The Squamidian Report – Apr. 21 / 18
Issue #830
Including:
From Wayne
From Lorne
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Yes, I know you guys back east had it pretty rough this past week with
a mid April winter storm. But face it, the whole country has been in
the grip of a relentless winter that just won't let go. Heck, last
Sunday I had to bundle up and even use my heated vest to ride my
motorcycle down to Horseshoe Bay for morning coffee. And when it comes
right down to it, the only reason I could ride was that there was a
short break in the unrelenting rain the west coast has been subjected
to. As of mid month, the rainfall total so far for April has been 2.5
times higher than normal for the whole month. Likewise, parts of of
eastern BC and Alberta have been blowing away snowfall records for the
month. Snowpacks up in our mountains are at 1.5 to double the average
amounts. On the other hand, that illusive sun did actually come out for
a few days this week giving us an opportunity to mow the lawn. Now that
I've got everyone rilled about the weather, I'll move on to my take on
this ridiculous pipeline argument between Alberta and BC.
This is just my take on the situation, no intent to be political, no
attempt to even know much about what I'm talking about, just my
personal take.....
Firstly, I'm not at all against a pipeline, meaning 'A' particular
pipeline but I am very much against 'THIS' particular pipeline. Not
because of where it will be or where it would be coming from or going
to but because of WHO its for and WHAT it will be carrying. Pipelines
are the safest way to move petroleum products and said products must be
moved because we are no where near being at a place technically or
socially where we can do without them. Lets deal with the 'WHAT'. The
diluted bitumen that will be pumped down the pipe is the worst and most
dangerous crap they could possibly be sending. Should a spill happen
anywhere along the line or once it has been loaded onto a tanker ship,
it can not be cleaned up. It will simply destroy the environment into
which it spills. The question then becomes WHY are they so intent on
moving that crap at all. The official answer is JOBS, JOBS, and more
JOBS (Alberta jobs of course). Well, firstly, we all know that when
industry or politicians start promising jobs, for every 100 they say
will be created only about 10 ever actually exist, if any at all. But
thats what governments have always yelled at the top of they lungs, job
creation. You'd think the mindless masses would catch on. If 'THEY'
were truly interested in JOBS they would not be insisting on piping the
bitumen, they would want to ship refined products. That would create
jobs. But they don't and they won't because the jobs they want are not
Albertan or Canadian and in order to ship refined products they would
have to build a few more refineries right up there at the oil sands.
In order to build refineries at the oil sand, they would have to be
built to Canadian and Albertan standards, meeting our environmental
standard and they'd have to pay Canadian labour Canadian wages. Too
expensive if maximum profit is all that matters to the actual people
calling the shots, who I'll get to later. The game plan is to ship the
dangerous but cheap bitumen over to the other side of the Pacific where
it can be refined in refineries that do not have to meet any standards
at all and are manned by labour that is paid next to nothing. From
there the finished products can be sold at world prices to wherever its
wanted and overall profit is sufficiently higher that shipping it
across an ocean is much more affordable and profitably that refining in
Alberta and then sharing the royalties of the finished product with the
lowly locals. But Canadians and Albertans will never be told that and
are expected to never figure that out. And the politicians are rewarded
royally to make sure the lowly locals are kept in the dark.
The 'THEY' are the CEO's and board members sitting in their Houston
Texas offices, they are the ones calling the shots. They are the
ones who tell the Alberta premier and that ridiculous waist of oxygen
we call a prime minister what to do and what bull crap to feed to their
citizens. And this is not the first time, its been going on for
decades. Remember back in the late '70s or early '80s when Canada
endured that energy shortage. Alberta was awash in oil but just like
now, it was controlled by the multi nationals and it was in their
interest to send as much oil as possible to the US who at the time was
running short and face it, American interests were all that mattered to
them. At the time the Canadian government wanted to set up a National
Energy Policy but bowing to their US masters, Alberta would have
nothing to do with it and in protest, turned off the taps to the oil
heading east, leaving central and eastern Canada high and dry and not
giving a dam about it. Currently, the States has an abundance of oil
through its overseas sources and because the improved technology of
extracting has enabled them to pull more out of their own ground.
