LIARS SHOULD BE HEAVILY PENALIZED

    Yesterday I saw a twitter quote that advocated liars be given special penalties and if you were a politician the penalty  should be more.  This caught my eye and I said , "Yes."

    At this time our politicians have no qualms about saying anything even if it's untrue. The can embellish the lie. They can twist the lie. They can repeat the lie. 
Why should politicians be able to lie to us with impunity?

    I was a teacher. Would I be allowed to tell lies. How about your doctor or dentist telling lies. What about a nurse telling lies. For these people it's a matter of your life and death. Used car salesmen who tell lies can get into serious trouble. 

    Why do we let politicians of all stripes lie to us?

    Recently my Face Book page has been filled with revolting untruths and threats of harm to other politicians. In this age of easy graphics there are all kinds of disgusting pictures.

    It seems that we have nothing we can use  to put a stop to the liars. 

    One thing that would help is if we did not vote for liars. First of all, we would need a very reliable party that didn't deal in lies. 

    The Internet and Face book have made it easy to lie and be invisible. There are too many false identities which politicians can use to spread their lies.

    I think that we are at a time where serious penalties have to be applied to lying politicians. 

    What kinds of penalties do you think would work and what should those penalties be?

ON REMEMBERING MY FIRST CHRISTMAS

    Well, okay, I admit that I remember nothing of my first Christmas and for that matter not my second , third or fourth Christmas. However, I think I can piece a few things together that would give the conditions of my first Christmas.

    How did I get on this topic. When I got up on Christmas morning I said , "This is my 79th Christmas." Then I suddenly thought, "What was my first Christmas like?" The more I thought about the idea, the more I wanted to talk about it.

    I was born in late October so I was only 2 months old at Christmas. I was the first child in the family. I've written before about the house being small, uninsulated and cold. The first thing my parents did when they got up in the morning was to light the fires and put a kettle on. They didn't go back to bed. They just got dressed and started the daily routine.

    Having a new baby meant some changes in habit. We didn't have a Christmas tree. My paternal Grandma and aunt would have given me presents but that's it. The presents would have been baby clothes.

    That noon my parents would have taken their horses and sleigh and gone to a neighbors for a big Christmas dinner which was at noon. They stayed all afternoon until an evening meal which was left overs from the big noon meal. They stayed all evening until around midnight when they had a cold lunch coffee or tea. They spent time visiting and playing games. .

   The trip home was about one mile but it would have been cold. The fires in the house had gone out long ago so the place was cold. Fires were lit. It must have been pretty cold when that new baby had diapers changed.

    Things were simple but rough. People survived well and were happy.

   Here I am sometime before my first Christmas.

MORE NATIVITY SCENES

     I have a few more nativity scenes for you.

This one is very small 

This was a very traditional ceramic piece.

   This one is kind of goofy but they tried.

I like the simplicity in this one.

Another very traditional piece.

Another traditional piece

This was the Micro Manager's favorite piece.

    Now as always there's a piece I would steal. That means I like it very much. There was an Eskimo print on the wall. It was so awesome I didn't want to take a photo as I couldn't do it any justice. In looking over my photos I saw the print in the back ground so here it is.

    The print is on the left.

A GOOD COLLECTION OF CRECHES

     One of our local LDS (Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) (Mormon) churches puts on an awesome display of creches each Christmas. Families take their creches to the church for three days and let people, like me, view them. About 300 families contribute a creche. 

    What an amazing variety. I divide them into two categories...commercial and handcraft. After that you can keep on dividing them. Some of these are junk and some are terribly tacky. Most are ceramics . Many have whimsical figures such as penguins , moose ...There are creches from many different countries. 

    Last year I took my camera and the batteries died after two photos. This year I got as many photos as I wanted.

    These nicely carved figures were from Bangladesh but the light in the place was very poor.

    Tough for me to make a photograph with this much light.

    Interesting how the carving was done on the top of wood columns.

