With the Emergency Measures (formerly War Measures) Act being invoked by our Prime Dictator, it can be expected that the rhetoric, accusations and false information is going to kick into high gear, to try and convince people that these measures are somehow justified.
Early during the protests, trucks were seen dropping off loads of rocks, and piles of bricks were also found. This is something that happened during previous protests that turned violent, so truckers and their supporters would immediately call the police and stand guard until they arrived, to make sure no instigators would start trouble. It would be no surprise if the same would be done with guns. Our media and Prime Dictator have been working very hard to portray the protesters as violent, and failed time after time, as on the ground, independent video showed how much of a lie that was. They are getting desperate.
The backlash over what T2 has done by invoking the Emergency Measures Act is rippling around the world.
In the “breaking news” category, Ottawa’s Chief of Police, Sloly, has resigned.
Something I wanted to clarify about our Prime Dictator invoking the Emergency Measures Act (EMA).
It is not in effect, even though many are acting as if it is, including banks that are freezing people’s accounts.
Once the EMA is invoked, there is a process that needs to be followed. First, T2 has 7 sitting days to table a motion in Parliament. There are specific conditions that must be met that demonstrate the extreme conditions that justify invoking the EMA. It should be noted that, among the extended definitions of what is exempt from the EMA is protests. It’s not in the Act itself, but is linked with a CSIS definition (that’s Canada’s version of the CIA). None of the conditions required are met, so there is zero justification for invoking the act. In tabling the motion, T2 has to try and prove in Parliament that those conditions are somehow being met.
It then has to be voted on by both the House of Commons and the Senate.
Only after both vote in favour of it, can the invocation of the Act be enforced.
There are two problems with this.
The first is that, by simply invoking the Act, it is being treated as if it is in force. Not just by ordinary citizens on the street, who may not have even known the Act existed until now, but by the media, politicians and even law enforcement. Basically, just like all the other illegal measures, the powers that be simply keep on going as if they have the power and authority to do what they are doing, and people complied. As long as people complied, it became harder for anyone to stand up to the illegal measures.
The other problem is, while T2 does not have a strong Liberal majority in government that will vote his way, the NDP have already stated they will support enforcing the Act. Which means, between the two of them, they would have enough votes to push it through, even if the conditions are not met. The Senate isn’t exactly balancds, either, and it’s possible they would vote to enforce it, too. All the fail safes designed to prevent the Act being abused could … well… fail.
Many provinces, meanwhile, have spoken out against it, but that hasn’t made much difference in the past couple of years. After all, some of those provinces spoke out against the lockdowns and other restrictions, too, saying they would never implement them, only to turn around and do exactly that, after the federal government offered “aid” funding to the provinces – on the condition that they locked down. So they already have a history of untrustworthiness.
One of our mainstream media websites has a daily poll. Today’s question is asking of people agree with T2’s invocation of the EMA. I’ve looked at it a few times this morning and, even as the total of votes rises, the percentages have stayed the same. 19% agree with it. Which is really quite disturbing.
Which is why it’s encouraging to see things like this.
Oh, one more note about the “blockades”. I’ve mentioned this before. They have never been complete blockades. Traffic was delayed, but not completely stopped. For example, lanes were always kept open for emergency vehicles and trucks hauling live animals were allowed through at border crossings with as little delay as possible (they still had to get through customs and the police blockades, too). In cities, people could still get to and from their work and homes. Hospitals were very specifically kept clear.
Hhhmm… back to the “breaking news” thing, just minutes ago, it seems our Prime Dictator walked out of Parliament again, refusing to answer questions about the justification for his invoking the EMA.
What a mess.
From the looks of it, things are just going to get messier.
All of which could have been ended long ago, if our Prime Dictator had wanted it to.
I just wanted to start by addressing the update that I made in my post last night. Specifically, about an Ontario court freezing funds people have donated to the Freedom Convoy 2022.
This sort of pressure by Ottawa is what cause GoFundMe to capitulate, much to their detriment. GiveSendGo, however has pointed out the obvious.
A court in Ontario has no jurisdiction on what they, a company in the US, do with the money people donate using their platform.
Fines for non-compliance will be up to $100,000 and up to a year imprisonment.
Aside from his inflammatory, slanderous tone, this part is of major concern.
The temporary order will be enshrined in new permanent law that his government will introduce, he said.
Now, there’s something that should alarm anyone, whatever their opinions about the Freedom Convoy!
Our Prime Dictator is right in there, too.
Perhaps he needs to remember this.
The trucker response?
There’s a funny thing about civil disobedience. It involved being civil. And disobedient.
Which is the stage we are at now.
Also, these government actions are illegal. No law can contradict our constitutional rights. It doesn’t matter if they get passed by politicians or even propped up by courts.
Manitoba, meanwhile, has made a new announcement. They went from promising to maybe lifting all restrictions by spring (first day of spring is March 20 this year) to announcing all restrictions will be lifted by March 15.
This is a legacy media link, but I included it because it included the response from Manitoba’s NDP leader, Wab Kinew; it is so very typical of the NDP.
Alberta and Saskatchewan are also living their mandates, though all seem to be conditional. They could change their minds (again) or bring them back at any time.
The things is, the prairie provinces never had reason to shut down in the first place. Check out these screen captures I took today, from the StatCan Provisional weekly all-cause death data.
The first thing you’ll notice is that Manitoba’s data is a year behind. I’ve been keeping an eye on these numbers for a couple of years now, and they have been consistently behind all other provinces.
Now, during a pandemic of respiratory viruses, there is a distinct pattern. There is a spike in excess deaths at the beginning, usually around early spring. That spike drops dramatically, then a small spike happens at the end of the year, during the usual winter increase in respiratory infections aka: flu season.
Manitoba had no such pattern. The only spike in deaths was at the end of the year – well after it kept increasing the restrictions. Plus, if you look at the ages, you’ll find that that spike is in the 65+ age categories. Manitoba was never part of the pandemic.
Now let’s look at Saskatewan.
Again, no pandemic pattern, but there is an increase in excess deaths for 2021 – after restrictions were mandated.
