Christmas Party Entertaining

The Month of December has opened its doors and with it comes the festive season and the urge for all to start their Christmas party entertaining.  While many of you will attend your staff or company Christmas party many of you enjoy inviting friends and neighbors over for a little Christmas cheer and nothing builds the cheer like tasty tidbits from the kitchen.

A few tips here. 
Make your snacks light and bite size. There's nothing worse than a huge hand-full of a tasty bit that drips on not only your guest but also on the carpet you just cleaned.

Spread the goodies throughout the evening. Loading the tables right from the get go will have everyone thinking its a meal and cause them to load up. If they do, the goodies will soon be gone, the guests will be stuffed with rich, high calorie food and they will hate you in the morning. (Diet shot to hell if you know what I mean - not to mention their increased cholesterol count.) Remember you're entertaining so keep it light and it will be easier on you.

Balance the type of goodies you put out. Don't make it all crackers and cheeze, or sausage bits in a blanket. Intersperse the salty crunchy with some true crunchy in the form of fresh veggies including mini carrots, bite size celery chunks, pickled asparagus, even fruit pieces like grapes or melon and cubed pineapple chunks. Complement them with some tasty dips of spinach and cream cheese or even a couple of varieties of melted chocolate for the fruit.


Don't get your guests loaded. As in tipsy, with too much booze. Have an assortment of wines, and a few liqueurs and basic bar drinks with lots of ice. Here's a tip to save on mix - use medium size cocktail glasses that hold up to 6 or 8 oz. Big mugs tend to drain the mix larder in a big hurry. Remember its all about entertaining not creating a drunken binge.

Finally, here's a recipe you can add to your Christmas party entertaining that is sure to keep them coming back and likely begging for the recipe.


Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
1 pound large mushrooms
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons prepared Dijon−style mustard
6 1/2 ounces crabmeat
1/4 cup chopped water chestnuts
2 tablespoons chopped pimento peppers
4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 400F. Remove stems from the mushrooms, retaining the caps.
Chop the stems. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Brush the mushroom
caps with melted butter. In the remaining butter, cook and stir the chopped
mushroom stems and onions until tender. Gradually mix the cream cheese and
mustard into the saucepan. Continue stirring until smooth. Stir in the
crabmeat, water chestnuts and pimentos. Heat until warm. Stuff the mushroom
caps with the crabmeat mixture. Sprinkle the stuffed caps with Parmesan
cheese. In a shallow pan, bake the caps at 400F for 10 to 15 minutes or
until hot. Let these little beauties cool for a few minutes and then serve on large platters with colorful little side plates available to catch the drips. They can even be disposable but make sure they are colorful.

Celebrate Christmas in style but make sure you are prepared to ensure your guests get home safely or perhaps even spend the night if they've had a little too much cheer. By winding down the flow of alcohol and bringing out some tasty coffee or specialty coffees you'll still be providing beverages and just maybe prevent someone from having an accident or worse.

Another idea that can pump up your party is to Give to Others.
Plan a party to benefit the needy. Your job will be to get everything organized. You and your guests might make things, such as blankets, toys, or socks. Or collect things as admission to your party, like canned food items or toys to give to the needy or a food bank. Or do a craft project and share it with residents of a retirement home. Put together food baskets and distribute to a shelter for the homeless.

Keep the joy in your Christmas entertaining, keep your friends safe and help others who are less fortunate. Till next time enjoy life! Dave

Quick Kitchen Tips

Take Time to Enjoy Real Food!
 With today's crazy schedules, most families opt for a quick trip to the fast food haven on the corner, rush home, throw it on the table, nosh it down and then feel guilty for consuming all those carbs and fats. We've found that cooking at home saves us money, its an activity we can do together and the taste is superb. This week I'm going to share a few secrets and tips that will save you time in the kitchen and just perhaps, a little money along the way.  I'm also going to include a recipe for Hot Crab Dip just in time for those Christmas get-togethers. There will be a new one each week so check back often and share them with your friends.

Cranberry Glazed Meatballs

*Time Savers and Cool Tips*

− You can buy frozen chopped onion or green peppers for a quick recipe shortcut, or since they freeze so well, chop a whole bunch at once and freeze them in single servings.

− When making many meatballs a fast and simple way is to shape the meat mixture into a log and cut off slices. The slices roll easily
into balls. Another option is to pat the meat into a square and cut
it into cubes which again easily roll into meatballs of uniform size.



− Stop tomato stains on your Tupperware by using a nonstick cooking
spray before pouring in tomato−based sauces.
− Strawberries will stay fresher when kept in a colander in the
refrigerator. Don't wash until just before using.
− Freeze ripe bananas for later use. First peel, and then wrap tightly
in plastic wrap and store in freezer bags.
− Corn on the cob will be simple to shuck if you wash them with cold
water, place in a plastic bag and freeze for an hour or so
before shucking.
− Freeze lemon peel. Use when a recipe calls for fresh lemon rind.
− Whole lemons will yield much more juice if stored in a tightly
sealed jar of water in the refrigerator.
− Dissolve 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin in a little bit of water and
beat it into whipping cream to keep it from turning watery.
− Grind up or dice leftover roast beef, stew meat, etc. Add to scrambled
eggs along with cubed leftover potatoes for an easy breakfast.
− Make your own "instant" oatmeal by running regular oatmeal in a
blender. Blending makes the oatmeal the same as "instant."

Recipe Time

Hot Crab Dip
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 pinch garlic salt
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 lb. crab meat
paprika for color

Remove cartilage from crab meat (MST*).  In a large bowl, mix cream cheese, sour
cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and garlic
salt until smooth. Add enough milk to make mixture creamy. Stir in 2
tablespoons of the grated cheese. Fold crab meat into cream cheese mixture.
Pour into greased 1−quart casserole. Top with remaining cheese and dust with
paprika. Bake at 325F until mixture is bubbly and browned on top, about 30
minutes. Serve with tortilla chips and/or crackers.

* Money Saver Tip: You can used packaged crab or imitation crab. It'll save you money and time.

We'll see you soon. Bon Appetit! Dave

Tassimo vs Regular Coffee Brewer

Imagine the convenience of just getting up, grabbing a cup, plopping in a disc, pushing down a handle and turning on a switch to have your perfectly brewed morning beverage. Sounds great, convenient, very handy and most of all tasty.

