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The
Squamidian Report – Mar. 12 / 22
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#1033 From Russ The Ontarion
Hi All, And now for something completely different, I’m going to review an electronic game, you know, the kind you play on your smart phone or tablet. In this case, its a jigsaw puzzle app made by Kristanix Games and it replaces those jigsaw puzzles you dump onto a table and spread the pieces all over as you look for ones that fit together. I assume there is a version for all phones and tablets although I don’t know for sure as we use iPhones and iPads, can’t personally speak for Microsoft or Android or Chrome devices. This particular puzzle game is free to download but the cravat with that is that you must of course put up with annoying adds. The free version is also somewhat scaled back from what the available paid for version can do. The paid for version only cost about $4 but for that you no longer see any adds, and more importantly, you can use you own pictures that are on your device as puzzles. The game supplies an almost endless choice in puzzle pictures but its really cool using your own pics. For starters, no more need to dump that box of puzzle pieces. The whole ‘puzzle’ fits on your device screen. You simply open the app, choose a picture, and it them changes to a puzzle version of the picture and the pieces scatter off to the sides. Then of course you slide them into place. You can tell if you have a given piece in the right place because it locks there and can’t accidentally be moved out of place. You can choose how many pieces the puzzle should be made of, ranging from 4 pieces for those little rug rats right up to 600 pieces for extreme players. However, I’ve found that choosing 64 pieces is max for a phone screen and 100 is about max for a tablet screen. Once you have assembled a puzzle, it morphs back into a normal picture. You can choose another if you wish, do the same on again at a higher number of pieces, or put down the dumb electronic device and go do something more useful. As for using your own pictures from your photo collection on your device, well, thats what makes this app so nice. You choose a pic from your photo collection and it imports a copy of it into the app where you then assemble it as a puzzle. Its kind of cool doing a puzzle of your back yard or granddaughter or motorcycle or that local scenery or whatever, including that sunrise picture below that I took a last weekend. Anyway, I’m not much for computer games but this particular one is fun and relaxing and a nice diversion from our current world condition. * Here is something kind of interesting, at least to me it is. Because last weekend was mild and sunny with clear sky's, we elected not to bother going up the gondola for our morning coffee. The reason is that weekend days with nice weather tend to be very busy there. We simply don’t need to be part of the masses. We can have the place to ourselves first thing in the mornings, during the week. No need to be there on weekends. So, we decided to pop through the McDonald's drive-through and pick up a coffee, find some place to park, and enjoy watching the world go by. Now what you need to understand is that while ‘daybreak’ happens at a set time each day, our local ‘sunrise’ happens at many different times around and throughout the valley due to the mountains that surround the valley. Just by moving a short distance, you can experience several ‘sunrises’ within a few minutes. The sun had risen at our place but had not down below us. As we sat in the drive-through lineup, we were back into pre-sunrise shade. The top of the mountain east of us began to glow as the sun started to climb out from behind it. Because the sun was still partly blocked, we could see the most amazing sun-dog rings surrounding it. By the time it occurred to me to try to capture a picture as we waited to move forward, the sun had started to poke out but I figured it was still worth a try. This pick was taken through the car windshield so quality is not that great but you can see those dog circles, framed by the overhead height restriction bars that keep bigger vehicles out of the drive-through. I thought it was kind of cool, hope you do too.
