I HOPE FOR A BETTER 2022

      This year has been a very challenging year for everyone because of covid . Covid brought much more than illness but also sad divisions that hurt so many people. 

      However , looking back in the "way back machine" there were better New years.

      One of the first blogs I read this morning was the new Dharma bums. Roger and Robin both posted about how they met at a New Year's Eve party. It's a post that you should check out.

      I have my own New Year's Eve story and I've posted it here.

       Our first date was New Year's Eve 1965. 

      Pictures don't lie...very much.

      So here we are on the official night of engagement. No fancy digital cameras in 1965 where we could take selfies. So we each posed and  the other one took a photo. So you see a very young woman flashing the new diamond. 

       So this young guy was about as laid back as you could make them. 

      It's hard to believe that we were that young once upon a time.

     It's just s hard to believe that we are this old now. We have digital cameras now but we couldn't get our act together to take a selfie. 

     So how many other people have a similar New Year's Eve story that changed the rest of their lives.

LAST RANT OF 2021

      Well here goes . One more rant. 

       Don't you just hate it when smoke alarms and CO detector batteries  die and they just have to tell you of the situation by setting off an alarm. I don't think I've ever had a daytime battery alarm. I've never come home to the house and found the alarm ringing. It's always around 4:00 AM.

      So last night one of my smoke detector's batteries died.

       I was awake and thought I could hear something and then I knew I could hear something. I tried very hard not to hear it. I thought it might be my watch battery in the drawer beside my head. I just couldn't really tell where or what was beeping. My hearing is not good so I find these things hard to hear.

     Well, finally the Micro Manager got up. I thought , "Oh goodie . She can look around for what's going on. " Usually she cannot identify where the sound is coming from. This time she nailed it and told me where the sound was coming from.

      All I had to do was find some shoes and a coat and get the ladder from downstairs Then I got the smoke alarm down and pulled out the battery and that was the end of the alarm business. 

    How about you? I suppose all your smoke alarm dead battery alarms go off in the day!.

     Ya , I know . It just wanted to wish me Happy New Year with some noise. Happy New Year to all my readers and followers. All the best to you in 2022. 

SUNDOWN DEC.27

    I thought I'd have a little fun today and show the progression of sunset here this afternoon. I learned a few things about photography under these light conditions but I didn't learn any solutions. 

      Sunset this afternoon was at 4:28 PM. I started taking photos at 4:38 PM took photos every ten minutes. A couple of them are badly out of focus but show the light.  A few others are out of focus. 

     My first photo was at 4:38 Pm and then the others were at 10 minute intervals.

    Now I tried to get these in order from 4:38 to 5:38 but I've failed so you'll have to look at them backwards .

 

CHRISTMAS PAST II

       As soon as we were finished eating the big noon meal us kids were ready to go. However, we had to stay at the table for an appropriate time. We had to wait until all were finished eating. Once released away we would go for the rest of the afternoon.

     We all had Christmas presents to play with and share with the other kids. Amongst the eight kids there were usually a few new games to play. We played old games. We loved playing monopoly. We played with each others toys. We ran through the house and chased each other. 

    There were dishes of candy and nuts laid out so that we could help ourselves. Not many kids would turn down helping themselves to candy. We would sometimes sing when one of the adults would play the piano. We would sometimes play outside if the weather was suitable and especially if one kid got a new sleigh or toboggan. It was generally a very boisterous afternoon.

    So when we left the table our mothers would start cleaning up. There was a huge pile of dishes and pots and pans to wash. There was lots of leftover food to be put away. There was no refrigeration so much of it was stored in the porch which was unheated.

    Since we were farmers there were animals that had to be looked after. Our Dad's would go out to do the "chores" There were animals to feed and cows to milk. Our uncle had to take his horses and go back to his farm to look after the animals.

     About the time Mom and her cousin had finished cleaning up it was almost time for them to start preparing the evening meal. Our dad's would be back from doing their chores. The evening meal consisted of reheating what we had at noon. 

   So again us kids had much more fun and play time although we slowed down a bit.

    About midnight a cold plate and Christmas goodies were laid out and coffee made. You guessed it. The cold plate was leftover from the noon meal. So ended our Christmas day.

    Tired little kids went fast asleep in  few minutes. 

