Sheilajeanne

Our national holiday is July 1st (Canada Day). Ontario and some of the other provinces are having a HUGE problem with wildfires at the moment. Toronto recently ranked first in the world for poor air quality due to smoke from the fires. As a result, someone posted this cartoon on FB!

Toyota makes SEWING Machines?? Ya learn something new every day! [Pats the hood of her Rav4] Here's hoping they're as reliable and well-built as their cars are!

When librarians get bored:

Farming is definitely one of the more hazardous occupations there is. My great-grandfather was killed back in the early 1900's when the horses were frightened by one of those newfangled 'horseless carriages' and ran away. He fell off the seat of the reaper, and his foot got caught in the sheaf carrier strap. He was dragged back to the barn with his head banging on the ground, and suffered a fatal brain injury. My dad's youngest brother was using the hay elevator to load corn cobs into a silo, and the cuff of his overalls got caught on the elevator. The woman helping him didn't know where the shutoff switch was, so had to run a fair distance to unplug the cord from the outlet. By that point, Gord was hanging from the top of the elevator by his ankles, with the elevator belt running over them. He was in a wheelchair for a couple of months. They set up an intercom system from the house to the barn, so he could supervise his sons while they were doing the milking and chores. That did not always go well. One day they got into a fight while Gord and his wife were entertaining company. The language coming over the intercom wasn't exactly 'family friendly'! Another time, his second oldest son was riding on the back of the tractor while his father was moving a disc harrow from one field to another. When he hit the hump from the field to the grass, his son fell off and was run over by the harrow. Broken leg and some internal injuries. Thank God it wasn't the chisel harrow... His friends at school weren't very sympathetic. They'd stick tacks in the rubber ends of his crutches so they'd slip on the floor... When my dad was in his old age, he developed respiratory problems, probably as the result of all the dust he inhaled while working on the farm. His chest x-ray showed a healed fracture of one of his ribs. "When did you break a rib?" I asked. He had to think for quite a few minutes. "I guess it was the time I stepped back so my dad could drive the Model T into the barn loft, and someone had left the trap door open. I fell through it and hit the concrete edge of the pig pen, and was knocked unconscious." He came to a short time later, lying on the daybed in the kitchen. His dad had brought a rare treat back from the store in town: a brick of ice cream. "Come and get your ice cream, Harvey, before it melts," his mom said, when she saw he was awake. A broken rib and a concussion. No doctor's office visit, just "Come and get some ice cream..." Farm kids sure are tough!

My cousin's husband used to have an antique business. He would often restore antique furniture and sell it. One day, he was pushing a piece of wood through the band saw, and was using his hand to push it instead of the safer (proper)way of using a scrap piece of wood. The saw blade hit a hidden nail, his hand was pulled into the blade and he lost two fingers. The hospital managed to re-attach one of them, but the other was too badly mangled. I don't have any major work-related accidents to report, though working with horses has left me with a few sore joints and scars. Stupidest accident was when I put a pitchfork through my rubber boot while forking manure. Fortunately, I was wearing two pairs of socks and the skin wasn't broken! I think I'd had a very late night the day before, so wasn't all that wide awake! Worst horse related accident - was riding a young mare recently retired from the track. The stable had recently bought her as a school horse. They only teach the racehorses to run in the one direction, so when the instructor told us to canter, she picked up the wrong lead. She was also feeling really fresh, so she took off like she was going out of the starting gate at the track. When she hit the corner of the arena, I think she must have tried to change leads, got her legs all tied up in a knot, and crashed into the wall. Next thing I know, I'm lying in the dirt, my watch is ripped off my wrist, the knee of my britches is ripped open, and I've got a huge bruise above the knee and another one below the knee and everything is spinning (mild concussion). The instructor comes over and asks if I'm okay. I shake my head, which is still spinning. Now this was the funny part. Next thing I know, I look up and HE is up on my horse, checking to see if SHE is okay! Eventually I managed to get back up on my feet, and took the horse back to her stall. I'd ridden that horse several times, and had mucked out her stall that morning, but couldn't remember where it was - had to ask someone! Yeah, definitely a bit concussed!

I'm a huge LOTR fan. Here's an absolutely hysterical thread about a dungeonmaster (think that's the correct term!) trying to get a group to play LOTR as a D&D game! https://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=612

Too funny, Chuck! I've never played RP games, though being a fan of fantasy literature, I know a bit about them. You are definitely the first person to ask a question like this on these boards though I do remember threads about people making leather dice cups for playing these games!

Canada changed to metric when I was in High School As a result, here's how most Canadians of my generation measure. This is NOT a lie - I have only a very vague idea of what my weight is in kilograms but would have to divide by 2.2 to really be sure, and have NO clue how tall I am in cm.!

I spent a winter in Edmonton. In January and February, nighttime temperatures often dipped to -40 (which is the same on both the C. and F. temperature scales!) and daytime highs were -30 to -25. It was a really bad winter - we broke a record for snowfall, and nearly broke one for the number of days below -25. What saved us was a chinook. They are common in Calgary but rare in Edmonton. In the space of 24 hours, the temperature went from -30 to just above freezing, then plunged back down again, accompanied by freezing rain, then a blizzard! The street I was living on was not very high on the priority list when it came to plowing. As a result, the snow got packed down, and when they did plow it, they weren't able to get down to bare pavement. Then, spring came, and that layer of snow melted into about a foot of slush, which would refreeze when the temp. dropped at night. Both my landlady and I got a lot of exercise pushing cars during this period, both ours and the neighbours! I was all too happy to move back to the Banana Belt of Southern Ontario when spring came! I left during the last week of May. Saskatchewan had just had a major spring blizzard. Somewhere there's a picture of me wearing shorts, T-shirt and sunglasses, standing in a very big snowdrift! Life in the Canadian prairies ain't for the faint of heart!

I would do a sketch first, of course, to get everything in the right place, and see if you can find any photos to use for reference. Good luck!

Thank you, Johanna, and thanks to the mods for all the good work they do! We're lucky to have you!

Wait - what did I miss here? :O

Me too, Pastor Bob! My favourite was where Thor gives him some Asgardian liquor and he gets totally drunk! "EXCELSIOR!!" My one criticism is the blank glasses just weird me out. I know it won't be easy to do, but I think you need to give him some eyes behind those glasses. Excellent job - I can't imagine doing portraits in leather!