JASPER FIRE

      Some of you may know that I live in Alberta, Canada.

      Some of you may know that we have a beautiful Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies. I live 296 km or 184 miles from the park. 

     And to connect the third dot, some of you may have heard of the huge wildfire in the Park. 

    The fire started sometime on the week end. All residents and visitors of the town of Jasper were evacuated. Jasper has a population of about 11000 and then there would be thousands of visitors. Winds and high temperatures turned the fires into raging infernos. In the mountain valleys the fires tend to race to the bottom. Wednesday the fire entered the townsite of Jasper. About a third of the town was destroyed. 

     Last night they had some rain and much lower temperatures so were able to control much of the fire. 

     It is extremely dry in western Canada so plants and trees burn easily and rapidly.

    Yesterday morning there was white ash over all my plants and the whole yard. 

    This situation has dominated our news this week. These are terrible fires.

    I live in an urban area beside a forested ravine about 700 meters across. I am worried that a fire could start in the woods some day and it could easily burn through my neighborhood. I've aske our fire department what they are doing about the situation. They have one quad with some water barrels. I do not feel safe at all. 

PICKING BERRIES

      The other day when I was looking for a noxious plant on the river bank, I discovered all kinds of Saskatoon berries (amelanchier alnifolia) that were just about ready to pick. This berry grows from parts of Alaska, throughout the Canadian prairies and into the northern states. It has many other names one of them being service berry. 

     It was a berry widely used by aboriginals in their pemmican. Settlers soon found the berry and liked it.

   My Dad loved picking Saskatoons and liked nothing better than to get some neighbors and spend the day picking Saskatoons. At that time there were very few improved roads. Saskatoon shrubs grew along the road allowance. The country was a mix of grass, shrubs and trees.

   Dad would find a place where there were berries and everybody got out of their old cars and started picking berries. Well, it didn't take Dad long to say that this place wasn't great so let's go down the road as he knew another place that he thought was better. 

    Much the same thing happened all day. 

   They had taken a lunch  and had a picnic. Sometimes pies were taken.

   So by the time Dad got home in the evening he had 5 gallons of berries and yes, a few spiders, leaves, twigs and cobwebs. They spent the rest of the evening sorting berries and washing them. One year Mom canned 96 quarts of Saskatoons. 

   However, the day was mainly Dad hurrying the group from one Saskatoon patch to another. 

   Now my Dad liked ice fishing. In fact, he was nuts about ice fishing. We were able to take the car and drive where ever we wanted on the ice which was about 2 feet thick. 

    He had a bar to punch a hole through the ice. We were little so he'd set us up first. He would then punch a hole in the ice for himself. Well, wouldn't you know it. The fish weren't biting fast enough to suit him so everything was put back in the car and he drove to another place that he thought was better. This continued all day. He wasn't a sport fisherman but wanted fish for food as he loved fish and these were perch and one of his favorite. We'd get home with about 75 fish. 

    We'd get home cold, tired and hungry. 

   So he was the same with fish as with berries.

   After supper? Guess what? We had to fillet fish. So there were two little boys who did a lot of complaining about filleting the cold fish. 

COLLEAGUES

      This fine group meets a couple of times a year for lunch. 

      We came to the same school from 1968 to 1972. Three of us stayed in the same school for more than 20 years. Three of us went into administration. 

      We were young and did not have much experience. There was an older staff member Cliff, who joined the staff at the same time we did. Cliff took a liking to us and to some extent put us under his wing. We spent many good times together socially and professionally. 

      Our fearless leader retired. A few years after he retired, he organized a lunch. We all quickly agreed. He even had us to his house and cooked the meal. We enjoyed these times together. 

     Cliff passed away and we still meet for lunches. It's always pleasant to get back together. 

     I'm the oldest at 84.  A couple of the younger ones are in their late 70's.

      

A LITTLE MORE GEOGRAPHY

       I will try this topic again and try to stay on the topic this time. 

       As I said , I went to the Red Deer River bank to check on some flowers. I began thinking of the river system and how huge it is. What's the history of one drop of water running by me? Does it make it all the way to Hudson Bay or does it get stopped in some farmer's field. 

