During the summer

 In the summer months our only real problem is forest fires primarily caused by lightning strikes. Our winters are long and forest fires not a problem so just a very short period of the year. However we are not amongst the 10 largest polluters in the world and it is global warming that is creating this conundrum in Canada of much hotter summers caused by global warming which feeds forest fires because the forest is much drier and hence more at risk during lightning strikes.  It is difficult to control and generally over in a few days. Although that few days has stretched into longer periods the last couple of years. Last year the smoke was so thick it swirled and we practically never went outside for days. We use air purifiers to keep the smoke out of the house. 

Completed reading the Book of Joshua.  Chapter 22 Verse 5 includes God's commandment which Moses brought to the Israeli people and Joshua repeated: Take good care to observe the commandment and instruction that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, and to hold fast to Him and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul." The last chapter in the Book of Joshua sees the tribes of Israel renew the Covenant. All the tribes gathered at Shechem and again reviewed the history of the people of Israel coming down from Abraham. Still there must never be a break in the Covenant or God's favour will be lost to the Israelis. I still do not sense any mention of the coming of the Messiah which will be told by the prophets later in the Bible. The Israeli nation must not break the covenant with God at all. Tomorrow I begin the Book of Judges. 

I needed to have some wired in LED lights replaced and was looking for an electrician. I discovered that Enercare offers that service and have joined it along with my furnace and water heater already there and next week will see those lights changed. We just have to go and buy them now. One light burned out about a year ago now and it is difficult to manage that with just lamps. So was happy to have finally discovered a way to get these types of things done. Coming from a family with a lot of electricians one suddenly realizes how differently one lives one's life away from where you grew up. I live it the same personally although different now that Edward has passed away but on a basis of acquiring skills needed to repair and replace items I had really no knowledge. So it is helpful to have these services offered as part of the user network that Enercare has. 

No work done yesterday although I received a note from my brother in law telling me that my sister is enjoying her letters I send every week. That is good to hear and I have every hope and prayer that her mobility improves to suit her. My father was bedridden from the age of 88 years on and confined to a wheelchair. He loved to walk and walked for miles on the beach at the cottage. He always said it reminded him of his childhood and the beaches along the English Channel that they went to when he was a child. So I thanked him in a letter but it didn't like the email address and I forwarded it to my nephew who sent it on to his father. My nephew sent me the new email address. I need to go to the Rideau Center here to look for nice boxes of cards with interesting pictures as I will run out of these cards I found locally. Perhaps we will do that in the next couple of weeks. I haven't been downtown shopping for quite a while. 

I graduated in Science from Western University way back in 1967 and they now have a Western Science Alumni Newsletter.  I just received an email copy today. Edward always donated to Western but I have not kept that up as he donated to a number of places and I added in the Ottawa Branch Library of Ontario Ancestors to celebrate the date of our anniversary as I rather thought he would like that. So I dropped a few of his donations. I shall think about it because I certainly used my knowledge of science through all of my working life and in particular Chemistry and Physics when I was proofreading the National Research Council Journals here for about fourteen years initially directly with the National Research Council and then when we proofreaders were the first to be laid off  by then Prime Minister Mulroney I was hired by the printers who printed the journal to proofread for the remainder of that time period. It was a great job as I went in to work a few days a week for a short period most of that time and than did the bulk of the work at home so I was able to be with my children all the time when they were little. In general no one local knew that I worked at home as I didn't talk about it at that time. 

If the smoke level is down low I shall go out and weed the front garden bed as I didn't get it done last week as the smoke moved in to our area. 

I will do some work on the books today as I have a few hours available now that are not in use. 

Solitaire games next.  

 

 

Joshua manages the division

 Continuing to read Joshua and the division of the Promised Land is recorded tribe by tribe coming down from the twelve sons of Jacob (Jacob was renamed Israel by God) and Israel was formed from the Promised Land. The path had been hard coming out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land; promised to them by God to their forefather Abraham, Isaac his son and Jacob his son. Now the descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob dwelled in the land of their forefathers and they lived side by side with the peoples of that land. 

