If You Don't Like the Weather ..

in Alberta, wait  a few minutes

08:00 am

12:00 Noon

ONLY IN ALBERT!! (sigh)

Nostalgic Thursday...1972...

1972

1969

1975 ( Going to be 40 this year!)

Where does the time go?

At Last, Some Reason!

I don't often do this, but if you are looking for some answers to the Global Warming issue (from the other side), you might want to click on the link below. It attacks science with science, and is refreshing to say the least.

thanks to http://itdontmakesense.blogspot.ca/2012/03/new-dark-age-approacheth.html for posting this.


http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/03/10/moncktons-schenectady-showdown/

All ready to go!

Spring is just around the corner and to get ready, three saddles were cleaned and polished. This one is a used one that we got 7 years ago when we first got the horses.  If bought new, it would likely be in the neighbourhood of $2500.  We got it for  $400 and it has a good many years life left in it. We got one saddle new when we got Biz and it is the most comfortable one we own ( at least for me). It came from EBay all the way from India for a grand total of $250, or about 10% of what the saddle would cost if bought in North America. It was amazing to receive a western saddle from India of all places.

The saddle above was made by Rocky Mountain Saddlery right here in Alberta, and is at least three steps above the one made in India as far as quality goes. Cost was the major issue in buying off shore. Would I do it again? 

When I look at what is available, used, but not abused, I probably would not. There are several reasons for this. 

First is the issue of whatever you pick up, chances are it's made offshore at pennies on the dollar. This is a concern to me as we seem to be battling  high unemployment when a lot of this stuff could ( and was) at one time, be made in Canada, or the United States. The big corporations, being mainly driven by greed, and the attempt to show generous dividends, will get it made where it's cheapest to do so. If this isn't a wake-up call to Unions and Governments, I don't know what it will take to reverse it. Perhaps having Iran cut off oil to Britain and France will set the example of what can happen if an offshore supplier decides they don't like you much any more.

Second is the issue of quality. I remember when Made in Japan meant cheap and shoddy. Then made in China meant the same thing. It continues on through Korea, India, Bangladesh and the rest of Asia.  They caught up and surpassed North America very quickly in quality. It seems that we can't compete in cost or quality on a global basis anymore.

I own an Indian saddle, and own a Korean car, but in future, I will be looking at how to get quality at a reasonable price, with a Made in Canada, or Made in U.S.A. label on it.

I expect that one of these days, our governments are going to equalize the playing field and we will find our dollars worth 60 percent of today's value. Then we can put people back to work in North America.

FWIW

Wordless Wednesday..1970

Apocalypse 2012

The CBC television station carried a special called "Apocalypse 2012", on DOC Zone. it was kind of interesting to see how the Mayan calendar is being interpreted by some. Apparently the calendar runs out on December 21, 2012 and that is supposed to be the end of the world according to these people. The Mayans devised a calendar that lasted about 5000 + years, so the speculation is that when it runs out, disaster comes.

It is  kind of interesting to see at what lengths people are going to to be prepared. Folks are building skyscrapers underground at a cost of $1.5 million per floor. Back yard shelters are in vogue again, and lots of people are making money selling these things. It kind of reminds me of the days of the Cold War when folks were building bomb shelters,or Y2K when all financial and manufacturing systems were going to melt down and global ruin would occur.

The fear of dying was prevalent in the program. Now, Doomsday has been predicted by several religious sects in the past, and people have sold everything and made themselves ready for the end. It didn't come!

It struck me, that if the end were to come on Dec. 21, why are these suppliers selling these shelters? It must be to make money. What good will money be after Dec. 21? Seems weird to me!

With what is going on in the world regarding the breakdown of social, moral and ethical standards, it is likely true that we are in the end times. Accepting that, when Jesus was asked when His second coming would occur, He replied that no man but the Father knows the time and place. He also warned us to beware of false prophets even those that are performing miraculous acts, and that many would be deceived. He told us to carry on, not to fear or be deceived.

The fear of death seems to be on the rise in this world among non Christians. As a born again Christian, I do not fear death as I know what the promise by God to me is. I would welcome the scenario as promised in the Bible.
Am I in a hurry to check out? Definitely not, as I enjoy the blessings that God has granted.

