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Issue #974
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From Sus

From Russ

The Ontarion

Hi All,

You may recall that a few weeks ago I was ranting about the frustrations of trying to having items delivered before Christmas. At the time I had indicated that some legal documents that ‘The Wife’ sent to a law firm in Kitchener via UPS had finally turned up. This determination was based on the fact that the local UPS depot had admitted that the parcel was at their terminal and would be delivered to the destination either that day or the next. That was 3 weeks ago! The parcel never did arrive at the law firm but it took a week to find this out. ‘The Wife’ spent a lot of time and effort trying to track down what had happened and where the parcel was, to no avail. UPS finally admitted that the envelope was ‘missing’ and they were ‘investigating’, until they simply gave up and decided that they didn’t know where it might be. It was only through our local UPS depot that she found out that UPS itself no longer cared. To that end she got on the phone for the umpteenth time to try to get UPS Kitchener to FIND the damn thing. And, they hung up on her. As simple as that, the UPS person simply couldn't be bothered dealing with a frustrated customer and hung up, taking no responsibility at all as to how to replace said legal documents. How wonderful of them!

Then, along the same theme, I got hung up on by someone calling from my old cell service provider. My old phone was so old that many of the ‘apps’ no longer worked and my service plan kept going up in price for no reason (I was on a Virgin Mobile bring your own phone type of plan). I decided to purchase a new cell phone through a different provider (Koodo) and sign up with them. For one thing, they have a local outlet so this would mice and easy. As well, I don’t ‘rent to own’ and don’t have a locked in contract or plan, I simply purchase the phone and go from there, with a bring-your-own-phone service plan. The Koodo / Telus outlet had no problem closing out my old account and transferring all my data over from the old phone and into the new one. All I had to do was log into my old account and agree that I was indeed moving on. The next day I got a call from the old carrier, assumable to talk me into changing my mind or whatever. Problem was, the caller spoke with a very heavy accent, and so quietly and so fast that I could not understand a word she said. I asked 3 times for her to speak slower and louder as I am old and have some trouble hearing. After my 3^rd request, she simply hung up. Wow, customer service sure has come a long way.

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Here’s a question that is mostly aimed at any of my siblings who read this letter… do you remember the pet squirrel we had when we were very young we still lived in the ‘old house’(the cottage that was where the green house is now)? It was actually Greg’s subject on eating things like pig tails (yes I have and they weren't too bad at all, I’ve also eaten goat up on the farm but wasn’t too happy about it because I had know that particular goat) that reminded me of that squirrel. I have vague memories of the thing as a tiny baby that grew up, would climb all over us as it ran around inside the house. Once summer came it was permitted to run free outside but always came back. Then, fall came along. Way back in those days there didn’t seem to be many rules governing hunting and that forest behind the homestead property would be full of hunters who would blast away at anything that moved. It was too dangerous for us kids to play out in the bush during those times. One could way too easily find themselves shot. Anyway, the pet squirrel of my early childhood memories spent many summer days running around in the trees and returning each evening. Once fall came with it’s brigade of shooters, the squirrel disappeared, never to be seen again. We could never know whether it got blasted to pieces, blasted just enough to be eaten, or simply moved on, perhaps frightened away by the noise. An unsolvable mystery.

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Well now, for this week’s high-brow musical indulgence….a song called Avalanche. This is another of my own creations from a few years ago when I would occasionally be in a creative mood. The song is about avalanches, the real kind, the kind that happen in the mountains all around us out here. The kind that wipe out skiers and snowmobilers on a regular basis. So, if you like mountains or snow or avalanches or songs, give it a look. This is the video version, the audio version would have been posted years ago and have been included in one of my earlier CDs.

Avalanche

doug

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From Nova Scotia Sus

Great to hear from everyone last week reminiscing ( not sure how to spell that.) I love it when people talk about the old days, it brings back so many memories. My Mom, loved to take pictures and filled an incredible amount of albums. She was also so organized, dating each album and storing them in perfect order. She also kept files on us kids, putting our names on the outside of the folder, collecting stuff that pertained to each of us. It seems me, being the oldest of the kids, was the only one that knew about this hobby of hers. So in later years and Mom had passed it was my job to send them to my brothers and sisters. It was quite an emotional experience to open up your folder and read every letter, picture, newspaper articles, school grades, post cards etc you had sent her. A lot of stuff you had forgotten about and she had saved everything.

Keep up the good work my fellow Squamidians!

Sus

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From Russ

Old lumpy.

I know you don’t want to read about my ‘condition’, but without that I have nothing to give you.

After a pleasant week in hospital fighting an infection in my blood, I was ‘paroled’ with the understanding that the IV pumping anti-biotics would continue 24 – 7 for two weeks at home. This meant VON coming each day to ‘reload’ the pump, and that’s all they were trained to do – I had to go to Emerg. every second or third day to have them poke a needle into my skinny arms. I don’t drive so had to depend on son, Greg to drive me each trip to hospital. He was very good about it (Not his ‘normal’ self), and he also took an interest in what the VON nurse was ‘about’ (also not his normal behaviour). Turns out, Greg was able to do almost everything the VON was doing (He even sterilized his normally dirty hands before touching anything. Not normal at all!).

We made so many trips into Emerg. that they knew us by name, and all but did-away with the COVID questions!

Today, the Registration person said, “I won’t need to see your Health Card”, and the one young, sweet, cute, nurse spoke up when we were called into the tiny cubical they use for administering blood pressure, etc. said, “Oh, I know you – your the old man with the lump!”.

