Angus Reid poll – The recent implementation of the harmonized sales tax (HST) is affecting residents of two Canadian provinces in different ways, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found. The online survey of representative provincial samples of 804 Ontario and 803 British Columbia adults also finds that respondents question whether the promise [...]

Are you interested in going green? There are some very informative Green Building Seminar Series coming up that you will want to visit. Starting on September 7th until the 18th there will be the following seminars. All seminars run from 7pm to … Continue reading →

A friend of Ken Leung, who died shielding his family from the gunman in the Philippine hostage taking tragedy, said Leung and his wife have previously bought graves in the Vancouver area. Tat Bong Lau said Amy Ng, Ken’s wife, is considering bringing the bodies of Ken, daughters Jessie and Doris to Vancouver and lay [...]

Poor Michael Iggnatieff. He just can’t do anything right. While I’m not surprised at him, I am very surprised at his so called chief of staff, Peter Donolo. He should have known better! Related posts:Poor, poor Iffy Iggy says “I’m more Canadian than you” Another Liberal messiah? Related posts:

1. Poor, poor Iffy
2. Iggy says “I’m more Canadian than you”
3. Another Liberal messiah?

More fodder for the wingnuts to get their panties in a wad.

Remember the UVic Lipdub video that went viral on YouTube last year? Being from Victoria, I was initially impressed that UVic did such a great job … until I realized that this UVic was a place in Spain that was hitherto unknown by somebody from Victoria, Canada, who lives a stones throw from UVic. So, [...]

UVic Libdub II is a post from Paul Holmes' Social Media Blog. Please click the link to view the original post.

It’s called ‘Learned Helplessness’ and applies to the Christian By Rote people here.  Feed them the bible with some condiments and perhaps a dab of chocolate on the Old Testament and , voila…instant  , helpless sheep. While the Silly Man Hotel has done good for people over many years and around the world,  they are [...]

You can't see the fight with all those players in the way.

The media jumps to the predictable attack (Bonokoski?). Next poll the Cons retake the lead. This is getting too predictable.

Another oil rig goes up in smoke. The rig was in shallow water which is good news. Also, no one was killed in the blasts.

Phewf, this is going to be a long post.  Bear with me!!

I found this on Jolene’s Blog, thought it was fun so I am playing along…

1. Pretend it’s Thursday morning–take us through a day in the life of you:  (I’m going to do what I think my NEW schedule will look like)

• 6:00-6:30 – Wake up and make breaky
• 6:30-7:30 – Read blogs, get ready, prep dinner
• 7:30-8:30 – Commuting to school (eek it’s 45 mins – 1 hour away)
• 8:30-11:30 Class
• 11:30-1:00 – Lunch break (eat, work out at school gym)
• 1:00-4:00 – Class
• 4:00-5:00 – Drive home (ugg)
• 5:00-6:00 – Dinner & wind down.
• 6:00-10pm – Homework, Tv, Blogs, walks with hunny and puppy), make lunch for next day!
• 10:00pm – Read and bedtime!

Wow… busy busy.  It will be a VERY interesting change!  I’m going to be out of the house for 10+ hours per day!!  I’m going to have to get creative on the food I’m making!!

2. What’s your favorite reality TV show? America’s Next Top Model, Bachlor Pad (yup, it’s true)

3. What motto do you live by?  (very important when working with kids)   <source>

4. If you knew could you try anything and not fail, what dream would you attempt?   Acoustic guitar… microphone in a funky coffee house!

5. What was your first job?  (How ironic is that)

6. What is your current job? Student – taking the Education Assistant program.

7. What would you call yourself if you could choose your own name (and you cannot pick the one you already have)? Haha… I like my name!! I have no idea what else I would call me!!

8. What musical instruments can you play? Natta

9. Is it easier to forgive or forget? I am more of a forgetter, (is that a word). I just move on.

10. What is one food you’d never want to taste again? A certain piece of sushi I ate in Vegas about 10 years ago.  It was white fish, with a cream like inside *gag*… it didn’t help that I had a rough night the night before :)

_________________________________

Want an AWESOME resource that is jam packed full of great recipes, and was made to spark your creativity for sending your kids back to school?

Click here to download (it takes 2 seconds) and then you can save to your desktop!!

There are so many awesome recipes on there!!

________________________________

Ok… Day #2

Breakfast – Green Smoothie  - 1 banana, 1 mango, 3 handfuls spinach, 1 tsp macca & 2TBSP Vega Shake and Go – Almond Vanilla!  5  (and Yerba Mate Tea)

Lunch – 3 rice paper wraps stuffed full of veggies with thai chilli dip. 4

Snack – Popcorn with Earth Balance 5

Kale Chips 1

Dinner – Chicken Sandwich – 7

 

Snack – 1/2 cup soy yougert, 1 tsp peanut butter & 6 chocolate chips 5

I also got 6 Activity Points!!  30 mins of cardio kickbox, 60 min quick walk!!!

___________________

Happy Thursday – I hope it’s a good one!

Jess

Sweet zombie jeebus.  Just when you think the anti Semites anti Zionists could not stoop any lower along comes something to prove me wrong. Like these apalling comments commenting on the orchestrated murder of four Jews(including a pregnant woman) : When reading comments like these, I sometimes despair of my fellow man. Worst of all is [...] Related posts:

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Fall hiking in Paradise Meadows on Vancouver Island, British Columbia provides an excellent opportunity for one last glimpse at late [...]

