Monday – August 11th, 2025 —> +36˚C/+97˚F @ 3:54 pm AT +Sunny +Dusty & Mercury Has Stopped Retching-

-Monday – August 11, 2025 —> +36˚C / +97˚F = Hot, Sunny, & Dusty In Atlantic Canada As Mercury has stopped ‘Retching’ backward across the sky – & *** News Flash *** Weather conditions are so hot and dry up here in the ‘Great {Not-White today} White North’ – That New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have passed laws telling people not only to never have a camp fire in the woods, but to stay the heck out of the forests or face really big fines, { Over $2,000.00 Canadian Dollars }. {{{ Pray for Rain? }}}

 

- "Road Virk" -

– “Big Earth Moving Machines ‘upgrading’ our street -” –

— Steam Roller to the left of me – Two Monster things we used to call ‘Steam Shovels’ dead ahead, Monster Dump Truck in the distance & something actling like the world’s biggest fork lift to the right of the orange and white things warning drivers to avoid falling into deep holes… This was at about 12:33 pm – & I’m impressed at the speed of these guys’ work and how nice they’ve been to us –

 

-"Road Virk # 02" -

– “Another View of the Steam Roller & Work in Progress.” –

— Today is Garbage Day and this week it’s paper recycling collection day – There’s a hint of our recycling just this side of the steam roller’s tires.

 

-"Recycling, Butt End of Steam Roller & a wider shot of our driveway connected to our street." -

– “A better shot of where our driveway now connects to the street?” –

— Last Friday I didn’t get a wonderfully framed shot of where our driveway connects to our street – so in keeping with ‘Redundancy R Us’ I took another shot – this time with hints of recycling, steam roller and another Earth Mover behind a utiity pole. The road crew calls in a special truck with a special arm to reinforce the ‘uprightness’ of utility poles when they’re digging close to what they hope is stable ground at the base of those poles.

 

-"Driveway"-

– “Many Canadians refer to driveways as ‘laneways’ – And this is what our driveway looked like at just before 12:30 pm today -” =

— I took a video of the two big ‘steam shovels’ working together up the street a bit – but WordPress didn’t want to mess with any graphics files that big so you don’t have to suffer through two steam shovels dancing together and not knocking each other out –

– – – – – Yay?

~~~~~ Jim

Tuesday, August 16th, 2022

Tuesday, August 12th, 2022 —> +17˚C / +64˚F & Mostly Cloudy @ 9.54 am in Atlantic Canada –

Van Gogh 360 Exhibit photo

– August 9th – Charlottetown, P.E.I., Canada – “Van Gogh 360” Immersive Exhibit –

— I’ve got a lot to catch up with – but I’ve been so insanely bogged down with silly little things that needed attention – that by the time I sat down to write anything my brain went blank. { Schnarr – }

— But we did go to Prince Edward Island on August 8 through 10 and experienced the Van Gogh 360 Exhibit in Charlottetown – which was amazing – There are quite a few photos posted on facebook { on my ‘jim.wellington.33’ account. } There’s some other stuff above that post – I think it’s the fifth one down that was posted on August 12th – if you count the top one that doesn’t begin with the date, but starts with “Et puis – And Finally-”

Yard work to date

– “Yard Work To Date” August 15th –

— On the Home Front… We dug a trench along the western foundation of our house here { shown covered in ‘river rocks’ beneath the square black garbage can above } on the hottest, most humid days we’ve experienced since moving here nine years ago – I had to knock off early on several days while Cathi kept at it – and I spent several days with stomach muscle pains and guilt – but we got this much done and we’ll have more to do in the coming days.

— I’ve come to the conclusion that keeping up with television network news can be dangerous to your peace of mind. And every time I hear someone use the phrase “Mentally ill” I wish they’d come up with a more accurate description – I haven’t seen evidence of anybody’s brain literally throwing up yet – Several people have been known to spew verbal garbage around but that doesn’t necessarily make them ‘mentally ill’ or even ‘unbalanced’. Russia – especially under the Soviet style of ‘government’ had the attitude that anybody who spoke up against their government had to be crazy and locked them up in ‘mental hospitals’. The phrase ‘Mental Hospitals’ conjures images of ‘virtual institutions’ that probably never get closer to any concrete reality than maybe a drawing { in crayon? } but might be vivid in some autocrat’s imagination as a place to lock ‘enemies’ up so they { the autocrat } can stay in power.

— A Psychiatrist named Frankl said something along the lines of, -It isn’t our quirks or idiosyncrasies that make us ‘crazy’ – it’s the fear that people who are important to us believe there is something radically wrong with us.- { With the way we think? With the things we think about?  Or the way we express our thoughts? With the idea that we are not afraid to think about things that scare the ‘living cement’ out of the accusers? } Sometimes I think that anybody who accuses anybody else of being out of their minds is probably a lot crazier than the person he or she is accusing.

— I mean if the powers that think they be can accept the idea that people they used to call ‘retarded’ are more accurately described as ‘intellectually challenged’ and even that misses the mark – because most IQ tests only measure language and math skills when there are at least 7 different types of real intelligence – spacial intelligence – interpersonal intelligence – imagination? – musical intelligence { which uses advanced memory skills as well as mathematical skill and physical co-ordination and emotional intelligence? } {{ to name a few }} – and how about the difference between people who can think ‘outside the box’ to come up with solutions to problems that dyed in the wool orthodox thinkers can’t imagine?

— Um – yeah, back to ‘mental illness’ – People who grow up with abusive parents – especially psychologically abusive parents – may be more inclined to doubt their sanity than people who grow up with loving, nurturing parents – { if there really are any loving, nurturing parents who are able to overcome the stress of ‘modern life’ to be able to express their love, acceptance and encouragement on a day to day basis – } Hearing a raging alcoholic bombard your developing mind, personality, and self esteem with something like, “You belong in a nuthouse -” “You kids could drive a saint to swear-” “What the [ eff? } is wrong with you?” – Or how about authority figures who sneer at you and literally say things like “People like you don’t deserve to breath the same air as { white people? people who belong to a culture’s accepted religion? – people who subscribe to the political values that the speaker embraces? } … I’ve heard of authority figures and ‘wanna be’ authority figures who have told young people that they really should go home and kill themselves – for reasons unspoken and/or that wouldn’t sound at all reasonable to anybody with a functioning brain and ‘heart’.

— Ehh – sorry – I’d really like to be 1,000% positive and encouraging without dwelling on the fact that there really are abusive people in this world and many of them should never be given a license to become parents or even baby sitters.

— Schnarr –

— Have a wonderfully good life anyway? –

