Giving up on Windows 11, Off to Linux Mint, Update, July 10, 2026 (windows patch):

  

Giving up on Windows 11, Off to Linux Mint, Update

Update, July 10, 2026:

According to a Youtube video that I watched recently, Microsoft has finally admitted the problem that was causing Windows to eat up disc space on computers. According to this source, the problem was a software bug in a module that was not accessible to the user and was meant to help with certain accessories to the system (keyboard, speakers, camera, etc). Instead, it gobbled up hard drive space. Supposedly, a fix to this is to be unrolled on “Patch Tuesday” (July 14), though users can update earlier on their own. I suspect, however, that new bugs will crop up after this one is fixed.\

Windows update KB5095093 fixes a sometimes severe error in Windows 11 that can consume a lot of storage space. https://www.heise.de/en/news/Windows-update-fixes-memory-leak-11356648.html

As for Linux, I have had very few problems. It froze once and needed a reboot. There is some cursor lag when using Libre Office Calc, which is annoying, but you get used to it. That’s all I can think of, offhand, in over a month of intensive use (word processing, spreadsheet work, R programming, web browsing, image work, etc.).

I can’t see going back to Windows, though I will test it on the computer that still has a Windows 11 OS on it, out of curiosity.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had set up one of my desktop computers with Linux Mint, some time earlier, as a refuge from the continuing malefactions of Windows 11 and Microsoft. However, I had continued on with Windows, more or less from inertia. But, it was proving to be crash-prone as well as requiring endless upgrades, many of which took an exceedingly long time, and it also tended to drop blue-tooth drivers and the like with wild abandon.

But recently, Windows 11 had managed to scoop up all of my hard drive disk space, so that I couldn’t even save a relatively small spreadsheet. Then it crashed. So, that was it for Windows 11, as far as I was concerned. Enough was enough.

It took a few hours, but I switched computers, moving the Linux machine into my home office and relegated the Windows machine to a back room, to keep a small fridge and freezer company. Very appropriate, I thought since Windows caused that computer to freeze on more than one occasion.

Since then, I have been very happy with Linux. I still use most of the same programs, just the Linux version of them. I even managed to set up R for Linux, which I had been informed was a bit tricky. But it was pretty easy. I no longer have to go through constant “upgrades” to Windows. I no longer have to deal with drivers that mysteriously disappear when these upgrades are run. And I no longer have to put up with nagging from Windows. So far, life is good.

But this made me think about the sad state of computing. There are some notes on this below.

Windows 11 and the Failure of Computing in General

• Example: Immediately after rebooting, by C drive is back to 29.4 GB.

• Before rebooting, it had fallen to 300 MB, so about 99% of that disc space was being used by Windows and/or other processes.

Poor memory management (RAM or disc) is a signal of poor programming, always has been, always will be.

So, why has this become so bad?

• The most significant aspect has come about in the past few months, at least for myself.

• However, there are many people complaining of this Windows memory hog problem. Complaints go back further in time than my situation, but it seems to begin in mid-winter to late winter, 2025-26.

• Is it general or only a smaller subset of users? (mind you, a fairly big subset, from what one can tell via searching comments on the web).

• Is it related to DEI? (i.e. programming staff is just not being hired on merit, to the extent that was the case previously.

• Is it related to AI? (Microsoft and other companies are devoting preponderant resources to this, therefore shorting other businesses (especially core businesses like their OS).

• Is it related to AI vibe-coding and related slippage in coding skills? (the recency of the problem would suggest this is no small part of the phenomenon).

• Is it related to prioritizing the data centre part of the business? Incentivizing users to move to the cloud, to deal with a disc-memory hog OS means more cloud business and more monetary subscriptions to Microsoft, for space on One-Drive and the like.

• Is it a matter of the internet and related globalization issues, that have made maintaining complex systems like OS nearly impossible at this global scale. It is asymptotically approaching failure, as the complications have an exponential growth, faster than the solutions can be devised and implemented. Might this be a general phenomenon that is/will show up in many domains in the near future.

• AI was supposed to be the rescue-mode, but it appears that it may be more problem than solution.

These are just a few possibilities that come to mind. Presumably, time will tell how it all shakes out.

Race Track Diary, Entry Number 32 – Billy Budd’s (May 16, 2026)

  

Race Track Diary, Entry Number

 Thirty-Two

32 – Billy Budd’s (May 16, 2026)

Introduction

This blog and some following blogs are sections from an informal diary of “visits to the race-track” at a particular time and place, by a person who has followed the races with varying levels of participation over a long period. These relate primarily to some visits to the track and/or off-track betting venues in the 2025 period and onward. They contain observations about the activity, both specific and general. Although these remarks are personal, they also reflect general cultural and historical trends, as they have impacted horse-racing, wagering and culture in general.

The setting is Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (population of about one million plus). However, I imagine that the observations would apply to many places in the world, as they are a reflection of how changing trends in technology, globalization and culture in general have affected this ancient and honourable activity of horse-racing.

For now, I will use what I call “polished point-form” for the narrative.

======================================================================

• 32 – Billy Budd’s (Preakness Day, May 16, 2026)

  • This Saturday was the day of the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness. As such, there was a pretty good crowd at Budd’s.

  • I would venture to say that the horseracing crowd was on par with what it had been two weeks ago, when the Kentucky Derby was being held. Which is a bit surprising, as the Kentucky Derby is the best known of the races, at least among the non-horsey majority of the population. In addition, the winner and place horses from the Kentucky Derby were not entered in the Preakness, so there was no possibility of a Triple Crown winner, which is usually a draw for casual fans of the sport.

