On The Road Again

Well, we have done a bit of traveling since I posted last. We went down to Yuma for two months, We rented a trailer for November and December as we didn't want to start up the water and sewer at the house.
We packed up pretty much all of our clothes and a few other things we wanted to take home. We started the power and bought a monitored security system. We bought internet from the neighbor and that turned out to be a very expensive undertaking, for us of course.
We did some visiting but most of our time was spent packing up stuff and some running around for business issues while we were there.
The weather was mostly cool for that time of the year and we only had a small electric heater in the trailer. No furnace.
We had originally decided to sell but prices were not very good so we decided to wait.
We are going camping for a week or so tomorrow, so will write more after we return.

July 4th

Hope you all are having a great Independence Day!! Today is America's 238th birthday and we have enjoyed many holiday's and sites throughout the years touring around your great country. Hopefully we will have the opportunity to come back.

Happy Canada Day!!

Hope everyone had a good day.  We did something different this year.  Instead of going to the cake cutting and car show in the heat,.we went to the museum, where they have a miniature working sawmill set up.  It was inside a large room and nice and cool in the building. It gets started up once or twice a year. Two guys, one of whom we used to work with, run it. They explained all of the different sections, machines and their purpose. They also answered any questions. The kids were very interested and asked a lot of questions.

Back on The Horse Again

Well, it has been a long time since I posted anything on my blog.  A lot has happened, especially with my health and having to deal with problems and issues as a result.
I hope to put some thoughts together and start posting again. Maybe I will start off with the rest of my life story, going back to where I left off when I was young.
I really want to thank my family and wonderful husband for all their support, care and concern  as well.

Common Sense Rules

WELCOME TO REAL LIFE!

Rule 1 : Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world doesn't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: They called it opportunity.

Rule 6 : If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7 : Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were: So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room..

Rule 8 : Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. *This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.*

Rule 9 : Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. *Do that on your own time.

Rule 10 : Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

I read these common sense rules somewhere and decided to post it.  So true!!

Positive thoughts

Three small rules for living a happy life

1. Start each day with a grateful heart.
2. Focus on the positive aspects of every person you encounter.
3. End each day with a grateful heart.

Lucy MacDonald

Canada Day

                                      

Happy Birthday Canada!!
Here are a few pics of some of the festivities in our community.

Oh Crap!!!!

Does it ever end?  Yet another one!  Looks like they had three kids as this one looks pretty young too.  So, another relocation is happening as we speak.  Maybe we should start up a squirrel trapping business. 

I wonder, how hard is it to skin a squirrel?  We would be well on our way to a nice fur hat or maybe some warm mitts by now. (Just kidding!)  Sure hope this is the end of critter trapping, but I somehow have a feeling it won't be.

Success! (at least so far)

Well, it looks like the freeloading squirrels have been evicted.  No scampering and scratching noises overnight or this morning.  Both the traps are still vacant, but we will continue to monitor those as well.  It appears they were a family of four, two kids and Mom and Pop..

The first two to be caught and relocated were smaller and quite young looking compared to the next two.  They were also very curious and mischievous and didn't seem to be afraid of us either.  The last one was larger than all the rest, so it was either daddy squirrel or fat mama getting ready to present us with more problems.

All four were released at the same location, so maybe they were able to have a  family celebration or big reunion of some sort before taking on the task of preparing a new home for the coming winter.  Hopefully they stay in the forest and don't find another attic to inhabit.

And The Saga Continues!!!

Gulliver is now on squirrel release mission #4.  This last one was caught today in the middle of the afternoon and was very determined to get away. You could feel it throwing itself against the pipe trying to escape.

The warm weather also must have dried the oil some because he was walking up toward the top.  I looked in to see him and it was about one and a half feet from the top.  I knocked him back down, quickly sprayed  inside the top of the pipe with vegetable oil and then put a bag and elastic over the top.

