Annoying stuff

What a waste of time! We've started watching the TV show 'Dr. Ken'. It is funny so I searched the Internet for the earlier shows. I downloaded it from one of the sites which was a huge mistake. I should have known but even though I was suspicious about the download (it ended with .exe) I downloaded it anyway. It was supposed to be a torrent of the Show.

Well, long story short, suddenly things began to change on my computer. Popups and stuff. Instead of the homepage from Mozilla Firefox some other page opened. They wanted me to check my computer because apparently it was too slow. I needed updates and things like that. I couldn't get rid of these popups. And the starter page changed every time. I couldn't even find the Mozilla startup page anymore.

So I went to my Program Manager on the computer and discovered a whole bunch of new programs installed. I uninstalled them and my computer was almost back to normal except for Firefox. The advertising sites still popped up when I started the browser. I searched the Help site and followed a few suggestions but nothing helped. This program was stubborn. I finally downloaded an AdWare Extractor and that did the trick. Back to normal. I've used that program  a few months ago when I had trouble with popups. Actually they were voices on my computer--advertising.

My 'Housecall' program from my Virus program 'Micro Trend' did not detect any problems and gave my computer a clean bill of health. In other words it was useless.

So my advice on this second last day of the year is this: ALWAYS MAKE CERTAIN YOU ARE SURE THE SITE YOU ARE ON IS SAFE!!!  Don't download everything that promises you something for free. IT PROBABLY IS A TRAP! Beware! You've been warned.

Stay safe

HAPPY NEW YEAR

#Snow

Watching the snowflakes falling from the sky can be enjoyable and it is nice to have a blanket of fresh snow on the lawn. Not so much on the driveway, especially when it begins to accumulate and get so deep you need snowshoes to walk on it.

Children love snow, because now they can build a snowman and make Snow Angels.

Snowmobilers also love their snow.

However, snow can also be a bit of a nuisance and drive a man literally crazy. Here is a little story about such a man. I don’t know who wrote this. I’ve had it for long time and when I read it for the first time I nearly killed myself laughing. Read it and enjoy it:

Warning: Coarse Language

Snow

Dec. 8              6 pm: It’s started to snow. The first of the season and the wife and I took our cocktails and sat by the window watching the soft flakes drif down over the area. It was BEAUTIFUL.

Dec. 9              We awoke to a big beautiful blanket of crystal white snow covering the landscape. What a fantastic sight! Every tree and shrub covered with a beautiful white mantle. I shoveled snow for the first time in years and loved it. I did both our driveway and our sidewalk. Later the snowplow came along and covered up our sidewalk with compacted snow from the street, so I shoveled it again.

Dec. 12            The sun has melted all our lovely snow. Oh well, I’m sure we will get some more before the lovely winter is through.

Dec. 14            It snowed 8 inches last night and the temperature dropped to 20 degrees below zero. Shoveled the driveway and the sidewalk again and the snowplow came by and did its trick again.

Dec. 15            Sold my van and bought a 4x4 Blazer so I can drive in the snow. Bought snow tires for wife’s car.

Dec. 16            Fell on my ass on the ice in the driveway. All that was hurt was my feelings.

Dec. 17            Still cold (below zero in the a.m.) and icy roads make for very toughdriving.

Dec. 20            Had another 14 inches of the white shit last night. More shoveling in store for me today. That goddamn snowplow came by twice.

Dec. 22            We are assured of a white Christmas because 13 more inches of the white shit fell today, and with this freezing weather it won’t melt till August. Got all dressed up to go out and shovel (boots, jumpsuit, heavy jacket, scarf, earmuffs, gloves, etc.) and then I got the urge to pee!!

Dec. 23            I was going to go ice fishing today, but my worms froze and I didn’t  want the fish to break their teeth on my bait.

Dec. 24            If I ever catch the son-of-a-bitch that drives that snowplow, I’ll drag him through the snow by the balls; I think he hides around the corner and waits for me to finish shoveling and then he comes down the street 100 miles an hour and throws snow all over what used to be my lawn.

Dec. 25            Merry Christmas! They predict 20 more inches of the fucking white stuff tonight. Do they know how many shovels full of snow 28 inches is? To hell with Santa, he doesn’t have to shovel that white shit. The snowplow driver came by asking for a donation; I hit him over the head with the snow shovel.

Dec. 26            We got 28 inches and then some. I must be going snow-blind or have a severe case of cabin fever, because the wife is beginning to look good to me.

Dec. 27            The toilet froze. If you go outside don’t eat the brown snow.

Dec. 28            I set fire to the house. Now that white shit won’t cling to the roof!!!

#Star Wars:The Force Awakens

I went to see the new Star Wars movie, the seventh installment in the series. I would have waited a few weeks before going to avoid the crowds, but I went with my son and grandchildren and they were eager to see it.

I saw the six Star Wars movies that came before and I remember how thoroughly I enjoyed the first one. I can still see the huge Star Ship flying overhead on the big screen. I was impressed and full of excitement. It was something so new and mind-blowing. Of course, I was much younger then and still possessed that ‘Sense-of-Wonder’ that I seem to have lost somehow. I envy the kids who see something like that for the first time.

As I said, I would have waited to see the movie. We got there about ¾ hour before the movie started and already there was a long line-up of people waiting to get in. Many may have bought their tickets on line--if not all of them, the way we did. The four of us managed to secure seats in the last row. Most of the seats were already occupied when we finally walked into the theater. It was okay, though, because the screen was huge.

The movie has smashed all Box-Office hits, making a billion dollars in 12 days and it hasn’t even hit the Asian market yet. Obviously, the hype before the release had something to do with that, but it also proves that there are millions of loyal Star-Wars-Fans out there. I am one of them, but then I’ve been a life-long fan of Science Fiction, and movies like that are a dream come true for me. I am also a Star Trek fan.

What I’m going to say about ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ will probably anger some Fans, but this is my take of the movie. It was an okay movie. I’m not saying it was bad or that I didn’t enjoy it—I did enjoy it immensely, but there wasn’t anything that got me overly excited. It was more or less a rehash of the very first movie, only with new characters and a somewhat different plot. I wasn’t ‘Wowed’ by the story. Neither did I see something that was really new. The battles in space and on land were fine; the action was good, the characters likable—but nothing new. I've seen it all before.

