Ford F350 Diesel 4x4 Harley Davidson Edition Truck

My beautiful female friend calls it the "perfect boy bling'. That's certainly not the way I'd describe my "manly man" truck.

I bought it from Ryan who said, "You're living the dream", the catchy Harley Davidson ad phrase. My Harley Davidson 96 cu Electraglyde Classic is going to enjoy taking a rest now and then. Not that the old man won't enjoy a little time out of the saddle rolling down the road in the luxury of Ford's heated leather seats, sun roof, surround sound, power "everything". The fact is I needed to have something to haul my trailer. I've had to admit I'm too old to sleep on the side of the road beside the bike. At least now, not unless I want to. Having cops shine 3 am flashlights in your face and ask you for identification is just not my idea of traveling any more.

My F350 hauls 15,000 lbs. Ryan had to buy the newest Ford F350 to get more hauling power because naturally, being male he bought a toy hauler that was more than 16,000 lbs. His wife likes the tan and cream King interior that has Ryan wearing a string tie and sports jacket while I get to stay in my leathers.

I took the truck out for it's first weekend of hunting. My cockapoo Gilbert transforms from purse toy dog to big hunting dog when he gets up into the truck. He loves sitting high up and looking down on all the other dogs. The truck performed beautifully on the freeway with great diesel mileage.

It then managed the winding roads of Highway 3 doing the mountains climbs and valleys just fine. I had Third Day's new Move album cranked right up on the sound system. Laura was doing her make up in the lighted mirror on the visor.

When I got off road on the backwoods logging roads the truck just ate up the terrain. I did this climb up and down Stemwinder out past Princeton British Columbia. I'd done it carefully in my Ford Ranger and on an off road motorcycle but the truck was just made for the steep gravel and snow roads all eaten up by cattle and trucks before me. I got into some really muddy earth road off Lawless in a new cut clearing and had no difficulty despite the weight of the truck getting clear of the sludge glue.

Gilbert found me a grouse up Copper Mountain so I shot it then got some pictures out by the wood pile with the rifle and grouse on the box. I'm supposed to be walking and exercising when I'm hunting but I didn't. I just "road hunted" because frankly I loved the luxury. One other grouse stood in the middle of the road forcing me to get out and leave the warmth and joy of my truck.

The only problem is it's just too valuable and beautiful to take into the narrow bushes and get bush burned and scraped up. Ryan already had that figured out. "You're just going to have to get a quad like me." He's got 3, hence the toy hauler. Next year's hunting season will probably see me with a quad in the back of my Ford F350 diesel 4x4 because the last thing I'd want to do is hurt my truck.












- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Princeton Castle Resort

Princeton Castle Resort was a truly delightful resort experience. The rather extensive complex is a valley unto itself. Cabins, chalets, lodges and riding stables surround a small lake formed out of a fast moving mountain stream. Deer and rabbits wander about the property which is small enough that everything is within easy walking range but large enough that one feels there's privacy.
The owner made an exception for Gilbert, our cockapoo. She simply made it clear that the suites were so new and elegant that she didn't want them damaged in any way by a wayward canine. I reassured her that Gilbert was not such a dog. He's actually maturing into a fine young gentleman. We can trust him to not chew upholstery or anything else at his level through the night and that's a relief. He actually lets us know when he wants to go outside for a poop and pee as well.
Laura's daughter Shannon, and son in law Ryan, have stayed at the resort and loved it. Ryan specifically can be blamed for letting the cat out of the bag when I told him I was taking Laura to Princeton for the weekend. Innocently he asked, "Are you staying at the Castle.?"






That's where we got the 'tip'. The worry when one finds a marvelous retreat is that some idiot will blog about it and the prices will go up in response to the increased awareness of a little bit of heaven in our midst.
Laura absolutely loved the cabin and resort. Gilbert was just glad to be out of the city. I was there to go hunting so compared to a cold tent this lovely home was a great base to return to. The owner had made it quite clear I couldn't shoot the rabbits or deer that roam the lawns of the resort.
The castle part is the ruins of an old cement complex. After regal European history it was a pleasure to walk around the resort enjoying references to local history in addition to appreciating all the natural history of the region.
It was certainly a romantic retreat. Laura and I had lovely evenings making our own meals, watching satellite tv and luxuriating in the jacuzzi. After a day of driving about in the new 2007 Ford F350 diesel Harley Davidson edition 4x4 truck and ranging through the woods to find partridge for me to shoot, Gilbert was glad to sleep, leaving us to play.











- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

AARP Bulletin

I was just reading the AARP Bulletin. It's for people in the US over 50. I'm over 50 in Canada. I downloaded the app for free to my Iphone. Great article on Alzheimer's. Turns out the plaques people see on the brain may well be scabs, indicating the brain healing. That's because a scientist has a mouse with Alzheimers. Interesting.
Then the epidemiological data that showed that our group will double in a matter of years was interesting. The problem is that fewer well workers will support an older population. This keeps coming up because increasingly the young come from cultures that didn't share national security ideals but felt it to be a family responsibility. That wasn't in the article but is a concern as right now old age pension and such depend upon taxes. The article did say that given less workers and more older dependents there was a need to rethink how the old would survive. The article didn't mention that the healthy, young and well and those older ones who feel guilty about being a burden are all big on euthanasia too. I used to think people over 30 should just self emolate for fashion sake.
But would euthanasia be what Bill Gates chose at 100. I don't see the Queens and Kings lining up for this.
Then the AARP got into all the politics of American law and health care and insurance and lost me. I liked the article on the cheap hearing aid. I thought maybe I'd get one not because I was deaf but I wouldn't mind snooping at the coffee shop, adding a whole new dimension to people watching.
Then it got into how to save money on burial plots and I thought maybe I'd had enough AARP.
It's definitely a good read. But right now I find all I want to know about burial plots in the literary section of the Globe and Mail.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Canada rejected by UN Security Council

The UN Security Council has five permanent members. These are the United States, United Kingdom, Russian Federation, China and France. In addition there are 10 non permanent members. Right now these are Bosnia and Hersegovina, Uganda, Lebanon, Gabon, Nigeria, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Austria.

Canada was rejected this year, Germany getting the seat instead. Opposition forces in Canada said it was an humiliating defeat for Prime Minister Harper. Apparently he lost the support of the Middle East for continued support of Israel. I don't know what this says about Germany. But I'm not sure being rejected for companionship with Bosnia, Uganda, or Lebanon is really the "humiliation" that Canada's opposition said it was. Australia was rejected a few years back tool

Canada and Australia have both been major peacekeepers, at home and abroad. I don't know the number, it's far too many, of Canadian soldiers who have died serving the United Nations as peace keepers. There is no doubt that Canada has earned it's place in the security council if security is really what the council is primarily about.

However, what distinguishes the principal members of the Security Council is that they are the world's principal arms dealers. Canada's record as an arms dealer under Harper or the opposition is not what it could be but then Canadians collectively don't think 'war for profit' is the way that the future should be taking.

In contrast if one considers the Security Council from a business perspective, it's members have indeed been the most warring lot on the planet. This isn't to choose right or wrong but simply to look at it all from a "market" perspective. Germany was chosen over Canada so that Japan and Germany are on the security council which excludes Canada. If it's about business, and I'm not saying it is, then clearly Canada can't compete with the likes of those already front and centre on the security council. It's amazing that Israel and Iraq aren't already on the Council, from a strictly business perspective.

Prime Minister Harper applied for the Security Council as the Opposition would have applied if they were on top when the option to apply came up. It's a thing that happens every 10 years. What I don't see is that being rejected is an 'humiliating defeat'.