Of course all of Canada has gone down this road of selling out to multi
nationals and US interests. There are countless examples of our
spineless response to demands from outside interests. A couple of
decades ago BC caved in to American lumber interests and basically gave
away the BC lumber industry. It is virtually none existent now. The
forests are being clear cut at an alarming rate but the logs are being
shipped out, as raw material with no added value, and there is no
requirement for the US owned logging firms to replant the trees. The
few remaining lumber mills in the province are shutting down as they
can not get logs, the logs are being shipped away. As for logging
jobs... 4 men and some modern logging machinery can decimate a big
mountain valley in less than a week, leaving nothing but stumps, slash
and waste.
And if anyone is smugly thinking that the legislation that Alberts is
putting in place to be able to deny the shipping of oil to other
provinces is only ever going to apply to BC, think again. The first
time something back east bugs Alberta or the big businesses that own
Alberta, they will turn off the taps. That simple. They did it in the
'80s, they will do it again. All their dribble about 'for the good of
Canada' is just so much bull crap.
And then there's that idiot waste of oxygen moronic excuse for a prime
minister (I despise the creep so much I refuse to write his name) that
has offered Canadian tax dollar to Kinder Morgan to help Alberta PAY
for the pipeline. (How many Canadian companies can't even get a tax
break?). What these brain dead morons have just done is relieve Kinder
Morgan of the liabilities of a pipeline that Kinder Morgan no longer
has to build themselves. There must be incredibly joyful boardroom
parties down there in Texas.
For an interesting take on how this whole thing is actually playing out
on the world and how it is all to the benefit of the US companies and
totally to bad in every way to every Canadian except the slimy PM and
Alberta premier, take a few minutes to read these articles. If you
don't find them interesting, you aren't aware of what is and has been
going on in this country.
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2018/04/17/Why-Kinder-Morgan-Pipeline-DOA/?utm_source=national&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=190418
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2018/04/19/Pipeline-Expansion-Refineries-Win-Canadians-Lose/?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=190418
doug
****
From Wayne
An observation
Sylvia and I frequently talk about the world situation - we don't get
"news" from the 5 mainstream news outlets and their associates
dominating most of the western world, we get it from various websites
across the world.
Sylvia observed that the world leaders and ranking government officials
are acting like children - flaunting the rule of law, acting on
hunches, developing conclusions on known fallacies or purely illogical
suspicions and shutting down those who ask the simple questions - where
is the evidence? qui bono?
I happened upon an article that started with the statement:
They have no kids. The heads of state in Europe, Japan, India,
Afghanistan and Algeria have NO kids. Large and populous countries
but... no sense of urgency nor duty to anyone. They exist in a vacuum.
They rule in a vacuum.
May-UK, Gentiloni-Italy, Lofven-Sweden, Macron-France, Merkel-Germany,
Brettel-Luxembourg, Sturgeon-Scotland, Junker-EC, Rutte-Netherland,
Abe-Japan and Modi-India; none of them has children. Nor does
Kurz from Austria, Ghani from Afghanistan or Bouteflika from Algeria.
14 heads of substantial states without kids…
Interesting....
Wayne
****
From Russ
There’s not a lot going on here in Point Clark this Spring, if you
could call it that......Southern Ont. has been hit with a nasty Winter
storm which left many wondering what’s going on?! The Robins are back,
looking totally confused, they are ground feeders, but there’s no bare
ground! Their normal diet consists of worms and bugs, but they are much
too smart to come to the surface! Robins will eat seeds if they are
starving, and so they must be, as I saw them trying to pick the seeds
out of last year’s sumac cones. It was pitiful.
An unusual sight the other day....a female Mallard Duck was sitting
upon the handrail of my deck. She was, no doubt looking for a place to
build a nest, lay some eggs, and raise her family. There’s lots of
standing water nearby which may have attracted her, but the ponds won’t
last, as we may finally get warm weather and they will dry up.
Oops! I forgot to warn her of the hungry animals around here!
The emerald ash borer is decimating all our beautiful ash trees in Ont.