As I’ve said, I may have lost that ‘Sense-of-Wonder’ and I miss that. Possibly, because I’ve seen so many movies, read so many books, and am writing my own stories may also contribute to the factor that I am more critical now. Will this stop me from going and watching the next installment of Star Wars? Absolutely not. I hope I live long enough and keep my wits about me to be able to do so, but I’m also waiting for a movie that brings new ideas to the screen.

Star Wars is also being presented in 3D. I might have enjoyed that more the way I did with the movie #‘Avatar’. That one blew me away. The story in that movie was not new, either, but the experience of 3D was wonderful and thrilling. Perhaps somebody will come up with the ability to show a movie as a #Hologram. Now, that would be an ‘Out-of-this-World’ experience and mind-blowing—to be right there with the action, like in the #Star Trek series and movies. Perhaps not quite so physical, because that would almost be scary. We haven’t reached that level of technology yet and may never reach it, but I read somewhere a long time ago: What a human mind can conceive is possible.

Not  so many years ago nobody ever thought computers would be so much a part of our daily lives, but look at what is happening: A personal computer is pretty much part of the way we live. We do our banking with a computer, book vacations, search for information, and even buy tickets for the movies on line. We have telephones that are used as cameras, as storage mediums and transmitters of information and pictures. They can be used to store and play music, used to text somebody and so much more. Not even Science Fiction writers predicted the world we live in now.

We don’t know where we go from here. It is exciting and even a bit scary, because what can be used for good can also be used for evil. The future may be wonderful or terrible, depending on how we use the things we discover. Let us hope that what the movie Star Wars entertains us with never happens in real life. Let it stay just a figment of somebody’s fertile imagination. Let it be fun and entertaining and nothing else.

May the Force be with you.

#Planet Earth, the alien planet

Sometimes I feel as if I’m living on a different planet, a hostile planet---like Mars. Last night we had minus 29 C, that’s 20 Below in Fahrenheit for you people who didn’t have to change to the Metric system or are refusing to change.

It doesn’t matter how you measure it, it is damn cold. You can’t go outside without getting dressed like an Eskimo—pardon me, an Inuit. Got to be politically correct. I don’t see what difference it makes what we call the people who live in the Arctic. Eskimo was good enough until now. Suddenly it isn’t anymore. Anyway, I went outside to feed the birds and put on my snowmobile suit. I don’t have a snowmobile, but the suit still comes in handy. I wear it when I barbecue outside. Yes, I still barbecue in winter. After all, I’m a Manitoban and we are tough, but that still doesn’t mean we don’t freeze. We just accept this friggen cold weather and the snow that goes with it.

Last week I had to blow the snow off my driveway three times. It usually takes me one hour to do that and it is good exercise. It means I have to walk for one hour and push and pull the blower every time I change direction. It gets tiring.

Christmas has come and gone. Today is Boxing Day. Nothing to do with boxing, but I can see the people in the stores today pushing each other to get to the items advertised as ‘Door crashers’. Sometimes they have only one of those items. The odd boxing match might just happen then.

We don’t go shopping on Boxing Day. Usually, the prices stay low for the rest of the week, because now it is ‘Boxing Week’. I have to admit, there are some pretty good bargains to be had. I bought myself a fishing reel from Cabelas—on line. It will be delivered to my door within the next couple of weeks and it didn’t cost me any shipping charges. Can’t argue with that and it beats standing in line in the store or even driving there. Everything done from the comfort of my home. I bought it as a ‘Before Boxing Day’ sale and the price was within my budget. Now I can’t wait to go fishing again.

It was an item I actually needed. Many people go out and spend a lot of money on items they don’t really need, but it is a good deal they can’t turn down. That’s one of the ways of getting into financial trouble—and many people do at this time of year.

Electronic items are the big items now and now is the time to buy them. That’s how I bought my printers a couple of years ago.  The printers were cheaper than the replacement cartridges. And that is how we fill our garbage dumps! We live in an age of utter waste. Nothing gets repaired anymore and nothing lasts, either. It is a shame.

We had a toaster oven that stopped working. A small micro switch that  would have cost pennies would have repaired it but you can’t get spare parts, so we bought a new one and took the old old to the dump. The batteries in the ‘Sniffer Sweeper Vacuum’ my wife owned went dead. When I called the manufacturer the woman told me they didn’t have replacement batteries, because you couldn’t replace the original one, which was nonsense. The batteries would have been so simple to replace. You didn’t even have to solder anything. I could have bought batteries from China: 10,000 for $1,000. Obviously not an option. I needed only two and I had no intentions of opening a store to sell batteries.

The woman’s advice was to buy a new ‘Swiffer’. Wonderful advice. They had a summit in Paris discussing how to clean up the air and the environment which will cost the countries that ‘have money’, like Canada, billions of dollars and the loss of jobs. How about forcing manufacturers to build items that last and can be repaired? That would be a great start to clean up the environment and wouldn’t cost billions to implement. It may even create jobs.

Or how about putting effort into developing a drug that cures the common cold? What brings that up? Well—I have one right now. Got it as a Christmas present. Actually, I probably got it a few days before Christmas from some unknown donor and after incubating inside my body busily creating millions of germs it made its appearance in the morning of December 24—just in time for Christmas Eve. It started with a scratchy throat and developed into a burning throat and a cough. The war is on. Now I’m drinking plenty of water, eat cough candies and take the occasional cold-medicine, which does nothing but give me a dull head.

I didn’t let that spoil my Christmas. I still ate the ham and the dumplings my wife made and devoured the red cabbage with gusto; I had a glass of eggnog and a bottle of beer and snacked on more cookies and chocolates I should have. But what the heck—it is Christmas. We are allowed a few indiscretions when it comes to eating. Plenty of ham left. The kids and grandchildren celebrated with us and it was fun. Yesterday, we went to our son’s place and stuffed ourselves with turkey. It was tender and tasted great. He and our daughter-in-law went all out and did a wonderful job. There is nothing better than getting together with family sharing a scrumptious meal and a drink or two.