~~~~~ Jim 

February 6th, 2022

Sunday – February 6th, 2022 —> -8˚C /+17.6˚F @ 3:15 pm in Atlantic Canada – { Was my aunt Phylis’ Birthday 🙂 }

 

Draeydan & Shelley at Daybreak

– Latest couple of characters from my latest NaNoWriMo novel –

— { I was shocked to see how good the above screen shot looks on a gaming monitor. }

 

Path to Deer Hill

– Snow-Blown path from tool shed to ‘Deer Hill’ { Taken from squatting down low – The snow piles are not over our heads } – Photo taken yesterday, February 5th, 2022. –

— Um, we do not live in igloos in Canada – We do need air conditioners in the summer … { And “Wellington Court” was named after someone whose middle name was Wellington { Last name was Pond – The street began with five houses in a cluster – all inhabited by families related to each other – whose  last name was Pond. }

— Haven’t done much with my Genealogy blog —> https://aerendel.ca/DNA-Tree/ <— Looked up the spelling on my Aunt Phyl’s name and got lost – didn’t find it.

— The other night I was at my living room computer { One of several computers – the living room computer is hooked up to a really good set of speakers that we use to listen to live podcasts from time to time } — I heard something and turned to watch a colander jump up and slide down the wall behind our living room wood stove. … The love of my life subscribes to a friend’s Psychic podcast and has asked questions from time to time. … This house has some very unusual acoustic qualities. People talking to each other a couple streets away sound like they’re in the next room – I’ve heard our sadly deceased Labrador ‘Boof’ clipping down the hall now and then { and felt my favourite orange cat jump on my arm two years after he dropped his physical body and went off to play in the happy hunting grounds 🙂 } … a really sensitive psychic said that was because we live in a spot with a bowl shaped sort of spiritual amphitheatre – where curious inter-dimensional beings sometimes stop by to check the place out – when my love asked who played with the colander the psychic source rattled off a series of names including my cousin’s { Joan Pond’s } name – { Her birthday was last week – {{ Happy Birthday Joan! }}  } – Which prompted me to check out her net presence and she’s still with us {{{ Yay! }}} — But hey, if you’re  growing telekinetic talents – tell me about it, Cuz – }} {{{ Or was it one of the Ponds who lived on this street in the past dropping by and saying hello? }}}

— until next time…

~~~~~ Jim

Saturday, January 15th, 2022 –

– Saturday, January 15th, 2022 —>  -17˚C / +1˚F – a bit windy @ 7:30 am – and, no, we did NOT get a foot of snow yesterday 🙂 – & Today is Jenny Leigh’s { & Doctor Martin Luther King’s } Birthday –

— & After the latest ‘critical’ update to WordPress weighed in around a version number I thought was a lot higher… the latest version says it’s “5.8.3” ???  —> Or, have I slipped into some weird parallel universe? —> that might explain a lot…

 

– “@ 07:38 this morning – I was happy to see that we did not get a foot of new snow yesterday and/or overnight.”

— I made sure I was awake enough to go get gas for the van and the snowblower and picked up two bags of whole oats for our critters from the Co-op. { There are two or three deer in the photo above – if you can see them you’re amazing. }

— My usual winter allergies have been ravaging me lately – I can hardly get through a day without feeling like the usual post nasal drip will be activating reverse peristaltic reactions any time, anywhere. We’re both  incredibly careful and hardly move out of the house for anything. So, while our idiot ‘Premier’ { if this was the USA he’d be a ‘Governor’ or other ‘Chief Elected State Official’ } –  has an annoying history of – for instance – delivering disinformation – Like the time he said he’s had all his shots and doesn’t need a mask — & when he shows up to deliver that kind of disinformation with a gaggle of bobble heads standing behind him wearing acrylic face shields without masks – I wonder why nobody screams at him that those stupid face shields are totally freakin useless unless they’re accompanied by one or two surgical masks – or an N-95 mask that is properly fitted to the wearer’s face. { To be fair – the definitely political moron is probably getting his information from another radically misinformed idiot. } … We are happy to self isolate and keep self monitoring for new and/or unusual symptoms and, so far – have not come into contact with anything like ‘weaponized’ Chinese Viruses – Both Cathi and I have had our three shots { The booster didn’t even cause a minor ache this time and might have left us slightly more drowsy than whatever our ‘normal’ is … } and we’re both confirmed Introverts who do not need a lot of physical or even social contact with other human beings to enjoy life or feel good about ourselves  – As a matter of fact – we’ve both been bullied by corporate stooges and other insane high authoritarians way too often —> to the point where we feel a lot better having nothing to do with them.

 

– Two Characters from my latest NaNoWriMo Novel –

— “Draeydan” { left } & Shelley { Right } lit by a camp fire at daybreak in the game world – I thought this screen shot looked amazing on my gaming monitor. { Taken at 02:38 am on Thursday the 13th of this month }

 

– “I set my iPhone down on the porch desk while I climbed out of my winter jacket and it took this photo-” –

— Um, that’s some stacked scraps of lumber unretouched – the colour is from the grow light that is keeping quite a few plants amazingly happy on our porch 🙂

 

– “& I took this photo at 11:25 am yesterday – in anticipation of having some radical before and after shots while the weather people were forecasting a big dump of a foot or more of snow -” –

— This was just before I jumped in the van and went out on a mission to gas the van and fill an empty gas can because we fully expected to be struggling valiantly against a raging blizzard. Also picked up two bags of whole oats to keep our friends alive…

 

– & Dat’s me in a Christmas Present that was ‘guaranteed’ to get here by December 23rd, and finally made it on the fifth of January –

— Egad that guy looks scary …

— Ehhh – So I’m sorry but I haven’t even looked at ‘effbook’ more often than once or twice a month – and generally find a couple dozen missed messages with expired links to deleted photos and stuff – But Dang! I love this crazy human race and pray our next pandemic slaps us in the soul with some kind of amazingly contagious common sense.

– – – – –  Love Anyway!