As I read I keep looking for the prophecies but they are not yet and I really do not think the language gives even a hint of the coming of the Messiah that appears in later books of the Old Testament. The need to live the life God commanded was the most important part of the life of the people of Israel. They could not break any of those commandments and survive. 

Yesterday was incredibly busy. I did not realize I could have a maintenance contract on my air conditioner so have done that now although I do intend to acquire a new one for next year but probably in the spring. Will get that set up in the winter time likely although when they come to do maintenance on the current machine which is working beautifully actually they will tell  me about possible air conditioners that I can acquire. This house is small and I keep it shrouded in the days when it is so very humid and hot. It does get warm and I have it set to turn on at 25 degrees celsius but it doesn't run a lot even on the very hot days. It appears to be very efficient. But it is old and needs replacing before I sell the house in a few years. 

The modem is working perfectly and the downloading is much more efficient with the larger modem and it doesn't get very hot like the last one but it was fairly old and needed replacing I gather. I had purchased the 500 MB  per second download option and it doesn't normally go that high but it is well into the 300+ range now which is quick. Mind you I do not do a lot of downloading but that includes all sorts of things like YouTube if you are watching different productions. I do not watch a lot and tend towards religious programs. 

Today will be a quiet day as there is still some smoke in the air and I will not work outside until it has passed. The forest fires burning are normal as the lightning strikes are numerous during the summer months. 

Hopefully some work today as the cleaning is completed for another week. Keeping the dust down is important especially when we also have to contend with smoke. 

Solitaire puzzles to do.  

 

Modem all fixed

 An interesting and remarkably busy time whilst the Modem was not working. Absolutely efficient the Rogers agent who came and replaced my modem. Working perfectly. Thank you Rogers. I need to buy a new phone though as my phone is over five years old now almost six years old. It is really my first phone as I just used his hand me downs as I seldom use the phone except for texting. I expect they are considerably more complicated now. 

Only read one chapter of Joshua yesterday but continued reading today and I have reached Chapter 14. This is a story of conquest, God's conquest for His chosen people. After the error made at the time of the taking of Jericho by one family the Israelites once again are obeying without question the rules that God has laid down for them to live by so that He can remain in the midst of their lives.  Still I do not see any comment that would lead me to think that a Messiah will come from God. The rules are the most important part of the daily lives of the Israeli and must be kept 100% at all times. 

Other than that it was simply a day to contemplate how to organize the house to best suit the work that we are both doing - me all the year and my daughter when she is here being my in person caregiver instead of being my caregiver at a distance. But she has a lot of projects on the go and her students are very busy doing a lot of work for her as well. 

I now have a large bin of paper to go through and shred if I do not need it for anything. I do find it hard to let go of paper even when it is no longer logical to retain it. But go it must as I will be drowning in paper otherwise. Being over 80 is rather lucky in some ways as one knows the days ahead are considerably shorter than the days that have already passed in my life.

What a change in life since I was a young child. We did have a family car as well as my father's trucks for his business. But most travel was by car for a family. It took almost twice as long to get to the cottage as it does now as speed limits were lower and roads less direct mostly passing through many many small towns and villages on the way anywhere. I remember when the St Lawrence Seaway was completed and my father wanted to drive and see it. He was like that. Mostly he just drove around the area but something new and spectacular was something that he wanted to see with his own eyes. 

My father traveled to Canada when he was just nine years of age with his mother. His father had already come six months earlier to take up a job with the now Canadian National Railway as a blacksmith. Grandpa loved his work although he only intended to stay ten years and then return to England - the railway had sent out a call for trained people and he answered that call. He had come in February and they could not land in Halifax as it was blocked by ice at their time of arrival so they landed in Maine. Grandpa was very nervous about that he said and the people headed for Canada were kept together and put on a train to Montreal which was where he was headed anyway. He had cousins in Montreal that he stayed with before he moved on to his job in southwestern Ontario.  

