WOULD SOMEBODY PLEASE SHUT TRUMP UP

      We've heard Trump's outrageous, illogical, truth bending, incorrect and unfounded comments many times. They do far more harm than good for all concerned.

     Trump made one of his wild comments this week after the G 7 conference. The conference was held in Canada and since I'm a Canadian I was interested in the conference more than usual. Since I'm Canadian, I was offended by Trump's comments.

    The G 7 conferences are tightly controlled and very precise as to what happens. Everybody takes the  same step. All the details are looked after behind the scenes.

    The host chairman is the leader of the host country. In this case the chairman was Prime Minister Trudeau.

    Trump got antsy and decided he had to leave for the North Korean summit but before leaving he had signed what was agreed to at the conference.

    A few hours into Trump's Asian flight he flew into a rage and called Justin Trudeau, weak, a liar and back stabber! Trump claimed that he had not agreed to anything in the conference final statement which he had signed.

    Where did that come from?

    The comments as well as being wrong were most inappropriate. It's okay to have those ideas. However, expressing those opinions is wreckless and isn't going to do any good.

    The comments tell us more about Trump than about problems at the G 7 Summit.

   Could somebody shut this guy up. We don't need to hear such outrageous lunacy anymore.

MURALS

     Our small city has a few murals. As with all murals some are good some are bad and a lot are in between. 

    I have been looking at one of these murals for five years or more. I can see it from a parking lot that I use when I wait for the micro manager to do some business. Usually  I forget to take my camera. Sometimes it's too cold or wet or poor light! What a long list of poor excuses. When I'm in this parking lot I'm parked illegally to some extent. The parking lot is provided by the business so it wouldn't be cool to park and then walk away to take photos.

     Well, the other day I did get my act together. 

     This mural is rather small and is at the end of an alley. It's kind of roughly done but you are drawn to the rather wild expression. 

    Now I thought there might be another mural two or three doors up the alley so I continued. Yes there was another mural on the back of an old hotel that has been remodeled to provide housing to homeless who qualify. This mural had a much more complex idea.

    On my way back from photographing the second mural I found a third mural that was on  a wall beside the first one. You can see the first mural on the right.Again it is rather simple. 

     So here you are. I got three murals in one day.

     The area has a large homeless population as some of their friends have accommodation so there is visiting.

     I know there are more murals in the city. I just have to find them and get over all my weak excuses.

THE EIGHTY YEAR MARK FLASHES

    No I haven't turned eighty!

    In my last post I told how a colleague old 55 years ago contacted me. The contact was  a surprise and she went through a few major parts of her life. Sadly she had lost here husband. She listed her three sons.

    I made a short reply and told her I had a daughter and son who are 46 and 48. I also added, "I have a wife who's eighty!" When I wrote that it suddenly hit me. Well I didn't know what to think or should I be more honest and say that I tried to deny or ignore this milestone.

    We noted the Micro Manager's eightieth birth date very quietly. The Micro Manager had been fretting over the number for some time.  Me? Well, whatever happens , happens.

    However,the other day when I jokingly referred to my wife's age, it hit me. Wow, this is getting old. I have an eighty year old wife.

    As with most things that hit me , I soon forget. But then I suddenly  realized
that I've become very elderly. I can think of the elderly people from the time when I was a boy. Eighty year olds seemed like another species. I wonder if they thought like I do that being eighty ain't bad. I still think of myself as a younger person even thought the number says something else. Eighty year olds to a young boy looked as if they constantly sat in a chair. I seem to keep moving all day. Or do others see me differently?

    Realistically I know I'm elderly. I don't dwell on it. I keep going and try to be active in life. Yesterday I lead my bird Saturday morning watching group.

    Last week somebody got a photo of me that I was unaware of. I like the photo.

I NEED A TUNE UP

     The other day I got a Face book message from my neighbor down the street. It said to go to Messenger to read the message.

