Ick

Crazed geek

This lovely view of my right arm illustrates that I am a geek – in this case a geek up a ladder while raising a 30 foot radio antenna.

You may be wondering why I happened to be up the ladder while raising the antenna or why the hell I was bothering to raise a 30 foot antenna in the first place. It’s actually quite simple.

Zombies.

Yes, zombies.

When the inevitable flood of the undead dead is lurching around in search of fresh brains to eat and chaos erupts, I will be able to establish and maintain communications the base on my 2 meter radio. Obviously this would be to call for reinforcements, more ammo, an air strike or worse comes to worse, more Chardonnay and a steaming hot pizza or two.

If you know your zombies this will all make sense – if you don’t, well, remember that the zombies just want to be your friends.

---

I should mention that I don’t particularly like ladders or ascending them and this little project involved drinking a lot of Scotch. Whether before, after or during is up to you to guess…

Oh, and I was up the ladder as there were a few stray zombies in the area and they had eaten all of my helpers.

Flowers!

Perhaps not so much of a big deal in sunny climes such as Victoria where tulips and daffodils are merely year round colourful targets for the lawnmower, but here in Freezilia Ontario¹, the first flowers in late March² are a big deal.

Behold – the first flower in the front yard garden.

The rain drops on this delicate flower remind me of those that were in the back yard of the house in View Royal and of course, all over Beacon Hill Park. There is a difference though as there were 100’s of blossoming flowers at the house and hundreds of thousands in the park.

There are four in the front yard.

Anyhow – it’s a pretty little flower and I’m glad that I took the time to notice it, the time to get my camera and the time to share it with you.

---

[1] Mayor and council asked me to use a fake name to keep the dark secret a secret. Yes, they allow ex west coasters here.

[2] The 29th of March is indeed late March.

Porcelain, fur and my ass

I love my kitty but to be honest,at three in the morning she’s a damn pain in the ass. You see, not only does my kitty love to drink out of the toilet, she also loves to play in it and merrily splashes water on the floor and toilet seat.

I would not mind so much but at three in the morning a cold wet bathroom floor, a cold wet toilet seat and my cold wet ass are not a pleasant mix.

Sure enough, I could keep the toilet lid closed but I’m just not that coherent at three in the morning and I could quite possibly wind up sitting on the lid and adding warm pee to the cold water that my feet are already swimming in. At least this way I don’t add insult to injury so to speak.

I could purchase a fancy heated electric toilet seat but that would seem a bit extravagant, along the lines of a 27 way massaging office chair, but we won’t go there please and thank you. Besides, I can be astoundingly cheap at times.

Enter my home made heated toilet seat.

Normally electricity and water are a bad mix unless you’re using a kettle or own a hydro electric power dam. Obviously one should never put a toaster, hair dryer or blender in the bathtub, but toilet seats are mostly wood or ceramic and both are superb insulators.

Thusly, my toilet seat, some duct tape and a $2.99 toaster from the second hand store can be used to build my very own discount heated toilet seat.

Well now – I probably shouldn’t feel quite so bad seeing as how the Wright Brothers, Tesla and the guy who filled the Hindenburg with hydrogen had a bad day now and then. On the other hand, I have a horse shoe shaped burn mark on my ass and I doubt that they blacked out their entire neighbourhood by shorting out the damn toilet.

Would anyone like a kitty?

sigh of the day

why are there so many stupid men that I don’t have time to throw rocks at all of them?

Enough is enough

Over the past few years I have encountered and had to deal with more discriminatory and rude comments and behaviour that a person should ever have to. I’ve been humiliated and embarrassing and placed in situations that are clearly forms of harassment.

I let myself be pushed around when I worked for Lockheed Martin and Bell Aliant – perhaps that’s a bit harsh as I really did not have the tools to effectively deal with it. Neither did I feel that I had a viable alternative as I needed the job for the salary and the safety of a superb medical plan.

You could argue that I always had the choice to leave, but that’s about as much choice as an abused stay at home mother of two toddlers has – it’s easy to say leave but the reality of the situation is that you’d be placing yourself at the mercy of government agencies and largely trying to survive through the generosity of family and friends, further adding to the embarrassment that a person suffers.

There is also the social stigma associated with being that person, the one who ratted out a co-worker, member of a group or a team mate. In so many cases the person who cried out for help when they could not take anymore becomes the victim a second time – this time at the hands of those who view him or her as a complainer, the person who could not take a joke, the person who should not have dressed that way.

The victim of harassment or discriminatory behaviour who defends their basic human right to a peaceful life free of fear often becomes a person who others tend to avoid as they may be next.

