Robert Pogson

I have planted about 40% of the area of my yard with grass-seed and in the parts I have watered there are sprouts. Several days of rain are forecast this week so I should have a good crop in a few weeks. It’s gentle rain, too, so no danger of the seed being washed away. I have all my seedlings out of doors now and most of the tomatoes and caragana are in the ground. In a few days, I should have my garden planted weeks ahead of the “normal” data of expected the frost-free season, thanks to global warming and el-nino.

The long-range forecast is looking good. The accepted “frost-free” data is May 24. Last year, I planted a few peppers about this time and had to water them all night a couple of times in May to prevent freezing.

I wrote a while ago about collecting seeds from pine. Here is the result:

About half of the seeds planted sprouted. That will more than meet my needs. I will be giving some away.

I have a tonne of other plants to go into the garden in a week or so, like caragana and tomatoes. I started some caragana last year, so there will be a hedge real soon now.

My ancestors have been farmers for all the generations I know about. I lived on a farm when I was young. I love the smell of the Earth when I pick up a handful of it. After three years of living in mud and weeds, we are finally planting green things all over the yard. I have roto-tilled the yard the last time with my 22 year old MTD machine. It’s frame is cracking up with metal-fatigue and the transmission is making awful noises… Yesterday, I fired up my 26 year old John Deere garden tractor and dragged a weighted plank over the tilled ground to provide a smooth planting surface for the grass-seed.

Shucks. We had a centimetre of rain. Now I have to wait a few days to resume the work.

The Little Woman is getting her head around the shopping lists for trees. I of course am way ahead of her but she vetoes my practical (cheap) choices for colourful stuff. Trees should be green and bear fruit, if you ask me… We are looking at a hedge of Cedar on one side of the yard and Swedish poplar on another. She wants two sides completely open so the world can see what She wrought. OK. At least I know where to plant grass. I wanted to buy just a few trees and propagate some and plant the rest from seed. She is too impatient to be a good farmer. Yet she develops complex plans that are always blocked … How did I manage to marry a city-girl? I guess I made the mistake of living in a city at the time…

Latest kerfuffle? Her designer told her there should be big ugly rocks scattered about berms loaded with pretty bushes… Sigh. She asked me what was the cheapest way to position them. I designed and priced a hoist, chain, crowbar and parts for a sturdy wagon which can double as a garden wagon later on. Cost is about $300 and I do the fabrication from my existing stock of steel. The thing has 8 inch casters to carry the heavy loads. For the same cost as hiring a loader for a day, these can be used to position heavy machinery in the workshop, too. It will give me something to do while things dry besides watering my seedlings.

I have dozens of seedlings for my garden space, for which She gives me complete authority: caraganas for the hedge, tomatoes and peppers for produce, and pines for feature-trees.I have ordered various seeds to plant directly: pumpkin, carrots, beets and flowers. I have ordered roots: asparagus, hazelnut and rhubarb.

2012 will be a great year no matter what Wintel does.

My daughter is taking a course that involves multimedia. Here’s one of her projects. Enjoy:

Yesterday the Senate voted overwhelmingly in favour of Bill C-19, an act to abolish the unrestricted firearms registry in Canada. All that remains for the bill to become law is royal assent from the Governor General which is usually given on advice from the cabinet. Laws given royal assent are published in the Canada Gazette (RSS) (sooner or later).

There could be a complication if the province of Quebec follows through on its plan to sue the government of Canada over the constitutionality of the change. Quebec wants Canada to turn over the registry to Quebec (a fork in FLOSS-speak ?). I doubt that would fly as the Supreme Court of Canada has looked at the Firearms Act as a matter of “safety” and therefor federal in jurisdiction. There could be a matter of “preserving information” but the registry has a lot of disinformation (like glue-guns) and it may not be clear whether registration documents as well as the database are to be scrapped. I doubt the Court could find it was not the intent of Parliament to scrap all of it. I doubt there is any way Quebec can force the government of Canada to turn over anything involving personal data on people without consent of the people and the government of Canada.

That’s just silly but we have seen the gun-grabbers do silly things before so expect the effort to be made. If Quebec does somehow win that battle, expect firearms owners to be mad as Hell and motivated to continue the fight. I expect the gun-grabbers will lick their wounds and try again at the next possible opportunity. I hope Parliament never again takes the bait. In the meantime, I will declare “Victory!” when C-19 receives royal assent soon.

See Ending the Long-Gun Registry Act Passes Vote in Senate
Bill C-19 to Become Law

We should all thank Candice Hoeppner, Garry Breitkreuz, and Vic Toews and many more for bringing this about.

UPDATE There is a report that royal assent was expected the next day and may have been given Thursday afternoon, 2011-4-5… YEEEHAAA!

““All I can say is that as soon as the legislation comes into effect this afternoon the process to start to destroy the information will occur,” Toews said. When Bill C-19 passed the House of Commons, the government confirmed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which is responsible for the Canadian Firearms Program, would destroy both the paper and electronic records in-house. The costs of data destruction is set to come from existing budgets.”

see Long-gun registry and its data to die on Thursday

There is another report that PQ sought an injunction that will last until April 13 when a hearing should decide whether or not the registry may be destroyed. To Hell with them…
“Just as the Harper government’s bill to end the long-gun registry becomes law, a Quebec Superior Court judge has granted a five-day injunction against destroying the data about Quebec gun owners found in the registry.”
see Quebec court injunction delays gun registry’s demise

The motion was made in the Canadian Senate yesterday to debate for the final time Bill C-19, a bill to do away with the unrestricted firearms registry. Notice was given that a motion to limit debate to six hours will be given today. Senator Lang opened the show with reflection that the first time such legislation had been passed it took only a year for Parliament to get the message that “There has been very general representation that the existing law operated too rigorously, lent itself to abuses and subjected citizens to unnecessary annoyance.” and kill it. This time, even with modern communication, it took 17 years.

Senator Lang went on to point out some of the flaws of the registry that should be considered by those giving “sober second thought”:
“Did honourable senators know that there is a glue gun registered now in the registry? Its entry is as follows: “Mastercraft” with a serial number.

As well, honourable senators, it is common knowledge that there are millions of long guns that have never, ever been registered.”

He quoted shooter Linda Thom:
“I’m accorded fewer legal rights than a criminal. Measures enacted by Bill C-68 allow police to enter my home at any time without a search warrant because I own registered firearms, yet the same police must have a search warrant to enter the home of a criminal. I’m not arguing that criminals should not have this right — they should. I’m arguing that this right should be restored to me and all Canadian firearms owners.”

He called on senators to do the right thing and end the registry.

see Hansard