theking

#79

2009-01-18T19:57:00.005-06:00

So blogger says that this is #79 as far as posts go, who am I to argue. Its to late at night to argue, so I was wrong, big deal.
Anyway, I went back and looked at my post from the middle of the night and even though that was actually me, some of those sounded kinda dark and so serious. There is more to me than that. So my wife said that I should do another one that would more accurately reflect who I am.

1. I think cats are filthy beasts, and my dog (Roscoe) can do almost nothing wrong. If you think I am wrong, just strike up a relationship with both and tell me which is more satisfying.

2. Hello, my name is John and I am a Toronto Maple Leaf fan. I am also a Rider fan, but somehow that doesn't make me feel the same as it does to say I am a Leaf fan.

3. Cancer has given me at least 5 compression fractures in my back and although I have never been tall, now that I lost an additional 2 inches I find that I think about it quite a bit. Does that make me vain, or shallow?

4. I am also a fan of western movies. John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Sam Elliot are just a few of the best cowboys on the big screen. My favorite western is probably "The Cowboys". All around favorite movie, "Groundhog Day"

5. I can hardly watch TV without physically holding the remote in my hand. It can't even lay on my lap, I have to hold it in my hand. And then when I drift off to sleep sometimes my fingers twitch or move and I will be pressing buttons and actually be asleep. Drives my wife crazy. Especially when she accuses me of falling asleep and I deny it, and refuse to give up the remote. I have so little fun in my life.

Anyway that is kinda who I am. Now I would like these people to tell us a little about themselves.

Becky
Carol
Margaret
Angela (Arnie)

This might take awhile as I post so seldom that nobody comes here anymore. If you know these people, tell them to get with it.

What, this is an award?????

2009-01-17T11:23:00.003-06:00

So this is called an award. Should I not than be happy to have received it? Why am I not happy and only tense? I am not sure why my wife gave me this. Does she want me to be more honest with you or myself? Or does she think that I am already an honest person? Probably not the second one, is it? Okay, I will attempt this.

1. I am a born again believer and it pains me to admit that I spend less time with my Saviour than I do with my television which will only drive me away from my faith.

2. I have no patience with other drivers on the road. They are only morons wasting my time or speed freaks about to kill us all.

3. I have the ability to truly hate. I hate the cancer in my life. It has changed so much the things that I can do.

4. I am kinda opinionated. About just about anything. And sometimes if you don't agree with me I lump you into one of the categories in #2. Sorry, you wanted honest.

5. I also think I can do just about anything and will sometimes attempt it to my detriment.

6. I buy more tools than I use. I have a brand new drill press in my garage, that has never been opened. Also a bunch of small stuff that I run across from time to time and find out that I have doubles of.

7. I, just like my mother, am a pack-rat. If it wasn't for my wife, I don't think I could move in my house.

8. I would sooner be fishing. I am not sure if that counts, but it is honest.

9. Because #8 may not be what it should be, here is another. I really love my sister and brother-in-laws hot tub. I am also hoping this gets me another invite. I also love my sister and brother-in-law.

10. I come from a large family. I have 9 brothers and sisters, who all did their part in populating this ball we live on. I also have a lot of beautiful cousins out there. I miss them all and as I get older I realize just how much I love them. And from the prayers and gifts that I have received from them since I was diagnosed, I know that they in turn love me.

10a. Because I don't want to get accused of cheating with 8 and 9,: Even though I don't always honour the God who gave me salvation, He continues to bless me. I have the most beautiful children and grandchildren in the world, hands down. If you don't believe me, go visit their sites and try to tell me differently. He has also blessed me with the most long suffering woman in the world as my wife, thanks for sticking it out with me.

10b. If there was only one thing that I could have changed in my life would be that the love of my Saviour would manifest itself in my life.

10c. I never dream. Not that I don't have dreams for myself, I don't dream, at night, when I sleep. I wish I did.

That's it, I quit. If this was to honest or not honest enough, let me know. I am sure I will have an opinion about it. It is now 4:46 am and I am going to try to go back to sleep. Maybe that's why I don't dream, I am not asleep long enough to dream.

#76

2009-01-17T08:12:00.002-06:00

I was just reading some of the comments on my wife's blog and Trav said he didn't post often. I went and looked, Trav, you post more than I do. And now my wife has given me an award and I am not sure why. Does she want me just to post or is she looking to see if I can actually be honest with myself and share that with you. This is going to require some thinking and a later post. I have been up since 4 and only had one cup of coffee so my head is not working quite right. Besides I don't know how to get the award over to my site, and Chris is not up yet. Wait for it folks. At least I got in another post.

#75

2008-11-20T04:07:00.002-06:00

I know it has been a while but I might try this again for a while. We have been gone for a week now on a sojourn that will likely take 4 months. 3 if all goes really well. I miss my children and especially my grandsons so much already that I am unsure how I will make it the rest of the way. Hopefully it is just the fact that I will not see them for a while that makes it worse right now and this ache will go away. I read last night in Proverbs that "Children's children are the crown of old men, and the glory of children is their father." 17:6 by the way. How true that is. I love those boys fit to bust, and so often I see the way that they search for their fathers approval, and just need to be close to them. Any way it is the middle of the night and this is not going to help me fall asleep. I need to think of something else.
Have you ever noticed that Mr Clean doesn't talk. Oh the voice sounds like a big strong guy whom you could trust to help you do anything and he would never steer you wrong. But don't be deceived. Its Milli Vanilli all over again. The big guy just stands there and smiles, his lips never move. I don't imagine he will fall from grace just because I finally realized this, as he has probably never been able to actually talk. I am pretty sure that he has enough of a reputation that this little thing will not see him lose his following. Anyway that's enough for now, I am going to go and see if I can fall asleep. I have a long day of appointments tomorrow.

#74

2008-05-04T19:18:00.003-06:00

One more post at the request of my grandson. Chris, Mom and I went to an auction sale on Saturday in Warman and one of my prized purchases was a semi-truck made by this gentleman that was selling all his tools and a bunch of his toys. He made cars and trucks out of wood and he made one semi-truck. The cars and most of the trucks were all made from plans but this truck I bought had been made without. But it is just great. My grandsons are going to love it. I told Ben about it and called him yesterday to tell him. He phoned me today to ask me why the picture was not up on my blog so he could see it. So here it is Ben. It is 8" high and 32" long. The door on the trailer is not attached at this time, so I am going to fasten it at the bottom with hinges so it can be used as a ramp.

#73

2008-03-16T07:15:00.002-06:00

The green box thing is a tackle box. It is not really that huge. If you would like to see how big it really is, you may want to contribute to the purchase of my fathers day gift. After I receive it I will take a picture of myself with a huge smile on my face, holding my new tackle box and you will see that it is not really that big.
Glen and Becky were here this weekend and stayed at our house. It was so good to have them here so we could see the boys. Sorry Glen and Becky. Last night when I was getting ready to go to bed as I opened the bathroom door to go to bed there stood Ben. "Who flushed the toilet?" He asked me. I told him I had and of course that just initiated more questions. Here they are in order. Why? Because I went to the bathroom. Howcome? I had to go. Pee or poop? Pee. This is where we reached the end. He said "Oh" and went downstairs. I followed him to the basement stairs and heard him tell Becky. "That was the mystery of the flushing toilet." I still laugh as I think of it this morning. That kid just cracks me up. Yesterday Angie was going to take him to town and to a movie. He was walking around the house with his coat on and getting impatient. Finally he told Angie that if she didn't hurry he was going to go by himself. He is only four, I don't know where he comes up with this stuff.
Anyways, I have a cold so am not going to church this morning. Now I am going to lay on the couch, drink coffee and watch a few fishing shows. Have a nice day.

#72

2008-03-12T15:42:00.003-06:00

This is old news in that it happened a while back, but seeing as how the story has not been told, and I only blog infrequently, I thought it would be okay to tell the story.

The other weekend when we went to the Western Development Museum, henceforth called the wdm, I found myself alone for a while looking at old cars. When I have to walk for a while I bring a walker because my back gets quite sore if I try to walk any distance without assistance. Anyways, back to the story. I was sitting on the seat on the walker and I must not have been moving, while I was reading the write-up on this car. All at once at the same time as my arm got squeezed, a child's voice said, "Look Mommy, this guy looks really real." Of course when he squeezed my arm I moved and scared this 10 year old kid out of probably a years growth. I laughed, his parents laughed and the kid walked away all embarrassed. It was quite funny.

The main reason for writing this post though was because I wanted to get my fathers day wish list out there so that all those wanting to contribute towards a little something for my gift would have lots of time to save their penny's. Or something a little bigger if the contributors list is a little short. Here is photo.

For information on where this box can be purchased or any further information on other boxes of like quality, contact the writer.

#71

2008-02-13T13:46:00.002-06:00

This is the book that I used in the tag. Chris and I went to the Sally Ann to buy some stuffed toys for our dog and while Chris did that, I checked out some of the other treasures in the store. I wandered over to the book section. When I see a bunch of books, I always check out the old books first and as I did that the word buckskin just jumped out at me and I had to buy it. Say the title to yourself a few times "Doctor in Buckskin, Doctor in Buckskin, Doctor....." I don't think that you could resist this book either. No, I haven't read it yet, but as soon as I have I will let you know what its like.
Thats all I have for today. Chris has gone to work, so it is just me and Roscoe. I think I will go have a nap.

#70

2008-02-13T13:14:00.002-06:00

1. Pick up the nearest book ( of at least 123 pages).2. Open the book to page 123.3. Find the fifth sentence.4. Post the next three sentences.5. Tag five people. & post a comment here once you post it to your blog, so I can come see.

These are the rules to some dumb tag and seeing as how I don't have a lot of important things to do right now, I will accept this tag.

Hard to hurry on such a night. In the moonlight, Marcus saw Waiilatpu squared off and cultivated from river to creek and beyond as far as his eyes could gather in. The framework of his house took on a roof and walls.

These are the people I tag, and you better respond. Mitz, Melanie, Leah, Carol, and Becky.

The title and such I will post tomorrow.

The grader finally came down our street today for the first time this winter. If I ever move from this house it will not be next door to a school. All other streets in this town have been cleaned at least 2 or 3 times already. I feel like calling the town office and thanking them in a sarcastic kind of way, but then they might put the snow back, so I think I'll just shut-up.

#69

2007-12-01T06:36:00.000-06:00

I think I might be able to do this again. *fingers dug into the top of the hill; slipping back; fingernails digging in; clawing my way back to the top; *
I have a doctors appointment this morning at 9:30, it is now 6:30 so I have some time to kill. Not to much, but a little. I have to go to Canadian Tire this morning before my appointment and buy the door crasher special. It is one of those wind up flashlights. Reg 29.95 on sale for 7.99. The other day my pilot light went out on my furnace and I had a dickens of a time seeing in my furnace. I found all my flashlights, and they all had dead batteries. So I am going to purchase one of these, that just never die.
I think this is quite a post for my first one since July, so goodbye Carrie.

#68

2007-07-04T07:30:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I had cream of wheat for breakfast. Stop! I know right now you want to leave this site because that is just not the way to start an interesting bit of reading. You are thinking, "oh Johnny, you are living on the edge, what an exciting life you live". Okay, truthfully, this is not going to be a very exciting post, but that is all that is floating around in my head right now, so I must put it down here or it will forever take up space in my head and I don't have a lot to spare. Back to the cream of wheat. While I was making it, this memory came flooding back to me of someone else who has probably made more cream of wheat then anyone else in the world. My Aunt Sarah from Taber Alta. I think made cream of wheat for my Uncle John every morning of his life. I remember going there as a kid and even then I seldom slept in, so if I was awake I would go to the kitchen and she would be making cream of wheat. She would make some for me as well, and you know what, it was never lumpy, or too thick, or too thin. It's hard to make cream of wheat just right. Oh man, my dumb dog just farted. You would think he had chili for supper.
You know, I don't think its so much the whole cream of wheat thing, but the fact that she is gone and I really do miss her. Most of my aunts and uncles have passed away, and that means that on this side of the Jordan I won't be able to visit with them again, ever. The good thing is, that my extended family, cousins, uncles, aunts were and are mostly believers, so there will be a marvelous reunion when we all meet in heaven. And I will ask my aunt Sarah how she always made a successful pot of cream of wheat.

#67

2007-06-28T08:17:00.000-06:00

I love that my titles are now so easy to type. To bad I can't just type a number and you guys would know what I was writing. Should you laugh, or cry, or come to my house and burn it down, but no, I have to go through the bother of typing out the letters and if you want, you have to take the time and read it all. Then you have to decide on what emotion will guide you. Laugh, cry or go look for the matches.
Anyway, this is none of those things. This is just info. Beazly and I plan to go up to Iroquois Lake and see if we can catch a fish or two today. Mike says that the water is so high that the water that flows under the bridge connecting the two parts of the lake is about six inches from touching the bridge. The R.M. has had to dump a bunch of gravel on the road to keep it from flooding and people are just fishing from shore as close as they can get to the bridge. The fishing has apparently been good, so I figure that even an unlucky guy like me should be able to catch the odd lake snake. Wish me luck, I have to finish packing.

