FIRSTS IN LIFE

      Electica   wrote about the first time she bought a car. 

       This reminded me of a first for me when I was quite old.

        I was 80 years old the first time  bought groceries. Yes, I went with the Micro manager for years as the cart pusher, but I never actually shopped and bought the groceries.

       No mother of a farm boy was going to send her son to town to get groceries . So I didn't buy groceries while I lived at home.  At the time I was growing up we did not buy very many groceries as we prepared our own food. We had all our own meat from the farm. Our vegetables were limited by the time we could store them. 

      When I left home to go to school, I boarded so I did not have to buy groceries. One land lady I had would phone her order into the store and I would pick it up for her. 

     Then when I went to the Arctic we were given rations. In other words we were given enough food to last us a year. These rations were prepared for someone who didn't have a store that they could buy groceries from. I remember my rations came in two huge boxes that would fill the back of a pick up truck. 

     So recently it was taking the Micro Manger a long time and much effort to buy groceries. One day I finally said , "You're not buying anymore groceries. " 

    And that's it. I bought all the groceries from then on. The Micro Manager makes a list and I shop. 

   How do I like buying groceries? It's great. It was a learning experience that was good for me. 

THE GOOD OLD ULTRA SOUND

       This week I had the pleasure of having an ultra sound. I know that you can tell by my sarcasm that I don't like ultra sounds. However, I do have a bit of common sense and realize the value of ultra sounds. 

     I have two ultra sounds a year to check on a little bulge on my aorta that leads to my lower body. Now I keep razzing my Doctor and tell him to look on the outside of me. It's all bulges , blemishes and wrinkles. Why is he worried about a little bulge on my insides. Doesn't he know my insides will be the same as my outside? 

    So I was ordered to be at the clinic at 7:45 Am. There were some new procedures this time. 1: There was a six hour fasting. 2: No urination after 6:00 AM. 3: drink 2 glasses of water at 7:00 AM. 

    And as some of you may have had this procedure more than I have, you know the drill. Some round headed devise is pressed into my abdomen and they run it around searching for things. Sometimes they press very hard looking for some hidden part. When they find it "click"  and a picture is taken. Then "take a deep breath and hold it". I'm like leaky balloon and can't hold my breath for very long. It seems like a long time before they say let go. A new one this time is to extend your stomach. 

    So in about 15 or 20 minutes she said it's done and she would check with the radiologist to see if the results were acceptable. She threw me a towel and told me to wipe that horrible icky stuff they use to lubricate your skin so that the "whatever" they use to press very hard" on your abdomen will slide easily .

   So it's over for another 6 months. If there's something wrong my doctor will call. If nothing has changed I don't get a phone call. 

NATIVE PLANTS

        I confess that my weakness is for native plants. I don't recognize many plants but I do go out on field trips to find plants.

      Here we have bush and all kinds of plants that grow in the under bush. With deciduous trees we have a very lush undergrowth. I like prairie flowers best , but since I don't live on the prairie I don't see the prairie flowers. 

     Yesterday I was birding in the morning. Birds and plants were at their peak. We identified 39 species of birds. I tried getting some flower photos but since I'm not that steady anymore the camera is continually refocusing .

     We started at a foot bridge across the Red Deer River. There were hundreds of cliff swallows nesting under the bridge. 

            Then we walked along the escarpment of the river so it's a challenging walk . It's set up for cross country skiing but it goes through heavy bush.

     So here are some of the flowers I found. 

SPRING

       We had a very short spring this year. April was cold and frosty. When May  got hot and we had a couple of very hot spells. It was dry last summer and also the winter. So with very dry conditions you know what happened. We had some major forest fires. You know because many people suffered with the smoke from our fires. We still have about 60 wildfires and 10000 people away from their homes and farms. 

      Today's sunrise was 5:19 AM and sunset at 9:48 PM That means we had 16 hours and 29 minutes of daylight. With the long days our plants advance and mature quickly. My blue bells matured and now are going into dormancy. The bleeding heart is almost finished blooming. Some peonies are blooming. Irises are just ready to pop open. My tiger lilies are ready to burst into bloom. 

     So spring weather may have been  rather short but I'll take May's fine weather. So far June has been nice but not too hot. I've got my tomatoes planted so I'm ready for summer. 

CLUBBER

          While doing the last post on Clara, I was reminded of one of the worst kids I ever had and he was in Clara's class.

          He was called Clubber and the name suited. Clubber was a mean, sneaky, bully to the kids in his class. It was hard to nail Clubber and catch him in the act but I had many kids who were complaining. Clubber was just miserable. He would poke kids with a pencil or pen. He would put his foot on another kids desk. He took things from kids. He could think of many things to irritate other kids. He seemed to pick on the girls and leave the boys alone.

       Many days I would keep Clubber after school. When I was ready to leave I would have a discussion with Clubber about the issue of the day. I'd get to a point where Clubber's lower lip would start to quiver . That was my sign to quit. I didn't want to get this guy to cry and then he could have an excuse to do something bigger and better.

     Clubber was also a town nuisance. Clubber was a confirmed smoker at age 13. He also didn't have any money. So he was a nuisance in the stores as he was stealing cigarettes. 

       Clubber also knew every lock in town that wasn't locked. In those days Pool rooms were closed on Sundays. The pool room manager happened to go in the pool room for something on a Sunday afternoon. He found Clubber in the pool room all by himself playing pool. In a quiet town the pool room back door was never locked. 

     If there was a way to be miserable , Clubber knew about it. 

     I'm not a negative person when it comes to people but today's negative post gives you some idea of what we had to deal with. 

COINCIDENCE

        In 1960 I went to teach in a small town 60 miles east of Estevan Sask. There were 12 teachers on staff and I had the gr. eight class. Clara was in that class. When I left 3 years later, Clara was entering gr. 11.

      I lost all contact with my students there and didn't hear anything about Clara until about 2000 when I was looking at a sight that gave all kinds of history for the town. From that I found out that Clara was in Lethbridge , Alberta teaching math in the college there. Okay , that's nice. 

    Well a few years later one of my former students stopped at the house for a visit. Lewis was teaching math at the Lethbridge College. I mentioned my former student from 1960. Lewis had taken over Clara's position!

    So that's quite a leap! My little town east of Estevan is about 450 miles   from Lethbridge. I taught Clara in 1960 and Lewis about 1980. 

    So it was a great coincidence that two of my students took the same job. 

THE LAST OF THE BIG TIME GAMBLERS

       I eat at the Casino two or three times a week. The food is great. The price is the best part. Breakfast is 5 bucks with 6 choices. Wednesday is 2 for one for seniors. We get 2 meals of $26.00 for the price of one $13.00. 

      Now I've told you before that we don't gamble. We just eat there. There is a senior draw on Wednesday and I've won that twice.

     Now you do get a sales pitch from the Casino to gamble so you can get a "wonderful " card. The card gives you so much off on the buffet. 

    Well a few weeks ago 20000 points ($20.00) was  put on my card . So I could go and gamble. You could not redeem the card for cash. 

    So if you're given $20.00 you might as well try your luck. Well, I have no idea how the machines work. I have no idea where to put my card. I have no idea what to press to play the game.

    So I asked somebody. I found the button to make my play. 

    Well, in less than 5 minutes my $20.00 was gone.

    As I left, my thought was that I feel really stupid for letting a machine take all my money. In this case it wasn't my money.

     Needless to say, "I'm still not a gambler." I know that they'll send me more points. I'll take them and goof off again.

     I cannot believe that people use their own money to let a machine take it away from them.