It Could Only Happen to My Kid

        "It could only happen to my kid" was phrase that was quite common when my friends and I had pre school children. Little guys always seemed to be able to commit something that was totally unpredictable because of their lack of life experience. Everyone has some kind of incident like when a kindergarten class performed on stage, left, but one little performer remained on stage. The teacher had to go back onstage to take the little singer off.

       Well I have news for you. My daughter is almost 40 and she had one of those "it could only happen to my kid" experiences.


     She does human resource program development and presents training sessions as well. She was sent to New Jersey to do training in the company facility. She checked into her hotel at 9:00 PM Sunday evening. She was tired and in a hurry. She is also a problem solver. Just like Dad wanted her to be...independent. She went to her assigned room and found the card wouldn't unlock the door. So she took her luggage and went back down to the desk. They apologised and reprogrammed the card. She went back to the room and found that the card worked. However, the security chain inside the room seemed to be caught. She didn't want to make a second trip down to the desk so she thought someone must have slammed the door hard enough to make the chain snag on something. So she reached inside the door to dislodge the chain. A hand touched hers! She freaked. Someone was in the room. She mumbled sorry and a gentleman said "Don't worry.


     Down at the desk a second time with luggage, she found clerks making all kinds of silly excuses such as "a computer glitch." The room had been rented to someone else. The mess was cleared up.


      My neighbor, who has known my daughter all her life says, "Tell her to keep her hands to herself."


    This "could only happen to my kid."

Birthday Delights

       A few weeks ago I was invited to a small birthday party for a woman I've known for many years in several different settings. Home Farm Girl was also invited as well.

      Now we were asked to bring a small number of squares or fruits and veggies which is a super way to have an easy and fun party. Most women I know go all out in a situation like this and come up with something unique and wonderful. So food at these dos can be a hit ...with me anyway. Home Farm Girl got the idea of a water melon basket and came up with something awesome.

     Now I also got thinking that there is some unfairness as if I was going on my own I probably wouldn't have been asked to bring anything and would have showed up and been surprised by the great food. I would have been some embarrassed as I would not have contributed. So just one of the little parts of our world where there is some in built unfairness. However, I did not let this bother me and we had a great celebration for one of my fellow teachers, skaters, parent and all round friend.

     So Happy Birthday!

Young Male Misbehavior

       Many of my posts have come from experiences on my paper route. I know I'm finished the paper route but this incident occurred at 7:00AM on my last Saturday delivery. I found some evidence of misbehavior.


       I found a garage sale sign on the sidewalk about 8 houses away from where it was supposed to be. I carried the sign along with me and left it on the rightful owner's yard. In the same area a barricade around a small city work site had been pushed over. I began wondering who had been messing around in my quiet neighborhood. Then I remembered that I heard my papers being dropped off at 4:23 AM and at the same time I heard a male voice in my back alley. So somebody was in the area at that time and was probably the culprit. What else did they do?


     I began thinking about this misbehavior and who and why someone might be roaming around at 4 AM. My mind started to work in overdrive and I wondered what had happened in our society that allows people to wander around and be a nuisance or worse. I thought of all the places which are open all night which allow people to receive services such as snacks and drinks, lack of policing, lack of parental guidance and other things which may lead to youth being out in the community at all hours.


     Then I said, "Wait a minute. There's something wrong with this scenario." I remember that when I was a teenager in the 1950's. I would at times be out all night and come home and not go to bed. Just got home in time to milk the cows and have breakfast. I got into all kinds of mischief. Not only were vehicles not locked , the keys were left in the ignition. If there weren't keys the technology was so simple, you could put a nickel behind any ignition and make a connection and start a vehicle. So we moved tractors and trucks which were left out in the back 40. Some vehicles we took for a ride and brought them back. I discovered tobacco and alcohol during these ventures. Now in the 50's things close early and nothing was open all night. There was more stringent policing. Parents had more time for their kids and being from a farm we had lots of work to do.


     So now I've shot holes in my own theory as to why some young males go out and become nuisances or worse. I also look at my severe condemnation of the youth who took the signs and detect that when I relate my own misbehavior I'm not as hard lined. I'm not looking at my misdeeds as harshly as the other guy's misdeeds.


    So my question is,"Why do some young males misbehave and have difficulty seeing that what they are doing is wrong?" I thought  all the stuff I got into was "funny", but it wasn't for the victims. How long before my time did young males go out and act up?

Laid Off at Seventy

       Yes that's right folks! Today for the first time in my seventy years I was laid off.

