Category: Kootenay Gothic

Water water everywhere

Who pissed in my sink?

This is what District of Invermere (DOI) water looks like. I still drink it because I am told it is tested and fine for consumption, plus, I’ve seen Willow drink out of murky mud puddles on the side of a slough and she has always been fine.

Infrastructure and utilities has never been a strong suit of the DOI. Historically to present, Mayor and Council, primarily made up of real estate agents and businesspeople, have been known to act more as a chamber of commerce, who’s primary goal is to attract tourists and figure out ways to fit more boats on Lake Windermere, all the while, and without fail, feathering their own nests. Welcome to a tourist town.

Not that this is anything new or specific to this town. It’s the way things work most everywhere. The best a person can hope for is what is good for a politician; local, provincial or federal, is also good for the majority. In Canada, most of the time it is. If it happens, the politician gets rich in the meantime, we should be happy they didn’t resolve to display further greed and incompetence to make more people worse off.

If one was to complain about the water quality to the officials of DOI, which I would never do (why present concern to deaf ears?), the answer would be, ‘get a home water purification system if you are concerned’.

We are lucky to have an abundance of clear fresh water in the Columbia Valley, it just doesn’t flow through the pipes below the District of Invermere. 

Mid April News

Put some of the seedlings in bigger pots. They looked half dead and pissed off after I was finished, not much for starting plants inside.

***

Twitter labeled CBC “government funded media”. Which made me laugh. Of course they are. Most of their funding comes from the government. It doesn’t necessarily make the CBC bad. True the broadcaster endorses the Liberal Party agenda. But so what? I take heed when Chrystia Freeland tells us to buckle down and Justin Trudeau says everything is going swimmingly. There isn’t a news agency out there that is reporting without an agenda. That’s the way it is now. If you are seeking the truth, listen to a lot of news. The bullshit will come through. Of course it will be fucking exhausting and will leave you crosseyed, bewildered and, more than likely, worse off. I’ll take CBC any day, sometimes you have to settle for the least of the worst.

***

I think Orwell has me right. While the shit hits the fan. I am looking forward to tomorrow. I have a bunch of work to do. The work is going to make me happy, appliances fixed and running tickety boo. Grass mown. Looking good, for this time of year.

Early April

A couple inches of wet snow overnight. It will be gone in a hurry. It seems winter is trying to hang on.

Lisa and I went for a short walk behind the mountain. We were hoping to see a few Meadowlarks. Lisa said she heard their distinct call the other day. We did see Chickadees, Siskins and Robins. Not many got close enough for a picture.

Back in the valley bottom I walked the road, but still no luck, instead I shot a few old fence-lines.

All and all a overcast black and white day. It was good to get out even if briefly.

Belly ache

The body has been aching. I have the job of taking out 80 old mattresses and replacing with new. Some are up three flights of stairs. Most are king size. My main job, I keep reminding myself, is not getting hurt.

I am about half way there. I counted 40 in the underground.

About the only thing I have to offer an employer is my strength. Of course getting old is going to limit my worth. I don’t blame them. No big defined government pension awaits to soften the blow. That’s my own fault too!

I’ll hang in there as long as I can.

In the meantime the first beer tasted good. Give me another.

***

I grew up with the sound of dogs barking and trains going by. It has been replaced with the rev of motor boats and car alarms. That does something to you.

***

People walk by with dogs on leashes. They never bark. Not the dogs, not the people. Willow hates the leash and barks plenty. I let her. I think all the silent dogs scare her.

End of the Week

Waning.

A good week, plenty of work completed, including starting on some upcoming projects and I was able to get out a few morning to take pictures. The new camera is still proving a challenge and will take more practice to get used to it. 

***

The picture above is of a man who sets up off the highway on the Radium Hill. You have to admire his commitment as he has been there for about two months. He sets up each morning and takes down at night.

I’m not sure of his cause. Probably Covid and the vaccines, presenting his own demonstration, having missed the trucker debacle in Ottawa.

He has six large Canadian flags on both sides of the highway, all flying upside down, signifying distress.

I like to think someone does a wellness check on him once and awhile to make sure he isn’t getting the urge to hang grandpa’s 30-06 out the window.

The Fuck Trudeau flags are nothing new. We live beside Alberta, so we get our share of that hyperbole shoved in our faces from the most well-off, privileged, people in Canada.

My friend has a daughter entrenched in conspiracy theories. She believes them all. Especially about the government, forcing deadly vaccines on us for a made up pandemic, among many other theories, deep state, lizard people, you name it. It is a great sadness for my friend, because his daughter isolates herself and her kids, hiding behind walls, not visiting, as long as it has an internet connection.

But this is what I don’t understand; his daughter is on every kind of government assistance that is offered. If you hated the government wouldn’t you refuse the money? Don’t get me wrong, it is good they have help, but it must go against her strong convictions. Would it not be a red flag to question those convictions?

Which gets me back to the guy on the Radium Hill. He has been there for months now. He is either independently wealthy, or like my friends daughter, taking money from the very government he is protesting. 

He is not hurting anybody flying his flags, but I can’t help but feel sorry for him.

***

On a lighter note. I bought Willow a new toy. It looked indestructible.

Eight minute later.

Spring

Every season has its colours. The sky in spring is always interesting, where it can be minus twelve in the morning and plus twelve in the afternoon. That does things to the sky.

A brilliant full moon cutting through the clouds here and there. Big puffy orange clouds in the longer evenings.

This morning the moon went down later, a little more light, so I didn’t have to take the picture in the dark. The purple colour on the horizon drives me crazy with joy. Only in Spring.

Early March

Worm moon above the ridge.

Cold mornings. They can’t last into the afternoon, the sun is gaining power.

Weekend

The District of Invermere bi-election is in the books. The results:

Took a couple good walks behind Swansea. Plenty of birds calling. Still they kept themselves hidden. They are wild after all. My camera could be a bazooka. The older I get the smarter I figure the animals are and the dumber the humans, mostly me, are.

A bit of sickness about. Scarlett, Cooper and Lisa are under the weather.

Lola joined Willow and I on our walks. She is a big puppy and minds Willow when she gets too close and gets the snarl.

Checked on the good neighbour. He is still hurting from the Polar Plunge. Drank too much, then cold and hot. It’s been two weeks. The older you get the longer it takes to recover. He perked up when he said, his body is probably protesting the lack of beer.

Got about four books on the go. Larry from

https://larrymuffinathome.wordpress.com

suggested Cicero’s, How to Grow Old. Dave picked it up for me, recently, in the City.

It is a good book. Not as long as it looks, because the left hand pages are in latin.

It suggests to accept diminished strength with grace and help youth whenever you can. I am only 70 pages in. Perhaps there will be a twist at the end.

To be on this earth comes down to luck. To live, watch birds, make love and scrub a dogs head is a gift.

Black-Capped Chickadee

The birds have been chattering. Going this way and that. It is nice to see.

Put in a good days work. Hoping for clear skies to see the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus on Wednesday.

Home Tourny

Scarlett getting ready to hit the ice.

A wonderful weekend. Cooper stayed over night at our place and Scarlett had her Home Tournament.

It is Scarlett’s first year playing hockey. She skates on one foot just like her brother did. She holds her stick with only one hand also. That makes being strong with the puck difficult. When on the ice during the game she tries to make friends with the other team, especially the girls. She also enjoys waving to her friends behind the glass in the stands. She follows the puck instead of going where the puck will go.

Scarlett proudly displaying her medals and sweaty hair.

Scarlett had fun and was a favourite player of the fans. Lisa and I were very proud. To top it off she was awarded The Most Sportsmanlike Player on her team.

She was very happy.