Are Distracted Driving Laws Enough?

Since Bill 16 was brought into and passed through legislation in Alberta there are still flagrant violations occurring on a daily basis. Distracted Driving is as deadly as impaired driving whether through alcohol or spontaneous health problems. But people still believe that they can maneuver a 4 or 5000 pound vehicle through traffic, school zones and on Alberta's busy highways while talking or texting on their phones.

Obviously the fine of $172 isn't enough because folks are still doing it. I've witnessed Moms with Kids in the vehicle zooming (120 Kph plus) down the Queen E 11 highway between Calgary and Edmonton with, yup you guessed it a Cell Phone stuck to their ear in bumper to bumper traffic. Maybe the name of the law should be changed to Dumb Ass Driving and the fine increased to $500 minimum and removal of said electronic device for at least 6 months. Oh and perhaps a safe driving course thrown in for good measure. (those are presented in the oil patch safety meetings all the time.

How privileged do these people feel that they just have to yak on the phone while driving. It smacks of arrogance and small thinking. I remember at a PC conference in Calgary where a discussion about a new distracted driving law was floating around. Former Premier Stelmach was on the main stage taking questions from the audience and this young lady stood up to ask the Premier why the caucus would even consider putting forth such a draconian law. Another law to control the people and that she thought it was wrong to burden the public with another control. The Premier responded (and I'm paraphrasing here) that it has been proven that reaction time while driving is slowed even more when conducting other activities in the vehicle. Also that multi-tasking severely increased the possibility of causing a driver to become further distracted and creating the potential for a vehicular accident. The young lady was still miffed and said " I'm young and I have no problem multi-tasking so the law should be scrapped! Obviously here was a person that wasn't prepared to listen to reason but believed that it was her right to drive and phone at the same time. HOW then do we break that chain of thought?

Unfortunately the costs of enforcement via our police forces is prohibitive in that you would need a huge squad of officers, to check and stop and write up ever violator and deal with all the other criminal activities and highway violations. Perhaps its time to place the place the problem squarely in the lap of other citizens of the province.  Not that we should have them stopping and charging violators but perhaps a hotline number that could be called to report licence numbers and activities of the offenders. From that phone in a 1st notice could be generated and sent to that individual stating that they were observed violating the Distracted Driving law on the date in question and that if a second report came forward that demerits would be applied to their licence. The potential threat of losing their licence could prove to be a much stronger reinforcement method than the $172 fine.

There are certainly a few wrinkles with a plan like that such as chagrined spouses reporting their mates just to get back at them but they could have their day in court to explain or plea bargain. The inconvenience of it all might be enough to start changing some attitudes.

It could be an interesting discussion amongst the powers that be. And, it just may work. Your thoughts?

Don't Believe me? Check this link for more stats.Think it doesn't happen?

The Rockie Mountains & Evelyn's Coffee are Amazing

We actually managed to get away for a few days this past summer and I've felt the beautiful Rockie mountains calling for some time. Our granddaughter was up visiting from Ontario and she'd never seen them so we started looking at accommodations and mountain towns we'd like to visit. 

Lake Louise

The most popular destination for many are the Jasper and Banff National parks that join together close to the Columbia Ice fields to form a huge mountain playground with amazing views, wonderful campsites and thrilling highways to drive.  We were only able to take a three day weekend so we had to make it within comfortable driving distance and for some reason the town of Canmore came up.

I did a couple of online searches using www.booking.com and found a great deal on a condo-style villa with enough beds for the four of us and the plans were in place. Well sort of, the Missus, our son and his daughter were able to leave a day earlier on a Thursday and I had to stay behind to finish up some business. Its too bad I couldn't get to witness our Granddaughter's first look at the mountains. She actually didn't notice them at first and kept saying "look at the big valleys Grandma" not realizing they were the bottoms of those big rocks all around.

In any case, I caught up the next day and it was a fantastic trip. Mountain air seems to have a slight scent of pine and just seems to be more clear than at home. Canmore is a great town with lots of services and dining establishments and sits in a valley among the first mountains you see as you travel westward from Calgary on  Trans Canada Highway #1 . Its four lanes all the way  from Calgary and you really have to move because there doesn't seem to be a speed limit even though the signs said 110 Km/hour I don't think anyone was actually going that slow.

Inn Of The Rockies

Our weekend domicile was the Inn of the Rockies which is on Harvey Heights road just west of Canmore. Part of the facility is undergoing some major renovations by the new owners and is just a half a mile from the Banff National Park gates.  Our unit was a two story with two large bedrooms a nice bathroom and even a washer and dryer. The main floor featured a living area with fireplace, a flat screen TV, a hide-a-bed couch  and a recliner, the open concept had the dining area right next in line adjacent to the nicely equipped kitchen. This alone saved us tons of money on dining as we prepared our own breakfasts and lunches for the day and popped the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. Ah, all the conveniences of home.

Banff Upper Hot Springs courtesy Travel Alberta

The weekend was spent driving into Canmore to explore and then Banff to take in the Gondola ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain and a soaking in the Hot Springs at the base of the mountain. A great way to sooth those aching bones. The water was at 41 degrees celcius which is about 106 degrees farenheit and it takes a moment to get used to it. Once you're in though it is heavenly.

