Government Funded Blogger

Day 32

2012-02-19T11:33:00.000-05:00

Well I am missing Church for the second Sunday in a row.The one consolation was being able to watch Sunday Morning on CBS which to me is the classiest program on tv. I have watched it since 1980 when Charles Kuralt was the host but not steadily mainly cuz life had a tendency to interfere at times. It was classy then and classy now hosted by another Charles,Charles Osgood.

Wonderful weather here.Fifty six degrees F in the sun.One of my beautiful daughter in laws stopped in with a cup of java and a big cookie to keep me company while the joy of my life is at Church.I am very blessed to have such wonderful women in my life and to be loved by them.

The Leafs are falling to their level.The Canucks waxed them 6-2 last night thus showing how far off the Leafs are from being an elite team despite the propaganda put out by the Toronto hockey writers.Unfortunately its too late to fire the coach because all the available superior coaches are now employed.

The odd thing about the Leafs western swing is the number of Leaf fans that still turn up for their games in Winnipeg Calgary Edmonton and Vancouver.Crazy.

Day 33

2012-02-18T12:04:00.000-05:00

All along I have been calling this a broken ankle incorrectly.It is actually a broken fibula which is the leg bone on the left side and it is also called the calf bone.So I will now refer to it as a broken leg.

I happened upon an interesting forum while searching Google for how people cope with breaks in legs since I felt that I wasn't coping all that well.The forum is at
Teton Gravity Research which it seems caters to skiers and snowboards.Most of the injuries that are talked about happened while using the above plus dirt bikes skate boards snow mobiles and car accidents.I think that I am by far the oldest member of this forum...lol.

Something I learned is that a break in the fibula is less serious than the same in the tibia which is the bigger bone below the knee.I also learned that we all heal at different rates even in the same age groupings.In general the older you are the slower the rate.Alcohol and tobacco use slow the healing rate even more.Some claim caffeine too.Sex is ok unless one is in a body (bawdy?) cast then it gets more interesting.

Lastly,as much as I admired Houston's voice and music I will skip the idolatry that is more and more common around these 'celebrities'.A far better human than her died the other day from brain cancer way before his time,Gary Carter.You pick out whose life will be judged the harshest on that great day. I wont.

Day 34

2012-02-17T13:03:00.000-05:00

Gee its the start of new week.Only four days till another X-ray.Our daughter is recovering from surgery but still in a lot of pain.The operation is painful one as those things go.
I think that I mentioned about pain from having to put my leg down while on crutches;this pain feels a wee bit less today.
Today I got serious about building up strength in the arms.I should never have quit the regime.

So oxycontin is going to be banned from northern Indian reserves in the province.Now I know what keeps those people living in squalor...free addictive medications provided by our government. Disgusting,immoral, and sadly an indication of the evil in our civilization.
The barnyard socialist are screaming that the natives will turn to illegal drugs.Look,these reserves are isolated and accessible mainly by air.How hard would it be to control what is being flown in.I betcha if high explosives and banned firearms were being smuggled in a stop would be put to that.

Day 35 (Week 1)

2012-02-16T11:07:00.000-05:00

One down and five to go.

Good day yesterday on account of having a couple of my chums spending most of the day with me while my sweet wife was out attending to things.

On the busted ankle front its hard to know what is happening under the cast.I do note that when I have to use the crutches thus causing the leg to be down my toes turn beet red and my leg hurts till I put it up on a cushion pile.
Once this stops I will be able to spend more time walking on crutches and thus cut down the chances of catching the"old man's friend".
I find that I have to give myself a pep talk everyday cuz the unexpected struggling with crutches has affected my mental state.Another contributing factor is loss of independence.It really bothers me that my sweet wife has to do so much for me.Hah well all this should be temporary.

I phoned diagnostic imaging and was told that Dr.Rob's requisition was there and that the wait was for the radiologist's protocol (whatever the hell that means).

Getting a bit of winter here at the moment.

Day 36

2012-02-15T09:37:00.000-05:00

Well a quiet day so far.This morning our daughter is having her right arm operated on and thus will be away from her work for four weeks minimum.Mom is with her now cuz that's what Moms do.
Back 25 years ago when my foot was X-rayed there was a wait of an hour before the doctor got to look at the result . Yesterday it took about five minutes for the results to appear on a computer screen.An amazing advance,eh.
Another change from 25 years ago is the loss of strength that I am experiencing.This loss causes me to struggle with the crutches;something that I did not experience then.
Six years ago while I was in the best physical shape since I was in my 20s,30s,and 40s, thanks to weight training and power walking I was diagnosed with very high BP. As a result of that I was put on a drug for it.Because the BP readings were so high I cut back on the training and never did return to it. I can see now that was a big mistake so I am starting to work on upper body strengthening. Will see how that goes

Day 37

2012-02-14T16:09:00.001-05:00

Got to see the specialist after a wait of 2 hours past the appointment time, seems my file got sent to the mammogram department. Not..lol.Anyhow a new X-ray showed only one break on the left side and nothing on the right.Got a new cast a fiberglass one which is much lighter and an appointment for next Tuesday for another X-ray.

More creeping tyranny. From studying history I have noticed that authoritarian regimes begin with preying on public fears and using that as an excuse to expand the police powers of the State that despite protestations that these powers are only meant to be used against certain criminal elements they often end up being used against citizens of different political or religious persuasions.Its a truism that give the police more power and it will be used fully and abused.Sure its cumbersome to get a warrant and thats the whole idea of it.
Minister Toews with no shame is using the heinous child pornography crimes as the excuse to expand arbitrary police powers.Then because he doesnt know better he states that anyone against this is in favour of child pornography.That stinks of the Gestapo. If Harper doesnt take that fascist jerk to the woodshed he will have lost credibility with a lot of conservatives. An American once said that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.I think that here and in the USA that vigilance is diminishing.

Day 38

2012-02-13T13:00:00.000-05:00

I didnt have a good night mainly because I couldnt get the casted leg in a comfortable position.Last evening the wee ones visited to see how Grampa was doing before they left with Mom and Dad for a week in Florida.K and K made me a get well card and J boy told me to make sure I saw the doctor.Then they had an apple each and some cookies from Gramma.

My sister came for a visit this morning and took the crutches to one of the pharmacies to be fitted with ice picks since tommorow I will be back at the hospital for an appointment.

I wont be able to attend church for awhile but I think I can do the slides for my turn for the Service and then email them to another member of our techteam ministry.

Another sunny day here and 42 F degrees.

Day 39

2012-02-12T12:55:00.000-05:00

Well 39 more days to go.The ankle is not as sore today so maybe a good sign, I will know more after I see the orthopedic specialist on Tuesday.Did have a bit of an adventure yesterday. While up on the crutches the shoe I was wearing caught and down I fell .That frightened my poor wife badly and just bruised my ego. No new breaks fortunately and a change of footwear.

I was saddened by the news about Whitney Houston.In some ways her life mirrored that of another great sing Billie Holliday who also died way to soon.I will always remember her singing of the American national anthem at one of the super bowls. She sang that very difficult piece for a vocalist beautifully. Foreigner that I am to that country I was stirred by her singing of it.

40 more to go

2012-02-11T11:18:00.001-05:00

Well only 40 more days to go.Its been 25 years since I used crutches and the difference is notable namely I do not have the strength in my arms now that I had then.Ironically I broke the same leg on which my heel was rebuilt back in 1980 after a fall off a roof while shoveling snow.

Looking on the bright side,right now its sunny and 9 F. outside and I would rather be laid up now than in the warm weather.

Anyhow I'm able to use my laptop in spite of having my leg elevated and I will probably be blogging more than ordinarily :) you lucky people :)

Slippery Slope

2012-02-10T12:45:00.000-05:00

Thats what got me.I slipped yesterday on some ice on a small slope and ended up with a double break in my leg at the ankle.Its gonna be 6 weeks off the leg with a possibility of surgery yet.Will see the specialist Tuesday morning.

Super Kid

2012-02-06T14:16:00.000-05:00

I watched the Super Bowl for the 46th time.That sure dates me ,eh?
I had picked the Giants to win after watching them dismember my favourite team the Packers who I go way back with to the start of the Lombardi Era.Over those years though I have had respect for and followed the fortunes of the Giants when my team has had some dry spells.In recent years I have watched with interest the development of Eli Manning into a confident and now elite quarterback.Its sorta like watching a grandson grow up.
Credit must go to kindly Coach Tom Coughlin for this since he doesnt throw down his play sheet over Eli's bumbling at on the field as much as he use to. He came close to doing so when Eli twice called timeouts because of his nearly running the play clock down during the game.A fault of his that does stress his kindly Coach.
Young Eli now has one more Super Bowl ring than big brother Peyton and two MVP cars as prizes.
I was struck by the contrast between Eli and Brady. One with the glaring eyes and arrogance and the other with the quiet confidence in his teammates and his coaches.
Strange at times but still one hell of a game.

The halftime show while technically super was a shameless display of vulgarity and egoism from basically a lousy vocalist.

Bravo!!

2012-01-30T11:29:00.000-05:00

Finally in our country notice has been served that 11th century customs will never be tolerated. Bravo!!

Winter update

2012-01-28T14:19:00.001-05:00

Here its nearly the end of the month and the Sound has not frozen.Usually by now there is a good 5 to 6 inches of ice cover on it.If the Sound stays open this winter it will the first it has in all the sixty years that I have lived here.

Another phenomenon to mention is the lady that was the skip of the curling team that I was on the other morning.She is 88 looks like 70 and slides out of the hack and throws the stones like she is 60.It was a pleasure to play lead for her.

While on the subject. I am beginning to get the hang of using the delivery stick.A couple of times I actually got the feeling for the weight on the rock needed to make the come around or the take -out.My old brain is probably remembering how it played 10 years ago.I guess you could say that the stick is my shtick.

Its fun curling with the junior and senior Seniors, lots of camaraderie.On Tuesday and Thursday mornings there are two draws, nine and eleven and the clientele being what it is the nine o clock draw fills up fast lol.The later draw not so fast. One of our members is from Utah.He took up curling after the 2002 Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City.he is a pretty good player.

Little update

2012-01-20T12:02:00.000-05:00

Big snow storm here yesterday accompanied by strong wind gusts from the west coming in from the Sound.Today its sunny and cold.At 6AM the temperature was 0 degrees F.Something that struck me as comical was watching the wind make a snowball on the roof of our car.

The nice thing about about this weather is that it wards off the flu. Speaking of which ,I have been battling a bad chest cold that is finally getting better, ironically just 10 days before my appointment with the doctor.

Our son is springing for lunch today before he leaves tomorrow for the south.So it no eating with a spoon lol.

Back on the Ice

2012-01-19T18:35:00.000-05:00

This week I returned to the "civilized game" curling,this after an absent from the game for eight years.Things have changed. I am curling with folks in the 60 to ? age bracket and I use a delivery stick instead of putting my creaking bones in the hack and all the games are in the morning and twice a week

One thing that hasn't changed is the fun and fellowship.That's me brushing the stone.

Short

2012-01-02T12:09:00.000-05:00

Just a short missive to say thanks Kay and thanks VP for your best wishes also a happy 2012 to you and yours.

Me and the missus spent a quiet new year's eve.We watched a movie then saw 2012 in and so to bed.

More Rambling

2011-12-21T10:12:00.000-05:00

At war at the moment with the common cold virus.sniffle, snuffle, cough, cough.The thing about having this cold is that I seldom catch one . By seldom I mean once in a blue moon.I have an obligation to do at church on Saturday evening so here's hoping that I will be better by then

Other things.Rumours are out that the Dear Leader was bumped off.

