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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, June 10, 2010 · 6 The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5571 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate.The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Commentary NEIL OLIVER Vice-President and Group Publisher, Metroland West DAVID HARVEY Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution SARAH MCSWEENEY Circ. Manager The Oakville Beaver is a division of Guest Columnist Know your limits on outdoor water use Gary Carr, Halton Region Chair id you know in the summer water consumption can double? This is largely due to the increase in outdoor water use from activities such as lawn waterGary Carr ing and car washing. To ensure a reliable and continuous supply of water for essential and emergency needs like firefighting, Halton has launched an outdoor water use program designed to quickly communicate any outdoor water use restrictions. The program consists of a numeric and colour-coded system that establishes three levels of outdoor water use depending on criteria such as water demand, water treatment reservoir levels, aquifer levels (groundwater) and weather patterns. The water restriction levels include: Level 1 (Blue) -- Careful Use. Voluntary odd/even lawn watering between 6 to 9 a.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. on days that correspond with your house number (if you have an odd numbered house, water on odd-numbered calendar days and similarly for even numbered addresses). Car washing and watering of trees, shrubs and gardens is allowed on those days. Level 2 (Yellow) -- Limited Use. Mandatory odd/even lawn watering between 6 to 9 a.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. on days that correspond with your house number. Watering of trees, shrubs and gardens should be done using a hand-held device such as a watering can. Level 3 (Red) -- Stop Use. No outdoor lawn watering or car washing is permitted in order to conserve water for emergency and essential services. Watering of trees, shrubs and gardens can be done using a hand-held device following the odd/even watering rule. As the warmer weather is now upon us and homeowners are in the middle of lawn and gardening season, it is very important to learn about the water restriction levels in order to reduce your consumption when required. The following simple measures can also help to reduce your outdoor water use: · Only water your lawns and gardens between 6 to 9 a.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. on odd or even days that correspond with your house number. · Don't wash your driveway. Use a rake or broom instead. · If you own an automatic irrigation system, install moisture sensors or a central controller to avoid lawn watering during rainfall. · Plant drought-tolerant plants. · Know how to turn off your automatic irrigation system in the event of any outdoor water use restrictions. For details on Halton's Outdoor Water Use Program, dial 311 or visit www.halton.ca/waterconservation. WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com Suburban Newspapers of America Media Group Ltd. RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association D THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville ATHENA Award ERIC RIEHL / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER COMMUNITY LIVING: The Knights of Columbus, 4th Degree, donated $1350.60 to the Oakville Hospital Foundation to buy new hospital equipment. Seen here at the cheque presentation are, from left, Steve Germann, guard; Milt Cowan, Past Faithful Navigator of Bishop Redding Assembly 1981, Mike Bartlett, vice president of the Oakville Hospital Foundation and Don Collins, Faithful Navigator of Bishop Redding Assembly 1981. Waiting to exhale as the swimsuit season officially arrives lthough it has intermittently felt like summer for the past two months, we are only now approaching the official opening of the sultry season. Are you looking forward to it, or does its approach leave you feeling uneasy, queasy, fretful and, ah, flabby? There was a time when most people approached summer with trepidation. Pilgrims and pioneers, for instance. Because their livelihoods were tethered to the land, and summer was their make-or-break season, they wondered whether summertime would bring pestilence and plague, and whether it would be too hot, too cool, too wet, too dry -- a damnable dust bowl or the proverbial horn of plenty. Time progressed, life evolved, people migrated from countryside to cities, and summer became the official rest-and-relaxation season. Summer became a time largely anticipated and enjoyed, as people happily holidayed: worshipping the sun and frolicking on the beach, seemingly without a care in the world. Alas, from what I've read of late in newspapers and magazines and on lifestyle websites, I fear we are now devolving, returning to the time when summer could only be approached with a sense of dread. Not because the fickle A whims of summer once again foretell our fates, but because in our narcissistic, superficial world, summer has near-officially become known as (gasp) Swimsuit Season, and most of us have physiques that are -- or so the media would have us believe -- worthy of being beached, but not beach-worthy. Which means most of us don't posAndy Juniper sess the beach body to which we are all expected to aspire, the body of swimsuit models who are ridiculously young, perilously perky, and who exist solely on bean sprouts and diet water. Instead, we have bodies that have us trying on swimsuits, cursing the distorting mirror that makes us look more rippling than ripped, and asking our better-halves: "Do I look fat in this?" Fortunately, I personally don't have these issues: I'm as buff now as I never was. But, I do feel for those who have this notion crammed down their throats that, come summer, they have to be pinup perfect to even leave the house. Further, the notion behind these unhealthy, obsessed, buff- up-for-summer articles seems more than a bit flawed. Let yourself go to hell all year long -- live on a steady diet of inactivity and powdered donuts -- and then knock yourself out to look good come summer? The headlines shout that it's possible: "Lose 30 pounds for summer!" Slim down, tone up, exist on bean sprouts and diet water. This, as opposed to living healthy year-round and, maybe, being happy as heck with who you really are. Even if you don't possess the perfect beach body for Swimsuit Season. Leave it to our obsessive, vain, shallow society to suck the fun out of summer. Speaking of sucking, I, ah, may not have been totally truthful about being beach-body buff, but I do have a plan I formulated years ago when my body started to act (and look) its age. At the start of each summer, I take a deep breath -- suck in my gut, expand my chest -- and I don't exhale until sometime after Labour Day. It's a bit uncomfortable, and at times I see stars (even in the day), but it's totally worth it. Andy Juniper can be visited at www.strangledeggs.com, contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com, or followed at www.twitter.com/thesportjesters.