How's That Again ?

Was travelling Highway 15 (highway is a debatable term, more like a cattle trail)
when I came across this sign. Slow down for surface failures !
Surface failures? Now that's a new term. If it is a failure then who's fault is it
and more importantly why isn't it being fixed? All last week I listened to the debate on the radio about Regina building a new domed stadium (with taxpayer money ofcourse)for the RoughRiders and the plans to have a multi purpose facility that would be filled 200 times per year. 200 times per year? That's a major event every two days. Does no-one do the math on these things? How can you build a domed (more like doomed stadium) when highways are crumbling, health care is failing and jails are over crowded? Maybe the government could start by rebuilding the cattle trail between Nokomis and Kenaston.

Eye See Saskatchewan Hospitality

Had some minor surgery on my eye on Monday to repair a cut of the cornea. Not sure how it got there but nevertheless.
It is incredible how painful it is. The doctor gave me some ointment which has to be put in four times a day. That was ok for
Monday as Louise was able to lay a strip of this gooey ointment in the bottom sack under the eye. But Tuesday I had to go on the road for a couple of nights to make some calls in our southern Saskatchewan territory. Almost impossible to put this stuff in by yourself without further damaging your eye by poking it. So I decided to stop at small town Saskatchewan hospitals and see if the nurses would do it for me. They did and they were super helpful. One even took some solution and cleaned the eye really good before putting the ointment in. Didn't have to sit in a waiting room or even register. So my thanks to the nurses at
Eston Hospital, Moose Jaw Union Hospital (two times - once Tuesday night and once on Wednesday morning and to the nurse at the Avonlea Extended Care Home. Nice to be able to have that kind of help. Funny how things changed once I got to the big city of Regina. Went to a medical clinic and the nurse on duty was not allowed to put in the ointment. Had to register and see a doctor and only he could do it. Don't think it would have anything to do with money do you? Nah it couldn't, could it ?

On A Clear Night You Can See Forever

Toronto Maple Laughs

My 30th favourite team in the National Hockey League is the Toronto Maple Leafs.
If there were 31 teams then thats where the Leafs would be. It's not so much the players, they're probably all pretty good guys but it's more the media that go on and on about the Leafs like they are the best thing on ice. I realize that Toronto is the center of the universe and all that. All you have to do is watch the weather network and all you hear is ten minutes of Toronto suffering through a little snowfall and then the announcer will say, "On the Prairies today, its cold. You know the Prairies extend from Thunder Bay to the Rocky Mountains. It can be freezing cold in Winnipeg and mild in Calgary but as far as the weather network is concerned it's just cold on the Prairies. But I digress, back to the Leafs, I mean they haven't won a Stanley Cup championship since 1967. Talk about a run of futility. Only the Saskatoon Blades have a worse record in sports. The Blades have never won a championship in their history while little centers like Prince Albert and Swift Current have.
But back to the Maple Laughs. One of my favourite books, one Tim gave me for Christmas a couple of years back is entitled "Why The Leafs Suck". The author attempts to explain the Leafs futility and what can be done about. Obviously none of the authors ideas have worked or have been used. So today I came across a cute cartoon about the Maple Leafs that I just had to post here. The last time I wrote on my blog about my least favourite team, the Maple Leafs, someone sent me a Leaf key chain. Who knows what I might get this time.

Sunsets

I have always loved sunsets, one of God's beautiful miracle creations. Went looking through some old photographs yesterday and came up with these from various places we have visited.
















A beautiful Canadian sunset taken last year in Nova Scotia

This picture was taken from a outrigger boat along the shorelines of Honolulu











A beautiful Hawaii sunset















This sunset was taken in Cuba.

God's Hand In Everything

As I write this Mom/Grandma along with Linda are preparing for the flight home to
Kelowna. The weather here is clear and cold but Linda checking on the internet says there may be delays at Kelowna airport, hopefully that will not hold Mom up as I know she is anxious to get home. Although no one could have planned or predicted the circumstances that brought her to Saskatoon and her subsequent hospitalizatiion there have been some positives or perhaps you could even call them blessings.
Darrel and Rhonda and their families and Louise and I and our family have all had the opportunity to have some special times with Mom even through the sickness.
Tim's girlfriend Karla returned from Hawaii yesterday and last night had the opportunity to have a meal and meet the "special Grandmother" that Tim had told her about.
One of the most meaningful and cherished times for Louise and I was the opportunity to have devotions and pray with Mom each night. She is truly a lady of prayer and told me she prays for children, her grandchildren and her great grandchildren every day. She has also, although she doesn't call it that, established a ministry at Mission Woods where she prays for the residents and is often sought after for advice.
One of the special devotional times was Tuesday, January 11th when we read from Our Daily Bread a devotional called "Why Not Now". It talked about God's purpose in leaving us behind on earth with work to be done that can only be accomplished on earth. In Mom's case her work on earth is prayer and her absence would certainly create a void.
There was also another, I guess I call it a minor miracle. While Mom was in hospital the sixth floor of St Paul's Hospital had to be closed down due to an outbreak of the Norwalk Virus. After Mom left the virus spread to the fifth floor and now the entire hospital is closed to visitors. Had Mom remained in the hospital even a day or two more, we may not have got the visiting time with her that we got at the Sheridan Hotel.
So we thank God for Mom, for God's hand in bringing her through the sickness and pray for a safe arrival for her back at her home in Kelowna where her ministry of prayer can continue.