French chauvinism and bigotry has raised its ugly head with the appointment of a uni-lingual interim coach of the Montreal Canadiens.That to me is not the problem.The problem is that the Montreal team is crappy and merde.

Its about time that Prime Minister Harper put the Americans on notice that Canada has other markets for it oil.The attempt by the Democrats and their barnyard socialist buddies to block Keystone smells of Saudi money.

Thinking about the Tim Tebow tempest in a teapot brought to mind the warning and the prophesy from Jesus in Matthew 10:22.

Gee I got lucky yesterday. ( no not that "lucky") I found out how to put a You Tube video on to a power point slide.I found this out via a You Tube video..lol.

Been mulling over making a change to this blog but not till some time in January.I have had a blog in various forms since well before Google bought Blogger.Back then my blog was confrontational and political and had a larger group of commenters, not a claque like some have, from both sides of the fence than this one.One day I realized that it was all vanity so I took it on a different road with a different name.The present name came about after I retired and started collecting the OAS and the CPP. Some of my blogger friends from both sides stayed with the change and over the years from mainly blogging burnout have traded in blogging for tweets.Just a little history.

To my readers I wish them a safe holiday and a time of happiness with family and friends.

Well looking outside at the moment I can see that the green grass could use a mowing.It will be a green Christmas and that is a rarity here.

R.I.P

2011-12-16T18:30:00.000-05:00

R.I.P Hitchens.I will miss his columns in Vanity Fair and Slate.The fact that he was a leftist atheist bothered me not one bit.I admired him for the way he never shrank from casting a light on the dark side of religion and politics.Like his hero George Orwell he came to realize what a bankrupt, blinded by hatred of the West, bunch the barnyard socialists are.
His take down of Mother Teresa was right on http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2003/10/mommie_dearest.html

Can you think of any other pro sports league that has allowed some of its greatest players its stars to be severely concussed and all at the same time and not do a thing about it?

So ol Bob( how I nearly ran Ontario into the ground) Rae is gonna visit Ottawopacat and advise the Chief. The man has no shame! O well what do you expect from a turncoat barnyard socialist eh.?

Once again it is the season for some folks getting upset over being wished a Happy Holiday Get real, 99% percent of the population have lost sight of the reason for the season.To them its just one greed fest and so with that in mind I wish them a Merry Giftmas.

We one percent know why we celebrate the ancient and wonderful event that happened two thousand years ago in Judea.

Ramble

2011-11-29T13:47:00.000-05:00

Well it had to happen......freezing rain here. When I drove truck for a living that was the only weather I feared hurricanes and tornados being rare in my driving area. I was mainly afraid of the idiots that insisted on driving at a 100kph cuz that was the posted speed even though some of the roads were slipperier than a politicians promises. Now I am sitting here watching the stuff building up on our car and afraid for the idiots out there that insist on driving at a 100kph in this weather.

What else? The mustache got deep sixed on the weekend.It began to itch and that was it.
The missus and I attended her oldest brother's funeral on Thursday last.Very sad,he was a good man who was one of those that would never turn down anyone that asked for help.My lady is now the oldest of her five siblings now that her oldest sister and oldest brother have passed on. After the final viewing by the family at the funeral home we followed on foot the hearse, bearing his coffin, to the church.

In spite of our sorrow at our loss we received with joy later that day the news that a young member of our extended family had as the funeral service was being held received a double lung transplant and had walked a short distance post-op. Life goes on.
When we arrived home we watched via cell phone a video from her sister of her taking her first steps.

Lastly. I brought the keyboard out of storage now that I have a place for it. There might just be a piany concert in the future.

Stengelisms

2011-11-26T14:50:00.000-05:00

A bit of a slow day in my blogging realm so here are some Casey Stengel (revered Yankees and Mets manager) observations.

They say some of my stars drink whiskey.But I have found that the ones who drink milkshakes don't win many ball games.

Lefthanders have more enthusiasm for life.They sleep on the wrong side of the bed and their head gets more stagnant on that side.

We are in such a slump that even the ones that are drinkin aren't hittin.

Managing is keeping the 10 guys that hate you away from the five who ain't sure.

I'd always heard that it couldn't be done, but sometimes it don't always work

There comes a time in every man's life and I have had plenty of them.
And his answer to the age old question about sex and playing sports.

The trouble is not that players have sex the night before a game.Its that they stay out all night looking for it.

R.I.P Casey

A ramble.........

2011-11-17T13:57:00.001-05:00

Google has an App Store that I have been looking around in. I came upon an app called Evernote which seems to answer a problem I have at times namely making a note of thoughts to put in this blog before I (choke,choke) forget about them.

Yesterday I made a note that the weather here is not November like, well what a difference 24 hours makes.November arrived last night with rain, snow, high winds, big white caps, the whole ball of wax.

I was going to rant about the latest juvenile acts in the NHL but decided its flogging a dead camel.

I have grown a mustache which I will wear till the end of November. I won't use it as a money raiser because I believe the prostate cancer fund raising is a ploy to imitate the breast cancer fund raisers. More women have died from breast cancer than men have died from prostate cancer.Fund raising to defeat that scourge affecting women is legitimate and personal. My sweet lady is a survivor of that disease.

http://www.cancer.ca/Canada-wide/About%20cancer/Cancer%20statistics/Stats%20at%20a%20glance/Prostate%20cancer.aspx?sc_lang=en. I lost over a ten year span back in the late 80s and early 90s eight close male friends to cancer none of it prostate. Prostate cancer is still an old man's disease,a disease that usually shows up by autopsy after the "old man's friend" pneumonia has done its thing.The whole campaign smells of Big Pharma and Big Medicine.

On a lighter note, I stumbled across American Hogsters on A&E last night.This reality program is about rednecks in Texas and Florida hunting down wild pigs . I didn't know that those two states have an estimated population of one million of these wild pigs.They eat everything including humans if they are seriously wounded by one of them. Where ever possible the hogs are captured and taken someplace .Sometimes they are shot and killed if capture isn't possible.The main targets are the boars and sows. The characters on the program could have stepped out of the Dukes of Hazard. Woooo pig sooooooeee!

Sports and sorts

2011-11-07T13:39:00.000-05:00

Not much happening,except the weather here today is windy but sunny and temps in the mid sixties F.The Ten Thousand Villages sale was a success thanks to all our volunteers.

I found sometime to watch football on the weekend . The college games that I could get were sub par. I did watch the
LSU-Alabama much hyped showdown. What a dud that was.Both defenses controlled the game making for a boring teeny scoring effort won by LSU 9-6 in overtime.
Sunday it was the Packers and the Chargers.Now the Packers are my team and have been since the Vince Lombardi regime he of the much cited quotes i.e. "Dancing is a contact sport. Football is a hitting sport". and "Fatigue makes cowards of us all" Also the apocryphal story that Lombardi came home from practice late one night got into bed with his wife Marie and put his cold feet on her to which Marie said "god your feet are cold" to which Lombardi replied" Marie in bed you may call me Vince" .

I digress.The Packers now have a perfect 8-0 record after Sunday's 45-38 shoot out with the Chargers.Nevertheless doubt has crept into my mind over this game and the Vikings game. In that game the Pack ran up a score in the first half then nearly blew it by inept offence play and shoddy pass defense.Yesterday saw a similar display . Leading once in the second half by three touchdowns the Packers' pass defenders suddenly had a collective brain cramp that allowed the Chargers to score and then pull an onside kick which the Pack fumbled with a bonehead play.This lead to Chargers' t d that narrowed the score to one t d to tie.Fortunately the Chargers' qb threw an interception allowing the Pack to win.
The disturbing thing is that the Packers defense is slipping badly allowing Rivers to pass for 385 yards against it. A mediocre pass rush by the front four and rookie mistakes by a veteran defensive corp bodes bad for the future.

The Leafs fell to earth with a thud Saturday night via the big bad Bruins.

Halloween etc

2011-11-01T16:51:00.000-04:00

Well it was back on the trail this morning.Man I am out of shape and thanks to the BP drug my good doctor put me on I gained a lot of weight which ms google told me that was a side effect of that particular drug. A drug for high bp causes weight gain , must be some irony there. Anyhoo I set off this morning with my wife and her two nieces for protection. No bears on the trail so I didnt have to throw one of the ladies at the critter whilst I made my escape. Will be back out there tomorrow a.m. Thursday morning both of us will be at our church to help unload a truck full of 10,000 villages ware for a sale on Friday and Saturday.The profit from the sale will be split with the Mennonite church here.

Last night we gave out candy at our son's house while him and his wife took our grandkiddies who were a flying unicorn, a vampire and a Celtic warrior minus the battle ax out to trick or treat. We handed out treats to about a 100 or so children. The nights weather was nice.

2011/11/01,01/11/2011,11/01/2011.November/01/2011

2011-10-31T15:05:00.000-04:00

A Tory MP is introducing a private member's bill to standardize the way we write the date on our documents.

Now I not only have trouble remembering what day month format to use half the time I can't remember what day of the week it is.

That term "private member" makes me snicker if ya know what I mean wink,wink, nudge nudge,same with the term privy council, privy being the polite term for the john.Privy council conjures visions of a gang of nobles holding a meeting in a room where the King is taking a crap. Maybe they did that baaaaaaaaaack in the day.

Who the hell woke that Senator up?? Imagine wanting to replace our national beaver.Sure the Yanks like to tease us about our beaver forgetting that their national animal goes around crapping on cars and generally acting stupid.

Who does the idiot want to replace our beaver with? The polar bear. Sheeeeeesh!!Here is an all-white animal that lazes around scaring tourists ,eating sled dogs ,getting stranded on ice floes, too stupid to den up in the winter and just generally making an nuisance of itself. Sure the beavers build dams and create small lakes. Sure their dams sometimes flood roads and take out the odd badly constructed bridge but come winter they stay in their lodges have sex and eat lots.What the hell is more Canadian than that!!!!! Hands Off Our Beaver!

Language.

2011-10-27T15:57:00.000-04:00

At the Breakfast this morning the subject of speaking a second language came up.Being uni-lingual or bilingual if I count Rubbish as a second language, I have wondered about how the mind handles two or more languages when thinking and when speaking. One of the guys at the table happened to be a Hungarian by birth but also a long time Canadian who speaks fluent English.I asked him if he thinks in his mother tongue first then translates his thoughts into the English he speaks.His answer was no because his mind has two compartments English in one and Hungarian in the other and when speaks the one language he goes into that compartment closes the other and his mind thinks in that language and he speaks that language and the other way around. Fascinating.

Previous Blog

2011-10-24T15:29:00.001-04:00

ViewPoint 2010's comment("I'm convinced that we need fraternity and don't realize the benefits on so very many levels.")
on my blog the other day gave me food for further thought.
We men whether its programmed in our genes or not are reluctant to turn to our male friends for support when we lose our wife, companion ,significant other through death or divorce. Women seem to do this instinctively with other women. I see this in our condo building every day; of the twelve units nine are occupied by widows and divorcees who look out for one another,get together, grieve together and are just there.
I mentioned in my previous blog that our breakfast get together was founded by one of the guys at my church in order to support a church brother who was grieving the loss of his wife to cancer. I wonder if the fact that these two men shared their common christian values made the support easier to give and to accept. This should not be the only way for men and it isn't but a common set of values sure helps.The benefits can be there.

untitled

2011-10-21T14:14:00.000-04:00

Well the weather here has improved and so has my mood. A visit this week from my farmer son and his partner has helped also. So here goes a ramble.

