OLD TV SHOWS

        I used to watch TV. Now I don't watch one minute in a whole year. 

        So what did I watch?

        Some of you will have to be very old to remember these TV shows. 

       I liked the variety shows. The shows with several short segments. So for example Red Skelton always had a section with Clem Kadiddle Hopper. There was also a clown section. I also listened to Red Skelton when he was on radio.

     Carol Burnette had a first class variety show. I liked her telephone monologue in each show. 

     Many people make fun of Ed Sullivan, but he kept us well entertained on a Saturday night. 

Sullivan had great acts and we won't get that he had the Beatles. 

     Every Sunday night we watched Bonanza. This was a one hour show of the adventures of the Cartright family. I never missed it. 

     Now there were other variety shows that came and went.  The variety show was gradually taken over by situation comedies. 

    Now it's movies or long series that we buy at one time. I haven't got time to spend on a long series. 

    Has anybody else seen these shows and liked them?

    Tell me the good shows that I missed. 

EYE DROPS

      Eye drops , eye drops,

      I love eye drops.

      I recently had cataract surgery on both eyes. The left eye was done on Aug. 2 and the right eye on Aug 16. The surgery went fine. The biggest problem was that the surgery was out of town and my wife doesn't drive so I had to ask for some rides and then get backup rides in case someone had to cancel out.

    The biggest issue was the eye drops. The Micro Manager put in more than 476 eye drops. I had drops for a few days before surgery and lots of drops in the hospital just before surgery. 

    I'm not complaining. The results are fantastic. 

I SAW THE QUEEN ...ONCE!

      I do not have much interest in British royalty. I do not follow them. I could not tell you the names of the Queen's third and fourth children.

     I realize that our Canadian government is closely tied to the crown. If we wanted to leave the monarchy it would almost be impossible. All aboriginal treaties were made with the Queen. That's just a starter. The aboriginal people at one time were very  fond of the Queen. "The Great Mother promised to look after them". The Great Mother being Queen Victoria.

     You had to know about Queen Elizabeth the second. She was popular, well known and made a good connection with people. She worked hard. 

      Now my Mother was very interested in British royalty. In the 30' and 40's, she did not have much access to information on the Queen. Mom ad Dad subscribed to two weekly farm papers. Their radio often did not work. Later radio was more reliable. They never did get a TV. 

     So in 1959 the Queen visited Saskatoon. My youngest brother was in a group at a stadium. Mom had made arrangements to meet me on the campus of the university of Saskatchewan and we would see the Royals. The motorcade drove around an oval and out of the area. We were close to them...about 12 ft. They went by us in a second and were gone in about three minutes. . We did not get a wave or a smile!

    Now in May of 1939 I was at the tour that went through Saskatchewan. They were on a train and stopped briefly at Watrous, Sask. They walked on the station platform for 15 or 20 minutes and then got back on the train. Again my Mom had a good location to see the Royals. I was born in Oct. 1939! So yes, I was there but I did not see the King!

A PLEASANT WALK

       I usually have several walking routines to keep me occupied and active. 

       My present walking route is to walk through my subdivision to a  creek which has a valley about 300 meters wide and 25 meters deep. Then I walk along the west side of the creek. There is also an outdoor gym that I make a stop at. 

       So here's my walk.

    A couple of kids on a scooter as I start my walk

Walking through the neighborhood.

Down into the creek which is a heavily wooded area.

Bridge across the creek

The creek is very low at this time

Up out of the valley on the other side of the creek

A pleasant path to follow

I have to make it to the power line!

 Here's the powerline

   And a stop on the outdoor gym. I will do two leg exercises and two upper body.

And her we are , home again

The whole route is about 4.5 K's

HUGE WEATHER CHANGE

       Sometimes we live through some very surprising weather changes...particularly temperature changes. 

        On Sunday afternoon  , Sept. 4 we had a temperature of 30 C (88 F) which we think is very hot. So hot that I didn't go outside in the afternoon. Well I did go out to water my tomatoes. We've had a long , unpleasant hot spell.

       Well, the night of Sept. 5 we had frost. That's right it froze Mon. night. It did not freeze at ground level but there was frost on the roofs of the houses. At ground level there is enough heat in the ground to keep the air just above the ground from freezing. 

     So from shorts and a T shirt to long pants and a jacket in 24 hours is quite a change. 

SCHOOL BELLS

     Today school started in our neighborhood. 

     I was a teacher for more than 37 years. The start of school was a very significant part of the year. I would start going into the school about mid August to get things ready in my classroom. I had to make sure that I had all the supplies I needed so that I didn't have to run around looking for things. Textbooks had to be brought in. 

     Then there were unit plans that had to be fine tuned. It all took time.

     Of course, other colleagues were there so some visiting took place. 

     When I was department head there was more work. I was responsible for planning so that everybody was on the same page.

      What I really wanted to say is that since I've been retired for 25 years I no longer think about the start of school . That is, until I read in the paper about our teachers participating in a back to school welcome. 

     So the school system is back in business for another year.

      Things are much different compared to when I retired. 

      So school bells are ringing but they don't get my adrenalin flowing. When I went to school a  hand bell was used to time the periods. The first year I taught, 1958-59 I used a hand bell. The school didn't have electricity. After that it was buzzers that kept us organized. 

I'M NOT READY FOR FALL

   There are small hints of fall but I'm not ready for fall. 

    We have had a heat spell for about 6 or 7 weeks. Not a really uncomfortable hot but hot none the less. Our highs have been mostly 28C to 30 C. For many people this is not hot at all.

    But what I'm trying to say is that with warm summer weather ,it's hard to get your head ready for fall.

    If fall comes quickly your head has to adjust to things very quickly. Today our high was 19 C. Most of the day it was 13 C with sometimes a strong wind. So definitely a touch of fall. 

   However, there are other signs of fall. All of my garden flowers are finished blooming and the plants are starting to look pretty ragged. 

    Leaves are falling but they are the ones that have been damaged over the season. Insects have chewed much of the leaf and the leave has quit functioning so weakens and drops. Some leaves have been eaten by leaf miners. 

So no matter what I'm going to have to be ready for fall. I have to be ready cooler temperatures and changes in leaf color and leaves falling. 

    After all that whining, I do like fall.