Disaster strikes

The only white I still wanted to see this year until next winter was the chokecherry tree in bloom. It happened and the tree looks beautiful. I managed to cut off all the diseased branches, but some of the main stems are affected and eventually our\ beautiful tree will die. Until then we’ll enjoy it.

The white I’m talking about is the snow we got last night. Not much, but enough to cover the grass. It all melted away during the day. What worries me is the drop in temperature. It is supposed to go down to minus 6C tonight. Our ornamental crab-apple tree is also in full bloom. It looks more gorgeous than ever. Last year we had only a few blooms on the tree. My question now is will the blooms on both trees freeze and fall off tonight? That would be such a shame.

This whole weekend was not nice. First we had rain and then in the evening came the snow, accompanied by high winds. The wind was so strong it blew over one of our birdhouses. The pole broke off at the bottom and toppled over. I’m not crying that much over the birdhouse itself. It was old and I had in mind to build a new one this year, but now the pole is broken off. I don’t know if I want to dig a deep hole into the ground to secure the pole again, but if I want the second birdhouse I have no choice.

Fortunately, there were no birds in the birdhouse. They are all nesting in the other one. I guess this one was too old for them. Who wants to move into a slum area if you have the choice to move into an almost new home? Now I worry about the birdhouse that is still standing. I just rebuilt it a couple of years ago and it won’t survive a fall to the ground. It is too heavy for that.  I think I’ll put up a guy-wire to secure the pole from the north winds. It may help.

Luckily, no casualties

An entertaining fun-evening

Last night we went to Celebration’s Theatre for supper and to be entertained by a play they put on. The theme was ‘Once upon a Time in Graceland’. It was modeled after the TV show ‘Once upon a Time’, but they sang songs by Elvis Presley. I don’t want to talk about the show here. I just want to say we enjoyed the performance immensely. All the performers showed great enthusiasm and plenty of energy, and all were talented.

 

The whole evening started at 6:30 and ended at 10:00 PM. We were not bored. I also must compliment the organizers. Everything was coordinated well. They had plenty of personnel on the floor to serve the guests. And it seemed the place was pretty much filled. Even the servers are in costume. The guy who served us was dressed up as a genie and he was funny and entertaining. Usually I don’t joke around with the servers, but this was different. The servers interact with the guests and you just have to play along.

They started the evening out with serving a bowl of soup and after that a plate of garden salad and buns. That’s also the time they took our orders. Then the first part of the play was performed. Once that was done, they served the main course. I had roast beef with corn, broccoli, and roasted potatoes. My wife had the chicken breast. The portions are not huge but plenty for us. Everything was tasty and still warm when they brought it. Again, I have to say that everything was so well organized. The food was served so quickly and you never had the feeling that you were waiting. It was actually amazing, because they had to serve many people.

We had our own table just for two, while many guests had groups of four or even six people at one table. But those people were together. You didn’t have to sit with strangers, which was also nice.

They gave us sufficient time to eat our dinner, and then the show continued. And after the second part was done, we got desert. I had apple strudel and my wife had cheesecake. Both tasted great and the portions were large. We drank wine and beer. After the desert they finished the show.

 

All I can say, we enjoyed it very much and we had an entertaining evening. In fact, we’ll be going back to the next show which is called ‘Modern Family’.

Today it was demonstrated again how the Universe deals with idiots. We went for lunch between shopping. Through the window, I watched a woman as she pushed her shopping cart into another bunch of shopping carts, which were already parked in a spot not designated for the carts. People are so damn lazy; they can’t even walk twenty feet to put away their shopping carts. Anyway, the cart she pushed into the others was the ‘Straw that broke the camel’s back’. The momentum of her cart started the whole collection of carts moving. Just at that moment her husband came by with his car to pick her up and one of the carts scraped along the side of his car, causing a big scratch the whole length of the car. The rest of the carts rolled across the road and one almost hit a parked car.

I couldn’t even feel sorry. Stupidity and laziness is sometimes costly. Had she followed proper procedures and stored the cart away in its proper spot the whole incident would never have happened. Yes, the Universe may be cruel, but it is also just. We can’t get away with anything. There is always a price to pay.

A big piece of Crap

Sometimes when I think I’ve heard it all, somebody makes another idiotic statement.

