Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Friends at Our Home During Xmas
Over the Xmas holidays we had many of the family drop in. Some stayed for a while but some just came to say hello. We all managed to get together at Lynda's for dinner and Peter as usual with the help from the Boss gave a great dinner party. My computer was unable to have my pictures converted for my blog so I am on Theresa's machine and here are some o
f the best ones.
Monday, December 29, 2014
Weeks Of Work and Holiday Visitors
It is not easy to accomplish a house staging mission and have holiday visitors as well. We were able to have success in both areas as one of our visitors was a seasoned stager. Our daughter Darlene came from Ottawa with her daughter and husband and provided some much needed help in the preparation of our home for sale.
We were on a very short timetable to get everything ready for a new year sale. You never realize just how many things you collect over the years. I call them things because that is exactly what much of our collection is. Items we have never used in years and hidden away from the light of day became just junk and we treated them like that. The Sally Ann received much of our treasures and the dumpster became home to most of the rest. Family took a few items and that was that.
The items we plan to take away to our new home became packed in a proper manner and now fill our double garage. I cannot count the exact number but over fifty boxes are now ready for a new home. Our good dishes are carefully packed and our collection of paintings are carefully stored in the basement where they are safe from damage in the unheated garage.
Our holiday was just great with the regular dinner at Lynda's and the gift opening which always provides happy surprises. Doris was present and she gives our grandchildren something to look forward to as she loves the contact with the young ones at her age and looks forward to all family gatherings.
Theresa and I are not quite out of the woods with our timetable but we seem to be at our best when the chips are down. Being busy gave us an excuse to ignore the lousy weather for this time of the year. For me this is the first blog I wrote in ages and I expect to get back at my hobby soon to share some of the sheer joy of living in a vibrant atmosphere with my family and friends.
We were on a very short timetable to get everything ready for a new year sale. You never realize just how many things you collect over the years. I call them things because that is exactly what much of our collection is. Items we have never used in years and hidden away from the light of day became just junk and we treated them like that. The Sally Ann received much of our treasures and the dumpster became home to most of the rest. Family took a few items and that was that.
The items we plan to take away to our new home became packed in a proper manner and now fill our double garage. I cannot count the exact number but over fifty boxes are now ready for a new home. Our good dishes are carefully packed and our collection of paintings are carefully stored in the basement where they are safe from damage in the unheated garage.
Our holiday was just great with the regular dinner at Lynda's and the gift opening which always provides happy surprises. Doris was present and she gives our grandchildren something to look forward to as she loves the contact with the young ones at her age and looks forward to all family gatherings.
Theresa and I are not quite out of the woods with our timetable but we seem to be at our best when the chips are down. Being busy gave us an excuse to ignore the lousy weather for this time of the year. For me this is the first blog I wrote in ages and I expect to get back at my hobby soon to share some of the sheer joy of living in a vibrant atmosphere with my family and friends.
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Selling Your Home
Selling your home is a very emotional happening. First of all you have been happy surrounded by all those things that made you comfortable. The family pictures, the stuffed animal you won years ago and that plate you bought to celebrate the 100 anniversary of the town in which you were born
The seller comes in and dressed in expensive clothes and leaving her exotic car parked at the curb tell you that everything that labels you as a person must be hidden, gotten rid of or just made to disappear. This is because the buyer might think that this personal connection to the seller might ruin the sale. You stand and with mouth open take her advice and begin to mentally make the changes that she requests.
She smiles and appears to be your friend and with perfect language begins to take apart your history. It is impossible to interject as she has statistics to prove that staging is real and economically advantageous for the seller. I said little and Theresa and I agreed that she had good points and having a daughter who is a professional stager we would be able to verify the requests at Xmas when she visits for a holiday.
I had a long session with Theresa and decided to go along the requests but it involved long hours of work for we the seller. I began the work with a four day painting job and we cleared some junk (treasures) from our rooms. Selling your home is not a kind operation but similar to a ten day dose of the flue.
