Yep, it's been a while.  I knew I had a profile there, didn't know what it was called, took a few tries to remember my password, but here I am.

 

News:

 

-I finally got an XBOX, and have passed Halo, am now working on Halo 2, will eventually get to Predator: Concrete Jungle.

-Since I have been gone I have found the wonderful world of fanfiction.  I both read and write.  My works can be found under the pen name Prairiefire here: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/972024/

 

Hi all.  I just got back from my vacation this morning.    I spent seven glorious days at the Assessipi Provincial Park in Manitoba, just by the Saskatchewan border.  It is truly beautiful country.  Since I didn't have computer access (or electricity for that matter) while I was up there I wrote down my blog entries and am going to give them you you here instead.  So settle in with a cup of cocoa in a comfy chair and enjoy the read.  Bear with the writing style, it was written for one of my dog message boards.

 

     Hey all you Dog Addicts.  I'm in the middle of my first full day at "Camp Dog."  It's about 1 PM here and HOT!  We're hanging around the site, staying in the shade and trying to keep cool.

 

     I got here yesterday about mid-day.  Dumb move.  It was hot then too.  It took almost 2 hours to get everything organized and put where I want it.  But I finally got it done.  My tent is up with my bed "made" and the picnic table is organized.  Lucky and Shania even have their own tent.  Basically Lucky's crate with a tarp pegged down over it.  New meaning to the term "pup tent," eh?  They sleep in my tent (on ME) but they have a relatively clean and dry place to lie down if they get tired of lying around in the dirt.

 

   Last night was nice.  It finally started to cool off around 7 PM local time.  We sat by the fire for a while.  Then when the sun was going down Lucky decided it was time for her to go to bed.  She left me and Shania sitting by the fire while she pushed her way into the tent.  She didn't come out for the rest of the night.  Shania stayed in "her" chair until the fire died down and I put it out.

 

     We duck into the tent and who is spread across the whole double air mattress snuggled into a nest of sleeping bags, with her head on the pillow, and that "What?" look on her face?  Miss Lucky.

 

     This morning I got up just after dawn to go the the privvy.  The mist was thick coming off the river and nobody else was up yet.  It was so pretty and so quiet.  Shania wanted to come with me but Lucky elected  to stay in (my) bed.  As I was walking out past the front of the van I saw something move on the road about 30 feet away.  I turned to look thinking it was only a rabbit or something (I was still half asleep).  Nope.  Not a rabbit.  A deer.  Standing in the middle of the road.  Dammit I wish I'd brought a camera.  When I moved to head off to the privvy she took off the other way.  it was so cool.

 

     While I was writing that last paragraph the funniest thing happened.  I was sitting here with Lucky behind me between me and the kennel.  I head something running in the bush but figured it was another squirrel.  This thing is getting closer and closer and then BAM.  The tarp crinkles and the kennel rattles.  I turn around and Lucky lifts her head.  I look into the bush just behind the kennel.  I can make out little black eyes and can slowly see a rabbit form.  This rabbit ran head first into the kennel at a run.  It's sitting there dazed well within Lucky's reach.  Then a squirrel does the same thing.  Not once did Lucky or Shania move to chase it.  How's that for obedience training?  They know they're not allowed to chase wild animals.

 

 

     Hey all, and happy Civic Holiday to my fellow Canadians.  Hope everyone gets to enjoy today (or sometime this weekend).

 

     Last night was great.  For the first time ever I slept outside.  Truely outside.  Staring up at the stars.  I saw Polaris and along with that the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia.  Also what I think was Andromeda.  It was great just lying in my sleeping bag by the fire stargazing.  Kinda puts things in perspective.  All our problems seem so big to us, but from the perspective up there we barely qualify as a speck of light in this universe.  I had one dog by (on) my feet the whole night and the other in the tent.  You can guess which one that was?

 

     I'm not doing much today.  Just sitting here reading "Humans" by Robert J Sawyer.  I read "Hominids" yesterday.  Tomorrow will probably see me reading "Hybrids."  All by the same author.  Shania is in her chair beside me snoring away and Lucky, surprise, surprise is in the tent sawing away too.  Another lazy day at Camp Dog.  But hey, it's a vacation.  Ya don't need to do anything you don't want to (except maybe chop some more firewood once it cools off).