Yesterday in the morning news on the radio I heard somebody (I don’t know if it was a politician or some other super brain) said something to this effect (not exact words):

“While #ISIS or ISIL is a real threat the danger is somewhat exaggerated. A number of Canadians have gone and joined ISIS to fight alongside their fighters. Some of them will be killed, but some will want to return to Canada. We should welcome them back, because they won’t have any ill intentions.”

WHAT?! No ill intentions? Welcome them with open arms after they turned their backs on Canada to fight in this insane jihad against the Western World? They threw away all that is good and descent; they threw away the freedom to say and do what they want, and they threw away a prosperous future and a good life so they could fight for a misguided theology that shows no tolerance for others of a different faith.

Now I’ve never heard anyone say a bigger piece of crap for a long time. The moment those people left this country, they lost all their privileges, which means free health care, a pension, a good job and all the other perks you get when you live in a free country. They also lost their passport if they were Canadians, and they lost the right to ever return here. They became criminals in the eyes of our laws. They chose a different path and that’s the one they have to follow now. Too bad if they suddenly don’t like it. Like my dad used to say, “You made your bed now lie in it.”

All these bleeding hearts and so-called do-gooders walk through life with rose-colored glasses. They don’t see reality. Some day they may wake up and wonder what happened when all those wonderful, good people they saved turn against them.

We had a little sad episode on our property. For the last couple of days a beautiful pigeon came visiting our bird feeder. It seemed to like it here and hung around most of the day, sitting in the grass and soaking up the sun under the feeder and pecking for food. Happy and content.

Life is cruel, even among the animals. Yesterday morning the pigeon was attacked by the hawk that roams around in this area. I watched helplessly through the window as the big hawk hacked at the pigeon with its powerful, sharp beak. When I banged on the window the hawk took off. The pigeon found refuge in one corner by our house. I went outside to check on it and it sort of sat there breathing hard. There was quite a bit of blood on the rocks and a large amount of feathers on the grass.

When I checked in the evening, the bird was still alive so I covered it with a piece of burlap to keep it warm during the night.

This morning, the pigeon was dead. I picked up the dead carcass and examined it. There was no way it could have survived that attack. Part of its chest and belly was ripped open and gone. Eaten by the hawk. I was surprised it lived as long as it did. So I buried it by my garden. Let the worms have but not the hawk.

Okay, life is like that. Hawks are predators and they eat meat, which means they have to kill other animals and I can’t even be mad at it.

Animals kill for food while humans kill for ideologies, greed and power. There is a vast difference. Sure, humans also kill for food. I am a hunter and I do, but I don’t kill any animals just for the fun of killing them or because I hate them. Most people eat meat, but they don’t have to go out and hunt for it. They buy it in the grocery store. It’s probably best that way. It spares them to watch the life leave a living being’s eyes, even if it is only a little bird or a deer. It is always sad. Aborigine hunters take a moment after they kill an animal and they say thanks to the animal’s soul for giving up its life so they can live.

It’s a cruel universe we live in. There is no such thing as peace anywhere. Living things die to make room for others. That’s just the way it is, but as humans we can make it a little more peaceful by accepting each other the way we are, no matter what color of skin and no matter what our faith. There is no such thing as only one true faith. We all worship the same god; a god who has many names.

Like the hippies used to say: Make Love not War. How true it is.

#A poem for Mothers

It is #Mother's Day. This day we pay tribute to our mothers and also to our wives. Some of them are mothers, too. So I wish every mother a great Mother's Day.

Mothers

Some are grumpy, some are dumpy

Some are skinny, some are fat

Some may look like Humpty Dumpty

And some like a sleek exotic cat

Some will laugh and some will cry

Some are slow and some are spry

Some are happy, some are sad

Some can even get downright mad

Some are young and some are old

Some are warm and some are cold

But at one time or another

Love is a synonym for Mother

A mother’s love is a precious thing

To be cherished any day

Once every year in spring

We celebrate Mother’s Day

On that day we should return      

The love we have received

But there is no way we’ll ever truly earn

What a mother has achieved

                                                               herbert grosshans

Happy Mother's Day

Our Evening Entertainment

We’ve been watching a number of great TV shows this year:

#American Odyssey, starring Anna Fried as Sgt. Odelle Ballard.

