Dell on Going Viral & Vampires

Kevin and Shelley arrived this morning as I sat inside watching the rain on the lake. It's such a peaceful sound you would think it would be my favourite. Instead, I prefer the sound of rain on a tin roof. Did you know you can actually order these sounds online? Before Kevin put on the new camp roof, this was one of my life's simple pleasures; although I know he was right, the roof needed an upgrade. Now, whenever I get lonesome for that sound, I just take whatever book I am currently reading and go sit in the outhouse which still has the original tin roof. That Kevin is some kind of smart. He rigged a set-up using heated water line built into the outhouse floor, charged off the inverter, I can switch on up at the cabin before heading to the outhouse. I can sit in there with my feet in total comfort. Love comes in all shapes: a heated floor in the outhouse is just one.
Shelley said their tenting was wonderful and thanked me for minding Dorg. Then continued, "...and since it was raining, we thought we might as well be in the rain at the lake. [I think they missed us: or at least Dorg.] Shelley, Kevin and Dorg left just before lunch, heading across the lake to Ron's, in the rain. Ron will appreciate their surprise for him, a lovely rainbow trout packed in ice. There was one for my cooler, too. I took a pass on joining them, as my feet are aching. They'll be back in the morning to run me in to the Vampires at the clinic.
Shelley took a few minutes to look at what I'd been up to on the computer, then said if I was "going viral, she had to do something."
I told her I couldn't be viral. I have a card in my wallet proving I had the H1N1 shot at the clinic, last October. She said she'd explain later and gave Kevin an odd look. Was it something I said?
She made a few phone calls. Apparently, she has a freind with an extra email address they were willing to help out with, so now I have my own official email address. Her friend will have my emails directed here.  "I'll do it before we head to town in the morning," Shelley said, so it must be a simple thing, as we have to be in town for ten. Shelley had better not use that word 'viral' around Leona. That woman will be bleeding me like a leech before you can say, "Now take a deep breath."
Tomorrow's going to be a long one: shopping. We won't be the only ones. Running the gauntlet [my phrase for shopping], is one of my life's unfortunate necessities.
The only highlight will be the local Farmer's Market. A buddy rang me up this weekend to tell me the first fresh srawberries are on sale, as well as, asparagus and, for sure, I'm picking up fresh local eggs. Shelley generally sets the menu for our Canada Day celebration: she gets me to help out sitting at the kitchen table peeling potatoes, or fixing the strawberries. Again, love comes in all shapes: giving me the sitting down jobs, while she stands, is just one of them. Ain't life grand?

There was a fine looking full moon last night. The impending rain made it all misty and fuzzy around the edges. We're socked in as Graham, my pilot friend, would say. Clouds appear to be just above tree level. You know, I'm missing Dorg already!

Dell on CSIS,Fadden, Harper & Air India

I am enjoying another sunny morning here in N. Ontario: Dorg is keeping me company while Shelley and Kevin are off on holiday with his family, returning in time for my next appointment with the clinic vampires.

Speaking of vampires, the news is rich with those who suck the life's blood out of Canada. This week, Peter Mansbridge's CBC interview with CSIS', Richard Fadden, was particularly thought provoking, as was the news that the federal government's tough on crime policy means more jail cells will be needed.

After watching the news, I found myself thinking about a book someone gave me several years ago: Kevin Trudeau was the author. I remember how I laughed out loud as he prefaced his work by saying he was telling the truth despite threats to his life. If he lived it was only because they didn't dare touch him because he told the truth. If he wound up dead, it was further proof he was telling the truth. A win/win situation. This was a brilliant marketing move: he's right no matter what. Unfortunately, Kevin Trudeau's marketing technique, with a few adjustments, works just as well in politics.

In Canada, according to the CBC news report, 80% of security money is spent on terrorism, despite evidence the greater national threat is foreign influence through long term efforts to control key persons in government and the ongoing theft of billions in trade and technology secrets. If there is a terrorist incident, the millions spent to fight terrorism will appear to have been a good decision. If there is no terrorist incident, it's because the money was spent to prevent one. It's a "win/win" situation, that fails to address the real threats.

Prime Minister Harper has announced he plans to build more jail cells. The Ontario government is rightly balking at a Federal policy intending to dump the cost of those jail cells on the provinces. If Canadians are going to get tough on crime, we need more jails, this despite a projected cost for those jail cells capable of breaking the finanacial backs of Canadians. If crime rates soar, Harper is right. If they go down, Harper is still right. It's "win/win" policies such as these that fail Canadians.

With technology advances, many of those in jail cells for non-violent crimes, could be monitored safely with house arrest in the community. Criminalizing the poor creates a 'them versus us' mentality necessary to motivate the public's fear and continued financial support of a tough approach to a perceived threat. With reports claiming 15% of adult Canadians use cannabis, I cannot help but notice the criminal "them" is "us".

If Fadden is correct in saying Canada's biggest threat is the billions of dollars lost to the theft of technology and trade information, we have not only misplaced our funds, but our fear as well. The government is willing to spend millions on airport security and install X-ray equipment for passengers, while the real threat, according to the findings of the Air India bombing report, is loose security then and now, along with crime protection agencies unwilling to share information.

The Canadian taxpayer, duped into the fearful belief that crime and terrorism are rising threats, is asked to  dig into his pocket yet again and fork over more cash. As long as this government formulates policies using the "win/win" method, unwarranted rising taxes will continue to flourish. What is needed is social reform. Unfortunately, no one gets to rich with a scenario that promotes understanding instead of fear.