 

     Right now we have a chipmunk playing chicken with the dogs.  I swear he's goading them into chasing him.  Stupid chipmunk (suicidal maybe?).  He'll run up to the tent door (which is wide open) and chirp then take off running.  Or he'll run right in front of me and Shania.  Or sit up by the front tire of the van and start chirping or grooming himself then take off when I look at him.  Neither of the dogs has made a move to go after him.  So I'm thinking lucky, stupid chipmunk.

 

 

     It is so quiet here.  I have absolutely no neighbors in this bay.  All I hear is the snapping of the fire, the breeze in the trees, the occasional boat on the river that is just behind a screen of trees and down a hill.  And of course Mr. Stupid Chipmunk.  I have my discman on the Yorkton AM radio station.  there are no clouds in the sky and no reports of rain in the forecast for my area.

 

     I can't seem to get rid of Shania though.  Always underfoot, always in physical contact.  Geez, I brought her own chair for her.  But no she has to be on top of me.  The high today was 32 F.  It's too hot to have a dog curled up in your lap.

 

 

     Hey there, I know I didn't make an entry for yesterday but not much happened anyway.  I finished Sawyer's Neanderthal Trilogy.  Lucky went swimming with a fish.  A big-ass carp swimming by the dock.  Shania rolled in a dead fish left on the beach.  That's about it.

 

     Today was MUCH more intersting.  Starting with a little trek down to the river shore along a hiking trail.

 

     One of my friends came down with her dog, Teddy (Shania's boyfriend).  We took them down the trail to the rive where Lucky promptly jumped in for a swim.  Teddy and Shania were running around on the sand.  Where Lucky went in there was a step drop then about 6 inches to the water's edge.  So I moved over to the wider sand "beach."  Put one foot down and it sank to the top of my sandal sole.  WTF I thought.  I shift my weight to pull back and my foot sinks down and takes my leg up to my knee with it.  ****.  Quicksand!  My other foot is still on "firm ground" so I try to pull myself up by that leg.  NOT!  It too sinks in to the knee.  ****!   By this time Nat comes over to see what I've gotten myself into.  She helps pull me out with a branch.  To make matters worse, Lucky has heard the commotion and is heading in.  And of course she heads toward the quicksand.  So before Nat pulls me out i have to grab Lucky's leash so I can pull her out too.  Who said Border Collies or German Shepherds were smart?

 

     On the way back to Camp Dog we're checkingout the damage.  My sandals are caked in mud.  my socks (yes, I'm one of THOSE people) are mud brown.  My new(er) jeans are straight caked in sand/mud up to the knees.  I can't let the chance to say something funny even remotely funny get by I had to say something.  So, speaking of my jeans "If they weren't before, they're broken in now."

 

    So that was our little adventure for the day.  Thank doG I wasn't wearing my hiking boots.  I'd neve have gotten them clean again.

 

     Earlier this evening I took the dogs for a hike.  It started out with a steep climb but leveled off after 20 m and the rest was easy level stuff (mostly paved or graveled).  We went down to the public dock to see if Lucky wanted to swim.  She didn't so we headed back.  We went up to the park office and took the "Cranberry Trail" back to my bay and site.  In all it was about a 5 km hike.  I carried water for myself, a flashlight, jacket, granola bars and matches.  Lucky carried two bottles of water, duty bags and her collapsible bowl.  Shania just brought herself.

 

     Now we're back.  I'm sitting by the fire.  Shania is snoozing in a chair across from me.  Lucky is passed out behind the van.  I'm getting ready to start a new book "War of Honor" by David Weber.  It looks interesting.  I'm also reading through my Halo Strategy Guide.  It's a pretty good referenc book.  But it does miss two glaring short cuts in the "Assault on the Control Room" level.  One, where you steal a Banshee off the bridge in front of the pryamid, and the other (if you don't get the Banshee and have to work your way down the other side) where you don't have to work your way up the pyramid.  Instead you walk up the support beam and jump off at the second last level (where the Hunters show up).  If you jump off in the right place you loose some health and your shields (take out the Jackals and Grunts patroling there with your sniper rifle from the support beam before you jump off), if you land wrong-you're dead.  Both these strategies mean you don't have to face the Hunters at the top.

