The Squamidian Report – June 24 / 06

Issue #212

 

Also in this issue:

The Ontarion

 

Hi All,

 

The Sea to Sky Expansion Project is coming along just fine. That’s what they call the widening and improving of highway 99 from Horseshoe Bay to Whistler. It is being done more for the 2010 Olympics than for the people who have to travel it daily but we do get to use it even is the Olympic committee would rather we didn’t. VOC (Vancouver Olympic Committee) has been pretty heavy handed about a lot of things. The tactics of the VOC have disillusioned a lot of what had been local support for the Olympic bid. But then the Olympics are much more about politics and big business than about sports. It’s always been that way and it is getting worse. But I digress. The province has been fixing up the Sea to Sky highway and it is coming along nicely.

 

Construction has been under way for a couple of years now and the construction company doing the work has been doing an impressive job. They have managed to keep traffic interruptions to a minimum while working under some pretty extreme conditions. The highway along most of the Horseshoe Bay to Squamish section is notched into the sides of the steep mountain slopes as they hang over Howe Sound. Rock cliffs have to be blasted back to widen inward. They only way to widen outward is to build a cantilevered bridge system which they have done in some locations. The blasting brings down tonnes of rock, right onto the existing road surface. The rock rubble has to be cleared and the damaged road surface has to be repaired before traffic flow can resume. Most disruptions are during the night. There will be scheduled closures that the public can work around.

 

Occasionally there will be unscheduled closures during the day when a blast will get away from them and the resulting debris will block the road. Other than that, most daytime delays are about 15 minutes or so.

 

But as the route is being opened up, the view out over the Sound is being opened up. Trees and rock outcrops are being removed, returning the sense of hanging right out on the edge as you drive along. It is quite exhilarating to drive the opened up sections if you like heights and wide open views. It probably scares the heck out of some of the tourist traffic, they tend to drive as far over from the outside edge as they can get. That’s Ok if they are heading north and are therefore on the inside lane. But if they are heading south, they are hugging and even encroaching over the yellow center line, endangering themselves and oncoming traffic as the creep around the blind curves that still exist. Most of those blind curves will be opened up but for now the ones that haven’t been improved are still pretty tight.

*

Have you ever been woken up in the middle of the night by what sounds like a dozen or so sirens going off? It happens to me a lot but it is not sirens, it is a pack of coyotes that live over in the Mashiter Creek ravine. I don’t know what sets them off but once they get started it sure is loud and eerie. It usually starts off with one or two, and then the whole pack gets involved and the song builds to some preset climax and then they just all go quiet at the same time. Very strange.

 

doug

****

 

 

****

THE ONTARION REPORT

 

Hello Everyone!

 

Last Sunday was “Father’s Day” and it’s one of my favourite special days of the year, in fact I think it is my favourite special day. It’s always been a day when we make sure we have breakfast together as a family. I always know that I have to but out and let Adam and Carole run the day. Not that I am the domineering type anyway but on this day it’s important not to be assertive and be receptive in stead. I gotta say that I do like the pampering and having most things done for me. I’m lucky in that Carole recognizes the fact that this is a day that in her eyes is one that she helps to make special but is also one that should hold a special time for Adam and I to spend together. As parents we like to celebrate the fact that the other half of our duo has played a big part in making me a “Dad” or Carole a “Mother” so we can enjoy being treated special on our respective “Days” be it “Mother’s” or “Father’s” Day.

 

Carole always presents me with something to celebrate the day (a card and a gift) kind of as a thank you for my helping to make her a mom and she helping make me a dad  and I do the same to her. Of course Adam recognizes the main “Treat – ee” of the day too. LOL! Are you all able to follow this so far? I hope so! LOL!

 

Carole and Adam prepared a terrific pemeal bacon and egg and home fries breakfast for us and we sat for a leisurely hour and really enjoyed the meal and the conversation. It’s always a nice time where we shut out the rest of the world and concentrate on us. I was very happy to be the recipient of a lovely card containing a “Heart and Stroke Foundation” lottery ticket from Carole. Adam presented me with a card and a pair of tickets to this years Toronto Indy race on July 7, 8 and 9. We’ve been talking about attending this race for years and he figured it was time we stopped talking and really do it together. I can’t wait to spend the weekend with him at this famous event. 

