Happy Birthday!

625 Feb 18
07:00 hrs

     Yesterday was The Oma-nator's 85th birthday. We held a surprise party for her at the Wayward Inn with a dozen or so friends in attendance. Chef Blaine and Sous Irene with the assistance of the Loin Fruits put on a spread of food. We had a great time. Too bad you missed it.

26 Feb 18
13:15 hrs

     There has been a change on my health of late. For the better for all actually even though it is a sign that I am getting older. That's right, I now have hearing aids. For years I have been suffering from hearing loss and a major case of tinitus complements of working on a flight line with hearing protection. This condition has caused me to persistently raise my voice to the point that everyone at the Wayward Inn said you must be angry because your shouting or talking loudly. This in turn put them on edge which put me on edge.

     Round and round.

     It was my Lobster and my friend from Over the Hump who more or less demanded that I go in to Connect Hearing for a diagnosis. Sure enough, it was Service related and the DVA claim was launched. That was last year. The claim was accepted but still I did not go in to get the devices. Finally, after putting up with it for a while longer - read self denial - I finally went in and was fitted for a pair of Phonak hearing aids.

     Are they any good?
     To quote the Sages -"They're Awesome!"

     I think the most impressive part is the absolute clarity that they provide from the world around me. Here's an example of the clarity:

     At the end of the day I had folded me pants over the bench at the end of the he'd.  Some change had fallen out of my pocket. No big deal. I picked it up and tossed them into my coin jar But what I didn't know was two coins - a quarter and a loonies had falling into the rolled cuff of my pants.  For the next two days I would be walking and I could hear coins clinking together and I would check my pockets. Nothing but a couple of old receipts. Clank. Clink. Check again. Still nothing. I thought I was losing my bloody mind. Then, I had to tie up a shoe lace. Lo and behold I found the coins. Coins that I had been hearing for two days.

     Simply amazing.

19:00 hrs

      I got home back to the Wayward Inn to find the evening meal ready and no one had eaten. They had waited for me. Well, don't do that. I am used to grubbing for leftovers. Thanks for thinking about me though. It feel nice to be wanted.

     Currently, my Better Half and I are seated in the back row of a Graduation Dessert Night meeting. I know, it's bullshit. From what I've seen the parents of the grads get more wrapped up and enamored with goings on than the kids do. That being said, I think the parents are just wanting to celebrate the milestone their child has achieved.

19:46 hrs

     The meeting is over and a lot of info was passed on to us. Info that we will then pass to our Jr. Couch Monkey. That's all folks time to go back to the Wayward Inn and work on the new tome.

    

The Olympics Anyone?

15 Feb 18
06:05 hrs.

     Some people are all pumped up about the Olympics. Some are not. Here at the Wayward Inn, I am slow to catch that Olympic Fever but I am a starting to catch it now. The individual sports and the small team events are always great to watch in any Olympic competition where the training and skill of the individual shines through like a beacon. It was in the larger team sports that soured my Olympic viewing. Years ago the Olympics was for amateur athletes only. Once you were paid to participate in that sport you were a professional athlete and you wete no longer eligible to participate in The O-Games. The former Soviet Union's Red Army hockey team got around this rule by publicly stating the team members were all "paid as members of the army" who just happened to play hockey. Everyone knew that this was bullshit but little could be done. Somewhere along the line the IOC gave permission for recognizable professional athletes to enter the Olympics especially when the You-alls pushed forward their "Dream Team" in hockey and basketball.

     BULLSHIT!

     Reality came in the last couple of years when widespread doping by the Russian Olympic teams was proven to the world which lead to a total ban of the Russian Olympic Team. Individual athletes from Russia are allowed to compete but they do so under the Olympic flag.

     All of this has has been in the news so unless you have been living under a rock you should be aware of this. Another news item ypu should be aware of is the latest shooting in the Hugh-Ess. A former disgruntled student in Florida was able to legally purchase an assault rifle with no wait and no background check. He entered his former high school, pulled the fire alarm and started shooting. Seventeen people dead. Oh, he was an adopted troubled youth.

     BULLSHIT! GIVE HIM THE CHAIR!

     From the news feed the FBI were aware from Facebook posts from someone with his name that this was going to happen. From what I've learned thus far local authorities did nothing. They should be held accountable as well. The question remains when will the Hugh-Ess government wade in and try to prevent this sort of domestic terrorism violence. In 2018 there has been more than two dozen school shootings already. That's one every two days and since the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012 there have been 273 schools have been shot up.

     How many more innocent lives have to be lost?   Real change will never happen as long as the gun culture is addressed. Of weapons known to be legally licenced there are 101 weapons for every 100 persons in the Hugh-Ess. In Japan, the ratio is something like .23 weapons for every 100 persons. It takes six months and a mountain of paperwork just to buy a shotgun and last year there were six deaths attributed to gun violence.

     Six! That's all.

     Something to think about.

     Here's another thing to think about. A member of the gun lobby wrote a report for the ATF on the need to reduce the amount of restrictions on acquiring/owning firearms. Of course he did.

     This just in...

     The Tangerine Tyrant says he will find a way to make schools safer but did not mention gun control in his speech. Go figure. After the Sandy Hook shooting the NRA stated lives would have been saved if "the teachers were armed".

     Inanity at its best.

    

The Winter BLAHS

07 Feb 18
17:30 hrs

     Yes Dear Readers the Winter BLAHS are upon us. The weather is still dreary with the continual daily drizzle foggy sun-less days that suck the life right out of you. The dampness can seep into your bones right down to the marrow and if you are not on your guard somewhere you will get tagged by a virus that will make the next week even more miserable.

