The Babysitter

I remember when I was a rather small child that we lived on about 5 or 6 acres on the edge of High River in a very small house that had a barn out the back and a small pasture on the south side.  I don't remember how many horses we had at the time but I do remember one of them. 
My Mom had a half-Arab mare named Danny that can't have been very big, but we loved her anyway.  We used to go outside of an afternoon and go 'riding'.  I must have been four or five and my sister Karen a year and a half younger.  We'd salvage a piece of baling twine from the barn and head out to the pasture to capture Danny.  She'd have her head down grazing and we'd walk up to her, stand in front of her and with one end of the twine in each hand, try to flip the loop over her head.  After several catches of one ear, we'd finally accomplish our mission, fashion a 'halter' out of the twine and lead her over to the fence where the show began.
We'd get her side-ways to the fence and I'd crawl up it and try to get on.  Danny was such a lady that she'd move over.  Karen would lead her around in a circle and we'd try again.  This went on for a while until Karen would walk back and push her bum over to the fence and hold her there.  Phewf.  Mounted.  Now to get Karen up there.  She'd climb the fence and lean over to get on, and of course Danny would move over.  I'd ride her around in a circle back to the fence.  Try again.  Same performance over and over until we finally had her mounted. 
By now we'd been out there for about an hour and we're finally ready to get this show on the road, and away we go.  Danny would start out walking across the pasture and seeing that she was headed back to her buddies would break into a trot.  Ok for me, I had her mane to gold on to.  Karen?  Not so much.  She'd be holding on to my waist and start sliding to the side.  Bounce, bounce, bounce an off we'd go.  Danny would immediately stop, crane her head around and look at us like "What are you doing down there?"  And we'd start the whole procedure over again.  What better enertainment for Mom who watched us through the kitchen window?

Which is why, when I saw it, that I absolutely had to buy this.

A follow-up to 'I'm almost ashamed to be Canadian'

From the op/ed pages of today's paper.


Loving Canada

By Sue Williams, Calgary Herald June 23, 2011 Re: "Anger over the Vancouver riot goes on and on," Vance Rodewalt, Editorial Cartoon, June 21.

Your cartoon was almost spot on. I arrived last week in Calgary for a two-month summer vacation away from a sizzling Arizona and was surprised to see so much media coverage on the Vancouver "riots."

Lighten up, Canadians, and put things in perspective! The perpetrators of these shenanigans were idiots who probably had far too much beer and fell easily into mob mentalities. Yes, I can see where the disturbance would be embarrassing to Canadians, but stuff happens everywhere.

Trust me, you have not tarnished your reputation in the world.

Canadians are arguably the most compassionate, friendly, tolerant, environmentally conscious, courageous and generous people in the world. An article I read not too long ago touted Canada as the happiest nation on Earth -not surprising considering the customs and philosophies of its people.

It would take a lot more Vancouver events to even begin to sully Canada's name.

Sue Williams, Sedona, Ariz.





Read more:
 
 
Well thank you Sue, and welcome to Calgary.  I hope you enjoy your stay.

Happy Fathers' Day

A couple of songs for you Dad, with an explanation for why each has been put up.

This one is called 'Mothers of Teenage Daughters' and I know that this post is for Fathers but the lyric says it all about the relationship I had with you during those difficult years.  Children don't come with owners' manuals (unfortunately for parents), and you always did the best that you could with what you had.  Somehow we got through it all and you molded me into the person that I am today.
So here we go with Martina McBride.

This next selection is off of Keith Urban's 'Golden Road' album, 'Song For Dad'.  I know that I sent this one to you a couple of years ago, but I had to send it again with an explanation for the rest of my readers.
The first time I heard this song I was driving down the road and I had to stop, hit 'get back' (or whatever it is in CD terms) and listen to it again.  And again.  This one reached out and grabbed me at my very core. 

I thank you for all that you have done for me and I hope that when I grow up I can be more like you.
I love you Dad.   Deb

And to all the Fathers that are my faithful, a happy Fathers' Day to you too.

From the Op/Ed pages of the Calgary Herald

Vancouver rioters should hang heads in shame

Canadians are engaged in a collective cringe of horror today over the senseless, thuggish behaviour of fans who looted, smashed windows and burned vehicles for three hours in Vancouver after the Canucks lost to the Bruins in the Stanley Cup final Wednesday night.

More than 100 people have been arrested — with additional arrests expected — and 15 cars, two of them police cruisers, were set on fire. Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu blamed the carnage on “anarchists and criminals” who had outfitted themselves for the rioting with masks and goggles, and who he says had participated in violent protests in the past.

That sounds like a bit of public relations spin to deflect attention away from the more likely possibility that these were ordinary youthful Vancouverites, overdosing on testosterone and stupidity, ready to take out their anger at losing the Cup, albeit incomprehensibly targeting their own city. They were dressed for the most part in Canucks jerseys, for one thing, which is something “anarchists and criminals” wouldn’t do. They can certainly be categorized as criminals, given their lawlessness Wednesday night, but Chu makes it sound as if they specifically organized to trash the downtown, as part of their career criminality. Moreover, “anarchists” who frequent violent protests do so for political reasons, not because a hockey team lost a game.

