Category: Canada

Categories
British Columbia Canada Kamloops Nature Prince George

Trip 2023

It has been about 20 or more years since I traveled this highway. Even longer by bus. In 2018, the only intercity human transportation and one of the few shipping centers in Prince George shut down with little forewarning. At least it caught me unaware. Greyhound. Wasn’t too fond  of people in general, refused to comply with Transport Canada’s emerging Accessibility standards for intercity transportation of people.

Why did I not use Greyhound more? They had a route for a very long time, connecting not only Northern BC to the nation and beyond, they brought that beyond to Northern BC and beyond that way. That is a question I would ask another who spent that time apart from a family. Particularly if at a basic level, this service was available.

No excuse, I had a hard life. My Multiple Sclerosis arriving in 2000, expected to put me in a wheelchair within 5 years. Within days of diagnosis, my father died. Within two 2 years, my mental health condition was apparent and diagnosed with MS treatments, new at that time. Medical support denied me as I was using Marihuana. No vehicle. My legs decided I would lead a pedestrian life, avoiding vehicles. ‘Disabled Income. I’ll say no more.

By 5 years, I had given up my car as my right leg could not move from the gas to the brake pedal fast enough. I also quit smoking tobacco, which put me in alternative places within my community. Greyhound would not accept me as I was disabled and invalid in their minds, which is the basic reason, and I had no vehicle. My medical support accepted me back, as they could not deny me. I feel they were forced. 

I have no fond memories of Greyhound anyway, who did not mind tobacco and alcohol as long as people were on board when doors shut and wheels moving when I last rode. They left many people behind. Alcohol was still forgiven, but Canada forced tobacco out. No Cannabis allowed, but to be fair, Canada called it Marihuana, which came straight from hell. Onward to 2023. Side note: Cannabis is legal now but still can not be consumed on board.

I arrived at the stop for multiple buses running for my city. Northern BC just got away with BC Bus North, and now at 8:16 am, we wait. Soon, it’ll arrive. 8:17 now… Hurry up and wait. Well, en route now past city limits at 843 am… Ebus underway!

This would’ve shortened my trip not so long ago. Actually, it would cause adventure as I might’ve been placed between communities, awaiting the RCMP and a ride to their offices. Past is the past, Onward to Kamloops

Well, we’re all on board by 8:25, Mike does the welcome aboard speech. This Ebus is not accessible. No, it does not have a ramp. This bus has 7 stairs. I saw that it has to be requested in advance 48 hrs minimum for access. They bring a unique bus to the pickup location. Scooters always go under one bus design, and another bus can take a fair-sized power chair, untested with a scooter. Washrooms in the back. Meh. Lots better than Greyhound. Not quite as good as Northern or another Health Authority’s Connection Busses. Coincidently, A division of Ebus company manages the medical transportation I learned. There is a price difference lol.

Stops announced Williams Lk, 70 Mile House. Shouldn’t that be 112.7 Km House here in Canada? Hmmmm. Stay tuned. This ride is much smoother than Greyhound, and seatbelts are mandatory. 9:47, just entering Quesnel.

Underway, I’ll be 500 + KMs before this day is done.

Well, 1135 and the stop at Williams Lk was another memory to behold. A single bathroom satisfied my 3 hrs travel to find it, but I didn’t feel like the ‘back of the bus’ bathroom was close enough. Well, onward after Mike, the driver, does a headcount. Onward to the next stop and stretch. Time to charge and enjoy the puff. Lol, This stop by a liquor store… Iconic memories of being left here, with Greyhound… Onward.

Miles to some, kms under the wheels, moving under us. Onward!

We stopped for lunch at 112.7 km house. I’ll bring lunch on my return, just saying. A bathroom break to wash my hands, puff and consume some truck-stop-packaged something. It’s time to huff a vape puff and get on board.

The city marker was found in a city park.

My impression of Kamloops by Transit any of the modes is great. Ample wide open nature parks, accessible and ‘walknrollablable’ by City Transit. They built sidewalks for community health. All built on hills, busses struggle to climb. No wonder it’s considered the ‘City of Tournaments‘. My morning walk was a walk to the 7-11, a block by sidewalk but 20 meters above my sister’s place. Meh. A surprisingly meagre amount of benches and garbage collection areas exist on the sidewalks. But again, the city was clean along those sidewalks. I noticed very few mobility devices in use. Had I brought mine, I would’ve seen more, I imagine. I was told Tranist, HandyDART services, and private vehicles are the standard modes of Kamloops’ mobility. Walking is done mainly in those parks, so common with benches and garbage cans. People rarely walk to the park, I was told.

