Top Reasons to Live in Canada

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Lynn

Canada Info-GraphicHappy Canada Day!!!!!!!

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
1. Vancouver : 1.5 million people and two bridges. You do the math.
2. Your $400,000 Vancouver home is just 5 hours from downtown.
3. You can throw a rock and hit three Starbucks locations.
4. There’s always some sort of deforestation or anti-pipeline protest going on.

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN ALBERTA
1. Big rock between you and B.C.
2. Ottawa who?
3. Tax is 5% instead of the approximately 200% it is for the rest of the country.
4. You can exploit almost any natural resource you can think of.
5. You live in the only province that could actually afford to be its own country.
6. The Americans below you are all in anti-government militia groups.

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN SASKATCHEWAN
1. You never run out of wheat.
2. Your province is really easy to draw.
3. You can watch the dog run away from home for hours.
4. People will assume you live on a farm.
5. Daylight savings time? Who needs that!

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN MANITOBA
1. You wake up one morning to find that you suddenly have a beachfront property.
2. Hundreds of huge, horribly frigid lakes.
3. Nothing compares to a wicked Winnipeg winter.
4. You can be an Easterner or a Westerner depending on your mood.
5. You can pass the time watching trucks and barns float by.

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN ONTARIO
1. You live in the centre of the universe.
2. Your $500,000 Toronto home is actually a dump.
3. You and you alone decide who will win the federal election.
4. The only province with hard-core American-style crime.

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN QUEBEC
1. You can take bets with your friends on which English neighbour will move out or be booted out next.
2. Other provinces basically bribe you to stay in Canada.

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN NEW BRUNSWICK
1. One way or another, the government gets 98% of your income.
2. You’re poor, but not as poor as the Newfies.
3. No one ever blames anything on New Brunswick.
4. Everybody has a grandfather who runs a lighthouse.

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN NOVA SCOTIA
1. Everyone can play the fiddle. The ones who can’t, think they can.
2. You are the only reason Anne Murray makes money.

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
1. Even though more people live on Vancouver Island, you still got the big, new bridge.
2. You can walk across the province in half an hour.
3. You can drive across the province in two minutes.
4. Everyone has been an extra on “Road to Avonlea.”
5. This is where all those tiny, red potatoes come from.
6. You can confuse ships by turning your porch lights on and off at night.

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN NEWFOUNDLAND
1. If Quebec separates, you will float off to sea.
2. If you do something stupid, you have a built-in excuse.
3. The workday is about two hours long.
4. It is socially acceptable to wear your hip waders to your wedding.

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN THE YUKON

1. It’s THE Yukon.

2. You love to tell the tourists, “If the Grizzly Bears don’t eat you, the Kodiak Bears will.” 

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

1. It’s THE Northwest Territories

2. It’s Night and Day at the same time.

TOP REASONS TO LIVE IN NUNAVUT 

1. The capital city is Iqualuit and only the locals can pronounce it correctly.

2. You love to tell the tourists, “If the Grizzly and Kodiak Bears don’t eat you, the Polar Bears will.”

Posted in Canadiana, Friday Funnies, Hope through Humour, Top Ten Lists | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Come Hell or High Water – Red Cross Flood Relief

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Lynn

There has been overwhelming hits on my blog since I posted about the 2013 Alberta Flood, and I thank all of you who have shared the postings and shown such encouragement and support to the flood relief efforts here in Southern Alberta.

It has been truly overwhelming to see how people have come out in droves to assist their neighbours in practical ways as we rebuild our province and repair homes and hearts here.  Today I listened to the news report that nearly 1.6 million gallons of water is being pumped out of flood zones EVERY hour here in Southern Alberta.  600,000 gallons in the downtown core of Calgary alone.  I am particularly drawn to the reports from the Calgary Zoo, very hard hit in the flood zone and how staff have worked tirelessly saving the animals even to the point of risking their very lives to corral escaped hippos and move big cats to higher ground.  Unbelievable!  Unfortunately, and this is sort of ironic, there were a few casualties…some peacocks and piranhas and tilapia fish.  Yes, FISH died in the flood.  Ironic, eh?  My prayers are now that the giraffe, who stood in chest high cold watHell or High Waterer will survive.  They apparently are very sensitive to the cold and many of the other animals are very stressed.  Please join me in praying for the staff as they minister to those animals.

