The Squamidian Report – March 22 / 08

 

Issue #304

 

Including:

A Note From Russ & Barb

A Note From Carol

The Ontarion

 

Hi All,

 

We had a busy day last Saturday. There is a blue spruce tree out at the end of our driveway that has always been a messy problem as far as the lawn under it is concerned. No matter what we tried, everything we planted there died. So Sue decided we should put a stone wall around it. There are nice ‘man made’ stones available that have flat surfaces and angled sides making them perfect for forming a circle.

 

I have a friend who owns a landscaping business and he let us pick through a skid of stones until we had the ones we wanted. So I laid out a circle around the tree and Sue cut it out with a shovel. Then it was just a matter of laying the first layer, making sure each stone was level and in the right place. The first row ended where it disappeared into the sloping side yard. The next layer continued a bit further until it disappeared. The third level formed a full circle. This would be the top and final layer, at least for now. We actually needed more stones than we first thought so we had to go back for another bunch of them but we finished up the little round wall and it looks good, cleans up that corner of the yard very nicely.

 

While we were working on the last of the wall, my Harley riding neighbour came along and said he couldn’t stand seeing his bike sitting in his garage any longer and was going to get it out and go for a spin. Well, I was itching just as bad as he was but I said I needed to finish before I got too side tracked. So off he went and we finished up. As soon as we were done I popped down to the insurance place and picked up the registration sticker and renewed the insurance. Sue helped me get the Harley down off the storage jack it has been sitting on all winter. I made the small mistake of not having my security FOB with me as we moved the bike and it sure complained, and wouldn’t stop complaining until I went and got the FOB. The security systems on these bikes immobilize the engine when the FOB is not within a few feet, and the alarm goes off if the bike is moved without the FOB being near by. Works very well.

 

Anyway, I put the stickers on and put my riding gear on and away I went. Wow, I’d forgotten just how great it feels to head out on one of those big old Harleys. How’s that song go?

 

“Listen to the running….

Head out on the highway….

Looking for adventure….

In whatever come our way….” and so on or something like that.

 

The neighbour had headed out while we were finishing up the wall and was only going to be a few minutes but he hadn’t come back yet so I just kept an eye open for him. I met him at the south end of town and we both pulled over. Turned out, he had left his FOB’s key stuck into his ignition switch which you are not supposed to do and it had bounced out somewhere along the road. You are supposed to keep it in you pocket unless you are using the key to unlock something. He hadn’t noticed it was missing until he pulled into Porteau Cove and turned the ignition off. He had to phone the dealer and get instructions on how to bypass the security system. Luckily he had is PIN number available. (I keep an instruction card in my wallet on the off chance mine should be lost or stolen). So we rode around backtracking everywhere he had been in hopes of spotting the FOB laying on the road somewhere but we didn’t find it. He’ll have to get a new one from the dealer. Aside from that, we had a great ride. It would have been nice to just keep on going but I had to be home in time for supper as Warren was coming over for supper and some music. I guess I could have stayed out for a while longer but that’s another story.

 

By the way, that storage jack the bike sat on all winter worked out very well. The jack lifts the bike and holds it upright with the weight off the tires and suspension. With the 835 lb bike on the jack I can still move it around, the jack has small caster wheels. So I had been able to shine it up and put a cover over it and then shove it into a corner of the garage. Whenever I wanted to start it up or polish it a bit more during the winter all I needed to do was roll it out from the wall. I could run the engine with the bike up on the jack with no problems at all. Like I said, worked out very well.

*

Seems the older a person gets, the harder it is to keep up with technology and the endless gadgets that it spawns. Its relatively easy to stay current in the areas where one’s interests are, but the areas of non-interest hold no interest and are therefore ignored as much as possible. Even with such basics as the computer, a person reaches a comfort level and there is no need to go beyond that. I have no interest in Vista or the bloated software that it runs. My older XP systems and the several generations old software that they run do me just fine. My old cell phone sends and receives phone calls. That’s all I want it to do. Apparently it can send and receive Emails as well as surf the net, but I’ve never seen a need or reason to do that on a cell phone when a computer does it so well, so I’ve never bothered to learn how to use those functions on the phone. Newer cell phones can take pictures and movies, play hours of music and videos and do something called ‘text messaging’. Again, I don’t know anything about such functions because I have no interest in them. Then there are these little tiny things called iPods that can store and play zillions of music files. Half the people in the world seem to have and use them. I know absolutely nothing about those gizmos and have no need or use for them.

