The Squamidian Report – July 5 / 14
 
Issue #632

Including:
The Ontarion

Hi All,

We were up enjoying the scenic lookout trail on the ridge at the top of the Gondola one day this week and I found myself having to yell at a stupid kid, and it felt great. There they were, this idiot tourist family floundering along, and this kid was picking rocks out of the side of the walking trail and throwing them into the delicate 'wetlands', to make splashes I guess. At several places along the trail, there are little wet areas with reeds and skunk cabbage and small aquatic life forms indigenous to the high mountain areas. There is also the unfortunately very necessary signage telling people to say on the trails and to not disturb or interfere with the very delicate, sensitive areas. That does not seem to sink in at all to many of the tourists, they drop garbage, they pull out small trees, rip the bark from trees, trample the vegetation and so on. The stupid kid's own parents didn't seem to notice, or more likely not care, that this idiot was removing the rocks that line the edge of the trail, and tossing them into a small, natural pond. The kid jumped about 3 feet when I yelled, and dropped the rock. His parents just looked at me with a dumb expression on their faces and then kept going. Not far behind us was another couple enjoying the trail, regulars, because they were wearing their season passes, just like we were. They looked at me and gave me a big 'thumbs up'.

When we returned to the Summit Lodge, where the gondola loads and unloads, I informed the attendant of what I did and why. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, “good for you”. They are having a constant battle trying to keep a pristine area, pristine. We are all privileged to be there, yet there are people who simply have no respect for it, or anything, the same jerks who drop garbage anywhere and basically disrespect anything and everything. Smokers are also a very big concern. We've had some discussions with some of the staff, there is a lot of concern about smokers. We've seen and they have seen people walk right past the very prominent 'no smoking' signs and light up. Very scary. I know where a fire extinguisher is hidden under the Chief Overlook viewing deck, and I know there are numerous other ones spread around. A careless and/or entitled jerk could set the whole mountainside on fire very easily. Unfortunately, the very 'general public' they need in order to be in business contains the very people that could put them out of business very quickly, or at least spoil the experience for everyone else. Bottom line is, the 'locals' are very protective of this incredible venture and want to help keep it as nice as possible.

Here's something cool, the Gondola is putting in a concrete pad for motorcycle parking just off the south end of the main parking lot. They have a small area of paved parking that is set aside for handicapped parking. They has set aside the last paved spot for bikes but even though it is marked 'bike parking only' and there is a sign on a post right there, more often than not some car driver has elected to ignore the sign and park there anyway. So, much to the delight of all us bikers, there will be dedicated bike parking that can not be accessed by the cars. It will be behind the sidewalk and the only way to get to it will be through a narrow opening.
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Well, the politicians and bureaucrats have done it again. They've made the same type of brain-dead decision that I complained about when BC Ferries raised rates and reduced service. This time its the 'authority' that deals with bridge tolls. A few years ago a new bridge crossing of the Fraser River was built, the Golden Ears Bridge. The tolls were set higher than most people felt was fair, so most drivers simply 'go around', they prefer to take the long way rather than pay the toll, even with traffic congestion and ever increasing fuel costs. So, use of the bridge never met projected numbers and therefore revenue has never met projected numbers. What solution has the elite rulers of this province come up with?, why, raise the toll of course in order to generate more revenue. It simply can not occur to them try lowering the already over-priced crossing toll in order to generate more usage and therefore more revenue. No, much better to punish those few who are using the bridge. Thats seems to be how its done. Oh, someone high up will most definitely be getting a huge bonus for this, they always do.

Oh, I did a nice two-day toot on the bike this week. In fact, I just got in a few hours ago. I'll tell you about it next week unless something more interesting comes along.

doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT

Hello everyone!

