Monthly Archives: March 2005
Weekend Plans Change
| 3/24/2005 | Posted by Patti under General |
Well, after putting off leaving for London until Friday to allow myself to get what needed to be done before I left completed, my sister has come down with the flu. So, the trip to London has been aborted. The upside is that it will give me sometime to catch up on some reading, maybe do some yard cleanup, work on fixing the comments on this blog and most of all vegging.
Easter Plans
| 3/21/2005 | Posted by Patti under General |
I’ll be running like crazy this week getting done what I need and dealing with life as it crops up. Needed to get bulletins done for both Good Friday and Easter Sunday for both of the churches that I look after, see clients and help to cover one of our offices while the regular agent attends to his wife and the imminent birth of their child.
Planning to head out with my father to London, ON on Thursday morning to spend the weekend with my sister and her family. I’ve not been for a visit since Christmas. Made a flying trip a couple of times to pick my niece up and drop her off when she visited with me. I’m hoping to seek out a parish or two in London to attend for services.
St. Aidens is just down the street from where my sister lives. I’ve visited there before. Nice parish, especially love the plain glass windows overlooking a lovely park area. Who needs stainglass when one can look out onto the glory of nature while worshipping.
Your Home is a Precious Asset
| 3/17/2005 | Posted by Patti under General |
I was driving up towards the 401 today from my Belleville office and noticed a sign out in front of one of the finance company’s locations — Homeowner’s, debts out of hand? We can help — be wary of strangers bearing gifts when it comes to your home.
Real equity in your home can be a lifesaver when circumstances put your debtload on a crash course to hell but you need to be sure that the lifesaver doesn’t have an anchor of high interest and crippling payments dragging you below the waves. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments Broke
| 3/13/2005 | Posted by Patti under Site News |
Somewhere along the line I managed to do something that stopped the ability of visitors to leave comments. Least I think I did something. I have comments enabled but it isn’t showing up on the site. I’ll be working on figuring out what is going on as I can get some time.
Cancer Strikes Home
| 3/11/2005 | Posted by Patti under General |
I had planned to watch the national memorial service yesterday for the four young mounties killed in the line of duty last week. As events panned out, I wasn’t able to do so.
About noon yesterday I let my dog, Blue, inside and while petting her discovered a growth on her belly. She’s had a lump on her side for months now. I had asked a vet about it and been waved off as nothing serious. When I discovered the second growth I called another vet to see her.
Blue is about 15 years old. She’s been around the family for about a dozen years or so. I’ve had her in my care for about 9 years. My sister got her when her kids were small. When they moved to London, Ontario they couldn’t take her as dogs weren’t allowed in the townhouse complex they were moving into. I took custody of Blue ‘until they got a place where they could have a dog’…. I took custody of Blue. She’s been surrogate mom and gentle friend to both of my cats since they arrived in my home — Cookie arrived almost 9 years ago at the age of 5 weeks old and Raven, 5 years ago also at 5 weeks old.
Blue has been moving rather slow and seemingly painfully lately. I had chalked it up to age and likely some arthritis. The two growths, the side and her belly, are cancer. The vet did blood work and xrays which showed the hardness he felt on her belly was a mass in her liver, also cancer. At her age, agressive treatment would not be a kindness. At the moment she has a reasonable quality of life and as long as that continues I’ll have her with me.
The vet has given me some anti-inflammatory medication to give her once a day to see if the stiffness can be eased some. I should know in a few days. I know at some point I’m going to have to make a decision between not losing her and keeping her knowing that she’s suffering. This diagnosis is bringing that painful decision closer, I just hope not any faster than it needs to be.
A Nation Mourning
| 3/10/2005 | Posted by Patti under Canadian News |
Today a grieving country watched as thousands of police officers from across the country and others first paraded and then assembled to pay homage to four of their own murdered in the line of duty. They came to honour the all too short lives of Cst. Peter Schiemann, Cst Anthony Gordon, Cst Brock Myrol and Cst Leo Johnston. Four young men murdered by a lone gunman.
Never before has Canada witnessed a national memorial service of this size for fallen peace officers. A sea of red serge uniforms and stetsons known the world over as a symbol of Canada, the RCMP, our national police force. Read the rest of this entry »
Stuff
| 3/3/2005 | Posted by Patti under General |
Seems like it has been a long day. Mostly a busy day that seemed long. Had to go into the office today, a client is getting real close to getting into problems with their home so I decided not to wait until Saturday before I did more on their file.
Just watching Stargate SG-1 before go lay down and try to crash out for a while. Tomorrow I spend the day in my other office. Looks like I have a pretty full day. Gotta get the Sunday bulletin done as well. Tomorrow is also the 5th anniversary of my mother’s death.
I see that Zundel has been deported to Germany and is in jail there. He’s a person who doesn’t believe, or claims not to believe, that the holocaust took place. I’m too young to have experience with that era in history but I’ve worked with enough war veterans over the years to believe those who saw the results left behind at the end of the war were real. Zundel wants to live in la-la land of denial.. he’s welcome to it, it is when he decides he needs to convince others that he crosses the line. Good riddance to bad rubbish I say.
Four Young Men – Murdered
| 3/3/2005 | Posted by Patti under Canadian News |
Four young men, members of the RCMP, our national police force has died at the hands of one man with a violent history. These incidents are so rare in our country that it shocks us all when it happens. Not since the opening shots of the Northwest Rebellion in 1885 has there been an incident of this magnitude. At the Battle of Duck Lake, Saskatchewan a force of 56 Mounties went up against a group of Metis whose leader, Louis Riel, was trying to form a provisional government. When the shooting stopped, 17 Mounties had died.
The deaths, framed within the context of busting a marijuana grow operation, seems to be igniting the debate over the pending decriminalization of pot possession. Reports from Rochfort Bridge, Alberta where the murders occurred are indicating the lone gunman had a history of confrontation, hatred for the police, sexual assault of minors and possession of weapons.
This information raises a much bigger question than de-criminalizing a drug. How did this man obtain his weapons? If legally, what idiot approved his firearms acquisition with his past? If illegally why did the RCMP not move to detain and charge him for the weapons offenses? And the biggest question of all, having not neutralized his weapon access, why wasn’t there more caution and firepower deployed to take down the grow operation on his property?
Too many questions, too early for answers — none of which changes the fact — four young RCMP constables have lost their lives.
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