Alberta, however has something very strange going on.
Something very wrong has been happening in Alberta. This is not a pandemic pattern. These are all-cause deaths. There needs to be a much closer look at what lead to all those deaths – most of which, as with Manitoba and Saskatchewan, happened when the province was locked down and mandates were in place. This could be a reflection on increased in deaths due to lack of timely diagnosis and treatment, or deaths of despair, such as suicide, drug and alcohol overdoses, or vaccine deaths. It needs to be investigated.
These are not the only provinces that were never part of the pandemic, and had no evidence driven reason to shut down in the first place. This is not to say the Wu Flu wasn’t in these provinces, but that they did not meet the criteria for an epidemic, never mind a pandemic.
All of this needs to be questioned, and in a truly free country, we would be able to do so without being censored, demonized and punished.
I found this message from a Canadian army major well worth listening to.
There is no doubt that our Prime Dictator is underestimating the truckers, and our legacy is a disasterous failure, with very few exceptions.
Here is a reminder of just why the truckers are there, and why so many support them.
How will it end?
Well, here are some thoughts on that.
What’s hilarious is that tweet about a “wrecking ball” on a crane. Talk about showing how out of touch of elitists are, when it comes to ordinary working folk.
Just look at these terrible, violent, nasty protesters!
The weekend is coming, and the numbers will increase. How the police are going to enforce these new, draconian edicts is certainly a fair question. Hopefully, they will not resort to the levels of violence that has been happening in Australia and New Zealand.
In the end, though, the best way to face such attempts at authoritarianism is to simply expose it for the joke it is.
I think our political overlords are in their death throws, and they know it. Unfortunately, that makes them far more likely to do something very, very stupid.
Right now, how things go is squarely in our Prime Dictator’s hands, and he shows no sign of being intelligent enough to handle it.
Actually, I’m not planning to do much of my own talking about the Freedom Convoy 2022 today. Others are doing a much better job than I am!
Update: I’m putting this update at the top, because it’s basically breaking news. It’s just been announced that the GiveSendGo donations for the Freedom Convoy and Adopt a Trucker have been frozen by an Ontario court. This link is to the Globe and Mail, which is legacy media and not freedom friendly.
Here are some of the newest, most informative videos I’ve been finding to share. Things change so fast, I highly recommend following the websites and channels for The Countersignal, Rebel News, True North, and individuals such as Viva Frei, Marcel Irnie, Clyde Do Something and Tireroasters Garage, just to name a few. In fact, as I am writing this, Tireroasters Garage is live streaming, on site in Ottawa.
Let’s start with this address to Canadians, from one of the organizers.
A lot of people are trying to bring their own concerns into things and, as legitimate (or not) as they may be, this convoy is about getting ride of all the mandates and restrictions, and making sure this never happens again. Pretty straightforward. Anything else that follows is outside of their perview.
And our Prime Dictator’s response?
Then he runs away.
Is it any wonder, his own party is starting to jump ship?
For all that the police were made to return the fuel they took before (which was returned contaminated), they have continued to take more fuel – gas, diesel and even firewood.
The trucks are still getting fuel, though.
Not all the police are good with what they’re being made to do.
Constitutional lawyers, meanwhile, are putting the police on note, that their actions are the ones that are illegal.
Meanwhile, in Quebec…
And in Vancouver.
In the above video, you get an idea of how the hateful lies, slander and rhetoric from our political overlords and media is resulting in violence and threats of violence against legal, peaceful protesters.
There are way too many smaller convoys and protests around the country to include videos from all of them, but most major cities, a lot of smaller towns and cities, many border crossings and even airports have their protests to end the illegal mandates.
Some of the international coverage is awesome – certainly better than our own legacy media coverage. This video is older (yeah, 6 days is “old” for this!), but I found it hilarious.
It should be noted that NDP leader, Jagmeet Singh, isn’t allowed back to the country of his birth because of his connections to an Indian terrorist group.
Shapiro has covered the story, too, with humour.
Because our federal government is such a joke, as are our own legacy media and pundits.
While the GiveSendGo fundraiser continues to grow, as people around the world show their support for the Freedom Convoy 2022, GoFundMe has clearly not learned their lesson.
Not only did they end a fundraiser for the Canberra Convoy, but they are refusing to refund people’s donations!
I will finish with this video, of a woman sharing her story.
As I write this, the snow system that passed over us is now crossing Southern Ontario, so a lot of these freedom protesters are probably being snowed on right now. Judging from what I’ve seen, they are will prepared to handle inclement weather. Hopefully, it means a reduction in harassment and violence from either the Ottawa police, or misinformed counter protesters.
I’m just so disgusted. Our lying Prime Dictator is bad enough, but I just got a response email from my own MP (Member of Parliament) – a Conservative. It was a form letter, due to the overwhelming number of emails they’ve been getting. Fair enough, but the email was just mouthing platitudes, with the requisite disavowing of … negative elements, shall we say … none of which have anything to do with the actual Freedom Convoy participants. He was basically talking out of both sides of his mouth, and it’s pretty much exactly what I expected from him, though I hoped that for what’s going on now, he’d finally stop playing games.
Then there is stuff like this.
Remember that fuel the police were ordered to return to the truckers?
They sabotaged it.
Yup. Almost all the cans returned were tested as half water. Sick.
But not as sick and their next threat. They are talking about going after the kids.
For their “safety”. I’ve heard it from a number of sources.
This is not the first time Children’s Services has been used as a weapon, and my own personal experiences with them has shown me just how bad they can be.
As for the children’s safety, crime rates in the area are down 90%. Crime has all but ended, since the truckers showed up in Ottawa. Any danger to the kids is from the police themselves, if they continue to ramp up their actions. And we know the powers that be want violence, to justify extreme measures.
The other “safety” issues I’ve seen brought up is the supposedly high CO levels in the truck cabs some families are living in. This from the people who have been forcing children to wear masks, which test at toxic levels of CO and CO2. If they really cared about health related safety, no child would be wearing a mask, at any age.
Going after the kids, if they do it, is sick beyond belief.
I leave you with just one more video. In this one, a woman challenges CBC staff, and … well… just watch it.
