LOST ANYBODY LATELY?

     All of us have had experience with losing someone. Someone who isn't where they are supposed to be. 

    I had such an  experience this week and by last evening we were frantic.

    I had emailed my son and daughter about my medical situation. I do this when I want them to get exactly the same message.

   My son replied in a couple of hours. Nothing from my daughter. Next day , nothing from my daughter but more from son and daughter- in- law. So I started emailing and messaging my daughter but no reply. 

  Third day no reply from daughter. I began to get very worried and stressed. My daughter lives in Chicago. I live in Alberta, Canada which is a long way from Chicago. 

   So last night we were super frantic. We could imagine all kinds of dreadful things that could have happened. About 9:30 last night when I was checking messenger after many times that day, I noticed that she was on line. Relief! 

   I was able to talk to her. Since her husband was off this week they more or less went off line so she had never seen all my emails. They both like gardening so had been outside. Of course,  she was surprised that we were that worried and made many apologies. 

  Usually we think of children being lost. In this case  a person wasn't really lost. We just couldn't make contact.

   We did have a good sleep last night.  

APRIL FOOLS DAY

       Tell me now, is April Fools day still celebrated?

       I may have been some where else, but at one time April first was full of fun. Everybody had a finger in the pie when it came to some shenanigans.

     Radio stations always had a good gag. I haven't heard anything this year but then I don't listen to the radio very much.

    Newspapers also had excellent tricks.

    When we were little kids at school we delighted in trying to play gags on each other. We even tried to pull one over on the teacher. 

    So are you playing any April Fools jokes? Has April Fools day had it's best before date? Or am I just out of the loop? 

EXPRESSIONS

        I am a unilingual Canadian English speaker. I don't know it that makes any sense. I  have a small bit of French and was exposed to German when I was growing up. 

       So I'm an English speaker. 

       I don't know how many English accents there are but I can not understand some of them. Being elderly and having hearing loss makes it difficult to follow accents. Hearing loss means that you miss some of the letters, words or phrases. Just enough so that you do not get the message. 

     But what I'm thinking about today is the different terms we use for the same things. For someone like me who doesn't travel much I find terms difficult. 

    One New Zealand friend talks about a chilly box which we call a cooler ! She also talks about a wheely bin which we call a cart. Lorrie? Yes, somebody told me it meant truck.  "Boot" for car trunk. 

    In different places you find different interesting terms.

    Most people have no idea that they use a term someone else may not understand. 

    So here's my challenge to you. What are some terms Canadians use that others may not understand? Terms that Canadians have no idea that they're not known or understood by others? This is turning things back on me. Have fun. I know I'm going to learn some things. 

CAREGIVERS

      I was listening to my favorite radio show  this morning. The current had another episode on senior care. Today they were focusing on the care giver. 

   Since senior health is unpredictable, setting up a care giver system is difficult  . 

   A large percentage of caregivers are spouses. In that situation you have elderly person  looking after an elderly person. The care giver starts out behind the game. Many of the elderly care givers are soon unable to give the care needed. In some cases the caregiver dies before the person being cared for. 

   One care giver interviewed told the story of looking after her husband who had Alzheimer's . To say the least it was a challenge.

   Many care givers are foreign workers. They are from another culture and have difficulty understanding looking after the elderly as they don't really understand the needs.

   Some training programs have been developed to help care givers understand the situation .better. 

  A training program  has been developed to put the care giver in a similar situation as an elderly person. A system of straps are used to make a person stoop, so they cannot look up very well. It takes no time for the trainee to get it that balance is a real issue. Eye shades are used to get people to understand what limited vision is like. The trainee goes through a number of situations to be able to better understand looking after the elderly.

    Listening to the stories and professional comments has certainly opened my eyes on care giving.

   The program I listened to is called the current and was on CBC  radio on Mar . 28 at 8:30 AM. 

SENIOR CARE

      Most of the time I listen to a CBC program from 8:30 to 10:00 AM. It covers topics of current interest or if it's not of current interest, they will make it current interest. 

     A while ago they had a series on care for seniors. They had experts from various fields and covered the usual topics of health, housing and quality of life.

    They set it up so that listeners could keep on commenting through emails. People write in and it's surprising how many different options there are. There are may family controlled and organized accommodations for lodging and care. Everybody has their own story.

    It's interesting to listen to those stories and realize there are many options. 

    The big problem is that many elderly do not have options. Some have very limited finances. Some have health issues that limit their options. Some people don't want any of the options and want to live independently. Sometimes independence is not an option. So we have some people who are unhappy with the options.

    It's a challenge for society to care for the elderly. In the fifties my grandfather lived in our home for his last 5 years. In some ways it was good and then there were problems. My Mom had an extra load to look after him. I think he always felt that he was a guest who required special treatment. I'm sure he would have been happier living on his own but that was not an option.

