Alysha and Sean unroll the gift (more photos below)

Crafting a Gift of Love

Over the past few months, Lynn and Sheri (Mom and Mom) have been working with small squares of fur fabric that Alysha had passed along to Lynn.  It was a challenge to work with – not your usual quilting material.   Over a few weeks they came up with an idea – going all out with a new design.

(539)

Lego For the Oil Patch

Following a series of exchanges with a Facebook friend concerning gender equality, I happened upon this little song written by Thomas Wharton.  Born in Grand Prairie, the young man studied both at the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary where he achieved his Phd. He is currently an Associate Professor of writing and English at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

An author with several books to this credit, he wrote the following lyrics about the changing attitudes of oil patch man and published in the most recent edition of Albertaviews (page 27). I can’t find a link to magazine article so I typed it below.  I think the song speaks well to the changing’ attitude towards woman in that province, a province which is becoming more Liberal with each passing day.

(436)

“Save our Rats”, “Save our Rats”
The chant is gaining strength outside the Oak Bay Municipal Hall

January18, 2915:  Headline news in the Times Colonist today: “Activists to cast eyes over deer cull in Oak Bay”

An earlier article in the Times Colonist was titled: “Killing deer is not pretty, Metchosin mayor warns.”

The ongoing discussion of whether ”to cull or not to cull” seems to inspire considerable debate. Some have felt the ‘rat’ should be given the same consideration as deer and rabbits. Personally, I would not kill an animal unnecessarily, but will admit I have happily culled a few rats over my time in West Saanich. I have also killed animals for food (Lynn and I ran a small farm for several years). For those who hunt and kill a deer, moose, rabbit or other animal and then put the meat in the freezer, I have no problem, but go out and kill a grizzly, mountain sheep or other animal living in the wilderness just for the thrill of it or to gain trophy, I have a problem.

Close to 100% of people I know, except for a few vegetarians, vegans and others (like our friend Andrew), eat beef, pork, chicken, duck and a hundred other kinds of animal and bird products that cover our grocery store shelves. Those poor animals and birds are often raised and then killed in rather nasty ways, yet we really don’t give a damn as we just want the end product that is nicely wrapped in plastic.

Back on the farm, believe me, we often came to love a cow, pig, sheep, chicken or even an ugly ducking just as you might love your dog, cat or horse, We once had to tell the kids (Jay, Kari, Christine and Sean) we had sold the steer and bought other meat as there was no way they were going to eat “Roast Ghost” for dinner, Ghost being the name we had given to that poor steer now residing on our plates. We had to lie as we didn’t want the kids picketing the driveway with their friends, besides it was to late to save our friend, Ghost.

Photo: University of Victoria Groundskeeper removes rabbit from UVIC woods. The man suggested people have been contributing to the problem by dropping off unwanted rabbits and then overfeeding them as is the case in the one he is carrying away.

In some of the worst cases, we will cull other humans by the hundreds of thousands if we think our cause is just (we cull until one side wins or we reach a stalemate and both sides call it quits). Two World Wars are good examples. We don’t even need consensus to carry out this cull if our Government just decides to jump in as did the US and others in Viet Nam and Iraq. Both those wars ended in a stalemate, but not until tens of thousands of  innocent men, woman and children were killed during the cull. Many were “collateral damage” in these various wars, but that was (is) the price of carrying out a human cull.. Perhaps if we just viewed deer, rabbits and seals as people, we would not feel so squeamish about carrying out the cull.

So let’s not get so uptight about the loss of a few deer or rabbits. If you think they are infringing upon your property rights, just quietly and without fanfare do them in or arrange to have them deported to an animal sanctuary in Texas.

If you disagree, then I ask: “What do you think about rats? Don’t rats have just as much right to your protection as does Bambi, Peter Rabbit and those cuddly, innocent looking, baby seals?”   I bet Sarah MacLaughlin, would never be caught carrying a sign that read “Save our Rats”.

Cheers,

Harold

(Feb 14 2016 222)

(595)

The above Euchre hand was accomplished with a very big “IF” that left Lynn McNeill on pins and needles for seven consecutive passes.  In the game, Lynn was dealing, followed by Harold, Garth (her partner) and Esther. Lynn had dealt herself that perfect hand in Diamonds. No, she did not cheat folks, Lynn would never do that in this lifetime. A Club was turned as trump so, of course, Lynn could only count that perfect hand if she had a chance to bid in another suit – that was the big “if”.

The bidding began:

Harold – pass (crap hand)
Garth – pass (crap hand)
Esther – pass  (so, so, but not in Clubs)
Lynn then turned down the initial trump card

Second Round:

Harold – pass (same crap hand)
Garth – pass (same crap hand)
Esther – considered whether she was strong enough to take in another suit, then, after some hesitation, ‘passed’
Lynn erupted (uncharacteristically I might add) by calling Diamonds and throwing down her hand. Lynn never lets us throw down a hand as she wants to play fully play out each round.

Not one of us had ever been close to the perfect hand in either Euchre or Cribbage.

What were the odds of that hand coming up?

A check of Internet sources suggest the odds of getting that hand as something in the order of 1 in 100,000. The fact Lynn was dealing and could not use the trump card significantly decreased her chances as it seemed possible someone might grab the Club (in the first round) or Spades or Hearts in the second.  As it turned out, no one else held a strong hand.

