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The
Squamidian Report – June 26 / 21
Online
Versions
Of This And Past Issues Issue
#996 Hi
from
Australia.
Hi All, Funny how things work. We had a cold wet spring that simply wouldn’t give up. It held on all the way to the first day of summer at which point someone threw a switch and just like that, it was hot, very very hot, with a burning harsh sun. Now we are setting heat records all over the province. And, unfortunately, forest fires are popping up all over the province as well. Most are human caused. That seems to be the norm. People just can’t seem to be careful when out and about. Its also suddenly too hot to ride my motorcycle. Well, I can get out on it first thing in the morning and enjoy a short toot up or down the highway but by mid morning the air becomes a blast furnace and I’d just as soon hide in the house. Besides, now that BC has given permission to its residents to travel within the province, the highways are clogged with idiots and morons as they race madly from one place to the next, trying to be first to where ever it is they are going. As for hiding from the heat in the house, we don’t have A/C. Most houses here don’t as its never really been needed as most summers are not that hot. So, all we can do is have the house open during the night and then close it up during the day. That generally works and face it, in no time at all summer will be over and it will be getting cold out again. In fact the days are already getting shorter, by about 1 second per day. * Now for some in-house business…. As you can see from the issue number at the top of this page, this is #996. That means that our one-thousandth issue is just 4 issues away. Russ and Greg and I have worked very hard to keep this letter interesting. Russ has his incredible sense of humor flavoring his take on life as he sees it. Greg keeps us up-to-date on all thinks KW-ish. I have tried to share west coast life with everyone. This letter has meant a lot to some of our readers. It meant more than most can imagine to my parents. Lorne became quite involved and contributed almost to the end, even dictating his last entry from his hospital bed. And so on. Then there is Brian from the Shores of Lake Huron. He’s been a part of this for years and has recently been contributing his take on the things he sees and does. Fantastic. And Nova Scotia Sus who we hear from way too not enough with life in Nova Scotia. We hear from the Zellars in Australia once in a while. Thats pretty cool. Beth has sent us the occasional update on how things are going as they make the Homestead ‘their’ homestead. Rosemary often contributes by responding to something she has read, as do Carol and Al. My 5 year old and 9 year old granddaughters send us something every now and then as does their mom. How cool is that? However, there are many of you we never hear from. Many people think that what they might write or say will be of no interest to others. Or, they think that they can not write very well or very interestingly. Well, I disagree. Everyone has something interesting to say and everyone writes the way they talk, so, how bad can that be? Its not. Its time for everyone to step up and get a bit involved. Even if all you can do is peck out a few lines with one finger on a keyboard or pad. Do it! We need full participation for our 1000th addition. It would be great to have a steady build up of contributions leading up to it as well, and for those contributions to continue after. But come on, the 1000th represents almost 20 years of doing this and deserves some effort from everyone. The worst that could happen is that we get so many contributions that I have to break the issue up into 2 or 3 parts in order to avoid a 15 page Email letter but thats ok, we can do that. And one last thing, please try to get those stories into me a day or so ahead so I have time to pull it all together. I think the 1000th falls on July 24. That gives you some lead up time, and some time to practice with some pre-one-thousandths contributions. Now its up to you. * Sorry, no audio songs this week. All I’ve got for our musical distraction is a bare-bones video of my version of an Ed Bruce song called ‘The Last Cowboy Song’. It’s a reminiscing song, where the singer thinks back on how the days of the cowboy have not just ended, but have been erased. So, give it a look. You just might feel some of the message thats in it. (small format) doug ****
Hi from Australia. Hi from Australia Melbourne, Thanks to everyone for a great read I just love to hear the latest from Canada I know you guys are in Summer mode now and we are in Winter here I still get out for my walks and taking photos, I went into the City on Monday night to meet up with some friends for a light painting Australia group we had a great night checking out the new toys for light painting. It was a very cold night but the mood and light was just great I will post a few photos from the night some where with a home made utensils using flashlights and coloured plastic. I hope that you all are well and safe and have a great Summer. BIG hugs from down under..PS these photos are from Carlton Gardens Melbourne the building in the background is the OLD exhibition building. Karl
