The Squamidian Report – Feb. 27 / 16
 
Issue #718

Including:
The Ontarion

Hi All,

Funny how there are always household projects competing for your attention. In our case one of those projects is the on-going fence replacement. We've been working away at replacing the fence in the back yard for years. Each time an old section of the original fence reaches the point where it can no longer be ignored, we replace it. I'd have done the whole thing long ago but cost is an issue and there is and was no point in pulling out old fence just because it was old. Once it starts to fall apart it becomes another matter and must be taken care of. The latest section is the south west back corner. The corner post had rotted off underground. So, while the post stayed upright because it was held in place by the side fence and back fence panels, it did start to sink, pulling the adjacent panels down with it. Aside from turning the panels into parallelograms, it put stress on the other posts up the line, pulling them off of true. Both corner panels were still original and in need of replacement as well so that gave us a nice little early spring thing to work on.

Little kids always like to help with 'big people' projects and should of course be encouraged. So, its a given that Kyra wants to be involved. But there is a bit of a twist to her involvement, she has this thing about being a retail outlet. She loves to play fruit stand where we are her customers and we walk up to her stand where she asks “hello, how can I help you?” to which we reply, “I'd like to buy a nice apple” (or whatever) and she then sells us the pretend item. There are several versions of this game, such as 'bakery  stand', 'ice cream stand' (where she proceeds to eat my ice cream), and so on. Anyway, fence repairs seem to fall right into her service industry interests. When I built the play deck out back last summer I made the railings low for kids and wide so they could substitute as counter tops etc. As we work on the fence, she sets up shop on her deck where she 'sells' us things like screws, power tools, hammers and so on. It seems to be a win-win situation as she is kept both busy and involved and we can accomplish what we had set out to do.

So, we removed the rotted off corner post and replaced it with a new, treated post. Then, we built new panels and installed them. The fence panels are topped with a section of lattes enclosed in a 2x4 frame. I had installed those a few years ago so that part was already done, just needed to be removed, cleaned up and then replaced on top of the new panels. Of course, our little retail expert was standing by, with tools and screws laid out, ready to 'sell' us the stuff we needed. It was a nice way to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon.

We had come up with a process for building fence panels a few years ago that works well. We can build them in the garage and then just cary them to where they are needed and screw them into place. I never use nails for anything, always screws. That way things go together strongly and can be taken apart easily if needed. Thats a good thing because while I replaced all the posts and lattes sections across the back a while back, the rest of those panels are all in need of replacement now. Our little retail clerk will have lots of business as we work on that section.
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Well, I haven't used the snow blower since early January and the chances of needing it any more this season are pretty low. So, I've moved it out of the garage. However, even though it is too early to declare winter officially over, its definitely pollen season around here now. To that end, I've simply run it up the steps and into the back yard where its now parked under the deck. That way its relatively easy to get at should there be any unlikely surprises. I'll leave it there for a few weeks and then run it down to the shed where it will sit again until next November. Now that its out of the garage I can let myself be tempted to pull the cover off the bike and get the riding season under way. We've had lots of days when one could certainly have been out riding but they have been flanked by numerous days of cold rain making it not worth insuring the bike just yet. I'll control myself until early or mid March, probably earlier than mid. Then, I'll give in and fire up the old Harley. Thats always a nice day as well.

I also hadn't used the little R/C plane for a while, like sometime last December or so. To that end I'd been watching for a chance to take it out flying but until now it just never worked out. It takes 3 things coming together to make it work, I need to have the opportunity, the weather must be be good, and the field must be free of people. All 3 requirements must come together at the same time. And they did this past Thursday. Beautiful warm sunny day with only a slight breeze, no one on the field, and I had some time available. The field is a bit rough right now as they are doing improvements including raising the infield, and I was a bit rusty at first but the flying was good. Still a bit too much goose poop making walking around dicy but as long as you take off and land right at your feet its not much of an issue. So, I had a good fly, two battery charges worth. And that added to that nice day.

doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT

Hello everyone!
I just read an article about a legal battle that a Texas family has had with Johnson and Johnson over the families claim that J&J’s Baby Powder was the cause of their mother’s ovarian cancer death. They claimed that she had used Baby Powder and Shower To Shower “Powder” for the past 30 years and that they were told by cancer doctors in Texas that these two products were the cause of her cancer. She passed away from the cancer and her family sued J & J over the matter and after a three-week trial by judge and jury the case was decided in favour of the family. The jury took only four hours to decide that J & J was responsible for her death and found them guilty of lying to their customers as well as to the food and drug administration of the United States. They were also found guilty of fraud among other shady business practices regarding the representation or misrepresentation of their products. The family or should I say the lawyers for the family were awarded more than $75,000,000.00 by the jury in a very short deliberation after the court case finished. The company is of course going to appeal but that only means they will likely be able to strike a lesser amount they’ll have to pay the family after negotiating through the appeal process. The family will still receive a sizeable amount of cash as well the legal team that represented them in court.

It’s a sad situation to have lost a loved one but after reading this article I wonder why, if it’s true, we haven’t heard about the dangers of Baby Powder before this? Heck, my mother used baby powder on all of our bottoms way back in the 40’s and if I’m not mistaken so did 90% of all mothers in North America then and since then!
This leads me to wonder just how this Texas woman used the product? The ovaries are an internal organ and for the life of me I can’t imagine just how they were affected by Baby Powder or “Shower to Shower” powder! One would have to have taken either internally to have an affect on internal organs and most likely for an extended period of time as well.  I personally like the smell of baby powder and have used deodorant with that scent for years. Every time I apply some to my underarms it reminds me of the hundreds of times I changed or watched Carole change our baby boy’s diapers over the first couple of years of his life. I guess I should just be glad that he had no orifices that were susceptible to the migration of the powder to his internal organs! Have any of you ever heard of such a situation before reading this? It’s a curious one in my mind and I’m still dumbfounded as to why this is the first incident of this type to make headlines! If you happen to know more about this or other similar products please enlighten me!

I’ve gotten off my usual track this week but it’s a topic that interested me and I hope it spurs all of you to be more careful about the products you choose to use on yourself or your loved ones in the future!

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>
There’s a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can’t get away!
 
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Have a good one..
the doug
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