    So often I listen to this information and all of a sudden I say "That's me they're talking about." As long as we're healthy we can sail along and remain independent. But there will come a time when independence is not an option.

   All we can do is make some realistic plans. We have looked at senior accommodation. After that we don't know what we're doing. 

    

IS IT REALLY SPRING ?

     Time has been marching on to that time on the calendar that says it's spring. So there is a calendar spring and then there is the weather or climate spring. Whatever it is, spring starts on this date. 

     Here spring comes with some very changeable weather. We get most of our snow in March. We get our worst storms in March. The temperature can also be very pleasant. So depending on the time and weather, we aren't sure if we've got spring or not . And then who says if spring is a set time except for the calendar or a specific condition. 

    What I do know it that there has been a big change in the last three months. The sun shines for much longer in the day time. The sun's rays hit us more directly so we get much more energy from the sun. Today the sun rose at 7:36 AM and sets at 7:49 PM. We have a 12 hour 12 minute period of sun light. So where's this equal day and night thing? It's at the equator. 

   Just for comparison , on Dec 21 the sun rose at 8:42 Am and set at 4:24 Pm and we had 7 hours and 41 minutes of daylight. So the day is much longer. 

  We have very few plants awakening . The days lengthen very quickly with  much more energy from the sun so our plants develop very quickly when they start.

   So where ever you are enjoy the spring season. 

HAPPY ST. PATRICKS

      So for all those who celebrate and enjoy St. Patrick's day, I hope you had a good day. Around this house, you wouldn't know it was St. Patrick's Day. My friend Mike,  missed out on the green beer they had in his residence. 

    So when I was a child going to school in the country we did very little about St. Patrick's day. We may have drawn a few shamrocks and colored them green but not much more.

    To be more exact we did not really recognize St. Patrick's day. We were country people and country people did not take notice of frivolous days. Our community was German Lutheran and they didn't do much celebrating. Garrison Keillor described a young Lutheran's guide to the symphony orchestra and they were very serious. 

    Another more serious hitch to St. Patrick's celebrations was that my family and community belonged to a religious denomination that didn't celebrate things unless it was described directly in the bible and sometimes even then they argued or bickered about it. 

    Well, I left  the little farm community and got another look at celebrating special days. For a while it was more like Halloween and tricks were played. A common trick was to put green food dye in a toilet tank. On flushing the toilet some people were surprised.

   Once  I started teaching in middle school the big issue was that you would be pinched if you didn't wear some green. I only made that mistake once and after that I wore something green or every kid in the school would pinch you. 

   The story behind St. Patrick's day is well worth knowing.

   So going from no fun St. Patrick's to all kinds of fun it's been an interesting ride. 

WEE WILLIE WINKY

      As I was cleaning up breakfast this name came into my head from out of the blue. I tried to remember something about it. 

    First, it was part of a children's rhyme or song. But where did it come from? Could I think of a line. The only line I got was wrong. It was, "Wee Willie Winky went to bed with his underwear on."

    Later in the morning when I had time I looked it up on the internet. It is of Scottish background from around 1841. It was meant as a rhyme to get children to go to sleep. 

    Then I remember Mom used to sing or recite this to us very often when she was putting us to bed. Here's the first verse. 

 Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town,

Upstairs and downstairs in his night gown.

Tapping at the window, crying at the lock, 

Are the children in bed, for it's past  ten o'clock. 

      There are 5 more verses.  There are many versions in the original Scottish accent. When I play them I can't understand them. 

    I remember how my Mom was excellent in reciting and reading things to us. 

      So it was a morning with a pleasant memory. Did any of you have this nursery rhyme sung or recited to you? Did you use this nursery rhyme with you're own children.

    For sure I'm going to be in bed by ten o'clock. But then I'm old!

MEMORIES OF A STUDENT

      Some kids we remember well and some kids it's hard to remember them at all. 

     One kid who's memory quite often pops into my head is Norm.

     Norm had severe epilepsy. He had grand mal seizures at any time. His seizures knocked him out and he was so exhausted that he did very little for the remainder of the day. Sometimes his parents came to school and took him home. Kids who had gone through elementary school with Norm were used to Norm and his seizures. They sat or stood quietly with him until the seizure was over. They seemed to know exactly what to do. The teacher could carry on with the class. I had other students with epilepsy and fellow students supported them as well. It's embarrassing for a teenager to have a seizure. The kids handled it well. They didn't make an issue of it. 

    Norm went to high school and did well. 

   Norm was not able to get a driver's license. We had a few talks about the driver's license. 

   At the back of Norm's epilepsy was brain surgery that might stop the  seizures. Some how the surgery couldn't be done until he was 18. I'm not sure if this was a medical rule or the parents did not want to decide on  the surgery without Norm's consent. What I know is that Norm looked forward in anticipation of the surgery. 

