The Squamidian Report – Mar. 21 / 15
Issue #669
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Well, I won't dwell on the obvious but needless to say, that was a very
hard week for all of us. I don't know how my sisters and father have
managed to deal so well with the last days, weeks and month, and
perhaps years as well. I am certainly grateful to them. I know we are
all grateful that it is over because for it not to be over would mean
that Mom would continue to be in incredible pain and be enduring the
endless miseries of her illnesses. I for one am not sad, in fact, I am
happy. She has been freed. I only wish that had it not been
inappropriate, I could have asked her to say 'Hi' to those who have
passed away before her. But I know she will do that anyway because
thats just who she is.
Lorne's 90th birthday party went ahead as planned because she insisted
on it, and it was the right thing to do, and we all had a great time of
it. I didn't know Lorne had so many friends, which explains why the
party (a nice lunch) was held at their church. Most of you know most of
this already so I'll move on to other things....
I'm home again but boy do I hate flying on the commercial airlines.
Yes, I'm repeating myself but they sure have taken all the fun and
adventure out of it. Oh well, I just think of it as riding an
over-packed transit bus during rush hour through a grungy section of
some down-town city. As we climbed out from KW airport I could see the
hospital she was in. That was hard. Then a few minutes later we were
out over Lake Huron and on our way. It took a long time to get fully
dark because we were chasing the sunset at airliner speed but by
Saskatchewan it was fully dark and the Northern Lights hung across the
northern horizon all the way to about mid BC. 'The Wife' and Willow met
me at YVR and we were home by about 1am or so (thats 4am Ontario time).
One of the many things I needed to do before returning home was to
return that rented guitar. Again, and I'm repeating myself but boy,
have I ever become a 'guitar snob'. That Gibson J-45 that I
rented was a very nice guitar, and would be even nicer if it were
properly set up. And it will continue to get nicer as it gets played
and ages a bit. But, it sure can't compare with my guitar that was
waiting for me at home. 'Nice', is not 'incredible'. See, I'm a snob.
Perhaps I should be attending 'guitar snobs anonymous' but I'd just
find the other attendees annoying and obnoxious, as they would
undoubtably fine me.
So, era has come to an end. No one will ever forget how she opened her
home to anyone and everyone. How so many thought of her as 'Mom'
regardless of how short or long they knew her. How she was such a loyal
friend to her friends and her church. How she loved her wild birds, and
her flowers, and her dog Teddy. How she somehow managed to raise 5 very
independent kids who in turn raised successful kids of their own, and
so on. She will most certainly be missed, but we should not 'miss' her,
because she is most certainly with all of us now and watching over us
now and will continue to do so until we meet again.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
With Doug’s visit now in the history books it’s time to get back to
normal. We always get out for a day or two when he’s here to have a
Country Boy Breakfast and enjoy a few hours of catching up. Included in
this day is a visit to several motorcycle shops but this time we only
managed to visit one. I guess things do get a tad old when we do the
same thing every time he’s here. We dropped into a bike shop in
Waterloo that’s an actual bike shop at the corner of King St and Erb St
E to view the latest in peddle bikes. We had been talking a little
earlier about having seen bicycles with very fat tires on them and we
were both wondering what the purpose of these wide tired bikes is. So
while walking toward Long and McQuades further up King St we decided to
drop into the bicycle shop to check out these strange new bikes. Once
inside the sales person explained to us that they were simply “Snow
Bikes”. She said that they are also used on sand, gravel and most other
off road surfaces. She said they are gaining popularity with
local street riders as well and are very comfortable to ride. The tire
pressure when riding on pavement should be raised to around 25 to 30
psi but when off road or riding in snow etc the tires are only pumped
up to around the 6 psi mark. This gives the rider better control on
unstable surfaces. We were both surprised to learn the details of this
different style of bicycle transportation. These bikes come with a full
range of control systems on them as well. They start as standard single
speed bikes with pedal brakes and range all the way up to high-end
multi-geared sport bikes with disc brakes and sophisticated suspension
systems on them. They also range in price from $500.00 up to a
cost of several thousands of dollars, depending on what features you
want on the one you buy.
I remember one of my friends from the North Ward back in the 50’s when
we were kids having a bicycle with a spring suspension on the seat and
what at that time seamed like extremely fat tires. We called that style
bike back then “Balloon Tire” bikes! I remember being jostled all over
the place when crossing train tracks and my buddy would just glide
across the tracks and cracks with the greatest of ease on his cushy
tires! Back then, some of the other kids would tease him about being on
such a dorky looking bike but he had the last laugh when it came to
comfort and ride ability whenever we encountered rough terrain. I
don’t think they made Balloon Tire bikes after the late 50’s but now it
seams the manufacturers have rediscovered the benefits of such tire
design. The lady at the bike shop said that the durability of these fat
tires is amazing as well. If I ever decide to take up bicycle riding
again, I may just look into trying out one of these new Fat Tired
units. Apparently the manufacturers have improved the reliability of
the gearing systems as well and they no longer need constant adjusting
and repairing like they did when I was a kid. That in itself would be a
big bonus!
I’m also happy to see that Doug brought some of his west coast weather
with him this past week. We’re now actually seeing temperatures in the
above 0c range and with that, the green grass is beginning to show
through. We actually had between two and three feet of snow on our
front lawn and now most of that is gone! Of course the boulevards are
still piled high with snow from the plows but that’ll be gone within
the next couple of weeks as well. After about 8 weeks of extremely low
temps it sure is nice to see the sun and have some warmth along with it!
I’m just waiting for the city plows to make their last passes down our
street. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they were still scraping
their blades along the curbs just to get in a few more hours of
overtime before what’s on the road edges is completely gone. Like I’ve
said before, it’s not unusual to see them plowing bare pavement here in
Kitchener!
I guess 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: Carole and I want to extend our most heartfelt condolences to Lorne
and all the members of the Brubacher family on the passing of your
beloved Vivyan!
God Bless you all!
****
Have a good one..
the doug
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