Another panorama shot, this time from Peachland, facing northwards on the lake.
Still having trouble getting the overlaps right, you have to get the light the same or it seems to create the odd lines and the strange shadowing effect.
I’ve taken to listening to a great podcast whilst at work, on digital photography tips, so we’ll see.
Tags: photography, environment, okanagan, canada
Before we came out, I remember watching a documnetary on the caribou, as they made there way north for their annual migration. Thousands upon thousands of the creatures, like a sea flowing across the land. Even here in Canada, we seem to be doing our best to bugger the world up….
Caribou have been a crucial food source for Canada’s northern indigenous people from time immemorial. Now their population is dwindling at an alarming rate — with many herds declining by as much as 70 per cent in a decade. (Read Full Article)
Tags: environment, ecology, climate, climate change
Saturday night, quick game of hide and seek, only a small flat, but we couldn’t find Samuel at all…. read on….
But before that, Sam’s being playing soccer againg, indoor, now in the Green Team. First week, a convincing 10-4 win, this week 8-0! The team is actually a pretty good all round one, with some great little defenders, ready to get stuck in, fast enough to get back when the opposite side get a breakout, with some good little midfielders and strikers. With a certain player, larger than the others, who gets the ball and runs right through the lines like a rhino, "let no player stand in his way" I heard one parent say…. scored a hat trick both games too. It’s going to be a promising season, I think.
So anyway, back to the hide and seek.
We checked the flat, under beds, even in the garage. And then we heard the little toerag giggling….
Tags: Canada
Spot on, right about now, as we are expecting another 10cm of it today (it’s falling heavily as I right this post), after 8cm yesterday and a weekend of it to look forward to….
Diary of a Snow Shoveler – Author unknown
December 8 6:00 PM. – It started to snow. The first snow of the season and the wife and I took our cocktails and sat for hours by the window watching the huge soft flakes drift down from heaven. It looked like a Grandma Moses Print. So romantic we felt like newlyweds again. I love snow!
December 9 – We woke to a beautiful blanket of crystal white snow covering every inch of the landscape. What a fantastic sight! Can there be a more lovely place in the Whole World? Moving here was the best idea I’ve ever had. Shoveled for the first time in years and felt like a boy again. I did both our driveway and the sidewalks. This afternoon the snowplow came along and covered up the sidewalks and closed in the driveway, so I got to shovel again. What a perfect life.
December 12 – The sun has melted all our lovely snow. Such a disappointment. My neighbor tells me not to worry, we’ll definitely have a white Christmas. No snow on Christmas would be awful! Bob says we’ll have so much snow by the end of winter, that I’ll never want to see snow again. I don’t think that’s possible. Bob is such a nice man I’m glad he’s our neighbor.
December 14 – Snow lovely snow! 8″ last night. The temperature dropped to -20. The cold makes everything sparkle so. The wind took my breath away, but I warmed up by shoveling the driveway and sidewalks. This is the life! The snowplow came back this afternoon and buried everything again. I didn’t realize I would have to do quite this much shoveling, but I’ll certainly get back in shape this way. I wish I wouldn’t huff and puff so.
December 15 – 20 inches forecast. Sold my van and bought a 4×4 Blazer. Bought snow tires for the wife’s car and 2 extra shovels. Stocked the freezer. The wife wants a wood stove in case the electricity goes out. I think that’s silly. We aren’t in Alaska, after all.
December 16 – Ice storm this morning. Fell on my ass on the ice in the driveway putting down salt. Hurt like hell. The wife laughed for an hour, which I think was very cruel.
December 17 – Still way below freezing. Roads are too icy to go anywhere. Electricity was off for 5 hours. I had to pile the blankets on to stay warm. Nothing to do but stare at the wife and try not to irritate her. Guess I should’ve bought a wood stove, but won’t admit it to her. God I hate it when she’s right. I can’t believe I’m freezing to death in my own living room.
December 20 – Electricity’s back on, but had another 14″ of the damn stuff last night. More shoveling. Took all day. Goddamn snowplow came by twice. Tried to find a neighbor kid to shovel, but they said they’re too busy playing hockey. I think they’re lying. Called the only hardware store around to see about buying a snow blower and they’re out. Might have another shipment in March. I think they’re lying. Bob says I have to shovel or the city will have it done and bill me. I think he’s lying.
December 22 – Bob was right about a white Christmas because 13 more inches of the white shit fell today, and it’s so cold it probably won’t melt till August. Took me 45 minutes to get all dressed up to go out to shovel and then I had to piss. By the time I got undressed, pissed and dressed again. I was too tired to shovel. Tried to hire Bob who has a plow on his truck for the rest of the winter; but he says he’s too busy. I think the asshole is lying.
