A Mixed Christmas Greeting

       For a long long time we have made a Christmas letter to go in cards we send out. We also did a Christmas poem until the micro manager ran out of creativity. Her poems were awesome and people liked to receive them.

       Now we send very few cards but send an email to many people. The few cards we send out are to those people without email. They miss the pictures. I know that some people consider the email  Christmas letter tacky but I think it's better than nothing.

      I have just finished a long run of producing the Christmas creation. I tried to cover some of the major events of the year and comment on each family member. I try to keep it light as it is the season to be joyful. We look back and see all the things that were positive for the year. For the last two years the micro manager has produced the Christmas message from our place.

     So a few days ago the Micro Manager sat down and produced a letter and it was handed to me to type and get them on their way down the email pipeline. ( Sorry, I live in Alberta with lots of pipelines.) I asked the Micro Manager if she wanted me to go over the letter with her. No, she wasn't interested. Just type the thing and run off some copies for the cards I do.

    I started to read the letter before typing it. I didn't get very far before  I said, "You can't send this out!." 
Her reply was, "That it was going as is." I continued reading and about 2/3 s of the way through I started laughing. Now what I found wrong with the letter was that it was very black. All the little problems we had in 2014 were listed in the letter. It would be a downer to receive this letter for a Christmas greeting.  The micro manager's comment was that she meant it to be humorous. I guess she was right since she got me laughing.

    Some how or other, I'm not sure most readers will see the humor.
  
     It seems to me that this is a mixed message. 

     Maybe next year I'll get the Christmas letter writing job back.

Ghost?

      Many years ago I agreed to go to a work party at the church. It was one of those work parties where many little things needed to be looked after and all could be done by some work and effort. No special skills were needed.

      Since I was one of the younger men I agreed to climb the stepladder and replace bulbs in the lights. The lights were about 4 or 5 m (15 ft) from the floor. If I'd seen the step ladder before I opened my big mouth I would not have volunteered. The step ladder was an ancient rickety wood model and it was about 4 or 5 m ( 15 ft), but when it was opened it wasn't that high. So you had to stand on the second step from the top and balance. I had a nice fellow hold the step ladder for all the good that would do. There were only oak pews below me. 

     The changing of the bulbs went slowly and gradually we got to the last set of lights at the front right side of the church. As I was going up the ladder I heard a rustling sound in the  corner. The rustling noise seemed to be moving in a circular pattern. The noise went up and down. All the time I was up there the rustling was continuous. Sometimes it was quieter and some times louder. Sometimes rapid and other times slow. Whatever was making the noise knew I was there and didn't like me very much. I think as I moved from the back of the church to the front I chased the  whatever to the front and it was cornered and didn't like me one bit. 

     I have always wondered about this event. If I went back would I still hear the noise? What was really there?

    I like ghost stories but they are always somebody else's story and it's enjoyable to read or hear the story.

     This is the first time I've ever told this story and it happened in the early 1970's.

    Have you ever encountered something that was strange and eerie?

Silent Visitors

      My skating buddy, Bob, was taking it easy one afternoon when he noticed something in his yard. A quick look and he recognized his visitors. Six mule deer had dropped into his place to have a quick lunch when Bob caught them. His camera wasn't handy  but he did get a couple of fine photos of his visitors. 

Everybody seems to be finding lots to eat

The are eating sunflower hulls and spillage from the bird feeder

      These are mule deer. Notice the huge ears. Right now they are in their dark winter colors and have a heavy coat. They are also in good condition so have a fair bit of fat. Since these are does and fawns, I'm thinking that there must be a buck nearby since it's rutting season.

     When I first came here in 1969, we never thought about seeing a deer in the city. There probably were one or two that mistakenly wandered into the city. We have a lot of interconnected park space. A major river runs through the center of the city. It gives the deer a good corridor through  many areas. 

     Gradually over the years we found more and more deer in the city. For the last 20 years it's been very common to see deer in the city. Now they wander through our yards and help themselves to what ever they feel like as in this case they helped themselves to Bob's bird feeder.

     Deer are smarter than we give them credit for. They can pick places that provide food and cover. Cities have those two features in abundance. Deer also know that some of their predators won't come into the  city. Dogs are well under control in the city so some of the bigger dogs that might chase deer can't. 

    Deer have also grown accustomed to city lights and traffic. We used to talk about "a deer in the head lights." When deer were caught in the headlights in darkness they were blinded and usually didn't move. Deer will still do silly things in traffic but I have seen some incidents where they seem to watch for traffic. I saw a deer trying to cross a four lane road. It stood at the side of the road and watched for traffic. It was going to cross a couple of times but held back. Finally it gave up it's attempt to cross the road.

    I like deer and never tire of seeing them. Since I spend a lot of time wandering through the bush I get to see quite a few deer.

Footsteps # 2

     Your comments, as usual, add much more to my thinking and description of my last post. So it seems like another post is needed to reply.

