Maybe I Should Have Gone Into Crime

     Above you see my 1996 workspace at the BC Forest Service Office.  That is where this story takes place.  In April of that year I was flown down to Victoria to be trained on FAMAP, the Forestry’s newly created computer mapping software program used for making the legal maps for Forestry tenures (roads, cutblocks, recreation reserves, etc.   After I had been trained in how to use the software and coming back home, the computers I worked with had to be set up so I could use the software in our office.

    A specialist came down from the Regional Forestry Office in Prince George and together with Brian, our office IT guy, they spent two whole days typing out gibberish instructions to the computer so the FAMAP software would work and allow me to plot out the maps I created on our plotter.    There was really nothing I could help them, as they did all of the coding, so I just sat off to the side, bored out of my skull, watching them.

    Although it is not visible in the photo, there was an old metal office cabinet with a door in my office that I used to store some of my supplies.  It was about 30 inches high and wide and had some shelves in it.  In the top left corner inside the cabinet, there was a built-in safe with a combination lock on it.  The cabinet was an old piece of Forestry furniture, that must have been used in our office for ages.  I just used its shelves to store some of my draughting supplies.

    The safe in the cabinet was totally useless to me.  I didn’t know the combination for the safe, nor did anyone else in our office.  I had on several occasions tried to break into the safe, like I had seen safecrackers do in the movies.   I would crouch beside the safe with my ear pressing against the safe, then slowly I would turn the combination dial, trying to hear the tumblers fall when I hit a right number.  I never was able to figure out the combination.

    Anyway on the second day sitting there, watching the two computer specialist trying to get the FAMAP software to work, I had to do something to break my boredom, so I started just flipping the dial of the safe back and forth, and to my amazement, suddenly after one turn of the dial, the safe opened.  I was gobsmacked.  Combination safes needed three different numbers coming from two different directions for them to open.  My flipping the dial back and forth had evidently hit all three numbers in succession.  What were the chances of that happening?

    While I was both amazed and happy at opening the safe, it really didn’t lead to anything.  The safe was empty, and I still didn’t know what its combination was, because I had just been flipping the dial back and forth at random without paying any attention.

You can see my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Kona With Half A Haircut

     The photo shows what Kona is looking like these days.  She needed a haircut, and she is so disabled with bad hip joints, that we didn’t want to take her to the dog groomer, because previously when we did, after the long ordeal, she was in rather bad shape after so much standing.  I finally broke down and decided to just cut her hair myself.   While the results don’t look wonderful, it’s not like we were planning to enter her in a dog show, where her appearance matters.

    To make it easy on Kona, I have just been cutting her hair just a bit at a time, stopping when she begins to get restless.  I am just using regular scissors to do the job.  What you see in the photo is the result of two sessions. 

    In the past I had a herd of Angora goats (the source of mohair).   When I started out with the Angoras, I would shear them myself using a pair of shears, but it took me about two hours to do each goat.  Luckily, as my herd grew, I was able to get the sheep shearer who would come to the Robson Valley to shear the sheep, to also shear my goats.  It only took him about 20 minutes to do a goat.

    I was surprised as I worked on Kona, just how similar the hair on her back resembled the beautiful mohair I used to get from the goats.  The strands were silky, fine, white, and wavy, just like the mohair.

    While her haircut so far makes her look rather strange and misshapen, I am sure she is beginning to feel more comfortable not having the “shag-rug” coat she has been having to lug around in.

You can see my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

A Photo-Worthy Morning

     These are the images that welcomed Kona and I when we first went outside this morning.  It is finally looking like “Winter in BC”.   It is alright to look like winter, as long as it doesn’t “feel” like winter.  I probably am pushing my luck to say it, but so far we haven’t experienced any really cold temperatures.  They have been just hanging around the freezing point.

    I always call the photo below, “The View” because I have taken photos from that vantage point thousands of times.  Each one shows different colors, different weather, and a different feel.

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

The Old Ballpoint Pen Finally Gave Up

     I don’t like to throw things away if they are still useful.  I guess that is why I still had this Province of British Columbia ballpoint pen.  I worked for the BC Forest Service for 23 years, and have now been retired from the job for 22 years.  I must have gotten that pen sometimes before 2003, and since then, while I certainly didn’t use it every day, periodically I would, if it was the first pen I saw when I needed one.  

    Today I was using it to write out a cheque for the local food bank, and suddenly my writing turned into a faint blue line; the pen finally ran out of ink.  

    I find it amazing living in a world of planned obsolescence, where things are made to become useless just shortly after you buy them or just after their warranty runs out.  I had to replace a battery for my pickup truck that quit just a few days after its warranty expired.  Days after the warranty on our hot water heater expired, our hot water tank quit working.  That is the way most things work these days, but not this old pen.  I don’t know what the lifespan of a ballpoint is supposed to be, but it is certainly before the age of 22.

    I have a story about another Province of British Columbia pen.  When my wife and I were traveling down in Mexico and we went to visit the enormous pyramids of Teotihuacan.  As we were wandering around, I was approached by a peasant who was secretly hawking “Aztec-type” artifacts.  He suspiciously looked around, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a dirt-smeared clay image and wanted me to buy it.