I am putting the program down as a scare mongering one, again to help others get rich.

Boots

This is how he got his name! A favourite sleeping spot as a pup.

At 8 weeks old he was awfully cute

 He filled out to look like a typical Border Collie, intent, alert and hard working.

His first love is trying to herd horses. Horses don't herd well and I have seen him get kicked 38 times ( and counting). The results are, cut ribs, cut face, broken off tooth and a dog that is stone deaf.

 Somehow, he maintains his ability to look cute!

 An outdoor dog at heart, he refuses to come into the house, except for a small nap now and again when it's really cold outside.

That's our Boots!

From My Very Old files

'Nuff said!

More Things I've Learned

Let me start 'way back about 55 years ago. back then I was an avid down hill skier, recreational only.Part of living in a small town was the ability to work (for free) in the off season clearing new ski runs on the hill. I learned from the old pros that if you piled brush , tree limbs in a tepee shape, the fire would burn in and up, and all the fuel would fall in to the center, and be consumed. The fire burned hot and clean and the only thing to do afterwards was to kick in a few ends and the clean up was done.

2:00 pm Burning in

Fast forward to today, and the skills learned back then, are put to good usage on the acreage when clearing more pasture. If I had a message for the young people today, it would be "Get involved. You never know when the skills learned will be used in the future, and the learning is free."

2:15 pm 

4:00 pm

3:00 pm

My Dad way back said that if you needed a job done and didn't have the tools or know how, go to the library, read or buy a book and buy the tool. You will have the knowledge and resource forever.


I took advantage of the Experimental Aircraft Association  resources to learn how to oxy-acetylene weld to aircraft standards. I passed all the tests and I tested a lot as it was going to be my butt hanging out 1 to 12000 feet above sea level. The transition to stick welding was easy after that.


About 7 years ago, this guy got into horses. Horses are expensive to maintain by the way. The farrier bills were running about $130 every 6 weeks. I watched the farriers a fair bit and said " This is not rocket science, I can do that." Now how to do it right was another matter. I lucked into an on-line course for about $65.00 and have been doing my own and a few other horses when people could not get a farrier. By reading the references, I found out how to cure a horse of kicking, and how to safely handle a difficult horse. As a bonus I was able to solve a spit hoof issue that 5 other farriers could not do. The horse is now split- hoof free for 5 years. More info at http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=5420428411794914404&postID=7173096389353942415


With the hard times on us, I don't see why more people don't get involved . The $65 has saved me about $6700.00 in farrier fees, and counting! The instructor was Angie Senter through Universal Class Inc. No, I don't get any royalties or benefits due to this plug.


The overall goal of this class Horseshoeing 101 is to produce competent and confident farriers that can create functional and healthy hooves. This will be accomplished by: An in depth study of anatomy, A working knowledge of tools, equipment, and shoes, Understanding the reasons and history of trimming and shoeing, Learning how to create a balanced hoof through trimming, Learning how to correctly shoe a healthy hoof, Understanding the methods of corrective shoeing for structural abnormalities, Evaluating a horse for structural abnormalities, Assessing and treating almost a dozen hoof diseases and ailments, Learn how to own and operate your own business and Expanding vocabulary of horse terminology.

This course involves an in depth look at equine hoof anatomy. In order to fully understand the material the student must have a high school reading and writing level. This course is supplemented with internet based graphics so a high speed internet connection with a quality graphics card would be beneficial. The physical use of a horse is not a requirement.

Instructor Angie Senter teaches several courses on aspects of horse care for UniversalClass. She owns and operates Senter's Quarter Horses - 21 acres of Palouse ranch land. Her business includes a boarding facility, training and lessons arena, breeding services, massage and farrier services as well as trick horse performances and training.

I guess the point that I am trying to make, is that learning is easy, and cheap especially with the Internet. The other message is " Get rid of the Gameboys, ipods , and other electronic gadgets and start developing the life skills that may be required in your future. Who knows where this Recession/ Depression/ Economic meltdown may go?

Is the sky falling?

