The climate change issue has been on my mind for a long time.
In this province, Alberta, a carbon tax has just come in on Jan . 1.
Now the climate change goes off in many directions. Some people deny that there is climate change caused by the activities of man. What really gets me is people who talk about believing in climate change. You can believe in ghosts or fairies but when it comes to climate changes it's there. It can be measured and felt.
Two stories stick in my mind when it comes to climate change. They are both northern in origin.
When I taught in Inuvik, we had some students from Sach's Harbor which is on the southwest corner of Banks island. When we flew across the Beaufort to take these kids home in mid June we found open water for 2 or 3 miles along the coast of the Beaufort. This quickly changed to ice and then solid ice.
Now in the 1930's the Sach's Harbor people had a 60 foot boat. Their nearest trading post was Aklavik in the Mackenzie Delta. Once a year they would make the trip by sea. Follow the map. They would first sail east along the south shore of Banks Island (which is the 5 th largest island in Canada). Sometimes the ice was caught at Cape Lambton which is the bulge on the bottom of Banks Island. They would wait. The ice usually cleared but sometimes they could not get through and would go back to Sach's Harbor and wait and try again next year. Anyway some years they would cross the Beaufort at Cape Lambton to the mainland near Paulatuk.. They would then sail about 500 km west to the Mackenzie Delta and Aklavik. Some years they went further east and found open water close to Victoria island. They usually got to Aklavik in August and then had to go back. Sometimes they couldn't get back and stayed on the mainland for the winter.
What I'm trying to tell you is that in the 1930's there was lots of ice and it was difficult to get to Sach's Harbor by sea.
Now there's lots of open water. They can always cross at Cape Lambton. Today they cross that stretch of water in speed boats that carry lots of gas.
So there has been a major melt of the ice.
Now I taught in Northern Quebec at Kangiqsujuaq. It's a barren area. The biggest trees were knee high but usually ankle height. They were spruce, birch and willow. We had lots of blue berries but the plants were only 2 or 3 in high. It was a bleak area but beautiful. Now you see photos of the village and there are large spruce trees. In the 1960's the maximum height of trees was 10 to 15 in. Now they have 20 ft trees. WHY? The temperature has warmed up and larger trees can grow.
So climate change is with us and we have to take action before disaster strikes in some areas. We may debate about how to deal with climate change , but we have to deal with it in a very realistic way.
Since it's New Year's Day the usual thing is to say something of significance. I have nothing significant to say but that hasn't stopped me before.
I'm not going to deal with how fast the year has gone by.
To me there are new year's and that seem to be an important time compared to others. One such New Year was 2000, the millennium. The hype started a few years before the date. The hype got higher and higher. People were actually very frightened that the world would fall apart. People were worried. I remember being concerned about what might happen. 2000 came and went . It passed as quietly as any other New year's day. I always think back to the millennium which was now 17 years ago.
The New Years Days from my childhood will be forever imprinted in my brain. Our New Years Day was exactly like Christmas without the presents. We lived in the country and still used horses for travel. (We didn't go very far.) Mom and her cousin would alternate Christmas and New Years. The big meal was at noon and I mean big meal. We had turkey and all the trimmings. It was an all day event. Adults visited and kids played. We had a warm up meal in the evening. Before going home at midnight we had a cold plate. Did I forget all the Christmas goodies? Yes all those too. It was a great day of celebration and I will never forget the New Year's of my childhood.
Now I'm not anybody for resolutions so I'll stay away from goals.
What I did find the other day was a blog that nailed the old year and new year. Martha at Plowing through life has a knack of saying very meaningful things that are precise and concise. Her post made much sense to me. I hope you'll go over and take a look at what she had to say.
In the meantime have a great 2017.
I've taken a longer time between posts than I usually do. There are probably some who will say ,"I never missed you!". I won't give them such a chance. I had topics to post on. I had lots of time.
But one excuse laid me low and I haven't suffered such and excuse for 20 or more years. I picked up a miserable head cold. Ordinarily I don't get head colds and ordinarily I don't pick up bugs that are circulating. So I can describe all the miserableness of a head cold. I had no energy. I stayed in bed most of the day and went to bed before 8 PM. I had aches and pains in every part of my body. Nothing tasted any good. I didn't have an appetite. This is a time when there's lots of good Christmas food around. I didn't have my afternoon coffee for 5 days. Coffee didn't appeal to me. Now I could go into the finer details of certain undesirable secretions but you don't need those details.
Now I've been retired for 19 years and have not had a head cold like this one. I've had colds but I was able to carry on.
So I was not able to force myself to write a post. It's probably just as well as I'm sure it would have been a pathetic post.
So even if I feel miserable now, I know I'm very fortunate not to suffer head colds or any other issues that causes one to feel miserable. My thoughts are with those who have issues that attack and challenge them on a daily basis.
So here's to a wonderful 2017.
A while ago I told you that I was doing a 4 hour shift selling books and other things for the Nature Center bookstore in one of the larger malls. I like this shift and look forward to it every year. I like watching people. I have a front row seat as people go back and forth in the mall. Then lots of people stop to browse and see if there's anything that would be good gift. Some people just stop to visit. Many of them have something to ask about the natural world. Others have something they want to tell you.
Now I like kids...little kids. Usually little kids go by my stall and don't even notice it. The other day I noticed the odd little kid gave me a wave and smile. I wondered about this. Then a mother was talking to me and the toddler was in the shopping cart. This little kid was really giving me the big smile. Then I heard her say "nanta". Oops ! I got it.
These poor little kids were going by me and thinking that I was Santa Claus! Wow! I didn't think I looked that old!
I guess the white beard did it for these little guys. I wonder what they would have done if I had my red fleece on?
So this is my Christmas Eve story.
Have a wonderful Christmas.
One of our major garden centers has a many ice carvings for the Christmas Season. this year's theme was star Wars! Not very Christmasy, but they didn't ask me for any advice. Businesses Put up ice sculptures to go along with the theme.
Now we went to the Mormon church display of 300 creches. These creches come from members of the church. My camera batteries went dead after 2 photos so I was very popular. I did manage one photo with the micro Manager looking at some interesting displays
Now for the Star Wars stuff. Most sculptures have the name of the character.
You can tell which is my favorite. I can tell that I should have taken photos showing more detail. I'll know better next time.
I participated in our Christmas bird count on Sun. Dec. 18. I have participated in the bird count for close to 50 years. I've written about the Christmas bird count most years.
I promised somebody that I would report the species I found. So I found blue jay, magpie, black capped chickadee, bohemian waxwing, raven, crow house finch. The crow was a first for me in a winter bird count. I was also expecting to see red breasted nuthatches, boreal chickadees, downy woodpeckers, pileated woodpeckers, house sparrows. However in one day you can't run into everybody.
So to top the day off we got together for a potluck supper.
I have listed some of my Christmas activities. I lead a bird watching group each Saturday. I planned a wind up Cake and coffee session.
I had to get permission to use the Red Deer River Naturalist's office for this event. So went I went down to set things up I was completely surprised to find that the tables had clothes and there were decorations. Our treasurer who uses the room most had set it up for me without telling me.
So you an tell we had a good time.