There should be a new law that declares every day ‘Christmas’. Wouldn’t it be nice to be in the Christmas spirit each and every day? To give presents to each other instead of exchanging bullets and bombs? To love our neighbors instead of hating them and wanting to kill them because they are different from us? Instead of destruction there would be construction. Everybody would work and have no time making plans who to kill next. Now that would be the best present of all and the world would be a much nicer place, even if it is an alien planet with extreme weather. We can deal with that.

Enjoy the rest of the year. 2016 is on its way.

We mustn't forget about our feathered friends who are also suffering in this cold

#Christmas

It's Christmas Eve. We celebrate Christmas on the 24th of December according to German tradition. But we also celebrate it on the 25th, on Christmas Day. Why not? We combine both traditions.

Christmas is a time for families to get together and celebrate the birth of Jesus. Yes--Jesus. Some people seem to forget this. For them it is all about presents and eating turkey or ham. I am not really a religious man; I don't belong to a church group and I don't go to church except for weddings or funerals. However that doesn't mean that I am an Atheist. I believe in the teachings of Jesus.

Was Jesus really God's son? We don't know and will never know, but does it really matter? What matters is what he preached and taught. He preached love, peace, and forgiveness. And that's what we need in this world more than ever. It is strange that all our problems come from the part of the world where Jesus was born. There is so  much hatred there and most of it stems from religion. Not all religions preach peace and tolerance and that is sad.

So let us forget all the turmoil in this world for a few days and celebrate life, celebrate the goodness that must still exist somewhere among humans. We are a vicious species. Perhaps some day we will evolve and finally eliminate the hunger for power, greediness, hatred and intolerance toward those who don't think like us and believe in something different. Perhaps some day humans will learn to be tolerant and live in peace with each other and the animals that share this planet.

I can't wait for that day.

Merry Christmas

#Justin Trudeau and the #Liberals

Well, the people who voted for the Liberals and our new illustrious leader Justin Trudeau should be happy now. The way I see it they’ll plunge us into a country with a huge debt load and the economy on a down spiral. As they already discovered, there isn’t enough money to pay for all those things they promised to do. This means borrowing or raising taxes. They have no choice.

The future does not look rosy for Canada. Our Dollar is loosing value every day, which is a good thing for exporters but not for the importers and the average Canadian. All the things we import are costing more now—much more. We may have to forget about eating fresh vegetables and fruit in the winter.

I have no idea why the Liberals are in such a hurry to bring all those refugees into our country. Now they are talking 50,000 by the end of next year. Has anyone actually sat down and did the math? How much are those people going to cost the Canadian Taxpayer? And all those children!!. We’ve had five families come to Winnipeg and they’ll be settling in Altona. There are 35 children among those five families. THIRTY FIVE. Are you getting that number? That means seven children per family. And I’m sure they are not finished yet. With the child support coming in they’ll be busy making more babies—if there aren’t already some in the way.

Besides, they are already asking for larger homes. With that many children they want 4 and 5 bedroom homes. We are not geared up for families with so many children. Most houses and apartments have two or three bedrooms. Building anything with more than three bedrooms costs too much money. Who will pay for those expensive homes?

I can’t understand the mentality of these people. They’ve lived in camps for a few years, not under ideal conditions, and I’m certain they didn’t have much to eat. Why would they bring more children into the world under those conditions when they already had too many as it is?

The 50,000 refugees the Liberals will bring to Canada want to bring their relatives over. Why not? After all, Canada gives away money to everyone who holds out a hand and asks nothing in return. They’ll be supported for 2 years (and beyond) for doing nothing but relaxing. They won’t have to work with all that money and the donations coming in.

I remember when I came to Canada; nobody gave me anything. It was getting a job and pay my own way—swim or sink, that was the motto. And that’s the way it should be. I paid for my trip to Canada, there were no handouts. I demanded nothing and got nothing. And that’s how it was with all my friends who came over here to ‘find our fortunes’. Some of us did, some didn’t. Anything we possess now was earned the hard way—work and save. The pensions we get we earned by paying into the plan, like every hardworking Canadian citizen did and is still doing.

Certainly, we have plenty of freeloaders in this Country. People who believe the government owes them something—which boils down to one thing: the Taxpayer. The people who work and build up this country, they are the ones paying. And our government gives away that money so freely. Let’s hope the newcomers get jobs and pay their own way as soon as possible, the way we all did. Unfortunately, with our economy the way it stands now, finding jobs will be difficult, but, maybe, the Liberals who promised so much will find a way to remedy that.

As I said before, I hope I am wrong with my negative outlook. Perhaps it will be a good thing to bring people into this country, especially young people. We need them to pay their fair share to keep the economy growing and to pay for all the old people who are retiring. That’s how it works; old people retire and make room for the younger generation to step in and take over their jobs.

My fear is that cultures and religions will clash some day. That will create friction and problems. Canada is supposed to be a melting pot of people of different backgrounds. Let us hope that the newcomers leave their rigid and intolerant believes behind and adapt to our way of living. We are supposed to be tolerant and loving—that works both ways.

I didn't even mention all the money they are spending on meeting to demands of our Indigenous population. Much good it'll do, anyway. They'll be asking for more. 

I hope you all are finished with your Christmas shopping. I don’t know how long we can still use the word ‘Christmas’, so use it while you still can without being charged with some offense.

Peace to the world, to you, my friends, and have a

Merry Christmas

#The Debt Crisis

It seems most people have a financial problem these days. Apparently, they spent about 160% of their disposable income, which means they live above their means.

I am not surprised. I’m thinking back when our generation was young. When we got engaged and eventually married, we bought a ring for a price we could afford. It didn’t have to be a huge diamond. A nice ring was just fine. Our weddings were not huge. We didn’t invite every person we knew or were acquainted with, and our parents didn’t spend a fortune on our wedding. We got married in the church hall or we rented a small hall in a restaurant. We had no big socials before the wedding, just bachelor parties for the guys. No big dinners, just some guys getting together, playing cards, drinking beer and watching x-rated movies on a small movie screen. There was no sound and they were mostly boring. The women had showers where the women brought small gifts; nothing that cost a lot of money.

After we got married, we usually moved into an apartment, and then we saved for a house. When we thought we were ready and had enough for a down payment we bought a small house, a starter house, and then we saved some more and maybe a few years later, we bought or built a larger house. We moved up slowly. We bought used cars which we paid cash for.