No, these were most likely ordinary youthful Canadians showing a disgusting dearth of sportsmanship and an equally disgusting un-Canadian proclivity toward mindless violence, of the sort usually associated with the yobs and rowdies who riot after British soccer matches.

However, a truly Canadian attitude was at work Thursday morning in downtown Vancouver, as evidenced by the dozens of Vancouverites who, appalled at the wanton vandalism, arson and theft that left many storefronts boarded up, showed up with brooms in hand to help clean up the mess. Others took the opportunity to scribble messages of collective sorrow, sympathy and solidarity with those affected by the looting, on the boards covering the broken storefront windows.

Canadians are disappointed that the Cup slipped out of the Canucks’ hands and went home with the Bruins. It was especially hard to see a trophy representing Canada’s national sport head south for another year to rest with an American team. But the noble virtue of sportsmanship compels Canada to accept the loss with good grace; it’s not losing the Stanley Cup that has left a black mark on Canada, it’s the behaviour of the rioters in Vancouver.

In the end, it was just a game, and there’ll be more games. Hockey season starts anew in a few months, and next year, Lord Stanley may return to Canada — ideally, to the Red Mile.

Canadians have nothing to live down in losing to the Bruins. They can hold their heads high. It is only the rioters in Vancouver who should hang their heads in shame.

Read more:

I'm almost embarrassed......

To be Canadian right now.
After the love-in that was the winter Olympics in Vancouver, some major IDIOTS decided to riot last night after the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup Final.  While some of the fans were respectfully in their seats giving the Bruins their due, stores were looted, cars burned and flipped over and just major chaos and mayhem.
What gives you the right to tar our great nation and your beautiful city over a hockey game?

How 'bout you try growing up.

(Photo courtesy of the Calgary Herald)

WOW

I left an electrical contractor that had 60 guys in the field and came to a smaller company that has 30 (or so).  I was the estimator, as in the only one, which can be a little stressful when you envision 60 guys standing across your desk saying "I'm hungry" and KNOW that they're counting on you to keep them working.
The company that I'm at had 11 (count 'em, 11) construction jobs last year.  So far this year, I've brought in 14 and the lads have had to hire 10 apprentices to work on jobs that will carry us in to the new year.
GO ME!

Did you hear the one about the disappearing lawn?

A north-end homeowner is puzzled about her disappearing lawn

Photograph by: Supplied, Denise Thompson, globaltvedmonton.com




EDMONTON — Denise Thompson had a beautiful front lawn, thick and green. It was where her four children and two dogs played, and where she drank coffee on sunny mornings.

Then someone stole it. They didn’t even leave a note.

“Now my place looks like I’m a farmer who just plowed and is ready to put their seeds down,” she said Monday.

Thompson and her children went to visit her husband in Stettler Friday morning. They returned to their Kilkenny neighbourhood home Sunday afternoon. The family entered through the back door and everything seemed fine.

Then Thompson opened the blinds on the large picture window in the front room.

“Oh my God,” she thought. “Where is my grass?”

She went outside to the swath of ugly, brown dirt that had replaced her lawn. She thought there might be a note to explain an accident, like when someone dings your car in the mall parking lot. There were no clues.

Thompson canvassed neighbours and several reported a white truck and trailer parked at her house. No one thought it was suspicious. Just another landscaping job.

Thompson believes that a landscaping company messed up the address on a job.

Though she laughed about the bizarre disappearance, the potential cost of replacing the greenery is on her mind. Her insurance company is baffled by her story and hasn’t decided if she will be compensated.

“My boys are excited they don’t have to mow the grass, but I really need the people who did this to come forward. I can’t afford this.”

Read more:

more Canadian country music

Another Albertan that's a pretty good writer and picker, Gord Bamford has worked hard to get to where he's at. Have a listen to this one that reaches out and touches me.

Another one that's a hellofa musician is Jimmy Rankin.  He and his family recorded together for a long time and then he split off to do his own thing.    One of the family members was killed in a car accident one winter while on the way to a hockey game (or practice, I don't recall which) which leads us to our first selection from The Rankins.  I saw an interview with one of the sisters and she said that after the funeral they family was doing family things and this video came on CMT Canada.  She asked the other sister (the one singing here) if she wanted it turned off and the singer said "No, it's fitting." 

Fare Thee Well

And on a lighter note; The Mullholland Shuffle.

Jimmy went on his own shortly after his brother's death and has done some wonderful things.  This is a selection from one of his early solo albums.



And one from his latest that Kieth Urban joins him on.

The Rankins still travel together once in a while, but they don't seem to be as prolific as they used to be.  Shame.

From the Op/Ed pages of the Calgary Herald

This one relates to the latest political scandal.  Think this guy's career is pretty much done?

Quote from Jim Rohn

"Treat your body like a temple, not a woodshed. The mind and body work together. Your body needs to be a good support system for the mind and spirit. If you take good care of it, your body can take you wherever you want to go, with the power and strength and energy and vitality you will need to get there." —Jim Rohn

It's about time

Let's hope this spreads across North America.