 

 

     My last full day here.  It is nice and sunny.  We've had no rain all week.  It got quite windy Wen and Thrus but it has died down to a nice breeze.

 

     Lucky just went for a swim and is now licking herself dry.  I swear this dog is half cat.

 

     I went fishing yesterday.  I had some lucky, unfortunately it was the bad kind.  No fish, but I did loose my last (and favorite) spinner.  A medium size, jade green one.  Oh well.  I know there are fish in this river.  One guy on the dock (while Lucky was swimming) came in with an 18 POUND jack (northern pike).  I guess fishing from shore just isn't my thing.  I need a way to get on the water.  But I will catch something (edible).  One of my coworkers came down after she and her husband were at Duck Mountain PP and both her and her husband caught their limit of jack in less than 2 hours.  They said almost as soon as the hook was in the water there was a jack on the end of it.

 

     I think my next trip will be up there.  Just have to find someone with a boat/canoe.

 

     Today we had a really stupid ground squirrel (beat the suicidal chipmunk hands down).  The dang thing just tormented Shania all day.  She finally couldn't take it anymore.  She started trying to chase him.  The dang thing kept coming around.  Out from under the van.  From around the trees at the site entrance.  From under the tarp covering the firewood.  He would just not leave Shania alone.  I took to scaring the dang thing away all the time cuz Shania was just getting way to worked up and I was afraid she would start over heating (hot, humid day, short nosed dog, lack of readily available water).  He was just driving me insane not to mention poor Shania who was all quivery, drooly, whiny dog for over an hour after I finally convinvced the damn thing to beat it for good.

 

 

     Well, like all good things the peace and quiet must come to an end.  Last night I got neighbors.  Dang whippersnappers.  Teenagers.  Ones who can't be bothered to check into the campsite BEFORE they head out on the water.  Ones who don't know that sound carries in the woods.  Ones who don't realise that at 10 PM I don't want to hear their opinions on everything teen or hear their battery powered air pump.  Nor do I want them speeding around  the bay doing 3 times the speed limit with thier brights on just because they can't find a place to park their boat.  They ended up parking it in front of the only water tap in this particular bay.  I ended up having to turn on my discman just to drown them out.  I was so tempted to start making my own racket just to annoye them but we had visitors up on the other end of the bay from Wisconsin (who were every quiet and polite, even their kids)  and I didn't want them to leave thinking that all young Canadians are as obnoxious as these teens.  I thought about being "unquiet" this morning (as opposed to being as quiet as possible) but they beat me to it.  Chopping firewood at 7:30 in the bloody morning is not nice camp ground etiquette.  Nor is banging around pots and pans and yelling about how crummy your back feels.  So I got an early morning wake up call.  I had planned on breaking camp late and going down to fish.  After getting up early and having to listen to these "people" I just couldn't bear to stay and have my idea of Utopia ruined.  I packed up and left.  I was home by 11 AM.  There was a sweet justice balance to last night/this morning.  These kids and parked their boat where their truck could not be backed up to hitch up.  So they each grabbed part and pulled/pushed it to the truck which was down hill.  Someone lost their grip and the trailer/boat rolled down hill.  STRAIGHT INTO THE BACK OF THE TRUCK!!  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  I told you there was some sweet justice here.

 

So now I'm home.  I feel rested, relaxed, and ready to go back to work.  It was so nice being just me and the dogs.  If I had gone with my parents it would have been all running around having to do what they want (staying on the beach all day, everyday BORING), no time to relax cuz something always needs to be cleaned, organized, or reorganized).  With it just being me I can do things at my pace and even not do things at all if I don't want to.  My way I always had clean dishes and plenty of firewood.  The dogs were fed and had plenty of water.  My bed was made if not to military precision.  My clothes were gathered and the towels were dried after use.  I did all this without getting myself wound up and stressed out.  It was a good week.  Now I just have to tie up loose ends: fix some things on the tent and put it away, put away the sleeping bags after they've aired out, and clip down Shania cuz those mats aren't something I'm going to tacke with a comb.

