The Squamidian Report – Nov. 5 / 05
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Hi All,
Flickers are large members of the woodpecker family of birds. They look a little like a morning dove on steroids. They are kind of neat to have around until they start to peck at your house. The pecking has nothing to do with finding or storing food. It’s all about drumming, nice and loud to announce their presence and territory. Problem is, our house is stucco and the stupid birds can drill a hole into the siding in no time. So we have to chase the one that’s pecking at our house away whenever it comes around. It lands high on a wall corner and somehow manages to hold on. Then it pecks. It does get the hint after being chases away several times and gives up on our house. I don’t really mind when it goes after the neighbour’s house, don’t like their kids very much.
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And speaking of kids, we had one very wet Halloween. It poured, and poured, and poured. That thankfully cut down on the number of kids that came around, even locally grown west coast kids can only take so much rain. The ones that did turn up looked like drowned rats. I kind of enjoyed the evening.
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On another weather related topic, Blackcomb Mt, which is part of the Whistler / Blackcomb resort thing opens this weekend for skiing. The Blackcomb section has snow making machines and is a bit more north facing so its ready to go. On top of any snow they have made, there has been over a meter of the stuff fall in just the last few days up on the slopes. They had kind of a dismal season last years so the whole village is excited about the opening. Some of the ski resorts in the interior are intending to open in another couple of weeks.
The snow level is moving lower down the mountains each day. In fact, it is just above our heads where we are working down at Britannia. We look up and see it snowing onto the trees as it is raining on us. And the raindrops were quite interesting at one point. You know how when a drop of liquid falls straight down onto liquid it makes a crown shaped splash with a high center point ? Well, there was no wind so the rain was falling straight down, the drops were very big and because of all the trucks and equipment moving around there was ponding. The thousands upon thousands of drops were all making those little crown splashes and creating thousands of spiked centers that poked up a good inch and a half or so in height. It was like some sort of special effects thing with little water spikes all over the place. It went on for quite a while and was almost disorienting.
d
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While we were up at the
cottage at Carling Bay the other week the topic of why you are not allowed to
stay year round came up. There is no
snow plowing, etc (the fire & ambulance could not go to the rescue in case
of an emergency). It’s simply cottage
territory.
Of course where I was raised if we were lucky if they kept the road into Cedarville open until Christmas. Some years December had too many storms so the road was closed early. There were no fresh fruits or vegetables or anything that couldn’t withstand being frozen. Once trunks could no longer get through everything had to be brought in by sleigh.
During the winter my Dad took the mail route in the morning with the cutter and driver (a single horse). It was about 20 miles. Then he would stop at home before he went back to the post office, have his lunch and hitch up the team and sleigh and head for Mount Forest. (usually Monday, Wednesday and Fridays) Going into town he would take in a load from the feed mill and coming home he carried a load for the store. He brought items like coal oil for the lamps, insoles for boots as well as foods that could withstand being frozen. Most people bought their staples; like sugar, flour and oatmeal, etc. by 100-pound bags in the fall. Meat was mostly that which came from butchering on the farms. Dad did sometimes bring something like bologna if it wasn’t too cold.
On a clear cold winter evening we’d start to wonder when Dad would get home. It was 12 miles each way and he’d have to stop at the store to unload. Dad had a really good set of sleigh bells on the horses so if we listened we could often hear them when they were miles away. (Each farmer had different bells on their horses so they could each be recognized by sound once your ears became attuned to the differences.) We would hear the bells getting louder as they came over the top of a hill and then they would fade away as he would go down into the next hollow. We got pretty good at telling by the sound where he was so we’d have an idea how long he would be until he got home. It was usually 8 or 9 before he returned so we would have the chores done and his supper hot on the stove. It made for very long days but I guess that is how he kept the wolf from the door.
I guess, when I look back now, that it was a very hard life but we were luckier then a lot of people. I can now appreciate how hard both my parents had to work. As each of us got old enough to be of any help we had to do our share also. We didn’t think much about it at the time, it was just part of living. We always had food on the table and clothes on our backs so we survived the great depression better then lots of people.
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Now that I know about the
Google Earth program I feel like someone is watching me from above. It is so fascinating to think that you can
zoom in just about anywhere. Do you
think we have high resolution here because of very little pollution Doug? Remember you said you could breathe
here. We have something very
interesting happening in our neighbourhood that you might like to google
at. A wind turbine has been erected at
the top of Tower Rd where Ward lives.
It stands incredibly tall with blades spanning 150 feet across. It’s like something from outer space when
you get a glimpse of it on the horizon.
This one is a test but the plan is to have 13 or 14 more spread over
Fitzpatrick and Dalhousie Mts, and Mount Thom area where the TransCanada
highway runs from Truro to New Glasgow.
It should be an amazing sight.
Maybe it will bring more tourists.
Prince Edward Island has already started to have wind farms. From what I read we need to go green since
Nova Scotia Power’s coal burning energy is our worst polluter. I guess I won’t be doing much googling since
we are on dial-up.
It is so good to hear from
Ewan through the Squamidian. His writings are always interesting. The camping trip story had me shivering. I didn’t like the idea of him and Hugh
splitting up, one in the canoe and the other hiking the trail and then trading
places on the way back. It made great
reading but I’d prefer you stick together from now on. Life in Toronto is so different from
here. I never would think that the
people I would meet on the street could be actually playing a game and using
the city as a playing field. This must
be coming from all the reality shows on TV like the Amazing Race.
