Category: Mapping/Geography

so sad for Buster

The cone doesn’t actually come off until tomorrow morning. After the cone shenanigans when he was neutered, Jeff with my cooperation is being a stickler for following the vet’s instructions. Sutures are out at least so he’ll be less itchy. He healed like a total champ.

Here’s an interesting article about Indigenous accomplishments in Australia, dating all the way back to the dreamtime.

I’m helping look after Ryker tomorrow.

I won’t talk about it in public, but I did something very stupid yesterday and made myself barf again. Jeff knows about it.

Booked a mammogram for August. Still have not been able to get hold of the doctor’s office but hopefully they’re open today.

the Barrowtown pumping station is about to fail

it’s apparently the second biggest pumping station in North America

and if it fails

surrounded as it is with 150 volunteers packing sandbags as fast as they can

Sumas Lake will reappear after 97 years

50% of the eggs and dairy for BC will be gone, possibly never to return

and collectively we will have lost one of the most critical pieces of farmland in BC history

 

you need a million calories a year and 5000 litres of water

LATER

anyway the mayor and chief of police in Abby have reported that the pumping station is holding but it was a near thing

 

Fun things to do in Burnaby (parody)

Fun things to do in Burnaby!

– Encounter a bear in our parkland – Burnaby doesn’t enjoy 25% greenspace for nothing, y’all

– Experience one of the world’s most obnoxious English-speaking sidewalk preachers

– Thrill-seekers will enjoy the challenging brevity of all our highway on-ramps, and thrill harder to the challenging brevity of the attention span of most Burnaby drivers

– Try to find a residential address in Champlain Heights at night

– Enjoy an on-line city council meeting with Joe Shithead (okay it’s not his name any more but it’s funny)

– Ride the miniature train in Confederation Park (legit touristy thing)

– Get a cold malted beverage from Glenburne Dairy, but bring your own straw, the ones they supply suck little but ass, and call first, their hours of operation are wtf

– Catch COVID in the lineup for the Arcade at Brentwood

– Quarantine yourself at the Days Inn Motel afterwards

– Figure out the City of Burnaby garbage schedule without resorting to performance enhancing drugs (if you suffer from deficits to colour vision you can skip this one)

– Fistfight with your neighbours about parking

– Call Burnaby City Hall about parking

– Write a strongly worded letter to the editor of the Burnaby Now about parking

– Get Chris Campbell of the Burnaby Now to write an editorial about your letter. You won’t have to try too hard.

– Get a small dead fish dropped on your head by a heron in Fraser Foreshore Park

– Argue with anti-maskers in Deer Lake Park; flee to the parking lot like a little bitch when about twenty of their walking buddies show up behind them

– Quarantine yourself at the Days Inn Motel afterwards

– Write a review of all the Burnaby Skytrain stations in rank order from least to most scary. Post it to r/burnaby on reddit and watch the fur fly, kids!

– Be grateful you’re not in Whalley

– Visit one of the world’s most beautiful carousels. Bring earplugs.

– Blow through the speed trap at the bottom of Gaglardi Hill at 90kph and then cry all over the cop about how it shouldn’t be 60 kph if it’s built like the Coquihalla

– Get stuck behind the 100 bus in heavy traffic

– Try to beat the train signal on Cariboo Road

– Rent a hot, pipey two-stroke motorcycle, score a grab bag of pills and ride like Nic Cage up and down Kingsway all night

– Try to figure out if the restaurant you’re ordering delivery from is a money laundering operation

– Wake up to the terrifying sound of pyrotechnics for a night shoot at the location on Marine Drive

– Redesign the civic flag, please, have you seen that schmata

 

RANTING ABOUT 10TH AND CANADA WAY

oh FSM, Parking Goddess, anydeity on this frequency, aid me now and for all time to come https://newwestrecord.ca/local-news/opinion-someone-is-finally-trying-to-fix-this-gong-show-burnaby-new-west-intersection-3904159 YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND HOW BAD THIS INTERSECTION IS
Opinion: Someone is finally trying to fix this gong show Burnaby-New West intersection
·

1/ within the first 90 seconds of my brO having a dashcam, we watched a black suv go through this intersection southbound through a red light at 70 kph while stopped in the next lane over.