Memory's From a Box of Flakes

It's funny how sometimes the smallest things can generate memories of childhood, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Mom, in her convalescence at the hotel has been requesting "Corn Flakes" for breakfast. So I went out and bought a big box of corn flakes and Louise has been putting them into one of those tupperware things and we take it up the night before for her breakfast. Yesterday morning I decided that I would have a bowl of corn flakes. It must be 40 years since I had corn flakes, remembering of course how youthful I am. As I travelled on the road today to Swift Current I began thinking of childhood and how corn flakes was one of the main things we would have for breakfast. I grew up in a very limited income family. Mom worked outside the home (unusual in those days, not so much now) and Dad was a struggling musician who taught piano to supplement his income. So Monday - Friday it was pretty much corn flakes or some other cold cereal (I also remember Tony the Tiger and Frosted Flakes - they're grrrreat commercial) because it was quick and easy to prepare. As kid's we would go grocery shopping with Mom and take turns with one of us picking the type of cereal. I always chose corn flakes. On Saturday's if Mom had the day off or if Dad was teaching later, then we would get hot oatmeal porridge. And Sunday's was always hot oatmeal I love oatmeal porridge to this day.
It was interesting looking up this history of Corn Flakes. I guess I didn't have enough to do today.
Corn flakes are a popular breakfast cereal originally manufactured by Kellogg's through the treatment of corn (maize). A patent for the product was filed on May 31, 1895, and issued on April 14, 1896.[1][2]
The accidental legacy of corn flakes goes back to the late 19th century, when a team of Seventh-day Adventists began to develop new food to meet the standards of their strict vegetarian diet. Members of the group experimented with a number of different grains, including wheat, oats, rice, barley, and of course corn. In 1894, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, the superintendent of The Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan and an Adventist, used these recipes as part of a strict vegetarian regimen for his patients, which also included no alcohol, tobacco, or caffeine. The diet he imposed consisted entirely of bland foods. A follower of Sylvester Graham, the inventor of graham crackers and graham bread and supporter of sexual abstinence, Kellogg believed that spicy or sweet foods would increase passions. In contrast, cornflakes would have an anaphrodisiac property and lower the sex drive.[3]

This idea for corn flakes began by accident when Dr. Kellogg and his younger brother, Will Keith Kellogg, left some cooked wheat to sit while they attended to some pressing matters at the sanitarium. When they returned, they found that the wheat had gone stale, but being on a strict budget, they decided to continue to process it by forcing it through rollers, hoping to obtain long sheets of the dough. To their surprise, what they found instead were flakes, which they toasted and served to their patients. This event occurred on August 8, 1894, and a patent for "Flaked Cereals and Process of Preparing Same" was filed on May 31, 1895, and issued on April 14, 1896.[2][4][5]

A Different Christmas

I could not sleep last night which is not an unusual situation for me so I read my Bible and kind of reflected back on this year's Christmas season. It really was kind of a different Christmas from past years. First Tim has a new job as a Corrections Officer so works shift work and he was on the all nighter over Christmas so we had to work around that. Jennifer was home from Ottawa and this year thankfully her flights to and from were uneventful compared to the previous year where we had to drive all evening to Calgary and back all night to get her on a midnight flight to Ottawa as WestJet could not take off out of Saskatoon due to the extreme cold. Then ofcouse we kind of missed the Christmas season with Louise's mom.
She arrived from Winnipeg and got off the plane and you could tell she was very sick.
The next morning she was taken to hospital where she remained for about ten days.
So it was lots of hospital visits and this year Louise and I passed on a New Year's party so we could stay at the hospital New Year's eve and not leave Grandma alone.
Then I had to pick up Jennifer from her New Year's celebration at 12:30am and then wake her up about 4:30am to get a 6:15am flight back to Ottawa. I am so glad that when this semester ends she will return to Saskatoon to work as a lawyer for a firm here.
Even though we missed the "having Christmas" part with Grandma Lepp there is one part I do not regret. Every night Louise and I have had devotions reading to her from Our Daily Bread. Then I have held her hand and prayed for her health, healing and safe return to her home in Kelowna. It has been such a priviledge to pray with her knowing the strong prayer warrior she is and how she prays faithfully for each and every member of her family. Just having those memories to cherish has made this "different Christmas" really meaningful for me. After all Jesus came to serve and it has been a honor to serve Mom in even such a small way.




We opened presents at Tim's house with Jenn, Tim and Karla after
he had finished his all night shift. Diego was interested in each and every present and when he finally figured out there was nothing there for him, he took a
nap. He did get a present later that day and now has to many toys lying around the house.

A Brilliant Man

I had to have one of those heart stress tests done today. While we were on holidays in Prince Edward Island my blood pressure went to 215 over 195. Louise took me to emergency in Charlottetown and they pumped something into my veins to lower the blood pressure. My local Doctor was concerned about heart damage so sent me to this specialist at City Hospital where after 2 and a half hours of testing they could not find any damage. I thank the Lord for that.

But my reason for writing this piece is to tell about the Heart Specialist. I wish I had gotten his name. What a brilliant man.
He interviewed me for thirty minutes. Took my complete history. Every surgery, what medicine I had taken or was taking, what doctors I had seen and so on. And the amazing part he had no pen, no paper and took no notes. Then he and the nurse
spend twenty minutes with me while I ran the tread mill at various speeds and elevations. When that was done and while
the nurse began my cool down he went to his dictaphone and transcribed everything I had told him. All the medications including their strengths etc,
all the surgeries, names of the doctors I had given him and all from memory and no mistakes. I said to the nurse "How does he do that, that is amazing"
The nurse replied "We call him more than amazing, we call him awesome, he does that all the time"
As I said I wish I had gotten his name but what a amazing mind and brilliant memory. Nice to see we have medical people
like that in Saskatchewan.
Addendum
Did some checking around and made some phone calls: The man's name is Dr. Sharma