   When Norm turned 18 he got the surgery as soon as possible. The seizures were under control and Norm got his driver's license. 

   Norm went on to get his B.Ed and became a counsellor. 

   He is now in a doctorate program. 

   So other than a head with many surgical scars, life is good. Norm has been a leader in his field. 

   Since I had juvenile epilepsy , I had some knowledge and understanding of seizures. I certainly had sympathy for any of my students who had epilepsy. 

    I had juvenile epilepsy which ceased when I went through puberty and some forms of epilepsy do not cease. 

THE MIXTURE OF SPRING

      I like to be able to just stand outside for a while on these pleasant March days. 

     Small flocks of Canada geese are flying over. You can hear the honking and after a while the small flock comes into view. These early flocks are probably not going to stay here. At this time of year these flocks are probably going to end up some place in the Arctic. They arrive in the north long before the ice melts. There's enough debris on the ice for food. 

     Aboriginals do a lot of goose hunting in the spring. They can sneak up on the birds and make their kill. 

    Then, strangely enough , I like spring storms. We had one two days ago. I looked out at midnight and the air was full of swirling snow. We had about 6 in of snow by morning. I had some good exercise shoveling snow. 

   We get most of our snow in March.

    I was enjoying the geese and forgot about photos. I was shoveling so hard I also forgot about photos. 

DAY LIGHT SAVINGS

      Here we are on that special day that most of us like to bitch about. Time change!

     We've had day light savings time for a very long time. At first it was rather sporadic. Some areas or cities had daylight savings time and the next town or city didn't have a change in time. 

     Lately, there were very few areas that did not change time. The province of Saskatchewan has not changed time for a very long time.

    The rest of us just complain about time change. Some want us to go on standard time permanently. Some want us to go on day light savings time permanently. Then there's the province of Newfoundland Canada which goes by the half hour. 

   At one time, time change did not bother me. Now it takes me  few days to get used to the time

    This year there's a new wrinkle in time. Trump keeps saying he will change the time. What it will be changed to , we don't know. When it will be changed is probably not decided. So with Trump , time change is a moving target. 

    Some day, time change will have to be decided. It seems that too many people are unhappy with the spring and fall time changes. 

GOOGLE CHROME

       By  now you will be tired of my whining about computer problems. You will be saying, "Red , go out and buy a new computer." That is in the works.

      But I'm going to tell you my story with Google Chrome.

     Four or five days ago google chrome disappeared on me. I tried a few amateurish methods to get it back. Nothing happened.

    So then I'm off to my "go to guy", my son. He told me to install chrome again but, look and see if chrome is still on my computer. I couldn't find google chrome on my machine so I installed. It didn't work. So I've cussed and swore for a few days.  

    So this morning I said I'm going to fix google chrome or bust. I looked at how to uninstall and sure enough google chrome was there . So I uninstalled google chrome and then installed google chrome. 

    There are a few wrinkles to iron out such as sound and camera.

    It improves life a great deal once you get your computer back in business.

CHILDREN

     I listened to a talk show the other day about people who have children and don't want them. It's a topic that touches me greatly.

     Having spent my career working with children, I've seen it all. There are many reasons why people may not want the children they have. Parents may try to keep that issue private but kids know what's going on. 

    It is very cruel to kids when they are not wanted. Rejection influences every part of a kid's life. I've seen kids struggle in school performance, behavior and socialization.

    My children were adopted. I often think of the procedure we had to go through. 

    We had to have a serious discussion with each other if we really wanted children. My view was that I could have a happy satisfying life with children or without. We chose to adopt. 

    Now we had just moved to a new area so we thought we'd get an application in. 

   First of all, there was an extensive application form. We had to get number of references. Then, there was a two hour interview. We were really made to think about things. 

   We were told that there could be a two year wait so the clock started ticking. A placement was made in three months and it took us completely by surprise. We did not have any baby clothes or  furniture. We had to ask for extra time to buy things.

    They show you the baby and then they ask a number of times if we want the child. That was hard. I wondered what they were doing. 

    So what I'm thinking is that if all people had to go through this procedure that there might be fewer problems of parents not wanting the children they've got.  

    It's a much different world than when women stayed in the home. Now both parents are out of the home and care is shared by other organizations. 

   And yes, both my kids will be reading this post and they will make comments to Dad. 

A VISIT TO THE OPTOMETRIST

      Today was my yearly visit with the optometrist. Here, seniors get one appointment with an optometrist each year. 

      My optometrist is a former student Dr. D so that is a pleasure to be with someone I'm familiar with. I also taught his two brothers and a sister. Dr. d was an all round good influence in the school.  And he was a very able and competitive basket ball player. Smooth!

    But I'm getting off my topic. 