Another great pass time is walking the main thoroughfare called Banff Avenue. Its lined with shops of all sorts and restaurants and an amazing coffee outlet called Evelyn's Coffee Bar. This coffee emporium is so popular that there are three of them. Two along the avenue and one on Bear Street. One even features live entertainment each evening. I also spent a while with one of their large coffees just people and busker watching. There is every nation under the sun represented here so its a great mix and great watching. There's lots of comfortable benches along the avenue and the weather was perfect. I let our group go "shopping" and enjoyed my respite.

Parking hint: Go early in the morning and stake out a place by at least 10 a.m. or you'll drive around for a while trying to find a parking space. There are meters on main street so you'd have to keep coming back to plug it.  So unless your athletic and like to run or walk, find off street parking where you can. The lots are free and located one block either side of the main thoroughfare. Most lots have access to the shops from the lots so its very convenient.

It was a great little mini holiday and I will take another one.  Talk again soon.
Dave

Our Garden has Exploded

Even though I know that Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin have been overexercising their expense allotments and there are likely others among them, I won't dwell on the negative. I'm going to share something positive that helps me to relax and enjoy. While gardening is not my usual fare on this blog, I just had to do a little horn tooting for the spectacular garden we have growing in our yard right now.

Over the past several years we have been doing a lot of soil amendment to bring it back to life. The former owner used a 50/50 crop and summer fallow or just kept one half black on a rotation basis. The only trouble is there didn't appear to be anything added to maintain the soils breathability (strange word but) it was just dead and would pack hard if you walked on it too much.

Straw bed potatoes

Year after year, we saved every green scrap from the kitchen, all of our leaves (my missus even purloined bags of leaves from the neighbors waste bin one evening) and straw that we used for a couple of growing experiments I'll talk about later. Finally after six years we opened up the garden this year to a beautiful soft, diggable (another strange word) piece of ground that was a pleasure to work. There was lots of humus in the soil, the big lumps were gone and if you held a handful to your nose, it smelled clean and fresh and full of life. It just smelled healthy!

The Missus had attended a spring gardeners day workshop locally and the guest speaker there
suggested that we were better to plant in small squares (3 x 3 feet or 4 x 4). This keeps the plants closer together and they support each other and some plants that self pollinate can more easily do that whereas, long rows just string them out too far.  (Maybe there's an analogy there about how you and your partner can grow together in life's garden). Always being

Straw Bed Spuds After.

willing to experiment (in the garden) we set about marking out loose plots in a random pattern throughout the garden. Nice neat little plots with four or five or six rows each about 4 or 5 feet long parked side by side. It looked a little weird at first but now that the veggies are up it looks pretty neat. There are little pathways in between so we can still walk and reach with a hoe or by hand to weed. We did this with nearly every plant set except the potatoes (I'm coming to this new idea). The germination appears to be nearly 100 % of every thing we've planted so far except for the lettuce and we've reseeded that. In any case, everything else is doing extremely well and we're excited to harvest the bounty.

It might have been something to do with the fact that we planted on the May long weekend and the weather was hot and dry. There's an old

Last years bounty!

saying that goes "Plant in the Dust and your graineries will bust". Here's hoping.

Now to the potatoes. We've planted them in straw beds to success and dismal failure. To plant them in the soil has been disappointing because of the little black bugs or worms that get to them before we can so we've been looking for alternatives. Voila, the potato bag! Someone has invented a bag made of plastic tarp material with appropriate drain holes. The premise is that you add four to six inches of soil (we used an 80-15-5 % ration of black dirt, peat and steer manure (aged) to the bag. We then placed five seed potatoes in the mix and covered them with another 4 inches of the mix. You just roll the sides down to the level of the top of the dirt plus a bit above then water them. Within two weeks we had little spuds poking their plant heads above the dirt with 100% germination. We've also planted some in the dirt beside them in a traditional planting using the mix to fill the holes and they are all up as well. With the potatoes in the bag we'll add more dirt to keep the stems covered and just the leaves sticking out. As they grow, we'll unroll the bag some more and add more dirt until we reach the top. We'll hill the others with our dirt mix so they are all receiving the same nutrients. Once the bag is completely unrolled, we'll let the potatoes mature and blossom. Once they've died down, we can harvest (we might sneak a few new ones for an early treat because once the blossoms come on, the potatoes are about the size of an egg.  How do we get into the bag you ask. Well, this inventor made a handy trap door with velcro closers so you can just open it up, and go prodding gently in the earth for a few spuds. Then close it up stuffing the dirt back inside so the spuds can grow some more.

potato bags

There now wasn't that more cathartic than me ranting about some folks who feel self-entitled.
Watch for more about our gardening progression in the up coming weeks. Like how we kept the aphids at bay and how we repaired a worn patch in the lawn using our amazing dirt mix. Might even share my grape adventures - there's a least four bunches growing on the vines as we speak.
Till then, keep on gardening. Dave

Is Alberta's Premier Redford Sliding into the Abyss?