 

After breakfast, he asked what I’d like to do together that day. He suggested we take a motorcycle ride together and Carole agreed that we should head out for a while. We decided to take a ride over to highway #24 on the other side of Guelph to check out an “Eagle’s” nest that we had seen about a year ago and see if the birds were there again this year. We hadn’t taken the time to stop and really look the other year so figured it would be a good time to do so. We hopped on the bikes and packed Adam’s Canon camera equipment into my carry all on the back. The drive was a pleasant one from Kitchener to Guelph. As we approached the area where the Bald Eagle’s nest is situated we were surprised to see that it was occupied. We parked our bikes on the side of the highway and walked back to the hydro pole upon which the nest sits. The Ministry of Natural Resources noted that the nest was not as secure as it should be last year so they waited until it was unoccupied and built a platform under it and moved it about 300m west of it’s original location. The nest is on top of a hydro pole that is beside the highway where it passes the Guelph Lake. I guess the eagles were attracted to this local due to the fish in the lake. There was a fairly large eagle sitting on the nest in an upright position as if tending to a young one in the nest. Adam has a digital Canon camera with the interchangeable lenses. Using his zoom lens he was able to get about 60 good shots of the bird. As we walked up to the base of the pole, the bird took flight. She ( not sure if it’s a she or a he but) lifted off the nest and hovered over us for about a minute. The wind was very strong that day and it looked like she was having trouble landing again. She flew across the field next to the highway and quickly returned to see what we were up to. All the while she was flying, she was squawking at us and showing her discontent with our presence. We stayed long enough for Adam to get a good share of pictures of her and the nest and then decided that maybe we should leave and let her settle down again. She looked like a young bird so when we got home, we looked her up on the net. We found the description of exactly the bird we’d photographed and as it turns out, she’s likely a female between the ages of 2 and 4 years. She doesn’t have a white head yet but in the pics we can see the feathers under her chin and on the back of her neck starting to turn white. I figure she’s 2 to 3 because her beak and legs have not yet started to turn yellow. The article on the net said that they start to turn yellow at approximately 3.5 years of age. She appeared to have about a 4 to 5 foot wingspan and stood about 2 feet tall. It was hard to judge this from standing on the ground but that’s a good guess. I’ve attached a few pictures of her to this Ontarion and ask Doug if he could kindly place them where you can all take a look at them if you so desire. It’s nice to see that such magnificent birds exist all across Canada and not just on the west coast. In fact I found out that Bald Eagles have made a very successful comeback in Ontario after having been almost wiped out by pollution about 20 years ago. We have them all along the Grand River as well now. I guess that’s partially due to the fact that the river has been cleaned up and the fishing in it is now very good again. It’s nice to see that Ontario’s conservation efforts are starting to pay off.

 

After leaving the eagle behind, we rode north to Elora and stopped for a Timmy’s. The wind was so strong that we both had trouble keeping our motorcycles on the road. We decided to head for home. From Elora we rode through Conestogo and Waterloo and were home about an hour later. The ride could have been a little more enjoyable had the wind not been so strong. However, we still had a good day both on the bikes and off and I will look back with fondness on the experience for a long time to come. I hope all the Fathers in the Squamidian group enjoyed their special day as much as I did.

 

Thanks for tuning in this week. I look forward to talking to you all again next time in The Ontarion Report.

 

Bye for now.. GREG.

 

PS: Something To Think About>

A father is someone who walks in front of you when you need footsteps to follow,

behind you when you need encouragement and beside you when you need a friend.

 

Greg’s eagle pictures:

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

 

****

The Family and the Squamidian sites:

http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b/ and http://www.thedougsite.ca

Have a good one..

the doug

 

The Fine Print!

The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.