Meanwhile, more protests are happening across the country, more are planned for this weekend, and more are happening around the world. It is a tsunami, sweeping the world. People are fighting for their freedoms, and the powers that be are flailing, and they don’t care how many lives they destroy in the process.
I was about to ask, how did we get to this point? But I know the answer. Little by little, demands were made of us, and people complied. They kept moving the goal posts, further and further, and people complied. The more people complied, the longer they complied, the deeper the hole we dug ourselves into.
Now, people are standing up, and it’s a beautiful sight. They are doing it with love for each other, with peace, unity, enthusiasm, passion, and joy.
Well, from the feedback and traffic we’re getting, clearly people are wanting to hear more Freedom Convoy talk! Thank you to those who are visiting and responding. It is much appreciated.
The truth is, I’d rather talk about something else. This sort of thing is not what this blog is supposed to be for and about. In fact, one of the reasons I’m so happy to be back here on my family farm, even though we are having so many unexpected issues (tools and equipment “disappeared”, our vandal, the house turning out to be in worse shape than I thought, and so on), is that it allowed use to get away from all sorts of drama and other issues. Things had gotten so bad, it was not only affecting my husband’s health but mine, as well, and the girls were certainly happy to put it behind them as well. Unfortunately, the things going on outside our little “cave” in the woods are so far ranging, they effect us, no matter what. That, and I have this terrible habit of standing up to bulling, abuse and injustice, even though doing the right thing has sometimes cost me – and my family – a great deal. There are a lot of reasons why this is an anonymous blog, and some of those include safety and security.
I suppose it’s a good thing, then, that I simply cannot get too involved in what’s going on, or I’d probably be out in Ottawa, too. The most I can do to support the Freedom Convoy is keep in touch with a variety of sources, and write these posts, in hopes that it gives people a chance to see something other than the propaganda that’s out there.
Most of my resources, however, aren’t things I can share directly here, either because they simply can’t be embedded are shared on this platform for technical reasons, or due to privacy and anonymity concerns. So I try to find the next best things, which can take hours of searching. While I manage to post a lot of YouTube videos, if you do a search there for Freedom Convoy 2022 or even just convoy, you’ll get a lot of legacy media results, but almost no independent channels. If I didn’t follow so many channels already, I wouldn’t be finding most of what I do. Platforms such as Rumble, Odyssey and BitChute don’t mess with their search algorithms, but Rumble is pretty much the only one that I use right now.
With that said, here is what I have for today.
First up, remember the incident of police taking fuel that I posted about yesterday? The officers in riot gear coming in during the dead of night to take away fuel was bad enough, but to have rooftop snipers was absolutely insane.
One of the things I’d heard was that they only took illegal fuel, known as purple. This is cheaper, purple dyed fuel that is used for farm vehicles only. Now, that “farm vehicle” could be anything from tractors to pickup trucks to quads and utility vehicles. As long as they are just driven on the farm, not on public roads, purple can be used. So it doesn’t make sense to me that there would even be a stock of purple among the Ottawa supply areas.
Well, today, a judge ordered the police to return the fuel. Not just to dump it nearby, either, but to actually return it to exactly where they took it from. But do you think I can find something about that outside of individuals posting about it on their personal accounts? So far, nope.
Then there was the crackdown on people donating fuel to the truckers. Those people arrested for carrying jerry cans? Or people driving pickup trucks with empty slip tanks?
All released, without charges.
Going after the fuel backfired pretty royally.
That ban against honking?
The honking was already voluntarily limited, and is not done at night, so the attempt to restrict even that, backfired as well.
GoFundMe continues to be in trouble for their attempt to take the remaining $9million + from the truckers.
I don’t watch Fox News, nor any of the mainstream media channels, other than the occasional clips posted online. One thing I can say to their credit, though; they sent a reporter to Ottawa to cover the Freedom Convoy on site. Not even Canadian media has been doing that, other than to cover counter protestors, or to get their 30 second propaganda pieces.
GoFundMe is now the butt of jokes for what they have done.
Meanwhile, the GiveSendGo fundraiser has just broken US$7million, at the time of this writing. Clearly, a lot of people are putting their money where their mouths are, when it comes to showing support for the Freedom Convoy, and if you read some of the comments, what GoFundMe did was something that inspired them to donate even more than they had originally, or to donate at all.
That doesn’t even count the other methods people are using to contribute financially, on top of directly donating food and fuel to not only the convoy protest in Ottawa, but all the others as well.
The Coutts border crossing in Alberta is getting most of the attention, outside the Ottawa protest, largely because of the RCMP’s heavy handed and duplicitous response to it.
Interestingly, it is the police blockades that are causing more disruption than the trucks and tractors.
A new on-site video has just been posted, as I was writing this.
Just amazing!!
Meanwhile, there continue to be things like “false flag” incidents that are being used to slander the truckers and their supporters as violent, racist, white supremacist, etc. All those knee jerk accusations that have become meaningless, they are used to often.
This is next video is one of the most comprehensive I’ve found that covers these incidents.
True North is another of the independent media that has done a good job of covering the story honestly.
Police abuse of power is still going on. Yesterday, I posted about the old guy that was stopped after honking in support of the protesters, then arrested for supposedly refusing to show his ID. Here is another disturbing incident.
As you can see in the video, the police vehicle backed into the guy’s truck, even as he was trying to avoid the collision, only to be arrested for hitting the police vehicle!
Then there is crazy stuff like this; one of the things about these protesters is that they’ve been doing a fabulous job of keeping the area clean, but even picking up garbage is now being targeted by the police.
Now, the first reason given was that they weren’t wearing helmets. !!! Then, after they got helmets, the reason was that the vehicle they were using didn’t have a licence plate.
That’s a utility vehicle. I just double checked. They are classified as non-regulated vehicles, and do not need to be licensed and registered.
Our Prime Dictator did finally speak out, but in his usual disgusting and divisive manner. Oh, he uses pretty language, talking about how Canadians have all been all kumbaya together for the past two years, and the only way out of this is if everyone gets the injection. Never mind that no, Canadians have not been together for the past two years. The restrictions and mandates have torn us apart, pitted us against each other, and destroyed lives. We have never been so unified as now, with the truckers, and against our Prime Dictator.