    I look back at these times and see how hard our mothers worked. I also see how fortunate we were to enjoy good food and good company. I also see that there are very few families today who get together for great times. 

    I can look back wistfully at these good times. There are good times today only smaller and a little  different. We can't have the large family gatherings as families live very far apart now. My daughter lives in the Chicago area and my son lives on the west coast so there's no spending a day with the family. We can't have large family gatherings because our families aren't very large anymore. 

    I was thinking about photos for this post. I do not remember seeing any photos from our Christmas day celebrations. 

    However, it is pleasant to look back at Christmas past and remember how we enjoyed the day. 

    Where ever you are , I hope you have a wonderful Christmas

CHRISTMAS PAST

        When I was a child in the 40's our Christmas Day  was a major celebration. It was very different from  what happens today.

        What I remember is after the war. The economy was better and there were no more ration restrictions. So we were able to enjoy things that were not available in the recent past. 

        There were many preparations and these were entirely my mother's efforts. There was a tremendous amount of baking done pre Christmas. Christmas cakes took the biggest effort. Many other things were baked: shortbread, ginger bread cookies, Chinese chews. matrimonial cake, mince meat pies, Christmas puddings , fudge and other things that my brothers will have to remind me about.  As you can see my Mom did a tremendous amount of Christmas baking.

      The merchandise in our local stores was quite limited. Clothes and many other items were ordered from the Eaton's catalog. There was usually one big parcel that came from Eatons and we were not allowed to see any of it so this is where she got our Christmas presents. 

      Before the economy picked up the three of us received a tricycle for Christmas. Another Christmas we got a dog. After the war they were able to afford individual gifts for us. We usually got a book, a toy , a game. or some clothes. We also got some small gifts from grandparents and Aunts and uncles.  There was much excitement over these gifts. So much excitement that we were sometimes awake and out before 5:00 AM. We were sent back to bed but were still up early to open gifts. It was bedlam with 4 little kids. 

     Our Christmas day activities were huge. We celebrated with Mom's cousin. There were 12 people altogether. If Mom had Christmas , her cousin Margaret did the same on New year's day. The next year it would be reversed.

     I grew up in a rural community. Our roads were blocked with snow in the winter and we had very old cars. As a result winter travel was with horses. Our cousins would arrive just before noon and the horses were put in the barn.

     The big meal took place at noon. 

     Preparing the Christmas meal took tremendous effort. Turkey was the main item on the menu. They only grew 25 lb turkeys at that time! So we had stuffing , gravy, mashed potato, creamed corn and another vegetable. We were not able to get cranberries . Lettuce and other produce was not sold in our local stores so we didn't have salads. The country stores didn't have coolers and no electricity so they didn't sell produce. We sometimes had a jellied salad. These meals were prepared with wood stoves. There was no refrigeration or coolers and no running water. But these meals were some of the best that I remember eating. 

     We all sat down together to eat. Food was passed around in large bowls. Generous second helpings were common. 

     And then there was dessert! Christmas pudding and mince meat pie. Yes both of them at the same meal. 

    So our Christmas day was so huge that I have to describe it in two posts. 

A COUPLE OF CONFESSIONS

      First, I notice that I haven't posted since Dec. 16. I'm slipping up on the job. I've been busy and it's hard to keep up with reading your posts. I'm hoping the New Year will start out better. The micro Manager is in recuperation mode so I have to look after most things right now.

      Two posts ago in my title I had Meryy. Yes, it was a typo but it was a typo that I didn't catch. It's interesting that with such a glaring error, some people jumped on it and told me. Others made a rather mild comment. Most didn't comment. I would think most readers saw it and a very few didn't notice it. 

      In my last post I covered the issue of type size and it surprised me how many comments the junky little post got. It was loud and clear that the blue color I use was hard to read. I was also surprised that it wasn't just me who found color font and size made some blogs difficult to read.

     So right away I decided to  change the color. It should be easy? Well what I thought was easy may have been easy but not for me. I spent quite a few hours trying to find out how to change print color. I still haven't got my title cover changed. 

     So how many people find this color easier to read? 

      Well, how about that. I didn't get my print changed color! Maybe next time.

      Now I'm really messin with your minds. I've done my color change again. I think I got it this time.