Peterson Creek Park affords many views 30 or 40 meters above a busy highway. Well-placed benches are along a mega km natural trail connecting some other large area parks and sporting areas.
 They donate benches as a legacy. We give thanks for the views these people enjoyed in life. There’s no litter to distract the views. Thanks as well to respectful visitors who came before me and any who picked up after those disrespectful visits.
The Highway below the park and mountain views.
 The mountains overshadow Kamloops
Another Bench
Sage grows everywhere, among the diversity of nature.
 Trail markers, so an exploration party does not get lost (easily)
That highway so far below
This deserted mall serves as Ebus HQ in Kamloops. The office to register is inside, and a restaurant, a couple of computer tech support offices exist. Most of the places are closed inside.

 As it is Aboriginal Day in Canada, while I traveled back, I respected these lands I traveled upon. I am traveling between the TKemlups and Lheidli T’enneh territories. Such beautiful territories they’ve managed since a time before time was recorded. As we travel, my thoughts are of ancient trade routes and past explorers to this part of Canada. I called PG Taxi along the road and booked a taxi for my arrival at around 830pm. Back home.

Categories
British Columbia Canada Prince George Website improvements

Now on a Canadian server

Thanks to Shift Creative, a Prince George web design service Walknroll.info is now hosted and not costing me that US exchange rate. This site isn’t making me any money, but it still remains. It will, in the future, be more than entertainment. I highly recommend the services of Shift Creative!

Well, it will get more posts. For the first time since I installed this WordPress App on my Android device, this host has connected with no issues. I can post as I travel. I’ll do this as I travel on Ebus to Kamloops in a few days. This bus might provide wireless internet and charging, I hope.

Me, 2023, before I go, lol.

Yes, you’ll get some photos. Ebus is a fairly new service connecting Prince George to Kamloops. It is the first intercity service to run that route since the departure of Greyhound in 2018. Thank you for following this site all these years! Stay tuned as I walknroll around Prince George after visiting our sister city. More to come!

 

 

Categories
British Columbia Canada Nonprofits of BC Website improvements

WordPress user types: Patron

What is a ‘Patron’? I asked Google after finding it as a ‘user type’ on a website I manage. I have this website and another on WordPress. They do not come cheap. One is on ‘Shared’ communication servers. I reference this, but it might not display on Google Chrome browsers. Mine’s on a private host’s ‘shared’ website server. Both allow WordPress to be installed on the domain, the website you’re viewing right now or over here where the only actual difference to you, the viewer, is that this one is HTTPS. It’s privately funded, but buy me a coffee here and I’ll thank you just the same! I’d consider you a Patron for sure! Why is this important for everyone, HTTPS? Do you see a warning before you view this other very trustable website? Or is even this one just as trustworthy? They’re way more credible than mine and get way more views per day! HTTPS assures you safety amid a clutter of websites offering troubles. When they become HTTPS, I am sure those views will increase. That said, just because it displays HTTPS, know safety by experiencing past website visits. Mine should improve with frequent posting, and creditable linking verifying.

Relax. You’re on an HTTPS website!

WordPress allows different user types separating them from casual browsers who do not ‘subscribe’ to new posts publicized. That, coincidently, is another ‘Registered User’ alongside a Patron user. A subscriber gets added to Mailchimp and other lists connected to our website alongside the other registered users so diverse, and others as it shares to Social Media. The website appreciates all who register inclusively; you support the website’s authors (Contributors, another user type) with your views and shares! The Patron is a user who has had a financial long-term impact on the organization, i.e., what the organization calls a ‘valued, esteemed contact’. Imho, I would consider them financial benefactors for the entity that the organization becomes because of the coin. It helps the organization amid the funds so appreciated by government gaming sources so dearly loved. Know your limit and play within it, but thank you BC for your donations through those entertaining addictive stations. If you lose control, there is help! Please don’t validate your addiction and try claiming it on your taxes as a creditable donation. Speaking of donations, if Non-Profits were to host HTPPS Websites, the visitors would be more likely to become a patron even anonymously via an online 50-50 chance. See how Gaming helps BC Nonprofits directly? Nonprofits almost always have a running 50-50 draw and since 2019, those have been online and secure. Some by email or offsite on a secure website (HTTPS) in the organization’s name costing a percentage!

