THIS OLD BEAN WILL NEVER BE 86 AGAIN.

      That's right . I recently turned 87.  86 had a nice ring to it. It was a nice number.

     However,  87 is what it is. I enjoyed being 86 and I will enjoy 87 as well.

    The hardest thing about being 87 is to wrap your head around the number. It's hard to realize one is 87. We have it in our head that we are much younger. Do you think your much younger than you actually are? I have been guilty all my life and looking at people in their 80' and think they look old. Once in a while it hits me that I'm in my late 80' and I look just like those old people. 

    In reality, I'm in excellent health and am thankful that I am fortunate to have the good health.

MIEUX

         Mieux vaut prevenirque guerir.

                            From my Chinese saying in my cookie

     So most of you will run to change this to English. I feel  little mean on this one but thought I'd have some fun. My daughter will not change it to English and will probably not notice that it's French.

SADNESS

         I have one memory of my son's sadness that remains with me.

        Me !  of all people went to cub camp. There were about 50 kids and we were at a permanent scout facility 

. We were tenting and I was with my son and two of his friends. The tent and tenting was chaotic. They had a hard time getting ready for tent inspection. Many good  activities were organized for the kids. 

      One activity was archery. Supervisors took a few kids and showed  them how to shoot with a bow and arrow. the kids plunked away at some targets and had a good time except for one kid. MINE!

      When the activity was over and the equipment was being put away, I found my son in great distress. He did not have any success in archery. I could always tell when my son was in distress. There were sobs and tears. I suggested to him that we get the archery equipment and go by ourselves and try archery.

     Brian is a lefty. Right handers were teaching the kids to use the archery equipment. He could not function from the right. It was hard for me to show him how to shoot right. Somehow we got the proper procedure. You guessed it. He nailed some targets and immediately he was happy with his success. 

     I will never forget how absolutely crushed he was by not being able to use  archery equipment.

MUSIC

              In my music, I'm trying to play the truth of what I am.

                                                                     Charles Mingus

              This is a very deep thought of an artist. Charles Mingus was an American Jazz artist.

MEMORIES

           Our children give us  some fantastic memories over  the time we have them. Well, I still have my children. They just don't live with me.       

         Both of my children have given me one striking memory.  I will describe these memories in separate posts.

         One pleasant summer evening I took my daughter on a bike ride. I think she was only seven or eight and we rode 18 miles. I don't know what I was thinking by taking her an such a long ride. We had just finished a major city park development plan. One of the parts of this plan was a major trail system. There were several areas where the trails went through old gravel pits. On my own I would often stop in various areas for a look.

      So I stopped with my daughter in a quarry. All of a sudden I saw two very young fawns lying in some sand. They never moved. I nudged Michelle very quietly and told her to look. When she saw the new fawns her body froze. We watched the fawns for several minutes. They never moved. We moved on.

     I will never forget the instant freezing of her body when she saw the fawns. She knew that it was an important sighting and was something many people do not ever see.

WRITING

                   I like to write when I feel spiteful, it's like having a good sneeze.

                                                         D.H. Lawrence

                Well I can write easier when I'm not spiteful.

LIFE

        What do we live for if not to make life less difficult for each other?

                                                               George Eliot

        Excellent suggestion,

EAR BUD BLUES

            I listen to a lot of music. I discovered earbuds a few years ago. Well, I really didn't discover them. I won them in a draw at the casino. I started using them and liked them. I listen to music on you tube and play a few games. I don't have a phone so I don't use them outside.

          They were a bit temperamental or maybe it was my lack of experience with them. I found that they would stop working and needed to be paired and "hooked" up again.

         I'd gotten to the point where I had them working for a long period of time. Then last week they stopped working , first one and then the other. Since I don't really understand their system I just try things and it usually works. 

       This time I tried a few things and I couldn't get them back. I asked my son for advice but it's difficult for him when he's not here to give advice. So I tried things. I think I tried the right thing at the wrong time and the wrong thing at the right time. I managed to get my earbud completely confused.

      So one afternoon I said , there must be a logical solution here. I went through the instructions again and again. The left earbud was on but the right one was not on. I knew they had to be paired again. but I couldn't get them to Pair. Somehow I had them side by side in my hand and the led came on. Hey!  They were pairing. 

