Jenni

Today Patricia and I pay remembrance to the passing of our Little girl Jenni. Nov 5th 1980 was and still is one of the most horrific days of our lives. We were living in Calgary; me a young architectural draftsman for UMA ( Underwood & McLellan Associates ) during the day, and Patricia working nights as a bartender for an established high-end restaurant. We couldn’t afford daycare or a babysitter in those days, so we “make do” with the little income we had.

Living in the “Bowness” community just a few minutes from Bowness Park in the neighbourhood and former town in west Calgary, Alberta.

We rented a two bedroom basement duplex a few blocks away from Bow River. Just South of us the city of Calgary was in the process of building the Canada Olympic Park (COP), formerly known as Paskapoo Ski Hill. Canada Olympic Park was one of the venues for the 1988 Winter Olympics, being the primary venue for ski jumping, bobsleigh, and luge.

And — that was the reason WE were in Calgary in 1980. UMA Engineering Firm had one of the contracts to begin designing the Canada Olympic Park, including Site Plans as far away as Kananaskis Country. I was called in from Edmonton UMA firm to begin the 8 year process of planning and development of this huge project. At the time, I was just a Junior architectural draftsman, hand-drawing architectural plans, per instructions from the highly trained Architects and Engineers.

So — the three of us moved to Calgary to further my career as an architectural draftsman. Our first months in Calgary was a happy one. Patricia, Jenni and I would explore Calgary sites, such as the Zoo and the Heritage Park Historical Village where Hollywood western movies were made, such as the classic “ The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford“ starring Brad Pitt ( Jesse James) and Casey Affleck ( Robert Ford).

I remember carrying Jenni around in a kangaroo front pouch so she would be able to see the sites of the Heritage Park Historical Village. Less then a year old, Jenni eye expressions would dictate to us she enjoyed our weekend outings. One weekend we even had the opportunity to visit the town of Banff.

Everything was going well until one evening Jenni seemed more agitated then what we considered normal. As any frightened parent, I phoned our local doctor. Concerned, he made a home visit ( which is totally unheard of these days). He noticed a rash on her body, which seem unusual but not overly strange for babies of her age. He said,” If it persists, take her to the Foothills Hospital and we’ll do a complete check up.

The next evening Jenni became even more agitated with a spiking fever. Her eyes were red and the rash became more announced. It was then I phoned Patricia ( who was working nights) and explained I’m going to take her to emergency at the Foothills. Getting to the hospital, Patricia met me. As any worried parents, we wanted answers. They admitted Jenni ; after trial & error, and many specialized doctors, everyone was totally baffled to why Jenni’s temperature increased to an unsafe level. Every day and night, Patricia and I took turns being there for Jenni. The nurses would cool her down by using cool baths and a constant fan by her bed. No matter what they did Jenni’s temperature became critical. The both of us were complete distraught to the point of exhaustion. It didn’t matter, we would never leave Jenni alone. We held and hugged her as much as possible to show her, everything would be ok, and that, we were there for her.

That evening, it was my shift to be with Jenni. I gave Jenni a cool-down bath and held her some more. She began to show signs of improvement. Jenni was hungry ! That indeed is a good sign, I thought. So I was able to feed her. I remember she smiled at me with contentment.

The nurse came in, urging me, that maybe it’s a good time to go get some rest. Nodding in agreement, I decided she was right. Before putting Jenni back to bed for the night, I kissed her on the cheek. She really looked content, however I noticed her little fingers looked bluish then normal. Concerned I went to the front desk where an Intern was stationed. Explaining what I saw seemed unusual, he just looked at me with his arrogant stance and said,” Are you a doctor ?”

I said,” No. But maybe we can call our doctor ?”

This redhead seemed determined to piss me off, flatly refusing to call my physician. The nurse came over and encouraged me to go home and get some sleep. Shrugging my shoulders, I nodded, but was discouraged over the response of this intern. I knew he thought me as this young kid in my twenties who didn’t know what I was talking about. Giving up the argument, I went home.

The minute I got home, I received a emergency call from one of the nurses, that I had better get back to the hospital as soon as possible. She told me Jenni experienced a cardiac arrest and unfortunately the doctor on-call could not revive her.