    I was pretty sure it was a fake artifact made by some local cottage industry, so I shook my head and tried to explain I didn’t have money on me, but old man was persistent.  I waved my hands to indicate I didn’t want it and started to walk away.   The man then pointed to the Province of British Columbia ballpoint pen that was sticking out of my shirt pocket and indicated with his hands that he would trade the clay image for the pen.  

    At that point, I thought, why not, and we made the trade.  I was happy to have the clay image and I guess he was happy to have the pen from the faraway Province of British Columbia.  I hope his pen also lasted 22 years.

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Our Subdued Color Palette

     After the rich colors we experience from Spring to Fall, as we move toward Winter those brilliant colors we saw outside, become more and more subdued.   I certainly felt that this morning as I walked around the pond.  The thickly overcast sky that we have, added to the dullness of the surroundings.  As you can see, there is still some colors around, but they don’t have much punch.

    Our forecast for the week ahead, shows no sunshine, but only more overcast skies with either flurries or periods of snow.   Our forecasts are generally not very accurate beyond two days, so hopefully, we will get some sunshine peeking through sometimes during the week. 

    Our temperatures are warmer than usual.  Normal for this time of year we get temperatures of Maximum:  -4°C (25°F)  Minimum:  -12°C (!0°F), but it looks like instead, we will get maximums and minimums hanging  just a few degrees above or below freezing, certainly a lot milder than what has been normal.

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Another Memorable Kid Quote

     On my November 14 blog I mentioned some memorable things the students in my one-room school had said.  Last night at our jam, we were telling humorous Christmas stories, and I remembered another funny thing that happened in our isolated rural school in 1973.

    It was my first year of teaching in the fly-in lumber camp and I was struggling to keep on top of things, in the start-up school that I ran in the camp’s recreation hall, because we didn’t even have a school building.  As Christmas approached I was starting to get unwanted pressure from some of the parents who wanted the school (me) to put on some kind of Christmas program for the camp.  I was not keen on creating another project and didn’t really know what to do, since our resources were pretty nonexistent.

    Although I am not at all religious, all I could come up with for a Christmas program was some sort of nativity thing, featuring the kids.  With the handful of students that made up our school, I figured that would probably give a part to everyone.  I explained to the class what I was thinking.  I told the kids that we would need a Joseph, a Mary, three Wise Men, and some shepherds.  I told them to think about which part they would like to play.   

    At lunch time as I was standing by the door of the Rec Center as the kids filed out to go home to eat,  Darwin, one of the kindergarten students stopped in front of  me, looked me in the eye, and seriously told me,  “I want to be a German shepherd.”

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Snow Shoveling, My Winter Exercise Regime

    For me, winter is generally a pretty laidback season.   During the rest of the year, I get exercise outside working on projects, maintaining the garden and lawn, and just puttering around, but with winter’s colder temperatures and snow covering the ground, there is not a lot of things that I can do outside, so I end up spending hours in the house, reading, doing things on the computer, or sitting in front of the television,  all things that don’t burn off much energy.

    All of that changes when we get a snowfall, and that is when my winter exercise regime kicks in.  Depending on the amount of snow that falls, I go outside and grab a snow shovel, or crank up the snowblower and clear the snow off of my driveway.   That job certainly qualifies as exercise, because my driveway is not a short stubby thing.  

    Our driveway is 255 feet long ( 77 m.).   The area I shovel, which includes the turnaround spot and the wide entrance up by the road, totals 2,200 sq. ft.  (200 sq. meters).  

    Overnight we got  about 4 inches (10 cm) of light powdery snow, and because that didn’t seem to justify getting the snowblower out I shoveled it.  It took me two hours.  We are lucky living in the Robson Valley because most of the snow we get is the light powdery kind, that doesn’t stick together and is easily pushed aside.  I didn’t have to lift and throw heavy shovelful.   I am always feel sorry to see the people on the news that have to deal with the wet heavy snow.  

    When we start getting snowfalls of more than 4 inches, I will start using the snowblower.  While that might seem easier, maneuvering the bulky machine around up and down and back and forth the driveway, also gives me exercise, and it does allow me to clear the driveway of a lot of snow, much faster than if I had to shovel it.

    I do have another source of exercise I get during the winter.  It is our weekly evening of square dancing, which is a lot more fun than shoveling or snowblowing the driveway.

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Oh, I Forgot To Clean The Car's Backup Camera

     We bought our Subaru ten years ago.  We were impressed with all of the fancy electronic features it had, one of which was the backing up video camera that showed what was behind us.   Once I got used to looking at the rear view camera in our car when I back up, I found it really helpful.  However every winter I have to remember to clean off the camera before I back up, or else I can’t see anything.  (Photo above)

            Winter is really a dirty driving season for vehicles in the Interior of BC.  I drove up to Prince George last week, and while there was no snow;  the highway was wet and there had earlier been a bit of ice so the Highways Department had put down sand in a lot of places.   The water and very fine particles of sand sprayed up on the back of the car, coating the car and the video camera, thus rendering it useless for backing up.

            During the winter, I have to always remember to wipe off the backup camera every time I put the car in reverse.  That becomes a bit of a hassle, especially if I had forgotten to do it before I got into the car.

            I don’t know if other cars have their cameras in a different place, thus avoiding the problem, but the placement of the camera on our Subaru, sure isn’t very well thought out for our winter driving.     The photo below shows how dirty the camera (and back of the car) gets.

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca