When we moved to our current home ten years ago, I put up a post that was clearly visible from our dining room window and hung a bird feeder. In other places where we have lived that kind of feeder drew a variety of interesting little songbirds. Here it drew mostly magpies and grackles, noisy … Continue reading The education of a bird lover
Whimsy
Haircuts and history
From December 1975 to June 1978 my wife and I lived in the upstairs suite in my parents home in Moose Jaw. I mostly went downtown to Jake Folk to get my hair cut. On occasion I went to Harold's Hair Inn, just a block and a half from home. Despite the fancy name it … Continue reading Haircuts and history
What on earth does shamefacedness mean?
English is a mongrel language, developed by indiscriminate interbreeding of Anglo-Saxon, Latin, Old Norse and French, with lesser contributions from Celtic, Arabic, Greek and other languages. This has created a language with a huge number of words, more than any other language.The grammatical structure puts it in the Low German language group, along with Dutch, … Continue reading What on earth does shamefacedness mean?
Snow, beautiful snow
It's springtime in Saskatchewan and our yard has begun to emerge from the winter's accumulation of snow. We were greeted this morning by more of the white stuff falling from the sky; by dinner time about 10 cm has accumulated. Beautiful, glittering, pristine white snow. I had planned to go to the city this morning, … Continue reading Snow, beautiful snow
Sympathies To Humboldt Folks
I wanted to write something about the Humboldt tragedy, but didn't know quite what to say. While I dithered my wife went ahead and did it, so I'll share her thoughts with my readers.
Bunny blues
It was time to go back to school after the Easter vacation. I had put away my parka and winter boots. There wasn't but a tiny bit of green here and there, but the snow was gone, the road was dry. I crossed the highway and David came bouncing with excitement from the narrow pathway … Continue reading Bunny blues
Winter – month five
Snow is such beautiful stuff, so sparkly bright and clean, a symbol of purity. We just got another 30 cm of it over the weekend to mark the beginning of month 5 of winter. Perhaps you can tell that my enthusiasm is somewhat less than it would have been when I was a seven year … Continue reading Winter – month five
Thoughts on growing old
Winter isn't much fun anymore. Neither are the really hot days of summer. Everything takes longer – even getting out of bed in the morning. It's no longer a mystery how my Dad could take a nap after dinner. I'm more concerned that my shoes be comfortable than that they be fashionable. Some of the hair … Continue reading Thoughts on growing old
Two keys
I have two keys that, to my eyes at least, appear to be identical. One was made with a state of the art key cutting machine; the other was made by an elderly gentleman using a grinding wheel. Guess which one works? The machine-made key goes into the keyhole just a little bit roughly and … Continue reading Two keys
The Malwarebytes fiasco
I started using the free version of Malwarebytes some years ago when my anti-virus program didn't seem to be catching everything. I would run a scan with MWB every now and then and often it would pick up a couple of problems and delete them. They kept telling me how much more the premium version … Continue reading The Malwarebytes fiasco
Flatlander Faith 