    Hand knitted...well done.

    the standard scene with sheep, shepherds etc.

   Another standard scene.

   I like wood cut outs. 

    From Peru a kind of weave for the clothing...beautiful.

    More wooden figures that have been beautifully painted.

    A well carved traditional creche.
    

I'M A PROUD CANADIAN

    The reason for my title should become clear as I set this post up.

     I live in Alberta,Canada. I've lived here since 1969. It's been a great place to live, work and raise a family.

    We are a major oil producing region but we have difficulty selling our oil to world markets as we do not have pipeline capacity to ocean ports. Naturally some people are upset about this situation. Some people want to blame someone and of course who better than to blame but politicians.

    Now blame and truth take off from here to fictional regions.

    We have a couple of small right wing Nazi groups who are very active. They manage to look like they are supported by the opposition party. In fact , there are only hundreds of these characters and as for support, who knows.

    These small groups urge that Alberta separate from Canada. As one commentator put it these groups are "ill informed, incoherent, random protesters jumping on a band wagon."

    This weekend they organized yellow jacket demonstrations. This comes from the demonstrations in France. However, the groups in France are left leaning. The protesters here are very, very right wing. As you can see the Alberta demonstrators will use something that isn't  related to them  trying to link to a group that has had some success.

    It's surprising to see so called sane people advocating for separation. They have been persuaded to believe some very twisted logic.

   Here's the old divide up the people.

   So here I am again on one of my favorite topics. Why can't politicians and organizations deal with the truth? Why can't people look at information and do some basic analysis and make a judgment about it.

   Alberta would have nothing to gain if it separated from Canada. In fact, there would be major losses. Would we need our own army? Customs offices don't come cheap. We are landlocked. We would be the perfect victim for blackmail.

   Now  we've had separatist movements before. I'm sure this movement will end up like the others.

   Meanwhile , I'm a proud Canadian and a proud Albertan.

Har-OOMPH -slosh,Har-OOMPH-slosh...

     Anybody recognize this noise? Not likely. I'm not that good at making sounds.

     So if anybody recognizes this as the live beating of your heart your a winner.

     I had reason to hear my heart the other day when I was given an ultra sound on my heart. They slap on three electrodes . Then most of the time they have a heavy metal pestle which they keep pressed to the ribs as they move it around. This gizmo shows the parts of your heart as the heart is working.

    So most of the time the procedure is  quiet with only the technician telling you to hold your breath. Once in a while you hear this crazy noise and it's the sound of your heart beating . It's not just the thump- thump we hear on the outside. It's the right inside your body sound of the heart contracting and sending the blood pounding down your arteries. Then there's a lot of gurgling as blood fills the heart chamber again.

    Why was I given an ultra sound of my heart? On the recent ECG I had, they detected something abnormal about the rhythm of the heart. My Doc told me about it and said I could be referred to a cardiologist, or given a stress test or given an ultra sound. He set it up so that the ultra sound was the best choice and then I was given the opportunity of saying I'll take the ultra sound.

   So an hour later I was out of the lab and on my way home. Friday my doc gets the result and knowing him , he will call me in for a chat.

    It's amazing that they can take a detailed look at the heart functioning to see if there are any problems. For my grand parents in the 1950's this technology was not available. None of them had heart problems so this part of medical technology was not needed.

WHY DO WE SWALLOW SUCH OBVIOUS LIES?

     Recently the Canadian government gave fifty million dollars to a charity that promotes education for African girls. Government budgets are made up with a line for international aid. Throughout the year this aid is distributed. In July the government allotted the money 

    Recently the Prime minister announced a donation to the charity at one of their major fund raisers. This was meant  as promotion of the charity fundraiser.

    The opposition in this country twisted the story to make it sound as if the prime minister on his own whim decided to donate the fifty million as if it was his own money.

   Talk about a cockeyed story. 

    So the other day at skating while I was sitting on the bench ( I sit on the bench a lot these days) I heard my 3 buddies discussing this issue. They were in full throated roar. The prime minister was an indescribable monster. They had some lovely descriptions for the man.