This is sad. Jan Brewer is no one that I should ever feel sorry for, but this fuck up on TV last night is a classic one that says more about the vacuity of its speaker, and perhaps of her platform, than any opposition ad could ever say.



It doesn't end there. After the debate, Brewer provides more dead air when reporters question her about her false claim of beheadings in the Arizona desert (go to 1:45 of the video).




H/T: Talking Points Memo and Huffington Post

…and for a change we’re talking about the provincial Liberals out here in Lotusland. The anger surrounding the HST is just as white hot now a couple of months after its implementation on July 1 as it was when it was first passed(by in an order in council no less. The leftoids that rail against [...] Related posts:

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2. A brave new world: BC and the HST
3. Another Liberal messiah?

We know about the Muslim part. About the second part - ah, but were it only so.

Watch this video, and listen carefully. Listen to Gordon Campbell talk about how bad the economy is, and how changes will have to be made. Listen to Colin talk about how if a P3 financer can’t get financing, another company can step in because so many are out there waiting. Now, this is from 2008. Not [...]

Simply, two things. Let’s make sure our public school system recognizes two things: Our children are priceless individuals with immense capacity to excel, not standardized, interchangeable commodities who can be warehoused in assembly line learning factories. Thinking matters, not just filling up heads with data. A week before the new school year starts is a [...]

Almost a decade ago, youth in New Westminster said they wanted a dedicated space of their own. The city had programs and special spaces for children and seniors, but little for teens. Middle schoolers and high schoolers said they felt out of place in public but adult-oriented spaces. They needed a place they could just hang out. Possibly Related posts:

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Here’s another great pic of Miss West. Have a look at her earliest work before the Hayes Code…she had real talent. Related posts:Mae West James Dean Related posts:

1. Mae West
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On the Bella Coola road, top of The Hill;

Twitter announced, by e-mail to every user, that they are going to make their URL shortener (“wrapper”) mandatory on Twitter, and this will be applied to every URL posted, effectively eliminating the need (and, presumably, the functionality) of every other URL shortener in existence. Here are 5 reasons why this is a bad policy: It [...]

Top 5 reasons why t.co is a bad move by Twitter is a post from Paul Holmes' Social Media Blog. Please click the link to view the original post.

GE farmed salmon will also carry with them all of the health hazards of other farmed salmon,

I was talking to a person who was still renting his cable modem from his service provider here he paid about $5/month for it. Apparently he has been doing it for years too. That then got me curious as to why he didn’t just outright buy it in the beginning as you could [...]

If you’re going to be meeting me and a few other bloggers in Hamburg the weekend of Sept 10 – 12, this post is for you.   These photos will illustrate some of the details I’ll be posting on our little forum site. For the Friday side trip with Umlauts, go to the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof and [...]

Vermeer’s Maid with a Milk Jug image taken from Wikipedia I just finished Dana Arnold’s book Art History from Oxford University Press’s “A Very Short Introduction” series. The book comes in at just over one hundred small pages, and so is very short indeed. A sign of the book’s excellence is that I wished it [...]

I love the month of September.  I think it's the best month everywhere, but in the Bella Coola Valley and the Chilcotin my choice of September makes it because:

• We  usually get some nice windless sunny days with beautful clear air.
• You can fish on the inlets and not expect as much wind
• The Bella Coola River starts dropping and the coho arrive in numbers
• The weed pulling in the garden is over - it's time to enjoy the corn and all the other goodies.
• Mushrooms are coming out - Shaggy Manes and Pine Mushrooms
• Hunting season is open
• Most of the yard work is done
• The mosquitoes are done
• There are clear frosty mornings in the Chilcotin

Best of all about September, you still have the month of October between you and November - the worst month in Bella Coola.  Grizzly

“This is a very nice van for you; it has a built in DVD player”.  This was the sales pitch we received when we were van shopping a few years back.  Lisa was pregnant with the twins and with Annika running around beside us it was obvious to the sales person that this was going to be ...

Continue reading Should We Let Our Kids Watch Movies in the Car?

Did you ever see that brilliant Steve Martin movie The Jerk? Yeah, it needs a sequel. and yes, I know I’m all about the YouTubes lately. Maybe on days I don’t get cc’d on 300 emails demanding replies I will have some words left for the blog. Filed under: comics, hipsters, humor, Humour, sad, Weird, [...]

The latest good stuff from those freedom-fighting bad boys (and girls) at The Propagandist. Terror and Liberalism The Roots of Terror Are Ideological Making Hamas Irrelevant The End of Press Freedom in Argentina? Related posts:The Propagandist Goes To War It’s a weird, scary world out there. Hugo Chavez fanboys... Political Power Does Not Flow From the Trajectory of a Pie When [...] Related posts:

1. The Propagandist Goes To War It’s a weird, scary world out there. Hugo Chavez fanboys...
2. Political Power Does Not Flow From the Trajectory of a Pie When you consciously align your movement with anarchists, don’t be...
3. Essential Propaganda This Week. Ground Zero, Gay Pride and Liberalism’s Long Walk The Propagandist continues to unleash a barrage of fiery rhetoric...