  • There were plenty of people already at the betting machines, even though the feature race of the day, the Preakness, was still several hours away. That race has almost always been held at Pimlico, in the Baltimore area, but this year it was to be at Laurel, another track in Maryland. That is because Pimlico was being refurbished.

  • Oddly enough, the screens for Laurel were titled "The Maryland Jockey Club", instead of the usual "Laurel Racetrack". It took a few minutes to figure that out and verify it with the Laurel program. I don’t know why the funny name change, but guess there must be some sort of legal angle to it. Perhaps the Maryland Jockey Club holds the rights to the broadcasting of the Preakness and this was in recognition of that.

  • A lot of the regular fans were there, as well as newbies who were mainly there for the big race. That made it a bit more of a mixed age crowd, as well as more women than usual. The younger people seemed to be on the periphery of the seating, while the regulars were in the choice seats. I suppose the regulars knew to get there early.

  • Among the regulars were the woman with the odd voice, the guy who looked like an ex-colleague of mine, the woman who looks like one of my sisters-in-law and the Chinese guy who gave me a tip on Renegade in the Kentucky Derby.

  • The program printer jammed, so I had to get help from the staff. I noted to the woman who unjammed the machine that I felt like I was jinxing the thing, as this wasn’t the first time it jammed on me. She laughed and said "it happens". I mentioned that a friend of mine, who had a Microsoft network engineer credentials had told me that fixing printers was still the bread and butter of the job. She had a chuckle at that.

  • I then helped an elderly lady with the program printer. She only wanted a program for the Preakness, which complicated things. She was friendly, once she concluded that I was a harmless guy. For the sake of bantering, I asked her for a tip on the Preakness. She gave me a few numbers, which I promptly forgot. Maybe she gave me a winner?

  • While waiting around for the printer unjamming, I heard a couple of guys talking behind me.

    • "Curtis Stock is always trying to get me to buy a horse, but I don’t trust him. I think he is trying to push dogs on me."

    • "You might want to talk to my contact then."

    • "Sounds good." They trade names.

  • I should note that Curtis Stock used to write the horseracing news for the local newspaper. I always liked his writing, he had a way with words.

  • I also ran into the guy who looked like an ex-colleague and asked him if he worked at the university. Nope – so I guess it is just one of those "looks like someone I know" cases.

  • I picked up both the Santa Anita and Laurel programs, though I didn’t actually make any use of Santa Anita, as the Laurel races took precedence.

    • We were in time for the 10^th race at Laurel, well before the Preakness. There wasn’t time to work out any numbers, but we did note a fairly big odds-drop on the #5 horse, from 12 to 1 to 9 to 2. The crowd really hammered the favourite, dropping its odds from 9 to 5 to 3 to 5. So, I put some money on #5, which made a nice stretch run and came in second. It had lain back for most of the race, but had a big closing kick. I had bet show, but it still paid a respectable price of $6.00 on a $2 bet. Thus, I got to play with track’s money, at least for a while.

    • I skipped the 11^th race, as I wanted to keep my powder dry for the Preakness, which was the 13^th race of the card. Besides that, there just didn’t seem to be any good bets in the race.

    • There was a horse with a big odds-drop in the 12^th race - it also had the best numbers in the race. So I put a token bet on it, but this time it didn’t come in. So it goes.

      
      
      
      

• Then came the 13^th race, the Preakness.

  • The race was televised on regular TV, so the bar put the sound up on the screens for this race. The network had at least an hour to fill, so we got to see and hear a lot of inane commercials, as well as plenty of touts forecasting the race. It seemed like someone could die of old age before the race was run and given the average age of the crowd, you never know.

  • The crowd had dwindled somewhat, on the lead-up to the Preakness. I guess some people bet their roll a little too soon, so they packed it in early.

  • The Preakness was a 14 horse field, so not exactly easy to pick. The odds barely budged during the lead-up to the race, which seemed strange. It almost seemed as if there was something wrong with the updating system. Or maybe the early betting overwhelmed any later betting? It could be – there were some rather minor changes as post-time drew near.

  • Nonetheless, there seemed to be a couple of horses with numbers that were much better than the rest of the field (under my system). Those were the #1 and #6. I chose the #6, since it had agreeable odds of 10 to 1. Again, I bet show. And the horse did hang on for third, paying $8.20 on a $2 ticket.

  • Craig came close on the Superfecta. He had a ticket for 10-9-1-2 and the race came in 10-9-6-2. So it goes.

• The 14^th race was a Maiden Special Weight, where several of the horses had no past performances to go on. I bet it anyway, putting a place ticket on the #4. It came in third, so a loss for me.

• So, in summary, I bet 4 races and won 2 bets, both at decent prices. In percentage terms it was a very good outing for the thoroughbreds. That said, they were relatively small bets, so not a great deal of cash. Still, having made money on both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness is nice for bragging rights. We will see how the Belmont goes in a couple of weeks.

• After they were done, I turned my attention to the harness-races at Woodbine/Mohawk. But first, a few observations of other action.

  • A number of bettors appeared to be playing Belmont. They were fairly vocal: "Come on Number 9!". "Come on Number 6!". "Move it!". "Come on Eric, get in there!". "You son-of-a-bitch!"

  • A fellow seated behind us seemed very knowledgeable. He was giving his table-mates a rather detailed lesson in handicapping. I don’t know how they did in terms of money, but at least they learned something.

• And now, to the bucket pullers at Woodbine/Mohawk.

  • We missed Race 1 and Race 2 as we were busy with the Preakness.

  • For Race 3, I picked up a $3.40 show ticket on good old reliable #6. It came in second.

  • I was shut out in Race 4. But we were alive to some exotics, so that maintained one’s interest.

