Red Deer Advocate

Bio-diesel may be farm fuel of future

Electric vehicles are one way of providing transportation for the general public and in an urban setting they can provide an almost perfect means of intercity travel. READ

Grab the fishing gear; aspens are leafing out

My late great friend, Dr. Bill Parsons, had a growly voice and eventually I got around to heeding when he advised “don’t go fishing until the aspens are rimed with green.” This year it was Mothers’ Day out West before the aspens were first frosted with that lime green of the first young leaves, a sight that always makes me feel like a boy again. READ

Spring arrives and a starling is in the stove

Ah, the familiar sounds of springtime down on the farm; the frogs croaking, bees buzzing and a starling fluttering inside the stove. We have an unseemly amount of birds on our property — not that I’m complaining. Our woods and wetlands ring with the song of red wing blackbirds, robins, grosbeaks, blue jays, swallows, orioles, magpies, crows, chickadees, common redpolls, starlings, nut hatches and an assortment of woodpeckers including hairy, downy, flickers and to our recent great delight, a pair of the pileated kind. READ

It’s time for the spring grassroots of yard work

With spring comes yard work. It can become overwhelming unless work is planned, limited and prioritized. READ

Relationship slipping away

For the past five years, I’ve been with the most wonderful woman. “Jane” and I plan to marry, but we haven’t set a date because she has two adult daughters who still live at home, and their future plans are unsettled. READ

Use the Internet to expand and improve job search

If you’re one of the millions of North Americans looking for work, the Internet can be a key resource, albeit a daunting one. Spend time searching through Monster.com job listings, and you may even argue that the Internet is counter-productive to your job hunt. READ

Going back in time to stop Kennedy assassination

It is my habit to read in the evening with a small dog on my lap. Bethy is very happy this book is finished, since it’s a weighty tome of 800-plus pages. Even the dog knows this book should have been shorter. Jake Epping is the character here, a high school English teacher who for very good reasons, is shown a sort of “stairway” that leads into the past. READ

Never-ending battle with ants

Last Sunday afternoon, I spent an hour sitting on the edge of my deck watching some ants. Until recently, I had an anthropocentric view of the world; one in which man was at the center of the universe. Now, I am not so sure. Perhaps ants are closer to the centre. Ants have a truly anthropic view of the world that goes beyond mere human view because they were here before us. READ

The best diet for you — what do you think?

To say that the world of nutrition is full of conflicting information is an understatement. All too often it has become a battle between the natural, preventative health community conflicting with the medical community on topics such as whether drugs and medication are really helping or harming, what foods are actually good for you and what substances in our food are safe or destructive. READ

Improving sport performance

If you’re currently heavily involved in sports training, one important thing that you must be thinking about is what you can do to help yourself get faster. Speed is a vital component of performance in many team related sports so if you do hope to excel at whatever sport it is you have chosen, this isn’t something that you can afford to overlook. READ

No horse immune to potentially fatal disease

Laminitis is a potentially life-threatening disease that all horses are at risk of developing. There are a variety of risk factors and conditions that may predispose one particular horse versus another, but no horse is immune regardless of how well managed they are. What is laminitis? Simply said, it’s an inflammation of the lamina of the foot. Within the hoof wall there is a triangular shaped coffin bone that matches in orientation to the shape of the hoof. It is literally suspended above the cushioning structures of the foot by a Velcro-like structure called lamina. READ

Wife ‘playing with fire’ with ex-boyfriend

My husband and I have been happily married for eight years, and we have two beautiful children. Recently, an ex-boyfriend called to let me know that his father had died. I hadn’t heard from him in 12 years. READ

Bankruptcy and the fraudulent preference

How to deal with financial burdens can be one of the most stressful events an individual or corporation can face. Bankruptcy is a formal legal process whereby you assign your assets to a Trustee in order to be relieved of your unsecured debts. At the point of bankruptcy an individual or corporation is unable to pay their debts as they fall due or their total assets are worth less than the amount of all of their debt. READ

Wife cheating

My brother-in-law, “Travis,” has been in a relationship with his girlfriend, “Kristin,” for eight years. They now have two young children. Kristin has cheated on him too many times to count and continues to do so. They fight about it constantly. READ

Folllow dreams before it is too late – but have a Plan B

Dear Annie: I am a college senior, graduating in May. I am currently undertaking two internships, and one of them will include a job offer when a position opens up. But I don’t know if I should take it. READ

Growing wild responsibly

What usually comes in a package of seeds? In most cases the type of seed is on the front of the seed package. Exceptions to this rule are annual and wildflower mixes. Some mixes will indicate the seeds inside but others will not. READ

Mysterious to the core

I was doing a little spring pruning on my fruit trees a couple weeks back and things are looking hopeful for our mystery tree. This could be the year I finally get some apples! Exactly what kind of apples remains to be seen. READ

PM sharpening fish-gutting knife

The federal government seems determined to pass an omnibus bill that has sections buried in it that would weaken environmental protection from industries that ravage the environment. READ

Mom-in-law bitter about family moving

My husband and I have been married for 11 years. We have three young children and a great relationship. We recently decided to move from Boston to Georgia. My husband, children and I believe it is the right choice. The problem is my mother-in-law. READ