It was a rainy weekend as May stumbled to its finish line. Sometimes a drizzle, sometimes steady rain and occasionally “intense precipitation.”

While downtown waiting to rendezvous with my free walking tour walkers last Saturday, I pondered and I thought. Reminisced, and recollected. Sort of an auto individual wandering ramble.

For some reason, I found myself thinking back to our lives about 60 years ago. The renowned 1960s, and the 1950s. And even further back than that, when our grandparents were making their way in what was then an even newer Canada.

Yes, we have it easy now. What progress, in so many aspects of our lives. We have rain-resistant, rain-repellant and rain-proof garments. Back then, I guess people just stayed inside, out of the rain, or they just had to put up with being wet. Damp a lot.

Now, we have special outerwear that we wear to stay dry. And hasn’t it been fun to see so many of our local pooch neighbours getting walked in the rain? I still remember my mother reminding me in Winnipeg to “take Rocky out, and give him time to do his business.” But I digress as I ramble. Try to bear with me.

When we returned to our cozy and warm home, I dried Rocky off, and sometimes stood under a hot shower. Until relatively recently, such luxuries were not in the cards. Seriously, how did we dry our clothes?

The Underground Railroad and the War of 1812 were not that long ago, as I regularly remind people on my tours of NOTL. Yes, it’s our history, but in global comparison, what we consider our history is in actuality really quite recent.

Life was tough and a never-ending challenge. Travelling on foot or on horseback or in wagons. Am I the only one who never thinks about this stuff? It was a long way to the West Coast, wasn’t it?

Now, we jump in the car to get to work, school or church. How about then, not even a century ago? And what if it was raining, or snowing, or just darned cold?

Let’s transport ourselves back, in a ramble to the country. A good number of my ancestors, the first to come to Canada, settled on the land in Saskatchewan and Ontario. Let me ask a very basic question that I have never really pondered: how did they clear the forests to create farmland?

Please, they could not have chopped down the trees one by one with their axes. Or did they fell them with saws? Impossible. Pray tell me, how did they do it?

And just imagine living in a homestead that you somehow built on the very windy and very cold Canadian prairies? Adults and children crowded into a very basic structure that kept out at least some of the wind and rain.

Day after day, week after week, and quite a short spring, summer and fall? With insects, blowing dust, and no organized health-care systems.

Let’s remember Tommy Douglas from Saskatchewan, the little Prairie giant. He has been voted “our greatest Canadian,” for his selfless work that in some ways defines our country. Universal medical.

Canada is such a great place to live our lives. But what did they used to do to pass the time? Before electricity and Nikola Tesla. I will repeat, not that long ago.

Betcha’ didn’t know this: Tesla was born in 1856, in Croatia. He was an engineer, futurist and inventor, known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current electrical supply system. Please understand I have no idea at all what all this means.

But just imagine our lives without hydroelectric power. Pray tell, what would we do?

I will now try to conclude this week’s Ross’s Ramblings with a few queries. An awkward conclusion, but nevertheless, a conclusion.

Life without lightbulbs and television. Life without computers and the internet. Live without air conditioning and home heating. Heated steering wheels in some automobiles. Toasters.

My goodness, I have rambled this week. Let’s all take some time to think about the lives of our ancestors.

Not that long ago.