road kill.........does it matter?

I'm a soft touch when it comes to animals......I blame my Father ;)

I often wonder if people here care about animals.....I know some do...but generally? I am constantly told this is rural Alberta...animals are there to be hunted...to be eaten...and people don't care about them......if its a domestic pet they care more but often not much more.....

So when people hit a deer or porcupine with their car...do they care? Is it the dented fender they care about? Do they give the animal a second thought?

Tonight on the road home we saw a porcupine dead beside the road....did the driver care that they had killed it? Will they think about it tonight? Or does it not matter because it's 'just a porcupine'?

I sometimes wonder if people remember that we are actually in THEIR land....the animals home...we are slowly invading more and more of their home.......yet us humans are arrogant enough to think that they don't matter really - this is OUR land and we come first! Progress is progress...more roads, more subdivisions..more stores....more more more.....and the animals are just in the way...

Like the moose that wandered into a subdivision in Sherwwod Park on Easter Day....it had to be tranquilized to be moved out of the area but the stress caused it to die in transit.........

Progress..................

But when animals die out....when they get fewer and fewer it DOES have great repercussions on us...just look at the loss of bees in the US.......farmers are losing their crops FAST because of the loss of bees.....the loss of their little workers who pollenate the crops...............but they are just bees aren't they?????? I wish more people would appreciate the wildlife around here.....the small creatures as well as the larger ones.......

It makes me sad :(

Kathy........I appreciate your rant!!

Kathy - I just want to say a HUGE thank you - thank you for understanding...thank you for just emphasizing EVERYTHING that I was feeling about the guns yesterday - about the frogs. Thank you.

Last year we attended a workshop on frogs in Alberta and learned all about how they are at risk here and the numbers are dwindling.....the speakers were soooooo surprised that we have large numbers in our pond.....surprised that we had found frog spawn....

I was devastated last year.....our pond floods badly from the thaw...it becomes twice its size and then the frogs lay their frogspawn when the pond is large...the pond shrinks and we found dried up dead spawn all over the banks of the pond....so sad...this year we plan to scoop it out and place it back into the original pond.

What these boys did REALLY upset me.....I hate to admit it, but what they were doing to the frogs probably upset me more than them shooting Lauries leg.....but I am not sure the school saw it that way...and I know most people around here don't see it that way.....

Thank you for understanding totally. I really do appreciate your rant!!!

almost 5 hours late.....

Yesterday the furnace company called to say they would be out today to charge up the air conditioning (didnt even know it needed to be 'charged' whatever that means lol!) They said they would be out at 11am.....thats fine....

This morning at 9:30am they called for directions to our house - so I gave them directions (they are really simple as we don't live far off the highway) and the guy said 'Ok we will see you in a couple of hours....'

Well that would have been 11:30am....fine...well its now 4pm and they still have not arrived!

Last nights sunset before the storm.........

Artist trading cards/ altered playing cards...

Today I finally had time today to work on my altered playing cards (ATC's) and I also decorated a tin that I bought that fits a pack of playing cards perfectly......I really enjoyed decorating these cards - the one with the flower isn't finished yet but I haven't found th eperfect thing to add to it yet......

I'd definitely like to do more ATC's.......the size is so easy to do when you don't have long.....

Turning Five.....

Here is a layout I did today of my Mother In Law Teresa and my Daughter Abigail......Terry gave me a picture of herself on her 5th birthday and asked me to give it to Abigail when she was 5.......I thought ti would be lovely to take the same picture with the cake of Abby - we couldn't go outside because of the snow, but we took the picture inside in February and I have sent copies of both to Terry...this layout shows the two birthday girls together :)

I hear thunder, I hear thunder...

Hark...don't you?
Hark, don't you?
pitter patter raindrops
pitter patter raindrops
I'm wet through.
So are you!

We had our first thunder storm last night.......the clouds started rolling in mid evening and by the time I went to bed, the thunder was under way and the rain was hitting the window! Wonderful :) Summer must be here :)

Wicca in the US

Last night I caught some of Anderson Cooper 360 (love that guy - just his voice and everything - and if you want to read a good book I recommend his!!)

Anyway......they did a section on how soldiers who have died in action can't always have their religious symbol on their gravestones in the military cemetaries......

It turns out that the US has a list of thirty-something religions that are allowed to be displayed on soldiers gravestones.....the Pentacle from the Wiccan religion is NOT allowed......I think he said that almost 100 Wiccan soldeirs have died for their country YET they are NOT allowed their religious symbol of choice on their gravestones...

I think this is so sad. There is so much ignorance about the Wiccan religion....witchcraft and devil worship etc etc....