T65

We got a chance to find out the other day when our eldest son bought us a new Tassimo Coffee Brewer by Bosch. This one is a Cadillac. It's got lots of buttons and lights and brews a heck of a cup of coffee. Except, I find the brew a bit strong. The Missus loves it, the boy loves it and one thing for sure it wakes you up in the morning.

My trouble is I've always liked a mellower taste to my coffee. Even when we make it in our regular brewer I've always had to take a little less coffee and then add hot water from our water station that has both hot and cold taps. The only time I've ever been able to drink it directly from the brewer is if I make it myself.

You see, we've got an 8 cup Sunbeam with a stainless steel carafe that we really liked after trying about 4 or 5 other units. No, we didn't just buy and try, we bought and used each one for a year or two until we couldn't stand the taste anymore then washed them and sold them in our garage sale. Getting back to our Sunbeam for a minute, I've experimented with different measures of coffee and finally found the right combination just the other day. Yes, I know that sounds like a long time but I don't always make the coffee.  In any case the correct combo in my books is using really cold water, tap or cooler style. I fill the pot right to the top and then use four level scoops (teaspoon size) and let her rip. Result - Excellent - for me that is. The Missus accuses me of feeding her brown water although the other day she thought it was fine. Who'd a thunk.

Now, back to the Tassimo.  It's a model T65 which is I believe the top of the line. There's a basic T20 and a mid range T46. Prices on the street range from around $100 for the T20, the T46 is around the $150 mark and the T65 is nearly $250.  Now that's a pretty nice gift but our lad is crafty and scours ads and stores for deals all the time and he found a dandy with the T65 he bought for us. A local store had them on for $99.89 but I'm thinking somebody made a big mistake. You see the sign and sample machine was a T20 but the display was all T65s.  Enough said but there are two of them in the family now.

T20

What's the difference between the bottom and top model? Quite a bit. the base model T20 (comes in black or white) appears to be a bit smaller and holds about a litre and a half in the removable tank. It has a simple on off button and an automatic cleaning and descaling system. The bar code on the patented T Discs is where the secret lies and it builds a great cup of coffee all be it a bit on the small side, even the T65 puts out only about half a mug of coffee so they are made to brew a smaller cuppa Joe.

T46

The T46 (comes with red accents or chrome) is a bit larger, with a 1.8 litre tank and a re-sizable cup stand and a water filtration system. It still uses the same T Discs as the T20 and just has an on off switch.

The T65 (comes in black or white) comes with an innovative LCD read out that walks you through the whole brewing process. It also has the 1.8 litre tank, water filtration system and a way to add extra water to the cup at the end of the brewing cycle.

A couple of disadvantages are that you just build one cup at a time so if you've got company over they might have to wait a bit but they'll enjoy the results and they'll have options like - latte's, tea, hot chocolate, espresso, chai tea latte and quite a few more.  The second disadvantage is adding the water to make a bigger cup of coffee or mellowing it out.  Other than that, the T Discs are available at any retail grocery outlet and prices vary quite a bit so shop wisely. An average cup of coffee will cost anywhere from .35 to .50 cents each which is far cheaper than the corner drive through.

You can learn more by clicking here Tassimo

For us, we are also keeping our Sunbeam for when visitors come a calling and first thing in the morning when several cups get consumed in our house.  
Until next time Enjoy Life. Dave

Halloween's Over, Thanksgiving is up next then it's Black Friday

What? It's still October 31 and the little ghouls and goblins are busily noshing their way through the mountain of candy they collected in the neighborhood and from the local merchants and you're talking turkey!

Thanksgiving Day in Canada is linked to the European tradition of harvest festivals. A common image seen at this time of year is a cornucopia, or horn, filled with seasonal fruit and vegetables. This represents the "Horn of Plenty", which was a symbol of bounty and plenty in ancient Greece. Turkeys, pumpkins, ears of corn and large displays of food are also used to symbolize Thanksgiving Day.

But, if you live south of the 49th then you've still got another kick at the bird as they say. (although I'm not sure who they are.) This year, Canadians celebrated back on the second Monday in October while the American Thanksgiving takes place on the fourth Thursday in November. The Friday following this holiday is called Black Friday and its an extremely busy shopping day and a holiday in many states.

Black Friday is one of the busiest shopping days in the USA. There are two popular theories as to why the day after Thanksgiving Day is called Black Friday. One theory is that the wheels of vehicles in heavy traffic on the day after Thanksgiving Day left many black markings on the road surface, leading to the term Black Friday.

The other theory is that the term Black Friday comes from an old way of recording business accounts. Losses were recorded in red ink and profits in black ink. Many businesses, particularly small businesses, started making profits prior to Christmas. Many hoped to start showing a profit, marked in black ink, on the day after Thanksgiving Day.

Regardless, they are holidays that are enjoyed by the entire family and lets face it any day off work is a bonus. 

Just make sure you don't get too caught up in the shopping buzz because even if its a bargain, it still has to be paid for eventually. Better to shop with cash and when you run out, you're finished shopping.

Happy Holiday and remember to give Thanks!

Halloween Safety Tips

 It's nearing that fun time of year when every little one and not-so-little one, starts thinking about which character they are going to dress as for All Hallows Eve. There's likely thoughts of huge bags of candy and treats to last them through the next couple of months of winter as well. It's a fun time but can be a dangerous time too.  Here's a few tips from my friends at Avery labels that are sure to help you and your young'uns to enjoy the festivities.

Halloween Safety Tips from Avery

Some of you have years of experience with the parental rigors of Halloween, some of you may be facing the waltz around the neighborhood with your little ninjas and princesses in tow for the very first time. Whether this is your family’s swan song or your inaugural ball, Avery offers up some timeless safety tips to help keep this year’s Halloween safe and fun for parents and children alike.

Costume conundrums

Let’s start at the very beginning. It all starts with a child’s imagination; little Suzy runs to you with eyes wide open with excitement and inspiration. A fairy princess is what she wants to be—for the third year in a row! Johnny is indulging in his fascination with superheroes, and Robbie comes out of nowhere with a desire to be a piece of fried bacon.

