Winnipeg one of best biking cities
SHANNON VANRAES / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Despite the challenges winter presents, Alex Ivanko pedals down a bike lane on Nassau Street North. Winnipeg is one of the 10 best cities in Canada in which to ride a bicycle.
It may be a surprise to bicyclists — especially now that the season has brought ice and snow here — but Winnipeg has scored 10th place in the Top 10 Canadian cities for biking.
The rankings, which come from online real estate brokerage Redfin, put Winnipeg in a tie for 10th with Toronto and Richmond, B.C., with a modest “bikeable” status with “some bike infrastructure.” The survey said if the city built more bike infrastructure it could move up in the rankings.
“People really value bikeability, not only for the health benefits, but also for the cost savings,” said Taylor Marr, Redfin’s lead economist. READ MORE
Goats – and other farm animals – can be teachers
SUPPLIED PHOTO
Lucy Sloan (right) and her colleague Joanne Lariviere pose with Wilbert the pig, a resident of Lil’ Steps Miniature and Wellness Farm and a character in Sloan’s children’s book Cindy and Christabelle’s Big Scare.
The owner of a St. Malo farm — who is an animal-assisted therapist — has published a children’s book to help explain anxiety to kids and how to manage it.
Lucy Sloan owns the Lil’ Steps Miniatures and Wellness Farm and raises miniature horses, sheep and other animals, but also two fainting goats. It’s these goats, who are overcome when they get startled, who feature in the book called Cindy and Christabelle’s Big Scare.
“They just have this wonderful way of explaining anxiety for children because they actually (go through) that fight, flight and freeze experience that we have when our brain goes into alarm.” READ MORE
Happiness is a warm dog
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Therapy dog Juno visits Rita Wilkins at the Misercordia in Winnipeg on Thursday, Nov. 28, 2019. For Eva Wasney story.Winnipeg Free Press 2019.
Therapy dogs and handlers — like Juno and Lindsey Steek — have been bringing comfort and helping battle loneliness to patients at the Misericordia Health Centre for 15 years.
The Free Press recently followed the golden retriever and Steek as they visited patients who are either getting ready to head home or move into a personal-care home or palliative care.
“It’s very helpful — I feel more relaxed with an animal,” said resident Rita Wilkins. “There’s nothing like animals — animals can do so much good for us all.” READ MORE
More claws to scratch with
DANIEL CRUMP / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
The six-toed kitten is good with people and has customers cooing over her.
Polly, a kitten, has become something to talk about (and pet) at the MCC Furniture Thrift Shop on Keewatin Street.
That’s because, as reporter Carol Sanders noted, she is aptly named because she is a polydactyl, with six toes on each paw.
“I don’t like cats but I like her,” said Charles Da Silva, a MCC employee and an international student from Brazil. “I’m all scratched up… she’s a good climber.” READ MORE
Twenty years after the end of the world didn’t come
FRED CHARTRAND / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES
Government employees in Ottawa worked to mitigate any potential Y2K problems.
Here at the Free Press we remember Y2K — fears here meant we tossed out our old PCs and replaced them with the first generation of iMacs.
And we weren’t the only ones to think there was a problem with our old computers. While people around the world counted down the minutes until the new year, the provincial government had a team of 26 people tucked away in a government building ready to go to work if computer systems began crashing and causing everything from power outages to traffic light problems.
Declan Schroeder took a look back at the preparations and what people were saying 20 years ago when many people worried about what would happen if computers confused Jan. 1, 2000, with Jan. 1, 1900. READ MORE
A 19-day-old white rhino named Future frolics in the maternity yard left wet by recent rains at San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido, Calif. “Future’s new favorite thing is mud,” zookeeper Marco Zeno said in a statement. “She sees a puddle and she wants to roll in it!” The female southern white rhino was born Nov. 21 to mother Amani. (KEN BOHN / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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