Uncle, Aunt, Cousin... Fourth Cousin Twice Removed! I give up!

It is childish, it is futile, and it is counter-productive...

Railing against reality is probably harmful to my health. Today I feel totally overwhelmed by Attila's continued absence. He is wearing down, tired all the time, head down, one foot in front of the other, trudging through these long days. In my opinion no job should require that employees reach and stay at this state of total exhaustion for weeks on end. I worry about Attila every day.

In my opinion, the laws (or absence thereof) protecting Agricultural Labourers in Canada are inadequate, and we should be ashamed of them (or their absence). Farming seems to be the most dangerous occupation in the country:

Farm workers: Each year in Canada, farming injuries cause about 120 deaths and 1,200 medical interventions. Deaths to farmers and farm workers represent 13% of all occupational fatalities in Canada.

Those employed in the Agricultural Industry represent about 2.14% of Canadian Employment. Obviously, 13% of the occupational fatalities is not their fare share.

Something is very wrong.

If I can work these numbers during during a coffee break, why am I not engaged by the Canadian Government as a private consultant? My rates are reasonable, my credentials impeccable. And... I care.

However much I feel that this situation is a national shame; numbers "prove" that it is also a national expense:

Unintentional injuries cost Canadians about $8.7 billion per year. All injuries have one thing in common: they are preventable.

It is not rocket science. All you have to do is watch Attila fall asleep over his dinner plate to realize how accidents happen on farms.

I do not think that farmers need educating, I think the industry needs legislating, and the courts need to uphold efforts to improve conditions.

Even better than hiring me as a consultant to study the issue of accidental deaths in the agricultural industry (which I am professionally well qualified to do); send those tax dollars to Attila. Send those many dollars, spent to study what we already know, to the thousands of workers like him, so they can take a day off to sleep.

Of course, were I hired as a Consutltant to the Canadian Government, Attila could afford to lose wages, to risk losing his job, and take a day off to fall asleep.

Meanwhile, there is a lot to do here. I begin work at 5:30 am. The computer is powered up before I pour my morning coffee. I have moved from web site redesign to developing a business solution for customer tracking and invoicing. I am using an old version of FileMaker Pro, purchased in more affluent days. It still works a treat.

My days are spent teaching myself how to use FileMaker Pro, and cooking. Occasionally I will sit in my easy chair gazing through the window at steady dripping rain, Mist on my lap.

Mist and I, we are uneasy, not happy within ourselves, dissatisfied with all this waiting. We know that in two weeks, the pressure will suddenly evaporate, and Attila will come home to sleep off the nearly three-month nightmare of overwork and absence from his own life.

I am cooking; chili con carne, vegetable soup, bread, applesauce, pumpkin puree, baked beets. The list goes on. I like to cook, but it is no substitute for companionship, not in my world.

Attila and I recently went to get our flu shots. It was wonderful to see him during daylight hours, even if it was in a crowded doctor's office waiting to get a needle. We had to remain in the waiting room for fifteen minutes after receiving the shots, and so we had a nice fifteen-minute holiday together. The down-side was that he felt so pressured to get back to work, that his blood pressure was very high.

Well, enough of all this complaining! In two weeks time the busy season blues will be behind us for another year. Hopefully Attila's health will hold out for another year.

If you can offer two hard working, well-educated, honest people employment, please get in touch.

It is Canada, after all...