RELICS

      In 2010 a friend took me out to his old family farm. To me it was picturesque

     M's father had come to Canada after the first world war with the intention of farming. He got a job on railway maintenance and it took a long time before he got a farm. 

    M received the farm from his Dad but did not farm it. The family went out in the summer and spent time there. It was a pleasant place to spend a summer as a stream ran through the property and there were other wetlands.

   Years went by and the farmstead was not kept up. M's father obtained many things from the railroad :wire, steel gates and numerous little building that could be used on a farm. He also built a log barn that you will see. It was like two 30' by 30' buildings put together.

   So  I spent time getting some interesting photos. 

This little building was known as a summer kitchen. Since much cooking was done in the hot summer , they had a small building used for cooking so that the house would not heat up. 

SNOW !

     Today we are having our first big dump of snow. One of these strange "bomb" weather patterns have reached the prairies of western Canada and the northwestern states. 

    So today, right after breakfast I was out shoveling about 5 in of snow. An hour later I was out cleaning up about 1 1/2  in of snow. Then I got lucky. the neighbors adult grandson was at Grandpa's cleaning the snow from the driveway and sidewalk. Later on I noticed my security light come on. When I looked out "said grandson" was cleaning my driveway. I checked and he'd done the neighbors. I checked further and he had also done the long side walk at the side of my house.

    I certainly appreciated the grandson's efforts. 

    So with the new snow, everything looks clean , white and fresh. 

ANOTHER TUQUE

      This is the photo I wanted when I posted the last photo. There's the tuque and the heavy fur trimmed mitts. 

     This is late September when we were on the Mackenzie river moving to the shores of the Beaufort sea. We had a fast open boat and water was splashing over the windshield. I don't look very happy as it was miserable and we were tenting over night.

    We went back the next day and the river was low so we couldn't find a deep enough channel to get through. It got dark so we slept on the boat. The next morning (Monday) with daylight we easily found a channel and got home around noon. The vice principal was with us so we didn't get into any trouble for being away. 

OKAY, THE REAL TUQUE

     Debby, from Life's Funny Like That asked (dared) me to find the real tuques and post a photo. 

    Well , that's not really a dare. The hardest part was to find a photo. Now along with the dare she's going to get a story. 

   The photo is when I was attempting to ice fish on Dolomite lake(Airport Lake)  about Nov. of 1965. Airport lake is just below the runway of the Inuvik airport. Now I don't remember catching any fish while ice fishing but I did catch lots of fish in the summer. We probably didn't put enough time in to catch fish in the winter. 

     The ice was about one ft thick by that time of year. You used a special bar to punch through the ice until you hit the water. The hole would be about 6 in. in diameter. There were quite a few species of fish in the lake and a good population. 

   These tuques had a habit of shrinking as they were washed. They were of thick heavy wool and very warm. The head is the first part of the body to cool off. Keep your head warm and your whole body stays warm. 

MY NEW TOUQUE

    John from John's Island dared me to display a photo of my Winner's Edge tuque which I said I wouldn't wear . So here it is. My point is that it's tacky as it has a commercial logo. 

    So here's the terrible photo. Terrible angular background. Too much orange color. But then I didn't take the photo. The photographer will remain nameless. 

     Besides, this is not a real tuque. Real tuques are round have layers of red and white to the top where there is a tassel. 

    So I've always worn a tuque in the winter . There are tuques in the house that I've forgotten about. 

    The seal skin background is a genuine seal skin that we bought from the Inuit hunter for $5.00. It was never tanned . 

SMALL THINGS KEEP YOU BUSY

      I've been busy lately. Busy with small things that drive you crazy because of lack of knowledge. 

     My ear bud issue has been on the back burner because other things took priority. I finally got to the ear buds and ran a trouble shoot program and they said I was good to go and they meant it. I now have my new ear buds functioning. 

    I got the SD card issue solved. You were right to say don't buy a store warranty. The SD card cost $14.00 and they wanted $5.00 for a two year warranty. I hope they go broke trying to sell that one. 

    Now I thought I'd find out how dumb I am when comes to computers. I picked up a book in the library called Windows 10 for Seniors. Guess what. Half of the printing is so small that I can't read it. I have my new magnifying glass out and some of it I still can't read because not only is it small but pastele colors are used. 

    However , I'm still learning things. Next time I go to the library, I'll look for a better book on windows 10. 