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It’s actually hard not to laugh!  But really, we should be crying. Finance Minister Colin Hansen stood before the cameras and told British Columbians he had no idea his own Finance Ministry officials were holding extensive discussions with federal counterparts in Ottawa on the HST in March, 2009 … a few months before the provincial election. “I [...]

OK, here is the right way to be served the Crossing Bridge Rice Noodle. I think. "I think" because I had obviously never been to Yunnan. I am going by the detailed description of this uniquely Yunnan dish from this post yesterday. Here is the description again. If you had read it yesterday, it's the same.

Cross Bridge Rice Noodle is a special dish of Yunnan. It is originated during the Qianlong period, nearly 200 years ago. There is a popular legend regarding its origins. It is said that a scholar in Mengzi, who was preparing for the Imperial examination, went to an island in the Na Lake everyday to study. His wife went across the bride to the island to bring his meal to him. Owing to the long distance, he had to eat the meal cold everyday. Accidentally, his wife discovered that a greasy chicken soup is not easy to get cold. What’s more, fresh ingredients, such as seasonal vegetable, fresh meat and so on, can become edible by putting them into this kind of boiled soup. From then on, the scholar could have a delicious and hot meal everyday. Because his wife went across the bridge everyday, the rice noodle made this way was named as Cross Bridge Rice Noodle. By now, the Cross Bridge Rice Noodle has a distinct development. The most important factor in this noodle is the soup. It was made with natural hen, pig bone and ham. It needs to be boiled for over 6 hours until the soup become savory and the oil from these are distilled. The next thing worth mentioning is the ingredients. There are two kinds of rice noodles. The proper kind is the slim one, which is good at keeping the flavour of the valuable soup. The ingredients can be divided into two categories: vegetable and meat. The vegetable used are dependent on what is in season. The meat is focus on slice. The thinner the better, so the slice meat is one of the characteristics of the Cross Bridge Noodle. Last but not least, the process of eating is special. The right orders are as follows: firstly, put the meat slice in the soup, then the vegetable, the last one rice noodle. Minutes later, a hot colorful and delicious Cross-Bridge Rice Noodle is ready.

So yeah, I was quite disappointed with the new stall in the Crystal Mall food court who profess to serve Crossing Bridge Rice Noodles and yet do not serve it the way it is supposed to be. They are supposed to make you feel like a scholar served by the wife ... just like the legend says. But I know of a place that serves it the correct way ... the way that the legends says it should be. LOL! So, I made my way to this restaurant yesterday and took some pictures so that I can show you how this restaurant does it. I actually had it earlier in 2006 and blog about it. It was one of the "charter posts" of chowtimes. This is offered as a lunch special. See how they do this right? The first thing they did was to bring two plates of ingredients. Just to two plates ... separately. I shall call the first plate above "The Fiber".

Just a quick update for my family, friends and colleagues about what I’ve been up to professionally. I know, I run too many blogs. Well, if you’d just start using Google Reader, you could keep up-to-date instantly. That’s assuming you care. You do care, right? Here goes: Time For Writers To Take A Stand Someone Needs To Fire [...] Related posts:

1. Top 10 Reasons to Attend the Vancouver Meetup of Meetups The year-end Vancouver Meetup of Meetups is happening on Tuesday,...
2. How To Influence People, Make A Buck And Not Get Divorced For my entrepreneurial colleagues, my latest business newsletter went out...
3. Eight Simple Rules to Make a Gazillion Dollars In my other life as a copywriting nerd, I’ll be...

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Cross posted from Honestly Shared Taxation, another blog I co-author with writer Norman Farrell. Jonathan Fowlie of the Vancouver Sun has breaking news this September 1st,2010. Here is an excerpt: FOI documents: B.C. government adopted HST despite warnings of negative impact on the economy 13 months after Freedom of Information request, heavily censored documents reveal discussion [...]

New Westminster writer Sheila Keenan is committing to do all her shopping locally for the next year - and will blog about it to boot. Possibly Related posts:

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It’s all about the perspective! Whose point of view do you take? Artwork Courtesy of “Artist Marie”

Shocking news! This surely going to cause some leftoid nancy boy blogger’s heads to explode! Boys benefit from playing rough. Related posts:Bring a man to his knees I hate killjoys Related posts:

1. Bring a man to his knees
2. I hate killjoys

Have you seen all the renovation activity at Ravensong Aquatic Centre in Qualicum Beach?  There is so much work to do that the Ravensong Aquatic Centre will not re-open as scheduled on September 26.  Instead, the pool, which closed for construction … Continue reading →

I admit that I was initially stumped by the aster I found growing in the Courtenay Airpark. I took some [...]

To: Hon. Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health Re: Please reject GM Enviropig Date: Wednesday 01 September 2010 Cc: Hon. Carolyn Bennett, Liberal Health Critic Cc: Megan Leslie, NDP Health Critic Cc: Luc Malo, Bloc Québécois Health Critic Cc: Dr. Samuel Godefroy, Director General, Food Directorate, Health Canada Dear Minister Aglukkaq, I am writing to ask [...]

a chill on research or economic hardship to farmers.

102. I forgot about yesterday's blog. Continuing on.

Georgia Straight In this opinion piece, the sainted Suzuki is really guilty of lazy thinking. It is much too easy to blame the victim – and concentrate on the vehicles and the people who use them rather than point fingers at the truly guilty parties. The automobile industry would never have been successful if it [...]