Completely in rage, I rushed back to the Foothills hospital in dismay. By the time I arrived, Patricia was holding Jenni in her arms, crying intensely.

Our little Jenni didn’t survive. We were in complete sorrow. Weeks later, we learned Jenni died of severe complications from an unknown disease called Kawasaki disease, also known as mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome.

You can read more about the condition here

The point of all of this is :

1. The time we had with Jenni will be cherished the rest of our lives.

2. Physicians should pay attention to the parents. We may not have the training, but we may have some valuable information that could assist the doctors on call. In Jenni’s case, the bluish fingers could of lead the emergency doctors to act. But due to the arrogance of one intern, Jenni died.

3. If the Kawasaki syndrome is caught in time, death is preventable. Apparently survival rate is 90 percent.

4. Kawasaki disease had puzzled doctors for over 150 years, until recent years. “Dr. Tomisaku Kawasaki, who first described what is now known as Kawasaki Disease (KD), and recent reports of a multisystem inflammatory disease in children associated with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (MIS-C), makes a review on KD and MIS-C timely. Kawasaki Disease is a systemic vasculitis with predilection for coronary arteries occurring mostly in early childhood. The main features are high fever, extensive skin rash, cheilitis with red, cracking, bleeding lips and strawberry tongue, conjunctivitis, erythema and induration of hands and feet, subsiding with periungual peeling, cervical lymphadenopathy, and coronary artery dilation/aneurysms.

Due to the COVID virus, Kawasaki disease was brought front and centre, because both coincide with each other. “Atypical Kawasaki disease, Kawasaki-like disease, Kawasaki-COVID-19, paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2, macrophage activation syndrome, myocarditis, toxic shock syndrome.” Read more

5. Kawasaki disease is said to be more prominent in children of Asian descent. However, we are not even close to Asian. Just recently, due to the COVID virus more Caucasian children have the Kawasaki disease symptoms. The earliest record symptom was, believe it or not, from London, when, in the year of our lord 1870, a seven year old boy died of this unknown disease. Interesting, Kawasaki disease is prone to attack younger children five years old and younger. It’s strange the symptoms started with a seven year old Caucasian boy. This proves this syndrome isn’t clearly understood, as of yet.

6. The loss of a child is extremely traumatizing to all parents involved. Life goes on, however you never forget such a loss.

7. Time never makes a difference in relationship to the loss.

8. The graphic digital drawing above is what I would like to perceive Jenni’s soul exploring the Cosmic Universes like the fictional, Jedi Rey Skywalker of the Star Wars saga. If Jenni had a chance in life, what would have she achieved?

Today, we have two wonderful daughters, Tianndra and Trisha. They never met Jenni but I believe if they did, would have loved her the same as we do.

In Conclusion, Patricia and I will keep thinking and remembering Jenni’s birth to the day we lost her. As a parent, you’ll always have that worry of your children, hoping they will succeed past you. We worry, we love and we hope.

“May The Force Be With Her Soul Exploring The Afterlife”

Rest In Peace Jenni – We miss and love YOU forever.

Love Bari and Patricia Demers 💕

JAMES MONTANA SCRIPTS

Death is NOT Final

A Dream May not be a Dream at all

Death is NOT Final 

The event I’m about to tell you is real. No smoking mirrors, just the truth. 

It’s my belief Death is NOT the final word. There’s life after life, we like to refer to as the Spiritual world. Unfortunately we have a hard time convincing ourselves of that, unless we had the experience of being brought back to life after a tragic accident. It’s like anything else in life, if you haven’t experienced it your brain can’t conceive it’s true. 

We are hardwired for scientific facts. If we can’t explain it, see or hear it, it doesn’t exist. 

Your brain can do inconceivable things in our physical world. The only thing we can relate with our spiritual world is dreaming. Dreams seem to take us on a wild ride, trying to relate our consciousness experiences from the day or week before, and sometimes, even recurring dreams from a year ago. 

But one thing is clear to us all —

Without our brain, the body ceases to function. To most of us that means certain death. However, death isn’t final. It may be to our physical body, but there’s still the question, “ Do we have a soul ?” 

