The Squamidian Report – Oct. 13 / 07
Issue #281
Also in this issue:
From
The Shores of Lake Huron
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Remember the good old days when replacing a headlight on a car was easy. Back when headlights were those sealed beam units that included the lens, reflector and bulb. All you needed was a Philips screwdriver and a couple of minutes. Just pop out 4 screws and pull the unit out. Then unplug the wiring harness and the burned out lamp was gone. Plug in the new lamp, pop it into place and replace the screws. Not only were you running a new bulb, but new lens and reflector surface as well. The whole thing usually cost under $10. Life was so simple. If you had a burned out lamp you could replace it in the dark at the side of the road if necessary. If you were driving a commercial vehicle, it was necessary because the department of transport viewed burned out lamps on a truck to be more serious than a ‘private’ vehicle committing a capital offence.
For the last decade or so, vehicles have been running those little annoying replaceable halogen bulbs that plug into the back of the reflector / lens unit. In principle that sounds good, just replace a small bulb if it burns out instead of the whole lamp unit. NOT !!
Just try getting at the back of a modern vehicle headlight. Can’t be done from the front, that’s for sure. So you pop open the hood and look down at a maze of metal, plastic and ductwork. On some vehicles you almost need to remove the battery and loosen off the grill and fender just to get your hand in to where the bulb plugs in. One of the low beam bulbs on The Wife’s car burned out so that meant replacing it. After half an hour of studying the components near and around the headlamp I finally saw (with the help of a flashlight) the key to the puzzle. A couple of well hidden clips would let the lamp slide forward so long as you could actually reach and undo said clips.
Once, and after great difficulty, the clips were released, the lamp did tilt forward enough to let me undo the plastic ring clamp that holds the bulb assembly in place. After releasing the wiring harness it was just a matter of slipping down to CTC to pick up a replacement bulb. $10, same as a whole sealed beam unit used to cost. I’m sure the whole thing is purposely stacked against us, they want you to take the car in to a dealer so they can soak you for a ‘repair’. Just like any halogen bulb you may be replacing, the instructions tell you to not touch the bulb. I guess the alignment of the planets would be put in danger or some such thing if you did, who knows.
Inserting the new bulb and putting the lamp back is basically just a matter of doing just that. But once the lamp is in place you have to get those clips back in place, the ones you could barley see in the first place. Determination prevailed and the lamp is in place and working. Might have been easier to simply buy a new car, or maybe that’s what they were hoped for all along.
*
Some west coast trivia…. Henderson Lake on Vancouver Island receives an average annual rainfall amount of 27 feet !! That’s wet.
doug
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Greetings Everyone
Well pumpkinfest in Port Elgin was a great success, the town was full of old cars and people. The weather was hot and steamy and the largest pumpkin was IF I CAN REMBER RIGHT, 1378.5 pounds. It was big enough to create a home for 3 small kids and a dog. Mind you it wasn't a pretty sight but all and all the guy who grew it got I believe a prize of $9.00 per pound. He also had the largest squash. I don't have a total for the old cars but it was somewhere around 1800. They bring back some old memories for the mod to late fifties. The kids had lots to do including carnival type rides and a camel and an elephant to ride. They even had a tug of war between 75 to 80 kids and the elephant. Needless to say the elephant won but the trainer had it back up a couple of times to make it look like the kids were pulling it backwards but no matter how hard they dug in their feet the couldn't hold it back going forward it almost look like the were on ice.
Well the Kitchener Rangers suffered their first loss of the year to Ottawa 67's. A lot of fans were disappointed but you can't win them all so Saturday night they play again in Owen Sound and will try to get back on a winning streak .Man the weather sure changed rapidly from the upper 20's and low 30's to about 8 to 11 degrees for the high today. From shorts to long johns in a couple days, my body doesn’t adjust that well to rapid changes but after all it is the middle of October. They gang at the trailer park pretty much devoured that 27 pound turkey I cooked last Saturday for thanksgiving along with all the other food people made and brought. I think I was more stuffed than the turkey was.