Good to be here again this week and be enjoying the sunshine once again. We’ve had some nasty rainstorms over the past week but when all is said and done, it’s just been exactly what we needed to get the lawns back in shape. Now I can start mowing again! LOL! This past weekend Carole and I took our Poodle “Bailey” and went on our first long drive in the new Jeep. We decided to make the drive to Grand Bend and attend the Sunday Flea Market that is a weekly occurrence down that way. It’s always interesting to walk through the many rows of booths that are just filled with odds and ends. Since Bailey is blind and needs constant supervision we purchased a “Doggie Stroller” about a year ago for exactly this sort of outing. The stroller is just like one for a human child only it’s a bit lighter built. It’s got two drink cup holders and a small tray attached to the handle for human convenience and also has a shelf with screened in sides under the main body of the stroller so Carole can put her purse and whatever underneath while pushing it along. There’s a collapsible hood over the dog compartment with a small screen in the top so the driver can keep an eye on the pooch through the roof! With a nice padded floor in the stroller we just plop a blanket in before inserting the dog and he’s got a rolling bed to keep him comfortable. We even have a portable collapsible drinking dish that allows us to supply him with water whenever he gets a thirst on! Bottled water from our cooler is handy for his drinking purposes as well as ours on a hot summer day and the bottles fit perfectly in the cup holders. It just so happens that every time we visit this flea market it seems to be on the hottest day of the summer! LOL! This past Sunday was no exception as it was hovering around the 32c mark with huge humidity making the day feel around the 40c mark and of course difficult to breath. Luckily the flea market is mostly covered by huge old shade trees so with a bit of a breeze the time spent looking at all they had to offer was bearable and we actually enjoyed a couple of hours of browsing. Of course every second person or kid we passed commented on the fact that “The cute little puppy” was in a stroller. Most people were polite and amused and some asked why he wasn’t walking on a leash. We had to explain that he’s blind and would get stepped on if he were on a leash. There was one little impudent puke of a kid about 5 years old that said as we passed “That’s STUPID!” as he pointed at Bailey in the stroller. Carole kept her cool and calmly explained to the kid why our dog was in a stroller. The kids father tried to shush the kid out of embarrassment I suppose but on the other hand, maybe he’d said the same thing to his wife in front of the kid as we approached and the kid was just repeating what the father had said. At any rate, the father was quite red in the face as Carole took the time to explain to the kid what was going on. It didn’t take long for him to grab the kid’s hand and disappear into the crowd a moment later. Some people should learn to keep their comments to themselves in front of their children! Anyway, we didn’t see anything worth investing in other than a nice Celtic silver ring that Carole liked so that was our only purchase.

We then headed out of the flea market and up highway 21 to pass through Grand Bend on the way home. We got into a lineup of cars about half a kilometer from the main intersection of “The Bend” and it started to rain. We were in stop and go traffic of the long weekend, which was bad enough, but to top it all off, the rain was one of the heaviest thunderstorms of the season so far this year. It was raining so hard that we could barely see the car ahead of us at times. It took us almost an hour to get through Grand Bend and it rained the entire time. The crowd from the beach was of course leaving because of the rain and there were hundreds of cars from there trying to get through the intersection of the main street and hwy 21 at the only stop light in Grand Bend. What a snarled mess of cars indeed! There was one cop directing traffic at the same time as the light and he was just making things worse! Anyway, we made it through that mess and decided to just to head for home. It was around 3:30pm and the huge storm off Lake Huron was a dandy that was not letting up at all. We turned off Hwy 21 toward Exeter, which is about 20kms from The Bend, and we were finally in well moving traffic. We managed to drive at a reasonable speed but the rain was still pounding down and making it difficult to see! The speed limit was 80km/hr and we were moving at about 60km/hr. On a stretch of road that was clearly marked with a bright white double solid line there were cars ahead and the one in front of us was about 5 car lengths ahead and we could see headlights coming toward us. The road was rolling up and down gentle hills that made it a definite NO-NO to be passing anybody! I looked in my rear view mirror and the white Lincoln Navigator that had been tailgating us for 15 minutes was suddenly not there! I turned and looked to my left and SHE was beside me going like hell in an attempt to pass us! I looked ahead and all I could see was a line up of headlights coming at the Lincoln through the torrential rain. I slammed on my brakes as Carole and I both reacted to the idiotic move of the Lincoln driver and if I hadn’t done so, she would have piled head on into the oncoming car! She made it back into line by the skin of her teeth and immediately had to brake hard to keep from rear-ending the vehicle that had been in front of us! What a damned fool move that was! She almost killed the occupants of several vehicles with such a dumb stunt! I have no doubt she was driving drunk since she had been bobbing back and forth behind us for several kilometers before that! It appeared that she had a couple of adult male passengers in the car with her and was likely celebrating the long weekend. She’s damned lucky that she will live to see another one after a stunt like that!

We were in the torrential downpour and storm all the way to Stratford and then we hit a bit of a clear spot. In the distance we could see a blue opening in the sky and I said to Carole “Look, it’s not raining at our house!” LOL! We stopped for a minute so I could take Bailey out on a patch of grass for a pee and by the time he finished it was starting to rain once again. We had been driving in the leading edge of this storm all way from Lake Huron and it appeared we’d be in it the rest of the way to Kitchener as well. By the time we exited Stratford, it was pouring once again and my wipers were going full tilt as they had been for over two hours already. As we exited Hwy 7/8 at Trussler Rd a few blocks from our house, we noticed that the roads were not wet in the least! Hahahaaa…….. I guess I was right when I said it wasn’t raining over our house! Bye the time we pulled in the drive at home we were being rained on once again. It poured rain for about 10 minutes and then the sun came out and the rest of the evening was clear blue sky over Kitchener but for miles around we could see the storm! I guess Mother Nature figured Kitchener didn’t need the water!

Well, after all the wet weather, we still had a fun and interesting day and made it home in one piece! Bailey behaved well and I found out that the Jeep gives much better fuel economy on the highway than it does in the city! If only I could drive around in the city at 80 Km/hr on “Cruise Control”!

That’s 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>
If you have three eggs and you take two of those eggs, how many eggs do you then have?
                                                         
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Have a good one..the doug
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