Whatever the artistic evolution of your children’s inner id, make sure they steer clear of injury and harm by keeping these costume guidelines in mind.

When buying costumes, make sure the clothes are fire proof or treated with flame retardant. Scrutinize outfits to avoid ill-fitting shoes and long hemlines that could cause trips and falls. Masks have long been a staple of Halloween outfits, but since they often limit or block eyesight they might not be the best choice, particularly at night. For safer options, try non-toxic face paints or fanciful hats that won’t obscure vision as substitutes.

Should you let your ghosts roam alone?

Wondering whether you should allow your kids to trick or treat alone? Take advice from the experts. The Mayo Clinic advises parents to accompany any children under twelve, so don’t let your younger children trick or treat without a trusted adult. For the older ones: establish a route, set a curfew and have them carry a cell phone to enable check-ins. Here are some guidelines to give them:

- Stay in a group
- Pick only the houses with porch lights on
- Never enter a home
- Never cut across yards or use alleys

Treats and eats

The zombies, robots and witches have come back successful from the hunt, and they’re anxious to compare their loot and chomp on some candy. Before the sugar explosion, examine their stash for choking hazards and any signs of tampering. Any spoiled, unwrapped or suspicious treats should be thrown out immediately. Homemade treats are deliciously tempting, but make sure they were baked by someone you know very well. For younger goblins, weed out gum, peanuts, hard candies and other choking hazards.

Don’t forget the pets

Pets may be forgotten in the melee of little monsters, but the constant knocking and doorbell ringing, the strangers at the door and the tempting bowls of candy can easily whip Fido into a fine frenzy. Take any pets away from the action to prevent them from chasing or biting a neighbor. Also keep in mind that chocolate is no friend to dogs and take care to hide the candy high enough to prevent your canine’s covert candy stealing.

Some final do’s and don’ts for a safe Halloween

DO:
● Get crazy with reflective tape. It might not go with the Yoda costume or ladybug ensemble, but liberally applying reflective tape to costumes or bags means instant visibility for your little goblin.

● Remember and obey traffic laws. In the excitement and festive spirit of the holiday, grown-ups and children alike can forget street safety. Use crosswalks whenever possible, look both ways before crossing, and stay on sidewalks as much as you can.

● Check your porch lights for burned out bulbs so visiting ghosts and pirates won’t trip or fall.

DON’T:
● Let your children get too close to luminaries or candles. While the kids are angling for the quickest route to the candy; it’s your job to make sure that the Jedi costume isn’t straying into the flickering flame inside your neighbor’s pumpkins.

● Allow kids to carve the pumpkins. Have them draw their design in marker or use Avery Sticker Paper to decorate their pumpkin. These stickers allow your child easy creativity without all the mess of a disemboweled pumpkin. If you choose to go old school with your pumpkins, leave the carving to the adults.

Phew! You’ve completed your primer on Halloween hazards, and you’re ready to take on one of the funnest holidays ever invented. Safe and fun wishes from your friends at Avery!

Hope you enjoyed the information. Happy Halloween.  Dave

I met Scrapbooking the other day and its pretty cool.

I had known about scrap booking for some time now but thought oh that's cute. It's a nice pass time for ladies with an artsy crafty leaning to while away their spare time. How wrong was I? The industry is huge and has evolved from simple cut and paste paper, letters, pictures to sophisticated pieces of artwork in both real or hard copy and lately digital form and there are 1000's of people doing it.

For those of you unfamiliar with the hobby you need to understand a bit about it. Here's a brief description from http://www.scrapbooking101.net

What is a Scrapbook?

A scrapbook is simply a decorated photo album that also preserves the stories behind the photos (called journaling), it can also hold memorabilia (tickets, certificates, letters, etc.). You might have a family album as well as smaller theme albums for vacations, home improvement or a baby’s first year. Some scrapbookers create an album for each family member.
By using acid-free and lignin-free papers and adhesives, photos can be preserved beautifully and safely. The papers and accessories available now give us lots of creative options for doing more than just filing photos in an album—scrap booking is a creative hobby!
It’s really all about getting those photos out of shoeboxes and attics and into albums where they can be seen and shared. Best of all, no experience or expertise is required—it’s as simple as cutting and gluing.
Are you looking at those big boxes filled with photos, wondering how you’ll ever get around to all of them? Where to start? It’s best to begin with your most recent photos.
If scrapbooking seems like a monumental task, don’t worry—it’s really not. All you need are a few basic materials and some ideas.

I believe its much more than this. It is an avenue to let your creative juices flow, armed with all manor of tools and resources that are available from craft houses, shows and conferences, other scrap book fans and on the internet of course.

By Mathew Anderson

I was introduced to it by Marlie, one of my daughters, who has been participating for a number of years. She is big time into digital and now my grandson Mathew has taken it up as well. He's into music in a big way and expressed that interest by creating this piece on the right.

Marlie has done some really cool stuff and has one entered into a contest to see who of the designers gets to stay in a virtual Granny's Attic Survivor. She did a beauty about autumn. Hope she gets to stay in. You can find more about it at http://forums.gingerscraps.net/forumdisplay.php?485-Scrapping-Survivor-Season-3-*Grandmas-Attic*

Another cool thing I found was that there is a local celebrity living not far from where I am in north-eastern Alberta. Her name is Jackie Ludlage from Elk Point and she's a co-founder and editor in chief of the magazine Canadian Scrapbooker available in hard copy or online. http://www.canadianscrapbooker.ca She and her co-founder partner Kathrina Doyle who is the publisher have an amazing resource for anyone who scrap books or is contemplating getting into it.

In fact, here's a web video from the folks at Canadian Scrapbooker about using rub ons featuring Jackie Ludlage. Enjoy.

Over the next little while I'm going to bring you examples and contact links that will provide you with a huge list of resources so that you can experience the fun and creativity of scrap booking or scrapping as many call it. Hope you'll find it interesting. Enjoy. Oh, by the way, I'm hooked on scrapping now.
Dave

New Premier Designate Alison Redford will be on a Fast Track

Premier Designate Alison Redford

With the promises made leading up to her selection as leader of the PC party of Alberta, Ms Redford will have to fast track to provide the changes that the voters are expecting.