Our Thursday morning breakfast club got into a discussion about technology We are all retired and a tech savvy bunch as it turns out,smartphones, iPads, laptops, pvrs, you name it and we know our way around that stuff plus we have expert consultants i.e. our grand children should the need for them arise. Getting back to our Thursday morning breakfast club

Now for the OWS farce.These weekend protesters do not have the courage of their convictions.If they did they would be occupying the stock exchange instead of clowning around in a park nearby.Another thing.I look at the media coverage and all I see is well clothed, smartphone carrying spoiled people who 99% of the third world would happily change places with.I see people attending the OWSF wearing Guy Fawkes masks.You know the guy I mean the dummy that was caught beside a cellar full of gunpowder under the House of Parliament .A fine Guy to emulate.

And another thing. Some commentators are making comparisons between OWS and the Arab Spring. Asinine.People in Tunisia,Libya and Egypt died for what we have here.People in Syria and Yemen are dying, right now for the same.Its called Democracy which as Churchill once said is "the worst form of government except for all others that have been tried."

Getting back to our Thursday morning breakfast club. We are a group of men from some of the churches here that meet informally over bacon and eggs or what have you for fellowship. While some of us are church members we are open to anybody that wants to sit down with us and we do have friends that come out who have no religious connections.Hell we even have a cross section of the political spectrum.We have no formal subjects for discussion only stuff that comes up in chatting with each other.This group was begun by one man who would take out for breakfast with a friend who was grieving the loss of his wife. A humble beginning.

And so to bed. (just kidding)

Life Goes On

2011-10-15T10:46:00.000-04:00

A disturbing week here.Two friends and the son of friends passed away with in hours of each other.Today we will attend one memorial gathering then leave that for a a one hour drive to an evening wedding . Life goes on.Next Saturday will see a morning graveside service and in the afternoon a memorial service.Life goes on.

One of the downers about being over seventy is going to the funerals of friends.We all didn't plan on that .The plan was to grow old together ,support each other, have some fun times but now those plans are unrealistic.

When I see people out jogging ,watching what they eat and drink in an effort to live beyond the four score and ten or so I wonder if they think of the sorrow on the horizon. I have talked to folks in their eighties and nineties and their greatest sorrow is not failing health but their out living of their friends and in some cases their children and at times grandchildren.

Personally I do not dwell on this often only at a time such as now when death frolics among us. The Bard had it right:

"Out ,out,brief candle.
Life's but a walking shadow,a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more.It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing"

Macbeth.

Thanksgiving Weekend

2011-10-10T13:40:00.003-04:00

Our family Thanksgiving came off successfully I am happy to report. There were 22 members present out of a total of 35.If all had showed we could still have accommodated them since we held dinner on the lawn.The dinner was held on Saturday instead of the usual Sunday inorder that our two police officer family members could attend.
Something that me and the missus enjoyed was having our three little grand kids go to the garden and pull up some carrots which they ate after washing the soil off. It sure brought back memories of when I was their age doing the same thing. It was new and fun experience for the three of them.

Our celebration however was dampened with the news that an extended family member who is the same age as I am was in the hospital fighting for his life due to the very aggressive return of the cancer in his lungs. At present he is hanging on just barely.

It was nice to see in the comment section one from a new commenter Friko at Friko's World. I stopped by her blog and found it interesting.I will be a faithful reader of same as I am with all who comment on this blog.She noted in her comment that this blog was a rambling type.True because my mind does ramble and amble through the green sun drenched meadows of my conscious thoughts. (lol)

Its one lovely early October day here. Later on in the week reality will set in in the form of rain and lower temperatures but for now this piece by WW Campbell a well beloved poem from my childhood and evocative of the shores of Georgian Bay. "Indian Summer"
" Along the line of smokey hills
The crimson forest stands,
And all the day the blue jay calls
Throughout the autumn lands.

Now by the brook the maple leans
With all his glory spread,
And all the sumachs on the hills
Have turned their green to red.

Now by great marshes wrapped in mist,
Or past some river's mouth,
Throughout the long,still autumn day
Wild birds are flying South"

Bless you all on this fine Thanksgiving weekend!

Hump Day

2011-10-05T14:05:00.000-04:00

Hmmmm let me see...oh ya ..plans for Thanksgiving dinner are under way.This year we are hosting the thing and the venue is going to be on the lawn in front of our condo. We are expecting twenty of the family to be here and possibly more. No turkey,instead a pork loin and a ham with squash, a variety of potatoes, salads one green veggie and for dessert homemade pumpkin pie and lemon meringue pie.The weather forecast for Saturday is sunny and 70 F.

This morning I started the Fall put away beginning with the hose.next will be winterizing the barbie but not yet then the lawn chairs stacked in a corner where they won't be covered with snow.

I watched Prohibition on PBS the past three nights.While I happened to be fairly knowledgeable about the subject I enjoyed Ken Burns' treatment of it. You know the old saw about the road to hell being paved with good intentions well the 18th amendment to the American constitution was that road. The idea behind it was a noble one to answer the rampant drunkenness in the nineteenth century but extremism on the part of the "drys" when it came to enforcing the Volstead Act that was the child of the 18th amendment opened up a huge can of worms.
One of its sorriest unintended consequence was the rise of the mafia and the billions of dollars spent since fighting organised crime.On the plus side the Women's Christian Temperance Union who not only helped bring about the 18th amendment threw their organisation into the fight for women's suffrage at the same time that resulted in the passing of the 19th amendment which gave all women the vote in the USA.
Repeal of the 18th amendment in 1933 took less than a year and after Hoover's defeat by FDR in 1932 the Republican Party never regained the Presidency for another twenty years. The failure of the 18th amendment emphasized the truism that you can't legislate morality ,a lesson for the Left and the Right.

Gee whiz the kindly crtc has decided not to bow, for now, to Bellhell and legislate Netflix out of Canada They have hinted to Bellhell and their ~~competitors~~ good buddies that the internet that they sell us might be the way to harass Netflix.I say throw Canada wide open to competition from all over the world when it comes to cable ,satellite ,internet ,mobile phones and let the "market" decide who survives, enough of the closed shop in Canada.

EEEEEgad!!!

2011-09-30T09:54:00.000-04:00

EEEEEEEEEEEEEgaaaaaaaaaaaaad!! My wife and I suddenly realized that next year we will have four of our kids over fifty.
Starting in February I will be holding a course once a month Old Foggie 101 for their benefit. Attendance mandatory .

Great weather here lately even though its rained all night and part of this morning.Some of the locals tell me that we will have nice warm weather well into November. All I know is that one of our neighbours down the lane has a bigger woodpile than what he had last year. It seems that when here we have on old fashion hot summer we then have an old fashion winter with big snow and very cold.

Glad I hung on to my vhs recorder that still works well.I hear that when the screw the public copyright act is passed the use of pvrs will be illegal.I don't own one of those.On the same subject the Supremos are hearing a case as to whether the broadcasters in Canada can legally charge the cable and satellite companies for use of their content even though the companies own the broadcasters.I hope the Supremos won't be a party to this flimflammery.

off to buy a lottery ticket

Thursday

2011-09-29T11:34:00.003-04:00

We had dinner with Nanna and Poppa and our grand kiddies,last night.I was thinking while eating about how many children nowadays are lucky to have an occasion like this one. Afterwards the seven of us played an old game but one new to some of us called Guesstures.The children enjoyed this charades type game very much. It was sure nice to have a game that the grand parents and the wee ones could have so much fun with.

Spent an interesting morning yesterday with the church tech team and an audio visual consultant in order to be advised on where to move in the church building our present setup. The consultant will give us a detailed report and after that depending on our budget we will decide what we will implement with the approval of church Council.
A year ago a screen and projector was set up near the front of the sanctuary for the showing of hymns and scripture readings and illustrating of our minister's sermons thus cutting far back on the paper needed for the Sunday bulletin.This has been very well received by the congregation and their singing of the hymns is much more impressive from heads up reading from the screen as opposed to heads down reading from the hymn books. The present location of the A/V is not satisfactory for a number of reasons and that is the reason for the consultant
Audio visual aids in churches are more common now and more attractive to the younger generation who have grown up with it in school and in a lot of workplaces.
The aids to delivery are twenty first century but the 2000 year old message of the good news of the Kingdom remains the same.

If, dear readers, you happen to notice an ugly mug gracing my profile now that be me. Be not afraid. Lastly I must mention that thanks to ViewPoint 2010 I have added an interesting blog titled Nain Bay to my list.

Random thinking

2011-09-27T11:02:00.087-04:00

A break this week from getting the little tykes after school:(. Nanna and Poppa are staying with them while the parents take a mini-vacation.

We gave the tv a try and this is what we found: Sports: the Leafs judging by the pre-season games I watched might be slightly improved though the powerplay and the penalty killing is weak.I haven't watched a decent college football game yet and the same with the NFL.The only plus is the Packers are on an early season tear.I wanna see Moneyball but I will wait for the dvd.
The rest so far: 2.5 Men, hmmm. it has its raunch but does it have charisma.I will give it a bit of time. The Amazing Race, looks interesting judging by the opening episode.The penalty imposed on the last place team is new.Also new is the double elimination coming in the second program. Terra Nova, I stumbled on to the last part of it, ouch. My verdict is it aint no Jurassic Park.Its jumped the shark already.Something I watched last night and did enjoy was a movie on the French channel called La Faute a Voltaire .Its about a young Tunisian man who stows away on a ship going to France and his subsequent adventures,some funny and some sad, among the Paris underclass.My memory of high school French helped me get the drift of what was happening.

I will probably blog my impressions of some of the new shows as they come along then again maybe not.

Been looking at a preview of Windows 8.To me its as radical a departure from previous versions of Windows as was Win95 from Win 3.1 mainly due to its Metro graphic interface.The interface resembles what smartphone users are familiar with.
What I have seen is a beta version that will no doubt be changed by developers input before the final release.My only questions are.What is going to be the future of Windows after the introduction of its new interface? Is this going to lead to Microsoft challenging Apple's dominance of the tablet market?
I have used versions of Windows since Win 95 came out except for a try with the Mac panther osx.I liked Win98. I skipped Win ME cuz it was a ripoff. I reluctantly went to WinXp then found out it was more secure and a little less buggy.I skipped Vista cuz it was another ME style ripoff although it had a couple of useful features. At present I am typing this on a Win7 machine which is faster than the other Win versions that I owned and has the two useful Vista features ie ease of setting up a network and ease of downloading and installing files while in a user account.While using Win 7 so far I have not encountered bugs or the dreaded BSOD.
My sojourn with Panther was interesting and knowledgeable along with features that microsoft would emulate in its later versions. However, the killer was that Panther compared to its rival WinXP was a dog when it came to networking.I would like to give apple a try once more but I wont. Apple's machines are way overpriced.

Doldrums

2011-09-24T12:04:00.001-04:00

Blogger doldrums,not that I haven't much to blab about.I just can't get motivated to expound on any topic.Its so bad that I won't mention that I reopened my facebook account.I still flush the toilet.

After a couple of days here of much needed rain Mr. Sol has returned and with it warmer temperatures.

Something I did find interesting was the discovery by CERN that Einstein's equation about the speed of light might be wrong. If it is. Does that mean that the stars and galaxies are closer than they are thought to be?

We watched an interesting documentary about Yellowstone Park.I found it on YouTube movies which is a source of documentaries and old movies that are now in the public domain.Through the wonders of tech we are able to watch all that stuff on our tv via our laptops.

Oh ya, we rearranged our living room furniture and that caused the room to look much bigger. Our kids think its a hoot that every so often we do that.

Well best I go sit in the rockin chair.Just had a birthday ya know. Me and the good earth have made seventy four trips around Mr.Sol together.

..........short Gramma continued.

