My Ladyfinger cactus named "Adios"

 

 Ladyfinger cacti, also known as Echinocereus, are native to Central Mexico and are known for their unique appearance and beautiful flowers. My cactus, named "Adios," has been with me for 50 years since it immigrated to its new home. Cacti are known for their resilience and ability to adapt to different environments, which could explain its longevity.

Taking care of a cactus like Adios typically involves providing it with adequate sunlight, well-draining soil, and infrequent watering. Ladyfinger cacti are generally low-maintenance plants, making them suitable for various indoor and outdoor settings.

Dolphin Dreams by Lyle Nicholson

 

Rating

BOURNE RETRIBUTION BY ERIC VAN LUSTBADER

This is the 11th. book with Jason Bourne. As always it is a never ending roller coaster of Bourne's fights and escapes. The story takes place mostly in Mexico with side trips to Israel and China. He is on the path of revenge for the death of his loved one, resulting in the death of almost every character in the book, friend or foe. More room for new characters in the next book. I like the short write ups on the progress of each character as the story moves on, all aspects of the story gets filled in, each character on its own path, heading for the inevitable crash. And to top it all off, the surprise ending was a surprise.

You hear all that talk about building a wall and all the trouble its causing,

well, Canada is also building a wall with the U.S. and I don't think there will be any protests. If there is opposition, it will be because its not being built fast enough. Labor will be free and there will probably be too many volunteers. We are going to build our wall with marijuana plants and the Americans will rush to pay for it. It will be cheaper than paying the cartels.

Brass Monkey Weather

The temperature here this morning is -11C/12F. The windchill makes it feel like -19C/3F. Not any weather, I will be walking around in. I'm glad I went to mass yesterday evening.

Every morning, my habit is to read the newspaper. There are usually not many articles I don't already know about. Newspapers are usually a few days behind my computer. So I need the paper to keep me informed of local matters. Thursday was the exception, where I found a large number of articles, to fill the empty grey spots between ones ears.

On the front page, the first item really shocked me. "Web surfers have eye on shoplifters." What it turns out to be is, convenience stores in the area have webcams to keep an eye on shoplifters, but the web surfers are in England. It seems a company in England charges subscribers $15. a month to join. They can have four feeds open on their screen, for different stores in Halifax. If they see a thief stealing, they press a button, the store owner gets a phone call and voila. The store owner pays $190. a month for this service and they figure it's worth it. The surfers get cash prizes.

Scarey eh? I know England is camera crazy and this is taking it to a new level. Shades of 1984. So watch where you pee next time, someone may be watching. When I worked at the airport, my job was watching the cameras. For practice, I would watch a car leave the highway and I could track the passangers all the way through the process till they boarded the aircraft.

Another article involved a woman and her new husband stuck in his country because he can't get a visa. Seen this played out many times. Dumb blond is usually at least twenty years older. I don't think I have to explain farther.

As far as I am concerned, people who go to Mexico are naive. That's a dangerous place. In the last two days, there have been two  instances of a Canadian getting raped and another shot. After something happens, you go crying to the government. The government didn't tell you to go to Mexico.

A New Start

8 am.
Yesterday was the pitts. And I finished the day by doing something stupid. I went and bought a lottery ticket. Can you imagine that? With all my bad luck I had yesterday, I go and buy a ticket. Maybe my luck was bad yesterday because I started the day wrong. Normally I do my 2 mile walk. But not yesterday. Must have given me wrong juju or something.
This morning for breakfast I had coffee and a raisin bun. Not a Hot Cross bun. You make this one by putting two pieces of dough in a muffin pan. When it is ready, you can easily break the two pieces apart. I always had tea for breakfast but I found out that it gave me heartburn. So I switched to coffee two weeks ago. No more heartburn, not even during the day when I still drink tea.
Read this headline this morning. “Canadians advised against travel to northern Mexico.” I don’t think I would have to be advised. But again, common sense can be in short supply. Nothing will happen to me, it will be someone else. When you live in a country like Canada, violence is at a minimum, and you feel safe. In a country like Mexico, something can happen anytime. You take your feel of safeness with you and that doesn’t work out all the time.

6 pm.
What I noticed on my walk today was an ESSO oil truck doing a refill for someone. The first thing that came to my mind was that he was probably paying $50.00 more than I would. I get the no-name brand. The thing is that all the oil comes from the same refinery. No matter what company delivers it, it’s the same oil. Same with gas. Saves me $300. or $400. a year.
While waiting for my lawn mower part, I’ve cleaned up the mower. I’ll do an oil change when I get it back together. I have plans tomorrow to get new glasses. But you never know about plans.

Mexico

My son said that we were so close to Mexico we just had to go. So that was one of our side trips. We parked our car on the U.S. side and walked over because we were told that driving back was difficult. And that sure was true. Coming back, I think we saw six lanes of traffic. And it was backed up as far as the eye could see. Anyway, we just wanted to say we were in Mexico. Now the biggest surprise was the border. It was just a turnstyle. There wasn't a soul there. Well, there may have been souls but there were no people. I imagine there are not too many people trying to sneak into Mexico. Once inside, we were bombarded by hawkers and taxi drivers ( in yellow shirts). So we looked around there for a spell and then came back. This time it was a real border crossing. Though I must say, it was easier to get back into the U.S., than getting back into Canada later on. Coming back home we went thru customs in Toronto. In the lineup next to me was a group of Mexicans. It seems that they come up her to work also. Fancy that. Anyway, when I get up to the desk, its why,when,where,how much etc. Now in the lineup next to me it was "Do you speak english?" Head shake "No". "Do you speak French?" Head shake "No". Very good, off you go.

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