Our Soul and Beyond 

Beyond our physical world, human beings have used religion, to explain the spiritual world. Ironically, it’s our physical brain trying to process what we see and hear. To me, there’s more to the spiritual world then using religious undertones. For example, Japanese people don’t separate the dead from the living. To the Japanese, it’s a transition into another spiritual dimension.  As said by a monk, “…death is like shoji on a sliding door “. ( a Shoji is a thin piece of paper on the door).  In other words, the once living transitions to the other side. 

Religious followers call it our soul, but I to refer it to the entity of who we are, as a person.  You most likely heard this before, “I think therefore I am.” Father of Modern Philosopher Rene Descartes (during the 17th century) is responsible for this quote.  Our consciousness can also be related to our soul. The soul can be used in context to an “energy source” leaving our bodies when we die in this physical world. 

In the religious world, it’s believe we have either good or evil souls. As a matter of fact, each religion warns us we better listen to God or you’ll surely be punished. To me, religion is just another form of control. 

Without relating to the religious theories , my mind believes we make a conscious decision to be good or bad. It’s our choice in this physical world we live in. 

With that said, let me tell you the true events, preceiving the notion, there’s Life after Life —

Life After Life 

In the 1970’s I was in my late teens, living in Vernon, British Columbia.  A time where you’re still trying to find yourself. During this adolescence period, my girlfriend, Patricia (now wife) and I had a trio of friends. There’s Scott and his girlfriend, Lori, along with Alfred, nickname Alf.  Alf and Scott became inseparable friends, having similar interests. They both enjoyed tinkering with early model sports cars and had deep conversations dealing with math and science. Of course they loved Star Trek. 

All of us would hang out together, be it a campfire bush party, the local clubs or spending at one another’s place. Our last time together as a group, was the last summer before heading to College. If I remember correctly, Scott was going to become an engineer. Alf was thinking about going to UBC, while I started to prepare for my second year at Okanagan College, taking the Fine Arts Program.  

For me, this summer was a time of turmoil, as I fought a different path my father wanted me on. To make a long story short, he kicked me out of his house, ending up staying with Patricia’s family until the end of the summer.

One day Alf came over to see Us. He asked me if I would be interested in seeing a fortuneteller with him.  Alf was sort of crazy like that.  Out-of-the-blue ideas just came to his head, and without hesitation, he acted on them. Didn’t really see any harm in it, so I thought it would be fun to see what kind of future was in store for me. 

We drove over to the BX area of Vernon, where Alf instructed me to pull into this trailer park. Looking at this rundown trailer, I question his sanity, saying,” You sure you want to do this?” 

Alf laughed it off, he waved me on, saying,” Come on! Are you scared ?” 

Of course I said no, but had my doubts about this fortune-telling venture. Paying out $40 for the two of us, was a big deal to me back then. Siding with scepticism, we walked up the rotting stairs of the trailer. Knocking on the screen door, we were met with this older man who seem to haven’t shaved in days. He introduced us to his wife with curlers in her hair, puffing on the short end of a cigarette butt. Now I was siding with caution, thinking these two were going to murder us. Without hesitation, the old man took me to one room, while Elf went to another (with his wife) to have our fortunes told. 

The old man motioned me to sit down at this small table with two rickety old chairs, Immediately, my fortune teller pulled out a deck of Tarot Cards to begin reading my fortune. Laying out the cards one at a time, he carefully studied each one. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, he spoke in a calm voice, telling me my future is all over the place. Apparently my life will encounter 3 or 4 different careers. My last career would become so successful I would end up with a lot of money. Inside my head I screamed, “ What a bunch of crap ! You want me to believe what everyone wishes for ? Sure, sure, a lot of money…eh ?” I just smirked and left. 

Heading back to my car, I impatiently waited for Elf to show up. Eventually, Elf came running out of the trailer with an expression of fear. He yelled at me, slamming the car door, “ Go ! Go! Go! “ 

As fast as lightening, my little Austin Mini smoked out of that trailer park, like we were being chased by Zombies. Zipping down the curved road, it wasn’t hard to notice, Elf was about to have a cardiac arrest. Without a word, I slammed on the breaks, swerving to the side of the road.

Elf gets out, agitated has hell, pacing back and forth like a madman. You could see the deep fear in his eyes. 

Deeply concerned,I said,” What the hell Elf ?! What the @$#+@ wrong ? What happened in there ?!” 

