Canadians Have Driving Respect

HELLO FOLKS

My neighbor tries to tell me that high society is a bunch of crumbs stuck together by their dough.

This issue of One Farmer's View is being written at Vernon, British Columbia, the heart of Western Canada. The climate here is beautiful, at least where I am at now. It varies a lot within a few miles.

At the Barnes Ranch the temperature changes very little within a day. This ranch is 15 miles from Vernon. The temperature is an average of three of four degrees cooler than in Vernon with about three of fours inches more precipitation annually. A few miles from Vernon the temperatures get hot with about half the rainfall.

There is quite a contrast in the driving habits of Canadians and Minnesotans. If a pedestrians starts across a street, whether he is in the cross walk or not, the motorist had better stop. Pedestrians have the right of way here anytime they are walking.

There is a lot of walking here and also a lot of hitch-hiking. The Canadians are not as affluent as Americans. The cars are generally older and there are less teen-agers driving the streets and roads. The saloons are strictly licensed and drunkerness is not tolerated in public. Drunken driving is a serious offense as is open bottle possession.

The newspapers here do not have a comic section. They do have a lot of news from around the world. Seldom does Canada have a news broadcast without mentioning something from England, France or some of the Commonwealth nations.

It seems to me that the news media goes into more details on scientific information and business details than do the United States publications.

Everywhere one goes he cannot but be impressed with the fact that there is a terrific amount of American money in Canada. Were it not for this fact Canadians would be far behind where they are in personal wealth. However as I mentioned last week Canada is on the march. I expect to see a tremendous amount of growth in their economy in the next decade, and it is not apt to slow up too much in the near future.

Can't Take It In Big Doses

HELLO FOLKS — Flattery is like perfume — It is all right to take a whiff of it but don't swallow it.

We cannot march in a Parade and sit in the grandstand at the same time.

Happiness is one of the better things of life which usually comes as a by-product of activities directed toward other ends.

—o—

FROM THE remarks that could be heard around this place, sometimes you would think that I received very little affection. It is not necessarily so, though. I think I get my share of it, but it seems there has to be a certain amount of 'beating around the bush' before it comes out into the open.

As you perhaps all know, children love attention and they have strange ways of getting it. Take Ann for instance. She found out one of the most subtle ways to get it was to curl up in my big easy chair about the time she thinks I want it. I have found out the best way to get her out of it is to tickle her. That way we both get what we want.

The younger girls realized very soon that it works and so Adell tried it. She is small enough that I could squeeze in beside her. Soon there was a 'fight' going on. Finally she said "Daddy, if you don't stop it pretty soon you'll get out of here."

Zina is more direct in her approach. After I had been gone for over a day she came to me and reaching out her arms she said, "Daddy, I sure been missing you." Another time she said to Mother, "I have two boy friends. Mark here is one of them." When she didn't elaborate further Mother asked, "and who is the other." "Oh! He is out at the barn somewhere." — Meaning me.

Our two little fellows have to have their time of affection too. Most of which comes after breakfast. I like to rest a bit after a hearty breakfast; so I stretch out in my big chair again and tune to the "Garroway" show—that is if I have time. That is the signal for the boys to tune in. Brent is coy but Mark comes right up and gives a big hug in exchange for some tickling; about five minutes of it and that are off for the days adventure.

I got taken at April Fools this year, again. I was milking and had the radio tuned in. The announcer mentioned that it was April Fools day, so I knew that I had to be careful. About that time the phone rang and Jared said, "Mother's back is bad and she can't get out of bed." It caught me completely off guard. I hurried to the house. She was in bed allright, but — she was dressed and had gotten breakfast. The whole family got a charge out of that. They wouldn't have dared to pull such a stunt if it had been any other day of the year.

That night we had pancakes for supper. I got suspicious because we generally have them April Fools Day and I invariably find something in my pancake that shouldn't be there; like a string, piece of cloth, or some such thing. This time there was nary a thing wrong with them.

You Can't Keep It

HELLO FOLKS — You owe it to yourself, I guess, — To be a brilliant, huge success.

And after that, you owe it to — The Internal Bureau of Revenue.

 – Stephen Schlitzer

Seven days of dieting makes one weak.

