MY FIRST CAR

      I bought my first car in about 1953 in partnership with my brother. It was a 1929 model A Ford. The car was in good condition as it had been driven very little. 

    Now here is where the story starts to sound like my motorcycle story. Neither one of us had a driver's license. The car did not have a license. We did not have insurance. And yet we merrily drove around with our car. The area was remote with few people and little traffic. We avoided driving into the village as it was rumored that there was a town cop in the village. So we drove the country roads with some of our friends.

    Today's weather brought back the memory of my car. Today we had lots of snow and wind. and it was minus 20 C. On a similar day about 71 years ago we decided to go for a drive. These cars did not have heaters. There was no anti freeze so we had to put water in the radiator and hope that the water didn't freeze. There was no snow plow. In the winter everybody put their car in the garage and used their horses for transportation. Only fools decided to use a car. 

   This didn't discourage us from going for a ride. We picked up 2 or 3 friends and made sure that we had some shovels and off we went. The first couple of snow banks we were able to plow through but finally we got stuck. So everybody out of the car and pushed. These cars were not very heavy. We got it out of that snow bank. We got stuck again and had to use shovels to get the car out of the snowbank. 

    Finally we turned around and went back home. I remember feeling exhausted after all the effort to get the car through the snowbanks. 

   Today I stayed in the house and kept warm. For that caper we were outside 3 or 4 hours and enjoyed ourselves. 

CATCHING UP

      A couple of my recent posts were not really complete, As a result I have people asking questions. 

     I should have had a photo of my Christmas cactus so here it is. This plant blooms in November, Christmas and Easter. So it blooms three times a year. There are a variety of colors and times of bloom. A person should really have more than one plant. 

     I have been retired for almost 28 years. I taught for 37.116 years. I did not get full pension as some of my Arctic time was not counted. 

   So this shows that I still have a difficulty with organization. I would being doing a lesson plan after school and suddenly I would see that I should have ordered a film last week. I would go down to Central Office and ask if they would please let me have the film. After a bit of a lecture and wink , wink I would get my film but I had to go down and get it and not get it in the delivery. 

CHRISTMAS CACTUS.

     I have had a Christmas cactus since about 1982. It has gone through some ages and stages. This summer I took it outside for it's annual bath and this year the micro manager insisted that it get a good haircut. So I trimmed it back as it was really overgrown. When Christmas cactus get a short haircut they usually don't bloom that year. Surprise , surprise , there are blooms. The November blooms have just finished and Christmas buds are showing. 

    So life is good. 

    When I came here in 1969, the Vice Principal had quite a few plants in his classroom. He's in the staff photo I shared in the last post. He's second from the left in the second row from the top. He retired in 1982  and guess what ? He had some plants to dispose of. I took them all. There was a very elderly Christmas cactus which didn't do well in the classroom. I kept the plant and found a large pot. When I retired I brought it home and started new plants from the old one    

      By the way, those people wondering which was me in this photo? I'm third from the left in the bottom row. This is a long time ago when I was about 40. 

    Now I'm wondering how long ago this plant was started. 

   Now today I wanted to do some research on the Christmas Cactus. I was very disappointed to find that most of the sites were about sales of Christmas Cactus plants. Commercialization!

    I make sure my cactus sits in the same light all year. They are very sensitive to light and if they are moved from place to place do not bloom very well. 

    So this old cactus is going to have some nice blooms for me at Christmas. 

45 YEARS AGO

     This was the staff I was on 45 years ago. It is hard to believe it was that long ago. 14 of these people have passed away.  When I look back it was a very talented staff. Yes, I am in this photo. 

GRIEVING FOR NOTHING.

         A few weeks ago a friend told me that Jennifer had died. Jennifer was a mutual friend. Although we did not see her much anymore, she was still a great friend. I first met her in the Arctic. 

        I was shocked to hear that Jennifer had passed away. We talked about her children and the things that Jennifer was noted for. When I got home I looked for Jennifer's obituary. I couldn't find it. I was told that her funeral would be in a certain church Nov. 30. This was odd because Jennifer did not attend church. 

      Several weeks later I was having lunch with my friend and asked him about Jennifer's funeral. He looked surprised and said, "Did I say Jennifer? I meant Joan!"

      So all this time I was wasting my time grieving for Jennifer and she was still very much alive. The person who died was one of Jennifer's good friends. So I got yo Joan's funeral and remembered a very active person. 

     It's funny how today we have friends and we don't see them very often. I don't know if it has something to do with age when we don't go out very often or if there's some other reason that we don't get out with friends very much anymore. 

WEATHER

      Weather has been a big topic for the last week. It's a major holiday week end and people want to be travelling. It's the beginning of winter and we want to see winter come as late as possible.

     Some of the weather reports this weekend are brutal. Reports of 3 ft. of snow is enough to paralyze me. Certain areas have been paralyzed. In Ontario , Canada , many people have  been without power for several days and for some people it looks like a few more days without power. 

    In some areas of the U.S. they are expecting 2 to 3 ft  of snow. How long will it take to clean that up and transportation be restored?

    What do people do? For most people everything depends on power. Very few people are off grid. Very few people have their own power supply. Very few people have another source of heat like wood. 

    If the power was off at my place for 4 or 5 days we would have trouble surviving. 

    We've had a very cold week. Our lows have been in the minus 17 to 19C degree. This isn't that bad. We are easily able to get around. We look after our needs in the usual  way.

   It is forecast to warm up here in the next few days. Here's my one hope. I hope it doesn't get too warm. If it gets above freezing we get ice. Roads become slippery and walking is risky. So warm up but not too warm.

   Far all of you with severe winter conditions I hope you stay safe and as comfortable as possible. 

RELICS

      In 2010 a friend took me out to his old family farm. To me it was picturesque

     M's father had come to Canada after the first world war with the intention of farming. He got a job on railway maintenance and it took a long time before he got a farm. 

    M received the farm from his Dad but did not farm it. The family went out in the summer and spent time there. It was a pleasant place to spend a summer as a stream ran through the property and there were other wetlands.

   Years went by and the farmstead was not kept up. M's father obtained many things from the railroad :wire, steel gates and numerous little building that could be used on a farm. He also built a log barn that you will see. It was like two 30' by 30' buildings put together.

   So  I spent time getting some interesting photos. 

This little building was known as a summer kitchen. Since much cooking was done in the hot summer , they had a small building used for cooking so that the house would not heat up.