Still pacing back and forth, he stopped. Grabbing my shoulders, totally freaking out, he said,” Bari. Oh my god Bari… You’re NOT going to believe what she said to me! 

He then screamed at the top of his lungs, “ @&$#@ !” 

“Elf ! What the hell ! Get a hold of yourself. It can’t be that bad…can it? “ I said.

He grabbed me again, “ Oh god Bari…it’s bad…it’s really bad!” 

“What the hell did she tell you ?”

Eye to eye, Elf proceeded to tell me, his fortune didn’t have a future, what-so-ever ! In fact, he wouldn’t even see the end of this summer.  

I said,” You mean to tell me she told you, you were going to die ?”

Alf shook his head.

Shaking my head in disbelief, I assured him, his fortune was a bunch of crock, just like mine was. We were simply taken by a couple of con-artist, is all. 

It was hard to see Elf like this. He was indeed distraught. Reassuring him, I made it clear, he had a long long life ahead of him. He most likely will end up as a professor at some university, one day. Told him to think about it for a minute. I mean really. Me ? Ending up rich ?

Give me a break, that will never happen! 

He stopped and looked intently at me. After a few minutes of silence, he took a deep breath and smiled, shaking his head in agreement, “ You’re right !” He started to was laugh with a nervous hysterical tone. 

The summer was coming to an end. Elf fell in love with a girl ( an exchange student from Venezuela). Have no idea how he met her. Just one day he introduced me to her. He also spent hours working on that foreign sports car with Scott. Believe it was a Triumph Spitfire. 

It wouldn’t be long now, our small group would be going their different ways. In lieu of this, we decided to have a small party at Scott and Elf’s rental house by the Rec centre. Patricia and I showed up late that evening, eight..ish or so ? Noticed Elf was in his room with his girlfriend at his side. 

Once again, he seemed completely distraught. Knocking on his open door, I asked if everything was ok ? He was rude and told me to go away.  Flabbergasted, I wasn’t going away without an explanation.  It wasn’t like Elf to distant himself from me. His actions weren’t logical. If there was one thing I knew about Elf, he was certain to use logical in everything he did. 

His girlfriend was trying to comfort him, telling me to just leave. 

Standing my ground, waiting for an answer, Elf finally said,” Haven’t slept very well this past week. Last night and before that, I saw a little girl come up to my bedside. She told me not to worry, everything will be alright. Then she would just disappeared…”  He paused in grief and raising his voice, continued,” The nights before that I saw hand prints on the wall. Do you see what I’m telling you ? Do you ! “ 

“Yes,”I said,” I believe I do. 

I’ve heard of supernatural stories before but never really believed in them. Maybe because it was from people who weren’t rational or trustworthy. But Elf, that was another thing all together. He reminded me as Mr. Spock on Star Trek. That’s how logical he was. 

My only response to his supernatural visions ; it was just a bad dream. As soon as I mentioned it, his actions turned hostile, as if he was trying to blame me for his illogical patterns. Shrugging my shoulders, not sure what to say or do, I left, hurt from his response.

Few days latter, he came over to Patricia’s place to talk to her not realizing I was there. He was pleading for her not to go out with me at all. Completely dumbfounded I was going to go outside to tell him off, but Patricia stopped me. 

After that, I didn’t want to see Elf again. 

A week later, we heard that Scott and Elf were in a car accident, driving their Spitfire too fast around a corner. The convertible flipped over into the field, throwing the two aimlessly into chaos. Scott wasn’t harmed, but Elf unfortunately hit the only bolder in that field killing him instantly. 

We were all stunned by what happened ; me especially. 

For crying-out-loud, that fortuneteller was correct. Alf didn’t have a future after all. During the funeral I talked to Alf’s parents. Didn’t have the heart to tell them what I knew. They were from a strong Catholic background, so I thought it wouldn’t be appropriate during their time of grief. I gave my condolences and left. 

Never did understand the resentment Alf had towards me at the end of his life. As for me, I’m still poor. My fortune wasn’t completely correct, however I have had three different careers in my lifetime. Still buying lottery tickets to see if the last part of the fortune will pan out. Won’t be holding my breathe. 