    I joked with Dr. D about one test and the possibility of cheating! However, my real concern about that test is that I do it correctly so that the measurement is correct. It's a peripheral vision test. You are told to look at a little black square in the center of the diagram and notify them when you see any movement in the diagram. I find it hard to concentrate on the little black square. My eyes wander around the square. However, they are satisfied with the test results. 

    However, after the examination , I was told that my prescription had changed very little and that I didn't need new glasses. I was told that I had two very healthy eyes. I had cataracts done on both eyes two years ago. I only need reading glasses. I realize that I am a very fortunate senior to not have visual challenges. 

    I also enjoyed the little visit where we talk about old teachers and students.

    

BIRTH STORIES

       Births are spine tingling events. I told you about my birth in a post. It's too bad that often the person's birth story is not shared with them. I heard my birth story from my Dad but not because he was telling it to me. He was telling others and I happened to be listening. 

     My two youngest brothers have stories. I was 15 when my youngest brother was born so was part of the story. 

    My third brother was born in the old wooden shack we lived in. He was born in February which is a brutal winter month. Roads were poor at the time and there was no snow removal so all winter travel was by horses. Somebody brought the doctor out and the wondrous event began. The event ended  with a bit of an emergency. The baby was not breathing. My Mom had some problems that had to be dealt with. When my Mom was stabilized the Doctor put his attention on the infant. The Doctor gave my brother artificial respiration. One puff and my brother began breathing and crying. The Doctor was almost a chain smoker so my Dad always joked that the tobacco breath was what started my brother breathing. 

     My youngest brother doesn't know this but he was almost born in the car on the highway.

    We were  taking Mom to the small town with an eight bed hospital. This was well before her due date. Again it was mid February. Open roads at that time were still not reliable. The roads could be blocked with snow for a week or ten days. Roads were gravel. On our way   the old Studebaker made a 360 in the middle of the road and continued down the road as if nothing had happened. However, the passengers in the car were pretty stressed. So it's easy to say that this stress could have brought on the birth right there out on the highway. However, about two weeks later Mom came home with our new baby brother. 

    Later on my brother became the director of nursing in the little hospital he was born in. And he looked up the records on his birth. 

    

A SECOND GO AROUND WITH MONITORS

     I recently wrote about the challenges of buying a computer monitor. The monitor I bought sometimes had green lines across the screen for a few minutes. I tried  another cord with blue ends and there were not green lines. Well, I was OK with that. 

     However, the micro manager wanted the proper cord that came with the monitor. The store said they couldn't give just a cord from another monitor. The whole monitor would have to be exchanged. So finally, we decided to exchange the first monitor so that we could get the proper cord that would work. 

     Sounds simple? Not quite to fast.

     They didn't have the same monitor for the exchange! They could get the same monitor in seven days but that means I would be without  a computer for seven days. So we decided to take a different model. So there I was setting up another monitor. Physically setting up the monitor was easy but it didn't come on. I knew that there had to be an on switch somewhere , but I couldn't see anything. There was a diagram showing a number of switches but I could not find them on the monitor.

    I finally found the switches. The switch indicators were very faint on the lower right front side. The actual switches were underneath the monitor, How dumb! The switches were black on a black background and very small. They are about 3 mm by 5 mm which is very small. Just imagine old fingers fumbling around to find these switches?

     So at least the cords work for this monitor. I hope it's the last monitor I'll ever need. 

REMEMBERING DOREEN

       My only sister, Doreen, passed away on this day in 1953. 

      Her death from illness was not expected and saddened the family greatly. 

     Seventy two years later there are very few people left who remember her in person. 

CANADA FLAG DAY

      February 15 is Canada's national flag day. The flag design was adopted by parliament and the flag raised officially on Feb. 15, 1964. So the flag is officially 60 years old. 

      Canada has had variations of flags since we were a colony. Gradually, we gained independence little by little until we were able to have our own distinctive flag. 

      Through the late 50's and early 60's there was a hot debate in parliament about what flag we should have. Many politicians and people wanted to keep the old red ensign. However , after many designs were submitted the red maple leaf with 2 red bars down each side was accepted. 

     The official flag raising was on Feb. 15 ,  1964. 

     To me this was a day in your life that is special and you remember it until the end of your life.

     In 1964 I was teaching in the Sir Alexander Mackenzie School in Inuvik. About 1000 kids were enrolled in the school at that time. We all went out to the front of the school where the flag pole was and a large brass monument of three rings representing three groups of people.  It was a clear day that was bitterly cold. 

     We had a very active cadet group and they proudly stood on guard while short speeches were made and then the flag was raised. All through this time I was watching the poor cadets as their ears gradually froze. I was hoping things would end so the kids could get back in the school.

     As Canadians we have been somewhat laid back about patriotic issues. Lately, Pres. Trump had put a fire under us with his comments and we are becoming much more patriotic. 

    However, I still look back to the day when I was present at the flag rising. 

