Extreme cold in Calgary Alberta Canada

@swirlie -30 is still -30 I need a fuckin' sweater

@CountScrofula
I guess their point is, a dry cold is warmer than a wet cold like we have in Ontario, which means Alberta is technically warmer at -30 than Ontario is.

@swirlie A number of years ago Environment Canada rated the provinces with the nicest climate. They said Alberta has the nicest climate. I have no idea what they used for metrics but having lived in many provinces in Canada I agree with them that Alberta does have the nicest climate.

@hippyjoe1955
I actually dislike Alberta because of its climate.

@swirlie De gustibus non est disputandum (no accounting for taste)

@hippyjoe1955
Its hot, dry and dusty in summer and its cold, dry and dusty in winter. What's there to like about Alberta?

@swirlie Hot in summer? Compared to southern Ontario? Edmonton has gone 10 years without reaching 30 C. Cold and dusty in the winter? Yes humidity is low but the dust is pretty much covered by snow. Great for skiing or snowmobiling or snow shoeing or tobogganing. Yes there is ice which is great for skating. In the south Alberta does get chinooks and they can be wonderful. A gentle warm wind in the middle of January.

@hippyjoe1955
Are you a Real Estate agent who's trying to butter me up or something...?

@swirlie Nope. I hope you stay in Ontario. I live in Alberta out of choice.

@swirlie Funny story from years gone by. I had married a wonderful woman a few years before and so I suggested that she meet some of the people who had impacted my life. One of the people I knew as a tough old lady who lived on a farm 3 hours west of me. One Sunday we drove out to visit. We got to her farm and couldn't find her. Her vehicles were in shed so she likely was home unless she was out riding a horse somewhere. She was an expert horse woman so that was not out of the question. I thought about leaving when I saw her hiking around the side of her barn. She looked at me and her face lit up. "Joe you are just the man I want to see". It turned out that one of her cows was in labour and couldn't deliver her calf. The farmer had tried to phone the vet but got no answer. Of course she knew I grew up on a farm/ranch and that I had had lots of experience delivering calves. In a few minutes I was out of my shirt and had sterilised the skin on my arm. I reached inside the cow and determined that the calf was presented wrong. One leg was back and unless I could get both legs in the right place both the cow and the calf would be dead in a couple hours. I pushed the calf back up the birth canal and was able to get its legs going the right way. Then I slipped a sterile chain around the legs and pulled as hard as I could. The poor cow was a exhausted and couldn't push anymore. The farmer had a wire stretcher which we fastened to a fence post and then to the chain around the calf's legs. A few sweaty moments later the live calf was on the ground and the tired old cow turned to clean her baby.

@hippyjoe1955
Okay, so from here on in I'll think of you as a sweaty young cowpoke, not a dusty old cowboy! Good thing you showed up there at her farm when you did. I believe that's called "listening to the direction of our inner voice" when the thought crossed your mind that it would be a good idea to introduce your wife to some people who'd impacted your life!

@swirlie On the dear ladies floor was a grizzly bear pelt. it had rope burns around its neck from the time the lady had lassoed it and tied it to a tree so she could go home and get her rifle. The darned bear was killing her cattle. Under her TV was a mountain lion pelt. She had shot it as it was trying to raid her chicken coup at 2 o'clock in the morning.

@hippyjoe1955
She reminds me of "Katie the Navajo" in Ian Tyson's song, "Navajo Rug"!

@swirlie She was a tough and loving woman. Her husband, the father of her three children was a gambler. He would disappear for weeks at a time taking the family money with him to Vegas where he would lose it all. One day he came home and she met him at the front door. She was carrying a 12 gauge shotgun and informed him that he didn't live there anymore. She raised her three kids by herself fending off the bears and mountain lions and the wild stallions that would steal her mares.

@hippyjoe1955
I would've loved to be a friend of that woman!

@swirlie Her name was Thelma which we all shortened to Ma.

@swirlie you may have heard of Ma's nephew. He was a world famous figure skater and was the first man to land a quad in completion.

@hippyjoe1955
Would that be Kurt Browning?

@swirlie Yes it would. I met Kurt and his dad Dewey one day when visiting Ma. I was working south west of her place and had stopped in for coffee. Kurt was about 4. His raw athleticism was evident even then. He had a fluidity of motion that even my untrained eye could see.

@hippyjoe1955
Kurt has had a long career. I think he retired from the sport about 2 years ago.

@swirlie Yes he has. I guess he never wanted to be a figure skater when he was a kid. He wanted to play hockey. His hockey coach saw Kurt do things on skates that hockey players can't and suggested that his parents get him involved in figure skating. The rest as they say is history.