This is by far the most interesting town I have lived in so far.  Just this week we have had a mentally ill mother shoot her son...just a block or two up from us, a mentally ill man climb a tall tall tree which no one could get him down from.  After a couple of days they found him one morning and he had hung himself.  We had the infamous anti masker pee all over the Dairy Queen floor and counter, just down the road from us.  And remember this is the town that produce those two boys that caused one of the biggest manhunts in Canada, after shooting people up north.  As a matter of fact we have a very forested park right in the middle of town and it's nickname is 'Murder Park'...for obvious reasons.  I love it here! Never gets boring.

On a more serious note, I just saw a native lady on tv saying, "every piece of land that you are walking on was stolen from us".  This may not be pc to say but I am getting tired of the inferred message.  I didn't steal it.  My parents didn't steal it.  Their parents didn't steal it.  Neither did any of my blood ancestors.  Just because my skin is white I have to take on this burden?  Reverse racism? 

 I am more than happy to concede that, yes, white people came into this land and took it.  And the white people ended up being the majority.  And due to that, I am more than willing to understand and be part of the fixing as much as possible but, comments like hers are NOT conducive to reconciliation and understanding and 'fixing'.  What is their end game? What is it they want that I can give?  Definitely not the land we are walking on, that can't happen.  So what can we do? What will bring this to a satisfactory end?  I have been listening carefully to what has been said and so far I am not hearing solutions, from them, that would satisfy and correct.

Monte, bless him, is no Bill.  I have to remember that now and then.  Back when Spod was still kicking, sigh, I miss him, if we decided on a trip of some sort, there would be hours of discussion and research and planning.  It would be so exciting.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, we are planning a trip across Canada.  Actually I should say 'I' am planning it.  I can't get him to talk about it or contribute or anything.  He is excited and looking forward to it but spending time researching and discussing just isn't in his wheelhouse.  To me that is half the trip!!!!

Meanwhile back at the ranch I have a herd of Lost Boys, as I call them, descending on us in the next couple of weeks.  Firstly Awsty, as I call him, is finally arriving!  He plans to stay until the end of October.  He is in the Charlottes I believe at the moment and will be arriving in Port Hardy next week.  Monte and I are going to drive up there the day before, stay in a hotel and pick him up the next day and bring him back here.  I am pretty excited.  I have never been to Port Hardy. Maybe we could fit in a quick trip to Sointula (sp?).  They have an amazing museum I want to go to.

Peter is coming home on Saturday, but just til Tuesday then he is off to work in Nitinaht at the fish hatchery for three months.  He bought a 4x4 vehicle!  I can't wait to see him!  I am hoping he will be able to come home on occasion on his days off.

Graeme has handed in his resignation from the hotel he works in in Tofino.  He has had enough of that icky little hole.  (I hate Tofino). (I also hate Whistler for the same reason). He will be coming here for a wee while before he takes off for the big city.  Now why he wants to go to Vancouver baffles the hell out of me.  Why anyone would want to go to that unfriendly overcrowded nowhere to live city is beyond me but to each his own!  It will be awesome to have him here for a while!

So that is it for today.  I must get back to my work I am doing today.  I have finally cleaned out the guest room, getting it ready for Austin.  That is a huge burden off my mind.  I have also cleaned out the huge rubbermaid in the bottom of the pantry closet that was full of unlidded plastic containers.  I organized them all, lidded them and cleaned out the rest of the stuff in there.  And guess what?  I found the frigging dutch oven pot that has been missing forever!  Its my pea soup pot!  I thought it had been stolen off the deck.  It is huge!  What does that say about how badly that area needed organizing!  Anywhooo, gotta keep going!  Stay safe and TTYL.

"Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up". A A Milne