Ten-Four Good Buddy

This is truly an ominous time in our lives. The virus sweeping the world right now is something out of Hollywood.

It's making many panic, and to be honest, after reading too much social media, I too, panicked. But when I shut off the computer, phone and television, I feel a soothing calm. My family is doing well. We're eating well, thanks to simple, often Mennonite-inspired, meals that can be prepared with a little planning. We all still have our sense of humour and when I'm feeling a little too cabin-fevery, I head outside for a walk or go for a drive in the car.

I've only gone into public to do the grocery shopping once since the state of emergency was issued. We can make anything out of anything, so instead of making a menu before a shopping trip, I see what's left in the store first, then plan meals in my head. My parents taught me how to make do in a McGyvery-Mennonite way.

My 16 year old daughter is finishing up her grade 11 studies at home through an online system that her highschool set up, quite swiftly I might add! She played her cards right so she's only got two classes until the end of the school year and an optional distance learning course. My 19 year old has been told to stay home and his work as a security guard has been put on hold for a couple of weeks. (He phoned in for a day off because he wasn't feeling well and they told him to stay home.) My husband is still heading to work every day but he works with so very few people in the auto body shop right now and they have work in the shop to keep them busy for awhile.

Normalcy for me consists of studying for my real estate exam (which I won't be able to write until the college opens up), listening to the radio as I'm going about daily chores and routine, baking treats, and anything to make us feel like we're not stuck in a chicken coop.

There's desperation in the air as people are struggling to make ends meet. The unsung heroes are working so very very hard to keep this country afloat and keep our population alive. Often not thanked enough.

It's our trucking companies who get a big shout out from me. That is whom I can relate to. It takes a special kind of person to work in the trucking industry.

I have family members, distant and immediate, friends and acquaintances in the industry so I have seen first-hand how truck drivers worry about paying the bills, the mortgage, keeping their families fed and happy. I've seen the distraught faces of truck drivers whose trucks have broken down on the side of the road. Fixing the truck on the side of the road sometimes is their only option or they manage to "limp" home after a multi-day trip of deliveries while their truck is making noises as steam curls out from under the hood. The expense of keeping one of those rigs on the road isn't cheap! I've seen the anger, frustration and disappointment when they're laid over for a few days at a warehouse far away from home or far from their destination due to changes in schedule. They have an incredible need and desire to stay on schedule.

They can only drive for a certain amount of hours each day and sometimes their "off" time may be filled with other tasks other than rest or sleep so please, for the love of God, if you see a semi-truck parked on the side of the road, maybe with a driver slumped over the steering wheel, don't hold down your horn for the purpose of startling the driver as you drive by. Just slow down and move to the other lane if possible.

Right now our truck drivers can't even find a decent place to eat while they're on the road. The ones crossing the borders can't take their own food along so they must rely on convenience-store food and we all know how healthy that stuff is. You've all seen the hours-old hot dogs tumbling around on the rollers in 7-11. Yeah, that. How about those sandwiches that are vacuum sealed, with condensation dribbling around in the bag, and display an expiry date a few weeks from now? Yum. Was that mould I just tasted or am I just too damn hungry to care?

The people in the trucking industry, health-care workers, emergency responders, cleaning industry, food service and grocery stores/bakeries/butcher-shops/hardware store owners and employees are working on a day-to-day basis, praying to God that they don't catch this awful virus and worse yet, spread it to their families.

Oh sure, my generation got a kick out of many great movies involving the beloved highway tractors we know and love today. How about Smokey and The Bandit? Or even Stephen King's Maximum Overdrive? Weren't those movies a hoot!

Let's give a cheer for all those essential services that are being provided for the rest of us at this trying time!

We'll get through this! Let's KEEP ON TRUCKING!!