#66

2007-06-12T07:53:00.000-06:00

Thank-you Melissa, I am now just going to number my posts from now on, unless inspiration hits when I think of a topic to write about.
Couple of things. The swelling in my leg went away with nary a diagnosis from the doc's. So thank-you very much for praying. You asked and God answered.
The other topic is one where I need to eat a little crow. And now that I am on a almost no salt diet, the feathers go down so hard. If you will recall I went on a rampage one day and everybody that had not posted for about a month got a comment from me telling that person to get with the program and post something new already. So when Melissa suggested this numbering thing, I went back and counted each one of my posts to see what number I would be on when I next posted. I know, I know, on the sign in page it tells you how many posts you have done, I never saw it until I had counted all the posts. Now the bad part. There was at least once that I didn't post for almost 2 months, and a few more times that were almost as bad. This does not include the time that I was in the hospital. I almost cried when I realized that I had called down my family members for the very thing that I had done, and my lapses were even worse. Ha, did not. But I did say duh, a couple of times and now I ate my crow and I am over it. Anyways, no more chastising for the lack of posts on anybodys part, unless I join in on a piranha feed like I have seen this family do in good fun.
The other thing I did was join crossings, again. I got five books, and a free gift for $9.50 which includes shipping and handling. I must buy 4 more books in the next 2 years. I would do that anyway, so I just hope I don't screw up some where and get stung. The free gift is this little electronic organizer thing. With this offer one of the books had to be this $60.00 Nelsons NKJV study bible. It has a lot of really good features so I think I will really like that. And who out there doesn't need another Max Lucado book.
Anyways, that's it from here, and again, thank-you very much for praying for me. God is working.

Just can't think of something appropriate

2007-06-04T06:06:00.000-06:00

The other day I got a call from my cousin Marg Wiebe in Coledale and from then till last night we played tag. Last night she got hold of me and told me why she wanted to talk to me. Every year she walks in the Relay for Life, ( a Canadian cancer fundraiser where teams of ten walk a relay track all night long.) and she does it for people she knows who have either passed away because of the disease or are still fighting it. At this relay you can buy luminaries. These are candles placed in bags and set up all around the track to give walkers light and inspiration as they walk the track. When you buy a bag you can put the name of a person whom you are walking for on the bag. Yea, you guessed it, she bought a bag/candle for me. She was trying to get a hold of me before the relay to ask my permission to put my name on the bag. She couldn't, so she did it anyway and thought I would be okay with it. I cannot say thank you enough. I am so honoured and blessed that I have been born into this extended family that worships a risen Saviour and through that this family lives out its faith. All my nieces, nephews, cousins, brothers, sisters, my children, my wife, just everybody I can think of prays for me, that the Lord would heal me. Yesterday at the community church service, I don't remember how many people came up to me and said they were praying for me. Some I know well, others I only know to see them. Doesn't matter, they all bless me. Then, every now and then someone will do something special, and yesterday was just such an event.
Again Marg, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Further to last no title

2007-06-03T07:36:00.000-06:00

When I went in to the ultra sound room, the young guy doing the test asked me where my pain in my leg was and when I told him I didn't have any he asked me what I was doing there. I told him I didn't order this so he went ahead with the test even though I guess pain normally accompanies a blood clot. It showed up negative. No clot. It is Sunday morning and my foot is still swollen a bit. It is never bad first thing in the morning so today I will attempt to keep it elevated and see if that helps. That's the latest on the ongoing saga of this stinking cancer, will let you all know if things change.
This weekend is Buster Days here in town and they do all kinds of things, most of which have to do with children, playing ball, and drinking beer in the beer gardens. Not the children in the beer gardens, but you know, to each his own. But one of the things that they never planned on which was intiated by Pastor Kevin is a Sunday morning community church service. He asked the other churches if they wanted to be involved and the Catholic and the Mission church said yes. So now on sunday morning we have a joint service at the curling rink. This morning Pastor Kevin is preaching and usally our church does the worship time. After the service for 2 dollars you can buy a hot dog and a water, and our church buys watermelon and supplys it free of charge. After lunch if we have any watermelon left we sell it to raise money for missions. It is a great time and it seems that everyone enjoys the service and time of fellowship after the service. Now I am starting to ramble so I'll just go.

Yeah, you guessed it, no title.

2007-06-01T06:00:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, when I got out of my shower, I noticed that my left lower leg and foot were quite swollen. I called the kidney clinic, they returned my call early afternoon and didn't seem to worried about it. I than called the cancer clinic, wish I would have called them sooner. The nurse there told me to go to the er at the royal right away and she would call and tell them I was coming. She was quite worried that I could have a blood clot in my leg. So we left the house around 3 or 3:30 and went to hospital. After waiting my turn and then waiting for blood tests and finally getting these 2 needles to dissolve the possible clot at around 8pm they sent me home. This morning I can expect a call from them between 7:30 and 8:30 to let me know when to come in for a ultra sound to confirm whether I have a clot or not. I also have an appointment at the royal for 10:30 today for my pamidronate. This is given to me in an IV drip that takes 4 hours. It has to be given slowly because it is hard on my kidneys. Thank you very much. So it looks like I will spend my whole day at the royal again. I think I will spend some of this time praying for all the needs that are out there. Time goes by so fast when you pray and I have lots of things to pray about. Oh, the pamidronate drip is going to rebuild my bones, which is also a good thing, cause than maybe the pain in my leg and hip will diminish somewhat. I am starting not to like this disease very much.

Memory, such a fleeting thing.

2007-05-30T05:46:00.000-06:00

Woke up at 4:30 this morning, read for a while, decided to get up at 5. I had a pain pill sitting on the night stand and rather than leave it there for either Noah or the dog to find and eat, I picked it up and thought about taking it myself. Decided my pain wasn't real bad and thought maybe I would put it back in the bottle. Now, you have to know that these are really small pills. I put the pill in one hand, water bottle in the other, than took my walker in both hands and came out to the living room. Thought about sitting down here, at the computer, and decided the couch was a better spot. While arranging my cushions I realized that I no longer had the pill in my hand. Oh crap, now what. I may have eaten it, put it back in the bottle, or it fell out of my hand and I never noticed it. I am fairly certain that if Noah found it, he would pop it in his mouth. I know the dog would. It is a really bitter pill, and it dissolves really fast, so he might not ingest any, but the thought that he might is freaking me out. The dog is funny. He will inhale a decent size piece of meat and really chew a sun flower seed, so he might spit it out as well. Sometimes I am such an idiot. Why didn't I just eat the stupid pill. It's not as if I would be overdosing. My last one had been at 9 the evening before. Why didn't I put it in my pocket, why didn't I .................. There are so many things I could have done differently. Anyway, now I think I will go wake up Chris and Mike and get them to help me look. I will let you know later how we make out. What a great way to start the day.

My chicken dog

2007-05-28T05:51:00.000-06:00

My son's have been working on our deck, making half of it closed in with screen and lattice like a gazebo. It was already roofed a number of years ago, so they are just closing in the walls. I say just, like there is nothing to it, and for me there isn't. I lay on our porch swing and read and the boys work. I think Johnny's done most of it and he has done a great job. It looks really good and when he is done we will be able to sit out there without worrying about those pesky bugs. When they put the screen on, they use the stapler and the sudden snap of the stapler lifts my dogs head, and he is alert. He can be sleeping and he hears that first snap. If it is closely followed by numerous other snaps from the working stapler he will get up and find a place close to me or Chris or Angie (she was here yesterday) and attempt to hide. We can usually get him to stop being such an idiot and lay down on the deck somewhere. But it has to be close to us, preferably with his head on your foot. But then, oh boy, out comes the dreaded compressor and the brad nailer. The compressor pumping up just freaks him out. He starts to pant like he has run for 20 miles, and he just can't stay still. He just slinks around and trys to climb into your lap. As soon as someone puts in the first nail with the brad nailer he just picks it up a notch. Its like Nascar after a caution and the pace car leaves the track. Yesterday I let him climb onto me while I was laying on the swing. He promptly stuck his head in my armpit trying to hide. He stayed there for about 2 minutes, realized he could still hear the nailer, jumped down, and continued his pacing. He will try to get under anything at this point, even if he doesn't fit. Oh, did I mention that this is a 75 lb. Golden Retriever, and not a lap dog. If you let him into the house he is almost as bad. He hides behind the living room chair and watches the doorway. With each bang of the nailer his ears twitch. If you stay inside with him you can calm him down, but it takes awhile. I should have taken pictures. If Johnny comes to work on the deck today, I will take some and post them. I know, I have never posted pics on my blog before, but Chris has, so I will get her to help me.
Anyway, its 6:30 a.m. and I want to shave before I go to church. See ya later.

untitled

2007-05-27T06:03:00.000-06:00

This time I am not even going to give the title enough respect to use a capital letter. It just sits there with its bold font and empty space telling me that I must fill it up and come up with something catchy, that will grab peoples attention and make them want to read it. Much like Shirleys blog. She always has catchy titles. Sometimes I wish I had that kind of talent, to always come up with a really good title. But wait, then I remember. The title is just there to lord it over us and mock us when we don't come up with a good one. I can't stand the pressure.
Anyways.
There is no church service today. As Pastor Kevin said, the church has left the building and went up to the lake for the weekend for family camp. And it is a great weekend. The sun has been shining the whole time, I hope they had a great time. We didn't go. I would not have been able to travel that far yet, so we stayed at home and played with my Christmas present. My wife bought me a really nice metal detector and I finally said, "that's it, pain or not, I am going to try this thing out". So I watched the instruction video, practiced with some coins in the house and then stepped into the great unknown, my backyard. Before I quite knew what happened I was competing with Roscoe for digging holes in the backyard. I started with the area around my fire pit. We have had it for years, had lots of people over in that time, and what better position to be in to lose money, than in a lounge chair, sitting around my fire. Even if you knew some coins had fallen out of your pocket, if you found some of it on the chair, how hard would you look to see if there was more. Apparently pretty hard. I either have the poorest friends in the world, I was going to say cheap, but that seems a little harsh, so, most frugal will do, or these people have cats eyes and they can see in the dark. I started to walk around that pit swinging my detector over the area, making sure I didn't lift at the end of my swing, and I barely made it half way around when I heard a beep. Where was that, my heart started to race, but I stayed calm, I remembered the instruction video and came at the spot from a different angle. What had I found? I was already thinking about the books I would buy so that I would become knowledgeable about the coins I was going to find. I would have to buy these photo album type binders with small individual little pockets to put all my precious coins into, so we could page through them when my family comes over. There would be a story connected with each coin and I would spend hours telling them these stories. Oh, it would be so much fun.
I stood above the spot, while Jonny dug and before you knew it, my first coin. A penny. I was not completely devastated, but a little disappointed. I moved on. I went about another 5 feet and it beeped. I stood and watched, not quite the same heart rate increase, but still excited; another penny. I couldn't believe it, did you all just keep looking for your money until you had every thing but the penny's. Oh well, I shouldn't be digging holes in my yard anyway, it just encourages Roscoe. Next week if I feel up to it, Chris and I are going to go to this old picnic site, about a mile North of town where the province had put in tables, barbeque's, and even a Red River Cart. Over the years it got wrecked, and about 35 to 40 years ago everything was taken away. But I remember where it was and hope to find a few coins there that might be worth more than a penny.

Good to be home.

2007-05-20T07:36:00.000-06:00

Does anybody still come here? Hello? Gonna write anyway. Don't let the title fool you, I've been home for a while. I have just been to lazy to write anything. I have just been cruising my family's blogs and seeing what they have to say. But alas, some of you are know better at posting than I am so, I guess I am forced to post at least once a month. I was finally released from the hospital on May 4, and considering the way I went in versus the way I came out, God has definitely been at work in my body. I went back into the hospital the Tuesday after Easter like a stick of cordwood in the back of my daughters van and had to be moved out of there by ambulance drivers. When I left, I rode out in my wheelchair and sat in the car without much pain at all. We stopped to pick up my meds on the way home, and I was still okay when we got here. For the most part I walk around the house without my walker, unless I have had a long day, like going to town and walking around to much. Then my left leg and hip start to hurt and I use my walker pretty steady.
It was so good to see all my family from BC while I was in the hospital, it sure cut the stay down when I got company every day. The only one I didn't get to see much of was Carolyn, but through no fault of hers, her little ones got sick and by the time they were healthy enough, they had to go home. Next time. To all my nieces and nephews out in the big old world, whom I didn't get to see, I know you are thinking of me and praying for me. Please keep it up. I covet all your prayers.
Yesterday was my first excursion out of the house on my own. As I am sure you are all aware from Beckys blog, she gave Sam his chicken pox vaccine just before she came here and from that I have a good chance of catching shingles from him. So Glen and Sam stayed at his Mom's house and Becky and Ben stayed at our house. Yesterday Becky had Bens birthday party at the pool in the city and I could not go because that would have meant Sam couldn't go and that would have be totally unfair as that little guy just loves the water. So I took the car and went to see Mom and Dad. It is much easier for me to go their than it is for them to come here. Dad just does not do stairs at all. Last time they were here he literally climbed down them on his hands and knees and butt. This is hard to watch when your father is 81, but wants to see you bad enough to do even that. From now on I will go their instead of him coming here. I did find out that it is easier to ride in the passenger seat than it is to drive. By the time I got to Osler I was in quite a bit of pain, and in the passenger seat I can move and lift a little weight off my butt so I can ride a long way. In the drivers seat it is a lot tougher, so from now on I don't think I will tackle driving myself that distance until I am a bit better. Someone will have to drive me.
I am on a cycle of 4 days on, 4 days off with a steroid called dexamethazone, this lasts for a month. I am almost finished this month and then I have to go into the cancer center for a few tests and this will determine my future treatment. After talking to the nurse there on Friday I think I will be put on another round of steroids regardless of the test results, and then do a bone marrow biopsy in July before going on chemo. That is mostly guess work right now and I will try to keep you updated, maybe the next time on the blog the Becky is setting up for that purpose.
On a more personal level, you can pray that my wife won't have to go back to work. She is off on stress leave right now, and her workplace wants her to come back to work. I can get along without her during the day, but I would have to do some things differently. Before I was diagnosed she seemed quite scared, but as time went on and they finally told me I had cancer, my wife just got stronger and stronger. I know that it had to be God that gave her the strength to be able to deal with everything that came our way. To this day she has to help me with my showers and a lot of the physical things that I have trouble with. But that is the small part. The biggest thing she gives me is the strength to go on day to day. She doesn't complain about the things she does for me, she is just a rock in my life. After almost 33 years of marriage I have come to know my wife in a whole new way again. We talk and share things like we haven't in years and God has awakened a love for her in my life like I haven't had in years. I pray that as the cancer goes into remission in my body, that this love won't go into remission as well. This awakened relationship is something that I treasure and I pray I continue to work at it.
So that is my life right now, and again, please don't stop praying for me and my family, as we continue to deal with the cancer that is affecting us all.

