The Squamidian Report – May 9 / 15
Issue #676
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
If you've had clear late evening sky's this past week you will have
been able to enjoy a rather nice display thanks to the alinement of
several planets. Just before dark and if you don't have any mountains
blocking your western horizon like I do here, you would have been able
to see Mars, following the Sun quite closely. Then, a bit further out
you would have seen Mercury. Thats a treat because her orbit is so
close to the Sun that she can be very hard to see, assuming she is even
seeable.
Right now, from our perspective, she's visually out fairly far and
shows as a nice blueish sparkle. Then, higher up, higher than we are
used to seeing her is Venus, bright as an airplane's landing light.
Finally, there is Jupiter, just a bit south of straight up. Pretty cool
to see so many planets all at once. Even Saturn is currently visible
visible but not in the west. She will rise in the east about the same
time Venus is sinking very low in the west. Can't beat that, 5 planets
in the sky over the course of the late evening and early night. And if
you want to get technical, there is one more visible to you that most
people tend to forget about. Just look down a bit and you'll see the
Earth. You are standing on it, making it easy to forget that its also a
member of the group you are looking up at. Doesn't get much better than
a clear night and a pair of binoculars.
Oh, 'The wife' came home. I picked her up at YVR late Thursday. Life is
back to normal, well, our version of normal. The dog was happy to see
her.
I did more than just star gaze while 'The Wife' was away. I try to
utilize the opportunity to write a song, or if I'm really lucky, a
couple of songs, when the house is quiet and there are no distractions.
This time I could only manage one and it has actually taken me several
weeks to write. I started jotting down ideas when I flew east in March.
As I sat crammed into an overly uncomfortable airplane seat, surrounded
by the rest of the lowly masses I began writing lines for a possible
future song about how miserable commercial flying has become. I added
to the potential lines on my way home, and then again when I flew back
in April. I tend to carry a scratch pad and pen, yes I know, I'm weird.
Due to the distractions of the situation the proto-lyrics were shoved
to the back burner for a while. Once 'The Wife' was away on her visit
to KW, I pulled out my notes to see if there was anything usable or
salvageable. I have quite often jotted down a few lines or ideas only
to return to them and find nothing but gibberish or totally unusable
nonsense. However, on sober second look there did seem to be something
worth perusing and I began to hammer something out. Once I had some
draft but workable verses I put some music to it and began to fix,
refine, change and otherwise pursue the idea into a playable, singable
song. Then came time to record said song. That adds a whole new level
of complexity as I must then work out the arrangement, instrumentation,
harmonies, how I would deal with the technical end of recording and so
on. My first attempt ended with a recording that sucked big time. My
timing was embarrassedly off, phrasing wasn't working out and so on.
So, I did what I've done so many times before and hit the good old
'Delete' button and started over from scratch. Second time worked out
much better. I've had to learn to use the new external sound card that
I purchased just after recording my last number. It's technology is
about 10 years newer than my old card and it handles input levels much
smoother than the old card, and it works nicely with the microphones. I
was also struggling a bit, as usual, with my recording software but it
all came together, I guess, because I have another, finished, song
under my belt.
Quite a hobby that I seem to have taken up. Firstly, Ryan had gotten me
into recording a few years ago and its sure a fun and rewarding thing
to do. Then, a lawyer friend of mine suggested that I try to write
music. This was a couple of years ago now, just before I, well, started
to write music. He had told me it was easy. Once I tried it, I told him
he was a typical lawyer and was lying through is teeth. But, I've been
working away at a hobby I never would have even thought of and I've now
written about 20 songs. Some I've very proud of, some not so much. But
even the ones that fell short of expectations have something in them,
perhaps just a nice line or interesting guitar section. All have been a
worth while learning experiences and each builds on the lessons from
the earlier ones. And the final step in writing and recording a song is
to mail a copy of all the relevant recording and music files to myself
via registered mail, and file away the unopened, stamped and dated
envelope as a way of proving ownership should that unlikely event ever
be required. The envelope is safely filed away.
Email me for the live link to:
These Days I Really Hate To Fly
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Well, it looks like spring has finally sprung here in KW!
We’ve been witnessing a huge burst of buds and blossoms on the trees
and shrubs of our surrounding neighbourhood over the past couple of
days. Only a few days ago there was scarcely a bud on any of the trees
and over yesterday and today the plants and trees are just covered with
nature’s beauty! Two days ago we went down to Niagara Falls and crossed
the border to have a day out shopping and looking around. We were down
there about two months ago and witnessed the frozen falls at Niagara
and of course the entire area was as cold, dark and dreary as most of
the rest of the north is in winter. This past trip two days ago was the
exact opposite. The blossoms in the Niagara Region were putting the
bare bones of Waterloo Region to shame! I guess Mother Nature decided
to spread some of her beauty around and within a day of our visit to NY
State; our area was filled with the colours and aromas of a beautiful
Spring! Of course when spring springs and the sun and heat strike it’s
time to get at all the tasks that are the rituals of this time of year.
