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7| The IFP -H alton H ills | T hursday,F ebruary 1,2018 theifp.ca Furnace Air Conditioning Gaslines Boilers Water Heaters Radiant Heating 905-877-3100 proud local dealer of Canadian made products .ca • Truck Accessories • Upholstery • Heavy Equipment Glass •Window Tinting 354 Guelph Street, Georgetown 905-873-1655 Wehandleall insurance work. We handle all insurance work. • your window & door professionals • 11 Mountainview Rd., N. Georgetown, ON L7G 4T3 905.873.0236 www.buy-wise.ca info@buy-wise.ca • awarded readers choice 27 times • Visit our showroom Review employment insurance As a working Canadian citizen who has paid into employment insurance for the past 44 years, I was dis- appointed to find out short- term disability through EI only covers fifteen weeks! After that there are few options, especially if you are already 65 years old. I know there are many others like myself, who having gone through radia- tion, chemo, and surgery, find themselves off work 6- 12 months or longer. This 15-week policy hasn't changed since 1971! With an aging popula- tion it is time our elected officials review EI and re- vamp these outdated poli- cies. It is bad enough to have to recover from an illness, but to not have the finan- cial support when we need it is totally unfair. George Mahony • OPINION • The older I get, I find myself taking an increas- ingly more practical ap- proach to life. I don't sweat the small stuff anymore. When I rise in the morning, I know that I may not have a choice on what I have to deal with that day- but I certainly do have a choice how I deal with it. That means I can take the high road- or the low road. Most days I try to take the high road. For in- stance, take the recent weather we've endured. I don't think anyone would argue that Decem- ber, January and now into February have seen some of the nastiest weather in recent memory. If it wasn't snowing, it was blowing, if it wasn't raining, we had freezing rain, and even fog and thunderstorms, all in a short time. It's challenging to take the 'high road' during those times. But one night, I watched the weather on TV, forecasting we'd have biting cold temperatures, and a wind chill the next day. But we would have sunshine. The next morning, as I headed to the barn to do chores, I realized the sun was quite bright with a gorgeous blue sky. It was cold, but beautiful. Once a week, I venture upstairs in the barn to the granary, to fill the grain bin with barley, which flows by gravity through a pipe downstairs to the feed bin to feed the sheep. That particular day was the 'barley day.' For some reason, it al- ways seems colder up- stairs in the barn than it is outside. I suspect it's because the wind can't move the air as it's closed in, so the stag- nant cold just sits there. The granary is a closed- in room in one of the hay mows, all made of wood. The walls are covered with notes and comments about grain yields from years ago. The best part- it has a window, which gives a pretty commanding view of the south east corner of the farm. It's kinda neat up there. From that vantage point about 15 feet above the ground, it allows one to see into the marshlands and the fields at the front of the farm. Being elevated, the view is almost unimpeded. Wild turkeys and coyotes are often seen from that vantage point. And at this time of the year, I can also see the icy patches, the wet muddy patches and the piles of drifted snow- de- pending on the weather of the day. It can be depressing looking at those patches, thinking how far off spring is. But as the early morn- ing sun broke over the ho- rizon, the light flowed in through that window into the granary, almost like warm caramel. It was vi- sually stunning. And when that hap- pens, it's not cold any- more. I often take time to soak up the positive feelings in the flow of that sunshine, and realize there's nothing cold or nasty anymore. I understand that Feb- ruary is often credited as being THE most depress- ing month of the year- it's cold, it's dark, and it's un- predictable. (Why do you think they gave February Valentine's Day? Just try- ing to cheer up the month!) If we're grumpy and im- patient about the world around us, there is really nothing we can do to change things around us. The only thing we can do is change our attitude. So if you rise up in the morning, and look outside to see really crappy weath- er, just remember to take the 'high road' if at all pos- sible. Let's face it, before you know it, the ice, the cold, the snow and all the nega- tive aspects of this world around us will be gone for another year, and the green grass will be poking up through the ground. And all will be well in the world again. - Ted Brown is a freelance columnist for the Indepen- dent and can be reached at tedbit@hotmail.com. OPINION Do ya take the high road, or the low road? So if you rise up in the morning, and look outside to see really crappy weather, just remember to take the 'high road' if at all possible, writes Ted Brown TED BROWN Column THE WAY WE WERE This picture is looking down Main Street in Glen Williams towards Prince Street in 1908. The building on the end of the street was Wheeler's General Store (the Copper Kettle Pub today). Esquesing Historical Society/Photo