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The Squamidian Report – Sept. 22 / 18
Issue #852 Including: From Lorne From Sus From Russ The Ontarion Hi All, When our summer drought ended, it didn't just 'end', it was drowned out. After the several weeks of heat and smoke we endured way back in the summer, somewhere near the end of August in came the cool wet weather. For the last 3 weeks we have been sitting about 8 or 10 degrees below 'normal' and we have been drenched with rain. I had left a high sided pail out on the back deck. I checked on it early this week and discovered that it was right full. No idea how long it had been full. Any rain since it reached capacity simply over flowed. So, we've had somewhere over 14 inches of rain since the change. Our streams that had been down to a trickle now run full, our parched lawns have greened up. Our desperately dry forests are now recuperating. Every once in a while the clouds will move away for a day or so and the sun can be seen again. I sure didn't like that sun back when it was 34 degrees out but its rather nice when its 12 or 14 degrees. On days like that the motorcycle riding is as good as it gets. You pull on the full leathers and perhaps a sweater under the jacket and away you go. Unfortunately we are still being over-run by wallowing herds of RV's and motor homes. That makes riding a bit dicy as most of those things (at least the ones we see around here) are rentals out of Alberta and the people driving them have not a clue as to how to stay in their lane, how to negotiate their way around a curve, and so on. So dealing with them does take a bit of the enjoyment away but its still nice to get out on the bike and go. When I got up one morning this week I looked out and to my delight, the sky was clear. Down-side was that the temperature was sitting at a balmy 5 degrees. BUT, with a clear sky I could see the tops of the mountains and low and behold they were painted a nice fresh bright white by the first good snowfall of the season. The snow-line stayed about about 5000 ft so there and no danger of it coming down any lower than that for quite a while but its kind of nice to see it up there. There were some snow patches left over from last winter, a testimony as to just how much snow these mountains received last winter. Its good to see new snow being added to those patches. As hot as our short summer was, it never quite melted it all. Thats a good thing. *
We
are currently also over-run by bears. Thats understandable. After the
extremely dry summer there is simply no food for them to find or eat up
in the hills. They are driven by hunger down into the valleys, where
the towns and people are. Two of them have taken to prowling our
street day and night, raiding back yard gardens and fruit trees. They
have lost any fear of humans as their instincts force them to do
whatever is necessary to put on enough weight to get them through the
winter. Its very sad because we have pushed them out of their normal
habitat by building our towns and home and then we blame the poor
critters for being hungry and hanging around. We label them as 'problem
bears' and end up trapping or destroying them. Everyone on this street
has a story about finding these two bears in their yards, on their
decks and so on. Right across the street from us is a pear tree. It was
well loaded and the bears had been keeping an eye on it, waiting for
the fruit to ripen. They could be seen regularly checking on the
progress of the pears and eating any that had fallen. Then, on
Wednesday, they decided the pears were ripe enough. I happened to be
out on the front balcony when I saw one of them climb up into the tree.
If anyone thinks they could escape from a bear by climbing a tree they
are dead wrong. That bear shot up the tree in a fraction of a second.