MY ASSUMER NEEDS ADJUSTMENT

      In the last post I took the privilege of making some assumptions about my readers. 

      I was passing out advice. That's dangerous. I assumed that people needed advice? I assumed that all my readers were much younger and that when they reach my age the advice will be helpful.

      Was I in for a surprise. Many readers had the advice I gave them and many had more advice to give. 

     Well, I guess that's how it works. We don't know the other person and the other person may have more experience and knowledge than we think. 

     The comments were an eye opener and they were most helpful. I hope other people learned from the comments and so will have an easier time navigating old age.

    I will have to be much more careful about assumptions I make from now on. 

A COUPLE OF ASSIST DEVICES

      There were some excellent comments on my last post that reminded me of some things I should say.

      My last post  covered the challenges of manuals and instructions on various devices. We all know the challenges of setting up new products.  When the same manual is meant for a dozen or more products things get fuzzy in a hurry.

     For seniors, some ordinary activities become a challenge. so around the home things we've done all the time become a bit of a challenge. 

    So here are two things that are a great help around the home.

    I have a good magnifying glass which is out and handy to use. I have a good magnifying glass which has a light with it. I got this magnifying glass at the casino. Once again I don't gamble but I do eat at the Casino. A while ago they gave us goody bags and the magnifying glass was one of the things in the bag. We both got a bag so we each have our own magnifying glass. They are a big help when it comes to dealing with the nasty small print. 

      Then I have a very special flashlight. I keep a flash light handy both day and night. I recommend these little flashlights as they have a special lens and bulb that makes things very bright. I would like to have another flash light These flashlights run for a bout 50 dollars but are well worth it. I got mine at a very good price. I was out with my birding group and I looked down and saw something that looked like a lanyard. I kicked it and found this flashlight in the snow. A homeless person had dropped it. 

    So these are two devices that I find very helpful.

     Now if I could only focus the camera to get a clear picture, life would be good. 

I'M BACK

       Well some of you probably didn't know that I was gone. I had some broken equipment here. 

       I had noticed that once in a while my monitor went off and if I clicked a switch on the monitor it came back. So I was expecting the monitor to go and it did. The monitor I was using was made in 2005. It was the Cadillac of monitors. It had bells and whistles. I bought it on a yard sale. The guy was going for a bigger better monitor. 

     So I went out to Best Buy and bought a monitor. I  got time in the evening to set it up. I turned it on and NOTHING. So that really got my puzzler going. I started to think that what if it's the computer. There was a little button on the back of the monitor. The button was not labeled and there was nothing in the brief  instructions they gave.

    Today we phoned LG and asked about the button. We found out that it is an OFF ON switch. So as soon as I clicked the little switch, my new monitor came on. So I lost sleep on this issue and I used up some of my best swear words.

   Why can't they write something a little clearer so that old people can understand? 

     

IT'S COLD

       We have been having a cold spell lately. It's not breaking any records but it's cold. We've had lows of minus 30 C or minus 20 F. They're not records but it's a very uncomfortable time. We've had some snow and I don't like getting out to shovel. 

      Now those who have followed my blog will say, "What are you talking about? You have been bragging about how tough you are when it gets cold. When you were a little kid you played outside all winter. "

      Well that was then . This is now. I'm about 80 years older. I am also not dressing as well as I used to. I am not wearing my heavy winter under wear and that makes a lot of difference. 

    My Dad passed away 16 years ago yesterday. We had the funeral and burial about 5 days later. It was and extremely cold day when he was interred. It was so cold the preacher kept his tuque on. We did not stay long in the cemetery. Some people did not get out of their cars.

      My Mother died in late November of 1973. She was buried the day after the funeral about 100 miles away. Only  the immediate family was there for interment. Her four sons carried the casket through deep snow and you guessed it. It was cold.

      My sister died in Feb of 1953. So we went to the same cemetery and you guessed it in very cold weather. 

     So at this time of year we get the coldest weather of the year. We are used to it and if we're smart we'll dress appropriately. 

GROUND HOG DAY

      Well, tomorrow is ground hog day when we get some very important information. We'll see what happens.

      When I was a little  beaner (kid) Ground hog day was always talked about in school. We probably had an art class or something on Groundhog day. We did go out and check the weather and discuss whether it was clear or cloudy. 

     However, in my little mind I could never make sense of ground hog day. First, out in the middle of Saskatchewan , there were no ground hogs and I knew that. How could a ground hog in Pennsylvania USA know what was going to happen? This ground hog was 2000 miles away. For that matter how in the world could a groundhog know about weather and make a forecast? So I spent ground hog day pondering these questions rather than having fun. 

     So where I am in Alberta, Canada, we have Balzac Billie who will tell us what's going on.   Balzac is just north of Calgary. 