  • In Race 5, I bet show on #6 again. It came in second, with my show ticket paying a bit under even money.

  • I skipped the 6^th race, as I was shut out again. We were alive on some exotics, so that tends to distract one. We did pick up a triactor, which didn’t pay a lot, but at least wasn’t pathetic.

  • We then won a couple of Win-3 bets, but the payoffs were rather light, as it was mostly favourites that came in. As I always say to Craig, they were moral victories. He is probably tired of hearing that, but he is too decent to say so.

  • At about this point, there was a lot of cheering over the Montreal-Buffalo hockey playoff game. It sounded promising, but as the game went on, Buffalo took over.

  • Then came a run of hard luck, losing bets on the 7^th to 11^th races, excluding the 10^th, which I didn’t bet.

  • The 7^th Race featured the monster horse, Beau Jangles. As expected, it won handily, paying $2.10. As in the previous week, no place or show betting was allowed, as Beau Jangles was a crazy-level favourite. No horse had better than 50 to 1 odds against him. I bet an exactor, but my second horse didn’t come in

  • In the 8^th, I bet a longshot that had some favourable indicators. But it was not to be.

  • In the 9^th, I bet the favouritism, but it lost, coming in third. On this occasion I had bet to win, so another lost bet.

  • I was shut out for the 10^th.

  • In Race 11, I gave the 6 horse another shot, but it came in way off the money. The Chinese fellow who had tipped me on Renegade was just on his way out, so he asked me for a tip. Unfortunately, it didn’t come in.

  • By Race 12, things were looking grim. Once more, I felt like I was due, so I stepped up the bet on the #7 horse, though betting it to show. It led for most of the race, ultimately coming in second. The show ticket paid almost as well as the place ticket (7.30 vs 9.70). It is funny how that works sometimes. Had the Chinese fellow asked me on this race, he would have done all right.

  • So, that bet saved my day and put me slightly in the black on the bucket-pullers (about 10%).

And that was it, for the day of the 151st running of The Preakness Stakes.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Below are some promos for a few short books that a horseplayer might enjoy:

On the Road with Bronco Billy

Sit back and go on a ten day trucking trip in a big rig, through western North America, from Alberta to Texas, and back again. Explore the countryside, learn some trucking lingo, and observe the shifting cultural norms across this great continent.

Amazon U.S.: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon U.K.: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon Germany: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00X2IRHSK

=======================================================

What follows is an account of a ten day journey through western North America during a working trip, delivering lumber from Edmonton Alberta to Dallas Texas, and returning with oilfield equipment. The writer had the opportunity to accompany a friend who is a professional truck driver, which he eagerly accepted. He works as a statistician for the University of Alberta, and is therefore is generally confined to desk, chair, and computer. The chance to see the world from the cab of a truck, and be immersed in the truck driving culture was intriguing. In early May 1997 they hit the road.

Some time has passed since this journal was written and many things have changed since the late 1990’s. That renders the journey as not just a geographical one, but also a historical account, which I think only increases its interest.

We were fortunate to have an eventful trip - a mechanical breakdown, a near miss from a tornado, and a large-scale flood were among these events. But even without these turns of fate, the drama of the landscape, the close-up view of the trucking lifestyle, and the opportunity to observe the cultural habits of a wide swath of western North America would have been sufficient to fill up an interesting journal.

The travelogue is about 20,000 words, about 60 to 90 minutes of reading, at typical reading speeds.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And here’s an account of some road trips in south-western Alberta:

A Selection of Back-Road Trips Around 

Southwest Alberta

There are two main aspects to a road trip: the journey and the destination. Sometimes the trip is all about the journey, sometimes it’s all about the destination. Usually it is a little of both.

 

This collection of back-roads journeys feature a little bit of both of these aspects. Some accounts are more about the ‘journey’, such as a road trip on scenic Highway 22. Others are more about the ‘destination’, such as the show-jumping at Spruce Meadows. I hope you will enjoy reading some of these accounts and maybe give them a spin for yourself.

Southwest 1 – A Road Trip on Scenic Highway 22

Southwest 2 – The Equestrian Competitions at Spruce Meadows (Calgary)

Southwest 3 – The Bar U Ranch, south of Long View

Southwest 4 – Kananaskis Country

Southwest 5 – Blackfoot Crossing

Southwest 6 – Back-roads, from the Prairies to the Foothills: Brazeau Dam Trip

Southwest 7 – A Back-roads Trip to Hinton and the Forestry Trunk Roads

The reader may wonder “what about the Ice-fields Parkway?” or “where is a visit to Banff?” I would answer, that these famous destinations are covered very nicely by other books. This account is meant to focus on some less travelled areas, thus the “back-roads” descriptor.

I should note that the other three quadrants of Alberta also have a lot of interesting back-roads journeys, but those are material for some other books which will be published in due time.

Amazon U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon U.K: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0DCMJP47G

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Dark Horse

In “A Dark Horse”, a gambler’s desire to hit a big win seems to lead him to make a Faustian bargain with a supernatural evil.  Or is it all just a string of unnaturally good luck?

The story is just $0.99 U.S. (equivalent in other currencies) and about 8000 words. It is also available on Kindle Unlimited and is occasionally on free promotion.

U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01MDMY2BR

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Here’s an interesting review from Goodreads

(BTW, the writer has never met the reviewer and was not even aware of the review until very recently – You can look up the review on Goodreads, if you like)

A Dark Horse

Every gambler is bound to run out of luck eventually, right?

By far my favourite type of horror is psychological horror. I was quite pleased with how Mr. Olausen frightened his audience without spilling a single drop of blood or so much as hinting at anything gory. He knew exactly what hints to drop for us that made us deliciously dread the next scene simply by throwing out hints about who or what the dark horse might actually represent. This is the kind of stuff I love getting scared by, especially as Halloween approaches.

It would have been helpful to have more character development in this short story. While I certainly wouldn’t expect to see as much time spent on this as I would for a full-length novel, I did have trouble connecting to the main characters due to how little I knew about them and how much their personalities seemed to remain the same no matter what happened to them. If not for this issue, I would have felt comfortable choosing a much higher rating as the plot itself was well done.

I must admit to not knowing much about gambling at all, so I appreciated the brief explanations the narrator shared about how placing bets works and why some people have so much trouble walking away from a bet. While I will leave it up to experts on these topics to say how accurate everything was, I did enjoy learning more about the main character’s addiction and what he hoped to gain from betting on just one more game or race. It gave me a stronger sense of empathy for folks in his position.

A Dark Horse – A Gothic Tale was a deliciously chilling story for the Halloween season and beyond.

Race Track Diary, Entry Number 31 – Billy Budd’s (May 9, 2026)

  

Race Track Diary, Entry Number

 Thirty-One

 

31 – Billy Budd’s (May 9, 2026)

Introduction

This blog and some following blogs are sections from an informal diary of “visits to the race-track” at a particular time and place, by a person who has followed the races with varying levels of participation over a long period. These relate primarily to some visits to the track and/or off-track betting venues in the 2025 period and onward. They contain observations about the activity, both specific and general. Although these remarks are personal, they also reflect general cultural and historical trends, as they have impacted horse-racing, wagering and culture in general.

The setting is Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (population of about one million plus). However, I imagine that the observations would apply to many places in the world, as they are a reflection of how changing trends in technology, globalization and culture in general have affected this ancient and honourable activity of horse-racing.

For now, I will use what I call “polished point-form” for the narrative.

======================================================================

• 31 – Billy Budd’s (May 9, 2026)

  • It was another pleasant Saturday afternoon, so as usual people were out and about.

  • Bud’s was fairly busy in the horse-racing section, not as much in the rest of the pub. The guy who looks like one of my old U of A colleagues was there, as was the lady who reminds me of one of my sisters-in-law. There were a few other faces that looked familiar to me. I suppose that my brother and I are looking familiar to some of those people as well.

  • It wasn’t long before the races at Santa Anita started.

    • In race #1, I had an obvious pick, the #4 horse, which had vastly superior numbers to the rest of the field. But, I played it safe and went for a place ticket. It did come in second, paying a bit less than even odds to do so. There was an inquiry, but everything stayed the same.

    • I didn’t get to play with track’s money for long, as my win bet horse (#2) in the second race came in third.

    • Race #3 was a Maiden Special Weight on the turf. I skipped that race, as not many of the horses had any past performance record to go on. Plus, I don’t have much confidence with races on the turf.

    • In Race #4, I was shut out, so no bet. It seemed like I was there in time, but the machine said no, and you can’t argue with a pitiless machine. I was planning to bet show on the #6 horse; it actually won the race for a cool $41 on a $2 bet. However, the show pool was weird, so it only paid a bit over even money for that. It was all hypothetical, anyway, since I was shut out.

    • For Race #5, I wasn’t shut out, but it would have been nice if that had happened, as my #3 horse came in fifth. The #4 horse ran away with the race, looking awesome as she did so. And she had a great name: Midnight Cowgirl.

      • I heard some other wag saying "I had the three and he’s dead fuckin’ last!". I was tempted to say "Buck up, old chum, the horse actually came in fifth." However, I suspected that would not go down well, so I withheld my comment.

      • As it happened, the fellow who cussed out the horse won a race shortly thereafter. That led him to actually have a smile on his face, which didn’t seem likely to be a frequent occurrence. He even hummed happily, while cashing his ticket.

    • In Race 6, the #5 horse, that had the best numbers by my reckoning, won, paying $4.40. But I went fishing for a better price and bet the 4 horse to show, which it did. My notebook says "Bet 4 to show, it led, died in the stretch and 5 ran away with it." So, here I was while writing up this blog, thinking that I had lost the bet, but it turned out that I had won, but hadn’t cashed the ticket. It only paid $2.20 to show, but that was better than losing the bet entirely. In the words of Mary Kondo, it gave me a spark of joy. I guess that’s why I never threw the ticket out (she said "throw everything out that doesn’t give you a spark of joy").

    • In the 7^th race, I got shut out again, which is just as well, as my favoured horse (#1) came in fifth. But, no bet, no loss.

    • In the 8^th, I didn’t get shut out and did bet the #1. It managed to come in next to last. It was was called "Voldemort", and things with that name never win, at least according to the Harry Potter books. So much for literature’s lessons, it was another loss.

    • I skipped the 9^th Race, as there were a lot of horses in that race and I was too lazy to bother working out all those numbers. Plus, it was the infamous "downhill at the start, on the turf" race, which I don’t have a good feel for.

    • So, in summary, 5 bets, with 2 wins and 3 losses. Not too bad, but the bets didn’t pay much, so a small loss for the day.

  • By that time, the bucket-pullers at Woodbine/Mohawk were running, so we switched our attention accordingly.

    • We missed the first race, while betting on Santa Anita.

    • In Race 2, I bet the #5 horse, which promptly came in last place.

    • In Race 3, I did the same, with exactly the same result!

    • I skipped the fourth, as Craig and I were busy playing some of his exotics. For me, this is just throwing darts for fun, so I don’t score them as "handicapping" in these diary entries. However, I will note it in passing sometimes.