Once up there it started shaking the whole tree, dislodging the pears
which rained down by the bucket full.Once most of the tree was relieved of its fruit burden, it climbed back down at which time the second one strolled out from behind some shrubbery. They settled down to devouring all the pears. ALL of them at one sitting. No wonder we see these big piles of bear poop all over the place, they ate a lot of fruit in a short period of time. They didn't seem to be bothered in the least bit by vehicles going by. They didn't bother with a couple of walkers that went by but I had suggested to the walkers that they move over to our side of the street just to be on the safe side. Anyway, I'm inserting a picture of them that I took from the front balcony. Face it, they do look so cuddly and cute.  doug **** From Lorne I spent some more of my kid's inheritance to upgrade the property again. I won't divulge what the up grade is, lets see if anyone notices any change. One hint. I don't count adding ice cream to the freezer an upgrade. Also filling the tractor with gas to mow the lawn, while mowing is an upgrade, it ain't that either. And I had the rug shampooed last year, professionally, not that either. Give up? Drop around some time. You may make the discovery. Lorne
**** From Sus This summer just flew by. It was very full with lots of visitors coming and going. Hugh Cameron is a regular visitor in early July when he attends and judges at the Antigonish Highland Games and then some very enjoyable time with us. Mid July my niece, Michelle with her family from Switzerland arrived. We were thrilled to have them here for 3 weeks. They stayed in our bunk house also known as the Gallery. My Dad and Michelle's father built it many years ago for extra space for guests. Later on my Dad used it to display his paintings. He would sit in there often with friends enjoying the space. This past spring, knowing we had lots of company coming, I got the building back in good shape with a new bunk mattress and a double bed to accommodate Michelle's family. They loved having their own place. The walls are still filled with Howard's art for all to enjoy. While here, the Swissers , as we call them, went whale watching off of Digby neck, hiked, dug for clams out on Caribou Island, took the ferry over to Charlottetown and the Confederation Bridge back, visited Halifax, and many great meals together. They were also a great help with all our gardens..weeding and more weeding! As a result our gardens are amazing and we are reaping all the benefits. This was one of our best summers heat wise and enough rain at times to keep everything growing well. A week after the Swissers left we had more family visit from Massachusetts and they loved staying in the Gallery too. Now that it is fall our Gallery has been turned into a storage place for our onions, garlic, squash and melons at least until freeze up, and then it all gets moved into an unheated back room in our house for winter storage. In that same room we have our freezer and our wine. We press grapes and apples every fall to make our own wine. Sometimes we use rhubarb or cranberries to add to the apples, pretty much what ever we have to make cider or wine. That's all for now, keep up all the good articles! Sus
**** From Russ "Exhume" (cont'd) Police Training This is going to be short and sweet, as my back is killing me, and sitting is my worst enemy right now. When it comes to firearms training with KPD, there wasn’t much back in the mid 50’s. As a result, I came dangerously close to shooting a young man one Halloween. I had no intention of actually shooting him, but it could have happened in a heartbeat. “Allow for the pranks, but don’t permit any property damage”, ordered the Corporal as he sent us cops out onto the streets of our fair city on a rainy, late nightshift. They were wearing masks and dumping garbage onto King Street, “right before my very eyes!” (Allow for pranks, I reminded myself) “CRASH!” The sound of breaking glass! Damn those kids...they’ve just smashed a store window down the street from me. I’m running after them...there are 3 or 4 young males, about 15 or 16 years of age...they spread out....two running like Deer...one, not so quick...but he’s leaving me in his dust! I holler, “HALT, HALT, or I’ll SHOOT!” (I’ve heard them say that in the movies) The kid runs even faster...I fire a warning shot into the air! He stops immediately....(and here’s where it makes me sick just thinking about it) I put the revolver to his head....and suddenly I smell something (one, or both of us has messed his pants) “Get the hell out of here”, is all I can remember saying. He does. I just stand there...I can’t believe what just happened! After I stop trembling, I return to my beat. They’ve smashed a plate-glass window of a store-front, and I’ll have to file a Report. How much detail should I include? If I write about the warning shot, and pointing the firearm at a person’s head, It’s “Game over” for my police career. Why should I sign my own “death warrant?” Police have “no authority to fire a warning shot, and CERTAINLY no right to point a firearm at a person under these circumstances”. But, I learned all that AFTER the fact. Still, no excuse. No, I never shot anybody during my police career. But, I COULD very well have! By your old Uncle Russ, prisoner # 1929
**** THE ONTARION REPORT Hello everyone! The saga of the MG never ends or at least it hasn’t yet! I finally found out what the cost of a new windshield will be. While at the British Car Day last Sunday in Oakville I spoke to one of the British car parts suppliers and he told me that