Summer Shutdown

Right now I'm on Summer Shut Down, which is a two week vacation that happens for WALES Staff annually. I'm in my second week and I haven't done much with my time. At the moment I'm in Guelph.

Recently, there was a reveal that a bunch of pipes in my mother and brother's neighbourhood are made of lead, and that our tap water contains some small amount of lead. This is troubling, because they have lived in the area for almost ten years, and we all drink tap water.

So the City of Guelph is replacing the pipes, and in the meanwhile is sending money to all effected residential units and advice for purchasing water filters. My family has a cool little Brita extension for their tap now, which filters as it runs. I want one for my place now.

I don't want to dramatize, but lead poisoning is what is occurring in the infamous case of Flint, Michigan. I'm sure their case is far, far more severe, however. My understanding is that around here, instead of the lead content increasing recently, there has been a change in how much lead is allowable.

From the information they've sent us, it looks like the people most at risk from lead poisoning are children under the age of six, whose development may be impacted even on a neurological level. The development of fetuses in pregnant women may also be impacted.

In individuals over the age of six, lead poisoning can lead to high blood pressure, kidney damage, and bone damage. Still not pleasant.

They've got a garden over here, too. They're growing corn, tomatoes, peppers, basil, kale and onions. Corn is a new ambition for either of our households, and they looked to be doing really well, but it sounds like a raccoon or something is stealing cobs before they fully mature.

This is my first time away from Kieren. I'm entrusting my cat and my garden to my roommate while I'm away.

I finally got to do a Pokemon Go event! I've missed two of them since I started dating. Worth it, of course.

For some reason, I used my free time during Summer Shutdown to work at the Summer Program for a day. It was their last week of Day Program, theme was Wacky Water, and it was their Reverse Paintball day. If you don't remember from the four other times I've explained it, Reverse Paintball is when program participants get to paint the staff, and then they knock the paint off by squirting them with water guns. This year I got to be the camera man, and even got to be on the other side of the painting and squirting for once.