Well, still another week of fabulous fall weather has come and gone. Every day from here on is a bonus as weather here north of the United States can turn to winter in a blink of an eye now.
I have taken this time to finish cleaning the outside windows and prepping the back yard –putting lawn chairs and table under wraps, covering the air conditioning unit and other little items on the to do list.
The week after next we put winter tires on our vehicles……..sigh.
It looks like the upcoming election in Russia is over before it has even started. The first casualty was the Finance Minister who apparently did not agree that Mr. Putin should get his old job back, so the present leader fired him. I guess speaking up and expressing a contrary opinion is on the way out over there in that great country.
Another drone strike by the Americans has killed three senior members of Al-Qada, two of whom were native born Americans. This has caused serious damage to the organization but has also raised controversy in the States . Many civil libertarians are outraged that a citizen of the States was executed without due process of law.
OK, time for a rant.
You have a group of, what would you call them?
Thugs?
Terrorists?
Madmen?
Criminals?
All of the preceding?
Who get together to plot the maximum amount of death, chaos, expense and destruction of a segment of society by whatever means that they want to, and WE are supposed to play by rules that they laugh at? Modern Western society is at war with these criminals, and there can only be one victor in such a war. I will not shed any tears for those three and others of their ilk – period!
Europe’s’ continuing dithering over the financial mess in Greece is taking its toll on the rest of the world economy. Commodity prices are slowly falling as traders (read market vultures) believe a slowing world economy will require less oil and precious metals. The Canadian dollar has dropped from 1.03 USA to .96 USA in just a little over a week already. This is good news for Canadian exporters as their products are cheaper now, however that does not mean a damn thing if no one (read the Americans who buy 50% of our exports) buys them. In Saskatchewan this will mean lower revenue from oil and potash exports which will impact the economy in terms of spending on items such as roads, social programs and infrastructure. Of course such sacred cows like nurses wages, teachers’ wages are sacrosanct.
One of the legacies of a big brother Provincial Government - that of the New Democratic Party (now in Opposition) is a inbred mentality of expecting the worse and being happy if it is only a mere “disaster”! Many talk shows have callers complaining about the fact that the Province is emerging from the bonds of socialism and increasing its population as well as housing, roads and the like. Well they complain of a 5 minute traffic jam-never had it in the old days. Housing costs too much-would they sell at 1970 prices today themselves? Hell no! Food costs too much-would they accept rolling back their wages to the same level as they want those prices reduced? Hell no, they want the gravy but not the work to get it. That is why the rabid government unions in this Province foam at the mouth at the mention of the name Alberta-all that is bad with capitalism in their minds. A province where risk takers were/are rewarded. And this is what slowly but surely is starting to happen in Saskatchewan and it drives those unions nuts – too damn bad I say.
Oh well, the next provincial election here will be in the first week of November and if all polls are correct, the incumbent Saskatchewan Party will retain power.
I, for one would like this outcome.
One of the things I wanted to do when I was young was to write but along the way reality set in. You start working, marry, and then start to have to worry about paying bills and planning for life after working. This blog has given me a small chance to do some writing. Mind you it sure is not of high literary value, will never pay-ha! But it allows me to exercise the little writing chops that I may have. In the course of these writings I see that readers range from all around the world, Singapore, Russia, Germany, England, USA, Canada and other countries as well. I have had feedback from some, and enjoyed that very much. One person is an author who gave me the honour to help in a very minor way in the production of one of their books. That was an experience I enjoyed immensely and look forward to doing that again in the future. I had intended this to be a short lived experiment – one that ran for a month or two, but now that timeline is long gone and we will just see how long it goes on for. We are off to Argentina in the New Year and hopefully I can post from there as well – hmmm……..think I said this before, oh well, what the heck, never hurts to say it again I guess.
You have a pet?
We do, he is a mixed breed cat that is over 18 years old. Starting to show his age, walks stiffly, has thyroid problems, slowly losing his hair and hearing. Can’t imagine not having him around though. Why do we place such emotional deposit on our pets anyway? Is it because they are straight up with us? They do not ask for much, food, clean litter, pampering? Not like co-workers, friends and even some, say, relatives that can and do drop you at a moment’s notice and leave you wondering why. It is tough to envision the day when his yodeling dawn greeting or occasional wet sneeze three inches from your face will no longer be there. I know that this is the way the wheel of life turns, but it really does suck sometimes doesn’t it?
Ever been on a hot air balloon ride? We did a number of years ago. And yesterday one flew about 100 feet over our backyard and was quite a sight to behold.
If you ever get the chance to go on one, do so for you will never forget the thrill and the absolute silence while aloft – except when the propane heater flames to maintain the form and lift of the balloon.
Well that is it again for another week. Thanks again for reading.
Take care out there,
Flatlander52
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