I'M SO OLD THAT...

       I'm so old that they didn't lock things when I was a kid. 

     A couple of things I mentioned in my last post reminded me of what it was like when I was a kid in the 40's and 50's. When I mentioned pushing cars around at Halloween I suddenly remembered some things about cars and houses.

      When I was a kid in the 40's to 60's , we did not lock anything. In fact we left the keys in the car ignition. That's the kind of world we lived in. The really old cars did not have keys. They had a toggle switch with off and on. Some people modified things so that they didn't need a key to start the car. They were more worried about losing keys than cars to theft. 

    So we could have driven the cars around instead of pushing them. All we did was put the car gears in neutral and three or four kids could move the car. One kid had to steer. 

    Houses were not locked on farms or in the villages and small towns. When Mom and Dad went away one time, they decided to lock the house. The problem was they couldn't find the key so the house was left unlocked. 

    When I first came to this city in 1969, I did not lock my house door or my car. Shortly after that I started locking both but was not that rigorous about it. I learned that I was in the city and it was different. Somehow time had moved on so that most cars and houses were locked. 

CHILDHOOD HALLOWEEN

      Origins  of Halloween are interesting. But I'm going to bore you with my childhood Halloween experience.

       For the most part there was nothing.

       My childhood was in the 40's and 50's. We lived in a rural area where everything was limited. Halloween treats were just not heard of. Even in the village kids did not go from house to house for treats. Most people didn't have the spare cash to buy candy. Going house to house for treats was not heard of. Farms were too far apart to go from house to house and transportation was limited. 

      In school we had a Halloween party in the afternoon. Some kids had costumes. The teacher used it for an art class. We bobbed for apples. That was it. 

     The main idea at that time was tricks and some of the tricks were not funny and damage was done. The idea was to scare people so various mysterious noises were made. The first kids who came to our house sneaked on to the yard. They had a small home made device that made a loud noise on the window. We were alarmed as we didn't expect anything. 

     In the village a common trick was to tip over the out houses and move things around from place to place. Since cars were not locked they were easily pushed from place to place. Someone could find their car at somebody else's house. In my first year of high school the police man came and got the boys to go around and tip  the outhouses back up. I was a little upset as I hadn't been with the gang to upset out houses. 

    So Halloween when I was a kid was much different than it is today. My first trick or treating was when I took my own kids out trick or treating. I remember one night that  was bitterly cold. They were young enough that I had to go with them. I was cold and wanted to go home. Not my two little pumpkins. They wanted to keep going and they did.

    Much has changed about Halloween in my life time.

BUMBLING , FUMBLING GAMBLER

         Now I don't gamble! 

         But I do eat at a casino where the food is excellent and cheap. 

        However, some time ago the casino persuaded me to get a loyalty card. It saved me 2 bucks on the buffet. I thought nothing more about it. 

       So a year after I get a promo saying they hadn't seen any action in my account and here's 20 bucks in points to play with. A couple of weeks ago they gave me another 20000 points. You can only gamble with your points and any money comes from what you win. 

     So I got one of the staff to help me spend my points. It's complicated . You have an account...news to me. You put your pin number in and it tells you how much you have to play with. I'm not sure of all the steps and I couldn't do it myself. However, you choose how big your bets should be and then start hitting play until  3 figures come up in a row. Then they decide how much money you get? How they figure that out I don't know.

     However, one hit came up and I won $43.00. I immediately cashed it out and kept playing. They couldn't take my $43.00 away as I wouldn't play with it. I continued playing until all my points were used up. The machine shows you how much you have to play with and when it's all used up. 

    The Micro Manager played and she won $12.50. We cashed in and went home. 

    Does this make a gamble of me? Never! Am I tempted? Never. You feel silly and angry that you put money in the machines. 

    So the bumbling gambler, with a lot of help from the staff,  played his points and went home still not knowing how to run the machines. 

WHITE STUFF

       Well, no surprise. We're getting a major dump of snow. We had 2 - 3 inches by about 4.30 PM. It's been coming down steadily since then. I will shovel again this evening. 

      The first phots were taken in the day time . The others were taken this evening. 

A BRIGHT, SUNNY, WARM DAY

      84 years ago today was a very pleasant warm day on the Saskatchewan prairie when a baby boy was born in a small wooden shack to a young couple. Yes, That was me!

     Since I was the oldest the birth must have impressed them and Dad told this story many times to anyone who would listen. He never told me the story. I just remember listening to it many times.

    The country doctor attended and sat and smoked and read the Reader's Digest. Mom's two friends Linda Kabernik and Margaret Mehaffey attended to the serious business of the event. The doctor probably tied my cord and left. For all that work, or lack of work, the Doctor got $10.00. 

    Meanwhile on that warm day Dad stayed busy on the yard. His help was to stay out of the way. 

    I always think that I've been fortunate to have the story of my birth. I don't remember my siblings having much of a story about their births. 

MIDDLE EAST

       I thought today would be a good day to write about the terrible issues between Hamas and Israel.

      Then I thought, wait a minute. What do I know about the situation? I would be parroting opinions of others and I would succeed in upsetting people. 

      So I'll write about a related issue that I have some knowledge about.

     Western Canada was opened in the late 1800's for settlers to come to the area. Most people like my ancestors were interested in farming. However, there had to be some businesses established to serve the people. Many Europeans came to Saskatchewan, which is my home province

     One group who came were Jews. They set up small general stores . To supply settlers. The Jews came to the small villages and towns and lived a very lonely life. They did not participate in community activities and were shunned. However, they worked hard and made a meagre living. Our town had a clothing store which was owned by a Jew. There was not another clothing store for many miles. With the transportation at that time a local clothing store was very convenient. 

     As time went on the poorer Jewish business men went on to work for others. Some Jews became involved with larger businesses like machinery dealerships or car dealerships.

    They were also active in artistic and academic fields.

     One interesting book I read was "Don't You Know it's 40 below" by Jack Kates It details the life of a Jewish family in a small village. It's well worth a read. 

     Fredelle Bruser Maynard is another writer who gives a description of Jewish life on the prairies.

    One man had a store in a very small community. He had music talent and formed a community band. The band won many competitions. Abe Katz was well liked and respected in the community. When He left they had a celebration for him and gave him some money. Very few Jews received this treatment.

   Sadly the Jewish people were not treated well here but managed to succeed. They are still here but have moved to larger centers where they  can practice their religion and conduct social events. 

BEAUTIFUL FALL DAY

      Today we had one of those bright warm sunny fall days. We had a high of 20 C. I was lucky enough to be out for two hours this afternoon. I went to this area last fall but a little earlier before the leaves dropped. I was surprised at how much was left to photograph and that there were still awesome colors. 

      So here goes.