The Squamidian Report – Oct. 21 / 17
Issue #804
Including:
Update On Greg
Hi All,
As you know, it had been pretty dry around here this summer and early
fall. That seems to have changed. Up until early this week Shannon
Falls had been nothing more than a trickle, barley a wet smear down the
side of the mountain. That all changed on Monday night and into Tuesday
and on. A rather wet series of Pacific storms has set up and started
pumping impressive amounts of rain onto the coast. What had been a
trickle is now a raging torrent. The falls is back to life. Over night
the local rivers have swollen from docile lazy streams to wild
waterways that have filled their beds from bank to bank. Any rain we
had enjoyed up until now had been happily soaked up by the soil, once
that soil had been given a chance to start soaking it up. Now there is
way more than it can take and the runoff has revived the rivers and
streams, big time. The only real down-side is that along with the rain
has come somewhat warmer temperatures that have melted the snow we had
accumulated high up on the slopes. However, the temps are supposed to
drop and the forecast for this current week is for over a meter of snow
in the mountains. Thats a good thing, as long as it stays up there, for
now at least. The freezing level and therefore the snow-line tends to
fluctuate and had come down low enough that on Wednesday we were having
snow at the gondola lodge, and the highway through Whistler was closed
for a while due to the driving conditions.
And then there's this.... our daily newspaper is delivered by a lady
that looks like she belongs in some down town east side homeless
shelter, pushing a shopping cart. She looks the part because while
she's a really nice person, she has had a very hard life. But looks are
deceiving, she deliver's her papers every morning, rain shine snow
sleet ice or whatever. I used to talk with her quite a bit back when I
was still working because I'd be getting ready to pull out of the
garage at about the same time she'd be dropping off our paper, around
5:30am or so. We don't see her as often anymore because we don't bother
to get up much before 7 and by then the paper is on our doorstep.
However, every once in a while her old beater of a car will break down
and I always seem to be the person she turns to for help. It happened
again this past week. Shortly before 8 there was a barely audible knock
on the door. When I answered it, it was her, asking if she could use
our phone as her car had run out of gas just down the street. She said
she had been sitting there for a couple of hours but hadn't wanted to
knock sooner as she didn't know what time we got up, and more
importantly, she had seen cougars in our neighborhood twice in the last
few days and hadn't wanted to be out walking far to from her car until
well after sunup.
So, we lent her the phone but she was unable to contact whoever she had
tried to call. Now, I usually have a can of gas in the garage but I had
dumped it into my truck's tank just a week ago or so, in order to use
it up before it got too old and stale. Gas only lasts so long before
going bad, even with stabilizer in it. I had intended to re-fill the
can but hadn't done it yet. There was no point sitting around while she
tried in vane to get ahold of her husband or whoever so I told her to
hop into my truck and we'd go down to the gas station and get her some
gas. Which we did. What didn't surprise me was she didn't have any
money with her. Other times she needed help she didn't seem to have any
means to get that help except to find someone who'd help her out, which
often seems to be me. But, thats not a problem. When we got back I
poured the gas into her tank and knowing from past experiences, I
stayed there rather than go the rest of the way home. Sure enough, her
car wouldn't start, the battery was almost dead. She had left the
lights on. Not the first time because I've boosted her car on several
occasions. Anyway, I was expecting this or some other issue and at
least this was an easy fix. I pulled around and connected the batteries
and boosted her car. It started with no more problems. At least this
time I didn't have to drive her home like I did the time she locked her
keys in her car. But hey, it was an interesting diversion that morning
and it gave me something to write about for a couple of paragraphs.
doug
****
I'd like to thank Greg's wife Carole for sending us this update....
Well....Greg is coming home Friday....omg!! We have been going up to
the hospital every day to learn what to do for him when he comes home.
Today I was taught how to give him a shower without getting myself wet.
Lol...tomorrow will be learning how to go up and down the stairs
without using your arms. Also how to get out of bed and standing up
without the use of your arms. I'm not sure I'm ready to handle
this...but I haven't any choice.....lol Will keep you posted.
****
Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
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