Who, by the way, was pretty open about ending our fundamental rights.
He is getting slammed in Parliament, though.
The Liberals are, if nothing else, excellent at gaslighting and psychological manipulation, as they lie through their teeth.
Not all of them, though. Some Liberals actually still are… well… liberal.
Is the Freedom Convoy having an affect, though?
If you were to listen to the legacy media, you would still be thinking it’s just a small group of white racist homophobes afraid of needles, with little support and having no positive effects. The federal government has been refusing to even talk to them, though I’ve heard that someone is finally going to come out to negotiate with them. What there is to negotiate, I don’t understand. The solution is simple. If the government really wants the protesters to go home, they need to end all the mandates and restrictions, and let people make their own medical decisions.
The protesters have been mocked for gathering in Ottawa, when the restrictions supposedly fall under provincial jurisdiction, but these criticisms seem to be coming from people who think there’s just one small group of noisy protesters in Ottawa, and not more of them at the provincial legislative buildings across the country.
This screen cap literally just pupped up in one of my notifications.
Yup. Alberta is killing their Vaxx passports, as of midnight tonight. It’s not all the restrictions, but it’s a start. Saskatchewan is lifting restrictions by the end of the week. I don’t know as much about Quebec, but Manitoba has also announced they are “relaxing” restrictions now, with the (conditional) promise of all restrictions lifted by spring.
It’s a start, but we’ve had our “leaders” flip back and forth so many times, no one really trusts them to keep their word anymore. Alberta, for example, said they would not shut down, but suddenly did. Same with Saskatchewan. After our Prime Dictator offered millions in “covid aid” money to the provinces, but only if they shut down, but that couldn’t possibly have anything to do with it, right? /sarcasm Manitoba’s Premier, meanwhile, botched things so badly, he finally got turfed, but his replacement is even worse than he was. When an MLA met with and and show support for the truckers, she turfed him and slandered the truckers, sounding an awful lot like like our Prime Dictator. Liberal, Conservative or NDP, provincial or federal; there’s no real difference between them right now. Frankly, I think all the major party leaders need to be turfed for botching things so badly, and causing such incredible damage. Damage that will last decades, if not generations.
Thanks to the Freedom Convoy, and a whole lot of truckers and farmers, we finally have hope.
I’ve been wondering how our political overlords would handle the peaceful, legal convoy protestors in Ottawa (and other parts of the country).
It seems like they are digging in their heels.
The federal government and their media lackeys continue to repeat their lies about the convoy, though there is some shift to try and say the mandates and restrictions are a provincial matter. Which is only partially true. When the federal government offers the provinces billions of dollars in covid aid – but only on the condition that the provinces lock down – you can’t turn around and say it’s not the federal government’s responsibility. Plus, of course, the federal government has brought in its own restrictions in areas of their jurisdictions. This is an intertwined situation.
Well, last night, the city of Ottawa declared a “state of emergency”. Then send in the police to steal fuel, as well as threatening to ticket and arrest anyone who brings food or fuel to the protesters.
This was actually very clearly a staged event, intending to intimidate. They came in, they took fuel, they left.
Which, as some are pointing out, is illegal.
We don’t even need to look at the Geneva convention. In Canada, if someone doesn’t pay their heat or electric bills, it’s illegal to shut the utilities off in winter. It’s even illegal to evict people in winter. The reason is simple: doing so can (and has; that’s why the laws were brought in), kill people. Such is life in the Great White North.
A lot of the truckers are living in there trucks with their families, including children. They need to keep the rigs doing, to keep warm. No fuel, no heat. No heat, and people die. Such is life in the Great White North.
Organizers quickly put out their own press release about it.
Police were also going to start arresting anyone carrying jerry cans of fuel to the truckers, and were even arresting farmers with empty slip tanks in their pick up trucks.
The result?
People started showing up, carrying jerry cans. Full, empty, whatever. They were everywhere.
I thought this one was hilarious.
If you want to know why that’s hilarious, this is why…
The police have also started handing out tickets and arresting people for minor infractions that they had to hunt for. Sometimes, just for driving by and honking a horn in support.
If you watch the video, the old guy was arrested for not showing his ID – except you saw him earlier, taking his ID out of his wallet and holding it out to the officer, who didn’t take it.
Now, I’ve been in a situation where the place we lived in was invaded – occupied, you might say – by noisy protestors. They literally used noise as a weapon. This was a residential community, and we spent most of a year, constantly being harassed and abused. They went after the elderly, the disabled and even children. They held a huge, illegal block party, with non-stop drumming that left people with brain injuries and PTSD in the hospital, and even dogs were throwing up from the noise.
The police did nothing. Politicians did nothing. In fact, we had federal politicians come in from Ottawa, taking part in one of those illegal parties (there were several of them), and promoted our tormentors as heroes, while we were the villains. Constant calls and complaints accomplished nothing. Video evidence ignored. The media twisted the narrative against us. We even had police liaison officers who, when I asked directly, admitted that yes, there were two laws; one for regular people like us, and one for the people who spent most of a year tormenting us. Why? Because it was a public employee union doing the harm, and we…, well, it was just our personal, private homes, so we didn’t matter. In the long term, they lost their war against us, but the damage they caused was permanent.
So I have little tolerance for the police or politicians when they suddenly decide that a peaceful, legal protest, held in a legal location, are being given a hard time for doing things in a controlled manner. The honking, for example, is at certain times, and there is no honking at night, so anyone claiming they haven’t been able to sleep because of the honking at night is flat out lying.
Speaking of lying…
There is no evidence that any of the protestors stole food from the homeless. The incident at a soup kitchen still has nothing to show that it was actual protesters or their supporters that did it. There is so much donated food, there is more than enough for everyone, including the homeless.
In fact, the only violence has been against the convoy of protesters – but that certainly isn’t fitting the narrative!
