasonable size for domestic use but politely advised it was no longer available.

Understated frustration reigns supreme.