    These three guys should know much better. They all have education beyond high school They had to use their education everyday in their work. In other words they took information and made judgments on the evidence.

    One was a teacher, another and administrator and a policeman. I would hope that the teacher taught his students about making judgments.

    I can see that someone may think that spending money on external aid is not a policy they would agree with and that they would be able to support their point. Why would anybody not want to help with the education of African girls? 

   Evidence and fact had blown away like desert sand. 

   Why can't we look at issues or news reports and make judgments as to the validity of the information? Have we lost some marbles? 

SATURDAY BIRDING

T

     As you know, I lead a birding group for two hours on Saturdays. This fall we were out 13 times. Once it gets to December it's too cold for cameras and field glasses.  From December to April we will get the same 8 - 10 suspects . They're the only ones here.

     So it was that we had our wind up for the end of the fall season. This fall we saw 59 species and had 36 people participate. Usually we had 10 to 12 people each session.

     Our windup is a coffee and cake session

     This year I was most surprised when some one pulled out a bag and pushed it my way. Okay , what's going on? 
   
      The first bag contained a mug. When I looked at it I nearly fell off my chair. There was a very candid shot of me attached to the mug. I was touched.  Lynette takes awesome bird photos. ( I've used some on this blog.) and some cool candid shots of birders. She had a mug done up with me and some good bird shots of the fall of 2018.

     Now I think I have another nick name ...Duck! Just as she took the photo I pointed and hollered "duck" as some ducks flew over. That's why "duck" is on the photo.

    The second gift was also hand done. A craft that is new to me uses pebbles to make a combination of sculpture and painting. Again there's  humor and a great caption. Estelle caught the idea of bird watching.

     So the thank you for the card and gifts. They were most appreciated.

SNOW STORM

     This weekend we had some major snow fall...about 24 cm ( 8 in) . For us that's a lot of snow. There was no wind and it was about minus 5 C.

    I had the great honor and pleasure of shoveling my driveway and walk three times. It was dry light powdery snow so was very easy to shovel. 

    I couldn't wait to go out cross country skiing. Skiing was a challenge. I had to make a trail My skies were under the snow. My intention was to make a few rounds and set the track. Somehow with the deep snow I became fatigued very quickly. It was very dull. (You know I'm leading up to an excuse , don't you.) On top of that my glasses got fogged up and I didn't notice it. When you make your own trail everything is uneven so balance is key.

    Well that's right . I fell. But I did get up by myself. I continued but had decided I'd skied enough. I stopped. I lost my balance and fell. Yes, I got up again and then immediately fell. The third time I had to take my skies off.

    The beauty of the falls was that we had the deep soft snow.

    These photos were taken about 11:30 AM and you can see by the shadows how low the sun is in the sky.

    I like the way snow piles up on stuff.

NEW LENSES

    Last week I got new lenses for my glasses. What a difference!

    In the early spring I began having difficulties with eye sight. Using glasses with binoculars was a problem. Light was always dull. Colors were very washed out. Driving was frustrating as it was difficult to read signs. I knew something was wrong but didn't know what.

    When I put the glasses on it was if I was looking through a light film . It made things darker. Walking in the dark was a double problem.

    I remembered the same thing happened before and it turned out to be the lens coating. I went to an optician and he declared my lens coating fine.

   What to do? Things became worse. I did not use glasses for driving. I found an old pair of half eyes to use for the computer. Try washing dishes without glasses?

     I dropped to the opticians again and a different person said the coating is definitely a problem.

    So then lens shopping began. I wear trifocals and at first they told me they couldn't get them . Some people said trifocals are going out. Finally they found some trifocals. I've never used progressive lenses.  The lenses came in last week. What a difference! Things are bright again. Driving is easy again. I think the dishes are cleaner.

    So life is good again. I'm not half as crabby as I was!

