The Squamidian Report – Sept. 13 / 14
 
Issue #642

Including:
From Coast to Coast
The Ontarion

Hi All,

I'd like to use this forum to thank uncle Russ for including us as part of his 'bucket list' adventure. The term 'us' doesn't just means 'us', but this whole incredible area we live in which is the source of my writings and my music. It was really nice having him here. I've obviously known him all of my life, as my father's brother and a member of the 'older' generation. However, as we all age, those generational gaps seem to get smaller and both 'the wife' and I have now had a chance to get to know him as not just an uncle, but as a friend, a very interesting friend. Like I said, its been really great. We proudly showed off many of the local sites of interest include doing a morning brunch in Whistler (at the Wildwood of course) and four trips up the Gondola. It takes four times up to even begin to get a feel for that place because the whole thing is so very overwhelming the first few times you ride up and the first few times you sit on that deck overlooking everything. I dragged him out to Horseshoe Bay to one of my motorcycle coffee meets (in the car of course), and I selfishly subjected him to a couple of live episodes of my music including playing several of my latest compositions, some of which he had already had a sneak preview of. Some of you have heard some of them, none of you with the exception of Russ have heard all of them. Perhaps there will be another CD in time for Christmas, who knows, we shall see.

Time always goes by way too fast, and so bright and early Tuesday morning we headed back to the airport, well, not so bright because it was still dark out but it certainly brightened when that full moon popped out from behind some clouds. Conveniently, both Russ and 'the wife' were headed for the airport at the same time for the same flight to Kitchener, Russ heading home and 'the wife' heading back for one of her semi-annual visits with her parents. Its always a bit funny when we head for the airport because Willow suspects something is up because she gets suspicious when she sees luggage. Shes never too sure what our destination is because we could be headed for Ryan's place but as soon as we veer off the highway at Taylor Way and head into the city she knows the truth – we are either dropping off or picking up. When we get to the airport she gets a bit more concerned because if one of us does not get back into the car it means its up to her to drive home and shes not too sure she knows how to drive or how to find the way home. So, when one of us gets back in she is quite relieved but also saddened because she now knows who is leaving, in this instance her main person, 'the wife'. Anyway, we dropped Russ and Sue off and headed for home, Willow sad but relieved.

Kind of an interesting thing, Russ had brought with him a copy of his local newspaper, the Kincardine News, dated Aug 14 that included an article about the Emerald Ash Borer, a destructive Asian moth that is starting to decimate the ash trees in that part of Southern Ontario. As I read the article something on the opposite page caught my attention, an article about their local chinook salmon derby, because, in several of the pictures was my good friend Brian Lang who apparently is the chair of this years event. Cool. Hey Brian, hows it going? Before we moved out here many years ago, we had attended one of Brian's salmon BBQs where basically the whole town and county attended. I'll never forget those huge, 3-ft dia heavy frying pans he was using. I doubt if I could even lift one of them. Anyway, sadly for us, Russ's visit is over, and happily for her parents, 'the wife' is back in Ontario for the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I can make use of the quiet house to find the inspiration needed to come up with a couple more songs for that possible next CD which I may or may not make available when the time comes, should that time come.

Oh, here's a bit of a follow-up to as subject I touched on a while back.... I've complained about how politicians and bureaucrats and government and crown corporations get it all ass backward when they try to raise more monies from the services they charge for. This particular lament was that BC Ferries had been on a rampage over the last years raising passage prices over and over and over, far surpassing the rate of inflation and the rate of common sense. But, they kept saying they needed to increase revenues and profits, meaning they need more bonuses and raises for their top executives. Anyway, a study has just come out that shows that ridership has continually fallen in direct relation to the price increases of the tickets, and, that the BC economy has lost 2.3 BILLION dollars because of the financial impact of people not using the ferries which means they are also not using the facilities and amenities of the places that the ferries would have taken them. But, according to a top BC Ferry spokesperson, there are no plans to change or alter their current fair increase strategy which is slated to bring in yet another large price increase this winter. Why does that not surprise anyone at all?