Doug Horner

The first of course is to select a caucus that supports her ideas and policies and will follow through on those promises. A little carry over isn't too bad so I see Doug Horner being at the table. Not so sure about the likes of Snelgrove or Danyluk who are considered part of the old boys group. Morton would be political disaster while Orman if he can win a seat might be a interesting addition and would add a businessman's sense.

$100 Million in Cash!

She 's also going to have to dig deep in the treasury because she promised to give back the $100 million bucks back to education. Within 10 days! Maybe that can be extended to start from the time she's sworn in because if its from the time of the declaration that she won at two a.m. this morning then the clock is running.

Here's a little side bar, now that  Premier Ed's security detail has switched over to look after AR, who's looking after Ed? Do they just cut him loose and hope nobody bothers him or is there still a watch dog to keep the crazies away. Sure hope so because there are lots out there.

Vote/Info/Vend Kiosk

Another side bar. How best to speed up the voting and counting process? This province is supposed to be full of innovators who bring new technology to the market every day. How about electronic voting - on line or at mall kiosks.  Buy your membership on-line or in person. Each membership has a unique number. Use that number as a pass word to cast your vote, once you're done, the number is recorded and prohibited from casting another vote until the switch is flipped for the next one. This would eliminate a number of problems to wit:
1. Allowing members to vote no matter where they are. (We turned people away from our polls because they didn't reside in this constituency. They had a card but rules said NO). Think of the people who live in Edmonton but work up in Ft Mac -- couldn't vote there. Thousands of votes lost.
2. Would eliminate the need to find volunteers to spend all day staffing a poll. Not a problem in the city but tough in rural areas.
3. Would eliminate local association having to foot the bill for rents, food and refreshments, signage, stress.
And finally, the terminals could remain in situ after the elections for people to use to find direction in the malls, email their government reps with questions, suggestions or complaints, register as voters or download memberships and it could be all financed by selling ads on the screens or pay per click or pay per action links to sponsor web sites.   A little bit of blue skying there but I believe it is possible. You might even be able to make a 3B partnership out of it to get the system financed and operational.

In any case Alberta politics as we know it or knew it is about to change. When the election shoe drops in the next 12 months or so we'll have two intelligent, articulate female leaders going head to head and Dr. Raj as the spoiler. Oh yes and we'll have Mr. Mason and Ms Notley in the mix as well. By God it'll be fun to watch. The media will have 100s of story lines a day and hopefully we'll have something that's good for the people of Alberta.

Is Cold Lake going to get its Cash?

The City of Cold Lake is waiting sometimes not so patiently to see if they are going to get some relief from their estimated $150 million dollar operational, infrastructure debt. The Province's Lloyd Snelgrove and crew are looking at all the options to reroute tax revenue from the Air Weapons Range drilling and oil sands operations into the coffers of the City.

For the past several years, these monies have been pouring into the bank account of Lac La Biche county which only a slight geographical connection to the "Range" in that it is next door to the west. While LLB county receives this money it does little if anything, to help service the "Range" with things like roads, hospitals, or people for that matter. The bulk of that load rests with the MD of Bonnyville, the City of Cold Lake and the Town of Bonnyville. There's also involvement by the Canadian Department of National Defence (4 Wing Cold Lake - Air Base) who operates training sessions on the "Range".

The story began many years ago prior to the finding of all that black stuff buried beneath the surface and when the province  chopped up some crown land and turned it into wilderness parks and green spaces. Adjacent counties were offered the spaces to look after and since most of it was spruce and pine trees, some nice lakes and abundant wild life most administrators thought that it would just stay that way and let whoever wanted to do the paper work annex it to their existing land base.

Then, Imperial Oil, the grand pubbah of oil companies started a pilot plant to see if the black stuff could be extracted. It was expensive at the time because the sand had to be extracted from the oil and technology to do so hadn't been invented yet so Imperial parked their pilot plant and waited for science to catch up. (I'm sure they weren't waiting but had their own scientists working on the technology to make it profitable for them and their shareholders).

Fast forward 25 years and Imperial has just pulled their Billionth Barrel (yes, with a B - billion) and they have been joined by all the major oil field players like Husky, CNRL, Cenovus, Devon, Shell and a few smaller players who are all working diligently to harvest the black goo from the sand formations some 800 to 1500 feet underground.

Bonnyville from the Southwest

It must be worth something because each of those companies have invest 100s of Millions in structures, Leases, drilling, hauling and processing equipment and personnel. All those people must live somewhere and they have chosen Bonnyville and Cold Lake to live in with their families. The centres are located to the south and south-east of all this action and in order to get to the sites, roads are required and that's where the MD comes in. They are responsible for most of the roads leading to the plants and lease sites except for the major highways which the province is responsible for. The city of Cold Lake  and the town of Bonnyville are responsible for providing schools, fire halls, hospitals, roadways, recreation and all the infrastructure neccessary to support the people who work at these oil facilities.

Unfortunately, local taxes aren't often sufficient to pay for all this so when an alternate revenue source appears on the northern horizon its only natural to lay claim to some of the tax revenue that issues from that resource.  There in lies the dilemma.

While the MD receives a pretty tidy sum of the revenue from oil related activity outside of the range and they share some of it with the communities within the MD boundaries there still doesn't seem to be enough to go around. Meanwhile the tax revenue from the "Range" goes to Lac La Biche county which provides no support to this area.

When the Province redirects that money from Lac La Biche County they'll have to find a solution to replace that money and it will likely stir up another storm because there is oil development between Lac La Biche and Fort McMurray it's northern neighbor.  The revenue from that area currently flows to Ft. Mac and the regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo who has all the tax revenue from the huge plants that exist north of that community. With reserves as large or larger than Saudi Arabia I'm thinking there's more than enough to go around.

I'm hearing this morning that an agreement is about to be signed next week to redistribute this revenue by next Tuesday. I can only hope that when the dust settles everyone has what they deem is their fair share.  Stay tuned folks this ain't over yet.

Editor's note: The opinions and story line are mine alone and represent an amalgam of information gleaned from discussions, readings and information available at the time of publication.  Enjoy.

Who's Going to be the New Premier?

If you've been following the media lately there are six people who are jockeying to become the next Premier of Alberta - at least for a little while.  Yes, for a little while for a couple of reasons. First off, there is a a four year election cycle set up in Alberta and that would put us around the middle of March for the next provincial election. Secondly its up to the new Prem when to call and election and whoever gets in might want to fast track it to catch other parties off their game.