The seller comes in and dressed in expensive clothes and leaving her exotic car parked at the curb tell you that everything that labels you as a person must be hidden, gotten rid of or just made to disappear. This is because the buyer might think that this personal connection to the seller might ruin the sale. You stand and with mouth open take her advice and begin to mentally make the changes that she requests.
She smiles and appears to be your friend and with perfect language begins to take apart your history. It is impossible to interject as she has statistics to prove that staging is real and economically advantageous for the seller. I said little and Theresa and I agreed that she had good points and having a daughter who is a professional stager we would be able to verify the requests at Xmas when she visits for a holiday.
I had a long session with Theresa and decided to go along the requests but it involved long hours of work for we the seller. I began the work with a four day painting job and we cleared some junk (treasures) from our rooms. Selling your home is not a kind operation but similar to a ten day dose of the flue.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Oil Economy
Just as we must diversity our investments the government must diversity its support for various industries. In this Canada of ours the western lobby was so strong that the federal government gave he amounts of money for the oil industry. Harper thought that the tar sands would bring Canada the wealth it needed to become a oil dependent country like Saudi Arabia.
The people who thought that the country had to look at clean energy and green production would be the key to the future. Germany and European countries have driven their populations to conserve and to support the production of energy from wind and solar power to the point where their reliance on oil has diminished tremendously.
Here our government not only subsidized the oil industry to the tune of billions of dollars but used tax payers dollars to advertise freely for these foreign companies to build pipelines and the development of more tar sand companies. Well the chickens have come back to roost and Saudi Arabia is putting the screws to all foreign oil producers and our economy is in shambles. The Saudi's have turned up the production to make the cost of oil on the world market today at $60.43 per barrel. This is half of the cost six months ago and below the cost of production for the Canadian producers.
The TSE has seen a drop of 600 points in three days and still falling. Where was the government predictors who said to carry on the policy of an oil economy. Ontario has lost 350,000 good manufacturing jobs and they did not receive any support from the federal government. As a matter of fact the last big losses in Ontario did not even cause a ripple at the national level.
We have to watch to find out if the government has a plan to right the huge mistake in the long range planning for Canada's economic future. I guess the falling dollar will help our people who sell abroad and this was the result of the government so I suppose this is their plan #2.
Alberta had everything going for itself and looked at the rest of Canada as poor sisters. Lets see how they handle the unemployment problem in six months when there are thousands of oil workers looking for EI. There has been a huge migration to the oil patch and I hope Canada can cope with the havoc about to come to this oil rich area.
The people who thought that the country had to look at clean energy and green production would be the key to the future. Germany and European countries have driven their populations to conserve and to support the production of energy from wind and solar power to the point where their reliance on oil has diminished tremendously.
Here our government not only subsidized the oil industry to the tune of billions of dollars but used tax payers dollars to advertise freely for these foreign companies to build pipelines and the development of more tar sand companies. Well the chickens have come back to roost and Saudi Arabia is putting the screws to all foreign oil producers and our economy is in shambles. The Saudi's have turned up the production to make the cost of oil on the world market today at $60.43 per barrel. This is half of the cost six months ago and below the cost of production for the Canadian producers.
The TSE has seen a drop of 600 points in three days and still falling. Where was the government predictors who said to carry on the policy of an oil economy. Ontario has lost 350,000 good manufacturing jobs and they did not receive any support from the federal government. As a matter of fact the last big losses in Ontario did not even cause a ripple at the national level.
We have to watch to find out if the government has a plan to right the huge mistake in the long range planning for Canada's economic future. I guess the falling dollar will help our people who sell abroad and this was the result of the government so I suppose this is their plan #2.
Alberta had everything going for itself and looked at the rest of Canada as poor sisters. Lets see how they handle the unemployment problem in six months when there are thousands of oil workers looking for EI. There has been a huge migration to the oil patch and I hope Canada can cope with the havoc about to come to this oil rich area.
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Found Precious Object
Theresa and I have bought a new home and of course we have to pack but before that we have to downsize and get rid of the clutter. Over the years we have moved and every time we get rid of some of the stuff we really don't need nor use. I lost a pin my father was given when he volunteered for the Army in 1939. I was given it by my father many years ago and always kept it with my pin collection. It disappeared.
