Guess what? You can finally dive into your paint cupboard and get rid of those half- or quarter-filled cans of oil paint that you wouldn’t even get the lid off without a can opener. Not to mention that colour… Well, you need to watch home and garden channel a bit to realize that these are from the ’70s and you would be devaluing your home to even slop some on the wall. You can also dig out those old pesticides, herbicides and mystery gallon jugs that have the skull and crossbones on them and contain a murky yellow liquid with a strangely familiar lump at the bottom.
What is the connection with leisure services? It all takes place in our parking lot on Oct. 20 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and is a district-wide event hosted by the Regional District of Central Kootenay and taking place.in Castlegar, Nelson (Oct 13) and Nakusp, as well. The Hazardous Household Waste Round-up is your chance to get rid of those nasty toxic hazardous materials hiding under your kitchen sink, in your garage and in your garden shed. The RDCK is pleased to offer this free disposal for residential household hazardous waste, which is open to all residents of the RDCK and municipalities. Visit www.rdck.bc.ca to see what you can get rid of. Some examples are roofing tar, paint, adhesives, batteries, oil, fuel, ballasts, florescent light tubes, strippers, acids, murky yellow liquids — you get the idea.
Speaking of households, we just completed a road trip through various parts of Alberta visiting our kids and noticed a common denominator in all the households that we never clicked on until the drive home. Essentially all the kids and their partners have some sort of fitness regime happening at their homes, whether it is a treadmill or elliptical machine to free weights or yoga mats — they have all set up a space to work out. Probably classified as what we would have called yuppies — young urban professionals — somewhere something has clicked that in their busy lifestyles that they need to have proper diets, as well as some time to stay fit. Other inquiries show this appears to be a bit of a trend with this age group — there is at least a consciousness on what proper nutrition and exercise means to a healthy lifestyle. When I think back to how I was living when I was their age… OK, we won’t go there.
Around here, following the pool shutdown as well as the new fall leisure guide and subsequent programs startup, we have seen steadily increasing numbers of guests using the facility. Typical for this time of year, along with school starting and the realization that fall is in the air, people are quite busy but are getting back to their patterns, whether that is starting aquafit or other fitness programs again, skating or just general working out in the facility. It’s a great opportunity to shed a few pounds to make room for turkey and pumpkin pie this weekend.
Neil Ostafichuk is the recreation supervisor at the Creston and District Community Complex.