File Photo KDG
Earth Day April 22 2018. Since 1970 concern for pollution and limited resources are observed.
On this Day: April 20th 1653
Oliver Cromwell dissolves the Rump Parliament.
Category: -Photography
This cactus is pollinated by flies. It smells like rotting flesh
KDG file photo
On this Day: April 20th 1534 /
Jacques Cartier begins his first voyage to what is no Eastern Canada.
Petal power…..
There is a bicycle event returning to the Nicola Valley in early June. The 2016 version of the Cow trail Classic XC Bike race will go ahead on June 11th in there stages 32 Kilometer as well as 32 and a 4 kilometer race. This according to the principal at the back alley bike shop ( Breathe Bikes) behind the Royal Lepage building off Voght Street. A right turn in the first lane after the lights going south.
Partnerships are available as well as more info by emailing merrittbiking@yahoo.ca. The event has a website at http://www.cowtrailclassic.ca
the event is sanctioned by the Merritt Mountain bike association, and sponsored by among others the Nicola Valley Credit union.
On this day: April 14th 1881
Four dead in the 5 second gunfight in El Paso Texas
Trees can be a lethal hazard in falls.
File Photo KDG
There are 20 young people at the Forest Service Training center at Saunders Field here in Merritt. One trainee says that they are doing tree intervention.
Trees along roads are sometimes dead falls and can be a real hazard to people and vehicles. An innocuous looking snag on a high road bank can quickly become a deadly spear coming in an open window of a moving Vehicle.
Cut block also expose untested timber to wind and the possibility of a falling tree. Look up and live.
A member of the group says ” we are identifying the problem trees at this point”.
On this day: April 8th 1952
United States President Harry S. Truman calls for the seizure of all US owned steel mills to stop a national steel strike.
The Nicola Valley still enjoys the closeness of a small hospital with a full lab. File Photo KDG
Health is the preoccupation of the healthy, but most people know its value. Serious disease has decimated populations until recent times. things are better with bell weathers like the golden age of health after the discovery of more vaccines like the one for polio, thanks to the March of Dimes.
The World Health Organization recently came into focus again with a successful remedy for the Ebola virus in Africa.
Economy plays a role even now in populations without. However the axiom you can’t buy back your health when lost still resonates.
Editors Note: The hat in the featured picture looks like the one that belonged to an old retired nurse that pushed a cart about town for along time. It rests on the walk by the Royal Bank on the corner of Quilchena and Garcia, a poetic link to the relationship of money and health. The nurse is not noted about for a while yet we think she is ok. The wind gets a lot of hats in March Merritt.
On this day: April 7th 1967
Film critic Roger Ebert makes his first film review published in the Times.
There is a walk through display trailer at the City Furniture parking lot on the 2000 Block Coutlee Avenue in Merritt. A set up person says that it will be ready for the public in the AM on Wednesday. Showcasing its new all fast fiber service to Merritt it has smart boards and appliances in a raised glass level walk through. A velvet rope barrier similar to a theater welcomes the interested at the bottom of a flight of about 7 stairs to the raised platform.
The last word going out the back end is ” Gigabit enabled future.”
Telus making its presence known in Merritt.
Photo KDG
The display continues on to Vancouver Island after Merritt.
On this Day: March 30th 1964
The popular game show Jeopardy debuts with hoist Art Fleming.
Many places in BC and Alberta have upper levels that require a lot of snow removal.
File Photo KDG
Easter Monday saw wet and rainy weather in Merritt, turning to heavy snowfall in the higher levels. Six inches of the heavy white stuff is reported on the highway east of Merritt. Hamilton Hill is an iconic landmark in view of downtown and begins the rise to the circa 1700 meter sea level summit of the Coqihalla connector to Kelowna above and the 600 meter elevation of the City of Merritt. The hill is called Hamilton after Merritt’s founder s middle name. William Hamilton Merritt the third. Merritt also married the daughter of Scottish retailer, Canadian Robert Simpson whose chain department store was also a Canadian Icon.
The city of Merritt, British Columbia is named after William Hamilton Merritt III, due to his role in bringing the railway through the Nicola Valley. In 1891, Merritt prospected for coal near where the city is today. Finding it, he organized the Nicola, Kamloops and Similkameen Coal and Railway Company to extend the rail line through to transport coal out of the valley. The railway also allowed settlement and industry to flourish in the valley. As demand for coal grew, the company was eventually bought by the Canadian Pacific Railway. source Wikipedia.