 

Apparently a function in modern CD players is the ability to play something called MP3 CDs. I may have heard that term in the past but all I’ve ever wanted a CD player to do was play everyday ordinary CDs, so I’d tuned out that particular piece of information. It turns out that the CD player in both Sue’s car and my Harley can play these MP3 CDs. Ryan pointed that out to us and the fact that an MP3 CD can hold and play back nearly 150 songs, or about 10 hours of non stop music. So instead of having to stash 10 or 12 CDs in the vehicle, just one will do. That’s a real plus on a motorcycle.

 

So I dug into the Help section of my iTunes program and found how to create an MP3 CD. I assume any similar type computer music program can do the job. I converted a whole whack of songs into MP3 format and had it burn them onto blank CDs, one for the car and one for the bike. We can now drive for hours while listening to a single CD and never hear a repeated number. So I guess the bottom line is, once there is something worthwhile to be interested in, you un-ignore it and start to learn it.

 

doug

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A Note From Russ & Barb

 

Earliest Easter For The Rest Of Our Lives!

 

This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives! And only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above!). And none of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier! Here's the facts:

 

1) The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!).

 

2) The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!

 

Isn't this amazing! Pass this info on to your children...great info for school!

 

Russ & Barb

 

****

 

A Note From Carol

 

Hi Everyone,

 

I hope all of you who live anywhere near the Kitchener area feel like having two enjoyable evenings because I have two different, but great, happenings to tell you about.

 

Please mark your calendar for April 26th.  Our church is having a fund raiser different from anything we have ever tried before (headed by Squamidian reader Judy Wiens).  We have hired an Elvis impersonator, he won the famous Collingwood Elvis completion last year but Judy will have to give you the name because I have a terrible memory  - better yet ask us for a poster to put up at your work, club, church or whatever.  I am told by people who have heard him that they paid a fortune to see him and thought it was worth every penny and more.  We have hired St. George’s Hall – a beautiful new facility in Waterloo, for the event.  Our church is too small and also the hall can offer a cash bar for those who want something stronger then the punch offered a church events.  Elvis will entertain for 2 sets and in between we will have a live auction.  We have already received a number of great items to be put up for bids.  Some are big ticket numbers like the plasma TVs that we have on consignment (at cost) that are worth over $1,000.  We have had restaurants and other places donate gift certificates.  Dad’s quartet has offered a gift certificate for a private special occasion sing-out.  Judy will have a more complete list shortly and I believe Doug offered to put the list up on a web page when she has the info for him.  The night starts with cocktails and viewing of the auction items at 6:00 followed by a light supper at 7:00.  The first Elvis set will be around 8:00 or shortly after.  Our MC for the evening, donating his time, is Ross Poll from Oldies1090.  If you listen to the Oldies station you may already have heard Ross talking about this fantastic evening.  Our enthusiastic auctioneer is an amateur but has played this role many times before at other charity auctions.  The cost is $35.00.  I was a little surprised at the cost before I heard other people say they paid $80.00 recently for the same privilege of hearing Elvis.  Our auctioneer and MC may be volunteers but Elvis and the hall aren’t but you will leave knowing having had a wonderful time.  Call me, 743-1335 or Judy, 896-0579 for tickets or a poster or both.

 

The next date to mark on your calendars is exactly 1 week later, May 3rd.  That is the day of the annual spring show put on by the KW Harmonizers (Dad’s barbershop music group).  The show will take place at the St Jacob’s theatre (near the market).  They put on both an afternoon and evening performance.  Al & I are taking in the matinee and Mom and Cindy are going for the evening performance.  We rarely miss a show and I know Gale, Dave, Ewan, Maggie, Ron, Ed & Evelyn also usually make it to the shows.  The cost is $25.00 and you can call Lorne, 894-5653 for tickets.  Two different kinds of music but I’m sure you would love both days.