~~~~~ Jim

Tuesday – June 22nd – 2017 – Mercury’s gone direct – That explains a few things…

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2021 — +23˚C / +76˚F { +31˚C / +92˚F = “Humidex” } — & cloudy and threatening rain @ 6:15 pm on Janet P. Gernat’s Birthday 🙂 – High Temperature today was +25˚C / +80˚F —> With a +33˚C / +96˚F “Temperature Humidity Index in the USA” / “Humidex” up here… } … Complicated enough for ya? —

 

- Roses and Stealth Gnnome -

– “Roses and Stealth Gnome by our Stone Wall.” { – Just coincidentally for Janet’s Birthday? – }

— Over night and at least into this morning we were supposed to get remnants from a nasty storm that sweapt through Maine yesterday. Either I slept through it or the storm thought this area was just too boring to visit.

— I forget where Cathi got that small rose bush earlier this warm season { We’ll ignore the fact that a lot of Canadians define ‘Summer’ as, “Two weeks of terrible hockey weather.” }

— My wonderful step daughter – Erin – called today and apologized for not calling on Sunday or even yesterday to wish me a Happy Father’s Day – I was just plain knocked out that she’s so thoughtful and warm that she’d think about me on Father’s Day – I thought she was an amazingly wonderful kid when I first met her and she was delighted to record a cheerful station ID for WPKN in Bridgerport while I was the *Director of Public Service there { *Screened PSA’s —> Public Service Announcements <— } and I also read a few minutes of Local News from the “Greater Bridgeport” area to go along with the National and World News we were getting from Pacifica at the time – supporting a news team that had been fired and/or quit in protest after a conspiracy of right wing-nuts { “Conservatives”/ “Beedy Grastards” } infiltrated the executive board of the Bi-Coastal Pacifica – Community Based – { “Left Leaning?” } organization and took over with a plan to sell the stations to other Beedy Grastards to rid themselves of the possibility that “left leaning truth nuts” might tell the kind of truth that would deflate their “Right Wing-Nut” propaganda into obscurity …  My soon to be step daughter had an amazingly clear and positive sounding voice as she finished the “You are listening to WPKN radio in Bridgeport Connecticut, 89.5 FM -” with “I wish we had a station like WPKN up here in the Toronto area-” or something very close to that.

— But then this amazing young woman who was in grade 8 at the time { eighth grade to those of you in the good old U.S. of A. } Burst into tears the first time she saw me hug her mother – we later guessed that she thought the idea of having two sets of parents – there was a lot of that going around at the time – would be a cool idea — but when she saw us hug she realized that her parents most likely would never get back together again. { They – Cathi – and Erin’s father – are still friends – and I like him – he was working on stuff that could be painted harmlessly on the inside of food packaging that would change colour if the food went bad, and when the US Government found out about that technology, they hired the company that Erin’s father worked for to develop badges for soldiers and other military types that would change colour and/or display symbols to warn soldiers that they’d walked into biological warfare hazards and stuff like that.  But then, when Katrina made a mess out of New Orleans – Good Old George W. and his gang didn’t think they had to honour contracts paying for research that might save US Military lives – especially if the company doing the work was in the ‘Socialist/Commie’ place north of their border – Erin’s father didn’t get paid for six months at a time and when he did get paid he had so many back bills he had a hard time catching up, almost lost the house he lived in. }

— And now that I’ve bored you half to death with idiotic politix and real life conspiracy stuff, let me tell you what we did – Yesterday –

 

- Covid-19 Vaccination Record - Colourfully redacted. -

– “Covid-19 Vaccination Records – Colourfully Redacted.” –

— After being told that we probably wouldn’t be able to get our second covid vaccine shots until August – The Provincial Governement here told us a couple weeks ago that anyone who qualified and had gotten their first shot during March this year could log in on-line and get their second shot. We logged in on the first day we could and got our second shots scheduled on the first day they were available. Which is freaking amazing, almost magical – and now we’re hearing that talks are underway, we might even be able to cross the border into the USA by sometime in July. Wow.

— But we’re not doing any happy dances just yet. Nova Scotia wants anybody from New Brunswick who wants to visit Nova Scotia to self isolate for at least a couple days and be tested positive for not having the virus —> IF they’re carrying acceptable proof that they’d had both shots at least 14 days before attempting to enter Nova Scotia – Anybody withe proof that they’ve been injected with the first dose of a two dose regiment might have to self isolate { And Pay a ridiculous hotel bill? } for maybe 7 days and be tested twice and cleared twice. { Anti-Vaxxers need not apply? }  …Because The Government of New Brunswick actually wants to allow people from outside the ‘Atlantic Bubble’ into New Brunswick. and Nova Scotian ‘Leader’ types gave up checking under their beds for Communist infiltrators a few years ago, but now they want to make damned sure that not evil outsiders are trying to bring nasty / scary viruses into their province to threaten the lives of their wonderful Government Fearing people. 😉 – Last summer they made the cast and crew of “The Curse of Oak Island” self isolate somewhere for 14 days and get tested a couple times, prove they were positively not carrying deadly viruses with them before they could walk about freely and pay good Nova Scotians to help them look for elusive treasure on their island.

— — — — — Sigh —

— If I don’t end now it won’t be Janet’s Birthday any longer when I hit the ‘Post’ button –

