The
Squamidian Report – July 31 / 10
Issue #427
Including:
North Nova Scotia News
Going To The Dogs
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Observations and comparisons, travelling in Canada and the US. First
off, the US is still much more bike-friendly than Canada. Canada has
come a long way though. It used to be that motorcycles were not welcome
at many motels and if they were they had to park way out back and out
of sight from the ‘real’ customers. Motorcyclists in general are now
and have been for some time treated like normal customers although most
motels will not make any effort to meet the requirements of bikers.
They’d still rather pretend you came by car. Most placed in the States
have long since realized that bikers are a good portion of their
business. Many of the small dusty western towns have realized that
bikers ARE their business and that it is in their best interest to
encourage them to come, stay and spend.
Another thing that is very different and I think very well done in the
States is how they recognize and honor so many of their peoples
throughout history. Everywhere you go there are plaques, statues and
buildings named in honor of someone. They have even managed to make
everyone from both sides of their civil war into heroes. That’s
fantastic. Here in Canada we seem to be ashamed of our history and the
people who made that history. And we are so terrified of offending one
person or group that we will leave the rest of the population stripped
of heroes and prominent figures. The Americans have set aside and
designated countless tracts of land as ‘National’ or ‘Park’. We in
Canada seem afraid to preserve our wilderness for fear of stepping on
the toes of someone who has their own private agenda.
And then there is the cost of food, fuel and lodging. Due to the ‘cost
of doing business’ in Canada it is almost too expensive to travel here.
How can the same room in the same name-brand motel chain cost twice as
much in Canada as in the States? How can it cost a third more to fill a
gas tank in Canada than in the States? It’s the same gas, it all comes
from OUR Alberta. And how come we can dine for a fraction of the cost
while travelling in the States as compared to in our own country?
Something is just not right.
There are some things we do much better here, like news and weather
reporting. American news is not news, it is gossip and factoids
packaged as entertainment and distributed by ‘larger than life’ on-air
personalities. Their weather reporting is equally as strange. They will
do an opinion poll about something like… “do you think this years
storms will be worse or better than average” and then run the resultant
answer as the next days lead story. Our news and weather broadcasts
have actual information in them.
Many of our differences are cultural and although I’m not tuned-in
enough to come up with many examples, I can think of one. Here in
Canada a ‘muffin’ is something you can purchase at a coffee shop and it
can substitute as a light breakfast. Down in the States the only
‘muffins’ I saw were the attractive, underweight women presenting the
so-called weather reports on TV.
There is no need to compare scenery. Scenery is not influenced or
affected by political boundaries. Scenery is simply incredibly
beautiful no matter where you go. One of the fantastic things about
travelling by bike is the ability to watch and feel the scenery as it
changes and unfolds. The geological history of an area sets the stage
and then climate takes over from there. Ancient mountains become steep
rolling hills. Ancient seabeds become gently rolling hills, or have
been compressed and shoved up into ‘new’ mountains. Climate dictates
erosion rates and vegetation. Pretty well any scenery that has not been
influenced or marred by man is world class, no matter where you are. If
you are somewhere and the scenery seems boring, you are just not
looking. Trying to compare between regions would be like trying to
compare different kinds of pie. ‘The Wife’ makes a fantastic rhubarb
pie, the ‘Mother-in-law’ makes a fantastic apple pie and my Mother
makes a fantastic plum pie. All are absolutely incredible pies, not the
same, but non the less incredible.
*
We’ve been home for over a week now and life is back to normal, except
that it isn’t normal anymore. You see, ever since ‘The Wife’ retired,
she has been a volunteer dog walker at the local pound. That’s been a
good thing. She has met people and made friends as well as having had
the opportunity to explore the paths along the dyke and river. She has
worked with and made friends with many dogs as they were waiting to be
adapted. Then the inevitable happened. She fell for a dog that has been
living at the pound for a year. This particular dog was not even on the
walking program because it is half pit bull and half boxer. It came
from one of the local Indian reserves where it supposedly fed itself by
catching and eating cats. Once ‘The Wife’ had proven herself to the
pound people they let her walk and work with this dog, named Willow.
Anyway, by the time we were getting ready to leave on our bike trip she
and Willow had bonded and she was determined that as soon as we got
home she would adapt Willow and bring her home.
That has now happened. We have 90 pounds of solid muscle dog living in
our house.
doug
****
North Nova Scotia News
Greetings from Beth! Yes, it’s Beth and I’m here at Sus’ computer, at
the ‘suggestion’ of my mother, to tell you all about our trip east.