     This event was probably some kid looking for some easy money. In other words , he was looking for unlocked cars and most cars contain a little change. He also got lucky and found an unlocked garage.

     From your comments, I gather that crime is very different in other places. I had a couple of planters stolen but that's it. A few years ago somebody saw a kid going up my driveway at 1:00 AM. My security light scared him off. The kid walked across the street and found an unlocked car and got $8.75. How do I know? He got caught.

     We are fortunate in this country to have fairly low levels of crime and the crime rate has been going down for years.

    Now here come the stats!

    Last year murder rates dropped in Canada to the lowest rate since 1966. We had 505 homicides in Canada in 2013. Now that's 505 too many. 25 % of these homicides were committed with guns.

    The overall  crime rate has been falling since 1969.

     I cannot see why our government is foaming at the mouth about crime when the rate is going the right way. We try and keep people out of detention as much as possible as prisons are the best crime school in the country. Very few houses have guns in Canada. The crooks know there probably are no guns so they are not armed and as a result less murder and weapons involved in crime.

    The drug world is completely different. They go after each other and they use guns.

    So I feel like I live in a very safe country. Yes , there are places in my city that I would not go to at night, but overall I feel very safe.

    

Footsteps in the Snow

      When I went out Sunday morning, I noticed foot prints in the snow that came around my lilacs. It's very rare to see footprints coming from my neighbors. So I thought someone took a shortcut and walked in front of my house. I looked for footprints in the snow on the walk. I didn't see any? When I came back I looked briefly for tracks.

      When I went up my back steps, I noticed footprints that weren't mine that went to the garbage cans in my back yard. The footprints didn't come back? So with further investigating I discovered the person had exited my yard through a hole in the fence.

     So this was an odd situation. People don't usually prowl through my back yard. So that was the end of it.

      After lunch I was in my driveway and a neighbor  stopped and asked me if I wanted some extra potatoes he had. Hey, I'm in luck if somebody will give me potatoes. He also told me he was going to Mexico for a month.

    He left and then stopped and backed up half a block. He opened the window again and said, " I had an intruder at my house last night." So somebody had walked through his yard and entered his garage through and unlocked door. His GPS was missing and he wasn't sure if anything else was gone.

    So a thief had waked through my yard. But why?  I think he was at my neighbor's car and when her security light went on he fled around the hedge into the dark at the side of my house. I didn't have anything he could take and he was only interested in escape.

    So one wonders who this was? Why was he taking things? How many other yards did he walk through? How many other places lost things?

     It's a creepy feeling when some unwanted person prowls through your yard.

Big footprints! Deep snow!

Climb over the  fence and take the snow with you. Notice the nails? I hope he ripped his pants!

Brrrrrr..

      We've had a very cold and snowy few days of weather. On Nov. 25 heavy snow began. The temperature dropped to minus 20 C (minus 4 F). On Nov. 26 we had more heavy snow. We had between 20 and 30 cm (8 - 12 in) of snow. As the snow moved out cold Arctic air was pulled down so we had minus 30 C( minus 21 F). Nov 27 and today have just been dam cold.

      I finally got out today to get a few photos. It was icy on the fingers. One has to keep the camera inside your coat so that batteries don't die in the camera.

My old friend with a snowy top

Long November shadow

Ruts in the snow

I like my spruce trees with snow on them

More shadow and ruts in the snow.

Some people have shoveled a lot of snow

And this car carries a heavy load of snow

Something to Really Celebrate: A Ninetieth Birthday.

     Today I had the pleasure to attend a ninetieth birthday celebration. Ninety is an amazing age to reach. When body and mind are in good health it's a bonus.

     I first met Fred in 1969 when I came to teach at a school he taught in. Fred was forty five. I remember when I first met him, and in my 28 year old ignorance, I thought, "This guy's a real old fart." Little did I know  that it could get worse. Fred would have another forty five years and still going.

    Fred was one of those energetic gung ho kind of guys. Fred was forceful and expressive. He worked hard for kids attention and demanded that they work to their potential. He was always humorous and full of mischief.

   I guess Fred liked variety as he went from farm boy to teaching ,to business and back to teaching. Retirement was another thing. He was always active and spent many winters in the south.

    Many community organizations benefited from Fred's efforts and expertise.

   Fred never saw a party he couldn't like. One of Fred's specialties was to recite "the Cremation of Sam Magee." He was good at it. Today he still recited "The Cremation of Sam Magee" He was always humorous and full of mischief. In the days of smoking, he would rush to the staff room for a few puffs during class changes. One day he came back and stood beside me. I noticed smoke rising from some place. It was coming from his pocket where he had put the butt. His language was colorful and I can still remember an outburst. The only damage was a hole in the pocket.

    So today was something to really celebrate. Many more , Fred.



   

I wore the School hoody for old times sake.