The Selfish Giant of Cardston

While I was in Lethbridge today I spent a few minutes in the woods down near the river to check on my geocache. Although the trails were still a bit muddy in places it was such a nice day there. Part way along the path that leads to my cache I came across a young rabbit which of course ran away as soon as it saw me, or rather, as soon as I saw it. The sun was shining, there were rabbits hopping, birds singing and in general it was just spring all over the place there.

I found my 5 ½ year old cache still in amazingly good condition, still bone dry on the inside and containing a traveling monkey named Fred. Fred seems to have began his world adventures in 2005 in California and has so far traveled over 16,000 km including two trips to Hawaii. This is a photo of "travel bug" Fred who was placed in my cache just three days ago.

After meeting Fred and completing my other business in Lethbridge I started back toward Cardston. This time spring gradually gave way back to winter, first with snow in the ditches then more and more remaining in the fields. Finally the view of Cardston in the distance included an immense blanket of pure white snow. I was instantly reminded of the story of the Selfish Giant that I posted about recently and how the scene looked so much like the giant’s garden still held hostage by the relentless winter while just outside spring had already come to everyone else nearby.

Apparently there is another Selfish Giant living right here in Cardston who is obviously responsible for this blatently localized and unacceptable delaying of spring. For all I know, he could be me. Yikes! All these years I had attributed the ridiculously long winters in Banff to its northyness and location in the mountains but maybe it was me all along. I apologize to all the residents here and promise to move on just as soon as possible. In the meantime, hopefully spring will somehow manage to find its way here soon.

New Blog Background

Made you look, made you look!

Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to get your hopes up. Indeed nothing has changed.

I know that some of you, perhaps my regular visitors, (whose numbers hopefully will someday reach double digits) may have thought at one time or another, “I can’t believe he’s still using that default setting blogger template. Doesn’t he know it’s totally lame?" Actually I do know it may well be considered boring and uncreative to be still using an original blogger template after… let’s see… hey, two days from now (March 19, that’s Marlan’s birthday) will be my second anniversary of my venture into the blogging world. Anyway, it’s not that I haven’t thought of changing it, or that I haven’t looked for a new background, but I just haven’t been able to find anything I like I guess. I know some people like to change their background every week it seems. I’m definitely not that fickle but I wouldn’t mind a change of scenery once in a while.

The problem is, it seems all of the blog template creators are under the impression that only females blog. Women may indeed be the vast majority of casual bloggers but there are a few of us men doing it as well. Whenever I search for a new template all I can find is unicorns, ribbons, butterflies, flowers and rainbows. Either that or they are so loud and busy that I find it hard to believe that anyone who visits a blog with such a background is ever able to read it due to being instantly and terminally distracted by the “in your face” background. (I wonder if that qualifies as an oxymoron.) I have enough trouble getting people to read my blog without having some hallucination inducing shenanigans going on all around it. Oh, and don’t get me started on those backgrounds that actually intrude into the space meant for the writer’s text, often covering it up rendering it unreadable. What’s up with that?

Okay, I feel much better now. I suppose I just needed to get that rant out of the way. In the meantime, I plan to periodically continue my search for a new blog background. For now though, I will continue on with my tried and true, blogger original, newbie template. I’ll just be hoping that instead of finding it lame and boring, you might find its consistancy at least a little bit cozy and comforting.

Finally, just in case you're thinking of suggesting that I make my own template, I'm afraid that is quite impossible. Just as in most other areas of my life, I must rely on the use of other people's creations in order to express my own individuality.

Junior Cougars smack mini Comets…

… out of orbit and into deep interstellar space.
Return to galaxy unlikely some say.

Congratulations to Kendall and his team on their 92 – 59 obliteration of the Junior Comets! The once mighty comet has been smashed into a million tiny pieces and blasted into oblivion like the dying embers of an exploding firework.

The Cougars had their backs up against the wall and needed to give 110% in the final shootout of the zone playoffs. Some members of the team were overheard saying that they were just happy to be there and hoped to be able to contribute. Others spoke of believing in themselves, digging deep to turn it up a notch and bringing their play up to the next level. With both teams playing at such a high level turnovers will be the key some noted.

After the Cougars built a nearly insurmountable lead early on some Comets fans became upset when, during a timeout, an ABBA song (Mama Mia) was played. This unusual choice of song at a boy’s basketball game apparently caused some Comets fans to infer that their team was playing like a bunch of girls. Any such implication however was denied outright by the AV nerd running the music thingy.

In the post game interview the coach may have been heard saying: In the end we played our hearts out and really took it to them. We had several kids making a living out beyond the three point line. We brought our A game today and I’m really proud of the way our guys hung in there. This win hasn’t really sunk in yet. We’ve got the greatest fans in the world bob loblaw…

While the victorious victors ride off into the sunset in victory our thoughts now turn to the surely baffled and bewildered mini Comets. Defeat is not suffered lightly in their town, well known as the center of the basketball universe (at least to the people who live there.) A genuine butt kicking by over thirty points though is likely to cause emergency meetings to be convened at various levels and grief counsellors to be brought in to help the locals deal with a tragedy of this heretofore unheard-of magnitude.

The players themselves will of course not be riding all the way home on the loser bus but will nearly certainly be dropped off at the last junction and be forced to walk the final five miles in order to ponder and reflect upon the great shame they have brought upon their entire town.

So anyway Kendall, Well done! Now I hope you get to enjoy your extra hours away from school!