Pond scum

Look up Tony Merchant in the dictionary and there should be a picture of a rat or some kind of virus. What a slime bucket. Maple Leaf has gone so far beyond what was required of them or even what would be reasonably expected of them and now here comes the king of sleaze with a class action law suit. If he had one ounce gram of human decency he would be suing CFIA. Not that they have done anything wrong either but if Maple Leaf has done 2 or 300% of what is required by CFIA then surely it is them that is at fault, not the company.

Same old for the past couple of weeks

Not much excitement in our lives lately unless you count a trip to Nipawin or a thunderstorm. We've been hanging out in Regina, working and occasionally doing some cleanup in Mom & Dad's old apartment. Yesterday was a big day at the apartment. Mother & father came over and went through the last of the closets and drawers. Now we have a plan in place to distribute the remaining furniture to family. The remaining clothing will go to charity along with some of the food. I think it was a hard day for mother saying goodbye to possessions, as it was for us too but everybody just put their heads down and got on with the task at hand. Broadway Terrace management has come up with a new tenant for the apartment starting October 1 so now there is a deadline on getting the remaining stuff out of the place.

We're leaving here next Friday to start working our way west to Vancouver so we need to get as much done this week as possible. I'm not 100% sure we'll get the place completely empty before we leave but we should be able to get close and we'll be back in Regina before the end of September anyway. It should look a lot different by Wednesday night - Marlan & Michael are coming on Monday to pick up some furniture and then on Wednesday Mary is coming for the kitchen table and the deep freeze. Right now the place still looks full because there is furniture scattered randomly around every room but it will look a lot different once the big stuff is out of the living room and bedroom.

Last week we made a quick trip to Nipawin. We picked up the mail that Quint has been collecting for us but weren't able to go into the post office to pick up the mail while we were there. Some kids apparently set the garbage cans at the back of the post office on fire the same day that we arrived in Nipawin. Radio Norm commented that it was pretty short sighted of them to light a fire at the post office since that is where their family welfare cheques arrive. You tell 'em Norm!

The yard was a mess but not nearly as bad as we had expected. Our lawnmower man failed us completely so we had hired another guy to mow the yard in mid-July but it hadn't been attended to since then. The ditch didn't actually look that bad. There were a few alfalfa plants that were pretty big but the rest of it was acceptable. The back of the yard where it hadn't been mowed since late May was pretty wild and the "garden" was its usual joke self. Its been so dry there that the raspberries hadn't amounted to anything. It was probably pretty optimistic to expect anything off them this year anyway. They got hit hard by the May frost last year. There's some pretty decent canes there now for next year but we won't likely own them by then so it won't matter. We did get some cherries though. They were pretty tart but would make excellent pie cherries. They were edible raw and there weren't anywhere near enough to make a pie but there is hope for next year. I think that's four years now since I put the little sticks in the ground for the ones that are bearing.

This coming Friday we're going to pull up stakes here and move to Climax, to Gail & Al Balfour's yard. We'll stay there a couple of days while I deliver some FCC reports in the southwest and then we'll start working our way west across the south route. Many years ago before we discovered Mara we spent some time with the kids in the Kootenay region. We had a lot of fun there and our memory of the area is that it hadn't suffered the runaway development that the Okanagan Valley has. We want to check out the current situation to see if that is still true. We really liked Kaslo and New Denver so we will definitely check out both of those communities. Our plan is to go right across the south route to Vancouver and then come back through the middle - probably up the Okanagan to Vernon and then across through Lumby, Needles, Nakusp and New Denver to Kaslo. Depending on available time maybe we'll go out through the middle.

We've got a reservation at Capilano RV park which is right downtown in North Van. Kerry's wedding is on the 13th and it sounds like a bunch of the family is going to congregate starting about the 11th so we will get there in time for all that and hang out until everybody leaves. It feels like we got our summer in BC cut short so we are looking forward to getting back out there for the end of summer. I think I'm looking forward to the trip through the interior just as much. There's some really neat communities in there that date back to the silver rush in the late 1800's. We're not sure where we're going to settle but it might very well be one of those communities.

Steffie Ding Dong is on the TV right now claiming that he doesn't feel an election call is necessary right now. Wanna bet that Steven gets him backed into a corner and he caves (again) while the Conservatives continue to implement their agenda? You all remember that this is the idealogical government that was too rigid to last two months as a minority when they got elected.

Are we really that stupid?

