THE TWO VERY BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENTS I EVER GOT

            The two very best Christmas presents I ever got were my two children. Yes, they both came a few days before Christmas. My  children are adopted so here's the story.

             We had decided to adopt children. We came out of the arctic for one year while we were looking for a transfer. We decided to make and application for adoption here. They  told us that it might be two years before we would be placed. So the application is long and detailed. There are also interviews and home inspections. A number of references are required and then you wait. We took them seriously that it could be two years.

           Well surprise, surprise. They phoned a few days before Christmas to tell us they had a six week old boy for us and could we come up the next day and pick him up.

          Well, there was no way this would work. We did not have one piece of stuff for a baby: no crib, no clothes, no food, no diapers. We had nothing for a new baby. The micro manager is quick ion her feet and asked for more time. She also phoned in her resignation. So the next day she shopped until she dropped and got everything she needed for a new baby.

        We went to Edmonton and  arrived at the appointed time. Again, more interviews. Did we really want a child? So finally the little beaner was brought out  for us to see. He was beautiful. We were left alone and asked to discuss the issue. There was  really no discussion to be had. So after a few hours we were proudly on our way home

         So exactly  two years later we get the same call just a few days before Christmas. There were fewer questions this time. We were still asked if we wanted this child. We were asked to discuss it with each other. We were given the child to hold. Who could resist this five week old little girl? Meanwhile our son was completely ignoring the issue. He found some toys to play with. He had no idea what was going on. So  a couple of hours later we were on our way home  with our new daughter.

       So that ended our association with the Arctic. Fifty six and fifty four years later I can still look back at those two wonderful Christmas presents.

      So  every Christmas  I think of the wonderful Christmas presents and how long they have lasted.

MORE WINTER SOLSTICE

     As happens many times with me, after I've posted, I remember other things I should have written.

 This happened in my last post on winter solstice.

    Here I go again. You know that I spent 5 years in the Arctic. They were years that influenced me for

 the remainder of my life.

   Many times, people including me, talk about the dark in the Arctic. Higher up in the Arctic there will

 be darkness. Where I was at 68 north, we did not get total darkness. Here , for sunrise we get light,

 quite some time before actual sun up. The same thing happens in the evening. So where I was ,we

 didn't get actual darkness. Light came from the sun when it was below the horizon. If it was cloudy it

 could get very dull. The sun stays below the horizon for about six weeks.

    My apartment in Inuvik had windows facing west. It was a fantastic view. First the East arm of the

 Mackenzie was about 800m away. The my view was of the delta and it was treed. From the west arm of

 the Mackenzie I could see the Richardson Mountians.  So for me this was a fantastic view that has

 stuck with me for all my life. 

WINTER SOLSTICE

    The four quarters of the year are of interest to me. There is a change at those times which is significant. Some changes are positive and some are negative. Now we can look forward to longer days and coming warmth if we're patient.

      Before the  internet and when I was a child we did not get details of time. As a child I would watch and wait for the solstice. we did not have any charts to tell us sun up and sun down times.

     So here it is: sunrise today was at 8:42. Sunset was at 4:24. We had 7 hours, 41 minutes and 45 seconds of sun up. For those who care, the day got .02 seconds shorter.

     I'm having trouble with blogger tonight as certain things  are missing

     

SCANNER MATTER

         This week I promised someone in a business deal that I would scan some documents and send them by email.   Well, did I ever get a big surprise.

        On my old computer I did scanning, With the new laptop I set up the printer and assumed the scanner went with the printer as it did on the old computer. Well, big surprise . When I went to scan the documents , I didn't have a scanner set up. I  knew  that I had to download something but what. I called my neighbor and he happened to be 500 miles away driving through the Kicking Horse pass.

       Well what do I do? Well, it has to be one of my kids. I'll have to call my daughter. Time at my daughters is one hour ahead of mine. I phoned my daughter and she had already gone to bed! So I told her what my problem was and probably shed a few tears so she said give me ten minutes and I'll send a zoom number and we'll split the screen.

    Well after spending time checking to see what was what, She started looking for an appropriate app to down load. 