So many websites have sprung up over the last few days with people holding bake sales, bottle collection, some children selling lemonade, ANYTHING to help raise funds for flood relief.  Here in my little town of Cochrane, the large grocery stores are “Rounding Up” meaning if you make a purchase you can say “Round Up” and the merchant will round up to the nearest dollar and those extra few cents will go towards the Red Cross.  Doesn’t sound like much, but if EVERY merchant in Southern Alberta did that for the next month, it would raise a significant amount of money!

I posted on my FB page yesterday a link to the Calgary Stampede who, as you know from my blog post yesterday, has adopted the unofficial theme: “Hell or High Water” this year.  No sooner did they embrace that, they created a black t-shirt with that theme and all money raised from the sale of those t-shirts goes towards the Red Cross.  Since Monday, they have raised close to $100,000.00!  So, I invite my readers, whether you live in Alberta or not, to buy a t-shirt.  If you live in another corner of the world, send me a picture of you wearing the shirt and where in the world you’re wearing it and I will post it and tweet it to Calgary Stampede officials.  Would make their day!

Please continue to pray for those affected by this disastrous flood.  Particularly for those hardest hit: High River residents are still unable to return into the town, the Siksika, and Morley First Nation residents, and those fine folk in Canmore, Bragg Creek and Calgary and several other communities up and down the Bow, Elbow, Sheep and Highwood Rivers.

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Come Hell or High Water

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Lynn

“Come Hell or High Water” has become the unofficial theme of the 101st Calgary Stampede.  With grit and determination, the clean up has begun at the Saddledome, and down at Stampede Park after the worst flood on record swamped the Cowtown just days ago.  The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth is scheduled to go as planned.  ‘It may look a little different’ Mayor Nenshi has said but he, like many of us, are ready to shout out “Yahoo!” in a few weeks.  My guess is that it will live up to its name as being the “Greatest” show we’ve seen yet in Calgary.

Images from the flood still fill me with a sense of surrealistic astonishment.  The sun is shining and temperatures are rising this week; if it were not for the pictures that show the reality of the situation, you would think all was normal.

Schools continue to be closed in Calgary and throughout Southern Alberta in many towns affected by flooding which prompted officials to cancel Provincial Exams and give the option to exempt the Grade Twelve students from their Diploma exams this week.  For many, including my daughter, this was a great relief.  Clean up has begun and slowly but surely people are returning to their homes.  For some, they have no home to return to, for others the clean up will be massive.  Flood insurance in Alberta, unfortunately, is non-existent for overland flooding.  No one has even ventured a guess as to the cost of this disaster but as Mayor Nenshi has also said when asked to put a number to the damage and subsequent clean up –  it will be “a lot”.

The news reports are now focusing on the clean up and rebuilding and restoring our province to its former glory.  The oil patch in the downtown core may have been shut down for a couple of days, but knowing the oil men in the city, my husband included, it will be business as usual sooner than later.  Will Calgary be the same?  I hope so but also hope not.  Crisis brings communities together and I pray that although it might be business as usual in a few days, I hope community good will prevail over profit.  I hope generosity will win out over capital gain.

I look forward to hearing more stories of Albertans who have come alongside one another during this crisis.  For those of us who love the Lord, let our motivation be guided by our love for Him and may we share that love not only at this time but everyday as we help our neighbours weather this storm.

Stampede Park Infield - June 22

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Posted in Canadiana, Family Life, Proverbs 16:9 - Journey Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments