Hi all!! Got some news stuff from my little corner of the world. It’s nothing frightening...oh..scratch that. It’s not world-ending stuff, so no need to panic...I think…
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at to let
people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It's also so we can find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. Members come here to check in. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a PM to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
Monday Crimson Quillfeather
Tuesday ejoanna
Wednesday Pam from Calif
Thursday art ah zen
Friday FloridaSNMOM
Saturday Gwennedd
Sunday loggersbrat
Anyhoo...My friend J and I had to travel into town today and due to a road closure for Thunder In The Valley which runs this weekend:
We had to take the long route which put us on the hill going down into downtown. As we approached the town, I could see straight ahead, the mountain across the inlet on fire!! At the time, that fire wasn’t very large, but by the time we left downtown, the wind had come up and the fire had grown and spread. It’s a new fire, started just this morning. Because it’s across the inlet, it likely won’t threaten my city, so ...hopefully, no worries that I may be immolated.
But, that is not the only fire nearby. There’s one in the hills just behind my area of town. That one could pose a big problem. It’s right beside a rural residential area a couple of miles “northwest” of me. It’s currently 10ha in size. And there a a few more fires in the Island...one that is very close to Nanaimo on the east coast of the Island. That one is a Fire of Note ( which denotes that the Wildfire Service is worried about it and that it’s large) and it’s 179 ha in size. It will cool down this weekend and there’ll be some rain...I doubt it will be enough, but there is also the chance of thundershowers and lightning.
As if that’s not bad enough, the rest of BC is burning, too. I’m including the BC Wildfire Service info page and an interactive map link. None of my kidlets are in danger this time, but things can change quickly.
Shortly after writing this, I discovered I can actually see the fire clearly from the field ( about a hundred feet away ) at the bottom of my trailer park. I just went out to look again and can see the flames shooting up and moving from tree to tree. Ugg.
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One of the 3 pods of Killer whales that make up the Southern Resident orcas, J pod, is having serious issues right now. Two of the family are in difficulty. There are only 75 Southern Resident orcas in the pods. It’s a very low number, so losing one or two of them, especially young females, is a serious problem.
Tahlequah, a young mother gave birth to her baby over two weeks ago, but sadly her infant died a half hour after birth. Tahlequah has been carrying her dead baby on her nose or towing her clamped in her teeth ever since. She won’t abandon her body. Scientists have never seen this behaviour before...a grieving mother carrying her deceased infant for so long, and are extremely reluctant to part the two.
The other member, J50...aka Scarlet, is severely undernourished. She’s 4 years old, but looks about the size of a 1 year old. Scientists from both sides of the border are unsure if she’s ill or just unable to get enough to eat, so they’ve been putting their heads together to come up with ways to help her. So far they have managed to find her pod and give her a shot of antibiotics via a dart, but feeding her is going to be a wee bit difficult. These orcas only eat chinook salmon...and the salmon numbers are in a serious decline. They’ll have to release live salmon right in front of her and hope she’ll grab some and eat them. It’s not an easy task.
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In good news: I got a call from the provincial government a couple of days ago asking why I was having difficulty applying for my pensions. I explained that since I was an immigrant ( a landed immigrant) without citizenship, I was supposed to account for all the years I spent outside of Canada. I had to track down my school records (thanks goodness I actually had written down the name of my school in Dublin on the school photo), find my father’s registry as a doctor in two places within the UK and produce adoption and birth records.
According to the woman I spoke to from my province’s social security, I didn’t have to do all that if I was under 18 when I came to Canada. It says so on the form ( but not on the instruction sheets) Okay, then!!! Today I went to Service Canada, ready to raise a ruckus if they insisted I did need proof of residence from outside of Canada ...and I don’t have to!!!!! The lady ( a different one than the first one I’d spoken to) looked through all the paperwork, helped me change a few mistakes and then stamped everything all over! Application Accepted!!