The show is about conspiracies, corrupt military leaders, corrupt government officials, the Al Qaeda, and stuff like that. Sgt. Ballard and her unit are on a secret mission in North Africa, where she discovers a secret which she forwards to her superior. It was something she wasn’t supposed to see. All the members of her unit are killed by mercenaries, who work for a private military contractor, who in turn was hired by the US military. Sgt. Ballard survives. She manages to send email moments after the attack to let her superiors know she is alive. But her email is ignored. Back in the USA her family and everyone else is told that she is dead. Nobody in her unit survived the attack by terrorists. The story is about Sgt. Ballard trying to get back to the USA and to blow the conspiracy apart.

I’ve read negative reviews, but we liked the show. It has tension, plenty of action, and we always liked conspiracy stories. As of this date it is still playing.

#State of Affairs, starring Katherine Heigl as CIA analyst Charly Tucker who advises the President of the USA on national security matters.

The season is now finished. The last show ended, of course, with a cliff-hanger.

Another good show with lots of action. We liked it and hopefully it will come back.

#Allegiance. Another story about Russian Spies living in the USA. Great Action, good story. Plenty of tension, also. Just a short hint what it is all about: In the family of spies the parents and one daughter are Russian spies, but they want to get out of it. Their son, Alex, is an analyst for the FBI.  Makes for an interesting premise. I think we just watched the season finale. The way it ended it looked like the ending of the season. We’re waiting for it to be renewed for next year.

#The Blacklist. Great show starring James Spader as ex-government agent Raymond ‘Red’  Reddington gone rogue. Also starring Megan Boone as FBI agent Elizabeth Kane who has some kind of connection with Reddington.

Again, we love the show. Good storylines, great action with plenty of intrigue. James Spader gives a riveting performance. It should come to Season’s End soon.

Of course, those are not the only TV shows we watch. Here is a list of other shows we like and watch:

Reign (About Mary Queen of Scots)

Madam Secretary (Another political drama)

The Returned (People coming back from the dead)

Outlander (Time travel in Scotland back to the 18th century)

Game of Thrones (Science Fiction/Fantasy)

Chicago Fire (A fire department in Chicago)

Chicago PD (A police department in Chicago) Chicago Fire and Chicago PD work together.

Survivor (A reality show)

The Amazing Race (A reality show)

Hawaii Five O (A special police unit in Hawaii)

Grimm (Fantasy about strange creatures living among humans)

I tape the shows so we can watch them at our convenience. There are quite a few episodes still waiting to be watched, but most are coming to an end soon for the summer. At this time of year we don’t start watching TV before 9:00 PM, which means we don’t have enough time to watch all the shows, but that’s okay. It leaves us good shows to watch during the summer months.

Honest work is always hard but it pays off

The work in the yard never stops if you want to have a nice-looking yard. Some of our cedars turned brown over the winter. Don’t know why. When driving around and looking at other properties, I noticed that many of them had brown cedars. They all from the same type as ours.

Yesterday, I decided to cut down the brown cedars. First I started cutting off only the brown branches, but soon I discovered whatever was left looked awful. I had no choice but to cut them down to the roots. There were three plants. It was not an easy task. The shrubs are twenty years old and have big branches and big roots. It took me all afternoon to finish the job, using a chain saw and a large clipper. And an axe and a pick to remove the roots.

This morning, I moved everything to my garden and burnt it. All that before breakfast. I expected it to go up in flames immediately, but it didn’t work. I have to mention here that yesterday morning, I burnt the big pile of dead willow branches in the garden. Now that was a fire. High flames and it was all burnt down within twenty minutes. Some of the larger branches still glowed for most of the day, as did the ashes, but the bulk was gone quickly.

The cedars didn’t work out that well. I finally had to use a gallon of used oil and about ½ litre of gasoline as an accelerant. After dousing the mountain of cedars it all went up in flames, but I still had to work it by trimming the branches to smaller sizes as the fire burnt. I almost burnt off my eyebrows because I got too close to the fire.

It was a good day to burn. The sun was out and the wind was acceptable, just strong enough to fuel the flames.

When I was sitting in my chair watching the fire, I thought of #ISIS. I know it may seem strange that I would think of that terrorist group while burning a bunch of branches. What I was thinking was this: If everyone would work the way I do, cleaning up the yard, the house, the garage. Having a garden and growing vegetables, planting trees and watching them grow; in other words do constructive and productive work instead of building bombs and running around with rifles and shouting, “Death to the infidels!” If they would be like me there would be nothing but peace in this world.

