February. coming out of the darkness.

Hello friends of the Inverted Cow.

The last couple of weeks were interesting, and not without their share of issues. Not just here at home but all over the world. I would love to recap the last two weeks news stories that caught my eye globally, but I want to keep the blog about the rebuilding of this home.

I am now very much like Lot, My home in Calgary was taken, I got no return on it. If I ever get a couple of pictures of the place in Calgary I will attempt to finish the Calgary Story. I am sorry, because I am dragging my butt on writing it, but my heart has been otherwise occupied. Winter is almost over and I need to get busy and get it done so I will, Really I will! Also my family and wife are taken from me. For all intent and purpose I have nothing again and I should be yelling and cursing God. Why then do I find comfort in his word?

Closer to home but not quite here yet.... 

Last week the Canadian government reported that they will be giving a handout of 27 million dollars to help the native adults finish schooling. I made a comment on the post, wherein I stated that I really believe they need to eliminate the segregation and "special" status of 'natives'. I said they need to remove the reserves and let them incorporate into Canada as a whole. As long as there is segregation, as long as that distinction exists then we will continue to retard the development of the peoples who make this country what it could be.

The reason I posted the comment was several native people were calling all white men "grandmother raping, child killing, land stealing, crooked, axe murderers".

Now for the record, I personally have long since put the juvenile hatred of other humans away. But I was astonished to see how much racism was coming from the native people commenting on the topic. Now do not get me wrong, there were a couple of inbread hillbillies who were commenting how  this was another 27 million dollar freebie handout that everyone should get. But lets be realistic, the government of this country can spend 27 million dollars at Timmies! This is not a 'handout' or a hand up or in anyway a real effort to help make people better, It is a flippen insult! The only thing this kind of thing does is make the native person angry and the white person angry and no one is better off. If I was in charge I would tell Harper to cram the 27  million dollars right up the ol brown eye!

And one final thing to the person who had nothing nice to say about all white people, Do not place too large of a racial slur on people, Chancellor Hitler, as you can find the slur covering yourself as well!

History notes that when an invading culture overruns another culture they are either exterminated down to the last squalling animal or they are assimilated. When you place people in Concentration camps (reserves) and give them 'special' rights and cards outside of the norm you engineer hatred and racism!

One thing to think about, then I will fall off my soapbox. If you insist on declaring yourselves a separate entity in Canada then the time will come when we will recognize you as a hostile internal country. ALL treaties, ALL land claims ALL special rights and privileges that many of you insist in flaunting in our faces will be removed. You will be confined to your borders, you will have excessive trade restrictions and tarrifs placed on your country. There will be no bailouts, no handouts or special aid packages. There WILL be High fences placed at your border topped with concerta wire and check stops placed on the entrance to this country. You will not be allowed into Canada and you will be declared a hostile enemy of this country. The military will have orders to execute anyone of you who invades our lands. When you have starved, or been shot we will reincorporate your land into our own. Think about it, the government is not controlled by the people it is controlled by the people with money. You will piss the money people off and that will be the end of it.

Racism Sucks, Either remove the segregation and become a proud Canadian, or get ready for things to be getting worse.  Ok now I got to go rinse my mouth out I hate talking politics but this whole thing was a real sore spot with me. Especially being blamed for things that I had no involvement with over 200 years ago. And being Judged on my skin rather than on my heart is just rude.

On the crappy side of things

I had a little fun with the sewer lines freezing up last week. Ended up with two days where everything came back up into the bathtub. Except the kitchen sink which would not move at all. I had to use a bucket and scoop the bathtub out of all the raw sewage that came up as I attempted to thaw the lines. It made for a couple of very stinky days here. I was able to stick a heater in the crawlspace and pour boiling water down a cleanout enough to get the kitchen sink to move. A couple of pots of boiling water later and everything was flowing normally. Two days of cleaning and the house is ok. Only problem is I think I got an infection in my sinus or something because since then everything tastes like the litter box smells. I do not know who plumbed this house but they should never be allowed to even walk into a plumbing department again. They ignored the basic rules of plumbing:
1 crap flows down hill
2 paperwork precedes crap If you see paperwork coming out of the pipe get out of the way cause the crap is about to follow. 
3 don't lick your fingers
4 payday is on Friday 

Tails from the Cheese Wagon

As you may remember Valentines day was last week. That day was particularly nasty as all day the kids were pumped full of sugar at school, I have a couple of kids who are naturally hyper. Hyper kids and candy are never a good thing. I was forced to stop the bus a couple of times to attempt to restore order.