Recent polls list Alberta's Premier Redford as only having a 29% popularity rating with those who answered the survey and that is considerably less than the 53% plus rating for her chief competitor Danielle Smith of the Wild Rose party. According to the most recent Angus Reid Poll, Redford even

placed behind Brian Mason of the NDP and Raj Sherman of the Alberta Liberals who each garnered a 34% rating.

Redford's survival over the summer into the fall leadership review is all hinged on the success of her many trips to the power corridors of Washington, DC and New York city to promote the Keystone XL pipeline. In the meantime, budget woes and push backs from those affected most by the 2013 budget are keeping Finance Minister Horner and Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk busy, responding too and defending the home front. Will they all be successful? Will any of them still be there following the fall convention of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Association this November? The way competing camps are gathering for the leadership review there could be an early exit from the seat of power for Ms Redford and her executive team.
****
On another note, the winter snows seem to be retreating and the garden spot is starting to peak out from under a significant pile of snow. Warmer temps are still a bit down the trail and a large dump is forecast for this weekend in places around and west of Edmonton.  Any way you look at it this has been one long winter. It needs to end soon. Our gardening tools are calling and we're anxious to experiment with our new potatoe bags.
****
Finally, this is one of the funniest stories I've heard in a long time. 
A fellow was laying in his hospital bed with an oxygen mask on while a young nurse trainee started to give him a sponge bath.  As she progressed down his chest the man asked her this question through the mask "are my testicles black?" The young nurse looked up in surprise and said "Excuse me?".  Through the mask the man once again asked her "are my testicles black?"  She said " I'm just starting my training and I don't believe I'm prepared to handle that situation."  As she continued to bathe him, she summoned up the courage and thought to herself "I am training to be a nurse and these types of things are going to occur so here goes."
She rolled the sheet down and lifted the bottom of his gown and picked up both "boys" in her hands. She looked them over thoroughly and then placed the cover over the man and said "they seem to be fine sir."  The patient then removed his oxygen masked and said "that was very nice miss but one more time I'm asking; Are My Test Results Back?"
Enjoy your week.
Dave

Hockey Is Done In Our Town

Yes, Hockey is done in Our Town. Just for the AJHL (Alberta Junior Hockey League) season folks. Our ever-loving Bonnyville Pontiacs gave it a good run but lost out in the second round to the Whitecourt Wolverines who won the last four games in the best of seven series. They will now move to take on the Spruce Grove Saints in the North Division Semi-Final. Its really excellent hockey folks so regardless of who you might be cheering for, get out and support these young men.

Better than the performances of our overpaid glory boys in the NHL. Geez, there must be a fortune in first round draft picks in the Oilers pen but they have a hard time putting together anything that even resembles a string of wins. They are sitting in the middle of the pack in the trailing Vancouver by 1 point and just ahead of Calgary. Can we expect them to show in the stretch. Here's hoping but they need to win at least the next six or seven games to show that they are contenders.

*****

A friend of mine passed this bit on to me recently and I thought I'd share it with you.  I presume its reference to a book written by Professor Ian Plimer called "Heaven and Earth"
It's got some interesting information but I'll let you be the judge.

Okay, here's the bombshell. The volcanic eruption in Iceland, since its first spewing of volcanic ash has, in just FOUR DAYS, NEGATED EVERY SINGLE EFFORT you have made in the past five years to control CO2emissions on our planet - all of you.

Of course you know about this evil carbon dioxide that we are trying to suppress - it’s that vital chemical compound that every plant requires to live and grow and to synthesize into oxygen for us humans and all animal life. I know, it's very disheartening to realize that all of the carbon emission savings you have accomplished while suffering the inconvenience and expense of: driving Prius hybrids, buying fabric grocery bags, sitting up till midnight to finish your kid's"The Green Revolution" science project, throwing out all of your non-green cleaning supplies, using only two squares of toilet paper, putting a brick in your toilet tank reservoir, selling your SUV and speedboat, vacationing at home instead of abroad, nearly getting hit every day on your bicycle, replacing all of your 50 cents light bulbs with $10.00 light bulbs ...well, all of those things you have done have all gone down the tubes in just four days.

The volcanic ash emitted into the Earth's atmosphere in just four days - yes - FOUR DAYS ONLY by that volcano in Iceland, has totally erased every single effort you have made to reduce the evil beast, carbon. And there are around 200 active volcanoes on the planet spewing out this crud at any one time - EVERY DAY.

I don't really want to rain on your parade too much, but I should mention that when the volcano Mt Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines in 1991, it spewed out more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the entire human race had emitted in all its years on earth. Yes folks, Mt Pinatubo was active for over one year - think about it. Of course I shouldn't spoil this touchy-feely tree-hugging moment and mention the effect of solar and cosmic activity and the well-recognized 800-year global heating and cooling cycle, which keep happening, despite our completely insignificant efforts to affect climate change.

And I do wish I had a silver lining to this volcanic ash cloud but the fact of the matter is that the bush fire season across the western USA and Australia this year alone will negate your efforts to reduce carbon in our world for the next two to three years. And it happens every year. Just remember that your government just tried to impose a whopping carbon tax on you on the basis of the bogus “human-caused” climate change scenario. Hey, isn’t it interesting how they don’t mention “Global Warming” any more, but just“Climate Change” - you know why? It’s because the planet has COOLED by 0.7 degrees in the past century and these global warming bull artists got caught with their pants down.