With all the hype going on about the space junk ( very expensive 30+ years ago), are you ready for the chicken little scenario? The odds are something like one in a trillion of me (or you) being hit as an individual, but one in 3200 of somebody being hit. Quite a discrepancy! 

I guess the old saying and song "What goes up, must come down" rings true. The area is all the way from Texas  to  Edmonton and from the Pacific to Atlantic, and don't forget  about the southern tip of South America. In other words, these rocket scientists don't know squat about where ( or when) it's coming down~! 

How would you like to be on the trip to the moon, or Mars with this science at work?

Me, I'm going to wear a hard hat to bed tonight and tomorrow  just in case 

How about you? Are you prepared to meet your Maker?

Is Big Brother watching?

YOU BETCHA!

This is SCAREY..BUT OH SO GOOD! AMAZING comes to mind..Check this out!

Check this out ...

This is the photo taken by PoMo photographer Ronnie Miranda that appeared in our Tri-City News last Friday (24-June).

When you open this up, check the left hand side where you can upsize the photo, and click on the Yellow print "view with GigaTag".

This is actually scary.  You can see - perfectly - the faces of every single individual - and there were thousands!

Privacy? 

THERE IS NO PRIVACY..

 http://www.gigapixel.com/image/gigapan-canucks-g7.html

  This was sent to me by a friend. If you think you can get lost in a crowd, think again!

I received this from a friend. I have tried checking with Stopes, but got no hits.

It does make you wonder, though.
What do you think, True? or Fake?

When someone puts things into simple English, it is so much easier to understand. And it makes sense, too!!!!!!!!!

Read this . . . there's room for thought!!! Professor Ian Plimer (a member of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Adelaide. He is also a joint member of the School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering) could not have said it better! If you've read his book you will agree, this is a good summary.  Are you sitting down?

A Typical Day

The Easy Life!

1. Feed the chickens
2. Water the chicks
3.Feed the horses
4. Water the horses
5.Cut the lawn ( or equivalent), 4 hours
6. Have coffee
7. Dig, hoe, weed the garden
8. Play with the dog
9.Play with the horses
10. Have lunch
11. Fix something
12. Run errands
13. Clear out the deadfalls from the last storm
14. Have supper
15. watch  the news
16. go to bed!
17. Repeat next day with some modifications!

I was watching a guy on the news yesterday who was cutting back to only working half days in his retirement. No more than 12 hours in a day!

Gasoline and Oil Prices

A friend forwarded this rational to me. Somehow, it makes sense, sort of. As an oil producing country,why are we paying more than we should? This may be the reason!

Garfield on the oil crisis A lot of folks can't understand how we came  to have an oil shortage here in Canada .  Well, there's a very simple answer, Nobody bothered to check the oil. We just didn't know we were getting low.  The reason for this is purely geographical.  Our Oil is located in: ALBERTA SASKATCHEWAN BRITISH COLUMBIA MANITOBA COASTAL NEW BRUNSWICK COASTAL  NEWFOUNDLAND   Our DIPSTICKS are  located  in  OTTAWA Any Questions ???  NO ?...  Didn't think so.

What is Going On?

The other day, we were all sitting around celebrating Heritage Day and watching our eldest grand daughter with her new e-book. It seemed kind of neat and we were discussing what it would do. It appears it will do almost anything. Three books for $15, not bad!

However, not so good for those folks producing book grade paper. As a guy that spent 36 years in the newspaper business, I eventually brought the subject around to newspapers. It appears that it will also download newspapers!  Now "what the heck", say I. How about just sitting back and reading a normal, black and white (with some colour) newspaper? Well it turns out she has never sat down and actually read a newspaper from start to finish! Never!

To me, this was mind boggling. To go through 17 years  (well, I guess 10) years without reading a paper!
I was in shock!  Fortunately, I am retired from the newspaper business, but here I am thinking about how this country was built on newsprint and newspapers. If you wanted to find out something, you grabbed a paper!

Now, you punch up some search words and out comes information overload!

Then, I got to thinking " When was the last time that I read a newspaper?" I used to buy the local paper, but found that there was only week old, non-relative items. I thought deeper and found out that I have not purchased a real, daily newspaper in over a year.