That’s right, if this song doesn’t make you start groovin’ at your desk, well… you’re probably dead.  Or weren’t alive in the seventies. C’mon and give it up, do a little hustle and say hello to September… Filed under: humour, Laila Yuile Tagged: earth wind and fire, september

I found this wonderful post by someone named Dawn Steele in the blog Public Eye online  in response to a document that was posted on this site that discusses how senior government managers should create fake crises to bring about change.

I don't know about railways or healthcare, but the strategy of manufacturing a fake crisis has certainly been evident in Education.


The province keeps telling us they're spending more on Education than ever despite declining enrolment & that costs are out of control. A Special Adviser was appointed, prompting hysterical headlines about VSB mismanagement, until weeks later the Minister quietly accepted the VSB's claim of $17 million in provincial underfunding was actually legit. A week ago, the Minister hinted again at a need for drastic change because student outcomes are flat or declining.

I've been gathering research & data on education funding at the BC Education Coalition Website: http://stopeducationcuts.org

The data (including the Ministry's own data) don't support a crisis of out-of-control spending - on the contrary they suggest underfunding is increasingly straining the ability of public schools to meet even basic student needs:

1) In real dollars, the $5.1 billion Education budget for 2010-11 is actually $500 million less than the last NDP Education budget in 2000-01, after adjusting for inflation (that stat originally cited by the Vancouver Sun's Don Cayo & I fact-checked it).

2) In 1991, Education represented 26% of the provincial budget vs 14% today.

3) Relative to provincial GDP, BC's Education spending has declined by 14% since 2001.

4) After a decade of VERY modest declines (avg 0.5% per year), K-12 public school enrolment is now growing again. And provincial projections call for continued growth as far out as they look.


5) BC now has the second-highest student/educator ratio (a Stats Can proxy for average class size) in all of Canada.

6) BC has cut special education grants to public schools by $120 million since 2001, while the number of students with special needs has increased. Despite deep cuts, boards now face $350 million a year in unfunded special ed costs - a gap that's grown from $50 million in 2001-02.
7) Ontario spends $10,000 per student vs BC's $8,000. McGuinty has increased Education spending by more than $5 billion (more than BC spends in all) since taking office, because they see a highly-educated populace as a key pillar to building future competitiveness and prosperity. Our Education Minister talks about our schools needing to offer more opportunities in the culinary arts and house-building.

Meanwhile, to find evidence of out-of-control spending, there is no need to manufacture fake crises - just look at the capital side of the BC budget, which most pundits routinely ignore. Or the extra $6 billion that former Finance Minister Carole Taylor paid to buy labour peace for the Olympics. Or the MLA, Minister & mandarin pay hikes...

As he was a failure at life, so was he at death.  This poor schmuck couldn’t even succeed at permanently removing himself from the human gene pool. He falls 40 stories, land in a Dodge Charger after crashing through the windshield. And what does he get for his trouble? A pair of [...] Related posts:

1. Oh Lord
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My tomato plants, post end-of-summer pruning. It’s not quite time for the annual winter garden clean up (just typing that made me feel a little ill), but it’s a good idea to start to prepare for fall by planting your winter garden, and by pruning your tomato plants. Why prune? Two reasons: to focus the plant’s energy [...]

My good friend John is always finding treasures for me. He knows the Powell River back country better than anyone. I never know what it will be, but here are some of the most memorable treasures he's brought home:

• An old manual typewriter
  
• An old logging two-man crosscut saw
• An oil can and tea kettle
  
• An old-time fire extinguisher
• Lots of pretty rocks
• Lots of interesting driftwood
• Rusted chains and tools

One treasure came from a "dump" along the shore. The contents probably came from old homesteads. Amid the trash he found a cast iron goose. It had one leg and was rusted, but John knew it was a perfect treasure to bring home for me. Besides, it didn't take much space on his quad.

My goose has a prominent perch in the kitchen, but has continued to deteriorate. I decided it was time to do something about it.

And it was a good thing I did. When I moved him, half of the head fell off and by the time I got it to the picnic table, the other half went too. I whittled a stick to fit into the neck and glued the head back together with some Amazing Goop. I also used the Goop to seal the edges of the cast iron halves and sealed the surface with several coats of polyurethane. While I was at it, I made a bark brace for his missing leg. Now Mr. Goose should last for years to come.

Thanks John for all the treasures. You're a great friend. -- Margy

From the BBC: Charles Darwin’s evolution experiment on Ascension isle. Two hundred years ago, Ascension Island was a barren volcanic edifice. Today, its peaks are covered by lush tropical cloud forest. What happened in the interim is the amazing story of how the architect of evolution, Kew Gardens and the Royal Navy conspired to build [...]

Associated Press reports Golfer’s swing sparks 25-acre blaze. The article continues: Over the weekend, a golfer’s routine swing in the rough at the Shady Canyon Golf Course in Irvine, Calif., struck a rock. Not so different from the way you play, right? Only this time, the impact caused a spark, and the spark set off [...]

Good morning!!

So my first day of WW went great!!  Here is what my menu looked like.

Breakfast

• 2 eggs
• 1 brown rice tortilla
• 1tsp nooch
• 2 huge handfuls of spinach
• garlic powder

Lunch

• 0 point veggie soup
• 2 slices of toast
• 2 tsp earth balance

Mmmm this soup was so good!! Basically it was whatever veggies I had and some chicken broth!  I used onion, garlic, mushrooms, carrots, zucchini, green cabbage, chicken broth and cajun spice.  Just before eating, I also added about a tsp of white miso.  Dinner

• 1 can salmon
• 1tbsp mayo
• cucumbers
• 10 rice crackers

Snack

• 1 cup almond milk (steamed)
• 1 pump caramel syrup
• 1 chai tea bag

All of this = 24 points, which is my daily total!

Do you guys want to see more of my daily menu plan?  I figured it would keep me more accountable!!

______________________________

Yesterday I also made all my bridesmaids bouquets!

  They were INCREDIBLY easy to make, and cost less than $12 to make all 4!  Sure beats the $60 each the resort was going to charge!  

If you want the instructions to make them, just let me know!

Also, I’m still on the hunt for tomatoe & zucchini recipes!!

____________________

Last but not least, I will leave you with a website that is full of inspiration!!   Go check it out!!

The Ripples Project

I would LOVE to hear what your quote was for the day (from the above website!)

__________________________

Pps…

We watched grown – ups last night, and it’s an AWESOME movie.  It’s funny and heart warming, a must watch.

We found this wasp climbing up a window in Tim Horton's. Laurie dug a pill bottle out of his pocket, and I popped her inside.



At home, she gave me all sorts of trouble, refusing to sit still, even for a second. Even after a time-out in the fridge, she revived instantly and started to race around. I got a few blurry photos, decided that's as good as I was going to get, and put her outside.

She immediately flew over my shoulder, back into the house, and disappeared. Half an hour later, she turned up on an air cleaner behind my computer, and puttered around, stopping every now and then to contemplate the camera. Silly bug!


She's an ichneumonid; a parasitoid wasp. There are tens of thousands of species of these, found world-wide. All are parasites, mostly parasitoids (parasites which eventually kill their hosts) preying on larvae of beetles, flies, moths, butterflies, etc., each wasp specializing in one or a few host species. I couldn't find which one would be the victim of this red-legged wasp.

The female wasp finds a caterpillar or maybe a pupa of the target insect, and lays an egg on or even inside it, using the long ovipositor at the end of her abdomen. This egg-laying tool is specialized to reach the specific prey; in some wasps, because the larvae it seeks are deep inside tree bark, the ovipositor is as long as the wasp herself.

The egg hatches, and the wasp larvae begin to eat their host, still alive.

"The tiny larvae that hatch fed upon the fatty tissues of the Caterpillar's body without damaging any vital organs. When the Ichneumon larvae are almost full-grown they begin to feed on the more vital organs, resulting in death of the caterpillar."
From Organic Garden Info

The wasp larvae then pupate inside the body of their prey, emerging finally as adults.

A gruesome story, especially if you have a vivid imagination, if you can feel empathy even towards the little white maggots and squirmy caterpillars. Not hard, since in reality, they are our distant cousins; they have their tiny delights and agonies, like us, if on a lesser scale. It's a dog-eat-dog world, difficult to understand.

I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice. - Darwin, 1860, letter to Asa Gray.

And yet, we are part of that tooth and claw economy, and we can find a benefit even in these wasps; they kill insects that otherwise would damage our crops and reduce our food supply.

Parasitic Wasps are arguably the most important beneficial garden insects. They’re critical because they operate at low population densities. That is, they’re the first check on insect pests. From Grow it Organically.

My little red-legged visitor flew away, eventually. I let her go; she's a solitary, so she should feel at home in my garden. Maybe she'll lay eggs in the aphids, maybe in some other animal that I really don't want in my plants. Or maybe not; maybe she'll just tootle around until the cold weather arrives, providing a spark of warm red on the cool greens of my shady haven.

Today I was reading how a lineup of certain products from a company were getting a price cut of about 40%. This is pretty substantial considering the products normally ranged about $600+. What I noticed is that not every store had the new prices in affect. However, for the ones that did [...]

In my recent post "Haying is Done", a comment was posted about whether there was some sort of north vs. south rivalry in Bella Coola regarding where the climate and soil and best place to live is as far as soil and sun. Let me see if I can wade into this and straighten it out.

First of all understand that the average 'useable' width for human settlement and agriculture in the Bella Coola Valley is only around 2 km throughout the lower valley and a lot less as you progress east in the valley. Except for a few old glacial terraces such as parts of the Salloomt area and around Nusatsum and a few other benches  a lot of the Bella Coola Valley is within the theoretically calculated 200 year flood zone from either the Bella Coola River or one of it's tributary streams. A number of areas have flood dikes as protection. Even some of the areas that look like they are higher (not the benches I referred to earlier) quite likely are the result of large alluvial fans built up over thousands of years and can be subject to unexpected stream channel changes over times.  Unquestionably the best soil is naturally on the main flat part of the valley where it has been deposited by fluvial river action since the last glaciers retreated, there are many areas of beautiful growing potential, within this area.