Then there is the simple fact that so many people don’t know what to do, who to turn to, or what there rights are under legislation, albeit a largely ineffective and toothless legislation.

The mistake I made was trusting a low level of management to handle and rectify the situation, when in fact, there was a systemic profit driven corporate policy of get rid of the victim. If I had aggressively pursued the matter by going higher and higher within the organization I would still be an ex employee, but because I opted to not work for a company that did not fairly and firmly back up the words of the written harassment and discrimination policy.

A few weeks ago I had a member of the executive of a base club make a few disparaging remarks about me – I let it go but spoke quietly to the club president about it, which was in retrospect a mistake as about 15 minutes later he was screaming at me in a hostile and violent tantrum that was witnessed by over 20 people.

No one rose to tell him to calm down, no one raised their voice to suggest that he was out of place – no one.

I drove home shocked, in a state of disbelief and on the verge of tears. That was not the first time that I have driven home, or hid in a corner at work or a meeting shocked, in a state of disbelief and on the verge of tears.

This was also far from being the first time that I have been vented on, treated like an idiot or a second class member because I am reactively new to the club and female. It will, however, be the last. No more.

I checked with the base recreation section, read and reread their policy on harassment and then carefully wrote a letter to the president of the club, a letter that was not of blame but about the facts of what happened, how I felt and how I wished that it be investigated and dealt with in accordance to policy.

It was a difficult decision to write the letter as it is often not worth the resultant problems that will occur and the turmoil it will cause within the recreation system. It would have been so much easier to cry in my pillow, to shrug it off and to let it go, but that would be almost as cowardly as the actions of the bully that brought me to tears.

The outcome of this was that the club has at least one less member – Mr. Scream quit after being reminded that members are expected to behave in a civil manner that is respectful and non-threatening.

I’ll have to see what kind of reception I receive at the next meeting…

Screw you Greg Gutfeld

This really cranks me…

---

A group of pundits on "Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld," which airs weekdays at 3 a.m. on Fox News, each took turns trashing Canada and its military during an episode that aired on March 17.

Gutfeld mocked Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, chief of land staff, who suggested in early March that the military may need a year-long break in operations due to personnel and equipment shortages.

"Once their Afghan mission winds down sometime in 2011, certain members of the Canadian military are looking to take a much-deserved break. And by certain members I mean all of them," Gutfeld said. "Meaning, the Canadian military wants to take a breather to do some yoga, paint landscapes, run on the beach in gorgeous white Capri pants."

Gutfeld issued an apology Monday afternoon saying, "I realize that my words may have been misunderstood. It was not my intent to disrespect the brave men, women and families of the Canadian military, and for that I apologize."

But the host also seemed to defend his program, adding "Red Eye is a satirical take on the news, in which all topics are addressed in a lighthearted, humorous and ridiculous manner."

In the four-minute segment, Gutfeld asked the other three members of his panel: "Isn’t this the perfect time to invade this ridiculous country? They have no army!"

Panelist Doug Benson, a comedian, replied: "I didn’t even know they were in the war. I thought that’s where you go when you don’t want to fight. Go chill in Canada."

Benson was due to perform at an Edmonton comedy club in April, but that gig has been cancelled after threats were received about his performance.

MacKay expresses anger In an interview with CTV Newsnet earlier on Monday, MacKay expressed his anger over the comments and demanded an apology. "It’s crass, it’s insensitive, it’s in fact disgusting given the timing where Canada is just receiving back four fallen heroes here at CFB Trenton," MacKay said.

On Friday, Master Cpl. Scott Vernelli, 28, Cpl. Tyler Crooks, 24, Trooper Jack Bouthillier, 20, and Trooper Corey Joseph Hayes, 22, were killed in two separate IED blasts that injured another five soldiers. The deaths bring the total number of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan to 116.

MacKay said the Canadian government will be demanding an apology from the panel and from Fox. "There should be an apology — to the families in particular, and to the Canadian Forces and to Canada generally — given the sacrifice and the commitment that we’ve demonstrated in Afghanistan."

Earlier Monday, Conservative strategist Geoff Norquay said the comments on the show were insulting to Canadian soldiers and show that the host was ignorant of the fact that Canadian troops have been working hard in Afghanistan. "What could anybody with common sense say about his kind of trash? It’s ignorant, it’s inappropriate, it’s insulting," Norquay said during an interview on Canada AM. "It’s insulting to the 116 Canadian troops who have given their lives and paid the supreme sacrifice while we’ve been in Afghanistan."

