my bucket list

learn to play the guitar
write a book
own a show dog and get a CH
travel around central europe
travel across Canada/USA
learn Spanish
figure out how not to erase everything I write on my laptop
travel around the Caribean
sponsor a child
volunteer my time more
become a friend a friend would like to have
camp
actually take time off and visit friends and family
adopt a child
learn to make a website for my dog passion

Sometimes you have to wonder

Why is it that things happen I wonder. a cousin is going blind and cannot get any help or her CPP because the welfare people say she has too much money still, although she has maybe a months bills left. So she is, someone who has paid CPP etc since starting work at 16, not poor enough for welfare. How many people do I know rip off welfare or have never worked a day in their life because they are on welfare and just figure why bother? But there are of course lots of good people on it due to circumstances. She is also not able to get CPP she has paid into since 16 because although she cannot see in one eye and can only see shadow in the other she apparently is still able to work and therefore doesn't need her CPP. She can't train for anything until she gets disability which she cannot get until she gets welfare. Hmmmmm something is very wrong when hard working people cannot get help.

A fellow we recently met, as an employee in BBD, is trying very hard to find work and get some pay cheques to support his fiance and baby on the way in a few weeks. He needed a vehicle and sunk all he had into a truck that was not a deal at all. He found two jobs, that he needs the truck for. It dies and now he slid off the road in the snow and it is likely kaput. So now he has lost one job no doubt since he never shows up and while good at the other job needs the truck so he is being replaced with someone more reliable. Now he is in the hospital with an abseced tooth and needing a cat scan so cannot work anyway. Needless to say things are not going well at all for this couple. He has had problems in the past and overcome that so we are hoping that all this does not send him back down those paths.

While I did not really want to bring up Heath Ledger, young seemingly healthy people die. A family in our town I did not know other than by name as she was in the dog cicuit had a loss this holiday season. She was 32, a mother of 5, doing well with her dogs in show etc. She and her husband went to Alberta as his father was dying and not She went to sleep and didn't wake up. When found it was too late. They kept her alive on life support so the young boy left here with family friends could be driven there.

All this makes you think. Why do these things happen? Lots of people would say that it is proof that being religious is not the way to go. For me it makes me think harder about my faith. I am comforted by the fact that I do and have seen God's grace in my life and the lives of those around me. It makes me look harder at how I am living and if I am doing what I am called to do. am I living the life that I should be? Truthfully, not as much as I should be. But I am striving to do it. I thank God for the blessings in my life, both small and large. Live, laugh, love.

A Countrified Soul

January 12 I had tickets to a Big & Rich show. D was supposed to go with me but the employee broke his ankle in a very questionable way in my eyes. First why were you peeing in your buddy's yard and why by the road. I am not so sure I beleive someone drove by in a car and threw a brick at him. Or I am thinking not randomnly. But perhaps I am being cynical. So I asked my cousin C, who is going thru a hard time and certainly needed a night out. I was thankful that the roads were good both there and back and that despite not getting there super early that I got a spot in the parcade. Our seats were at the back of the arena fairly high up but I would prefer to sit there, where you can see instead of on the floor where all you see is the heads in front of you. Emerson Drive, from Grande Prarie AB, started out the show with a great set. They were followed by Terri Clark, a Medicine Hat AB native, who also did a good show. after a second intermission Cowboy Troy came out and did a few songs. Sadly could not actually make out most of the words. Then the main attraction, the reason all these fans were there Big Kenny and John Rich... the MuzicMafia. They did a good show. At one point John stopped to say that in the fan line backstage a fellow proposed to his girlfriend and that she said yes. So they were brought onstage and Big & Rich dedicated Lost In This Moment With You to them. Wow, he will never be able to top that... poor sucker. Then three teenagers got pulled up onstage and were given guitars. rrrrrrrr those front seaters. They also got all the shirts and stuff thrown from the stage and the money that was thrown out during the show. Ahh that's OK.
I am encouraged seeing that Big Kenny only started performing as a musician in his 30s. There is hope. I must get on that guitar practice with a vengence.