ONE LITTLE (NOT THE LAST) REQUEST

   A phrase " Comfort of the House" is sometimes used in formal conventions. By that someone is requesting that something be improved such as the sound system.

    I would like to request that some bloggers increase the size of their print. I don't find the fine print impossible to read but it's difficult. 

    There is one blogger I follow but haven't read for a couple of years because his type is just too small. He's a good blogger but I don't read him. 

    So make your type at least the size of mine. 

TIME AND TIME AGAIN

        Your comments are what really makes blogging for me. On Wacky Idea the opinions expressed were very thought provoking. So thought provoking that I want to say more. You were very frank about what you think of time change. 

        It's not surprising that people don't like time change. People aren't sure if they want to stay on standard time or daylight savings time.

       I used to think that I would like to stay on standard time. Your comments have made me take another look at the issue. 

       The following photos were taken just before 10:00 PM on June 21. I was out riding my bike. Many people were riding and walking. The second photo shows the sun about to set a few minutes before 10:00 PM. The third photo shows my back yard when I got home from my bike ride. You could still sit outside when it was light. 

       

     So when I think about this , do I want to lose the long summer evening? I also know that at this time sunrise would be about 5 :00 AM.

    Now if we were on standard time it would be getting dark and we would not have such a long evening. The sun would rise at 4:00 AM. Much daylight would be wasted because I would still be in bed.

    So you made me have another look at the situation. 

    And no one made fun of my wacky idea and some very respectfully thought about it. 

      

MERYY CHRISTMAS

       Our city hall park has been lit up very nicely this year so I went out for some photos. Some photos are a little out of focus and some I was probably shivering from the minus 7 cold. You've got to use bare hands with the camera. 

       Many people were out enjoying the decorations. 

A WACKY IDEA

          Okay here goes with an idea on time.

          Every spring and fall we complain about time change. Less than two weeks ago a blog post contained a complaint about time change. 

         Our time system and time zones are not very old.  One hundred years go clock technology was very simple. The time pieces ordinary people used was not very accurate. You had to wind the clocks and watches to keep them running. If you forgot to wind the clock you either took a guess and set it or checked with a neighbor.

        Then somebody got the idea that if we adjusted the time twice a year , we could get more bang for the buck so longer daylight in the summer.

        In the last few years there's been much discussion about daylight savings time and standard time and changing to standard or daylight savings time all year. No nasty time changes. . Alberta had a referendum question on the ballot in this fall's civic elections. 

       So here's my solution. Technology to measure time has changed . Let's set up a time system that has the time change on our time pieces a few seconds every day. So , for example, from Jan 1 to June 29 the time would increase an hour by changing a few seconds every day. The change would be 0.32 minutes each day. Then from July 1 to Dec. 31 the time would decrease one hour by taking off a few seconds every day. 

      So there should be a chip in our time pieces that would control this slight time change each day. The chip would change your time throughout the day and you wouldn't notice it. 

     I hope this makes sense to somebody! Maybe somebody has thought of this before. Maybe there's something obviously wrong with my system. So tell me what you think. Is there a better way to achieve the twice a year time change? 

WEATHER REPORT : DEC.1 RED DEER

       We are not the only people experiencing some very, very different weather due to climate change. 

       Most of the time we've had snow for four or five weeks by now. It's not wet but dry snow. Most years our temperatures are much lower than we have today. Our average daily high for Dec.1 is minus 3. Our average daily low for Dec. 1 is minus 12. I couldn't find record high and lows .

       What's going on today?   Well, we don't have any snow and it's raining. Ordinarily our last rain is in late October. It was plus 4 C when I took these photos at 10:30 this morning. It's supposed to snow later on today but it will be wet snow not the powdery snow. Our low forecast for tonight is minus 2. 

       These two photos look across the street  from my house. It is very, very dry here and we need moisture but not this stuff. It makes life difficult for flora and fauna. 

MISSING IN ACTION.

      I haven't posted for a week but I have a good reason.

      Did I ever tell you that I hate shopping? Well, I have posted a few times of how I hate shopping.

      I had to do some shopping (not Christmas) so I was unable to post.