We didn’t have huge screen TV’s (they didn’t exist yet. We felt fortunate when we could afford a color TV. A 20 inch screen was large) and we had rabbit ears. If we wanted to get fancy, we put an antenna on the roof. All we spent was the cost of the antenna. Everything after that was free. The few channels we got were plenty. There is only so much TV time we allowed ourselves. We had rotary dial phones and our phone bills were small. It was good enough to get in touch with friends and relatives. We didn’t have to stay in touch 24 hours a day.

I am, of course, talking about the average people. There are always exceptions, both ways.

Now let’s talk about the way it is now with the young people:

They already go into debt buying a huge diamond ring. The wedding needs to be huge. They hire a wedding planner, because that’s the way to go. In our days we planned our own wedding. We didn’t trust a stranger with that. All that drives up the cost of a wedding.  I’ve heard of weddings that cost up to $30,000.00 (WOW!). You can buy a brand new car for that and still have money left over.

They go on ‘Destination Weddings’. Getting married at home isn’t good enough anymore. And the couple expects the guests, the bride maids and the best man to accompany them at their own expense, of course, not bothering to ask if they can afford it. That, to my mind, is presumptuous.

When the young couple buys a house, it has to be large. A small house won’t do. They need a new car. Interest rates are cheap right now, so they max out on the mortgage and on the loan for the car, not thinking of the future when interest rats go up (and they will!).

They need all the newest gadgets, like a huge screen TV, and as many channels as are available. The movie channel is a must. It doesn’t matter if they have time to watch every program offered or not. They need to buy the newest computer, a tablet, and, of course, they both need their own iPhone, or whatever is the latest fad. The cell phone is important, so they can phone each other and everyone they know all the time; and they need to be able to get to the internet anytime they want to wherever they are. Everybody else does it. They have no conversations anymore when they get together. Everyone seems to be busy checking their messages constantly or texting someone.

Rabbit ears or an antenna on the roof don’t work anymore. The TV program providers have seen to that. They force us to buy their service. And it is expensive.

Now you can subscribe to music channels for your car. For a price, of course. Young people need that. We older folks don’t need them, because of the music offered. I call it ‘noise’. Besides, I’m not paying money so I can listen to my radio in the car. I have a flash drive or CDs with my music.

People spent too much money on all the new gadgets, if they need them or not. They may not even be able to afford them. And that is the problem. Nobody seems to have heard of compromising or ‘sacrificing’. They don’t want to wait until they can afford what they want; they need it right now. That’s seems to be the newest thing. RIGHT NOW.

Well, we all like to do and want things now, like traveling or buying something new, but sometimes we just have to wait. Wait and save, and maybe sacrifice something else if we want an item that costs a lot and may take a large chunk out of our disposable income. Sadly, many people don’t know how to budget. When it comes to mathematics, they seem to have no idea how that works. The formula is simple: You can’t spend more money than you earn. You must balance the scale or end up in a deep hole you may never get out of.

Again, there are always exceptions. There are still people who are reasonable and who think ahead. They buy when things are on sale not when they need them. They make sure they can pay off their credit card bill every month, because they know that once you got yourself into a position where you can’t pay off your debts it is difficult, nearly impossible, to catch up. They buy within their means, what they can afford. They know trying to keep up with the ‘Joneses’ is a foolish thing; trying to pretend they can afford to spent money they actually don’t have just to impress friends and others is irrational and downright stupid.

Unfortunately, the government that is constantly trying to ‘protect’ its citizens from making a bad move by implementing new laws that sometimes don’t make sense, is of no great help. Our new Liberal government will be setting a bad example. They want to borrow money to get the economy going, because interest rates are cheap right now, ignoring the fact that eventually interest rates will rise again. They’ll be plunging our country so deep in debt our grandchildren won’t be able to pay it off.

I’ll leave you now with this unpleasant outlook and glimpse into our future.

Right now we are in the middle of a small snowstorm; perhaps that is the reason for my gloomy mood.

Have a nice day.

Of #Imbeciles and #Monkeys.

Are we Imbeciles?

Is the world populated by Imbeciles? Today, when I went into a public washroom there was a sign over the washbasin with detailed instructions how to wash your hands. I could understand a sign that encourages you to actually wash your hands, but does anyone have to be told how? Yesterday, I found a website with instructions how to tuck in your shirt.

Really? And those weren’t even instructions sponsored by the government.

But then again, sometimes I wonder about the mental state of the human population. Nobody seems to have a mind of their own. How does one explain that our new government came into power with such a huge majority? There are rumors that many people who never voted before were told to vote just to get Harper out. They were also told who to vote for. Some of them didn’t even know who the candidates were. I’m not mentioning who those people were.

As far as I’m concerned, people are still monkeys. They haven’t progressed at all, except we don’t swing from the trees anymore. Just go to a concert, especially those young people frequent. We haven’t been to one like that, but I see it on TV. What’s this new thing about people waving their arms and hands over their heads to the music? I’ve seen churchgoers doing that. How annoying that must be for the people behind them. At least I would be annoyed. If I go to a concert and I pay big money I want to see and hear the performers not listen to the audience singing along or waving their hands in the air. It's a concert not a church choir singalong. Just my opinion.

The worst are the fashion trends. And how about all the people with tattoos these days? Or all that hardware hanging from their ears, noses, and mouths, and other body parts we don’t see. It is an epidemic. I don’t even want to mention the hairstyles.

Well, all I can say: Monkey see, Monkey do.

I’m sure glad that the fashion with those pants hanging down to their crotch seems to have gone the way of the Do-Do-bird. I saw a short glimpse of Justin Bieber on TV yesterday from one of his performances somewhere. What kind of outfit was he wearing? Looked like some kind of dress from the Middle East. I didn’t see it long enough, though. At least I hope it wasn't a dress. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more people beginning to wear similar outfits now.

Monkeys.

Of course, all of us are monkeys. When I look at pictures from the 70s I shudder to see pictures of me dressed the way people dressed in the 70s. Did I really wear that? Did I really have hair like that? I have an excuse: I was young and impressionable. Then again, you pretty much have to blend in; otherwise you stick out like a sore thumb. Anyone, who would wear those colorful pants and bell-bottoms, certainly would look odd now. But we did dress neater in those days, not as sloppy as some people do now. Unfortunately, you don’t really have much choice when it comes to clothing. You have to buy and wear what the stores sell, unless you sow your own clothes and I'm not sure if that is a solution. I’ve seen some pretty awful designs from amateur clothes designers.

