The
Squamidian Report – Dec. 17 / 11
Issue #499
Including:
A Note Of Interest From Russ
North Nova News
The Ontarion
Hi All,
We put our Christmas tree up last weekend. You remember the top 4ft I had set aside from that blue spruce, it is now decorated and trimmed and festive. Many of the bows have found temporary seasonal work as decorations as well. The branches were so nicely coloured and shaped and thick that they have become door swaths, large wreaths and so on. The neighborhood women scooped them up. Sure beats just cutting it down and deposing of it. As for that top 4ft, I made one small mistake before actually bringing it into the house. As long as it was outside and dormant, it would not need any water but I had stood it up in a bucket of water anyway. Problem was, we have been having consistently way below normal temperatures for months and that translates into below freezing both day and night. Bright and sunny but very cold. So, as you have probably already guessed, when I went to bring the tree in, the bucket of water was frozen solid. It was more like a block of concrete and did not lend itself at all to what I wanted to do.
So, I had to lay the whole thing on its side in the sun and wait for it to melt enough to permit extraction of said tree. Took a whole afternoon but it did work, I was able to bring in just the tree top, not the block of ice. Its amazing how heavy a tree top like that is. Its also amazing how wonderful the incredibly sticky sap smells. Sure wish there was a way of capturing that scent. My gloves have captured it quit nicely but they are now so sticky I can only use them now for holding onto stuff, not for letting go, but they sure smell nice.
We normally purchased spindly little ‘Charley Brown’ trees from the local Scouts, trees that could barely hold themselves up let alone the decorations. This tree top is so sturdy I could hang anvils on the branches without any drooping, so a few balls and lights and tinsel doesn’t even bend the needles. So this year we have a tree that looks both decorative and rugged. A fitting end to a blue spruce that had to be removed.
On a different note, I’m moving a bit slow and careful right now. Everything hurts. On Thursday morning I went out to put the recycle bit at the curb. We had some rain during the night and our steep concrete driveway was a sheet of ice, but I didn’t notice that it was slippery. We often have thick frost type ice but its not usually a problem. This stuff was. I stepped out of the garage, out onto the driveway and down I went, flat onto my back. Luckily I did not hit my head, but I sure rattled my insides. I, along with the now spilled recycle bin, slid all the way down the drive and onto the street. I couldn’t believe how much my arms and back and insides hurt when I tried to get up but I did manage to get up and steady myself against the retaining wall. After a few minutes of enduring, I was able to climb back up the driveway using the retaining wall for support. Once back into the garage, I threw some salt out onto the ice. Should have done that first but, like I said, I hadn’t realized how slippery it was.
Both ‘the wife’ and ‘the dog’ knew something was wrong when I came back into the house but there wasn’t much they could do to help. All I could do was lay over the foot stool and let a couple of Advil go to work. ‘The wife’ said she would take Willow for her walk and I of course reminded her to be careful. She made it as far as the bottom of the driveway before she fell. Luckily, she only hurt her hand. Enough of that nonsense. Willow could darn well use the back yard for her morning constitutional.
Now, I had a 9:30 dentist appointment to finish the bridge work that was started a couple of weeks ago but there was no way I could drive. My arms hurt too much to work the steering wheel. So, ‘the wife’ had to drive me to the dentist. I was a bit concerned that laying back in the dentist chair would be painful but those chairs are incredibly comfortable. So, that went fine. Anyway, I now feel like a bruised up invalid but this too shall pass. And in the mean time, I’ve got an excuse to do even less around the house than I normally do.
Talk to you next week in our Christmas / 500th addition of the Squamidian.
doug
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A Note Of Interest From Russ
Since I now have time on my hands, I’ve written a small book, Memoirs of a 50`s Cop (85pp`s). It’s a collection of true stories form my days/nights as a Footbeat Cop in the City of Kitchener, beginning in 1955 thru 1968.
Just so you know, the Book is not a Commercial endeavor, so I’m making gifts of those who, (a) Are featured in the Work, or (b) my immediate family.
The Printer charges me $15.70 per copy, and it costs nearly $3 to mail one copy. To date, I’ve distributed 17 copies. If you put a Notice in the Squamidian, I may get requests for more copies. Greg Payne suggested I should ask $25 to cover my costs.
Russ Brubacher
Owning a copy of a
very unique book covering a personal history set in a part of Kitchener’s past
would be something most people would love to have. At $25 to cover costs it is
a give-away. Doug
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North Nova News
Fall in Nova Scotia always seems to be the best weather of the year and this fall didn’t disappoint us either. Our temperatures stayed warm so long that the leaves didn’t change colours until way after Thanksgiving weekend. We spent many an evening around a bonfire listening and singing songs with family and friends. My father’s house now occupied by Ward’s daughter and her partner (Danielle and Jeremy) has become the gathering place for pot-luck dinners and any excuse for a party. We even have horseshoe pits. The pond has stayed nice and high thanks to enough rain throughout the summer and fall. We did have one rainstorm that the rain came so fast the outlet couldn’t handle the flow, which caused some of the water to run over our dam. This had always been a fear of my fathers that the dam would break and we would lose our pond. So of course it was our worry now. We raked the dam in many places so the water would flow evenly across a large span of the dam and this stopped the gouging. It’s so wonderful to have a beautiful pond but it has to be protected from all sorts of things such as muskrats and beavers but that’s another story.