Hiking the West Coast Trail

Getting ready

Day 1: Really started to have doubts about this hike when I lift my pack onto the fish scale. 47 lbs. What. The. Hell. How did it become so heavy? Too late to back out now. Our group attended the mandatory orientation earlier in the morning and we were now sitting on the riverbank awaiting a fishing boat to ferry us across the river to start our 75 kilometer hike on the Pacific Rim of Vancouver Island.
First off on the other side of the river is a ladder at a 90 degree angle. I have to two-step it all the way up. I know for a fact that my pack is much too heavy. I look back at the ferry making it's way back to the other side with the hikers who finished this morning and were looking forward to hot meals and even hotter showers. Thinking of crawling back down the ladder but I don't.
Carry on.
Lots of fallen trees, roots, mud and rocks to work through, over and under. Right leg, particularly the thigh and hip are getting weak. After hiking for three hours, realized we've only hiked about one and a half kilometers. Can't think of enough words to express my feelings at this point.
I make it to the first campsite by supper time. I am so sore. Can hardly stand up from a sitting position.
Do I cry? I've heard many hikers cry on the trail. Thinking of crying but not sure if that would help matters much. Realize that this is still day one. By early evening, we're at our first beautiful campground by the ocean. Thrasher Cove is probably the most memorable for me!
I make myself supper, my son helps me pitch my tent and I go to bed.

Waiting to get on the boat to be ferried across the river

Day two, my left leg and hip are arguing with me. Even though my physical aches are getting the better of me as I'm hiking, I try to look up and around every now and then to take in some scenery. How beautiful! Pitching the tent at the end of each day, making a hot meal and parking my head on my new blow-up pillow is one of the best parts of my day. We end up at another magnificent campground for the night.

Drying out our socks and boots to no avail

Bonilla

Day three, I pop those Tylenol 3's like a boss! Those are the painkillers I saved in case my abscessed tooth acted up. I'm not monkeying around.
We come across another beautiful campground, Bonilla Point, at the end of the hiking day, which I've deemed my favourite on the entire hike.

Coleson getting ready for night-night

Drying out my boots and socks turns into a daily occurrence and am mildly disappointed when they are still wet when I slip back into them in the morning.

Bonilla Point

The boys trying to stay cool

Day four we camp at Tsusiat Falls. That is where we end up beside more waterfalls and camp next to rock. We get there early in the afternoon. It was the hottest day or maybe it just seemed that way because we were next to lots of rock....but anyway, that, my friends, is where my socks and boots finally get dry! How exciting!

The next day we make it to what's affectionately called The Crab Shack. What a welcoming site! The family there kills the crab right in front of you so you know it's fresh! Baked potato, potato chips, pop and chocolate bars were big sellers with our group. We arrived later than we anticipated but Carl Edgar Jr and his family were kind enough, or they took pity on us, to stay late and bring us across the narrows in their fishing boat after we filled our bellies. I don't know the name of the campground we stayed at that night but they told us to hike until we see ladders going down, there would be camping for us. It was great! Beside the ocean and secluded ...just what we needed for that was our longest day of hiking.

On the fishing boat crossing the narrows

Probably should not have worn shorts on the first half of the trail

What a beautiful site!
The water was like glass

Day six we make it to the end of our trek. A day earlier than expected.

Camping beside the ocean every single night

We get taxied to the sweetest little town called Bamfield and stay the night on the lawn of a tourist information centre. We find a convenience store/pizza place and I ate myself crazy. If I lost any weight on that hike, I gained it all back that evening.





There is so much to say about our trek on the West Coast Trail. We walked for many kilometres on warm beautiful sand, trudged along miles of small rocks, scrambled over boulders the size of my house, walked across slippery logs, stepped into knee-high mud, climbed up and down ladders, crossed rivers on swinging bridges or on trolleys but damn it was fun.
I'll admit, I didn't enjoy every moment due to my inexperience as a back country camper, but that's not to say that I wouldn't do it again. Many times I saw the rescue boats or helicopters in the distance and considered waving them down.
I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted to because I had to work hard to keep up with the group but now that I look back, I don't feel so bad about that anymore. There are so many pictures and videos of the WCT online that I will just have to keep many parts of the trip as a wonderful memory.
We met many other hikers along the way. Most were happy but a few were not.

The best part of each day was sitting down with my after-dinner tea or coffee and staring over the ocean.

A big thanks to everyone that cheered me on -- my family, friends, clients and acquaintances.

The BIGGEST thanks go to the 14th McKillop Veuturer Company who got me into this and wouldn't let me bail out.....Scouter Dave, Scouter Coleson, Brett, Thomas and Evan.

How long is this walk?

Hiking is my newest hobby/project. What, pray tell, made me want to do such a thing? Well, I'm getting older. Really? Yes I am, and I knew that with several decades of mild neglect, I had to do something so that my body will still be ticking well into my golden years.

