Fall is here in full Force

   I just noticed that fall is well advanced here and that if I'm going to get any fall photos I' better take action.

     Now to complicate things my computer died so I have to use the iPad . I have not become proficient with the iPad yet so there are chalenges.

    Most of my garden has been taken out. The forecast is to ,turn wet and cold and I'd rather not have to take the garden out in the cold and wet.k

     Well here I am two days later and I haven't been able to finish the post. The truth is that I can't get pictures on to my post.

     So I have pictures on the iPad but don't know how to get them on my blog.

     So posts will be few until I learn some things and get another computer.

     I do read all your posts.

I DODGED A SPEEDING BULLET

     Well, maybe the bullet wasn't speeding!

     Well, maybe it wasn't a bullet!

     Well, maybe I didn't dodge!

     For a male, I'm fairly careful about watching my health. I'm very fortunate to have good health. But I do watch how I look after myself.

     Two weeks ago I had my annual checkup. I have a very thorough family doc when it comes to check ups. After listening to an area on my chest, he told me that my aorta was not making the normal sound. He wasn't concerned but he wanted me to get an Ultra Sound of my aorta. Now I didn't realize that the aorta went down both sides of the abdomen. So when I was getting the ultrasound I wondered why they were working hard on my abdomen. 

     My Doc said he'd phone if there was a problem. Well the clinic phoned and asked me to come and see my doc in  about 3 days. This was enough time to get me worrying as to what was wrong. The Micro Manager got very stressed by this situation so she didn't do anything to allay any worries I had.. 

     Since they'd gone over my abdomen I wondered if they found something that looked like cancer. Did they find an aneurysm? So I had myself in overdrive with worry when I got to the doc's office.

    Well he told me that what the ultrasound indicated was some stuff on the walls of my aorta. How much stuff I asked. They don't know was the reply. Keep on doing what you're doing.

   Reality told me there shouldn't be a problem. My blood pressure was 121 /63 during my examination. But I still worried. You look up on the Internet about aneurysm surgery and it's serious stuff.

    So I felt like I'd dodged a bullet when it was found to be nothing serious.

    Relief!

RACISM

      From time to time I do a post on some kind of prejudice. From an early age I could not understand why any group should be exclusive. I liked to see all people come together. Now as a kid I didn't understand where I was heading , what this meant or why there were prejudices at all. 

     I probably would never have come to terms with things if I hadn't had the opportunity to teach in aboriginal schools.

    Now since there have been some very ugly incidents recently it's time to comment. Incidents that were highly publicized occurred in the U.S. Incidents of racism happen in many other places but don't get the PR. My home province is well known for incidents of racism. So racism is found in many corners.

    So racism originates from ignorance of other groups. Untruths are spread about racial groups and to really shake things up people have to get in shouting , shoving matches and more. Hatred of others is stoked to a high degree. No acceptance of any differences here. The white guys have it all!!!

   My teaching experience found me in the minority for five years. I was dependent on aboriginals and had to trust them in many situations. I was participating in activities in which I had little experience. I was watched and supported. I could be a few bones scattered on the tundra if I hadn't been cared for. When I was out with my students on the land they would sometimes say, "You shouldn't go there."

   The first time I was referred to as the white man cut through me like a knife. However, it was not used in a derogatory way. After that I got used to it. Whenever I knocked on a door I would hear them say inside "kabloona" which means white man. How did they know it was a white man knocking on the door? The aboriginals didn't knock at doors.

    I found out that I had to accept some differences.

    So I hear people criticizing aboriginals. They seem to find many complaints. Yes , there are some obvious behaviours that are disgusting. But, people are not aware of all the other people who live productive and honorable lives. A few rotten apples spoil it for many. For example, many people other than aboriginals conduct themselves improperly but we don't stop and hate the whole group.

    So now that I'm elderly , I still can't understand why some people will hate others with such vehemence that they are willing to fight and do harm to others.

    All my life I've been hoping that we could accept the simple idea of inclusiveness and live in harmony. 

    Will we ever find that knowledge that we can accept?

    

I PART WITH MY BACKPACK

       I had a very classy backpack for hiking. I didn't just go for an afternoon but for up to five days.

      I live close the the Canadian Rockies so there were excellent opportunities for backpacking. I once went into Mt Assiniboine (11780 ft.)which was a five day trip into the wilderness. We didn't climb the mountain as it's a very technical climb and I have no experience with that.

     In backpacking you must pack: food, cooking utensils, water treatment kit, clothing, sleeping bag, sleeping mat, tent and a few other goodies. Don't forget the rain jacket or the wind shell!

     So your backpack could weigh up to 50 lbs. For this weight you need a good pack that would make it comfortable to carry.

     I bought such a backpack that would hold 90 liters. My foresight wasn't that good as my backpacking days were ending. As a result I only used the backpack a half dozen times.

     I've kept the pack just in case I would go out one more time. But I realized that when downsizing the backpack could be sold.

    I advertised on Kijiji and never heard anything until a lady called two days ago. She came immediately and bought the pack as her son was going to Australia.

   Now she told me that when they were looking at my ad the son said isn't that funny how he got is Grandpa to model the backpack! When the lady gets home she will tell her son it was Grandpa's pack and he actually used it.

