This is a picture of what I see every day as I drive in and out of our small town and head into the city for work or whatever. It's interesting though how our life experiences form our point of reference when we look at things. When I was a teenager, people from Toronto would look at me and shake their head when I talked about my "town". The joke always was that we were said to live in the "boonies". Interesting, because now there is no real separation between that town and the city of Toronto. It is all built up and developed for miles and miles. It only takes an hour to get from downtown to the house where we lived, and that was in good traffic. Not bad at all by the city of Toronto standards.

Here in Alberta, we are living in a small town about 40 minutes from downtown Calgary (at the height of traffic). Everyone at work says I am nuts for driving so far. I work with a girl who grew up in this town, and she is always saying she can't believe how it has grown and how "big town" it has become. I have to laugh to myself, as to me, there are so many things that stand out as being small town. I laugh, however it is quaint, and I am so glad we chose to live here and not in the city itself. So without further adieu, I present to you...............................

Fourteen Ways You Can Tell You Live in Small Town Alberta

1. You can sit in your kitchen, look out over the town and see farmers fields in every direction (quite beautiful and serene, especially as the sun rises)
2. You realize you are one of the only people not wearing cowboy boots when you visit the local WalMart
3. People complain about the amount of traffic because it took them an extra 5 minutes to get to work
4. Even at the height of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the top sports story on the local radio news is the Rodeo standings
5. In a week where the federal budget is handed down, the top talk around town is the upcoming "Little Britches Rodeo Parade"
6. There is 1 recreation centre in town
7. The municipal government has developed a "Town Approved Toilet List"
8. More than half of the advertisments in the weekly local newspaper is for Bull Sales and upcoming Bull Auctions
9. Several of the rural roads are close down for several weeks each spring so that they won't get damaged
10. You have bug guts all over your windshield just from driving back and forth to work
11. There is an RV Park smack dab in the middle of town, and it's FULL
12. People have real, full scale Teepees erected in their yard.
13. There is a self service Dog Wash right next door to the local self serve Car Wash
14. The career section of the local newspaper says that YES, you too can have a career as a Boar Semen Collector at a local hog farm