     All I had to do was go to you tube and connect them. 

    So I'm in business again and listening to music.

    At this time I listen to Austrian folk music and South African folk music. Austrian folk music has lots of vocal and brass. The South African has no vocals and the main instrument is the concertina.

    So What will I find next? What do you listen to?

SNOW

     Into every life a little snow must fall. 

   Well, I guess this would be impossible for the tropics and many other parts of the world.

   Well, I'm just trying to tell you that we had  a little snow last  night. It's common to get snow at this time of year. Most of it has already  melted.

      For all Canadians, have a great Thanksgiving.

   

MONEY

       Put not your trust in money, but put your money in trust.

                                                 Oliver Wendell Holmes

        Common advice here.

FALL COLOR

       I spent a few minutes after supper checking out some fall color in lower light. These are all non native species. I see where the tops of the trees are cut off in some photos.

GETTING RESULTS

              You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.

                                               Mahatma Gandhi

            Gandhi was controversial in his time.

BEING USEFUL

    It is not what we intend, but what we do that makes us useful.

                                                  Henry Ward Beecher

      Great sense in his one. We can sit around and think about things but that doesn't get anything done. 

GREAT FALL DAY

        Today was a great fall day. It was bright so the fall colors showed nicely. I finally got out to take some photos. I was able to show some harvesting that was complete. Then I was able to look out across the Red Deer valley. You can see some of the city in a couple of shots.

     I had actually gone out for lunch with some elderly colleagues. I'm the oldest. So while I was waiting for them, I took the photos.

RESULTS

     I've always believed that if you put in the work , the results will come.

                                                   Michael Jordan

  This would be a typical sports saying.

LIFE

              As you simplify life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.

                                                   Henry David Thoreau

             I don't know what he's talking about here.

FALL COMES SILENTLY

      Fall sneaks in silently. One day it just  fall. Summer is over.

     One day there is a new pleasant odor. Photosynthesis has stopped.  Leaves have started their journey of breaking down. So  one day I suddenly say, hey it smells like fall.

    All of a sudden on one day you see that your plants don't need  water poured to them any more. They are finished. You look around and say when did these changes happen? Everything seemed to be like summer yesterday.

     Sunlight has changed a little in color. Sunlight has suddenly become a little weaker or fainter. It also  doesn't pack the heat it did a few days ago.

    Suddenly there is a dryness in the atmosphere. Plants are finished and less water enters the atmosphere.

   I like the pleasant atmosphere of fall. We can slow down. We know that many of our summer duties are over.

THINGS THAT COUNT

             What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us. What we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.

                                                          Albert Pike

          This guy makes perfect sense.

TROUBLE

                  If I'm going slow, I'm in trouble. It means I'm pushing words instead of being pulled by them.

                                                                 Raymond Chandler

               Raymond Chandler knows something about himself.

ADVENTURE WITH DEER

               I've  been know to tell a jack rabbit story or two. I've also told a few deer stories.

             However, this last while I've been losing the war with a deer..

            A few weeks ago a deer or some deer came in my back yard and ate all the tomatoes that were on the plant exterior. I don't have a gate to my back yard so put up some barriers to keep the deer out of my back yard. It worked.

          So it got to to the point where nothing was left to harvest so I didn't put the barriers up. The deer were in the back yard immediately. The first time I caught them I tried to scare them out of the yard. I then decided to go out and move them out of the yard. I came into the back yard and they stood and looked at me. I yelled and they moved around the  corner of the house. I said aha. I'll bet you go around the corner and stay there. That's exactly  what  they had done.

     The next time There was only one deer to catch and then he got very cheeky and laid down in my yard. All the time he was feeding and making a mess.

   I took the carrots out and left them on the step. Big mistake. They nibbled on some of the carrots and spread them around.

     So it's been quite and adventure. I guess the beginning of the rut is happening and this big buck is putting his scent in my yard.

    Once I told my story , people said that I should be careful as deer have been known to run at people.

Black currant that was trashed

Nice green ash in color

The sunflower that was beaten to pulp.

DREAM

     You have to have a dream so that you can get up in the morning.

