WATER SKIING

       I know that it's the wrong season of the year to talk about water skiing, but I have an excuse. 

      Last night I was out to an appreciation dinner. I got talking to one of the guys who had worked in the Arctic and we got telling stories. Northerners are best buds forever!

     He was working on a crew unloading a ship in the high Arctic. They had to get the stuff to the beach over the ice. One day a guy fell through  a crack in the ice and was submerged. The guy survived but when pulled from the water was absolutely stiff.

     This reminded me of one of my cold water experiences. The first time I water skied was above the Arctic circle in Airport Lake. Some of the young police in Inuvik had a boat and water skis. The built a floating dock and they were ready to water ski. Of course, I had to try it. We used the floating dock to get started and then made a few turns around the lake.

     Sooner or later you have to stop. When you stop you are going to sink into some very cold water. The top foot of the water is an acceptable temperature but any deeper and it's icy cold. 

    The photo shows me just landing and although it is a very poor scan job on this photo you can see that I am cold. 

    So not a very appropriate topic on a cold November day, but I just had to tell you!

     This was July if 1965. 

TRUTH AND ACCURACY

    I have ranted about this topic before. Truth and accuracy are important so that our society runs smoothly and that all people are treated fairly.

    What got me on this topic again is an interview that I heard yesterday. They were interviewing someone who had been a reporter for forty years and was now instructing in some kind of journalism school. She maintained that journalists are reporting accurately. I have some doubts about this. 

    News has become jumbled in with all day interviewing where the interviewer wants to have things said that will raise ratings for their show and station. . Now I'm sure those interviewers would disagree with me. 

      I follow the War in the Ukraine very closely. You read one article and it's for sure the Ukraine will win. You read another article and it's a sure thing that the Russians will win. 

     I follow current affairs here . Politicians can bend the truth a long way to the slant that  they wish publicized. Politicians present their information as truth and  what the other guy says is incorrect. The truth is out there. Public figures don't seem willing to give it to us. 

    Accuracy gets mixed in with information that should be informative. Are reporters taking enough time to dig into an issue? Are reporters making sure that what they report is accurate?

    I have also found myself to be part of the problem. I have been guilty of thinking that my side or what I think is the truth. I have looked for information that agrees with my opinion. In the Ukraine war I obviously see the Ukrainians as the good guys. A commentator I recently heard, said that the Ukraine was winning in the way the story was being told. the Ukraine was successful in showing us that the Russians were the bad guys.

    I think we're all searching for the truth. We don't like to be lied to. We want things to be accurate. 

   One line in the song "Storms never last do they baby"  is "I know your search was for the truth."

    My search is for the truth. 

    Am I naive?

MORE OPEN FALL

        Yesterday , I was very surprised that no one had heard of the term "open fall" . That made me think about it's origin.

        Now I should have gone to Mr Google before I wrote the post. Well, guess what? Mr. Google hasn't heard of "open fall" either. 

       So now I wish Dad was here so that I could ask him if he knew the origin of the saying. He would probably say, "I have no idea where it comes from".

      So I remember another term Dad used. If someone was feeling out of sorts...grumpy he would use the term "crakin around". Usually it was Mother who got described with this term. 

      Okay, I said, "I'll be smarter this time and check with Mr Google." I was sure Mr google would have this term. 

      Well, you guessed it. Mr Google has never heard of this term either. 

      I'm wondering if these were terms that Dad made up himself. ? Dad had a good vocabulary and was an avid reader. 

      Has any body heard the term "crakin around"?

MEMORIES

       Today is a day for us to remember those who fought in the second world war and other wars and remember  the many who died.

      I was born in 1939, a few days after the war started. I have a few memories. We were close to an air training facility. As little kids we saw many airplanes fly over every day. It's surprising how many airmen lost their lives while training at that base. 

      My brother and I would listen to the news which was all about the Germans. We would turn to each other and say, "German, German, German". That was the height of our understanding of the war. 

     We helped Mom wrap parcels to send to our uncles. 

     At the end of the war we listened as ships were loaded with soldiers who were coming home and wondered if our uncles where on the ship. 

    So on this day of remembrance I share a few thoughts from a small child.

    I had four uncles in the war. One was killed in a freak accident. 

     They were all brave in volunteering to fight for freedom. 

     An old vet friend I had would start talking about his experience in the war in September. He flew bombers . He didn't cover anything up. He told about picking up bodies. He was one of the few who told of his experiences. When he came back he was not in very good condition. His father suggested that he take up wood carving. His health improved and he made many wonderful carvings.  He also helped to make memories for me. 

OPEN FALL

     My last four posts have been about winter weather that came calling. Nov. 2 is when the snow and cold hit us.

     However until that time we've had great fall weather. Temperatures have been above normal. It's been dry. It's been nice to be out every day.

     So I think back to what my Dad used to call "an open fall". Dad was a farmer. He bought his first land in 1935 and struggled like most farmers at that time. He did manage to farm and make a living all his life until he retired in 1973. 

     My title refers to what Dad would say about the type of weather we've had this fall. He would call this an open fall. This would mean that he had time to do all the farm  work that needed to be done. Harvest was one of the things that required warm dry weather. He had 10-15 cattle. An open fall would mean that the cattle stayed out longer and ate grass. This also meant that the feed supplies he had could last longer. The cattle would be allowed to leave the farm and find the best forage. .We would collect them every night. 

     I also liked this time of year as it was good weather to wander all over the place. 

     Has anybody else heard of the term "open fall"? I don't remember anyone else using the term. 

     

NEW SNOW

       We just had about 12 in of snow over four days. For us that's a lot of snow. 

      In my chinook post someone asked if there was flooding if the snow melted so quickly. Our snow is dry and powdery because of the temperature. 10 in of our snow equals one inch of water. So you see there's not much water for flooding. 

     However, where I was going with this post is that new snow is brilliant and white. It's pretty. So yesterday it was clear and sunny. It was bright. You needed your sunglasses. Well, you don't need sunglasses for my photos. With white snow and full sun it's bright. 

     I was out for three hours yesterday cleaning up the snow. Numerous flocks of geese flew over. 

    Now I enjoyed the bright new snow. I hope you do too.  

    I put out the fat in my bird feeder. An hour later this white breasted nuthatch appeared.  He/she would not cooperate and pose in the light. 

       This is my street. Roads were in rough shape but most people got where they wanted to go. 

    This is the juniper in my yard.

    The neighbors mountain ash.

    This is a snow cone on top of a fence post. 

SUNRISE

       On Oct 29 , when I took the chinook photos , I was half looking for sunrise photos. I checked and there was good color in the east. Now being lazy I took a few shots out of the window. I told myself that if I got dressed to go out , the color could be gone. Shooting in that direction there's a lot of junk in the way.

      However , it's the best I could get. That bright streetlight doesn't help anything.

      Then I looked west and that's when I got the chinook arch. 

       Today we got another 10 cm of snow. That's three days of 10 cm a day snow. Am I tired of shoveling?