Hundredth Anniversary of Daylight Saving Time

         This year marks the hundredth anniversary of daylight saving time being first implemented in a country. Germany and Austria put daylight saving time into effect on April 30, 1919. The modern version of daylight saving time had been developed in 1895.

       Now many parts of the world have tried daylight saving time. People have discussed the topic forever. There are pros and cons. Farmers are going to make their own decision as to when to get up and start their work. Other people will get up an hour earlier so that they have a longer evening for their activities.

      I don't care one way or the other if we have daylight saving time. Here on daylight saving time, on the longest day, the sun sets just before 10:00PM . It doesn't get dark until 11:00 PM and then we still see a glow in the western sky.

    Many people complain about the change and find it hard to adjust for the first few days. Usually the change doesn't bother me. 

     Today's change tricked me and I was confused. I usually get up at 7:00 AM. I don't use an alarm clock. Today I was awake at 6:11 and then dozed off again. When I woke up again I thought it was 7:00 Am and got up . When I'd finished my breakfast I wondered why it was 8:40. My breakfast takes about 20-25 minutes. What's going on? Did we make a mistake in setting the clock. Then it hit me. I didn't get up at 7:00AM. I'd slept longer than I thought and woke at 8:00 AM instead of 7:00 AM.

     So tonight after dinner, I was able to go for a 3473 step,

31 minute walk in bright sunshine!

10:40 PM on the north side of a house

Gross National Happiness

     This afternoon I read an article in my retiree magazine. A trip to the Kingdom of Bhutan was described.

     The Bhutanese government is based on the understanding "that each individual's well being must take precedence over the economic and political practice of materialism." Gross National Happiness, which measures the country's prosperity not by monetary value, but by the

 physical, spiritual social and environmental well being of the population.

     Each person is part of a larger whole. All people are dependent on the other.

    The article went on to say that the Bhutanese realize a certain amount of financial security is needed. They reject greed and accumulation of wealth.

    The Bhutanese have four underlying principles of Gross National Happiness: generosity, ethics, tolerance and perseverance.

     Generosity is considered very highly. We know that generosity gives one a great feeling of pride and satisfaction.

     Ethics means how we behave towards each other. Ethics means that we behave decently toward others. Just think how we would have to treat those who are different than we are.

   Tolerance is difficult for us as we have our own personal bias's .We are all equal concerning our fundamental humanity. After that, all bets are off for many of us. We find differences in each other as far as religion, language, gender, wealth and many other aspects of ordinary everyday life. We keep pushing these differences for selfish reasons.

    Perseverance means facing life's challenges and continuing in spite of challenging circumstances.

    Since we've just had an election where division was promoted so that one party could win, I thought this was an appropriate idea to consider. One party wanted only Christian refugees brought to this country. One party did all it could to stall funding to indigenous projects and education.

   I prefer politicians who promote unity. I think generosity, ethics, tolerance and perseverance would go a long way to bringing happiness to our population.

Each Peak Has Its Story

     Think of the lake and highway in my Windy Point post.  A few km down the road is Whirlpool Point. Up behind the point it looks like there is a peak.

     My friend and I had been down this road many times and always looked up at the peak and wondered if we could get up to the peak. 

     One Saturday morning we set out to see what this area was like. There's a good stopping place  on both sides of the ridge. We stopped at the first parking lot all ready to go. A large bald eagle rose from it's perch and disappeared.

    We had looked on maps and couldn't see the peak on any map. We could not find a trail so started to bushwhack. We found it hard going for 300 m and then came out on a  ridge. The ridge was a pleasant walk as it was even and a gentle rise for 3 km. This was great. Clarke's nutcrackers soared up to the top of the ridge on wind currents.

    The peak became very visible when we had a km left to go. we also found that the last 300m in elevation was steep and covered in large boulders. It was scrambling time. It was each man for himself to find a route to the top. My friend

who is much younger and more experienced got the top about 10 min before I did. I did not choose a very good route.

    Many of the peaks out here have a cairn of some sort. This peak had a rather large cairn. As my friend was making his last step to the top a huge bald eagle came up the other side at the very same time. My friend was shocked and ducked. The eagle was just as shocked and took evasive action to miss my friend. 

This is the cairn from windy point Ridge

    So the eagle had been using the cairn for his perch and just happened to be coming up the opposite side so the two were unaware of each other and shocked.

   So we met the bald eagle from the beginning again.

    Now the bald eagle encounter moved me to a poetic mood.

    We also made another discovery. What we thought was a peak was really just the end of a ridge. The ridge kept going for another three km. We kept walking on the ridge . In places it was on 1.5 m wide. There was exposure on both sides. At one point I tossed an old tin can over the edge. It was quite a while before I heard the tin can hit rocks below.

    On the way back we found a very nice trail from the ditch right up to the ridge. 

    Now we took kids up this ridge 5 or 6 times. We only got kids to the top twice as it always seemed to be very windy.

The Security Card

     Canada had a general election on Oct. 19, 2015. It was a very long campaign and over  the time a number of issues had an influence. The niqab was one  major issue and had an influence of the election outcome.

     The Conservative Party of Canada's (CPC) strategy was to divide the people so that CPC and Steven Harper would win the election with very few votes. One wedge issue was security. Security is an easy card to play. You don't have to be too careful with facts or statistics. People are vulnerable when it comes to crime and security. Canada's crime rate has been slowly going down since 1980. However CPC still claimed crime and terrorism were a problem. Solution: We'll make more jails and throw the bums in jail. They came up with one "fact" that "the rate of unreported crime had gone up." How does the rate go up when it's unreported? When it comes to crime there's only so much that can be done. We'll never be without crime.