                                         Billy Wilder

        The want of coffee does it for me.

BE NICE

               Be nice to people on your way up because you may meet them on your way down.

                                                                              Jimmy Durante

               At least we know that Jimmy Durante was  trying to be humorous.

CONVERSION

       We live surrounded in asea of converts. Never the less this sea can decrease in size.

                                                                     Mother Teresa

      At lest we know where mother Teresa is coming from in her quotation.

ANGER

            Anger makes dull men witty, but it keep them poor.

                                                             Mark Twain

            I don't get this one at all. It's over my head.

GOLD

            All the gold in the world has no significance. That which is lasting are the thoughtful acts which we do for our fellow man.

                                                    Adolfo Freito

        I wish a certain president could understand this.

CHOICES

      Unless we stand for something we shall fall for anything.

                                                     Peter Marshall

         Peter Marshall was an all round TV personality

BLOGGER

     Everyday I see posts and comments about blogger problems. I seem to get one post per day; 

    I've been able to read blogs and make comments by going to manage for your list of blogs that you follow blogs. You can fiddle around and find blogs and the comments. It's cumbersome and takes time.

     I hope this gets sorted out soon. 

     I miss you.

PESSIMISTS

       The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.

                                           Winston Churchill

      Looking at two opposites.

WALKING

             Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends leave a footprints in your heart.

                                                   Eleonor Roosevelt

            Eleonor Roosevelt was a very interesting character.

COUNTING

     Not everything can be counted counts, and not everything that can be counted counts.

                                                          Albert Einstein

            Simple but true.

OBSTACLES

      Obstacles are  those frightful things you see when you take your eyes your   goal.

                                                                  Henry Ford

What can I say about henry Ford?  I even bought one of his cars.

COMMENTS

        I have  not been  getting comments for the last two days. Are other bloggers experiencing the same problem. What do you do about it?

SHOPPING

       

     Part of my back fence has been slowly rotting away. I decided I had to do something about before I find myself out in the snow in he winter.

    I thought is should be fairly easy to do. I needed  two cross pieces and 8 vertical boards. I also had to figure out how to get this material home as I don't have a truck. 

    So here's where the Micro Manager gets in on the action. She has to phone half of the lumber yards in town to get detailed prices. I needed the 12 ft boards  cut in the middle at an angle. So after all this research she made a choice of where to buy the material. We have often dealt with this business. When we got out in the yard to load the material we found that it was in such poor condition we wouldn't take it. After telling us they'd cut on an angle the wouldn't So we got our money back.

    So we went to the next place and we thought  we're smarter so we looked at the material first. The material was of excellent quality but they wouldn't cut on an angle after somebody said they would.

   We finally went to a third business. They would cut on an angle. But before we got to the cutting stage I found boards that were already cut.

    So it was disappointing with all the micro managers research that we had such bad luck.

COMMON SENSE

    Common sense is wisdom with it's sleeves rolled up.

                                                  Kyle Farnsworth

    The only thing I can find on Farnsworth is that he was  baseball pitcher.

BUCK BUCKS !

      Just as I got in bed the other night I remembered that I hadn't set out the carts for  pick up. The Micro Manager said we'll be awake in the morning and put them out. The trucks usually pick up about 7:15 AM. 

     We happened to wake up about 5:15 AM so I decided to go out then.

    I stumbled out with my jacket on. What a surprise when I got in my back yard and found that I had visitors. Two very large bucks were standing in my yard. Usually they run and get out of the country. These two beggars just stood there and looked at me. They sneered. I yelled at them. They moved two steps. I stepped towards them and them decided to leave. They went as far as the street and stopped looking back. I know what they ware  thinking. "He'll go back in the house and we'll go back in the yard. 

    They finally decided to leave.

    the next day I thought I'd see how much they like tomatoes. They ate about 25 % of the fruit. 

    Was I mad?

    I think my friend Bill Franz  sent them down from his place.

     I thought afterwards that mule deer bucks have been known to charge humans. I didn't think about that as I tried to shoo them out of my yard.

BRAINS

   Some people are so open minded, their brains fall out.

                                                  Rick Warren

     I like open minded people. Rick Warren is an American evangelical pastor

NAMES

      President Trump seems to like changing names of things and naming some of them after himself.

