Practical Thanksgiving Practice

       Thanksgiving has a very long history as it was a thanks for a bountiful harvest. Thanksgiving is found in most cultures and religions.

      Today I will comment on my 70 years of  Thanksgiving practise. I don't remember Thankgiving in my years from birth to about 8 or 9. It was during the war and times were tough as well as food was rationed during the war. We maybe did not have any formal celebration of the day. What I first remember is that my Dad loved turkey and to celebrate with his relatives. He would invite his two brothers and their families. It was a happy time with lots of visiting and celebrating. I don't remember too much concentration on thankfulness except for the thanking God for the food.

     My first few years of living away from home, I usually made it back to Dad's for his famous turkey feast. At this time I also attended the odd CFL football game. When I went to the arctic, we were mostly single and not well enough organized that we would order a frozen turkey a year in advance for Thanksgiving celebrations. I was sometimes invited to share the meal with a family and it was a special treat and much appreciated.

      When I married my wife was big on having a special Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings. That routine has continued to the present. For seven years my daughter insisted on doing the Thanksgiving meal. She would invite her birth mother and Granny. My daughter is an excellent cook and likes to experiment and have variety. It was also special to have her birth mother to celebrate with us and visit with her.

     Now all that I have been referring to is food! I love food but surely there is more to Thanksgiving that food? Surely we could wish one another well on this day.

     I like what has been happening lately where people make an effort to state openly what they are thankful for over the last year. This to me seems to be meaningful when we have to stop and consider the past year and what we have to be thankful for. In a religious sense people pray and thank God every day. Religious practice is full of thankfulness to God. So on Thanksgiving Day I like the practice of stating openly before others our thanks for important things in our life for the past year. When I do this I realize how extremely fortunate I have been in the past year. Oh yes, I do enjoy the food.

THANKSGIVING

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Have a wonderful thanksgiving weekend!

I am thankful for all the readers who come to my blog!

Please leave a comment as to what you are thankful for.

October Arrives Gently

       It is with some relief and pleasure that the month of October has arrived very gently as far a weather is concerned.


      September in Central Alberta was a very nasty month. It was cool, cloudy and rainy. We had a couple of nights with killing frosts and half a dozen nights with below freezing temperatures. We had day after day of overcast skies. We had drizzle, heavy showers and just plain rain. We didn't set any precipitation records but added to our already wet conditions it just made matters worse. We didn't have sunny warm drying days.

      So to begin October we have had some sunny warm days. What a relief! The days have become shorter so drying up is much slower. Why am I  so antsy about getting warm dry weather? Well, I'm a farm boy at heart and I know we need some warm dry weather to harvest crops. Closer to my world , I need some dry weather to complete some gardening tasks the way I would like to do them. I dig my vegetable garden by hand. I need the exercise. To do this the soil has to be fairly dry. Right now the soil is muddy. It's hard to dig and have the soil broken down.

     So to get some warm dry weather is a real treat after what September had to throw at us.

Two Jackpots in a Row!

        Okay, I'll get this out of the way first, the jackpots didn't involve any money! These jackpots involved two people I had never met before and finding out that we had mutual acquaintances.
  
        A few days ago a couple stopped in my yard as they saw a car in my driveway that they would be interested in buying. They were polite and didn't want to waste my time and wanted to leave their name and phone number in case I ever decided to sell the car.

       We talked a few minutes and the lady somehow or other said that she was raised in the area. So my curiosity went hyper and I asked her if she went to the school I taught in. Yes, she had and then she told me her maiden name. I had taught her two sisters and a brother. This family had it all. They were strong academically, arts wise and in sports. They could also do no wrong! In other words they were extremely well behaved . They were the kind of kids that you could teach for fun. We also talked about some of the teachers from that age. So it was a pleasant memory for me. The bonus was that this woman had become a teacher and was teaching in the school system that I taught in.

     I then looked at the man and asked him if he was raised in this area. He said know but he had been raised in Saskatchewan and he was proud of that. Since I was born and raised in Sask. I had to ask him "Where abouts?" He said Guernsey, Drake...I said wait a minute, Drake is my home town! So then we discovered many people who we knew . I was born in 1939 and he was born in 1957 so we knew different generations of the same family. We were both searching for more common links. He reminded me of some of the experiences which were common such as picking saskatoons , swimming at Manitou Beach and tobogganing on the hills at Lake Manitou.  Most of the area is extremely flat so getting to slide on the hills a Lake Manitou was a treat for all of us. The pool was the only one in a very large area. so we were fortunate as it was nicer to swim in a pool than a lake.

      I enjoy meeting people were we have common connections. It's all the more rewarding if I've never met the people before. So I had a very pleasant one hour visit. It really was like winning two jackpots in a row.

Long Gun Registry Opponents Stretch Their Logic

      This summer we have had a very vigorous debate regarding long gun registry when the government proposed a bill to kill the gun registry bill. The numbers for support of the registry were very close and the closer the numbers came the hotter the debate. The gun registry was kept but the government sponsored the bill to kill the registry was defeated by the combined opposition.

     Now I like to be open minded about issues, but I like to see a fair debate with an absence of   tactics which bend the logic.