Yeah; the guy that deliberately ran into 4 people on the side of the road was a far left extremist. And the police are classifying it as merely a “hit and run”. The protesters are slandered as racist, homophobe, nazi, Putin operatives for having a party, keeping everything clean, and making sure everyone is fed, but a guy that deliberately runs over them is just a hit and run accident.
Right.
Our Prime Dictator is still in hiding, leaving his lackeys to continue lying on his behalf. They are actually getting some push back about it all, now that the opposition Conservative party has an interim leader with balls bigger than the guy she replaced.
The Liberal mouthpiece just keeps repeating the same old lies that justify keeping the restrictions, even though we’ve known for a long time, that the evidence does not back any of it up.
The thing is, while we can – and should – argue the efficacy of things like mask mandates and specific vaccines, that’s not what the protest is about. The convoy is there so that people can have a real choice, and not be punished for making the “wrong” choice. A coerced choice is no choice at all.
Our political overlords tried to get the trucks towed away, but the tow companies have refused. Now, it’s even being said towing couldn’t possibly be done. The only way for those trucks to move, is if they are driven away – and that would take days.
Our political overlords have tried to stop the flow of money from supporters. If failed. GoFundMe allowed themselves to be bullied into taking the money, and now they have several states opening investigations into them, and facing massive losses from all the people filing to get their money back through their banks, every one of which results in a bill of about US$15, and it’s devastating them. Meanwhile, the GiveSendGo account is, as of this writing, almost US$5.5 million. This amount has been raised even though the site keeps having issues from the sheer volume of traffic, on top of DDoS attacks.
Our political overlords have tried to make the police have their “surge” and threaten to ticket and arrest everyone. At some point, people were even told they had 5 minutes to leave, or they would all be arrested. As if it were even possible for anyone to leave in only 5 minutes. Well, that failed, too, if only because they couldn’t possibly have enough manpower. They are still threatening arrests, but they the sheer number of people they would be arresting would overwhelm any facilities they have.
They’ve tried intimidation. Threats. Lies. Slander. The legacy media reports only on the counter protesters, trying to sow even more division and hate.
But in the end, the protesters and their supporters remain united, and the more our political overlords dig in their heals, the more support THEY are losing, while the convoy protestors being even more united. United in joy, love and enthusiasm.
All of this could be over very quickly. Our political overlords need only call an end to the mandates and restrictions. Let people decide for themselves.
Instead, they seem to be digging in their heels, ramping up the threats. Word is leaking out that they will be staging an all out assault.
Will this actually happen?
Pray it does not. The reality is, our political overlords are just power hungry enough to do something like this. Especially our Prime Dictator, who openly voiced his admiration for China’s “basic dictatorship”.
The problem is, they are just arrogant and narcissistic enough to think they can do that, and get away with it.
After the very sad call this morning about Cabbages, I headed out to do my morning rounds and take care of the outside kitties.
Though the temperatures at the time were about -28C/-18F, it actually felt a lot warmer. At least around the house. There was a wind chill, but the wind is from the west, so we weren’t really feeling it. The outside cats were a lot more active, too.
It was feeling warm enough that I shoveled out the burn barrel again, and got it going.
We clear enough space to have room for the bags of burnables. That wall of snow is now taller than the barrel in places!
We couldn’t use the burn barrel in the summer, because of the drought, but we are now burning the wood pellet cat litter, instead of having a cat litter compost behind the outhouse. With so much snow around, I let it go down to a smolder, then put the cover on and leave it. It can continue smoking for days. As the pellets are used by the cats, they break up into sawdust. Which then freezes when the girls dump it into the burn barrel. By leaving it to smolder, the sawdust slowly thaws out, dries out, then smolders. It can take a few days, but it eventually gets burned away. It’s been so cold, though, I’m still finding frost inside the burn barrel when I uncover it, even as smoke still rises from the contents!
As soon as I cleared the area around the barrel and moved on to clear the path to the electricity meter, the space around the burn barrel got filled with cats! Not only does the space give them shelter, but the smoldering barrel gives off a bit of heat, too.
Still not as cozy as an insulated, sheltered, sun spot!
Oh, I got a peak at Potato Beetle this morning. The wound on his head seems to be healing up just fine. I could barely see the wound, and he looks more like he’s got a weird bald spot.
In other things, I’ve been keeping on top of what’s going on with the trucker convoy. This is something that affects us, even out in the boonies. We are surrounded by farms, and farmers need truckers. Heck, a lot of them have their own trucks. Most farmers have to have some other source of income. Farming doesn’t pay very well and, unlike most businesses, farmers have to buy retail and sell wholesale, instead of the other way around. So everyone around here is very supportive.
So are many others.
Last night, I heard that an estimated 10,000 truckers from various US states are heading for the border to join the convoy. Those that are not allowed to cross the border plan to stay at the border. Chances are, there are even more truckers from even more states by this morning.
The provincial convoy that started yesterday is still at the city. The national one is expected to arrive this afternoon, and they will join up and continue on to Ottawa.
In the Facebook groups supporting the convoy, I’m seeing numerous restaurant owners announcing that anyone in the convoy will be fed, for free. Food truck owners are announcing where they will be setting up to provide food. At least one of the Hutterite colonies has announced they are setting up kitchens in one of the muster points to feed everyone in the convoy.
Garages are offering free mechanical repairs.
People are offering their extra bedrooms for overnight stays, and bringing meals to the truckers.
The GoFundMe has topped $4,000,000. Because of how eager our government and GoFundMe are to prevent the money from actually getting to the truckers, there is a whole process worked out where truckers will be submitting receipts to be reimbursed for expenses, etc.
I haven’t confirmed it yet myself, but people have talked about finding the traffic cams along the convoy route are showing images of empty roads, or have simply been shut down.
The mainstream media is finally reporting on the convoy, but have been misrepresenting it like crazy. Almost all that I’ve seen have been reporting wildly lower numbers. A CBC article that tried to claim the truckers were protesting icy road conditions was so inundated by people calling them on it merely added a “correction”, saying they were talking about a different protest. Which they weren’t, because there were no truckers out there, protesting winter. Others I’ve seen have tried to say the truckers are protesting only the most recent mandate made against them. They aren’t. They are protesting to have all government mandates and restrictions for everyone, ended. That last mandate against them was just the straw that broke the camel’s back, after being treated like crap for years.
