The Squamidian Report – Jan. 22 / 05

 

Also in this issue:

North Nova News

The Ontarion

 

Hi All,

 

Well, for starters, I have to apologize to anyone who tried to follow the Greg link in last weeks letter. I had screwed up the link within the Web page to the embedded picture so all you would have seen is an empty box. (Perhaps that is what you thought you were supposed to see!) Guess it had been that way all along. Anyway, it is fixed now but if you had tried the link you may need to force your browser to do a refresh so it will bring in the corrected page. Simply hold down the CTRL key and hit the REFRESH button once you are at the page if the picture is not showing.

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The west coast is back to its ‘normal’ winter weather. The uncharacteristic cold and snow have been replaced by rain. While all of us imports liked both the snow and the clear skies that the cold had brought us, the locals were quite unhappy with it. They are much happier now, rain is something they understand. And fact it, it is the way of life out here. Can’t have rain forests without rain. Can’t have uncountable waterfalls cascading down every rock face. Can’t have deep green moss growing everywhere without the rain, so without the rain the coastal regions wouldn’t be the way they are. And besides, you do tend to get used to it so it’s not a problem. Only real downside is that it keeps the dirt bikes parked in the garage.

 

Actually, its not quite normal weather. The whole week was under the influence of a ‘Pineapple Express’. That’s a very wet low-pressure system that runs up from Hawaii bringing mild air and huge amounts of moisture with it. It just keeps pumping and pumping. It literally poured for over a week, day and night. Most of the lower areas in the Lower Mainland ended up under water. Cars floating down the highways, that kind of thing. No flooding up this way, just steady heavy rain.

 

That steady rain has created another problem typical in mountain terrain. Mud slides. Slides and the threat of slides have most of the main highways through the interior of BC closed. Slides are also happening in the Vancouver area, in North Van and Port Coquitlam as well as Whiterock. Several homes on quiet streets have been destroyed. Mudslides are deadly and fascinating. There is an overburden of normally hard soil and rocks, covered with trees and other growth on the steep hillsides and slopes. As this overburden absorbs water its stability decreases. Once it reaches saturation the soil literally turns to liquid. The water can also form a lubrication layer between the overburden and the steep sloped layers under it. Once triggered it begins to flow and nothing can stop it. It has become a thick liquid about the consistence of pancake batter. It carries with it rocks and boulders, trees of all sizes and anything in its way as gravity pulls it down hill.

 

I’ve tried cleaning up small-scale versions of this stuff on our construction sites. There is nothing you can do with it. It cannot be pushed into a pile for it just keeps flowing. It can’t be loaded onto a truck and hauled away. All you can do is try to contain it until it can dry out enough to be worked. Slides are a force and condition of Nature that are very scary.

 

They are not something we have to worry about at our house here in the Highlands. We are on solid rock, on a ridge. No slide could reach us, no flood could reach us. It is however a very interesting place to live. I’ll take mud jams over traffic jams any day.

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I guess it is time for my annual winter visit to back home. So on that note I’ve booked a flight that will get me into Toronto on the evening of Friday, Jan 28th. I’ll have to find my way up to Kitchener where I’ll stick around for a week, then fly back to Vancouver on Friday Feb 4th. Seeing as how I’ll be away from my computer for a while, the easiest thing to do newsletter wise is to publish the Jan. 29 Squamidian a day early, very early on the morning of the 28th. So if anyone has something to send in, please get it to my by the evening of the 27th. I’ll be back at Squamidian central in time for the Feb. 5th addition.

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Greg was out and about with his camera. He took a bunch of shots around Kitchener. To anyone living in the area, things probably look normal. To those of us that now live else wares, things just keep on changing. The pictures can be seen at:

http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b/Greg/kitchener.htm

 

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North Nova News

 

Hi All,

 

Sorry to be so absent.  I feel like I'm very in touch because I read all the Squamidian news every week.  We have been quite busy with work and everything.  My bookkeeping is taking a lot of my computer time because it is year end and soon everything will have to be ready for the bookkeeper to do our taxes.  Yuck!  I always worry about having to pay.  My business just boomed this year and for sure I will have to pay more unless I have enough expenses to counteract them.  Now that I have 2 employees it keeps me busy just trying to keep them busy.  I started advertising monthly with specials for them.  They need to make more money and build up their clienteles.  I am very happy about the changes in my business but it certainly keeps me on my toes.  I'm not sure how people run big business,  I guess they get others to help them.  I still do everything myself. 

 

We are having a snowstorm at this minute.  We woke to about a foot of snow and it is still coming down.  They have advised everyone in Nova Scotia to stay home or where you are in order to get the roads cleaned up and open.  We seem to get all our storms on Sunday nights and Mondays, so I don't miss any work.  I could use a holiday!!!   Today Peter and I are getting some backlog done on the computer.  We finally got a CD burner.  Peter installed it all by himself.  When he opened up the tower we all gasped.  The dust was incredible.  I know you told me to clean it once in awhile but I forgot.  Well he did a good job of installing but then we couldn't figure how to make it work since there were 80 pages of instructions.  So we got a friend in to make it simple.  Now we can put all our pictures onto CD's and organize everything.  I don't like my computer so full.  I'd rather just pull out a CD to look at pictures.  So we are finally catching up to everyone.  We still need a cord for sound in order to download music.  We probably won't do much of that since we are on dial-up. 

 

I enjoyed reading about our family history from Wayne.  I printed it off so I have it as a reference.  I remember one time counting how many Susan or Susannah Brubachers there were.  I'm the 23rd. 