I never let myself believe that it was really lost but just misplaced. Today I was getting rid of old jewelry and discovered that I never threw away much but put it in a box for safe keeping. I actually had eight such boxes and counted twenty four watches, three worked but I just kept them because the bracelet was ok or whatever.
I looked at credit cards by the dozen, screw nails and picture hangers and numerous items that I had not even looked at for years. Cuff links, tie clips, name cards from banquets and a million other things I deemed collectable at the time. Today I opened a special little jewelry box where I kept rings. My school ring, first signet ring, Masonic ring, university ring and several other rings which either did not fit or were in need of repair. There wrapped up in a small plastic bag was my fathers pin. You would have thought I struck gold as my happiness was extreme. After years I looked at this tiny object which showed that my father was a person ready to go off to war and worn with pride by all Canadian Servicemen after the second great war.
Good things do happen when you clean up your clutter but look carefully at every object before throwing it in the waste paper basket as it could be a precious item.
I never let myself believe that it was really lost but just misplaced. Today I was getting rid of old jewelry and discovered that I never threw away much but put it in a box for safe keeping. I actually had eight such boxes and counted twenty four watches, three worked but I just kept them because the bracelet was ok or whatever.
I looked at credit cards by the dozen, screw nails and picture hangers and numerous items that I had not even looked at for years. Cuff links, tie clips, name cards from banquets and a million other things I deemed collectable at the time. Today I opened a special little jewelry box where I kept rings. My school ring, first signet ring, Masonic ring, university ring and several other rings which either did not fit or were in need of repair. There wrapped up in a small plastic bag was my fathers pin. You would have thought I struck gold as my happiness was extreme. After years I looked at this tiny object which showed that my father was a person ready to go off to war and worn with pride by all Canadian Servicemen after the second great war.
Good things do happen when you clean up your clutter but look carefully at every object before throwing it in the waste paper basket as it could be a precious item.
Lost Inocence
Canada has for about 140 years been recognized as a peace loving country with a reputation of helping the world through its peace keeping capabilities. The last years under this Conservative Government we have been seen as just the opposite. Our world status in relation to our behavior in the field of environmental issues, military involvement on the coattails of the USA and total dependency on a dirty oil economy has made us very vulnerable to negative reactions from the troubled nations of the middle east.
Our military actions in Afghanistan cost us 140 lives, 2000 wounded and some needy for life, 20 billions in costs and for what? Our limited actions in the war on ISIS has cost us to be named as one of the nations to receive special attention from the terrorists. We have young Canadian people who have left our country to fight against us because of our involvement in the war. Had we been true to our real Canadian Spirit we could have been a positive factor in peacekeeping activities.
Our country has had a terrible reshaping of our world image by a prime minister who has a cabinet who are afraid to speak outside the scripted cards they are given every day before question period. There are some real strong members in that group who could make a contribution and one who is no longer with us showed in his financial ability and spoke out. Because we have a leader who makes all the decisions we are held ransom on the world stage. Harper should be given all the credit and blame for the mess we have in so many of the federal responsibilities. Good cabinet ministers should have been given the confidence to run their departments and we would not have the terrible problems in so many of the critical social issues facing Canada today.
Aboriginal issues left unsolved will fester and be a huge problem in the next few years, oil based economy cannot sustain itself and the money given to prop up that foreign owned enterprise will sink our economic base. Lets hope come the new year we will have some good news and have a team approach to Canada's needs involving all the good men and women we have sent to Ottawa to work on our behalf.
Our military actions in Afghanistan cost us 140 lives, 2000 wounded and some needy for life, 20 billions in costs and for what? Our limited actions in the war on ISIS has cost us to be named as one of the nations to receive special attention from the terrorists. We have young Canadian people who have left our country to fight against us because of our involvement in the war. Had we been true to our real Canadian Spirit we could have been a positive factor in peacekeeping activities.