— Janet, Have a lifetime of wonderful amazing Happy days, not just one happy day bcause it’s your birthday – you deserve better than somebody wishing you one happy day every year…

~~~~~ Jim

Sunday! & This is not a commercial for national speedway –

Sunday, Jun3 6th – 18˚C/+65˚F & ‘pleasant’ @ 6:45 am New Brunswick time – on Bev Newell’s Birthday 🙂 & D-Day’s 77th { ? } Anniversary ? —

- bush with white flowers in full bloom -

– duh… Baby’s Breath? Bridal Wreath? Something Else? –

— Whatever the above bush calls itself – it’s in full bloom and showing off – I think it has a right to…

— Um – So I got an alert from an Astrology site yesterday, “Mercury is Square Neptune -” and it went on to say that most people would feel like they shouldda stayed in bed. It also said that nobody should trust their thoughts and impressions – confusion and inability to tell reality from illusion would be the order of the day -But then the bottom line was, the astrologer advised everybody to click on a link and pay handsomely for a Tarot card reading.

 

- East Yard -

– Our Eastern Yard –

— Um, I think of this as the front yard – it faces Canada Street – Cathi calls it the back yard, we come in from the North off of Wellington Court – {{ Named after somebody who’s last name was Pond and middle name was Wellington… }} Canada Street is East of us – pretty much on a right angle to the beginning of Wellington Court, which bends slightly to the north as it rises up a hill that is impressive when covered with ice. Impressive too, is the fact that we must be way down on the list of priorities – the sanding truck comes around after everybody who had to go to work before noon had to rely on the kind of driving skills you hear announcers describe as “Don’t try this at home, kids -”

 

- 'Unexpected Sunset' -

– “Unexpected Sunset” —> while I’m working on prettying up my game world before it just might eventually go public on-line – the sun sets every 6 hours of Earth time –

— So I should have expected a sunset in the west – what I didn’t expect was how shockingly gorgeous in unexpected colours this one was. Cathi wants to see New Mexico. Maybe the colour scheme from a lot of New Mexico’s art work had filtered into my semi-conscious ‘unconscious mind’ here – to give her a preview of what she expects to find if we ever get there? I gave the saturation slider a nudge or five higher to make it look the way it does on a gaming monitor. 🙂

— So today’s temperature only rose to about 27˚C / 81˚F – and wasn’t as muggy as the last couple days – Tomorrow might reach 33˚C / 94˚F and probably muggier?

— This afternoon Cathi was raving about how cool the house gets when she sets the Heat Pump on ‘Dehumidify’ – and then she thought she’d probably have to crank up its air conditioning { cooling } function tomorrow.

– – – – – And that’s probably more than enough damage for today –

– – – – – Everybody – Have a nice lifetime-

~~~~~ Jim

Sunday – May 30th, 2021 – My Nephew Dave’s Birthday :) –

Sunday, May 30th, 2021 – 7˚C / +39˚F & Dark @ 1:49 am – in Atlantic Canada – It’s my nephew Dave’s Birfday 🙂 –

"My Office-"

– “A Clean Office is a sign of a very sick mind -” … or maybe just a symptom of somebody who has nothing much to do? –

— Okay – Right now I’m – um, maybe two yards to the right of the security camera monitor screen, { more like the “Deer Cam / Raccoon Cam / Critter Monitor – one of  our most constant visitors is ‘Miss Kit’ – our neighbour’s tortise shell aging mighty hunter – } I can watch the garbage and recycling trucks roll up and down the little bit of road that is visible in Camera One and sometimes see the mail delivery person approaching or walking away if I’m looking up at the right moment – There were a couple times I looked up, yawned, and noticed a package delivered either by Canadian Post or UPS or — what are the other parcel / express companies? gaaaa —>

 

- "Driveway and Yard and House From Across The Road." -

– That’s our Maritimes Cedar Tree on the left – the yard Cathi wants to turn into a garden in the middle, between the tree annd the driveway – with hints of some of our new plants Cathi planted on Sunday or Monday { May 23rd & 24th } of this year { 2021 } and our house – back center and a little bit of our Western ‘acreage’ with – I think – the steel shed partially hidden behind our van. –

— On Monday and Wednesday I took some photos,  first of Cathi’s efforts over the long weekend – { “Victoria Day” – last Monday holiday up here – Memorial Day to celebrate Dave’s Birthday tomorrow – } On Tuesday I had a telephone interview with somebody in Maryland that had me so nervous before hand that I nearly threw up several times after talking to a very pleasant and professional gentleman in the Baltimore area. He did not make me nervous – I made me nervous – Then – on Wednesday – the 26th – Cathi had a heat pump installed –

 

- "Heat Pump" innards. -

– Our New Heat Pump – My brain tried to call it a Heat Sink after having too much computer stuff on the brain for the last – duh… 30 years? “Eek?” –

— So – um, the rumours are that Heat Pumps are more efficient and cost about half of what it might cost for a new furnace and air conditioner – That thing is about two feet wide and takes care of the whole house – Maybe not counting the basement which was fairly cool on the hottest days – the day that Heat Pump was installed it was +31˚C / more like +91˚F +Muggy –  felt like 98˚F? So- for those of you who still believe that all Canadians live in igloos – well, it that was the case – we’d all be very wet and very homeless after that. 🙂

 

- "Outside part of the Heat Pump" -

– That’s the outside part of the Heat Pump – I should probably give Cathi a lot of credit for reading about a decent sale on this thing and pouncing . yup, she’s sharp! –

— The thing is happily parked beneath the overhang – which dozens of spiders believe we put there just for them so they can eat up as many mosquitos as they can handle – some of them are um, silver dollar sized? None of them have tried to pick me up and carry me away, but they would have terrified my sister Diane, who wanted to jump backward out of her skin whenever a friendly neighbourhood spider singled her out to drop down and say hello – Extra plastic window insulation still up and after the one day with a ‘humidex in the high 90’s { ˚F } and mid 30’s { ˚C } we had a couple mornings that flirted with below the freezing mark here. So Cathi got a chance to run the new Heat Pump through its paces as both cooler and heater and is very happy with its performance.

 

- "Cathi - admiring the Heat Pump's outside parts while the installers were still here." -

– Cathi – the creative genius who made the green plaid masks for both of us and is wearing hers here – is admiring the outside part of the Heat Pump that was the main attraction in the photo above this one. 🙂 – While the installers were still here. –

— Please notice the apparent lack of snow here in our little corner of “the great white north” the snow and ice that usually hung around until Mothers’ Day in spots of the western part of our lot here – Cathi’s outdoors “Zen corner” –  melted early. And the Fredericton area ofo New Brunswick did not have the devastating floods we experienced down the hill from us – around the Saint John River { Known as “Woolastook” {{{ English Spelling }}} to the First Nations People who technically {{ and probably legally }}  still own the country – AND ALL ITS RESOURCES! }

 

- "Dwarf Lilac" -

– New Dwarf Lilac bush we got at Scott’s Nursery a week or so ago and transplanted into the ground when we thought there was no more chance of frost. –

— We did a little bit of shopping earlier today / er – yesterday? Saturday? And were amazed at how many Lila trees in ful bloom we drove past. I really like the aroma – even if it did drive my mother’s allergies crazy – & Oh – the ‘Save the Bees’ people were calling for a “No Mow May” and asking everybody who cared to leave as many dandelions and other wild flowers alive and alone so the bees had a fighting chance of survival after the die off crises they’ve had to contend with. I dodn’t think it’s been as bad around here as it was some other places, but I guess it was bad enough to have the morning guy on the local CBC radio/television news interview somebody about it.