The sad thing is that the rejection of Canada, it's military having proved itself over and over again as the greatest of Peace Keepers, is a kind of barometer of the continued hawkishness of the UN Security Council. Without Canada we can anticipate more war and more product sales. The greatest hope we have for the Security Council is the membership of Mexico and Brazil. Canada gave the world hockey. The Latin American countries gave the world Dance.

Maybe the Security Council should get out of business.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Gratitude for the day

I am grateful today for this day. When I go to sleep thankful for the completion of a day I am told that I don't know if I will wake in the morning. People die in their sleep. Some people believe that death is a dissolution or end of self. Yet I awake this morning and am indeed thankful to be alive.
Life is complex, entertaining, unusual, and spiked with moments in which I am truly pleased much to my own amazement. I am jaded and sometimes bitter, disappointed and routinely disolutioned, sometimes pessimistic yet surprised at times by the sheer wonder of creation.
I am thankful for my dog. His licking my face in the morning is most irritating yet I appreciate his enthusiasm for our relationship and for this day. He looks forward to walks. I am thankful for indoor plumbing. I am thankful that today the whole constitution was functional. I have too often seen men and women whose bowels and waterworks simply didn't work conveniently or their function was associated with severe pain.
I am thankful for beds. I like sleeping and woke feeling rested. Often that sense of being rested isn't a part of waking from sleep. Pain and injury cause a night to be disturbed with multiple wakening yet this night I slept through and woke not quite refreshed but nonetheless, hopeful.
I am thankful for my clothes. I like my new jacket and hat and am very grateful that I could find a couple of articles of clothing that appeal to me as much as these do right now. I am forever grateful for t shirts and baggy cotton trousers with draw strings. I am also thankful for the slip ons. The dog leash is another very smart invention as is the door and door lock.
The air this morning was crisp. I enjoyed very much that first inhalation. I was grateful it wasn't raining. I am thankful for the walk with the dog and his fun at playing that simple game of toss the ball.
I am further thankful for coffee upon return. The first cup of coffee in the morning is truly a godsend. I love the cuisinart expresso coffee maker. The engineering that went into making a simple efficient reproducible product is never something to take for granted. The coffee maker has given me this morning pleasure time and time again.( I am thankful for electricity. I am thankful for the corner store. I am thankful for the farmers. I am thankful for the transportation people. I am thankful for the buyers and sellers. I am thankful for the whole range of factors that are involved in my having this delicious Starbucks Expresso coffee in my Harley Davidson mug in the morning. I am as thankful for the cream and honey that I add daily to this oral sensation.)
I am thankful for this communication device too. It's a joy to be able to open the windows of communication as one might open the blinds on the house to see and be seen by neighbors. It's a bit like a light flicking on in the morning. I so enjoy the internet and facebook and reading anything from Bible verses to the corny humor my friends share with me this way.
I am thankful for work. I am thankful for being able to go to work instead of say the library. I love to go to the library and read and write and would love to go today but there is no payment for my time there and I like that my activities at work translate into money that I can use to pay debts, add to savings and use to make weekends more enjoyable. I am thankful for this whole system of exchange that saves me collecting cattle and taking them to a friend to get gas for my motorcycle in exchange.
I read the Globe and Mail this morning while having my coffee. I am thankful for the on line news. I am thankful for the media and it's ability to bring me news of interest keeping me abreast of matters that so many others find interesting in my community.
I am preparing to get into a hot shower. I am so thankful for hot showers. With indoor plumbing, hot showers with soap, and coffee and ice cream life is really worth living for. Today I'll be able to drive and I enjoy driving, talk and listen, and I enjoy talking and listening, write, and I enjoy writing,read and I enjoy reading, analyze and problem solve and I enjoy analyzing and problem solving. I'll also drink more coffee and have more food and I enjoy that. It's got high potential for a very good day even when it might be expected that there are going to be some lows along with the highs in the whole world of my day. I am thankful for the day nonetheless.
I pray I can use it most beneficially and see it through with grace and gentleness. I want my day to be a good day and am thankful that I believe that my own participatiion with attitude and activity can help to bring that about.
I am thankful for this day.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:W 13th Ave,Vancouver,Canada

Lillian Alling Opera

The Lillian Alling Opera, music by John Estacio, libretto by John Murrell, was a tremendous world premiere success for the Vancouver Opera. The packed audience of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre gave the grand performance a resounding standing ovation.