How many more can there be?  We're hoping NONE, but we will continue to set the traps out.  I am really getting worried now about how much of a mess has been made with the insulation in the attic.

The people are coming to do the new gutters and soffits on Monday and we will be able to see how the insulation is then.  Plus there will be no more access points after all that gets done.

Squirrel Update!

Here is squirrel #2.  I never thought this was going to work!  I was saying, here we go again, another $26 down the drain . This thing is fairly simple to make.  It is just a length of plastic sewer pipe, cut in half so that each length is about 5 feet.  Then cap one end of each piece.  Put some seeds or squirrel bait in the bottom.  Then liberaly coat the inside of the pipe with vegetable oil and stand it up where you know the squirrels are travelling.  The guy at the store said to use peanut butter for bait, so we did.

Yesterday, right after I posted, I got Craig to go out and check the trap again.  Lo and behold, there was a squirrel in it. I was some surprised.  Poor little guy was dripping in oil from trying to get up the tube which was too slippery.  He looked pretty funny.

So Craig took the pipe with the squirrel at the bottom and stood it up in the cab of the truck and took it for a little ride about 5 kms away.  When Craig lowered the pipe it took off like a rocket.

So after Craig got back from his little journey, he readied the trap again and put it back in the same spot.  At six in the morning he checked, but no squirrel.  Right after breakfast he checked again and yup, squirrel #2.

So off for another ride to the same spot for release into his new home in the wild.  Same scene, took off like a rocket.  I'm sure they found each other and will be very busy licking the oil from each others fur for a day or two at least.

Haven't seen a squirrel all day and I sure do miss them.  NOT!!!

Pesky Critters!

Yes, we have pesky little critters.  Two of them.  And they are squirrels, but that's not what I call them.  They are very content and think they have a nice home.  They seem to prefer the upstairs attic over the lower one.  But I have a surprise in store for them.

After we got back home in early April, Craig was visiting with the neighbor at the back and he mentioned that he saw a squirrel coming out of the upper corner of our house.  We didn't really take him too seriously, but checked the vent screens around the whole house and couldn't see any holes.

So life went on and then some of our guests in the front bedroom starting saying they thought they sometimes heard scratching noises in the night and it sounded like it was coming from the area where the eaves meets the roof line.

Then we were sitting in the living room visiting and the two of them were running around on the front walkway and trying to shimmy up the garage man door. When we went outside to investigate, one of them was sitting in the rain gutter over the front door trying to enter through a hole in the screen and into the soffitt.

So we got some tin and blocked it up.  Then we started seeing them playing all over the roof. We shooed them away and starting investigating for access points where they could be getting in. HA! We found about four holes in the screens.

They weren't shy either.  They would come and play on the deck and around the pool and back door, as well as the front walkway and drive. Craig would get the camera and they would just stand there while he took their picture.  If they were on the roof they would run from the front to the back playing catch me if you can with us.

Here are some pictures of our pesky little critters.

After that Craig went outside the patio doors just in time to see it walking straight up the wall and into the hole it made in the screen and then sit in the soffitt looking down at us. We have seen it do this many times since.  I used to think they were cute, but not so much anymore.

So we are getting new gutters, fascia and aluminum soffitts all around and then the attics will be completely sealed.  In the meantime, Craig went online and found a site for homemade squirrel traps. So we did that, but nothing is going in so far. Oh, life is so much fun.  Spend, spend and spend some more!!  Hold on, I 'll be right back. I have to go give my money tree some water.

Special Bonds

 A sister is one of the nicest things.

She is someone to laugh with and share with
to work with and join in the fun with
She is someone who helps in the rough times,
and knows when you need a warm smile.
She is someone who will quietly listen,
when you just want to talk for a while.
A sister is dear to you always,
for she is someone who is always a part
of all the favorite memories
that you keep very close to your heart


Author Unknown

A Child Lost

Today is the anniversary of the day our family lost our

beloved Shirley.  Too soon, too young.

