The Squamidian Report – May 3 / 14
Online Version
Issue #623
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
No new philosophical revelations this week, and no new original songs
either for that matter. Or at least no new songs that I'm going to
share at this particular point in space-time. Besides, its time to do
some actual 'stuff' around here. 'The Wife' has been working in the
flower beds and tending the lawn for several weeks now this spring and
the things that require my attention are getting harder to ignore. Over
the years we've been slowly replacing the back yard fence. The last
section needing new posts and panels had reached such a degree of
dilapidation that it was demanding some sort of action. So, down to the
lumber yard for the assorted lumber needed. Projects like that are
quite enjoyable once you get started. Its the 'getting started' that is
hard because it means dragging out the table saw and the miter saw and
taking up half the garage until the project is done. The up-side is the
smell of cedar. When I make my fence panels I use pressure treated for
some parts and cedar for the actual fence boards. Right now the garage
smells quite wonderful.
I won't take down the old panels until I have all the new ones made up.
Otherwise, I'd end up with 8-ft gaps sitting open for the dog to run
through. And there are only certain times I can work at building the
panels. It must be nice enough out to make me want to work on it but
not so nice that I'm off on the bike somewhere. Also, it must be during
a 'Kyra free' time. Its hard to get anything done with a two year old
trying to help. And power saw and 2-year olds are not a good mix at
all. A little 'side-story' to Kyra being here this week.... Quite often
when she is coming, Sue will meet either Lauren or Ryan down at the
Park Royal shopping plaza, about half way between where they live and
where we live, to make the pickup or drop-off, depending on point of
view etc. Anyway, that was Tuesday. 'The Wife' headed in early so she
could do some shopping or whatever it is wives do when they go
into the city. At about the time I figured she'd be on her way home
with Kyra, Lauren phoned. 'The Wife's' keys, purse, phone and
everything else were locked in her car trunk. I won't get in to how
they got there or how it ended up with the lid shut except to say it
was not the first time. So, that being Tuesday I simply headed in to my
usual bike club meet an hour early and brought along the spare keys.
Problem solved, at least until next time. We could have simply called
BCAA but that would have taken as long as it took me to get there and I
really don't want some tow truck driver ramming that hook think down
inside the car door trying to unlock it. And it was a nice day for a
little extra riding, too nice to be working on fence panels.
Now this is really cool and demonstrates the incredible little things
all around us that we might easily miss, or ignore, or just not see at
all. 'The Wife' putters away in the flowerbeds and when Kyra is here,
she 'helps' to the best of her 28 month old ability. 'The Wife' often
uses a small, sturdy hand tool that looks like a cross between a fork
and a hoe, with its 3 tines bent at a 90 degree angle. Its held in one
hand and is used to loosen up the soil, like a tiny rake. Kyra was
playing with it and banged it against one of the rocks that line the
lawn. It made a very distinctive, clear ring sound. Kyra looked at me
and asked “what is that, grandpa?” She was referring to the sound the
claw tool had made. She repeated banging it as she experimented with
how and where to strike the rock for best results. I was quite
surprised by the sound and intrigued, so, I went in and got my guitar
tuner so I could see what note was being created. I put the tuner on
the garden utensil and tapped the rock. The note read as a perfect 'G'.
No wavering, not G- or G+ or any variation thereof. A perfect, steady
'G' that lasted quite a while after each strike. Of course obviously
not the sweet musical tone delivered from a resonating quality wooden
sound box like a guitar, but totally accurate. I was blown away. Most
tuning forks create an 'A' note that can be hard to hear. This put any
tuning fork I've ever used to shame. Something new every day.
And speaking of new, my little old Ford Ranger pickup let me down for
the first time ever the other day. The truck is now 10-years old and so
far has only required standard maintenance and that brake job I
mentioned last December. We had done our usual dog walk and then headed
down for our usual morning coffee. We went in both vehicles because
'The Wife' and Kyra had intended to head off for their activities and I
was to meet up with a friend who needed a hand. As they pulled out of
the parking lot, I climbed into the pickup and turned the key. Nothing.
Not even a click. At first I thought it must be the main fuse because
there wasn't even a shimmer of head light showing. I stood at the
sidewalk and waved my arms indicating to 'The Wife' that I needed her
assistance as she drove by. She swung around and came back. By then
there was a tiny bit of light showing in the head lights when I turned
them on so that mean it was not the main fuse. The battery was dead.