2011-09-14T14:11:00.001-04:00

We go over to our grand kids' school 2or 3 days a week to walk them to their home and the stay there till one of their parents arrives from work.One day last week while walking them home grandson number two had a conversation with gramma that went like this:
K: Gramma will you carry my backpack please?

G: No darlin I find it too heavy.I'm getting older you know.

K: How old are you gramma ?

G: I'm 74

K: How old is grampa?

G: He is 73 but he will soon be 74

K: Thats why your are short and he is tall because you are older than him.

..........catches up with grampa who is blissfully ignorant of the above.

K: My shoulders are sore grampa .Will you carry my backpack?

Gpa: Sure I will.

K: Thanks. Hey JJ wait for me !

See ,I was conned by a six year old.

Back yard Baseball

2011-09-09T13:20:00.001-04:00

Playing baseball with our two little grand sons is getting tough on old grampa!The last two afternoons at their home after school I have been in a pickup game with the little guys. Since there was only the three of us playing there is a significant bending of the rules usually not in grampa's favour LOL.Gramma came to my aid but despite her sterling play alas the grandsons prevailed by the score of 3to0 even though grampa hit a homer out of the park ( into neighbour's back yard) cuz the umpire and also pitcher declared it a foul ball. He was backed up by his brother who was playing first, second , third base and shortstop plus all the outfield positions.
Probably no game today cuz its hockey practice and I aint going anywhere near those two with skates on.

PS I found out from grandson number two why gramma is shorter than me . Its because she is older. More on that later.

Tuesday afternoon................

2011-09-06T16:26:00.002-04:00

It was a very nice two days at the cottage for me and my girl.Something else nice was seeing the improvements made by our kids to what is still a rustic cozy cottage.

Well its back to reality. Boy oh boy the Dalton Gang here are sure throwing the money around, our money btw, with an election coming in five weeks.I notice that the Liberal press has not added up all the promises and totaled the cost as they would be eagerly doing if it was a Tory regime bribing us with our own money.

Tomorrow its pick up the little grandkids after school and take them home.This will be a regular thing now.They are at the age that they do not want to be taken to daycare any more.Why ? "Its boring". Apparently Gramma and Grampa aren't. Well we sure do enjoy spending time with them.

Last Thursday we went to IKEA.Never been in the doors of that store. It was fun. We bought a few things that we couldn't buy in town,all reasonably priced too.Had a nice lunch in the cafeteria there then resumed checking out the rest of the store.Something that caught our eyes was the layout of a 590 sq.ft apartment on display fully furnished.I have wondered how things were fit into something that modest in size.The layout was very space efficient and actually did not seem tight to us. The size is good for a couple and a cat or one person and two cats.I did a rough estimate of the cost of all that was in the unit and came up with a total of 20 to 25,000 bucks. We might make it back to IKEA someday.
Now if they only sold pine boxes cheap.

See Ya!!

2011-09-02T15:29:00.000-04:00

Here today is the hottest day this summer. Off to the cottage to cool off and enjoy the boat ride and the company. See ya!!

A hard winter coming

2011-08-26T12:11:00.000-04:00

That is seven lake freighter loads of salt on the Smelter Dock here. I have named it Mount Sifto. I have no idea the height of the pile but note the cars near it and the utility pole in the right foreground. The crane in the foreground was used to put the tarp in place on the pile. The salt here will find its way onto the roads and highways in our Province.

No Title

2011-08-25T13:26:00.000-04:00

I found on you tube recently The Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi.The clip of it showed the camera following along the Via Appia past the Pines while in the background the Berlin Philharmonic played Respighi's fine piece.Listening to this music my minds eye pictured a Roman legion ,back from crushing the barbarian hordes, approaching the City.The scenery along the Appian Way is visually a knock out!

Later I read about the barbarian hordes in Balzac's Les Chouans a work of historical fiction based on the uprising in the Vendee during the French Revolution. The Chouans were peasants, not far removed from their Gaulish ancestors, who had traded in their druidism for a deep faith in Catholicism and a staunch loyalty to the French monarch hence their rebellion against the head choppers in Paris.Their manner of dress was similar to what Julius Caesar had described nearly 2000 years before. Manly virtues and a warrior spirit was termed by these people as gar a Celtic word similar to the Latin virs. Men with it were called Gars and their women with the warrior spirit were called Garce; garcon entered the french language from that root word. The revolt took in part guerrilla warfare years before that name was invented.It was put down by the head choppers with much difficulty and extreme savagery. sadly the Chouans that survived descended into brigandage that was later described by Balzac in his sequel The Brotherhood of Consolation.

Kinda wordy eh?. Probably because this blog is about what interests me and in some ways a diary but not in the same league as Sam Pepys maybe in a similar spirit though.

And so to bed.

Hold on a sec its only 1:15 pm and the wife is looking at me with askance.

Bigga Tomat

2011-08-24T16:09:00.000-04:00

We grow em big in the Hoot. The one on the left is 13cm in diameter and its cousin picked off the same vine is 5cm. We have a bumper crop of tomatoes this year.In fact I will be asking the local electrical utility to loan me a couple of their poles to use for stakes next year.

Though a lot of the tomatoes are big their taste is delicious no comparison to the stuff wee have to put up with in the off season.

PS the big guy has some cousin almost as big but still ripening.

Update again

2011-08-20T11:21:00.000-04:00

EUREKA!!! the math problem is solved thanks to the guy that's been sleeping with my wife all these years.The answer is L= S * T where L is length S is speed and T is time.
Here is a link to a very good site for those interested in saving money on their electrical bill.http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/. Starting on September 01 the hydro provider here is going to time of use billing.Prime time price will be 9.9 cents kwh .Mid prime price will be 8.5 cents kwh and off prime will be 5 cents. I am fine with all this because we are as energy efficient as we can be. We are being and will continue to be raped on the delivery and transmission charges. A total scam.

This morning we started out to visit the yard sales and wouldn't ya know it down came rain and its still raining .The radar screen on the laptop shows a band of rain and thunderstorms stretching across Georgian Bay - Lake Huron into Michigan USA that means this weather could last well into the afternoon. a good day to grab a good woman and a good book but not necessarily in that order.

Just another day in paradise. :)

A Math Problem

2011-08-19T14:58:00.000-04:00

My walks in the early morning spawned a math problem.The other morning as I was approaching the twin level crossing that is part of my route the signal lights came on.I stopped and as the freight train roared over the crossing I used my watch to time how long it would take to pass in its entirety.It took five minutes at a speed that I judged to be 50 miles per hour.After it was gone and as I continued on my morning walk I wondered how long that freight train was.

In spite of knowing the speed and the time I could not come up with a solution that gave me the length of the train.Later I posed the problem at a web site that tutored students in Algebra. The answer I got was that the freight train was 4.5 miles long!

Further research led me to a Transport Canada website that among other information stated that the longest trains allowed by regulation was 13 thousand feet or 2.46 miles so 4.5 miles could not be right.

If any math types happen to stumble onto here I sure would appreciate any solutions.

I did learn some interesting stuff ,well interesting to me, the average length of a container car is 72 feet.From the time level crossing warning lights start flashing till a train traveling at fifty mph is on the crossing is thirty three seconds.Trains carry a "black box" called a locomotive event recorder.

Observasions

2011-08-16T12:36:00.001-04:00

Come back Yvonne and pay no attention to that randy bull.(Bavarian cow missing)

Sixteen year old rioter in Britain charged with murder. Ah hell let him go ya know that ya will end up doing that besides he is poor and marginalized.He couldn't help beating that poor old bugger to death after all the wanker shouldn't have interfered with his fun.

The DnD is hiring more bureaucrats.I hope they have to take basic training in the new Royal Canadian Armed Forces. Thats all we need ,eh? More feet up on the desks instead of on the parade square

Warren ! Whatsa matter with ya ,boy? Don't ya know that's how billionaires become that way:They Pay no taxes!

Why do the anti healthcare yahoos here compare our system with the broken down American healthcare. They should compare ours to the German, the French or the Swiss ones.

Watched an NFL preseason game last night, borrrrring.

So Harper dropped in on Crazy Stupid Love. Before I realized that it was a movie I thought he had been to visit Bob Rae.

Apparently Steve is a Cinephile. That's ok. I've been a sin a pile at times.

How come the Mounties file on Tommy Douglas is heavily censored ?Is it because during one election campaign he jumped up on a farmer's manure spreader to give a speech and noted that it was the first time he had been on the Liberal election platform.

The G&M asks the question:" Is obesity cause for state intervention?" Why not Ask Karl Marx.Oh I forgot he is dead and buried in his own Private plot. I can just imagine it a new arm of government, Obesity Canada staffed by the newly formed Gefatpo with the motto Watch und Weight and repeat offenders to be sent to re-education centers in famine prone areas of the world.

Lastly, the G&M asks:"Do vegans sleep better?" All I can say is that anytime I slept with one I was too sleepy to ask her.

Update

2011-08-12T12:41:00.000-04:00

The family reunion starts this evening.This year we will say goodbye to one family member who feels, due to ill health, that he wont be able to attend next year's.We will also say hello to one who may become a member of the clan,time will tell.

Our eight year old digital camera is acting strange.I suspect that it is the lithium battery.A new battery will cost about 80 bucks.In its day it was a fine camera but now I can't justify a new battery for a three megapixel camera that may turn out to have more problems than just the battery.

Oh well there will be lots of cameras at the reunion.

Sim and Stuff

2011-08-09T10:45:00.000-04:00

The sim card I ordered arrived yesterday by courier, not bad service since I had ordered it on Friday just past.I installed it in our unlocked world phone then emailed all the family with our new number.

This phone is for roaming only but we can call anybody in Canada or the States for a small fee per minute. With a change of profile it will work in Europe and Asia .It's a pay as you go with no set up fees, no network access fees,no renewal charges if the phone isn't used for long periods of time and simple and easy top ups.

All we need a cell phone for is travel. This phone fills our need and it cost us six bucks from an auction on Ebay.

I went to Emerg last Tuesday to get a splinter taken out of my thumb.It had festered.Went very early in the morning cuz in the summer here the emergency department is usually packed with mainly cottagers. Luckily it wasn't busy and after the doctor cut and probed with a scalpel I walked home since I had walked there. The thumb ,fortunately on my left hand, is healing. Joker that I am I told the kids that Mom had bandaged my thumb to stop me from sucking it at night and keeping her awake.Gee whiz I think some of them half believed me ....lol.

Our annual family reunion on my wife's side starts Friday;this year it is the 25th one.The celebration lasts till Sunday morning.

Turmel

2011-08-08T12:19:00.002-04:00

Ms Turmel.....The gift that keeps on giving to the Torys and the Grits. Tommy Douglas a man that I admired must be spinning like a top in his grave.

Mentioning spinning.The latest spin from the Left is that Harper was once a Liberal and May was once a Liberal and Rae was once a NDPer. Possibly true but those Parties were not dedicated to the break up of Canada as the one that Turmel belonged to in January last.

The Left in Canada: No policies, whiners, name callers people that don't know that honey attracts more bees than shit. Hell if they got their act together and put forth good policies instead of lies and fraudulent accusations I might even vote for the NDP once they can the Separatists in their midst.

The Travelers

2011-08-02T10:52:00.000-04:00

Our travelers are back safely from Europe with a lot of stories.The couldn't say enough good about their euro rail experience. The one downer was that Paris the whole time that they were there stunk of urine. They chalked it up to the finish of the
Tour de France and the terrible lack of public washrooms to handle the enormous crowd. Except for Paris and Brussels which they found to be dirty all the other cities that they visited were very good and the folks there were friendly and helpful.
They intend to go back and see Paris again and visit the places that they missed.

Ant Story

2011-07-26T09:41:00.000-04:00

Sitting on the patio yesterday morning, drinking coffee and listening to KDFC classical I noticed a small petal from one of our flowers moving over the surface seemingly by itself.A closer look revealed a tiny,tiny ant tugging on the petal and moving it toward the grass at the edge of the patio.Now this petal was about an inch in length and I would guess the ant to be about 1/32nd of an inch in length.Once the petal became caught on a blemish on the patio surface which led to frantic scurrying around it by the ant. To my amazement it stopped and snipped off a piece of the petal and rushed to the grass with it.
I went and refilled my cup and when I returned to my seat there was the little fella tugging on the petal.Then what happened next was totally stunning ,the tiny creature went to the opposite end of the petal and pulling on it in a 180 degree manner freed the petal and then continued tugging it till he got it into the grass and disappeared with it down what I presumed to be an entrance into the colony.
The ant had traveled with petal about 12 inches and to my thinking had reasoned out a solution to the problem of the stuck petal.

HOT HOT HOT.

2011-07-21T11:37:00.001-04:00

Hot,hot and hot!!! Well our kids are in Holland. Last night I was able to go online and track their flight till about 9PM.Amazing stuff. While we are the tech subject,I will be trying when the new cellphone arrives a different and cheaper way to make use of that technology.If things pan out I will put out a post about it.

I'm sorta on the loose today cuz my dear lady has went out of town with her brothers to visit the brother that is recovering in the hospital from a severe breathing problem. Apparently he is getting about with a walker and raising hell about the hospital food . Sounds like he might be going home soon. LOL

Gonna stay in and keep cool and sip some ice cold lemonade with a wee drop of fortifying elixir in our chalice cuz" the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true". Thank you Danny Kaye.

The Knuckledragger Times

2011-07-19T10:46:00.000-04:00

Our little town is busy with all the summer folks here.The next two weeks will be the peak.Traditionally factories in southern Ontario would close down for those two weeks and the employees would come up to their cottages here or to camp at the provincial parks in the area. I think that is still the case today.

Another tradition here is the classical music festival that runs from now till just after civic holiday weekend.Its festival with boat cruises, gala concerts featuring artist from Canada and other countries and afternoon recitals at festival hall or at some churches.
This knuckledragger likes to attend the afternoon recitals as does my wife.This knuckledragger's love of classical music goes way, way back to my teens when I played violin in an orchestra at the high school I attended. Alas a required move north by my family curtailed that career but my love for that music never ceased.

For Fathers Day some of the kids gave me a gift certificate from the local bookshop. I have decided to order two books by George Plimpton from the shop.If that fails I can get them from Amazon.ca.

Knuckledragger Thinking

2011-07-18T14:45:00.001-04:00

The missus and I had our hearing tested last week.We both need hearing aids.She wants to have the usual ones and I will pay extra for the "selective hearing" model.

Our son and his wife have moved into the condo unit beside us and are settling in before they go over to Holland to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.

Yesterday we attended a wedding shower at a cottage in Muskoka. It was one of them newfangled bisexual ones ya know that's where both sexes attend.

A heatwave is rolling through here this week and that's ok. I will remember it in January with fondness

Speaking of fondness here is a video of George Plimpton taking a turn as a villain in the John Wayne duster Rio Lobo. Don't know who George Plimpton is?Well google him. This knuckledragger found him to be a very interesting man.

That's George sneaking up on the Duke.

Tardy

2011-07-12T20:31:00.000-04:00

Been tardy lately in posting due to illness in our family, grand-kids care, and a minor reno of our bathroom.
Hope to be back posting soon.

Hohummm 2..........

2011-06-22T09:32:00.000-04:00

Hohum.......we saw a deer this morning on the property. I have some photos to share and I hope to add one of the deer here if it will stand still. We think its a yearling.

The Bell chief wants the CRTC to allow market forces to do its thing in the telecom business.I don't think he is serious.He knows that his good buddies on the CRTC would never allow the big American telcos to set up shop in Canada.

I will refrain from commenting on the Vancouver riot other than to say: see
2Timothy 3:1-5.

I cancelled Netflix but will probably pick it up in the Fall. This time of year our boob tube watching is very,very minimal.

Nice overnight rain here. it was needed

Hohummm..........

2011-06-21T12:00:00.000-04:00

Hohum........washed the Nort Ontario bugs off the car.The veggies are growing in our garden and we have already had some fresh shallots in a salad,radishes are just about ready to pick, after that will be the leaf lettuce .I can hardly wait to have garden fresh lettuce to put with peanut butter on a sandwich.

Our oldest son left this morning for the East Coast again. He had to come back here to load his car and motorcycle along with some odds and sods into his big trailer. He and his lady will be missed by his family.

One of our daughters gave me a gift certificate from the local book store for Father's Day. She got a big hug and kiss from the recipient. That day was quiet, most of our kids were at their cottages.I did get a phone call from my son in Maryland with a promise from him that in August him and I will have a daddy's day lunch when he is here.

Oh ya before I forget, I joined the History forum on Amazon.com. Good forum with history knowledgeable folks and a moderator that cans the wankers and other forum thugs.

That ESPN is very wise listing Toronto as a very crappy professional sports town. The only thing I would argue with them is listing the Leafs at 120 out of 122 as the worst team. 123 would have been right.

Road Trip

2011-06-16T13:08:00.000-04:00

Back here from our trip to Timmins to check in on a couple of relatives that my wife has been worried about.We found them both to be doing very well. I know that one can get this with a phone call but sometimes things get glossed over so that the siblings wont worry.
Timmins is an interesting city.It has a lot of parkland,a lot of shopping with two big malls a lot of nice places to eat and the usual hotel chains for accommodations making it a power center for the surrounding area.it also has an airport that handles jet traffic. It relies on the gold mines and big copper mine there.With the price of gold and copper being high the city's prosperity is evident.As usual in Northern Ontario the folks a friendly and laid back .Unlike the New York wannabes in Trawna.
From here to Timmins its a seven hour trip with stops. Driving time is five and a half hours according to the Garmin with that in mind we stayed there two nights.Anyhow we had very nice weather we did run into delays due to highway paving and widening.The district Timmins is in is held by the governing Liberal Party and with this being an election year the pork is flowing in that district.

AMEN!

2011-06-07T13:21:00.000-04:00

Friday

2011-06-03T13:47:00.001-04:00

Its been a bit too chilly the last number of mornings to have coffee on the patio with Herr Bach and all his colleagues.Oh well I think the hot weather will be soon upon us.

My summer book reading has started with a collection of short stories by Jeffery Deaver titled Twisted.Each story ends with a twist hence the title. Some of the twists are more believable than others.One of the stories involved Will Shakespeare saving a friend from a murder conviction.The twist was that part of his friend's adventure was incorporated into his play Othello.

Watched on Netflix last night while the missus was at her club meeting the movie Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Hilarious!! The somewhat of a sequel to it was Snatch which I had seen first a couple of years ago and was very funny also.

We will shortly be picking up from school our two little grandsons.We enjoy that chore.

Books

2011-06-02T15:07:00.000-04:00

I met a book bonanza yesterday.But first a short pause here while I adjust my holier than thou baseball cap..Yesterday I gave our local library a dozen books from my personal library because I have always gained much knowledge and enjoyment from being a member of it.There thats better.

The bonanza came about because I lucked into more books, that I haven't read, from friends and relatives. So now the dozen given away are on the way to being replaced.

Still on the subject of books,I have thought of buying a Kindle.I cannot bring myself to do that because there is something comforting about looking at my library on its shelves a comfort that I would not feel from a book list on a Kindle.

Non Scientific Observations

2011-06-01T12:53:00.000-04:00

So Rogers wants the gummit to give them a level playing field.Good I say but only if Verizon, At&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Comcast are allowed to compete in Canada.
Apparently Rogers idea of a level playing field would allow the Rogers tank to run over all the small mobile start ups. One of Rogers big wigs said that without a level playing field it would be a slap in the face to their seven million customers.From some comments I read that would at least be a change from the kick in the ass that Rogers gives them.

So CUPW wants to strike. I will really miss our nice postie especially when her/his job disappears after the strike is settled.In one month we receive four pieces of first class mail and three of those could be eliminated by going paperless.The rest of our so called mail is junk that goes straight into the recycle bin. So is 24 bucks an hour a justifiable wage for a service that is unskilled labour and could except for first class be delivered for far less?

I have no beef with Canada Post. When I have bought on e-Bay I have found that the combination of Canada Post and the USPS have ensured a prompt and no hassle delivery from the United States at a reasonable delivery charge.Similarly fast service with an order from Amazon.ca.
CUPW is living in the past and if they do not get a clue they will find themselves with no members.

I don't know what Dalton's motive is but I agree (gulp) with him.GET RID OF THE SENATE.
In order to forestall this getting on WikiLeaks and in the interest of full disclosure I produce a blog letter I wrote back in 2008:

" Dear Mr. Harper

I'll call you Stephen, ok? I recall that over in Bracebridge a few years ago you told me to call you that.

I'm writing to you to ask to be one of your Senate appointments from Ontario ,the finest province next to Alberta of course.

I feel that I would make a good Senator. I am a loyal Tory having voted that way since I was six.I know how to argue ( what Irishman doesn't). I can see both sides of the question mine and that of that stupid sonovabitchin Liberal. I certainly believe in the sober reflection that goes on in the Senate after they get over from gettin pissed the night before.I'm very willing to give that a try. I certainly would give all bills brought to the Senate my careful evaluation even though my wife calls that procrastination.I would certainly do my best to spend the winter in warmer climes researching for the Senate of course. The fact that I sometimes doze off listening to political bullshit need not be held against me.If appointed I wont get the "hots" for any of those gal Senators or those guy Senators either. So no worries there,Stephen.

Lastly, I need the cushy paycheck since I never worked for GM.

Yours Truly

Government Funded Blogger

PS Kindly overlook the stuff I said to Tony in an email. It was taken out of contexts. He's a good lad a bit short but so was old Nap.

GFB"

Summer at last

2011-05-31T12:13:00.000-04:00

Summer has arrived here. Finally. As I sit here I see the outside thermometer registering 80 F.A work crew is here this morning to replace all the railings on the second floor balconies of this building. It will be hot work.The foreman told me that they have lots of water and Gatorade

Fryday

2011-05-27T13:45:00.000-04:00

Did a short visit to the Wise Old Broad on the Rock's blog this morning where she had posted a most lovely sunset photo taken from the front of her home. Her sunset photos are similar to ones that I take here. She lives beside the Atlantic Ocean and I live beside the Georgian Bay. Both places are prone to spectacular sunsets. Oh ya I almost forgot I enjoy her blog most of the time.

What else? Still getting drops in the left eye three times a day. Next week it will be twice a day then the week after,nada. Got three more weeks of the shield over the eye at night. Maybe then my missus will stop calling me Jack Sparrow.

Finally we got Netflix yesterday. To try it out I watched a classic and since no one will ever guess what it was I won't say. Hint though: Its by Willy S. We have a month free trial and then after that $7.99 per. One downside is that Netflix uses Silverlight and because Silverlight is owned by the evil empire it does not support Chrome which is my browser of choice. It does support Safari though so I use it instead of IE all be it with a slight tweak.

I can use our big flat screen tv as a monitor so we will watch our movie choices on it .We have decided that Monday will be movie night and possibly one other night.

Back Off the Road

2011-05-26T12:39:00.000-04:00

Raining again. The rain has made this exotic tree , an oriental flowering crabapple tree, that faces our condo blossom wonderfully.