     Well, now there are no groundhogs in Alberta so I'm not sure how the deed will get done. The odd ground hog has been seen in Alberta but there are no native animals. Ground hogs have been seen moving through the province. I thought I saw a ground hog one time but it turned out to be a beaver. 

     The custom of predicting when spring will come by using animals has a very long tradition. It's noted in various areas of Europe. Other animals were used as in some areas a bear was used to make the forecast. It seems that German speaking areas celebrated ground hog day more than other groups. 

     So where ever you are tomorrow enjoy your day.

DISHWASHER BLUES

       Anybody who's had a dishwasher has probably had some sort of problem. So I'm not the only person with a dishwasher story. The soap dispenser lid has been sticking so that the soap is not released. This has happened before but I clean it out and it runs for a while.

     This time the dishwasher ran for less than two weeks after cleaning so I got tired of that. You have to take all the dishes out and wash them by hand. So I went to Mr You tube and found the perfect site that showed me exactly what to do. So I hope this cures the problem.

     Then I started thinking about my Mom. She never had a dishwasher and washed all dishes by hand. She didn't have running water either. About half the time there were extra people at the table. Once in a while she employed her little sons to wash dishes but I'm afraid that they were more of a nuisance than help. But we did wash quite a few dishes. 

     An elderly man lived about half a mile from our place. Very often he ate at our place. He was a good visitor. One time I was staying with my Dad and the "old man" dropped in. We had him stay for supper. I remember washing dishes with the old man while Dad did his chores with the animals. After that we hooked up the horses and took the old man home to his shack. 

     So my problem with the dishwasher wasn't that much compared to many years ago. Of course, they didn't have the problem of a dishwasher that wouldn't work. 

GIFTS THAT KEEP GIVING

        Many of  my 2116 posts begin with "I was a teacher". Many times I am surprised to meet a former student after many years. It is a great gift to be able to meet someone that I taught many years ago and have a good visit. 

       A surprising and thrilling meeting took place Thur. evening when I was at a naturalists meeting. The meeting was over and I was ready to leave when a woman came up and introduced herself. 

     She was a former student and had become a teacher and gone into school administration. She had come back to the school district she grew up in and taught with some of her former teachers. And she just retired recently!

     I knew that she was an administrator in the district but I never bumped into her.

     We had a great visit reminiscing about our lives and school experiences. By the time we were finished there were very few people left in the hall. 

    The bonus was that her Dad was the curriculum supervisor in my area. So I caught up with what her Dad had been doing. I had not seen her Dad since 1997 as far as I can remember.

     Meeting up with former students is a treat. Meeting up with former students is a gift that keeps on giving. You never know who you're going to meet next. 

COMPLAINING

       The beginning of this week was great for complaining about politics. So I was looking for something interesting to complain about. Well, why not complain about the weather!

      I don't do much complaining about weather because I've been outside for a good part of my life.

     However , we did have a storm blow through here last night and it dropped about 5 cm of snow. There was a very high wind and snow drifted. We rarely see any snow drifts here so it was different. Today was sunny and a high of minus 2 or 3.

    What I am looking at is how much longer the days are getting. 

    Dec. 20 the sun rose at 8:42 AM and set at 4:24 Pm for daylight of 7: 41.

    Jan 20 the sun rose at 8:31AM and set at 5:01Pm for daylight of 8:29. So the day has increased by 48 minutes.

    Who is it that's waiting for spring and counting the minutes?  

MAGA

     MAGA is a great slogan and Trump got a lot of mileage out of it. Three words are very specific and one word is vague enough to cover anything. 

    Great is a word that can mean many different things to various people. Now that's why the slogan works so well. It can slither around to any position that's needed at the time. 

    So the word great in this slogan. What can it mean?

    A great nation can be many positive things. A great nation is peaceful and gets along with neighbors and supports them. A great nation has good laws, respects them and obeys them. 

    Great nations are respected by other nations. 

    A great nation seeks to have equality for it's citizens. Citizens have equal opportunity and what they do with the equal opportunity is up to them. 

    Groups of people are not marginalized. Room in society has to be made for all groups. 

    Is it difficult to be a great nation? Of course. The effort to have a great nation is well worth the effort. We are much stronger and happier if we work together. Picking fights is a waste of effort. 

    One could go on with many more characteristics of a good nation. I've given enough suggestions to illustrate my point. 

    I have not mentioned wealth. Certainly wealth is important. A nation creates it's own wealth. It doesn't depend on others to get a free ride. In the past many nations have used slaves for a free ride. Wealth is important but it should not overshadow other characteristics. 

   Well, this may sound self righteous. However, we have to look at things as they are to have a great nation. 

GRANDPA CLIMATE

     The other day the radio was on in the house and I heard, "Grandpa Climate." I thought for a minute about this and then it hit me. They're talking about me!

     I'm a Grandpa and I'm 85 years old. So what was the climate back at the beginning of my time.