Categories
Boreal Forests British Columbia Canada Forest industries Nature Recreational uses

Nature is natural

Relax. You're on an HTTPS website!

Nature in the beginning

Nature. When a tree falls in the forest, and no one, no animal is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Perhaps it does, maybe in practice, or perhaps it saves the sound for a listener to keep them out of the way of the falling tree. Only Mother Nature can answer that question with credibility. She’s been doing this since it grew the first trees on our planet before humans or animals were there to learn the dangers of falling trees and hear the warning sounds of Ms. Nature. Falling trees are not the only danger. New forests with diverse plants grow in stages small and fast-growing plants, soft broadleaf trees to slow growth with larger, more dense wooden plants such as trees like Pine, Spruce and Douglas Fir in the Forests. No one knows for certain, but large trees may have been preceded by Wild Cannabis and shrubs, which were likely the first plants on this planet. It was likely once part of nature on the entire planet.

A picture of nature, with a river flowing through a valley
Fishing, peaceful activities can be found in nature. We should all respect it and work to preserve its beauty.

Nature’s tools

When plants like trees grow, they drop seed as they mature. Some tree species like Aspen will spread out by their root systems with just one method of reproduction. When one tree drops the root system and the fallen trunk provides ‘starter material’ as it decays with branches that take root and grow with the root system. A single thick stand of aspen may be thousands of years old, perhaps even Millions years old. Large herbivores like Moose and Deer control the species that eat leaves and small saplings. They are the start of a forest construction along with the bushes and shrubs with seed and fruit for the smaller ‘workers’ like birds, squirrels and mice. Those animals eat seeds, nature employs them. They never stop eating. They are not really particular, munching on a diverse range of seeds. Predators eat vast amounts of seed eaters and some eat both animals and seed. The seeds survive the digestive tracts of consuming animal. Most animals poop, and that provides a good fertilized pile for the seed to grow in. The resulting plants condition the soil for larger plants like trees, most grown by seed themselves.

Nature’s way of regeneration

Well, we’ve already explained the ‘Poop cycle’ of natural workers to create new forest but there are other regeneration methods used naturally. Fire is one way. Pine trees have cones that contain seed.  Through their life, which could span eons, it drops seed in these cones.  Some of that seed is eaten, as some animals can eat cones and pooped all over the forest. The cones open naturally in heat drop seed.  Pine produces a powerful scent when it gets hot. That aroma is flammable and will ignite naturally. Often, nature will provide the spark with lightning, but more recently, humans have caused many wild fires in a forest, either by carelessness or industry. Human-caused fires can grow dangerously hot, making land sterile and seeds hard to grow naturally. Many times, it takes human intervention to regrow the natural forest quicker after a huge hot human caused wildfire.

Humans and Nature

Recreation

There are activities that support nature and are sustainable. We drop lines for fishing in our rivers, lakes and streams. We hunt game in the forests, as we are predators and herbivores. There are several berries, edible plants and some mushrooms we collect to consume. We can find holiday decorations and trees for Christmas in a forest. A walk in a quiet forest is mentally stabilizing for everyone, particularity those with challenges. It teaches the human child of all ages to respect nature.

Industry

Several activities occur in the forests that immediately don’t seem good for nature. Many seem to be conducted to collect wealth from the forest and nature takes a few generations to recover. Logging happens with clear-cutting and most times, the natural forest’s diversity is replaced with a monoculture of merchantable single tree species, Pine and Spruce mainly.  This practice must stop. It’s totally not natural. The trees use fire to regrow naturally, clean out dying and dead matter clearing soil for recent growth. A monoculture of trees that use fire to regenerate concentrates the heat so it completely burns the soil and there are no firebreaks like broadleaf plants to slow or stop it. Monoculture stands are suspected of being one cause of huge infrastructure fires seen in British Columbia during the summers of 2017 and 18 and could be a reason for declining animal populations. It is the most destructive use we have of the forest, but other activities like oil and gas, as well as mining also have an impact, but mostly those try to make the land natural after work is finished.