Alf’s supernatural visions did make me think if there truly is  life after death. My wife and I have been married for 42 years now, so I’m still not sure why Alf was so content in the beginning, trying to cause havoc in our relationship. 

This incident proves to me there must be something after we leave our physical bodies here on earth. It’s my understanding, for those who experienced death and came back, noticed time and space travels quickly, to and from one space to another. Some souls are lost due to their tragic deaths, while others find peace, reaching for the light, to begin their journey into the unknown cosmos, where time and space are not defined. It’s also believed, some souls are reincarnated back on earth, to begin a new life. It could be all of our souls take on different journeys that suit us. Maybe that’s why some of us never see our lost loved ones again. 

We know now there’s more then one universe, there are multi-universes. Time and Space are not finite. So it’s plausible to say, our souls will choose it’s own journey. That’s the reason we don’t see all the souls after their physical death. We only hear of the ones who are lost and need to find their way. I believe there’s Life and Life. Death is NOT the final word. It’s imperative I believe in this, because when death is looming at my bedside, I will see my daughter Jenni again. 

By Bari Demers 

Thank you for reading…

[Sometimes in life you’re at Crossroads; not sure where you’ll take your life or where life will take you. There’s at least one drastic event in our life, changing everything.] BMD

My Live TV Experience

Who remembers our dear friend Mike Roberts ?  

He was our friendly weatherman for ions and pretty much part of my life, viewing the Okanagan CHBC News (now Global TV – Okanagan) on a regular basis, as a kid. He even had his own show segment on CHBC channel.

Way way…way back!  

Before social media was ever invented. Mike Roberts was the Okanagan social hub of our times. One day, I said to son-in-law Graham and daughter, Tianndra, it was about time Mike Roberts retired so a new fresh face could venture into the media spotlight.  

Now don’t get me wrong. 

I really enjoyed Mike’s broadcasts, but though his time in show biz should possibly give way to the golden years in the Okanagan. It wasn’t long after I said that, my wish was granted, when he decided it was time to hang up his weathering tools and look forward to golfing throughout the Okanagan Valley.

Being an avid golfer, I suspect he’s a member at one of the golf clubs. 

All happy for his retirement, I was applauded to see the runner up for Mike’s position. To my dismay, a rival broadcaster and his running mate, meteorologist Wesla Wong, were picked to continue on Mike’s legacy .

To be clear, I do NOT know Wesla Wong, but I sure know the other person. 

Flabbergasted that it takes two meteorologists to explain the weather in the small community of the Okanagan Valley, is an understatement. But whatever, maybe the two can take that extra time to actually enjoy the Okanagan. Maybe that IS their goal ?
And maybe, Mike Roberts was really superman, when it comes to being a weatherman. Meaning, he overtook a lot of responsibilities, most meteorologist’s can’t handle today, I’m figuring. 

Whatever their reason, it’s not really my concern.

But, I wasn’t at all prepared to see who the other person was going to be. The one to take over the role of meteorologist on Global TV in the Okanagan. 

You know the old saying,” Be careful what you wish for?” 

I will always remember that day. The day I saw the same man who previously embarrassed me on LIVE TV. My routine visit to the sunny Okanagan, (home-sweet-home) and here, I so happened to glance at the TV to hear the weather report. There he was, the man, Mr. Duane English. 

OMG! 

Duane English comes from Edmonton, Alberta and worked for various broadcasting companies throughout the blue-collar city. I met Duane English for the first time, while doing a “spotlight” gig about the Canadian Outdoors, from starting a fire to catching your meal, to cooking by the campfire. It was the day I was promoting my published book, ” Canadian Recipes of the Great White North.” 

The first day I met Duane English, he really did seem like a nice guy, but little did I know about this TV business. After the tight security entering the building, Duane English greeted me in the foyer with a picture prefect smile. Soon he hustled me away into his little cubbyhole of an office, giving me a quick lesson on “live” showbiz.
Being on “LIVE” TV was indeed a brand new experience for me. 

Was I nervous? 

Sure I was, but I thought the trained staff would lead me into a comfortable situation.  

Well, was I ever for an unexpected ride of my life. 

To picture it, you’re on a design set (a green backdrop) with this big TV camera remotely controlled on wheels. It was pretty much in your face – lol.  

And the lights! Wow! So many lights! 

