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. 

GOATS, GOATS, GOATS

         There are very, very few goats around here. But last week surprise, surprise there were lots of goats around here. 

        A flock of goats is known for eating weeds and other undesirable plants. They add nutrients to the soil and with their feet cut little holes to aeriate the soil. 

       So last Sunday afternoon I took my daughter and son-in-law to the local nature center. We were surprised to see goats. Many goats. The shepherds told us there were 600 goats. They set up temporary fencing on an area and then set up more temporary fencing usually beside the first area. In this way they move the goats quickly before they start damaging the wanted plants.

     It was interesting to see this many goats. There were many kids that were only a week old. One kid had been sleeping and when he woke up his mother was gone. Did he holler. The shepherd picked him up and took him to his mother.

     For goats, there was very little noise. When they moved they seemed to move as one. 

LUNCH WITH DOUG

      I've told you 1903 times that I was a teacher. Well, not maybe that many times but enough times to make you sick of it. . But I like nothing better than a good long chat especially if the other person does the talking! I'm a listener. And it's better yet if the person I'm talking to is a former student.

     So yesterday I was out for lunch and one of my former long ago students came in and sat down with me for lunch. He was in town visiting his Mother. I think Doug was in Gr. 7 in 1969. That's 54 years ago. We couldn't remember if I had actually taught him or not. So the first topic we had to deal with is that we are both enjoying retirement! It's good for a laugh to have  a chat with a retired student.

     After that, we talked about things that retired people talk about. Since we know many of the same people we try to wonder where some of them are and what they are doing. 

    We also talk about our careers. Doug was one of those guys who found something that was very out of the ordinary to do. But his work was crucial to government and courts functioning smoothly. 

    I wrote in a previous post about Doug taking his curling team to the Canadian Highschool nationals for high school students. His Mom talks to me about that one every time I see her. They were very proud of him and justifiably so. 

    We really teach to have people take our places. It's always a pleasure to meet someone who has replaced us and now is almost finished replacing us. What is left is to do volunteer work for the community which helps the community and gives us personal satisfaction and an opportunity for personal growth. 

     So it was a pleasure to have lunch with Doug as he's from the other end of the country and I was lucky to run into him. 

PEEKS THROUGH THE FOREST.

     On July 9 I wrote about a good walk to check on some flowers. You have two options to get down to the bottom of the valley. You can take a winding trail that gets you to the valley bottom or a set of stairs that takes you to the valley bottom. 

    I chose to take the stairs. There are about 200 steps. Next time I take the steps , I'll count them. On the way down there are several places where there are openings in the trees and you can see across the valley. There are also glimpses of a bridge spanning the Red Deer River . This bridge is designed for walkers, runners, bicycles, horses and skiers. Oh yes, I have seen a loaded gravel truck cross this bridge.

    So here are some of the views I saw as I went down the stairs. Then there's a view of the bridge deck.