Canadians in ICE detention

 I don't know if this reaches everybody, but I do want to draw attention to it. Canadians are not safe. A Canadian woman, Tania, married a Texas man, Edward. She has a daughter (7) with autism. They have lived 5 years in Texas. Mother and daughter were at a baby shower, on their way home to Kingsville. Going through a checkpoint they were stopped, fingerprinted, and put into the infamous centre that housed children in cages. 

Tania has papers, and has a work Visa. 

According to CTV the centre, in McAllen, Texas, has been renovated and cages removed. However, they are cold, are only given space blankets, and sleep on floor mats. The food is horrible. What are they doing to human beings? 

U.S. is Detaining Visitors

UPDATE March 22 – another one. This time a green card holder

Immigration Issue

 Yes, ICE employees are taking visitors to for-profit detainment facilities. They are treating them inhumanely, with strip searches, limited food, lights on 24/7, and falsely incarcerating them. Normally, when a tourist is inadmissible to a country, they offer to let them rescind their entry. Not so in this day and age. They are rounded up and sent to jail. 

They are in a room with 30 women, no blankets, little food, and much discomfort. Talk about an undeveloped country.

 German Tourists Detained for Weeks, Then Deported From U.S.

 Dad of detained US tourist urges care on visa requirements (UK citizen Becky Burke)

And a Canadian Woman: Jasmine Mooney.

Her mother is beside herself. I cannot link to the Facebook post, but they are hoping to get her home. Her story is on YouTube, put in chains, whisked away to Arizona. The mother says they've booked a flight home for her, and while ICE doesn't give permission until the last moment, they are hopeful.

Another Canadian refused entry into the U.S. This time, they put him on a flight back to Toronto, at least. The Jay Treaty stipulates that First Nations can travel freely between Canada and the U.S. Andrew Balfour is both a musician and 

A traveler with a green card is detained, and hospitalized.

Senior described Schmidt being “violently interrogated” at Logan Airport for hours, and being stripped naked, put in a cold shower by two officials, and being put back onto a chair." 

She said Schmidt told her immigration agents pressured him to give up his green card. She said he was placed on a mat in a bright room with other people at the airport, with little food or water, suffered sleep deprivation, and was denied access to his medication for anxiety and depression.

That was a Monday

I took a cold walk Sunday, after the kids went home. 

The painting I bought from my friend and neighbour!  

Crumbly Acres, we have a problem! I did this last week. Accidentally, just so you know. It'll have to wait for a melt. I can't get a ladder in on top of the snow!

Then it got really cold. 

There were 20 deer Monday! You can see their breath in the cold. This was -25 ℃., and it was chilly putting out the garbage.

We're not over winter, lots of colds about. There are still institutional outbreaks. Then there is the measles outbreak... 

Stay warm, safe, and hope you find some peace. Our power went out suddenly yesterday afternoon around 5. It was an adventure. 

Ms. Fix It or Ms. Break It

There are days I feel more like Ms. Break It, rather than Ms. Fix It, or Ms. Maintenance! I noticed ice on the drain spouts. With our melt beginning, I'll have to clear them. 

I made it around the house to check on the down spout. It was frozen solid, which isn't good with possible rain on the way. (We had a bit of rain, BTW, not a lot.)

When I went back the next day to fix it, I thought my snowshoe path wouldn't require actual snowshoes. HAH! Right up to my knees. Back to fetch them and pop them on.

 The green hose has a lovely cylinder of ice in it. In summer this goes into a rain barrel, and into the goldfish pond. I took it off, and lay it on the ground. It'll melt and I can reattach.

Back on Tuesday, after it melted some, I got it reassembled.

The propane tanks had to be cleared off. Another job done. We're at 65% full, so we're good for now.

No good deed goes unpunished. Ms. Fix It Break It did it again. I repeated my action here, and the whole pipe is frozen with a cylinder of ice. It'll have to melt. 

It'll jus sway here for a bit. The snow is about half gone, in our melt, I'll get back at it later. The snow on the roof is melting, where it drips is a patio tile, and it'll be fine. We're back into colder temperatures later. Winter is still with us.

 

From there, down to the highway to clear out the pond that accumulates at the end of the driveway in a thaw. I put salt on it, to open up the drainage onto the grass. 

Back the next day, and a lot is melted. Yippee.

We were seeing 4 turkeys for weeks. In the past week, only two. We wondered if the coyotes got a couple. Not so. One does get attached to the wild critters!

Look to the skies

 Things have been cooling off. The skies continue to impress.

Things have been pretty quiet. I anxiously await a replacement camera. 

 

It'll be awhile, since 📪 Canada Post workers are on strike. At first the online prediction was 'today by end of day' and then that changed to 'tomorrow by end of day.' I am not holding my breath. 

 

Parcels are a huge market niche. Canada Post has been outsourcing large package deliveries on weekends to poorly paid 'independent contractors.' The big companies like UPS, don't have collective agreements. Canada Post does. Private contractors have bosses that require long hours, and make promises to customers of next day delivery. Cheap labor. This is a first world problem, I know, but as always solved on the backs of workers. There are too many people forced to do part time work. They miss out on benefits and fair wages. Can you tell I was a union member?! 

I shall be patient.

Here is spider visiting before the camera's demise.

 

 The cottontail has been visiting the bird feeder.

 

🐸 Moving the Froggies: I'm up to 154. There were two more I caught Nov. 19th. It keeps me off the street. In the cold they are slow, slimy and dark. 

Our family in Vancouver, B.C. and friends have a Bomb Cyclone! Winds and rain...

Things are busy in the skies.

I sat out on the front deck in the sunshine, reading a book. I was bundled up and under a blanket. This is book 2 of three. The setting in B.C.!

"From the former Chief Justice of Canada and #1 bestselling author of Full Disclosure comes a taut new thriller starring tough-as-nails defense attorney Jilly Truitt in a murder case that makes her question her own truths."

This plane went overhead while I was outside. Look at its call sign: CGZAG. It did zig zag!

🎥TV Movies ← my master list.

My entertainment director continues to look for evening movies. We watched ICE (2011) which was rather ridiculous whilst being creepy. I've done yard duty in -20 ℃ temperatures. 

"Environmental scientist exposes oil company's drilling causing Greenland ice melt."

Then, there is this one: In Cold Water: The Shelter Bay Murder (2024) wow. Creepy true Canadian story/documentary, with action in New Zealand.  Another movie best watched from under a warm blanket. 

OK, that's all I have for today. It is sunrise and coffee time.

Ode to winter

We are going to be 16 ℃ today. I thought I'd say farewell to the icicles.

Also, I should say goodbye to the snow. We'll see what happens. It comes, it goes!