I have no time to plot evil deeds against my neighbors. I have no desire to do them harm in the first place. When I see them, I talk with them. I don’t care what religion they are. They are people. They are my neighbors. We help each other with advice and real help if it is needed.

Of course, it is so much easier to play war games all day long, to make plans where to create chaos, to plan the killing of innocent people who have done you no harm, to kidnap people who come to your country to help you and to release them, if they are lucky, for a huge ransom. It is so much easier to raise money through terrorism and intimidation than working an honest job.

It is a sad world we live in and it doesn’t seem to get any better. The future looks bleak. As long as people are ruled by fear, by intimidation, by hatred, by false doctrine that commands them to kill anyone who does not believe what they believe in, by denying education to women, by denying them freedom of choice, there is no hope for a peaceful coexistence. There is no hope for peace in this world.

I am not a religious fanatic. I don’t even go to church, but that does not mean I’m a non-believer. I have my own ideas about the universe and about the spiritual world. I believe in what Jesus taught two thousand years ago. I believe in Peace. I believe in Love. Live and let live. At the same time I believe that aggression against me and my family will be met with equal aggression. If you hit me on one cheek I will not present you my other cheek. You hit me once but never again. If you try to change my peaceful life, try to take away my freedom and my freedom of speech I will not let it happen without a fight.

I may sound like a pacifist sometimes but I’m not. I don’t live with my head stuck in the sand, pretending everything is all right and everything will be all right forever. I don’t believe singing peaceful songs and praying for peace will make a damn change. If we don’t take a stand and speak out, we will be rolled over by the evil forces out there who want nothing but to eradicate our peaceful existence and our freedom. If we don't stop bringing in all these new immigrants, we will have a huge problem in our country. That is my prediction. Already they are gaining a strong voice. It may already be too late.

Peace be with you.

I changed the #Brushes on our Central Vacuum. See how I did it.

This morning I repaired our Central Vac. It broke down a few days age. When I took it apart, I discovered the brushes were worn out. They lasted a long time; 23 years to be exact. Much longer than they are supposed to last.

To replace the brushes was a difficult job, because of the location of the machine. I can’t even blame anyone, because I initially installed the unit myself when we built the house. It was located in the darkest corner of the storage room under the stairs. Not much room to work in, either.

Of course, when an appliance stops working you never know what caused it to break down. As a retired Electrician, I sort of had an idea it might be the brushes. So I took the machine apart. It wasn’t as easy as it sounds. Every machine is different. I located the brushes, even managed to expose that part of the motor, after prying all over it with a screw driver. They give you very little room. Everything is tight. The armature looked okay, not pitted or damaged, so I was fairly certain I could fix the motor by replacing the brushes.  The brushes are held down by clips. I got the brushes free, but then I had no idea how to disconnect the wires, and I didn’t want to break anything by applying too much force.

I finally took to the internet. It is amazing what you can find on the internet. After looking at a few videos on U-Tube, I actually did find one that showed the same motor as the one in my machine. By the way, our Central Vacuum is a Thoro-Vac, but I didn’t find anything useful under that brand.

The video was short, but it showed how to take the brushes out, how to disconnect them and how to put the new ones back again. I would have never known that the connection to the brush is a small blade that needs to be pushed into a slot between the housing and the brushes. But knowing this didn’t make the job easy. Because of the little room in the machine and the short wires it took a lot of sweat and cursing to pull the blades from the old brushes.

Anyway, I drove to a dealer with the old brushes and bought new ones. $24.00 for the pair. So today, I installed them into the motor. Thanks to the video it didn’t take too long. Again, because of the lack of space and the short wires it took me a while to push those little blades into the casing of the brushes, but with a pair of pliers and force I managed.

What as lovely sound when I plugged in the cord and switched on the machine. It didn’t even matter that I was in close proximity to the motor. It was like loud music in my ears. My ears are ringing anyway most of the time.

Here is a picture of the old brushes. See how they are worn down? The carbon has to stick out over an inch on good brushes.

One thing is for sure: I saved myself a lot of money by doing this job myself. Tradesmen charge a lot for these service calls, if you actually find one who still does service calls. Some of them are like doctors these days. You have to go to them.

 This is the link to the video I found: How to replace the brushes on a Non-Blue Dot Motor.

Of course, in the video it looks easy, because they took the motor out of the machine. I didn't have the luxury of all that space to work with.