My two 10 minute sessions on TV, were staged as such : one was inside, while the other was outside. You think you have it under control, until the camera operators says,”Three…two..one.” And then he flips his finger meaning you’re now LIVE and…ACTION! 

Now.   Just seconds before the LIVE ACTION was broadcasted across Alberta, Duane English smirks at me and quickly says,” Don’t worry, you have only 300,000 people watching your segment- RIGHT NOW!” 

Suddenly, we are ON AIR ! 

The off-guard thought of so many people watching our segment put me into an immediate “freeze up”.   A term expressed by many, who have experienced this daunting effect.   It means exactly what it says. You freeze ON AIR and anything that was in your head, immediately vanishes. You can’t speak, no matter how much you want to. It’s just not going to happen. Total anxiety quickly sets in, while the whole experience becomes a mortified feeling of devastation.

While ON AIR, we were standing by an island counter, facing the camera. Duane English began introducing me, as I stood there dumbstruck from pure fright. With his cheerful glee to the camera, he physically hits me hard on the leg with his fist (which can’t be seen on TV).

Understanding he wanted me to snap-out-of-it! 

I began to mumble some incoherent words and once again he hit my leg. Another technique so commonly used in showbiz ( in an emergency) is jarring others memory, by asking direct questions. This way they hopefully come out of the shock of being on TV. So, this is exactly what Duane did. 

BUT – his dragger eyes could have killed ! 

It worked. As soon as the ten minute session was over (and I did finally manage to explain my point of the view) the lights and camera quickly turned off, Duane English yelled at me,”What the hell was that?! Listen!  In the next session you look at me, NOT THE FU&@&k camera!” 

I was in shock, to say the least. 

This man, who I perceived as a nice carrying person turned into this viscous orangutan, spitting his words in my face! 

I wasn’t amused! 

Now I had to go outside and start a campfire, getting ready for my next segment. He quickly pointed to the stack of wood in the yard I would use, so I nodded. He told me to be ready in 5 minutes. Once again I nodded, still fuming inside by how I was treated. So I set my watch for five minutes and planned for my campfire to be burning nicely, as the next segment hit LIVE ON AIR once again.  

I planned it perfectly. 

Soon, the five minutes went by and no Duane English. I was getting really concerned after 15 minutes, as my little campfire was smouldering into nothing more then white ash. So, like anyone else, I fuelled up the fire with more wood. And I’m talking about old 2X4’s, which were nothing more then garbage wood. As soon as I did this, a crew member came running out barking orders at me to stop using up the wood. I tried to explain to him, Duane English told me to use it. This character was NOT going to listen to anything I had to say. He was outright rude! As a matter of fact I can’t use the words this arrogant ape said to me. 

I was like ok – WHATEVER! 

So the campfire turned into a smouldering pile of white ash. Soon afterwards, Duane English came hustling out. He looked at the campfire and said,” What the F&@$k is that?!”. 

 I tried my best to explain why, but to my little radar, I saw that little smirk on his face. Right there and then, I knew it was a set-up. He wanted me to fail and made sure one of his bolstering crude crew members, came out to make sure I would become a laughing stock on LIVE television. 

In fact, I was going to be publicly embarrassed on TV. 

Another girl came out to do the forward segment with me. We were supposed to roast marshmallows on a nice open fire. She looked at the campfire and looked at English. Duane just shrugged his shoulders, rolling his eyes, meaning,” What can you do with stupid?” 

I shook my head in disbelief. 

Here we were (the girl and I) roasting marshmallows on a white ash dead fire pit to over 300,000 people – LIVE! The marshmallows were stone cold! The whole experience was totally embarrassing, when the outdoor camera went LIVE showcasing this “expert woodsman” who had no idea how to make a simple campfire ! Well, that’s exactly how it appeared on LIVE TV.

It was obvious where this segment was going. 

So, mad and determined, I set out to make the best ten minute segment I could imagine. I even made it look like the girl and I were old friends from way back.  

You know – Bulls$&@t. 

After the second segment of my first TV appearance career, I really did think it was all over, being humiliated ON AIR.  Thank God there wasn’t twitter back then – lol.  To my disbelief, the Executive TV Producer phoned me up, asking if I wanted to do another couple of segments. 

I was stunned. 