Another thing that bites.

2007-03-29T09:51:00.000-06:00

If any of you remember my last post I said I was going to quit ranting. That is why I have not posted. Ranting is a part of who I am, its what I do. So out goes the non ranting position I took.
Here goes.
I can understand just two languages. One is english and the other is low german. I need them spoken at a little higher decibels than in my youth, but I still understand them. But I don't understand english mixed with french, arabic, spanish, yiddish, russian, high german or any other number of languages or dialects that are spoken somewhere in the world today. It doesn't matter what you watch on tv, if the person being interviewed speaks a different language, all producers now take it upon themselves to prove to us all that the interview being conducted is authentic, by broadcasting both the speaker and the interpreter's voice at the same time. Most of us, because we live in an english speaking country, speak english. We wouldn't really have a clue what the other person is saying anyway. For all we know they're reciting a subliminal message like, "drink the juice, satan is your friend, God is dead" over and over as the interpreter is going on about the seal hunt. How do we know? We don't, because we can't understand either language. In our left ear we get the juice message and in the other we hear the seal message, and what we think we actually here is that Newfoundland has discovered a new energy drink made from the blubber of the seal harp. It is completely natural, and even Paul McCartney is endorsing it.
Get it straight people, and give it to me in one language at a time.

My hero

2007-02-01T19:22:00.000-06:00

When Trav and Amanda got married, they went salmon fishing and Trav caught a pretty decent size fish. He put a picture of it on a t-shirt along with the caption "my nephew, my hero" and gave it to me with much fanfare.
Although I never acknowledged trav as my hero, if I had, today he would have been unceremoniously yanked off his pedestal and thrown to the ground, stomped on and left to die.
Today my mother and father drove thru a fierce wind that was blowing snow across the highway making it very tough to see your own lane, much less the rest of the highway and brought me and my sister Susan each chicken noodle soup. Susan has a bad cold and the soup will definitely help her. Turns out I have fractured ribs and that is why I have been so sore for the last while. I am not sure if the mom made soup will help that, but the love that came with it will go a long way to healing me. I had it for supper and I already feel better.
Do you want your shirt back Trav?

Untitled...#748

2007-01-28T18:34:00.000-06:00

The title obviously lies, cause I have only posted 54 times in the life of this blog. I just don't like the feeling of pressure that comes over me every time the cursor starts flashing in the title box. From now on I won't use a title unless a blog comes to mind with a title. I feel like I just won a small victory, don't know against what or whom, but a victory non the less. Onwards and upwards.
Remember about a year ago, maybe less, I posted about trying to make a family size bottle of Pert Plus last an entire year? Well, I did it, and I still have a bit left. I am excited about doing it and scared at the same time. I feel a bit like the car salesman in Seinfeld when Kramer talked the salesman into trying to see how far the car would go when the gas gauge was on empty. The shampoo is obviously the gasoline, but my hair is Kramer. I am not sure which is going to leave me first. I know that I only managed to make the shampoo last this long cause I cut off all my hair in the summer, and even after that I worked at using as little as possible once it grew back in the fall. Did you know that you can wash a head of hair with a pile of shampoo in your hand equal to the size of about 3 nickels? Of course it helps if you can see a good portion of your scalp through your hair, like I can. I am starting to think that the bottle will never run out and maybe my hair will all fall out before the bottle runs dry. There has been an inch of shampoo in the bottom of this bottle now for a long time, seems like months. I think its some kind of shampoo from a parallel galaxy or something, and now I will go to my grave, completely bald and still have shampoo sitting on the side of the tub. I never should have started on this quest. I think I should go have a shower and just tip that bottle over until the shampoo stops running, and with soap in my eyes and suds to my ankles I will throw down the bottle and scream, I win. Maybe not. This has made me tired, I think I will go lay down on my new couch and have a nap.

Google: Enemy at the gate, and other stuff.

2007-01-10T19:59:00.000-06:00

I hate google. There was a window pop up on my computer one day that said there was a new download for Internet Explorer Browser, so being the wizard that I am, I downloaded it and then it took me forever to get rid of google as my home page. Mozilla firefox also has to have a google account to even access my favorites page. When I want to comment on a blog I have to sign in with my google account. I tell you folks, it's a conspiracy. They are going to infiltrate everything to such a degree, that soon you will need a google account to buy anything at Wal-mart. They will require you to carry a google card, much like your debit card. In fact I'll bet they do away with debit cards altogether and just use google cards. You won't be able to buy or sell without that google account. (You know where this is going, right?) Then they will want to put your account on a computer chip and implant it into your right hand or maybe your forehead. I wouldn't be a bit surprised that if someone knew the numerical value of google, it would be 666. ooooouuuu scary stuff. Back to real life.
I had a most marvelous Christmas. All my kids were here. We all met at Henry and Margarets on the 30th for our Braun Christmas. Everybody made it except for some noticeable absences from the west part of the country. We are not going to mention any names though because we are still in the holiday spirit and we wouldn't want anybody to feel like maybe THEY were the culprit. I'm kidding Tutz, undo that knot. When we were in Melfort, Noah took a liking to Emily that was just priceless to watch. The only time he left her was to get something to give to her. He would sit cross legged in front of her and then scoot forward till he was touching her. Never saw anything like it. Saturday before Glen and Becky went home we went to the WDM and Ben just fell almost as hard for the big train engine and a tractor named Henry (Ben's name for the tractor) as Noah did for Emily. We stopped for a coffee and snack in the cafe there and Ben took about two sips of his chocolate milk and he was ready to go see the engine again. I went with him and all the way down the street at the museum he was talking about "going to go see the big train, right Grandpa?" I would say right and then he would start right in again " going to go see the big black train, right Grandpa?" right again Ben "gonna sit in the big black train, right Grandpa?" right again Ben. This went on all the way till he was sitting in the engine and then it was " this is a big train, right Grandpa?" right again buddy. I think this place was the hi-light of his entire Christmas. I definitely know where to take him to keep him amused.
It was a really, really good Christmas.
I have resolved not to rant on this blog anymore. I think that is why I haven't posted in so long. After being a ranter, (is that a word?) for so long it is tough to stop. And people in the world just continue to give me so much fodder its tough not to rant. But I am not going to do it anymore. Instead of looking for the stories that tend to choke me up, I will look for those that lift me up. I will talk about things that make me glad to be here, and not those that make me want to slap someone. I know there will still be people who need a good smack now and then but someone else will have to do it.
Other than the google rant, I think it won't be too hard. What do you think?

Justice system failed again.

2006-12-05T09:02:00.000-06:00

In todays paper there is an article about Gerald Klein, a convicted stalker. He has been after Cathy Kaip for 30+ years and is getting out of jail after serving a full 3 year sentence. The crown wants him to sign a peace bond saying he will stay away from Cathy and her family, but this deluded man won't sign. He somehow thinks he is the victim here, and that Cathy is at fault because she refused to marry him. They met at a wedding 30 years ago, and from that meeting on, he has been after her. I don't think the crown can make him sign. The nature of our laws is that he served his full sentence, the court has no hold on him even though he never took any treatment while in lockup and still considers himself the victim in this case. The guy is obviously insane and should be locked up forever or until such a time as he can understand that he is wrong. Just because he has stalked this woman for 30 years and never physically hurt her does not mean that he won't. I suppose that is what they are waiting for. It just really bugs me that we are so careful not to step on criminals "rights" in this country that the victim has to go through what this woman has already suffered. And now it will start again.

Untitled

2006-11-23T19:08:00.000-06:00

The other day while getting a pair of pants out of my closet to go to work, I ran across a pair of jeans that I hadn't wore in a while and shortly after getting to work I remembered why. The cold got to me and I had to go to the washroom. By the time I got all those buttons undone, it was almost a wasted effort. Who was the dipstick that thought we should put a closure devise on jeans that would take 5 minutes to undo. What an awful pair of pants. As I get older and my bladder loses more of its power to resist the urge to go, I think I will just go to wearing suspenders and never do up the buttons. That way I will never have an accident. Some of you who see me a little more often might want to start praying for the quick demise of these jeans, if you don't want to see me walking around with my pants wide open.
On to another topic.
Chris and I have taken to shopping at Safeway. Not only because they actually have stuff on the shelves, or a really nice bakery, but also because of, you guessed it, airmiles. If you watch the flyer's, and coupons, you can really rack up the airmiles fast. The other day I dropped Chris off while I went and gave the car a quick wash. When I got back, there she was with a few groceries in the cart and her coupons clutched firmly in her hand, checking yet another product before she dropped it in the cart. Regardless of the coupons, she always checks out calories, fat levels and stuff like that. When I got there she asked if I would take a coupon and go find this or that and away I would go. Oh wow, if I get three Right Guards, I get 15 airmiles. Hey, no problem, I will eventually use them. I sweat.I would then go running back to Chris and the cart, and she would give me another coupon, send me off on another hunt while visions of sand and surf, or maybe rocks with huge crashing waves danced in my head. Oh we were going to have so much fun. Who said I hated grocery shopping. We were on a mission. When we got to the till Chris did the final dig in her pocket and came up with the big one. 100 bonus miles if you spent $250.00 or more. We grinned at each other like a pair of kids. Did they know how many airmiles we were going to get? Were they serious about this? Then the hammer fell, she mentioned the date, and instantly my thoughts of crashing waves were gone. Replaced with the vision of a flight attendant laughing and saying, "You want to go where? Not with those airmiles buddy, maybe you can go to Regina, har, har, har" The coupons had expired the day before. There would be no 10 Kraft products in my cupboard, or 3 Right Guards in my medicine cabinet in the washroom. Worst of all, no sand and surf. I was so choked I wanted to just leave everything right there and walk away. But Chris said "no, we still need a lot of these grocery's" She walked around the store putting stuff back in the shelves, so I went and helped. Although what I wanted to do was put it all in the frozen foods section. Wouldn't they be surprised when they found frozen Right Guard next to High Liner fish sticks. Serve them right for not posting the date right at the door when you walk in. So we went home with only a small portion of the grocery's we were going to get and a small portion of the airmiles we were going to get as well. When I got home I took the proper Safeway flyer and threw it in the garbage. Don't be looking for vacation pics on this site anytime soon.

Bleeding Green

2006-11-12T21:43:00.000-06:00

Once again I watched my Riders implode after making myself and every other watermelon head in the country believers last weekend. I mean they just annihilated smilin Hank and the Stampeders last weekend. We all thought they were going to make it, and now the agony of defeat rests so heavy on me that when Johnny said we should cheer for a different team next year, I agreed. But when the bitterness in my belly diluted a bit and the anger at a team that appeared not to have shown up dissipated just a bit, (d words are in) I realized that I can't do it. I have always been and will always be a Rider fan. I can't help it. Its like saying I am a sailor and hate the water, can't happen. I was born a stubble jumper and therefore I am a Rider fan. But, oh how I would have loved to see the Riders in the Grey Cup next weekend. *sighs long and loud as a small tear rolls down face.* you watch us next year

As Becky says, "What the hoink"

2006-10-31T21:04:00.000-06:00

Well well well. I went just over a month without a post. Not because I didn't have anything to say, because you know that would be a lie. I always have an opinion about almost anything. Just a short beef. Why do I suddenly need a goggle account to comment on all your blogs. This is as bad as the word verification thing, only worse. I am such a savvy guy about computers that I may have done something to bring this on myself, but I doubt it. So for now, I am blaming all of you. FIX IT.
Thats all for now. Went begging candy with Noah tonight, what a blast. He was this great looking chicken. And when you guys fix the goggle log on thing, I'll see if Melissa will post some pics.
Have a great day.

Untitled

2006-09-15T09:05:00.000-06:00

Back in June I came on here and ranted about the complete lack of justice done in the case of roger borsch when he tied up and raped a 12 year old girl, said he had no recollection and got off because he suffered from traumatic stress syndrome. My feelings have not changed. Someone commented and I got the impression from those comments that I should feel some compassion for roger. I do. That does not mean that he should not have been punished to the fullest extent of the law.
When I think about what happened at Dawson College on Sept 13, I feel compassion as well. For all those people who were shot, for all those who got away, for all those who will have to live with the memory of that day. That includes Kimveer Gill, had he lived, and his family. But it does not mean that, had he lived, he should not have been punished for his crimes. Compassion in the dictionary means " a feeling that leads one to help a person who is suffering: sympathy; pity." It should not lead me to forgetting the crime and letting it go. But it still breaks my heart. When I look at the images of this young man, I cannot help but think about the people who looked at him 25 years ago. Did they look at him like I look at my grandchildren? With a love so big sometimes it threatens to break my heart and knock me to my knees. Did they maybe pray for him? Did they dream about the things that he would accomplish in his life? Maybe they had hopes that he would be doctor, or teacher, or truck driver, or mechanic. I don't know what they might have wanted for their little boy, but I do know that it wasn't this. What happened in this young mans life to turn him from the dreams that his parents had for him to the killer that he became. Some event, or series of events, welcomed or not, brought him to the point where he decided the only way to go was in a hail of gunfire and take as many as I can with me. When I think about it, my heart breaks. What are we doing to try and stop this kind of behavior from repeating itself. My kids all grew up to be awesome people, but how I wish that I would have spent more time with them as they were growing up. Listening to them and letting them know that I loved them for who they were, not for who I thought they should be. What are the parents of Kimveer Gill thinking today?