Our visit to our ailing relative found him in reasonably good health in spite of being tethered to an oxygen machine and being on numerous medications for his lung and heart problems.He is able to get around by using a portable oxygen bottle that he fills up using the big oxygen machine. He is still his opinionated feisty self.

A very good sign of his mental state.

The latest issue of National Geographic arrived here this morning. Some interesting articles one of which was about child brides in India and some Muslim countrys. .A question that came to mind is where are the feminists in Canada on this issue. Do they organize protests and candle light vigils in front of the embassies of the countrys that approve of this medieval garbage? After all the feminists in Canada have always declared that all women are their sisters.

I'm reading Keith Richards book that missus GFB gave me just for being a good boy. Something from the book that I found out was that Keith and Mick considered the Stones to be a blues band first and a rock and roll band second.A lot of their inspirations came from listening to and playing with Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker,Little Richard etc.They admired the Chicago/Mississippi blues from which Keith picked up on something called open tuning in particular five string open G tuning. He spends about half a chapter on the subject. Very interesting book,thank you my darling.

Road Trip

2011-05-24T09:07:00.000-04:00

The weather is clearing here,the shyster at family radio is still being stupid. For a man that professes to study the bible he must know that God takes a very dim view of false prophets.

I can not imagine the sorrow that the people in Joplin are feeling and also our fellow Canadians from Slave Lake.

We will be leaving today to visit an ailing relative.We will be gone for a couple of days.

Reading Glasses

2011-05-19T11:32:00.000-04:00

Damn, I do need reading glasses so I went and bought a pair.My sister gave me a thingy that keeps the pair around the neck.Even so I will probably have what my wife has a pair at the computer, a pair in the kitchen, a pair in the bedroom, a pair in the car.Old age,bah humbug! You young folks listen up. plastering your mug with all that anti aging cream is a crock If ya make it to 75 you will look like us ,wrinkled like a Shar Pei. Better to spend your shekels on fine wine instead and enjoy the slide down to the bone-yard.

OP Day

2011-05-17T14:55:00.000-04:00

What a screw up!! I showed up at the hospital at 7:30 to register as instructed only in day surgery prep to be informed that I was booked in the OR for 10:30 Fortunately there were two no shows so I got in the lineup.

I was out of the OR and on my way home at 10:15 chauffered by a beautiful lady,my missus.I'm scriben this while I kill time till I go back to the hospital at four for further instructions and a date for a follow up appointment. The eye hurts some nothing that a few Tylenol won't fix.

Last minute prep

2011-05-16T17:06:00.000-04:00

The count down is on.Today was taking care of jobs that required bending down or lifting anything over 10 pounds and Imoved the beer in the fridge onto the top shelf just in case the urge for the the brew that is true arises I also made sure that the chalice in the palace was brought home and the vessel with the pestle was left behind.

Anecdote a true one.Sometimes the eye surgeon and the urologist have their day surgery patients share the same waiting area. Well a gentleman arrived and a volunteer took him to a cubicle to change into a gown the volunteer told him to take off everything below the waist.He objected saying" I'm here to get my eye fixed not my dick" I was told that much hilarity ensued . Tomorrow I shall be on my guard.

The eye surgeon has fool proof system so that the wrong eye doesn't get operated on, to wit, Monday is right eye day.Tuesday is left eye day.Also the nurse marks the forehead with an X over the eye to be operated on.

RCERR

2011-05-14T14:14:00.000-04:00

The rine in Spine falls mainly on this little burg by the bay ....I think.
Been busy with computers in our building.Fixed the email problem for one friend then on Thursday spent sometime securing a wireless network for another friend.How to do all that stuff I learned from friends and Google so I sure don't mind passing the knowledge on. I still managed to squeeze in enough time to get the audio/visual Sunday service ready and still hold a barbecue for some of our family.

Why blog about that? Cuz I can't think of another topic at the moment and I am not usually that busy.

My dear wife has begun today to put antibiotic drops in my left eye for the next three days prior to surgery on Tuesday and when all is said and done she will have put in ,pre-op and post-op ,well over a hundred drops in the eye in the next four weeks.

I can't let this pass. The G&M reports that the Canada Customs thugs don't want to have to wear name tags cuz it will make them feel unsafe.What a crock !.It shows you the IQ of these people.What the name tags will do is make them accountable for their bullying ,their power trips and their abusive manners.
What is really scary is this bunch with room temperature IQs have been given guns Hell the NDPQ are not in power yet and this country has already turned into USSR-Canada at the border.

My dear wife bought me Keith Richards book.Now I have that one and two others on the go.

Still raining

2011-05-11T14:05:00.000-04:00

Who sezs ya cant get an education reading blogs? Not me.I found out what a yellow dog Democrat is.Its a Democrat that would vote for a yellow dog if it was on the Democratic Party ticket.

Hereafter I shall refer to the late unlamented Liberal Party supporters as Yellow Dog Liberals and their Party as the LULP.

Just came home from putting gas in the ToyCor. still a buck thirty-three nine here.Gee I didn't know that there was a crisis in Canada till I found out that the poor folks in Trawna were paying a buck forty (gulp)

Now us folks here haven't access to a multi million dollar transit system so we gotta suck it up and decide between filling the tank or buying more ammo for our unregistered long guns . Whats a hoser to do?

I have a thought. What if the folks in Trawna decided to lay up their cars for a year,cancel their auto insurance too and take the bus. Ya think that might gets sombody's attention?

Anyway me and my missus are thinking about selling the ToyCor and buying two of them electric scooters that we see the coffin dodgers roamin around town in.

Damn I'm startin to sound like one of them green gilled socialists.the next thing ya know I'll be eaten dipped in horse shit organic veggies.

Here is a favourite "lady?" from across the pond.

Judgement Day

2011-05-10T10:59:00.000-04:00

I read in the Globe and Mail that a a group called Family radio has billboards around announcing that judgement day is coming on May 21 2011.Hmmmm.......Now lets see what the foremost authority on that subject has to say about this: " But of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only" That is good enough for me.

Jesus goes on to say :"But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

³And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be...Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come".

Family Radio appears to be a group duped by the father of lies aka the evil one,the devil, the adversary Satan who Jesus said of:"He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies".

For anyone, interested, a reading of Matthew 24 will help to recognize the false predictors among us.

Just Ducky

2011-05-06T13:14:00.000-04:00

Day five after the unwanted federal election and the toons on the left are still spinning out their absurdities.They have resurrected that tired old canard that 6o% of the voters did not support the Conservatives.Well by the same tinfoil helmet reasoning 67.5% of the voters did not support the NDPQ.

On the subject of voter support lets look at where the majority of the NDPQ seats are.Fifty eight in Quebec and forty two in the ROC,hardly a national party but thanks to Bon Jack's good campaigning in Quebec he booted them separtists on to the dust pile of history. I like him for that.

The other toon canard is that the Conservative majority is not legit due to vote splitting by the Left.If I was a Conservative all I would say to that is thanks very much guys!

Now on a more serious note,Osama has been spotted in Walmart shopping for a new burnoose.He was seen just two aisles over from Elvis and Adolf.

Love them wee folks!

2011-05-05T12:41:00.000-04:00

Well me and my wife are back to picking up our little grandkids after school.We had a long hiatus in the winter from that pleasant chore but now their Dad's shift has changed to steady days and their Mom still works two days two nights then four days off.
The kiddies get out of school at staggered times. First is the SKs then the JKs and finally Grade two,having the SKs out first is a bonus for us cuz it means that the middle kid can run around the yard and up and down the slides wearing off steam before his siblings are out.

Tuesday he gave me his tree that he got to plant at home to hold on to.I decided to put that in our car trunk along with his back pack .As I was walking to the car I hear this little voice holler "hey grampa where you going with my tree?"That little guy never misses a thing ...lol

We just love getting the kiddies after school!

Politically Correct Groaner

2011-05-04T17:25:00.002-04:00

An Englishman, a Scotsman, an Irishman, a Welshman, a Gurkha

a Latvian, a Turk, an Aussie,a German,an Egyptian,a Mexican

a Spaniard, a Russian, a Pole,a Lithuanian, a Swede, a Finn

,a Romanian, a Bulgarian, a Serb, a Swiss,

a Greek, a Singaporean, an Italian, a Norwegian, a Libyan,

an African a Russianan American and a Canadian .

went to a night club

The bouncer said, "Sorry, I can’t let you in without a Thai."

How True

2011-05-04T17:21:00.002-04:00

Birds of a feather flock together . . . .and then shit on your car.

A penny saved is a government oversight.

The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat have gotten to be really good friends.

The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement ...

He who hesitates is probably right.

Did you ever notice: The Roman Numerals for forty (40) are XL.'

If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

The sole purpose of a child's middle name is so he can tell when he's really in trouble.

A little reflecting

2011-05-03T13:12:00.000-04:00

From what I heard the dirt-bag couldn't even die like a man ,he hid behind a woman.Enough about that murdering thug.

Now for something positive

We now have a new political party after yesterday namely the NDPQ.That said ,I was happy to see Jack's gang become the official opposition .Jack ran a good energetic campaign that was well focused ,clean and he did it without dragging the dragon lady around with him.That was a smart move jack should get the Order of Canada for knockin off the bloc heads.

Another smart move was the one Harper made by staying on message and appearing to be above the NDPQ-Liberal Party hoo haw.

As for the Liberals well what goes around comes around.They made a career out of stealing the NDP-CCF platform and at the same time demonizing decent men like Bob Stanfield of the Progressive Conservative Party.

After yesterday at long last in this country we now have clear choice for Canadians and if Jack and Steve are sincere perhaps a more adult and respectful House of Commons

"Though April showers............"

2011-04-28T15:22:00.000-04:00

"Though April showers may come your way they bring the flowers that bloom in May" A lovely old song thats from .Been singing that lately as the rain comes down and down and down.

   On the computer front I set up my sister's new laptop the other day then also did the same for the wireless connection.I was surprised to find all the wireless connections around her and except for one all unsecured and the secured one was using WEP.Now that is like having a cheap lock on your house door.The other ones are like having no lock at all. Carelessness that is mind boggling!!

  Ya know something? I am liking Win7 more and more. I used an HDMI cable to attach the laptop to our flat screen tv I then turned the tv on and by golly what was on the laptop appeared on the tv with no fiddling with settings. Instant gratification....lol.Watching "Bond" on the 50 inch screen sure does a fella good.

   The hospital here called to tell me that I am booked for surgery on the left eye on May 17th in the morning.

   The ladies in the building are holding a Willy and Kate wedding day breakfast beginning at five AM tomorrow . Me and the missus got our invitation Dress code is hat and long gloves.So not wanting to be out of place I dug out my Cuba Libre chapeaux and my long snowmobile gloves. When I modeled them for my wife she told me I best put on jammies with them. Since I don't have jammies I will wear track pants and a tee.

A Friendly Reminder

2011-04-28T14:12:00.000-04:00

With election day looming i think a friendly reminder from The Who is in order

A little this A little that

2011-04-23T11:05:00.000-04:00

Odd weather here of late.one day its three inches of heavy snow that is then gone in two days, then sunshine, then rain, then back to sunshine and today windy and rain

  My youngest son was here for four days with his partner from their farm in Maryland. This then became an excuse for the family to have a get together with them,and in their honour three inches of snow came down..lol They plan on being here again in August.Maybe it wont snow then but then again this is Canada.

  The other day I finally got the new laptop set up.After removing all the 60 day bloatware I tackled setting it up to run as wireless (groan).The last time that I set up wireless was on a Win 2000 laptop and boy have things changed!! After much googling and trial and error sprinkled with the odd fork word voila we had ignition.
   Now my next project is to do the same for my sister's laptop.All and all I must say that I enjoy solving computer problems because doing so really exercises the stuff that keeps my ears apart.