      So recently I noticed that the ice cream would not stay hard in the freezer part of my fridge so we decided to buy a new fridge. The fridge was 34 years old so it had lasted a long time but the Micro Manager didn't want to part with it. So we started looking for fridges and took our time. We finally settled on a Frigidaire fridge. 

      Before we could get our new fridge home the clothes washer died. The door locked and would not open. A few days later it opened but I said we'll get a new washer because next time it might lock with a load of clothes. 

     So more shopping for a washer.

     We made a deal on a LG washer and had both the fridge and washer delivered. 

     So they drop a fridge and washer in my house and I have to set it up. The fridge was simple but the washer was a challenge.

     The washer comes with connector hoses. You are to run water throw the hoses to clean them out. The were kinked up . I held the wrong hose so the water came out the other hose and sprayed the washroom before I knew what was going on.

    There are several other things that have to be set for a washer. It must be level. It's easy if your floor is level but my floor is uneven .

     So that's my excuse for not posting for a few days. 

MORE GINGER

     There is more to say on my ginger carrot soup. 

     I mentioned my fiasco on face book and there were many comments. 

      Then there were comments on blogger. As always the comments were tactful and made sense. 

     I took the recipe from a site called all recipe. I've taken recipes from that site before and found their recipes work well. Many of you had a bit of experience working with ginger. Your first thoughts were that is a lot of ginger. I'm sure it was far too much ginger. There were also suggestions about the use of other forms of ginger. I wondered about that one as I was grating ginger. 

    So your comments were much appreciated. 

    There was also an anonymous comment.  I usually delete anonymous comments as I've been burned before. I knew who this commenter was. It was Uncle Brent. Uncle Brent felt very sorry for me so he baked a batch of ginger snaps. Were they ever good! It made me feel better. I forget if he used his Grandma's recipe or his Mom's. So I have a local that I can call on for help .

    Now since I've been thinking about ginger the expression "full of ginger " keeps popping in my head so I had to look it up. I found that there were at least 69 synonyms for full of ginger. I'm not sure what this has to do with my soup . I guess I got side tracked . Maybe that's what happened with my soup.

NEVER EVER AGAIN

       Now I consider myself to be a bit of a gardener. At least I can grow things. I like gardening and I enjoy the fresh produce out of the soil. 

      Now I always seem to have extra carrots. I don't freeze carrots as they seem soggy. I can't seem to store them either. So by about December my carrots are no longer edible.

      So I try and make up carrot soup and freeze it. Did I tell you that I was a bit of  soup maker. At least I think I can make soup!

     So I made three batches of curried carrot soup. Then I thought I'd try something different. Ginger carrot soup sounds good!

     So I bought some ginger. I noticed that the recipe I had only made 4 servings so I doubled it. I think they said the prep time was 45 minutes. (Liars!) My plan was to prepare the ingredients that go in the soup first. Hey 1/2 cup of grated ginger. I had never grated ginger before! One hour and fifteen minutes later, with much cussing and scraped knuckles I had half a cup of grated ginger. At this time I told the Micro Manager that my soup wouldn't be ready for lunch.

      So then came the 8 cups of carrots.

     So I get everything going and cooking. I did a taste test. It was very hot!

    So when things were cooked I pureed for half an hour. 

    So after this marathon to make 8 servings of soup, I said never again. There will be no more ginger soup around this place.

    I will go back to Mr Google and look for some other carrot soup recipes. 

   

SO MANY QUESTIONS

           which part of your life surprises you the most, and why ?

          I suppose what surprised me most is that I actually took the plunge and went north. I thought I was just on a fun adventure but it turned out to have some very substantial influences on the remainder of my life.  I suppose part of the change involved maturing. I was 23 when I went north. 

        Now, at that time   in my life I had another option. If I hadn't gone north, there was a good chance that I would have blundered back to the farm. That would have been a poor choice.

• if you could change one thing about your life, what would it be, and why would you want to change it

           Well, come on. You want to limit me to one thing? I don't think so.  

        I don't think there's really anything that I would like to change. You always look at what might have been. You say well, I was interested in forest or wildlife work but that was unrealistic. 

        I would really like to have travelled much more after I retired. We did okay for a couple of years after retirement but then that was it.  Travelling opens up the whole world. The things you learn while travelling fit in with your life experiences and make them more meaningful.