 

- "Pansies for Mom" -

– We’ve planted Pansies for my Mother almost every year – sadly, in her memory – and this is a terrible shot but that’s my fault, not the pansies… some of them grow back whether they’re supposed to or not and the smaller guys are new this year. { got ’em on sale- } –

— Yeah, I was in a hurry when I took the above photo and in the bright sun I can’t see how well the shot came out, decent sized iPhone screen or not –

 

- Purple Smoke Tree -

–  “Purple Smoke Tree” – The first plant nursery people I asked about smoke trees up here looked at me like I had to be from another planet – But the people at Scott’s Nursery in Lincoln, New Brunswick, know better and this is our second Smoke Tree – the other one is more like green leaves and subtle smoke coloured ‘smoke’ { blossums? } –

— I will have to take another photo when this guy { or woman? I mean – if I’m going to go full anthropomorphic here – I should probably get their gender right? If they have genders? – I can pretty much tell when a plant is happy, but I have not mastered the ability to actually communicate with them and know what they might be trying to tell me –  I can usually try to get messages through to them through guardian angels – and get a hint of a response from somewhere – or someone or something … Did I tell you that I once sent a spiritual message to a bat’s guardian angel when I had a helper one night a week on the cleaning job that was the first job I could legally get after becoming a permanent resident up here – and there was a bat flying around inside the building we were cleaning – the helper called the boss and the boss said, “Kill it-” and I ‘called out to the bat’s guardian angel and with a small brown bag – told the guardian angel that if the bat didn’t crawl into that bag one of us would have to kill it. Ya know what? That bat crawled right into that bag – and we carried it outside and put the open bag down by a large potted evergreen shrub and scared the heck out of a woman who curiously asked up what we were up to – and the bat flew out and up and away and pretty much sent the youngish woman running –  I have witnesses! I will never doubt the existance of guardian angels for every living creature after that – { Thank you , Doreen Virtue, PhD – for cluing me onto that – }

 

- Cathi, reading the 'constructions' -

– Cathi – reading the operating manual for the Heat Pump while we had electricians outside and Heat Pump guy inside putting the finishing touches on the installation. –

— If I had any sense I would make this the last photo here – Cathi looked up and wondered what I was doing pointing my iPhone at her while she was reading about how to operate the new Heat Pump.

 

- "Cathi - The Avatar - on Shamrock Island South - in the 'Aerendel' Game rwrold I've been building since 2011" -

– Cathi { The Avatar } on a desert hill in South Shamrock Island – in “Aerendel” the Game World I’ve been building since August of 2011 – after I was writing stories about Aerendel since 1973 when my concept of the place became a quasi-mythic place founded by compassionate Half-Elves with access to a sentient Anomaly that opened wild portalss to save all kinds of creatures in danger and ferry them to new lands. –

— She looks a lot better on a 4K gaming monitor. The ‘sentient Anomaly’ leads a lot of defenseless creatures to the Principality of Aerendel and captures a lot of ‘Adventurers’ who might have been bored with their lives –  in dangerous abusive relationships – or in need of a quick getaway from over zealous constables in their home worlds – Those ‘Adventurers’ have a lot of options from nurtuing wild plants to defending innocents from bloodthirsty bad guys and rogue helper appliances from a very weird future.