      Canada didn't play nice with him on the recent trade negociations so he renamed one of our major lakes. So he renames something and people don't  change. the grander the place to name the more he likes it so I would like to help him out with some of the names. I read somewhere today that he could call the earth TRUMP. 

    Well , lets go a little further. He could name the moon after himself. Okay the sun could be called Trump. How about the Milky way?

   How about this being enough assistance for  Trump and renaming things?

TROUBLE

      THE TROUBLE WITH TROUBLE IS THAT IT STARTS OUT AS FUN.

                                                                    Naomi Judd

    I was impressed with this quote from Judd.

COOL BIKE

      I walk most evenings I walk from 3 to 5 km. I usually go by the beaver pond and check on what is going on. Usually there are  other people on the bridge as well. It's a good place to visit.

     Well, yesterday I happened to be on the bridge and a cyclist came along. We talked about beavers and muskrats for a few minutes. By this time I noticed a suitcase on the back of his bike. Jokingly I asked him if he was going on a trip.  Oh he said, " I keep my batteries in there. " I was beginning to notice  few things. This bike looked different and he was going to tell me. He got the motor on Ebay or one of those sites. He attached a seat not a bicycle seat. It was a bench seat.

    He had foam rubber strips attached to his helmet straps so the wind didn't interfere with listening to his music. He had attached lights. He had a special holder for his phone.

    I'm probably missing a few things.  All of this was  set on a recumbent bike frame. Now I was impressed at what this young fellow did.

     I'm sure he will find himself in some kind of fabrication later on.

    However , this was a different visit at the beaver pond than usual.

SAVING

       EVERYBODYWANTS TO SAVE THE EARTH. NOBODY WANTS TO HELP MOM WITH THE DISHES.

                                                                 P. J. O'Rourke

      The simple is compared to the complicated.

OUTDOOR ED ACCOMMODATIONS

        Some people think that riding in a bus with 30 middle schoolers is a bit much. Well it gets better.

        We would do one overnight trip with each of the classes. We stayed in youth hostels. There are  hostels with very few amenities and other hostels more like a hotel. We stayed in the limited hostel. It would be heated with propane and had a propane stove. There was a kitchen and a few very basic pots and pans.

     The overnight stay was to get kids to practise what they learned about food. What we found out is that they had poor teachers, Food  was a riot. So pork and beans, ichaban soup, soup, tuna, sandwiches, hot dogs. Now remember there was only one stove so the operation took a lot of time. You'll never believe how many pieces of cutlery could be lost. They would leave their stuff in a place waiting for their turn on the stove and somebody would move it. So you he kids cooking. Others eating and some looking for their  food.  Bedlam is a good word to describe the scene.

    There was always a male female hostel. We did have girls in out door ed.

    They got water in a little stream close to the hostel.

    Now sleeping accommodations? There were  6  bunks . We had around 20  kids. We had  a couple  of volunteer supervisors. So the kids got to sleep on the floor. It was some job trying to navigate through the bodies. 

    And in the   morning we went though the same routine again except you  add quite a few lost clothing items.

    We had fun and the kids certainly did. 

    I'm not sure how much anybody learned.

A STRANGER IN THE NIGHT

         This morning I was up at 5 AM to visit the bathroom. When I'm up I usually look out one of the windows for a few minutes. Usually I see nothing but an empty street. Interesting eh! But sometime people or one person is going by.  And sometimes the  critters are around.

       This morning I looked out and all seemed quiet. There was a strange car parked on my side of the street. Then all of a sudden the security light came on. So I thought is someone walking around yards checking for things. All of a sudden a head popped up on the other side of the car. It was a mule deer doe. She gave me a very disgusted look for about 5 seconds  and left

      Deer have been coming in my yard and eating the white blooms. That's bad enough but when they started on my  tomatoes that was too much.

     I do not have a camera set out in my yard, but if I  did, I think I would be surprised at what I see.

EAT YOUR WORDS

            The best of us must sometimes eat our own words.

                                                        J.K. Rowling.