They showed an old clip of President Bush being asked about the symbol and he replied 'I don't consider Devil Worship to be a religion' - how IGNORANT.....I can't stand him anyway but his ignorance is just amazing - does he think before he speaks? But then its him and his followers who ahve brought in tighter rules on abortion too :(

I am not Wiccan...or Pagan...but I have studied both philosophies - I even took a Wiccan course in Stockport.......it's a wonderfully peace-loving, nature loving religion.....MUCH older than Christianity....it is the religion of 'wisecraft' the term witchcraft comes from that! Wicca is based on the spirituality of our ancestors....a worship of the Goddess, God and natural universe. It is to do with growth, change and healing.....

Some of these heroes...that have died for their country, have nothing but a rock marking their grave........Supposedly they fought for their freedom (and ours) yet even in death they don't have the freedom to choose which symbol appears on their gravestone.

The good news is that the families of these soldiers have won through and within the next few months the Wiccan symbol will be added to the list of religious symbols allowed on gravestones in the military cemetaries...

Post secret

Please check out this weeks Post Secret postings - the link is to the right of my blog.....there are truly some wonderful posts this week.

Here's the pig post I promised....

I took these pictures yesterday from the front room...so they aren't great as they are looking through glass that is covered in muddy paw prints! Susie walked Sam down the driveway and back yesterday and Charlie our pig followed them faithfully back and forth......

Fat pigs look hilarious running!!!! I wonder if Lloyd will think the same when I start running this weekend hahahahahaha!

Pokoyo

I hate Pokoyo...it drives me nuts listening to it.........Sam seems to like it though and shouts out to it......

I think I'm PMS'ing because I seem to hate everything today lol!

Still, it's date night tonight :) I wonder if the Wok Box in Sherwood Park is open yet!!!!!

Happy plants...

Crappy pictures because I was rushing and couldn't be bothered to fiddle with the camera, but here is a picture to show you how well Dorothy is doing (Dorothy is my Orchid)....she still has all her flowers flowering beautifully..........

And the other plant is one I bought at Ikea with Christie a few weeks ago and it just seems to LOVE sitting beside my Mac!!!! It's as happy as a pig in sh*t :) and Christie will be pleased to take note that it seems to be growing penises.....(is that even the plural of Penis????? or is it peni???? penii????? Not sure!!! But you know what I mean......

Oh and talking about pigs......thats my next post!

Its Hump Day!!!

So it's Wednesday...I have Laurence home sick from school - he can barey speak his throat is so bad and he looks so unwell...so he is home for the day at least - I was kind of hoping for a quet day but that won't happen now! Laurence likes to talk!!! lol!

Carole Anne emailed me this morning - she is Bobbi's Mom.........she picked Dan up from Sherwood Park last night and took him to Bobbi's place...but she said she couldn't bear to leave him there all evening and so her and her Husband took Dan and Bobbi out for dinner!!!! Then they drove him over to West Edmonton Mall (worlds largest) and showed him the ice rink and the water park etc etc....I bet he had a blast!!!

He stayed over at Bobbi's last night and today he has an interview and then tonight he is going to Bobbi's grandparents for dinner as it's her Grandfathers birthday I believe!

He is having such a great welcome to Edmonton......I bet he loved the Mall......

What else what else?????

Oh I got woken up at 7am this morning by a bloody woodpecker attacking the shingles on the roof!!!!! Grrrrr.....I sent Laurie outside to scare it off, but half an hour later it was back - it's like a flippin' pneumatic drill!!!!!!

Lloyd made me laugh this morning...he said Sam was cuddled up to me all night and he couldn't believe how Sam could sleep so close through my loud snoring..he said that he (Lloyd) was literally hanging off the other side of the bed to be as far away as possible hahahahahahaha!!! Then he said when he was going out the door I woke up and made a noise like Mater from Cars does when he wakes up!!! How charming is that???????? rotflmao!!!!!

I should really go outside today and clean up some more of the yard (dog poop, garbage etc that collects under the snow) but to be honest all I want to do is scrapbook!!!

Air gun issues....

So last night laurence went for a cycle ride with his friend Noah......they came across two boys from school who had an air gun with them - they also had a bucket of frogs and were taking one out at a time and shooting them until they were dead. They then shot at Laurences leg - it left a red mark........

Laurence isn't blameless in this - he didn't walk away - he didn't tell them he thought it was wrong - he even held upa toy gun that shot plastic darts and he shot at his friend.........

I am not happy - I called the school and told them and they will speak to the boys - they suggested I call the RCMP (police) but I don't want to - I don't want to get them into trouble - I just want someone to talk to the boys about their actions......

So I posted about this on a certain website and 'you know who' has to post to say basically there is nothing wrong with shooting frogs - of course she didn't put it in those words but its what she meant - she never NEVER agrees with me - its beyond ridiculous.......she is probably the main reason I avoid the site as much as I do.......I hardly go there now but yesterday I was just so tired that all I did was scrapbook and surf the web......