Perhaps it is best to be a monkey and join the crowd.

#Coincidence?

We all have that little voice inside us that is trying to steer us in the, hopefully, right direction. Most people never hear it and if they do they usually ignore it. Some follow the voice. I do—most of the time.

Now I’m not talking about a real voice talking inside your head; that would be scary and something to worry about. There are some people who claim they do hear actual voices, but how can you prove they are telling the truth? Most of them are probably in some institution.

The voice I’m talking about is more like a feeling, a pull toward doing something, like an idea that pops into your mind. It is subtle and usually lasts only a moment. Some people will call it intuition or a hunch.

Where that ‘voice’ comes from I don’t know. Does it come from our own subconscious mind or is it some external force that is guiding us? People believe in Angels. I like to think it is the ‘Universe’ (God?) that sends these guiding impulses, these suggestions. To ignore them might keep you from experiencing good fortune or even lead you to a disaster. All of us have heard about lottery winners that never bought a ticket before but followed an impulse (a hunch) and bought a ticket which turned out to be a winner? How many times did people decide at the last moment for no apparent reason to postpone a trip by plane and the plane crashed?

On my recent hunting trip I came across fresh deer tracks in the newly fallen snow. My first impulse was to find a spot to sit and wait for a buck to come by, but my logical mind told me that I may have a better chance on the spot where I shot my buck the previous year. Well, guess what, an hour later a small herd of deer walked across the clearing in the same spot I had seen the tracks; too far away for me to shoot. Nothing came by where I sat. Had I followed my ‘little voice’ I might have shot my buck, but I ignored it and went home with nothing.

Some people may call it coincidence when something like that happens. But what is coincidence? Does it happen by chance or is there more to it?

We went shopping to Costco on Thursday. We wanted to buy paper towels, but for some reason we stopped to look at the toilet paper that was on sale. Usually, be buy #Kirkland, the #Costco brand, but this was a different brand name. One customer, who was also looking, said, “I don’t buy the Kirkland anymore. We have a septic field and it clogs up the pipes because the paper doesn’t break down fast enough.” So I said, “We have a septic field and never had trouble with the Kirkland toilet paper.” However, we bought the other brand because it was a good price. In the end, we forgot to buy the paper towels. Obviously, it wasn’t as important as the toilet paper.

Now here comes the strange part. Saturday, our toilet clogged up and I had to use a plunger and a ‘snake’ to unclog it. On impulse, I put a piece of Kirkland toilet paper into the sink and let it sit for a few minutes in water. It didn’t break down, just formed a thick, wet mass. From now on we won’t buy the Kirkland brand anymore. We were warned.

Coincidence? Perhaps it was, perhaps it wasn’t.

Are you listening to that ‘little voice’?

#Berlin

I've been busy writing about so many topics now since our holiday. My last blog from the holiday was about our stay in Sellin on the island of Rügen. We said goodbye to the island and boarded the train to Berlin in Binz.

It took 3 ½ hours by train to get to the Hauptbahnhof in Berlin.

Wow! What a place. It was 14:37 hours when we arrived at Berlin Hauptbahnhof ‘Tief’. ‘Tief’ means our train was two stories below ground. The Hauptbahnhof is five stories high. It is huge; all glass, with escalators, and with stores and eating places everywhere.

When we got off the train, we were surrounded by a throng of people moving about. Everyone seemed to know where they were going—except us. We just stood there and looked. We took the escalator up to ground level and headed for the nearest exit. When we stepped into the open I pulled out the map I had printed out at home and discovered nothing familiar. We had no idea which direction our hotel was supposed to be.

We went back into the Hauptbahnhof and looked for information. There were already a score of people standing in line also looking for info. When it was finally our turn, the lady behind the counter told us we had to take to exit on the opposite side. So we headed with our suitcases in tow toward that exit. Outside again, we again checked my map, but my wife discovered the big sign of our hotel about a block away from the train station. Just then a young man asked us if we needed help. We thanked him and told him we already found what we were looking for.

Our hotel, InterCity hotel, was a huge building. Since it was already past 2 PM we were able to check into the hotel. The woman behind the counter spoke really bad German. We could barely understand her. It sounded like a Russian accent. Why they put people like that into positions where they have to deal with the public is beyond me. But then again, we used to have people answering the phone who barely spoke English in our hospitals and government positions. The woman gave us two magnetic keys and two tourist cards for the use of the buses, the U-Bahn and the train. Our room was on the third floor with the view of the Hauptbahnhof and a couple other hotels. It was an elegant place with a King-size bed, an ultramodern bathroom with a heated towel rack and other fancy stuff. We had an air conditioner that was controlled by a digital thermostat that was difficult to figure out. We are old-fashioned people J.

When we booked this hotel I didn’t book with breakfast. It was too expensive. We discovered that the hotel next to us, Meininger, served breakfast for 6.50 Euros, which was quite reasonable. That’s where we ate breakfast every day and it was a good breakfast with many choices, as good as the one in Sellin. Meininger is actually a hotel and hostel, which means a lot of young people. Sometimes it got a bit noisy in the breakfast room, not as quiet and serene the way we were used to in the other hotels we stayed in, but it didn’t bother us. Young people mean ‘life’ and excitement which is sometimes good for the soul of older people like us.

Our room had a fridge, a safe, and free Wi-Fi that actually worked in our room. We didn’t have to get a password. I signed into ‘The Cloud’ with my room number and my name and I was connected.

Once we were settled in we went for an ‘orientation walk’ to the Hauptbahnhof and after a while we didn’t find it as intimidating. We had supper at a place called ‘Hopfingerbraeu. I ate ‘Suelze with fried potatoes and Remouladen sauce’ and my wife had ‘Fried Matjes (Herring) with fried potatoes and Remouladen sauce’. We each drank ½ liter Berliner Pilz. The invoice came to 30 Euros which translates into 45 Canadian Dollars (That figure changed every day. It all depends how our dollar is doing on the world market! Crappy at the time of this writing). Not that cheap for Germany, but the food was good. We discovered there were not many restaurants in the train station. Most of the eateries were like fast food places. We had lunches later on in some and the food was okay and not expensive. There is also a store in there, Kaiser’s Supermarket, where we bought our bottled mineral water; 1 liter for 79 cents, which would be 1.20 Canadian Dollars. (That included 25 cents for deposit).