Very dead. Then I remembered, this is still the original battery making
it 10 or more years old. We hooked up the jumper cables and it took
several minutes for the car battery to pass enough charge over before
the truck would start but once it could turn over, away it went. Drove
the truck home and parked it. I'll pop a new battery in and it will be
good to go.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
I’m sitting here sucking on a Werther’s Original and it’s bringing back
all kinds of memories of childhood candies and soft drinks. The first
thing that comes to mind when I enjoy the butterscotch taste of a
Werther’s is the bars of Macintosh Toffee that we used to buy for a
nickel at the corner store. These bars as I’m sure those of you who
remember the 50’s and 60’s will recall were sold in a rectangular red
and green plaid cardboard box approximately 3” by 5” in size and a
quarter of an inch thick. The toffee was extremely hard and before you
could eat it, you had to whack it on the counter at the store or on
some other hard surface to shatter it into manageable size pieces.
Carole and I were talking about this treat last week and it seemed
strange that as kids, her in Northern Ireland and me here in Canada
we’d be eating the same kind of candy treat. I guess there’s a
Macintosh factory in most countries of the world! Anyway, we were
watching TV one evening and happened to see an advertisement for this
toffee sensation. We both remarked that we’d like to try to find a
store that sold these bars to see if the “new” ones were anything like
the old toffee treats of our youth. A few days later, we dropped into
the Giant Tiger Store to pick up a few odds and ends and low and behold
didn’t they have a huge rack of Macintosh Toffee Bars. They are no
longer packaged in cardboard but the modern paper wrappers are still
the same red and green plaid design. The new product is no longer a
nickel but a hefty 68cents at Giant Tiger. We scooped up about half a
dozen of these beauties and a hand full of various chocolate bars as
well to stock our pantry at home. As soon as we got home and settled in
front of the TV, Carole smacked one of the toffee bars on the kitchen
counter and brought the pieces in to the family room for sampling. The
new bars are about ½ the thickness of the old ones and they no longer
have little squares scored in them to help make them break up somewhat
evenly but they sure do taste the same! It was a definite throw back to
our childhood days with the slurping and crunching that went on as we
enjoyed this memorable treat. It’s nice to think that some things don’t
really change. These toffee bars might well have still been made all
these years but if they were, we were not aware of it. It’s been a nice
experience to rediscover something from both our pasts that was a
common thread in our distant existence. Now we will be sure to keep a
few Mac Toffees on hand as a memorable treat.
With this childhood memory in mind, I’ve been thinking of other such
corner store goodies that tickled our fancies as kids. They range all
the way from “black balls” to “Double Colas” in the 16oz bottles for
15cents! I’m sure you all will remember “black balls”! You could buy
them 3 for a penny and the store keeper would put them in a little
brown paper bag for you so you didn’t get your hands all black carrying
them home in the hot summer sun. As you dissolved them in you mouth it
was always fun to compare yours with that of your friends to see if
each had become the same colour as the coatings melted off and the
“black balls” became smaller and smaller! There were so many treats to
choose from that you could eat a different candy every day of the week
or month for that matter. We used to scrounge up empty pop bottles and
return them for the deposit so we could keep ourselves in candy. I sure
did eat my share of candy both hard and soft back then but I was
actually more of an ice cream lover at the time. The local dairy
“Silverwood’s” that was located on Courtland Ave produced two of my
favourite treats of all time! The first was a “Dixie Cup” with a peal
off lid that contained ice cream and you ate the contents with a small
flat wooden spoon. My favourite flavour was butterscotch and they
always had a big blob of gooey butterscotch at the bottom of the cup!
MMMMMMmmmmmm ….. Mmmmmm!
When I ate an ice cream cone, it was always chocolate but the Dixie
Cups had to be butterscotch for sure! The second “Silverwood’s” fave
was the Ice Cream Bar on a stick! They were vanilla ice cream with
chocolate coating on the outside. They were a nickel but I don’t
remember how much the “Dixie Cups” were, most likely a dime at the time!
I would hazard a guess that I’d go through about a dozen or more of the
Ice Cream Bars on a stick in a week’s time when we were sub teenagers
and not yet working during our summers in the North Ward. We could
always come up with a reason to wind up at the Supertest gas
station/corner store at the corner of Guelph St and Margaret Ave when
the Floyd St gang was out and about on a hot summer day. If nobody in
the gang had any money, we’d scrounge through the neighbourhood until
we found a few pop bottles or even manage to beg a quarter from
someone’s parent just so we’d stop bugging them for an hour! It was
always fun to have that summer time freedom as kids but you sure don’t
see groups of kids buzzing around the neighbourhood streets these days
like back when we were youngsters. I guess parents are too paranoid
these days to let their kids wander the streets and parklands like we
did in the good old days! Somehow I think today’s kids are really
missing out on a normal childhood by being so restricted but, that’s a
story for another week. There are dozens of other candy and pop treats
that come to mind but I think I’ll just savor the butterscotch dream
for now and maybe talk about the others another time!
I sincerely hope that this look back has brought pleasant thoughts and
memories your way! Let’s hope that such summer time treat thoughts will
bring on some lovely summer weather in the near future!
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>
So, this dyslexic man walks into a bra!
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Have a good one..
the doug
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