“Honey, is it the ground getting higher? Or is your butt just getting lower?” Grandpa Jonesy
“Latte? What’s a latte? I just want an ordinary coffee. I don’t care what you call it. Anyway, what the heck is a latte? Isn’t that just Latin for “Ha, ha silly, You just paid too much for that coffee?” – Grandma Smithers

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Is it curious that more voters turned out in Crowsnest Pass in southern Alberta to vote in favour of a coal mine there, than turned out for the previous general election?
As one observer in the town said, “We were voting for jobs.”
On the vote at the end of November, in the midst of heavy snow, 53.6 per cent of eligible voters came out. 72 per cent of them voted for the mine. That compares to 38.5 per cent who voted in the last civic election, according to the Globe and Mail newspaper.
The inference being, politicians don’t do much of anything when it comes to energizing the economy. Although of course, high taxes and red tape can sure slow down investment.
Anyway, the mine, called the Grassy Mountain mine, is for metallurgical coal. That type of coal is used in making of steel. Not for power generation which is blamed as a major contributor to climate change.
A lesson here for any politician anywhere who wants to get a job in office. Or even keep a job. You might not be able to bring new jobs to town. But at the least, show an interest in keeping the jobs that are already here.

How do you tackle and wrestle a deer down?
That’s a good question. But maybe more to the point, why the heck would you want to?
Well, somebody is up to that in McBride, B.C. And the reason is somebody there is dressing local deer in high-visibility safety vests.
Residents in that community have found themselves looking twice or three times, not quite believing what they are seeing when a “dressed” deer wanders across the road in front of them. Or as they are driving along they see one of them alongside the road.
“What the heck is that?” many have found themselves asking.
Now that the shock is wearing off, many are asking questions. Is the idea to keep deer from being hit by vehicles? Is this some kind of wintery joke?
A few people have wondered if the vests are actually dangerous for deer. Others have said it will be easier for ticks and bugs to get under the vest and infest the deer’s fur. Conservationists say it is unlikely dressed deer will get tangled in a tree. There was no real comment on the ticks.
As far as drivers around the Peace country are concerned, we are thinking while it seems like a nice thought, it would probably take about 10,000 vests at least to do a decent job of dressing our local deer population.
As far as chasing them, wrestling them down, and dressing them? Probably more dangerous both to the deer and the people doing it than what might be saved.

So, our glorious leader Justin Trudeau is handing out GST discounts and $250 cheques to people who have jobs and earning less than $150,000.
Seniors, of course, are very unhappy with this. But that’s another story for we seniors (your columnist being one of the “ancients or Elders” full of wisdom, learned experience, and just waiting to be called for advice – and paid for it of course.
It’s just a thought but between the two handouts, the total cost is said to be around $6 billion. That sounds like a lot but the GST saving alone might add up to about $65 average for each person spending money.
Woo hoo! Book the plane tickets dear, we’re off to contribute to the economy in Cuba!
Actually, we would rather see the whole chunk of money invested back into our Canadian military where it would do some real good. We can’t think of a better place for some annual GST and “gifting” to go.

Morning man on KIX FM Radio Jared Gomes was on the air a week or so ago talking about how Tropicana juice containers had changed their shape.
This, of course, has to do with so-called “shrinkflation.” This is where the package is redesigned to look the same size or better yet, a bit bigger, but the contents actually get smaller. The price might go down, or up, or even less but any which way, the consumer gets it in the wallet.
Another example besides Tropicana is Campbell’s Chunky Soup. The cans used to be 540 ml. The new ones are 525 ml. But they are taller cans. Pretty soon, we are probably going to have to re-arrange our fridges to fit the tall, skinny milk containers that some of us put in the doors.
We actually thought this was good news to start with. We will be able to put two jugs where before we used to only put one. But on a bit of thought, instead of three shelves, we now will only have two.
This is sort of like, we can lose weight because our three meals per day are all smaller. But then we realize we need four meals a day because we are still hungry after three.
Thank goodness we paid attention in math class in school!

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  It is always sad to hear about a club or church having to cancel programs or even shut down because of lack of members or volunteers. The latest is Jasper’s Hospital Auxiliary.
  But here is a good news story from the town of Moosomin, Sask. There, some energetic locals have banded together and formed a new Lions Club. Although Lions specialize in charity work for the blind, it also does work in many other areas. It is also a general fellowship group. Sort of like the Elks or Royal Purple and other groups.
  Nice to know we all aren’t slowly fading away.
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  Our final item is a reminder every Tuesday morning each week, in the wee hours, this newspaper goes online with it’s ePaper edition.
  The ePaper is true-to-life copy of this printed newspaper. We know lots of people prefer this here hard copy. But some will like the ePaper because they can get it on their phones, or desktop computer, or tablet.
  You can check out what this looks like by going to our websites at smokyriverexpress.com or southpeacenews.com. There is a sample of an older week just past on the sidebar.

For businesses that are used to putting their flyers in the post office, here is a reminder this newspaper still distributes on newsstands and some offices between Peace River and Faust. Call Tony at (780) 523-4484 for details.
Have a good week and enjoy the weather!