Crews are constantly cutting infected trees around Point Clark, as
these giants, some towering nearly 100 feet, are a menace once the
larvae have done their thing!
My neighbour, a 94 year- young lady, who is a tree hugger, refuses to
cut down some dead/dying ash on her vacant lot south of my place. I am
in fear and trembling any time we have a strong southerly wind!
A pileated woodpecker is doing his/her best to take down a very big,
very dead ash on her property.....there are over 30 holes in the trunk
of this one tree!
“The Pileated Woodpecker is one of the biggest, most striking forest
birds on the continent. It’s nearly the size of a crow, black with bold
white stripes down the neck and a flaming-red crest. The female lacks
the red cheek stripe and often feeds on one spot for long periods as it
works to get insect larvae from under bark or inside wood. The birds
hollow-out the inside of their larger holes (3 by 4 inch ovals) to make
their nests and raise their young...up to three at a time.
Next week (if permitted) we will write about some more unusual wildlife
sightings in and around Point Clark, if you can “bear” it
but........there’s not a lot going on.
“Aging” but still up-to-it, Uncle Russ.
****
From Lorne
We here in grey old Ontario know all about the winter weather. But what
else to expect this January the 89th? We left for Belleville last
Friday morning through rain showers to attend a convention. Through the
night the storm moved in with heavy ice everywhere and continued all
weekend making it risky to return on Sunday, so we stayed another night
and came home Monday. Belleville had more ice while we here, have more
snow. A friend and his wife traveled with us and left his car parked
out the back. Upon returning home, we saw the passenger door of
his car was wide open allowing a lot of freezing rain and snow to dump
into his car. "But I know I locked the door" he cried, but his wife
left her side wide open. She had to travel home in the back seat. I
too, do stupid things like having the snow blower removed from the
tractor during those spring like days of a month ago so that it could
be used for skidding logs and other fun things. Now there is a bigger
dump of snow than we have had at one time, all winter.
Lorne
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Well, apparently have finally entered spring! What a relief it’ll be if
things stay nice and warm for more than a week! The Robins have been
here and about for the better part of a month now and I’m sure they
were wondering just when the warm weather would arrive. They were
likely thinking that they came back much too early but I guess even
they can’t predict what Mother Nature will do. Oh well, let’s hope that
she’s decided to finally allow the warm weather too arrive and stay
now. I for one am fed up with the long long winter we’ve had but I
guess it’s seemed particularly long for me being cooped up inside
during my recovery of the past 6 months. I can finally look forward to
going out and enjoying a day in the sunshine without five layers of
clothing on to try to beat the cold! LOL!
Something had to stimulate the onset of spring and the warm weather. So
five days ago I decided to stop shaving and attempt to grow a beard. I
wasn’t sure what colour it would come in this time. It’s been about 19
years since I grew one and the last one was a “ginger” colour, as
Carole would call it! I always thought my beard would be brown with a
tinge of red but I must admit that it came in more red than brown last
time. I have always said that if and when my mustache turned grey/white
I’d shave it off but it’s turned white now and has been for several
years and I think I’ll keep it! I’ve had a stache since I was 18 and
I’ve kind of grown used to it after 51 years! I shaved it off a few
years ago and looked so geeky and Carole didn’t like the looks of me
without it so I grew it back right away. She actually said she wouldn’t
be seen in public with me if I left it off. One look in the mirror and
I agreed with her that even I wouldn’t be seen in public until it grew
back! Hahaahahahaaaa……. Sheesh, when I think of it I looked like a ten
year old boy with nothing but a nose and eyes on my face. My mouth had
disappeared! Really, it looked as if I had no lips at all. I guess I’m
just so used to that being a prominent feature on my face that I really
missed it and shaving it off was big mistake! Oh well, it’s back now
and it’s staying. I decided to grow the beard just to see how I’ll look
in a white or grey beard. I hope it looks distinguished but most likely
it’ll just make me look too much like Willie Nelson! LOL!
