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.
Category: Social Activism
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.
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.
DR, Snee and company, Merritt BC 2010
File Photo: KDG eye exams may help with other conditions…*
February is Heart Month and the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation is organizing for awareness and proactive action on Heart Health Making more Survivors Together is its theme once again this year .
Dance Party:
One of the activities in Merritt is a Dance at the Merritt Seniors complex .”Dance your Heart Out” is on Thursday February 25th from 9:30 – 11:30 tickets are 5 dollars apiece for 1 and 2 guests.
The event is endorsed by Love to Dance Studios
Contact janebartle@gmail.com
*
Read more at http://www.besthealthmag.ca/best-you/eye-health/what-your-eyes-can-tell-you-about-your-health#xtPQBgdmpe7ZIB0d.99Medical is personal and second opinions are a good thing in our view.
On this day February 10th 2009
Two communications satellites collide in space, one American,named Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 a Russian are destroyed in low earth orbit.
Feral cats in downtown store front
File photo KDG
Where are they now! The city had this store front for feral cats some years ago this time of year would be hard on these creatures . An activist group later stared a sanctuary for feral animals on a piece of property in an unincorporated area west of Merritt. They called the the place Angels. Angel’s Animal Rescue – Merritt, BC. They have a Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Angels-Animal-Rescue-Merritt-BC-120569591328742/?fref=ts
Here s another example of this dynamic In Oregon:
https://www.facebook.com/FeralCatCoalitionofOregon/?fref=ts
On this day: February 9th 1855
The devils footprints appear in southern Devon.
Waxwing bird with cat tracks
Photo KDG
With all deference to the the the Christmas bird count and all the environmental action we hold dear and should always continue, this bird was probably killed by a cat. Tracks around it and its proximity to cats and a feeding station conspire to an exercise in instinct.
It was probably a fat cat as well,as instinct didn’t lead to consumption.
On this day January 8th 1982
Break up of the Ma Bell system leads to 22 subdivisions shed by AT&T
Mallard on Nicola River
File Photo KDG
The Nicola Naturalists are organizing the Merritt Christmas Bird Count. This count has been running since 1995 and is one of thousands held across N America and other parts of the world. The count is on Sunday 20th December 2015 – you can come for the whole day or part of the day. We tally all the species and numbers of birds within a 22 km diameter circle. The area is divided up and groups of birders spend the day looking for both common and rare species.
Source Alan Burger
Here are a few samples of birds within 22 Kilometers of Merritt…
Ring Neck Doves
File Photo KDG
Sandpiper
File Photo: KDG
Mallard Duck
File Photo KDG
Heron
Photo KDG
Feeders help Sparrows
Photo KDG
On this Day: December 11th 1997
The Kyoto Protocol comes up for signature.
Pipe for oil field
File:Photo KDG
Will they be the bad guy from Paris?
The Paris meetings have recently affirmed that there is will to change , what is different about this international meeting and others is this;usually the bureaucrats have already done the work for agreements or treaties and the elected are there to announce and confer as well as associate with others that have the confidence of the electorate. This time their is a 90 day time limit for conferring with officials after the fact. The cabinet must take their pledges to the ministries in there nations and come up with plans. Here is some of the alternate methods that BC hydro is adopting in response to the markets here already.
Electricity from independent producers must also be clean and renewable. Projects currently generating electricity for B.C. are found throughout the province, and include: ( BC Hydro)
- Biomass: electricity is generated either by burning or by converting biomass to a fuel, which is then used to generate power
- Run-of-river: the current of a river is used to generate electricity
- Solar: energy from the sun’s rays are converted to electricity using photovoltaic cells
- Municipal solid waste: combustion or gasification of waste to generate electricity
- Waste heat: when heat is generated as a byproduct of other processes, it can be used to generate electricity
- Wind: windmills generate electricity when spinning Source: https://www.bchydro.com/news/conservation/2015/hydroelectricity-still-best.html?WT.mc_id=c-15-12_hydroelectricity
Merritt is in the middle of a green energy project now, how this relates to Paris is unknown however it is always desirable for incoming governments to privatize. ( or in this case create new business) . Hydro says they have 100 projects on the go with the above elements.
Editors note: We think the first method of international agreements is preferable to the Paris format. Less surprises over all. That said it was nice to see all those getting along so well in a troubled world. We hope it sticks.
On this day December 4th 1875
Boss Tweed a New York crooked politician escapes prison later recaptured in Spain.
Sarah Molnar works at a recent Rotary event. Her father is a long time member.
Photo KDG
The City of Merritt has had a long presence of the Rotary organization. The local business and professionals a s well as others often partner with the city and others to do projects and have their name on tangible legacy’s including a park and a concrete skateboard park. They have a program that goes overseas to address the disease of polio.
The clubs raise monies internally but sometimes go to the public with events such as radio actions and theme fundraisers.
Rotary meets in Merritt at the Brambles bakery in the 2100 block of Quilchena avenue. It is know as a service organization and its motto is Service above Self.
On this day: December 2nd 1409
The University of Leipzig opens.
Heinz Lange big onion windmill.
Photo KDG
No its not a horror movie rather its a friend from the past. The onion was and invention of Heinz Lange here in Merritt and a version of it powered a warning light on the hillside leaving Merritt to the north and approaching the airstrip for decades.
A source with the city says that it is Murphy Shewchuck behind it’s construction it is being placed at the entrance to the Kinsman Park on Voght street and a plaque stand is in place ready to receive some acknowledgement.
Murphy Shewchuck is a retired BC Hydro employee and a free-lance writer and photographer. He has written several books on Merritt history and its trails and attractions. He also is published in outdoors magazines. He is a member of the Nicola Naturalists and a principal at the local museum and archives.
http://www.murphyshewchuk.com/guidebooks/
Heinz Lange was a high school shop teacher passed away decades ago after a long a productive career here. He immigrated from Germany after the second world war after being on the side not prevailing as a test pilot for the Messerschmitt jet aircraft. Many of us remember him fondly as a teacher who cared and was energetic and positive. His windmill was also deployed in tests to aerate lakes in the area. He is said to have gotten a patent for his invention in the United States.
Reconciliation was his and many others aim here in the Nicola Valley.
On this Day: November 5th 1943
WW 11 the Vatican is attacked from the air.
Kevin Griffiths
percypaschal
The Proprietor Review 