— So – “No!”-  of course I don’t have enough sense to leave things with a photo of my favourite life partner wearing a Covid-19 mask and reading up on how to use her marvelous new – and very efficient – heating and cooling device.

~~~~~ Jim

Welcome to 2021?

Saturday, January 2nd, 2021 – -6˚C / +23˚F & Snowing @ 5 pm Atlantic Time –

Snow Fall shot through a window with holidays lights bright.

– 5 pm today – first significant snow warning of the season –

— Looks like we will start the new year testing out our new { bought it on sale } snow blower – The ‘snowfall warning’ says we can expect 15 to 25 Centimeters { 6 to 10 inches? }

— We are expecting the unexpected this year – holding our breath to see if election thieves in the U$A get away with any major Communist +/or  Fascist coupe d’etat { I don’t know whether the thieves I’m talking about here are ones who are accusing the other side of stealing the election? Or the ones that the apparent losers believe stole the election by somehow padding the vote. }

—> & In the great name-calling debate  —> One side believes that calling the other side “Communists” should render their more ‘Liberal’ opponents unable to do anything but wag their mouths with no words coming out —> While the other side believes that calling their opponents ‘Corporate Fascists’ should cause their opponents to fall down on the ground in the middle of acute cardiac arrest.

—> I don’t know – but no matter what happens – half of the population of the United States will be hopping mad – thinking that the other side didn’t just cheat, but they’re plotting to rape and kill their babies —> body , mind and Spirit… & then institute economic slavery.

—> I also believe that people are throwing words around where nobody agrees what they actually mean –

—> “Communists?”—> I think the only real commune-ists are spiritually centgered people who model themselves on what we’ve been taught is what the early Christians believed in and pracitcied—> “If you have two coats and you see somebody shivering in the cold because he or she doesn’t have a coat – give them one of yours.” : “Love! And do as thou wilt!” { I am not 1,000% sure of ancient spelling and/or grammatic rules … but I do remember that I had a grammar school teacher tell my class that back in ‘George Washington’s day’ – there was no standardized spelling. }

— But what about the golden rule? – ‘Do unto others as you would [ hopefully ] have them do unto you.” – If everybody acted that way we wouldn’t need to have a government pass any welfare or social security laws. In a world like that Donald J Trump would be a completely different, and probably much happier, person.

—> The USSR’s government was NOT commune-ist. If a small number of power hungry people want to control everything everybody else says, does and thinks – they are not commune-ists – The USSR’s ruling elite were Fascists trying to get their people to believe the fantasy that their government existed to insure that the workers who they said were the backbone of their ‘socialist state’ – were protected so they could not be exploited exploited by any evil capitalists.{ While the ruling elite in the USA was busy selling the fiction that they were in power to make sure that those evil commies didn’t conquer and enslave the good people of the good old U-S of A. – } Neither side in the cold war acted in a way that might fit into what Christian, or Jewish, or Islamic, or Hindu, or Taoist, Shinto, Confucian, Jainist, Sikh, Zoarastrian, Buddhist; or any other ‘religious’ philosophy teaches.

—> Another step back —> All the True Great Prophets who came down into this Material Universe to help us find our way through the various levels of spiritual ignorance and social and legal darkness – if they got together for a conference, they would be in total agreement on what the Divine is, and what we’re here for. They all basically gave us the same message. The confusion began to set in when The Great Ones had to translate Their message to fit into the linguistic and cultural climate they were surrounded by during their incarnations.

—> BUT – Power hungry men { almost always men } edited and warped Their messages so they could grab power and force their countries’ populations to serve them – and pay them taxes – and bow down and kiss their feet. Mohammed { God Bless Him Eternally } wanted his daughter, Jasmine, to inherit His property and be a powerful voice in spreading His message. Manipulative – Power-Hungry { Ice-Holes } men quickly seized control and forced women into subjugation and took away every right the Prophet, { God Bless Him Eternally } wanted women { and children } to have.

—> “Fascists” – If only for the sake of argument, let me define Fascists as ‘Anyone who believes they have the right to elevate themselves above the general population of their area and era’. { That would include and/or apply to anyone who smugly defines any group of their contemporaries as ‘The Great Unwashed’. —> ‘Corporate Fascists’ believe they have the right to control the news media to make sure nobody gets a chance to show them or their corporations in anything but a glowingly brilliant light that misses any possible flaws or short comings or even outright illegal, immoral, unethical, and/or ‘not very nice’ thing they do.

—> The corporate vice president of General Motors who showed a select group of award winning mechanics and ‘Mr GoodWrench’ executives who’d been personally invited to an event where their brand new product line for that year and futuristic concept cars were on display. The Vice President smiled and invited them all to come up and get their first look at their ‘brilliant new innovations’ —> When a mechanic pointed something out and asked that vice president, “Isn’t that made of plastic?” the V.P. smiled and said, “Of course it is.” – When that mechanic followed up with, “But those parts have always been metal – this looks like you’re deliberately putting something in there that is  guaranteed to break down-” —> The V.P. got angry and nasty – asked, “Do you like your job? I’m paying somebody two million dollars a year to come up with ideas like this so you can keep your job!” That V.P. is/was a Corporate Fascist.

—> Fascists seek to gain, consolidate and hold on to power by using “divide and conquer” tactics. Fascists have learned that if they can keep everyone they can manipulate in a state of constant anxiety, fear, insecurity and confusion – they can easily control those people, and get them to agree to give up their rights, privileges and freedoms in exchange for ‘a little bit of security’.

—> I don’t know if Benjamin Franklin actually said this, but he is usually credited with saying – “Anyone who will give up a little freedom for a little security will deserve neither and lose them both.”

—> More quotes – “I have learned this through philosophy: that I do out of choice what others do only out of fear of the law.” – Socrates?

—> “Banking Establishments are more dangerous than standing armies,” – Thomas Jefferson.

—> { One rallying cry during the US Revolutionary War was “No Taxation without Representation,” { I’m pretending I can ignore the fact that many of those revolutionaries did not believe that “African savages” were fully human – or deserved equal rights of any kind of equality with their ‘owners’. } —> The real issue was – after land owning colonists had been allowed to pay their taxes to the ‘Crown’ using agreed upon gold, silver or currency – and/or barter – handing over goods that the ‘Royal’ tax collectors agreed were of equal value to the tax the ‘Crown’ assessed that they owed —> ‘NEW RULES’ came along – and the Crown demanded that the colonists pay their taxes only in English Bank Notes. English Bank notes were close to impossible to obtain in the colonies, and if they could get them the colonists had to pay something like ten times their face value for them.

—> The ‘Great Experiment’ that was the Unites States of America outlawed corporations from the beginning – and then allowed corporations to form only for a short – fixed period of time – that was agreed upon by law and/or the State/County/Municipal level of government which would pass a law allowing that corporation to exist for the agreed upon – limited –  time. When that time was up, all corporate assets would be returned to the state, county, municipality or community where that corporation had been allowed to exist. The Founding Fathers did not want their fledgling democracy to be undermined by any form of Corporate Fascism.

—> The fledgling Democracy that was the USA then managed for almost two hundred years to resist the evils of the British Centralized Banking system that came to be known as the Federal Reserve Banking System – also known as the ‘Fiat Economy’ { and they don’t mean it belongs to anybody who owns a ‘Fiat Automobile’ }. As far as I’ve been able to find out – FDR had to compromise to get something he believed was THAT IMPORTANT accomplished during World War II by allowing the Federal Reserve System to come into being – and thereby infect the US economic system from then on. The Federal Reserve Banking System is not a Federal agency or branch of the US government – it is a veritable Mafia of Corporate Fascists.

—> Corporate Fascists control almost every media outlet in the USA, and probably Canada, and probably just about every country that suffers under the illusion that they are still a part of the ‘Western Model of the Free World’.

—> There’s an ex- investment counselor in the USA who will gladly bend your ear and explain how every level of government from the Federal level on down to the municipal level learned from the Nazis how to cook their books and effectively hide income streams and make assets look like liabilities and lie to make you believe that the only income they have comes to them through taxes. This guy says that every level of government in the Western ‘Free World’ could stop charging and collecting taxes today and provide more and better services than they currently over-charge everybody for. He also said, “If Al Capone studied law and politics he would have been the President.” And went on to add —> What does organized crime do? They charge businesses ‘protection money’ for the privilege of doing business in an area they control. What do all levels of government do? They call their ‘protection money’ —> “Taxes and licensing fees”.  – I keep asking people to go to —> CAFR1.com <— Check that guy’s arguments out and please tell me where he might be ‘half a bubble off’ –  if he is – or look at me and say “Holy Bull-Chips! He’s telling it like it is.” { Lately some of his blog messages sound too much like he drank the DJ Trump followers’  Kool-aid – and believes we’ll end up in hand baskets on January twenty first and wonder where we’re going and what we’re doing in those hand baskets… }

— In the series “Our Cartoon President” the incumbent screams {about his opponent } “He’s cheating – he’s registering minority voters!” or something like that. }

* * * * *

—> Where are my loyalties? I will side with Honesty, Truth, Compassion, Altruism … { “What’s so funny about Peace, Love & Understanding?” – {{ duh – was that Tom Petty? }} } … Or maybe I’ve been thinkin’ that whichever ‘lesser of two evils’ is sworn in – they just might see us through what has been forecast to be the most incredibly awful decade in the history of planet Earth – or at least the history that the evil manipulators of human consciousness have ‘allowed us’ to know about? Hints from the Spiritual grapevine indicate that whoever becomes the US president on January 20th – the chances are much too ‘good’ that either the US or its allies will rattle sabres they should leave alone and when they believe they can scare Iran into backing down – things could very well escalate into World War III.

— WAKE UP before it’s too late!

* * * * *

— “A society is judged by the way it treats its least fortunate citizens.”

—> “I’ve been running from side to side / one thing’s sure – that both sides lie,”  Pete Townsend of the Who — { quoted from a slightly failing – used to be fantastic – memory }

—> There is no “We” versus “Them” —> We’re all “We” – or we’re all ‘Them” – and we need to know that -Anybody you’ve been told is your enemy has been demonized by somebody who believes that you are a disposable member of the ‘Great Unwashed’.

* * * * *

—> Back to ‘Reality”? —> Hey, it’s snowing in Atlantic Canada —

— & I used to see snow as a great egalitarian event – covering all kinds of injustice and painful realities and afflicting the rich as well as the homeless and everybody in between.

—> & remembering a quote from Bridgeport, Connecticut { USA }’s Socialist Mayor { circa 1933-1957 } – Jasper McLevy – “You want to know if the city of Bridgeport will plow away the snow? Well I say, ‘The Good Lord put it there, let the Good Lord take it away.”

* * * * *

—> Shrug

—>

Jasper McLevy – Wikipedia

Jasper McLevy photo

-Photo of Jasper McLevy & No – we did not name our dog after this guy 🙂 –

Jasper McLevy (March 27, 1878 – November 20, 1962) was an American politician who served as mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut from 1933–1957. He was a member of the Socialist Party, later leaving in protest to join the Social Democratic Federation.

Jasper McLevy was born to Scottish immigrants Hugh and Mary Stewart McLevy in Bridgeport on March 27, 1878. McLevy worked first as a roofer, learning the trade from his uncle after his own father died when he was 14. After reading Edward Bellamy’s futuristic, utopian novel Looking Backward, he became a socialist, and helped form the Bridgeport Socialist Party in the early 1900s. The 24-year-old idealist first ran for the Connecticut General Assembly under the Socialist banner in 1902, collecting 215 votes. He ran another 20 unsuccessful campaigns for local, city, state and federal offices over the following years, including nine tries at mayor, the last in 1931. In all these races he ran as a Socialist at a time when socialists were portrayed as anarchists and bomb-throwers.

In the early 1930s, Bridgeport, an industrial city in southern Connecticut, was plagued by corruption and hard hit by the Great Depression. In 1931, voters had ousted the incumbent Republican mayor for Democrat Edward Buckingham and McLevy only lost by a couple thousand votes. By 1933, dissatisfaction had spread to both parties and McLevy trounced the competition, bringing along a Socialist majority on the Board of Aldermen, Bridgeport’s city council. While people familiar with local politics had seen the writing on the wall in the 1931 results, the national media was astonished to find the Socialists in control in a New England city.

* * * * *

—> Yay?

—> “They will try to put a wall between us – Don’t let them win -” { Duh? InXS? }

— xoxoxo – Everybody – Please have the best, most wonderful year ever – do not doubt for a nano-second that you deserve that – You may have to shoot your corporate news media delivering devices and look for honest news from something like WPKN-FM in Bridgeport, Connecticut – or dive deep inside your soul to get the news directly from the Loving Source of Everything Positive and Good in Every Universe I know of…

