PLANTS

      Spring is the time for new plants to appear. Now we're at the peak of the spring season and looking ahead to summer. 

      But thee are indoor plants!

      I don't know how it happened but at one time I had many "house plants " or maybe to be more exact "school plants. "  

      Well, I do have an idea why I accumulated so many plants. I probably asked a teacher who had plants. I know the Vice Principal gave me a huge Christmas cactus. After that plants just kept accumulating. Somebody had a plant they didn't want? Send it to school with the kid and give it to the teacher. There were many small plants like ivies. I had one ivy that trailed around the classroom. There were large plants like split leaf Philodendrom, diefenbachia. I also had a couple of tree like plants that grew to the classroom ceiling. 

      I was surprised by how many middle school kids were interested in plants. I always had some starters on the go for kids who wanted a plant. I think some of them had a favorite plant that they would visit each day as I would catch somebody daydreaming at a plant. There were many secretive plant waterers. I just kept my eye on things to  see that nothing was missed. 

   I was also surprised that there wasn't vandalism. I had one or two aloe veras. There was always somebody who needed the aloe vera for some owy but they always asked for permission. 

    So one day a kid said to me. "Mr. Kline do you know how many plants you have?" I said "No. Did you count them?" He had counted them so I said, "How many?"  Forty two! So my classroom was a bit of a jungle.

     When I retired I had to get rid of my plants. So teachers wanted some and kids wanted some. Some I wanted to take home. I made my plan to retire a year before so I had lots of time to clear things up. 

    Plants created a good times for me and some students. 

      

FAVORITE WILD FLOWERS.

     I'm not much for flowers in a garden. But when it comes to wild flowers I'm interested. You will hear me say often that that is my favorite flower. If you check you'll notice that I list  few flowers as my favorite.

     Right now one of my favorite wild flowers is in full bloom. The yellow lady slipper is at it's best now.  The yellow lady slipper is one of Far Side of Fifties favorite wild flowers. She carved some a few years ago and I was lucky enough to win a carving. 

     So I went to my favorite patch of yellow lady slippers on Sun afternoon. 

     

GRRR !

      Canada has a program that assists people to renovate their home so that it is more energy efficient. You decide on a project and submit it to the government program and they will give you a grant to do the project. Projects could be for upgrading  insulation, windows ,doors etc. They send out a technician who checks if there is air leakage in any place. They make a recommendation as to what should be done. 

     We decided to put in  some windows under this program. 

     So about 3 months ago we registered for the program. Yesterday I received a confusing email saying that I had registered but not submitted a project. We were not supposed to submit a project at the time but wait until we were accepted. 

    So for the next step I could use my GC to enter the government website or snail mail. The micro manager said, "do this on line." I said, "no use mail." So after about 45 minutes of going around and around and not finding the place to register, well we decided to go the snail mail route.  We phoned and the person answering the phone wasn't much better than trying to use the website. 

    Every time I try to use a government website I have trouble. I know part of is me. When I phone for assistance and they walk me through the process it works. 

    Is anybody else completely baffled when it comes to using government web sites?

SENIOR HOUSING CROOKS

       As you know I have been looking at senior housing options for the last six months. 

      The learning curve is steep. With two of us making the tours, asking questions and taking information home, it's still confusing. Then they throw a few wrinkles in and the whole mix becomes more confusing. 

     The people giving you a tour are sales people. They just want to get their units full with paying customers. They try and make things as glamorous as possible. 

    I guess I've seen too many of these facilities and I'm starting to notice some devious practices. In one facility I asked if there was a damage deposit and how much. So I was told yes there is a damage deposit but you don't get it back. They use it to renovate the place when you leave. So I thought a damage deposit was to cover any damage you did? Nope, they use your damage deposit to replace carpets etc Who's to say what is done or if your damage deposit or does it  just go in their pocket. 

    Some places have a deal where you give them a dump truck load of money and you get free rent. In the case I saw , you gave them $300000.00 . So they take your 300000.00 and use it for another investment. I have never been able to follow the arithmetic on this deal. I can't get the answer they get.