A couple of years ago I decided to start walking more. Then it turned into going for longer walks. Then it turned into buying real big girl hiking boots. THEN I heard that our scouting group's adventure to the West Coast Trail on British Columbia's beautiful coast needed another adult to accompany them. I gave it some thought. Yep, I'm gonna do it.

I may end up being the weak link in the group but unless something horrible happens like I break a body part, I'm doing it. It's been months of preparation, mentally and physically. I've had several opportunities to back out. I've heard several horror stories about the 75 kilometre trail but more often than not, I've heard wonderful stories. More and more negative thoughts swirl around in my head but all I keep thinking about is stepping out of my box.

I don't like being in my box all the time anymore. My box is comfy and warm. My box has a flush toilet and running water. My box is cool when it's hot outside and warm when it's cold out. My box also has plenty of food and beautiful clothing. I'm taking my chances and stepping out and allowing the sun to shine on my face and let the breeze flow through my hair.

(The hair that's going to be dirtier than I've ever seen it in my life!)

I've worked hard to build my nice box. I appreciate how pleasantly snug and warm I've built it but I need to open the door more often.

So next month, I'll be hauling 30+ pounds of water, food, clothing, sleeping accommodations and other necessities, on my back and walking across beautiful beaches, rickety ladders, thrilling cable cars and slimy trails...for...a...week.

I can't wait!

"It's Not Easy Being Green..." Kermit the Frog

I'm trying to be environmentally sensible. I really am. Sometimes it's cost effective and sometimes it's not. I swing towards the cost effective route whenever possible. Sometimes my memories will wander back to my childhood and think "What would my parents have done in this case?" That seems to help.

My parents were extremely frugal. (Except they didn't have plastic coming out of their you-know-what) I'm not going to start burning my garbage in the backyard and only drink water from a hole in the ground but using more reusable items and re-purposing everything possible is a wonderful way to get going.

We already cook a lot of our own food. I make many convenience foods and spice mixes. I make my own laundry detergent and use vinegar as a softener. That's just to name a few things. I'm almost to "hillbilly" level of make-your-own stuff!

Anything that I find too expensive, like purchasing items just because they're "green", well, that doesn't work for me.

Recently I discovered Norwex products. This company sells cleaning and other household products and beauty supplies that are made from environmentally-friendly ingredients and eliminates the use of harmful chemicals.

Although quite pricey at first, many of the items are of great quality and will stand the test of time. Many products contain silver which doesn't harbour bacteria. That's an idea they would've gathered from a century or two ago....even baby soothers were made from silver! (Learned that from Pawn Stars!)

Being green is hard work sometimes. I've taught my offspring a lot of DIY tactics and life skills...you know...how to sew on a button. Thanks to the internet and you tube videos, there's no excuse for anyone not to be able to figure things out on their own.

We haven't gone off the grid or anything and we're definitely not minimalists. Living in one of those "tiny houses" isn't our idea of a good time either. We find ways to lighten our impact on the environment if possible. If something just doesn't work for us, that's okay....we take from it what we can.

Which brings me to minimalism. (Does anyone else find this almost as extreme as hoarding?) You've heard the jokes...your friend comes over, she asks you if you have a place for her to sit down and you say no...because you own enough chairs for just you or your family but not enough for if guests were to visit.

I recently started following The Minimalists on social media. They say you need to get rid of "stuff" so you can make room for more things that bring you happiness. I've lived in small homes and I don't like clutter. When there's something that doesn't get used or is just taking up space, I like to give it to somebody who can use it, re-purpose, upcycle or throw it away if necessary. I realize what size house I have and that I can't fill it up with too much stuff. It's just not reasonable and it looks ridiculous when my house is jam-packed with crap. But I like my home to look homey. I like it when a friend  comes into my house and feels at ease...feel like they can just plop on the couch or pull out a kitchen chair and have a seat waiting for the coffee I'm about to serve them. I like guests looking at my pictures on the walls and asking me about them or discussing some of the pieces I retrieved from my mother's house after she passed away.

