Retirement for Chickens?!

Everyone in Canada knows that Vancouver, BC has a thriving homelessness problem. However, not many may know about the growing homeless chicken population! Yes, apparently there are many homeless chickens wandering the streets in Vancouver. The city's bylaw states that residents can keep up to 4 egg laying chickens in their backyard, but it also states that they cannot kill the hens when they get too old to lay, or even if the owners get a hankering for some meat!

Hmmm, a law that allows people to keep chickens but not to kill them. Interesting, especially as the city is proposing spending $20,000 on a shelter - for CHICKENS!!! There are many in the city who are against it (the non bird-brained people - excuse the pun!)

The worst thing about this proposed shelter is the raging "human" homelessness problem in Vancouver. I can't believe the mayor and the city council would even think about proposing this shelter. If they are concerned about people killing their own chickens, they should open up a butcher shop on the outskirts of the town, or have a service that comes and picks up the chickens when they get too old to lay eggs. Then they can have a butcher kill the chickens and...problem solved - no abandoned chickens!

Once the city has a handle on their "human" homelessness problem, and Vancouver has some money available, then would be a good time to propose something like this. Although, I still wouldn't think it was a good idea! So ridiculous...

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100409/bc_backyard_chickens_100409/20100410?hub=BritishColumbia

The Main Thing is not to Panic...

Are you as sick as I am of hearing about the swine flu? I usually watch the news every day, but I'm getting tired of H1N1 being headline news every night! I want to hear about something else people! I would even rather start hearing about America's health care reform again! Wow...I must be desperate - I never thought I wanted to hear about that again!

Although, some of the news about H1N1 is starting to make me laugh. A couple of days ago I was watching CTV News, and they reported that clinics were giving numbered bracelets to the people in line for the vaccine that needed to have the shot the most - the ones who are more at risk of contracting H1N1. The part that made me laugh was that people are actually scalping their bracelets! So panic has given way to money...isn't that always the way. Don't get any ideas though - health care workers say they will personally put the bracelet on for you if you are at risk of the virus, especially if you have brought your children to get the vaccine.

Does anyone remember SARS? It was only a few years ago, and everyone was in a panic over it, then it all died down, and now no one ever talks about it anymore. I can't help but think that the swine flu will eventually go away, then we will forget about it, just like SARS.

Why do we work ourselves into a panic over things like this? Does no one understand that worrying and being anxious doesn't help? Does this sound familiar to anyone - "Who among you can add a single day to his life by worrying?" Can worrying stop your child from getting sick? If you panic, will it make the line up at the clinic move faster? If you develop an ulcer will you and your family live longer? Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? Yet, this is how we live. Not worrying doesn't mean that you don't care or aren't concerned about things - it just means that you know worrying is not going to help the situation. It means that you are rational.

I can't believe I missed so many days of blogging last month. I had forgotten how great it is to be able to voice my opinions about stuff like this without having anyone to argue with me. Although, sometimes I would welcome an opposing opinion...it adds spice to life! Get a blog people! It feels great!

New Post!!!

I can't believe I haven't posted anything since September the 9th! Life has been little crazy lately. but then, life is always crazy, so I guess I can't really use that as an excuse, now can I? Oh well, it's my blog, and its free, so no one can complain! ;) Ever notice how many times people do complain about stuff that they don't have to pay for? Ridiculous, isn't it...

While we are on the topic of things you have noticed, have you ever noticed how life seems to be all about waiting? It seems like we spend our whole lives waiting for things. We wait in line, we wait to get older (only when we are young, of course!) and we wait for things to happen. Sometimes we spend whole days wishing we were in next week or next month already.

Remember the story about the man who was given a spool of magical thread? All he had to do when he wanted to go to the future was pull the thread. If he pulled it out a little bit, he would skip a few hours or days, and if he pulled it a lot he could skip weeks, months or even years. So, every time he got impatient about something, he would pull the thread. For example, he couldn't wait for his daughter to be born, so he pulled the thread and skipped forward 9 months. He kept doing this all throughout his life, and when he came to end of his life, he realized that he had missed most of his life because he skipped over all of the waiting.

Instead of being impatient when you have to wait for something, try enjoying the wait. Waiting is a part of life, and here in North America, our culture hates waiting. They say that you can always tell when a North American is in a line up somewhere in Africa or the Caribbean. Line ups can go on for hours in these countries because the people don't mind waiting - they have all the patience in the world. Meanwhile, someone from North America gets in line and acts all jittery, sighing and fidgeting with impatience, and you can almost see the ulcer forming as he waits!

How Addicted are You?

I wonder if anyone actually realizes how addicted they are to their computer...I'm sure if you sat down and thought about it, you may be surprised at how much time you actually spend at your computer - especially if you have a laptop! I went to visit a friend's family recently, and instead of talking to one another, everyone sat around on their laptops and did their own thing while the TV blared on in the background.

I too, have fallen prey to the computer addiction - now I can't even watch TV without being on my laptop at the same time! However, I could argue that I'm exempt from any addiction statistics since I make my living off of my computer...but unfortunately, I am in way over my head, so I can't really excuse myself!

A few days ago my laptop refused to boot up, and if I had a Loonie for every time I went to go on my laptop in one afternoon, I would be a rich girl! (I was going to say "if I had a dollar, but I figured I might as well be Canadian about it!) We have certainly become a society that is dependent (and addicted!) to technology, and we like it! It is definitely a time consuming addiction though, and one that separates us from our loved ones instead of bringing us closer together.