Last week Greg mentioned
sword fighting and fencing and the new Zorro movie. Peter and I started fencing
almost a year ago and find it a great exercise for the body and the mind. We practice weekly at the school in
Scotsburn and on Fridays in Pictou. We
are probably the oldest in the class but can give the young ones a run for
their money. There are three types of
fencing: foils ( that we do), epee, and sabre.. With foils you make small moves and are only allowed to hit in
the torso area, epee can be anywhere on the body and saber is just a lot of
slashing and wild fighting. So maybe
saber is what sword fighting is. Peter
just excels at fencing. I think he was
a pirate in his past life since he bases a good movie on whether it has sword
fighting and sailing ships in it. I haven’t done much sewing in awhile but
decided to make my own fencing jacket.
It is a challenge but I think it will work okay. I had to make my own pattern from a borrowed
jacket and then do a lot of adjusting.
Next I’ll make one for Peter. We
have to get our own equipment since there are new members that need the club
gear.
Curling has started this
week too. The Curling Club has an open
house all this week to promote the sport and increase our membership. Peter is giving free lessons to anyone who
has never played before or just needs to brush up. He really should have been a teacher. He’s a natural. We have made great friends through the clubs we
belong to and it’s a great way to spend the winter.
Well that’s all for now,
****
Hello
everyone!
The
weather is holding out a little better than I expected here in KW area. We seem
to be enjoying a bit of a mild spell at the moment. It’s not really what I’d
call an “Indian Summer” but as long as we don’t have to shovel anything, I’m
happy. I took the time to clean out the garage the other day and rearranged the
contents that are left. This year we’ll have two motorcycles that we didn’t
have last year. That means there’ll be the MGB, Adam’s MINI Cooper and the two
motorcycles stored in the garage. I’ve planned it so I’ll still have room for
the snow blower so I can get it in and out for clearing the driveway. It’s amazing
how much one can hang from the ceiling of one’s garage. Thank goodness we’ve
got an “open rafter” style roof on the garage. Where else would I store the
three bicycles, two kayaks, 18 Rubber Maid tubs containing everything from
Christmas ornaments to Halloween decorations, and possibly hundreds of other
items one accumulates over the years? I’ve managed to build a mezzanine over
the double doors and store many of the boxes of items up there. I guess I
should make a point of sorting through these items next spring and do away with
all the things we haven’t used for many years. People tend to hang on to too
many things from their years of married life. Anything from old appliances to
old furniture are kept “just in case we might need them sometime”! They say if
you haven’t used an item in a year, PITCH IT! I did find a number for a company
that will send a truck around free of charge to pick up any household items
we’d like to part with. I haven’t a clue what they do with these things but I
suspect they donate the money from the sale of the items to charity. At least I
hope they do! I’ll have to ask that question when I phone them in the spring.
Some of the “second hand” shops have made a good business out of collecting
these items and selling them for profit in a small business venture. I guess
you have to give them credit for being creative. Like they say “one man’s junk
is another man’s treasure”. There certainly is some truth in that statement!
Anyway, I’ve managed to solve the storage problem for this year but it’s for
sure that I’ll have to do a clearing out in the Spring.
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We have
pretty much finished all the repairs and changes we want to do to the house.
We’ve gotten the roof re-shingled and the chimney rebuilt and those were two
big jobs. Last week I replaced the upper window in the office. It’s been foggy
and moisture filled since we bought the house 7 years ago. It’s nice to be able
to look out without feeling like you’re under water. LOL! I found a company
called “Fog Busters” who will come to your home and de-fog any double paned
windows that have lost their seal. One might think this would be cheaper than
replacing the window and I guess it is but…when the fellow explained the
process to me, the result is that the insulating factor of a sealed window
glass in no longer there. They drill a tiny hole in the outer pane of glass and
introduce a drying agent between the panes. This agent absorbs the moisture and
then evaporates after 1 to 5 weeks. They then return and place a “two way”
valve in the hole so they can return any time and repeat the drying process.
Since the insulating factor of a double pane window is minimal anyway, there
shouldn’t be much of a change in heat loss. The cost of this would have been
around $100.00 for the 2’x 3’ window. However, our window was too far gone for
them to successfully repair so I was advised to replace the glass instead. The
same company said they would replace it for $200.00 installed. I bought the
glass for $80.00 and spent about 3 hours replacing it myself. This was one more
item needing attention on the house. I hope we’ve pretty much finished what was
in need of repair for a few years to come. The one big thing still needing
attention is the furnace. However, it’s still working well but is a 30 or so
year old standard gas furnace and it would save some 25 – 30% on our heating
bill to have a new “high efficiency” furnace in its place. Since I’ve spent 35
years + in the air conditioning and heating business it’s not a big expense for
me to replace the furnace. With the cost of heating gas supposedly heading
upward significantly this winter, we probably will replace the furnace within
the next couple of weeks. Looks like I’ve still got a little work ahead of me
before I can rest for the winter. Well, what the heck else does a retired guy
like me have to do with his time anyway? LOL! Gotta keep in shape somehow and I
might as well be productive while doing so! After all, I can only spend so many
hours at the keyboard of the computer before getting bored.
Enough said
for this week!
I look
forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now… GREG.
PS:
Something To Think About>
Don’t
forget to get your Flu Shot!
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The Family and the Squamidian sites:
http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b/ and http://www.thedougsite.ca
Have a good one..
the
doug
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