2/ there are three *heavily* trafficked driveways and two bus stops within metres of the intersection so you are continuously making evasive bumpercar/whackamole maneuvres with the most rancidly incompetent drivers in the lower mainland

3/ the advance green lights are wrongly bad and they should run all four ways, this is a busy intersection!!

4/ it’s at the bottom of a 150 foot elevation drop (over 6 intersections) people come screaming down that hill hoping to get through both the pedestrian crosswalk light which is two blocks away and the intersection itself, so drivers are routinely going 20 over the speed limit

5/ There’s a 7-11 + gas station on the corner and this weird fucked up fake lane that is basically how Mr. Audi and Ms. Accord get to know each other as one smashes the other trying to sneak around to the right while the other’s doing the same thing from the 7-11

6/ I’m not blaming the teens who go to the high school next to this intersection, they don’t usually seem too intent on throwing themselves under cars in my experience, but gawdam some of the wildest ad lib pedestrians on earth stroll adjacent to these crosswalks

6/ continued… I mean brO and I are happy if they make eye contact, mostly they don’t.

7/ every pole for a block around pleads for witnesses to accidents

8/ IT’S A SHARED JURISDICTION intersection. So the Burnaby RCMP (eye twitch) and the NWPD (shrug) get to share the duties when the blood/debris crosses the intersection. I don’t know how they figure out who does what but I’m sure it doesn’t make things sparklier

9./ I’d need a contour map and some dinky toys to demonstrate some of the ways in which momentum, gravity, common sense and, provisionally, space/time itself, fail to operate normally at this intersection, so please I beg you just take my word for it.

Further comments: I travel through this intersection an average of 4 times a week during the pandemic and more like 10 times otherwise. I live close enough that I once heard a collision there. This is on the bus route I mostly use.

So I read with interest that they intend to spend a quarter of a million dollars on this intersection, and this would be great except for one teensy problem. Not a single intersection ‘improvement’ I’ve seen in the last 20 years actually made things better.

brO and I are going to watch them spend a quarter mil to make it worse. The banging and construction delays will be horrific. and in the end…. I’m prepared to wager twenty bucks that it will be distinctly & measurably worse.

And I haven’t even MENTIONED the truck traffic, which is heavy and continuous during the day and steady at night because the biggest food storage depot (400 SQ METRES OF BUILDING and much more for truck parking and storage) in the lower mainland is a kilometre west.

the wilds of Coquitlam

I wanted to just post the video of our trek yesterday. No comment, just the train wreck of ongoing wtfery.

Jeff said he wanted to drive somewhere for a client and I made a face. I know how terrible that part of town is (for driving, Coquitlam is quat nahss as far as greenery etc goes) and I wanted to help navigate, so I went in the car with Jeff and almost, but not quite, navigated us into a large scale portal of a Horror Dimension.

Jeff kiboshed the idea of sharing the footage with a right royal Kibosh, because essentially we didn’t do anything but swear at fate, the other drivers, and the signage.

Among other sweary things: the signage on Highway 1 as you drive just short of the Port Mann bridge. The signage as you come off 7B onto Lougheed, which just sucks in conventional terms; the signage that was COMPLETELY OBSCURED BY OVERGROWTH and it’s a fucking good thing I knew which way to direct Jeff to turn; THE FACT THAT NOT A SINGLE FUCKING PLACE OF BUSINESS ON LOUGHEED HIGHWAY BETWEEN THE 7B EXIT AND OXFORD ACTUALLY HAS ITS STREET NUMBER FACING THE ROADWAY.

The footage of us both cursing at all of this will be lost to history, and Jeff’s perfectly happy about that. The joint wail we let out when we saw the grown-over sign, though, that being lost to history mekketh me sad.

The client visit took about twenty minutes.

We solaced ourselves with Mickey D’s and Toim Tayeem.

Finding out that Phil’s ancestors were among the first to move to England – I would have bet money on that.

Indigenous map of Burnaby AND recipe for vegan lentil soup

check it out!

and did you know there are petroglyphs in the Stô:Lō region?

Jeff’s off to Saanich. I sent him off with some Yorkshire Gold tea to share, as it really is quite nice.