Our country has had a terrible reshaping of our world image by a prime minister who has a cabinet who are afraid to speak outside the scripted cards they are given every day before question period. There are some real strong members in that group who could make a contribution and one who is no longer with us showed in his financial ability and spoke out. Because we have a leader who makes all the decisions we are held ransom on the world stage. Harper should be given all the credit and blame for the mess we have in so many of the federal responsibilities. Good cabinet ministers should have been given the confidence to run their departments and we would not have the terrible problems in so many of the critical social issues facing Canada today.
Aboriginal issues left unsolved will fester and be a huge problem in the next few years, oil based economy cannot sustain itself and the money given to prop up that foreign owned enterprise will sink our economic base. Lets hope come the new year we will have some good news and have a team approach to Canada's needs involving all the good men and women we have sent to Ottawa to work on our behalf.
Monday, December 8, 2014
Winter Residents
Looking out of my bedroom window during the past few days has introduced me to some new residents. A rabbit has taken up the far end of our yard and sits in the same place every day for several hours. There is little of any value as food except our few cedar trees and I noticed that they are being trimmed a little every day. Our large round cedar tree has become the overnight roosting place for many birds. Sparrows and slate juncos are there in numbers and there is the regular doves who just hang around.
The squirrel population has really increased in our area and the black and grey squirrels provide entertainment as they amuse themselves in the trees which have many nests. One of our squirrel nests suddenly disappeared during a wind storm and the family still seem to visit the sight where it was located.
My neighbour told me the other day that he heard the coyotes just a short distance from our home. I heard them yelping the other morning and there seemed to be a fairly large family in the vacant land along the flood canal below our home. The red tail hawks have a better opportunity of catching their food now that the leaves are down and there is no snow. We have many raptors along the highway right away and they seem to be healthy and maintaining their numbers.
Winter brings new birds to our attention and people who feed are careful to put out the proper food for consumption of wildlife. It is important to continue feeding if you have a feeder as the birds depend on reliable sources of food.
The squirrel population has really increased in our area and the black and grey squirrels provide entertainment as they amuse themselves in the trees which have many nests. One of our squirrel nests suddenly disappeared during a wind storm and the family still seem to visit the sight where it was located.
My neighbour told me the other day that he heard the coyotes just a short distance from our home. I heard them yelping the other morning and there seemed to be a fairly large family in the vacant land along the flood canal below our home. The red tail hawks have a better opportunity of catching their food now that the leaves are down and there is no snow. We have many raptors along the highway right away and they seem to be healthy and maintaining their numbers.
Winter brings new birds to our attention and people who feed are careful to put out the proper food for consumption of wildlife. It is important to continue feeding if you have a feeder as the birds depend on reliable sources of food.
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Roadblock to Progress
Our Canadian tradition of peace and co-operation between the federal and provincial levels of government appear to be over. We in Ontario have had a recent election and our Premier has sought meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss mutual concerns and programs. The pm has refused to meet with the premier of the largest province and by far the most important province for him as 72 members of the government are from Ontario.
The pm has had time to receive lesser people from other jurisdictions including a state governor from New Jersey. It is interesting that some people who seem to know feel a simple snub may have caused the problem. When the premier tried to talk to the pm about a new pension scheme she reported that all he did was grin and make a personal put off as he thought the idea was worthless. The premier reported this event and since that time there has been no contact between the two.
Our Prime Minister is doing a stupid political move as he must have strong support from the people of Ontario in the next election if he is to stay in power. Childish behavior has no place in relations between persons in power. I can only hope that Harper wakes up and meets with our premier and he might even find her to be a very intelligent and likable person.
The pm has had time to receive lesser people from other jurisdictions including a state governor from New Jersey. It is interesting that some people who seem to know feel a simple snub may have caused the problem. When the premier tried to talk to the pm about a new pension scheme she reported that all he did was grin and make a personal put off as he thought the idea was worthless. The premier reported this event and since that time there has been no contact between the two.
Our Prime Minister is doing a stupid political move as he must have strong support from the people of Ontario in the next election if he is to stay in power. Childish behavior has no place in relations between persons in power. I can only hope that Harper wakes up and meets with our premier and he might even find her to be a very intelligent and likable person.
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