LEAKY TEAKY II

  The solution to my leaking humidifier came about very easily.

   The first day I thought I had to check with the company who made the humidifier. I found out these humidifiers are no longer made and that if you were very, very lucky you might find parts. I then checked out stores that had sold the humidifiers. I found a surprising number of part but no hoses. That took care of the first day.

    We've dealt many times with a man who runs a small retail outlet for a plumbing supply company. So the next day I said we'll go there first. Were we lucky. He was able to supply us with all the necessary parts . So :7 ft of hose, two ferrules, two inserts and a copper compression nut .  Put them together and we were good to go.

    So with a little help from my friend things were repaired quickly and easily.

LEAKY TEAKY !

     Yesterday I got up at the usual time and stumbled around until my head got cleared up. Finally, I was ready to get my breakfast. Oatmeal porridge! Great stuff.

    About the time the last spoonful of porridge was consumed the Micro Manager arrived in a panic and said , "I hear water running!" Now in the last 50 years I'm sure she's heard water running about 5000 times. I usually check because I don't want water to get a head start on me.

    The micro Manager zoomed downstairs as she was in the bathroom when she heard water dropping and thought the water was leaking down stairs under the bathroom..

    I followed her downstairs at a more leisurely pace. We didn't detect water dropping in the furnace room. After bouncing up and down a few times , the micro manager beat it upstairs again. Once her noise was gone I discovered where the water was dripping. Yes, this time she was right . There was water dripping.

    The little water intake hose for my humidifier had sprung a leak. So turn off the valve that controls water to the humidifier and the leak is over.

    Fortunately we caught this leak right away and not much water had accumulated. Water was wiped up and a fan turned on to dry things up. We both wondered what would have happened if we'd been away.

   Now comes the fun part...finding a hose replacement. The proper sized hose is tricky business. Pressure nuts are on both ends of the hose so the hose has to be one that fits the nuts and the ferule inside the hose. So far I haven't found a suitable hose.

   Wish me luck.

WASTE

     The house next door to me is being renovated. I have a ring side seat to see the action. The waste is appalling.

     The house was built in 1963 ...so not old. It was well built and has a brick exterior. Very few houses here have any brick on them. Brick is very expensive here. Wood is very cheap so our houses are mostly built of wood.

    The house next door was sold on Oct. 31. The buyers were reported to be planning to spend $100000.00 on renovations. The next day two women showed up and started taking things out of the house... kitchen cupboards and anything that would move. It's just gone on. Attic insulation was removed. Then gyproc went out to the dumpster. The last two days all the interior studding was hauled out. Now the studding is perfectly good wood. It is a crying shame to throw good would into the landfill site.

    I'm afraid more of this house will go into the garbage before they are finished. and start rebuilding. So all electrical and plumbing will be ripped out and thrown away. 

    Now I admit that this house needed some work on it. The people who lived in it did not do regular up keep and it was not very clean. However, a little elbow grease and cleaning would have made a big difference. Then a good paint job. I think the windows may be rotten so they need to be replaced.

    So I think we are very wasteful. Where I live there's lots of good wood so why not throw good would away? I think it's a shame to throw usable material away.

    Why destroy a perfectly habitable building away?

   

AM I GETTING CRANKY ?

   I had an ultra sound on my right shoulder a few days ago. My appointment was to be Dec.20 but  I had put myself on a cancellation list.  So Friday morning at 7:53 AM I was phoned and asked  I wanted an appointment at 8:30 AM.  I thought for a minute. I really didn't want to go as I had no hair or beard combed. I didn't want a bad hair day! I hadn't brushed teeth or put in dentures. I had finished breakfast. I looked at the clock and was sure I could make it so said , "Sure I'll be there."

    Most people have had an ultra sound. You know, plaster some slimy cool goop on the area and then rub a cold electrode over your skin while they watch a screen. 

   Well the young lady who took me was miss antisocial. No small talk from her. Not even a comment about the weather. Just business. Short brief commands as to where to put my arms hands or body.  Rub more goop on and keep rubbing and searching for soft tissue someplace. 

