Hey all… time to snoop through Noah’s diary again. Why? Because we can.
Tuesday, November 11, 2025, 8:30am: Today is Remembrance Day so both Ursula and Ruth are home from school. We’re going with Frank and Agnes to the parade and cenotaph service and I promised Ursula we’ll go get burgers at Blue Robin afterwards if she behaves and doesn’t act bored.
Sure, I get it: she’s a kid and she gets bored easily. She seems to get bored more easily than I did when I was her age, or when her brothers were the same age, though.
I think it’s the screentime. It messes with their brains and dopamine reward systems or something.
Or it’s just ‘cause she’s a girl and military stuff doesn’t interest her.
“War is boring and stupid.” Well… yes, it’s very stupid, but that’s not what it’s about. It’s about honouring those who served so she can sit on her butt watching cartoons in peace.
Frank’s been going to the Remembrance Day ceremonies for years ever since he started in politics, so of course he sees all his old work buddies there. And Agnes of course needs to be seen as a society lady… plus all her friends from the snooty clubs will be there, too.
Plus Frank’s dad served in World War 2, so there’s that. Dunno if Agnes’ dad did; I would think so but I never heard about it. I guess I should ask Ruth.
Greenland was a US protectorate during WW2 so my mom’s dad wasn’t in the army. I think he worked in the aluminum mine. He never really said much about it, though. Dad’s dad… well, Denmark was overrun by the Germans so no military service there. He came over to Canada in 1949, started working in the mine in Flin Flon and didn’t really talk much about life in Denmark.
Still: we always attended Remembrance Day stuff, both in Flin Flon when I was little and later when we moved here to Victoria.
Duke’s stepdad Scott served in a bunch of peacekeeping missions in the 90s, so he’ll be there with Duke. Hopefully Adam makes it, too. Usually Ursula behaves better when she’s trying to impress her big brothers… unless she’s trying to impress them by misbehaving.
Duke and Scott just got back from moose hunting, so I guess Duke will be doing his usual thing tormenting his sister by telling her he’s got a freezer full of Bullwinkle burgers.
I dunno why it bugs her so much. She barely watches Rocky & Bullwinkle. And she knows our home-made burgers are moose burgers from Duke’s, and she’s happy to eat them, but still.
I guess at this point it’s a kinda sibling tradition that they’ve been doing for years.
Duke and Scott are leaving tomorrow for another hunting guiding gig up north. I think their clients are after mountain lions this time. Or maybe it was duck hunting, I forget.
I mean, good for them: it’s an honest living and they get a ton of exercise and fresh air. And game meat is all free-range and organic. But I went on one trip with them a while back, though, and talk about exhausting! You drive a whole day out into the bush, sleep in the truck, then end up with 50 pounds of gear on your back to hike in several hours. And it’s not hiking like in our nice local parks with gentle inclines amongst the trees: you’re in those big mountains outside of Lytton and it’s really steep and not at all nice for walking. So then if you’re me you get blisters and a sore back and are appointed camp guard hiding in the tent when not cooling your poor feet in the ice-cold stream and hoping to not be eaten by wolves or bears or mountain lions. Or all of the above in a coordinated attack when the other guys are out scouting.
Also there’s no bathrooms and you gotta watch out for poison ivy when you’re doing your business in the brush.
They did get a nice California bighorn sheep after 5 days. Since I was on the injured list, I didn’t have to help pack it out, but they did make me carry out all the bagged-up beer empties and that was bad enough.
I did get some sheep steaks and jerky afterwards, at least, but no selfies. Duke says you only get a hunting trophy if you’re part of the hunt and hanging out at camp doesn’t count. (He said I could pose with the bags of empties instead. Ugh…)
Mind you, I wouldn’t post hunting selfies on my Instagram because most people in Victoria don’t like that kinda thing and it wouldn’t be good for band business.
Speaking of which, Howie is back from “Vegas” and is sulking so I guess that means Sammy Hagar didn’t hire him yet again. Of course, he won’t admit he was down in Cabo trying to get hired by Sammy Hagar, but we can all tell.
