The Squamidian Report – June 27 / 15
 
Issue #683

Including:
The Ontarion

Hi All,

My blueberries are starting to ripen. They are at about a handful per day right now. Pretty soon they will be producing a big bowl per day. The 'local' berries from the Fraser Valley have been in the stores for a while now. The Fraser Valley is a couple of weeks ahead of us up here in the mountains, but our berries are ahead of their normal ripening time due to our hot sunny spring. Luckily, I've got several varieties. Some ripen early, others mid season and others ripen late so hopefully I'll be picking and munching all summer long.

Last year I was having problems with birds pecking the berries. I had first tried netting but that didn't work as the nets would catch on the plants and break the tips off the small branches. Then I had switched to hanging old CDs from the plants. That seemed to work. The CDs would dangle and move around casting bright reflections all over the place and that scares the birds away. So, all winter I've been saving my old CDs for the same purpose. I've got lots of them because whenever I record a song I burn it to CD in order to test the mix in various players. Sometimes it takes several tries to get it as right as its going to get, ending up with several used CDs destined for blueberry patrol. Anyway, I've got about two dozen CDs hanging from my plants. There is so much visual motion and moving light that any bird coming close will get dizzy. At least thats the theory. So far it seems to be working.

The hot sunny weather that has lead to early bumper berry crops out here has also lead to drought and a severe fire rating. The rain forests are tinder dry. Last year it never stopped raining until mid summer and there was no fire season. This year is the opposite. It has not really rained since March and there has been more forest fires so far than all of last year put together, by many times over. The frustrating thing is that most of the fires have been caused by careless human activity and the most common activity is the careless tossing of lit cigarette butts, either out a car window or simply dropped as the jerk walks along. West Van is averaging about 2 fires per day that are directly traced back to tossed cigarettes. Appalling. You'd think that after all these years of trying to educate the public that the message would sink in but I guess the vary people that need to hear that message are incapable of applying it to themselves.

On Tuesday evenings we meet with out motorcycle group in Horseshoe Bay. This past Tuesday as we all sat around, we watched a helicopter filling its big water bag from the waters of the bay and lifting it up over the highway to a fire that was burning in very steep terrain just above the ferry terminals. This fire was started by a tossed butt. It took 2 days for then to fully extinguish it. And on, and on, and on. Very scary and so totally unnecessary. Canada Day is next week and normally that means fireworks. This year most municipalities around here have banned them. Can you imagine the outcome if all the morons who would normally be shooting off firecrackers and sky rockets from their back yard were to do that when the whole area is a tinder box? Unfortunately, many of those morons will ignore the ban and light their stuff regardless of the risk. We are into record dry and record heat now, and the long range forecast is for even hotter. Ouch.

doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT

Hello everyone!
Wow! It seems like it’s been longer than a week since we last talked but I guess it’s only been 7 days. We’ve had a whirlwind week hosting friends of ours from Saskatchewan. They are moving back to Ontario and have spent the past two weeks making a deal to buy a home in Grand Bend. They stayed at “The Bend” in another friend’s cottage and in the first week they purchased a home in a seniors community called “Grand Cove”. It’s a modest gated community in “The Bend” that’s been there for over 50 years. It’s one of those that is comprised of small but nice houses that were pre-fabricated. They are all between 800 and 1200 sq/ft and are very reasonably priced. There was in the range of a dozen or more homes for sale and our friends toured most of them before picking a nice one that needs very little work to meet their wants and needs. The community has a social club that holds dances, bingo nights and other activities for the pleasure of their residents. The community centre also has pool tables, tennis courts, dart nights, dinner events, a swimming pool, outdoor BBQ’s and more for their enjoyment. These homes are built on either flat pads or on elevated pillars. There are no basements. They have city water, city sewage, natural gas, air conditioning and more. For a modest monthly fee, their taxes, snow removal, repairs to their homes and the use and activities I mentioned are all covered. Our friends are very pleased that they were able to find such a home to retire in! They intend to live there most of the year and spend from one to three months in Florida or wherever they choose for as long as their health holds out. They are looking forward to their retirement and living back here in Ontario. They have traveled for the past 15 years for the company he worked for because of his many transfers and are glad to finally be settling down once and for all. They are from KW and 15 years ago he was sent to South Carolina, then to Texas and back to Brampton Ontario. After spending a year in Brampton he was moved to Petrolia Ont and then on to Saskatchewan. His talents were such that the company had him move to wherever they had organizational troubles and he’d take charge and get things back into money making shape. Once he had things in order they’d find another trouble spot to send him to. So, he’s had one stressful assignment after the other for most of his career and is really looking forward to putting that all behind him. He’s a great guy and deserves a long and happy retirement.
 
For the second week of their quest for a new house they have been staying with us while they wrap up the details of their purchase. We’ve been friends with them for over 40 years and it’ll certainly be great to have them within visiting distance once again. Their family and grandchildren are here in Kitchener and that also is one of their reasons for coming “HOME”!

We have had a great time catching up with them while hosting them this week and it’ll be fun to be back into a regular friendship once again! We’ve always loved to get together with them and do weekends together among other activities and we’re hoping to have many more years together! They are driving back to Saskatchewan tomorrow and will be taking possession of their new home August 31st. He retires officially the third week of August and just can’t wait to do so! We’re very happy for both of them and it’s very nice to have our good friends back in Ontario so we can make the most of our friendship once again! It’s been too long!

That’s all 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>
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenaged boys!   PJ O’Rourke.
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Have a good one..
the doug
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