Oh, speaking of CDs, I've just picked my last handful of blueberries from my patch. Not enough for on ice cream but certainly enough for on my breakfast cereal. Not bad considering this is virtually mid September. I have that bird scaring CD trick to thank. Without having hung an old one on the berry bush to scare off the birds, my berry production would have ended a month ago. Sadly, my berries are now over for another year but next year I'll be hanging CDs on all the bushes as soon as the berries start to form.

doug
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From Coast to Coast

From the West Coast of Ontario, to the West Coast of Canada, that is.
I would recommend this trip to anyone wishing to see the "raw beauty" of the Rocky Mountains and the Coastal Mountains of British Columbia.
 
Boarding the Rocky Mountaineer in Calgary@5:45AM, the train took us(all 737 of us) to Banff and Lake Louise, then on to Kamloops, (Indian name for "Where two rivers meet"), namely the Thompson and the South Thompson Rivers. Shuttle buses (15 and counting) took us to our respective hotels, where we all had a good nights rest. (I was still "riding the train" well into the wee hours, as the bed seemed to swing from side to side, and my ears were echoing the rumble of the train)

Next day we had a more reasonable wake-up time, and got underway at 8:AM.  The food on the Rocky Mountaineer is on a par with that of a cruise ship.  Oh yes!  The Attendants are pretty young girls dressed in cute little uniforms, trained to see to your every need.  The food is served at tables of four, where I got to meet travelers from all corners of the World; England, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, India, Australia, Florida, USA, and on-and-on.

As Doug told you in the September 6th issue of the Squamidian, we travelled along the Fraser Canyon to Vancouver.  Along the way we saw many Elk, Bears(A Momma with her two young Cubs), umpteen Eagles and Ospringe....but no Cougars. I took over 100 pictures with my newly acquired "phone", but from a moving train they're no hell. The BEST pictures are in my memory!
 
During the entire period from the time we left the airport in Kitchener to Doug and Sue's beautiful home in Squamish, I was in SOME discomfort and had to pay a visit to the local Clinic.  After providing a specimen(which indicated an infection), they sent me on to the Hospital where they drew blood, checked my vitals and massaged my belly with jelly.  The ultrasound showed pee trapped in my bladder.

"We'll have to catheter you and strap a bag onto your leg" announced the young doctor.  "No way! I'm on vacation and I don't need the hassle!"  He looked at me with disgust and said, "OK, we'll start you on some antibiotics, but if you can't pee....you come straight back here and we'll catheter you.  When you get home, see your family doctor pronto, as backed-up plumbing is nothing to fool with!"  Yes, Sir(wheeoo)  Today(Sep.11) I did just that.  Guess what?  I get to see an Urologist!
 
But, back to Squamish.....Doug and Sue are the BEST!  They bent over backwards to show me a good time.  Doug.....you're a whiz with a BBQ! Red Pacific Salmon one day, pork loin another, burgers, then chicken breasts.....what a feast!
 
And here's my "Dream come true".  Doug got me a Season Pass to ride the Sea To Sky Gondola......which we did....FOUR times!  The scenery from the top is awsome......and ever-changing with the time of day.  This "Old Fart" even had the guts to walk across the Suspension Bridge over-looking the trees and clouds with a drop of about 400 feet.  I hung on for dear life when the bridge began to "gallop".  The pictures they took don't show my white knuckles!  Wish I could share the photos I took with you readers of the Squamidian, but I don't have that ability.....yet. In addition to the thrills of the gondola, Doug and Sue showed me around Whistler, the famous ski resort, the BC Ferry boats and docks.  Doug and I went to Horseshoe Bay where I met some of his Biker buddies.....big tattooed tough Guys with gentle hearts of gold.

Was nice to be with you on your 41st Wedding Anniversary, and to enjoy the antics of Kyra, your delightful, energetic Grandchild, and her Mom and Dad, Lauren and Ryan.  It was good to see Michelle and her quiet husband.
 