PS: this late breaking news just in...remember how I said I’d let you know if those missing Canadian Tire Rewards points were returned to my account? Well, they have been. They have been put back. I’ll never really know where they went but they have been returned to me so thats all that matters. doug ****
From Russ
I have an excuse! I have an excuse!It is a well-known fact in these parts that I cannot assimilate garlic. I love the taste, and I know it's good for me, but soon after eating something containing that vegetable, my stomach rumbles, I begin to bloat something awful, and must head for the nearest john! I have no excuse - it leaves me 'loose'. A neighbour left me some split-pea & ham soup yesterday - it was delicious! I'll say no more! Today I had a doctor's appointment - it was a 'follow-up' for treatment of a stubborn ulcer on my heel which for three years has not healed. While awaiting the arrival of the doc, I'm sitting patiently in the small, windowless, stuffy examination room. He'll want to look at my heel, so I began removing my shoe and sock - as I cocked my leg to reach my shoe...you guessed it - I passed gas. Now, the 'muffler' I wear deadens the sound, but does nothing for the exhaust except to slow-it-down some - which is NOT called-for in this situation. The exhaust fumes hung in the dead air like a dense fog. What to do?!! The only thing I can do is try to 'dilute' the aroma a bit before the innocent man enters the enclosed room. Grabbing my hat I begin flailing, and fanning ferociously - all the while praying the suspicious-looking little thing on the wall is not a security camera! A gentle knock, and in comes the doctor - I want to say something in my defense like, "It's not me - it's the garlic!" but I don't. I feel I should warn him, saying, "You'd better get an air-freshener before you come in here!" but I don't. I hope he doesn't think its my feet that smell so 'pungent'. Its hopeless - nothing I say is going to make it smell any sweeter. I remain silent. He is wearing a full face-mask that covers his eyes with a plastic shield - but I can still see his eyes are 'smarting'. Now, this doctor is infamous for his lack of 'bedside manner'. We usually have differing opinions, and an 'angry exchange of words during my office appointments. This time, he is very polite, answers all my health questions, and shows genuine concern for me. It is nothing short of a miracle! What has brought about this very pleasant change? Many patients, nurses, and pharmacists have cringed at his behaviour. Did someone 'higher up' speak to him? I hope that's the case - I'd hate to think it was my accidental release of garlic gases - if so, it would mean eating garlic before all my next office appointments!! Russ PS If you found my story offensive, I'm sorry you read it. ****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone! Well with the slowly melting snow showing some green stuff from beneath there are true signs of spring. As I’ve said other years at this time, we get a pair of Canada Geese that settle on our front lawn each spring for at least a couple of weeks when the grass finally shows through and this year is no exception! We’ve been hearing the honking of the geese for about a week now and they’ve been sitting perched on the roof of a house on the street across the Hydro Right Of Way from us for the time being. Their honking seems to echo through the right of way quite loudly. It’s only a matter of time before they notice that our lawn is almost all green again and drop in for their annual visit. They’ve been visiting us for about 10 years now and we look forward to their arrival again this year! We’ve been watching the birds out back all winter and the Cardinals have been here on their faithful schedule throughout the cold and mild days this winter season. Between them and the sparrows, the feeder has been emptied about once a week all season long. The only problem with the feeder is the mess on the ground below it from the seeds and their shells being dropped by the birds. Adam mounted a pan to hang beneath the feeder that catches a lot of the seeds and shells but it can’t catch them all! Oh well, I just have to clean it up once the snow is all gone out back. We’ve enjoyed watching all the different kinds of birds that have frequented the feeder so I’m not going to complain about the seed mess! A sure sign of spring is the sighting of the first Robin each year and Adam spotted his first one out back two days ago so Spring must be close! On the subject of bird-watching, I was using my binoculars the other day to watch some different birds sitting on the hydro tower out behind the house. There were two huge crows, several red-winged blackbirds and a few cardinals all lined up on the cross bar of the tower. It was cool to see that they weren’t afraid of each other. It’s unusual to see a mixture of them and the crows not scaring the others off! As I watched them, I noticed that the neighbours across the right of way had finally opened their curtains on the fairly large window that is on the side of their house that faces our back kitchen window. Since, in the 24 years we’ve lived here, they have never had these curtains open. SO, I took a peek through my binoculars as any nosey neighbour would in this situation and just as I focused in on that window, wasn’t there a man sitting at what appeared to be a table in that room and wasn’t he staring directly back at me! LOL! I couldn’t tell if he was also using binoculars but I was so shocked to have him apparently staring directly at me, that I almost dropped my binoculars into the sink! Hahahhaaa……. It was like I was caught in the act of being a peeping Tom! Or like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar! LOL! When it comes right down to it, I guess I was being a “Peeping Tom”! However today without my binoculars, I noticed that his curtains are once again drawn! It was just one of those fluky things that happen and of course a lesson learned on my part! * Today was another day to visit the dentist for a follow up on last month’s visit. They told me last month that this one would only be a short visit to check the measurements on my gums to see if the cleaning last month had allowed them to settle back in to the proper measurement. They had been a tad swollen and tender but today after an hour in their office waiting room and 20 minutes in the chair, my check up was a positive one and the gums have receded to their proper measurement! Relief once again from a medical standpoint! They told me that for a 73 year old man, my teeth and gums are in great shape so that makes me very happy! What also makes me happy was that my bill after this visit was only $52.00 instead of the $525.00 that they hit me with last time I was in their chair! WHEW! Dodged another bullet!!! That’s about it for this week folks! I hope you’re all staying safe and healthy as well! Bye for now… Greg I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report! PS: Something To Think About> Keep the people of Ukraine in your thoughts and prayers! ****
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