The odds are likely beyond that for the initial hand, as it seems likely they would have increased significantly by having to wait for those seven passes.  If someone picks up on this post and can suggest the final odds, that would be appreciated.

Oh, just to mention, Lynn did go alone with the hand and that resulted in she and her partner, Garth, picking up 4 points to win third set and the three game series.

As congratulations were in order, Garth popped the top on another bottle of Champaign to complete our New Years 2014 Celebration.  Oh well, the 9:00 am ferry will work just as well as the 7:00 am, as we are all on our way to Seattle, then San Francisco to further celebrate the winning hand.

Happy New Year Everyone

(1617)

December 21, 1918: Mutineers March down Fort Street in Victoria.

Honour the Resisters of the 259th Battalion

When: Sunday, December 21, 2014

7:30 AM – Memorial Walk, departing from Carnarvon Park (2801 Henderson Rd, at Carnarvon Street, in Oak Bay), following the route of the 259 Battalion

9:00 AM – Ceremony at corner of Fort and Quadra Street (location of 1918 Mutiny)

On the morning of Dec. 21st, 1918, French-Canadian conscripts in the 259th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force mutinied at the corner of Fort and Quadra streets in downtown Victoria. They refused to embark for service in a new war, as the Conservative government of Canada committed troops to aid the White Russian forces fighting the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War. The war on the Western Front had ended six weeks earlier. So sending conscripts to fight in the Russian Far East had dubious legal grounds.

But at the point of the bayonet, the mutinous men were forced to embark for Russia. The ringleaders were shackled together on a ship, sent to Vladivostok and given sentences of between 30 days and 3 years imprisonment with hard labour for their act of resistance.

In 2014, on the 96th anniversary of the mutiny, we are gathering for the annual commemoration to remember this forgotten moment in the history of Victoria, Canada and the world.

The event has two parts:

1. A ceremony at the corner of Fort and Quadra streets (9:00AM) to honour these men’s resistance to imperialism and to demand a formal apology from the Canadian government for the families and a full pardon for the French-Canadian soldiers wrongfully convicted of mutiny at Victoria.

2. A commemorative walk will leave at dawn (7:30AM) from Carnarvon Park (2801 Henderson Road, at Carnarvon Street in Oak Bay) to the ceremony at Fort and Quadra streets. Highlights will be provided along the route. After the ceremony, the walk will proceed to the Rither’s Wharf (near Ogden Point), followed by brunch at a local cafe. Transportation for people with mobility issues who would like to participate in the walk is being accommodated. Please email afar@telus.net.

Sponsored by the Victoria Peace Committee

Join the event on Facebook

Learn more about the Victoria Mutiny

(327)

March 21, 2018 (547).  Update.  With the current furore over data mining on Facebook, this post is again brought forward from December 2014. Was has increased in frequency in recent months and years is the number of posts asking you to find out something about yourself.   Each such post often asks a number of innocuous questions, that help to define you and your interests.

Every link you share and every comment you make helps to define who you are as a person and under the current setting profiles, that information can be mined. Anyone who shares information about themselves must be aware that information can be used to help define how best to influence you on a wide variety of issues.

Perhaps this article has even more relevance four years after it was written.

Cheers,

Harold

Privacy Notice by way of the Rome Convention

This post is brought forward and updated from a Tim Horton’s Morning Post of September 2012, as almost every day I see another comment invoking this privacy warning. While it only takes a moment to check SNOPES or other sites to find out whether the Rome Convention has some standing, many still accept it at face value. Even if it did have some effect, does that really make any difference?

(637)

The following letter was first published on Facebook following a rant by an Island resident, Sean Smith of Nanaimo.
After making the post it seems many FB friends also think highly of the service.

November 15, 2014
Victoria, B.C.

Dear Sean Smith,

Re: Your Rant about BC Ferries (Link Here)

I went through your rant point by point and while some of what is said seems superficially reasonable, if one delves in deeper, I think you’re wrong on almost every point. Having ridden various coastal ferries thousands of times over the past fifty years, I find the service to be exceptional and would stack it above every other ferry service in the world (e.g. England, NZ, Mediterrean, USA, etc.). Many of the others provide good service, they just don’t match BC Ferries.

(3973)

Facebook Screen Shot
(Double Click to Open in Full Size)

Facebook Photo Albums Easy Access

Have you ever tried to locate a specific Photo Album in your Facebook files?  When writing stories, as well as at times on the request of others, I have had to locate a specific photo album. If the file was a few years back, it can be a tedious process. Those who are more experienced in the technology, you may have a quicker method, but after sitting down one day in an seemingly endless search for one album in the 400 or so on my regular FB and another 150 on McNeill Life Stories FB pages, I decided to index.   It took me only an 45 minutes.  Given I have wasted that much time on a single search, I can now do the search in less than a minute.  How?

Bookmarking: Am I just slow or what?

Starting at the top (or bottom if you wish), hover over the name of the album, and the drop down box allows you to index on your Bookmarks Page.  Simple stuff I know, but until I figured this out I had wasted dozens of hours finding specific albums.  Below is one same of the albums uploaded back in 2008 at Mom’s 90th Birthday Party.  It is so nice just to be able to click on the specific file and be taken back six years to the exact file.

Cheers,

Harold

(414)