Commenters have been calling out the media like crazy for their misinformation and sloppy reporting. What’s interesting as well have been the (very few) detractors. I’m seeing people say things like, what difference does it make for them to protest in Ottawa, when it’s the US that won’t let them cross the border. Which has nothing to do with what the convoy is about. I’m guessing some media somewhere claimed that, and they believed it. Others have been calling the truckers selfish and making the usual insults about people just being scared of needles. I’m still seeing people saying that losing their jobs is just a consequence of their “choice” not to get the vaccine, and calling them anti-vaxxers. Most truckers are vaccinated, bigots don’t care about truth or reality.
I think the funniest detractors are those trying to portray the truckers and their supporters as PPC “cultists” (the PPC are the People’s Party of Canada, a new party that ran in the last federal election). Even more laughable are those trying to accuse the truckers of “dividing Canada”. I haven’t seen Canada more united over something in my life. I’ve even seen people dismissing the truckers for protesting now, instead of when our Prime Dictator called a useless, early election.
Oh, I just tried looking something up and saw that the GoFundMe has now exceeded $4.4million. Someone posted a screencap showing a $10,000 anonymous donation. I also just found this screencap.
If for some reason you can’t see the image, it reads:
Colorado 420 trucks Georgia 675 trucks South Carolina 650 trucks California 19,000 trucks Heading to Canada
Way to go, California!! Assuming that’s not a typo. That’s a massive number.
Not on this list are the trucks coming from Tennessee, Kentucky, New York, North Carolina, Alaska and Florida, that I’ve seen elsewhere.
The most recent update I’ve heard is that the main convoy from BC is now over 150km long. That’s over 93 miles. I don’t think they’ve even crossed the middle of Canada yet, and more mini-convoys are joining all along the way.
What I’m not hearing is much from our politicians. Including our own Premier. I might just be missing it. As for our Prime Dictator, I’ve heard he’s on another vacation. The truckers are supposed to arrive in Ottawa on the 29th. Parliament was supposed to resume today, though from the parliamentary calendar, they’re scheduled to sit in parliament for only 1 day this month, and that’s on January 31.
The truckers and their supporters don’t plan to leave Ottawa until all mandates and restrictions are lifted.
It should be interesting to see how our “leaders” handle this.
Okay, I just have to start with the obligatory garden photos. 😀 I took these yesterday.
The largest seed head of the Mongolian Giant sunflowers is opening up beautifully. Still nowhere near the size a Mongolian Giant seed head should be, but we’ll see what happens in what’s left of our growing season.
What amazed me, though, was seeing several of these.
The King Tut purple peas are still growing and producing! The green peas next to them are basically gone; completely died off and dried out, barely visible among the weeds and wildflowers that are left. Peas do not usually last this long, so I’m quite impressed!
I didn’t get to posting yesterday for a happy reason. An old friend from high school is in the province and was able to come for a visit. Even my husband was able to join us for a while. Aside from running into her briefly at the grocery store, we haven’t seen each other since we graduated! We had 35 years of catching up to do, and it was awesome. 🙂 Then, she and I headed out to a local farmer’s market. I’ve driven past it many times, but had never stopped in. With the crazy going on these days, I wasn’t sure if it was even a safe place to go for someone who can’t wear a mask. The mandates were over, though, so we gave it a visit, and that was awesome, too. No issues at all. Best of all, I found a vendor that has a homestead and supplies pork, among other things – and they live only a few miles away from us! In the spring, we’ll be able to make arrangements for getting a half pig in the fall, so they know how many piglets to raise. So now we have local suppliers for both beef and pork!
The place has a little bistro during market hours, and we ended up enjoying some awesome food and just talking until they closed down. Wonderful people running the place. We definitely will be coming back before my friend heads home.
Today was our city shopping trip, so I headed out as soon as I was done my morning rounds. I actually made it to Costco this time. With restrictions relaxed, I didn’t have to worry about being able to stand in line outside. It was the most pleasant Costco trip I’ve had in a long time. Unfortunately, by the end of it, my hip was giving out, so that was the only stop I made before heading home. Which was okay. I was able to stock up on the main things. It was a bit disconcerting, though. I didn’t buy more than I usually did at Costco. In fact, I probably bought less than usual. And yet the final bill was about $200 more than the last time I was able to do a full stock-up trip there. Prices have really gone up in the past few months. 😦
While I was out, I got word about a freedom rally in town this evening. I had time to get home, unload, then head out again. I wanted to be early, because I wasn’t quite sure where it was happening. It’s not an area of town I usually go to. There were people already there and even my friend was eventually able to join us, so that was awesome. The rally was to protest the school board forcing children to wear masks all the time which is, at its most basic, illegal. The government and health department can make recommendations, but cannot force, anything that goes against the charter rights and freedoms, or the human rights code. That’s actually written into the health act and the charter. Anyhow, there was a really good turnout, and I ended up meeting people in person that I’d been getting to know online, and even a family that may become “neighbours” soon! It was funny to discover we had other personal connections, too.
The people from the school board were not particularly useful to talk to. Their stance was basically, they’re just following orders. Now where in history have we heard that line before?
While there, I learned our province has made another step backwards. While I was on the road home from the city, our government announced that the mask mandates start again tomorrow, even in many outdoor venues that had been exempt before. There is no actual reason to do this. We aren’t seeing any surge in hospitalizations or deaths. It’s all been so arbitrary, and like all the lockdowns and restrictions is just as illegal as the schools forcing kids to wear masks.
All the families there with school aged children were planning to homeschool, rather than engage in government enforced child abuse. The school is going to lose a lot of funding over this. Some of the parents I spoke to told me they were getting to many calls from the school to get them to register this year, it bordered on harassment. I’m hoping to keep in touch with some of these families, since we homeschooled the girls completely. I look forward to being able to help and encourage a new generation of families taking this route! There is the makings of a vibrant local community. Something that didn’t exist, when we last lived here and were homeschooling.
