The Squamidian Report – Feb. 14/18
 
Issue #822

Including:
More Stink From Russ
North Nova News
From Lorne
The Ontarion

Hi All,

There is no Ontarion again this week as Greg is still hospitalized. Lets all hope for the best and extend out thoughts to him and his family.
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As stated a couple of weeks ago, our old Toro snow blower has seen better days. I must be clear here, that old machine does not own us a cent. It has blown an incredible amount of snow over the years and has always started first pull and run just fine. I had hoped it could limp the rest of the way through this winter but no such luck. The bearings holding the shaft from the pulley below the engine out to the gear box, the impeller shaft I think its called, are shot, gone, kaput. The gear box seals are shot, letting out oil. It can no longer blow any snow. My preference is to have it repaired, even if it cost half of what a new machine would cost. The Toro is a very good machine. Its just that some of the parts that take a beating have taken a beating. The problem with new machines, new anything for that matter, is that they are never as good or as high quality as the old ones they replace. I'd prefer a rebuilt unit over a new unit. So, we loaded it up and took it down into town to the only repair place in town that works on that type of thing.

Of course, as luck would have it, all of BC including around here is having record breaking cold and snow. Go figure. The blower will be down for at least another week or so and we have snow forecast for another week or so. I guess we will be doing some shoveling but thats ok. By this time of year its usually spring around here so any snow, including what is falling as we speak will melt. Hopefully sooner than later.
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Also as stated a couple of weeks ago, Ryan had upgraded my recording software to the full, more powerful version. Instead of being called GarageBand, its called Logic. That was cool but even though the interface is very similar, I had struggled a bit to use it when I recorded that Full Moon song. It worked out ok but left me with a lot of questions for him. When the opportunity arose, he answered many of my questions and set up a template for me. The template is simply an empty project file with all the pre-sets and expected tracks in place making recording simple and easy which is a good thing for an old brain like mine. I wanted to use the template to create a new project, to record a song, in order to do it before I forgot it. However, I don't currently have any new original material to work on so I decided to pull out a very old Peter Paul and Mary song called 'If I Were Free'. They recorded it way, way back in 1965, and it was an old song then. As kids we used to sing that song as best we could and many of my relatives will certainly remember it. Its a protest, peace type song typical of the hippy movement, and has a nice simple melody. So, to that end I laid down some guitar and 4-part harmony, and was able to get it mostly done while the house was still quiet before 'The Wife' came home. The mixing etc could be finished at any time, its just any recording through a mic must be done in as complete silence as possible. So, here is my attempt at reviving the old folk song 'If I Were Free'. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did doing it.

Oops, almost forgot.... you will hear me taking breaths at the beginning of each bar. Please don't let that bug you too much. My lungs have never quite recovered from when I had pneumonia and dehydration last spring and summer so I find myself gasping for air a bit as I try to sing. I'm doing the best that I can.

http://www.thedougsite.net/Songs/Covers/If%20I%20Were%20Free.mp3

doug
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More Stink From Russ

“Autumn leaves” I’m thankful that I live in a part of our little World that has four Seasons. Each Season treats us with it’s particular smells and aromas.  Right now, we’re nearing the end of Winter (I hope) and it’s been pouring rain for days, and with double digit temperatures, it feels more like March....but just wait a bit and we’ll be “back to Winter”. But whether it’s Winter, Summer, Spring or Fall, some of us are blest/cursed with being able to detect the season’s peculiar “smells”. Which brings me to the subject of this week’s first smell; autumn leaves........
 
Picture yourself walking in a Maple bush in the Fall; the sun is shining on the freshly fallen dry leaves, and as you kick them up an aroma greets your nose which is as sweet as “Mom’s freshly-baked apple pie”.  These same leaves when wet, smell like freshly-turned sod, when burning they smell like tobacco; pungent, rich....maybe too rich!  As a kid I was exposed to the smoke of burning leaves, as each Fall it seemed everybody in Centreville used this wasteful, unhealthy, ‘un-green’ method of getting rid of the ‘harvest of the trees’. But the fire didn’t go to waste, as we often toasted bread in the hot coals, but by this time I’d been exposed to so much smoke I became nauseous, threw-up any/all of which I’d eaten that day!
 
Arbor Day was “celebrated” in our school, and we were given the “day off from classes”, but it was NO holiday! We were sent home to get a rake and some bushel baskets and “put to work” raking the entire schoolyard. It was a large property, and it took us most of the day; it was also a fun day....we laughed and jumped in the piles of leaves, and ‘horsed-around’ until we were too tired to rake anymore! Probably today, this ‘activity’ would be called, “Child Exploitation”, but back in the 40’s there was no Children’s Aid Society, only an Humane Society.
 
 
“Ammonia”  The Public Swimming Pool on Homewood Ave. in Kitchener charged an Admission which was ‘a little steep’ for our meager purse, but to accommodate the “poorer Classes of Society” from outside the City (or similarly entitled city dwellers), a very nominal fee of I think ten cents, was charged for using the pool in the morning. We kids had a long way to come; we’d board the Grand River Railway Radial Car in Centreville Station, get off at Queen Street South Station, and walk Southerly, past Verner’s Gingerale Bottling Plant (without stopping for a drink of that ‘Heavenly’ pop....because it cost five cents a bottle!), hang a left onto Homewood and attempt to gain entry for an early morning, refreshing swim.
 
We were crafty little beggars; one of us would approach the ticket wicket and proceed to pay for a ‘single fare’, while the rest of us would crouch down, out of sight of the cashier, and slip into the change rooms. The water was always very cold, and smelled strongly of chlorine(which I mistakenly identified at the time, as ammonia! But now is the only way I can ‘slip it into this Segment of IT STINKS). I confess, I never really enjoyed the swimming pool as I spent most of the time lying on a bench...shivering! We never brought towels....they were for “sissies”, so we had to air dry our itchy woolen bathing suits before getting dressed to go back home.  This time, when walking up Queen Street, we now had the price of a Verners...having successfully gained almost “free entry” to the Public swimming pool.
 
The ‘horse stables’ of the Chicopee Riding Club, located East of Centerville about a mile or two, was a place we kids often went, especially in Winter. When we opened the door we were hit with a blast of hot air so strong of ammonia we could hardly breath! Apparently, horse urine has a VERY high ‘ammonia’ content, and these stables were not properly ventilated.
 
Fast forward; I’m an electrician’s helper; Lloyd Brohman is my boss, we’re working for Sutherland & Schultz Electric, doing a job at Carling’s Brewery in Waterloo. We’re running conduit through some “cold storage” rooms, naturally it’s VERY cold and my fingers are numb and I need a rest, but Lloyd is a “bottomless pit of energy!”, and won’t stop for anything.....unless it’s “for a COLD brew”.  The beer was free (at least we acted on that belief) and handy, there being a metal cup attached by an anchored length of chain, to a faucet....opening same caused the flow of exceedingly cold beer......as much as you wanted!  I DIDN’T want much!  The beer was so cold it felt like my teeth were cracking! And I’m still numb with COLD! Cold beer in a cold room is just TOO refreshing!
 
What’s that got to do with the smell of ammonia? I’m coming to that; ammonia is used in ‘refrigeration’, the “cold rooms” at Carling’s smelled very strongly of ‘that stuff’...and there’s your ‘trigger’.
 
Next week, we feature the smells of “sulphur”,  “manure piles” and finally, the “master of stink”.
 
And now, I better go down and check my basement, with all this melting snow and heavy rain, my sump pump has been doing “double duty”, trying to prevent a “second flood”.
 
Uncle Russ (old ‘gimpy’)
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From Sus

So is everyone watching the Olympics?  It sure has been exciting everyday, we have satellite TV and only a starter package so we are pretty limited on what to watch.  CBC has been our main station lately since the Olympics started.  I'm not much of a hockey fan but it is way more interesting to me watching our Canadian teams play against the rest of the world.  It really is amazing how hard these athletes work and train to achieve a medal.  I love the variety of sports to watch everyday.

Today we went to the woods and tapped our maple trees. The weather has been mild in the day and below freezing at night.  We thought we should get going to catch the first run.  We usually tap about 14 trees but this year we are expanding by 10 more.  By the end of the season we've boiled down twice and usually get about a gallon of finished maple syrup.  Boil down usually takes all day so we bring lots of food and drinks because you can't leave once you start up.  There is always lots to do like gathering wood and trimming trees.  Every year we talk about building a little sugar shack but then when the season is over we forget all about it.  There is lots of time to talk, plan and have a drink of maple tea.  Everything tastes better outdoors by a fire. It's a great way to spend February and March gathering our buckets and producing our own maple syrup.  Gotta love it!

Sus
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From Lorne

Weird double digit cel weather has left us in grey old Ontario without snow at the moment. This gave me an opportunity to hunt for the oil filler cap for the tractor. Found it on the island in the driveway. Then to the shed to remove the temporary wood plug and replace the real cap only to find no wood plug and no oil on the dip stick. The 2nd time running without engine oil. Bad habit. I added oil and replaced the proper cap.

Now for an inside story. My computer has been slowing down just like it's operator. Pop ups want me to sign up for services to improve it's performance. Recently I am not able to open  Facebook or most similar in coming notifications. More recently a haker has sent me the following ' THIS IS THE EXECULINK EMAIL UPGRADE ALERT. THIS IS AN IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR EMERGENCY EMAIL UPGRADE. PLEASE IN ORDER TO CARRYOUT THIS SERVICES PROPERLY IN YOUR WEBMAIL, YOU ARE ADVISED TO VISIT OUR EMAIL UPGRADE WEBSITE (I wont show it here) FOR YOUR IMMEDIATE UPGRADE.  THANK YOU.

 Poor gramer and other unusual wording made me suspicious so I called Execulink using a number from the phone book and spoke to a real live person who explained there are many such reports and  I did right by calling their office and to not open,  but to delete the message. I am still getting popups urging me to upgrade.

Lorne
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Have a good one..
the doug
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