Rolling on

 Zippity doo-dah, another week flies by in a flash. This will be a short post (or maybe not...) because I haven't done much more than the regular household chores, a bit of grocery shopping, with a stop at Value Village to drop off two boxes from my always continuing efforts to declutter.  And of course, lots of curling. 

The mixed doubles ended on the weekend for Canada with a whimper, losing to both Australia and Italy in the round robin draw. I was quite frustrated with the game with Australia - there had been news the night prior that the female player had tested positive for Covid, but the game was allowed to be played with as much physical distancing as possible. Hard to do when both teams are in the house sweeping. None the less, Australia beat our Canadian team quite handily.  The team from Italy proved to be a power house all week, winning all of their round robin games and won the gold medal over Norway in the final.  Their win over Canada didn't sting quite as badly.

The men's and women's draws started on Wednesday and Thursday respectively. I've been able to watch on the 6 a.m. (for me) televised games and can stream the other games as replays. Even I, an avid fan, am not staying up all night to watch the later draws. 

To add to the fun, the Saskatchewan men's Tankard first draw was on Wednesday evening. A former co-worker's husband is participating in the event, and I expect I'll see at least one of their games this week. However, there are a couple of dominant teams that I am certain will be there at the end of event - his team is not one of them.

The joy of all of this curling is it keeps me from watching too much of the news.  In addition to the sh*t show that is happening in our nation's capital, other cities, and border crossings, the lump we call our Premier (like a Governor in the states), announced the decision to eliminate all public health measures by the end of the month. First to go are the proof of vaccine requirements to attend restaurants, bars, and events...just in time for Valentine's Day. The masking requirements will be lifted on March 1.

Here's what he had to say:

Moe said on Tuesday that it's time for the province to move forward and past the proof of vaccination policy, which he said was divisive and "effectively created two classes of citizens" in Saskatchewan. 

"To my knowledge, this province has never done anything like that before in our history, for any vaccine or for any other reason for that matter," Moe said. 

Seriously, the man needs to take a history lesson. Women didn't gain the right to vote until 1916 (and that was a privilege for married white women only). The pass system permitting First Nations people to leave their reserves continued into the 1920's in our province. In addition, First Nations people were only granted the right to vote in Canada in 1960. And more recently, the last residential institution existed in Saskatchewan until 1996. But Moevid says there have never been "two classes of citizens" in Saskatchewan.

Our hospitalization rates are at the highest level since the pandemic began, children under five have yet to get their vaccinations and he decides to open things up and let her rip. Not long ago, he reported he had a 45 minute call with one of the most ardent anti-vaxxers in the province. I wonder what she said - because he certainly isn't listening to the medical experts in the province. Can you tell that my blood pressure rises just writing about this?

In any event, I'll continue to mask up - though I do anticipate I'll get snarky remarks from some people. When I can't ignore them, I haven't yet decided how I will react. D is quite worried because when masks were not mandatory last summer (just ahead of our 4th wave), an older woman attempted to remove Eli's mask from his face while D was turned away. I suspect if someone tries that now, D won't be quite as circumspect as she was back then.

Back on the positive side of things, I spent Wednesday afternoon in the sunroom reading. The temperature outdoors was still below freezing, but with the sun shining in the room was warm enough to tuck up in my recliner with the radio on in the background. Saku was as happy as I was, napping much of the afternoon curled up in one of the chairs. 

We had more sun on Thursday and the temperature was above freezing. The birds discovered the eavestrough at the front of the house was filled with water and I had live entertainment watching them splash and bathe. I apologize as the lighting has washed out some of the color and the birds were moving so quickly it was hard to get a decent shot.

I didn't see this until I pulled the card from the computer. In the tree is a small chickadee...waiting his turn?

Check out the fluffy feathers!

I spent about and hour or so outside, clearing the rest of the snow and ice off the driveway and sidewalks. The wind was quite strong and though I don't get a lot of sunshine since I face north and the evergreen blocks the sun on the west side, most of the pavement did dry up reasonably well. Good thing as the temperature dropped rapidly reaching a low of -20C (-1F) by morning. I'd run out of ice melt so made a dash to Walmart in the morning to pick up a bag to sprinkle on the remaining ice. 

Beyond that, Friday was a very quiet day as I expect today will be too. I've been out to feed the birds (and the squirrel by default). The Saskatchewan men's curling game starts in a little while, and I'm going to curl up on the couch to watch and forget about all the other crap going on out there in the world.

Have a great week ahead everyone!