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.

FROST AND WATER PIPES

    We have to do some things differently here because of climate.  With the frost we get it is necessary  to bury water pipes and mains at least 8 ft. under ground to avoid the pipes freezing, Even then some water pipes are broken by the frost.

     It's very costly to dig  up the ground and repair the line. 

     Two days ago  a water main broke  about 200 meters from my place. The water bubbled out of the ground and ran down the street. Two 80 ft spruce trees had to be taken down so that they could dig in the area.

      

At one time there were two huge lifts to get people up to take down the trees. There were two huge earth digging machines. There were seven dump trucks and numerous foremens' trucks . It was a big job.

    The worst part was the damage done, The house had four inches of water in the basement. So the people suffered major damage.

    And something only I could see. The local jack rabbit population took off for quieter pastures. All the big equipment scared the away. 

SOME DAYS ARE DOWNERS

        Austin and Pearl have lived directly across the street from me for 40 to 50  years. They have aged as we have except they are older if you can be older than us. Pearl worked in a stationary store and Austin was a railway engineer. They were energetic.

      Austin is 93. He fell on some ice a few years ago and has had problems with low blood pressure. He has been hospitalized several times. A few days ago he shovelled his driveway. I thought , "Watch it Austin. Don't over do it." 

     Well about 6 PM I sensed some different light. Yes, the ambulance was at Austin's and took him away. Pearl hopped in the ambulance and went to the hospital with him.

     About 8 PM I noticed a car parked on the street. Pearl came home in a taxi. I watched to see that she  got to the house safely. On the first step she fell backward. It was sickening to watch. I thought she'd never get up. About 30 seconds later she rolled over and got up and climbed up the steps. She rolled up a bit and didn't straighten out like a senior falls.

    So Austin and Pearl had a rotten day

    They are like us. They know that they should move out of the house but don't. 

fortunately they have family nearby to help them.

    I hope they do not have another downer day.

LIFE LONG LEARNER

       I think that I have always been a life long learner. As a child I went to a country school with about 12 students from gr one to nine. I was the only one in my class from gr 4 to gr 9. Needless to say the teacher was busy. I had a strategy that was not directly learning but I did learn. I would hurry and do the work assigned and then quietly go to the little library and read. The teacher was happy to see me disappear into the library. Nobody else wanted to come in the library as they weren't interested in books. There were were only about 50 to 60 books. Sometimes they brought in an extra box of books. 

      I will never forget the set of encyclopedias. They were old...very old. Pictures were black and white. The reading level was adult. They must have been 30 or 40 years old.

      Well what got me on this topic today? I was in the library...like city library. I asked one of the librarians about ebooks and how you find them. She was excellent. She went through how the ebook system works and how you find books. I was amazed  as I've only read two ebooks and like the system. Her best advice was play around with the system and don't forget to ask a librarian for assistance.

      So when I thought back, I may be a life long learner but I'm also a life long forgetter. I think the librarian could see that I would forget most of the things she told me.

     At this age, I seem to be forgetting most of the day.

      And bloggers would probably appreciate a few tips from Steve, the library tech, at Shadows and Light.

A TWO JACK RABBIT WALK

            I walk three or four times a week. If the weather is nice , I may walk 7 or 8 times in a row. I usually walk 3 to 4 Km. I like to walk after supper. In the summer it's light and I meet many people and their dogs. About the end of September it gets dark before 7 PM . So I walk at 7.00 PM in the dark. In the past I have walked all winter in the dark. Now I'm worried about ice and falling so I walk less in the winter. Many times I do not meet  a person on my winter walks. Most of the time there  is not a car going around. 

        So on to the Jack rabbits. I like all wildlife.  At this time most of the Jack rabbits have turned white. We didn't have snow until today so   without snow it was easy to see these critters.

       So since I've been walking in the dark it's easy to see the Jacks. Last night I saw two. About  week ago I saw seven on my walk. Last night one of them didn't move until I was less than three meters away.

      Usually I see four or five deer but not this year so far. You would see four or five bucks in one place and once in a while one would pick a little shoving match with another. As soon s one's head was turned the contest was over.

     So you see why I walk at night. There are many critters to see.