    • For Race 5, I bet the old reliable #6 horse, which did indeed win. It had a fairly precipitous odds drop in the final few seconds before the race, so my payoff wasn’t quite as high as I had expected. However, I had stepped up my bet considerably, as I liked the horse for multiple reasons (post position, nice closing kick, excellent times, especially at WPS races). Added to that, her name was "Sugar Pie Honey", which is pretty hard to resist.

    • I skipped Race 6, as we were alive to a Win-3, so that was enough action for me.

    • Race #7 was something you rarely see.

    • 
      
      

      
      

      • The #1 horse, Beau Jangles, was favoured on the morning line at 1 to 10, which are amazingly short odds. And it did indeed go off at those odds. The rest of the field had odds in the 60 to 1 range or more, except for the #6 horse. When the race started, there was already 50,000 bet on the #1, with only about 250 bet on any of the other horses.

      • And the reason was clear, from the form. The horse was a monster, having won all twelve of its races as a 2 year old and earning $1.7 million in the process. Nobody else came close to that.

      • There was no place or show betting allowed on the race, just win (and some exotics). I put a token bet on the #6 horse, which did lead for quite a while, but when Beau Jangles decided to pass, it was ‘bye-bye’.

      • Apparently the horse will be running the next week as well, so that should be interesting.

    • After that, I skipped most of the rest of the card, except the 11^th race where I made a token bet on the 6, which did nothing.

    • I had mentioned to my brother Craig that he was due to win some exotics. And he did win a couple or three Pick-3 bets (including one with Beau Jangles), but the prices weren’t much to talk about. Still, moral victories I suppose.

    • And that was that. At the buckets, I made 5 bets, winning 1, losing 4, though with a stepped-up bet on the win. So, only a small loss on the day.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And here are a couple or three short books you might like.

On the Road with Bronco Billy

Sit back and go on a ten day trucking trip in a big rig, through western North America, from Alberta to Texas, and back again. Explore the countryside, learn some trucking lingo, and observe the shifting cultural norms across this great continent.

Amazon U.S.: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon U.K.: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon Germany: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00X2IRHSK

Amazon India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00X2IRHSK

=======================================================

What follows is an account of a ten day journey through western North America during a working trip, delivering lumber from Edmonton Alberta to Dallas Texas, and returning with oilfield equipment. The writer had the opportunity to accompany a friend who is a professional truck driver, which he eagerly accepted. He works as a statistician for the University of Alberta, and is therefore is generally confined to desk, chair, and computer. The chance to see the world from the cab of a truck, and be immersed in the truck driving culture was intriguing. In early May 1997 they hit the road.

Some time has passed since this journal was written and many things have changed since the late 1990’s. That renders the journey as not just a geographical one, but also a historical account, which I think only increases its interest.

We were fortunate to have an eventful trip - a mechanical breakdown, a near miss from a tornado, and a large-scale flood were among these events. But even without these turns of fate, the drama of the landscape, the close-up view of the trucking lifestyle, and the opportunity to observe the cultural habits of a wide swath of western North America would have been sufficient to fill up an interesting journal.

The travelogue is about 20,000 words, about 60 to 90 minutes of reading, at typical reading speeds.

==========================================

A Dark Horse

In “A Dark Horse”, a gambler’s desire to hit a big win seems to lead him to make a Faustian bargain with a supernatural evil.  Or is it all just a string of unnaturally good luck?

The story is just $0.99 U.S. (equivalent in other currencies) and about 8000 words. It is also available on Kindle Unlimited and is occasionally on free promotion.

U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01MDMY2BR

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Here’s an interesting review from Goodreads

(BTW, the writer has never met the reviewer and was not even aware of the review until very recently – You can look up the review on Goodreads, if you like)

A Dark Horse

Every gambler is bound to run out of luck eventually, right?

By far my favourite type of horror is psychological horror. I was quite pleased with how Mr. Olausen frightened his audience without spilling a single drop of blood or so much as hinting at anything gory. He knew exactly what hints to drop for us that made us deliciously dread the next scene simply by throwing out hints about who or what the dark horse might actually represent. This is the kind of stuff I love getting scared by, especially as Halloween approaches.

It would have been helpful to have more character development in this short story. While I certainly wouldn’t expect to see as much time spent on this as I would for a full-length novel, I did have trouble connecting to the main characters due to how little I knew about them and how much their personalities seemed to remain the same no matter what happened to them. If not for this issue, I would have felt comfortable choosing a much higher rating as the plot itself was well done.

I must admit to not knowing much about gambling at all, so I appreciated the brief explanations the narrator shared about how placing bets works and why some people have so much trouble walking away from a bet. While I will leave it up to experts on these topics to say how accurate everything was, I did enjoy learning more about the main character’s addiction and what he hoped to gain from betting on just one more game or race. It gave me a stronger sense of empathy for folks in his position.

A Dark Horse – A Gothic Tale was a deliciously chilling story for the Halloween season and beyond.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And here’s an account of some road trips in south-western Alberta:

A Selection of Back-Road Trips Around

 Southwest Alberta

There are two main aspects to a road trip: the journey and the destination. Sometimes the trip is all about the journey, sometimes it’s all about the destination. Usually it is a little of both.

This collection of back-roads journeys feature a little bit of both of these aspects. Some accounts are more about the ‘journey’, such as a road trip on scenic Highway 22. Others are more about the ‘destination’, such as the show-jumping at Spruce Meadows. I hope you will enjoy reading some of these accounts and maybe give them a spin for yourself.