My parents were frugal because they had to be, not because it was the thing to do. They didn't know who David Suzuki was and they probably would've thought he was an idiot. Ma and Pa were from the "dirty 30's" era and everything, I mean everything, was scarce. But they made do with what they had and what they could share with and from family and friends. They didn't know that they were poor at the time.

We can read all the blogs, articles and videos about having less impact on the environment all day long but what we really need to do is think back to a time when our ancestors were alive.

Unless of course you're a close descendant of a royal family. That may be a little different I suppose.

Project:Lost Sheep

As a youngster, I believed that God was this hipster-looking man as big as King Kong living beyond the clouds and the devil was like a red gremlin living in the earth's core, scooting around in lava and surrounded by fire all day long, carrying a pitch fork. Later on, my crazy imagination thought more of God as a ghost hovering around me and watching my every move while the devil was a snake, waiting for me to screw up. It could get quite stressful.

And maybe that's still my problem. I didn't understand a lot about religion in my growing-up years. My parents attended church at one time but by the time I came along, Sunday mornings were a lovely time to relax with no worries about rushing about, getting on our Sunday-best and in the car in hopes to get the best seat in God's house. (We were trying to get the best seat in my brother's room to watch All-Star Wrestling on the only colour TV in the house!)

That's not to say I haven't been to a church service. Over the years I've attended services for one reason or another but I've just never been a member of a church. I used to consider myself a heathen because in the town I grew up in, when you met someone for the first time, they'd always ask "What church do you belong to?"

I'm Mennonite but it's only by default....and I'm not a very good one at that. I try to be good and caring because that's what God would like to see. Everyone has their own interpretation of religion and when we listen to a sermon, we take with us what we will....and hopefully we leave the service armed with more spiritual information, feeling enlightened and a better person.

So I've been thinking of trying out churches. You know, like we try on clothes or take a car for a test-drive. Every week or two I'll look up the worship hours of a different church and go.

Sounds easy.

I'll blog about my experiences. I've got to set myself some rules to make it an even playing field for every church service I attend. I've decided that I won't judge (because the bible tells me so) and keep an open mind throughout the project. I will try to take note of how happy and relaxed the church-goers are and how engaging the ministers, preachers, fathers, rabbi's or whatever, are with the congregation,. I'm hoping to strike up a conversation or two with members to get more inside info without sounding "under-cover".

I'll be sure to get enough sleep the night before. There's nothing like one's fall-asleep-o-meter hitting high digits during a church service. Besides, I'm really bad for yawning. 

Do we chose a religion because that's what our parents chose? What other reasons might there be? And why do many of us feel so comfortable with the religion that we grew up with? I have many questions. It's not like shopping, after all.....browsing through Amazon, trying to decide what religion I'd like to try next. Click on one or two and add them to my shopping cart....in case I don't really like the first one I've got another on stand-by.

I wish it were so easy! I'm no expert but practicing your chosen religion is a journey and a process...perhaps even a certain life-style.

I've discussed this unusual idea of church-hopping with a few family members and friends. Some of them get a kick out of it and chalk it up to one of my hair-brained ideas again but others have expressed concern. I got the question regarding what if I become brain-washed? Well, if you see me teetering on the edge of the cuckoo's nest, head to the nearest liquor store, pick up some wine, grab a copy of the Exorcist and come charging through my front door. At that point, I will need saving!

I know...some of you are already reaching for your car keys. I think I'll be okay.

I'm not sure if this project will take me a few months or a year. I'm not going to lie and say this will not be emotional. I can be a bit of a blubber-face when the right heart-strings are plucked but I'm looking forward to it anyway.

I'll be sure to stock up on tissue for my purse.

I Won't Always Be There....And She Was Right

I wrote a post about my mom awhile back titled "I Won't Always Be There..."about how she used to always say to young me "I won't always be there to say Rebecca, watch out". She used this every time I got hurt.

Eye rolls frequently escaped my baby blues at the time but I guess that's what happens when you don't realize what you've got until it's gone.

My mom died in February of this year.

She was right. She won't always be there and her saying that made me realize at a very tender age that I need to be independent. I can't expect somebody else to deal with my issues. I've got to take responsibility for things that happen to me.

This past summer my siblings and I got together to go through the old farmhouse. Box by box. Bag by bag. Book by book. Childhood memories came flooding over me as I found old pictures, jewelry boxes, clothes and dusty books. I wasn't surprised that she kept everything ever given to her. There were hundreds of birthday cards, mother's day cards and letters. She appreciated every single one. They were all in pristine condition too!