And just keep in mind that you might yet have an Emissions Trading Scheme - that whopping new tax - imposed on you, that will achieve absolutely nothing except make you poorer. It won’t stop any volcanoes from erupting, that’s for sure.

But hey, relax, give the world a hug and have a nice day!

The Hockey Gods Have Smiled on Edmonton

Frankly, I was surprised by the outcome following the Edmonton City council vote to get into the arena business again. Yes, again because they are already part owners of an arena or would be in line to inherit the building if Northlands, the current operators should ever shut down then Rexall Place title would revert back to the City of Edmonton. Would they then turn over use to the Edmonton Oil Kings?

You're probably wondering where I came up with this notion. Its really quite simple. Northlands is the child of the Edmonton Exhibition Association and prior to that it was the Edmonton Agricultural Society who used to operate a race track or course as they called them in the good old days, down in the river valley where Renfrew Park - oops Telus Field sits today. The founders of that original Ag Society decided they needed more room to build things. Things like a livestock show palace where local producers could show off their animals and their grains and produce because the Edmonton area used to grow amazing crops. (It now only seems to grow more subdivisions and acreages and big box malls. (I digress). Oh,. And, perhaps a place to play hockey indoors.

Beginnings (1879-1899)

The roots of Northlands Park took hold when various individuals assembled themselves to create an organization through which the town of Edmonton and its surrounding communities could make their agricultural and horticultural capabilities visible to the public. 
The preceding paragraph was borrowed from Northlands own historical website: Early Northlands History

With plans in hand they trudged up the hill from the river valley looking for a level piece of land to build on.  Strange thing, developers had already beaten them to it and had most of the land tied up for new housing developments for a growing city.  Not to be deterred they found a bargain piece of land just northeast of the Rat Creek Ravine on the western edge of the Highlands and Ada Boulevard already contained some pretty posh mansions overlooking Edmonton's spectacular river valley.

With a burgeoning population, comes garbage and where do you suppose they put it? Into a low piece of and just north of what is now 111 avenue east of 82nd street. Aha the Ag board thought we can pick land up cheaply, add some fill, level it out and we can build our fair grounds and Agricultural Emporium.  This was in 1910 and the City administration not wanting to miss out on an opportunity to promote the area to new Canadians purchased the land and "the City of Edmonton set out terms for a lease whereby the land would be rented by the EEA (Edmonton Exhibition Association) at a nominal fee of $1 CDN a year. The association, which undoubtedly benefited from this open-ended arrangement, accepted the generous terms. With the stability of land tenancy, the organization could now strive to expand without inordinate risk." (from Northlands history Edmonton)

(At this point I must let you know that I'm paraphrasing this story to move it along. Exactness of detail is not relevant because, well, this story is just to give you an idea about how the area was developed and how the City became a partner.)

Edmonton Gardens from City of Edmonton Archives

Now to continue. the Ag Board had grand ideas and hatched a plan to build a grand arena for the display of all things farmey. The final outcome was the Edmonton Gardens an amazing building for its time that stood for many years and served the public well. In fact, it was so well built that when they brought in a demolition company to bring it down, the dynamite set in strategic locations in the building went off as planned and it only ruffled the feathers of a few pigeons who had nested in the higher regions of the building. It took quite awhile for the company to bring the old girl down and I'm not sure they made any money on the deal.

Northlands Coliseum (Rexall Place) courtesy of the Edmonton Journal

To quickly conclude this story, the Coliseum was built and hockey was moved from the Gardens to the new building north of Alberta Avenue. Through all this time the City has had representation on the board of the Northlands so should be well aware that they are competing against themselves with the New Downtown Arena. No matter though because we have to appease the developers who have a dieing city centre after dark and a billionaire plus needs a place to park his hockey toys.

Oh, and there was talk that the Province of Alberta might throw some money into the deal after all and yet our Premier Allison Redford and our Minister of Finance Doug Horner is telling us that the budget they gave us not that long ago is just not going to meet expectations and that there should be a tightening of belts all round. As has been said, basing a budget solely on the vagaries of the petroleum market place is shaky science at best. It will be interesting to see where this extra 100 Million comes from because it sure isn't coming from the main beneficiaries of this new edifice.
Have a lovely week. Dave

Will the NHL Agreement Meet Your Needs?

At 5 a.m. this morning, January 6, 2013 the National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA) finally concluded their 113 day discussions with an agreement to end the lock-out/ strike that has affected more people than all of them put together can even count.

Oh, each of these partners in the negotiations will survive, and go on to live lives of luxury most of us can only dream about. The travesty here is that it was all about lining their pockets and ensuring that they will be looked after in their dotage or should I say doughtage (my word) where they'll now have a defined pension. You would think that after making XXX millions of dollars each year that they would have put together some sort of plan to build their own nest egg. Hell, the average citizen manages to do that on a lot less annual income, why can't they.

