Shitpost about everything and nothing at all...life in what seems like endless winterland with an overactive brain.
Hey steemies!
It's still pretty cold here, the heater is definitely working overtime in Alberta! Brrr, I can feel it coming in thru the walls and this place is well insulated. Here I sit wishing for summer and looking thru my pictures to make a selection to enter @czechglobalhosts "North American Friday" photo contest only to realize many of my favorite summer memories revolve around going to visit permafrost...what gives lol...almost like I'm asking for it! Here is the picture I selected from my visit on the Athabasca Glacier part of the Columbia Icefield general area containing several glaciers.
For this part of the journey, we were on the Terra Explorer (only 24 in existence in the world) to get thru the part with a lot of fissures in the ice until we get to a safe part with sound ice. You see many in this picture but they are not the most dangerous ones, it's the ones you can't see that will claim you! A guided tour is required to access this part because they work closely with scientist, surveyors and parks official to identify new hazards as the glacier melts in the summer. This chunk of ice was formed during the last major ice age and is one of the largest non-polar permafrost left, supplying much of western North-America with a supply of fresh water. This picture was taken in the middle of summer. What to draw from this? If you live in western North-America, my feet touched your drinking water...YEAH!!😝😝😝
On another note, it's been so cold out here that the line for the power-steering on the truck crumbled and cracked and is no longer holding fluid for very long. Good news, easy fix, bad news, it's still too cold to bother fixing it because it's likly to just crack again, water lines have been bursting all over the city turning apartments into urban waterfalls!!
https://globalnews.ca/news/4932844/north-edmonton-townhouse-pipe-bursts/
What a life. I don't really care that we are housebound, I don't really wanna go out there anyway, even Prince Kit-Ten doesn't want to go out there and he used to live outside before living here (we are turning him into a house boy 😁) Every time I open the door to let him out, although this was taken in the summer, his face looks like something like this:
He looks at me like I did on purpose for it to be cold so he can't go out and play with his friend, but then he gets over it fast and chase us around the house for pets as an underfoot cat. Talk about trust! can't imagine running around under the foot of a T-Rex and just trusting it's not going to step on me... Cat logic sometimes...it's even more questionable than my own.
In case you ever wondered why he has such an un-creative name? When he first ran in the house, he headed strait under our bed in panic, while trying to lure him out of under the bed to check him out, I tried calling many different names and all I could see was two glowing eyes staring back at me from the darkness. Then I said what are we going to call you my big kitten !(with my french accent, I put emphasis on the TEN) then I saw his little nose poking out and his big blue eyes staring back at me , there I knew that's what he wanted to be and I just rolled with it. At the end of the day saving him wasn't about me but about him and giving the chance at a better life, one where he can be whatever he wants, as silly or plain as he wants to be, as long as he's comfortable and happy instead of scared and fighting for survival. We couldn't bring him to a shelter because he was too aggressive, they probably just would have put him down. One thing I can guarantee, as much as he's becoming a pet, he has not lost his wilderness! he's quite the character.I warned you this was a post about nothing! enough with crazy cat lady stories.
Living in the city, we are used to being able to get access to food markets everyday and we don't have to "meal plan" that far ahead but with the truck being down until late next week(when it warms up around here) I sent @silvergingerman with a shopping list for some goodies that would ensure full warm bellies until then while he was going out to get the truck diagnosed and the part ordered. I don't like to eat the same thing over and over so I went with something versatile... PULLED PORK!!! Not something I ever make but I can turn that into many dishes with the same ingredients. Since It' not something I ever made, I figured I wouldn't try to re-invent the wheel just yet and find a recipe made from natural ingredients that made my mouth salivate.
Hiding under this blanket of onions, garlic, red chili paste and cumin, a delicious pork shoulder is peacefully resting in freshly pressed orange juice. @silvergingerman roasted me cause he caught me sneaking a drink. We shall see what it will turn into but I'm sure I'll eventually post the results. This baby is likely to be turned into pulled pork samiches with home made maple bbq sauce and a smokey cheese, some will likely end up in carnitas, quasedilla's and crepes or omlets. I will be tortured for 8 hours smelling this shit cook while watching the season finally of hell's kitchen. OMG I want to eat it NOW cooked or not, it smells so damn good and all I can think of is what I'm going to make with and get myself hungrier by the minute. While I wait, I figured I would catch up on the local forecast and see what's in-store for our city. Trust me hockey fans, you got to read this, it's time you will never get back but then again so is this post.
Now that I got that out of the way, now time for business. One thing I have lots of time to do in the winter is be stuck in my own head, I'm sure many of you can relate. Instead of examining my life to death and feel bad about my failures or dwell on the harsh current economic winter we are experiencing along with the endless list of regular life chatter that just goes round and round in our minds, I take the opportunity to educate myself on current headlines, politics (national & international) and try to figure out the hidden language and figure my way to navigate around the boulders. I'm sure most of you know by now, If we are a productive member of society in Canada, you get a hefty penalty called income tax. After I pay that and all the hidden taxes in my purchases, 50% of my income just vaporized like a fart in the wind and I don't even pay provincial tax like the rest of Canadian provinces. Don't get me wrong, I Have no issues paying taxes to help maintain a certain basic standard of living for those who have not had the same opportunities or drive to grab life by the horns and chase the Canadian dream like I have but at some point where do you draw a line in the sand? I take public transit when @silvergingerman isn't around. One thing I notice and broke my heart, along the train line, a bunch of tent cities have grown in size, when we look at house listings, we see more and more foreclosures and the prices are dropping. People have gotten severely injured or died frozen in the streets of Edmonton during this cold snap. Food banks and shelters are desperately seeking supplies as the list of donors are now requesting their services continues to grow.