It was so long ago, that awful day,

When the voice on the phone called to say,

Your little girl has passed away.

Your tiny body was so twisted and frail,

With dark hair up against skin so soft and pale,

And big blue eyes that would light up without fail.

Your auntie said to me these words a while ago,

It's because we're selfish that we don't want you to go

But God knows better when you are hurting so.

He called you home to be with Him,

And took away all the pain and suffering,

And set free the spirit trapped within.

The days come and go, year after year,

But the pain and grief is still hard to bear,

And the memory of that day always brings a tear,

Even though you are no longer here with us,

It comforts me to know you are there with Him,

So let your spirit soar and always be free.

Your memory will forever live within me.

Love, Mom

Gone forever, but forgotten never. 

Shirley Ann    Nov. 17, 1961 - Sept. 29, 1978

Time For Change?

I read an article the other day about the war on drugs and the problems and opposite effect that has been created as a result. The prohibition of drugs in the last number of decades has failed miserably at achieving what was intended and at a great cost to society.

Almost daily the news has reports of another drug related shooting somewhere.  Some of these shootings involve mistaken identity or innocent bystanders.  About 25,000 people have been murdered in Mexico in the last three years and bodies are being found piled up hundreds deep in old abandoned mine shafts or in remote areas. Some people are being tortured and beheaded or hanged to send a message to other gangs or police.

Now we have authorities on both sides of the border involved with the drug trade or aiding gangs for cash kickbacks. The prison population is up 45 per cent in the last ten years. In the US, ninety per cent of prisoners incarcerated is for drug related offences. Many young lives are ruined over drugs and with jail time training to become better criminals, destined to a life of crime.

Billions of dollars are being spent each year to combat the problem, but with no impact as the drug trade numbers are increasing.  The police admit they stop only a small amount of drugs hitting the market and the ones they do get are small fish with the top people too clever to be directly linked to the drug trade.

All that money and all those years and what have we achieved?  Where the police are tough on drugs, it pushes the price up, making it more attractive for organized crime, who now make bigger profits.We have managed to make a product that is worth a dollar, sell for $10 because it is illegal, then we have items worth $100 being stolen and sold for $10 to cover the cost of the drug. Wouldn't it be cheaper and better for all to treat the disease?

Maybe it is time we considered other options.  Anyone of us could go out into their small towns or cities at any time and find almost any recreational drug they cared to. Decriminalizing drugs might mean more people try them or it might make them less attractive as they would then be freely available.

It would allow addicts to get the treatment they need.  Petty crime would be greatly reduced and organized crime would have to look for other sources because the river of green would soon dry up.  Sending drug offenders to jail has not worked.  Drugs in jails are readily available and a huge problem.  It has been reported that each prisoner costs the taxpayer about $100,000 per year.  It would be cheaper to give them welfare and benefits.

Prohibition of alcohol did not work, the anti smoking campaign has had little effect and the anti drug educational ads directed at our youth don't seem to be getting through either. Our tax dollars are being wasted on this lost cause when we have a huge problem funding our other social systems, like health care and education for example. 

Time for change??  Maybe so.

Quote

Like a bird singing in rain,
      Let grateful memories survive
            in times of sorrow.   
                  Robert Louis Stevenson

Thinking Of You

Today's post is dedicated to my niece Bonnie who lost her father this morning, and to her family.
Death leaves a heartache that no one can heal; and love leaves memories that no one can steal.

I thought I saw your face today, in the sparkle of the morning sun.
And then I heard the angel say, "Their work on earth is done."


I thought I saw my broken heart, in the crescent of the moon.
And then I heard the angel say, "Rest is coming soon."


I thought I heard your voice today, then laugh your hearty laugh.
And then I heard the angel say, "There's peace now, here at last."


I thought I felt your touch today, in the breeze that rustled by.
And then I heard the angel say, "The spirit never dies."


I thought that you had left me, for the stars so far above.
And then I heard the angel say, "They left you with their love."


I thought that I would miss you so, and never find my way. 
And then I heard the angel say, "They're with you every day."


The sun, the wind, the moon, the stars, will forever be around,
Reminding you of the love you shared, and the peace they've finally found


Author Unknown

Canadian Song

The first Canadian song to sell a million copies was written by a Vancouver nurse. Her name was Carmen Elizabeth Clarke, and in 1947 she worked at what was then called the Hospital for Sick and Crippled Children, at 250 West 59th Avenue.

She was very fond of the children. There was one little boy there who noticed a sparrow that kept hopping down onto the windowsill next to his bed. So she wrote a poem about it.

When Elizabeth Clarke sat down that rainy evening to write the poem out, she already had the first line ready: "There’s a bluebird on your windowsill." In six hours she had finished.

She called the poem Bluebird on Your Windowsill and later set it to music. There isn't too much you can write about a sparrow, so she had changed it to a bluebird.

Mrs. Clarke is quoted as saying, "I didn’t intend to write it—it just came." And she added that she still felt like crying whenever she heard it. She sang her song to her little patients. After it became a hit they called it "our song".

Friends and co-workers kept telling her the song was a good one, and so she eventually sang it on CKNW. Requests began pouring in and she realized that people really liked and wanted it.

Empire Music, a New Westminster company, published it in 1948 and that same year Aragon Records, a Vancouver company recorded it, sung by Don Murphy. Elizabeth Clarke paid to have that record made.

Slowly, steadily, surely, the song began to take off.

A number of versions were done by country and western singers, but when the song crossed over to the pop side in the US, it really began to break out.

The Andrews Sisters and several others covered it, but when Doris Day and Bing Crosby recorded it, 38 year-old Elizabeth Clarke found herself the author of a monster hit. 

The various versions of the song topped a million copies in a day when that was rare.
In 1949 the March of Dimes chose Bluebird as the theme song for its 1950 national fund-raising campaign.

Elizabeth Clarke donated every dollar she got for the song to children’s hospitals across Canada. It was an act of extraordinary generosity.

Newspaper stories show that Elizabeth Clarke wrote other songs, but none had the impact of that little tune inspired by the rainy-day visit of a sparrow to a sick child.

In July of 1960, at the age of 49, Elizabeth Clarke died at Altamont Private Hospital in West Vancouver.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzaBAgCaRHo

Why???

Did you ever wonder.......
Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?

Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?

Why don't you ever see the headline 'Psychic Wins Lottery'?

Why is 'abbreviated' such a long word?

Why is it that doctors call what they do 'practice'?

Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dish washing liquid made with real lemons?

Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?

Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?

Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?

You know that indestructible blackbox that is used on airplanes? Why don't they
make the whole plane out of that stuff?!

Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?

Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?

If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?

If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?

1943

That's the year I was born!  It was a cold winter day in north eastern Alberta, in a little rural town called St. Paul. I'm not too sure if I was born at home on the farm or in a hospital, but my Mom had a very difficult birth with me and experienced substantial hemorrhaging. She told me a number of times in a less than endearing tone how she almost died having me. When I was a little older I had mixed feelings of guilt for almost killing my Mom and feeling unwanted at times. But, here I am!  I'm a few months old in this picture.

World War II was well under way and times were tough.  Money and supplies were scarce.  Dad didn't have to enlist because he was a little older then and some men were needed to work the farms and keep things running at home.  Mom had already lost one brother at the beginning of the war and would lose another just before it ended.  Farming was not easy either.  Dad did mixed farming.  Growing grain and raising livestock, etc.  The work was hard labour and the machinery old.  The wind and the weather was always a battle to be fought or hardship to endure.  No wonder people were much tougher back then.
This is a photo of enlisted men marching and the next one is threshing grain on the farm.

Here are some popular ads and momentos of 1943.