I got off track a little bit there because the real story here is that over the past 113 days plus/minus, who has the NHL lock-out/strike hurt? Directly, it has affected the many people who work in the arenas where these folks play! Think about the young people who have some ambition to get ahead and take a job working in the parking lots, or the gates or the concessions or food services or security to name a few. Not just young people but maybe single parents or seniors who are trying to make ends meet with a part time job. What have they lost, never to get back with a fancy new contract for 10 years or eight if your just not happy. Give me a break.

There are others in the widening circle of support for these playboys and their billionaire owners that are affected as well. There's the suppliers to these arenas for food, cleaning supplies, signs, and toilet paper. Or how about the people who put the ice in and paint the markings and maintain the ice in pristine condition so these darlings have the best.

The good will that has been destroyed will take a long time to repair. How will the new product (tic) be any better than the old one? Will youngsters still gaze with starry eyes on their heroes? Will dad or mom even be able to afford to take them to the rink and then afford the expensive food when they get there? These are questions that will soon be answered as these princes of the puck make their way back to their respective rinks in a much shortened season.

Another question begs to be answered. When are they going to get rid of Gary Bettman which many media pundits are saying should have happened a long time ago. Here is a guy that was so dictatorial that they had to bring in another mediator to get the job done. Here is a guy that has spent so much time building markets in marginal hockey territory where hockey takes a back seat to baseball, football and basketball that other teams in real hockey territory have to support them with a $300 Million dollar equalization payment.  I think its time for him to go.

I think its also time to think about the value of what they are presenting and start to care for the folks that pay for the tickets that keep them in business. I don't deny them a very good salary after all they are the elite of their sport, the best of the best.

I'm thinking though that all these folks could take a lesson from the proving ground where they all started - Minor hockey, where they play for the love of the game.

Will Common Sense Return in the NEW YEAR?

An Obituary printed in the London Times - Interesting and sadly rather true (this was passed on to me by and old friend and I thought I'd share it with you.)

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn't always fair;
- and Maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority.

For Resolution ideas just click on the greeting below. Enjoy!
Happy New Year 2013!

Moon Fever Captures The Hearts of Many

photo from www.planetsforkids.org

Moon Fever while not a medical malady is certainly a feeling that comes over many observers and fans of our great grey orb. Recent proof of that is the hundreds of space-fan tourists who flocked to the northeast coast of Australia to observe full eclipse of the sun caused by our moon. Weather patterns prevented many from getting a clear view but they took the time and expense to travel a great distance just for a chance to see this phenomena. This event was followed not long after by a partial eclipse of the moon.

Of all of the celestial bodies that capture our attention and fascination as astronomers, none has a greater influence on life on planet Earth than it's own satellite, the moon.  When you think about it, we regard the moon with such powerful significance that unlike the moons of other planets which we give names, we only refer to our one and only orbiting orb as THE moon.  It is not a moon.  To us, it is the one and only moon.

The moon works its way into our way of thinking, our feelings about romance, our poetry and literature and even how we feel about our day in day out lives in many cases.  It is not only primitive societies that ascribe mood swings, changes in social conduct and changes in weather to the moon.  Even today, a full moon can have a powerful effect on these forces which we acknowledge even if we cannot explain them scientifically.

The most obvious physical phenomenon that is directly affected by the gravity of the moon are the tides of the ocean.  The tides are an integral part of how maritime life is regulated and the comings and goings of the fishing world in coastal communities.  But not very many people know that at certain times of the year when the orbits of the earth bring the sun and moon into right alignment, there can even be tidal effect on inland bodies of water and even on the solid earth.  Eons ago, when the moon's orbit was closer to the Earth, it was the effect of the moon that caused massive changes in the topography of the land and on continental drift as well.  This reflects the powerful effect the moon has had on both human history and on global geographical history as well.

You may sometimes wonder where the moon came from.  Was it a planet that traveled too close to Earth and was captured in our orbit?  Actually, the prevailing theory of modern science is that the moon was the result of a large scale collision with the still developing Earth early in its development which caused this large chunk to spin off into an orbiting body.  This explains the similarity in composition as has been confirmed by many of the moon exploratory space missions that were conducted by NASA.

But this background also highlights another important influence the moon has had on Earth's development that is seldom recognized and that is the stabilization of Earth's orbital pattern.  Most know that Earth is not round but more of an egg shaped orb.  To be blunt, the Earth would wobble.  Without the moon's stabilizing influence, this shape would shift dramatically so the tilt of the axis, that is the polar caps would shift dramatically with each seasonal rotation producing climacteric, changes much more violent and drastic than we are used to.  It is possible that life as we know it could not have developed here had the moon not been there to keep the Earth in line and continue to stabilize the orbital position of the Earth so our climate could remain stable and mild.

A third significant influence of the moon comes from the theory that a collision ripped the body of the moon from the developing core of the Earth.  Because of this disruption in how the core of our planet developed, the metals that are usually intact in the core of the planet are actually scattered up and down the geography of the earth in diverse ways.  Usually the metals of the planet are all concentrated deep in the core.  But because of the collision which took the moon out to orbit, metals that have been crucial to the development of our industrial and technological cultures are readily available and easy for us to mine.  This again, is something we can thank the presence of that lovely moon in the sky for.

