We don't have a bird cage.

There was a budgie here in the house when we moved here,  but it took no time to get rid of him.   He was "relocated".   And no,  that's not the same as,  "he went to the farm".  But,  whatever.
His owners came and took him away.

So no need to line the bird cage with newspaper.   We do however,  have a wood burning fireplace,  so I always make sure that I set aside a certain amount of newsprint that comes to the door for just that reason.  I've heard it said that, "print media is dead",  and if that's not quite the case,  then I suspect that it's been on life support for some time.  Just the same,  there is enough newsprint floating around that I can start a fire whenever my little heart desires.

And where the heck am I going with this?

Well,  a few days ago I guess it was,  there was a tiny segment on the Toronto news about folks being upset about getting this one particular publication in their mailboxes.   "It's Propaganda!"  was the mantra.

Of course somebody,  the News People maybe?  contacted the Post Office to enquire about just why this was being circulated,  to which the Post Office more or less said,  "Um, because they're paying us."

Which,  in consideration of the somewhat poor financial situation of our Canadian Postal Service,  is probably a good thing.

Well yes,  it is in fact,  "Propaganda",  but if you think in general terms about just what propaganda really is,  then most anything that you read that might have a particular slant could be considered propaganda. 

Oh and,  interesting little side snippet,  the German translation for "word of mouth" is "Mund Propaganda".  Literally,  "mouth propaganda". 

So,  here's the publication,  or at least part of the front page:

I had a couple thoughts when I noticed it in our mailbox: 
First of all,  "oooh...we got mail".  (Because we don't seem to get mail every day these days)  and then, "Oh look,  they're delivering this crap all the way out here.  Huh."

I'm pretty sure my next thought was, "Welp,  now I have enough newspaper to have a fire tonight if I want."   And that was about it.

No calls to the media,  or Canada Post.

Oh and,  they're trying to say that the Coronavirus was a huge Chinese plot of some sort.  Really,  I didn't read it,  so I have no clue.  And hey,  maybe it was?  We'll never really know.  Nor will these folks who pretend to know enough to put it in a "newspaper".

Now,  I will say this.   What ever numbers are coming out of places like China or Saudi Arabia in terms of the stats on the Virus?   Not credible.   And really,  until every single citizen in any country you can name has been tested,  none of the numbers are really believable. 
Having said that,  even if the numbers are off by a couple percentage points,  there's a helluva difference between having more dead than the Vietnam War and say,  3800 plus deaths in a country like for example,  Canada.

Meanwhile,  this past weekend,  Daughter Number One had a birthday. And I realise that, at a certain point in time in ones life, birthdays are maybe not the huge deal as when one was say,  a teenager?   Speaking for myself,  I'd just as soon let birthdays slip on by with very,  very little fanfare.

I'm sure however that there would have been at least some cake involved and a song if it weren't for the Pandemic.

Instead,  there was a stream of visitors at the front of their house,  with some presents to unwrap.   No singing though.

T.C. made her a "clutch purse":

Now,  I'll say this about that.

Prior to the whole Pandemic thing,  any time that a present was being prepared here at The Ponderosa,  there was always the concern that it would be discovered at some point during the process.  You know,  folks come over for dinner,  there might be some reason to go to the sewing room,  or out to the garage.  Like that.
 
At one point maybe a month ago,  T.C. caught herself about to say,  "Oh,  I'd better put that stuff away."  and then realised that,  nobody's coming into the house.  And nobody will be for quite some time.

We were having a little discussion about just how cautious is TOO cautious.   Um,  I'm kind of on the side of,  there is no such thing as too cautious? 

Even though I might have the right of way on a rural road where the vehicles coming up on my side have a stop sign,  do I just keep barrelling on through,  hoping that that transport truck is going to stop?  Or maybe I just might slow down a bit and keep an eye on him.   What if he doesn't see the stop sign?  By the way, I'm thinking of this particular example.

Anyhoo,  that's all of my ramblings for today,  and maybe for a few days.

Thanks for stopping by.

Keep your stick on the ice.  And wash your hands.