    Did I tell you that I got a new super duper magnifying glass. Yes, I got a nice magnifying glass form the Casino in a goody bag. There were several other items. I don't think I'll wear the touque  with Winners Edge on it!

COMPLICATIONS

      Finding out that my SD card was not working was easy. The second step in checking showed me the SD card was not working. To check if the card was faulty I put in an old card. The old card worked perfectly.

      So off to the store (Staples) to buy a  new SD card. Oh wait! I checked the package and the non functioning card had a ten year warranty. I bought the card three years ago. So I felt better already.

     When I got to the store , they explained that the 10 year warranty was the company's warranty and not the stores. The proper way to process this warranty was to check the company. Oh! Oh! But they said they could work something out for me. This is where it got complicated. the store would give me my money on a gift card. I could use the gift card to buy an new SD card or anything else in the store. So  I bought a new card. I still had $1.05 left over. The new card had a one year company warranty. 

     Then they wanted to know if I wanted to purchase a store warranty on the new SD card. The store warranty was $5.00 for 2 years. The new card cost 11.99. So do these boys know how to make money. 

    So is anybody still following me on this deal? It took me a while to get this through my head and if I did this again it would be a different choice. 

   

SNOW

      Three or four days ago we received 3 or 4 cm. of snow. It was gentle and fresh.

      There was lots of snow to shovel and it was pleasant to be outside. What was extra special were the flocks of geese flying south. 

      At this time of year we have many local geese flying out to the fields to feed. The ponds have many geese. But these geese meant business. They were fairly high up and flying directly south. These are northern geese. The ice has frozen solid where they have been hanging around. They will fly south until they find bodies of water that are ice free and empty of other geese that they might have to compete with. 

    Only very small ponds are frozen over here.  Anything bigger than my yard is clear of ice. 

    Now it was pleasant to see these geese fly over , but I know that there are millions more hanging around. The big migration happens when we get the first deep freeze. Temperatures about the minus 20 C will persuade most geese to move south where they will find food and open water. I remember one boxing day when the flights of geese were almost continuous.

    We do not have cold temperatures in the forecast so geese will be here for a while. Some geese stay here all winter using spots in the river that don't freeze over. 

   Sorry! No photos! I have replaced the card in my camera and ready to take photos.  

FIFTY YEARS

     Today I received a pin in the mail from the University of Saskatchewan acknowledging my graduation fifty years ago. It seems like yesterday that I was still taking courses.

     Most of my university courses were taken in summer school. Teachers would spend their summer taking a course and then teach to make a living. 

    I had to take one year on campus in order to graduate. I took my one year and did not participate in any University activities. For many students , they were heavily involved in university activities. 

    So today when I got my pin acknowledging 50 years I do not have the great memories other students had as they participated in many activities. 

    Now I finished another  degree in 1968 . No celebration for that degree. I did attend the convocation for my 1968 degree. I skipped the convocation for the 1974 degree. 

    So the pin does bring back some memories. 

    No photos as I thought I had fixed my camera. I discovered that the card was not working so I'll have to get another card. 

    

BAD LUCK

      Well, I ran into a little bad luck this week. I only had two issues of bad luck so I'm waiting for the third bad luck happening.

       I decide to change the ceru disks on my hearing aids. These disks are meant to trap the ear wax before it gets in the hearing aid. I've always had trouble with this procedure. You are given a device which is to take out the old disk and put in a new one. I tried and I couldn't get it and finally gave up. When I put the hearing aids back on the right one didn't work! The stress level went out the roof. Hearing aids are costly and I was much afraid that I had broken something. 

      The next morning I was looking in a drawer and found something that I was not familiar with. At first I couldn't even open it. When I did get it open I was surprised to find a different gismo to change the disks. I tried it and it worked like a charm. So the stress evaporated instantly. I forgot that I had been given this device as it would be better than the old one.

      Yesterday was a fine day so I decided to walk and take some photos. When I tried to take the first photo the camera didn't work. Lights came on and an image was in the view finder but the camera would not click and take the photo. This blew my stress level up as I thought the camera was finished. 

      When I got home I decided to check the batteries. What had happened was not like dead batteries. For dead batteries the camera turns off no warning. 

     Well, I changed the batteries and guess what? Problem solved. 

    Stress is over. So I didn't get photos for this post.

    So I'm anxious again. Isn't bad like supposed to come in threes?