You don’t get anything in life for free, that is something you hear all the time. From a young age, the adage, there is no such thing as free lunch is drilled into you. You start to find out, as your grow up, that there seems always to be a catch or a sinister reason why companies are offering you deals that seem great. Surely they are doing something to catch you out. Surely they have a reason for giving you something for what seems like nothing.   This has been proved many times by research. Those offers like 3 for 2 and buy one get one free always look great, but studies show that they usually aren’t. We see adverts on TV for things like Black Friday or for huge price cuts, but when you do a deep dive, they turn out to be not so great. As usatoday.com have noted in a story, Black Friday is actually a very bad day to shop and one that lulls you into a false sense of security and gets you to part with your cash based on a false assumption that you are getting a bonus of some kind.   This can mean that we start to treat all deals through suspicious eyes. We start to wonder if a good deal does actually exist, we consider if companies are always tricking us and we can never be rewarded for being good customers. When offers from casinos come up we are particularly suspicious. Doesn’t the house always win, we think. Do casinos not always come away with our money? Does anyone actually win at casinos.   Unfortunately this can mean we miss amazing deals like the ones at the-casinobonus.com which can help you to make bets, to win money and to have fun playing great online casino games without having to put any of your own money on the line. People should make sure to put their worries to one side and consider some reasons why casinos are giving away these bonuses, there are reasons that, if you understand and then use them to your advantage, that can help you to win big.   The key reason, is competition and new competition from inside the sector. In the old days, before casinos were online, they were usually very big places with little competition for miles around. Outside of city hotspots like Vegas or Atlantic City, very few casinos existed close to each other. This mean that if a customer wanted to leave or try a new place, it was very tough for them. They could not just easily switch over to a new casino, that would mean trying to find somewhere and then travelling there at great cost and hassle.   Now though, that is no longer a problem, if you are bored with the online casino you are using, you can just go to a new one, it's simply a click of a button away. You don’t have to drive anywhere, you don’t have to do much research, you just need to do a quick google and then you are away. This means that online casinos need to do something to keep you, they need to entice to them and then charm you to make sure you don’t change. This is the main reason they give you bonuses, to inspire loyalty and to try and get you over to their site and then stop you from changing. If you are smart, you can use websites that give you information about bonuses and then keep switching providers. You don’t need to stick with one place, the internet has empowered us in new and exciting ways and it is important that we take advantage of that.   Another reason they need to offer bonuses, is to make sure that you feel like you are ahead, if you don’t know when to stop playing, starting off with free money and winning can make you feel invincible and spend more than you want to. You need to be patient and quit when you are ahead. Gambling is about being responsible, its about not spending too much and it's about keeping a level head   If you can do that, as well as be willing to swap providers to use up as many different bonuses as possible, then the new age of online casinos can work very well for you.

Are you brave enough to help us in our efforts to Scare Away Cancer? Grim Acres Scare Away Cancer has a project just for you! On Oct 6th from 2-3pm, we will be holding a world record attempt event that aims to break the current world record for most heads shaved in one hour by one person, which currently stands at 75 people. To celebrate our amazing Westman Community, we will also be having a free Family Fun Day from 1-4pm, which will feature children's carnival, bouncy castle, music, laser tag, mini golf, and more! Concessions will be available, with proceeds going to the Canadian Cancer Society. We are looking for both volunteers to assist with the entertainment ( children's carnival, bouncy castle, music, parking, laser tag, concessions,etc) and people who are willing to participate in the head shave portion. To volunteer, for EVENT ACTIVITIES ONLY,  please email us at grimacres@gmail.com . To sign up as a head shave participant from 2-3pm, please fill out the link below and click submit. Local Barber Quentin Derhak will be succesfully performing the attempt on behalf of his father, Royal Derhak. Participants will be asked to collect pledges, with all donations going to the Canadian Cancer Society and their programs supporting bladder cancer education, prevention, research and treatments. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfPTN5aR1TiLxsQqg9z7RycsgTBDCidpzjk3SCSTYVJ4BaJ_w/viewform?usp=sf_link  Event Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1260544537379604/?ti=cl