     Criticize the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is the referee when it comes to the legality of certain legislation. Bashing the court works to divide people. 

    Stoking up insecurity and tensions is an extremely negative thing to do. People are set against one another.  People separate from one another. Communication doesn't take place and they are easier prey for security fears. Energy is wasted by conflict. Groups of people begin to dislike each other and fear others. Take any group: refugees, Muslims, colors, languages. They're fair game for the security card.

    Thinking leaders should attempt to gain power from a unity standpoint. There is power in uniting. There is positivity in unity. Once elected these parties have a better chance of governing rather than continuing to stoke the security fires. Groups have to be brought together. 

    We have to learn that we must compromise. It's impossible for the complete accommodation of all points of view. The government has to work at communication to help put policies into effect that will be best for the society

    The Government elected in Canada is far from perfect. They will not solve all our problems. They will make mistakes. We have to pick the best of the bunch and run with it.

    I dislike conflict. I dislike fighting. I'm ok with good discussion.

    So let's look for politicians who will try their best to work for all of us.

The Ride Began In 1958

     I finished high school in June of 1957. Now I know many of you weren't born then but I'll tell my story anyway.

     I enrolled in a one year teacher training program right after high school. In June of 1958 at the age of 18 I had a teacher certificate which of course, allowed me to teach and get paid $2400 per year.

    Well, in no time I had a teaching position. There was a great shortage of teachers so jobs were a dime a dozen. I was hired to teach in  one room country school with and enrolment of ten students. There I was at 18 years old where I was the teacher and completely independent. I turned 19 in October. Now think about it . I was a teenager not unlike any other teenager. But I was a teacher responsible for ten students and the school itself. I had 3 grade ones, 2 grade twos, a grade three, a grade four, a grade five, a grade seven and a grade nine.

     Well, I went to work with great energy as I was going to teach those kids for all I was worth.  These kids  previously had a series of very ineffective teachers. Their background was a little weak but they worked hard. I really enjoyed teaching the grade ones. You could see how much they progressed in one year.

     The year ended quickly. I wanted to find out if I would like teaching. I found out what I wanted to know. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching and decided to enter a Bachelor of Education program. the district wanted me to stay another year. The community was very supportive and really encouraged a very insecure 19 year old. The whole community supported me. I had never experienced this before but I recognized what they thought of me.

    Now when I was doing pictures this winter. I found photos of my students from Louisville school. I hadn't looked at them for years. I can hardly believe that the grade ones are turning 65 this year!

     The ride finished in 1997 when I retired. From 1958 to 1997 I managed to teach for 37.1119 years. I was very fortunate to be involved in a very rewarding occupation.

March 1: Lion or Lamb

       Well, my March definitely came in like a lamb. I was up at 1:00 AM and it was clear, calm and minus 11 C (14 F). You have to check this as close to midnight as possible to be accurate. So I guess I can look for some nasty weather at the end of March which wouldn't be a surprise.

     Now I'm always interested in the origin of proverbs like In like a lamb out like a lion. It seems you have lots to chose from when it comes to origins of the proverb. I found a couple of explanations today which are interesting.

    One example is from a time when people believed in spirits and they didn't want to offend the spirits because the spirits could change the weather. They wanted the weather to be balanced. They wanted pleasant weather. Another uses the stars for an explanation. Leo is a rising sign of the horoscope in March. Aries (goat or kid) is rising in April. Kid didn't sound so good so they used lamb. So that's where lion and lamb come from.

     So take your pick. If you don't like these , check the internet and you'll find lots of explanations.

     Now the reason I was up at 1:00AM is that I was awakened by bright flashing lights. No I wasn't sick. When I looked out there were three police cars in my intersection! That got my attention. They had the dog unit and were obviously looking for someone. Now I rarely see a police car in my neighborhood. They don't even drive through to take a look. Crime is rare.

    So I did what I usually do...go right back to bed. Now the Micro Manager just had to watch what was going on. After half an hour she came back to bed and was none the wiser.

    So maybe my March didn't come in like a lamb because of all the police action.

Back into My Archives Again

     This post is not seasonal or on my usual variety of topics. 

     This post will be historical and biographical. And I can hear people saying , "Oh here goes for another story again!"

     I was a middle school teacher who taught 37 years between 1958 and 1997. For  a number of years I was assigned an outdoor education class. This meant teaching about weather, clothing, foods, safety, maps... Of course, we would do a couple of field trips to put things into practice.

     Now my teaching partner and I liked to find good places for a trip. We'd driven by Windy Point Ridge for a few years and always looked up at it. So one weekend we decided to go up Windy Point Ridge and check it out.  So these photos are from our first trip up the ridge to the peak. Now here's the history. These photos are from 1992. And yes, the area is still as beautiful as ever.

    Going up the side of the bare rock ridge is steep. 75% of the time you can walk but at other times it's scrambling. (using hands)

    The ridge is made up of three peaks and a couple of buckles joining the peaks.

     To gain the highest peak we had to go around the back of it and it was an easy walk to the top. The cliff face was about 500 ft.

Crossing a buckle

Keep on moving

The top of the cliff is the orange rock in the front of the photo

Will this guy ever get to the top?

Going behind the peak to get to the top

My turn to be on the peak

Down below is Windy point and the highway. 

My partner on the edge of the cliff we could see on the way up.

Scrambling Can you see the road beside the water?

There's a small cairn at the top

Well, after all that effort we decided that this was not a very good place to take middle school kids but we had a lot of fun climbing up the ridge..