    Then I thought of my Dad who was born in 1912? Oh , there's my Grandpa who was born in 1864 ? And then I thought back to my Great Grandpa who was born in 1840. 

    What was the climate like when these men were living? 180 years ago the common folks probably didn't have a thermometer. Information on climate was anecdotal. There would be some information about climate but it wouldn't be scientific. Both my grandparents could read. They used the Russian Cyrillic script. I'm not sure how much they could write. So information on climate at that time would be limited. I don't know if there is any of Grandpa or Grandma's writing left. 

    I have often told you about my time as a child and the great outdoors. It was very, very different than today. About 50% of the land was not developed. When I was a kid in the late 40's Canada's population was less than 10 000 000 .  This meant that much less carbon was produced. Global warming was probably not taking place. It seemed as if when winter came it stayed winter until spring. I remember getting what we called mild spells, but I don't remember snow thawing in the winter time like it does now. . 

    So I hope the term Grandpa climate makes people think about how much our climate has changed and that people will start to contribute to not letting the earth's temperature increase. 

   If you're a grandma or grandpa, what do you remember about climate?

PEASANT DAYS

      In my Jan. 10 post I happened to mention my grandparents without electricity or water. Some people  made comments to indicate that they had no experience with out services. 

     My paternal grandparents and great grand parents came from Russia in the early 1900's. They had lived in Russia for about 100 years. They were peasants. They made use of available materials for housing and food. So in Russia, they had clay houses. The roof was probably thatched. Here they could afford to get lumber for the roof of a clay house.

     My Dad was born in 1912 in a clay house with a dirt floor.  People liked their clay houses. They said they were cool in the summer and warm in the winter. 

    So many of the German people who came here to homestead had a clay house. Other people built sod houses which were equally functional. 

   Of course, there were other things that had to be developed to live with such a lack of conveniences.

   To keep warm in the winter they had layers of clothing long before outdoor enthusiasts came up with the idea. We had felt boots. These were boots that were made of felt. I can tell you that they were warm. There was an overshoe that kept your boot dry. We had combination fleece lined under wear. We had two layers of pants. They were warm. 

     Sometimes the houses were banked up with snow or straw. The floors in the wood houses were cold. They was no heat in the cellar. Since the heat source was coal and wood the pipes wood sometimes catch on fire. Most people let the fires go out before they went to bed for safety reasons. .

   So houses without electricity worked just fine. 

   People became accustomed to those conditions and thrived. 

   I am old enough to have lived with out electricity and no central heating. Our first house was a dilapidated board structure . I know that there is a photo of this old house but I'm not sure who has it. I remember Dad getting up in the morning and lighting the fire. We would bring our clothes into the main room and get dressed in front of the heater.

    I do not look back at these days as a hardship. We were prepared and were comfortable and enjoyed life with no electricity. . 

I MADE A MISTAKE

      I made a deduction on my last post and it was wrong. I assumed that the population of Esk was zero  as when I visited Esk in 2001 there were only two houses occupied. 

      My sister in law lives about three miles from Esk and she pointed out that I was wrong. She thinks that 2 people live in Esk and maybe more. My niece also pointed out that I was wrong. 

      Where would I be if I didn't have a good sister in law and niece. Thanks for  correcting me. 

CURIOUS AND CURIOSITY

          Mr. Pudding, from Yorkshire Pudding, likes to take a look at things that are very different like, my home village. He finds these odd places and lets his imagine run. 

         My home village is Esk, Saskatchewan. Well it was my home village. Today it is a ghost town with a population of 0.

       At it's largest it had a population of about 50.

     My grandparents retired to Esk in the late 40's. They had no electricity and water. They had a wood cook stove and wood heater for winter heat which was not great. Grandma had some chickens. 

    They bought flour, sugar, salt ,  coffee and a few more items at the local store. . They bought the few clothes in the next town which had a dry goods store. 

    Now there is an abandoned church which interests Mr Pudding. Did I go to Sunday school in that church etc. You can watch a 6 minute video to see what an abandoned village is like. The abandoned church is featured. 

    Our family did not attend that church but my brother was married in it in 1967 and it was closed shortly after that and the building was sold. Somebody bought it with the view of developing it as a house. It never happened. It would have made a very good house. The guy lived in a house trailer in the church yard and later moved away . The video is probably from 20 years ago and I'm not sure if the church is still there. 

    As children we were brought to the church and were given inoculations.(Not on Sundays)The late  1940's saw the immunization for communicable diseases.  You got a series of shots for each disease so we attended the church often for health reasons. 

    Now at one time this village of 50 people had 3 churches. All were Christian denominations. Why they had to be 3 separate denominations I'll never know? There was Lutheran, Baptist and United Evangelical Brethern. They did get along in the community. 