" There is no tenderness in the hearts of the Gills. No tenderness, no love, no mercy. Angry men with long coats, short tempers, and bags of bullets. The world they live in is a cave where the light rarely flickers. Thank goodness the don't force us to visit their caves more often." http://www.cjob.com/station/blog_adler.aspx
The above quote came from Charles Adler whom I find myself agreeing with more and more often.
There is a dark corner in a lot of us where we don't want the light to shine. Maybe it is something that we did, or some thought we had or still have that we know is not what Christ would have us think about. We are ashamed of it and think that hiding it will not hurt us. We don't want other people to know that there is something in our life that they must never know. After all, we have it all together, we are just fine. Not true. There was only one perfect person, and He died on the cross so that you and I can come to Him with our imperfections, knowing that He is waiting anxiously to restore or start a relationship with us. Nothing is that dark a secret that it can not be overcome by the light from the cross. This was not meant to sound like an alter call, but now that its here, and if this is for you, ask Jesus to shine his light into your darkness and banish it forever. And then go talk to someone whom you can trust and share that decision with them. Don't ever go it alone.

My dog is so smart.

2006-08-22T20:39:00.000-06:00

We are back from a really great vacation. To all my family and friends out on the island, who made it great, especially my son Mike whom we kicked out of his bedroom and made sleep on the floor, a great big THANKS. Now on to the the title of my post.

My poor Roscoe was so happy to see us, and realize that there are people in the world who still love him and don't almost curse and sometimes do curse at him for anything he does. I may have to take him to a doggy doc so he can help him through the trauma of being with people who don't really know how to appreciate a dog like him. He may be getting over it already, it took almost a whole bag of snausages and another of puperoni treats, but I think he is getting better.

In his ever increasing need to improve himself, and satisfy his craving for old glue, we came home the other day and he had pretty much devoured a copy of Handbook on the Pentateuch. He left me a portion of the inside fly cover, here is what it said. " An introductory guide to the contents of the Pentateuch has long been needed. The Handbook on the Pentateuch will long meet that need. " It doesn't really sound that interesting, but then again it wasn't my book. Becky do you know what it was like? My dog does not discriminate though. The other day he pretty much devoured a novel about knights and dragons that was a pretty good read. Just like Roscoe, I couldn't finish it in one day either. The novel I had left laying around, but the Pentateuch, as you can probably guess, was not. So I went into the basement and sure enough there was an empty spot in the book shelf, about the right size for this text. Not sure what I am going to do, can't have him eating books every time I go out. He already doesn't eat his supper sometimes. Ah the trials of owning a dog. Still better than owning a filthy cat. Man I don't like cats.

My ship has come in.

2006-07-23T20:29:00.000-06:00

This spring the company I work for (SWP) started a program to help those of us who understand a six pack to be something you buy in a store, and not something you have to sweat to achieve, to maybe start us on the road to that other six pack. So every day in May, June and half of July, we printed off a calendar and kept track of the days where we did at least 30 minutes of physical activity. For each month they had a draw for some kind of prize and this month they had a draw for 4 grand prizes of which I was a recipient. I get to pick anything I want, from anywhere I choose, as long as the prize is not over $425.00, and it must have something to do with physical activity. Pretty sweet, aye. Its not the lottery I had dreamed of, but I am still happy. Right now for a prize I am leaning towards a new road bike. My old ten speed is almost as old as me.
And to let you know that this family is just bursting at the seams with class, dignity and just plain pinky in the air as we have our high tea snottiness, Ben today pooped on my deck. I tell you there is nothing like being a grandpa, and being able to laugh at that, and then tell other people about it. It is frightfully hot here, in the low 30's, and I bought a little paddling pool for my grandsons, so today Ben was going to go in it. Becky pulled all his clothes off, yes the diaper too, went inside to get one of those swimmer diapers, when all of a sudden Angie burst out laughing outside. We all went to see and here there was a turd laying on the deck, and Ben standing there with a sheepish kinda look on his face. I almost laugh again as I think of it. What a family, is it any wonder I love it so.

The absolute best

2006-07-17T19:21:00.000-06:00

Once again we got to make the trip to Yorkton to see two out of the three best grandchildren in the world. I know, some of you might think you have a little competition as far as smarts, or cute or athletics go, but really, until you have met these kids you just don't know.
We went to Good Spirit lake on Sat. and what a lot of fun. The best part was playing in the water with Ben, the second best was, even though I went without a shirt, nobody came running up yelling "Hey what's a beluga doing in Saskatchewan?" and try to push me into the lake.
That Ben can talk like a college grad. Maybe not quite as clear, but with just as many words. I just love that kid. He makes me laugh all the time, and I love to follow him around and see what he is going to do next. Sam just kind of lays around and waits for someone to hold him. He is smiling now and even smiled for me. Although the little wiener is starting to play shy with me. A couple of times when I tried to pick him up he would cry. By the time we went home of course he came without a problem. Ahh, I love him anyways, cause he still curls up in your arms and just loves to cuddle. What a fun weekend. Still tired, got to cut this short and go to bed early.

Summer has arrived.

2006-06-28T20:19:00.000-06:00

It was sooo hot today. How hot was it, you ask? It was so hot that after work today I took my dog swimming and I went in with him. Just outside town, in the gravel pits, there is a hole in the gravel pits about the size of a soccer pitch, and only about 4 feet deep. At least that is the deepest I have found. After throwing Roscoe's stick for him a few times and seeing how happy the swim made him, I took off my shirt and jumped in, again. Oh yes, this is not the first time that I have gone swimming with my dog in the pits. The water is just barely cool enough to refresh you, and if you don't mind stepping around the odd bit of goose poop on your way to the water, it is a great swimming hole. Later on in the year the algae kind of takes over, so then we don't go in, at least I don't. Roscoe doesn't seem to mind. Although I have heard that he could get sick if he ingests a certain kind of algae, so we usually go somewhere else.
All in all I just don't care if people might find this a tad odd. When it hits 31 degrees, and I have been inside my trackmobile all day without airconditioning, and the sun scortches you from one side and on the other side the muffler is so close to the window that you can't touch the glass, and all this in a cab that is about 6 feet long, 4 feet wide and 5 feet high, I really could care less what that water looks like or who my swimming partner is. It just feels so good.
And if you can guess who my swimming partner was (besides Roscoe) last year, you will win a prize.

Uplifting things that didn't make the news versus...the other stuff.

2006-06-26T19:21:00.000-06:00

So my daughter said its hard to comment on my blog when I just get on there and rant about the latest thing I heard in the news that got my blood pressure up. Here are some of those things.
I think my grandson Noah is going to be a pitcher in the majors. Did anybody ever read that book by George Plimpton ( I think) about someone finding this young man who could throw a fastball at around 140 mph. It was of course fiction, but it was a good book. I am pretty sure that will be Noah. You should see him throw a dish of apple sauce, or yogurt. He has an amazing arm. The dish will literally fly across the room and he hardly uses any windup. That is why most of the things he throws, end up where he throws them, because he is so fast. He doesn't need a windup to propel the things he throws across the room. He just stuffs his cute little face with whatever is put on his tray until, without any warning, the next piece he picks up ends up across the room. Its so funny.
Ben of course is still enamored with tractors, trains, cars, almost any type of equipment. The boys at the railroad museum just outside of Saskatoon owe me a favor or two, and the next time Benjamin comes to town I think I will call in one of those favors. If you haven't seen his blog with the loader and truck, you have to go there. That is without a doubt an award winning picture. I just love that boy. And you know what, he likes me too. Yea I know, go figure. I have a hard time saying no to him, so he likes to hang out with me.
Sam smiled and I missed it. Gosh, golly gee wiz. The trials of living so far away. If they lived closer I could just go over and pick up a smile whenever I needed one. Yea that's right Becky, you live to far away.
Also in the not reported news. I am back on track to have my big bottle of shampoo last until November. Why didn't I think of this sooner. I just shaved my head. No hair, no shampoo. I mean if worse comes to worse, I'll just use hand soap. The only bad thing about no hair is, your face is that much longer. Now it stretches from just below my chin all the way up and over to my collar. What a money saver this is going to turn into. No combs, no haircuts to pay for, no shampoo or conditioner, although I never used anything but shampoo anyway, but still. I don't have to buy it.

Pride and disgust

2006-06-22T21:30:00.000-06:00

On HNIC on Saturday night, Don Cherry challenged everyone to go order a hat to support or troops and their family's. He is always saying something to try and raise the pride level for our soldiers. I got home from Yorkton and I ordered a couple. I am proud of the fact that they are willing to go and try and bring some kind of stability to a country that has been ruled by hatred.

And then today came the disgust.

In 2004, roger borsch, of The Pas, Manitoba, an ex-soldier who served 6 months in Bosnia, broke into the home of one of his co-workers, tied up and taped the mouth shut of this family's 13 year old little girl and raped her. If that isn't disgusting enough, justice nathan nurgitz found him not guilty by reason of mental disorder. His defense lawyer, jason miller, said he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and he has absolutely no memory of sexually abusing this small child. And because he doesn't remember, he is found not guilty. What an awful injustice and what an awful big lie. This piece of filth said he had witnessed some atrocities in Bosnia, a child blown up by a land mine, he killed a man whom he caught raping a young girl, he says he also killed several other people. None of these instances can be verified by the military. This scumbag is the only one who says these events happened. I don't care what you want to use for a defense, you did it, you pay for it. he will now go before a pyschiatric review panel and they will decide if he should be hospitalized or set free. Absolutely nothing will happen to this creep, except maybe some counseling.
This ladies and gentlemen is our justice system. This is the system we depend on to keep us safe, and when someone steps out of line, we expect the system to work and keep slimeballs like that off the streets. But no, we are supposed to feel compassion for people like that, support them, feel sorry for them, pay for all kinds of treatment, while we push the victim and her family into the background with a slap in the face.
The other thing that really got my dander up was the defense lawyer. On the news tonight when asked about the outcome, he smiled and chuckled when he said that his experts (pyschiatrist) really made a shambles of the prosecution. he said his client was not walking away carefree. "my client is depressed. he has a serious illness." Okay, now that makes me feel a lot different. Go away little girl, can't you see this creep is depressed, we can't send him to jail. For pigs like that we should bring back the death penalty. I am so disgusted, ashamed and just really angry.
John Gormely has a segment on Thursday on his talk show that is called "Bugs day, the hour of rage." When people call and rant like I just did, he sometimes asks them if they feel better now. I don't.
I will still wear my hats when they come, to support the military, but somehow my pride doesn't make my heart swell quite the same as before. This injustice may take a while to flush out of my system. I don't know what I should do. I feel like hitting something, or sitting down and crying as the country that I love is going to hell in a hand basket.

Weekend with my grandsons.

2006-06-21T20:27:00.000-06:00

Went to Yorkton this weekend, and had a most marvelous time. Ripped apart an old greenhouse, and put up railing around the deck so that Ben couldn't take a header 5 feet down to the ground. I found a small hammer at a garage sale and a nice little apron at Peavey Mart, ( for hardware and a whole lot more) and had him decked out like the little helper he is. I love that boy. I couldn't find one to fit Sam, guess he will have to wait.
Glen helped me until he stepped on a great big old nail. To his credit, he didn't whine or cry, just sat there and bled like a man until Becky brought him a bandage.
Played with Sam a bit, watched the Oilers kick butt, and the Riders get kicked. Now the Oilers are done and most of Canada is sad. I am not an Oilers fan, but I remember the Hurricanes knocked my Leafs out of the playoffs once, so I will always hate them. That of course has happened with almost all the teams in the NHL so my hate list is definitely longer than my like list. Usually in the playoffs I pick my favorite team by how recently they knocked out my Leafs. If it just happened, my wrath knows no bounds. If it was a long time ago, I tend to be a little more forgiving. But this year.... this year will be different. We have a new coach, I heard Aki Berg left to pursue a career in Europe, (I am so happy) now if they would just fire Ferguson I would really be excited about this year. We are such next year fans.
Went home on Sunday and picked up Noah and kept him till Monday night while Johnny and Melissa had a bit of a holiday. Dianne, (Melissa's mom) had Noah Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning. I have gained a new respect for stay at home m0ms. Not that I didn't know that your job as care giver is vitally important, but to actually spend a day with a whirlwind after being away from it for so long, has awakened in me a deep respect for the things you accomplish through-out your day. In my mind I am on my knees with my hat in hand. That boy just goes from one thing to the next, with hands that can open almost anything and a mind that just screams for stimulation. When he finally went down for a couple of hours to refresh his body, (so he could see if he could get his grandpa to crash and burn) I went down as well and had a nap. I have no idea how you moms do anything, except look after these little guys. Wouldn't have missed it for the world. If I get asked again, I will jump at the chance. What a fun little guy.
All in all, a great weekend. Spent it getting my grandpa cup filled and a new drill from Canadian Tire.

Does it get any better?

Untitled

2006-06-11T14:20:00.001-06:00

The other day I was going south on Spadina and going to turn up 25th street bridge. Now those of you who know Saskatoon will know that if you need to get onto the bridge at rush minute it is quite easy. When you come up the loop and it joins Spadina Northbound people will let you in and everybody just takes turns, again getting onto the bridge a 100 feet further along, it is the same thing. It just warms the cockles of your heart the way people share at this corner. You know, you just relax behind the wheel a little, and the trip doesn't seem as bad.
So what happens to people only a few blocks up after you have left the bridge.
There was a lot of traffic and when there was room to change lanes I signaled my intention and changed lanes. Only thing was that as soon as I put on my signal light, this little brat of a girl in the left lane sped up hoping to keep me from getting in front of her. She honked her horn at me and waved something, not sure what. I had to get into the left lane because I was turning left, she on the other hand went straight through the intersection, again signaling her displeasure at me in the only way people with a limited intelligence have. What is wrong with people. I don't know if she was in the right lane to share the right of way at the corner of the bridge, but if she had been, I'm quite sure she would have. But just a few short blocks further she becomes a lunatic driver intent on not letting anyone in front of her for fear that she may be a millisecond later at her destination. Ahhh Saskatoon drivers are so uncurteous. No wonder nobody uses their signal lights. I think I should be allowed to pull people like that over and tear up their operators license, and set the little pile of paper on fire.