By off their game, I mean they may or may not have a leader in place i.e: the Alberta Libs, they might not have enough candidates nominated in each constituency and their war chest might be a little light in coin of the realm.  We'll have to wait and see who emerges as the winner and its likely going to take two ballots.

Here's the card for this month's race (alphabetically by last name so there's no favouritism) Doug Griffiths, Doug Horner, Gary Mar, Ted Morton, Rick Orman and Allison Redford. I have met the first two and have known one of them for a number of years.  The balance of candidates I've seen in forums, previous occupations and of course news programs.

Each of these folks have been beating the bush for supporters since Premier Ed turned them loose and Its still a crap shoot as to who has the leading edge. If you listen to the social media specialists who follow each camp its their candidate who is the sharpest, wittiest, greatest responder and breather and sigher and any little thing to get them trending. I'm sure that several of them took lessons from Mayor Nenshi in Calgary who appeared out of nowhere on Facebook and became the number one bureaucrat in Cowtown. Who'd a thunk.

Well, I've listened to a lot of folks lately who keep telling me. I don't do Facebook, I don't do Twitter and I have dial up so I can't watch the forums online. How the heck am I going to get to know these people and determine if I want to hire them to handle my tax dollars in an efficient way. Yes I know there are or were eight forums lined up in strategic cities or towns but it wasn't always convenient for people to make the trek. (I said were because there's only a couple left in Edmonton & Calgary). A couple of the candidates have made it up here to Northeastern Alberta (Doug Horner & Rick Orman) but the others have stayed away or just been too busy I guess.

Its really too bad because its turning off quite a few supporters and that's making it difficult on the local committee who will be running these polls. Over the next little while we've got four full days where we'll take time from our jobs and our families to staff the advance poll on September the 13, the first regular election day on September 17 then the next advance poll on September 27 and then the final election day on October 1st.  Our volunteers are going to be spread pretty thin if we don't get a few more for our two locations. If you're interested. Just send me an email. My contact info is on my profile.  Oh, and there are two polls, one in Bonnyville at 5211 - 47 street (the New Ag Society office and former MD Service Office) and one in Cold Lake at the Tri-City Mall. Hours of the polls are from 9 am to 7pm with a couple of hours tacked on to the 17th for counting votes.

We will survive I'm sure and we will get a new leader and that person will be the new Premier at least for a while.

Mud Bogs and Politics make for a Great Weekend

Batten down the hatches folks because Ardmore is going to rumble. Why you might ask? Look Below

Ardmore Extreme Motorsports

When?	August 26 2011, August 27 2011, August 28 2011
Time?	All weekend
Where?	Ardmore

Friday Gates at 6pm Show at 7pm
Sat & Sun Gates at 11am Show at 12pm
events include: Shoot Out in the Sand, Tuff Trucks, CMRO, Truck Demo, Monster Trucks and new this year Modified Lawn Mower Races
For more info call Jody 780-201-4362
Check out this link for a pic of one of the Mud racers last year. http://tinyurl.com/3nvp6ml

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 Rick Orman is coming to Bonnyville. The second of the six candidates running to become the leader of the Alberta PC party and replace current Premier Ed Stelmach will be dropping into the Bonnyville Senior's Centre from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. on Sunday, August 28th. Everyone is welcome to attend and you'll have an opportunity to meet Rick in person and question him about his policies and plans for Alberta and you the voter.

Just a reminder that there are plans for two voting polls in the leadership election in the Bonnyville-Cold Lake constituency. One in Bonnyville at the Bonnyville Ag Society's new home at 5211 - 47 street (former county shop office) and one in Cold Lake at Tri-City mall.  Advance polls will be available at both locations on September 13 from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. The first regular polling date will be September 17 within the same time slot. If no one has a clear 50 % majority following the vote count, a second advance poll will take place on the 27th of September and a final poll will be held on October 1st. All of them at the same locations.

You do not need to be registered to vote but you must hold a current Alberta PC membership in order to participate. If you do not have a current (2011) membership, they can be purchased at the polls for $5.00.

This is the first time that the leader has been chosen in this way where every PC card-carrying citizen (18 and over) has the opportunity to vote for one of the six candidates to become leader of the Progressive Conservative party of Alberta. The winner of course will become the Premier of Alberta. Exercise your right to vote and have a say in the next leader of our province. And, tell your friends to vote as well.
That's it for now. Dave

Country Cafes aren't dead yet.

We were out for a Friday night supper and decided to check out a little cafe we had heard about in the Town of Glendon about 29 klicks west of Bonnyville.

We weren't disappointed. The Green Acres Cafe run by an affable French Canadian by the name of Nancy along with her daughter and I'm thinking a son in law. I really should have gotten all the details but will when we go back - and we will be going back.
The building and the decor are an eclectic mix of early Canadian glitch. Comfy wooden chairs of every description, crepe paper streamers criss-cross the room, local art pieces hang on the wall and you feel instantly comfortable. There's no pretention here. Oh and a monster box of crayons and coloring pages are trotted out for the little one with an invitation to leave it behind and post it on her huge refrigerator near the till.

There is a menu but her specials sounded enough so I didn't even look at it. The offerings included baked spaghetti, single serving veal cutlet with optional potatoes (mashed, fries or baked), A crab melt on a toasted English muffin with potatoe options or a steak sandwich.

I wasn't that hungry so opted for the Crab melt alone with a small bowl of her absolutely delicious beef barley soup. It was loaded with barley, tender pieces of beef and every vegetable in the garden accompanied by a fresh baked home-made dinner bun that reminded me of Grandma's baking. The Missus decided on the veal and had a beautiful plate with garden fresh mashed potatoes and veggies and a tender slice of veal. The son had a fresh made cheese and bacon burger with fries (no worry about cholesterol for this guy.) (He could hardly finish it and he can really eat). The grand daughter had baked spaghetti with no sauce, just butter and shredded cheddar. It too was delicious ( I had to help her out right). Oh, and to top it off we had to try some of her down home (Quebec style) Poutine. (I know its a heart attack looking for a place to happen but we had to try it anyway.) Home made dessert followed (I can hear the oinking now) and they were very petite - a small upside down cake with multi-berry comport beneath topped with fresh whipped cream. Yes, we went a little over board but damn it was good. Tomorrow is nothing but salad. Right? The meal was a little over $50 for the four of us which is pretty decent even in this day and age where most other restaurants are nuking or boiling everything in a bag.