 

Well, there is still no one  answering the phone at the office for the RM of Wallace.  Either they have a crappy secretary, all decided to go on vacation, or they know what they are trying to do is wrong and don't want to face the truth when presented with with hard facts.

 

So, I am going to take a lesson from the much maligned "pit bull" and hang on tenaciously.  Persistence can't hurt, but it can pay off.

Riding on the coat tails of my previous entry I'd like to update all of you who have no lives and think my life is worth reading about.

 

I went searching throught phonebook today looking for the number for the "city" council or town office for Rokeby, the little Saskatchewan town that is looking to ban "pit bulls", Doberman Pinschers, and Rottweilers.  I look and look and there is no listing for anything under Rokeby.  This town is so small it doesn't even get its own page in the phonebook.

 

So, when I get home from work I call the city manager for the City of Yorkton.  The closest city to Rokeby.  I am told by a pleasant woman named Gloria that Rokeby is in the RM of Wallace & Orkney.  She gave me the number for the office of the municipality [(306) 782-2333 for those who wish to protest these barbaric laws with me] and was helpful.

 

While I was on the phone with Gloria I asked her if there was any BSL on the table for Yorkton.  She told me it had been discussed, but that no one had proposed it.  Nor had they talked with the local SPCA.  So that means no BSL for Yorkton in the near future.  Yeah!

 

After I hung up with Gloria I tried calling the Wallace/Orkney office.  After a teleprompt to decide between W or O I got no answer.  So I will try again tomorrow.  I will also try to get an e-mail address for those farther away who wish to protest without making a long distance phone call.

It doesn't.  In the wake of a massive sweeping "pit bull" ban in Ontario, thanks the preeminently stupid Mr. Micheal Bryant, many municipalties are considering adding specific breeds to their dangerous dog laws.  Thus labeling the entire breed as vicious.  Estevan is one of these cities, and Rokeby is another.  The town of Southey passed a ban on "pits", Rotts, Dobes, and GSDs last year.   Any human being with a iota of common sense (which I know is not all that common) will tell you that just banning one or more breeds of dogs will not stop dog bites from happening for many reasons, not the least of which is that other "family" breeds bite as well.  Here are a couple of examples from my own life and why they happened:

 

1)  I am 8 years old.  We are at a family reunion down in Ontario (of all places).  I am sitting in front of my uncles Border Collie who I do not know petting him on the head.  He lunges at me and bites me, drawing blood and puncturing my nose all the way through.  Why did this happen?  Many reasons:

     a)  I was left unsupervised with a strange dog.  This should never have happened.  In fact, no child should EVER be left alone with a dog regardless of how well they know each other.

     b)  I was on the dogs level, looking it in the eyes.  Dogs interpret this as a challenge.  Being a stranger, I had no right to challenge him.

     c)  I was also petting him on the head.  Another threat.  The head is a vulnerable spot on that dog and many do not like when strangers touch their vulnerable spots.

 

When I was 19 I got my nose peirced, and now you can not see where the dog bit me.

 

2)  I am now 10 years old.  Again we are at a family reunion in Ontario.  Same dog.  I didn't learn my lesson the first time.  I was sitting beside him this time and tried to force him to lay down by picking up one of his legs and pushing down on his back.  He took exception to this and bit me in the face again.  This time he took a bite out of my lip.  Thankfully it healed and left no scar.  Why did this bite happen?

    a)  I was again left alone with a dog I did not know.  Not only was this my parents fault, but the dog owners, who knew that given provocation the dog would bite.

    b)  The dog owner, knowing that the dog does not like being around children, brought the dog to the family reunion where there was guaranteed to be many youngsters.  He also did not bring a means of confining the dog beyond the dog's collar and had to borrow a rope to tie the dog up after it bit another child at the same reunion (that's three bites for this dog BTW).

     c)  I was manhandling this strange dog.  No dog is going to like being manhandled by a stranger, especially one it views as a puppy, nor should he be expected to.  While it was the dog owners job to protect the public from his dog, it is also his job to protect the dog from the public.

    d)  The first bite was not reported, thus there was no record of aggressive behavior and at the time of the second bite.  At the time, Ontario had a "one bite" rule so nothing happened to the dog.