       I would like to have stayed with education after retirement and supervised student teachers. I had the opportunity but I wanted to get away from education and be with other people. That was the right decision. 

• when was the happiest time in your life, and what made it so great?

      My happiest time is when I had little kids. Little kids are extremely unpredictable and love you with all your faults. Kids made Christmas and trips  happy events. Remember the trip to Disneyland? Remember good times at the lake. Those times wouldn't have been nearly as happy if kids weren't involved. There are many family stories that wouldn't be there without kids. And yes, I've said it before , I was sad to see you guys leave!

• when was the saddest or worst time in your life, and what made it so?

              The saddest time in my life is when I left home and went to teachers' college, I was intensely homesick. I was not ready in any sense to leave home. I had not been given an opportunity to be independent and make my own decisions. I wanted to go back home every minute of the day. I could not study and didn't know the ropes on how to study.. I had gone to a one teacher high school with less than 25 kids. In teachers' College there were 400 students in a very large building. I found it difficult to get to know people  I persevered and kept at it and gradually   things got better. 

      So "endeth" the questions on my life. I'm sure there are more. The questions made me reflect on various events in my life. Many memories were brought back. I was surprised by the comments from readers and how interested you were with the interaction between father and daughter. 

MORE MURALS

        As I said when I showed you murals from a previous post, there are more. I finally got out to find the murals and take some photos. They are not as good as the first murals I showed. I also was out on a very bright day so some of the photos are not that good but you're going to see them anyway. 

           Well, I guess you have the choice of looking at them or not!

    As usual, a few cars are in the way and a cyclist photo bombed me in one photo. The one I like is the owl on the building. They used the shape of the building but otherwise it's a little rough. 

CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE

        For the next ten days most world leaders will put in an appearance at the climate change conference in Glasgow. Glasgow business men will be gleefully wringing their hands as about 10000 people will be attending the conference. 

       However , the rest of the world should be wringing their hands in grief as this conference will probably be like all the other climate conferences. Country after country will tell the world how much they will do  toward control of climate change. The heads of state will go home and do little or nothing of what they promised. 

       Our government , Canada, has done very little to bring about any changes. Our provincial governments scrap with each other and the federal government. How will they ever come up with some practical ways of dealing with climate change? We do have a carbon tax that will be increasing. I'm not sure that a carbon tax will do much in controlling emissions. 

     We do have the Athabasca tar sands which is a heavy producer of carbon. Oil companies have great PR staff and make us think that they are doing much that will begin bringing down carbon. 

     To me it's obvious. Climate change has already gone too far. A very major change in our behavior has to take place right now . Climate change is in gear and it won't stop on a dime. Change will keep taking place long after carbon has been limited .

    I've spent much of my time outdoors. I love the outdoors and all the flora and fauna out there. I can notice changes. Well you don't have to be outside to recognize changes. We all know when it's too hot! We know when it's too wet! We know when it's too cold! By "too" I mean much more than normal. 

     What we're talking about are human activities that  produce carbon. All of us have to make major changes. In Alberta, where I live , there are many huge pick up trucks being driven around for fun. That and many other unnecessary activities have to stop. 

     I believe that man made climate change started long before we knew . Only recently have we had the technology to test and measure changes. 

     I'm not hopeful for results from this conference. Climate change has already gone too far. 

SO MANY QUESTIONS

 

• what do you most want to be remembered for?

      That's a very hard question! There are many things I would like to be remembered for. It depends on what time of day it is.  Now I have to stand back and try and be fair and somewhat accurate. Anybody with a big ego could really brag about themselves. 

       Just when I think of one thing I think of something else. 

       Well, I would like to be remembered for being a down to earth person. Rarely have I been a show off. I'm not a flashy person. There are things that need to be done and you just have to do them. I don't look for an award although when complements come I appreciate them and I certainly work harder if there are complements. 

       So I would like to be remembered for doing something in this world that had to be done. 

• what are 3 words you'd use to describe yourself?

       I'm going to get this question and the last one mixed together a bit. 

        Well, the first word I would use would be kindness. As a young person I was definitely not kind. Growing up on a farm was definitely not a place to see examples of kindness. In our district there were no girls. So when a group of young males hang out they are not apt to be very kind. We were rough.