To finish up, everything is made fresh on site each day and I like that thought. I hear they also make outstanding pizza and Wednesday nights is Fish and Chips night so we can hardly wait for that.

In a town that's sort of famous for its larger than life Ukranian specialty pictured here, Green Acres is a nice oasis from the humdrum regular fare that's available elsewhere. I've also heard that Glendon has a great little asian restaurant too and by the look of the vehicles in their parking lot they were pretty busy. Maybe Glendon's secret is in the kitchen because there was a huge wedding going on down at the community centre.

They've also got a very successful Derby Day that runs on August 13th starting with a pancake breakfast, parade, then out to the mud bogs just north of town followed by a demo derby in the afternoon. They've even got a greased pig contest which is sure to amuse everyone except the pig.

Perogi and badly bent fork in Glendon, AB

I've included a second picture of the Perogi because this one on the left has often been criticized for the way it looks but hey folks I'm no judge. You've haven't lived until you've had a steaming plate of pan fried perogi in butter with onions, bacon bits and sour cream. (geez, I can hear my pants stretching already.)

Small town living sometimes has its dull parts but maybe that's not such a bad thing. You could hear the birds chirping as we played with our grand daughter in the park and that's certainly worth a lot since the noise of loud mufflers outside our windows is something we live with constantly in Bonnyville even though our Mayor thinks we don't have a noise or speeding problem.  Nuff said.
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I had started talking about our garden back in the spring and then the frost and business got in the way so slipped up on the tracking of its progress. It has done very well this year. Probably helped by the 15 plus / minus inches of rain we've had in June and July. Peas were plentiful and have now stopped producing so have been pulled to allow light in for other plants. The corn is up to my forehead and I'm 6 ft 1 inches tall. Carrots are lovely and everything is green, green, green.  We've already had several good feeds of potatoes and veggies and have put up lots of berries for the winter.  Here's a quick shot of our back yard taken from the back step. As you can see we've turned it into a great living space as well and get lots of enjoyment from the park like layout. Hope you enjoy it and come back for more pics I'll be putting up later next week. Enjoy life its the only one you have. Dave

July has flown by and we're looking for summer

I can't believe how quickly the month of July just whizzed by like a month on steroids. One day it was the Canada Day Parade and celebrations the next it was getting ready for the August long weekend and Haying in the 30s. Visit this incredible event here wwww.hayinginthe30s.org where we raised nearly $215,000 dollars in two days.

I'm thinking that because we were doing renovations we used up lots of daylight hours and of course there's all the volunteer things we get involved with. Oh, and then there's that crazy thing called work that keeps getting in the way of all the free stuff we do. It's all for the good of the community. Right?

Anyway, back to Haying in the 30s for a minute.  This event started back in 1999 when a few friends who had a common love of horses got together at the behest of Edgar Corbierre who had seen a group of wagon train fans travelling and camping together. They all got together on a long weekend (August as it turns out) and brought their horse-drawn machinery and cut and piled hay. There was a potluck supper so everyone was fed like back in the day when neighbours gathered to help each other harvest.

As it turned out, Edgar's son Real (pronounced Ray al) had been diagnosed with cancer and the folks all got together and passed around a hat and gathered $350 which they gave to the family to help offset travel costs for treatment. From there it grew year by year and became the event that it is today. Fortunately Real survived his bout with cancer and participates today.

It is amazing what has been accomplished since those early days. The county provided a lifelong lease on an eighty acre piece of property and buildings were developed to provide shelter during the meal (whether from sun or rain) and ever since, new buildings were added each year to add interest to the site. These buildings house the growing list of donated furniture, tools and equipment that was used in the past all contributing a sense of community that is not as evident these days.

Among the buildings, there is a typical farmhouse of the day, a pioneer's cabin, a trappers cabin, a fully functioning blacksmith's shop, a weaving house, a general store, a rail freight building, a harness and shoe repair shop, a creamery, an aboriginal teepee, a church, bank, telegraph/newspaper office and a saloon. All of these buildings have been outfitted with furniture and goods and are staffed by volunteers, dressed in period garb, on the weekend of the event and lend themselves to creating a living museum. In addition, more than 30 teams of horses are hitched to various agricultural implements and are used to till the fields, plant the grain, harvest it, thresh it and bring it to the barn and corrals. There's even a horse operated well-boring machine, a sawmill and a shingle mill.

All of these elements are operated by volunteers and they give everyone a true taste of what it was like to farm and live back in that era.

Another amazing thing is the visitors who come to the event and stay for several days. Nearly 260 rv's of all descriptions parked in a hay meadow just east of the site. These folks along with daily visitors who are parked off-site and then brought into the grounds on horse drawn wagons, number in the hundreds with more than 2,000 people sitting down to a great beef on a bun supper with all the trimmings.  Oh, there's lunch a noon and breakfast the next morning following church service and another lunch at noon on Sunday with about the same number of people taking part in each meal.  Now that's a pile of groceries and you wonder where it all comes from. Every speck and morsel is donated. Yes, donated by local businesses, individuals and large companies alike. Food like seven 4H steers, barbecued in a huge pit BBQ. Over a hundred pounds of potatoes grown and donated by a local farmer, thousands of eggs, hamburgers, hotdogs and the list goes on and on.

Here's a little video clip to show the scale of the event.

What's the charge to get into this great event you ask? Zero, nothing, nada, zip. There's no charge for parking, no admission charge, no charge for camping, no charge for food, no charge for the musical entertainment that happens all day and into the night. All that's asked is that you visit the bank on site and make a donation to the cause. They are a registered society so you'll get a receipt right there written out by the volunteers who staff the donation bank.

To sum it up, the weekend is about stepping back to a simpler time when we got to know our neighbours and pitched in if they needed help. It's about experiencing what our ancestors might have gone through to eke out a living for themselves and their families.  It's also about helping those who are undergoing the toughest battle of their lives. If you're in the area, Mallaig, AB next year on the long weekend in August you should really check it out.

