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Issue #1012
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From Nova Scotia Sus

From Russ

The Ontarion

Hi All,

Our fall weather has been the pits, cold and wet, heck, almost endless wet with heavy rain storm after heavy rain storm (thankfully the roof is no longer leaking). You’d think that after that horribly hot summer the fall would be somewhat on the warmer side as well but no such luck. Anyway, I needed to find a weather window during which I could take my Harley Sportster in to the dealer in Vancouver for it’s 8,000km service. That meant having a weather forecast showing a nice day and being able to book the service appointment of that day. I lucked out. Our Tuesday forecast (a week ago) had showed both Thursday and Friday as dry. Not warm, but dry. So, I phoned the dealer and was able to book the bike in for 8:30 Friday morning. That meant leaving here before 7:30 in order to get there on time as its about 75km from there. That meant heading out while it was still only 5 degrees out and while it was not quite fully daylight. And thats what I did.

I bundled up nice and warm because the ride in along the Sound can be chilly and the wind-chill at highway speeds when its 5 degrees C can make it feel very chilly. But like I said, I lucked out. The roads were totally dry, the air was totally dry and the ride was down right enjoyable. The waters of Howe Sound were smooth and silver, reflecting the morning sky. Traffic was lite until I went past Horseshoe Bay and from then on it was the usual heavy city commuter rush of bumper to bumper impatient drivers. I rolled in to the dealer at 8:33 and a few minutes later the bike was taken in to be serviced. They had a big plastic bag for me to dump my heavy riding gear into for safe keeping while I waited for the bike to be finished. Under Covid conditions no one wants to tough anything so the bag let me store my gear in their office while I waited. I just needed to kill about 2.5 hours so I walked to the nearest golden arches for a coffee and then spent time checking out the new motorcycles etc in the showroom. Eventually the bike was ready and I geared back up for the ride home. There was the usual heavy city traffic all the way to Horseshoe Bay as expected and then I pretty well had the Sea to Sky highway to myself so I could enjoy what was probably my last ride of any length for this riding season. Any more riding before the bike gets put away for the winter will be short and local. As the weather gets colder, mountain highways are not very inviting for motorcycles.

With the bike serviced it can be put away for the winter and be all ready to go when the weather next Spring permits. All I need to do is decide when to put her away, have her nice and cleaned and polished, and that will be that. I’ll let you know when that is. And yes Cindy, it is in fact ‘snowing up on Brohm’.

This weeks’s musical entertainment is a song the Eagles did way back years ago, called ‘Lyin’ Eyes’. It’s a story song, in that it tells a story (obviously). It’s one of the hardest songs I’ve tried to do, having 8 verses and a chorus that turns up 3 times throughout the delivery, and just to be forewarned, it runs almost seven and a half minutes in length. I certainly can’t pretend to sound like the Eagles as they had a whole bunch of top notch musicians and vocalists in their band and I just have me, so, I don’t even try. Trying would be silly. This cover is how Lyin’ Eyes comes out when I put it together as an audio recording. I think it came out pretty good, I hope you do too. For those who prefer the video versions of my music, I’ll have the video version of this number ready for next week.

Lyin’ Eyes

doug

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From Nova Scotia Sus

It's hard to believe we are well into October already and Thanksgiving has come and gone. We had a small gathering for dinner with our family that we see day to day. Our house is small so big gatherings wouldn't work anyway. We did have one friend over for a bit. He brought his accordion to entertain us. It's been a long time since I've heard accordion music, mostly from Oktoberfest. He said he was learning to play even though to us he played it well. The sound was amazing, filling the room with a lively sound.

This has been an amazing fall with warm temperatures and lots of sun and it looks like it will continue for a while yet. Our fall colours are just starting due to the warm temps I guess. Thanksgiving weekend is when many people take a trip to Cape Breton to see the fall colours. I'm not sure, if this year, they should have delayed that trip. We have been busy cleaning up the garden, harvesting what is left. We spent an afternoon preparing 3 new long beds in our field for future grapevines. We hope someday to have a small vineyard right here so that is exciting!

My brother, Warren from B.C. has been visiting for a couple of weeks. He is dividing his time with us and other family members here. Also Hugh and Mary came the week before from Wellesley, Ontario. It is so nice to have visitors again. Everyone is being very careful, no one wants to get sick.