December 23 – Only 2″ of snow today. And it warmed up to 0o. The wife wanted me to decorate the front of the house this morning. What is she nuts!!! Why didn’t she tell me to do that a month ago? She says she did but I think she’s lying.
December 24 – 6″. Snow packed so hard by snowplow, l broke the shovel. Thought I was having a heart attack. If I ever catch the son of a bitch who drives that snowplow, I’ll drag him through the snow by his balls. I know he hides around the corner and waits for me to finish shoveling and then he comes down the street at a 100 miles an hour and throws snow all over where I’ve just been! Tonight the wife wanted me to sing Christmas Carols with her and open our presents, but I was busy watching for the goddamn snowplow.
December 25 – Merry Christmas. 20 more inches of the !=3D@x@!x!x1 slop tonight. Snowed in. The idea of shoveling makes my blood boil. God I hate the snow! Then the snowplow driver came by asking for a donation and I hit him over the head with my shovel. The wife says I have a bad attitude. I think she’s an idiot. If I have to watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” one more time, I’m going to kill her.
December 26 – Still snowed in. Why the hell did I ever move here? It was all HER idea. She’s really getting on my nerves.
December 27 – Temperature dropped to -30o and the pipes froze.
December 28 – Warmed up to above -50. Still snowed in. THE B!#CH is driving me crazy!!!!!
December 29 – 10 more inches. Bob says I have to shovel the roof or it could cave in. That’s the silliest thing I ever heard. How dumb does he think I am?
December 30 – Roof caved in. The snow plow driver is suing me for a million dollars. The wife went home to her mother. 9″ predicted.
December 31 – Set fire to what’s left of the house. No more shoveling.
January 8 – I feel so good. I just love those little white pills they keep giving me. Why am I tied to the bed?
Sex-change chemicals in Potomac River….
An investigation into the cleanliness of rivers feeding Washington’s Potomac River has revealed the presence of sex-changing chemicals.
Pollutants which contain the chemicals, known as endocrine disrupters, were found in several tributaries and in the smallmouth bass fish living within.
Lethal secrets of 1918 flu virus….
Then, in a maximum “biosafety” facility at Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory they reconstructed a fully functioning virus, and infected macaque monkeys to see what would happen.
Writing in the journal Nature, they reported that the results were startling. Symptoms appeared within 24 hours of exposure to the virus, and the subsequent destruction of lung tissue was so widespread that, had the monkeys not been put to sleep a few days later, they would literally have drowned in their own blood.
Feeling grumpy at the moment, filing tax returns tends to do that to me.
Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. – Buddha –
Interested in geneology? Have a look at ww.geni.com and play around with it. I’m a bit concerned about the mass email addresses being on there, but, we’ll see. I’m not going to be putting loads of info on there, just use it to start building up the tree.
The more I read, the more this is disturbing me.
Having read “1984”, I can’t see the “story” as anything other than a blueprint for the state of the nation, in the UK.
If you have kids, relations or friends, I’d love to know what you think. Personally, I’m against it. Post comments, get in touch get involved.
You might like to head over to www.leavethemkidsalone.com and at the very least read what they say. You owe it to your children to get educated.
Having been here for nearly 18 months, it is noticeable, that the region is increasing in numbers, although I’m not sure it’s actually ready. We have a bridge from Westside to Kelowna, that, common sense would have told me, to get built before now, if the population is expanding. In the summer months, the queue to get to Kelowna is huge.
And then there’s jobs. In the Westside, especially, the majoity of the jobs are in retail, or construction. If the influx of new people are to be retired, as one travle magazine is recommending, I can’t see how this area is going to survive. Houses are being built, top end as well, not affordable, on orchards, fields and any spare bit of land developers can find.
I’ve just got this from the local rag, the Kelowna Daily Courier;
The population of the Central Okanagan Regional District ballooned by more than three per cent to 173,026 in 2006 compared to 2005, and has increased by almost 20,000 since 2001.
“I tell my students I just came to a mid-sized city from the big cities of Toronto and Montreal. I tell them the beautiful Okanagan Valley is the gem of Canada, no doubt, but it’s growing too fast and we have to think seriously about growth,” he said Tuesday. (Read Full Article)
How the Okanagan deals with the problems the future holds, we’ll have to see. But the outlook for this summer, is to expect the busiest season yet.
No Going Back 