Thanks again for a wonderful time with the most generous hosts, Doug and Sue.

Uncle Russ.

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THE ONTARION REPORT

Hello everyone!

It’s only two days after the 13th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York and to tell the truth, it seams like the whole tragic event took place only yesterday. The new buildings and memorial fountain as well as the museum commemorating the attack are now completed and New York is destined never to forget that horrible day! In fact, the world will never forget that event and well they shouldn’t, any more than they should forget the holocaust of WW II. Of course, the radical Muslim population of the world will most likely claim it never happened just as they claim the holocaust never happened! Here’s hoping that the peaceful nations of the world will finally put a stop to the troubles in the Middle East. With their help, President Obama is going to do his best to end the Islamic chaos in Iraq and restore peace. For some strange reason, that seams like only a pipe dream when I think of it! Unfortunately this world will always have more than it’s share of troubles to contend with and the Radical Islamic faction is growing rather than shrinking! All the decent countries of this world can do is try to control and contain the hatred that is perpetrated by such monstrous organizations as the ISIS Muslim Radicals!
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Another topic of interest hitting the airwaves these days is the “September” Snow Storm that’s walloping Calgary lately! What a shocker that was for the folks of Alberta! Unfortunately the citizens of Ontario and all provinces east of Alberta tend to chuckle when they hear of such nasty weather out west and they really should not be doing so. It won’t be long before the temperatures that brought that snow to Calgary make their way to our neck of the woods and then it won’t be so funny! Fortunately, we here in Ontario don’t have the Rocky Mountains bordering our western boundary to instigate such brutal early weather patterns. Of course it’s bad enough when we get the incredible winter weather off the Great Lakes surrounding Southern Ontario. It seams that once our winter sets in it’s here to stay until well into the spring months. Calgary at least gets periods of mild weather with the Chinook winds that melt their white stuff a few times during their winter months. Oh well, I guess there’s no controlling what Mother Nature decides to do to us each year. All we can hope for is a bearable winter and some lovely weather during the other three seasons to make up for it! The “Old Farmer’s Almanac” predicted we’d have a very hot and long summer this year and look what that prediction brought us! LOL! Now their saying that we’ll have a “milder” winter than last year for the upcoming one but what the heck, that’s not saying much is it! We can only hope for one that we can handle and afford here in Ontario! Of course if the government has more than they can handle when they have to clean up after and during this winters storms, they can always raise our taxes AGAIN and hope they’ve put enough money aside for next year!

Another item in the news that’s caught my attention is the purchase of Tim Horton’s by Burger King! I’m not really much of a Tim Horton’s fan but then again I’m not much of a Burger King fan either. It’s just interesting how they try to justify these huge business ventures. Apparently Burger King realized that if they moved their head office to Canada they’d pay 27% taxes to the government rather than the whopping 48% they pay to Uncle Sam at the moment. Of course they claim that’s not the reason they’re making the purchase. They say it’s purely a good investment to buy a successful alternate business that’s world wide as well for the paltry sum of 2.6 billion in cash! What a deal! Burger King said they just couldn’t pass up such a bargain! They also have stated that neither food chain will be affected by the others menu and nothing will change for Tim’s or BK’s customers. I’d say that with the addition of more buying power for the entire organization, shouldn’t the prices change? I would think that the prices for the products they sell should go DOWN since they can now purchase their raw materials for a lower rate from their suppliers! It’s still the same old story when it comes to such mergers. The reality of the situation is that 27% tax paid on 2.4 billion dollars of profit every ¼ out weighs 48% tax paid to Uncle Sam and THAT’S the real story! Guess it won’t be long before we’ll be eating “Big Timmy” burgers from Horton’s and “Whopper Bits” from Burger King stores near you!
There’s just no consideration for the little guys of this world is there!
I’ve always wondered what the Burger King’s name was and now I know, its “TIMMY”!

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>
Zero is the only number that can’t be represented by Roman numerals!

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Have a good one..
the doug
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