The Squamidian Report – Nov. 13 / 04

 

 

Also in this issue:

Walking For Health

School Days

The Ontarion

 

Hi All,

 

Sue took a few desperately needed days off and spent them visiting her folks back in Ontario. She went up to their cottage at Tobermory. They were closing it up for the season. She got home Thursday evening.

 

Anyway, while she was gone Ryan and I snuck down to the local computer store and picked up a couple of hard drives. He was in need of a larger, faster one to work with and store audio files so we got him a 160 GB Samsung. It took him all of an hour to remove the old one, install and partition the new one, load Win XP and SP2 and all his programs and set up a dual boot and load Linux. Once everything was set up how he wanted it he did a Ghost image for future security.

 

I picked up a miserly 80 gig to replace the little 13 gig in my old K7 system. We had captured a Ghost image of the contents before pulling the old drive. I needed to set the BIOS to auto-detect (for some reason I had never done that on the K7) and then use a Partition Magic boot disk to partition and format the drive as the ‘C:’. Then I restored from the Ghost image. Once that was done I used the Partition Magic boot disk to chop up the drive into 3, 13 gigs for the O/S and programs, 50 gigs for storage etc and the rest for a Linux installation. The reason for chopping up the drive into smaller partitions after the O/S was restored was that the image had been of the whole old drive rather than just a partition so restoring would simply over write the whole new drive. Keep in mind this is my secondary machine where I am able to experiment and explore without real concern.

 

We popped the Linux distro SuSE 9.1 onto the left over section of the drive and set up a dual boot configuration. Actually, Linux did all the work, we just told it our preferences.  You just gotta love those rainy Saturdays.

*

Poor old Yogi is finding it pretty hard these days. He has gotten rather old and frail, to the point where getting up or lying down are very large challenges for him. To make his life worse, he injured a front paw a couple of weeks ago and damaged under the claw. It got infected making walking even harder for him. I was finally able to get him to the Vet last Saturday. They had to give him a sedative and pain killer so they could remove the claw and clean out the infected area. They could not simply put him under, as he would probably not have survived that. The sedative left him pretty wobbly and spaced out. We had to lift him back into the van and lift him out once we got home.

 

Ryan and I forced him to lie down in the garage until he was steady enough to climb the steps into the house. When he reached that point I still had to help him and keep him from falling over. Once he was back on his favorite blanket in the living room he was willing to sleep it off. His foot was bandaged making walking even harder for him than usual. It is actually quite funny watching a dog try to walk with something over one of their feet. They step very high with it as they try to figure out what to do. Mostly they depend on the tactile feel and feedback sent through their feet so when it is impeded they are a bit lost.

 

By mid week the anti-biotic pills the vet put him on had kicked in and he was starting to feel better. Only problem was that he had become suspicious of the bits of wiener we were hiding the pills in. It’s amazing how a dog can remove a pill from the treat with his tongue, spit out the pill and swallow the treat.

 

 

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Walking For Health

Hi all,

 

In the two years that my neighbour Barb and I have been walking for our health, we've slid a little on ice patches or tripped over our own feet because we've stopped to watch a fire truck maneuver a sharp corner. Once, a young student literally blew past us on her bike in her hurry to get to Stanley Park Senior School and yelled 'sorry' back over her shoulder as we reacted more out of fear than surprise.

 

I remember falling as a kid on numerous surfaces and wearing scabby knees for a few weeks. I broke my arm while playing tag, my ankle, leaping for a jump ball during a high school basketball game, my foot, a couple of years ago, falling from the porch steps at my mother's house and then just last May, I misjudged the mattress on a chaise lounge and crashed to the deck of the Sun Princess mid-Caribbean on our way through the Panama Canal.   Rum punch had nothing to do with it.

 

Looking at it in the long run, I don't know...am I more accident prone than others?  I suppose there are others who have broken more body parts than I have, but then it depends on your life style. I don't especially seek out thrilling adventures, I don't climb mountains or drive ATV's through the mountains.  I've never been horsebackriding, haven't ever driven a sportscar, don't take part in kayaking or anything that goes particularly fast. I tend to stay closer to sewing, scrapbooking and singing.  So walking for your health would tend to be something more up my alley.

 

The piece of black, wire cable which was my undoing last Thursday morning was sunken into the pavement just off the sidewalk by the Sunoco station on Ottawa street at River.  It had fulfilled some purpose for something at some point and then had been left there, or someone had trimmed it down to its 5" size. As Barb and I chugged along chatting and looking forward to coffee at Tim's, my right foot hit this cable and I left my feet and crashed onto my right shoulder & my right hand .  You might say, my right side took the brunt of the fall. The pain was immediate. In fact while I was in the air, I knew there would be pain in the next nanosecond.  So while Barb implored me to get up, I decided to just lay there, trying to figure out how I was going to do that because I was really scared to find out which part wasn't going to work. Eventually, I remember yelling, "Oh God, it's my shoulder, Barb, it's my shoulder."

 

Others had  gathered around...Maria on her way to work at Zehrs, the two East Indian guys from Sunoco..they had just bought the garage, another walker, someone yelling from traffic out of his car window..they helped me to my feet.

 

At Emergency, all of the people I saw were so helpful, so empathetic. Tracy, the nurse was a scrapbooker so she and I chatted while she deftly applied a topical freezing to the palm of my hand which she remarked looked like a part of a gravel road.  I didn't feel a thing.   Dr. Curtis explained what a broken shoulder was all about and I decided that I didn't want one. He sent me to X-ray. I asked the technician if I could be the one to move my arm instead of her. She didn't mean to hurt me but there are limits to trying to get someone else's arm in position when it's your arm.