Whether its for gazing, exploration, minerals or maybe future habitation, the moon has an amazing draw on man kind.

The Skys Are Alive!

Perseid Meteor Shower 2011 - Photo by CNN

I can't believe I missed the whole month of August and didn't put up one post. Couple of reasons - First of all, I emceed Haying in the 30's once again and that took care of the long weekend (Aug 4 & 5th). We raised $197,000 bucks for people undergoing treatment for cancer. Then I got a rogue upper chest infection and that lasted until just yesterday (Sept 4). Then it just happened to be my busiest month ever with the printing business and the next thing you knew it was fall.
I did take a little time while I was sick to visit a region of our universe that has always intrigued me and that is outer space. I spent a few evenings out on the deck wrapped in a blanket to catch the Perseid Meteor shower. According to CNN's blog August 11 "Hundreds of shooting stars and fireballs will fill the skies over the northern hemisphere on Saturday and Sunday night as Earth passes through a stream of debris from the Comet Swift-Tuttle - otherwise known as the Perseid meteor shower." 

Looks like Drumheller but it's Mars courtesy of the JPL

Well, I waited and I watched and waited and watched and finally caught a couple of streaks of light in the northeastern sky. For two or three nights I followed the same routine but the space stuff wasn't cooperating. I did get to see Jupiter and Venus and they were quite bright but without a telescope, they were merely brighter lights in the sky. Fortunately I was able to use an Iphone app called Night Sky that is pretty cool. It shows the night sky features even if its cloudy or you are blocked by trees or other buildings. It shows all the major constellations and even some I'd never heard of. It also shows all the satellites that are roaming around out there providing communication and cool satellite tv service and world wide telephone communication. It even pointed out the Hubble Telescope and the Cosmos space station. I could go on and on but you have to try it for yourself. At last look it was .99 cents in the App Store.

Here's some more cool thoughts on space and the darkness that surrounds us.
 

Asteroids

From the Hubble Telescope courtesy of the Discovery Channel

There is a lot of exciting stuff going on in the stars above us that make astronomy so much fun.  The truth is the universe is a constantly changing, moving, some would say “living” thing because you just never know what you are going to see on any given night of stargazing.

But of the many celestial phenomenons, there is probably none as exciting as that time you see your first asteroid on the move in the heavens.  To call asteroids the “rock stars” of astronomy is simultaneously a bad joke but an accurate depiction of how astronomy fans view them.  Unlike suns, planets and moons, asteroids are on the move, ever changing and, if they appear in the night sky, exciting and dynamic.

Like rock stars, asteroids have been given their fair share of urban myth and lore.  Many have attributed the extinction of the dinosaurs to the impact of a huge asteroid on the earth.  This theory has some credibility and, if it is true, it evokes some pretty startling images and foreboding fears in the current reining species on earth, the human race.

The fact that asteroids are fast moving space debris only makes their movement and activity more interesting and exciting.  Unlike a moon, planet or star, the odds that an asteroid could hit the earth are entirely reasonable and in fact, there are many documented cases of small asteroids making it through our atmosphere and leaving some pretty impressive craters in the earth’s surface.

Popular culture has happily embraced the idea of an asteroid impact.  The idea has spawned many a science fiction story adding the idea that alien life forms may ride asteroids to our world and start a “war of the worlds” situation.  But by far, the most talked about concept that has captured the imagination and the fears of science fiction fans and the general public is of another asteroid hitting the earth that could wipe out life as allegedly happened to the dinosaurs.  In fact, the movie “Armageddon” was based on this idea and the concept that somehow mankind could avert that catastrophe with technology.

But probably the best way to calm our fears and replace science fiction with science is with understanding and knowledge.  The truth is, there has been a lot of study of asteroid activity and the serious scientific community has gained significant knowledge of these amazing celestial bodies.  A number of probes to asteroids have been conducted which have given us a wealth of information about their composition and how we might predict their behavior. 

We now know that the majority of asteroids we get to witness come from an asteroid belt that exists between Mars and Jupiter.  It is from this community of asteroids that many of the notable asteroids emerged.  Scientists have gained significant knowledge about the composition of asteroids and separated them into classes including class S which comes of the part of the belt that is closest to Mars, classes C, D and V which are classified by composition and a class called “Centaurs” whose flight patterns take them closer to Jupiter and Uranus.

Ida and it's moon Dactyl from Discovery Channel.

Some of the probes NASA has conducted on near flying asteroids have performed some pretty amazing studies of these eccentric celestial bodies.  In 1994 the Galileo probe got within 1000 miles of the asteroid Ida and discovered that Ida actually had its own moon. 

Other probes have fired impactors into asteroids and even landed on an asteroid to produce some amazing scientific data for us.  There is much to learn about asteroids in our love of astronomy and that knowledge only makes our enjoyment of seeing them in the cosmos even more exciting.

Until our next space adventure, have a great week. Dave

Bonnyville Chuckwagon Races Final for 2012

It's all over but the planning for next year's event. Great Weather, Excellent crowds of people and a new track record capped off an exciting four days of racing in north eastern Alberta.