Canada Day was Great! Not so great for Renos

Hope you all had a great weekend and that everyone arrived home safely. It was pretty busy at our place. We're in the middle of renovations (like who planned that), our kids and grandkids dropped in for a stayover, a whole wack of relatives brought their younguns' to our place to watch the parade from our front lawn and our niece was having a family grad party. Whew, makes me tired just thinking about it.

Like I said, who planned for reno's in the summer. It all started out thinking about painting a wall and then the missus got fired up and the next thing you know we're taking off switches, ripping out carpets, puttying cracks and nail holes, priming, painting and putting down flooring. OK, now I'm tired. In any case its moving along nicely and we should be finished in the next couple of years.

No I'm just kidding we plan to have it all done by long weekend in August. We just have to tell visitors they can only stay for a few minutes, pay their entry fee to view and then either strap on the tools or get lost. Come back for the open house and bring gifts if you feel badly.

Here's a quick shot of what the bedroom floors are going to look like. They are all in Walnut and the one we have finished looks gorgeous.  the wall colours are a bit different the light colour is called Kicking Horse by General Paints and the darker wall around the windows is Tomchuk and the window treatments are longer, in beige with the same tab hung curtains and they are much more effective at keeping out the light. I'll load pics when the room is completely finished with the baseboards and door trim.

We've finished the bathroom for now as well. It got a new coat of paint, light fixture, switches, cabinet and mable top with new taps. I've taken before pics and will put up the before and afters when we finish. Thanks for dropping in. We'll see you again soon.
Dave.

Truck & Tractor Pulling Competitions coming to Bonnyville

If you are a fan of power and trucks and tractors you won't want to miss this event. The Bonnyville Ag Society will be hosting the Canadian Truck & Tractor Pulling competitions September 16, 17 & 18 in front of the grandstand at the rodeo and chuckwagon grounds just south of town.

Three days of high performance competition and a fireworks spectacular on Saturday night. Competitors will be coming from across Canada and a few of the northern states. For More information, check out the website at www.powerama.org .

Covered grandstand, beer gardens, displays, concessions, pit passes and a whole bunch of fun are sure to be the order of the weekend.
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This rain is really going to make the garden grow. I planted a few radishes in a couple of small planters the other day (sort of a small container garden). They've all come up and I'm hoping they won't be wormy.  We've planted them in the past just in the ground but they were garbage because of the worms and we ended up throwing them away. We had even used epsom salts because that's supposed to work. I didn't use any in this batch so we'll have to see how this works.

The spuds we planted in the straw are well up and after this rain they will grow like crazy. I'll put a pic up once it quits raining. My grape vines are growing but not as agressively as I thought they would. Grapes need a lot of heat and not that much water so we'll have to see. I've got them on a southern exposure but they are in a bed with our raspberries so they are tending to shade it a bit too much. Hmm, horns of a dilemma. Trim back the raspberries to grow the grapes or let them fend for themselves. Time will tell.
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The Bonnyville Ag Society has a new website as well and you might want to visit them. There's still a bit of problem with the calendar but all the information is there.  www.bonnyvilleagsociety.com Enjoy.
Dave.

The Lilacs are Lovely

Our yard has both white and the traditional purple lilacs and this is the best they've ever done. Huge perfectly formed blossoms and a perfume like no other.

According to Wikipedia, Syringa (Lilac) is a genus of about 20–25 species of flowering woody plants in the olive family (Oleaceae), native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and widely and commonly cultivated in temperate areas elsewhere.

They are deciduous shrubs or small trees, ranging in size from 2 to 10 metres (6 ft 7 in to 32 ft 10 in) tall, with stems up to 20 to 30 centimetres (7.9 to 12 in) diameter. The leaves are opposite (occasionally in whorls of three) in arrangement, and their shape is simple and heart-shaped to broad lanceolate in most species, but pinnate in a few species (e.g. S. protolaciniata, S. pinnatifolia). The flowers are produced in spring, each flower being 5 to 10 millimetres (0.20 to 0.39 in) in diameter with a four-lobed corolla, the corolla tube narrow, 5 to 20 millimetres (0.20 to 0.79 in) long; they are bisexual, with fertile stamens and stigma in each flower. The usual flower colour is a shade of purple (often a light purple or lilac), but white, pale yellow and pink, and even a dark burgundy color are also found. The flowers grow in large panicles, and in several species have a strong fragrance. Flowering varies between mid spring to early summer, depending on the species. The fruit is a dry, brown capsule, splitting in two at maturity to release the two winged seeds.

Lilacs flower on old wood, and produce more flowers if unpruned. If pruned, the plant responds by producing fast-growing young vegetative growth with no flowers, in an attempt to restore the removed branches; a pruned lilac often produces few or no flowers for one to five or more years, before the new growth matures sufficiently to start flowering. Unpruned lilacs flower reliably every year. Despite this, a common fallacy holds that lilacs should be pruned regularly. If pruning is required, it should be done right after flowering is finished, before next year's flower buds are formed. Lilacs generally grow better in slightly alkaline soil.

Lilac bushes can be prone to powdery mildew disease, which is caused by poor air circulation.
The wood of lilac is close-grained, diffuse-porous, extremely hard and one of the densest in Europe. The sapwood is typically cream-coloured and the heartwood has various shades of brown and purple. Lilac wood has traditionally been used for engraving, musical instruments, knife handles etc. When drying, the wood has a tendency to be encurved as a twisted material, and to split into narrow sticks. The wood of Common Lilac is even harder than for example that of Syringa josikaea.
In addition to being a widely used garden plant, a tea can be made from the leaves, flowers and thinner branches of Syringa vulgaris (common lilac), and common white lilac, which has a floral flavor. Some claim that this tea has shown some signs that it may produce a light euphoria in higher amounts (3+ cups of strongly brewed tea), but claims of this are relatively unverified and there is no scientific backing to report such claims. Also some find the white varieties of common lilac to have a sweeter and more pleasurable flavor, and both varieties (white and purple) seem to produce more palatable tea with more flowers and little leaves.

In the fall after the seed pods have dried we have cut them from the tree but even where we left them on because they were too high for us to reach safely or because we were too lazy to do anymore, the blossoms came back around the old pods. 

