Big snow happening today, on the last day of winter. How appropriate. With this snow, maybe I will be able to use up the rest of the gas in the snow blower.

I wonder if a police car, in a car chase, has ever run out of gas?

Lawn Mowers.

      The next task was to get my lawn mowers ready to go. I have two mowers. One, you press the handle and away she goes. I use that one out front. Hills on the sides of the lawn. It mulches everything. Also has a bag on the back. The other machine is one I put together from three broken mowers. 22" across, so I use it in the back yard.
      Changed the oil in both machines. You take the cover off the top and lay it on its side. I cleaned them both last fall and took out the gas. Filled up with gas and both started on the first pull. I bought the new one at Sears Clearance the year before last. It doesn't have a primer for the gas - you just pull the cord. I would rather have a primer. But, you can get over that. Just take out the spark plug and spray in some carb. cleaner.
      The day after that, I cut the grass out front. Don't need to do the back yet. The new machine has a hose connection. Hook up the hose - turn the mower on and it washes underneath.

The Truck

    The other day my neighbor went on vacation for two weeks and he gave me the keys to his truck. Great, I thought, I have some yard work to do. So he hands me the keys and says, " Don't worry about the red and orange lights, I have them all disconnected." So. I have to disregard all alarms. As he is leaving, he turns and says, " Don't go too far, it's almost out of gas." I guess that alarm still works.  Bet there is just enough gas to get me to the gas station.

Our Gas Prices

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Union And Unions

I know you are familiar with an iPad. Well, here is a picture of myPad. Sad eh?

We had a rainstorm all day yesterday, which turned into a snowstorm. High winds and it replaced the snow we lost yesterday. I guess the only thing I can say about it, the snow is cleaner.

A piece of mail I received yesterday was about my house insurance. I bought a new oil tank a couple of weeks ago, so they reduced my insurance fee and sent me a cheque for $32.00. It also said my tank was good till 2035. Last tank for me I imagine. They no longer allow steel tanks in Nova Scotia. Has to be Fiber glass. My last tank was only ten years old. I'm sure it had another 5-10 years left. Anyway, I would have had to replace it sometime and it would still be my last tank.

The other piece of mail I received was from the hospital. They sent me a survey to fill out. Last week, I was in the hospital for them to put a scope up and look at the prostate. Now, that was interesting. I thought it would be painful, but not so. I could watch it on TV and it was like watching a Sci Fi movie. In outer space, going down a wormhole. I was waiting for an alien to come out and grab the camera.Too bad there was no music. Anyway, they were happy with their trip thru space.

In the newspaper today, there was a photo of a car accident, in which a woman was killed. A Hyundai had hit a Honda Civic in the side. The front of the Hyundai was damaged, but the Honda looked like it had been run over by a Mack truck. I guess the crash test dummies should do more testing on side crashes.

Th price of gas went up 3.5 cents yesterday, making it $121.3 cents a liter. For the other people, that's $4.58 a Gal. And we send them oil!

Read this headline. "Tyrants don't always make the best allies." Did you notice, they only say that afterwards. It seems to work fine till their people get fed up.

An old Russian saying says. "The past is unpredictable." Sure, they can always rewrite it. This reminds me of the last movie they made about the Alamo. It was rewritten closer to the truth and no one liked the movie. Sorry, Fess Parker. But I do have a bottle of your wine downstairs. Bought it while I was wine tasting at your winery. I didn't see you there, but I saw your daughter. Close enough.

Winconsin and Unions. That's just a start. Unions were a Godsend to my coal mining home town. My uncles worked in the mines when they were twelve yrs. old. A Union certainly saved them, but like anything else, greed takes over. The one thing I don't like about unions, is the hiring practices. Impossible to get the best people.

So the Toronto Stock Exchange and London are joining forces. Don't know if it is good or bad. If they keep telling me how good it is, it's definetely bad. Last Friday, the London Exchange was closed for hours because of bad software. As a point of interest, that is the same software Toronto will be switching to.

Bombardier will be buying a Polish railway. Now that's a surprise. They are famous for making railway cars and trains. They also make aircraft. Does that mean they will be buying an airline?

Saw this headline. "The wine is only the beginning." It was an ad for a weekend get away.I thought it would be a great catch phrase for Alcoholics Anonymous.

Snow Again.

I guess you would call this a spring surprise. Looked out the window this morning and there was the ground covered with snow. I wasn't expecting that. Yesterday I was looking at the grass and thinking, that soon the lawnmower has to come out. But it won't be today.

Received my passport the other day. Only took a week. And I need that because.... a couple of weeks ago my son asked me if I would like to go to California. So California, here I come. Going to L.A., driving up the coast and back by another route. He has a friend who has an association with the Gallo family, so we may get a tour.

Doing my walking every day, so I can get in shape for chasing a streetcar. We will be gone nine days.

Filled up with gas last night. Only needed half a tankful. A bit of madhouse, cars pulling up to the tanks in both directions. In this province we have gas regulation, which means that the price of gas stays the same for a week. It changes every Thur. night. So if you pay attention to the news, you get a bit of a warning. There is no instant price increase when the price of a barrel of oil goes up. So no gouging. There is a two week lag. The price will be higher today. So that is the reason for the rush last night. I paid $1.269 for a liter. And for you americans that would be $4.80 a gal. I have a van and it cost me $50.00 for half a tank. I better keep this page open until I find out the price today.

So I did go out and the price today is $1.338 a liter which is $5.06 a gal. My head still works in gals. so that sounds worse. Anyway, that's how it is. Tomorrow it may be one cent less. For some reason, they do that on Sat. An adjustment I guess.

Also bought some groceries. They are also going up. And money as groceries in the pantry gets more interest than money in the bank. And you can't eat nthe money in the bank. You may not be able to get it.

I Think You'll Like This!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE
1940's, 50's, 60's and 70's

!First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Nandos.

Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.��

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY,

no video/dvd films,

no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were noLawsuits from these accidents.

Only girls had pierced ears!�

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time...

We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them
!
Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!

RUGBY and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on MERIT

Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes and bully's�
always ruled the playground at school.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!

Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla'

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO
DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

PS -The big type is because your eyes are not too good at your age anymore