July 1st Let's Do Groundhog Day!

It is the beginning of another blog post challenge of blogging every day for a month. It's the second day - and I'm already a day behind.

But that's okay, because each day is a new beginning, and if I am slow at the start it doesn't mean I can't get to the finish line.

So, I will post two, that's right two, blog posts today. And for this blog post we will pretend that it's yesterday, Canada Day!

Here are some interesting facts about Canada. 1. Canada is the second largest country in the world. Nobody wants to live in most of it. The majority of us huddle around the border where it's warmer.

2. Canada has three oceans. The Atlantic, the Pacific and the Arctic. The U.S. has been behaving so badly that we're trying to figure out how to cut it off so that we can be an island. We would need a name for that ocean. I guess it could be a combination of the Pacific and the Atlantic. The Paclantic?

3. Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world's lakes combined. Want fresh water? We've got it. So it would behoove other countries to be nice to us. Like maybe give us presents. Presents are nice. We have room.

4. Santa Claus is Canadian. Remember in the movie "Miracle on 34th Street" they proved that Kris Kringle was the real Santa Claus because children addressed their letters to the court room where they knew those letters would reach him? Well, the official address that you address his letters to is "HOH OHO The North Pole, Canada". I am not making that up.

5. The Canadian/US border is the longest border in the world and it doesn't have a military defense on either side. Although we may have to rethink that. Those Americans are getting scary. We may have to put up a wall. However, Canada will not cage American refugees. We tend to frown on that. We would make exceptions for select leaders though. 6. Speaking of American refugees - we've welcomed them several times before. The Loyalists, the Underground Railroad, The Draft Dodgers, and currently we're taking in some now. We believe that all people are people. We should change the red maple leaf to a big red heart.

7. Canadians say sorry a lot. We have a lot to be sorry for. We've made some big mistakes. Mostly to our native population. But we also say sorry for you bumping into us. We say sorry for existing. We're sorry about that.

8. Canada is a Iraquoian word for "village". Isn't that cute? The second largest country in the world is a village. Maybe that's why we don't cage refugees. She could be somebody's grandma.

9. Americans have invaded Canada twice, in 1775 and 1812. They lost both times. Trump is trying it again, but so far he hasn't been successful. On the other hand, those Americans are sneaky. They've invaded us with their entertainment and their goods. We're hooked now. 10. Canada and Denmark have been at war since the 1930's. It's over an uninhabited island. They take turns invading and replace each other's flags and leave bottles of alcohol as a na-na-na-na-na-na to the other side. Then they get drunk and go back home. Again - I am not making this up.

11. During 9/11 when flights got diverted to Canada, we housed and fed over 33,000 passengers. Or you might call them temporary refugees. And we actually let them keep their stuff and gave them beds and food and soap and toothbrushes. Because that's what you do when people are in trouble.

12. Canada has a maple syrup reserve in case of global emergency. So if you're baking a cake and there is no sugar anywhere we've got maple syrup and fresh water too. I'm not making this one up either.

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For the month of July, I'm going to also say a little bit about a Canadian woman. The criteria will be she must be Canadian, she must be a woman. Other than that, she can be alive or dead, famous or just someone I know. And our first subject will be....

Emily Murphy (1868-1933) who was part of The Famous Five, a group of women who went to court to have women declared "persons" under the law and therefore able to serve in the senate.