Russia

Cec's dad was born in Russia.  His father was taken to a labour camp in Siberia and was there for three years.  He came back minus three fingers.  Cec's dad was about 8 when they left Russia and for the rest of his life he told everyone about the horrors his family went through living and fleeing Russia.  

We went to the genealogy center in Salt Lake City because we were stuck on Russian information.   We had a lady help us and she was from the same area as Cec's family.  She looked up the records (all in Russian) of the resistance and found the records of his grandfather, his capture and imprisonment.  Watching those Russians who were protesting in the cities of Russia in the last few days makes me wonder about the fate of the many people they arrested.  

I have been watching all the TV coverage, CBC, BBC, CNN and MSN.  I found out yesterday we get Russian TV!  Shaw TV Surrey, Channel 994 is RT which is an English Russian news station.  We've had it on but not for long.  I read Rogers and Bell have taken it off the air in Canada.   It's still on Shaw and Telus and I hope by tomorrow it's gone!

Update at 10:00 AM today:

I am thankful

FOR THE WIFE

WHO SAYS IT'S HOT DOGS TONIGHT,
BECAUSE SHE IS HOME WITH ME, AND NOT OUT SOMEWHERE ELSE.

FOR THE HUSBAND
WHO IS ON THE SOFA BEING A COUCH POTATO,
BECAUSE HE IS HOME WITH ME AND NOT OUT AT THE BARS.

FOR THE TEENAGER
WHO IS COMPLAINING ABOUT DOING DISHES
BECAUSE IT MEANS SHE IS AT HOME, NOT ON THE STREETS.

FOR THE TAXES I PAY
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM EMPLOYED.

FOR THE MESS TO CLEAN AFTER A PARTY
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN SURROUNDED BY FRIENDS.

FOR THE CLOTHES THAT FIT A LITTLE TOO SNUG
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE ENOUGH TO EAT.

FOR MY SHADOW THAT WATCHES ME WORK
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM OUT IN THE SUNSHINE

FOR A LAWN THAT NEEDS MOWING,
WINDOWS THAT NEED CLEANING,
AND GUTTERS THAT NEED FIXING
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE A HOME.

FOR ALL THE COMPLAINING
I HEAR ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT
BECAUSE IT MEANS WE HAVE FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

FOR THE PARKING SPOT
I FIND AT THE FAR END OF THE PARKING LOT
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM CAPABLE OF WALKING AND I HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH TRANSPORTATION.

FOR MY HUGE HEATING BILL
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM WARM.

FOR THE LADY BEHIND ME IN CHURCH WHO SINGS OFF KEY
BECAUSE IT MEANS I CAN HEAR.

FOR THE PILE OF LAUNDRY AND IRONING
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE CLOTHES TO WEAR.

FOR WEARINESS AND ACHING MUSCLES AT THE END OF THE DAY
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN CAPABLE OF WORKING HARD.

FOR THE ALARM THAT GOES OFF
IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM ALIVE.

AND FINALLY, FOR TOO MUCH E-MAIL
BECAUSE

IT MEANS I HAVE FRIENDS WHO ARE THINKING OF ME.

Do they teach Civics in Canadian Schools?

I keep reading ridiculous posts on Social Media from supposed "educated" Canadians.  Here are a couple that people actually reacted to because they don't understand the Canadian Parliamentary system.

I'm following the bail cases being held in Ottawa right now of the leaders of the Freedom Convoy.  One asked about their "first amendment" rights! 

  

Living in Surrey and listening to people say we can just get rid of our Mayor, don't understand how it works?  

Is Civics being taught in our schools?   I know most schools have police officers come in and give great lessons on gang violence and other problems in the community.  Why don't they ask an MP or MLA or even a lawyer to explain about our laws and the importance of voting.  

I wonder how many people protesting in Canada even voted in the last election?

How did we get here?

 

Why does Ukraine matter?

My heart aches for the people of the Ukraine!

For those who ask: “Why does Ukraine matter? “ 

This is why Ukraine matters.

It is the second largest country by area in Europe and has a population

of over 40 million - more than Poland.