I'll post more on this subject after lunch and power nap. Would you believe that it is now pouring buckets of rain here? If we have rain, it's good for the garden. If we have no rain, it means I can spend time outside. Another "win/win" situation.

Dell on George and Vampires

Well my feet hurt. Raining to beat all get out. Made it to the clinic okay though. Leona was there so my blood work was pain free. Never thought much about referring to Leona as a vampire until Stephenie Meyer came out with The Twilight Saga Collection. My grand-daughter put it on the Kindle for me and then got me the DVDs, too. I tried explaining the story line to George H___, who was there waiting for his bloodwork, but he won't wear his hearing aids and I'm not sure he knew what I was talking about. He looked kind of startled when Leona said it was his turn.

Personally, I've always liked vampire tales. Blood symbolizes life. In my case I'm not sure there isn't more blood thinners than blood (just a little cut mind you and it bleeds like a sucker), but as long as that blood keeps pumping along inside of me, I'm good for a few more kilometers.

George was telling me (loudly) that he's moving to the city to a "residential care facility". I blathered on about all the good points: no grass to cut, no meals to cook, neighbours if you want 'em, nurses if you need one or want to chase one (that got a grin out of him) and all the things he'll be able to do, being right in the city. I don't expect he'll last long there and I am damned sure he didn't buy my nonsense.

The two of us go back to the late sixties when he and Clare bought the old Hansen farm. They did all right until the government regulated their life to death. The day they told George he couldn't butcher his own cows, had to be a certified butcher, you could see the oomph go out of him. Then Clare took sick, trips back and forth to the city, until she died last winter. Maybe I shouldn't say this, but George has always had a thing for the ladies. Now by that I don't mean he actually had another woman, but he had a habit of making an ass of himself if a pretty lady was around, and I'm sure Clare put up with ten tons of crap from him over the years. Still, he loved her. When she passed on he was kind of left dazed and confused (a great Led Zeppelin tune Kevin played for me on youtube). Clare wasn't even in the ground (cold storage until the kids could get here in spring to plant her) and the family began pushing George to sell the farm to them.

I better back up and mention that George's land has the only easy access to one of the finest little fishing lakes in the area. His brother and nephews hounded poor George saying he could use the money, promising he could stay on in the house as long as he wanted, work the fields, too, if he liked.

Now a lawyer would have told him to make a living lease, but George wouldn't go to a lawyer. He said he'd be damned if he had to get a lawyer to okay any deal he made with his own family.

George sold the farm to his nephews: the deal closes the end of next month. He didn't have to tell me why he's moving to the city. I've met his nephews.

Hell, maybe he'll have a good time where he's going. Bound to be plenty of women his age living there. Do I feel sorry for George? Damn right.

Some folks wear their faults right where you can see them, while others appear all sainted on the outside hiding their intentions.

Yes, George knows all about vampires waiting to suck the life's blood out of a person. I'm going to miss George.

Dell on Reefer Madness

My grand-daughter visits me at the camp for days at a time when she's off work and the weather's fine. For a while she thought I didn't know what she and her friends were up to taking walks in the bush, until I made a point of telling her I hadn't smelled so many skunks around camp since someone threw two dozen eggs in the bushes some years ago.

We had a rousing discussion around the fire that night along with a half dozen of her friends.  Three of them had seen the 1936 black and white propaganda piece Reefer Madness. Corey and his brother Kevin had me laughing until the tears ran down my face as they acted out bits and pieces from the film. The kids said they've made broadway and musical versions of it. Maybe I can get my grand-daughter to see if it's available. She's my IT wizard. Got me all fixed up at camp and the apartment in town. When I asked her about the expense, she said she had a little gardening project that just sort of took off and the total outfit was paid for from the proceeds. I didn't think it fitting to ask just where her little gardening project was located. Knowing her it will be somewhere past my property line.

My grand-daughter and her friends had no idea about Pierre Berton. Klondike: The Last Great Gold Rush they knew from school assignments, but they had no idea he was a toker. They went inside, got on youtube and watched him give instructions on how to roll a joint: the one from The Rick Mercer Report six years ago. He was 84 (twenty years older than me) and supported marijuana law reform based on his 40 years of recreational use.

Having read history and understood prohibition, these kids shake their heads at the duplicity and propaganda the 'establishment' engage in with almost no accountability. Our young people are suffering a level of misery inflicted on their generation by the baby boomer and me generation (me, too) who were having such a good time getting divorced, buying and selling houses, cars, cottages and all sorts of toys, the job of social responsibility to neighbour was entrusted into the care of government. In Canada that usually means no one is held accountable in a court of law while acting as a public servant.

A decade ago most young adult Canadians could still dream  of ascending to the baby boomer wealth of their parents: jobs for all, a house, car, university and all the trimmings; that hope is no more. My grandchildren work hard but they will likely never have a home of their own or a new vehicle in their lifetime. It's not that it has to be that way. It's the way it will stay because the ones at the top don't want to redistribute the wealth. Hells bells, there's still a fortune to be made..why would they willingly reform?

Add to that the manic speed people call normal life nowadays, and it's little damn wonder they're mellowing out with Mary Jane. Breaks my heart to see one of them turn a drunk, or get into cocaine or heroine; reefer madness? What a crock of shit. I may be old but I'm not stupid and neither are these young people. Something's got to give and I think I might know what it would take. But that's a story for another day.

I'll close this post wishing everyone sunny days, just enough rain and no hermaphrodites. Excuse me while I spark one up...I'll post after I get back from the clinic tomorrow morning. Damn vampires.