    One objection I have is the claim that the law makes criminals out of honest people such as farmers and hunters. I object strongly to this as the law does not make anybody a criminal. People make themselves criminals by breaking the law and getting caught and being convicted. People make a choice to break a law. The law does nothing to make them criminals. I've worked with enough bad guys and they realize that the choices they made got them into trouble. Pot sellers would like this idea that the law makes them a criminal not their selling of pot. I'm sure murderers would like this slant. Kill the murder laws because they make people into criminals. Opponents use this angle because some people refused to register their guns and got caught.

     Another objection I have is to refer to gun registry as "gun control."  Gun registry is not "gun control." The issue should be called gun registry. "Gun control" brings too much emotional baggage with it. Even Priminister Harper got caught up using the term "gun control" rather than gun registry. A Priminster should know that the law doesn't make the criminal.

      Another myth that was promoted heavily is that the long gun registry was a device to go into a residence and confiscate the guns. Nothing could be further from the truth. Great emotional stories are told about little old guys having their guns confiscated and we are to feel sorry for them. Police will seize guns when an offense has been committed. If someone discharges a fire arm too close to a residence and someone complains the shooter is going to be in trouble and should be in trouble as  it is dangerous. Whether there is gun registry or not if you discharge a fire arm too close to a residence you will be in trouble. Don't blame the gun registry for your troubles.

      Opponents ignore the fact that major safety regulations accompanied gun registration. Gun safety courses have been developed and taught by gun owners. GOOD!

     Opponents like to push the point that gun registry doesn't prevent crime. Gun registry was not about preventing crime. Gun registry assists police in their work if they have some idea who has guns. Again safety is an issue. This argument is extended to great lengths by bringing in all kinds of objects which could be used as weapons.

     Opposition to gun registry has a good case. Opponents have done themselves harm by stretching their points unnecessarily. They also brought in the NRA. Not fair when you bring a foreign group in to help you fight your cause. It was rather interesting to follow comments on stories and see that the same guy wrote in his comment many times trying to inflate the opposition. This tactic just looks exactly like it is...SILLY.

      To this point I was somewhat apathetic about gun registry. Whatever happened would have been acceptable to me. I am not anti hunting. Hunting is legal and is well regulated although I think they should have closed grizzly bear hunting many years ago. The tactics used by gun registry opponents has attracted my  attention. I dislike tactics which are bent. From now on I will be a much more active supporter of gun registry. I have started by writing this piece.

Bird Bonanza

     Yesterday Sept. 21 was a record day for birds in my backyard! I watch birds out of my back windows all year and keep tally of what I see. I usually count 30-35 species a year. It's quite predictable. I can check the calendar and say well, chipping sparrows should be here. Then there are my faithful year round residents who visit my feeders.

      I have also noted in previous posts that the migrating season can get very interesting. Suddenly birds that just go through for migration appear. They make for an interesting and challenging time to watch birds. In the fall migration the birds can look quite different compared to the spring migration when the birds are in breeding plumage.

      So yesterday between 12:45 and 1:15 I had 15 species in my backyard! For me that's a record and the half hour was very exciting.

      So what did I see? Wilson's warbler, Tennessee warbler, orange crowned warbler, yellow rumped warbler, house sparrow, white crowned sparrow, white throated sparrow , chipping sparrow, pine siskin, red breasted nuthatch, black capped chickadee, flicker, downy woodpecker, blue jay and robin.

     So at this time of year I find Sibley's guide to birds very helpful as it illustrates the adult and juvenile colorings. Ordinarily I like birds of Alberta by fisher and Acorn as you only have Alberta birds covered. Lately I've started using on line sources and one I recommend is the Cornell ornithology site. This site will also provide the various calls ans sometimes provide video so that you can see the flight pattern.

     So yesterday for a brief half hour I had a real birding bonanza!

Rainy Sunday Afternoon

       It's a very cool, dull, rainy Sunday afternoon. At times rain has been heavy. This is just the opposite of what we would like at this time of year. For farmers trying to harvest and gardeners, we are looking for some sunny,warm, dry weather.

        My nephews are farming in Saskatchewan and they went on the fields last week and got stuck in the mud many times. This rain only makes it much worse.

      So this afternoon I began to think of music and songs which have rain in them. The one I'd like to come true is "Don't Let the Rain Come Down." This was done by Trini Lopez in the 60's. I still have it but it's on a reel to reel tape. My old reel to reel tape recorder doesn't work anymore so I can't listen to it. Now many people will not know what I'm talking about...   reel to reel tape recorder.

      Other tunes are more upbeat as in Eddie Rabbit's "I Love a Rainy Night." This is another lively tune about rain and also from the 60's. We need Eddie Rabbit's rain  in the summer when moisture is needed to bring on crops and gardens.

     "September Rain" describes today very accurately. It was a much slower piece of music which probably comes from a long way back.

      I'm sure that I could go on with many examples of music which has a rain theme. The blues genre alone could produce may titles.

      So this Sunday afternoon I'd really like to do what I did many years ago on the farm. I'd go upstairs  and cover up, listen to the rain on the roof and soon go to sleep for the afternoon.