Southwest 1 – A Road Trip on Scenic Highway 22

Southwest 2 – The Equestrian Competitions at Spruce Meadows (Calgary)

Southwest 3 – The Bar U Ranch, south of Long View

Southwest 4 – Kananaskis Country

Southwest 5 – Blackfoot Crossing

Southwest 6 – Back-roads, from the Prairies to the Foothills: Brazeau Dam Trip

Southwest 7 – A Back-roads Trip to Hinton and the Forestry Trunk Roads

The reader may wonder “what about the Ice-fields Parkway?” or “where is a visit to Banff?” I would answer, that these famous destinations are covered very nicely by other books. This account is meant to focus on some less travelled areas, thus the “back-roads” descriptor.

I should note that the other three quadrants of Alberta also have a lot of interesting back-roads journeys, but those are material for some other books which will be published in due time.

Amazon U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon U.K: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0DCMJP47G

  

Giving up on Windows 11, in Favor of Linux Mint

I had set up one of my desktop computers with Linux Mint, some time earlier, as a refuge from the continuing malefaction of Windows 11 and Microsoft. However, I had continued on with Windows, more or less from inertia. But, it was proving to be crash-prone as well as requiring endless upgrades, many of which took an exceedingly long time, and it also tended to drop blue-tooth drivers and the like with wild abandon.

But recently, Windows 11 had managed to scoop up all of my hard drive disk space, so that I couldn’t even save a relatively small spreadsheet. Then it crashed. So, that was it for Windows 11, as far as I was concerned. Enough was enough.

It took a few hours, but I switched computers, moving the Linux machine into my home office and relegated the Windows machine to a back room, to keep a small fridge and freezer company. Very appropriate, I thought since Windows caused that computer to freeze on more than one occasion.

Since then, I have been very happy with Linux. I still use most of the same programs, just the Linux version of them. I even managed to set up R for Linux, which I had been informed was a bit tricky. But it was pretty easy. I no longer have to go through constant “upgrades” to Windows. I no longer have to deal with drivers that mysteriously disappear when these upgrades are run. And I no longer have to put up with nagging from Windows. So far, life is good.

But this made me think about the sad state of computing. There are some notes on this below.

Windows 11 and the Failure of Computing in General

• Example: Immediately after rebooting, by C drive is back to 29.4 GB.

• Before rebooting, it had fallen to 300 MB, so about 99% of that disc space was being used by Windows and/or other processes.

Poor memory management (RAM or disc) is a signal of poor programming, always has been, always will be.

So, why has this become so bad recently?

• The most significant aspect has come about in the past few months, at least for myself.

• However, there are many people complaining of this Windows memory hog problem. Complaints go back further in time than my situation, but it seems to begin in mid-winter to late winter, 2025-26.

• Is it general or only a smaller subset of users? (mind you, a fairly big subset, from what one can tell via searching comments on the web).

• Is it related to DEI? (i.e. programming staff is just not being hired on merit, to the extent that was the case previously.

• Is it related to AI? (Microsoft and other companies are devoting preponderant resources to this, therefore shorting other businesses (especially core businesses like their OS).

• Is it related to AI vibe-coding and related slippage in coding skills? (the recency of the problem would suggest this is no small part of the phenomenon).

• Is it related to prioritizing the data-center part of the business? Incentivizing users to move to the cloud, to deal with a disc-memory hog OS means more cloud business and more monetary subscriptions to Microsoft, for space on One-Drive and the like.

• Is it a matter of the internet and related globalization issues, that have made maintaining complex systems like OS nearly impossible at this global scale. It is asymptotically approaching failure, as the complications have an exponential growth, faster than the solutions can be devised and implemented. Might this be a general phenomenon that is/will show up in many domains in the near future.

• AI was supposed to be the rescue-mode, but it appears that it may be more problem than solution.

These are just a few possibilities that come to mind. Presumably, time will tell how it all shakes out.

Race Track Diary, Entry Number 29 – Billy Budd’s (April 18, 2026)

   

Race Track Diary, Entry Number Twenty-Nine

29 – Billy Budd’s (April 18, 2026)

Introduction

This blog and some following blogs are sections from an informal diary of “visits to the race-track” at a particular time and place, by a person who has followed the races with varying levels of participation over a long period. These relate primarily to some visits to the track and/or off-track betting venues in the 2025 period and onward. They contain observations about the activity, both specific and general. Although these remarks are personal, they also reflect general cultural and historical trends, as they have impacted horse-racing, wagering and culture in general.

The setting is Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (population of about one million plus). However, I imagine that the observations would apply to many places in the world, as they are a reflection of how changing trends in technology, globalization and culture in general have affected this ancient and honourable activity of horse-racing.

For now, I will use what I call “polished point-form” for the narrative.

======================================================================

• 29 – Billy Budd’s (April 18, 2026)

  • It was another pleasant Saturday afternoon, which had people eager to get out of the house. So, it was quite busy in Budd’s.

  • The NHL playoffs were beginning that day. Though there were a number of hockey playoff games on the screens, the patrons of the establishment didn’t create much of a hockey-related commotion. The fact that the local Oilers team was not scheduled to play for another two days probably accounted for that. I imagine that bar owners throughout the city were disappointed with the scheduling; having the local favourite playing on Monday rather than Saturday was not exactly optimal from their point of view.

  • As noted, it was a fair-sized crowd at the horseracing section of the pub. Some in the crowd were middle-aged, some were older and a few were younger. At least one table consisted of two young-middle aged women, which was a bit unusual.

  • There was one older couple (mid-50s perhaps) seated near us. The woman had an unusual voice, something you might associate with being a bit slow. She peppered her mate with lots of questions and made a lot of excited observations. It seemed to me that she might drive him a little nuts, but it all turned out good. When they left, the bar staff were very friendly with them, so I guess they must be semi-regulars. All in all, it was a happy story.

  • For some reason it gave me a serious case of deja vu, which was odd, but then that feeling of deja vu always is odd.

  • Later in the day a young couple came in and sat a little off from the horseracing screens. The fellow was intent on betting on the horses while the woman was more interested in her phone. Eventually she wandered off to play a nearby VLT, while he remained fixated on the horses.

  • So much for the crowd, how about the betting? Glad you asked. As has been my practice for the past while, I keyed in on Santa Anita for the thoroughbred part of the action.

  • However, I may try my luck with the thoroughbreds at Woodbine soon, as their meet began today. That said, it was an abbreviated card (seven or eight races) with fairly short fields. Presumably that will change as the meet goes on. Craig mentioned that a lot of the Woodbine horses were probably down in the States for the winter meets in Florida, so it takes a while to ship horses and get them acclimatized to a new environment.

  • On to Santa Anita then:

    • Race 1 was a Maiden Special Weight for 3 year-old fillies, so the horses had not had time to generate much of a history. My system needs more data, so I skipped the race. Had I bet it, I wold have lost (my pick came in 4th), so that was a good decision.

    • Race 2 had three closely-matched horses, by my lights, so I picked the one with the best odds. That turned out ok, with my pick leading most of the way, and winning at a price of $8.80 on a $2 bet. It was nice to know that I would be playing with the track’s money for a while.

    • It was a short field in Race 3, with my favourer horse coming in fourth out of five horses. I bet that race, so that was a loss.

    • I skipped Race 4, even though my system’s pick had considerably better numbers than the rest. But for some reason, I didn’t like the race. That was just as well, as my pick came in 5^th out of 8 horses.

    • Race 5 was another Maiden Special Weight for 3 year-old fillies. Again, most of the horses had little or no useful racing history, so I gave it a pass. As it turned out, my system’s horse (#6) did win the race by a nose, but was then disqualified for a bump late in the race. That would have been very annoying had I bet on it, so it turned out to be an excellent race to skip.

    • Race 6 was a Maiden Claiming race, but 3, 4, and 5 year-old Fillies and Mares were eligible. As these also had rather spotty records, and it was a big 12-horse field, I elected to skip again. And once more, that turned out to be a good choice, as my system’s preferred horse came in next-to-last.

    • The 7^th Race was a Stakes Race, on the turf. I finally bet, liking the 2, but it didn’t do much, coming in fifth. So, that was a loss.

    • In the 8^th Race, my system’s pick was scratched. I didn’t like the second choice, so I skipped that race too. Again, that turned out to be a good idea, as my presumptive horse came in next-to-last.

    • I skipped Race 9 as well. I just wasn’t getting good vibes from Santa Anita today and my system’s preferred horses weren’t generally even in the money. Besides, the bucket-pullers at Woodbine/Mohawk were going now, and they were taking up most of my attention, Craig’s too.

    • The 10^th Race was another Maiden Special Weight, so I skipped it too. My preferred horse was scratched and my second choice came in third. Once more, discretion was the better part of valour.

    • So, in summary, I bet only three of the Santa Anita races, winning one, for a decent price of $8.80 for a $2 bet. So, I came out ahead (technically by 46%), mostly due to avoiding bad bets.

    • That’s nice, but as Churchill said after Dunkirk, you don’t win wars by successful retreats. So it is with horse racing: you don’t make money by not betting. Though, on this day I did, so what would Churchill know about it, anyway? Come to think of it, the Allies did win the war, so I guess one could argue that it worked for him too.

  • Now, on to the Woodbine/Mohawk Harness Races:

    • Race 1 was taken by the #5 horse, a favourite which had been bet down to 2-to- 5. It had several good features, in terms of speed and pace. But the odds were prohibitive, so I let it pass.

    • Race 2 was similar, with a bet-down favourite (#6) prevailing wire-to-wire. Its odds weren’t quite as bad, though it was bet down to less than even money.

    • The first race that I managed to bet was Race 3, which I promptly lost.

      • The #6 horse went off at decent odds and had quite a few good indicators, including its post position. However, it broke stride part way through the race, so that was it for my horse.

      • Basically, this means that it has stopped running in the style required for the race (a trot in this case). When this happens the horse is supposed to pull off to one of the outside lanes, lose some distance and then, if it returns to stride, it can try to come back. In most cases that will be very difficult. In extreme cases it can get disqualified (e.g. if it significantly interferes with other horses when breaking stride).

        
        
         

      • Breaking stride can happen in any race, but it is more common in trot races than pace races.

      • The #1 horse, which was the favourite at 1-to-5 also broke stride, almost at the start of the race, then again near the end. To complete the comedy session, the #2 horse and #3 horse also broke.

      • Naturally, 4 horses breaking in one race, including a heavily bet-down favourite, as well as the second-favourite (my horse) raised some suspicions in our minds. The fact that the winner was 20-to-1 ($40.90 to win), the second place horse was 65-to-1 ($61 to place) and the third place horse was 72-to-1 ($68 to place) did not escape our attention. It did have all the indications of a betting-coup.

      • Having said all that, a quick review of several days’ results shows that most days will have 2 or 3 horses break and sometimes there will be several in the same race. But what about then having 3 long-shots come in? Was this race on the up and up? I suppose we will never know. But if nothing else, it does make for a good horse-racing anecdote.

    • In Race 4 I bet the #6 again, and lost again, with it coming in fifth place.

      • The winner was the #4, a horse named Johnny Angel, paying a big $2.60 to win. I had a bit of a laugh about that, as when I was about 4 or 5 years old my older sister used to play a record of a song with the same name, repeatedly, as teenage girls often will. I liked the song, probably because my big sister liked it. I got some teasing for that from my older brothers, including Craig, who was with me today.

