MILEAGE

       Many times I write a post and then see that I missed some information. In my last post I didn't miss something. Some added information would make things clearer. 

      I live in Red Deer, Alberta Canada. My province is 1200 km(751miles ) from north to south. It is 610 Km ( 410 miles east to west. )

    It's the 6th largest province in Canada. 

    Travelling to Inuvik we always stopped for fuel in Yellowknife. I also attended 2 conferences there. In the early 1960's it was very much a frontier town. It was established as a gold mining town. Oh yes, I got a tour of one of the gold mines.

    I hope that this helps to make sense of the distances involved in the evacuation. 

WILD FIRES

     Since the wildfires in Canada and Alberta  make the news, people sometimes ask if I'm safe or how far away the fires are from me. Then there are the people who have to put up with the smoke from our wildfires. 

      The last week or ten days much has been in the news about Yellowknife which is the capital of the Northwest Territories. The population of Yellowknife was evacuated. That's 20000 people who had to take a two lane highway. There were fires along the way and it's such a long distance that you make sure that you fill the gas tank at the few gas stations. 

     These people made it to various places in Alberta where accommodation was available. 3000 came to my home town of Red Deer . Finding accommodation was difficult as other areas had been evacuated from other fires. 

    Hay River has also been evacuated. 

     Now these places are a very long way from me. 

      Driving to Yellowknife from Red Deer is 1602 km ( 995 mi). Driving time is 16 1/2 hours. The direct line from Red  Deer to Hay River is 958 km (595 mi). It's 772 miles by car. 

      So you see that these areas are along way away.

      However, there are fires between Red Deer and those fires. 

     Now in the cities we have to worry about fires in the urban forest. This city is heavily treed and wildfire is a definite probability. 

     We've been fortunate to not have too much smoke. 

     So I am safe but quite worried as to what will happen as the fire season continues. 

    In the 1960's I visited both Yellowknife and Hay River a number of times. I drove to Hay river twice and flew into Yellowknife many times. 

CONTROL OF SPEEDING

       Speeding has to be controlled. It is too dangerous to have speeders and, in particular, very high speeders. Too many people are killed or injured because of speeding. 

       In my last post I dealt with present day situations. We have a hit and miss ticketing system. Only a very small number of speeders are caught. Should all speeders be caught? What percentage of speeders should be caught? How much would road safety be improved with stricter enforcement. 

    Last day I was thinking about present day enforcement methods. What about enforcement tomorrow?

   We now have the technology for self driving cars. We have AI. Would it be difficult to put a chip in each car and follow it. Okay, I know this is terribly invasive and has great issues around it. A modified plan could be used. You mess up with your driving and then you get the chip and your diving is monitored. We now have devices that prevent drunk driving people from driving if they've been drinking.

    I know some people will not like the big brother idea. But how many people have to be killed or injured because of speeding? 

   Cars could be programmed to not go over he speed limit. Traffic could be monitored for other things and traffic volume could be controlled. 

   What other high tech devices may be developed? 

BE IT RESOLVED THAT...

        Be it resolved that speeding tickets are not given and that drivers are given credits for driving the speed limit. 

       Okay,  I'll fess up and admit my bias. Since I've been 75 I've received 3 speeding tickets. They are the only speeding tickets I've ever had. So at least 90 % of my driving has been at or below speed limit and yes some just a little over speed limit. 

    So I don't think speeding tickets do much to make drivers quit speeding. Sometimes speeders are caught again a few miles down the road. Yes, a speeding ticket will alter some drivers. There would have to be a speed limit that would be classified as criminal and they should be punished accordingly. 

   Now I do think that rewards for driving the speed limit will encourage people to stay within the speed limit. I would like to think that speeders will slow down so that they will get a reward. So speed traps can be set up to catch those who are driving within the speed limit. Rewards? There could be many ideas. Take a few bucks off your income tax? Would you go for that? How about businesses giving something like free hamburgers or meals? Tickets to football or hockey. This could get creative and fun. 

     Now here's one you can argue against. I was a middle school teacher and I used rewards often. Some of these things were really silly but the kids went for it. How about if you get 100 % in your spelling three times you get a free week and don't have to do spelling. They went nuts over that one.

     I think that turning the speeding issue around would do more than the program we have now.

     What do you think? 

ONION SANDWICHES

     My sweet Spanish white onions have just matured enough to make excellent sandwiches. Now I know some people when they hear onion sandwiches will turn up their nose. I know the micro manager is not fond of onion sandwiches. 

     On the other hand there are many recipes for a great onion sandwich. I just have two slices of bread spread lightly with mayonnase. I slice the onion in 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness. A little salt and pepper and I have one of my favorite sandwiches.

     Onion sandwiches have a history in our family. Our Dad was an obsessed fisherman. He loved to fish and have people with him. So when Dad called for a fishing day it meant that you would have to have an extremely good excuse not to go. Dad would always say, "I'll bring the lunch!" And you guessed it. The lunch was always onion sandwiches. 

    Dad loved fishing but he also liked eating fish. His favorite was to have a fish fry right on the beach after the fish had been caught.

    His favorite fish to eat was the sucker and again many people will sneer. He loved fried suckers and had Mom can many quarts. These fish have many bones so many people don't like them. 

    Here's the last time I went fishing with Dad going after his favorite fish. You caught the suckers when they went up the creeks to spawn. Now this was illegal but Dad loved those fish enough to break the law. 

                My youngest brother and I enjoying spring while Dad fished

                                 Fishing in the creek for suckers

                                                  Look! I caught one!

