I Made The Switch

   I did indeed. For years (when I haven't had a full beard), I've been using cartridge razors, but I'm prone to razor burn and bumps. After doing some research, I decided to purchase an Olde Fashioned safety razor. Something like my Dad used when I was growing up.
   He never passed the skill on to me, because when I started shaving, he'd gone to an electric. So, I went on line and bought the above razor. It's an Edwin Jagger DE89Lbl, and with 50 razor blades, it ran me about 60 bucks. For that 60 dollars, I've got a razor I can use for years, and a years worth of shaves, if I change blades every week.
   As mentioned, I have never used one before, but I have to say I got a nice clean shave. Apart from a nick or 2:

TTFN

The Shots That Triggered World War 1

   It was 100 years ago tomorrow, June 28 1914, an event in Sarajevo changed the history of the world, and triggered the 5th bloodiest conflict in human history.
   Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand:

   And his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg:

   Were assassinated in their open top car by Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip.

   Even though there were many other factors involved in the events leading up to the conflict, their deaths on that Sunday in June, 1914 lead to the declaration of war by Austria-Hungary a month later on July 28, which quickly spiralled into what was known at the time as the Great War.
   Canada, as part of the British Empire, entered the conflict August 4th when war was declared by Britain. By the time the war ended November 11, 1918 at least 60 thousand Canadian military personnel had been killed, and 150 thousand wounded. From what I've been able to determine, a soldier named H.G Bellinger, killed in January 1915, was the first Canadian to die.
   A total of between 8.2 and 10.7 military personnel on all sides were killed, and as many as 23.6 million wounded. It's been said that there was one military death every 15 seconds for the duration of the war. As many as 5 million civilians also died.
   As for the man who's shots June 28, 1914 lit the final fuse, Gavrilo Princip, he escaped the death penalty for the assassination, being 27 days short of the 20 year age limit, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He did not survive to see the end of the war, dying of T.B on April 28 1918, 3 years and 10 months to the day after the assassinations.
   The legacy of the war lives on to this day, especially in Belgium, where up to 80 tons of unexploded ordnance is found and destroyed from both wars every year. Officials say it could take 300 years to clear the old battlefields completely.
   It was 7 years ago in 2007, Canada's Vimy Memorial from the First War was rededicated on the 90th anniversary of the battle.

   Lest we forget.

Rain Is Not A Good Thing

   With apologies to Luke Byran, rain is not a good thing. And we in the Yorkton area are in for a lot of it today and into tonight. 20 to 30 (and possibly as much as 60) mm is expected from a system moving in from the U.S. A rainfall warning is out for the area. This is exactly what our lawn and my wife's flower beds do not need. Already, we're seeing brown spots on the lawn, and I'm worried it's going to drown. Luckily, I managed to get ours cut the other day. It had started to go to seed.
   Then, there's the potential for flooding. 4 years ago, Yorkton was inundated by torrential rain, which resulted in an awful lot of basement flooding and sewer back-ups. None of that is needed now. And then, there's the agricultural impact. While seeding is for all intents and purposes done, what's needed now is dry, warm weather to advance crop development.
   I'm not the only one hoping for drier weather. We've had 2 jack-rabbits through our yard quite a bit recently, and if it doesn't dry out soon, they may need these just to get around:

TTFN

Chomp!

   That's Uruguay's Luis Suarez. The governing body of Football (soccer) FIFA has slapped him with a ban from all soccer activities for 4 months after he allegedly bit Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini during Uruguay's 1-0 win in the group stage.
   It means Suarez will not be in the round of 16 when it starts, and he will not be able to play for Liverpool when the English Premier League starts.
   It also means he will; not play in the Copa America next year. In addition to the ban, FIFA fines him a total of 112 thousand dollars. The chairman of the association's disciplinary committee, says ``such behaviour cannot be tolerated on any football pitch, and particularly at the World Cup.''
   It's supposedly the 3rd biting incident Suarez has been involved in during his career. He's lucky. He faced a 2 year ban, which likely would have ended his career.
   And, of course, someone profited from the bite. A Norwegian man won the equivalent of  27 hundred dollars after placing a bet that Suarez would bite an opponent. The man was one of 150 across Europe who thought it was a sure thing, and plunked down some cash. A Swedish man not only won some money, but posted the winning ticket on Twitter, and thanked Suarez.

TTFN

Not Unexpected

   Indeed, it wasn't. Saskatchewan's Crown owned natural gas company SaskEnergy has been given final approval by the provincial cabinet for a rate hike which will add an average of $9.57 a month to most bills. And the brutally cold winter we just came out of is to blame.
   A seemingly endless succession of one polar vortex after another gave us one of the coldest winters in decades. It was certainly one of the coldest I've been through in a long, long time. What it meant was, of course, record demand for home heating and business applications. To the point where natural caverns where the utility stores the commodity for winter were almost emptied.
   It got to the point where they were contemplating asking the industrial sector to cut back on their use to ensure there was enough for heating. Another factor was simple increased demand due to the influx of people into the province.
   All that meant SaskEnergy had to shop on the spot for natural gas at a higher rate, and that's what's being passed on to us.
   In this province, we have the option to pay spot prices by the month, or go on equalized billing, which spreads the pain evenly throughout the year. We've been on equalized billing since we moved back to Saskatchewan in 1997. And while it does mean we pay more in the summer, it also means we don't have to come up with 2 or 3 hundred dollars for the monthly heating bill in winter.

TTFN

Don't Say We Haven't Been Warned

   Saskatchewan Government Insurance has been telling us about the changes for months. This week, Friday to be exact, they take effect.
   New traffic law changes will be in effect in time for the Canada Day long weekend. For impaired drivers: Tougher consequences including longer license suspension, 3 to 60 day seizure of vehicles and other measures. Distracted drivers also face stiff sanctions including seizure for a 2nd and subsequent offense. There are new penalties for speeders and those who don't have proper in-car restrains for their kids.
   The "why" behind it all is simple. An effort to reduce the number of fatalities and injuries on highways in the province. Last year, 134 people died and more than 67 hundred were hurt. Time will tell how effective, and how well enforced, these measures will be, but if they do achieve the goal of death and injury reduction, even by one, so much the better.

TTFN

I Think I'll Stay With Sugar

   Apparently, it's all the rage. Putting a pat of butter in your morning cup of coffee. Unsalted, preferably. The only question I have is: Why? Why ruin a perfectly good cup of java by putting butter in it? It was morning man Danny Ismond who brought this to my attention, and I had to Google it myself to find out what it's all about.
   And it seems the idea of adding butter to coffee is far from new. They've been adding butter to tea in Tibet for years, and (apparently) in Singapore they actually stir-fry low grade coffee beans in butter before brewing. Whether or not that's still done, I don't know.
   I've had some not so strange things in coffee. Unrefined sugar, honey, even things like cinnamon. But I don't think I'll be trying butter in it. At least not for a while. Meantime, black. With 2 sugars, please.

TTFN