The
Squamidian Report – May 4 / 13
Issue #571
Including:
Jackie’s BC Trip Report
The Ontarion
Hi All,
May the ‘fourth’ be with you… Oh groan, that old one seems to come up every year on this date. Well, ‘old’ if you are younger than the first Star Wars episodes I guess.
We had a visitor for a few days this past week, my sister’s youngest kid. I picked her up at the airport on Wednesday. She spent a few days with us and then hooked up with some friends in the city to head on over to Tofino before heading back to Ontario. It has been about 10 years since the last time she was here so things have changed a bit, mostly we are older and the highway is in better shape. We did the usual stuff, up to Whistler for breakfast, sight-seeing, that kind of thing. Didn’t see any bears, it’s a bit too early for then to find much to eat up high and they are under strict order to stay out of town. She (Jackie, not the bears) is quite brave, she ‘did the Chief’ again. I wanted to climb it with her but the last few years have convinced me that my old knees just can’t do that kind of thing any more. I did struggle up as far as the bridge over Olsen Creek but that was far enough. I’m wise enough now to know my limitations.
One of the things Jack was intending to do when here was take Willow on some nice walks with us. However, poor Willow has somehow hurt her hip and can only get around by limping on her other foot. The problem there is that the other foot is her bad foot, the one that was crushed and not fixed before she was rescued by the local dog pound from her previous life. She would normally favor the bad foot by holding it up and sort of hopping along on her good side. Now she is forced to hold up her good foot and hop along on her bad side and that must hurt a lot as the crushed foot is very tender and misshapen. So, while we could certainly go out for walks, Willow had to stay home. That makes for a very sad dog and we all know that dogs practice that ‘sad look’ in the mirror when we are not around to see them do it. That way we will feel even more sympathy for them than we already do.
Jack could only stay till this morning (Saturday) because she was meeting up with some friends and heading over to the Island. However, we did manage to show her the rings of Saturn through my scope as well as a couple of Jupiter’s moons. Also took her on a nice motorcycle toot down to Horseshoe Bay and back. Last time she was on the back of a bike was when she was a kid so riding the Sea To Sky on a brilliant sunny day along Howe Sound would have seemed quite nice. I know I never get tired of it.
We’ve also had baby Kyra for the last 3 weeks or so, but she leaves us this weekend for a little while. Daddy gets back in town from the Adams tour in Australia so she will be able to be at home for a while again. She has grown about 2 inches in the last few weeks and can now walk backward as well as climb things she had never thought of climbing on so her parents will have to do some real running just to catch up to her. Heck, she’s going to run them ragged.
doug
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Jackie’s BC Trip Report
Hello from beautiful BC! Here I am writing my contribution to this week’s Squamidian and I’m typing it from the Editor’s chair in Squamidian Headquarters!
I was very fortunate to win a domestic flight from Air Canada and used it to fly out to the west coast to visit family and friends. I arrived Wednesday afternoon and since then I have: hiked the Chief (first peak); brunched in Whistler; saw the moons of Jupiter and the rings around Saturn; viewed Shannon Falls and walked by Squamish waterfront; and rode on the back of a Harley down the Sea-to-Sky highway. A truly unique and amazing experience and I thank Doug for such a safe and exhilarating ride! It wasn’t on my bucket list but it should have been, so now I’ve added it so I can cross it off.
I’ve also been very well-fed, well-toured, well-greeted by a sweet dog, and well-entertained and delighted by an adorable little girl. Doug, Sue, Kyra and Willow have been outstanding hosts and I won’t wait another 10 years before I return.
Next I’m heading to Vancouver for a food and wine extravaganza with some great foodie girlfriends and then some of us are continuing on to Tofino for a couple days before I fly back home. I think I’ll need a holiday to recover from my holiday but I’ll worry about that later.
If you haven’t made it out here yet (or not for many years), figure out a how and when to visit. The scenery is unbelievable. There are mountains out the window! And an ocean down the road! And Doug and Sue could run a B&B they have this hospitality thing down to a tee. Thank you!
Jackie
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
What a lovely sunny
few days we’ve been having here in southern Ontario. It’s more like summer than
spring and the convertibles are even showing up on the city streets! Let’s hope
we’ve seen the last of winter and the start of a lovely summer season. About 10
years ago I was at a British car show in Bronte Park in the Oakville area and I
purchased a much-needed new convertible roof for our MGB.
It’s been in the box in the rafters of our garage ever since. The reason for
this is that each spring we get the MG out of the storage spot in the garage
and put the roof down. We drive the MG for the beautiful sunshiny days of that
summer and then put it back into storage for the winter! Sometimes we put the
roof back up over the winter and sometimes we don’t, it all depends on how cold
the temperature is on the day we decide to store the MG. If it’s anything
colder than about 15c the roof will be too stiff to stretch back into full “up”
position to latch in place. So, we just leave the top down all winter and cover
the car with its custom car cover until the next spring. Consequently, come the
nice weather of the following spring there’s no need to put down a roof that’s
already down from the previous years driving season! As you can see, installing
the new roof hasn’t been of any urgency but now that I’m thinking about it once
again, I may just get around to making a point of installing it this spring
just so if we get caught out in the rain this year we will have a roof with no
holes in it to shelter us from the storm till we get home to the safety of the
garage once again! LOL!
Sounds like I’ve got
another project to finish this spring!
Speaking of
projects, I was the first person in our area of the city to mow my grass this
year! I did this about a week ago and even managed to fertilize both the front
and rear yards before the nice steady 16 hours of rain that fell that same
evening and into the following morning. This was a good happening since it
soaked the fertilizer into the ground nicely so we didn’t have to keep the dog
off the grass the next day! Just seemed to work out perfectly! Now, it’s only
been a few days and I’ve got to say that the fertilizer sure did work well and
quickly. Heck, even the guy who showed up at our door the other evening trying
to talk me into letting him aerate my lawn commented that he thinks I have the
greenest and healthiest lawn he’s seen so far this year! He asked how I managed
to have it so nice so early in the season. I told him that first and foremost I
DON’T AERATE my lawn, I just fertilize it spring, summer and fall and cut it
three times a week! He laughed and said “Well sir, I can’t fault your method
when confronted with such obvious positive results! Guess I’ll just be heading
on down the street to look for some brown front lawns to punch my holes in! Have
a good evening!” and away he went! LOL! My only regret is that I’m pretty much
out of “KILLEX” so the weeds will be a bit more of a
challenge this year! I’ll have to see if there’s a modern “GREEN” product that
actually works as well as “KILLEX” but I doubt it!
I’ll have to give Clyde a call and see if he’s found anything that works as
well as our old faithful week killer did back in the good old days of
chemically enhanced lawns! LOL! Surely the GREEN scientists have come up with
something by now! I’d hate to have to revert to crawling around the yard on my
feeble knees with a “Dandelion Digger” in hand! The only better way of manual
digging is to hire a local kid to dig my weeds out for a nominal fee in my
place! I wonder if I can find one willing to work for a penny a weed? Or, maybe
I can find one that’ll dig them out for free if I let him smoke all the weed he
can dig!??? LOL!
SORRY, wrong kind of
weed! Oh well, I’m sure that CTC will have something that’ll rid my lawn of
those pesky yellow flowers and maybe even the grubs and other pests at the same
time. I’ll have to check with CTC tomorrow so I can get a handle on the problem
before it actually exists this year! Maybe if I start now I won’t have a weed
or insect problem at all for a change! I hope there’s a replacement for my
beloved KILLEX out there somewhere!
Well, that’s about
it for this week folks!
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 didn’t like my beard at first. Then it grew on me!
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Have a good one..
the doug
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