Stories / Innovations / Photographs

[This was my best effort up until November 24, 1997]
by a guy from Canada

- - Contents - -

NOTE: Most of these links don't work.

NOTE: These links take you to the introductory comments which are located below.

• Free Illustrated Dinosaur Stories for children:  Doomore and Chipper bring you action.
• The Badlands (a dinosaur graveyard).  Hikes, hiking trails, and photographs.
• Photo Gallery:  photos of Drumheller tourist attractions (e.g. hoodos, a hovercraft, etc.)
• Awesome GIFs: story created by animated GIF characters.
• Lifestyles:
  • Life on the Western Canadian prairie during the 1920's.
  • Growing up during the 1950's. (diary, model railway, photos)
• Innovations: a Family Recreation program, a submission, and a proposal.
• Canadian History: a focus on basic facts plus high interest material.
• Resume

Introductory comments and links:

Dinosaur Stories: _____

Doomore The Flying Dinosaur: Most young children love Doomore and Chipper.   Teachers and parents have also responded with lots of praise.   The complete illustrated action-adventure story is presented here for your enjoyment. NOTE: at this time the illustrations for this book are in rough form; however, you will still probably find the story enjoyable.

Doomore, The Space Dinosaur is another story about Doomore and Chipper which has a touch of humor added to the action and adventure. All the illustrations are included and are polished. In order to keep the time needed to open up the story reasonably short, the story is split into three sections.

Although most adults and children enjoy both of these stories, they were originally designed to give a child quality reading practice. Extensive illustrations help the child find meaning in the words, the story content provides motivation, and constantly changing action maintains interest.   The Flying Dinosaur is written at about a Grade 2 reading level, and The Space Dinosaur is at about a Grade 3 level.

I tried unsuccessfully to get these stories published about 10 years ago, but gave up when I failed to get results.  I came to the realization that most parents who buy books, and especially those who go into children's book stores, prefer to spend their money on books that have well written and socially proper stories.

My style and story content are geared for the restless child who is accustomed to cartoons and video games, and so prefers blatant action and adventure.  Since most books do not offer this, these children tend not to do much reading on their own. Unfortunately, many parents lack awareness of what can be done, so the child who is struggling with reading quite often does not get the book that offers the most motivation.

The Badlands (a dinosaur graveyard):

Dinosaur skeletons were buried in many places around the world, including the badlands at Drumheller.  The badlands erode at a much faster rate than other land formations, so the dinosaur skeletons that are buried in the badlands are gradually being exposed.  That is why dinosaur bones are found in the badlands and why they are known as a dinosaur graveyard. .

Hiking Trails:

Drumheller is home of the world class Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology (http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/) where you can learn and experience things about dinosaurs.   Next to the museum are self guided hiking trails which can teach you about the badlands and how they were formed.   Here are some photos of those hiking trails and badlands (153 kb).

A Record of Badland Hikes:

This is the record (33 kb) I wrote down in 1955 after an exciting afternoon hiking in the badlands just south of Drumheller (It includes three small photos).  We were more excited over the coyotes we didn't find than the dinosaur bones we did find.  Also here at my geocities website are some photos of the badlands (191 kb) that we hiked over.  These photos were taken in 1997.

This is a short record I made of a muddy hike (32 kb) that we took over wet and slippery badlands back in 1955.  It includes a photograph of Hooky-Players-Inn.

Photographs:

Photos of the badlands (118 kb).   The four photographs include the hoodos, and a view [which is now at my old geocities file called photos of the badlands] from the top of the valley wall.

Photo Gallery:  

This gallery includes photos taken in and around Drumheller, Alberta, Canada, a tourist centre located in the badlands 130 km north-east of Calgary.  And last but not least, I have added a few photographs that were taken within the city of Calgary.

• Drumheller tourist attractions (141 kb): these include a large photo of the one above, the hoodos, a swinging bridge, a hovercraft, etc.