Trav, you want to help?

Titles are so hard

2006-05-31T20:21:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I know what I want to say, well most of the time I know. But titles are tough. They are supposed to grab you and make you want to sit and read this, cause you know by the title that this is going to be good. Well, hope you don't feel to ripped off. Nothing here but the ramblings of a grandfather. BUT, A VERY PROUD GRANDPA. Becky and Glenn were here on the weekend and her and Angie decided that since Noah was way out in Winnipeg on his birthday, they would throw him one this weekend. What a great time. I think I got him eating his cake, and if I can ever figure out how to get my video to my computer, I'll show it to you. We had a bar-b-que, presents and cake and icecream, what a treat.
While Ben was here I tried to teach him to hold up his hand and say "talk to the hand". He'd repeat it but didn't hold up his hand. Today Becky called and said while she was talking to Glenn about talking to the doctor, Ben all of sudden said " talkin inna hand". My mission is starting to bear fruit. He is starting to repeat everything you say so I will have to start being a little careful.
Noah has a few more teeth, still nothing in front on top, but I'm sure they will come. He was here yesterday and had a nap on me. There is almost nothing as good as holding a sleeping baby. And Sam is just a spitting image of Ben.
Last November I bought a big bottle of shampoo. I'll bet your wondering where this is going. Well here it is. I was wondering if I only used just enough shampoo to clean my hair. Not that much that there would be suds running down my head, but just enough to clean it. Just enough is about the size of a nickel in your hand and about the thickness of two nickels. If you keep your hair short and wait to try something like this until your hair is falling out like a shedding golden retriever, and wash your hair only every second day, this litre bottle just may make the fall. Not sure about Nov, but we are going to give it our best shot. I am not normally this frugal, but the challenge just grabbed hold of me like a really good title to a blog and here I am, on a quest.
Becky, why didn't you pull down all the birthday decorations in my basement before you left, huh? You and your little sister.

The new canoe

2006-05-28T18:02:00.000-06:00

I did it. Well, we did it. Chris and I bought a canoe. It was on sale at C.T. and after parting with my little horde of C.T. money, it cost me only $333.00 taxes in.
So the first trip was planned for the May long weekend, Jonny and I were going to try to make PA. I booked Friday off, so that was going to give us about 3.5 days. It should be enough. Well the week before I got sick, so we didn't leave till Sat morning and we had decided to stop at Gabriels Bridge just east of Rosthern. We were in high spirits as we loaded the canoe and shoved off. It was short lived. When we turned the corner just past the chemical plant we faced a long straight stretch about 1.5 miles long that goes past Wanuskewin, right into the teeth of what soon felt like the winds of Katrina. We had to paddle hard all the way or the wind would blow us back up river. I had pictured a nice leisurely paddle, my fishing rod propped up by some gear, a cold drink stuffed in there somewhere, chatting with my son about what we should look for in a camping site and maybe asking him to pass the sunblock. It was instead a hard paddle, not even thinking of my fishing rod, thoughts of a big mug of hot chocolate in front of a roaring fire in my head, and asking Jonathan to pass me my toque and telling him to "for goodness sake son paddle or we are going to get blown all the way back to the weir in Saskatoon and drown."
We finally camped just down river from the Clarkboro ferry around 5 pm in the shelter of some big willow bushes and it was actually pretty nice. We made camp, built a nice fire, cooked some supper and we were starting to think that it was not going to be a bad rest of the weekend. We woke up at 3 am and it was raining, I had old mans disease and had to get out of the tent for a minute. When I got back Jonathan had tried to put more air in the mattress and had mistakenly unscrewed the cap and was now sitting on the ground trying to attach the air pump. We finally got back to sleep and woke up at 6, in the rain and with the wind about twice as strong as it was the day before. Jonathan had picked this weekend to quit smoking so he was just a "tad" grumpy. We decided to make for the Hague ferry and phone for our ride. We decided to stick to the east bank of the river so we wouldn't get swamped, but this means you paddle a lot farther than if you go from point to point. After a while we didn't care anymore, even death in the cold South Saskatchewan was satisfactory to paddling any more than we had to. We made the ferry by about noon, phoned for my truck and by the time he got there the clouds were gone. We left anyway. Sunday evening was nice out and Monday was just beautiful, but I now had my wish. I was off the river with both feet firmly on the ground. Right behind my lawn mower. It was hot but I did have a cold drink. We are going to do it again, just not sure when. When we do go I am going to bring a couple of packs of smokes, just in case Jonny decides to quit. I know, I shouldn't support such an awful habit, but you haven't been alone with him at a time like this. Aww he wasn't that bad. I would go with him again in a heartbeat.
That was my long weekend. Next trip though, I think will be with my brother Peter. I met him at the Co-op the other day and we decided we should do a trip together. Looking forward to it.

Drugs rule

2006-05-19T08:32:00.000-06:00

I heard today that the Toronto Argonauts are trying to sign Ricky Williams, of the Miami Dolphins. Some of you who read this may be asking, who's that. Mel knows, right Mel? I will tell those of you who may not follow sports. Ricky Williams was the Heisman trophy winner in 1998, played 6 years in the NFL, and played well I might add, and out of those 6 years was tested positive four times for substance abuse. Last month the NFL suspended him for one year and he is now subject to up to 10 random tests a month and must remain under the supervision of a medical adviser. I don't have a problem with giving someone another chance, but the NFL saw fit to suspend him for a year and now the Argos want to bring him here and showcase his running abilities. Trust me, Ricky would never come here if he was allowed to play in the NFL, and if he does play up here it will only be for the year he is under suspension. This action by the Argos really bothers me. We are telling our young people who are in sports that the only way to win is if you are on the juice. I don't know what he was taking, it might have been pot, or cocaine, or whatever, but most likely steroids. I am first of all shocked that the CFL would allow this, but mostly upset that the Argos are trying this.
Did you know that there were about 12 cases of substance abuse in the minors of baseball in 05, and out of those most were pitchers. Everybody pretty much knows that Barry Bonds was or is using steroids, it just needs to be proven yet. But as tests get better so do the methods of blocking those tests. I have heard media people justify his drug use by saying that he may have taken drugs but that was before baseball made it illegal. What a load of crap. Here we are, waiting with baited breath for the day that Bonds hits the home run that will surpass the Babe's record, and he did it by cheating. Bonds would have been a dominant player in baseball without the drugs, but he would not have passed Babe Ruth for home runs. And that is the sad part of this. I must prove that I am better than the next guy, I will be the best at all costs, even if it costs me my health.
Toronto president Keith Pelley said, and I quote, "It is absolutely crucial that before we would proceed with Ricky Williams that he is prepared to be absolutely clean and more importantly, educate the youth of Toronto to say no to drugs." Mr Pelley, I say this to you, if you proceed with this, you have already educated the youth of Toronto and all those who would like to play major sports. We must win the Grey Cup, we must be the best at all cost, regardless of what we have to do to get there. Shame on you and your organization.
Now I must go do my mother-in-laws taxes before they through her in jail.

To sleep....perchance to dream

2006-04-28T06:42:00.000-06:00

I was really tired last night, went to bed at 10, my mother hen son Jonathan called at 10:15, to make sure that I had packed clean underwear and socks for my trip to Winnipeg this morning, and to say that I probably shouldn't try to wear my leatherman on the plane. I still went to sleep soon after, and then woke up at 4:30 and new instantly that there was no point in prolonging it, I may as well get up cause I was not going to get back to sleep. Made coffee, went to the post office and was going to spray a dry moxy lube into my lock because it is really stiff, but the sorter was there, and this stuff smells like rubbing alcohol, so I'm going to wait till another time. Went home, took the laundry out of the dryer and ONCE AGAIN MY T-SHIRTS ARE FLIPPED INSIDE OUT. Sometimes I have thought that someone is doing this to me on purpose, but there is only me here, even Roscoe is now at the kennel, so how come when I put in a t-shirt, dirty side out, it comes out of the dryer turned inside out. I know, its not that big a deal, but it bugs me to have to turn it around before hanging it up, or putting it in the drawer. I think I'll go upstairs, and clean up a little before I leave to go see Noah. The next time I come home Chris will be with me and she has been gone for a week, it would hardly do to let her see that I have reverted so far in only 7 days. I can see why some guys living alone are not able to attract a woman. Why would she want you, you look like the missing link and your place looks like a cave. Men were not meant to live alone. First we needed our mothers and now we need the influence of our wives. And I miss mine. I better go and dust out the cave.

Alone again....naturally

2006-04-26T18:04:00.000-06:00

Well not naturally, but alone. Except for Roscoe and he doesn't say much. Chris is in Yorkton helping Becky with her two boys, which means I am alone. I hatess it. I am having pepsi and nacho chips, and thinking about adding a couple of hotdogs and calling it supper. Still better than plain fried hamburger meat, ketchup and toast Chris. I went to see my new grandson on the weekend and he is just as precious as Noah and Ben are. What great boys. I get to go to Winnipeg on the weekend and help Jonny, Melissa and Noah move back here. I am so glad that they are coming back and I get to see Noah a lot more often, and maybe babysit once in a while.
SGI got back to me today about my stolen and subsequent wrecked car. They want to give me a great big whopping $1400.00 for it. I told him we are not anywhere close on this, in fact we are formally at war. We are now going to arbitration. It had about 320 thousand miles on the car, but the tranny had about 64 thousand on it and the motor about 130. I have paid them over 7 thousand in insurance over the years for this car and now some punk stole it and destroyed it, and now SGI wants to steal it from me again. I guess that's how they made 36 million dollars profit last year.
I think I will try to file my tax returns tonight. Yea, procrastination lives with me as well.

Can Grandpa's gain arrows.

2006-04-18T20:34:00.000-06:00

Psalm 127:3-5
"Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them."
I know this is speaking of the fathers, but sometimes I feel like I am the one who just got blessed by God. This grandpa stuff is heady stuff. Samuel ??? , Glen and Becky's second son came into the world at about 1;30 this pm, and eversince I have been busting out with a sense of pride in my growing family. Yes, I know that it is not my son, but I now have 3 grandchildren. God has trully blessed us. Becky and the baby are doing good. Keep checking your e-mails, and Beckys blog for upcoming photos. When I talked to Glen this afternoon, he seemed up there in the clouds and it might take a bit for him to come down where the rest of us live, and remember that we would like to see pics of this newest edition.
I truly live under the wing of a very benevolent God. First when I was walking away from Him, he loved me and died for me, then blessed me with 4 beautiful kids, and now I get the joys of being a Grandpa to the most handsome boys in the world. I have nothing but praise and thanks in my heart. Thank-you God.

My car

2006-04-17T12:55:00.000-06:00

I went to see my car today for the first time since it was stolen on the 8th. Had to meet the guy from SGI in Rosthern to look at it. It is definitely written off. One back window was broken, the motor wouldn't turn over, front passenger corner had some damage, couple of other spots that had body damage. He must have banged it into something a few times. When they found it the car was sitting in water up to about 8 inches above the bottom of the door. The water was deep enough so that the seats were wet, and it smells kinda bad in the car. Now I have to buy a new car. Harv, from Harvs Autobody had about 20 vehicles in his yard today and he pointed out 6 or7 to me that were all stolen. He said he usually had that many stolen vehicles in his lot all the time. Now my vehicle is a stat among many, that is going to cost each and every one of us who pays insurance more money. And the slimeball who took it is going to continue to take my tax dollars to live, and the government and all the agencies who protect people like that, will continue to deny that we all need to be accountable for our actions. Some of them have grown up in horrible homes, but to continue to blame everybody and everything else for their actions will not change anything, it will only perpetuate that same lifestyle in their childrens children; and the problems continue. My tax dollars will continue to support study after study, and also support the criminal, the few they catch, while he languishes in jail for a few short months for the thousands he has cost all of us. But we can not blame him, we must protect him, for it is society that has made him what he is. Never mind about free will and accountability. I am so frustrated. I am going to go to town and maybe start shopping for a car. Any ideas?

Letter to my MLA

2006-04-14T18:16:00.000-06:00

I just went for a walk to Susan and Marv's. On the way back I walked passed the arena and through the park that is just to the south of my place. This park has 3 ball diamonds, 1 full size soccer pitch, and 2 smaller pitches where the little kids come and play soccer all summer long. When they come they bring along their whole family's and the ones not on the pitch run all over the park playing. And every year it is the same thing. Broken beer bottles all along the path that runs alongside the smaller pitches.
Now I'm not saying that all beer drinkers are stupid people, but I am saying that once most of them have had a few, they become stupid. Oh there are still a few brain cells that they haven't killed off valiantly fighting the good fight and trying to control that stumbling body, but its useless. Sooner or later, this now stupid drunk will take his empty beer bottle and smash it on some piece of public property. Then he will raise his arm in victory as if he has just scored the winning touchdown in the Grey Cup, and sealed the victory for his team, not even caring if he has just wasted 4 cents. That's right folks, for everyone of these broken bottles, that stupid drunk has just thrown away a grand total of 4 pennies. One dozen of these is a whole 48 cents, what a terrible waste of money. I have never known anyone who could drink a dozen of these and then be able to even hit the ground with an empty. The deposit was 10 cents even when I used to buy them way back when. They might be worth more some places but at Sarcan you will only get 4 cents apiece when you bring them back.
So I think I will start a letter writing campaign to raise the price of the deposit to $1.00/bottle. Even if that stupid person still breaks them when he is totally drunk, sooner or later he will run out of money and won't be able to buy more. At least early in the mission to kill off another couple of thousand brain cells he will remember that he paid a lot for these bottles and won't at least break them all. If it becomes to expensive maybe they will switch to cans and then when they throw them away I can pick them up and make 10 cents. Some have also said that beer out of a can doesn't taste as good as out of a bottle. Believe me when I say, if your a beer drinker your no connoisseur, champagne or a good wine out of a can, yes, but not beer.
So I am going to start by writing a letter to my MLA, and see where it goes from there. Wish me luck or not, depending on where your feelings lie. I don't really care though, I'm still doing it.