~~~~~ Jim

‘Election Day’ in the U.S.A

Tuesday – November 3rd, 2020 —> -3˚C / +26˚F —> ‘overcast’ with a wind chill of -8˚C / -16˚F in Atlantic Canada —> I believe it’s Peter Morse’ Birthday 🙂 —

- "Deer Hill" This morning at 9:34 am -

– “Deer Hill” – this morning at 9:34 am Atlantic {Standard} Time – Shot Captured from ‘Deer Cam 01’ / Camera # 05 –

— {Yawn}

— One of our favourite ‘prognosticators’ was on Coast To Coast A.M. last night – early this morning – John Hogue – The expert on 15th Century French Language and Nostradamus – He said that the U.S.A.’s Astrology indicates that the U.S.A. is going through a ‘Death and Rebirth Cycle’ – & that this election down there { well, John Hogue and George Noory and 90% of the all night Talk Show’s hosts are from the U.S.A. } will, among other things – give us indications of just how painful that ‘death and rebirth’ will be.

— John Hogue said he had to be impartial or his predictions could go off the rails, but sounded like he did lean toward liking Trump more than Joe Biden. Or maybe he’s just more honest than almost every other person with a really good track record for predicting U.S. election outcomes. { He’s gotten every election he predicted since 1968 right, and confessed that when he thought it got it wrong in 2016 he felt relieved, felt that the pressure was off and he wouldn’t have to feel like he had to keep his streak going. }

— Predictions for this election: Taking into account – Astrological data for Today – Election Day in the USA – and Inauguration Day { January 20th, 2021 } :

= = = = =

—————     Neither Donald J Trump, nor Joe Biden would survive this next term in office.

————— If Joe Biden was elected and took office, Kamala Harris would become President sooner than later. & If Trump was inaugurated again, Pence would become President – not quite as soon as Kamala Harris would be sworn in… –

————— There is a ‘Significant Possibility’ that the election results would still be in question on Inauguration Day which would mean that Nancy Pelosi would be sworn in on January 20th, 2021 – and would serve “until such a time as the issues were resolved” { Including the 400 + Law Suits that have already been filed – so the Trumpian stall tactics could ‘very well backfire’. }  — That’s in the U.S. Constitution.