I have read newspapers that are left in A&W or Timmy's , but being frugal (read cheap) they were not ones that I bought.

All of a sudden, I felt like a dinosaur! OK, OK, rude comments will be censored out of this blog.

Now, how many of you that are far more technologically advanced than I am, still read a newspaper?
Why or why not?

A Response to "The Old Geezer"

The question was "Where did common sense go"? Here is the answer! An Obituary printed in the London Times - Interesting and sadly rather true Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years.  No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will  be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: - Knowing when to come in out of the rain; - Why the early bird gets the worm; - Life isn't always fair; - and Maybe it was my fault.  Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable  strategies (adults, not children, are in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.  Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from  school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened  his condition.  Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed  to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an  aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an  abortion. Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better  treatment than their victims.  Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the  burglar could sue you for assault.  Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was  hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.  Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his  daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.  He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights I Want It Now Someone Else Is To Blame I'm A Victim  Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him,  pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

It Never Stops!

Caution! Work related graphics below! Please use caution. It may not be suitable for all audiences. Parental Guidance recommended!

Lots of Things Happening in the World!

http://globaldisasterwatch.blogspot.com/

This is a link that I picked up from somewhere that tracks most of the major natural calamities going on in the world. I don't normally view stuff like this (other than what shows up on the news), but this is a concise summary of major happenings and explanations as to why, from a scientist's viewpoint, not scripturally.

It makes an interesting read, and I can knock off a few places that I once thought that I would like to visit.

The Lord blessed me by plopping me down in a place that doesn't have earthquakes, floods, tornadoes famine etc. Compared to some places, I can put up with the minor annoyance of mosquitoes and extreme cold.

When summary sites such as this come up, is that an indication of a paranoid mentality in the world? What do you think ? Are we being desensitized to major events in the world by all the exposure? When 5 people are killed in an avalanche , it makes world news for days. Am I at risk of becoming jaded? Doesn't anyone print/ publish good news anymore?

Stimulus Package

This was sent to me by a friend who is a better economist than I am!

 Governments of all level are always talking about and promoting “Stimulus Packages”. Most people do not know how a “stimulus package” works, so outlined below is a good example.

 

It is a slow day in the small Saskatchewan town of Pumphandle and  streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and  everybody is living on credit.       A tourist visiting the area drives through town, stops at the motel, and  lays a $100 bill on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms  upstairs to pick one for the night.     As soon as he walks upstairs, the motel owner grabs the bill and runs  next door to pay his debt to the butcher.       The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt  to the pig farmer.     The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill to his  supplier, the Co-op.     The guy at the Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the  local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has had to  offer her "services" on credit.     The hooker rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill with the hotel  owner.      The hotel proprietor then places the $100 back on the counter so the traveler will not suspect anything.     At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, states that the rooms  are not satisfactory, picks up the $100 bill and leaves.     No one produced anything. No one earned anything... However, the whole  town is now out of debt and now looks to the future with a lot more  optimism.     And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a "stimulus package" works.

Two Standards?

I was watching the news the other night and heard (again) that smoking is bad for your health, that it is a direct link to cancer and other nasty ailments. It appears the Canadian Government is concerned enough that they are talking about putting more vivid pictures on the packages, as people are getting complacent about the old ones.

They are also concerned about the cost to our medicare system in the future, that it will be a horrendous burden on the taxpayer.

The Government folks are also talking about increasing the tax on cigarettes to again discourage people from smoking.

Now, every time that you finish a pack in Canada, you have just smoked up a $10 bill so to speak.

If they increase the price to $15 per pack, will it stop people? History says "not likely".

The part that gets me is the government makes tremendous revenue from the sale of tobacco. Now, how can they push push people into quiting, yet enjoy the tax revenue?

How about hiking the tax way up AND put all revenue from the sale of tobacco into the Medicare system to help offset the cost of treatment? After all, to smoke or not to smoke is a choice that the individual makes. In other words, let the user pay!

Did I ever smoke? Yes, but I chose to quit cold turkey 36 years ago.

What are your thoughts about this social problem?