Happy Birthday Canada!

It's July first, that means red and white and fireworks! And since I have the privilege to live in this great country, I dedicate this post to Canada.

First, for those of you that don't live here, lets bust some myths!

We do not say "eh" all the time. Sure if you meet some old nearly deaf Canadians... but for the most part the rest of the population can hear fine and probably won't be throwing this into every sentence.

It's not always cold "up here". You know what? Strike that. (goes back and puts line through first sentence) I live in southern Ontario and public school was cancelled a few times due to extreme cold last winter, it snowed once in May, and I will admit I am wearing a sweater right now (it's just a tad chilly) okay,okay it's cold this year... but not every year is like this... I hope... (well every region is different, there are forest fires in saskatchewan today)

The Mounties are not the national police here. In fact I have never met or seen a real mountie (outside of postcards, statues or on tv-rarely) Every region has a police department, in my area they wear black, not red.

And lastly, here is something regarded as a "myth" but I think is true

Canada is teeming with wildlife. Sure a big city isn't full of beavers, you have to go further up north to meet something big like a moose or a bear, but I live in the middle of a town (average sized) and so far I have come across:

-A fox: (whether he had rabies or not is not clear, but I did not stick around to find out)
-A beaver: Right in our backyard too!
-A skunk: He was perhaps 10 feet away, we saw him several times (and you can be sure we ran)
-A racoon: Well the first we didn't actually see , but he raided a garbage can, the second racoon was  swimming along the creek that that runs by our house, he climbed up a tree and looked at me and I  just stood there and looked at him, he was actually kind of cute, those patches around his eyes...
-A turtle: Well two actually, one as big as a dinner plate, the second as big as a turkey platter, the big  one was nasty, it snapped at you
-And of course an assortment of birds, geese, ducks, cranes, squirrels, muskrats (along the creek) and in the country (mostly fields and a bit of wood in my region) you will come across coyotes.

Ok here are some fun facts!

Canada is the second biggest country in the world and is made up of six time zones

Canada has the largest coastline in the world

Canada has more lakes than any other country

Studies show Canada is the second-happiest country in the world

Alberta has a national park larger than Switzerland

Canada is the world's most educated country

We get our milk in bags (at least where I live)


And lastly, I leave you with some pictures

Happy Canada Day!