The whole event just happened to be next to the grocery store, so when it was all done, I stopped by to pick up a few things I wasn’t able to get in the city before heading home. Even with the the sale prices, I still spent way too much money. 😦
One of the things I want to do is get chickens, for eggs and meat, but we are not at all ready to have birds yet. I was hoping to get to that point in a year or two, but the way things are going, I think we need to prioritize that and make it so that we can get chicks in the spring.
So, along with building high raised garden beds for next year, we need to build/acquire a chicken coop. Preferably a mobile one. That way, the chickens will be playing a significant part in soil preparation for planting.
After all the running around over the past couple of days, and being around so many people, I am feeling quite tired. It is, however, a good tired!
As I write this, we are still at -21C/-6F with a wind chill of -30C/-22F.
Before heading out, I made a point of starting the van, then headed back inside to give it a good 15 minutes to warm up. As usual, the power steering pump was whining loudly when I started the engine.
When I came back to it later, for the first time in weeks, the noise was gone.
Because, of course it was. I was finally getting it checked today.
As I was driving, I did hear a slight whine, but only while doing a hard turn, for example, but not if I were just changing lanes, and not at all while driving straight.
When I got there, I was happy to see he didn’t have other vehicles in the bays, which meant I wouldn’t be spending hours waiting for him to squeeze a check in between other jobs. He just had to deal with getting a vehicle outside loaded and hauled away. I had a chance to talk to him about the noise now being gone, even though it was there when I first started it. Yes, he agreed it could be just the cold causing it. He asked me other questions, and I told him that we’d had problems with the pump leaking before, but not for years (since I topped it up with a leak-stop fluid, it’s not been an issue). There’s no puddles under the vehicle, the fluid level is still fine, etc. Since I had the opportunity, I mentioned the power train error code that I got with the OBDII reader, and he also thought it was probably just the residual carbon from changing out the valve, and that it will clear itself after the van has been run a bit. Then I left the keys and went to the grocery store. Since I was stuck in town, anyhow, may as well get a few things!
It did not take him long at all to call me back.
He could find nothing wrong.
He could not recreate the noise. The closest he could get was when he turned the steering wheel as far as he could, and at that point, the noise was nothing out of the ordinary.
Everything checks out fine.
At which point I was saying, I should be happy to hear this, but the van has become like a Sword of Damocles hanging over my head. Thankfully, he took my concerns seriously, and told me to keep an eye on it over the next while, as things are warmer. If the noise comes back, he wants be to bring it back and he’ll check it again. If it doesn’t come back, then it was likely the cold causing it.
Now if only medical doctors took our mystery health issues as seriously when they don’t know the answers, as our mechanic does about our vehicles!
That done, I took the van back to the grocery store to load up the cart I’d left at the door, went to fill the gas tank, then headed home.
When we had the valve replaced, one of the things he recommended I do for the next while is floor it, every chance I got. I normally never do that. I tend to be a “gentle” driver. I do the speed limit. I don’t slalem back and forth between lanes. When I get on the highway, while I do try to get to speed quickly, I don’t gun it. I don’t even like passing people, if I can avoid it, and that is partly because the van has no get up and go.
Or should I say “had” no get up and go.
On the way home today, I followed his instructions and floored it whenever I could do so safely (clear road, no other traffic, etc.).
The van’s get up and go is the best it’s been since we bought it.
While the poor quality gas would have cause problems to escalate since the move, that build up of carbon probably started long before we owned it.
If I hadn’t been assured, long ago, that the vehicle was actually worth maintaining, we probably would have tried to trade it in for something else, instead of spending all that money on it.
Even so, with our need for a reliable vehicle that meets my husbands mobility needs, the constant issues cropping up are adding a level of stress I just don’t need!
However, having had it checked out, and with tomorrow supposed to reach above freezing temperatures again, I am finally going to try and make a trip to the city and do a full, much needed, monthly shop. I’m going to try going to Costco, in our usual location, which I’m told does accept face shields or Mingle Masks, and even complete medical exemptions still – though that seems to depend on who is on shift at any given time.
And if that goes well, I’ll later be able to pick up the replacement hot water tank and get it installed.
Just thinking about making these trips is stressing me out. Not just because of the vehicle paranoia, but because going out in public, surrounded by faceless people, is increasingly becoming the stuff of nightmares. As a student of psychology, I understand the effect it’s having and why, but knowing that, and feeling that, are two very different things.
Thank God we don’t live in the city anymore. If I were surrounded by this on a daily basis, I’m pretty sure I would have wigged out long ago.
As I write this, we are at -5C/23F, and are expected to get a bit warmer. After the deep freeze we just had, this is feeling downright tropical!
I meant to post this picture yesterday, but I just didn’t have the brain space to do a blog post, so I’m sharing it today!
Their matched, angry looking expressions make me giggle. 😀
There were lots of kitties out while I was doing their food and water this morning.
The Potato Beetle brought luggage.
This was attached to his tail! A whole lot of stuff, stuck to a couple of burrs, stuck to his tail. The blue is from the tarp covering the kibble house. It looks like there’s some jute cord in there, too, and I have no idea where that would be from. I haven’t used any outside, yet. You don’t get a real sense of perspective on the size in the photo. It was like he had a small birds nest stuck to him!
Nostrildamus was quite eager for attention this morning.
He was trying to climb onto me while I was taking is picture. I am so happy with this shot!
Butterscotch was out and about, too, and followed me around. She let me carry her back to the house, and I took advantage of the cat house roof. I put her down on it, then kept petting her, and was finally able to get a really good look at her wounded leg. The gash is completely closed and barely visible. If there were not a suture in the middle of it, I probably would not have been able to spot it, as she moved around.
The whole area is still nekkid. The fur is not really growing back at all, yet. Which means she’s cold, all on the inside of her thigh. Which is better than a gaping wound, of course, but I can tell she’s uncomfortable when she sits in the snow.
Meanwhile…
I took the van in to the garage yesterday. When I got there, I went over again with him about what the van was doing (he sees so many vehicles, I’m not going to assume he remembers everything I told him before! LOL), and he asked a few questions.