We also discovered a Thai-Food restaurant where we had supper a couple of nights later. Good food with generous portions and very reasonably priced.

The first day we took the City Tour bus, the white one. We paid 30 Euro (senior price) for the two of us. We got off at the #‘Alexander Platz’ and walked around a little. Then we took the bus again back to our hotel. After lunch we boarded it again and got off at #‘Checkpoint Charley’. There we looked at pictures from the era before the Wall.

It is difficult to believe that those things actually happened. People kept prisoners in their country, not able to leave or visit even relatives; being murdered, shot to death by border guards, when they tried to ‘escape’. It is nearly impossible to wrap your mind around that. Dictatorships and philosophies like communism or states ruled by rigid religious theocracies are terrifying and difficult to understand by people like us who live in free countries. It would be nice if we could eliminate all those awful theologies and dogmas so everyone could be free to believe whatever they want without infringing on other people’s rights and beliefs and without worrying they might get their heads chopped off for being different. Of course, that is just an impossible dream. As long as there are people who are ruled by greed, a craving for power, fanatic to the point of forcing people to believe what they think is right, or just a desire to inflict harm on their fellow humans things will never change.

We decided to walk to the next stop we had seen from the bus instead of taking the bus again. It is more comfortable to sit in a bus but you don’t really get the feeling of a place. I had a map which we followed. We walked all the way to the ‘Unter den Linden Strasse’ and discovered it wasn’t even that far. Those old buildings are so impressive. Lot of them were partially destroyed during the war and there are massive restorations going on all over Berlin.

Once we got tired from all that walking we searched for a bus stop for our ‘white Tourbus’ but couldn’t find one, so we kept on walking. How many kilometers we walked that day I can only guess. We finally found one of the buses standing just before we got to the ‘Brandenburger Tor’. By the time we got home it was six o’clock. Time to for supper.

There were not many places we could go to eat nearby, so we went to the Asian Restaurant in the Hauptbahnhof. Before we left for Germany I had sworn I wasn’t going to eat any ‘foreign’ food. I wanted to get my fill on German Food, but I was too hungry and too tired to start looking for a restaurant. We ordered the ‘Special’: Noodles with chicken and peanut/curry sauce. It cost us 10 Euro for both meals and it was plenty and tasty. We didn’t regret our decision. We also drank ½ liter ‘Berliner Pilzner’ beer each for another 8 Euro (for both). Can’t get a meal like that any cheaper.

I said it before and I’ll say it again: Beer is too expensive in Canada; be it from the liqueur store or in a restaurant. Perhaps that will change now that we have a new government and a new Prime minister. I mean, they promised to look after the Middle Class and make things better. Lowering the price of alcohol would be one of those better things. However, right now they are too busy bringing refugees into our country. They are more important than the issues the Canadian citizens have. Lowering beer prices is not exactly on top of the list. I sound like a boozer. Actually, I drink more none-alcohol beer these days. It is still affordable.

Aah, I’m dreaming again. The government doing something good for its citizens like lowering taxes and prices is only a pipe-dream. All those promises before an election, but when reality hits, they realize they can fulfill none of them. Let’s face it, the Senators and other Government employees with their high salaries, perks, and great pensions eat up a lot of taxpayer’s money. And let’s not forget the unbelievable severance pay they get if their jobs get eliminated. Who in the private sector gets that? Somebody has to pay for the nannies our Prime-minister hired to look after his kids. What about all the money needed to bring over those #refugees and to house them, feed them, and pay for their health care? The money has to come from somewhere. Oh right: The Canadian Taxpayer, which is the Middle Class. Those refugees are demanding. It will get even worse when they bring over their families and relatives as was promised to them. In fact, the new figure is 50,000 refugees until the end of 2016. Can't wait. I'm repeating myself. I wrote about most of that in my last blog entry.

Forgive me for straying again. Don’t let that discourage you from coming back to read my blog.

More on Berlin next installment…

#Refugees

Ten children! That’s how many some of the single women applying for acceptance to Canada have. It came as a big surprise to the people who are screening the applicants. They expected three or four children. How ignorant! It proves they never did any research.

What are these people who breed like that? #Rabbits?

Where are all the men who got these women pregnant? Are they dead or are they with another one of their wives making more children?

Are the #Liberals under #Justin Trudeau, our new Prime-mister, really considering bringing these women with all their children to Canada? Have they actually done some research and sat down to look at what they are going to cost the taxpayer of this country?

The women will definitely be on welfare. On top of that they will get a mountain of money for child support. The kids will have to go to School, Kindergarten, and possibly Daycare centers. Some Schools are considering making classes smaller so the teachers can pay more attention to the individual children. This influx of children that don’t speak English will demand more Schools, more Daycare centers, more teachers, more specialty teachers.  And an enormous amount of money! Money Canada doesn’t have. We have plenty of unwed mothers with children on welfare already. We don’t need more.

Where will they put all these large families? They will want larger quarters, more breathing space, larger houses, larger suites. Has anyone given these things any thought? I’ll bet not. The Liberals are so hung-ho to bring the refugees over here so Canada looks good in the world community and to fulfill the election promises they made that they are not thinking logically.

Like our Premier of Manitoba, Sellinger, said: “Just bring them here. We will deal with them when they get here.” [Sic]. Wow! I call that good planning. There are no houses or apartments available, no subsidized ones, anyway. We have to build them first—with taxpayers’ money. That will take time. Where will they put the families now once they are here?

What happens when the families with husbands come here? Will they make more children? Let’s face it, they get good money for every kid they have. That is tempting. If they get enough money they won’t even have to look for a job. Our government will pay them to stay home and make more kids.

I have more questions: Why is it that only families who can’t afford to feed their children have so many? And it is happening mostly in underdeveloped countries. Africa is a good example. I heard one woman on TV say that in her country a woman doesn’t have any respect unless she has at least TEN children. Like I said: Rabbits!

We can’t bring people with such an attitude into our country. The world is already overpopulated and so many people are starving. We don’t need any more births!