Kirk Sutherland established a new fastest time on the the track with a final day run of 1:15:20 besting the previous record set by Mike Vigen in 2011 by just 1/100ths of a second. That run along with two other first place finishes and a second place finish on the first night gave him the best aggregate time of the race meet. His total time of 5:11:49 beat that of John Walters who posted a total of 5:12:75 over the four days. Close behind was wiley veteran "The Bashaw Flash" Reg Johnstone with an aggregate time of 5:13:47.

Sutherland and his outriders - Dustin Gorst and Chance Flad, picked up a championship George Normand Memorial buckles for the win plus Kirk got to drive away in a 2012 GMC diesel courtesy of a few of the main sponsors including; Tercier Motors, B & R Eckel's Transport, CSI Safety, Sign Solutions and MoKo Transport among others.

For a complete wrap up of the weekend's activities just follow this link http://www.halfmileofhell.com/results_display.aspx?seasonID=37#.

The driver's have a week off and will take advantage of the rest before they head for Strathmore, Aug 3 to 6th. Best Wishes for the rest of the circuit to all.

A big thanks to Billy Melville for all the great information.

Some of the other entertainment this past weekend. The Extreme Stunt Team.

Discover some great new tools for your Iphone
Click Here!

Opening night at the Bonnyville Chucks was Huge

The day dawned clear and sunny following a short but intense rain storm that saw a few gardens suffer from hail damage. That little storm made for slightly muddy conditions around the chuckwagon camps on the Bonnyville race track grounds. A slight breeze helped tremendously to dry the ground as the day progressed and by show time the track was ready to go.

Cora Croteau of the Young Guns

The show opened first with the thrilling spectacle of two guys on motorcycles making spectacular leaps from ramp to ramp in front of the grandstand. Many of their jumps were as high as the top row that's at least 40 feet in the air. That's as tall as a four story building! Next up were the Young Guns trick riders with performers on horseback ranging from 7 to about 10. These kids were fantastic and brought great cheers from the capacity crowd. Finally the Ghost Riders equestrian team took to the arena and performed their intricate patterns and again wowed the crowd with their colorful costumes and precision riding.

A celebrity with local connections joined us for the singing of our national anthem as Clayton Bellamy of The Clayton Bellamy Band and the Road Hammers opened the event with O' Canada.

Chanse Vigen

As the first wagons rolled in for heat one the crowd came alive and welcomed the drivers with thunderous applause setting the trend for the evening. The father son duo of Chanse and Mike Vigen along with rookie driver Dave Galloway and experienced hand Darcy Flad were the first four wagons up. After a minute, 19 and 20/100ths of a second Chanse bested the rest including his father with what would turn out to be the fast time of the night of all the 36 wagons.

As the races progressed times seemed to be running a bit long but that was likely due to the damp ground from the previous evenings storm. The times were all fairly consistent though with no one running much past 1:22 except for a few that had troubles with barrels and a few penalties.

Rae Croteau Jr.

Our local wagon masters - Doug Irvine and Rae Croteau Jr. picked up second place in each of their respective races. Doug, driving the B & R Eckel's Transport wagon had a winning time of 1:21:03 in the 2nd heat but was assessed a one second penalty for starting ahead of the horn.  Croteau driving the Tomco Group of Companies outfit was running in a later race - heat # 6  and posted a time of 1:23:47 to take second place and gather 9 points. His slower time as well as that of the other racers in his heat were likely attributed to the heavier track.

For a complete summary of all the results, visit the WPCA official web site at http://www.halfmileofhell.com/results_display.aspx?seasonID=37 you'll find each heat's results and the aggregate scores of each wagon. You can also tune in to hear all the info each evening on 99.7 the Wolf with Billy Melville and the broadcast crew. Or, you can be in the stands to catch it live.
Don't forget, the gates open at 5 p.m. tonight and tomorrow and at Noon on Sunday. The pre-show starts at 6 and racing starts at 7 p.m. with a pre-show at 1 p.m. on Sunday and racing at 2 p.m.

And don't forget to wear green on Friday to support 4H and the pancake breakfast at Brosseau's Dept Store Saturday morning and at Sobey's on Sunday. 

See you at the Chucks. Dave

The World Pro Chuckwagons Are Coming

The Storey From LaCorey

The WPCA Chuckwagon racing season returns to Bonnyville this Thursday, July 18, 2012 for what will no doubt be an exciting four days of racing and meeting old friends. Racing action continues through the weekend winding up with the Dash For Cash on Sunday afternoon.

Rae Croteau and the Rainbow Wagon

Our two local drivers, Doug Irvine and Rae Croteau Junior are primed and ready and will likely be challenging themselves and their teams to perform at the top of their game for the home town crowd. Doug had an outstanding run in Calgary competing in the final four dash for cash and was only beaten out of the money by one hundredth of a second by Troy Dorchester. What a race. Unfortunately for Jason Glass, the judges added 2 seconds in penalties onto his run which dropped him down to fourth. I know he'll be here to take a dash at Bonnyville's cash so don't count out the "Checkerboard Wagon"

The first performance starts at 6 p.m. on Thursday and here's hoping the weather will cooperate. I'll be there everyday either as a spectator or working at our Ag Society Raffle booth. We're raffling a nifty little John Deere yard tractor complete with front end loader and rototiller and our second prize is a John Deere Zero Turn Mower.  Tickets at $20 each or you can buy a six pack for $100. We've only printed 4000 tickets in all so your odds are pretty good. We'll make the draw in September unless we sell out before then and then we'll get permission from Gaming to hold the draw earlier.