Major oil and natural gas companies in Alberta have been forced to cut production to try to gap the price differential and get a fair market value for our resource causing more job losses in an industry that has already been bled dry and hard working people are losing hope and everything they have worked for. A secondary effect, even tho we are a highly specialized mobile workforce that can mobilize quickly and fix damn near everything and these companies take advantage at reducing our wages along with everyone else meanwhile importing semi-qualified foreign workers to come fill the jobs when the put all the major projects and create an huge artificial shortage of manpower after the contracts have been negotiated and the government just rolls with it.
All this pipeline drama just adds to the kick in the pants we already got, cockblocking our access to market while importing resources from some of the most corrupt countries and leaders we currently know and then complain they pay too much for gas and call us dirty and unethical...right. Reality check greenies, because it was produced in an other country still makes you directly accountable and responsible for it's toxic emissions. Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise for the Republic of Alberta (you read right) Common Canada we are smarter than this, it will be time to wake up and smell the coffee for you too soon.
A controversial topic between the west and the east of our vast country has always been equalization payments. Alberta provides so much to Ontario and Quebec, meanwhile they are the biggest culprit in blocking our access and trying to fight us on everything and refuse to develop their own resources like the spoiled children of Canada. Our pipeline might leak and spoil their clean water meanwhile they dump raw sewage in it daily. When the topic is brought up with the east, they seem to be under the impression Alberta sends a big ol' check to Quebec cause someone said so. Another reality check and let me debunk that for you in case you are part of the ill-informed. When the average Albertans go to work and make 90-120k a yr, we pay a shitload of taxes, like 40k +/year before we even get our paycheck, which is probably more in line with eastern Canadian earnings. Meaning we pay more than the value we receive in public service at a much higher tax rate and the provinces that earn the least per capita doesn't pay as much for public services they receive. That part doesn't bother me as much when you are not killing our jobs and livelihood. Perhaps it's sabotage out of jealousy? Then come to the true capitalist lands of the wild wild west where dreams become reality and be part of it.
Now to the blessing in disguise, As much as I despise the slow times and not moving forward in my career and financially, I saw a silver lining, If we can't make money, we can't pay taxes and that my friends is literally turning off the tap to equalization payment to Ontario and Quebec and things might get a little tight in the public sector in the next few years over there, especially with all of Trudeau's excessive spending in international causes that appear suspicious on the best of days and helping his friends at SNC Lavalin dodge taxes and bribe their way around avoid Canadian prosecution. Laugh at us now, it's fine but you are also hurting yourselves in the end. Given that I'm one fools risking my life to have gainful employment in a field with high demand instead of a soulful university education that has no real skill to contribute to our society in a meaningful way yet the ungrateful gets to benefit from the fruits of my labor while insulting me and spending it like it grows on trees severely impairs my desire to want to be productive for my country and have come to enjoy this nice unwanted break.
Just in case you missed it, she recently got demoted from Attorney General in a mysterious way, now we can guess why. Doing the right thing will cost you dearly in this country. It's not as rosy as they paint it for the citizens. Now to the point, with all these events and increased inter-provincial squabbles and access to market drama and political corruption, having lived outside of Alberta, I know life in other parts of the country is harder for much longer then we currently have it, probably thanks to lower tax rates then the rest of the country, an economy can thrive and is attractive to investors, we are just not used to the current conditions we are currently in.
I'm sure many of you have heard about the Alberta Yellow vest movement by now, although the media spins it as a racist movement, which I'm sure still has racist undertones one the level of some of the protesters but fundamentally, I believe it is the early stages of a separatist movement materializing in our province, an idea that has been circulating around Alberta for a few years now, they don't tell you that on the news. The next federal election will be a deciding factor in the fate of our country. Will it be no more? Can you picture Canada's Confederation blown apart? Reality is we are so close to this stage than you will ever know. Economically, we would be better off, a powerhouse even, not that it would help our access to market any but not sending money we desperately need to help ourselves to Ottawa, we wouldn't be in as bad of shape but this would be catastrophic to Canada overall and my hopes are that it never happens. Well that's part of what's on my mind.
Peace out my friends! X🐞X
I read it all and am gonna digest it now. I also checked on Alberta - as I know mostly Canadian cities and not provincies - and notice Calgary is in Alberta as is Fort McMurray (where a famous stacker lost all his silver due to the fire two years ago). Calgary is where two of our most famous speed skaters went to (one is a farmer who won the Frisian 11 city tour.
Chin up - keep the country together!
Calgary and Edmonton(where I live) being the 2 major metropolis centers and famous for great skating coaches . Fort Mcmuray & Red Deer also sizeable and important strategically located smaller cities. Yes the Beast of Fort Mac was devastating to many, I know a few that lost absolutely everything and the re-construction of one of them has just now begun. Many of them evacuated to our city for as long as it was required in make shift shelters like gyms and stuff while others that were locked north side of the fire got evacuated to our northern work camps for nearby oilsand facilities, 80 000 ppl got short notice evacuation while they were at work/school in the middle of a burning inferno with with one way in and out on each end of the city as it took everyone by surprise like the California fires. 10% of the city burned down it was a sad chaotic time and it all happened in a short period of time. A few years before much of southern Alberta in the Calgary & Canmore area flooded pretty bad, so much so the pro hockey arena building was half filled with water like an aquarium. We have been thru a lot out here but we always pull thru.
The media twists a lot of facts around to their liking but for the last month or 2 there has been protest and counter protests every saturday. Trucker convoys are getting together and blocking traffic on random important highways in different towns every Saturday. They got their pitchforks and ready for a old fashion witch hunt. I understand it's a lot to digest, so is living it! It's all surreal at times. I don't think most Canadians even get it for some reason, too distracted by propaganda.
Awesome!!!
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