       After an hour and a half when said download was done she asked me if I needed help with scanning. I said, "Would you mind ?" At that time I was about done. Then she sensed that I would need help in sending the scans.

      So an hour and a half after I got her out of bed, I had a scanner and my documents were sent.

     So a few months ago I bought a laptop and started using windows 11. It's had some challenges.

     I did learn a few things working with my daughter the other night. I also want to thank her very.   much. I hope I don't get her out of bed again to help me.

ABSENCE

        I've been away from the blog for more than two weeks. But I have a good reason.

        Starting back in January I had a 20 minute session with double vision. I thought nothing of it but my friend Mike told me in no uncertain terms to get it checked. I was sent for an ultra sound of my carotid arteries. One was found to be 80% blocked ,

       This was sent to a specialist in Calgary who measured it at 85% blocked. As a result surgery was recommended. 

       That surgery took place  two weeks ago in Calgary, Alberta. So the  right carotid artery was cleaned out of its plaque. I'm happy with this as it lessens the possibility of stroke. I'd never heard of vascular surgeons before. I have always been active and eaten a reasonably good diet. My  cholesterol level was in the high normal. I was surprised to find the blockage.

     Recovery has been tougher and longer  than I thought. So I've had time to consider a few things. I pondered the state of my blog. Should I continue or stop? Things went back and forth in my mind. At present I look forward to continuing. There's still great satisfaction in writing a blog.

    You find out how good your neighbors are in this situation. One guy has shovelled my snow. My neighbor took us to Calgary and then looked after us every minute. She had been a paramedic and had gone to this hospital many times. She explained what every test was. I would say, "Darcee put that in English for me." Darcee looked after the micro manager and found a wheel chair to move her.

     So we were very fortunate to have good people look after us.

PERMAFROST

        I had  lunch with  a friend today. Rod talks about everything political and environmental. One of the things the conversation ran onto was the ice being lost in the Arctic.

       So that reminded me of my first meeting with permafrost. I was a little prairie boy and very familiar with the outdoors.

       I spent three years in  Inuvik  , NWT. I spent  as  much time outdoors and on the land as I could. I bought  a small cabin with a friend.  The cabin was about 15 miles out of town. It was about `14 ft by 18 ft.

     Now the cabin also came with an outdoor  biffy. I took one look at it and I said this will never do. I haven't forgotten that this is about permafrost.   So prairie boy me said I will just  dig a new hole for the biffy. I rolled up my sleeves, got the shovel and started.  On the surface    there is moss and lichens. I cleared that stuff out of the way in minutes. Then to my astonishment there was  ice. Only ice  below the moss and lichens. The ice was hard as rock  so I had to give up digging a new hole. So my plan was  to come out the next weekend and the ice would be thawed, I thought . Well very little of the ice had thawed. After several weeks of this I had a hole of about one foot deep.

    For being in the Arctic  , I was very naive about  permafrost. Most white guys didn't walk off the sidewalk. I did and it was interesting.

    I would like to go back today and see how much of the permafrost is gone. We know that much of the sea ice is gone.

A CHALLENGE WITH MY PHONE

        I only recently got a little flip phone. I haven't mastered it's use yet. I fumble my way around the menu. Well, to be truthful I knew there was a menu but I was looking for something to click on. I couldn't find anything. I looked in the manual. That was no help.

      So I wouldn't have had to look in the manual except there was a nasty problem. Today in Canada they tested the national alert system. So at 1:55 our phone were supposed to ring. It sounds like a simple enough plan. However my flip phone didn't get the message.  It kept on ringing every 2 minutes. It didn't know how to shut up. So you want to find something quickly to shut off the annoying rings.

     I learned  lot about my flip phone this afternoon but I didn't get it to stop giving the alert. 

    So  I began looking for some help. Telus has a hot line for help. I contacted them with my problem. I waited. No answer. I discovered their answer hidden under another screen. We started a conversation and then I lost them.

    So I had emailed my daughter, my son and my daughter in law. My daughter in law answered first,. She told me exactly what  to do and that solved the problem immediately. I just had to power off and the phone would reboot and the ringing was gone.

     So this evening I am happy again.