    The ordeal didn't take long. She briefly told me that she had to see the doctor to see if she had been successful with the ultra sound. On her way out she put a towel on the stool for me to wipe the goop off myself. I picked up the towel. Ich! It had the horrible goo on it. I found a place without goo and wiped. The towel was so goopy it didn't seem like I got much off. I put my shirt half way on. Yuch! More goop. 

    I finally got enough goop off to finish dressing.

    About that time, smiley face returned and informed me that things were alright and that I was good to go.

    Some people just can't realize the miserable projection they give of themselves. Have they ever thought of enjoying their job by trying to be pleasant to patients?  Have they ever thought of cleaning the patient off with a warm towel? Now after that I had a good day. I wonder if she had a good day?  

    Or am I being just a little bit cranky?  

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES.

     Yesterday morning, Nov. 17, it was minus 17 C (0 F) when I got up. I was going out at 10:00 so needed the car. I plugged the car in ( the block heater) to make sure that it would start.

    The day before we had a nice winter snowfall...about 6 or 7 cm ( 2 -3 in.) I had shoveled my driveway and found it cold. I say nice snow as it was what we call dry snow...not a sloppy slushy mess.

    At 1:30 Pm yesterday I was meeting my bird watching group. It was minus 4 when we started. It was a brisk pleasant winter afternoon.  Nine of us spent 2 hours and found 9 species of birds. At the end of 2 hours I was ready to go home.

     All photos from Lynette Asselstine Braun.









    Today  Nov. 18 , when I got up it was plus 3 C ( 35 F). Around 9:00 AM it started to rain and rained for a couple of hours. Now we have a sloppy slushy mess. When things freeze this evening it will become icy. For the next three days our highs are 6 and 7 C. This is very unusual weather for us. I prefer weather to be stable and make gradual changes. It's easier to get used to things that way.

    So it's been a big change in just 48 hours.

ALL THINGS RED

     
        I couldn't miss this photo opportunity!

        Our city is hosting the Canada winter games in January. We've been preparing for this event for 3 years.

       We've got two new arenas, an outdoor artificial speed skating oval , new cross country ski trails... When a city agrees to host an event like Canada winter games various governments come up with grants to build new modern facilities. An old elementary school has been turned into a sports administration center. 

       There are various things set up around the city to promote the city. One thing that's neat is the large red and white letters that say Red Deer. These are placed all over the city. I guess the city hopes that visitors will do as I did and take some photos.

      The letters are close to 2 m (6 ft) high. 

      The Micro Manager posing.

I couldn't resist this for someone who goes by the name of Red.

I'm a big cheering section for our city!

THE WASHING MACHINE

     I came home from birding about 3:30 Sat. afternoon.  As I entered  the house I sensed that the Micro Manger was in the basement.  I was unloading my back pack and putting birdy things back like my field glasses.

    I thought I heard something different like a screech. It happened again. The third time I realized that the micro manager was calling me. Instantly, I was on high alert and went downstairs two steps at a time. This sounded serious.

    I found the Micro Manager behind the washer with towels trying to stem the flow of suds. At first, I thought she was mopping up water.

    She was finally able to tell me that soap suds were coming out at the back of the washer. As her panic lessened she told me that she was running the washer on a special cycle that would clean the washer. It was cleaning the washer alright. Massive amounts of soap suds were forming. This special cycle would clean out soap residues. It was doing a great job. Soap suds were coming out of the washer drum from somewhere.

    As calmness was returning, she told me that she had never run this cycle before. She had always been cautious with the amount of soap she used for the washes. She always used less than the recommended amount of soap.

   So the micro Manager was very surprised at the amount of suds and therefor the amount of soap left as residue in the washer. She ran the cycle over again and also had a huge build up of suds. She has had this washer for close to ten years and never run this cycle.

   I guess after this she will run the cleaning cycle more often. As you can see it's one of the washers with all kinds of gadgets and options.

