-----Did you know that on the 13th day of December 2010 at 10 o'clock at night the temperature in Durham, Nova Scotia, was 13 degrees Celsius (like around 56 degrees Fahrenheit)---warmer than Florida.

-----Did you know that during the wartime and for months thereafter, people could literally walk across Pictou Harbour--a spance of approximately one mile.  There were so many warships in the harbour in those times that the young people walked from ship to ship from Pictou right across to Pictou Landing on Saturday evenings to get to the dances there.

-----Did you know that Elmer Goodwin of Pictou (now deceased) was one of the people instrumental in the construction and installation of the "DEW Line" (Distant Early Warning System) constructed in Alaska and the Canadian North during the mid-fifties--a joint venture of United States and Canada when there was a supreme fear of Russia attacking by way of the North--over 50 radar stations were installed stretching for a distance of approximately 3,000 miles.

-----Did you know that way back in the mid-1900's, some young fellows were out in a field down near St. Mary's River in the Guysborugh area playing a game of ball when along comes this big splashy car with an American license plate.  The man got out of the car in all his fancy duds & went over and asked the boys if he could play ball with them which they consented to.  Within minutes the boys realized this was not some ordinary Joe.  It was in fact Babe Ruth who was on a fishing trip down in the St. Mary's area.  That has remained a lifetime impression on each and every one of those young fellows.

-----Does anyone remember Betty Gunn who ran the Antique/Art Shop on Main Street in Pictou in the old Stone House near Grohmanns' in the 70's & early 80's?  She had a beautiful display of Vintage Clothing there and had a very important customer call in on her once during her Nova Scotia tour & purchase several of the lovely vintage dresses.  Her name was Cher.  For years after that, we watched Cher on TV to see if she was wearing any of Betty's jewels.....and sometimes she did!

-----Remember the old "Gunsmoke" show on TV???  Remember Kitty in it?  Remember her fancy Iron & Brass Antique Bed?  That bed was purchased from the dealer, Mrs. Oickle, down on the southshore of Nova Scotia.

-----Remember, Pictou was a major port in WW2, often from whence the ships sailed for overseas.  Did you know that close to the end the war  when things were getting pretty dicey & they were calling all the young fellows off to war, a session was called for the young ladies in the senior classes in school at which they were told how important the war was & how, if we did not have these young men risking their lives for us, that we could loose the war and end up under the control of Hitler.  Then it was strongly suggested to the young ladies that they "show the sailor boys a good time" when they were into port to let them know that their effort in the war was appreciated.  My sister sat in on this session, but never dared tell my parents what was said as she knew father would have been right up to the school and create pure chaos for saying such a thing in front of his daughter.  We lived out Beaches Road just below the golf course in those days and many a time my father hollered at the girls passing with the sailors to stay off the golf course if they didn't want to get into trouble....those fresh soft green beds of grass were known to be a place of real corruption then where the sailors took the girls at night, but not to play golf.

-----Sometime in the 60s when Crystal Cliffs out past the Antigonish Hospital was really the rage, Clarke Gable was in the area vacationing and went there to check it out.  It was around haying season & he apparently was always intrigued by the haying process.  He stopped along the way at one of the farms and asked the old farmer if he could help taking in the hay.  Reluctantly, the farmer agreed.....it was free labour but from a "greenhorn".  Clarke Gable enjoyed the day so much, he extended his visit to the area for two more weeks and helped everyone around with their haying for free, while he was have the "time of his life".

-----Did you know that aspartame (the sweetener used in diet drinks & sugar free foods) was actually developed as an ant poison and changed to a sweetener when they found that would sell much better & for a higher price than ant poison.  If you are troubled with Carpenter Ants, just dump a few packets of NutraSweet or some other aspartame sweetener in the corners & they will be gone before the day is out....better than most deadly poisons.  Small Black Ants will not eat aspartame in its dry form, but if mixed with apple juice, they will quickly take it back to the nest and all will be dead within 24 hours.  Fire Ants will not eat it in its dry form, but if it is just ever so lightly dampened with water, they will grab the little chunks and take it back to their mound.  It takes about two days before they disappear.  Aspartame is a neuropoison and interferes with the nervous system.  Also, did you know that Aspartame in liquids when heated to above 120 degrees Fahrenheit turns to a mild form of arsenic which can lead to Fibromyalgia.  It was found that those soldiers who came back from the Gulf War in the early 90's who were suffering from what they called "Gulf War Syndrome" had, in fact, been consuming large quantities of "diet" pop/soda over there because much of the water was bad.  The army took huge amounts of pop/soda in for the men but mainly "diet" so they would not gain weight.  Storage was mainly on the hot desert sands where it reached temperatures way above 120 degrees in the daytime.  Thus, most of the pop/soda there took on a mild form of arsenic &  in small doses, the soldiers were being gradually poisoned.  This was proven within a few years after the war, but because the companies pushing these products were also donating huge amounts of money for medical research, it was not made public.  People who have MS are warned to stay away from aspartame.    Glad when I was young and wanted to be "skinny" my father would never allow me to consume any "diet" stuff or margarine.  He said it was poison (he wasn't a doctor, he just believed anything that was not "natural" was poison).  As for the margarine, he was correct, too, for they are now saying it is one molecule short of plastic.