Steffie Ding Dong says we need economic growth with environmental sustainability. Let's pretend for a minute that he actually has a clue what that means and that it's not just a friendly sounding Lib election slogan. Does he not know that the history of development tells us that the best environmental security comes from development? Look at North America, look at western Europe, then look at China, India, eastern Europe. The fact is that developing economies are hard on the environment and developed economies protect the environment. The best security for the environment is therefore economic development. So what have you got in mind Steffie? What great economic platform have you got that will catapult us to the next level of economic development and in the process give us the surplus resources to protect the environment? Hot air and mangled words won't do it. Or will they?

"Green" used to mean inexperienced, unknowing, lacking knowledge. Perhaps the current "green" population fits the earlier definition better than they would like to admit. Perhaps Steffie's nice sounding hot air is all they really need. And all they can really understand.

Who the hell cares?

The media is all abuzz about Canada's dismal showing so far at the orgy of greed that the "modern" Olympics have degenerated to. Personally I think the less medals we win the better. If medal count is indicative of money spent (and it clearly is) then less medals means less money wasted. I mean - who really cares which country has the fastest bicyclist? We've got cars, busses, trains - its nice that someone likes to ride their bicycle but what difference does it really make who can do it the fastest? And beach volleyball - there's a concrete indicator of a country's international standing. Wouldn't everybody rather have the world champion beach volleyball team than - oh, I don't know - maybe a growing GDP or strong balance of payments or low interest rate or .....

And how about that hippy freak draft dodging SOB that is going to get deported next month? Three years he has been in this country SINCE THE DEPORTATION ORDER WAS ISSUED!!! He's been sponging off the taxpayer and manipulating the legal system to dodge his responsibility in the US for lord knows how long but at least three years since an immigration court said he should go back to the US. Just imagine how long somebody who really was at risk in his home country could manipulate the system. No wonder this country is a shining beacon for every lowlife from every corner of the globe.

Some days I really wonder about our priorities.

Back in Regina

Well we left Whispering Pines Tuesday morning and drove through to Maple Creek that night. RJ was at a ball game in Vauxhall and Marlan was having a shower when we tried to phone him so we didn't stop in Medicine Hat other than to pick up the micro-truck. RJ had taken it when he left Monday afternoon. It was hard to leave Mara but we will be back there next summer, probably for longer so we have that consolation.


We had a pretty busy last week at the lake. RJ arrived on the bus the day after the beheading but fortunately still had his head when he arrived. He wanted to spend as much time on the water as possible and that was no hardship for us. The weather wasn't great on Friday but it was glorious through the weekend. Sometime shortly after he arrived he picked up Jessica in the campground so we had her along in the boat most of the time. She was a real pleasure to have around and a quick wakeboard learner. By Monday she was ripping like an old pro. RJ bossed the boat around on the end of the rope like he always does. I'm always amazed by the difference in feel depending on who I am pulling. No doubt some of the difference is simply size but its more than that. His technique is aggressive and assertive and I can feel that in the way he pulls the boat around.


On Monday Dan & Marilyn and Bryan & Dean showed up for a late lunch and then we took them on the water for the afternoon. RJ, Jessica and I had been out most of the morning so that was a busy water day for me. RJ left right after lunch and it sounds like he had a pretty hairy trip out, including seeing the gas station at Revelstoke burn down. I haven't seen any news footage for that fire but it sounds like it more or less started in front of his eyes as he drove into town. There's no evidence of firetrucks in the pictures he took so he must have been there pretty well from the beginning. He said there was a mad scramble as the cars in the station parking lot tried to get out once the fire started.

Now we're settled into Buffalo Lookout, east of Regina on the Trans Canada highway. Mom & Dad's big move is scheduled for Monday. We're paid here until the 1st week in September. After that we'll see. Our current plan is to take the bus to Vancouver for Carrie's wedding in the middle of September and do some property scouting in the Kootenay region either on the trip out or on the return but right now everything is pretty fluid.

P I G hogs ............ and cats

On Saturday morning we went to Salmon Arm with 3 bags of dirty laundry and a shopping list. We stopped on the east side of town at a U-Pick orchard that we go to every year. Marilyn took a big stainless bucket into the cherry orchard and I headed down to the raspberries with two ice cream pails. One hour and $28 later we were on our way with about 2 gallons of cherries and maybe a little less raspberries. Hard as it may be to believe, we have managed to chew our way through most of that fruit already. We've got less than a combined total of a gallon of cherries and raspberries left. They were WONDERFUL. The cherries are big and juicy. The raspberries were just barely ready to pick which actually worked out well because they are keeping, although they won't have to keep much longer.