   Just got off the phone with my young son They are safely back at home.They don't usually travel on a holiday weekend and had a three hour wait in line at the border as a consequence.

   Church tomorrow morning at which me and my missus will be ushers.

Fulfillment Day

2011-04-22T10:16:00.000-04:00

   For Christians today is a solemn day.However,like most things in Christianity there is controversy about the actual day of Jesus' execution.Matthew 12:40 says "for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Obviously the traditional resurrection day is not based on scripture. In spite of that it is right for followers of and believers in Jesus to keep a memorial of his sacrifice as he commanded us to in Luke 22:19 saying"And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

   His resurrection gives hope to his followers that someday in Yahweh's good time they too will be resurrected to a new body and live on a new earth in the "thy kingdom come" of which all Jesus followers pray for as he taught us to.

   Remember that Yahweh's time is not ours just as His ways are not ours.

More Computer

2011-04-16T16:36:00.000-04:00

   Meanwhile back at the ranch..........I stumbled upon a real deal on a laptop with Win7..Expect to have it here in three days.
Its a demo thats been manufactured restored and warrantied A check on line found it listed anywhere from $480 C to $550C.I paid $299.C. Feeling chuffed about that.
   After giving to a family member our Win XP Dell desktop the missus and I are down to two computers pending the arrival of the laptop.Our other XP desktop will become a multi media server after I get the laptop.
   I thought my previous post would draw out some Mac trolls.

iBook RIP

2011-04-14T14:09:00.000-04:00

  It is with deep regret that today I killed my iBook..The Mac fanatics are forever bragging about the superiority of their OS. Well the iBook that met its Waterloo was the same age as my WinXP computer which is by comparison a better and more user friendly machine.I have upgraded IE on the XP with no problems To do a similar upgrade of Safari required a full upgrade of the OS,. Strike one.To do a recovery and reinstall of the Mac was impossible because of no recovery partition..No problem doing that with the XP,Strike Two.To add to the Mac a network printer.required fiddling ,cussing ,resulting in an unstable install., Strike Three.Macs don't freeze? Do not eat that stuff Elmer its horse puckie!!

  In the interest of disclosure I have owned the iBook since I bought it used in 2006.I used it to become familiar with Apple's new OS For what I used it for i.e.surfing the web email it was ok but nothing special.I mothballed it about 12 months ago till this week when I decided to try to get more use out of it.The result was three strikes.A short memory service was held before internment in the Town recycle bin. As for me I'm sticking with the union of Windows owners.

Uncle 'Red'

2011-04-10T22:42:00.000-04:00

Its mind boggling what can be found on the internet.!! Take the other day ,I was thinking about my favourite Uncle now deceased these past 24 years . He was the family legend in his time because he had more narrow scrapes and escapes in his life than anyone that I ever knew.He bailed out twice over England from the burning bombers that he was in.He managed to survive the hazardous place he was in on the bombers as 'tail end Charlie' when the unlucky ones were usually blown clean away from the bomber by German fighters.Finally over Holland in 1943 his bomber was shot down by a German night-fighter.The pilot and navigator were killed and the rest of the crew captured after bailing out.
   Getting back to the internet I decided to see if I could find anything about the plane he was on.that night I knew it was a Handley-Page Halifax four engine bomber and I knew that it was returning from a raid on Essen. In my search I stumbled across a website called Lost Bombers and because I knew from the letters he sent from the pow camp to my mother which are in my possession that he was shot down about April 30th 1943. I was able to find his bomber on the website.and amazingly the name and rank of the German fighter pilot that shot it down.
  A search of the fighter pilot's name told me that Uncle's bomber was his 23rd kill.This young man ,he was twenty three years of age, and went on to record 54 kills before he was ambushed by a British Beaufighter night-fighter over the Zuider Zee on the night of September 29th 1943 and killed..

   My Uncle was in three German pow camps.The second camp that he was in was the northern most camp in the German Reich and today the site is located in what is now Lithuania.In July 1944 ahead of the advancing Russians some 900 of the prisoners including Uncle were loaded into cattle cars and taken to Memel and then forced into a merchant ship for a 60 hour voyage to Swinemunde and from there by cattle car and forced march in which the men endured bayoneting and shooting to Stalag Luft lV in Poland..
  Then in February 1945 the camp was evacuated ahead of the Russian Army and in one of the most bitterly cold winters in history Uncle and his comrades were force marched west under guard for 86 days all the while enduring bayoneting,,beatings shootings of the sick and starvation rations Finally after marching in a zig zag route covering about 600 miles (960km) the British Army found them.Nearly all the men had lost one third of their body weight.Uncle who was five foot six and weighed 162 pounds when captured told Mom that he weighed 100 pounds when rescued by the British.

   This episode I described was one of his narrow escapes. After the War he trained as a RCAF radar tech and spent time flying into northern Canada to work on the Pine Tree Line which was a forerunner of the Dew Line part of NORAD. After seeing friends that had gone through with him, missions over Germany ,the pow camps, the infamous Black March then dying in bush plane crashes while flying into the radar sites on the Pine Tree line he quit the air force.

   I could write a small book about his experiences. He told me some of them but mostly he talked to his sister ,my Mom and only if he became overwhelmed by them . For a few years he kicked around, spent time with some of this old air force buddies some of whom were Americans that served with him in the RCAF before and after the USA entered the War. Eventually and shrouded in mystery he hired on with the Department of External Affairs and spent time in Europe,the Middle East, and South East Asia..After he retired I asked him what he had did on the job. 'Listened to the radio a lot' no more questions.

   What night-fighters pow camps bush planes couldn't do to him the big C did.At the age of 77 his luck of the Irish finally ran out..

English

2011-04-04T13:37:00.000-04:00

love this cartoon!

Sunday

2011-04-03T19:18:00.001-04:00

A very touching experience in church this morning. The adult choir took a break and our newly formed childrens' choir sang the music portion of the service.Wonderful wonderful voices and such phrasing.The kids will be performing again on Palm Sunday.

   For the second year in a row my dear wife oversaw the selling of daffodils at five locations here as part of the Canadian Cancer Society's fund raising campaign. She was ably aided by 60 volunteers for the two day drive.My modest contribution was to drive her to the locations at the two hour shift changes.The sales were so successful that the two day supply of flowers sold out in one day.Cancer is personal in my family my wife is a survivor of that demonic disease ,we have lost four family members and numerous friends over the years because it.

   Still on the subject of cancer I watched and listened to a very interesting conversation on TVO between Allan Gregg and Dr.Siddhartha Mukherjee author of The Emperor of all Maladies (a biography of cancer)From their conversation I gathered that it is also a history of the origins of treatments, past conceptions of the disease and present day conceptions and treatments stemming from those conceptions.Cancer has been tormenting mankind for at least 4000 years and today is, inspite of all the research and billions spent, on the increase to such an extent that it will soon become the number one killer of humans world wide.After the program I turned to my Amazon account and ordered the good Doctor's book.

  On another note: only one more week of wearing the shield over the operated eye then after that its just a matter of waiting for the next round of eye surgery.

Irish Rovers

2011-03-28T09:48:00.000-04:00

Egad they are dropping like flies on my reading list. I guess blog ennui has set in for some.The weather here has been sunny for the past week but cold. On the lawn there is a small hill of snow left from the plowing and because of the cold it has not shrunk inspite of being exposed to sunlight all day long.

  We went to an Irish Rovers concert last night. What wonderful music! My only disappointment was when they played some of their older songs they didn't include Whiskey in the Ja. Our little town and area has a lot of folks with Irish roots so the hall was packed and it wasn't with just us old geezers wanting to see the lads before they kick off or we do. There was a goodly number of youg uns in the audience also.Of course there were jokes about the Irish and whiskey like God gave us whiskey so that the Irish wouldn't rule the world.We took a friend with us whose ancestors came here from Brittany centuries ago and who loves the Rovers music. I guess that a Celt is a Celt regardless of language.



   .

A Small Brag

2011-03-25T14:25:00.000-04:00

Time for a little brag. Me and the missus assembled a pantry yesterday . It took us 4 hours and because I couldn't lift much weight a lot more of the assembly fell to her than usual .Over the past number of years we have put together about six or so pieces of furniture for ourselves and some family members and its always a feeling of satisfaction when the work is finished.

  We should have for next winter natural gas heating in our unit. Electricity rates are going to be out of hand thanks to the McGinty Liberal government. Meanwhile natural gas rates are reasonable and their delivery, storage etc charges are less than last year.

  Ipsos-reid has the Tories out in front at 43% and the Count's Party at 27%. Were these stats to hold firm through the campaign The Count and his pal Jack will be in for the biggest ass kickin since Mulroney got his.

   Thankfully the hockey playoffs are looming.

Second Day of Spring

2011-03-21T11:11:00.000-04:00

We awoke this morning to a blanket of freshly fallen ##&%*# snow,not the fluffy or sugary stuff but the heavy stuff.Whine. So it was dig out the snow brush clean off the car before taking my beautiful wife to volunteer at the hospital.

   Thinking of my wife I must tell you that she received an award at the Hospice conference she attended in North Bay.It was for quote "exemplary volunteer work in the Hospice Palliative Care Movement in the Near North"This award was never expected by her and she told me that for the first time in her life she was speechless. That I must say is a notable event in its self ...lol. Very very proud of her!!.

  Just another anecdote .A lady we know came up to me in church and told me I looked younger since not wearing glasses now. My wife heard her and said" well he better not be having anything else operated on" which cracked up the folks in ear shot. Hmmmm I wonder what she meant by that?

   Senior moment: Went to buy ink for the printer and came home with a bagel toaster.Since I cant get a bagel to fit in the printer I will go back to the store for the ink cartridge.

   On the eye front its one more week of drops and two more weeks of wearing the eye shield at night.My vision inspite of waiting to have the left eye done is excellent. Its amazing how the brain will force the now good eye to handle the major sight for both eyes.

   No sign so far of the Icebreaker out on the Big Sound. unusual. There are still some foolhardy ice fishermen out on the frozen Sound.

The Four Stages of Life

2011-03-21T10:31:00.001-04:00

I hope the image shows up this time ...lol

How True

This and That

2011-03-18T11:55:00.000-04:00

   The wife and I have this longstanding thing of having our morning coffee on the patio accompanied by our favourite classical music. We have afternoon coffee or a glass of ~~ripple~~ wine on the the patio also.So what? Well yesterday afternoon we had coffee on the patio because it was sunny and fifty F.This is the earliest yet.The morning tradition will have to wait for a bit but its getting closer.

   Some time ago I had to give up on keyboard lessons because my vision had become so weak that I had a rough time reading the music notes. I think that with my new lens I will shortly be returning to the lessons.Looking forward to that.

   I still can't lift anything heavy and that has kept me from the free weights workout.With another surgery this time on on the left eye pending I will have to forgo the workout probably till June.

   I have decide to no longer wear glasses even though my looks have changed without them back to when my parents found me to be such a homely kid that they fed me with a slingshot.

Ahem......

2011-03-17T13:05:00.000-04:00

  1 have stopped wearing my specs inside our condo I just wear them while out. The right eye has taken over sight from the left one.

   Whats with sheople rushing out to buy potassium iodide especially in Toronto?

   Baseball season is nigh.The Jays may prove to be a very interesting team this year because all the pieces seem to be falling into place under the leadership of their young GM who might prove to be one of the best in the majors.

   The Leafs are still in the chase for the final playoff spot .I don't have much hope that they will make it. Their defence is too wobbly,their power play powerless and their overall competing hot and cold.The only bright spot is James Reimer in goal.