Carol, Al, Jamie, Vivienne and I set out from Kitchener on Tuesday
morning at 5:00am. We made it to our Hotel in Quebec City at around
6:00pm. We stopped a number of times to let Vivienne (and the rest of
us) stretch and eat and what not. All things considered, Viv did very
well. 19 months and a whole day in the car could make for some
challenges, but she did much better than I would have thought. We did
have to listen to Sharon, Lois and Bram, as well as The Wiggles for a
good portion of the trip…but Jamie and I were used to that
anyway! (Note* if you want hard beds, thin towels, rooms that
smell like smoke, no smoke detectors or ceiling fans, go to the Voyager
Hotel in Quebec.)
Our hotel was a quick drive to Old Quebec. We took a walk to the
Citadel and followed the trail outside the walls, enjoying the view of
the St. Lawrence River and the old buildings. We took a quick peek
inside the Chateau Frontenac, then took a horse-drawn tour of the old
city. What a way to see it! We enjoyed learning about the city’s
history and seeing the lovely old buildings. We toured around a
beautiful park that has some of the only Elm trees left in Canada. We
saw the Plains of Abraham and the Parliament buildings. Vivienne’s
favourite part of the tour was the horse. ‘Neigh! Neigh!’
That evening Carol, Jamie, Vivienne and I went to Montmorency Falls to
see the Lotto Quebec international fireworks competition. We watched
Spain’s spectacular show. I have never seen such amazing fireworks. It
was set to music and lasted for over half an hour. There were
some that almost seemed to hover in the air, before rising a second
time. They almost looked like jellyfish. There were other ones that
twirled and twisted, some that cascaded and changed colours as the
fell, sparkling brighter and brighter. My description is not doing it
justice. It was so incredible. We were all in awe. Vivienne kept
pointing and saying ‘wow pretty!’ and ‘boom boom!’. Truly the
best fireworks any of us had ever seen.
We set off this morning for New Brunswick. What a long drive! The
mountains are lovely, but when you’re driving through mile after mile
of trees…well, it gets a bit tedious. We arrived here around
4:30. We barbequed burgers and had a visit with Sus, Ward and
Mae. We’ll be staying for just a few days. Jamie and I have a wedding
to attend in Pictou on Sunday. We’ll head west again on Tuesday morning.
So that’s it so far!
Beth
****
Going To The Dogs
Doug & I made a huge change to our family on Monday July 26, 2010.
After almost 6 years we have a dog in our life again.
Willow is a sweet girl approximately 4 years old who appears to be a
cross between a boxer and a pit bull. She was taken into the care of
the Squamish Pound on August 16, 2009 as a skinny dog with an old
crushed back right foot injury that could have been the result of an
accident at some previous time. The staff nursed her back to health.
The pound has a volunteer program matching willing walkers with
approved dogs that need some human contact and a walk whenever they can
get it until they get adopted. Willow didn’t know how to respond to
commands, walk on a leash or anything else. She did not qualify for the
program, as she was too big and strong for most walkers.
Because I had started walking dogs daily in December on this program
and the girls at the pound had confidence in my dog handling skills,
they let me take her out starting in mid March. Slowly she has
developed great leash walking skills, can sit and down on command and
finally graduated to the “Walking Program” formally in May.
As you can imagine, pit bulls are never in great demand at the pound
and the only people interested in adopting her weren’t approved as
owners. (suspected drug dealers). Willow’s picture was regularly in the
paper, on pitbull rescue sites etc but no forever home was found for
her. Finally, I just couldn’t handle it any more and although Doug
didn’t want his freedom hampered, he begrudgingly agreed to let me
adopt her. Doug had spent years being tied down when I was away so much
with Tracy and Yogi being so old. So here we are adjusting to the
bumps in the road with changes in our routine!
Willow loves car rides, sleeping on her back, belly rubs and people!
She is meeting the dogs in the neighbourhood and adjusting to the fact
that we do go out without her on a regular basis. Willow is doing her
best to win Doug over and my fitness program is hitting a new level
with 3 walks a day.
‘The Wife’
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Well, we’re half way though the summer and so far it’s been a dandy!
The weather has been amazing except for the few days when Doug and Sue
were here on Big Blue and brought that west coast “British” weather
with them. LOL! I guess they figured they’d get homesick if they didn’t
bring the usual BC thunderstorms along for the ride. Apparently they
made it home ok and are even itching to get back on Big Blue and do
some more riding. What the heck, why not? Hopefully their summer will
turn sunny and warm sometime before Christmas and they’ll be able to
get in a few dry rides before having to store Big Blue for the winter.
Remember back a couple of weeks when I said they were smart enough not
to ride in the rain unless they absolutely had to? Well, I guess they
found they absolutely had to for at least the first half or their trip
anyway. Doug said that the latter half of their ride was absolutely
beautiful but HOT. So I guess you can’t have it perfect all the time
but from what he’s said no matter what the weather, they really enjoyed
the entire trip of 11,000 km this time around. I was surprised to hear
from Doug just how huge the buffalo are that they encountered in
Yellowstone Park. He said they are twice the size of a beef BULL and
that’s one big sonofagun of an animal. He told me that when they are
confronted by these monsters that they stop the bike and just let the
buffalo move on at their own pace. There is no sense in agitating them
by blowing your horn, Doug says they may just take offence to the noise
and decide to charge you. That’s one hunk of beast that I wouldn’t want
to tangle with unless I was in a Mack truck! Apparently there are many
deaths caused by the Bison when they meet up with tourists that don’t
give them their space. I guess the state of Montana or wherever they
are out there has decided that it’s bad for tourism business if they
publicize the fact that these beasts are dangerous and like to kill
travelers. So that’s why we rarely hear of anyone being trampled by a
buffalo out on the plains these days. It all boils down to “MONEY” and
that’s what makes the world go round. The more travelers that pass
through each state, the more revenue the state residents take in and
consequently the bigger the slice of that pie the state coffers grabs!
Speaking of buffalo, have any of you ever tried a buffalo burger?
Carole and I were up in Orillia about 12 years ago at the Rama Casino
and when we were driving to it we decided to stop at a roadside grill
and try one! Carole didn’t think she’d enjoy one so she just settled
for fries and a regular hamburger but I gave it the old college try!
The grill was run by the Indians of Rama Reserve and they served up
what were huge buffalo burgers. That is not to say the buffalo were
huge but the burger patties made out of buffalo meat sure were! I bet
it took me a good 10 minutes to finish off that Bison Burger. It was
absolutely delicious and tasted like the leanest prime beef I’d ever
eaten. In fact it reminded me of the moose burgers the hunters on the
Fire Dept used to bring in for the odd Sunday feast! I came away from
that roadside grill with a huge smile on my face and a very full belly.
I’d recommend to anyone that they give a bison burger a try. I’d be
willing to bet most people would enjoy it better than beef. I’m not
much for trying strange and different meats or foods but I sure enjoyed
my new treat that day. That was the last time I had buffalo but not
because I’d never do it again, it’s just hard to find anyone around
here that sells bison meat. To tell the truth though, I guess I haven’t
made any effort to find a bison butcher shop in the KW area but now
that I’ve reminded myself of the savory treat I think I’ll have a look
around the next time we go out for groceries. Surely there’s someone in
the area that handles Bison meat! I’ll let you know in a future
Ontarion if I’m able to locate a Bison shop in this area. If any of you
happen to have a lead on one, please let me know!
*
I’ve been playing the same lottery numbers in 6/49 since they started
that lotto in 1982 and haven’t won much at all on them. I just read
where a 72 year old guy from Ontario just won a little less than 16
million on last nights 6/49 and he did it by tossing his regular
numbers of 7 years in the garbage and taking one “Quick Pick” from the
Ontario Lottery Corp machine for a change. WOW! Did that change his
luck! I’ve always been afraid to let a draw go by without my regular
numbers just in case they would be the winning picks this time. Well, I
have decided to take a chance and buy my tickets for this Saturday’s
draw strictly from the “Quick Pick” pool and let the chips fall where
they may! How’s that for bravery? Ummm….. well….. maybe I’ll give that
some more thought before making it my final decision for Saturday. Ya
never know, those numbers that have been with me for the past 28 years
may just be ready to pay off after all and I’d hate myself on Sunday
morning if that were the case and I hadn’t played them! What the hell,
that guy that just won the 15+ million probably used up the only win of
that type so hmmmmmm….. maybe I’d better not take the chance after all!
OOOHHh shucks! What to do? What to do?
Maybe I’ll have Carole buy our regular numbers this time and that way I
won’t really be buying them and then I can buy just “Quick Picks” and
then maybe it’ll change our luck for the better! At least that way
we’ll still have our regular numbers still in the family and I’ll have
the “Quick Pick” ones as well. Sounds the same as I always do but with
the one difference, Carole will be to blame if our regular numbers
don’t win this time! LOL! Hahahahahah….. then it won’t be my fault for
a change! GOOD IDEA!
I’ll keep you posted on the results!
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>
When I was a kid I used to pray that God would give me a new bike. When
I realized that God didn’t work that way so I stole a bike from another
kid and asked God to forgive me!
****
Have a good one..
the doug
http://www.thedougsite.net
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writing them and should be respected as such.