Boom, the first concussion seemed very loud. I have heard that sound before, I thought… in Ohio, Wisconsin, Nova Scotia… it is the first of November, so the deer hunting season is upon us. Relax…
Bang, bang…there was the noise, again! It seemed closer! Now my mind started moving a little faster through my memory banks… fairly close, several shots in succession… either the hunter is a poor shot, or there are several deer… or someone is killing people… what now?
Boom, bang and more concussions… in fact, in the minutes after I had waken there seemed to be a non-stop series of shots… an attack; they were coming from all around us… have we bought a home near a military firing-range; it isn’t deer hunting, it is duck season… and it would continue unabated for the day, only to die off near night-fall.
All the while, we opened boxes, wondering what the noise was that seemed to be everywhere in this village. Since we seemed totally safe, we reconsidered our testimony. Since its a historic place we have chosen to relocate to, perhaps there are military re-enactments… I will check in the morning…we are safe now, the shooting has stopped.
We decided to have our first dinner in Niagara-on-the-Lake in a quaint restaurant in Old Town. After dinner, we ordered some late-harvest wine for which the Niagara Region is famous. As we sipped our wine, we enquired about the shooting…
With a knowing smile, the answer came back that without the booms and bangs, we couldn’t be drinking our late-harvest or ice-vine wine… the noise was all about scaring off the starlings that would be trying to eat the grapes as they sweeten. There were no shots at all!
Comments