Opinion

This is the time of year for those dreaded New Year’s resolutions and one that is at the top of many people’s list is getting fit. The credit card comes out and it’s off to the nearest gym.

Since there were no immediate reactions to my suggestion of settling this National Hockey League mess, I decided to take it a step further.

Some years ago my country-singer friend Wayne “Cinch” Arthur wrote and recorded a number that has been haunting my memory lately. “I love the simple things,” the song begins, “The rainbow after the rain, / The smell of the sod on an open field.

The Cochrane Sustainability Plan, finalized by Cochrane’s citizens in 2009, provides 13 interconnected Pathways to Sustainability. Pathway 13 reads: “We build Cochrane on the strengths of our natural and cultural heritage.

Christmas has passed – all that is left is tail lights and trail dust (or tracks in the snow)! Time to wave goodbye to 2012 and turn your thoughts towards 2013. Endless possibilities of enjoying time with your equine friends are ahead.

I’m impressed with the Idle No More movement that is starting to sweep the country. Unless you’ve been dead or in Edmonton you’ll realize Idle No More is a protest by Canadian aboriginals that is becoming popular. And so it should.

Close to a couple weeks before Christmas, I was invited to the Prairies Area/Southern Rockies Fisheries Management Roundtable meeting. There was a diverse group of people present to discuss past and future projects about our fisheries in our area.

Well, folks, no doubt you’re all wondering whether I kept my New Year’s resolution for 2012.

This week, I will be talking about the National Hockey League lockout from a kid’s perspective. At the beginning of the lockout most of us (me and my friends) thought it would not last more than a month.

A white egret gorges on minnows as an alligator basks on a sun-drenched mud bank, ignoring the ibis wading in the weeds a few feet away. A warm breeze combs the lichen dangling from ancient cypress trees that tower over this secluded slice of eden.