The video cams on the 1200 meter summit highway 5 Coqihalla shows new snow but not sticking to the road way in the afternoon on Monday. The 97 C highway cams at the 1700 Penask summit were not available at this writing.
On this day: March 29th 1886
Doctor John Pemberton brews his first bottle of Coca- Cola in his back yard in Atlanta.
Cattle on the ranch at Merritt BC
File photo KDG
Beef cattle get moved about from summer and winter range. Being fed all winter on the ranch then being moved up to higher pastures to graze on what nature provides makes an economy that we all have a stake in ( except Vegans).
Most range access by road is controlled by metal grated cattle guards in this area however it is good to close any barbed wire fence after use if one is still in service.
There are a number of feed lots here in the Merritt area. The lots function all year long, they are used for dairy cattle that are being matured to two years before being moved to the lower mainland for milk production.
Herd laws make farmers liable for loss of stock not kept behind fences, there can be failure in fences, however collisions with livestock are less frequent now.
On this Day: March 17th 2013
The largest meteorite ever observed hitting the moon lands on its backside.
This is a long way from a gas pump
File Photo: KDG
The local Petro Canada station on the corner on Nicola and Voght is offering regular gasoline at 99.9 cents a liter. The price dropped from a $1.02.9 last week and has bridged the psychological barrier of a dollar a liter once again. In earlier weeks it had dropped below 90 cents.
The CBC is reporting that it looked into price increases on long weekends and found something under 20 occurrences which is not unusual for the system of refining. There were other price drops to long weekends.
Canadian Tire suffered a seven figure fine for price fixing between May and November 2007. The combines people usually use real estate zoning to encourage completion in big box stores!
Gas buddy: This service says that the prices are rising and BC is at $1.06.9 with national well under at 92.9.
There is a summer driving season that is about to the college year and summer hours this usually has an effect on prices it will be interesting to see if it is in effect this summer with gluts reflected in bank accounts of producers. (Or did they fix that with grocery prices)
Editors Note: We believe that the refiner capacity is more responsible for the lag in gas prices dropping in relation to crude prices. No one wants one in their back yard. This may be good as it prevents dumping to a degree. Politically dumped production harms consumers in the long run and predatory pricing will do in competition that make prices stable.
Canadian tire fined the Globe and Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/canadian-tire-pleads-guilty-in-gas-price-fixing-scheme/article534996/
On this day: March 15th 1906
Rolls Royce LTD is incorporated in England.
Sunday morning on the 13th is daylight saving time once again. Clocks change at 2 in the morning.
Daylight saving time (DST) or summer time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that in the evening daylight is experienced an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions with summer time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring and adjust them backward in the autumn to standard time. [1] source Wikipedia.
An extra hour coming up for Rodders, this one was out trying earlier in the week. Photo KDG
DST was first proposed in 1895 by New Zealander, George Hudson. The global warming and energy crisis have made it more desirable over time.
On this day: March 11th 1932
Booming Ben the last Heath Hen is seen for the last time.
Some events require a lot of air travel and a person (not just a celebrity) can make offsets in life to accommodate carbon generation.
Make a donation to a green thing, buy a new car ( even a new smaller gas car) think green , think offsets.
Walk down to the public library and do a program to offset some of your energy use. You will feel better!
Car pool is always good, fill up all the seats if you have to drive to a hockey game.
You can always plant a tree…. You have imagination don’t miss stuff for carbons sake but make up the difference.
On this Day: February 25th 1919
Oregon levies a 1 cent a gallon tax on gasoline, the first in the Union.
ICBC and injury law add in a phone book ( to some a nuisance)
There was a young Telus employee at the library in Merritt last week. He had a little coin box in his hand and said that he worked for the phone company and was responsible for all 8000 pay phones in the province. ” I stay in a lot of Motels ” he proclaimed with an air of economic impact! its still a good deal a dollar gets you fifteen minutes of long distance , and there is an innate privacy . “They are still in airports and rural places”
Some estimates say that there is still about 10 percent of the population that use payphones however many are rarely used and revenues are way down.
Some people can’t afford cell phones and some area have no transponder.
The Canadian Radio and Television Commission regulates and licences broadcasting and communication in Canada and in the past made note of community benefits of the minority as a reason to award. Shaw Cable has local community channels in small communities that often have a one person employee presence.
Eitors note: Good luck to that young man as he defines his life by payphones we hope he also find defininition in some community organization.
On this day: February 23 1987
A super nova is observed, 1987a is seen in the Large Magellan Cloud.
Kevin Griffiths
percypaschal
The Proprietor Review 