The majority of human settlement in the lower valley is on the south side of the Bella Coola River, except for the Salloomt Road area and then east of the bridge over the Bella Coola River where the highway shifts to the north side and so does the area of habitation.  If you  have a piece of property towards the north side of the valley like the Salloomt Road area you get a lot more winter sun, but there are only certain sections of that area that are on benches and out of the potential flood zone.  The drawback is that it's pretty dry from a forest fire hazard point of view, and a little harder to find water for wells.  If you live on the south side of the Bella Coola River from west of Noosgulch River, then there is a lot of really nice places, many with good soil and some get decent winter sun - depending on whether you are in view of one of  the 'notches'  of the side valleys which comes in from the south, because then in the winter with the sun low on the southern horizon you will get a few hours of sun even on the shortest day as the sun traverses the sky across those drainage's.

If you live up tight against the mountains on the south side, you will most likely have a 2 month plus period of no sun, possibly a little difficulty getting satellite TV, but you will have a lovely summer climate from March to October.

There's pros and cons to everything, just do your homework and ask the neighbors around you.  Grizzly

Sarah Palin. The religious right. Republicans. And now the NDP????

Gimme a break. I thought we were better than this.

No shit. Another Beckian holy roller is about to bite the dust. I just love these family value types. They refuse to disappoint.

Those of you who have been following the ol’ raincoaster blog for some time will know that I’ve been on a largely raw vegan die(t) for three months now, with the result that I’ve gone from an XL to an L and no, it was NOT worth it. It was most particularly not worth it [...]

This city council needs some really good floggings!! How could they justify the “neccessity” of spending taxpayers’ money like that? Once again, I’m so glad that I don’t live in City of Vancouver. This Vision Vancouver council is soooo political… everything they do carries a political goal. They are almost as partisan as the federal [...]

We were out for dinner tonight. As I was driving along No 3 Road and nearing the Richmond-Brighouse Skytrain station, Suanne suddenly told me that "They are finally opening. The sign is up today". "Huh? Who? What? Where?" I asked, knowing how random she sometimes gets. She then went on to tell me about the time she heard the waitress of our favourite restaurant talking about opening a new restaurant in the prime location across the terminus station. "Take out the camera. Quick.", I told Suanne. She whipped the camera out with double quick time ... you know, like cowboys whipping out their pistols from the holsters in a gun duel. I wound down the window for her ... and slowed to a crawl ... with the car behind me honking me ... ... and she had to take the picture above. Sigh. "Take another one" I said ... and ...

Via Robot Boy 66.

Ah yes, I see what you mean.  My header no longer works with the template I've chosen.  Yes its either change the header or template.  Well I could be persuaded to do a new header - its about time. 

Since I've left posting so long I now have so much content that it would overwhelm if I were to do it all in one go.  I don't want to frighten you off so I will try to break it down into categories.  Here goes for the first one - visits. 




Each year my one and only sister comes for a week's stay.  I'm sure its what pulls her through the other 51 weeks of work.  We chatter and make plans months and months in advance.  In past years we have done things such as canning but this year we decided it was all about spending time together and relaxing.  The weather cooperated very nicely and she held me hostage on this floaty until we were both baked to a brown crispness.  I think she has some alligator blood for she could lay and lay and lay while I had to get wet every so often, disturbing her repose and serenity.  I swear she would still be out there floating around if I had not said I had to come in.  If I get all wrinkly in the next six months its due to her.  Truly it was an amazing time and I love you to smithereens Nina!  Only 11 months till the next visit - I've spruced up your room. 




Next special visit was to see our brother Barry, Sister in Law Judy, Melissa, Samantha, Corey and their handsome baby Ethan.  Blushing to say this was my first time to ever see Ethan in person and to meet Corey.  Judy and Barry are still in the throes of renovating their mobile home and it was exciting to see the changes they've made.  We were treated to a gourmet meal of bbq fish - two sorts, that were melt-in-your-mouth delicious.  We had only one night as we were headed to the coast the next day to visit my in-laws.  It was so smokey in the morning, the air thick and syrupy with smoke which had drifted from the fires to the north of Kamloops. 

Judy and Barry you made us feel so welcome.  We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  It was a precious time together.  Looking forward to our next time together - and to seeing your home when all your transformations are complete. 

The next stop was Abbotsford where we stayed with our folks (my in-laws) for 10 days.  Other than going to yard sales on the weekend (me, not my Mr) we stayed close to home as it was a "work-holiday" for my Mr who had prep to do for his school year - which started today.  While I stuck close with Mom and Dad, my man sequestered himself in the basement with his computer.  It was the only way we could manage it this close to the school opening.  The reason we visited was to celebrate both Mom and Dad's birthdays - this being Dad's 80th!  No photos here - they are shy and secretive and I respect and love them for it. 

We have others we would have loved to visit on the mainland but it would have been impossible this time.  I look forward to the next time we are able to drive into the city and spend time with our relatives.





Afterwards, of course, we let Mingus out on the field as little dogs need to do when they are between visits with humans.  He protected us from this person and dog far off in the distance.  Good Dog! 

So this concludes the first part of my blog posts in the coming week.  I hope I've not talked your ear off.

If only Norm Coleman had been so gracious. Although I doubt Murkowski would have conceded so quickly had she been running in a general election against a Democrat.