           Well, I can say I've found myself in this situation

OUTDOOR ED HIKES

A few posts ago I wrote about all the fun on field trips singing 99 bottles of beer on the bus. Now real fun began once we got off the bus .  

We were very careful to be organized because you wouldn't want to lose somebody's kid. Instructions were given. The kids were told where we were going and what we might see. When the teacher said "listen up" they listened. 

       We also had parent supervisors who were not just along for a day's outing but had responsibilities.        So at the end of the hike we took a photo. We usually wanted it to be funny and these kids are all about funny. The other tradition was to have the school flag with us and include the school flag in he photo. 

       And then it was back down the trail to the bus and on the road again. We had to make sure everything was on the bus and nothing was left in the parking lot. Oh yes , everybody had to go to the bathroom. 

      One time all the kids were on the bus and a squirrel got on the bus. All hell broke lose. We took all the kids off the bus and I was appointed to search the bus for the squirrel. I could just  see  finding a squirrel under one of the seats. I had to look under all the seats. I think the kids saw the squirrel get on the bus but the squirrel decided to get off the bus and in all the confusion the kids didn't notice. 

The ride back home was much more subdued. Some kids actually slept.

 

 

 

PR0GRESS

       Progress isn't made by early  risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.

                                                                                     Robert A.  Heinlein

                  This turned a common phase backwards and it makes more sense.

A FOOL

        A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts in either one of them.

                                                                                         P.J. O'Rourke

          I like this as it has a lot of truth in it

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIKES

Stream coming from snow above us.

Venturer scouts hiking from Sunshine village to Mt Assiniboine which is one of the highest peaks in the Rockies

        I recently wrote   about students on a bus trip. I intend to wrote about their out door ed. experience  once I get some photos.

            Instead I'll write about some of the scenery that we have for hiking.

              The Rocky Mountains are roughly 100 miles from here. The Rockies are a range on the eastern side of  the mountains of north America. The Rockies are not a giant range of mountains. Very few of them are more than 10000 feet. However they are beautiful with colors shapes and snow.

       I  was fortunate enough to go on some back packing trips with friends. Very few areas actually required climbing. Mostly we  followed trails until we reached a peak.

      In one area we drove by what we thought was a peak. We looked at it for several years and finally said lets walk up there. We got up only to find that it was the end of a ridge.  We had to scramble up the las 300 ft of altitude. The ridge carried on for several miles. A gust of wind caused us to flatten out on the ridge as it was very narrow and we could have been blown off.

    So we took the kids up Whirlpool Point Ridge many times. This was our name for the area.

    So here we are in the beautiful Rockies looking at where we were going.

Cairn on top  of one of the peaks

Watching some mountain caribou

Posing on a peak

July seventh snow 

scrambling over  rocks

Nice lake below.

Cross over the bridge

Knowledge

      It's harder to conceal  ignorance than to acquire knowledge.

                                                    Arnold Glasgow

     Glasgow was an American humorist and business man.

MISSING IN ACTION

       For the last few days Mr. something or other has not let me sign into my blog or is it that Mr Something tried to get me to do something and I didn't catch on. 

      Anyway this is just a way to say that I didn't get to read all blog or make comments.

     I'm not sure what happened or what I did to get back into blogger.

DESMOND TUTU

       My father used to say, "Don't raise your voice. Improve your argument.

                                                              Desmond Tutu

           I don't remember hearing anything about Desmond Tutu's father.

FRIENDS

               One friend in a life time is much, two are many, and three hardly possible.

                                                                                    Henry Adams

              Henry Adams was an American, writer, historian and commentator.

FRIENDS

     Close friends (make)the music sound sweeter , the wine taste richer, the laughing ring louder.

                                                                                           Judy Viorsy

                   Judy Viorsy was a newspaper reporter and wrote many books.

99 BOTTLES OF BEER

                      I have told you many times that I was a teacher in  middle school grades for all my 37 years of teaching. I received many interesting assignments. I liked changes because it made things more interesting.