—o—

LAST WEEK I wrote the teenage Commandments; This week I'll give you the Modern Ten Commandments, as written by Kenneth S. Learey:

1— Thou shalt revive they faith in thyself, in man and in God. Believe in the ultimate goodness of all things. Your future lies under your own cloak.

2— Thou shalt not look like a graven image. Smile sometimes. It take less effort than scowling.

3— Thou shalt not curse this world. Dare to be different. Do the best you can with what you have.

4— Remember every day to make it happy. Do a good deed or a dozen, daily. Save Sunday for the great things of the soul. 

5— Honor thy children. Play and pray with them. Make your house a home. Home is where home is.

6— Thou shalt not kill thyself with worry. Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

7— Thous shalt be honest. It will soon be in fashion again. The luxury of integrity is yours. 

8— Thou shalt love thine enemies. You made them. To have friends be one. Dynamic brotherhood is more powerful that the atomic bomb.

9— Though shalt take on the marks of greatness. Link you life with a great cause. The joy of living is found in giving. Care and hare.

10— Thou shalt contribute to civilization today; tomorrow may be too late. Eternity is now. Immortality is here.

—o—

ACCORDING TO my figures we received an even three inches of precipitation during April. Two tenths of an inch of it came in the form of snow.

This is another late spring but I believe most of the oats were seeded in April.

—o—

WHAT ARE the chances of success in the holding actions of the NFO? I say very slim. Suppose that all the farmers cooperated in the holding actions; the livestock is still there and gaining at the rate of about two pounds a day with the quality of meat going down every day. 

Livestock cannot be held indefinitely. Most farmers have to sell within a week or so in order to get profitable prices for the products. Adding inefficient weight to an animal, hoping for an improvement in price, seldom pays. 

Besides that there are imports galore that are waiting to be shipped in here at our prices. Would 90 per cent of the population stand for tariffs that would make their food costs go up? There are many families who do not buy enough meat now and if prices could be forced up 5 to 10 cents a pound they would eat less than ever.

Before prices could be raised much there would have to be strict production curbs. Are we ready for them?

Besides all this there are the anti-trust laws that we would surely run up against. The big electric companies found out what happened when they tried to subvert those laws.

Camping at Edvera Farm

HELLO FOLKS! —The Camping bug bit hard at Edvera Farm this year. It started early with the Scouts camp out at Helmer Myre State Park. Then a trip to Spring Valley for the day. Later, Vera took most of the youngsters to White Water State Park for an overnight and nearly two day stay. Last Saturday the Scouts got home from a week at Camp Luck, Wis.

In between that there has been a lot of sleeping out at the farm. The "kids" put a tarp over the picnic table and took turns sleeping there. We have had so many other youngsters visiting us this summer that it was hard to keep track of whether mine were all home and who was here. Of course when ever one of the kids had company they had to sleep out.

Tent In Constant Use

We also acquired a tent this summer and it has been in almost constant use.

A couple of weeks ago Linnea and Merilee, 6 and 4 respectively had a night in the new tent. They came in the next morning completely thrilled. "Daddy! You've just got to sleep in the tent with us tonight — Please Daddy".

It so happened that the next night I had to be gone until late. I wasn't too thrilled about sleeping out. For some unexplained reason, it doesn't thrill me like it did 30 years ago. However for the sake of family solidarity I agreed to spend one night out there.

I got home about 10 o'clock and when the girls saw the car headlights turn in they came out of tent, and made sure I didn't head for my own bed. I still like to sleep in my own bed but it wasn't too bad on the ground with an air mattress between me and "Mother nature."

Poker Face

Merilee, the little "Poker face" is always trying to pull some kind of a joke. Last Saturday she strode into the house and over to me where I was lying on the couch. She held out her hand, "My name is Johnson, I'm President Johnson."

I went along with the joke. "President Johnson, can it really be, I never thought I would see the day when I would have the President of the United States in my own home. Well President Johnson I am certainly thrilled to meet you. What brings you here?"

"I have something for you, some money; a hundred dollars". "Now I know you really are President Johnson," said I.

—o—

Speaking of Merilee, we have a little joke about her. She seems to have her wits about her pretty good. We say that when the Lord passed out the various gifts, He asked who wanted brains. Merilee thought He said rains and said, "I'll take a monsoon".