When I had come to the front door I saw, for the first time, a sign about masking. Most other places have them plastered all over, but he had just the one on the door. So I paused to put on my Mingle Mask before going in. There was no one else inside and, while he had his back to me when I came into the office, I could see he wasn’t wearing a mask, so I asked “can I take this thing off?” He said yes as he turned around, then saw the Mingle Mask. He had this “wtf is that?” look on his face, so I told him, I can’t wear a mask, but I can breathe with this.
As we were talking and I gave him the keys, I mentioned I was going to go to the grocery store across the street, but might have to come back. There’s no place else to go to wait. He told me to take my time at the grocery store, because he’s not allowed to have people wait in his office anymore. Which is ridiculous, considering how much space he’s got in there.
I did take my time with the groceries, but still ended up sitting outside and waiting. Thankfully, the grocery store has a picnic table in a sheltered corner, where the staff takes their smoke breaks. While I was there, a woman came by for a smoke and we chatted for a bit. After a while, I walked into the parking lot to check, and saw that my van was outside the garage door. I asked if it might be okay to bring the cart over there to unload it, but she saw I had two of the big water jug refills and said it would be really hard to get the cart through the snow. Instead, she helped me bring it into the vestibule, moving a divider for me, so I got get it nearer the exit doors. There was a staff member in charge of cleaning the carts, and she ended up keeping an eye on my groceries for me, while I went back to the garage. She even offered to help me load the water jugs when I came back with the van! They were so sweet. 🙂
As for the van…
The mechanic was outside when I came over – it turned out he had just tried phoning me, but I never heard my cell phone ring! As I came up, the first thing he asked me was, where do I buy my fuel?
We always but our fuel at either Costco (usually once a month, though we haven’t been to Costco for quite a while) or at a co-op. As members, we get a check at the end of the fiscal year, with the amount based on how much gas or groceries we buy, though I haven’t tried to shop at the local co-op grocery store since the restrictions went nuts.
As soon as I told him it was at the co-op, he just shook his head.
My EGR (exhaust gas re-circulation) valve needs to be replaced.
I had no idea what that was, so he explained it to me. It’s no wonder I didn’t know what it was. It’s been so long since I’ve tinkered with engines, they didn’t even have these, yet. I was aware of the EGR valve’s function in newer vehicles, but not as part with a name to it.
Gosh, I suddenly feel old.
He told me the co-op gas stations have the worst quality fuel available. This is something I’ve heard others saying, too, but I didn’t seem to be having any problems, so…
Yeah.
It turns out he sees this a lot, and every time he does, it’s people who buy their gas at the co-ops. The crappy fuel leaves behind a lot of carbon, and these valves end up completely clogged. He said they can sometimes be cleaned, but usually need replacing. I figure, by the time he sees the vehicles, they’re long past the stage where the valve can be just cleaned out!
This is in line with my brother’s thoughts when I described what the van was doing, though he hadn’t specifically mentioned the EGR valve. It might even be why our van sometimes doesn’t want to start at all – something it did with the mechanic one time, as he tried to drive the van into the garage when I had the winter tires put on. That was a problem we’ve had every now and then, since we got the van. Whoever owned it before us did not maintain it well, and we spent an awful lot of money getting it fixed up after we bought it. Considering we got it at a price low enough, I could use my debit card to pay for it, I suppose we can’t really complain!
So while it’s only been a little over 3 years that we’ve been buying this gas, if there were already a build up in the valve before, it would have gotten a lot worse, a lot faster.
As I think about it, I realize that if we weren’t in the habit of doing a monthly shop, with the van being so heavily loaded, we probably would not have noticed it was becoming a problem, and likely would have kept going for months, if not years, before catching it.
The part is being ordered, and I am bringing the van back on Thursday morning. It’s going to cost $425, plus taxes.
*sigh*
I won’t be getting my new chainsaw this month! 😀
While we were in his office, booking the next appointment, he saw someone coming in and quickly put a mask on, so I quickly put my Mingle Mask on, too, so as not to get him in trouble. We were both muttering under our breath about not being able to breath without a mask, never mind with one. I think he he’s medically exempt, too, but is being forced to wear one when customers are around. This town has an awful lot of Covid Karens that would eagerly phone the snitch lines, or the police, on anyone they deem non-complaint. At least he’s alone in the shop, most of the time, and can take it off to breathe.
(Which reminds me; my doctor is going to refer me to a respiratory specialist. The puffer he got me to try has made no difference, and this is now something for the specialists. Hopefully, I will get someone better than the last respiratory specialist I saw, when we lived in the city. His conclusion had been, I’m fat, so that must be why I’m coughing, and he would react with open surprise when test after test came back showing me normal and healthy. Then he just gave up and sent me back to my regular doctor.)
Meanwhile, the van should be okay to drive, though I will be avoiding heavy loads until after the valve is replaced. He assured me that, while it might keep stalling on me, I would be able to restart it and keep on going. Once it’s replaced, that sluggishness I was noticing should go away, as well. It seems quite a few little things I was noticing, including the fuel economy dropping and the idle starting to sound rougher, were probably all warning signs of this problem.
Now I’m wondering about my mother’s car. She always bought fuel at the co-op, too, and I’ve noticed it has terrible mileage.
After booking the appointment and loading up the groceries, I filled the gas tank on the way home.
At a different gas station!
Dang it. One of our favourite places to stop on the way to the city was the co-op gas station in my mother’s town. There are such wonderful people working there, plus they’ve got an excellent convenience store. But getting a few bucks a year back isn’t anywhere near enough to make up for having to pay over $400 to fix the damage it causes.
We’ll probably still stop there, just to go into the store for snacks, home baked by one of the gas jockeys. ❤
So that’s where we are at, with the van situation. It’s going to be an expensive fix, but knowing what’s wrong is actually a huge relief.
I must admit, though; I’m getting really, really tired of vehicle problems. It’s a lot more stressful, when living in such relative isolation, because we depend on having a vehicle so very much. That’s one of the more major downsides of living out here. 😦
Then he just gave up and sent me back to my regular doctor.)
The Re-Farmer 