       One of the assignments I liked was outdoor ed. For many years I was given an outdoor ed class to teach. We covered food, clothing, map reading and safety. Of course the kids had to try out what they learned on field trips. We went back packing in the fall. We winter camped in November. We cross country skied in the winter. We stayed at Youth Hostels.(That's another story)

     So we took the bus to all these  activities. I didn't have a bus license so I got to ride in the back of the bus to patrol all the rowdies, We usually had a 3 hour trip so there was a lot of time to get bored. Some kids listened to their walkman. (This was a long time ago.)Some read a book in all the noise. Some brought games. However, In the back of the bus where I sat with all the rowdies there was a lot of singing. One tune I remember them singing was 99 bottles of beer. I  don't remember any of the words. I think it was a repetition where each number had a made up verse until they got to one. They were enthusiastic as  they tried to make up silly lines. And let me tell Middle school kids can get very silly

    So after hearing 99 bottles of beer many times, I do not remember one line. The ride back  home was  usually much quieter.

MIRRORS

          THE BEST MIRROR IS AN OLD FRIEND.

                                                 George Herbert

THE FLAG POLE CLIMBER

        I have written a few times about attending a one room rural school back in the late 40's.  In all ways it was different from what we have today.

        Many times we would go to school an hour before it started. Not because we liked  school , but so that we could play. There were 17 kids in the school so we were much like one big family. For play we had one ball and one bat. Did we play ball? Well not often. There were seventeen of us so that ends full sides. Some were in first grade so we lose some players there. Some of the girls wouldn't play.

        So what did we do. In a school yard there are many things to play with. We went into the school even if the teacher wasn't there. We made toy farms. We built roads in the dirt. We played in the barn but the was a no no. One kid kept an eye out the window in case the teacher was coming out.

  Very little supervision took place. 

   So one thing every little boy had  to learn was how to climb a flag pole. This was  strictly against the rules but rules only mattered if you got caught.

    So on one of these early morning school times , I decided to climb the flag pole. The teacher was walking to school and was about half a mile away. I didn't think she could identify me from that far away. Kids think adults can't see! When I was at the top we all heard a yell. The teacher had seen us but we weren't worried as she wouldn't be able to identify us. Well, she didn't identify me but took the opportunity to lecture all of us about climbing the flag pole.

COMMENTS ON COMMENTS

          A few weeks ago I changed things on my blog. It was my intention to post a comment every day.

         I admit that I have been struggling the last while. I've found topics hard to come by and the writing wasn't up to what I expected of myself. I've also discovered that my aging slows things down.

         I've had a list of quotes that I wanted to use on the blog for a long time. I wanted to make a side bar with a quote of the day. I collected the comments in my teaching days as I had a quote of the day on the chalk board to get kids attention before I entered the classroom. So my secret for comments was  to get them out of the local paper. Today you can find books of comments.

         I've had some comments on the change. I know I lost some followers but, I also gained some. Some expressed their opinion which was great. I like to see both positive and negative comments. I also like the comments on the way the blog was written before.

     I appreciated one comment more than any other and it didn't make it on to the blog. My son said, "  Dad, it's just not you!" I appreciated his keen sense of who I am and that he will miss that part. By the way he said , " Dad  go back to what you had before."

   A funny thing is happening. I seem to be writing as many posts as before so you are getting two types of blog.

   Thanks for reading from 2008. I've learned so much from this activity. I've found so many interesting  on line friends.

SEND KEYS

      NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN IF YOU HAVEN'T   HIT THE SEND KEY.

                             Dave Shipley and Will Schwalbe

           This quote could apply to many more situations.

WINNING

    When you win, say nothing.  Paul Brown

    It's interesting that Paul Brown was a foot ball coach.

CONSCIENCE

             A clear conscience is usually the sign of a poor memory.

                                                Steven Wright

           Steven Wright was a stand up comedian, writer, film director and actor.

I'M A HOTTY

      Yes I mean the kind of hotty  where females are attracted to me. Well some of you have already said there's something funny here. There's a story behind this one. Something is being twisted here.

     Yes, there's a story.

   I'm a regular walker. I walk the same route. I visit with people and their dogs. Sometimes I tell people too much for my own good. There's a beaver dam and bridge  where people visit and watch beavers. One day a somewhat elderly woman showed up. She had bright pink hair and said she was 79 , a hairdresser and still working. She was talkative and nosy. She asked people questions that were very  out of line.

