Some Stories, Some Photos

I'm back again, and so soon. Perhaps it's the cold. Or maybe the lack of TV. Whatever it is, it's to your benefit, I suppose. My goal for today's post is (a) a quaint story or two about small-town living, and (b) a photographic spectacle of prairie beauty. Onward!

I have two tales to regale you with today. First, a story about crime in Three Hills. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be a "professional" working in a town such as Three Hills. For example, Steph went to the doctor's today (nothing seriously wrong, thanks for asking), and he's this black guy straight from the Caribbean. No joke--he had the accent and everything. What makes a guy like that want to come to Three Hills? Wouldn't it get boring always treating harvesting accidents all day?

The point of my story about crime is that I apply that same logic to being RCMP here in Three Hills. I think there's one or two regular cops here (just like in Dog River), and it must be boring. I mean, I know people who are RCMP (two of them are related), and it sounds so exciting to chase the bad guys (even though I wouldn't do it for anything). But here? Nothing. For example, the local paper published a front-page story from the RCMP detachment here, highlighting their three-pronged focus for the coming fall. Prong 1: drunk driving. Okay, that's pretty standard everywhere, especially, I would imagine, on the prairies (you figure out what I mean by that comment). Prong 2: not coming to a complete stop at stop signs. Considering Three Hills has several of them, I could see where this is a problem. Hey, you want a solution? Traffic lights. No wait, that would really ruin the small-town mystique, wouldn't it? I mean, first it's the traffic light, next it's a Wal-Mart. Prong 3: turning across a solid yellow line on Main Street to park on the other side of the road. Oh, the humanity! Those nefarious single-yellow-line-crossers! Better nip that in the bud before all of the ruffians in town get the idea that they can drive across single yellow lines willy-nilly. It tears at the very moral fabric of society!

As you can see, the idea of "crime" here in town is foreign. And you know what? That's exactly the way I like it. This is a place that I can see Theo growing up in--it's safe enough that children actually walk to school alone and ride their bikes with their friends without having to carry cell phones. It's going back to what it was like when I was a kid growing up in Ladner, and that's really refreshing.

My second story has to do with neighbourly friendship. A couple days ago, someone we didn't recongize (not difficult, considering that we know, well, one other couple and our next-door neighbours) knocked on our door. Anyway, we opened it up, and the lady standing there introduced herself as the lady from across the street. She just popped by because she saw that we were new in town and thought she'd bring us a zucchini loaf. Ah, the zucchini (/banana/chocolate chip-banana) loaf--the international token of friendship. Seriously, let's just send some zucchini loaf to Afghanistan. I've learned in our short time here that if someone comes to your door (whether or not they bear zucchini loaf), you must actually invite them in, or else they won't come in. Prairie hospitality at its finest.

Another example of this (call this one story 2A) came the other day when we had to get our furnace looked at. Yes, it has been cold enough to turn on the furnace over the past couple of days, which really sucks. So we had an undiagnosed furnace problem, and, never having seen a furnace like this one before (it was made in 1973, but it's still going strong), we arranged to get a repairman over. After assessing and fixing it--which was easy because, hey, he was the one who installed it--he was headed for the door when he stopped to say hi to Theo (irresistable baby alert!). Then he launched into a story about his family--how he has six kids and 24 grandkids, and how he and his wife came to live in Three Hills. 20 minutes later he decided it was time to leave. Seriously, who does that? It was awesome! Small town living is the only way to go. As long as that small town has a Starbucks.

So that was my very long storytelling time. Now, as a reward for sticking with me this far, I'm going to show you some of the spectacular scenery you can see around here.

These are from a field that is literally at the end of our street...

And this is the pathway there...

I figured I'd put some campus shots here, too...

This is the view from the other side of campus...

And finally, my favourite shot that we've taken yet. This one is from the top of one of the three hills to the north of town...

So thanks for coming by today--I appreciate your business. Leave me a comment, if you feel so inclined (yes, I have fixed the problem with having to be a registered user--thanks, Barb). See you again very soon.