    I realize that it may be very difficult for people from almost any part of the world to understand what I have described. There are many differences in this world and this little village had it's differences. 

NUMBERS THAT IMPRESS.

       I have a friend who lives in a senior residence. He was 93 in Sept. I phone him 3  or 4 nights a week. He's quite lonely and enjoys a chat. He's one of the brighter people I ever met so he's interesting to visit with. The photo below is for his 93rd birthday. 

 

            The photos of old buildings  belonged to Mike. The farm first belonged to his parents and Mike farmed until he went broke according to him. 

     In each phone call he has something very interesting to talk about. He likes politics and science. He was an engineer.

    Last night he told me that his former high school had contacted him about his 75 th anniversary from finishing high school. That number just about blew me over. They were contacting as many former students and teachers as they could find. And guess what? They found one of his teachers still living   at 105.  Mike was pretty happy about this information. I thought it was a big number to finish high school 75 years ago. I finished high school 67 years ago. My numbers don't compare with his. 

    At  the present time Mike doesn't have plans to attend the reunion as they don't have dates or anything else arranged at this time.

    None of my former teachers are living. 

KISSING!

      I rarely look back at old posts. Somehow today I landed on a post from Fri July 6, 2012. What was the topic? International Kissing Day!

     So, who am I to write about kissing? But you can go back to the post and see what I wrote, in my ignorance.

     The thing that shocked me was the list of commenters I had. I had completely forgotten most of the people who made comments on that post. There are only three people from that time who still follow my blog and make comments. So of the seventeen people who commented , 14 of them have disappeared. 

    The three bloggers who remain from that time are Far Side of Fifty, Eye on the Edge and Crumbly acres.  

    Some of them had excellent blogs but somehow ceased blogging. Some were lurkers who only made comments. 

    One  blog that had over a thousand followers ceased. That was Tex Wise girl. She posted every day. Do any of you remember her? 

     Maybe I should look back at more old posts and could be surprised at some of the topics. Of course, in 2012, I was 12 years younger, so just a young guy!

WEATHER REPORT

         Since I have nothing to write about , I will give you the weather report. I don't need to say that it's winter here and it can get very severe. 

        Our recent weather has been on the cold side. Today our high was minus 15 C and there was some wind. It was clear and sunny. I don't know what the wind chill would have been but it made for an uncomfortable day. 

      So these are typical winter days. We can get cold spells which are much colder than today. When a cold spell sets in it can last from a few days to several weeks.

     And oh yes, the days are getting longer. On Winter solstice we had 7 hours and 14 minutes of sun. Today we had 7 hours and 53 minutes of sun. Today got longer by one minute and 14 seconds. 

     My interest in weather goes back a long way. As I've said many times, as a child I played outdoors summer and winter. I went to the Arctic in the 60's and you had to be aware of the weather. There was a weather station where I lived and I got to know some of the weather people and talked about weather very often. There were no roads so traffic was by air. Weather was extremely important. 

    When I was in the eastern arctic, we were asked for weather reports many times. I had a radio at my house and was contacted when they were planning a flight. There were weather hazards that pilots had to watch for. 

    The only time I had a bad flight was because of weather. The airplane began to ice up. This was the end of September. As more ice built up the airplane became heavier and more power was given. I would have landed on a small lake before getting to our destination. The pilot wanted to get to the settlement. It was a bad landing. The pilot pulled the throttle back and the airplane sank like a rock. He quickly pulled the throttle back and we made a very rough landing. We more or les just plopped heavily into the  water. 

    So  I find weather interesting and it is important.

RESOLUTIONS

       Every new year there is talk about "New Year's Resolutions." The chatter is the same. Many resolutions are made but not kept. And there are a pile of reasons why resolutions aren't kept.

      Then the counsellors get in there and explain how to keep a resolution so it makes it more difficult to abandon your resolution. I have never officially made a New Year's resolution. I have thought about some things that need attention. I know that my organizational skills are poor or is it that I just don't care much. But as you can see I have not done anything to improve my organization and orderliness. 

     New years is also a time to look back and reflect. Reflection seems to be a moving target. Our memories are not precise. When I talk to my brothers we all seem to have some variation in the memories. 

    One thing I know is that I have definitely had 85 New Years. The first few don't count as we don't seem to keep any memories.

    For example, today would have been my sister's 83 birthday. However, she only got to celebrate eleven birthdays. Since I was only two when she was born, I don't remember her birth. Then I started to think about how many new years I actually remember. As it turns out , not very many. I remember the first time I took the Micro Manager out it was New Year's Eve 1965. I remember that as a child the church had a special program for kids on Jan 1. The Sunday School performed all it's stuff and then were given a bag with candies, nuts and an orange so that's why it was called a Sunday school treat. 

    So once again we mark a January first with a mixture of happiness, resolve and memories. 

   I wish all of you a very happy and successful 2025.