****
From Russ OOPS! It is a bright, sunny, breezy day. Greg (son) and I are sitting on the deck - he is drinking 0% beer, me drinking 0% water, when a Hurontel truck pulls into our driveway. Out steps a slim, tall, young man with long legs, he is carrying a small sack and a big, wide smile as he lopes up the ramp and says, "Hi, I'm Jake". We introduce ourselves, Greg shows Jake around inside my wee cottage where the phones, computer, and two TV's are located. We are "bundling" all our service with one local company to save a "bundle of money". In a few minutes Jake comes out and announces, "This will be a piece-of-cake - real simple - won't take long". I'm happy to hear this good news. After many running trips out to his truck, and three long hours later, he says, "I am nearly done". I believe him. Greg refreshes our cool drinks, and offers Jake 'something'. "No, thanks - I have a cooler in the truck" says he. ( I'm wondering what he's got in the cooler) At last, Jake is about to show me "how everything works". Because "nothing remains the same", I'll have to learn how to use my computer programs, my INTERNET, my TV REMOTES and, as "you can't teach an old dog new tricks", it's going to be a real chore for me! I hate change. There is good news, and there is bad news. The good news is: Brighter, more life-like TV picture, simpler negotiating of the channels, faster, more efficient computer stuff. Our system is now all on the new "fiber optics". The bad news; I'm experiencing as I TRY to write this Squamidian Column - but that's not the worst bad news - are you ready for this? Jake changed my email address from what we were told 1st time by Hurontel. My brand new email address will now have to be sent to all my contacts AGAIN!! What a 'bummer'. And speaking of 'bummer', this project is going to give a "pressing" problem for my already painful bottom!! And, here is where I am going to ask Doug to help me by notifying his Squamidian readers of the second "Change of email address". And here it is, russellb@hurontel.on.ca Note:
For security reasons, this is not a live Email link. A very special "THANKS" to Doug for all his help in these 'troubling times'. PS I don't know how this story is going to appear when you read it, as I've not learned much about this new system as yet. Your 'sore and sorry', old Uncle Russ. ****
From Wayne
Hi
Everyone:
This
is
going to be real quick. Not only are we
all moving to New
Brunswick (Sonja, Ken & Gabi, Wayne
& Sylvia & Groma Eva
all the dogs, cats, chicken & bees)
but Sonja & Ken have at
the last minute decided to finally
(waiting for a COVID break) get
married.
Wayne ****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone! Well, I had one heck of a day today (Thursday). First off I waited until 9:20am for a phone call from my cancer surgeon. It’s been three weeks since he did 5 different biopsies on my head to send to the pathology lab for testing to see if these spots were cancer once again. You might remember my having surgery to remove several large spots of cancer about 6 months ago and of course that was no fun. Since then, several more spots surfaced on my scalp and I had to have the biopsy done. Well after waiting three weeks for the results they finally came in this morning and the surgeon phoned me to say “Good news! The biopsies are negative for cancer!” WOW! Was I ever relieved to hear that news! Then, the three of us had an appointment for our second Covid-19 shots this afternoon and to our happiness, we received the same Phiezer vaccine when we attended the U of W school of pharmacy to receive our second shots! SO, all in all, it made for a very good day indeed! Hopefully now the rest of Canada will smarten up and get vaccinated as well before long! That’s the only way we’ll be able to beat this damned virus sooner rather than later! It’s still hard to believe that there are “No Maskers” and other protesters marching and gathering trying to beat the government in their efforts to stop this terrible problem we have world wide! * Well, on a happier note, our baby Robins and baby Chickadees have hatched and grown enough that they were all able to leave their nests! Several days ago the Chickadees, well, at least 5 of them were hopping and flitting around on our driveway and side lot. They were really cute little guys and gals and they were hanging around together and waiting for their mom and dad to bring each of them food! They were gone within a day! Then, the baby Robins left their nest on our back wall two days later! The baby Robins stayed in the back yard for two days and now they have also disappeared from our garden and back yard as well. It was gratifying to see them all successfully hatch and move on in their little lives! The Chickadees only had 5 babies survive. There were, unfortunately two that didn’t make it to live on! It was a sad occasion to have to clean out the remnants of the last two babies and the remains of their family nest from the water pump in which they had made their nest! Now that it’s clean again, we’ll see if they come back in the spring next year and follow in the habit of the Robins that have nested on our back wall spot for the past almost 20 years! I don’t know how the Robins manage to nest in the same little watering can every year on the back wall but somehow they do it every year! We’ll just have to wait and see what next spring brings! All in all, it’s been a good week and from here on in all we can hope for is a lovely warm summer and a short duration to the Covid-19 problem! That’s it for this week folks, short and sweet!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> **** Take
Care
And Be Safe |