I know I sound like some kind of Redneck and racist, but I’m thinking logical, I look ahead; I worry about the future of my country, about the kind of country my grandchildren will inherit. All this talk about being tolerant and lending a helping hand to everybody in need in other countries is going to bite us in the butt some day. We are bringing people over here who hate our way of life, our religion, our traditions. They will want to change that and once they have a greater voice, they will, even if they are in the minority. That’s how we are. We are Canadians and we want to make it right for everyone, even if it means screwing the hard-working Canadians; even if it means the end of our way of life.

I worry.

I am aware that there will be those who read this who will not agree with me and brand me a racist, a troublemaker. I sincerely hope I am wrong with my predictions and I want nothing more than to say some day in the future: “I was wrong. I panicked and said things that I shouldn’t have and I’m sorry about that.” But I’m not holding my breath.

Sleep well. There may be coming a time when you won’t be able to. Enjoy free speech now while you still can say and write what you want—to a degree.

First Advent

Yesterday was the First Advent. We lit one candle, ate some ‘Stollen’ and drank Egg Nogg, according to tradition.

I don’t know how many people still celebrate Advent; there are four of them and after them comes Christmas. It is a Christian thing and should not be forgotten in this climate of being ‘Politically Correct’ and pleasing all the minorities. Perhaps now more than ever we have to make sure to keep ‘Christmas’ alive, before it gets swept away among all those changes that are happening to appease non-Christians.

I am not exactly a religious fanatic. I don’t belong to any church, even though I was born and raised in a Christian family. However, I still celebrate the Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter. They are important, even though they are used as reasons to sell all kinds of merchandise that have nothing to do with Christmas. One good thing, they still play Christmas songs on the radios. In fact, I hear them more now than in past years. That is a good thing.

Christmas is all about ‘Peace on Earth and Goodwill to Man’, and that is something we need right now. All these conflicts in the Middle East, the turmoil in the African countries and the terror that seems to paralyze travel and threaten many activities all over the globe need some positive thoughts and celebrations. You don’t need to be a Christian to believe in these values; you just need to be a human being who loves and accepts his/her fellow human instead of being consumed by hatred that is unfounded but fuelled by a wrong theology, one that is rigid and intolerant of others of different beliefs.

Peace on Earth

#Cecil the Lion—one more time

 Probably everyone who watches TV knows about ‘Cecil, the Lion’ killed by Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer. Many people got upset about it and demanded the head of this 'terrible Killer of Lions'. The whole frenzy was, of course, fuelled by the media and blown out of proportion.

Even I got on the ‘bandwagon’ on my blog condemning the ‘Lion killer’.

I’ve stated that I’m not a ‘Trophy Hunter’, which is not entirely correct. I’ve hunted and shot plenty of geese, ducks, game birds, and deer in my lifetime; mainly for the meat but also for the thrill of the hunt. I also admit that every time I shot a buck I was hoping for a monster-buck—a trophy, if you will. To say otherwise would make me a hypocrite.

However, there is more to hunting than just going out and shoot something. It is all about enjoying the outdoors. There is nothing better and soothing to the soul than walking down a bush trail early in the morning, inhaling the fresh, crisp air, and smelling the different scents of the forest, of hearing the birds twittering in the trees, and listening to the honking of a flock of geese flying south.

I’ve walked through the forest after sundown in the eerie light of a full moon and had goose bumps running down my spine when I heard the barking and howling of the coyotes in the distance and nearby.

What can compare with the thrill of having a chickadee land in front of me or sit on my boot while I’m sitting quietly in my deer-stand?  Or watching a flock of crows circling above me waiting for me to shoot a deer so they can clean up after I’m done dressing the animal?

But let’s get back to Cecil, the Lion. The public outcry over his killing has had negative repercussions. Major airlines refuse to transport big game now. Many big-game-hunters have cancelled their hunts. The unfortunate truth is that the wildlife conservancies across Africa depend on the revenue created by these hunts and the ban on trophy hunting may also spell the end of conservation in some of these countries.

So in the end, the very animals the animal-lovers and anti-hunters want to protect will be left without protection. Sounds strange but sadly it is fact.

Humans have hunted for food and sports since beginning of time. We are predators and omnivores, which means we eat vegetables and meat. Wild meat is healthier than meat from domestic animals, just like wild salmon are better than farm-raised salmon. There are no hormones, no antibiotics, and no unhealthy chemicals in the meat.

There are many economic benefits resulting from the sport of hunting and fishing, starting with the money generated just from the licenses sold. Anglers and hunters buy clothing, hunting and fishing gear, food, processing equipment and a score of other items. The list is long.

Then there are the outfitters that organize hunt and fishing trips, the hotels, the butchers and many others who benefit. Hunting and fishing create jobs and are good for everyone.

Most animals are a renewable resource, but the animals and their habitat need to be protected; the animals from overhunting and overfishing by regulations and the habitat needs to be protected from being destroyed. None of that would happen were it not for hunters and anglers. They provide the money needed for that to happen.

Unfortunately, in Canada we have the indigenous population and now the Métis who are allowed to hunt and fish anytime with hardly any limits. There is no control. And they don’t have to buy licenses, which means they do nothing for the animals and for the habitat. I don’t mean this as a racial slur, because those are the facts. We will never be able to completely control hunting and fishing unless everyone follows the regulations. But that is another subject—a delicate one at that.

Anti-hunters don’t seem to see the whole picture. All they see are the cute animal babies. Fifty years ago we didn’t see many Canada geese out in the field, pretty much none in Winnipeg; now they are on the verge of becoming a nuisance and they are breeding at an alarming rate. They are almost a menace on the streets and on the parking lots. Farmers hate them because they destroy their crops.

Yet people are upset when Manitoba Conversation, a government agency, removed a thousand eggs from nests to halt the increase of the goose population in certain areas of the city.

One ignorant person went as far as calling the President of the Manitoba Wildlife Federation (a private organisation of hunters and anglers) on his cell-phone and accused him of being a ‘murderer’ who should be treated like the abortionist Dr. Morgentaler. Whatever that caller meant by that.

 Something like that is ignorance and stupidity in its purest form. People should get their facts straight before they make accusations and assumptions. MWF had nothing at all to do with the culling of the goose eggs.

