Happy Canada Day!

Megan, that war plan is very disturbing. Was it totally theoretical? It was especially weird reading the detailed description of topography, resources and military. Like a stick insect, I rely upon being invisible and ignored to provide a feeling of safety. Oh well.

By the way, Nora and found that the Firefly episodes wouldn't play in our DVD player. We were going to take them to my mother's place to watch on my brother's computer, but he returned his DVD drive, so I think we can't watch them at all. Seeing as they're doing us no good, I figured we should pass them along. Who's up next?

Ouise, you Crimson you, don't worry about it. Unless Canada is still a pawn of the UK, which Canada Day shows you're not anymore, there's nothing to it.

The exercise was really about a war between the UK and the US; loyal UK-allied Canada was going to be a battleground, obviously, for that, but the plan wasn't aimed at Canada per se. No civilian authority ever requested or saw the plan, it was purely a theoretical military exercise. In fact, it was because the UK and America were so friendly that they could plot these wargames; the "Black" plan against Germany was sidelined as being too hot to handle. There were lots of plans:

Other color plans included "White" (domestic uprising), "Green" (war with Mexico), "Gray" (war with any one of the Caribbean republics), and "Purple" (war in Central America). One scenario pitted the U.S. against the combined forces of France (Gold), Canada, and Britain. Another (Red-Orange) pitted the U.S. against a combination of Japan and Britain.

And of course, the Brits were doing their own plotting against us North Americans as well. And Canadian generals had their own plan:

in 1921 Canada's Director of Military Operations and Intelligence, Col. J. Sutherland-Brown, produced a remarkable document called "Defence Scheme Number 1" to deal with possible war with the U.S. As in the U.S., isolationism ran high in Canada and it was politically difficult to plan for war in Europe. "Defence Scheme Number 3" did eventually deal with that scenario, but not until a decade later. ("Defence Scheme Number 2" dealt with war against Japan.) DS1, as the name implies, was primarily a defensive plan, but it included invasions of the U.S. in the first days of war as a means of gaining time until troops from elsewhere in the Empire could arrive. These invasions would have been aimed at Albany, Minneapolis, Seattle, and other northern cities, to be followed by a slow withdrawal and destruction of bridges and railroads. The plan was withdrawn in 1929, about the same time the finishing touches were being put on War Plan Red.

Excellent info here, a fascinating Straight Dope article. Turns out there's been plenty of tangles between the countries, some, like the Fenians, relatively serious, but right now there's not much. So much of American strength and Canadian prosperity comes from having such good neighbors that we all take it for granted. Imagine having Russia or Germany or Afghanistan on your border--yuck!

it was purely a theoretical military exercise

That's what I was thinking - still unpleasant, but less disturbing.

In honor of this great day, I am proud to bring you (And by 'proud', I mean 'slightly abashed') ...

Pancakes Saved My Cab Fare

A Canada Day Parable

From Which One May Take What Lessons One Can

So, our story begins yesterday, or this morning, take your pick. I'll go with this morning, 'round 11 to be precise. Mecha arose, and staggered to the wonderous interweb in order to awake.

The wonderous interweb informed Mecha that it was the first of July, and this provoked a furious spinning of wheels as our hero tried to reconcile the world in his head with the world his head was in. You see, due to a valiant but utterly wrong headed bit of reasoning yesterday, Mecha thought it should really be the 31st.

On finding this odd schism between the expected and actual date, Mecha promptly went all buggy eyed as the words 'Shit! Rent! flashed behind his eyes in letters of flame. A mere 30 seconds later, a after much flopping around, trying to use a phone through a shirt while putting on one's trousers and tying ones combat boots, a taxi was called, and Mecha was a headin' for the door.

And then he stopped. Yet another look of confusion as he said 'Why do I smell pancakes?' At this point, Alfred enters the scene spatula in hand, and waves good morning, prompting the question 'Are you supposed to be at work?' The reply coinciding, as happes so often, with the questioner arriving at the conclusion his own self, has already been given away by the title, or even a Calender. Consider;

If pancakes are being made, Canadian Tire is closed. If Canadian Tire is closed, It's a holiday. If it's a holiday, the banks are closed. If the Bank is closed, rent will wait. If rent will wait, I should cancel that taxi.

And that, dear friends, is how Pancakes Saved My Cab Fare.

Want me to fix it?

t edit never mind...

And bravo! t golf claps

Nah, my ever increasing haplessness quotient of the day allowed me to look in a slightly different place than usual for the Edit link as soon as I posted to the effect that I couldn't. If anyone needs me, I'll be under my bed.

Oh, I forgot to say, HAPPY CANADA DAY! This makes me think of my grandmother, born in Glencoe Mills, near Mabou, NS. Two of her surviving sisters still live down the road from the house where she was born in 1909 and the churchyard where their parents and two other siblings are buried. She went to a one-room schoolhouse (now the Parish Hall) and the old anthem, 'The Maple Leaf Forever', was one of the first things the Gaelic-speaker learned in English. Of course, as they say, you can't eat the scenery, so the Depression forced her and some of her six sisters to leave for jobs in Detroit. One of the proudest moments of her life was when she showed her two daughters, including my mom, both with Master's degrees, the houses she used to clean as a maid in Grosse Pointe. She was a US citizen since 1946 and lived and died in Brooklyn and basically was your typical American-Dream-come-true type, but she loved Canada and went back whenever she could, even during the war with four kids when it took five days by train!

I might be coming to NS later this summer, so I'll see if I can link up with some Buffistas. Any Cape Bretoners here?

Great story! Are pancakes A Thing That's Done today? Is it politically incorrect to add American cheese*? Does the choice of English Colby or French brie for a snack depend on what province you're in?

* just kidding, American cheese is always incorrect. Bleeech.

Originally, but not currently.