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Low Water, Flints, Nada...
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
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This morning, the last of the warmer days before a predicted cold snap. And so I head off bright & early to Balfour.
I'm on the 7:15 bus, and for what should be a damned fine day it sure is a damned fine cold morning.
Arrive, 8:00, the water is low. I start in the washout, a few bits of flint, one piece worked, the others debitage. Nothing worth photographing. I comb the beach, back and forth, a few unworked pieces of flint, rose quartz, what appears to be agate, nothing worth collecting, careful to keep out of the line of sight of the old restaurant.
By 9:30 I'm done. It's still a bit too early, brisk for this, and I've found nothing to spur me on to look longer & harder.
And that's that. Curiosity slaked, but no treasures.
The Fort McMurray Yachting Club
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
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And talking to J***, the gentleman I helped to move, he's telling us stories of the mines and Fort Mac. The drug policies, of interest, 0 tolerance for drugs, you have to have gone 12 hours without alcohol (they're not being too unreasonable there), but they test as well for Cocaine, Marijuana, etc.
They don't fuck around. IN the mines, if there's an accident underground the whole crew is tested, if any are positive they're all let go. It doesn't matter. Marijuana, that stays in your system 30 days. So nobody on these crews smokes dope. Cocaine, on the other hand, only stays around for 4...
You get the idea. They're 2 weeks in, 2 weeks out, and everyone has a plan when they first get back to civilization...
***
J*** is telling us how when he was in Fort Mac. the guy he's with eats a handful of sawdust. He observes, a couple of times, the guy reaching into his pocket, taking out a handful of sawdust and chewing it down. So by and by he asks the question, and the guy explains that tomorrow's payday...
This explains nothing, and so after a bit J*** asks for clarification. Payday, all the workers gather and there's a regatta. The Fort McMurray yachting club. Everyone lays out a turd on the tailing pond, the first one across wins, the loser loses his cheque.
It's important the turd floats, hence he's devouring sawdust.
Now you know where my mind is going, I'm picturing a regatta of sloops and sailing boats, all outfitted with toothpick masts and toilet paper sails, the occasional pirate flag, the cultural elite of Alberta on the sidelines, cheques in hand, cheering them all on...I imagine the trophy that comes with the winning, a (of necessity) "Shit" in a bottle sat upon the proud winners mantelpiece...
If you've never lived in Alberta you wouldn't believe it. If you have you know you're only getting the bits fit for "public" consumption...
But if you wanted to explain the politics this is where you'd start...
The Demise of House Calls
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
- Hits: 91
Friend, sick, has an interview with doctor over Skype. Who recommends she gets herself to a hospital ASAP as she's not doing well. Hospitals, at the moment - well, she was in for 7 hours for no diagnosis and a lot of tests.
Anyways, she had told me the doctor was paying a house call and it got me thinking, not as in Skype but as in the day when Doctors would actually go to see the patient in their own environment. Because in their environment might be a lot of clues as to not only what ails them - psychologically as well as physically, but socially as well.
Just as a teacher would get a lot of insight into a pupils life and behaviour by going to their home, so Doctors - and Patients - would benefit from house calls.
But, given the state of health care funding and hospitals in general, don't go expecting that any time soon.
Migration, Content & Other Headaches
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
- Hits: 239
So, finally, after a lot of exporting and tracking down of missing articles (200 as of this morning, 0 at the moment) I've managed to migrate all my old articles over.
Headache after headache.
This, and a few other display issues, and it's almost to where it was when I began. Of course, it needs a pretty banner, a few tweaks here and there, but, by and large the tech side of it has been handled, and with a half hour a day in a week or so it should look OK.
If you were wondering, that's where I've been. Working on that bollocks, and in Williams Lake...
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