• a series of photos of Horseshoe Canyon, a partially developed tourist attraction located near Drumheller.  The canyon attracts tourists to a badland basin which is located at the south end of the canyon, next to the highway.   What most people don't know is that the canyon, which is shaped in the form of a horseshoe, drains into a valley at the north end.  This valley closes off the two legs of Horseshoe canyon so that it all combines to form a huge, natural, irregular circle.  I think hikers would love hiking the area.  You can see for yourself by looking at some of the photos below.
  • a map (19 kb) of Horseshoe canyon.
  • a photo overview (138 kb) of the canyon, including one of the badland basin.
  • photos of a potential hiking trail down the east leg (190 kb)  of Horseshoe Canyon.
  • six photos taken from the undeveloped East Viewpoint (212 kb).

• photographs taken in Calgary (180 kb).   One is of the Calgary skyline, and three photos are of the Douglas Fir trail, a hiking path located within this city.

.

Awesome GIFs:

The true story of how my Mother's family came to Western Canada in 1916 (which is included in the section below under Lifestyles) has been totally revised with the able direction of an assortment of animated GIFs.  They have the really truly deep  insight into what real life is all about.

The GIF characters are already performing for you (sometimes they pause for a moment between performances), so you better get inside before its too late.  At any time, they could all collapse from exhaustion.  Use this link to discover life according to the awesome GIFs.

Suggestion:  collect your own GIFs (right click and save them to file), sort them into a familiar theme and then make up a story which is inspired by the characters.  That is what I did.  In the above link, you will see how cartoon figures can inspire a rather weird story.

Lifestyles:

Life on the Western Canadian prairie:

In 1916, the Zinn family moved from Eastern Canada to the Western Canadian prairie.  This tells about their lifestyle: the type of life they lived. It comes with a midi (.mid) file, so you can whistle along with a tune as you read the following:

Part 1: Introduction (including detailed contents)

Part 2: Life On Their Farm

Part 3: Life In Their Community

Part 4: The Changing Times

Growing up during the 1950's :______

Diary of a 10 year old boy:

These are some of the entries made in a diary from 1954 to 1956.   They indicate what life was like for boys in a town,(Drumheller, Alberta, Canada) before the effects of television. It includes a link to a few photos taken at the time.

Model railroad:

These photos include one of the overall layout, one of Devil's Canyon and a mine, and the last one was taken by a helicopter as it hovered over the village of Smokyville. 

Innovations:

In many ways the items on this page and the items below are just minor modifications to old ideas.  However, if you take a close look at them you will probably find they are worth a lot of thought.

Family Recreation:

These are plans for a recreation program.   This is a new system which saves time, improves family strength, and offers the benefits of an extended family.

Submission: Abused Children Impact Your Taxes:

The public and politicians need to be reminded that seriously abused children grow up to become very costly problem adults.  This is a submission I made to the Alberta government in 1990 which appears to have made a lot of sense.

Sound Relationships:

One of the keys to healthy families is that the parents have a healthy, loving relationship.  It is therefore important to meet and marry the right person. 

But our modern society has become more diverse and complex, so it is difficult meeting eligible people and difficult finding someone compatible.  Now that society has changed, we need a new solution. 

High interest Canadian history:

I have a series of short summaries which focus on basic facts with some high interest elaboration, however they are still in rough form.   Until they are added, try the one below.

I grew up being bored with the way Canadian history was presented in our school textbooks.  The account below was written as my own private innovative rebellion against the boredom of the books we studied. Most history textbook writers don't have anywhere near the time I took in order to create interesting history. And for some reason, Canadian publishers seldom make use of modern, attractive sketches which can bring history alive.

This is an 18 page account of the 1885 Rebellion entitled: War In Western Canada: Part 1 Riel, Dumont, and the 1885 Rebellion.  This account is complete, illustrated, polished, and although it was researched in detail, it remains as interesting and informative light entertainment.

In terms of world history, where wars, battles, and rebellions can involve millions, this event was very minor. However, for the people involved, what happened was still extremely important.

The title page is included separately in case you want to look at some of the small sketches used, or you want to print up a booklet.  (For best results, set the page for 3/4 inch margins, footers, and headers on 8 1/2 X 11 inch paper. )

to Resume

At this time, I am looking for an agent, publisher, or sponsor who would like to do more with my books. About ten years ago, I did spend a lot of time submitting to Canadian publishers, but then gave up when I realized that my books would probably be difficult to market.

Questions?  Suggestions? Comments.

This file was dated: November 24, 1997.
about 3 years later, in January of 2001
it became alittlehistory.com

Since November 24, 1997, you are guest number . . . . . . .

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