The
Squamidian Report – Nov. 3 / 12
Issue #545
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Lots of rain all over the country this past week or so. The west coast had about double the normal amount for October but it was nothing compared to what the storm Sandy dumped on the eastern part of the continent. Its normal for Halloween to be a bit damp around here but this time it was a deluge. The rain came down in sheets, barrels rather than buckets. I didn’t expect very many Halloweeners to come banging on the door because it was so wet but they came anyway. Most of them looked like drowned rats as they greedily held out their bags for the expected treats. The parents that accompanied them all looked cold wet and miserable. Kind of funny to watch. The up-side of it being such a miserable rain-soaked night was that there was almost none of the usual damage and vandalism associated with Halloween. The type of creeps that do that kind of stuff apparently don’t like getting overly wet. On a normal Halloween night the Vancouver police and fire departments are overwhelmed with calls. This time it was nice and quiet.
I had expected the driving rains to knock down the coloured leaves but a lot of them managed to hang on to their tree branches. Its been quite colorful this year with a lot of reds and oranges and yellows. The predominant colour is green because of the dominance of evergreen trees around here but there are a lot of deciduous trees as well. The local alders turn yellow as do the big soft maples with their huge leaves. The shrubs such as blueberry and similar plants turn red as do most of the ornamental trees. So, while our fall colours can’t match the hardwood stands of back east, we do get a nice display, and we are still getting it for a little while longer. Even the rock faces and cliffs ad to the display as the moss turns bright green and the lichens become a silvery grey.
Interestingly, the ocean waters tend to become clear this time of year. During the summer they look quite murky and underwater visibility drops to near zero. The water looks dirty but its not, it’s the growth of plankton that clouds the water. The plankton is the bottom rung on the food chain and everything on up the chain depends on the plankton bloom. Once the amount of sunlight drops and the waters cool, they die off and the waters again become clear. So now the hills are colorful and the water is clear, well, except for the local rivers. They are running high and fast and muddy because of the runoff from the heavy rains.
I think most of you are familiar with ‘The Wife’s’ dog Willow. Well, it’s a good thing that she (Willow, not ‘The Wife’) is incredibly gentle and tolerant. You see, she is now the target of attention from baby Kyra who has been crawling now for the last week or so. And she sure can cover a lot of ground when she puts her mind to it. She either heads for the dog, or for the dog’s food and water dishes which we must now keep up out of reach. The poor dog must now put up with little fingers up her nose, or in her eyes, or little fists that like to grab her by those big white K9 fangs that seem to protrude out past her lips. On the flip side, the baby must put up with the big wet licks across her nose and ears. While we all keep a very close watch on things, as far as I can see the biggest risk to Kyra is that wagging tail that could very easily knock her flying. There is also the risk from the simple fact that the dog weighs over 100 lbs and could cause a problem just by rolling over. However, the dogs seems to be both patient and careful, and they are the best of friends.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
HELLO EVERYONE!
I just spent the past hour writing a hard thought out report for this week and just as I was about to finish it my cursor turned into a spinning multi-coloured ball that wouldn’t allow me to continue and would not clear up. I finally was forced to “force quit” the computer and start all over again! Oh well, I guess “Stuff Happens”!
That was the first time in a few years I’ve had a problem with my computer or something I was writing. Don’t know what happened but the only way out was to force quit. Since I can’t remember word for word what I had written, I’ll just have to think of something else to write about.
We here in KW area were extremely lucky that Hurricane Sandy wasn’t nearly as bad as predicted this past week. The only thing that was damaged at our place was one 8 ‘ section of our back fence that was blown into the back garden. I managed to get out on Wednesday and pull it back up into place. I screwed it back where it belonged with some 3.5” wood screws and that’ll have to hold it till spring! I was kind of hoping it would blow the whole fence flat and I’d be able to put up a new one but that didn’t happen. The fence has been here since about 20 years before we moved in and we’ve been here for 14 years now so it’s managed to last a good many years for a six-foot wooden structure. It’s been subjected to many high winds over the years and I’m surprised it’s lasted this long! Maybe the coming winter will put it out of it’s misery! I was hoping for another mild winter this year like we had last year but some American “Forecaster” has put a jinx on us by predicting a “much heavier than usual” winter for Southern Ontario with extreme amounts of snow and extreme below “0” temperatures coming our way! I sure hope it’s just more American BS and our Canadian forecasters can counter his predictions with better news than that! LOL! However just in case, I do have the snow blower all tuned up and ready to go! You’d think that with all the usual hot air that comes our way from those Americans, we’d be able to count on their BS melting any snow that does fall in our lovely province! I think this guy was just jealous of our predictable Canadian weather and is trying his best to put the hex on us! It was probably some new weather man from Buffalo that is wishing their usual 4’ of snow per week on us just so they don’t have to face another shitty lake affect winter alone! They sure do get blasted in the Buffalo area and I don’t blame him for wanting company! Hahahaha……..!
I guess I’m about out of topics for this week so I’ll say “That’s all for now!”
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now … Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
I once did a theatrical performance about puns. You might say it was a play on words!
PPS: OH YA, and one more thing: I just knew that our shifty Liberal Premier would dump on us in the end! That rat bastard McGuinty sure did a number on many citizens that were counting on several important bills that were being processed in the Ontario Legislature! What a low down sneaky and underhanded way to quit your job! I wouldn’t doubt that if the RCMP decides to dig into the reasons McGuinty is leaving they’ll find that he’s lined his pockets with huge amounts of kick backs involving the Gas Power Plants he put the kibosh on and shoved up our collective rear ends, just like he did the HST! What a rat!
I sure hope the voters of Ontario wise up this time and dump the Liberal Party on their arrogant butts once and for all! What a selfish bastard McGuinty turned out to be!
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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.