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The
Squamidian Report – Mar. 13 / 21
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#981 From
Russ
Hi All, We actually had a small outdoor household project to do. Given that there seems to be so little to do these days, it was quite enjoyable. You may remember back a while I had mentioned that a bear had destroyed our bird feeder and a deck coffee table. It had also destroyed a section of fence. It was now time to repair that fence. But, it’s not really fence, it’s more like deck railing than fencing. You see, we have steps up to our deck and they lead to a landing 1 step lower than the deck over at the south sideline. Around that landing is/was a cross between railings and fencing, built that way to integrate with the boundary fence. The bear had shredded the nice fancy cross-hatched sections. Both sections needed to be discarded and replaced and thats what we did. And I must say, it sure felt nice having something different to tinker away at. This kind of ‘construction’ is enjoyable for me because it’s something to do and because it’s building fence panels and not making a piano or some piece of fancy furniture, so it falls within my skill level. The old panel pieces came down easily because I had put them up using screws, not nails. Screws are so much more superior than nails, for everything. Anyway, a trip to the local build-all store netted us the cedar boards and 2x4’s we needed. A few minutes of time was all that was needed to drag my miter saw and table saw out of their storage spots. (I envy you guys that have dedicated work shops). Some measuring, some cutting, and some screwing and my 2 new sections were ready to install. This time I didn’t bother with fancy cross-hatch, just build nice strong panels. A few more screws and the panels were in place. That simple. As it turned out, the little gate we had that would let us go out and up onto the rock between our house and the neighbor’s was also in need of replacing. The bear hadn’t wrecked it but I had simply used a section of old railing when I did the original work and never quite go around to making a proper gate. This was my chance and so I did, I built a nice new cedar gate. That way the whole landing area is nice and tidy and cleaned up. Here’s a couple of pics for anyone interested in this kind of thing.
Ok kids, this weeks musical interlude is one of my original songs called ‘The Old Farm’. I wrote this one way back in about 2013. It’s based on my recollections of myself and siblings spending time up on my mom’s family farm, the Hockridge farm, which was up in ‘muddy’ Proton county, Ontario. The land was stony and hard when not wet and muddy. They were dirt poor. But, we loved it there. Bringing in the hay or harvesting the oat crop, it didn’t matter. Mucking out the stables or cutting fire wood, it didn’t matter. I can say however that I hated mending fences (especially the electric fences) because that was the kind of chore that was done when it was too wet to work in the fields, and, if it was too wet to be in the fields it was obviously soaking wet in the high grasses and brush along the fence lines at the bottom of the fields where an impressive crop of mosquitoes could always be counted on to be waiting for us. I was 13 when they finally got electricity so up until then the house was lit by coal oil lamp. I can still hear the hissing sound those lamps made. They never had running water. The ‘out-house’ was the only game in town if you didn’t have a favorite spot down in the swamp somewhere. The out-house was actually better in the winter than in the summer as long as you were fairly fast at doing what had to be done. Anyway, we loved it on the farm, something our dad could never understand. We can never go back but I can continue to sing my song. Enjoy. doug ****
From Russ
I don't want to walk without you - -
“I don’t want to walk without you, Baby” – title of a song popular in the late 60’s; sung by Barry Manilow, and Jo Stafford. Harry James made his trumpet ‘cry’, as only he could do! The 1st verse goes like this: “I don’t want to walk without you, Baby Walk without my arm about you, Baby I thought the day you left me behind I’d take a stroll and get you right off my mind”
I have a Lady-friend who has been in a “long-term-care home” for the past two years. Theresa is one year younger than me (age 90), and was in a “Nursing Home” before being transferred. She didn’t do well in the Nursing Home, and we thought ‘this was the end for her’, but she rallied well in the new home in Wingham where she will likely remain until the ‘happy end’. Before the Pandemic I used to visit her on occasion; I found her to be content with her ‘new home’ – she was in good spirits, very spry – and blending in well with the others. (except with her room- mate!). She says they feed her well, and she always looks forward to ‘mealtimes’. Haven’t seen each other for over a year, but when we’re allowed to go to her room again, we’ll rejoice; and maybe even hug!
We both use ‘walkers’, and I used to challenge her to a race down the long hallways. She always beat me by several lengths! Theresa is only 5 feet tall, but can she move!
We phone each other twice a week, and often sing songs together! This Sunday, I’m going to sing; “I don’t want to walk without you, Baby”, but I’ll change the lyrics a bit: I don’t want to walk without my ‘walker’, Baby Walk without my arms tight on my ‘walker’, Baby I thought the day you left me behind I’d hop on a ‘scooter’ leave you way behind!
PS I won’t sing her the second verse – cause I can’t hold a tune in a bucket – and I don’t want to piss-her-off!! PPS I got a clean-bill-of health from my urologist – for now.