My Saturday

2006-04-09T07:40:00.000-06:00

I got up about 6 on Sat. And decided I better clean up all the little deposits that Roscoe left in my yard this winter, and that I was either to lazy to pick up when they fell or I wasn't there when it happened. There was a lot, took me an hour.
Cleaned up and had breakfast after that and Chris decided we should go to town and get some paint to fix the basement stair area. Got home and started to do wall repairs before painting and realized that I had left my drywall mud, that says "keep from freezing" in the garage all winter. It was hard and kinda dry. I'm still having a good day, cause the sun is shining and it is mild out. I went to Steve's hardware to get more mud, and when I turned to leave, I looked out the door and there went my car, just turning out of the lot onto the street. I yelled at Steve, "someone's stealing my car" and went outside. I had the thought that someone who knew me was pranking me and would turn into the lot at the grocery store. I mostly leave my keys in the car in Martensville, and I would like to say I won't do it again, but those who know me would call me on it right away, so I won't go there. Anyways when my car passed the store and kept going, I realized that maybe some slimeball was actually taking my car. If I would not have let a woman in front of me in the Hardware store, I would have stepped out of the store at the time the guy was getting into my car, and I could have hit him with my pail of mud. Steve told me to take his truck and follow him, but by the time I got his keys, yelled the license plate number at him, and took off the guy was just at the outskirts of town. Now because it was such a nice day everyone in Martensville was out driving and there was a really slow person in front of me, so when I finally reached the corner where you turn to either highway 12 or highway 11, the idiot in my car was out of sight and I didn't know which way to turn. I turned around dejectedly and went back to town. When I got to Steves he was still on the phone to the police so I gave them a description of the vehicle and as I hung up the phone the cop went flying by with lights in hot pursuit, as they say, but he called me back in about an hour with news that he had missed him. The cop came to my house and took a statement, and told me it was probably someone hitching on the highway, got tired of walking and decided to come into town to see if he could find some wheels. He also told me not to expect a positive end to this saga, because if they even found the car, it would probably end up on some reserve, parked in a bush, completely destroyed. He also told me it might be a good idea to change all my locks as all my keys were on the same key chain. So as I'm kicking myself for being so trusting and polite (letting the woman pay before me) I put all my painting stuff away and take all my locks off the house and garage to get them rekeyed. Thankfully I didn't have to buy new locks. I still have to reprogram my garage door opener, for now I just unplugged it.

Now the somewhat good news.

About 4 hours after the scumbag stole my car, the cops phone to tell me they found it. It was in the ditch, completely waterlogged and stuck, on a country road about 40 or 50 kilometers north of town. It was facing south so the cops don't know what he was doing. I don't know how much damage was done to the car, it was sitting in water, but only up to the bottom of the door. The keys were gone, so I am glad I changed my locks, side note to my kids, throw away all the keys you have to my house, you can't get in anymore. The cop said he would call me tomorrow with the location of my car. They want to keep it for a day or two so they can check for fingerprints. Side note to justice system. If this guy is caught, after the all the great work by the police, why don't you do something with the power you have been given instead of asking him politely not to do it again, and then turning him lose on the people who pay your salary you useless bunch of judges. Thanks Oscar. I won't know for a few days what my car is like. The cops say, by the tracks in the ditch, the guy purposely drove in there and kept going till the engine got that wet or the car got stuck. I am going to talk to SGI on Monday and find out my options, there could be something wrong with my car that won't show up for a month or year and then I am out that repair bill as well. The year before I put a new tranny in it and last year a motor, and now I could be left with a car that will again need major repairs. I am just so chocked.
If they do catch this guy they ought to take his welfare check from him and put it away to pay for any future repair bills on my car. But nothing will happen. He will get a slap on the hand and I will be left with a possible huge repair bill. Is there any wonder there is insurance fraud.
Anyways, that was my Saturday, how was yours?

My weekend at Ben's

2006-04-01T09:31:00.000-06:00

Somewhere in one of my familys blogs this comment was made. "you bunch of jackals." Somehow that seems to fit a couple of my family members. My car engine wasn't even cold from the trip to Yorkton and Carol, Margaret and Mitz are all at me like a jackal at something dead. Mitz so graciously wants to call a truce to the correction thing and at the end threatens everyone if they don't behave. Idle threat of course, you little pipsqueak. Who could you hurt?
Ahh, that's why I like being in the family I am. Couldn't think of a better place to be.
A good chunk of my weekend with Ben was spent in the basement working. If I had not forgot some of my tools, if I was a better handyman, if I was faster handyman, if I didn't get distracted so easy by Ben, if, if, if, if, if. All in all it was a good weekend. We got quite a bit done. Angie painted like crazy. Becky mudded. Chris babysat Ben *whine*. And I did some carpentry, and played with Ben. I taught him the ryhme, No more monkeys jumping on the bed, of course this has to happen as you are jumping on the bed. Poor little guy tried it all by himself and fell off the bed. We were to busy to go playing in the puddles, but next time we definitly will. Have to go to town and get ready for our missions conference tonight so see you all later you bunch of Jackals.

The runaway freight train called my waist size

2006-03-29T19:22:00.000-06:00

The nachos, salsa, cheese dip and a cold pepsi are calling me. The other day I was at church, getting some things ready for our up and coming Missions Conference. While the paint was drying, I looked at some photo albums that were done up for the churches anniversary. I ran across some old photos of me and I hardly recognized that skinny runt of a man.
We are back on the soup again. Last time we only made it a week and didn't only fall off the wagon, we took a running start and jumped off. So now we are not going to stick to it real strict, but are going to allow ourselves some decent food as well. This of course does not include nachos and pepsi. Nor does it include other kind of junk. So we will cut out the crap and still eat a bit of decent food. And maybe by the summer I will once again fit that speedo swimsuit that I have been saving. I can almost see myself,,,,,, all fit and tanned showing off my six pack, walking down the beach. Instead of white and fat, laying on the beach waiting for some green peace animal lover to come along and try to save my life by pushing me back into the water. Okay maybe the part with the speedo and tanned thing may never happen again, but sometimes I get afraid about the whale image. I watched a program the other day about a guy who weighed about 500 lbs, went on a diet, lost about 340 lbs, did all kinds of speaking tours and was the envy of all. Forget how long it lasted but he got back up to 700 lbs. He ate 2 dozen hot dogs for lunch or maybe 15 or 16 pork chops. He lost some weight but was still around 400 pounds when they did the tv program. I am a long way from that, but without some serious work on my part, this expanse around my middle is just going to keep growing.
Margaret, you inspired me. If you can go on a diet and lose a swack of weight, I believe I can as well. So here's to celery, carrot sticks, low fat cheese....yech!

What to write, what to write.

2006-03-19T21:05:00.000-06:00

My mind is just this empty restless void of nothing. I know that it is hard to be empty and restless at the same time, but there you have it. That's me right now. Hey, I just thought of why!! Its the same feeling that came over me shortly after I quit smoking and my body was craving nicotine. Maybe that's all I need. Inhaling a few good lungfulls of carcinogen laced smoke would probably set me right with the world...............................Naw, probably not. Just make me hack up one of my lungs and make me puke, and I really hate puking. Almost as much as I hate snow and winter. Sorry, I wasn't going to wine about winter anymore, but I hatess it so. I should have gone to Yorkton this weekend and played with Ben. That would have set my world right. But it was kind of warm all weekend with a wind so the highways would have been awful so I'm glad that I didn't go, but I do miss that boy. The webcam to Noah teases me, cause I can see him but can't touch him, and that's almost worse than not seeing him. That's not true either. I think I am just kinda cranky tonight. I read all my family's blogs, and realized again how much I miss them all. Didn't comment anywhere, just read them and left. Trav I went to the Great Buffet of China today. Hoping I would see you there. That place has improved, it was really quite good. Anyways, its almost 9:30, so I think I will go to bed, read a bit and go to sleep so I can go to work tomorrow and shovel about a million tons of snow out of my switches. Ah the joys of living in Saskatchewan.
Goodnight all.
The stupid spell check just asked if I wanted to replace goodnight with Codington. Who built this program anyway. And what is a Codington.

Hello, my name is John, and I am a union member.

2006-03-12T17:25:00.000-06:00

That may sound like I am making light of alcoholism. Truly I am not. It just feels like some times I have to confess it. I am also a born again believer, I don't however feel the need to confess that, in fact I am proud of that.
Last weekend I spent my time at Watrous in a convention with my union brothers and sisters discussion solidarity, and what we could do corporately to the "man" to make our plight better.
We talked about policy and brought forward resulotions that we want our union to lobby the government on. These were not all bad resolutions, but a lot of them I could not vote for. But it was immaterial how I voted. It was kind of like trying to stop the water from falling over Niagara falls with one bag of sand. Unions are LEFT wing organizations, always have been, and probably always will be. I on the other hand lean more to the right. That is the dilemma I have. How does a right winger like me belong to a left wing organization? Did I mention that I am on the executive of our local? No? Well I am. I took the job because I wanted to bring a little balance to our organization. Unions a lot of times are about protecting the worker at all costs. I am all for protecting the worker against no neck employers, but sometimes we forget that we came to the employer asking for work and promised to do a fair days work for the pay that no neck was offering. I don't think I would like to work for my present employer without the benefit of my union, but I have worked for employers before who were very good to their employees. Treated us more than fair all the time.
At this convention, it seemed that anything the NDP had done, or was doing, or would have done had they been elected, was met with hand clapping and amens. While everytime the Conservatives of any stripe were mentioned, the room broke out in a chorus of boo's and hisses. How can we be so narrow minded? Must I turn in the portion of my brain marked "free will" when I sign on the dotted line? I don't understand. Not sure if I ever will. But until something better comes along, I will keep my union membership and try to remember that I work for my employer and not for the union.

I hatesss it...

2006-03-02T17:58:00.000-06:00

It snowed again. 15 no good for nothin, lousy, stinkin centimetres, or 6 inches. But when your whining about it, you always go with 15 no good for nothin, lousy, stinkin centimetres. I just got in from shoveling the path from the back door to the garage. Yesterday I shoveled most of the front driveway. The rest I will do in June if it is still there. Some of you may have read or at least heard about the western paperback books and there is always some poor hero heads into the desert with a horse and pack, then a few days or weeks later he pulls himself out and barely makes it to the nearest creek. Well thats how thirsty I was when I was done shoveling today. I barely made it to the fridge, managed to reach in and pour myself a near beer, (no alcohol) went to put in a dolop of clamato, and low and behold it was light cranberry grape juice. Through my bleary eyed, near delerium state I was just able to stop the flow before it was completely spoiled, pull out the proper mix and fill my glass. I drank it anyway, even though it had a bit of a purple tinge to it.
What I am trying to convey here is that I don't like winter. None of it. But I can't leave. My grandson's live to close. And those boys are worth putting up with anything.

How to turn a decent steak into boot leather.

2006-02-25T19:23:00.000-06:00

Chris and I are back on the soup diet. If you saw me, you wouldn't have to ask why. You eat this really good tasting vegetable soup three times a day and it not only cleanses your insides, you lose weight. By Wednesday that soup is just nasty. The only good thing is that every day you get to add stuff to the soup diet. Monday vegetables, Tuesday a potatoe, wednesday bananas, thursday fruit, friday I don't remember and glorious Saturday all the beef you want. So tonite I put this steak on the barbeque. Not a fillet mignon but not a blade or round steak either. Then I did the one thing I should never do. I came downstairs, fired up the computer and started to check and comment on all the blogs I visit. It was while I was on Shirleys blog that my wife called down and asked how the steak was doing. I was having a really good time up to that point. But I deflated faster than the Canadian mens hockey teams dreams of a gold medal did.
At this point I am still trying to chew this burnt offering, but it is not at all what I dreamt it would be like. The only reason it is not completely inedible is that when I opened up the lid on the barbeque, the propane in my tank had all but burned away. Tomorrow is another meat day and even if I freeze my extemities I am staying outside until it is done. I am so easily distracted from the task at hand sometimes that I think I could still be a teenager, and then I see a mirror and realize that I just distract easily. If I could reach my butt I'd kick it. And no Trav, I don't want you to bring over your new boots.

Good Friday

2006-02-25T08:44:00.000-06:00

As anybody who has stayed at my house can verify, my day stretches from about 5:30 am to about 10:00 pm. In between that time if I am forced to be awake, I am pretty much comatose anyway so you may as well let me go to bed. Last night was no different. So, at around ten I said goodnight to my Chris, who has lately just become this knitting machine, (but thats another story) and went to bed. I like to read a little in bed before I go to sleep and when I opened the bedroom door, I got a surprise. There was a card and a book on my pillow. The card said some things that I can't repeat here cause this is a family kind of blog, but it also said Happy Birthday, Happy Valentines day and Happy Friday. The book was written by Stuart McClean. For those who don't know, he writes story's of Dave and Morley and their life from dating to marriage and beyond. They are all short funny stories about their life together. He also does live performances and puts them on tape and cd. If you like to laugh and sometimes feel kinda weepy (never me though) check this guy out.
Somebody likes me, somebody likes me.... this last sentence should be read with a kind of lilt in your voice and you should think of happy thoughts and skipping down the street.
It really was a good friday.