Ukraine ranks:

1st in Europe in proven recoverable reserves of uranium ores;

2nd place in Europe and 10th place in the world in terms of titanium ore reserves;

2nd place in the world in terms of explored reserves of manganese ores (2.3 billion tons, or 12% of the world's reserves);

2nd largest iron ore reserves in the world (30 billion tons);

2nd place in Europe in terms of mercury ore reserves;

3rd place in Europe (13th place in the world) in shale gas reserves (22 trillion cubic meters)

4th in the world by the total value of natural resources;

7th place in the world in coal reserves (33.9 billion tons)

Ukraine is an important agricultural country:

1st in Europe in terms of arable land area;

3rd place in the world by the area of black soil (25% of world's volume);

1st place in the world in exports of sunflower and sunflower oil;

2nd place in the world in barley production and 4th place in barley exports;

3rd largest producer and 4th largest exporter of corn in the world;

4th largest producer of potatoes in the world;

5th largest rye producer in the world;

5th place in the world in bee production (75,000 tons);

8th place in the world in wheat exports;

9th place in the world in the production of chicken eggs;

16th place in the world in cheese exports.

Ukraine can meet the food needs of 600 million people.

Ukraine is an important industrialised country:

1st in Europe in ammonia production;

Europe's 2nd’s and the world’s 4th largest natural gas pipeline system;

3rd largest in Europe and 8th largest in the world in terms of installed capacity of nuclear power plants;

3rd place in Europe and 11th in the world in terms of rail network length (21,700 km);

3rd place in the world (after the U.S. and France) in production of locators and locating equipment;

3rd largest iron exporter in the world

4th largest exporter of turbines for nuclear power plants in the world;

4th world's largest manufacturer of rocket launchers;

4th place in the world in clay exports

4th place in the world in titanium exports

8th place in the world in exports of ores and concentrates;

9th place in the world in exports of defence industry products;

10th largest steel producer in the world (32.4 million tons).

Ukraine matters. That is why its independence is important to the rest of the world.

Canada's cruise ship ban ends after 19 months...

They said cruise ships would stop coming to Vancouver.  I didn't buy it for a minute.  We are a cruise destination and one of the most scenic ports to sail into.  310 ships will come into the Port of Vancouver this year.  350 cruise ships will dock in Victoria!  It's a record breaking year for both ports!  Welcome back cruise ships.  I can't wait to sail again!

After a two-year pandemic hiatus, cruise ships are now just weeks away from sailing under the Lions Gate Bridge to reach the Canada Place cruise ship terminal in downtown Vancouver.  The newly released tentative schedule by Vancouver Fraser Port Authority indicates a total of 310 cruise ship calls are expected for the 2022 season — 8% more than the 288 calls recorded in 2019.

The first sailing will be made by Princess Cruises’ Caribbean Princess on April 7, which will arrive at 7 am and depart at 4:30 pm on the same day with a new group of passengers. This 19-day sailing through the Panama Canal begins at Fort Lauderdale on March 19, and from Vancouver the vessel will make the same trip back to Fort Lauderdale. Its stops include Cartagena in Colombia, Panama City in Panama, Puntarenas in Costa Rica, San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua, and Cabo San Lucas in Baja California Mexico, as well as San Francisco, Astoria in Oregon, and Victoria, BC.

The newly released tentative schedule by Vancouver Fraser Port Authority indicates a total of 310 cruise ship calls are expected for the 2022 season — 8% more than the 288 calls recorded in 2019.

The first sailing will be made by Princess Cruises’ Caribbean Princess on April 7, which will arrive at 7 am and depart at 4:30 pm on the same day with a new group of passengers. This 19-day sailing through the Panama Canal begins at Fort Lauderdale on March 19, and from Vancouver the vessel will make the same trip back to Fort Lauderdale. Its stops include Cartagena in Colombia, Panama City in Panama, Puntarenas in Costa Rica, San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua, and Cabo San Lucas in Baja California Mexico, as well as San Francisco, Astoria in Oregon, and Victoria, BC.

Vancouver’s cruise ship itineraries mainly serve destinations to Alaska. Other returning vessels that served Canada Place prior to the pandemic and will be making numerous calls this season include Princess Cruises’ Grand Princess, Ruby Princess, Crown Princess, Royal Princess, and the Majestic Princess.

As well, Princess Cruises’ newest vessel, Discovery Princess, will be making calls on May 4 and September 25. The brand new vessel, carrying 3,660 passengers with 145,281 gross tonnage, was completed on January 27. It is set to be launched on March 18.