Let's take a closer look at one of the lesser provinces in China. Yunnan is one of the poorest provinces in China and yet it is the most beautiful of all. Here. See the map. Yunnan is the southern most province and it borders the South East Asian countries of Burma, Vietnam and Laos. If you are familiar with geography in the area, it is green and forested ... more forested than anywhere else in China. And yet it is a poverty stricken province. One third of the population are made up of several ethnic minorities which has a lot of cultural similarities to the South East Asian countries. As a matter of fact, Yunnan has more ethnic groups in the whole of China. Because of its natural beauty, this province thrives on tourism. Most of the tourism are internal. The world is still too focused on the Shanghai, Beijing and Xian. If there is one dish that is unique to the province of Yunnan, it is the "Crossing Bridge" Rice Noodle (过桥米线). You can get it throughout the province. I went to a stall just last week and came across the board above. Did you notice the headgear of the figures above. That is not Han Chinese but is of one of the ethnic minority groups.

With the second reading of Bill C-391 ,which will hopefully result in the demise of the long-gun registry, fast approaching (Sept.22) the output of op-eds for and against the registry have reached a fevered pitch. And alas the silly arguments supporting the  registry have not lost any of their silliness since I first wrote about [...]

His role as gay dad on Modern Family nets Erickson even better prize than CNN gig.

The Songhees Nation isn’t far from Gabriola, so many of their traditions were probably ones practiced on Gabriola, too. On their website you can read about the Lekwungen summer of many years ago: This is a time when the bountiful crops of the year (including the sweet camas bulbs and clams) have been gathered from [...]

On Saturday evening I drifted into Iona Beach Regional Park after spending most of the day birding Boundary Bay and Reifel Bird Sanctuary. A pair of juvenile Wandering Tattler had been reported throughout the week on the south jetty and despite my dislike for “target birding”, with its potential for creating an air of disappointment [...]

Sweet zombie jeebus, I know Liberals are stupid but do they have to go all batshit crazy as well? First there was Lawrence Martin wishing for the good ol’ days before the nightmare of Stephen Harper when Canada had two(actually one and half but who’s counting?) federal Liberal parties. The question of whether old-style Tories [...] Related posts:

1. Tory coverup! Hidden agenda! Soldiers with Guns! In the Streets!
2. On the Liberal Party’s very bad week
3. Dreaming in technicolour

The Vancouver Campus closes its doors today and as with all endings there is opportunity for new beginnings that start with the goodbyes.

I started with the UOP in April of 2000 to help set up and teach in the Faculty of Education Masters of Education program. It was an exciting time, new programs, changes, great people both students and Faculty. Many of the first students in the program were the innovators, willing to try new adventures as were many of the Faculty.  It was exciting to work with and to watch the change in attitude, focus and type of students who I worked with over the last ten years. In the first years the students were mostly innovators, who challenged us and then moved on to other adventures and other new ideas.

As the reputation of the university grew, the early adopters took their place and while they challenged us, they also helped us to create courses, process and procdures that would help them. In the last few years we started to see the early majority start to enrol and we were headed to be the largest post secondary institution for teachers seeking their Masters degree in BC.  Then the UOP had a shift in focus at the National level and we closed.

Most of the first Faculty were, I believe innovators but I was one of the second group hired (the first were hired in 1999 and the second group was hired in 2000). The second group of faculty were a combination of innovators and early adopters and that combination worked well as we were willing to take a chance on a relatively unknown (in BC) University that catered to working adults. Over the next ten years I was fortunate enough to help redefine our program to meet the needs of Canadian (BC) teachers, to help market the program and work with and help to hire and mentor some of the best faculty in education in BC. In 2005, I moved from being a adjunct faculty to being Area Chair for Curriculum and Instruction. I was one of the first people trained in the online teaching (FlexNet) module and helped lead several training sessions on how to teach online.

I loved the opportunity to interact with the teacher leaders of tomorrow and wish them well and from their feedback they enjoyed working with me. Here are two comments received through the end of course surveys from my students.

Royce was extremely hardworking, knowledgeable and very respectful. I think he truly loved what he was doing and really cared about the success of his students.

He definitely knew a lot about curriculum and passed the knowledge to us.

Over the past ten years I have taught over 84 courses with small class sizes and because of that I had the opportunity to work closely with well over 1,000 teachers who are just now starting to move into leadership positions in their schools. I appreciated the opportunity to provide some leadership in education and I look forward to new challenges and opportunities.

Thanks to Darren, Joy, John, Mich, Cathy, and to all of the hard working staff and students who made the last ten years fly by in a blink of an eye.

Donolo's got Iggy rolling. Jack Layton's dropped the ball on the gun registry. He is pulling a historical Ignatieff. Waffling, whether it be the NDP or Liberals is never the way to defeat the Cons, on which all progressives should be concentrating. Instead, we have squabbles between parties and bloggers and we divide ourselves. We should be allowed to vent against one party or praise another without being labelled as sheep for that party.

Of the two islands at Schooner Cove in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, I typically focus on the first large [...]

Wow… it really feels like fall today!  12 degrees and GREY… boo.

I love where I live, but I dislike the grey weather…

But it’s a perfect opportunity to have warm drinks.

Almond Milk with Chai….  So tasty!  I bought D a cappuccino maker for his birthday, so I am enjoying frothing my almond milk!!

It’s also a perfect time to curl up with these…

I’m not giving up on my flip flops yet though, I will embrace wet feet! 