     A few days later I met the same woman. She was driving by in her car. She would stop in much the same place. One day she commented that she had a nice car. A few days later she asked if I wanted a ride in her car. 

    I figured out why she stopped me in the same place. She saw me walk by her place and jumped in her car and caught up to me.

   That was just far too creepy. I changed my walking route and got rid of her.

FRIEND

       A real friend is one who walks in when the rest walk out.

                                                                 Walter Winchell.

                 I haven't heard about Walter Winchell for a long time.

SUMMER TIME

         Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.

                                                    Sam Keen

       Sam Keen 1931 to 2025 was an American author , academic and philosopher.

CIVIL LIBERTY

                    Man's fear of ideas is probably the greatest  dike holding back human knowledge and happiness.

                                                                               Morris Leopold Ernst

                     Morris Ernst was a lawyer and civil libertarian.

                    He was born in 1888 and died in 1976.

PATIENCE

      Patience is power; with time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes silk.

                                                         Chinese proverb.

     Patience goes a long way in many stages of our life.

FOREST FIRE SMOKE

        There is much complaining about forest fire smoke coming from Canada to the US. Smoke is one thing that causes poor air quality. There  are many conditions humans have that are made worse with poor air quality. I sympathize with these people.

     However , this is a bit of a rant. It bothers me greatly when complaints are made that 

Canada isn't doing enough to control forest fires.  In particular , le plus grand orange's comments bother me.

     What is burning in Canada is the boreal forest The boreal forest stretches right across the whole country. There  are no breaks . Good luck in fighting fires in the boreal forest. However, we make a huge effort. Just think of the size of this forest. Why is the smoke worse now? Just think climate  change. When I was a child in the 40' s, we had far fewer fires. I rarely remember smoke.

     We have had smoke here but the  air quality has not been terrible. I do not look at air quality numbers

    There are forests in the US but they are fragmented. The growth is different and the plants do not burn as easily as in a boreal forest.

     The boreal forest burns very easily as  the needles are dry.

    When I  start a camp fire I use paper. Aboriginals use dead spruce branches with the red needles. They call it gas. It blazes up   very rapidly.

    

ILLUSION

       Better a dash of illusion and a hearty appetite for life , than a feast of reality and indigestion therewith.

                                                          Henry A Overstreet

             Henry  Overstreet was an American writer and lecturer. He was born in 1875 and died in 1970.

SUFFERING

      Often it's just a lack of imagination that keeps a man from suffering very much.

                                                                                              Marcel Proust

        Think about this one as it says so much .

ICE CREAM

       Tomorrow is International Ice Cream Day. I love ice cream. In fact , my family has liked ice cream for three or four generations.

       Last  week was a family reunion. Not a reunion like in the old days with many people. This reunion had 25  people. I could not make it as I don't drive very far anymore. My two children did not make it as one is in Chicago and one on the west coast.

    They did set up  messenger feed for me so I got to  see all the people and activities. I also had some good chats. 

    Oh ya! this post started out on ice cream. I got lost. So for the reunion somebody showed up with a three gallon tub of ice cream. Other people showed up with their favorite toppings. Sorry  I missed it.

   When I was a child in the late 40's , we did not have electricity and therefore no freezer where we could keep ice cream.  We did make our own ice cream and we could buy ice cream. Dad  would come home with a brick of ice cream and we would eat it right away before it melted. A brick of ice cream was similar in size  to a pound of butter.

    There were  also huge insulted containers which were used to ship ice cream. It would keep the ice cream frozen for a few days.

    Did I ever tell you I like ice cream?

    Happy International Ice Cream Day.

CHANGE

                   Things do not change; we change.

                                                                  Henry David Thoreau

BELIEF

            A belief which leaves no place  for doubt is not a belief, it is a superstition.

                                                                               Jose Bergamin

         There's some pretty deep thought from Bergamin on this quote. When I'd copied this quote I missed the author. I found out that all I needed to do was google it.

       So far some of these quotes have been humor and some advice and others comments on life.

ENEMIES

            If you  want to make enemies, try to change something.

                                                                    Woodrow Wilson

           Woodrow Wilson was an American president. Many progressive changes were made under his administration so I guess he experienced making some enemies.