————— “The only profession mentioned in the U.S. Constitution was the “Free and Independent Press” – And, since the Corporate take-over of virtually every press outlet in the U.S.A. would indicate that there is no such thing as a free and independent press in the U.S.A. – That would show us that the biggest threat to our Democracy is not the Fascist and/or Socialist leanings of either of the two most dominant political parties, but the corporations that control what U.S. citizens have access to through their obviously slanted ‘Main Stream Media’.”

————— As I hinted at before, John Hogue is hoping he gets this wrong so he won’t feel more and more pressure with each upcoming election – BUT – He says that the indications he sees are – Joe Biden will win the ‘Popular Vote’ and Donald J Trump will probably be inaugurated into a second term as pResident of the U.S.A. – Whoever is actually inaugurated could be by the vote in the Electoral College, a decision in The Supreme Court, or the process mandated by the Constitution which would put Nancy Pelosi in the White House for an indeterminate period of time – pending the outcome of way too many monkey wrenches thrown into the process.

————— Astrological influences, according to Mr. Hogue, give him a reasonable chance that the final results of this election could be known as soon as two weeks after election day – or not until January 6th, 2021. { And that might not include any unresolved court cases at that time. }

————— & the Final Caveat here would be that no matter what happens in the next several months, by the end of the next Presidency after this up-coming one – The U.S.A. may have a new Constitution / a completely new form of government &/or will most definitely be completely unrecognizable compared to what the U.S.A. has ‘enjoyed’ up to now.

= = = = =

— “The Whole World will be going through the same kind of upheavals we will experience here.”

— Sweet Dreams / Belles Reves mes amis-

— On the only positive note I can pull out of a hat – According to Vedic Scholars – Asian India’s Legitimate Gurus { “No one in India can claim to be a Guru until they can demonstrate that they have the ability to raise the dead.” } —> What we are experiencing here are repeats of known and documented cyclical ‘growing pains’ as the entire planet is moving into a higher section of our material universe and will enter the next step up toward another ‘Golden Age’ – This would not be the Golden Age – this would probably be { by my admittedly limited ability to understand events on that scale : } – the dawning of the “Silver Age” or maybe just the transition into the age of ‘Aquarius’ after 2,000 years in the Piscean Age – during which some ‘experts’ believe everyone on Earth is subject to falling for lies, half truths, intellectual instability; –  deliberately misleading propaganda from their governments, military and maybe even secret societies – { <— This is not my philosophical endorsement of those terms… } you don’t need to shoot the messenger here…

 

—> Um, chew on that for a while, and don’t blame me if it breaks your teeth.

~~~~~ I am wishing { and trying to send } Peace, Love, Understanding, and Compassionate Intentions to every living thing on this planet.

~~~~~ Shanti Namaste – Shalom – Aloha – Salaam – Mubarak Bashad { <—forgive me if I got that spelling or intention wrong } And best wishes for a comfortable, peaceful, and relaxed and more enjoyable life from here on – { “Have a nice life!” one friend quipped on her way out the door after a particularly tough evening at work…. }

~~~~~ Jim

 

Saturday, April 11th, 2020 – Waitin On Spring —

– Saturday, April 11th, 2020 —> Bright sun shining & ‘Partly Cloudy’ @ 8:25 am in Atlantic Canada —

Interesting play of light and shadow- snowy yard through a semi dark porch window.

– “Interesting play of light and shadow – Sun rays on snow framed by a semi-dark porch window” –

— Let’s see, the shadowed plants — in the center is an olive tree and to the right is a pot with what Costco called a ‘Money Tree’ – { – Often said we should pick up a money tree on our next shopping trip. Lately the new rules say that only one family member at a time should do the shopping. Since I’m closer to the age-defined danger zone – Cathi’s been the designated shopper. }

— In the “Bad News” Department – South Korea reported yesterday that 91 people who had gotten over their cases of CoVid-19 —> And tested negative and were allowed to resume their normal lives – were tested again and their results were positive again. —> Late night radio – in either cutting edge hard science interviews or fringe-like conspiracy researchers —> One of the ‘Remote Viewing’ US Intelligence Operatives’ trainers from as far back as the 1980’s and “Looking for and finding the extremist Iranian Evangelical Islamic Revolutionaries’ American Hostages” operations —> And Uri Geller — an Israeli Intelligence Officer who kept himself alive by allowing the media to portray him as a “Woo Woo” entertainer who could hypnotize participants in Las Vegas-like stage shows – but had a really good ‘Batting Average’ as a legitimate ‘psychic spy’ —> On separate nights reported to a late night host who is a bit of a chameleon and seems to be whole heartedly in the camp of whomever he is interviewing at any given moment – but who {that host} seems to believe the CoVid-19 Pandemic is more hoax that reality —> Both the ‘scientific remote viewing’ trainer and the ‘Psychic Spy’ reported that their latest information is that this virus will not go away nicely but will rebound – & transform itself into something more aggressive than it was in its first round of attacks… Um – ‘Social Distancing’ and a whole different look to our economic system in the near future —> may be here to stay. & if the guys behind “CAFR1.com” are right – the ‘Fiat’ / Voodoo Economics system may be experiencing a painful death as we watch and wonder how the bleep we come through this with a whole new understanding of how the universe and the human race survived for the last eleven million years on this planet – despite the efforts of evil, controlling, manipulating, power-mad men to destroy all evidence that anything happened here before maybe 4,000 BC. —> { Don’t take my word for this – Go prove or disprove it for yourself. God did not give you a brain so you could rely solely on corporate main stream media to explain your ‘Reality’ in terms that allow them to maintain total control over you. }

— There was a 5.2 Earthquake on the border between California and Nevada – That made the news ‘Crawl’ on at least one Canadian Network News Channel.

— Hang on a bit, I don’t want to leave after only giving you bad news.

— Well – the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy have been declared to be ‘Essential Workers’ – So they won’t be arrested for breaking curfew.

— Sigh, —> And if I come up with anything really positive, I’ll let you know –

 

~~~~~ Jim