Well it's late or I mean early Saturday morning so I will cash in the chips and go to bed so everyone have a safe and happy week.
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Hello
everyone!
Well, the
elections are over and we’re back in the saddle with the Liberals once more.
Let’s hope the provincial rulers manage to keep the promises they made during
their recent campaign. They managed to break well over 200 of the promises that
we expected they would keep during their last term in Queen’s Park. Mr McGuinty
did his best to justify those broken promises but we all know it was more a
case of covering his ass than offering a plausible explanation for his
deceptions.
I’m sure
there will be many such happenings again over the next four years. There are
very few politicians that can be credited with being honest and always telling
the truth. In fact, there are very few people on earth that fit that bill but
politicians seem to be particularly prone to such deceptive behavior. All we
can do as citizens is try our best to keep an eye on our government’s
activities and open our mouths in protest when they seem to be acting not in
the best interest of their constituents.
Good Luck
everyone and don’t be afraid to speak up if you see a politician acting
improperly on our behalf.
*
Oh ya and
wasn’t it just so generous of Mr McGuinty to declare another stat holiday for
us in February to “Break up the dull and drab winter for Ontarions”?
In doing
so he’s not only cost the citizens of Ontario money, he’s given parents across
the province another day they have to find a solution to not sending their
little ones school while they work. (Not everyone can take the new stat holiday
off Mr McG)
*
One of
the best moves made by the provincial gov’t is the new speeding law. If you’re
caught doing more than 50kms over the limit you can be charged with racing even
if you’re not competing with another vehicle. I’ve read articles written by
drivers stating that they disagree with this new law. There is much more to it
than the “racing” aspect of this law. I really don’t know how anyone with a
lick of sense can disagree with it! There is really no acceptable explanation
for driving that fast on a public road. If you want to “See what your car or
bike can do” take it to Shannonville raceway and pay for a day of driving like
a fool on a professional “Race Track”! That’s why they call it racing when
you’re speeding excessively on a public thoroughfare because you’re traveling
at speeds that should be reserved for the “Race Track”. That way if you kill someone, it’ll likely
be one person “YOU” that bites the dust and you won’t take some innocent
unsuspecting driver with you! I have no sympathy for the person that has their
vehicle and or drivers license taken away for a week for driving like a fool. I
especially like the situation where the law allows the authority involved to
physically CRUSH a person’s vehicle right before the offender’s eyes. If you’re
foolish enough to drive so dangerously, you don’t deserve to enjoy the rights
to the road that other law-abiding citizens enjoy. If you are driving any more
than the speed limit, you usually know that you are! I can understand someone
not paying full attention to their speedometer and drifting as much as 10 to 15
kms over the limit but if you’re driving at 20 to 30 and more over the posted
limit, you damned well know what you’re doing and are intentionally taking the
risk of being stopped for speeding. SO, if you get pulled over for committing
that crime, you deserve everything you get as a result of your flagrant
disregard for the law! Maybe this new anti speeding legislation will make a
dent in the number of driving related deaths here in Ontario and will inspire
other provinces to enact a similar traffic law in an effort to saves lives.
I’ve seen first hand the carnage that can and does result from such dangerous
driving and fully support this tough new legislation. Some are saying that it’s
too much power to allow the individual police officer to have but I say you’ve
got nothing to fear if you drive within the law. As the criminals say “Don’t do
the crime if you can’t do the time!”
I say
“Slow down and LIVE!”
Have a
safe weekend everyone!
*
Gotta go
for now! Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to talking to you all again
next time in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now… GREG.
PS:
Something To Think About>
Remember
the days when you had to actually pull off the road to make that “important”
phone call at one of those “phone booth” thingys? Maybe it’s time to do the
same to make that “important” phone call on your cell phone as well!?
****
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.