Royal Caribbean International is slated to have a major returning presence this season, too. The cruise line will make a total of 37 calls to Vancouver in 2022, mainly by Radiance of the Seas and Serenade of the Seas. Less than a handful of these sailings will be made by Ovation of the Seas and Quantum of the Seas, which are comparatively newer Quantum-class vessels, both tying for the 19th largest cruise ships in the world in terms of gross tonnage. The Ovation of the Seas will visit on May 5 and September 25, while the Quantum of the Seas will visit on October 3.

Another 18 calls will be made by Norwegian Cruise Line, including the Norwegian Jewel and Norwegian Spirit. The 2018 built Norwegian Bliss, now ranked as the world’s 22nd largest cruise ship, will make a single call this year, arriving on the afternoon of April 21 and departing about 24 hours later.

Celebrity Cruises is currently anticipated to make 31 calls with the Celebrity Eclipse and Celebrity Millennium.

We welcome you back to our beautiful city!

Happy Twosday

Astrologers and numerologists say it's a significant day for new beginnings and transformation.

#Freedom Convoy

I'm not about to give an opinion, but I've been following the Freedom Convoy since the beginning.  I always like to look at the humour and it was shown on Twitter in pictures:

I love the spelling

2202 is a long wait for Freedom

At least he's wearing a mask

The caption on the picture below:  "Danielle doesn't know what's in the vaccine.  I hear she also has tattoos!  Doesn't she realize propane is flammable?"

If you read Twitter, I've enjoyed following @JamesDBowie, he's a lawyer in Ottawa.  He's been in court during the bail hearings for some of the protesters who were arrested.  I wish they broadcast the shenanigans!   

A farewell message from the residents of Ottawa

Railroad Tracks

What's so important about railroad tracks?  Well.....it turns out.....a whole lot! 

Railroad Tracks..... 

You'll love the logic here.

The U.S. standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. A lot of our Australian rail gauges is that too

Why was that gauge used? 

Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates designed the U.S. railroads. 

Why did the English build them like that?
Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

Why did 'they' use that gauge then?

Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

Why did the wagons have that particular Odd wheel spacing?

Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So, who built those old rutted roads?

Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England) for their legions.  Those roads have been used ever since. 

And the ruts in the roads?

Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels.

Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore, the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. In other words, bureaucracies live forever.

So the next time you are handed a specification, procedure, or process, and wonder, 'What horse's arse came up with this?', you may be exactly right.

Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses.

Now, the twist to the story:   

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, you will notice that there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah .

 

The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit larger, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature
of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's arse.

And you thought being a horse's arse wasn't important!

Now you know, Horses' Arses control almost everything......Explains a whole lot of stuff, doesn't it?

 

 

Thank you law enforcement across this country

We all know crime and problems are everywhere but this is just a little too close!  Thursday night around 10:30 we heard a very loud bang.  Cec opened the family room door and saw a lot of blue and red flashing lights.  Then we heard a loud speaker "get out of your house".  He quickly closed the door and we went up to the loft, in the dark and watched from the window.  We really couldn't see much because of trees but lots of lights happening.

Our neighbour, Jason came over and Cec and Jason went out the front!  Jason took this picture:

This is our front gate and they counted ten police cars, parked every which way by the gate and in the lane with lights flashing.  There were more police cars on 152.  They both came back inside.  The BC Highway cams at Hwy 10 and 152 were shut down and 152 Street was closed to traffic.  About 12:30 am all the lights were gone and I went to bed.

We got up yesterday and the house is surrounded by yellow police tape with a police car in the front and in the back with flashing lights.  

We are one house away from this house, and here is the newspaper write up:

Peace Arch News

Since Richard has been recovering from his bypass surgery, every Friday we go to The Derby Bar and Grill  for lunch.  The food is excellent and we watch the horse races.  Every booth has it's own TV with a remote control and they have access to every race track in the US.  However, it's at Zero Avenue and 176 Street right by the Pacific Highway Border Crossing.  If you know the area, it's now blocked off by the RCMP for the Freedom Convoy protesters.  We got there last Friday, no problem.  Lots of people and noise but the road was open.  Last Friday I made a bet:

It was a long shot and I won $30.80!