 

Easter is early this year but with the winter weather we have been having it seems like it just shouldn’t be here yet.  We hold candlelight meditation times during Holy Week ending in a “Upper Room, Last Supper” experience.  This is a service consisting of, reading of the story, music,  sharing a meal of fruit, cheese and fellowship followed by communion (the bread and wine) and warm milk and honey.  Thursday morning I was grocery shopping for the fruit for the meal and for items I needed for my own Easter dinner when someone said to me “wrong season”.  I realized that although it was the first day of spring and Easter I was humming “Jingle Bells”.  It had been snowing when I entered the store!  Al had to dig a path to the wood pile today for so we could have the annual “ceremony of the woodpile”.  Each Good Friday afternoon, those of us who can, meet at the homestead to colour our Easter eggs.  There are usually more then a dozen people and more then a dozen mugs of the egg colouring liquid.  After we all go out to the wood pile and take turns throwing the egg colouring against the pile, colouring the wood, rather then just pour it down the drain.  This year we also had brightly coloured snow.  Since I gave up sweets again this year for Lent I am looking forward to my taste of chocolate on Sunday.  I hope each of you enjoy your own traditions this Easter with your family and friends.

 

Carol

 

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THE ONTARION REPORT

 

Hello everyone!

 

I received an e-mail from a friend of mine in Boston Mass the other day. He is a firefighter in Malden Mass a northern edge suburb of Boston. He’s always sending me interesting stories and pictures of fires etc that he thinks I’ll like to see and read about. He sent me one the other day that really intrigued me. It was an “engineering” story and video that was truly amazing. I know that this sort of thing interests the guys more than it does the ladies but even they can appreciate mechanical wonders when they see them. Back in 1972 I had the chance to take a trip over to England to accompany a friend of mine to his cousin’s wedding. We made it a three week vacation. We intended to spend a week in London area and then venture over to France for a week and then on to Munich Germany for the Oktoberfest celebration. As luck would have it, we had such a good time in England and there was so much to see that we didn’t even get out of London. We spent the three weeks visiting his relatives and pubbing our buns off as well as touring the many historic sites there are to see in London. The one place in England that we truly did want to visit but didn’t get to was Stonehenge, the site of the Druid gigantic stone structures that nobody really knows the history or the engineering of. These stones stand in various positions and configurations in the middle of a field and have been a source of wonder for many years. It’s just an interesting site to see and draws many thousands of visitors every year. The connection I’m trying to make between the e-mail from Boston and the Stonehenge site will become clear as we go on into this week’s Ontarion. I hope!? LOL!

 

It’s been one of the engineering feats of the world attempting to learn the method used to move and construct the different shapes that make up Stonehenge. The e-mail that was sent to me is sure to clear a lot of this mystery up. Maybe I’m just waaaay behind the rest of the engineering world in finally gaining some insight into solving this puzzle but I was totally dumbfounded when I opened and watched the website containing this video from Ohio. It shows a man living in Ohio USA that is able to move concrete blocks the size of two huge bulldozers by himself. He’s able to turn, roll and lift these heavy items with great ease. So much so that he’s decided to build a replica of “Stonehenge” in his own back yard. He’s placed the first couple of blocks in position already and had no trouble at all doing so. When he’s finished he’ll most certainly have an interesting tourist attraction of his own. I’ve attached the website that you can all go to and enjoy viewing his amazing feats yourselves. I hope you find it as interesting as I have. It made me think of Doug and his huge machinery from his place of work and how interesting he might find this video. He has already seen it and commented that this mans talent is truly amazing! I hope you all enjoy what you see when you visit the site.
Here it is….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRRDzFROMx0

 

Gotta go for now! Thanks for tuning in and I hope to talk to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!

 

Bye for now… Greg.

 

PS: Something To Think About>

Just what made that little ol’ ant think he could move a Rubber Tree Plant?

Maybe he should have watched the video from Ohio!!!

 

****

The Family Site:

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

The Squamidian Site:

http://www.thedougsite.ca

The Biking And Stuff Site:

http://www.thedougsite.net

Have a good one..

the doug

 

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