SAN ANTONIO - Saggy pants may be fashionable among urban youth but they won't be allowed on some buses in the state of Texas.


"Pull 'em up or find another ride," reads signs on city buses in Ft. Worth.

The signs went up after the Ft. Worth Transportation Authority, known as "The T," implemented a new policy that prohibits any passenger from boarding a bus with saggy pants that expose the person's underwear or buttocks.

"Riders don't want to see a person dressed like that on a public bus," Joan Hunter, communications manager for The T, told Reuters. "Our customers think it's disrespectful."

The saggy pants look has been around for more than a decade, tracing its roots to prison attire because inmates are not issued belts. It spread to the rap and hip-hop music community, and from there became a popular symbol of freedom and cultural awareness for many young people.

Hunter said the saggy pants policy is an extension of the dress code that The T has had for years, which has long required shirts and shoes.

"A lot of different people ride the bus," she said. "And many of them told us it's not a good idea to have your pants below your buttocks."

She said the decision on whether a potential rider's pants are inappropriate is up to the discretion of the bus driver.

The first day the policy was in place about 50 people were removed for improper pants, Hunter said, adding the overall reaction has been positive.

Following this rule is actually easier than following any other clothing policy we have," she said. "All you need to do is pull your pants up before you get onto the bus. You don't have to go home and get a shirt or get a pair of shoes. Then, after you get off the bus, you can dress however you want." (Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Peter Bohan)

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/entertainment/Pants+ground/4887851/story.html#ixzz1OJyHq82z

A few quotes

One from a silly TV show that I was watching (had enough beer under my belt that I can't remember which), and the others from a book that I just read.  The book was so good that as soon as I finished it, I spun it over and read it again.

First:
     Younger women date older men to have someone to look after them; older women date younger men because they can look afer themselves.
Wow, that says a lot, doesn't it?  But we still know how silly we look doing it.

And now from the book 'Eat, Pray, Love' by Elizabeth Gilbert:
     'Virginia Woolfe wrote, "Across the broad continent of a woman's life falls the shadow of a sword."  On one side of that sword, she said, there lies convention and tradition and order, where "all is correct."  But on the other side of that sword, if you're crazy enough to cross it and choose a life that does not follow convention, "all is confusion.  Nothing follows a regular course."  Her argument was that the crossing of the shadow of that sword may bring a far more interesting existence to a woman, but you can bet it will also be more perilous.

     ........................

     'The Bagavad Gita - that ancient Indian Yogic text - says that it is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else's life with perfection. (emphasis mine)  Imperfect and clumsy as it may look, it is resembling me now, thoroughly.'

As imperfect as my existence may be, it's mine, and mine alone.  I seem to muddle through and things work out in the end.  That's all that's important, isn't it?

The next one from the book is NOT, in any way, meant to be a slam at my faithful American readers.  It just struck me that, as citizens of any country in the world, we don't realize how we're perceived in other countries by the actions of our leaders.

     Elizabeth is in Italy at the beginning of a quest to rebuild herself mentally after a very nasty and prolonged divorce, learning to speak the language (which I'd love to learn, I'll have to put it on my to do list), and to help her with the language she reads the paper every day.

     'In more serious bad news, nineteen Italian soldiers have recently been killed in The Americans' War (as it is called here) in Iraq - the largest number of military deaths in Italy since World War II.  The Romans were shocked by these deaths and the city closed own the day the boys were buried.  The wide majority of Italians want nothing to do with George Bush's war.  The involvement was the decision of Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's prime minister (more commonly referred to around these parts as l'idiota).  This intellect-free soccer-club-owning businessman, with his oily film of corruption and sleaze, who regularly embarasses his fellow citizens by making lewd gestures in the European parliament, who has mastered the art of speaking l'aria fritta (fried air), who generally behaves not at all like a proper world leader but like a Waterbury mayor (that's an inside joke for Connecticut residents only - sorry), has now engaged the Italians in a war they see as none of their business whatsoever.

     "They died for freedom," Berlusconi said at the funeral of the nineteen Italian soldiers, but most Romans have a different opinion: They died for George Bush's personal vendetta.  In this political climate, one might think it would be difficult to be a visiting American.  Indeed, when I came to Italy, I expected to encounter a certain amount of resentment, but have received instead empathy from most Italians.  In any reference to George Bush, people only nod to Berlusconi, saying, "We understand how it is - we have one, too."

     We've been there.

This book is highly recommended, take it for a test-drive.  Well written and very humorous (in parts), a good read.

it has come down to that time...................

When I have need to buy a new computer.  I'm currently using a laptop that's about 8 or 9 years old and it's starting to do some wonky things and drive me even crazier than I already am.
I kind of thought about an iPad or an iPad2, a Netbook, Kindle (Kindle's just a reader, isn't it?) or a Blackberry Playbook.
Uses would include blogging (of course), reading the paper, the ocassional game, loading music on my iPod (loaded from a cd), nothing too heavy.
Ant thoughts on this one?