The Squamidian Report – April 4 / 09
Issue #358
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
The rumors you may have heard were not true. It was NOT an April Fools Joke. It DID snow in Vancouver on April 1st. Some areas even required the use of city snowplows to clear the streets. It is in fact still early February on the coast. All those cherry blossoms that should have been open and over with nearly 2 months ago have not yet budded. The endless streets of flowers and flowerbeds have not yet flowered, all late by over a month. The coastal mountains have been receiving incredible amounts of snow at a time of the year when the snowing should be over with and the snowline receding back up into the high elevations. So what’s going on?
Turns out that the Pacific Ocean is way colder than normal. Instead of moderating the west coast, it is keeping the west coast chilly. The Pacific has been below its normal temperature for a couple of years now, which is why last summer and the winter before it were so cold. Mind you, the term ‘cold’ is relative and would still be considered mild compared to a back east winter but by west coast standards, it has been and still is COLD. I watched a TV news interview with an Environment Canada weather guy who spilled the beans about the cold ocean. Various interest groups had been going on and on about how the WARM ocean was stressing fish and other marine life to the breaking point. But it isn’t warm water that is doing it because the water isn’t warm. There may well be issues that are stressing the marine life but it is not an ocean that is warming up, at least not at this point in time. But that’s another argument.
The fact is, it is much colder here that it should be. Every night sees the temperature drop below zero. That should only happen during the very depths of winter. The sun might come out and our daytime highs might reach to within a few degrees below where they should be, but as soon as the sun drops, so does the temperature. There is nothing we can do about it so when it comes right down to it, these last 3 paragraphs have been a total waste of time and effort, but I just needed to vent at someone and you are it.
As you may have guessed, it has been a rather slow news week. So I’ll fill you in on some rather mundane household stuff. Sue has the living room and the sunroom rearranged to her satisfaction, finally. The TV cabinet that she had ordered arrived and now the big screen set sits on top of it instead of on a bedroom dresser table thing and the rest of the furniture is the way she wants it. The pump organ that had been taking up space in the sunroom is now in storage in the rock room. The treadmill is over at Ryan’s and a newer, more movable one is in one of the guest bedrooms. Some of the living room stuff from Hidden Valley is now in the sunroom giving ample sitting space. The snowblower is now under the back deck freeing up room in the garage so we can move the motorcycles in and out as necessary. I’ve swept the winter sand off the driveway and have managed to remember whether a given weeks pickup day is garbage or recycling. So there you have it, you know as much about what’s going on out here as I do.
doug
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Hello
everyone!
I was
watching a little TV tonight and an ad came on for Popeye’s Chicken. I had
never heard of Popeye’s Chicken until about 6 months ago when they build one on
Ottawa St across from Zehr’s at Strasburg Rd. It was an old Tim Horton’s store
and it had been sitting empty for over a year. I have been avoiding the fried
chicken thing for about 15 years now because whenever we ordered KFC we loved
the taste of it but the next day we’d spend half the day on the can. It seemed
to work like a box of EX-LAX. We decided not to eat it anymore because of that
as well as the unhealthy fat thing. Now it’s been so many years and I have a
bit of an urge to try it again. I think maybe I’ll give Popeye’s a try one night
soon. Hey, speaking of Popeye, Carole and I had lunch at a place called Wimpy’s
Hamburgers the other day. A couple of years ago a friend took me there to
surprise me with the biggest hamburger I’ve ever had. It was a surprise all
right the burger was hanging about two inches out each side of the very large
bun. This made for one very full stomach after I polished that and a plate of
fries off in the sitting. Well, Carole and I repeated the experience the other
day but Carole was sensible enough to order the Wimpy Jr while I pigged out on
the regular monster sized slab. WOW! Was I full! It just occurred to me as I
thought about the Popeye’s Chicken place tonight that they should have had the
Wimpy’s Burger joint built beside the Popeye’s store! LOL! After all, they do
belong together don’t they? LOL! I think I have taken Doug to Wimpy’s on one of
the occasions when he was back in town for a visit. Maybe the next time he’s
here we’ll take in the Popeye’s place for a change.
Hey,
there’s an idea for a new business venture, open a “Bluto Burger” or an “Olive
Oyle Fish n Chips” ………..ya never know, they just might be a hit! From what I
can see, there are all kinds of possibilities for these ideas. Just think of
the menu items you could have. Pappy Burgers in honour of Popeye’s dad, not to
mention smaller burgers named after Popeye’s nephews, the Poopeye, Peepeye and
Pipeye Burgers. Sounds like a good start to me! LOL! Hey what about the “Sea
Haggy Fish n Chips” platter? I’m sure it would be easy to come up with many
more creative names for the menu items in such places. I’m surprised that the
builders of the first two restaurants haven’t thought of adding to their chain
of “cartoon” places by now. I’ll have to give this some more thought, you never
know, it just might be a good idea after all. On the other hand, do I want that
much work and headache when I’m already happily retired? Oh well, it was fun to
think about it!
That’s it
for this week folks!
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>
Growing
old beats the alternative!
****
Have a good one..
the doug
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