When we visited Ireland we went to see the Blarney Stone and I too kissed the Blarney Stone as my father had as a child when their boat stopped to take on water in Ireland on their way to Canada. He was surprised he always said when they stopped at Quebec where everyone who was not a British subject had to get off the boat and go through the usual investigation for arrival in a foreign country but being British Canada was generally thought of as an extension of Britain. Funny really when you think about it. But in 1947 Grandpa became a Canadian - he decided to be Canadian after all. When the time came to return to England after the ten years he had decided on the First World War was then over and the need for people to work was huge due to the tremendous loss of life that Canada underwent in the First World War. 

Must do my solitaire puzzles and then the basement to clean.  

Modem died

No blog today.

Joshua and Jericho

 The Ark of the Covenant was carried into the Jordan River and the waters piled up on the flow side and dry earth appeared for the Israelites to cross into the Promised Land. Ahead of them was the City of Jericho. Jericho is said to be at least 11,000 years old. In these modern days it is located in the West Bank. When the spies from Israel spoke with Rahab who lived in Jericho and protected the two spies from the government of Jericho, she spoke of God as He wanted the world to view Him. He had dried up the waters of the Red Sea so that the Israelites could flee safely from Egypt and the pursuing Egyptians. The success of the Israelites against the Amorites had also told the people of Jericho that God was great. Chapter 2 verse 11 "....... The Lord God is indeed God in heaven above and on the earth below." are said to be the words of Rahab to the spies as she protected them and told them how to escape the city. She asked that her family be spared when the Israelites came and the promise was made and kept because she helped them. 

The story of the fall of the City of Jericho is also an early memory from Church and Sunday School. I think in  my mind I want to think that God early on wanted to send His Son Jesus to us and that He promised it early on but the reality is that those prophecies are still to come according to the scriptures. I think quite clearly God wanted the world to know that He was the only true God who had created this beautiful world. He insisted that the Israelites pay perfect obedience to His laws or suffer the severe consequences in order that He would remain amongst them. 

Am I right that Armageddon has come and we have actually survived; that World War II and the demonic Hitler did not succeed in bringing on the end of the world. The signs were so very strong in Revelations as seen in the world at that time it appears but was it something that came into my brain as a child. Why do I think that? I am I think working my way through my thoughts in that regard and whether God meant that peace would come to all the world and all the countries would work together with their people to make this a perfect home full of peace. That satan and the satanists would be forever banished from our world. That three of the Great Religions of the World (known to me) worship the same God - Judaism, Islam and Christianity - can exist in our world because only God decides how He appears to us through the ages. Jesus came to soften the very strict laws of the Torah and Islam has its own God given existence. 

I was finding the daily readings although appreciated did not clarify items in my mind that were being tossed back and forth between my thoughts. Reading the Bible from cover to cover will answer my questions I think. Choosing the Revised Version Catholic was always a personal choice as it includes Books that are not in the King James Version. 

The great discovery yesterday was most interesting. This family is descendant of Robert Siderfin and Grace Kent through their son Thomas as my line is descendant through his older sister Elizabeth (Betty) (Siderfin) Rew. The match as fifth cousins at 53 cM is large (not huge) but does vary between 0 and 117 with 25 being the most common according to Blaine Bettinger's Shared cM Project.  However that 53 cM match is on Ancestry and TIMBER does reduce the number of cMs if the particular length includes a common area (i.e. common to the British Isles or a particular area in the British Isles in this case). There is a noted pileup area between 44 cM and 53 cM on this chromosome. I do have a number of matches but this one that is traceable is very useful as it again definitively supports the idea that this Thomas is a sibling of Elizabeth (Siderfin) Rew. On Ancestry it is a single chromosome match following later in the chromosome so part of the deletion could be the common pileup area. Rereading and saw that I had put fourth cousin but I am a fifth cousin to the person on Ancestry. Age is catching up to me for sure. 

Today is cleaning day one and it is the top floor. We were busy yesterday moving some furniture around to make it easier to manage and so a good day to begin the cleaning just to clear away any accumulation caused by the moving about. 

We are into a very warm week this week with temperatures well into the thirties and the humidex as high as 48 right across Canada from Alberta to Quebec. 

Solitaire puzzles to do.