Being a grandparent

2006-02-20T19:40:00.000-06:00

This is almost bad. I was just going to start this with the line: Ben was here for a whole week. Glen and Becky were here as well, and I apologize to you Beck, but you have slipped, maybe not slipped, because after all you guys brought me to this most blissful position, but you have been surpassed by this tiny little guy who already can move me with a little tug on my pants and a "pease, pease." He knows what he wants and pretty much gets what he wants, especially from his grandma and me. But thats what we are supposed to do. It is not up to grandparents to say no is it. Thats up to moms and dads. We are really not that bad, but he can pretty much get his way with us. I know a lot of his language now, like chips, candy, juice, car and all the things that we play. He loves to come and play on the bed and that way all the toys that we have purchased for our house since we found out Becky was pregnant, are all within eyesight up in the closet. When he wants something he points and I hold him up and he picks what he wants, then we play with that until he wants something new. He is so much fun.
Becky called tonight and told us to be on the lookout for Thomas the train, it apparently didn't make it home. So I looked in this cupboard that Jake build and sure enough, there it was. Exactly where I found a lego people last week. He is always opening a cupboard to get something and then putting the toy he was playing with in there. We have found all kinds of toys in funny places after he goes home. Got to go now, 24 is on.

This should be the end

2006-02-20T19:32:00.000-06:00

So I got a letter from the head of security prairie division and I think this should end it. Unless you crazy bunch of Brauns want me to do more. Short of following Travs advice, I don't think there is much we can do. Anyways here is the letter.

Mr. Braun;

The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) plays an integral role in the Government of Canada’s air security initiative. CATSA’s mission is to protect the public by securing critical elements of the air transportation system, including the screening of passengers and their belongings. Its mandate is to deliver a consistent, effective and highly professional service that is set at or above the standards established by federal regulations.

While security is CATSA’s top priority, please be assured that customer service is one of its main priorities in the delivery of security screening for air travel. Screening officers are trained to ensure that passengers are treated with respect and dignity at all times, while ensuring their comfort and safety. I regret that the experience that your parents had with pre-board screening at the Edmonton airport was unpleasant.

I have concluded my investigation of the incident. You should know that the younger of the two officers involved is no longer employed within the Security Screening Operation in Edmonton. I did have a lengthy discussion with the gentlemen who assisted in the incident your parents experienced in Edmonton. Being unable to interview the younger of the two Screening Officers I am unable to come to any conclusion with respect of his attitude or demeanor in this particular case. The Screening Officer I did interview did have some recollection of the events. He did indicate that they did try to unfold your father’s walker in order to put it through the x ray and when they could not, they performed a physical search of the item. With respect of the cane, it did go through the x ray and showed a metal rod through the centre of the cane. One of the items discovered at Screening Points in the past is a cane with a Chinese Martial Arts sword disguised in the cane. Common sense would indicate that your father might be an unlikely candidate and if it could not be revealed right away that it probably was not “infamous” cane. CATSA Standard Operating Procedures does require that these items be searched but we also advocate an awareness of the passengers that carry these items. Please accept our sincerest apologies for the way this situation was handled and extend the same to your parents.

I appreciate you bringing these concerns forward as it identifies an area that we need to handle much better the next time.

Yours very truly,

Rod Gore
Service Manager, Edmonton & North Region
Canadian Air Transport Security Authority
PO Box 9808, Suite 03-025, Mezzanine Level
Edmonton International Airport
Edmonton, Alberta
T5J-2T2

You really should sign out of your blogger account when you leave the computer... Especially if you have company... It's just good thinking really.

2006-02-11T00:56:00.000-06:00

Well, I fixed up Dad's blog with all of the links he wanted... I think. Now I feel like since I'm here already I may as well write a post for him.

We're here! The roads were pretty stinky half of the way, but we took it slow and made it safe and sound. Ben is ecstatic to be reunited with his one great love... Dad. Don't get me wrong, he LOVES his grandma. He loves his Mommy and Daddy and Auntie, but, as we all expected to happen eventually... Ben has decided there is no one who is as fun as his Grandpa. 'Course, Ben calls him "Mama" which is pretty funny from my end of things.

Tonite there was non-stop playing. Ben wouldn't even eat, he was having to much fun playing some kind of loud, freaky, laughing game with Dad. Then they played cars for a while, then up onto the bed for some tiger rides, then back to the cars, back to the bed... etc. Then poor old Dad got tired. He tried to go to bed. I think he tried three or four times before he finally managed to close his door and actually lie down in his bed alone... no Ben. Grandpa's boy is pretty persistent though... he ran down the hall to Dad's closed bedroom door and cried, "Mama! Mama! Pees! Pees!" (Translation: Grandpa! Grandpa! Please! Please!) Lucky for dad he is pretty deaf and missed most of it. Unlucky for Dad, Mom didn't miss a word and has a pretty soft heart. Ben's sobbing little voice at the end of a dimly lit hallway did her in. She opened Dad's door, let Ben in, and told Dad what his poor sweet little grandson was doing outside his door.

tomorrow morning Glen and I are going to sleep in while Mom and Dad take Ben out for breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa and Ron and Trudy. Yeeeee! I wish we lived closer. That's all I can say. That and I just hope he doesn't make strange. Nite all!

mmmmmm ice cream

2006-02-10T11:36:00.001-06:00

To all of you who said I didn't post, here is another one.
I just got back from the store with really, really, really good tasting strawberries. I know, its winter, I don't know where they are from, don't care. They are really, really, really good. So I am going to put some of them in a blender, along with a banana and mmmmmmmm ice cream, and have a little snack to celebrate my friday off. Then I will do some dishes, not in celebration, but because there is a limit to how much fun one should have on a day off. If I make it to good, I will never go back to work.

2006-02-10T10:34:00.000-06:00

Still no news from head of security prairie division. Do you think he is trying to forget me?

Help

2006-02-01T18:57:00.000-06:00

How do I get other peoples blogs on my page? I always have to go to Beckys site and then to all the blogs I want to read. If someone would either tell me how to do it, or do it themselves...Becky. This would make my life easier.
Anyway, nothing to write about, so I am going to eat my smoked oysters, drink my near beer with clamato juice, and watch the Router Workshop. Great TV and my favorite snacks, and it is not even the weekend. I know how to live. OOOOOh yaaa.

Old age and bad memory

2006-01-30T21:05:00.000-06:00

I forgot about four movies I can watch over and over.

1. Groundhog Day.

2. The Cowboys with John Wayne.

3. Kellys Heroes.

4. Canandian Bacon.

Four things

2006-01-29T19:22:00.000-06:00

Thanks Becky, othes than todays message in church there is nothing in my mind and I could not do the same justice to the subject as Ken Rutherford did.

Four jobs I have had.

1. I worked for a construction company who were building the Western Developement Museaum in Saskatoon. Lasted a whole 4 days, than I got canned.

2. My second job was also my best. I worked for a farmer at Borden Bridge. He was a great guy to work for and I think I was made to be a farmer, I really liked it.

3. My brother Henry and I sheeted a quonset for a farmer when we were going to school. Another great job, he let us have a beer at lunch.

4. Now I work for the Pool.

Four places I have lived.

1. I live in Martensville right now. The place where we raised our children. Good house, lots of great memories.

2. I lived in a house on this side of the the Borden Bridge right down by the river. Every day I could go down to the river and fish or just go walking with my dog Frank. He was a great dog, and my first.

3. I lived in a low rental four plex in Saskatoon that was just terrible. You could hear through the walls like they were paper, and our neighbours drank and then they would fight, usually at about 2 or 3 in the morning.

4. Best place was this little house in Maymont. No running water, oil burner heater, mice all over the place, but it was the house where I brought my bride, and it was the best.

Four TV shows I Love. love is a little strong but here it is

1. Any fishing show

2. Corner Gas

3. 24

4. Hockey Night in Canada

Four places I have vacationed.

1. Traveled to Hanson Lake with my family and stopped at every lake and campground and some lakes that didn't have campgrounds, what a great trip.

2. Went on a fly in fishing trip with my wife and another couple to Andrews Lake, north west of Lac la Ronge.

3. Went on a camping trip for 2 weeks though BC with my wife. Awesome trip, tented most of the way.

4. Many great camping trips throughout Saskatchewan with my family.

Four of my favorite dishes.

1. Cabbage rolls. And not those sticky gooey little things that my ukranian freinds make.

2. Eggs benedict with a little salsa.

3. Farmer sausage and vereniki with a homemade rhubarb sauce.

4. Hotdogs cooked on a fire at the lake.

Four sites I visit daily.

1 to 4. All the blogs of my family and freinds.

Four places I would rather be right now.

1. In Mexico city visiting my freind Paul.

2. Fishing for salmon with my freind Steve.

3. Summertime and at Sylwyn Lake lodge.

4. Again, summertime and at any lake playing in the water with my grandsons.

Four bloggers I am tagging.

1. Benjamin

2. Noah

3. Mitz

4. Travis

The city photographer

2006-01-24T15:29:00.000-06:00

The city of Saskatoon wants me to pay them $220.00 for this photograph of my car. I realize that there are 4 photos, so the cost is only $55.00 / picture, but really, do you think the quality is okay, or should I ask for a retake.

Yes I got caught running the red light, but I think the cost should be shared by my son's. They were in the car with me and talking to me. If I would have been alone I would have been paying attention to my driving and would have stopped. What do you think?
What really sort of picqued my interest on here was the last paragraph, "as the owner of this vehicle, you are legally responsible for the manner in which it is driven." Nevermind that I may not have been driving the car that day, the car is registered to me and that is all they need to make me legally responsible for the way it is driven. I suppose the only way I would be able to get out of it was if I could prove that it was stolen. Anyway, if I have a minor child, and this child causes damage to someone or thing, regardless of the amount, I am not legally responsible for any of the costs associated with this childs delinquent behavior. He or she can run around, do thousands of dollars worth of damage to peoples property and because this brat is a minor, the law can't touch him and they can n0t come after me for the costs. There are people who are trying to make this into law, but there is a lot of opposition to it.
Why should I not be responsible for little Johnny? I brought him into this world, I create the enviroment he has to grow up in, I teach him right from wrong, hopefully, I put down the footprints that he will follow. I can make his life a living hell as he grows up, so that he has almost no chance to grow up with a decent set of values, and if he brakes the law continuesly, as he grows up, the young offenders law, will do nothing to him or me until he becomes an adult, and then he is on his own. But I get off scott free. But only in this world. A time is coming when I and everyone that has ever had a child will have to answer for the way in which we brought up our children. I think God is going to want an accounting of all the things I did, taught and said to that little soul that he entrusted to me. In some ways this is a bit scary and I wonder why I let myself in for this, but the rewards when you see your children grown and starting familys of their own are huge beyond compare. We all do stupid things, as evidence points to in the photo, but we have a loving God who just longs to help us and give us the tools we need to raise these little souls to become the men and women that He envisioned when he entrusted them to us.
Now if only He could make that ticket that accompanied this photo disappear.

The airport saga continues

2006-01-22T20:08:00.000-06:00

So this is the beauracratic response I got from CATSA. I also got a note requesting the time mom and dad went through security in Edmonton. Mitz supplied all this so I sent away another note. Their note is in yellow, mine in red.

Thank you for your e-mail of January 9, 2006 (it is copied below so that our Lead for the Prairie area can be aware of the details related to your complaint). Sorry for the delay in responding to you.

The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) plays an integral role in the Government of Canada’s air security initiative. CATSA’s mission is to protect the public by securing critical elements of the air transportation system, including the screening of passengers and their belongings. Its mandate is to deliver a consistent, effective and highly professional service that is set at or above the standards established by federal regulations.

While security is CATSA’s top priority, please be assured that customer service is one of its main priorities in the delivery of security screening for air travel. Screening officers are trained to ensure that passengers are treated with respect and dignity at all times, while ensuring their comfort and safety. I regret that the experience that your parents had with pre-board screening at the Edmonton airport was unpleasant.

Here is the information on my parents flight on Dec 3. I talked to my father and he mentioned that it was a bit embarrassing to be grilled by security when other people were just walking through without a problem. He was made to feel guilty without ever having done anything to warrant this type of harassment. I mentioned to Caroline Mitchell that I was not at all interested in hearing the form letter response, about how this kid was doing his job, and security played an integral part in the safety of all Canadians and a bunch of other bureaucratic gibberish, I am still not interested. There is nothing you can say to make me believe that this was anything but harassment. If you or anybody else,,, were to talk to my father and mother you would instantly see that the publics safety was never at risk with my parents, and this was only a case of someone with a bit of power, who went completely overboard and made an otherwise pleasant trip, unpleasant at the end of it.

Now we will see what kind of response we get. I wanted to tell him that if we did not get the right response my family was going to come from all over north america and heap all kinds of abuse on this kid, worse than he did to the patriarch of our family. But I didn't, we will keep that a surprise. Anyways, when I hear something, I will let you all know.

2006-01-21T09:24:00.000-06:00

Carol you are so intelligent. How ever did you end up with my brother, with brains like yours. Glad you came and read this, now I will post all the corespondence with airport security. Here is the letter I sent to them.