After I was able to get the hyper kids off the bus, the rest of the ride was reasonably nice. I had no kids on at the last stop but the stop before I have two,  they are good kids who do not make much noise and who sit quietly for the trip.  The thing is on the road to their place the frost has caused a culvert to push the roadway up and it forms a bit of a jump. If I have the kids from the last stop on I will slow down and go over it slower, but these two LIKE the bump, so on the way down I told them to get ready. I kept the speed at a normal speed and counted down using one hand till the jump, 3 2 1 jump. Hit the bump and sent the bus ever so slightly air born.  They were giving me a couple of cheers for that. The next morning one of the two thanked me for giving them a bounce on the bus and gave me these:

These are little gummy hearts of some sort.
But since everything tastes all nasty lately
I have not wanted to eat them.

Also a couple of days later one of the hyper kids gave me a really nice and apologetic note asking for my forgiveness because they made me stop the bus. I am not one to hold anger in my heart, I know they are hyper, I also know the school should not have allowed them to eat so much sugar all day. If anyone should be apologizing it should be the school!

Kyle and the mighty rat trapping trip.

Last weekend the weather was very nice here, Sitting just about the freezing point, or the melting point depending on how you look at it. So Kyle and I went off and spent the whole day setting muskrat house traps. And for the Peta fruitcakes, The muskrat is a pest animal out here just like the beaver and raccoon and coyotes that we trap. He makes a couple of dollars off of each pelt, and at the costs of gas, and the expense of trapping it is not something you can really do anymore for profit.

Nothing like spending the day booting around the swamps on this!
 Oh the body doesn't like it though!

He went out mid week and of the 17 traps we set he caught several muskrats, we went out again today and most of the houses were frozen shut  so we basically pulled traps.

If you want to see, this is his video:




Also on rats YUMM

Kyle also surprised me with a somewhat unusual treat last week. He pulled out a baggie with some meat in, and asks me to try it. This is not unusual as his mom has sent over roast and meatloaf for us in the past. So I asked what it was, this is where I got suspicious, as he smiled and dared me to try it. I said is it edible or is it bait. I figured he was leading me a line of whooie or something. He took one of the pieces and ate it. So I gave the other one a nibble. The meat was tender like a liver, but had the full flavor like heart. I knew it was a game meat of some sort, it was very tasty which for game is unusual. He then laughed and told me it was muskrat. I guess he thought he would gross me out or I would react. But the meat was good. I said "really?" and finished the piece I had. Honestly if you were hungry, you would like this meat. I am thinking of making up some smoked, after the weather warms up enough for me to finish building a smoke house. I will bring it into the shop for he mechanics to try as they are the ones who had me sample "Manitoba Salmon"

Also on food Marianne's birthday

Yes today is Marianne's Birthday. Watch the video, I made her a cheesecake. I wish she had chosen to be here for the enjoyment of it but she decided that she did not like life here enough. Ok pain is still in the open hole that she tore into my soul but I am getting better.



One last food thing, 

Last week I realized all the bills were paid, and I had money leftover. Something that I have not had happen for a very long time. I have always been bad for letting people help me spend money. Marianne was bad at saving good at spending. We were working on this, but she had a ways to go. But this is now another man's issue not mine. I also came to the realization that as I do not have an issue with drinking I no longer have to keep the house alcohol free. I got myself a treat that I have not had for over 3 years now.

First time I have had a sip of good coffee mate in many years!

Cleaning up and putting away continues on many fronts. Wood pile is getting re-stacked, sorting out junk in storage, sorting out personal belongings,  getting unfinished blog entries worked on. Slowly life is returning to normal. Or as normal as it can.

Baby Hope,  yea she is really getting this big!

Poor old Mitza Still can't get along with everyone

And Mr Midnight as dapper as ever!

Last thing A big thanks goes out to Kyle for the loan of a camera. He also brought me a tripod to use for the baking video but by the time he brought it by I was already finished.