 

Peter is planning a Treasure Hunt for the Pictou Yacht Club for this summer.  He will be planting small round discs in different locations, mostly near the water, on islands and wharfs, with clues on them to find a treasure.  We spent the morning planning and making up a brochure to hand out in the spring.  It should be fun.  The boaters will have all summer to collect the clues and then solve the quiz.  When sailors are not sailing they spend their time planning their next adventure.  We got an email from a group of sailors travelling the world.  They were, in all places, Thailand when the Tsunami hit.    They were lucky but had a harrowing experience they'll never forget.  Their boats were anchored in a nice quiet lagoon when the water beneath them starting to disappear.  As the first wave came in their boats started to spin as in a whirlpool. Most of them started up their engines and as the spin lessoned they hauled up their anchors and headed out to sea.  Some extra crewmembers jumped on other unoccupied boats and did the same thing.  A couple of boaters that had been ashore managed to survive also by bear-hugging each other so as not to lose anyone.  They were tossed around and one became unconscious from taking in seawater but was able to be revived. 

 

I am looking forward to having a great reunion with the relatives in June during Vivyan and Lorne's 60th Anniversary party.  I think I'll take a week off so I can visit properly. 

 

If you want to use this as my contribution to the Squamidian this week Doug that would be great.  I guess it takes a snow day to get me writing. 

Sus

 

PS.  Congratulations to Greg on your 100th edition of the Ontarion.  It's been great reading.  Maybe we can get a Squamidian reunion going in June as well.

 

 

 

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THE ONTARION REPORT

 

JANUARY 22, 2005

 

Hello everyone!

 

Things are getting back to normal around here. All of the special occasions are over with for a while anyway. The next biggie is Valentines Day and we’ve got about a month before that hits. Of course the stores are filled with the hearts and cards that usually go along with Feb 14th. It seems that as each year passes, retailers put up the display for the next special occasion earlier and earlier. I’ll bet we’ll see Easter stuff up by early February. Of course the clothing industry is already selling off their winter stock and replacing it with spring clothes. The advertising game is just that, a game. It’s one that manufacturers and retail outlets must have psychologists on staff to tell them how to win. I’m sure it’s a big “mind game”! To plant the thought in everyone’s head that what they are looking at on a billboard is what they want or should have is definitely the goal of these ad people. Jackie can likely tell us much more about this than I can, having been in the advertising world for a good while. It’s amazing how people can be brainwashed by repetitive suggestions. In fact, now that I think of it, it’s a wonder we aren’t all packing up and looking for real estate in Squamish after the barrage of PR that Doug has bestowed upon us over the past couple of years. LOL! Hardly the same game I dare say but he does make BC sound so very appealing doesn’t he! I had just about decided to ask Carole if she’d like to move out west when I watched another news program about the lovely moisture BC is experiencing at this very moment. Ummm……. Let me see now ..Hmmmmmmm??? Rain forests, flash floods, on again off again 12” dumps of heavy wet snow, killer mud slides, avalanches and Cougars that spring out of the bushes and eat your dog….I think I’ll pass for now! Sorry Doug but I’m kinda sold on KW when I think about it. I guess I’m just not the adventurous type. I don’t mind the odd excursion but I’ve never been one to dream of moving to far away places. Once I get settled in a secure comfortable place, I tend to stay put. I guess that’s why I stayed in my mother’s womb for 11 ½ months! LOL! Just kidding! She said I couldn’t wait to get out! I don’t know what it is that makes some people feel that wanderlust and others not but I’m just one of those people that gets comfortable and doesn’t take too readily to change. You can kind of tell that by the number of years we’ve been married. Carole and I just celebrated our 32nd on Wednesday and we still like each other, imagine that! We celebrated our day with a trip to Mohawk Casino. After spending about 4 hours there, we came away with about the same money we had when we went in. I guess that’s better than leaving a load of it there. We were going to go out for supper but by the time we got home, we were a little pooped and decided to order a couple of pizza’s and watch a movie. Adam was home and the three of us had a nice quiet evening. I bought Carole a new gold wedding band to go with her diamond cluster ring from last year. She wanted a band that was a little wider and flatter than her original. We went and picked it out together so as to make sure it was the style she liked. It’s important to make sure these things are correct. I’m glad she’s happy with her choice and would rather she be in on the selection of such an important item. Guys aren’t quite as particular when it comes to anniversary gifts. We’ve always bought each other something for this occasion but after so many years, it’s difficult to even think of anything one wants or needs. Carole actually came up with a great idea for me, even though I asked her not to worry about getting me anything. She surprised me with the gift of a batch of wine from a local U-brew wine store. I’m not a real big wine drinker but at least red wine is something that the Cardiologist says I can have. My beer drinking days are over ( I have about 6 a year ) and the hard stuff is not recommended after heart surgery sooooooo the wine is a great choice. We went over to the store together and she had prepaid for the wine of my choice. I decided that I like a “Merlot”. When I do visit the liquor store I find I’ve been buying a dry red Merlot from the Walnut Creek Winery in Argentina. It’s the smoothest and tastiest wine I think I’ve ever tried. So I figure when you’ve found something you like, stick with it! Kind of like what I said about staying put in KW when I’m cozy here! LOL! I guess that habit applies to pretty much all aspects of my life. I don’t know, maybe some people would say I’m boring but as long as I’m happy and Carole is too, things won’t change much. I can say that there is one thing that might move me to a more adventuresome lifestyle and that of course as I’ve said before is an obscene amount of instant cash ie: a 6/49 win. However, since I can’t count on that I’ll just have to be satisfied with things the way they are, comfortable, happy and healthy and that of course ain’t all bad! I’ll say goodbye for this week and thank you all for tuning in again.

 

I’m looking forward to next week’s Ontarion already and I hope you’ll all join me here then!

 

Bye for now…..GREG.

 

PS: Something to Think About>

It takes one Imperial Gallon of diesel fuel to move the new Queen Mary II six inches!

 

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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