      • But on this race, Johnny Angel was not kind to me. Or so I thought. It turned out that Craig had picked the Triactor for this race (I threw in a few numbers too), so we each got a few bucks from old Johnny. It took a while, though.

      • I should just note that horse names have a strange fascination for betters. It is hard to pass up a horse that has a name that has some sort of sentimental value for you.

    • I skipped Race 5, in terms of win betting, as we were alive to a Win-3 that had started with Johnny Angel’s victory. Besides that, none of the horses in the race stood out to me.

    • I also skipped win betting in Race 6. Our Win-3 was alive to a favourite in this race, but it got nipped at the wire.

    • Race 7 was another heart-breaker. I had a win bet on #6, at 4-to-1 and we were alive on #5 on another Win-3, at about the same odds. The 5 and 6 were coming down to the wire in first and second, so it looked like we were bound to win something. But then the #3 horse came flying and nipped them both by a nose. It won at 18-to-1. So, no money for the win bet or the Win-3.

    • I fell for the horse name thing, in Race 8, betting on a horse called Sugar Pie Honey. It had high odds and had come in third in its last race, so I threw a show bet on it. However, it came in next-to-last, so I lost again.

    • I skipped the win bet in Race 9, as we were alive to another win-3. The horse that we needed for that bet came up short.

    • By the 10^th Race, I had become quite annoyed by all these close calls. So, with that wonderful sensation that "I am due", I bet on the #6 in this race to win. It had several favourable indicators, so I stepped up the bet by a factor of 5. And it won! That said, it only paid $4.50 to win, but since I had stepped up the bet that was enough to cover all my losses so far at the buckets.

    • I skipped win bets on the 11^th and 12^th races. We had a triactor in the 12^th that didn’t miss by much and that was that.

    • Totalling things up, I came out with a 25% profit with the harness races, mainly due to a strategic (lucky?) decision to step up a bet.

  • So, not including exotics such as Win-3 and Triactor bets, I won a single race at the Santa Anita thoroughbreds and a single race at the Woodbine/Mohawk harness races. But by judiciously (or luckily) skipping many races that I would have lost, and stepping up my bet amount at the right time, I came in ahead for both the Santa Anita and the Woodbine races. Which is great, but kind of nerve-wracking.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And here are a couple of short books you might like.

A Dark Horse

In “A Dark Horse”, a gambler’s desire to hit a big win seems to lead him to make a Faustian bargain with a supernatural evil.  Or is it all just a string of unnaturally good luck?

The story is just $0.99 U.S. (equivalent in other currencies) and about 8000 words. It is also available on Kindle Unlimited and is occasionally on free promotion.

U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01MDMY2BR

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Here’s an interesting review from Goodreads

(BTW, the writer has never met the reviewer and was not even aware of the review until very recently – You can look up the review on Goodreads, if you like)

A Dark Horse

Every gambler is bound to run out of luck eventually, right?

By far my favourite type of horror is psychological horror. I was quite pleased with how Mr. Olausen frightened his audience without spilling a single drop of blood or so much as hinting at anything gory. He knew exactly what hints to drop for us that made us deliciously dread the next scene simply by throwing out hints about who or what the dark horse might actually represent. This is the kind of stuff I love getting scared by, especially as Halloween approaches.

It would have been helpful to have more character development in this short story. While I certainly wouldn’t expect to see as much time spent on this as I would for a full-length novel, I did have trouble connecting to the main characters due to how little I knew about them and how much their personalities seemed to remain the same no matter what happened to them. If not for this issue, I would have felt comfortable choosing a much higher rating as the plot itself was well done.

I must admit to not knowing much about gambling at all, so I appreciated the brief explanations the narrator shared about how placing bets works and why some people have so much trouble walking away from a bet. While I will leave it up to experts on these topics to say how accurate everything was, I did enjoy learning more about the main character’s addiction and what he hoped to gain from betting on just one more game or race. It gave me a stronger sense of empathy for folks in his position.

A Dark Horse – A Gothic Tale was a deliciously chilling story for the Halloween season and beyond.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And here’s an account of some road trips in south-western Alberta:

A Selection of Back-Road Trips Around Southwest Alberta

There are two main aspects to a road trip: the journey and the destination. Sometimes the trip is all about the journey, sometimes it’s all about the destination. Usually it is a little of both.

This collection of back-roads journeys feature a little bit of both of these aspects. Some accounts are more about the ‘journey’, such as a road trip on scenic Highway 22. Others are more about the ‘destination’, such as the show-jumping at Spruce Meadows. I hope you will enjoy reading some of these accounts and maybe give them a spin for yourself.

Southwest 1 – A Road Trip on Scenic Highway 22

Southwest 2 – The Equestrian Competitions at Spruce Meadows (Calgary)

Southwest 3 – The Bar U Ranch, south of Long View

Southwest 4 – Kananaskis Country

Southwest 5 – Blackfoot Crossing

Southwest 6 – Back-roads, from the Prairies to the Foothills: Brazeau Dam Trip

Southwest 7 – A Back-roads Trip to Hinton and the Forestry Trunk Roads

The reader may wonder “what about the Ice-fields Parkway?” or “where is a visit to Banff?” I would answer, that these famous destinations are covered very nicely by other books. This account is meant to focus on some less travelled areas, thus the “back-roads” descriptor.

I should note that the other three quadrants of Alberta also have a lot of interesting back-roads journeys, but those are material for some other books which will be published in due time.

Amazon U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon U.K: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0DCMJP47G

Amazon Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0DCMJP47G