Categories
British Columbia Canada Hemp industrial Cannabis Lumber

Cannabis potential part 2

Cannabis, or how to restore the Forests ‘The Why’

Continued from PART ONE of “Cannabis Potential”  If you need to read that one, the link will take you there.  Go ahead.  I’ll wait for you to return….   Welcome back.  Before that though, its good to see why we need it to happen.  This is a ‘Weeducation‘ class, by the end I hope you know Cannabis Potential

Prelude to why we need Cannabis

Perhaps as early as 1940 or sooner, the industrial impact on British Columbia’s (mis)managed forests growing in our province has made an impact on the world’s environment.  The forests are a form of life on the planet, with succeeding generations like us.  Fast forward to the year 2000 and 2 decades more, and we have threats like Old Growth Forests being harvested for their ‘Net Worth’ to the economies of BC and Canada.  It’s BC’s 2nd leading industry behind Mining, another forest damaging industry but resoritive in most cases, no threat to ‘Old Growth’ as far as I know.  Those Old Growth trees are very important to the entire ecosystem of the forest working in harmony with the rooted plants, animal births and while they grew, other trees of the forest.  It likely ‘fathered’ and sheltered multi species life for better than 2 centuries.

Random thought

When I die, I would like to be a tree growing wild.  If everyone had that thought, cemeteries could be new forests, trees lining streets providing shade began with bodies as fertiliser legally.  It worked for at least one gardner who was a Serial Killer who’s flowers grew strong and healthy in a competitive market before it was discovered, I read soon after he was caught.   Back to forests then Cannabis potential…

Back to the reason

The governments of BC over the decades have allowed the harvest of many of these founding trees to the detriment of the forests whole, it must end now.  A recent plan to cut them into pellets is so wasteful even for industry imho.  2020 sees many mill closures and raw log exports.  This leads to high unemployment, social discomforts and perhaps even poverty.  The forests need to recover, we need to step back industrially from the forests for at least 2 generations of humans.  Nature has a job to balance and we need to assist it.  But we need wood.  It has so many uses in our society.  Housing.  Fences.  Construction.  Toothpicks.  Toilet Paper.  Whatever would we do without Toilet Paper! Ok well bidets are popular in most parts of the world, we’d survive.  But what of the rest?  Do we have an alternative fiber that would replace our basic needs for wood c/w employment for the workers displaced?  This is the first Cannabis potential I’ll write about, but it’s not the first use BC will recognize shortly.

A Cannabis leaf, a symbol of its potential
Cannabis leaf, full of its potential for earth and animal health including human

Cannabis, or how to restore the  Forests ‘The How’

Concrete traditionally made and widely used in construction alongside wood develops cracks over time, crumbles bad with water, not breathable and is not real good for the environment when disposed at the end of its usefulness.  Cannabis creates a perfectly recyclable “Hempcrete” replacement.  Hemp lumber is a thing too.  Building with fire resistant Hemp materials makes sense living in flammable forests as they rebuild themselves naturally.  Even Hemp toilet paper.  This product as well can be infused with CBD and THC for a medicinal aid for problems at both ends of your plumbing. Top it with Hemp foods for complete health through the digestive track, clean with a medicated wipe to make your butt happy.  Your mouth and butt and everything between will thank and be smiling with you!  Oh, and you mentioned employment…  There is a ton of employment from supervisors to laborers from seed to consumer, with every processed use of Cannabis to Hemp.  Don’t forget the spin off businesses perhaps selling Hemp food and clothing (and the million other items made from Hemp), they need employees too.  As this happens, less people work in the forests.  Work in the forests becomes research as it regrows naturally with our educated assistance, recreation becomes the forest’s main industry.  Stay tuned for part 3 arriving soon!

 

Categories
Biofuel British Columbia Canada Cannafood Food Hemp industrial Cannabis Prince George Uncategorized

Cannabis in history potential part one

Mixed feral stand of Cannabis common in history
Back in history, this could be a prehistoric scene of life before it crawled ashore.