I used to tell mom to throw stuff away that she didn't use anymore but she insisted on keeping it...... although she was always willing to give it to somebody who'd appreciate it. Several years ago she started giving me a few things from the deepest corners of her house. She knew she wasn't going to live forever and she had this big ol' farmhouse full of stuff. I would go for a visit to Manitoba and come back home with the back of my truck filled with old china, beautiful old kitchen ware and daintily crocheted doilies. I kept what I could but she would be disappointed with me if she found out what just wasn't salvageable and had to be thrown out! Sorry Mom!

Anna Harder, originally from a small town in southern Saskatchewan, was somebody I wished I'd known better. She was a great help to her mother and spent most of her young life helping at home with household duties. At the young age of 19 she was married off.

Here's my beautiful Mom at 18 years old with her mother and her twin niece & nephew. She adored them!

Mom didn't talk about her young self very much. I don't think she was hiding anything, she just didn't say much about it. I guess it was another life to her or maybe she just didn't think anyone would be interested.

I only found a few pictures of young mom in the old photo box. In every one, she's got her lovely smile. I imagine talking to 18 year-old Anna and asking about her hopes and dreams. Surely she wasn't planning on having six babies and staying home to raise them all?...and working endless hours making meals, darning socks and doing yard work? Or maybe she did.

In all my years on this earth, I never heard Mom say "I should've stayed in school and become a _____" or "I feel like travelling somewhere". She never complained about carrying armfuls of chopped wood or buckets of coal across the big farm yard in the wee hours of a Manitoba winter.

She said "It needs to be done".

Whenever I pull up a picture of Mom in my head, I always see her smiling or at the very least, a smirk.....as if she had a private thought running through her head and wasn't about to give it up.

This is how I remember Mom. Still beautiful. 

It was a lot, I repeat, a LOT of work going through her belongings but a part of me is relieved that she didn't throw stuff out easily. Even though most of the "junk" (sorry Mom) got tossed into the dump, at least we were able to take one last look at it.

Father, Where Art Thou?

I'm always thinking about if my dad were alive, I'd be really interested in what he'd have to say about a few things going on right now. I know for a fact he would be totally baffled by what this world is becoming. He'd get so damn mad.

I'd pay money to see his reaction to the news that Utah is the first state to pass the Free-Range parenting bill. What?! My dad would just stare at me and tell me to repeat that because it's one of the craziest things he's ever heard of. Why would a government pass a bill so that your child can walk, alone, to the grocery store, play at the park or ride public transit without an adult assisting them. Do we not give our young offspring any credit for having brains?

Another one might be.....we have a distracted driving law in effect. Yep. If you're on your phone or putting on make-up while driving your motor vehicle, you can get a ticket for, get this, $287! Some places one cannot even drink from their water bottle with one hand while driving with the other. Dad would look at me and squint for a long time and then proceed to tell me how he used to roll a cigarette and steer with his knee AND wave to the police all at the same time! Well, Dad, I suppose people are not that talented anymore.

Ooohhh.....here's one that will knock his socks off! ....The legalization of marijuana! I don't even want to think of what he'd say about that! Isn't everyone a little cloudy in the head already?

There may be a law or two that he might approve of....no smoking in public areas is one. He had a heart condition and we're all pretty sure it was from stress and heavy smoking all those years.

I know ol' Abe would be very sad and teary-eyed about all those hockey players that were in a tragic bus crash in Saskatchewan. While sitting at the kitchen table, he would bow his head with his elbows on his knees and you would see the muscles in his jaw twitching while he's thinking about it. When he was like that, everybody left him be. He hated hearing about somebody needlessly having their life taken from them, especially when they had so much more life left to live. I think back to times when he was like this and I think he absorbed other people's pain and sadness.

Even though my father and I didn't see eye-to-eye, we'd still have healthy conversations and I'd actually feel like we were on the same team sometimes. It was a love-hate thing. We always seemed to get each other riled up about something. He's been gone almost 15 years now and I find myself wishing he was still around just for the sake of NOT getting his advice.

The scary thing is that I'm finding I'm more and more like him as I'm getting older! Help me, Lord!