       My kindness developed over many years.  My mother was very kind so I think that was an influence. I felt kindness from her. 

       Over the years I had many little kids who were completely lost and needed one bit of kindness from some where. I saw how it helped these kids. Along the way kindness became a bigger part of me. 

       I am mellow, easygoing and laidback. I'm going to count these three as one. I can sit back and watch things develop. Usually if you're patient ( oh that's so me Patient) and sit back you will see things happen. I find that I get along well with people .

       I met an elderly friend sitting on the bank of Piper Creek one day. She was birding and said if I sit here all the birds will fly by me. I've never forgotten Dorothy's wisdom. 

      Can I stick in a  sixth (okay seventh) characteristic? I'm quiet. I'm a listener. I get more out of being a listener than other people get from being nosy and aggressive. If you ask people directly for some information that information may be limited as they become alarmed and won't give all information. Sooner or later people will tell you what you want to hear. People will accidentally tell you things. If I'm quiet I'm less likely to say the wrong stuff. 

     I am an introvert. I like to be by myself. Some of my best days were when I was out at the lake on my own and didn't see people for days. On the farm sitting on the tractor all day was just fine. 

     I would think that none of these terms are a surprise to you. You have a very sharp sense of a person's characteristics. 

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BIRTHDAY SOUP!

      Yesterday was my birthday. Birthdays are special. We get older! But we also celebrate and there are traditions for marking the passing of another year.

      Well, yesterday I just happened to be making soup. Since I haven't figured out how to store carrots, I try to use them up by making carrot soup. So the first day of making carrot soup happened to be my birthday. I'm okay with carrot soup for my birthday.

    Later on I had my candle with a Tim Horton's donut. 

     So some people like cake and ice cream and some people just like soup. I wonder what I'll have next year.

SMOKY THE COW HORSE

       Steve at Shadow and Light works in a Middle school library. He constantly looks for ways to get kids reading. One of the giant assignments he gave himself was to read all the books that were given the Newberry Award. What's the Newberry award you say? It's a yearly  award that was started in 1922 for the best juvenile fiction of the previous year. So starting in 1922 to 2021 is about 99 books. 

       Steve read the 1926 winner which was Smoky the Cow Horse. Steve didn't like it much, however it brought back many memories for me.

      In the one room country schools it was customary for the teacher to read for 15 minutes after lunch. This was an activity that I looked forward to every day. One of the books a teacher read was Smoky the Cow Horse. I listened to every word and it was one of the best books read to us in my opinion. Since I was a little fam boy, I liked horses and knew about horses and cattle. 

      There are only two other books I remember hearing and that was Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maude Montgomery.

      So I got thinking About Smoky and that I had remembered this story all my life. I listened to the story in the late 40's

      So what did I think? Well I thought maybe I should read the story for myself. I read the story and  enjoyed it and was surprised by how much of it I could remember. Yes, Steve's criticisms were valid. He didn't like the cowboy language that was used. There were stereotypes. Steve is an urban type so it would be difficult to relate to many parts of the story. 

     The story received the Newberry award for 1926 so was from a different age. It was written by Will James 1892 to 1942. Will James wrote many good western stories. 

      

PARENTING EXPANDED

       Incredibly difficult but rewarding job, parenting! I enjoyed reading your post, Keith. In many ways you were a father figure to all us first year teachers back in the day :)

          

           I received this comment from Mr S. on my last post. The comment brought back many good memories and it's surprising how Mr S worked in  our experience as colleagues.

         Every once in a while you get a comment that really rocks you. 

We needed another teacher for the second semester. We picked three applications for interviews. The first interview was a guy who was principal in a rural school. One question we asked people is how would they teach a certain lesson. This guy completely blew the lesson. The second was a young woman in a graduate program. Since it appeared she wanted to make money to finish her program we thought she would leave at the end of the semester. Mr. S had just graduated. He nailed the lesson . Our head of personnel said, "Let's take the kid. If he doesn't pan out we can let him go." Mr S stayed his entire career in the system and retired this year.

          One of the other young guys always called me Dad and still does to this day even if he is retired.

      Now all those years I thought the young guys were looking after me! I told Mr. S. that I watched the young guys but I was watching for the latest strategies they came out with. 