                                The hard work was scaling. 

LOVE THOSE COMMENTS

      In my last post I left you with a question that brought many great comments. Since the question was on blogging , many people were very interested. People who  blog think about things. 

     Writers think about what topics they will deal with. Bloggers have a purpose. I started out just wanting to do a little writing to keep some skills. I've ended up with a hobby that is very interesting. 

     I was blown away with the quality of comments.   Thanks. 

    So I hope the person I had a discussion with is reading comments. So commenters say that we should be correct and after that you can write the way you want. You own the blog so you have the choices. Most blogs I follow have their own style of writing.

    The poor photo bloggers were left out in my post . However, photos tell a great story. 

     So the last blast from Smarty Pants was , "Anything worth doing, is worth doing well." I can live with that. 

JUST CURIOUS

     Recently I had a conversation about writing and in particular blogging. The person I was talking to insisted that all spelling, punctuation, sentence structure should be precise and accurate. In fact, this was a two against one conversation. 

    Now I think we should know as much as possible about good writing. There is a place for  formal writing. 

    So I think blog writing should be about your audience. You want to converse with as many people as you can. You adopt a style that your readers find interesting. You try and find material that people will like to read. 

    A couple of years ago I had someone read every blog post I wrote. The person was from Chicago and read about twenty posts a day. I was very pleased that someone would go back and read all my posts. I am curious as to who this nice person is. 

    So I think bloggers have control over what and how they write.

    What about you? What's your view on how blogs should be written? Do you think about your writing or just write the way you speak?

    So let's see whatyou think and please help me out in the two against one conversation I had. 

DON'T FORGET THE IN -LAWS

     In my last post I left out a very important part of the family...in-laws. So before somebody takes offense to their omission I will show pots of them. 

    It's interesting that in-laws are an important part of any family but sometimes the relationship can be difficult. There's only one thing wrong with my in-laws. They're too far away. 

DOG DAYS OF SUMMER

       I know the dog days of summer are over tomorrow. Dog days of summer refer to the hot part of summer from July 1 to Aug 11. It's an ancient term .

      I always think of the dog days of summer as a part of summer that isn't pleasant anymore. It's hot and dry. Most plants have reached maturity and are not developing any more.

      This last while dog days of summer seems to be a good description of my blogging activity. Things are at a standstill. New topics are not coming to my brain. 

      I have been busy. People have visited me. I've got behind in my projects because of the heat. I find it difficult to work in the heat. 

     Well, these are my excuses lately. 

      So here are two of my visitors. My son visited in early July and my daughter visited in later July. 

A FIRST

      You'd think that when you get to my age that you have seen everything and done everything. Not so! 

      So I had a first yesterday and for a little old boy from the boonies there will be more. I remember going to Chicago and getting a neck ache from looking up at the tall buildings. 

     However, yesterday was the first time I used live streaming. I know live streaming is common and there are things I could find interesting using live streaming but I'd never had occasion to explore.

     However, my sister in law passed away last week and her celebration of life was yesterday. Since there were many people who could not attend they live streamed the service. I did not attend so the streaming was good for me. 

     My sister in law was a salt of the earth kind of person. She was calm, cool and collected. If stuff had to be done it just got done and no whining about it. My sister in law was one of the last of  snail mail letter writers. Every Christmas we got a long hand written letter. We always looked forward to her letters. Many other friends and relatives got a long letter. 

    I was disappointed with the quality of camera and sound . The camera was set up focused on the stage and was not changed. You couldn't see any people Not even mourners. The sound was also poor. 

   Though limited , we had some participation of the celebration of life service. 

AUGUST

      August is the border between summer and autumn ; it is the most beautiful month I know. Tove Jansson

      Summer is rolling along . It's August and that's time for changes. 

     This year has been very, very dry. Plants are showing signs of stress. Much grass has stopped growing. Tree leaves are fading and becoming a paler green. They are just waiting for the last chlorophyll to be used up and then they will turn color. The height of the blooming season is over. Some late blooming plants now have their turn to show colors.

     Since this is the second dry year in a row, we start to see some trees die back. Many of the tops are dead. Native trees are coping but non native trees are suffering. 

    On my walk last night I took a camera and picked up a few of the signs of August. 

      I also found this plant in the forest. It's an invasive but I don't know the name.

 

NEW MODEM

      I have been having problems with speed on my computer for some time. Sometimes it would say that I'm off the internet for about 5 secs. or so.  It was slow opening things up as in my google chrome.

      So finally I got my act together and phoned my provider. I've phoned many times to technical support and always got through and was given assistance. 

      The other night I ran into all the bimbos they had. They were asking security questions which has never happened before. I had no idea of any of the answers to the security questions. This was  set up year's ago and I'd mislaid the information. I talked to four bimbos before I was told to go to the local provider store and exchange the modem and change my security.

      Today I went to the provider store with my old modem and was given a new modem. They didn't even ask my name let alone any security questions! Since I'm challenged with computer stuff I aske for instructions on what to do and I was given good information. When I opened the box there was a booklet giving instructions on how to set up the new modem.

     Things went quickly. I was being told that I was connected before I new it. 

     Now the only problem left is to set the iPad to the wi fi. I tried a couple of times and it's not cooperating but not to worry , I'll get there. 

      So that was my day on Aug 2 , 2023!

      Well, sort of my day. I worked on painting my back fence this morning.

      The micro Manager wanted to go to the Casino for lunch where it was 2 for 1 for seniors. Then tonight she wanted to go back to the casino for the other senior special. I hate them all.