As Hot As Vegas - In Yellow Grass Saskatchewan

Hey!! We do have hot weather up here sometimes!! I can quit surfing and longing for southern U.S. summer weather updates (in the summer, lol) and look in my own back yard.

(So what if it only happened 70 years ago?? It could happen again!)

On July 5, 1937, Canada's highest temperature record was set, in Yellow Grass Saskatchewan. It got as high as 45C (114F), and hasn't been that hot since.

I know it still gets pretty hot in the interior (Osoyoos regularly gets close to 40C in the summer and the lake gets to around 24C), but 45C is pretty impressive ;-)
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Dr. Oz's Anti-Aging Wine In The Blue Zones

Ok, Dr. Oz, I heard ya say it was mostly the alcohol and not the grapes that has the anti-aging effect in wine!! (I knew I liked Dr. Oz ;-)

Oprah then said something like "so then you could have a shot of vodka every day instead?" (I paraphrase - I can't recall what her exact wording was).

I like wine - don't get me wrong. I prefer white or zin to red though, and was always under the impression that the health benefits were from the grape skins (hence the red colour in red wine). According to Dr. Oz, though, the alcohol is a significant part of the benefit (provided it's not drank in excess of course).

Hmmm. Does that mean I can keep putting Bailey's in my coffee? Heh heh

Here's an exerpt from the episode recap on www.oprah.com:

Dr. Oz says 90 percent of the benefit of wine is because of its alcohol. The other 10 percent is because it's got an antioxidant called resveratrol.

But the real benefits of drinking wine—red or white—aren't nutritional. "Wine happens at 5 at night when you get together with your friends. It happens with your family. And it's as much the ritual and doing it a little bit every day," Dan says. "They say people who drink two glasses of wine a day outlive those people who don't drink any. But you can't save up and drink 14 on Saturday."

Sounds good to me ;-)
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Calgary Stampeders Win The Grey Cup

Congrats to the Calgary Stampeders for their 22-14 victory over the Montreal Alouettes in the 96th Grey Cup!
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My Dog Is In The Bathtub

Not because he's dirty... noooo, you'd have to go outside to get dirty. MY dog is cowering inside the house, crouched down in the tub... 75 pounds of scardy-cat, trying to hide from the gusting, whistling wind.

I'm not sure what he thinks the tub will do for him. The upside, I suppose, is that he hasn't crawled into my lap (he crawled into my husband's lap a few years ago during a dog fight scene in "Snow Dogs"). Yes, it could be worse.

In his defense, we do have a couple of large trees by our house, and a couple of years ago the wind was bad enough here for trees to fall, slicing open rooves like they were butter. The worst of the damage for us was a tree that split in half in our bad yard - nothing touched our house (thank goodness). All the scary stuff was a in a neighbouring community and covered extensively on TV. Hmmm. I had no idea the dog had been watching ;-)
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The Demise Of Written Language

I just read this interesting article at www.wired.com about the supposed demise of text based blogs.

The author's main point, if I interpreted it correctly, was that there is no longer the same market for long drawn out prose as there was several years ago, and other Internet media that is more image based, such as Flickr, or light on text, such as Twitter or Plurk, is the way of the future.

These platforms, with their limited space for words, enable the not so proficient writer to be on the same level as the skilled wordsmith. This got me thinking about the typical e-mail by many people: there are many abbreviations used, and not much punctuation or capitalization.

Should we be concerned about the generally accepted lack of "proper" language use, or should we embrace this effective and efficient style of the future?

Cats And Laptops

Ha! I'm not the only laptop user being tormented by my cat:

lol

http://lostworld.pair.com/blog/archives/002156.html
http://bitchkittie.blogspot.com/2008/08/friday-cat-blogging-cats-n-laptops.html

There were many more, but since I left composing this post until 2 minutes before I have to go wake the kids for school, I now have to log off...

Why Do I Even Have Cats Again?

The other one has a penchant for clawing the screen door. The NEW screen door. Between that and the, uh, VOMIT everywhere I'm beginning to wonder who is crazier, me or the cat.

Let's recap:

CAT 1

PROS:

• Good cuddler


• Purrs well


• Extremely handsome

.
.
.
(That's all I have right now, but it may be enough :-)

CONS:

• Costs a fortune to feed (has FUS)


• Scratches the screen door


• Pukes everywhere


• Hair everywhere


• Always underfoot


• Very loud meow (part Siamese)


• Scratches the furniture


• Did I mention the puke?

CAT 2

PROS:

• Kicks BUTT killing spiders and bugs


• Fun to play with


• Completely cute

CONS:

• Um (UGH) sometimes pees and poos where she shouldn't (she's a Manx and is missing some bladder and bowel nerves)


• Tries to sleep on my lap top


• Scratches the furniture


• Hair everywhere


• Is always on the kitchen counter and no amount of pushing her off makes any difference

Hmmm. If you're not a cat person, you no doubt are noticing that the CON lists are longer. However if you have a soft spot in your heart for all things feline, then you understand how important the PRO items are ;-)

What the hell. It's only a screen door.

My Cat Loves My LAP

Apparently we've reached a compromise ;-)

My Cat Loves My Laptop

Out of nowhere... it started this week. She tries to climb up onto the keyboard, and brushes up against the screen as she's madly purring away.

It's cute and everything, but the hair is starting to get annoying... ahhhh...

Incubator Babies Become Happier Adults, Study Finds

Here's an interesting tidbit: I read an article in the Vancouver Sun on November 11 that cited a Montreal study about infancy incubator time and depression later in life.

To the surprise of the researchers involved, the results of the study were counter-intuitive - that is, babies separated from their mothers at birth and placed in incubators seemed less susceptible to stress and depression later in life.

How bizarre!!

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

- John McCrae

I'm Back :-)

Had friends come to stay for the weekend so no time to blog. We had a wonderful visit :-) I took approximately 5,000,000 pictures so now I have to edit one or two, lol.

In a minute I have to go wake the kids for school, so no time to blog now either! Sheesh you'd think I was busy or something...

Congratulations...

...to President Elect Barack Obama and all of his supporters!!

US Presidential Election Race Updates

(oops... I had a widget here that tracked the votes as they came in. I added the tag "U.S." and lost the widget)

U.S. Election Day!

Today is the big day for our neighbours south of the border! I am very interested to see the election results, and will be tuning into the TV later on.

Good luck to all involved :-)

Set Your Clocks Back!!!

I forgot last night. Ahhhh, an extra hour to myself this morning!!!

So in case anyone else forgot, and you find yourself running early this morning and don't know why...

;-)