History

Cannabis was perhaps the first plant in history on the planet. That’s just a thought in my mind, perhaps alone again. No one knows for certain when plant life grew on earth first or which plant, but it came long before and grew before any animal came ashore and crawled upon the rocky or early sandy beaches. It fed on the new, toxic to the first life on earth gas filling the atmosphere, oxygen. The animals and oxygen-breathing fish came ashore in search of air, freedom of mobility and perhaps another creature for a multitude of reasons. They might consume the other who may have been looking for seeds or another creature to consume, or to mate with a like species creature, perhaps dropping eggs or birthing on land. With an educated guess, many of them began fertilizing the rocky shores with faecal matter, exiting the slimy froth of the edges and inland of land outcroppings, creating soils for early plant life, expanding the land surface in part. What we suspect with another educated guess is that Cannabis would have preceded animal life on solid land. Its seeds contain all the nutrients animal life would need when they arrived. The nature of the plant is to terraform soil, kind of like dandelions, so probably it preceded other plants. It contains a high concentration of all the essential nutrients needed for life. It likely prepared soils for the first plants too, the first trees, the first animals and ‘land fish‘ to feed on the seeds and green fibres of the first generation plants, or the animals that consumed them. Consequentially, most life today has endocannabinoid receptors which accept cannabinoids from the plant. Eons after that, society was forming communities. They employed cannabis in many human rituals, plus making hempen materials to prosper and explore the planet. Rope, for example, sails way more on land, which includes homes and meals. We learned long ago how to separate the genders of the plant for medicinal and religious effects (all female for the stuff of ‘Reefer Madness‘ Sorry for that link, a reminder of the “RM” years that we cannot forget for fear we repeat) and the value of a mixed stand now called ‘Industrial Cannabis’, not Hemp while growing but it creates a ‘Hempen’ end product once harvested either as seed or fibre or even both.

One use for Industrial Cannabis is Fuel

Around the time 1899 turned 1900 on January 1st & during the decades to come, Henry Ford was building vehicles out of Cannabis and fueling them with the plant. The man sold his vehicles amid the early electric vehicles that were threatening to take over the auto market. He had the idea people could grow Industrial Cannabis to power his internal combustion engine (ICE). Those thoughts swayed away before 1945, likely because of advisory board decisions. We began the short run to today’s environmental problems that we see no end to, thanks to fossil fuels being damaging from extraction to consumption. We should return to that biofuel to phase out the internal combustion engine and the EV takeover. Predictions have it phased out of most nations by 2040. Certainly, by 2100, we may all be using autonomous electric vehicles, which are a combination of technologies developing individual power sources for all our power needs, individual to national will power. That dream is in another post I’ll make. We have so much more awareness now about clean renewable energy. Is it hype to think that can solve our problems? Not in my thoughts and many thinkers like a forward-thinking corporation in my community. This one function is temporary as the ICE may fade into human history in a predictable future, although perhaps as a heating oil that use will continue. The fuel is multipurpose, non-toxic, but unpleasant to consume. A spill would actually help the environment, fertilizing the soil for other plants. It’s not the only thing Cannabis can do. Stay tuned, and subscribe for more!

 

Categories
Canada Cannabis Cannafood Cocaine Drugged Driving laws food services Heroin

Food services in Canada

Meals

There are food services actually “Meal Kit Food Delivery” services that save you time from meal planning, targeted for the busy person perhaps with a family, with perhaps more than one mouth to feed.  Different services from raw ingredients with recipes to match, some provincial here in Canada to home delivery within an hour from local diners and grocery stores c/w alcohol and I hope in some near, almost predictable future, ‘Cannafood‘.

Here in Canada, if one went out for Cannafood, they would have to walk home or hire a cab.  Driving while under the influence of Cannabis or ‘Drugged Driving‘ is illegal.  It is odd that the law enforcement of North America considers Cannabis a drug in the same or worse category than Cocaine or Heroin, particularly with driving, but times are changing with what I call #Weeducation.  Nothing like home made though, while you wait for delivery.  In some areas, raw and concentrated Cannabis could be delivered too, locally and discreetly, perhaps not legally but fresher and more affordable.  Stay tuned for the future!