I have to admit, the killing of Cecil, the Lion isn’t quite as simple as it seems at first. There is much more involved here and I am not quite as eager now to condemn Trophy-hunting. I still don’t condone it. I don’t believe in hunting and shooting magnificent animals like Elephants, Rhinos, Giraffes, big cats and other rare animals, some of them on the endangered list, but that is my opinion. I won't dictate what others do.

By the way, I didn’t get my deer this year, but we had a good time anyway. The weather was nice and we even got a little snow the last day. The fact that we spent hours trying to get out of the mud we got stuck in because of the warm weather didn’t dampen our spirits; maybe just a little (^_^) . There is always next year and something to look forward to.

Enjoy the rest of the Black Friday weekend and Cyber Monday. Hope you’ll find some bargains.

The #Christmas Spirit—is it still alive?

It is that time of year again. Christmas is near and the Schools are putting on their concerts. They used to be called #‘Christmas Concerts’, now they are called ‘Winter Concerts’ and some other name that has nothing to do with Christmas. Why? Because, as my granddaughter explained to me ‘not everyone believes in Christmas.’

Okay, that may be so. There have always been people who don’t believe in and don’t celebrate Christmas. That has never stopped everyone else from celebrating Christmas. And the Schools did their best to put on nice Christmas shows.

Now it seems, in the name of political correctness this has come to an end. We must not offend anyone, so the minorities are dictating to the majority of Canadians. Christmas concerts are now Winter Concerts.

We went to one a couple of days ago. We didn’t have a choice because our grandson goes to that particular School and we wouldn’t miss it, for his sake. He sings in the choir. Sadly, there was nothing there that reminded me of Christmas. I didn’t care for the songs they sang and I didn’t care for the music. Even though the students did a great job and put all of their efforts into it, it left me cold.

The music was dark, not uplifting at all. One student played some electronic piece he, apparently, composed himself. I’m sure he put a lot of work into it, but, as far as I am concerned, it was awful. I have no idea what the message was supposed to be. The music was monotonous and got louder and louder. At one point I had to close one of my ears with one finger, because I couldn’t stand the noise any longer, even though I have trouble with my hearing. I didn’t want to lose the hearing I have left. My chest vibrated and I was ready to get up and go outside. There seemed to be no end to that song. It reminded me of that commercial with the kids singing in the car: The song that never ends.

Then they sang an African song with drums and whatever. Now I’m asking this: What has that got to do with a Winter Concert? There wasn’t one Christmas Song and that made me sad. Wasn’t it Christmas that spawned these concerts in the first place years ago? I miss those beautiful Christmas carols and the little plays the students put on. There was happiness there and fun.

I’m looking forward to going to a real Christmas Concert put on by the School our youngest granddaughter goes to. It is a private school and therefore not controlled by the public School board. It will be a refreshing change and a pleasant and enjoyable experience. It was last year.

There are forces out there who want to mold our Free Western World to their way of living. They are attacking our basic way of life by removing all our old values, and our politicians do nothing to stop that, just to get their votes. They are worried about offending the minorities and try hard not to step on any toes, while we are being trampled into the ground by giant boots.

Let’s keep the Christmas Spirit alive and celebrate Christmas the way we’ve done for so long.

A bottle of wine and a movie

Just finished bottling my second batch of red wine. I did one yesterday. Those two batches have been ‘aging’ in their carboys since May of this year. In the summer I usually don’t have any time to make wine. I leave that for the winter activities.

I got 26 bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon and 27 bottles of Pino Nero, which is Pino Noir from a different company. I bought these two from Costco when they had their sale last winter.

This last weekend we watched two movies. Actually, we started watching ‘Spy’, a comedy with Melissa McCarthy. She’s Molly in the TV show Mike and Molly.

Maybe it’s just us, but we didn’t think the movie was funny. We got to the scene with the penis (Anyone who has watched the movie knows what I’m talking about) and that’s where we decided to stop wasting our time. The acting was just so overdone and mindless. Melissa McCarthy may be a famous actress now, but I only saw ‘Molly’ when I watched the movie. She acts the same way in every role. We saw her in the movie 'Heat'. Same acting. Just 'Molly'. I guess that is the way she is.

Perhaps we have lost our innocent sense of humor over the years. When I was a teenager I just loved the Jerry Lewis movies. I remember killing myself laughing. Years later, I took our boys to a Jerry Lewis movie. They didn’t think it was funny and even I thought it was stupid. So it goes. Times and tastes change.

Then we watched ‘Jurassic World’. I enjoyed it, my wife not so much, but I’m not as critical as she is. I have to admit, there wasn’t very much new stuff in the movie compared to the first one ‘Jurassic Park’, which was really exciting and scary. Possibly, because we saw it on the big screen in a theatre where the sound effects where better. Can’t forget the scene with the Rex running behind the jeep and the side mirror: Objects are closer than they appear. That was just classic. And the thumping sounds because of the ‘Surround Sound’ in the theatre. It felt as if you were there. Wonderful.  I love my dinosaurs, so I thought ‘Jurassic World’ was okay. It might have been more exciting to watch it on a huge screen, though, maybe in 3D even.

The second movie we watched was ‘The man from U.N.C.L.E.’ At first we thought it was stupid and so overdone until we realized it was a comedy. After that it was pleasurable to watch and we thought it was good clean fun. Enjoyed it.

As far as TV shows go, we were sorry to see the season finale of ‘The Blacklist’. It ended with a cliff-hanger. Now I can’t wait until the next season starts. I actually hate cliff-hangers like that. Blacklist was a great show with likable characters.

Not many good comedies out there. Too bad. We still watch ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and ‘Modern Family’. Also ‘Last man standing’. They are still funny and we enjoy them. ‘Mike and Molly’ hasn’t returned yet. We probably will continue to watch it. Most of those other comedies are just so dumb. We’re looking for another good comedy. They’re just not out there. Over the years, there were so many good, funny and intelligent comedies playing, but many got cancelled and didn’t make it. We could never understand why they were cancelled and other, really idiotic shows, kept on playing; are still playing. What does that say about the IQ and taste of the majority of TV watchers?

I guess, I’d better go for supper and sample a glass of my newly bottled Pino Noir. Maybe even two.

Cheers.