G-II is getting to be well known around the campground. We now walk the perimeter of the campground (probably 35 acres) at least once a day. He goes and hides if he realizes that I am getting ready to take him for his walk but the silly part is that he really enjoys it, once we get out of sight of the bus. He is almost impossible to drag away from the bus but once we get away from it then he turns into Mr. Sociable. He rubs up against everyone we meet, including all the dogs. He gets lots of attention from all the little girls in the park. He watches squirrels and cowers whenever we meet a "big noise" (car or truck). But most of the time he just puts his tail up in the air and drags me along about as fast as I can walk. Once he gets back close to the bus then he really starts to drag me and when he gets back inside he usually collapses next to his water dish and pants for about 15 minutes.

Yesterday we took a couple and their 3 kids on the water for ski lessons. Two of the kids were pretty little but they got a feel for skiing on the boom. Mom & Dad had a great time - we got him up on skis and she skied first and then wakeboarded for her first time. That's probably what we enjoy the most about being out here - taking kids that have never done anything other than sit on a tube on the water and teaching them to do something athletic that they will then be able to do for the rest of their lives. This couple is here for another week so we will take them out again. We find that it works best if the kids get a day on the water, then sleep on it and then go back again. Somehow our brain gets all the new motor skills sorted out over night and the 2nd time always goes much better. Even when they don't actually get up the first time, they seem to learn from it and the 2nd time goes way better.

Marilyn has stopped calling wakeboarding the sport of fat old broads but she still gets amazed looks from the young punks on the wakeboard boats when we pass them or when we go under the Mara bridge and they are looking down from the top.

Long time - no post

I guess we must have been busy.

Marlan was out here for a week with his friend Mitch and his family. He mixed his time between them, us and all of us. They had their boat out here too but didn't use it much because I think they liked ours better. The boys spent as much time as they could manage about 55 feet behind our boat. They are both really strong wakeboarders so it was fun to watch them doing their thing on the water.

Marilyn has also turned into a wakeboarding fool. She gets out every chance she has and doesn't want to come out of the water once she gets over the initial cold shock. It hasn't been really warm out here until the last week or so which leaves the water temperatures a little below what we are used to out here. The river is also still higher than usual for this time of year but it is starting to drop fast now.

Last week I went back to Saskatchewan for a few days to meet with some FCC clients in SW Sask. I had a quick visit with Mom & Dad at the same time. Marilyn took me to Kelowna and picked me up there. We had supper with Fred and Shawna when I got back. We hadn't seen Shawna for several years but we did see Fred at Anne's 100th birthday last summer.

Jorgito has a new friend. There are a couple of families here now that we know from previous trips out here. They have a collie pup - maybe 2 months old. It is an absolute cutie and I think George even likes it a bit too. Despite the fact that its favorite thing to do when they get together is chew on George's tail. He puts up with that for a while and then smacks it but I'm sure he realizes that it is a puppy because he is pretty gentle when he disciplines it. Last night I was over visiting the pup's owners and their young daughters took George and the pup for a "walk". It was a walk in name only because George really only walks for me and the pup clearly doesn't have a clue about walking on a leash yet. I think most of the time both of them were getting carried except for when George thought they were headed for the bus. On those occasions he led the way.

Our days are full - we try to work a full day on Sask. time and then play well into the evening on BC time. Yesterday I took a couple of hours off in the morning to take the puppy's owners and girls out on the river. We got mom up on skis and the youngest girl (6 maybe) up on skis. Her older sister and cousin got up on the boom but couldn't master the short line so the little girl was pretty proud of herself. I'm always surprised by the difference in what kids master and at what speed. Before we went on the water I would have bet that the little girl wouldn't even get up on the boom. The smallest skis we have are clearly too big for her and little kids usually don't have the coordination to manage floating in the water, controlling their legs and skis and keeping their arms out for long enough to get started. She did that with flying colours while her older siblings just couldn't get it all together. I told them we would take them out again on Thursday so that they can practice what they learned. I find that kids generally do much better the second time out. It seems as though sleeping on the new skills allows their brain to process what they are doing and the second time out it becomes much easier for them. The little one is convinced that she can get up on the long line now and she may just be right. We'll see. Meanwhile mom is hooked on skiing and can't wait to get out again despite getting two big bruises on her thigh and somehow managing to smash her knuckles between the ski and the handle - I'm not sure what was going on there - she was explaining it to me last night but I still don't know how she did it. It certainly hasn't dampened her enthusiasm so I guess it can't have been too bad.

It sounds like we will be changing our travel plans. Mom & dad are going through a bad spell so we will likely end up back in Regina for August. We're are still semi-expecting RJ out here for the August long weekend but after that our plans are fairly flexible.