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Issue #982
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The Ontarion

Hi All,

To start off with, I’d like to thank everyone who participated in last weeks issue either as a contributor or by taking part in the chit-chat responses. Thats the kind of thing that lets us know that you guys are actually out there. It means a lot to everyone who puts time and work into coming up with something to write about each week.

Apparently Spring starts today (March 20). That means when you looked out this morning you saw green grass, flowering flowers, the birds were singing and you were greeted with warm soft air and sunshine. No? Well, not here either. For us on the west coast winter never quite got here, the grass stayed green, the birds continued to sing and some flowers continued to flower. But just as winter didn’t set in, spring probably won’t either. During this past year that we didn’t really have, summer didn’t really happen followed by a fall that didn’t really happen and then the winter that didn’t really happen, so there’s no reason to think spring will happen, we’ll just have a continuation of whatever it is we are having. Mind you, we never needed our winter boots or our heavy winter coats or anything like that. We did need rain coats a lot but then pretty well everyone around here wears coats that are at least rain resistant so we just never really noticed much at all. The local kids played soccer or basket ball or rode their bikes on our street almost every day throughout the winter. They also invaded everyone’s back yard and ran through everyone’s flower beds as well. ‘The Wife’ calls them ‘free range kids’ which is kind of cool. They actually have a ‘kid’s life’ much closer to what we would think of as to how it should be than what most kids do these days. As it starts to get dark you will hear a parent here or there calling for a given kid to come on in now. It is worth putting up with them to know that they are in fact being aloud to be kids.

Wow, have I ever got a great deal for you guys this week. Two songs for the price of one. Well, actually its one song done twice, once as the bare bones video version you have become so fawned of over the last weeks and months, and second as a multi-part audio recording like I’d put on a CD, and which I will put on the next CD, should there be a next CD. I was able to find an opportunity to lay down some vocal and instrumental tracks and mix them all together to do a recording, one of my very enjoyable hobby type of things I like to do. As well, I was able to find a few minutes of quiet to do a video of the song. They both became available at about the same time so I may as well post them together. That gives an interesting comparison of the audio and video versions. Interestingly, although the audio version takes a lot longer to do, in some ways the video version is much harder to do. The audio version can be done over an extended period of time, corrections and changes can be made, and balances can be adjusted and so on. The video version is a one-shot-take. That ‘shot’ can be taken over and over of course but I’ve found that the first attempt is almost always the best. Re-tries tend to get worse and worse the harder you try, so no point in trying, just go with what you got, just like it would be when playing live. And the ‘take’ is how it is, no way of mixing or balancing. Being that the video version is how it would be ‘live’ somewhere, I have to remember to smile once in a while and pretend to be friendly. It’s quite a bit harder to pull off. Anyway, the song is ‘Tequila Sunrise’ by the Eagles. It is not my intention to ever try to sound like the singer or group who’s music I am doing, that can’t be done and I should never ever try to do that. I can only sound like me and therefor must arrange a given song to fit within my limits. That’s the way it must be. That’s also what makes this kind of thing fun. So, hopefully you will enjoy both versions. I certainly enjoyed putting both together, my hobby and my challenge.

Tequila Sunrise
Multi-part Audio Recording

Tequila Sunrise
Bare Bones ‘Live’ Video

doug

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THE ONTARION REPORT

Hello everyone!

Well, St Patrick’s Day has come and gone and without the usual huge party on Ezra St in Waterloo perpetrated by the students from the two Universities in that town. One would think these young adults would be smart enough to know that it’s a danger to the entire city for them to continue having these mass gatherings during the Covid-19 Lock Down! However I guess it remains that they think they are immune to this virus! Now that they’ve tried their very best to hold these gatherings behind the backs of the authorities of the city and had many of them blow up in their faces in the form of spreading this virus, they are beginning to see the light of day when it comes to spreading this dangerous disease! As it turns out, us older folks are not the only people that are susceptible to the virus! Many younger people are now suffering from Covid-19 and it’s mainly due to these universities sneaking their parties in private residences thinking they won’t get caught! Now they are paying the price of their stupidity for sure!

Speaking of the Covid -19 shots, when I watched the noon hour news two day’s ago, the first report they had on was that fact that as of that day people 70 to 79 years of age can now register for their shot! I immediately looked up our Regional Health site on line and phoned in to pre-register both Carole and I for the injections! It took about 20 minutes to get a phone line through to the registration office but once I had a person on the other end of the line, it was a simple matter of telling our ages and birthdates and to answer a few quick questions about our health status. As it turns out, since we are both on different forms of medications for various reasons, we have to produce a letter from our family doctor stating that he sees no problem with our receiving the Covid-19 injections along with the other meds we are on. This document must be produced when we arrive at the Injection clinic to show there will be no conflict between our current meds and the Covid-19 injections we are about to receive! Now that we are pre-registered, they will contact us sometime in the near future via e-mail to give us a “Code Number”. Then we phone the health unit once again at the pre-registration office and give them that number and they will give us a location and date and time to show up for our injection! From there on in, all we have to do us show up at the time and date and they will give us the shot and instructions as to when and where we must attend for our second injection of the anti-virus drug. Our doctor has recommended that we have the Pheizer brand of drug as he has researched the various brands and feels this is the most effective one in use for our age group! When I talked to the registrar, he recommended that I request they contact us via e-mail since the phone call method is taking from 4 to 6 weeks to receive a code number from their office and the e-mail method is much faster when waiting for their reply. He also asked if we would be available for a “short notice” call to get the shot should they have earlier openings on any given day and of course I said yes to that possibility! Hopefully we’ll get in soon to have our injections and begin the process of medically protecting ourselves from contracting this terrible virus!

We’ve been waiting and watching the news to see when people of our age group can get in to have the shot and it finally came two days ago. It seemed like folks of our age were quite far down the list when it came to being allowed to call in for a date but now that it’s in the process, we feel much better about the whole thing! Now we just have to wait for that e-mail telling us our Code Number and we’re off to the races!

That’s it for this week folks! Just be sure to take action when your age group is announced for the Covid-19 shots! Like they say, “He Who Hesitates, Is LOST!” So don’t get lost in the shuffle!

Bye for now… Greg

PS: Something To Think About>
As my doctor said when we talked about getting the injection, “Any of the brands of drug is worth having, don’t be fussy when it comes to which one you are likely to receive!

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Take Care And Be Safe
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