I’ve had the patio furniture all out and set up, the gardens raked out
to clear all of last years fall droppings and decomp. Not to mention
the lawns raked, cut and fertilized and cut again. It looks like I’ll
have to give the lawn a third cutting already as the back grass is up
to my ankles once again. The fertilizer we use is Scotts Turf Builder
and man does it build the turf! LOL! I spotted one lonely dandelion on
the front lawn two days ago and decided to dig it out before mowing but
as you likely know, one leads to two, two leads to three and so on and
so on! I opened a new big brown paper yard waste bag and before I was
finished, it was full to the brim. I guess that’s just the way it goes!
The fertilizer is supposed to contain a weed suppressant that will keep
the weed growth to a minimum once it’s on but timing is crucial it must
be put on before the first dandelion blooms and has a chance to go to
seed. I think I managed to get on in time but we’ll just have to wait
and see. I know that just the past two days has produced an entire
field of yellow under the hydro towers that line the right of way
behind our house. I’m sure it won’t be long before they spread to the
neighbouring lawns! My eyes are beginning to itch so that’s another
indication that spring has sprung! I’ll have to keep my allergy pills
handy. I went through 55 years of my life and never had any indication
of allergies then all of a sudden “BANG!” I awoke one spring day 11
years ago with red, watery, itchy eyes and every spring since I’ve had
to do battle with the same symptoms. Oh well, at least the government
pays for my drugs now that I’m OLD! Now if they’d only send someone
over to wipe my ass for all the tax money I’ve given them over the past
50 or more years I’d give them some credit!
Speaking of governments, there have been some big changes out west that
are worth mentioning. The Albertans finally decided they’d had enough
of the PC’s and took that drastic step into what will likely be a
bigger shocker for them in the form of an NDP government for their
province! I can’t wait to see what happens out there with the NDP in
total control and nobody of any note as their opposition to keep watch
over their antics. I sure hope they’ve taken a long hard look at the
provincial political history that plagued ONTARIO twenty some years ago
when Bob Rae headed the NDP in Queens Park. The people of Alberta think
they were taking a shit kicking at the hands of the PC’s, just wait
till they get a load of the policies they are handed by the NDP party.
I’m beginning to shudder when I think that this NDP plague may just get
a foot hold here in the east with PM Harper making the kind of blunders
he’s just made news with on his trip to Kandahar. Shit usually runs
downhill but I’m afraid that this time the pile rests solidly on the
head and shoulders of our PM after the blunder of spilling the
identities of Canada’s top armed forces specialists seeing action in
the middle of the fight with ISIS! I’m afraid Mr Harper was looking
after his own party interests rather than the interests of Canada and
it’s war hero’s when he turned his trip to the war front into a PC
campaign rally rather than a moral boosting visit for the hard working
soldiers and air support personnel of the Canadian Forces! I know an
effort was made before his trip to control what the Press might release
with regards to video of the PM’s visit but once they arrived at the
front, it seams nobody from the PM’s office remembered to pre-view the
news tapes. Consequently there were many images of the Canadian Forces
members that the ISIS terrorists might use to take action against these
special members and their families to try to further the spread of
terror across Canada! The PM’s office has taken steps to prevent any
further release of such news material since the problem was discovered
and hopefully there will be no action taken by our enemies due to this
blunder at the top!
With the NDP and their leader Thomas Mulcair taking every opportunity
to shove this faux pas in front of the news cameras here at home and
specifically in Ottawa by cramming it down Mr Harper’s throat, I’m
afraid it may damage all of the hard work that our PM and the PCs have
done to keep Canada in good standing with the rest of the free world as
well as on top economically. The NDP and the Liberals are no doubt
trying their worst to capitalize on the PM’s slips for their own
political gain! Hopefully the change of government out in Alberta won’t
be the start of something that the PC’s can’t control come the next
election! I still believe that the Conservatives have done one hell of
a good job for Canada over the past couple of terms in office and we’ll
see if they have the fortitude to withstand the next political assault
on their majority Federal government!
I admit this latest incident wasn’t a smart move but like anything else
that happens, Canada will just have to do our best to control the
outcome of this news release of identities and move on!
If you think I’m banging the PC drum too hard, take a good long look at
what damage is being done and can most certainly be done in the near
future by not keeping our political finger in the dyke of the Liberal
party here in our own province! Do you really believe Canada can
survive another TRUDEAU style political regime at the Federal level,
let alone one by the NDP party in majority control of Canada’s
business? After all, the political policies of both parties have
severely damaged Ontario in the past 30 years as they each took turns
in office. It makes me shudder indeed to think what either party might
do if given control of the whole country!
That’s enough out of me for this week!
Thanks for tuning in and for allowing me to exercise my right to free speech!
I’m sure you all have an opinion of the political state of both our
province and our entire country and I respect your right to such
opinions!
Thanks for listening 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>
The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth!
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Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.
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