        Some of my readers will realize that I have a paper route. I've thoroughly enjoyed my paper route although it was seven days a week. I delivered 20 papers and 13 fliers. The route was right behind my house and 15 of the 20 subscribers are retired people. Many times I enjoyed a great visit with these people. They were awesome customers. The paper route got me out of the house no matter what. I enjoyed the getting out even if  the weather was really nasty. I was never cold. All of my jack rabbit stories came from the paper route. Many of the bird posts resulted from an experience on the delivery. So to say that I enjoyed this activity would be an understatement.

        What I really noticed is what the route did for my head. It gave me something different to be responsible for. I didn't know how much I missed having a job since I retired. It gave me something to look forward to each day not that I was inactive and depressed. It just made me feel better.


       So the paper decided to become a morning paper and deliveries were to be completed by 6:30 AM. Now I like getting up early but not that early. You were going to have to deliver about 150 papers and use your vehicle. Not for me! I would miss all the interaction with the people. Who would be up that early in the morning?


       So I jokingly consider myself laid off!

What Do Old Ice Skaters Do in the Summer?

              They picnic!


           I skate with a group of seniors two afternoons a week from Sept. to April. We have time scheduled in one of the local arenas. We skate for an hour and then on Tuesdays we coffee at the Dairy Queen and on Fridays we make  coffee and bring our own goodies. The skating is good fun and pleasant exercise. The coffee time is great socializing. The group is very supportive of one another and so there is contact outside of the skating event itself. The June picnic is one of those events where we get together in the summer and enjoy a barbecue.

        Our oldest and one of the best skaters is 87. You have to be 50 to join the group. An amusing statement on the program description is ages 50 - 99. I guess if you turn 99  and are still skating you have to leave the group!


        So today a good picnic was enjoyed and we can look forward to skating in about 9 weeks.

Wonders of Wildflowers

        One of the pleasures of spring and summer is the constant parade of wildflower blooms. We are fortunate to have some natural habitat which provides us with an interesting variety of blooms. I am not a plant expert in any way. I can appreciate and recognize those who do have expertise , knowledge and talent in this area.


        So I'm doing a small post on flowers and I don't have any pictures. My photography is brownie hawkeye technology! Just kidding. I do have a small digital camera which has limited capabilities.


       There are several blogs which I follow where the authors are excellent photographers and display a good knowledge of plants. I appreciate these bloggers and follow them regularly and suggest that you take a look at their blogs.


       Since I have spent time on large tracts of natural habitat when I was young, I came to appreciate wild flowers. Several years ago my brother took me to one of these undisturbed areas when the western wood lily (lilium philadelphicum) was in full bloom. I had forgotten how abundant they were in this area. It was a real treat. My summer is complete once I find brown eyed susans(gaillardia aristata). Who could not love the prairie crocus(anemone patens)? Finding them come up right after the snow melts is a real treat. When hiking in high mountain meadows the crocus is very common in July.


      Last Saturday I had to visit the Gaetz Lake Sanctuary just to see yellow lady slippers(cypridium calceolus). They are numerous in certain areas of the sanctuary.
     Now I could continue with flower sitings I like , but these are highlights for me. We get a treat from our wildflowers all spring and summer

Long Term Care Blues

        A fellow blogger posted on the inadequacies and problems of long term care when it came to placing her aging parents. She has written extensively on this topic and published a book "Living and Dying With Dignity" by Jennifer A. Jilks.  This reminds me of two experiences our family recently had with long term care.


       My aunt lived in her own home until Dec. 2009 when she suffered a stroke and was hospitalized . She was 96 years old. After 4 weeks in hospital she had recovered enough from the stroke to be discharged. The problem? There was no place for her to go. She was not able to move back to her home. She had done well as she had limited vision and hearing but she would not give up her little house. At 96 she was told she would have to wait a year for long term care placement. It is beyond my limited comprehension how any system could ask a 96 year old to wait a year??? What are they thinking? 96 year olds are frail and need help now not a year from now.


      Our aunt went to a small apartment and with the help of her friends was able to survive. She proved my main point as this spring (2010) she died and therefore no longer required  any long term care.


      My father died in Feb. 2008 at age 95. Dad married a spunky Manitoba girl in 1975 so he lived in Manitoba from 1975 - 2006. Until that point he had lived his entire life in Saskatchewan. In Feb. 2006 0ur step mom died which left Dad in a nursing home 600km from his family. We had a step sister there but that's not fair to expect your step sister to look after your Dad. If I had been Dad's only child and had wanted to bring him to Alberta, where I reside, he would have had to reside in Alberta for one year before he could apply for long term care. It's unthinkable that someone at age 93 would have to wait one year for long term care placement. Fortunately, I have three brothers who live in Saskatchewan and he was able to move to a Sask. long term care facility in 6 weeks.  


     I have to question the wisdom of our politicians and officials who  make policy which requires elderly people to wait for long term care. These people do not seem to be in touch with reality when they think that very elderly people can wait to be admitted to long term care.