    So if  an elderly confused senior looking for one of these places there easily could be some advantages taken by the business.

    I know I may have to live in one of these places some day. I hope I can avoid the tricks. 

WHAT SHOULD I SAY?

      The events of the Texas school shooting are nothing less than horrific. One only has to think about the loss of young children to realize the horror. 

       I have opinions and things I would like to say. I am not an American. I am North American...Canadian. How much right does that give me to comment? Sometimes it's difficult to accept what others say about you and you can make the situation worse. On the other hand I have things I would like to say. 

      I would hope that everybody sees the horror of young children and adults being mowed down in a mass shooting. I would hope that people see the need for this carnage to stop. 

     After mass shooting events we have the same expressions. Some ideas are positive and would bring about some change. Other ideas are as irrational as ever. Politicians cannot seem to get together and agree on some basic laws to pass that may prevent some of the mass shooting. And then again some people want to keep laws the same as before. Don't change anything. They want to keep  guns even if they are easily stolen by bad guys. 

      After this it gets complicated. Mental health plays a part. How much is mental health a factor? They don't know. I'm alarmed to find out that there are many games which involve shooting and killing people. When does this help someone to cross over into delusion? 

     Law enforcement agencies do not have an answer in any part of this complicated sick activity. 

     Some people always have mass shootings on their radar. Other people only think about mass shootings when it happens. 

    Some how all people have to put aside differences and look at a plan that will prevent the mass killing. Some may have to agree to things that they strongly disagree with but it has to be done to bring about some basic safety. 

SPRING BIRD COUNT

      Tomorrow and Sunday we have the spring bird count or it's sometimes called the breeding bird count. This count is not done in all areas and is sometimes sporadic. That is at times , there's no one interested in doing the count. 

       Our count area is the Red Deer River watershed so it's huge. Only a very small part of it is covered for the count. In the spring count we have all the summer birds so we see colorful warblers and many sparrows that are difficult to identify. 

      I moved here in 1969. I have done about 75% of counts from 1969 to 2021. For most of that time I have counted in the same area. Sometimes I've been asked to cover an area that they want someone to take a look at. 

      Most of the time I do the count by myself. With last year's count I found that I was not a reliable bird identifier. My cataracts have developed to a point where  I  have difficulty seeing color. 

      So last year might have been my last count. However there is a chance that with cataract surgery I many be back in business. 

      So if any of you ae doing the spring count, good luck. 

DON'T YOU JUST HATE IT WHEN...

      I don't hate. I might get mildly upset. Most things I can overlook. 

      I'm sure that there are many things that I do that upset people. I certainly upset the Micro Manager from time to time. 

      I received a comment on my last blog post that has got me very curious. I would very much like to know who this person is. Some anonymous comments leave some clue as to who they are. One of my former students usually says "Grandpa" It's the familiarity with this comment that drives me nuts. We both have connections to Yellowknife and the north. We both like gardening and we both live in Red Deer.  So you see the comment below and my reply. 

AnonymousSaturday, May 21, 2022

Talking about growing seasons and the amount of sunlight, the two years that I spent living in Yellowknife it was absolutely all inspiring how much light was lost and gained at the change of season. I am not sure but I think that the differences in the days were about 20 to 40 minute increments either way depending on what time of year it was. To my sensibilities have been growing up in Red Deer, it seemed to me that there was about three weeks of spring and then boom it was summer LOL. As for planting I did some last Saturday and we'll do the rest today. Just crossing my fingers and hoping for the best as I learn about this a novice gardener.

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1. 
   RedSaturday, May 21, 2022

   Now your story and "anonymous make me very , very curious.

     And another thing, Doesn't it bother you when a regular comment goes dark. Several bloggers I follow live in Ontario where there was a vicious storm and the power was off. This I understand. 

     However sometimes the commenter just disappears for a while.

     So I'm about to make and apology as my commenting has sometimes been sporadic and sometimes missing. But I have an excuse! I find myself busier than I want to be lately. The iliotibia syndrome has really slowed me down. I don't get much sleep at night.

     There will be better days and I will get to the point where I make the number comments I want to make.