 

3)  While walking on an off-leash trail with my own dog, who was slightly behind me on the narrow trail, we were accosted by a Golden Retriever.  The dog ran past me and chased my dog, Lucky, into the woods where it pinned her to the ground.  I took off into the woods after them, calling Lucky to come back to me which she can't.  As soon as I get there the Golden takes off back to its owner.  The Golden's owner is standing on the trail just standing there.  I get back on the trail with my dog and the Golden's owner finally snaps out of her trance.  She has her dog by the collar (still no leash in sight) and walks up to me and says, "Sorry, he does that to other dogs."  I give her the, "Your a real stupid bitch" look.  Tell her that if she knew that she shouldn't be on a trail that is open to ALL non-aggressive, off-leash dogs if she knows that is what her dog does.  So why did this happen?

    a) Someone let their aggressive dog off-leash in an area that is designated for off-leash dogs.  She chose to ignore the safety of other trail users because she didn't want to walk her dog on leash.  She thought because it was a Retriever, it would never hurt anyone or anything.

     b)  i was not aware of my surroundings.  If I had been paying more attention to where I was going, instead of getting Lucky to catch up, I would have seen this dog coming and could have doubled back on the trail to a place where I could step off it.

 

 

So if these BSL laws pass what will protect people from the above three senarios?  Nothing.  BSL usually targets "pit bulls", Rottweilers, Dobermans, German Shepherds, and Akitas.  None of those breeds were invovled in the above incidents.  I am not saying that I don't favor harsh punishment for people who allow their dogs to bite or behave aggressively.  I am just saying that by banning specific breeds will give a false sense of security and only punish the responsible owners of such breeds who license, train and care for their dogs.  The authorities won't know where the problem dogs are unless they are reported, since the thugs who own those dogs will not license them, will not pick them up from the pound when they are found wandering, will not train them properly (and will most likely train them to be aggressive).  IMO, these type of laws will only punish the good representatives of the breed.

 

If the city councils won't listen to use concientious, responsible owners, then, it is time for a little civil disobedience. If it is the only way to show legislators that they are wrong, it's what must be done to preserve our rights.

Well, since this is my first blog ever I think I'll start with some things I've learned while playing Halo for PC.

 

1)  You Marine backup will pick the exact time you are about to pull the trigger on an Elite to walk right into you shot, get himself killed and give away your position.  You are screwed.

2)  Your Marines also like to run in front of the Scorpion tank while you are driving.  Don't kill too many this way, otherwise their buddies will start shooting at you.

3)  The sniper rifle, as sweet as it is, is the wrong weapon for the job once you get on the Truth and Reconciliation.

4)  You shouldn't have bothered rescuing Keyes the first time.  All those Marines died just so he could go and get captured again.

5)  Kill the Grunts with the Fuel Rod guns in the last levels.  It's fun to watch them explode and take out all their friends.

6)  If you hit an Elite in the head with a plasma grenade, it's also fun to watch him try to get it off.  That is, for the 3 seconds he has before his head explodes.

7)  Always keep a shotgun with you from 343 Guilty Spark and to the end of the game.  Unless of course, it is empty, in which case, any weapon is better than an empty one.

8)  While you have a sniper rifle, kill any Elite you see on the level Halo while you have ammo.  Don't waste it on Grunts, and only use it on Jackals if you can't get close enough to melee attack them.

9)  Don't melee attack the Combat form Flood, it doesn't work on them.  Definitely don't do it to Carrier forms, what with the exploding release of Infection forms.

10)  The whole game is almost as good therapy as bubble wrap when you are pissed off at your boss.