        The Red Deer River is part of a large river system. The Red Deer River comes out of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains   and from beginning to end is 724 km (450 mi). Many little streams join together. By the time it gets to Red Deer it's a fairly large river. It ends when it joins the south Saskatchewan River at the Saskatchewan border. The South Saskatchewan river started when the Bow River and Old Man river joined to make the south Saskatchewan river. 

       Here's the Red Deer River as it flows by Red Deer. 

         The South Saskatchewan river runs 550 km (346 mi) until it joins the North Saskatchewan River 25 Km east of Prince Albert. It then becomes the Saskatchewan river which flows into the north end of Lake Winnipeg. The Nelson River then takes the Lake Winnipeg water 644km (400mi) northeast where it empties into the Hudson Bay.  

       So how long does it take that little drop of water to make all those miles?

       In the days of the fur trade, paddlers went all the way to Hudson Bay with the current and than came all the way back against the current in one summer!

      It's hard to believe the size of this system which runs across three provinces: Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. 

    

A LITTE GEOGRAPHY

      I went down to the Red Deer River today to check on some plants that are invasive species. I found them two years ago and then couldn't find them the next year.

     Today I found them again. Of course, I didn't know what they were. As soon as I turned my camera on it said my batteries were done.

    I had planned to take photos of these plants and some photos of the Red Deer River. One always needs more photos of the Red Deer River. The photo on my header is the Red Deer River.

   So I took a bloom from the plant and a couple of stems. I was right beside the Nature center so decided to ask them first before contacting my friend Tony. One of the summer students was able to make an ID for me. It's a yellow clematis but probably needs to be narrowed down.

     

   So my readers can have fun with this plant. 

  I have a major bug infestation on my black currant. I asked for help in an ID. I got two replies. They were both the same. So my daughter in law and niece made the same ID. They are very sharp cookies. 

    My thinking certainly changed from the time I wrote the caption until I got to the post. Old brains seem to wander around.

STUCK IN THE BATHTUB.

      Did you ever get stuck in your bath tub? Well it happens. Sometimes people can not get enough leverage to get themselves out of the bath tub. 

    Right now I have two of the best next door neighbors you'll ever find. They are both paramedics and make it clear that if we or other neighbors have a problem we are to call them. 

     So  a few weeks ago the 88 year old lady across the street came running for the paramedics. The paramedics thought she was saying "Tom's dead. "  So my neighbors ran to Tom's house to find that he had fallen into the bath tub. He doesn't know how it happened but he fell in a position where he couldn't grab onto anything to lift him out of the tub. He was not bathing but bumped something and fell. The paramedics had him out of the tub and on his way to emergency.

     So the paramedics laughed and said they get all kinds of calls to get people out of bathtubs. Of course yours truly had to say, "I bet you see all kinds of sights!" To which they replied, "That's what towels are for." They went on further to say that a towel is used to put around the arms and shoulders to get a person out of a tub. 

    So this was the start of many stories about getting people out of bathtubs and any other cramped space. They have many stories.

   I thought getting somebody out of  tub was simple until the Micro Manager needed help . When someone is in a tub you cannot get in a good position to lift or move the person. The person is also wet and slippery. The Micro Manager took a second try and got herself out of the tub. It was a worry when you are helpless to help someone. 

COULD IT BE?

        Could this guy be Spencer?

        For more than a year I have noticed disturbances in the soil in the flower bed underneath my living room window. Only recently I made the discovery that these disturbances were caused by a rabbit. Even more recently I have caught the culprit spending his/her time in the flowers and shrubs in front of my house. I have been walking by him/her many times and him/her has not flushed  and I didn't know that there was a beast there.  In fact, this is a very cheeky bunny. He/She gets up and moves about two meters and stops to see if I'm  going to leave the area. 

     So this bunny has chosen a prime area to spend the day safely dozing and grooming. And once in a while he/she gets up and enters my back yard. There he/she has helped himself/herself to my garden produce. To date my lettuce, peas, beans and beets have been sampled. 

      It was a blue sky day this morning. 

    So I've set up baracades to try to prevent the bunny from having a healthy lunch.

    How many of you remember the story of M McGregor and Peter Rabbit? I feel like Mr MacGregor.