Kincardine Hospital is a small operation, and people are very friendly and easy-going. With my bladder infection that somehow entered my blood, causing a serious condition requiring full-time IV pumping anti-biotics into this old guy, and more fluids than I’ve ever drunk before, resulted in nightly bed-wetting! I was crushed with embarrassment, but the nurses never admonished me – even if the sheets and my diapers had to be changed several times during the day/night!

I’m still hooked-up to the IV as I write this article, and one more ‘sleep’ should be the end of this 21 day ordeal!

At least two good things happened during this episode – 1) Greg showed his ‘true colours’ in being so willingly-caring, and 2) I became known as ‘old lumpy’ (because of a large lump on my left wrist caused be a cist). I could have been called ‘old bet-wetter’!!

PS Have you noticed that all VON and hospital nurses are young, cute, sweet, mannerly, friendly, built, cheerful (did I say cute?). Greg and I did.

Uncle Russ.

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THE ONTARION REPORT

Hello everyone!

After being cooped up for weeks on end, I decided to take a drive to Preston this afternoon and make use of my new camera and lens. I thought I’d take a few shots of the Demolition of the old Preston Springs Hotel before it’s completely gone from site. However, I hadn’t realized that they had already finished the job! Upon my arrival, I found as I turned the corner that there was already nothing left of it but a pile of rubble with a swing shovel sitting on the top! Oh well, just so I hadn’t wasted the trip, I stopped in front and took a few pics of the pile of leftovers. Of course, as it turns out, it was pretty much a wasted drive after all. At least I have a few pics of what the former hotel looks like after the demo job and what the space looks like before they decide what to build in it’s place. I haven’t heard of any future plans for the spot but it’s really such a confined space I can’t even imagine what might take up the space that could be of any great use. The lot isn’t large enough to accommodate a commercial building that would have room for the parking of cars. The only possible use might be a high rise apartment with some underground parking. If that’s what they intend, only the upper floors of the building that face the street would have a decent view of the town of Preston, as the ones on the rear of the building would be facing the sheer dirt bank that is behind that spot. Oh well, in that case, maybe the rent on that side of the structure would be more affordable! At any rate, it will be interesting to see what they do have in mind for the empty lot. It was at least a nice 40 minute ride to get out of the house for some fresh air and on the drive home along highway 8 I spotted a flock of at least 20 wild turkeys on the side of the highway. I guess they’re smart enough to be living within the city limits so the hunters can’t make sport of them! As I passed them, all I could picture was each one of them standing on a silver platter with stuffing oozing out of their behinds! LOL! MMMMMMMmmmm! I’m making myself hungry just thinking of that site!

Speaking of hunger, this past Tuesday we celebrated our 48th wedding anniversary and we celebrated that occasion by treating ourselves to a fondue dinner. We haven’t had a fondue for several years and it was a real enjoyable meal. We don’t do anything fancy such as a chocolate fondue or anything like that, we just use vegetable oil and cook mushrooms, beef and pork chunks to our hearts content. Like I said, it was a very enjoyable meal and it lasted for well over an hour. For many years we cooked the fondue over a flame heater in the middle of the table but last week Adam picked up a modern electric fondue set while out shopping for a few groceries. The new electric pot of course is much safer and more efficient than the old fuel burning setup. It’s amazing how such appliances evolve over the years. I guess now, the old set can be relegated to something we might put in the next garage sale we have in the spring or coming summer. I don’t know if you can even purchase the fuel for them anymore! Oh well, if not, it’s ready for the recycle bin! We still have a few men that stop each “Garbage Day” and rummage through our curb side stuff for different metal items that they take in and sell for so much a pound. I imagine that’s what they do with the metal items they toss into their trucks or trailers. On the other hand, maybe they use the items to stock their “Second Hand” stores! There are always people willing to pay for such used items I’m sure!

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When I was a youngster, my dad was a fan of reading western novels as well as a fan of western/cowboy movies. His favourite movie star was John Wayne. I used to like to join him to watch them as well whenever such TV shows were on. We used to gather in front of our four legged “Spartan” TV and watch such action shows as Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Rawhide, Hop Along Cassidy and The Cisco Kid. Sunday evenings were filled with westerns and dad and I would visit his parents in Hespeler and enjoy the evening with grandma and grandpa watching these shows. About a week or so ago I discovered that our new Roger’s system allows us to press a button and speak into the hand set to ask for Western Movies and up pops a whole string of old cowboy movies. I watched the first one I came across which was called The Gambler starring Kenny Rogers. It was a double feature that lasted for 4 hours. It was nice to be able to lay in bed and watch them until the wee hours of the morning. It brought back great memories of watching them with my dad. Now that I know about this new treasure trove of western flicks, I’ll be sure to watch more of them when the opportunity arises. Carole and Adam aren’t fussed on western movies so I’ll have to pick times when they have other stuff to do to watch them on my own. They are a nice change from watching horror movies or other shows filled with crime drama and killings and walking dead people for sure.

I guess these times will be few and far between but I’m sure I’ll fit one in now and then! They bring back great memories of evenings with my dad and his parents while curled up on their living room floor next to their wood burning “Quebec Heater” which was their only source of heat at the time. They lived in a tiny bungalow in the old part of Hespeler. They lived in the same house that my dad was born and raised in! Once in a while when we are out for a drive we will drive by that little house just for nostalgia sake. It looks different now with a large closed in porch across the front of it that’s been added and the large vegetable garden that was in the empty lot beside the house is now gone. Oh well, time changes most things and grandma and grandpa Payne’s house is no exception. Photographs and memories are all we have left in most cases and thank goodness for them at least!

That’s about it 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

Something To Think About>
Is somebody getting rich by selling the junk you put by the curb side each week?

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Take Care And Be Safe
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The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.