Listening over the phone, I said,” Are you sure… I mean…my last performance wasn’t star quality.” 

He said,” Oh no! We received a lot of emails and they want you back.” 

“No kidding!” I said. Once again, I was totally dumbstruck! 

Well, after that I did three more LIVE quick shows of two-ten minute outdoor segments. My fans seemed to love me. The Executive TV Producer told me, the reason they loved you so much, was because you showed them what really happens to a green-horn out in the woods. My fans compared me to them.  Oh boy!  The thought they compared me to a bubbling fool in the wilderness. 

Go figure! Oh well, so what!  

I went on another couple of shows, with one explaining what really happens when you get lost in the wilderness. It’s a true precarious story, that happened to me. Using only my own determination for survival skills, I was lost for over 14 hours in the middle of British Columbia rugged terrain, with evidence of a rogue Grizzly. Doesn’t matter how experienced you are in the wilderness, strange things can happen. Sometimes you can prepare, but it’s always the unexpected that happens. 

No matter.  

My shows were a success! Soon I received a call from another possible outdoor show called WILD TV.  The Edmonton owner was interested with my segments and wondered if I be interested in doing this part time.  

My response was,”Sure!” 

But I quizzed him, if he saw my performances, and the fact, my shows were portrayed as a green-horn lost in the woods?

He told me,” Sure did! Loved it!” 

I said,”OK then. What did you have in mind?” 

He told me he was working on this new show called WILD TV and he could possibly have some of my segments on his show. It all sounded good, but when it came down to it, he decided to go with hunters perspective instead. Which is kind of sad, because I was looking forward to a career in showbiz. 

Today, you can find WILD TV in full broadcast mode.

TV is all about ratings, and I’m figuring he would get better ratings with all the hunting fans out there in Canada and United States. Mind you, today, with all the reality shows of mix-matched lives of celebrities, I figure I do well with the green-horn effect out in the wilderness.  

The irony of it all ? 

I am very experienced in the Canadian Outdoors and like all of us, you can’t always control Mother Nature and apparently LIVE TV.  Both control you!  Outdoors you can be the best-of-the-best and in a second, a precarious weather situation or rogue Grizzly bear, could place you in a pickle !  As LIVE TV goes, you better be prepared for ego driven announcers. 

Unfortunately I didn’t make the cut for my own segment on WILD TV but, who knows, maybe one day I’ll get another call to showcase my outdoor skills. 

As for Duane English? 

He taught me what lies (get it?) behind the set of TV magic.  All I can say for Duane, I wish him well and I hope he has changed his ways, being more respectful to others, when he’s not flashing his sparkling teeth ON AIR. 

That’s show biz! 

By Bari Demers – screenwriter / writer 

PS – I love the Okanagan!  Raised in Vernon BC.  Went to Polson Park Junior High School when it was still in Polson Park. High school graduation was at VSS ( Vernon Senior Secondary school) and continued on to college at Okanagan College in Kelowna. Skied Sliver Star in Vernon and Big White in Kelowna. 

Attack of Bull Moose

While living out on my acreage around Stony Plain, I had one of the most surprising experiences that would easily fall into the “Close Call” Category.

It was a crisp Fall day as I prepared my garden for Canada’s typical long winter just on the edge of the Great White North.

A couple of my dogs were helping me out (sort of helping) sniffing their nose in the nearby bush on my property. Started up my little Sears tractor when all of a sudden I heard a crashing locomotive noise heading out of the bush, splinters of wood flying everywhere. It was without a doubt the largest bull moose I have ever seen, swinging it’s massive rack, taking direct aim for me.

I jumped off my tractor stumbling hard to the ground. Quickly got back up and ran for dear life into the safety of my home. My hands couldn’t move any faster, grabbing that handle and slamming the heavy wooden door behind me.

The large animal sent my little tractor over like it was nothing more than a tin can.

My dogs on the other hand, jumped around the moose like rabbits, confusing the old animal off. Luckily the moose didn’t kill my dogs or have a chance to injury me.
My heart was racing – that’s for sure. A true story.
[Once again the photo below was taken by me. Up along Kettle Valley you can find many hiking trails leading into a dense forest of young cedar trees. The colours don’t require Photoshop as this picture is the real thing.]