Sue Le Page's sets, with trucks and cabin, unforgettable telegraph men from the Canadian north, city scenes from New York and Vancouver was an inspired backdrop for Kelly Robinson's Stage Direction.

Mezzo-Soprano, Judith Forst, playing principal story teller was coupled with Soprano, Frederique Vezina, as the young and beautiful Lillian , the Estonian woman who in the 1920's hiked from New York to Telegraph Creek, British Columbia. In this tale, adapted liberally from the original mystery, Jimmy,played by tenor, Roger Honeywell is told how his father, telegrapher Scotty MacDonald, played by Baritone, Aaron St. Clair Nicholson contributed to Lillian Alling landing in the Oakalla Prison Farm.

At times the stage seemed filled with the huge cast of thousands of men and women their voices multiplying their numbers. The powerful Forst Mezzo soprano entwined with rich Honeywell Tenor while steady Nicholson Baritone and haunting Vezina Soprano wove deep tales of sound. The Brooklyn Boys with baritones including Gregory Dahl were as delightful as the Telegraph Men were simple genius. The epic music and music of love brought tears to my eyes when music and words united with fully committed voices.

It was an wondrous night. I'd just been in Milan listening to a concert of tenor and piano after visiting the Scala Theatre. I couldn't help but think that awesome bastion of old world opera could only be made richer by this Canadian new world sensation!






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Morning of

There are mornings after and mornings before.
But this is the morning of my day.
What day it is, I do not know
But hope I use it better
Than any day I've had before.

That's not that my will is in it.
I give my day to the Lord.
Lord of Creation! Lord of all. Lord of before and after.
Lord of this day

I would know you more. Be closer to you.
Be gentler, more humble, more skilled and accomplished.
I would celebrate and praise your wonder.
I am in awe of you, this life, this time.

I watched and heard a small bird sing.
I Walked with the dog along the river
Stood under the bridge where traffic passes,
Lovers linger, old men and old women drink from cans,
And teen agers write grafitti.

I am home again, drinking coffee.
There are no mountains to scale or oceans to cross
On this days agenda.
I've laundry to do and errands to run.
Tonight I'll attend a performance of the opera.
I share my company with my lover.

I wonder what all this has to do with martyrdom,
World peace, finding a cure for cancer, and learning to forgive.
If only my thoughts could be more pure and kind
And I could see the good in what I think is evil.
If only I could sit here with another cup of coffee
Reading my book of history
And feel more wrapped in your arms, my Lord.

Maybe then I'd have the courage just to face the rest of this day,
Struggling to recover from a work of war and misery,
Hoping to find the spark within to go another week,
When every fiber in my being screams to run away.

To flee to my own devices, to live in my own shadow.
To take orders from no one and be defiant with all,
To criticize but never give except to my own ,
Who I expect to owe me even when I deny my own
Selfishness and utter fear of mortality.

Self pity. Save me lord from the sour sweet whine
Of my own smallest of violins.
Let me walk tall with angels and stand with those
Who answer good to bad and see the positive in the negative,
Find solutions where others only see problems,
Say nothing if they have nothing good to say.
Help me in my endeavors today
Even if the outsides of my routine are mundane,
Let me be a saint in my soul
Let me know Thee more,
And love my neighbors more,
Especially the stupid, undeserving, angry, whining
Bullying, obnoxious, ungrateful, sullen, ugly, smelly,
Irreverent, yapping,arrogant, sons and daughters of swine.





- Posted using Blogpress