     I had never used messenger. I don't know what messenger is. I was surprised to see it listed on the left side of my Face Book page.

     So as told I went to messenger. I found the message but what else I found blew my mind. I found messages that I'd never seen before. Some of them were four years old. However, most of the messages I had seen and read.

     Now one message really caught my attention. The message was from 2014. It was from a young woman I'd taught with in a small town. We both left this small town in 1963 . Yes, 1963 . 55 years ago. So some how she had tracked me down and left a message. She must have wondered what is wrong with this guy that I didn't reply

     So I sent a message to her. I just wanted to see if she was still here. Five minutes later she had answered me. Then I had to tell her the story of why I hadn't answered her message. 

    Now this is where the tune up comes in. What is messenger? How do I use messenger?  What other programs should I be aware of?

    I'm going to have to confer with some young friends to get tuned up on some of the things I should be using.

SIGNS

  There are some interesting blog locations. People can post cloud photos in one area. Skies! Signs. the list goes on.

    I've never participated in one of these locations. I haven't stopped to find out how they work.

    I do have a sign I like. I'm not sure how old this sign is but it was here in 1969 when I moved here.

    Alpha is a plant that produces condensed milk.

I THREW A THOUSAND DOLLARS IN RECYCLE TODAY!

       I once wrote about a friend who accidentally put a $1000.00 bill in a trash barrel while she was cleaning up her Dad's house.   I thought of that today when I threw something out that cost me $1000.00 and it was never used.

      In the late 70's I bought a piece of recreational property. The plan was to build a summer residence and we could spend our summers at the lake.

     Things had moved along by the early 80's and we were ready to build a chalet type cabin. Now during the previous 5 years the whole project grew. We were avid do it yourselfers. We had put in a water and sewer system. The lot was completely forested and we had cleared what we wanted . Other improvements had been made. A small garage was built to store a holiday trailer and then pull the trailer out in the summer and use the garage for a kitchen living room. This plan worked well and we had lots of fun. During this time my kids were 6 - 13 years old.

     I was ready to put up the building. I had plan made up. This cost me $990.00. At about the same time the realization came upon us that this project was becoming too big for us and the Micro Manager wanted a time out.

    Well, the time out lasted a long while . We never did build. We did have a lot of fun spending time at the lake.The kids had experiences they'd never have  had if they'd just stayed in town. Time went on. Time went on for a long time and the cabin never got built.

    So today was the day that we looked at the plans we had made up and decided that they would have to go in recycle. We sold the property in 2014. 

    So the complete plan package was torn up and put in recycle.

   It's one of those goals that was never completed but I'm not unhappy about how things turned out.

A WELL LOVED BRIDGE

   In the days of railroads everything came and went on the railroad so the railway went through the center of town. It was handy for passengers to catch a train or get off. Freight was loaded and unloaded. Towns grew up around the railroad.

    Slowly the moving of freight changed. Roads were improved and so trucks began hauling freight. Trucking was more flexible as the truck could pick up and unload closer to the source of the freight.

   So there came a time when rail roads were taken out of the downtown or in our case the railroad was taken right out of town. I wonder if any freight is received or sent out of our town. The grain terminals are about 20 km away.

   So since the movement of freight changed the railroads had to change. Railroads became a nuisance in town because of all the crossings. The large amount of land railways had became a valuable asset for other development. 

   Railroads were torn up and the land set up for redevelopment. This process was costly even though the land was valuable. 

    This is where my bridge comes into the story. If the railway didn't have to take a bridge out it saved them money. So find a use for the bridge in the community and sell it for a dollar  and the railway is free of a costly asset.

   Now people have a bridge . This bridge was refurbished for lots of money and incorporated into the large trail system we have. 

   This bridge give an excellent connection to both sides of the city. The morning I took this photo many people were riding or walking to work.

   When I took the photos I could imagine that huge steamer slowly crossing the bridge. How many trains have crossed that bridge? How many times have I crossed the bridge?