Yesterday, we approached the police block, I showed the officer my vaccine passport and said we wanted to go to The Derby and he said "enjoy your lunch".  We saw over 30 police cars in the entire area.  They are keeping the road open for the trucks to proceed to the border but getting ready for another truck protest tomorrow.  The only road open to The Derby is 176, every other road is blocked by at least three police cars.

I commend the RCMP and other police forces in Ottawa doing a very difficult job.  At the Pacific Highway there are many officers keeping the border open so the goods can flow south.  And, for what they did in our neighbourhood, keeping us safe, a huge thank you!  

The way it is these days

 

Canadian Olympic Women's Hockey

 Congratulations to this awesome team!  

When I worked at Ritchie Bros. one of the girls was a competitive curler.  Her team went to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.   We all cheered her on.  She didn't win but the hours of practise and work that went into that tournament was mind blowing.   She had three small children.  Her husband and mom stepped in to make sure all went well when she was away.

I can't imagine what the women's hockey team has sacrificed to get to the Olympics.  Apparently they were training in Calgary.  I'm sure there are lots of moms with wonderful families who helped them make their dream.

Happy Days are here again!

The Federal Government changed the rules in entering the country for fully vaccinated  visitors and returning Canadians.  They took away the PCR test and replaced it with the easier, cheaper and faster Antigen test!  Great news for families travelling during spring break. 

Then our province relaxed a lot of restrictions!  Weddings and funeral receptions are now permitted!  Fitness facilities, swimming pools and events like Canucks games will be at 100% capacity.  Bars and restaurants have no restrictions any longer.

Vaccine passports and masks are still in place.  The only head scratcher is youth sports.  Allowed yes, but 50% capacity.  So you can put 18,910 people side by side in Rogers Arena but grandparents can't go to kids hockey games!   That needs to be revisited!

Lexie planned a 16th birthday party for her friends last year and that wasn't possible.  So in a couple of weeks she can have her long awaited 16/17th birthday party at a restaurant and they can all sit together.  She was thrilled when I told her after school.

Fabulous photography from around the world

  THE MAJESTY OF OUR PLANET 

1. Summer day in Lovatnet, Norway. Photographer: Lauri Lohi 

  

2. Wisteria climbing up a house in South Kensington, London. Photographer: Jessica Studd

  3. No, this is not a painting. You are looking at the gorgeous rivers of Patagonia, Argentina. Photographer: Max Rive 

 

4. This ethereal shot was taken somewhere in Jasper in Alberta Canada. Photographer: Marti Gutfreund 

  5. Cherry blossoms in Meguro river in Tokyo, Japan. Photographer Tadahisa Hagiwara 

6. Deer in the forest. Photographer: Diego Hernandez  

7. Full moon setting behind a lime tree on a hill in Neuheim, Switzerland. Photographer: Bernd Nowack 

8. Tree in a blue flower field in Hitachi Seaside Park, Japan. Photographer: Hans Guichardo 

9. A walk through a rainforest inside a volcano on Terceira Island located in the Azores archipelago, in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. Photographer: Nate Dodge

10. A lonely tree during a snowfall in Järvenpää, Finland. Photographer: Mikko Lagerstedt

11. Mount Saint-Michel during low tide. Photographer: Garrit Wes Anderson

12. A beautiful street in Molyvos, Lesbos, Greece. Photographer: Costas Stematellis

13. A tiny Douglas fir tree growing on a submerged log in Fairy Lake, which is located in a remote landscape near the town of Port Renfrew in Vancouver Island, Canada. Photographer: Alistair Benn

14. South Coast, Iceland. Photo by: Dale & Karlie

15. Majestic Peru. Photographer: Max Rive

16. Livraria Lello, a bookstore in Portugal. Photographer: Joe Thommas

17. The towns and mountains of Banff, Alberta. Photographer: Joe Mackin

18. View from Tianmen Cave, China. Photographer unknown

19. Lago di Garda, Italy. Photographer: Mark

 

Babes in the Woods

For 70 years the Vancouver Police Department had a cold case.  Two very young boys were found buried in Stanley Park.   I heard about a month ago they were checking DNA, and finally there is an answer as to these two boys!

Babes in the Woods

Happy Monday and Happy Valentines Day!

 To all my beautiful friends, happy Valentines Day!!  And, to all my fat ugly ones, cheer up as it's pancake day next week.

Covid humour