PRIVATE GOLF COURSE

     This is the third post on the property that we went birding on last Saturday.

     What's really cool about this property is that they have their own nine hole golf course! It's not a long course but has all the bells and whistles of a regular course. It's a whimsical course with hole markers , decorations and benches. The family has their own tournament and they can golf a round anytime they feel like it. No worries about tee times. Just drive to the farm with your clubs. When their Aunty still lived in the house , they had a club house. Aunty always served up something special. I remember enjoying one of her brunches.

    Since this is a farming family they use farming as a theme for things on the course.

    I'll bet no course has a cultivator shovel for a yardage marker.

  
     The moose is the tee off place.

    And if you get tired there's always a comfortable bench.

     I don't think this cart was meant as a golf cart.

     Old machinery decorates most holes.

   
    A fairway starts beside the field.

     There are a few guys like this are watching you.

WINDING TRAILS

    I like winding trails that take me the long way to the destination. On those winding trails there's much to see. You can also find things to do.

   In my last post I wrote about birding on a private property where native habitat had be kept. since farming was carried out on some of the property, there were trails that allowed access for farming.

   These trails caught my attention the other day.

SATURDAY MORNING BIRD WALK

    Many of you know that I lead a bird watching group every Saturday morning. I do the recording. Sometimes I carry my binoculars and other days it's the camera. I can't handle all three of them at the same time.

    This morning we visited a rural property that is private. The former owner was an avid bird watcher and certainly knew the native plants. She built a huge house overlooking a very shallow lake that is home to many water and shore birds. She hosted many bird watching groups and always had food ready. But that's another story. 

    Today we spent two hours walking through the property. It's an undeveloped piece of farmland. One of the relatives has carved out a private nine hole golf course. All of this makes very good bird habitat.

      The lake was covered with birds but most were too fr out for identification. We were able to pick out coots, Blue-winged teal, Common golden eye and Canada geese. a spotting scope would have been handy at this location.

BUSINESS TAX

     Our country, Canada , is looking at some proposals to change the small business tax to make it "fairer"

    We have a very low business tax in this country. It's much lower than what the ordinary working citizen would be taxed at. 

   Then there are the "loop holes." Businesses can income sprinkle. I like that term. It means that a small business can pay family members a salary if they are under 24. This means that the kids would be taxed at the lowest rate. It also means that the small business has less income to pay taxes on.

    Then there are shares that can be bought in the business which means no tax is paid at all.

     Then there are special taxes when the business is sold or passed on and these taxes are also low. For example, farmers are exempt from capital gains on a certain part of their farm.

     So the small business people are up in arms. They can come up with all kinds of silly reasons why the tax should remain at the low rate. Most of it is their own choice. They don't have employment insurance or other benefits. They could buy these benefits like I do. The cost of benefits were deducted from my paycheck.They have long hours of work. Well, guess what? I worked 60 hours a week when I taught. I was not able to get time off to go to my kid's school interviews. They gave me three days to travel to another province for my Mother's funeral.

     Small businesses  feel they should get a tax break for creating jobs. 

    So I am taxed at a higher rate than small businesses. Not fair. It's been going on for a long time and the government is seeing tax that they are not collecting.

   So I hope that some of the proposed changes are adopted and the tax rates are fair

WE'RE TOO CHEAP

      "PENNY WISE AND POUND FOOLISH"

       For a long time I have thought that our society has been too cheap for their own good. 

       Hurricane Harvey got me thinking about this again. I was amazed to read that the drainage system in the Houston area was completely chaotic. Now I know that the floods in Houston could have never been prevented no matter how good the drainage system was. But it was surprising to see that they cheaped out on a good safe drainage system.

      I have other examples. I constantly hear people yelling about high taxes and all the damage high taxes will do. On the other hand low taxes will bring in new business and industry that will share the tax burden. What people fail to realize is that the new businesses need new services built. Many times businesses are encouraged to locate as they are promised tax relief and benefits.

     Health care is expensive. People are loudly warning that we will not be able to afford our health care at the present level. They somehow or other think that if people pay for their own health care it would be so much better...better if you want to let people die because they can't afford health care. But what really matters in health care is preventative health care. Try as much as possible to prevent people from getting sick and the costly health care will be less.

    We let public buildings get into such poor condition that we have to do costly renovation when if they'd spent money on upkeep the building would last much longer. Here, a large school that was built in 1968 will be bulldozed once it's $10000000.00 replacement is finished. The powers that be were too cheap to keep the old school in good condition so now it is to their thinking beyond repair.

    Now I can hear lots of examples about how tax money is wasted and that's true in many cases. But's what's wrong with developing a system that works and projects are done efficiently.

    One of my favorite gripes is that this province, Alberta, subsidizes the drilling of each oil well to the tune of $300.00 per meter drilled. The last time I looked oil companies were supposed to be very profitable and generating lots of tax revenue.

    In a recent post I gave an example of our local museum where funds for a new museum were voted down but much money was put into the old museum. Sooner than later a new museum will have to be built .

    So I think that if we weren't so cheap to start with and developed adequate programs and built good quality infrastructure , we might not always have to be rebuilding. We might also be safer and healthier.