About two weeks ago we got a huge ( 14 in. ) dumping of snow overnight. I waited until 6 am. the next morning to get out my snow blower. It had been all tuned up and ready to go but when I pulled the cord nothing happened. That surprised me since it had never let me down before. So I thought I’m just out of practice and there is something I have missed in the starting procedure. So an hour later I still can’t figure it out. I left it and cleaned off my car then called Danielle and Jeremy to see if their big four-wheel drive truck could get me to work. Before they could get to my house I decided to try starting the snow blower again and miraculously it started!! So off I went cleaning out the lane, we ended up taking turns shoveling and blowing. It felt so good and I’m always amazed at the depth of the ridge it leaves. In the next couple of days the snow all melted away and we were back to our beautiful fall weather.
As far as my personal life this last year has been amazing. I am in a relationship with my neighbour/friend of almost 30 years, Dave Thompson. We started out with me teaching him how to cross country ski and that led to snow shoeing, hiking and movies. We both love where we live and our lifestyle is pretty much the same. We traveled last summer to all the music festivals around Nova Scotia starting with the Stan Rogers Folk Festival. We got familiar with musicians from this part of the country enjoying their music and dining in new places. He has known my family for years and was a good younger friend of my father. Life is full of surprises!!!
I sure enjoyed my trip to Kitchener in November to see all of you. The 40, 60, 80 birthday party was especially fun and a great start to my trip. You guys sure know how to celebrate and I’m so happy have been a part of it. I also had fun surprising Gary and Vivyan. I’ll never forget the look on their faces! I’ve always felt so much at home with all of you and definitely a part of the family. Also thanks Evelyn and Ed for the delicious dinner and good company. It was great to see your new place and that you have adjusted so well to your new surroundings. Hugh and Mary also gave me such a good time at their place and I always look forward to a good chat with Ewan. Thanks again to all of you and don’t forget you are always welcome here.
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas,
Sus
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
OK everybody, we have only 9 days to go till Christmas Day! Surely this week will be filled with a flurry of Christmas shopping by all who have yet to get their gift list completed! Don’t be a “Humbug” and wait till the last minute. If you want to enjoy the season’s big day it helps if you don’t stress yourself out during the week before! Reaching the Christmas weekend stress free and feeling good about being completely ready for the occasion is the best way to do it! I’ve got all my shopping done and it feels great to be all set well in advance of the special day. I do find that as I get older and don’t really need anything the pressure is less. However, I still have to shop for the ones in my life that I love and wish to surprise with something special on Christmas Day. After celebrating this occasion 37 and going on 38 times as a married man I’ve gotten pretty good at it and I am enjoying it more than ever with the knowledge that I no longer have to make a list of things for Santa to bring me. I’m happy to have my health and my immediate family (all two of them + the dog) around me and looking forward to celebrating Christmas here at home.
We no longer have to divide our time between two different families and six different factions of each family. Our family is small now and we will indeed miss the members of both sides of the family this year that are no longer with us but will remember each of them with special thoughts of occasions past that were shared with all of them when they were here! Our thoughts and prayers will be with them and we’ll be secure in the knowledge that they are all with us in spirit. Christmas was of course initially a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and deep down in the hearts of all Christians it still is, but with the commercialization of the occasion developing out of the giving of gifts to loved ones to represent the gifts presented to Baby Jesus by the Three Wise Men, the occasion has held a second meaning in our modern society. The real meaning has gotten lost especially within the past century in that Santa is the first thought of almost every child when the subject of Christmas is mentioned. You don’t have to be a serious church-goer to be a good Christian but it seems that those who do attend church every week think of Christ first and Santa second. There’s nothing wrong with celebrating the occasion with the giving of gifts and thoughts of Santa Clause but it doesn’t hurt to be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas!
The one thing that seams to rear its ugly head at this time of year is “greed”. Kids who want, want, want and retailers who have dollar signs in their eyes instead of love and compassion. Of course, when have I ever seen compassion in the eyes of businessmen of any stature? I’m sure there may be many that still have a heart but it’s not very often we hear about them let alone experience that compassion first hand.
If only each of us would take the time to perform one good deed at this time of year, maybe, just maybe acts of kindness would catch on and the world would be a better place for all!
That’s it for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to talking to and hearing from all of you again next “Christmas” weekend in The Ontarion (Squamidian) Report!
Bye for now…. GREG
PS: Something To Think About>
Next Saturday is not only Christmas Eve but it’s our 500th edition of “The Squamidian” and “The Ontarion Reports” and it would be heart warming to hear from as many of you as possible on the occasion!
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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.