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I also made a decision last night, I am going to join Weight Watchers for the next few months before the wedding.  I think I need to get on track with portion sizes and slim down a little bit before I expose my body in a bathing suit!! haha

Are any of you weight watchers people?  Any tips for me?  I joined before, but I was doing the CORE program.

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Anyways, a few other eats from the last few days…

This is one of my favorites from our favorite Vietnamese place!

Rice vermicelli with veggies, pork and egg rolls… mmmm

 

Probably won’t be eating much of this on WW, but we’ll see how it fits!!

On the warmer days I had some banana/strawberry soft serve with chocolate sauce..

Oh and of course there was avocado pudding… mmmm

This stuff is amazing!!

Anywhoo… have a great day!!  I got stuff to do and people to see!! haha

Jess

We had earlier written a post about the American volunteer fighter group, the “Flying Tigers“. Now we’ve just learned an epic production is in the works for the large format Imax screen, and will be partnered by respected Chinese-American director John Woo and his long time friend, producer Terence Chang. From the Hollywood reporter: Imax to partner on [...]

If you are against the Enbridge pipeline, and would hate to see an Exxon Valdez scenario along our fragile coastline, make time on your lunch break today to show some support for those who are fighting desperately to stop the project, and stop tanker traffic along our coast. Tuesday, August 31st 2010  12 PM Vancouver, BC WHAT: [...]

Well, I don’t know which you are, but I’m apparently a closeted lesbian cutter: Find out what drunk celebrity you are at LiquidGeneration! Is very weird and possibly even incorrect, as all my friends tell me that when I get drunk I actually get friendlier. The one time someone slipped me Roofies I went up [...]

My Snow Peas were a success again this year. I grow them in half of a 55-gallon blue barrel on the deck. I planted seeds directly in the soil in early April and they started producing by July. I got plenty to eat fresh, but by mid-August I let the last of the crop mature and the plants die back.

This is my first year experimenting with seed saving. The International Seed Saving Institute recommends beans, peas, lettuce, peppers and tomatoes for beginners. That's me! It took several weeks for the peas to dry completely. I knew they were ready when the pods were brown and transparent, and the peas rattled inside like little maracas. Then I cut up the stems and leaves for the compost pile. Nothing wasted.

I saved more seeds than I will need, but that gives me extras in case there are sprouting problems, and some to share. I shelled the peas, made an envelope, and labeled the contents by seed type and year. Saving my own seeds won't save me a fortune, but it'll be one way to become more self-sufficient.

Do you save seeds? What are some of your most successful kinds? -- Margy

During Bowfest 2010 our little group was busy at the L.I.F.T. exhibit on the Bowfest field. Fitch took some video of our setup, and it is presented here with permission. We are not yet decided on what ‘LIFT’ stands for. “Linking Islanders For Transportation” seems to be the leading acronym. It’s about hitchhiking, but we [...]

Thanks to the efforts of the Murdoch empire, a diminished educational system and a stubborn resistance to intelligence, a large part of the American public is woefully ignorant of the facts about Obama. Forget the whole birther movement; there are people out there who think Obama wants to bring Sharia law to the US.

It's Harper's dream party but he's stuck with the Cons. It's so like them - become enraged when caught unethically bending the rules. Harper would be so proud.

So says Focus on the Family, accusing the anti-bullying ads of promoting teh gay.

Megan McCain not that long ago was an outspoken young Republican who took her party to task. Her candor invited the wrath of several older GOPers, including radio host Laura Ingraham who became so outraged with McCain, she took to insulting McCain for her weight.

One thing McCain has been tight-lipped about is Palin. She promised to open up and reveal her feeling towards the ex-Alaskan governor with her book. The book, "Dirty Sexy Politics", is out now and judging by her interview with ABC, she remains clammed up about Palin. Sure she talks about her but does not dish any goods. It's all very safe and timid. I'm wondering if it's her strategy to not piss off the Palinites to sell more books. Or, have some in the GOP been quietly advising her to keep her words about Palin vague. I think both.

Trade has occurred for thousands of years, not just in the capitalist context of the last few hundred years, and not just in the current neoliberal, free trade context of the last 30 years. For over five years I have been tracking Latin America’s ALBA, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, as an alternative model [...]

A touching story about the little known band featuring two future stars.

I've been tough on Donolo's slow start as chief of staff to Ignatieff. But, the magic is beginning to show. Ignatieff and the Liberals seem to be stepping out from the shadow that has enveloped them the last few years. It's as if Ignatieff has found his political voice. His much-maligned bus tour is reaping benefits, if not for Ignatieff himself, for the party. The words feel just right, the delivery smooth, friendly and connecting with regular folk. The Liberal leader's statements now seem to be precise and aimed at the heart of the Conservatives without malice or hysterics.

Is it enough to counter the permanent lead the Cons hold over the Libs? That remains to be seen but if Donolo has more gas in the tank when it comes time for an election, we may see real fireworks this time around. Then again, maybe not. I've lost my faith in progressive politicians. I'm not the only one. Here's hoping Donolo finds a way to turn that around.

UPDATE: I like these fightin' words. Go Iggy!

UPDATE II: A commenter at cbc.ca nails it regarding what Donolo should do and what he is up against:

The Libs should make a video-documentary and show us where they were in Canada, and some of the people they met. Now that would help with Canadian unity. The media really didn't give it a whole lot of coverage.