We have a couple of Lilacs in the front yard on either side of the steps and in an effort to control them we cut the old wood back so only got a few blossoms but a lot of new growth which needs to be trimmed again. So, I'll be giving them a slight haircut so that old wood matures beneath it. Either that or tear it out because the Missus thinks its moving the front step. She could be right. They were planted by the previous home owner, probably as little twigs and they looked cute. Now they are too close and taking over the stairs. Ah, the joys of home ownership.

Before I go, here's a little thing we've experimented with to have delicious new potatoes without scab or bugs in them. We started this a few years ago on the farm and had great results. Huge potatoes with clear skin and easy to harvest without digging. Huh you might ask? How the heck did you do that?

Our Straw bed for growing potatoes.

We planted them in straw! Plain old barley straw, or wheat straw, it doesn't matter. Since we've moved to town it's been a bit of a disappointment. But we're trying it again. This time we've let the straw mature more by leaving it over winter. We raked it into a pile this spring, rototilled where it lay and then spread it back over top. In this picture we've planted about two dozen seed potatoes so we'll have plenty for a while. They came up better this year but the frost has been driving us nuts so we just keep adding straw on top of the new leaves and that seems to help protect them. Our neighbor didn't cover and his were quite black yesterday morning. (oh, and this is June 7!)
The pile doesn't look like much now but you can see that our corn is up to the left of the picture as are all our other veggies. The green things at the back are volunteer sunflowers that we let grow to feed the birds over winter and provide us with some bright sunshiney flowers all summer long. Yes, we do control them a bit but the Missus likes the natural look. Anyway, we'll post more as the summer progresses to let you know how the spuds are doing. Enjoy. 

Better get your Ducks in a Row

The 20th Annual Ardmore Duck Race is all set to go on Sunday, June 5, 2011. Duck race huh.? Yup and its in the river. The Beaver River that is just a few klicks north on highway 892 from the junction with Hwy 28. All the proceeds go to the Ardmore School for Technology, equipment and the library and the event itself is operated with a dedicated group of volunteers.

This group sells tickets that entitle buyers to own a duck for the day and this duck races other ducks down the river a set distance. There's 2,000 of them so it's quite a sight. The first one under the bridge is the winner and there's also 2nd, third, fourth and fifth place prizes. Once the ducks finish, they are scooped from the water by volunteers and safely stored away for next years event.  Oh, no actual ducks are used, just tiny, little, yellow rubber replicas with a number painted on their bottoms.

Not one single duck has ever been lost in the 20 years of the event. Its great fun for the whole family as they gather near the river to witness this spectacular event. The fun starts at noon at the Bridge.

If you'd like to volunteer, go to the Ardmore school and ask for Leona or Janice and they'll find you a job.


2000 rubber ducks!
Onsite raffle!
Onsite concession!
Free kids games & face painting!

 Look at these prizes.
1st Prize: *TROPICAL TRAVEL VOUCHER
$3000 - Gala Travel (Bonnyville), A.P.A.A.

2nd Prize: LG 50􀀀 PLASMA T.V. &
LG BLU-RAY HOME THEATER SYSTEM
$1,832 - Step Up Audio Video, A.P.A.A.

3rd Prize: FUEL CARDS
$1000 - Northern Lights Truck Stop 2005

4th Prize: FREEZER MEAT PACKAGE
$750 - Hamel’s Meat Market Ltd., A.P.A.A.

5th Prize: XBOX 360 250GB
KINNECT BUNDLE
$420 - Angling Lake Drilling, A.P.A.A.

CORPORATE SPONSORS
Badger Daylighting Services
Northern Lights Truck Stop 2005
P J’s (Cold Lake) Liquor Store Ltd.
Skyhawk Enterprises Ltd.

HOSTED BY
Event: Ardmore Parent
Advisory Assoc. (A.P.A.A.)
Concession: Ardmore Community Society
PROCEEDS TO
Ardmore School:
technology & equipment

Have you ever been to the Opry?

You may never have been to the Opry but we're going to bring it to you. Well, at least The Opry Boyz. Yep, Bonnyville's own Opry Boyz and they are playing for the Bonnyville Pro Rodeo Dance on Saturday, May the 28th in the biggest dance hall around - the Centennial Centre Field House.

The Bonnyville Ag Society took on the dance part of Rodeo weekend about four years ago when volunteers were tiring out from being spread too thin. They were working all day at the rodeo grounds and then having to come over and put on a dance till 2 or 3 in the morning. Not a lot of fun and it was burning out volunteers pretty quick so the Ag Society stepped up and its been working pretty good ever since.

Anyway, back to the Opry Boyz and the rodeo dance. The doors open at 8:30 and the band kicks off at 9 with their brand of real danceable country tunes that everybody recognizes and can sing along with or dance holes in the soles of your boots. They have been growing in popularity for the past couple of years and folks just won't let them stop playing.

Tickets are available at the Centennial Centre Box office (Main Desk) for $20 in advance or $25 at the door. You can also order by phone toll free if you're from out of town at 1-877-812-2740 or 780-826-3400 if you're in town. You can even order online at www.centennialcentre.ca and just click on tickets on the left hand sidebar.

A big thanks goes out to the Bonnyville Oilmen's Society who are providing drivers for the shuttle vans that will help get you home safely. Also to Bonnyville Chrysler, Ducharme and Tercier Motors for providing the shuttle vans. Remember if you can to tip these drivers, they are volunteers and their group does a great deal of good in the community.
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Here's another event the Bonnyville Ag Society is working on that will set your heart pounding. They have just inked a deal to host the Canadian National Truck and Tractor Pulling Championships this September 16th, 17th & 18th and its going to be a doozy. Three days of intense competition with a spectacular fire works display on Saturday night and you'll be able to watch the show in the comfort of grandstand out at the exhibition grounds.

There'll be everything from  high-powered minis running 500 plus horsepower up to a five engine monster putting out about 6,000 horsepower. There'll also be modified and super modified two and four wheel drive pickups and tractors along with a diesel wheel standing Semi. If you like motors, motion and power, you won't want to miss this event. Keep checking this column for updates and ticket information as we get closer to the date.  For more information or to volunteer for the event contact the Bonnyville Ag Society at 780-826-3240.
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