Your old Uncle Russ. **** From Lauren Did anyone get locked out of their CRA account about a month ago? I got an email from CRA stating that my email address had been removed from my account. I tried logging into my account & sure enough, I was locked out. I spent the next two days trying unsuccessfully to call them to find out what the heck happened & why I had been locked out, but after several attempts (3 hours of being on hold listening to “elevator music,” & then promptly being hung up on without actually speaking to anyone – robot or human), I gave up. News stories eventually started reporting (albeit a few days after the CRA being completely silent on the whole fiasco, but thanks to Social media, they finally had to address the proverbial “elephant in the room”) that the CRA had locked more than 100,000 taxpayers out of its online platform, telling users their email addresses have been removed from their accounts as a move meant “as a security precaution in the context of ongoing investigative work." Right… so what exactly does that mean? One wonders?! The CRA also allegedly reported that unless your situation was dire & an emergency situation such as waiting to receive the emergency recovery benefit etc., to please not call them & that they would be sending out snail mail to taxpayers affected with instructions on how to unlock their accounts. Well, I am still waiting, & guess what folks, it’s tax season… so does that mean if I am still locked out of my account, I don’t have to pay taxes this year?! HAHAHA… right, I will probably be punished & have to pay more taxes, for having the nerve to get locked out of my account! Another update on prison life, the government is only good at keeping their promises when it’s for their benefit… they promised not to send any more inter regional transfers from the red zone of the prairies until at least March, well lo & behold, the first week of March arrived & they had one lined up & ready to go! So we got another bunch of inmates, but this time, the government at least had the brains to Covid test them before they departed the red zone (as well as isolate them prior to transferring them). They arrived in BC & were promptly Covid tested again & of course isolated, which will last for another few weeks. Hopefully when they send the next bunch, they get it right again?! Lauren ****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone! Well, have you ever done anything so stupid that it hurts? I sure have and this week was no exception. I was carrying a wicker chair from the back of the house to the front to sit in the sun out front and had to pass over a 3’ high metal fence that’s between our house and the one next to us. I figured I’d step over the fence since the gate wouldn’t open due to the Ice under the gate. I lifted the chair above my head and then lifted my right leg above the fence and of course I lost my balance and fell backwards hitting my left temple on the concrete sidewalk beside our house. When I came to, I was shocked to see a pool of blood on the cement and blood gushing from my head wound! I managed to get to my feet and knock on the kitchen window to summon Adam to help me! He came out and helped me into the house and then began to dress the wound. He and Carole tried for about a half hour to stop the bleeding and when they could not stop it, they d decide they should take me up to St Mary’s emergency dept. Adam drove me up and I was in a bed there from 3pm until 8:30 pm. They finally managed to stop the bleeding by gluing the wound shut and I got home by 9pm. I’m now sitting here at home with a turbin-like head dressing on since last Tuesday. The Dr at emerge told me that it would come off on it’s own by Friday but it’s still seeping a bit of blood so It’s likely going to take a couple days to heal up enough to remove the bandage! The shocker of the situation was when they did a CT scan and told me that I had had a stroke sometime in the past three months. After more testing the following day, the Neurologist called to tell me that the stroke was what he called a quiet stroke and there was no damage to my brain or skull. He said that the drugs I’m on at this time will prevent any further strokes and that I am in the clear! Whew! What a lucky outcome this was! Now all I have to do is be patient and let my head heal up! Ouch! It’s still hurting and likely will for a while yet! Guess I’ll have to think things through a bit better before doing such a stupid move next time! With that bit of good news yesterday I wasn’t looking forward to my regular phone call from my kidney specialist today but then when he called this morning he had more good news! He told me that the needle that he has me injecting into my stomach once every three weeks has boosted my red blood cell count to the proper level to improve my kidney function and he’s very happy with the results! SO, that was once again very good news! These two calls from the doctors have made for a much happier week indeed! I’ve learned a very valuable lesson this week and will try to act my age and not my shoe size from now on! LOL! * To change the subject , this evening at supper time, Carole looked out the kitchen window to see a hawk land on the fence by our bird feeder that hangs on the flag pole. We thought he was looking to make a meal out of one of the birds that eat at the feeder each day. However, he suddenly dropped to the ground at the foot of the pole and was hopping on the large stones that make up the backdrop for the pond. We than realized he had sensed that there might be something else worth eating at ground level. We watched for a few minutes and tried to get a good picture of him on the ground. He spent about 5 minutes looking around and then flew off into the sunset! Only a moment or two after he left, our resident chipmunk popped his head out of the rocks and climbed up onto the top to rest in the sunshine! Luckily he had waited until the hawk had flown away before showing himself from his den. He’d have made a tasty supper for that big hawk for sure! Shortly after the hawk left our yard, the sun disappeared and it started to rain like crazy! It rained so hard that we actually had a small river flowing between our house and the neighbour’s house! Luckily the flow ran to the front of the houses and not toward either house! The last thing we need is a flood into our basement! I guess I’m going to have to pick up about 40’ of “big O” flex pipe to add to the eves trough down spout to direct the water flow away from between the houses! There’s always a new challenge when you’re a home owner! After being cooped up all winter plus the many months over the time of the pandemic it sure was a pleasant surprise to be able to enjoy a couple of sunny days this week! Hopefully we won’t have any more snow storms before the real spring sets it! I’m going to check into the purchase of a new license sticker for the MG. I’m hoping they’ll tell me that I can drive the MG on the old sticker from December 2020 until the pandemic is lifted! That’ll save us $120.00 until the lock down is over sometime this summer, Hopefully! Maybe there is a pot of gold at the end of this dark pandemic rainbow after all! That’s
about
all for this week folks! Bye for now… Greg Something
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