See you all at the Chucks!

May! It's a busy month with Rodeo's, Spring dances, Crop planting, gardening and a whole list of things to do. Yes, May, the month of flowers and spring and rebirth and all that cool stuff outside. Did I say cool. Yes, it's been a bit on the cool side and that has slowed all that growth and rebirth and flowers but its coming along. We've had everything from snow to bone dry forest fires in our area and now two days of rain that will help put out the fires and replenish ground water and make the grass grow. Now all we need is a little warmth. Let's hope the farming community can get a break to get some crops in the ground now.

Bonnyville from the south west

Here's what's coming up in the Bonnyville area.  This weekend -May 25 to 27th will see the Pro-Rodeo move into town with some of the top cowboys and cowgirls competing for prize money and points to qualify for the Canadian Finals Rodeo in Edmonton this fall. Of course Shane Franklin's bucking string will be doing their best to see that none of them get very far toward that goal. The Franklin ranch on the big hill south of town breeds some of the best with many world champion trophies to show for it.

The rodeo starts Friday with slack at 11 a.m. at the grounds (no charge admission) a chili cook-off on main street at noon and then the evening performance "Kid's Night" at 6 p.m. with a new beer garden with entertainment following the rodeo. Saturday kicks off with a pancake breakfast at 8 a.m. followed by the parade at 11 a.m. , the Heavy Horse pull at 1 p.m. the 2nd rodeo performance at 6 p.m. then the Rodeo Dance at the Centennial Centre with music by the Opry Boyz band. Doors open at 8:30 and admission is $15 in advance or $20 at the door. to order your tickets in advance, go to the C2 front desk or call them at 780-812-3400 or toll free 1-877-812-2740 if you're from out of town.
Sunday it's back to the grounds for Cowboy Church at 10 a.m. and the final performance at 2 p.m.
 ****

Don't forget to support your local 4H members at their Show and Sale on Monday, May 28 over at Western Pride Auction. The show begins at 11 a.m. and the Sale follows at 7 p.m. in the evening. These young people have worked hard to care for and raise the livestock and you can help by purchasing an animal in the sale.
****
Lenore Picray tells me they'll be holding their annual Spring Dance up at Sandy Rapids Hall on Hwy 55 west of Iron River on Saturday, June 6th. In fact, the live band is called Hi Way 55 and they'll start playing at 9 p.m. The doors open at 8 and admission is $15 per person and there's a midnight lunch. Call Lenore for more info at 780-826-5407.
****
If you see a lot of Jet action, say Welcome to all participants in Maple Flag!

Have a great week and we'll talk again soon. Dave.

Bonnyville News & Events

I thought I'd get off the world stage and get back to all things Bonnyville and surrounding area. Here's an early warning for the annual garage sale and flea market up at LaCorey.

More immediately, The APEGGA Science Fair is coming up on Wednesday, March 28. Its open to all students from grade 6 to 9 and is sure to bring out all the budding scientists with their experiments and projects. Thanks to Devon, APEGGA, Lonkar Services, CNRL, Bonnyville Oilmen's Society and Northern Lights School District.

And while we're on the science of things, LICA is presenting their speaker series with Oil & Gas, the Environment and You on Tuesday, March 27. Guest speakers include; Cohl Robertson - Senior Environmental Scientist and Chelsie Klassen - Community and Aboriginal Relations from Imperial Oil. I've had the pleasure of meeting Chelsie and her enthusiasm is worth taking in the session alone. There is no charge for the event and food and refreshments will be available. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the presentation starts at 6:30 p.m. It takes place at the Fort Kent Hall just 5 miles east of Bonnyville. For further information you can contact Lakeland Industry and Community Association at 780-812-2182 or check their website at www.lica.ca

If you love acoustic music, you might want to take this next event in. A few of us got together and formed the Bonnyville Acoustic Circle Jam group and our first get together is on Thursday, Mar 29 starting at 7 p.m. If you play an acoustic instrument such as a fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar, dobro or bass and would like to jam in a friendly atmosphere you are welcome to attend. From 2 to 102 all talents are welcome. As I said its going to be relaxed with no ego's in the way. Refreshments will be available. We expect to be playing country, old time, blue grass, folk and pretty much everything else. There's no charge just a small donation to cover the cost of refreshments. Location is in the Ag Society meeting hall at 52ll-47 Street. You can check us out on Facebook at The Bonnyville Acoustic Music Jam group at this link http://www.facebook.com/groups/249671595127794/

Oh and one final note, We might be into a provincial general election come Monday morning. This will be an important election so you need to make yourself aware of the issues, talk to the candidates, ask them all the tough questions you want because they are applying for a job to work for you. Their pay comes from the tax dollars you pay out of your pocket so make sure you choose wisely. If you don't vote then qwityerbellyachin.  See you all down the road. Dave