FROM THE WAY BACK MACHINE

      My Dad was a fanatic about fishing. He discovered fishing in the early fifties when a friend took him out fishing. 

     There was only one lake near us that had any fish and it was a good lake. There were other lakes but they were quite saline and didn't have fish. 

    Some neighbors built Dad a little wooden boat and he thought it was the best boat in the world. When fishing season opened he would take his boat down to the lake and leave it for the summer ...unlocked. In the late fall before ice formed he would make a trip to the lake and bring his boat home for the winter.

    Now one year he decided to send my brother and I to pick up the boat. I was 14 and my brother was 13. We didn't have driver's licenses. As kids in a rural area we began driving when we were very young. I started when I was 11. We didn't go to town. We just drove on the farm. By age 14 we drove all aver the place. 

    You may say why didn't the police catch you? There weren't any police...at least not nearby. What about traffic? There was next to no traffic. We were in a very sparsely populated area so our chances of running over somebody were very slim.

    Well , we got to the lake and loaded the boat. Dad had taken the sides off the truck box for some reason. We had to be careful. 

   By the time we got home it was dark. When we got out of the truck, there was no boat on the back of the truck

My brother and I at ages 3 and 4

.     The old farm house. I tried to find a photo that would show nothing but open space.

   Okay, we got back in the truck and put the pedal to the metal to find the boat. The boat was 2 miles down the road and had fallen off as we turned a corner. 

    The boat had not been damaged so Dad was ready for the next fishing season.

   Many times we did adult jobs on that old farm that were very necessary and we were proud of the jobs we did,

PERSPECTIVES

    Since a very nasty and divisive political campaign came to an end yesterday, it might be time to look at the situation since it's the morning after.

      I  look back in time to see strong dynamic leaders who led good governments.  Today I dislike the  governments we have. I look forward to getting a better more perfect government in the future. 

     I look back at presidents who I admire: Carter, Kennedy, Obama, Truman. I look back at Canadian prime ministers such as: St Laurent, King, Diefenbaker, Trudeau Sr. I even got to like Brian Mulroney and Jean Chretien. I think I would like  Eisenhower or Roosevelt.

     So when we look back things don't seem so bad. 

    However, today we have a different political climate. The characters we have today don't seem to have any concept that there is a country and that they serve that people. Policies should be crafted that bring about benefits for all and to make a strong country. Leaders today play fast and loose with the truth. Voters don't seem to be able to make these devils pay for not telling the truth or leading  country to strength and goodness.

    For tomorrow I'm optimistic. I hope there will be honorable great leaders step in to lead government. I hope that our governments will see the light that certain things have to be done to have a good country. They could start by seeing that something large and very concrete has to be done about climate change like yesterday.

    For me, I'm influenced by perspective. I wear a number of different colored glasses. 

    Do you have leaders from the past who you think were successful in moving the country forward. Who were these leaders? What were they like?

   Do you have hope that in the future we will have honorable people step in to lead a country for the good of all or should I say most?
   

TIME CHANGE

      I have gone through daylight savings time changes as long as I can remember. And that's a long time. I'm not sure if I've experienced day light saving time all my life. However, I don't remember day light savings time in the Arctic. I don't remember day light savings time in Quebec. 

    I have always maintained that the time change doesn't bother me. But I guess if you think that we don't need to use daylight savings time then it is a bother.

    Have you ever counted all the clocks you have in your house? I have 8 clocks and two watches. We don't set the watches. Now to set all those clocks is a pain. If we didn't have day light saving time I wouldn't have to change my time pieces. Now I have to do this twice a year. 

    If I stop and think about it there's not one advantage for me to  go on day light saving time. 

    It's interesting to read about the odd rebel who refuses to change the time. It would be much easier for them to change time rather than to keep track of things so that they meet their obligations.

