Another week and we are now into winter. An ugly storm last Sunday closed the highways. There were reports of an 80-vehicle line up east of Maidstone. Waseca Hall was going to have their annual fall supper but due to weather it was cancelled. It was rescheduled to Nov. 10. By the time you read this column it will be past and you either were there or you missed it. The fall suppers are a good excuse to take your wife out for supper and none are anything less than great food. The area is full of good cooks. You can't go wrong!
For the hoar frost believers I have marked May 5 as a possibility of rain. Write it down, I may be wrong, but I don't think so!
My brain is just now getting adjusted to the time change. I have less problem with it now than I do with the sun setting at 5 p.m. We are still a month and a half from the shortest day of the year. It comes on Dec. 21. I can see the wiseness of bears and gophers that sleep the winter away. Unless the sun is out it is just too dreary to be out and about, anyways!
On the home front, we have been without a land line for our telephone for a week. We have phoned SaskTel twice now. They are supposed to come Friday. That is almost a whole week without a phone. This is the second or third time this year they have claimed wet pedestal. Well it can't be wet pedestal this time, it is freezing out. Could they not fix it so it can't be subject to weather? We have made do with our cell phones but not everyone who is trying to reach us knows the numbers. I'm not sure if that is a bad thing or not. Some of the phone calls I could do without. No, I don't need my rugs shampooed, no, I don't need my furnace ducts cleaned, no, I don't want to go shopping in some store that has a sale on stuff I don't need, no, I don't want a warm weather vacation, no, I don't want to send a donation to any political parties or outfits that are going to save the world. Do you see what I mean. How do they get my number anyway?
If my friends have phoned, I'm sorry I missed your call. I know when you are phoning, the phone rings just like normal, but no calls come through. My wife will be taking this matter up with SaskTel at the end of the month when it comes time to pay the bill. No service, no pay!
The other thing here on the farm is my shop door has resisted, first coming down and now going up. Chris got it down with a rope and the tractor front end loader as I cringed at the side going aye-aye-ayeh!. People wiser than I have suggested I oil the rollers in the track. I think that is too simplistic but I will give it a try. I am armed with a can of WD40 and a new squirt can for oil. It is against my general principals but I bought a squirt can that is bright red. I thought it would be easier to see in the shop. I have a problem with stuff walking away and my eyes don't see as well as they used to. Now, if I can just find my big stepladder!
In the political news, the three senators are suspended for two years without pay but they get to keep their medical benefits. A little bit of a rush to conclusion without due process of law, but I think they are guilty. I for one was getting tired of listening to it as the media could focus on one thing only. There are other news event going on in the world!
Well, two things, the Rob Ford deal in Toronto. It would appear Rob Ford is guilty of getting very drunk and acting like a fool. He should be run from office for that? From the beginnings of Canada we have had politicians getting in the sauce. John A. Macdonald, first prime minister of Canada, was known to have taken a few drinks. There are many others like Ralph Kline was known to have indulged in a few bubbly pops. I would rather have a person who had a few drinks than a guy who had his hand in the till. I would hope Rob Ford would continue his term with only two years left. Then the voters, not the media, can decide if they want a new mayor.
This thing between Rob Ford and the Toronto Star and the rest of the media is just like some kind of vendetta. The people of Toronto have for years considered themselves to be above the rest of the citizens, almost condescending calling themselves "Toronto, the good." They have had Anglo Saxon stiff upper lip and all that stuff. Maybe Rob Ford offends them as he definitely is a large round peg that doesn't fit in a square hole. I hope they are done soon as I am tired of hearing about it
(Note! Joke of the week switched in by Bev, who edited out my good blond joke.) A tour group of Canadian seniors is travelling by bus through Holland. When the bus stops at a cheese farm, the young guide leads the tourists through the fine process of cheese making, explaining that goat's milk is used. Pointing to a lovely hillside where many goats are grazing, the guide explains, "These are the older goats. They're put out to pasture when they no longer produce milk. What do you do in Canada with your old goats?" she asks. A spry old gentleman answers, "They send us on a bus tour!" ha ha ha!