 

When Dr. Curtis told me I was bruised and battered but not broken, I was relieved. But, you know, you wonder how much it has to hurt before something is broken.  Bruised and battered is no picnic. My (right) hand is bandaged and taped. My (right) arm is in a sling.  I am right handed. Other muscles and joints have decided to join into the fun and I ache all over. Painkillers are a good thing.  Sleeping in the Lazy Boy is not. Yoga is over. Swedish weaving is finished...my daughter and daughter-in-law will maybe get their table runners for their birthdays instead of Christmas. Accompanying the choir will wait for a few weeks. John has become the kitchen guy. But, we'll live.

 

All in all, it sure could have been a lot worse so, we'll just get on with it.  John contacted the City Friday morning and two hours later they phoned to say the cable had been cut off at pavement level. No one else will trip while 'walking for their health'.  Thanks, Carol, for the line, 'walking for health' and also for the good wishes.

 

Brenda in Kit

 

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School Days

 

I’ve been hearing lately about making all schools bigger (is bigger really better?).  It means more bussing for young children and also longer days.  When I was young I never heard of a school that had more then one room and one teacher.  The school I went to had anywhere from 18 to 22 children.  If a child was 6 years old at Easter they could start going to Primer all day until the end of June and then start what is now Grade 1 in September.  If a child had too far to walk parents would sometimes keep them at home until they were 7.

 

The Easter after I turned 5 in February and Carman was 2 the weather had warmed up early.  My Dad had to be busy in the fields so my Mother had to take over the mail route with the horse and buggy.  This was a trip over 20 miles and took about 4 hours.  She had to pack Carman and I into the buggy along with the mail.  Verlet and Clarence were at the school so the teacher suggested my mother leave me also for a few days.  I loved it.  When my Dad could take the mail again, after about a week, the teacher said I might as well stay in school as I was doing as well as the other 2 children in Primer.  That meant that I started out a year ahead in school.  I guess I really did like school because I skipped Grade 2 since I usually had my work done early and would then follow right along what the older children were doing.

 

Being all in the same room with one teacher also had drawbacks for children that had a harder time paying attention and learning.  I was also lucky in the fact that my parents both believed in encouraging us in school.  Quite a few parents back then really didn’t see the sense of sending kids to school if there was work at home on the farm they could help with.  The teacher could also make a big difference.  I have some teacher stories I will go into another time.

 

Vivyan

 

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THE ONTARION REPORT

 

November 9, 2004

 

Hi everyone!

 

I’m writing this Ontarion a little early this week. It’s Tuesday evening and I’m going to hit the hay in a few minutes. Carole and I have a long drive ahead of us early tomorrow morning. We’re driving to Saint John NB to attend the funeral of our dear friend Don Jennings. He passed away on Sunday night. We’ve decided to drive down to NB to attend the funeral since it’s only planned for Friday. We’ll be leaving at 6am and arriving in Saint John on Thursday at around noon. Should be quite a drive.

 

Life really is strange when I think of it. First you’re all in school, wondering what you’ll do with you future, will you marry, will you have any children? What will you do for a living and will you be successful? Then all of a sudden that’s all established in the blink of an eye and you’re raising your kids looking forward to their growing up and establishing their futures. After attending graduation ceremonies for all your friends and relatives kids, you’re attending weddings and baby showers for their kids. Soon, you’re invited to christenings and birthday parties for your friend’s grandchildren. And on and on life goes. Along the way, you start to lose your grandparents, then your parents and aunts and uncles. Before you know it, you’re of the age where your attending funerals of people your own age and reality smacks you right in the face! I know that we all have to go sometime but it seems unfair when someone is taken away long before what you think their time should be. I know some of us have lost loved ones through accidents and illness at much younger ages than my friend Don was and that is a lot harder to take. Especially when we knew that Don was very ill and his demise was expected. His family at least got to say goodbye to him before he passed away. Carole and I both talked to Don about a week ago and we are grateful that we were able to have done so. He was a delightful man to know. He spent his working years as a high school special education teacher and through his efforts many special kids went on to lead productive and happy lives. He was proud to have retired from such a rewarding career and deservedly so! It’s just unfortunate that he only enjoyed 5 years of retirement after such a dedicated and caring career. I’m sure there will be many of his students in attendance at Don’s funeral this Friday. I know that Carole and I are proud to have called Don our friend and although we are all saddened by his passing, we are happy for Don to finally be relieved of the suffering he endured for the past year. His wife Joan has been caring for him in their home and has done an amazing job of staying strong for the whole family through this difficult experience. We look forward to and feel honoured to be able to share this time with our friend Joan. She’s also a special and caring person and will miss Don greatly. They have a grown son and daughter and I’m sure Joan will be able to count on them to be there for her in the future as well.

 

I’d better get some sleep for the drive. I will be back to my usual happier self for the next Ontarion, I promise!

 

Until next week, take care all and God Bless you and your family members and keep you safe and healthy.

 

Thanks for giving me an outlet for my feelings this week and every week! It’s a definite pleasure to be a part of the Squamidian family!

 

Bye for now…… GREG.

 

PS: Something to think about>

Call someone you have thought about but haven’t spoken to in a long time. Just to say “Hi”!

 

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The family site:

http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b/

The Squamidian Site:

http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b2/

 

Have a good one..

the doug