Today, some recording, I hope, and a chance to see the kids.

Practiced a little and ate two bowls of the thin lentil soup I made this morning.

VEGAN LENTIL SOUP RECIPE COMMENCES

Into the pot I throw

2 cups of meticulously sorted and rinsed red lentils

10 cups of water

3 thinly sliced garlic cloves

2 heaping teaspoons of vegan bouillon (from a jar)

3 cm of ginger, sliced thin and then coarsely chopped

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon fenugreek

1 teaspoon cumin

2 cinnamon sticks

1/2 lime, meticulously rinsed and de-freezer-burned because of course you’re like me and buy those spendy suckers on sale and cut ’em in half and freeze ’em because some variant on this recipe will now go into your heavy rotation

1 whole tomato, cored

I do not know how much ground turmeric, at least a teaspoon. I shook and shook and stirred and stirred and it was finally the ‘right’ colour.

Instapot for 20 minutes

remove the tomato; remove its skin; smush and return to pot

remove the lemon; remove its rind; smush and return to pot

remove the cinnamon sticks

Stir but not like you’re getting paid to and devour. As you eat it you will get little flavour blasts of tomato and ginger and garlic and lime and the mouth feel on this one is just superb.

RECIPE ENDS

I simply must freeze some and get it over to Paul and Mike and the kids if they have any interest.

 

 

a letter

26 June 2020

Provincial Agricultural Land Commission

 

&

Hon. Lana Popham

Minister of Agriculture

 

 

Hi! I hope you and your loved ones are staying safe or recovering well.

 

My name is Allegra Sloman and I’m a science fiction writer, musician and blogger/essayist, living on Coast Salish land in Burnaby. I believe that fertile, well-watered land that is put aside by the Province of B.C. for agricultural purposes should stay that way.

 

Earlier this month I learned from Cedar Isle Farms that a small chunk of land in Agassiz, (the ‘Teacup Properties’,) which has been earmarked for residential growth for almost twenty years, may be removed from the ALR, since there is tremendous housing pressure on the entire lower mainland. This is in part thanks to the naïve / corrupt succession of provincial governments, which, ably assisted by the Harper Government and the absence of any credible federal investigative oversight, enabled a multi-billion dollar property bubble to develop hereabouts.  Of course there are many, less provocative, reasons why building-lot land is scarce and expensive in Agassiz and why the city government would want more of it. 

 

In 1948, Agassiz, indeed the very part of Agassiz which concerns us today, was underwater for a month, during what is referred to as a ‘century’ flood of the Fraser River.

 

If residential land is flooded, especially for that period of time, all the houses must be razed or remediated at extortionate cost. If farmland is flooded, next spring you plant again. Farming is the appropriate use for this land, if we’re using a risk/reward model.

 

Given the climate instability staring us all in the face, is it possible that anyone charged with making the decision to build on this land may be subject to legal action for knowingly allowing residential or business construction? We can expect that ‘century flood’ any year now. It is a reasonable thing to both foresee and wish to mitigate.

 

Was the permission of the local Sts’ailes people to change the use of the land from reserved to development asked? 

 

Until these and other questions around food scarcity and sovereignty are answered, I believe that changing the land use is unwise.

 

Best regards,

Nothing but beauty today

Australia by watersheds. IS IT NOT GLORIOUS? also truncated, I can’t find a nicer copy, but so purty.

AND NOW, my THIRSTIEST pic AND mah gOB what a frame, what a frame

Yes, this is TV actor and activist Misha Collins, and he posted the pic so I’m assuming that he was okay with the earth being knocked slightly off its orbit as half a million screeching fangirls (and a fair few fanboys) collapsed to the ground like Victoria maidens.

He was in foreign climes building a school or some such damned thing like the humble gorgeous angelic creature he is, thus the rustic bathing facilities.

Love his Instagram posts, he’s consistently artsy, compassionate, funny and just a little bit wacky.

Katie and Alex, 2015

I watched the most recent Emma and cried like a you know what at the end of it. Bill Nighy’s ensembles looked like they were going to achieve sentience and start cavorting about on their own.

Today’s astropix KICKS ASS. I won’t post the link because there won’t be one until tomorrow but you are in for a full on space science eyegasm.