Canada wide delivery

There is a particular service I used for a few months.  GoodFood I can truly rate.  Their food arrives fresh on Dry Ice, the recipes are easy to follow and depending on basic skill level always comes out perfect.  They have a multitude of dinner meals, lunch brunch and breakfast beverages and meals including vegan/vegetarianism options to choose from.  It’s a good idea to know your protein substitutes as a vegan vegetarian diet is lacking as a major source of that overall, GoodFood has that info too as they appear to care about you.  They are just one federal service though.

Another one that I am not familiar with I first saw on Facebook was “Hello Fresh“.  They offer the same services as GoodFood above, likely with different meal choices.  I would expect that most of them offer about the same service with their own diverse menus, but some are based within the province and imho better as the food does not travel as far from farm to table.  That has to be a consideration in this age of Environmental awareness as ‘Local’ is best, and Provincial is second.  Nation should be the last choice although some international foods are good as they have unique tastes.  Never get international food as a ‘Meal Kit’ unless it’s prepared fresh, flash frozen raw, cold transported and your tastes demand it.  There are stores and diners likely local to you with the flavours you desire, perhaps deliver, and as above homemade is always best.

BC Provincial

It seems in the city of Vancouver, BC there are local BC Wide Meal Delivery Kits, a new one opened up delivering to Canada beginning here in BC.  Many Vancouver diners, grocery stores, and farmers markets appear to be listed to send meal kits to customers perhaps across our province.  Check the websites linked to those places in the above link for more info.  Google or use your favorite search engine the keywords “Provincial Meal Kits” for your province to see if you have any choices.  In grocery stores, you may have other shops that deliver, but many “Save On Foods” have a delivery service available, most have park and shop online shopping too, select your groceries online through the app or website and select a time to park and wait for them to be brought to your vehicle

Local

Well, Local I will limit to Delivery services from Diners you might or might not have in your community, I am sure you know the minor strictly local Dial a Bottle company delivering anywhere in Canada sometimes with more than just alcohol via deliveryservices listed below, or even your buddy Ralph who charges a gas fee and the local Booze Can epense after hours… Here in Canada, we have services such as “Uber Eats” where they operate, as Skip the Dishes operates in more communities sometimes delivering groceries through phone and computer apps like Instacart.  Pizza Hut finally got delivery in my town likely had it in yours from long ago.  Pizza places of course you have your local shops delivering in all communities perhaps as well as the big name ones like “Little Caesars“, “Dominos Delivery (avoid the ‘noid, order tonight) and others in a chain across the nation

Categories
British Columbia Canada Prince George

Hello world!

Hi.  This is the very first post I am putting on my new server, hostpapa.com.  I have this one for 3 years, starting during the Pandemic in September 2020.  I still have a base of operations in Prince George BC Canada and now have a Canadian web host!  The editor I am using is the classic editor in WordPress.  That ‘Gutenberg‘ editor is confusing but I’m sure if I used it, I would get used to it.  Meh.  Do you publish in WordPress?  On a domain you own like I do or at the ‘dot.com’ free editor?  What are your thoughts on that editor?  Comment below or on the facebook post I hope autoposts.

A stock image, added for SEO purposes

What will this site be?  I’ve yet to find an affiliate market for my new server, but as soon as I do, I’ll be encouraging you to buy a 3 year website c/w domain.  Hmmm.  OK you’ll have to purchase through above for a bit.  This will turn from ‘http’ to https’ very soon.  Perhaps tomorrow’s project.  Meh, tomorrow never comes.  It will be done soon.  No time like now eh?  Hurry up and wait on my personal projects.  For you non-technical people, it simply means any links here will have to be changed when I do change to https, this site becomes more secure for your safety here as well as mine.  Minor unless breached, fast fixed.  Till I find an affiliate, check out the server with the link above and perhaps I can make a few bucks in my future with out using PayPal’s ‘Pay Me’ link.  That link has also been my attempt to educate you on how to get 1,000,000 people to send you a dollar on many posts at Facebook and here in my blogs…  Give me a buck and I’ll tell you.  So far I’ve helped 130 people!  So far, I’ve justified my ‘Info’ title a few times with SSL awareness for the website, how a website makes its first coin without that PayPal grab tool and a paid offer sure to net 1,000,000 dollars into your Paypal account.  Will you be next?  Only a dollar to find out!  Thank you in advance.  Anyway, new posts will be regular I hope a diverse collection of thoughts and intelligences. Stay tuned!

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