    Now I will admit that for the days or few days of change I feel some stress. Today just seemed off. I stayed in bed until my get up time but I didn't sleep. All day things seemed off. I just felt that there were things I should be doing like eat lunch but it wasn't time to eat lunch. It seemed like there was a phantom day out there. 

   So the change in times does bother me. 

   I don't see the need to change and I think we are questioning more an more why we should use day light saving time.

  I could gladly fore go daylight saving time or should I say I would like to stay on daylight saving time all year.

   How do you feel about the time change?

ANOTHER PROJECT

    For a long time my bicycle helmet has been descending into ruins. The outer shell is in two parts and the tape binding them together dried out. It was replaced with duct tape. Somehow the inner styro foam kept getting dirtier and dirtier. The inside pads were either lost , on the wrong place or rolled up. The chin straps were stiff from all the absorbed perspiration. 

    For years I had left the helmet out in the shed over winter. This meant that I didn't bring it in and wash it. 

   I'm not sure you want to go any further with this post. You know now that the helmet was in terrible condition. When I would stop and talk to somebody and take my helmet off I would keep the inside hidden.

    Well it got worse. During one of our recent snows, a mouse got in the shed and found that my helmet was a great toilet!

    Well, what to do now? So after some careful consideration I decided to rehabilitate my bike helmet. I fixed up a pail so that I could soak the helmet in soapy water. I used a brush and then rinse. I let the helmet dry out. Surprise surprise the helmet looked quite clean. 

    The micro manager had kept the original helmet box and guess what...there were spare pads in the box. So I replaced all the gross pads with new pads. I had to use scissors to modify some pads but it worked.

   So now I have a very nicely rehabilitated bike helmet! I'm not finished riding for this year but I'm certainly ready for next year.

I'm sure this is the most duct taped bike helmet around. It also looks like the old guy wearing the helmet could use some duct tape in a few places.

MY EDUCATION III

    For most people high school is one of the highlights of their life. For me, high school just about didn't happen.

    World events almost prevented me from a high school education.

    The depression and WW II caused some very tough economic times. I lived in a very rural area. Transportation in general was very poor. Up until 1952 we went to town with horses in the winter. We went at least once a week but sometimes less. We used horses because we didn't have a modern car and clearing roads of snow had not been developed to where it was efficient. A small high school was 5 1/2 miles away but it was impossible to attend. 

   So going through grade school I had no objective to attend high school. It wasn't possible. However, by my gr. 9 year things had started to change. The farmers were clearing snow off roads about once a week. If you were lucky you wouldn't get snow for two weeks or more.

    So all of a sudden at the end of gr. 9 I saw myself attending high school. I carpooled with the neighbor boys. I had an arrangement with a family in town to stay at their place if we couldn't get home. Many times I didn't get to school as the roads were blocked. 

The gr 10 kid!

   However, economic conditions and transportation improved. We had a bus for GR. eleven and twelve. 

    Gr. 10 was a huge challenge. I was used to small school not that this school was large. There was one teacher for gr 10, 11 and 12. There were 26 students from gr ten to twelve.Taking gr nine by correspondence did not give me a good basics for high school. The teacher was good but he intimidated me. However, with some good help I completed gr. 10. 

    For gr eleven I had overcome my concerns about a different school. I had got to know all the other students and it was fun. The teacher had started a six man
 touch football league and I was hooked. It was something that I could succeed at. 

     And surprise , surprise I completed gr 11 and entered gr. 12. We had a different teacher and he gave me lots of confidence. I liked him and he was easy to work with. 

    My Dad tried to encourage me to think about what I should do after high school. I wasn't giving Dad any answers. He suggested nursing? That would have been a big mistake. I would not make a decision. I didn't have much confidence in myself so waited until I got my marks and found out that I had completed high school and then I announced what I wanted to do. I had decided early in the spring to attend Teacher's college but I hadn't told anybody.

    So high school was completed and I enjoyed the experience. High school was something that I had not thought possible and had only thought about being a farmer. 

Eight of us were in the gr 12 class