While the controversial comments were made nearly a week ago, they have only come to light in Canada in recent days.

An outraged Canadian posted the clip from the show to YouTube with a comment that says, "Fox News belittles and mocks the Canadian military." It goes on to say: "These are the people who keep Americans up to date and mis-informed."

Norquay said he hopes Canadians who subscribe to Fox News will cancel those subscriptions and that Canadian advertisers will cancel their business with the network.

---

Matthew Good has a few words to say about this mess…

Most of you know my position regarding this country’s involvement in Afghanistan – it’s policy that I take issue with, not the service of our soldiers. That said, it should never be overlooked that compared to any member of the NATO force currently involved in combat operations in Afghanistan, Canada has lost more soldiers based on the size of our contingent than any other nation. But even that horrible reality does not require the government of this country to disrespect itself by asking for an apology from four morons and a news network.

In conclusion, the Canadian government needn’t defend the reputation of this nation’s military because the overall reputation of the Canadian Armed Forces can more than defend itself without a word being uttered.

RCMP Stables

If you live in or travel to Ottawa you should try to pay a visit to the RCMP Musical Ride stables at the Rockcliffe Park Equestrian Centre.

 

The Musical Ride was developed from a desire by early members of the North-West Mounted Police to display their riding ability and entertain both themselves and the local community. Considering the original Mounted Police members had a British military background, it was inevitable that the series of figures they performed were traditional cavalry drill movements. These movements formed the basis of the Musical Ride.

 

The Musical Ride is performed by a full troop of 32 riders and horses, plus the member in charge. Thirty-six riders, thirty-six horses, a farrier, a technical production manager and three Non-Commissioned Officers travel with the Musical Ride on tour. The160 horses stabled in Rockcliffe are active troop horses or in the training program to assume a position within a future troop.

 

Members of the Musical Ride are, first and foremost, police officers who, after at least two years of active police work, volunteer for duty with the Musical Ride. Most members are non-riders prior to their equestrian training with the RCMP; however, once they complete the courses of instruction, they not only become riders but ambassadors of goodwill. Working through a unique medium, they promote the RCMP’s image throughout Canada and the world. RCMP members only remain with the Musical Ride for three years which ensures an annual rotation of approximately one third (33%) of the riders.

 

In 1873, the horses of the North-West Mounted Police had to be rugged and tough since they were the primary mode of transportation for officers. Today an RCMP horse must be black, elegant, athletic with a good nature and enough heart and stamina to carry it through approximately one hundred performances of the Musical Ride.

The RCMP has bred and raised its own horses since 1939 and today the national police force is known to produce some of the finest horses in the country. The RCMP horse breeding program began at Depot Division, Regina, Saskatchewan, and was subsequently moved to Fort Walsh in 1942, the site of a North-West Mounted Police Fort built in 1875 in the beautiful Cypress Hills of south western Saskatchewan. Fort Walsh was home of the breeding program until 1968 when the operation was moved to Pakenham, Ontario about 50 km. west of Ottawa.

 

The RCMP Breeding Farm in Pakenham is built on one hundred and forty hectares of lush Ottawa Valley land where the Remounts spend the first three years of their life, growing, developing and maturing before becoming Musical Ride horses and moving to the home of the Musical Ride, the Rockcliffe Park Equestrian Centre in Ottawa, Ontario.

 

More images of the wonderful horses of the RCMP Musical Ride are in a rather large album.

Dam beavers

Actually it’s a beaver dam, one of about 12 that I saw on a section of Black River.

There’s also the beaver lodge – some are much larger than others.

Toilets for all

Dozens of Sanitation Water Action Network (SWAN) members and supporters spoke out for those less fortunate at a rally to mark World Water Day on Parliament Hill Sunday.

 

According to WaterCan executive director Gary Pluim, the average Canadian uses 329 litres of water per day. A five-minute shower uses 100 litres of water and many homes don’t have the newest six-litre flush toilets. We water our lawns and fill our swimming pools.

In the meantime, there are people all around the world who don’t have access to clean water, he said.

Every year, 2.2 million people in the developing world — many of them children — die from preventable diseases caused by dirty water and poor sanitation conditions.

In addition, about 2.5 billion people, or two-thirds of the world’s population, don’t have access to toilets, said Pluim. The lack of toilets affects every aspect of life and work, said Chris Dendys, executive director for Results Canada.

 

Rally organizers presented a toilet seat petition to Ottawa Centre MP and foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar, who said he would give it to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"Every time he gets on his seat, he’ll think of seats for everyone else," he said.

 

More potty pictures in this album.