When you don’t have much if any choice of hair styles anymore it kind
of narrows the field of experimentation. Just have to give it a try and
see how it turns out. I remember back about 30 or more years when I saw
a picture of a platoon of firefighters from somewhere in the states
that had all grown handlebar mustaches and I decided to give that a
try. Well, I had a pretty good one but it was a pain in the butt to try
to keep it curled on the ends. So, after fighting with it and even
trying mustache wax I decided it wasn’t my style and cut it back to my
normal short cut. It was kind of like wearing a toupee after being bald
for 20 years. It just wasn’t right! Speaking of toupees one of the guys
on WFD had the same haircut as me but he bought several hair pieces
over the course of about 4 years or more and every time he’d get
sweated up at a fire scene and removed his helmet to cool off during a
break in the action he’d remove his hair with it! LOL! It became a
department joke to watch how many times he had it on crooked after we
were back at the hall from the fire scene. LOL! Half the time he didn’t
realize it was on sideways and as cruel as guys in that situation are,
nobody would tell him it wasn’t right. He’d finally clue in when he
notice that the guys were chuckling every time he entered the room. At
one time, Scotty was his name, piped up across the banquet room at our
annual golf tournament dinner and said “Hey Payne, this is one thing
you ought to have!” as he pointed at his own head bearing the “rug”. I
stood up and replied in a nice loud voice “You’re right Scotty, I think
I’ll rip right down to Towers Department Store and steal one off a
mannequin, just like you did!” LOL!
The whole place was up in laughter from that exchange and Scotty never
said another word about my lack of hair after that. In fact, it was
about a week later that he came into work without his hairpiece one day
and never bothered to put it on again. I’m sure he had spent thousands
on the several attempts to find one that looked natural and just never
could find a good enough looking one to make it a permanent item. At
one time I took one of Carole’s fashion wigs (something most women
tried back in the 70’s) and put it on as I entered the fire hall for
roll call. It looked like a medium length dark brown slightly curly
haircut like Tom Jones had his hair back in those days. I stood in the
lineup as we called it on the apparatus floor as the Captain called out
our names to make sure we were present as usual. He looked at me as he
did every day and just kept on calling out the “on duty” names as we
each replied “here!” in response. A few minutes later I entered his
office to turn in my “inventory check” that I’d completed for the
pumper I was assigned to drive that day. When I got no comment on the
wig, I asked Captain Stuebing why he hadn’t said anything about my new
hair and he simply replied that he wasn’t about to judge me for my
choices but thought it looked OK. I laughed and told him it was just a
joke and we both had a good chuckle out of it! He said, “You could have
fooled me, I thought you were taking a page out of Scotty’s book!” LOL!
I decided many years ago that I would never bother to try to fool
anyone including myself about my hair loss and it’s been a blessing not
to have to pay for haircuts or to try to keep something like a toupee
looking natural. In fact, when I did have hair, Carole would cut it for
me to my basic style for free! Way back when I went to “Cal” the barber
on the corner of Duke and Breithaupt Sts I would sit in the chair and
watch, hoping that the fire station across the street would get a fire
call so I could watch the trucks pull out of the station. It was always
exciting to see them on their way to a fire! In fact, back then I
thought I might like to be a firefighter when I grew up. I guess that
thought finally came true. The idea had been lost somewhere along the
way but that same old spark finally became a reality in my early
adulthood. I’m very happy that I had the opportunity to become a fire
fighter after all. It was a great career and I enjoyed almost every
minute of my 30 years on the job! Just look at all the fun stories I’ve
got in my memory bank to relate to in my writings! We had many fun and
interesting times at the fire hall and of course many sad ones as well.
However, all in all it was a great time and I don’t regret switching
careers for a minute. Being on that particular job gave me many more
days at home to enjoy with my family than most men get on their jobs.
We worked long hours every day but with the Four Days on and Four Days
off schedule it seemed to some neighbours and family that I didn’t have
a job! Oh well, if they were spending 10 hours a day and 14 hours a
night at their particular jobs, like Fire Fighters did in those days,
they might have thought differently. It seamed that they were just
jealous at the time and most likely were! Given the chance, I’d do it
all over again for sure!
That’s all for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next time in The Ontarion Report.
Bye for now… Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
Have you checked the batteries in your smoke detectors this spring?
****
Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
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