the cost of a new windshield for the MG along with the labor to install it would run me around the $1000.00 mark. So, I decided to call my insurance company after all and put the job though the insurance. My agent told me that the deductible on my policy is $300.00 for this sort of claim. He said however that my premium would now increase for claiming this damage under the policy. WHEW! Was I happy to hear that! Since I wasn’t able to get the name of the company on the truck that caused the damage I’m stuck with paying the damage myself. It’s not too bad since I only have to pay the deductible but it’s still $300.00 I didn’t want to spend! Oh well, it could be worse; I could have wound up paying the whole bill myself. Guess I’ll just have to be sure to keep my distance from other vehicles, especially trucks once I get the new windshield on the car. There are no glass companies around Kitchener with the expertise to install this sort of windshield so I’m going to have to take it out of town to a company that does them for specialty vehicles. The owner of the British Auto Sport parts company down on Hwy 5 south of Cambridge said he uses the service of this company all the time and will be glad to give me their location and phone number so I can get the repair done before next spring. It’s a stroke of luck since I found out that if these guys when installing it break the new glass they have insurance to cover replacement of the glass. If I tried to install it myself and broke it I’d be on the hook for buying another one myself. So, I’ll happily let the professionals do the job and not gripe about having to pay the deductible only! Just another step in the restoration of the MG and then it will be completed! Sorry about being back on the classic car thing again this week but I just had to finish the story! *
Did
you know that a dragonfly landing on you is considered good luck? Well,
it is said to be! There are many other superstitions that have been
stated over the years and I suppose there will always be more and more
of them in the years to come. Most of us have heard these warnings
during our lifetime and most often from our mother’s lips. Some that I
remember are quite common. For instance, “Don’t cross your eyes like
that or they’ll stay that way!” That was a good one for most kids that
liked to make funny faces. One of my favorites was “If you masturbate
too often you’ll go blind!” My eyesight is not the best but luckily I
can still see well enough to only need glasses to read! LOL! Not that
I’m admitting to performing the dastardly deed any more than most but
most young men tend to experiment with such activities during their
teen years. Of course some carry on the habit well into their
adulthood. I’ll leave the rest of that story up to your imagination or
up to your personal memories! I must say however, it’s not just the
young men that practice such shenanigans so I don’t want any of you
lady readers to be laughing up your sleeves! Such interesting topics
are part of life in general and I’m sure you all have stories to tell
regarding your experimental years. Maybe I should just move on to
another subject at this point.Some of the other myths that arise during our youth are quite memorable. Such as, “Don’t pick your nose, you’ll pop your eye out!” Another favorite is “If you pick you nose, your finger will get stuck up there! LOL! Some of the more mellow ones begin with “Don’t step on a crack, you’ll break your mother’s back!” Milder ones begin with “It’s bad luck to walk under a ladder!” Have any of you actually experienced the outcome of one of these expressions? I don’t generally put any stock in such nonsense but the other night Carole mentioned the one about the Dragonfly bringing good luck. Just as she mentioned it Adam showed us a picture of a dragonfly that he had taken with his i-phone after it landed on a piece of apparatus he was using at work that day. The story that related the dragonfly to her was found on “face book” and it was stated by a young woman that she knows that won $500,000.00 in the lotto a few years ago. She was lucky then and apparently when a dragonfly landed on her hand the other day she posted on “face book” that a dragonfly landing on you or near you would bring you good luck. So, she said with that happing to her, she was going to go out and buy another lotto ticket to see if the dragonfly would really bring her good luck again. With the picture that showed the dragonfly landing by Adam and the fact that he picked it up and put it in a safe place so nobody would harm or step on it Carole said he should go out and buy a lotto ticket himself. He said that he had just bought a few tickets on his way home without knowing the superstitious story of the dragonfly. I’ll have to ask him if any of his tickets paid off today. Maybe he hasn’t checked them yet! Anyway, I had four tickets on Lotto 649 for last night and when I checked them today, I found that we had won $10.00 on one of them as well as a free ticket on each of the other three! Not bad at all, I guess the dragonfly brought us luck on the weekly tickets that Carole and Adam and I share. SO, maybe there is something to this old wives tale after all! Think I’ll go down stairs and ask Adam if he won anything on his tickets right now! I am buzzing with anticipation! I guess you never know just when Lady Luck will strike and if the dragonfly story is true I’ll let you all know! LOL! That’s about all I have 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>What superstitions have you passed on to your children? ****
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. |