     My Better Half has a cold. If all goes well it will last two weeks on the inside. On the outside it will be a bulk of Costco triple ply kleenex, plenty of tea, lozenges and a boatload of angst. It's now time to step up. My advice to those in the same position is to ne more attentive and patient with your loved one. If you don't, then heaven help you.

08 Feb 18
06:00 hrs

     Have you heard the words coming out of our Prime Minister' face lately? I'm not talking about his so called joke about moving to a more inclusive term by replacing the word "man" with "people" which social media immediately grabbed onto and jumped into submission. Peopletoba, Peoplehole, People-ager and more were posted along with the PM's likeness. No, I'm talking about Justin's response to a Canadian veteran who asked, "Why the Feds and Canadian Veterans Affairs have not come through with their promise to reverse the former  Conservative governments cost saving measure of changing Veteran disability pensions from a Life Long pension to a Lump Sum payout". In no way does the  latter add up to the former and as a result injured service members who filed a claim prior to 2006 recieved a life long pension for their injury and those who filed after the change received a calculated lump sum dependant on the type of injury sustained. In other words, this has created a double standard amongst veterans and Justin was elected in part because he said he would correct it.

     Well, there was a bit of a change. The Trudeau government has now allowed the lump sum to be payed out over an extended length of time. It's as if they believe the ex-service members are a bunch of stunned morons.

     "Hey, look over here!  It's shiny and new! Come on boy! You know you want it! It's all yours! Just for you! Good boy!"

     Who in the hell are they trying to fool? The numbers don't add up and everyone knows it. Of course, the Fed's hoped that no one would notice that they were trying to pull a fast one but the average veteran is nobody's fool. When confronted by a veteran who asked the PM why there was still the double standard and why has it not been corrected Justin responded, "They (the veterans) have asked for more than we can give at this time".

     Social media has not been kind to the PM and I can appreciate the all attention that it is receiving. There has been numerous memes depicting wounded vets struggling with paying for daily neccessities while corporations, foreign countries and immigrants & refugees are handed federal monies by the boat load. Really Justin? $20 million to the Clinton Foundation! Sure, as a veteran and as a Canadian, this blatant federal government we'll do want we want and screw you attitude pisses me off but despite the rhetoric there was a portion of Justin's reply that is being purposely left out. They are the last three words. "At this time". Now, if he was a smart politician he would stop being the global Liberal that his father was. Stop the federal loans to Outer Slobobia which, after the Third World country declares bankruptcy, is then added to the Canadian National Debt and start looking after the kids in your own back yard with some real iniatives. If you don't, you'll soon be looking at the Speaker of the House from the other side of the aisle.  

     Our Sr. Loin Fruit has had a job interview and is awaiting the results. In the meantime, he is being proactive with training sessions with Blade Runners. I know the job market is tough but as long as he is putting forth a concerted effort then I can't complain. It's going to take some time. Meanwhile, the Jr. Couch Monkey has recieved his report card from his first semester. Considering the pace at which the semester system moves and after missing almost three weeks of schooling when he went to Okinawa he still managed to complete the majority of the outstanding homework that resulted in a solid "B" across his subjects. This semester he has only three subjects and a study block so he should be able to pull up his socks.

    

    

Guess who's coming for dinner?

01 Feb 18
10:00 hrs

     About two weeks ago my Lobster headed for the Nation's Capital to look after The Oma-nator who had been suffering from the flu. The decision was made to have her come out to the Wayward Inn for an extended length of time. After moving the Sr. Couch Monkey into the guest suite The Oma-nator will now have a larger room with an ensuite. She is a joy and I can't wait to see her.

02 Feb 18
07:15 hrs

     Happy Ground Hog Day!
     And once again the proponents of such animal weather forecasting have misinterpreted the signs. The press, bowing to public pressure, has screwed this up just like a lot of other things. The popular misconception is that if the groundhog doesn't see his shadow winter will will end early. This is wrong. The saying is "If the groundhog sees his shadow and goes back in his burrow there will be six more weeks of winter. If he doesn't see his shadow then winter will end on time." Around the continent there are a number of these hairy hoary quantum meterologists. There is Punxsutawney Phil, Wiarton Willie and Shubenacadie Sam to name but a few. This year, Staten Island Chuck predicted six more weeks of winter, the immortal Punxsutawney Phil celebrated his 132nd weather prediciction and Shubenacadie Sam bit the CBC reporter.

     Yours truly has a meeting with the new manager. He's the FNG and is up from the Island's Capital on a "fact finding tour". This is a first. In four years, ever since the local manager was dispensed with, no one has ever been up to check on us.  In four years no one has responded to any of our requests. On four years no one has written the required annual performance evaluation, which they call an "alignment check". I wonder if this FNG wants the truth or just a nice story. It's not that we need a manager here in the Valley but we do need someone responsible to answer our questions and cover our six. That's all we need. In the job that we do any additional managerial oversight would be a detriment to our task.

20:30 hrs

     I met the FNG and the Handler at the office this morning. The mooks  didn't even take us for a coffee. But at least it was made clear that we need a new patrol vehicle and it was accepted as a fact.

     My Lobster and the Oma-nator will be touching down in a few hours. Fresh flowers have been bought for both of them. I'll make some canoli tomorrow as a dessert. I would have done it today but Sous Irene wants in on it.

     I read that the words to our national anthem are becoming gender neutral. When I read this I posted a response to the change on Facebook. If you haven't read it yet here it is.

     Personally speaking changing the words to our national anthem to be gender neutral is stupid. I'm going to sing the anthem the way I learned it in grade school. Changing the words so some people won't be offended offends me. It seems that people's skins are getting thinner on a daily basis...and the cry of "I FEEL OFFENDED" is only getting louder. The Calming the Nation is only creating more sheep. For all those agree with the new change I can hear you singing it already.....

BAAA BAAA BAAAAA!