This evening, break the routine of getting on the computer right away after supper. Spend time with your family or go to see a friend that you haven't talked to in a while. Let me know how your technology-free evening goes - I will be right here, on my laptop the whole time! What? I make my living on this laptop, and you are going to have to tear it out of my cold, dead hands before I'll let you take it away! ...ahem... did I say that out loud?

Adventures in Ottawa...

I am 26 years old, and I haven't been to the nation's capital yet. That is, until a week ago, when I finally visited family in Ottawa, and I was surprised at how beautiful the city is! We saw the Rideau Canal, went up in the Peace Tower, and had a tour of the Royal Canadian Mint. It was all fun, but the tour was a bit cramped, what with all of the people who weren't wearing any deodorant who crowded around the windows, hogging the view of the fascinating coin making process!

After spending way too much money in the Sugar Mountain Candy Store (I felt like a kid again!), we walked for an unbelievably long time around downtown Ottawa, seeing the sights, some very "interesting" people, and getting very painful blisters on my feet from the wrong choice of footwear. Never wear flip flops for walking in - unless its a 15 minute walk...

Cheap night still applies in Ottawa, so we went to see Post Grad. It was pretty good - one of those different movies, the kind that I usually enjoy the most. HOWEVER! We couldn't help but be distracted by the overly affectionate couple who chose to sit in the middle of the theater, making out throughout the whole movie!! I thought they couldn't get any closer together, until she moved to his lap and stayed there...wow..we tried to take a picture of them for my blog, (I would've posted it on here too!) but unfortunately I didn't think of it until after the movie started and it was too dark to get anything. :(

I spent too much money (as usual!) but I really enjoyed the time with family and seeing Ottawa was great, so I would do it all over again! If you haven't seen our country's capital, go see it - it's worth it. We meant to get up early one morning and see the changing of the guards, but we never made it - actually we never made it to bed earlier that 2am...that's what you get when you put 3 Davis cousins together!

It was probably better that we didn't make it to the changing of the guards anyway - I definitely would've embarrassed my cousins by saying something to the guards, or shouting "BOO!" to try and get a facial expression out of them! As it was, I embarrassed them a bit, and they had to stop me from a few other things - apparently something happens to me when I'm with my cousins. I seem to lose some rather important inhibitions and stop caring what the public thinks of me when I'm with my cousins, and I'm not sure why, but it sure makes things interesting!

I Found a Roomie!!!

Well, after months of searching for a roommate, I finally have someone moving into the bedroom downstairs. (Main floor, not basement.) And what a search it has been! I had ads on every free website I could think of - kijiji.ca, roommates.com, I pasted it on Facebook a few times, told everyone I know, and I called the local churches in the area and asked them if anyone in their congregation was looking for a room.

Out of all those things, I didn't think I would find a roommate through calling the churches! But wouldn't you know, one of them put it up on their bulletin board, and someone saw it and told someone who doesn't even go to that church about it, and now I have a roomie!

I had to weed out a few weirdos before I found someone I clicked with too. One in particular was very interesting...and by interesting, I mean that I would rather live in a cardboard box in the river than share a house with her! She was telling me what to do within seconds of walking through the front door! She was sarcastic, bossy and a little rude as well. My neighbors, who happen to be my Aunt and Uncle took a peek at her when she drove up and they could tell just by looking at her that she was a no!

We concluded that she must have been recently divorced and was very bitter about it. Hopefully she doesn't have any children!

I had another person coming to see the room a couple of hours after her, and I was a bit nervous! If I had to put up with 2 people like her, I think I would have called it quits... The next girl was like a breath of fresh air in comparison though, and she moves in Sept 1.

I have lived alone for 2 years now, so I'm not sure what this new living situation will be like, but hopefully I've made the right choice. After all, I don't want to become too set in my ways or anything - someone once told me that living alone makes it harder to adjust when you get married. So maybe a roommate will teach me to compromise and get me used to having to think about someone else's needs for a change...let's just hope that I don't hate it!

I do want to get married someday when the right guy comes along, and if he ever asks my roommate what it was like to live with me, hopefully her answer won't send him a-running!

I guess the Honeymoon is Over!

You can make some of the people happy some of the time, but you can't make all of the people happy all of the time. Everyone who has ever been elected President of the United States must know this truth better than anyone else!

Everyone loves you on the campaign trail, on Inauguration Day and up to the first couple of months after election. After that, approval ratings start going down and you become the prime target of Letterman, O'Brien and Fallon. The worse the President's ratings are, the better theirs are!

Why can't we be happy with the person that we elected into office? Why do we assume that they are perfect and can do no wrong? We must assume that, because we get so upset when they make a mistake! Now, I agree that when someone is leading the country, they should do their very best to be a good role model, and we are sadly lacking this with many politicians these days. Barack Obama appears to be a pretty good role model however, and I think we should stop complaining and get behind the man that we elected into office a few months ago! (Would you rather have George W back?) :P

Come on Americans, Barack Obama won the Presidency by a landslide - and you made that happen! The honeymoon period is over, and his approval ratings are falling steadily. Do you think you made a mistake? If you are not happy with some of his decisions, contact your congressman and be the change you want to see. If all you do is sit at home complaining about what is happening in your country, you will never see the change you want. If all you do is complain no matter who you vote for, then keep your complaints to yourself!

We need to get a better attitude about our leadership in America; remember, no one is perfect, and no matter how much you like a person, they will let you down at some point. You can't control the actions of anyone else, but you can control your reaction!