I looked up four words this morning and I did not know their meanings – normally I’m just confirming, but this morning was a disaster. I’m thinking I need to look up a lot of words I think I awready know. Self-assessment is beautiful.

 

 

Meeping

I meeped at Chipper for a while yesterday and she expertly diagnosed my problem and helped me get back on the rails. I’ve been sessile for a couple of days but I’ll be back to writing today. For background, coming up on 2nd anniversary of breaking my arm and losing the shop, so that’s probably feeding into the other issues.

I have a strong cup of coffee beside me and Jeff’s making more.

PLUTO FLYBY!!!! SO HAPPY.

I finally went on a trip through the Stargate with Jack O’Neill last night.  Woke up with a big smile on my face, with his strictures ringing in my ears.

LATER

Buster just climbed the dead tree in the back yard.  I could barely see him through the blinds.  Wilde kittye!!!

Truth and reconciliation

A few recommendations of my own:

 

Read the 94 recommendations.

Which of these recommendations can you action in your own life?

In your church?

At your workplace?

At home?

In your buying habits?

Do you know where the nearest Friendship Centre is?  Locate it.

Do you know what languages the First Nations in your area speak?

If you have internet access, research and follow a First Nations activist on social media.

Visit your local library and borrow and read books by First Nations authors which can be fiction, poetry, memoir, non-fiction, academic.

Donate money to a First Nations cause.

Read the Indian Act.

If you have access, watch a youtube video google “youtube testimony residential schools”.

Go to a powwow.  Dance your ass off.

Purchase and display art by aboriginal artists.

Examine your speech for racist terms and expunge them.

Listen to First Nations music.

Learn how to say hello, goodbye, please and thank you in a local First Nations language.

Support First Nations people by attending peaceful protests.

Learn the traditional territorial boundaries of First Nations people.

Read about the laws, traditions and spiritual beliefs of First Nations people in your area.

If you have school aged children, ensure that they learn age appropriate materials about the residential schools.

Reporting from the front РMarilyn Med̩n

Hi, friends, and some relatives.  This is what I did today. (Thursday November 29th)

Up Burnaby Mountain to The Protest

 

Just go! I thought as I tried to find information about where to go, how much walking, what to expect.  Just show support by arriving … somewhere.  But Burnaby Mountain covers a large area, and if I went up it the way I knew, up to SFU, the only satisfaction I might have would be that I tried.  Not much support for the protest against Kinder Morgan.

After much trial and error I found a map.  Park near Curtis and Ayrshire, and just head UP, and UP, on a paved walkway, across Burnaby Mountain Parkway, and UP a little further to an information tent where you are told where the action is.

I saw Karl Perrin [of the Unitarian Church of Vancouver] at the tent.  I had heard he was arrested the day before.  Was he out already?

The drilling had moved, and the gathering was now down a very steep deeply muddy path, slippery, winding, intersected by thick roots and unexpected holes.  People said it took 10 to 15 minutes to get to the gathering.  It took me at least 30 minutes of hanging on to branches, tree trunks, people. The demographic was young.  A guy tore a dead tree limb from the ground and handed it to me for a walking stick. Everyone wanted to help.

I could hear drumming: the First Nation presence.  Speakers. Singing of an adaptation of We Shall Overcome. 

Sliding, slipping, holding on, I reached a place where I could see the yellow ribbon.  To go past that meant arrest.  Gentle arrest it seemed.  The police were friendly.

Someone was speaking.  She was telling of her arrest the day before.  The police carried her to a van.  Solidarity Notes had been singing, and some of them were arrested at the same time.  There was singing in the van.  Singing again in the room they were taken to, and yet again in individual cells.  Kraft dinner was provided.  She signed a statement. I gather that at that point they were released, with trial was set for January 12th.  That was it.  I could have done that!  But what would the arrest mean?  Would one then be a “person of interest”?  Well, if I could interpret it as interest in not having oil pipelines, in avoiding oil, that would be all right with me.

I headed back up the trail.  Home to wash my mud soaked shoes and pants.  Home to warm up.

 

Marilyn

 

 

PLEASE NOTE COPYRIGHT FOR THE ABOVE POST BELONGS TO MARILYN MEDEN