Take care everyone,

Sus

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From Russ

A smattering

This week I've no long story to write (Did I just hear a sigh of relief?), just a smattering of things I need to 'get-off-my-chest'.

I slept-in this morning (having worked into the 'wee hours', on the final (I hope) touches of my book. Yes, it's been a long time coming. I started it in 2019!

Sitting at the breakfast table this morning, not expecting anybody, not even wearing my hearing aids, when the screen-door is flung open - a woman walks in uninvited, and shoves an open container into my 'breakfasting' face.! Startled, and a little scared because the woman is well-known in the neighbourhood as a 'garbage-picker'! She looks for stuff her chickens and horses will eat, which is 'everything-under-the-sun'. Hence the fear as to what's in the container, just inches from my nose.

"What does this smell like?" she asks, pushing the container under my very nose!

"Uh", is all I can say. Looking at it at close-range, it is grey-ish-green-ish and 'yuck-ish! "What is it?" I ask (hoping it's something for her live stalk.

"I made soup! Soup!" she yells. She always shouts everything, "Boiled a ham-bone, lots of fat! She goes on, "When it cooled, skimmed off this much fat" Indicating several greasy inches.

"Oh", is my weak response (She's made soup for ME! I'll dump it soon as she's out-the-door - I've been in her kitchen!)

"It's split-pea and ham" she proudly announces. "You'll like it - I'm sure" (as I try not to vomit right there - right then!)

But, her heart's in the right place - she's been bringing me hen-pecked, fallen apples, and tomatoes bearing similar scars all summer-long! She means well. But, I won't mention the eggs she brings me, "free-range eggs" her chickens may have laid months before - because they had 'blood-spots' and 'questionable things' in them.

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Had some bad news from the Kidney Specialist, Doctor Louise Moist - seems my old kidneys are operating at only 42%. Seems also, that my Family doctor (if you could call him that), has been prescribing pills for my diabetes for many years that "cause kidney damage!". Now, I'm on a strict diet - "No this. No that. No, a bunch of foods/beverages. But, most difficult by far - NO SALT! I LOVE salt! I salt everything; tomatoes, potatoes, etc. ALL vegetables! All meat, fish, foul, and eggs! Oatmeal porridge - I even add salt to my salt-shakers! It's going to be "Hard for me" (But not for long)

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And now, for some Good news; son #1 is coming to visit me for a whole week! He's leaving his very ill wife in the hands of his daughter, and daughter-in-law. Oh, oh.....he's breaking his Wedding Vows - "Forsaking all others" (no problem, he won't remember them). Mac loves his wife and wouldn't leave her, however, speaking with Marie the other night, she revealed "it was her persuasion that he come visit pop!".

Mac said the air-fare was 'reasonably priced' but, that renting a car for a week will cost him $600.00!! What the #@^)*+^! Mac's second love is out-door cooking. I don't have a BBQ. Was given one by a friend/neighbour, who said it works fine, that his wife bugged him to buy a more fancy one. Greg tried to start it the other day - turns out it don't work! Thanks, Richard. With friends like you, "Who needs a BBQ?". Looking forward to Mac's visit - haven't seen him since my 90th Birthday!

Russ.

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THE ONTARION REPORT

Hello everyone!

It’s been a quiet week here in the Payne residence What with a couple of dentist visits and a doctor or two calling to see how we’re doing with various concerns. It’s not much to write about but there was one event to celebrate that hit home and that was on Wednesday the 13th of this month. Hitting that date was indeed a true milestone! On that date I celebrated the fourth anniversary of my heart surgery! Wow! That’s one milestone I really didn’t think I’d make when the original surgery was all over back in 2017! Happy to still be here and feeling as good as I am is a real bonus in my life! Now I’m looking forward to the next four years of good health and happiness! If I didn’t have the great support of both Carole and Adam I don’t know where I’d be by now! Most likely 6’ under! Oh well, I’m not in that position so you can likely see my smiling face from wherever you are at this moment! I’m so pleased that I’ve been able to celebrate this occasion that I can’t think of anything else to write about tonight so I’m going to leave off at this point and go relax in front of the TV with a cup of tea and my two favourite people in the world!

That’s about it for tonight my friends! Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all in a more lengthy style next week!

Bye for now… Greg

PS: Something To Think About
Treasure your health while you can!

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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.