   Turning now to the second oldest profession. It looks like the opposition will bring down Harper and his gang.Thats fine, we need an election to clear the air. The thing I find disgusting though is that a political party ,the Bloc,dedicated to the break up of Canada, a political party without one iota of support in Canada outside of Quebec can have a hand in bring down the legitimate minority government of Canada be it Conservative, Liberal or NDP.Would a situation like that be tolerated in any other Western democracy? Nope!Another thing ,the Bloc also gets money from the rest of us for the number of votes they get just the same as the national political parties so one thing in comparing the oldest profession with the second oldest the ~~whores~~ horizontals are honest about what they do and who they screw.

  What a beautiful sunny day here :)

Post-Op Day Eight

2011-03-15T15:44:00.000-04:00

Day eight is check up time . The verdict from Doctor Don is excellent sight in operated eye ( I already knew that) A little pressure in the eyeball that will be monitored. Surgery for the left eye will be booked soon. Two more weeks of eye drops then thats it ,eye shield at night for another four weeks.

Post-Op Day Four

2011-03-10T10:38:00.001-05:00

White! Bright! As my eye heals I am amazed that the colour white is so vivid. Apparently as my born with lens aged it yellowed and this caused white to look faded and greens and blues to become less vibrant. The famous French Impressionist Claude Monet was so disgusted after cataract surgery that yellow was no longer the predominant colour in his sight that he had his eye doctor fit him with yellow lensed spectacles.

And bright ! My word I never realized how dim my world had become before I had corrective surgery.The lighting in our condo is bright now..I use to cuss the lights above the bathroom mirror for not being adequate inspite of having four 40 watt bulbs in the fixture. Not anymore!!

There is still itching on the right eyelid and light feeling of grit in the eye but a lot less than on the day after the operation Healing in action I guess.

Post-Op Day Three

2011-03-09T12:57:00.003-05:00

Day three of the recovery sees my sight improving from what it was on days one and two.I find it amazing to watch.During he surgeon's post -op talk that he gave to all of us he remarked that we all had had the state of the art cataract surgery. He told us how at one time he used a needle to freeze the eye ball and most of the face,how the incision needed then required four stitches and how today the incision is one eighth of an inch and no stitches also drops for freezing instead of the needle.

Is there a down side? Well yes,remembering not to bend over,wearing the eye shield at bedtime ,sleeping on my side opposite to the right eye, not being able to drive,being careful of any steps and not lifting anything heavier than a can of beer.All important but in the cosmic scope of things very minor.

Lastly ,I had nice comment left by Viewpoint 2010 regarding the surgery I hope that for the next posts on my progress that they will inspire people who may stop by to not put off cataract surgery.I want to thank again Kay at at Kay's Thinking Cap for linking me to her blog of 2006 when she posted about her cataract surgery.

Cataract Removal

2011-03-08T13:49:00.000-05:00

Well thats over!.Yesterday was eye surgery. After admission and donning the hospital gown I spent the next hour and a half with fellow patients as we received the required pre-op eye drops eleven in all.As each of us got our allotment we were then off to the surgery. My turn came about 10:40AM.I was put on a gurney out side the operating room and administer more drops this time they were ones that would freeze my eye. A doctor came by and hooked me up to an iv in which to give me "happy juice" (my words) but as he said not so much that I wouldn't be able to understand the surgeon's instructions,just enough to make things a little bit fuzzy.

  After that it was into surgery. Once the surgery got under way I was surprised by the amount of water that was inundating my eyeball.Through the whole thing I had no pain and was briefly aware of a sudden blackness in my eye then sight again.A covering over part of my face was removed and a shield placed over my eye then a trip to recovery. I found out later that from start to finish the whole procedure took fifteen minutes. Previous to going into the OR a gave thanks to the Lord for giving the surgeon the mind and skills to do his delicate work.

  My dear wife came and got me and home we went.to more drops and then back to the hospital for a short talk from our surgeon on how to manage post-op treatment and a date set for our next visit with him..
  While the twelve of us were sitting together with our eye shields on some wag walked by and said "Wow that must have been some scrap !!"

   Today my sight in the operated eye is becoming clearer and the brightness of everything is very noticeable I went on you tube and watched the same operation that I had. I wanted to find out about the water used. It is apparently to help suck out the old lens after its been broken up.Curiosity satisfied.

Sci-Fi

2011-03-05T15:14:00.000-05:00

Damn!! Why the sudden interest in the writings of Philip K Dick? I dunno. I read a review of The Adjustment Bureau movie and found out that it is an adaptation of a short story by Dick titled The Adjustment Team. Upon googling Philip K Dick I discovered that I had seen almost all the movies based on his Sci-Fi stories; I also discovered that a bunch of his short stories that are in the public domain and are available at the Gutenberg Project.

Will this interest revive my onetime avid reading of science fiction works? Maybe.I started reading this genre back when I was thirteen as an off shoot of my interest in astronomy.This interest stayed with me for another 20 years until the fiction began to become fact.Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Azimov, Robert Heinlein, Poul Andersen, Brian Aldriss and Ray Bradbury were my companions for those twenty years.I have been so far from that genre these past forty years that I do not know if Sci-Fi literature with a new group of authors is still around.I think I best check out Amazon or Indigo for an answer.

Rant du jour 1.5

2011-03-03T14:50:00.000-05:00

Right now in this country there is a hoohah over the internet ~~crooks~~ providers wanting to meter band width usage.Meanwhile the ~~scammers~~ speculators on Wall St. and Bay St. are driving up the price of oil over phony concerns about Libyan oil. Meanwhile in North America there is a glut of oil according to oil analysts.

So folks,instead of worrying about your internet bill's future get concerned about your immediate grocery bill because thanks to the ~~scammers~~ speculators the price of food is going to skyrocket.Remember this, all our food is shipped on trucks not over the internet and guess what trucks run on, OIL Already the Street boys are licking their porcine jowls at the thought of $200 a barrel oil.

Now for the folks that think WikiLleaks is heroic.Consider this ,not one WikiLeak has come out exposing speculators, the banks and the oil companies. Too dangerous maybe,eh?

Tuesday.

2011-02-22T12:20:00.000-05:00

Cold here but a bright sun and clear skys.The last couple of days kept me busy solving a computer problem involving the KVM switch that I use to operate two computers. two computers, man what extravagance! Not.! inherited one from my sister that was making her life miserable. That computer is superior to the one I own (a Dell) and has WinXP also so after a recovery it is just like new.I will retire the Dell till such time as I attach it to our flat panel tv.I used Clickfree and a usb stick to transfer all my music and picture files to the newer computer so that I can do a recovery on the Dell . I highly recommend the Clickfree for back up and transfer purposes.

   I just came home from delivering my sister to the doctors office . I opted to wait in car for her and that gave me a chance to people watch. Gee I noticed that some folks walking by that I know are around my age are sure looking old. I wonder what happened to them?I did notice that the same bunch that hang around downtown in the summer are doing the same in the winter only attired now in their Columbia hand me downs and their ever present cell phones.

   I was very surprised to see our little goalkeeper grandson in the nets against an out of town team the other day .His parents hadn't informed us.He alternated with another lad and they both did ok considering their lack of experience.Proud I am of them.The game was very scrambly and reminded me of the Leafs play Saturday night.Excusable at the Tyke level........

Weather ,Sports and Sorts

2011-02-19T13:29:00.000-05:00

Well, we have enjoyed Spring like weather for the last few days with the temperature around 45F.that being the case the missus took my annual warm February day drinking a beer on the deck/patio photo yesterday. Today its back to Winter. last night the wind gusted and howled from the north past our unit and this morning we woke to a dusting of snow and a 35 F degree drop in temperature from yesterday.

I bought my dear wife a new laptop with Window 7 on it. She in turn donated her vista desktop and lcd monitor to our church's Sunday school.I like the Win7 OS and I think Micro$oft finally smartened up after their Vista debacle.

   I have refrained for some time spouting off about politics mainly because what I rant about makes no difference and just makes me depressed and what Paul wrote 2000 years ago in 2Timothy 3:1-5 seems to fit a lot of politicians today.That being said its been learned that the federal government will spend 42 million dollars building a glass roofed structure to house Parliament while renovations and desperately needed repairs are being done to our House of Parliament. The greatest gathering of stone throwers in Canada will soon be housed in a glass building. Ironic,eh.

   Now we come to the Leafs. the GM of that team has just traded their best defense man and one of their best point scorers during his 10 year stay with the team.What did the GM acquire in return? Not much.He got a big kid who is presently in the AHL playing lousily The butt kissing sports writers in Toronto are claiming that the kid will be a good one.Hell, he trade a proven very good one.The rest of the acquisition's were 2 draft picks of unknown quality Meanwhile the team has been left with a big hole in the defense.

I don't think the other shoe has dropped yet in Egypt. Mr Mubarak is not far away as the crow flies.Watching the events in the other Arab nations reminds me of what I read about the opening days of the French Revolution.All its going to take is a failure of nerve on the part of say an army general or police general and game is on.

  Haa the sun is trying to shine here!

Thursday

2011-02-10T12:00:00.001-05:00

Yesterday while leaving my sister's place I hear this raucous hammering sound .Upon looking up I saw a red head woodpecker valiantly trying to jack hammer a hole through a hydro pole. Shoot,no camera.When we lived at that same place a red head woodpecker would appear in early March and start hammering at an old dead tree nearby. This is very early for the bird.The tree is long gone so I think the hydro pole fills the bill (?) roughly the same height ,same amount of bark ,none ,and the same vicinity.

  Later I went to a pre-op anesthetic check at day surgery and a four page questionnaire to fill out.99% of the questions I answered with a NO One of the questions was do I use recreational drugs such as cocaine ,marijuana and ecstasy..talking to the nurse after she told me that now it is very common for people to say yes to marijuana and the gender that says yes the most is the female one.The use seems to occur with most of them just before bedtime.Who knew?

   After leaving the pre-op I went to the hospital finance office to pay for the Tecnis lens that will be put in my right eye.One hundred and fifty bucks later I jokingly asked the lady who took my money to give me the lens.She was momentarily taken aback and then laughed..Made her day I hope.

   At the pre-op check my blood pressure was seriously out of whack so today I will visit my doctor's nurse for a BP check.Cold here but very sunny

da Packers

2011-02-08T10:58:00.000-05:00

The Pack is back,eh. I thought that SB XLV would be a close game giving the teams in it.A little brag here : I have watched all forty-five Super Bowls and have seen some stinkers.especially the Bills' losses. and in that time i always hope to see the Pack back .That team under Lombardi caught my imagination when he took it over.His coaching methods and philosophy took a bunch of losers from the outhouse to the penthouse in just two years. What captured my imagination was the play of the Packers. Simple plays rehearsed to perfection by skilled players. Take the" Packer Sweep" a variation on the old student body right play.Lombardi designed it so that his pulling guards and the tight end made a seal for the big backs Hornung and Taylor could gain first downs almost routinely.I liked the fact that the Packers would run the Sweep and defy their opponents to stop it.The QB Bart Starr ably spread the aerial game amongst Dowler, Kramer, Pitts, McGee and Hornung and Taylor.The defense had Nitschke, Davis ,Adderley and Wood.all Hall of Famers including Lombardi. Those great Packers teams of the early to mid sixties sent eleven men to the NFL Hall of Fame.

I like the present Packers team. They have a very good coach and probably a great though possibly underrated quarterback much in the mold of Bart Starr who like Aaron Rodgers was drafted late and far down the list and all they do is win the BIG games .Nice that the Lombardi trophy is home after a 14 year sojourn.