     Those were happy days.

SO MANY QUESTIONS

 

• what was the best part of parenting for you, and what was the worst?  why?

               For this topic , I have to go back before kids. When we got married we had a somewhat unrealistic idea about having children. You turn on the tap and out come little children. I had an unrealistic idea about parenting and parent responsibility. I had a lot to learn and I didn't know it.  

              Then surprise surprise we found out that we weren't going to have children . Oh! So what do I do now? Mom said right away "Let's adopt." I wasn't that keen about adoption and said ,"There are other things in life that can be fulfilling. " Well, you know who won that issue.  Adoptions were somewhat common at that time. Since we were northerners we had the idea of adopting aboriginal kids. 

               However, we applied in Red Deer and were very surprised  to receive a placement . They had told us that it might take two years so it was a big surprise. . 

               Here's my first point. The adoption procedure is thorough. That is there isn't anything they don't ask so there isn't anything that you aren't made to think about. I've often said that all parents to be should have to go through the rigorous screening of adoption.

              So one of the good parts about parenting was having to be prepared physically and in my own head. 

             The best part of parenting? Well as with many things in my life I don't pick one particular thing. Parenting was great. The most important thing was to love two little guys to death and to receive love in return. Well, there I went and said what was best about parenting! Watching two little munchkins grow and learn was fascinating. I noted heights and weights. I noted first teeth and walking and all the other firsts.  It was fun to do things with kids like sledding , travelling and many more activities. 

             Personal characteristics that were discovered and grew were interesting. You were stubborn from a very young age. I asked you to put your toys away when you were about a year and a half old. You refused. I gave you a swat on the bum and that brought about no change. What I did do was distract you for a minute and then asked you to put the toys away and you put them away just like magic. It's one of those times that I wish I knew what was going on in your head. I learned something. 

              Parenting was a lot of work, particularly when you were infants. However , when you are in the middle of parenting infants, you are so busy that time goes by in a hurry. 

                One of the worst parts of parenting was to let go. It was hard to see you leave home. Some of the hassles in teen age years weren't fun but they come with the territory. I can't really think of any big fights or disagreements. 

              I'm sure this leaves more questions so fire away. It makes it more fun. 

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SO MANY QUESTIONS.

 

• what advice would you give your younger self if you could go back and be 25 again?

              Advice? Well, I can think about things I'd like to give myself if I had the information.  I would like to tell myself to aim for 100% in marks in my subjects. My Dad emphasized to get 50% so at times I didn't get 50% or just a little over 50%. This was something that really limited my achievement in many ways. 

             I would be rather vain if I said I wouldn't give myself any advice. It's the same as the above. I did not work my best. So I would advise myself to aim for a higher rate of success. 

• do you wish you'd moved out of the house in Red Deer before now?  do you wish you'd moved away from Red Deer at all?

              I have never wished to move out of the house in Red Deer but maybe I should have. I like the house and of course, the neighborhood. If I'd moved I wouldn't have all the trash stored in the house but then I can blame Mom for that.  When you move you are forced to get rid of stuff. I still have stuff you left me when you moved. The best thing you left me was the little compressor you had. 

               The first year we were in Red Deer we would have moved at any given instant. If someone had come along and said , "Keith , you can go to Yellowknife tomorrow,." I'd have been gone in a heart beat. Once we got you and Brian we never thought of moving again. 

                I did have in my mind to go back home and farm with my brothers for a few years. Once it go closer to the time to make the move it didn't look so good. I'm glad I didn't make that move. 

               So in reality I have never wished to move. 

               Well, now that I think of it, when uncle John moved to Salmon Arm we did think about moving there. 

• if you could meet a famous person (living or dead) who would you want to meet, and why?
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•      Well I'm really no fun on this one. I don't have any famous person I would like to meet. I think that many ordinary people are fascinating. I wrote about Johnny May , our GG's brother. Johnny was a fascinating bush pilot  with a million stories. Now would I like to meet his famous sister? Only if I accidentally bumped into her. I don't really get it about meeting famous people. I don't think anything would rub off on me. As I said before many regular people have done interesting things and have much to teach you. 
•      Maybe , I'm just sour grapes since I haven't met any famous people!

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