The numbers don’t lie. We, as a nation, love our furry, four-legged friends. In fact, according to a survey done for Canadian Animal Health Institute in 2016, there are 8.8 million cats and 7.6 million dogs considered to be household pets across Canada. As a pet owner, there is often a lot of consideration taken into account as to where you are going to live especially if you are in the market to buy a condominium or if you are looking for an apartment to rent. Vionell Holdings, a property management company with property in Brandon and Thompson, allows pets (with restrictions) in well over half of the units that they have available. If you consider that they have just over 3,500 units, that is a lot of pet-friendly space available! Investors of rental property or the condominium board of directors typically set the restrictions regarding pets for the units that are under their control. While some may believe that best way to protect the value of the buildings is to offer a pet-free environment in these communities, others are more inclined to offer pet-friendly options, but with various restrictions. Most of these restrictions are just slightly less than the City of Brandon by-law that states that no person shall own more than two dogs or two cats over the age of six months. And there are sometimes requirements from the city relating to licensing for pets which includes proof of vaccination. The most typical restriction is limiting the condominium owner or apartment dweller to either one dog or one cat. As well, sometimes a size limit is placed on dogs (some residents may be afraid of large dogs) and animals may be restricted to certain areas of the complex. However, when it comes to service dogs they are welcome in any community. Service animals as defined by the Manitoba Human Rights Code are animals specifically trained to assist a person with a disability. The work or task(s) performed by a service animal must be directly related to a person’s physical or mental disability.  Animals that provide comfort and companionship and that are not trained to assist with a person’s disability are not service animals. While cases have been made by pet owners that their pet is an emotional support animal, this isn’t the same as a service animal. For most animal lovers, pets are indeed emotional support animals, however, they are still pets. Service animals have been specifically trained and have a serious job to do and that is why they are treated differently. It opens a giant can of worms if property investors and condominium boards were to allow emotional support animals into units where decisions have been made that pets are not welcome. Consider how you would react if you saw someone carrying a 25-foot python that could eat a small child into a condominium that prohibits pets? You can bet that the resident pushed the issue far enough to get allowances for an emotional support animal, but does that make it right for the other residents or for prospective residents? I have pets of my own, but I wouldn’t want my pets interfering with the lives of other tenants or potentially causing them allergy-related issues when they bought a condo or rented an apartment that was designated as a pet-free environment. For tenants on the opposite end of each spectrum, there is good news for all. Most of the complexes managed by Vionell Holdings have designated pet-friendly units. This means that the pet lovers can live in harmony beside other pet lovers; and for those who do not care to be around animals, particularly if they have allergies, they can steer clear of the pet-friendly units. Now, if we can all just be courteous and clean up after our pets, we can help to maintain the space around our complexes for everyone to enjoy and be proud of. Vionell Holdings Partnership (VHP) provides rental housing and property management for an array of residential and commercial customers, including Condominium Management. VHP currently has over 3,500 units under management in Manitoba.

Many people have often heard about a life lease community, however they don’t often know how they work and why people would choose a life lease community over a condo or traditional apartment.  A life lease community is a rental arrangement where a tenant makes a cash contribution called an entrance fee, these fees can range from as low as $10,000 to $200,000; when the tenancy ends the cash contribution is returned to the tenant (or to the estate in the event of death). The entrance fee is held in trust by a trust company, as the project reaches full occupancy; a Landlord can use the equity to fund construction.  The Landlord much keep a certain number of deposits with the trust company as a float to repay tenants moving out in the future in case a new tenant cannot be immediately found to take the vacant unit. While the tenant has put equity into the community, they still pay a monthly rental amount that is less than it would be in a traditional rental community.  This monthly rent covers the maintenance costs, property taxes, water and other common area costs for the community. In times of property appreciation, one might ask why someone wouldn’t buy a condo instead of choosing a life lease community.  The most common answer to this is while life lease holders do not gain equity in times of property appreciation, they do not have to worry about selling their unit in a down market and can be free and clear of their life lease commitment with 90 days’notice, rather than risking selling their condo in a down market should their lifestyle or health change. What are some other benefits of Life Lease Communities? Tenants find they are part of a community of likeminded people with common interests and of similar age and values The entrance fee generally allows for tenants who care for the property and take pride in the appearance of their community Although the entrance fee is not earning interest, the contribution itself helps by saving monthly rent as a portion of the equity required for the project is funded by the life lease holders. Brandon’s newest life lease community is being built on the North Hill just east Grand Valley Church.  The Summit will feature two 18 suite buildings with underground parking.  For more information please visit www.vhproperties.ca. Vionell Holdings Partnership (VHP) provides rental housing and property management for an array of residential and commercial customers, including Condominium Management. VHP currently has over 3,000 units under management in Manitoba.

The second Prairie Organics Conference and Trade Show will reprise its successful 2016 format of pairing leading edge science with the best organic farmers in Canada. With 26,000 square feet of exhibit space, the free trade show features its own Ag Innovation Stage, the largest organic trade show in western Canada and free customized meetings for buyers and growers of organic grain. Below are some of the highlights from the conference stream. Gillian Flies and Brent Preston Building a Profitable Organic Vegetable Enterprise Brent and Gillian share valuable lessons learned the hard way over a decade spent building their Ontario organic market garden into a profitable and environmentally viable farm enterprise. These lessons are detailed in Brent’s new book The New Farm: Our Ten Years on the Front Lines of the Good Food Revolution published by Random House in 2016. Dr. Jonathan Lundgren Putting the Diversity back into Organic Jonathan Lundgren is an insect ecologist from South Dakota. Jonathan’s talk will help farmers to better understand the role of insects in ecosystem functioning and how they can benefit the Whole Farm. Jay Fuhrer What’s on your Landscape? Jay is a Conservationist with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in Bismarck, North Dakota. He will cover foundation principles to restore and maintain life in the soil, including resource concerns such as erosion, salinity, plant and animal diversity, carbon and water quality. Ian Cushon, Loic Dewavrin and Steven Snider Producer Panel: Managing Perennial Weeds Long time organic producers from Saskatchewan, Quebec and Alberta will share what they have learned over the years about how to manage perennial weeds in an organic farming system. Dr. Martin Entz and Ryan Boyd Integrating Crops and Livestock for Optimal Production Martin is one of Canada’s leading researchers with an organic and natural systems focus. He runs Canada’s longest running organic-conventional cropping system trial. Ryan is a young farmer from Rapid City, Manitoba who is putting leading edge thinking on crop-livestock integration into action. The conference and trade show will take place in the Keystone Centre in Brandon. Visit www.prairieorganics.org for the complete program and to register.