Sorry about being so long, with Christmas and all it just got away from me.
My parents flew to Edmonton this fall to see my brother and when they flew home on Dec 3/05 they were treated like some kind of criminal's at the Edmonton airport. I do not know the flight they were on but they arrived back in Saskatoon at 6:40 p.m. If you need more info about their flight I will get it for you. My father, who is legally blind, has Parkinson's disease and requires a cane to walk, will be 80 this spring and mother will be 75. When they go anywhere where he can use it, he also uses a walker. When they went through security at the Edmonton airport, bound for Saskatoon, the two security men said they wanted to see his walker. They looked to see if it could be taken apart easily, but it only folds, so they scrutinized it, looking for contraband or something. This is already foolish, but to this point one could say they were only doing their jobs. Then they asked to see his cane. This is a homemade wooden cane, made by dad's great uncle and very special to him. The younger of the two guards asked dad if the cane had a pipe or a steel rod down the center of the cane and dad told him he did not know. Then again he asked if this came apart and was told no it did not. He proceeded to twist and wrench the cane to see if it would come apart, the whole time grilling my father about the construction of this cane. He then told dad that the only way he was going to be able to check it properly was to break it in half and have a look inside. At this point the older of the two guards said that it would be okay and gave the cane and walker back to my dad. He then told him they had to be careful because there was some kind of "Chinese trick" (not sure what that means) to smuggle things aboard planes this way. I am quite sure the punk security guard who harassed an old man about his cane felt quite big and brave, for keeping the country safe from the criminals of this world. This was not a case of keeping the country safe. This was a case of a little power in the hands of an even smaller person that got completely out of hand. This was not a flight from an international location by someone who could be reasonably suspected to be carrying drugs. This was an old Mennonite couple coming from Edmonton to Saskatoon for goodness sake!
Please don't send me a note telling me that this was only their job. It wasn't. I appreciate that things are different in the world now. People lock their doors now, and we all want to feel safe wherever we are. But I have never felt threatened by an old man who requires a cane and or a walker to get around, with his only accomplice a 75 year old great grandma. I am not looking to have this young boy fired, I only want you to deal with it so that the next old man or woman who needs a cane or walker does not feel intimidated by some punk kid with a badge.

2006-01-10T18:56:00.000-06:00

I know it took a long time, but I finally got an e-mail address and sent off a letter to airport security about the harassment that dad suffered in Edmonton. As soon as I hear from them I will let you know what they say. If anybody wants to see the letter I wrote, you have to tell me how I can put the letter here without retyping the whole thing. Then I will think about it.
I am so impressed with myself. I just hit the spell check and all of the previous paragraph was error free. I know, small pleasures........ you take what you can get.

alone, alone, alone, oh so alone

2006-01-07T17:01:00.000-06:00

Noah should have stopped in Yorkton and left by now so that his aunty Becky could see him one more time, and that is as long as Chris and I have been here by ourselves and it feels like forever. When Ben left it wasn't to bad because Noah was still here, but now that Noah left too, it makes me realize how big a piece those two boys take up in my heart. I have only been without a grandson for 3 hours and I am getting sniffly just thinking about them. I better get some " aww, poor baby" out of all this misery, and in my mind I want to feel some arms around me, making me feel better. I will let you know if it helps. I got to go get busy with something, alone with my thoughts is not helping just now.

Christmas celebration is done but not the calories

2006-01-01T18:14:00.000-06:00

No I did not die or anything like that, I have just had better things to do. Today Chris and I cleaned up all the decorations, packed away the ornaments and the tree and said goodbye to another wonderful Christmas. Mike went back to BC yesterday, Jonathan, Melissa and Noah will leave tomorrow, probably evening so that Noah will sleep most of the way, and Glen, Becky and Ben will leave on Tuesday or Wednesday. After that it will be just Chris, me and roscoe. I thought that as my kids got older Christmas wouldn't be as much fun, and in a way I guess it wasn't, but it was always good. But I have to say that small children do add a special touch to the holidays. Being able to hold either of these to boys of mine while they fall asleep or just take a break and sit on you is so great that words fail me. I will miss them immensly while they are gone. I should at least get to see Ben on a fairly regular basis but Noah is all the way in Winnipeg and you can't go that far as often. Oh well, whats a grandpa to do.
To all my extended family, I miss you more at this time of year than any other. Hope you all have a great new year and hope to see you all in the summer.

First Christmas

2005-12-17T22:42:00.000-06:00

Sorry this is not some warm, melt your heart story about Christ first appearing on this planet. This is about the first family Christmas we here in cold Saskatchewan had today with my parents because some babies in sunny bc didn't want to travel to snowy Saskatchewan to be with their parents at Christmas so they stole mine for the holidays, making us left here to have our Christmas early. This whole last sentence should be read with a slight whine in your voice and a small sneer on your upper lip on the right side. Go ahead read it again and I will wait. Done? Good, then here is the rest. My parents are going to spend Christmas in BC this year with what has become the majority of the family. If we take Abe ( he is closer to Saskatoon then Victoria) then we are in a deadlock. So today we had Christmas with them here and on Monday they fly to BC. Chris and I talked about it on the way home and it didn't seem much like Christmas. Mom and Dad handed out their gifts and we gave them ours, but other than the turkey dinner it was lacking somehow. We didn't play balderdash, we didn't play steal the present game and we didn't play Knipsdash. But the biggest thing I think was that there were only 21 people in total in the hall. How I would love it if just once more we could all be together for Christmas. All my brothers and sisters, their kids and their kids. Someone with better math skills can add that up and let me know how many people that is, but I am not doing it tonight. I somehow don't think it will ever happen again. We have become so big that we will never be able to get that many people together again on the same day. It was still good. I got to show off only one of my grandson's, I ate to much and drank to much coffee. I also heard a really good Christmas joke that I will share here someday soon. I got to visit with some of my younger nephews and neices, which is scary in a way cause that means I am just getting older. If all this meandering doesn't make a lot of sense, you should see all these thoughts in my head, all trying to get out with the intention of being put down on paper, so to speak, and they all want to be first, cause they know that if they are not near the front I will forget some of the last ones and they will never get out. Forever to roam aimlessly in the caverns of my mind and blocked from ever escaping by songs like, All for the love of Sunshine by Hank Williams Jr or any number of songs that pop into the forefront of my mind simply by mentioning a word or phrase. See now I don't know where I was anymore, even though at the start of this blog I had it all nicely laid out in my mind. Oh well. To all the family that I won't see this Christmas I pray that you will have a truly wonderful time. I pray that you will all be safe in your travels. To those like Mel way down there in the States who is sharing her first Christmas with her new hubby Peter and his family a special blessing on you. I pray that you will have a joyous time and really become a member of that family. And don't miss your Mom and Dad to much. And to all you thieving family down on the island, enjoy your Christmas very much. I hope you all eat to much and put on at least 5lbs over the holidays. I got to go to bed. goodnight

old or sleepy

2005-12-16T22:37:00.000-06:00

See i am so tired I forgot what i was going to say, so i jsut rambled. Some one help... Why does my messenger keep coming on line after I click on the offline tab. huhdsssssssssssssssssssssssssjjjj that last i just dosed off. I am toatally serious. help

??????

2005-12-16T22:26:00.000-06:00

Here it is, what to some of you might still be early, which to me is late, and I am on my computer. I am starting to become like Trav. Never time to publish, just go to people's sites and comment. Just spent an evening with my grandson Noah and his mother. What a delightful kid. He is a little bit afraid of my dog. He loves to be chased and he gets this wild eyed look and he trys to run away. He has only been walking for a month so his fast is still quite slow. But what he lacks in speed he makes up for in effort. As soon as he reaches a safe zone (his mother) he turns and looks at you as if to say, "see you missed" I love spending time with my grandchildren, but I ,,,aw to heck with it. I am going to bed. I just misspelled thre words in the last sentendce. I am gonig to bed.

Things that amaze & things that #!!!%&****

2005-12-13T20:35:00.000-06:00

Today I saw something that I don't see very often but it has always amazed me. When I see it, its kind of like seeing a really good card trick and going "how did he or she do that!!!!!!" I had to go to the grocery store to buy coffee and stuff for the lunchroom. When I had unloaded my stuff into my car a older guy walked up to me and asked if he could buy my cart cause he didn't have a looney, just a dollar. I was mesmerized. He could have taken my cart and not given me my dollar in change and I probably would not have noticed. For hanging off his bottom lip was a rolly. For those of you uninitiated, that is a hand rolled cigarette. It was stuck to his lower lip, still smoldering, like it was crazy glued on there. He could talk normally, you know, open his mouth fully while forming words, and that sucker just stayed right there, as if it had always been there. I wanted him to keep talking cause I wanted to see it bob along on his lip, but I was totally flabergasted and couldn't thing of anything to say. Besides, I guess it might have been rude to just stare at it, like you might if he had a melanoma on his lip, like that teacher in the movie "Uncle Buck". What a great show. The thing was kind of ugly and brown, just like that melanoma, but I digress. Through all the years that I was a slave to that ugly weed I could never get a cigarette to hang on my lip like that. Ahhh missed oppurtunities.
The thing that choked today was not something that I rarely see, in fact I see it to often. It was one of these 4 X4 trucks, with the real nice paint job, fancy chrome wheels and those (bleeped out) lights in the bumper of the truck that are usually brighter than any other hi-beam lights on any other vehicle. By far most of these vehicles will never see any off road conditions or rougher terrain than a grid road, so what is the reason for putting these bright lights on a vehicle. And trucks are not the only ones with these lights. I see lots of small cars, usually in the sporty class with these mini suns stuck in the bumper. If you meet one of these vehicles on the highway and give them a quick blink with the hi-beams, they then get indignant and turn ther hi-beams on and leave them on. Now it is like driving directly into the sun and all you can do is squint into that glare and pray that you are not in their lane. Why would car makers put these lights on cars. These aren't rally cars that drive through the desert at night. These are cars that are never driven anywhere but on asphalt for goodness sake. I just really hate those lights.
Anyway those are just a couple of things that occupied my mind today. But the most important was that my grandson Noah is coming here from Winnipeg tomorrow and I along with his grandmother get to see him first cause I get to pick him up at the airport. I haven't seen him since thanksgiving and I really miss him. He started walking at 9 months and is now 10 and Jonathan told me last night that the boy is almost running already. He looks so much like his father that it's almost eerie. When I look at him it is like turning back the clock almost 30 years. This is going to be one of my best Christmas' ever. Mike is coming home from BC and that means my whole family will be here. I have a great family and this is going to be just great.

A little power run amok

2005-12-07T19:50:00.000-06:00

My father is almost 80. He has parkinson's disease and has had for about 15 years. My parents were just in Grand Prairie to see my little brother and his family. My brother drove them to Edmonton and they flew to Saskatoon from there. When they were going to board in Edmonton, my father, who also uses a walker when there is room to use it, was asked by security if they could look at his cane. It was handmade by his great uncle, and looks handmade. The young security guard asked if it came apart, was told no, and then proceeded to try and twist it apart. During this ordeal he was also told to hand over his walker so they could look at it. The youngster was very adamant about getting into my fathers cane, and asked my dad if it had a rod inside or a pipe. When told that he didn't know, the kid told my dad that he would just have to break the cane so he could examine the inside and make sure that this 80 year old man was not smuggling drugs from the drug metropolis of Edmonton, or maybe he had a sword built into it so he could take over the plane. What is wrong with some people. Maybe he was bored and hadn't been able to push anybody around for a few hours. I mean, how many suspicious looking characters fly from Edmonton to Saskatoon aboard a local West jet flight. Are all people who use canes and walkers now going to be accosted by overzealous security people. Some people just need to be taken out behind the barn and slapped really hard until they get it. They really aren't that powerful or important. My father with his fantastic attitude only saw that this whole act was just a little silly. The rest of us, me included would file a formal complaint and have this kids plastic badge.
Maybe I could learn something from this, I don't know though. I would have felt injured. I would have felt that I deserved better treatment than this. I should be treated with respect. I hate when I am taught a lesson right in the middle of feeling indignant about how badly I was mistreated. Oh wait, it wasn't even against me. And yea, the kid did carried away with his power a bit, especially considering who he was interrogating. Oh crap, this didn't turn out at all how I wanted it to. I wanted to continue to stand on my soap box and shout this injustice to the world until I got enough encouragement from all of you that I should do something about this. I should on behalf of my father file a formal complaint and take it as far as need be. BUT I WOULD GET AN APOLOGY!!!And then I would feel soooo good. I had overcome the system. The little guy had fought big business and won. Not only big business, but the government. All of a sudden I would have the power, I was now the big guy and nobody would push me around........oops. I think I just saw what a little power could do in the wrong hands.

One of those days.

2005-11-30T21:19:00.000-06:00

Today was one of those days when I just did not want to go to work. Don't get me wrong, I don't love my job. I don't hate it, but I don't get up in the morning and go " oh goody, goody I can go to that lovely elevator, eat dust and spend my day at this place that is slowly draining away my will to live. I got up tired and it just got worse the closer I got to the elevator. Sitting in the locker room, smelling grain dust and sweat, with my work boots on and one leg already encased by dirty coveralls, thinking about how great my bed felt when I dragged my tired body out of it at 5:58 a.m., I almost got back in my street cloths and left. Somehow I stayed. I would like to say that it got better...it didn't. It didn't get worse, but it didn't get better. When I have a day like that I spend some time in my office and stare at my wall of fame...pictures of my grandsons. If those faces can't keep you going, your just not alive. What a pair. Thanks Becky and Melissa. I know you didn't do it for me, but those are the best gifts this grandpa ever got.

We are underway

2005-11-28T20:40:00.000-06:00

I am really not sure how this is going to go, seeing as how I am a bit(ahem) of a procrastinator. But it is starting to get cold out and every year I hate winter more and more, so I need something to do during the long cold winter. This might be it. I should just follow the rest of my family to Vancouver Island, but I am not sure what I would do there. All I can think of is fishing, and I have never been that succesfull ( is that correct,,,aw who cares) a fisherman so I doubt whether anyone would pay me for that. No comments about someone paying me for what I do now. Anyways, I guess I'll just stay here and get cranky as it gets colder, and spend my time praying that my grandsons don't change too much before I get to see them again.

Please Stand By

2005-11-20T18:04:00.000-06:00

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