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Issue #1065
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From Nova Scotia Sus

From The Shores Of Lake Huron

From Russ

The Ontarion

Hey There,

We accidentally got our flue shots. Well, sort of accidentally. What happened was we had both received our official government invitations to book our shots on line, just like Covid shots were done over the past couple of years. Before Covid, getting a flue shot was easy, you just walked into a drug store and asked for one. They either gave you the shot right there on the spot or made an appointment for you. It was all so easy back then in the good old days. With Covid, the provincial government couldn't keep its fingers out of a system that was working just fine and had to come up with a convoluted web based system that for the most part doesn’t work at all. Everyone would simply give up and try to call the help line number, meaning, everyone would end up on hold for untold amounts of time. So, for both Covid and flue shots, it became a bit of a government created nightmare.

Both of us received out email ‘invitations’ to book our current flue shots on line. Yes, that same ‘on line’ that we’ve all grown to hate so much. My email included a second invitation, that one being for my next, 5^th, Covid shot, that being my 3^rd booster. Cool. Only problem was, as expected, the government web site didn’t work and the help number was so backed up that it wasn’t worth trying. So, we figured we should try walking in to our local drug store and see if we could book an appointment for the flue shots the old fashion way. I’d deal with the Covid booster later. Well, much to our surprise they would be able to do the shots right there and then, ‘then’ being Monday afternoon. She explained that we had timed it just right as she could possibly find herself booked up for the next few weeks once she received ‘bookings’ from the afore said government web site. As for now, she could do ‘walk-in’ customers as long as they qualified, which we did as we had those invitations to get those shots.

When she pulled up my records she saw that I also qualified for that 3^rd booster and asked if I wanted it now as she had the vaccine serum right there. Of course I said YES, PLEASE. And so, I’m now up to date with my shots. Not very often things go better than expected but somehow, it did for us.

*

Last week I posted the link to my audio version of that old Hank Williams song, ‘Your Cheating Heart’. I was quite surprised at how many of you liked the song because while I think those old songs were pretty good, many people these days look down their noses at anything that isn’t rap crap or syrupy pop or some other faddish assault on one’s ears. Anyway, for this week I’ve posted my video version, you know, just me and my guitar, as bare bones and raw as it gets. So, give it a look-see. Worst case scenario is you waste 4 minutes of your life. Oh, by the way, at the end of the video I remark that I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel. By that I don’t mean music wise. The barrel I’m referring to is the collection of songs and tunes stored in the nooks and crannies of my head.

Your Cheating Heart

(the video)

doug

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From Nova Scotia Sus

Thank you everyone for your concern over our recent experience. We are gradually getting through the mess of trees starting with the ones closest to our homes. We have piles of spruce boughs everywhere ready to be picked up by the tractor for when we start burning. It's been too dry to burn even though Nova Scotia Burn restrictions say no problem. We had another crew of guys come in with chainsaws and only managed to cut up 17 trees all day. Since they are so tangled everything takes much longer. We have noticed now that we can see the windmills up on Fitzpatrick Mountain, also cars on Millsville Road. We were so secluded and now so open. The good news is more sun, moon and stars.

Sus

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FROM THE SHORES OF LAKE HURON

Greetings everyone well I and Kitty survived our vacation trip to the east coast of Canada. We left on Sept 15 the and got back on Oct 14 the It was an amazing trip and a life time of memories. We got to Edmunsten NB on the first day and stayed there overnight. Our plan was to get to Newfoundland from there in a few days to catch the short ferry from North Sydney, then come back on the long one from the east side of the island. Well as things never work in your favour we were booking the ferry over and were told that the long ferry back was ending on the 23 of September therefore we changed plans and booked the long one over on the 22 of Sept. It was a long night for sure 17 hour trip. but got there no problem. In the mean time we toured NB, NS, PEI and Cape Breton ending in North Sydney the evening of the 21. We were so happy to have got that all in before the bad weather. I feel that mother nature is not kind to everyone at times, our hearts went out to all the residents that were impacted with Fiona in any way at all.

In NL we toured around St. Johns a little the first day there, got a motel in a little town called Harbour Grace for 2 nights, toured around the area checked out a lot of little towns. From there went to Clairenville for a few nights toured around and moved on to Gander. A lot of tourist places were closed after labour day as we were told by locals in different communities, but that didn’t bother us one bit got to see a lot on how the locals live and so forth. Moved on to Corner Brook and Stephenville and finally ended up in Port aux Basque to catch the ferry back on the Oct. 9.

Just outside of Corner Brook was a zip lining place which we went and did. What and awesome experience that was. There were 9 lines on the course starting with around a 100 meter ride ending with the last on around 1800 meters long. They told us that last run you would be doing about 65 to 70 KMP and after the ride I fully believe it. I even finished with the clean underwear I had on. When Fiona hit we had 22 degrees and sunshine on the east coast with a stiff breeze, but we took a little tour around Port aux Basque they had a lot cleaned up but on the southern coast the houses that were damaged badly were still there. How does one get over that is beyond me, We had talked to the mayor there he said the people have been fantastic and are helping in every way they can. Some are still without a place they can call there own. I can’t imagine the devastation in Nova Scotia and PEI. we saw some in NS and NB on the way back mostly tree damage along the highway. We were almost 2 1/2 weeks on the island seen a lot but didn’t get to the northern tip where the Vikings had landed but that might be a reason for a shorter trip back. Well have a great week and stay safe.

Brian

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From Russ

Up the spout

Nothing to eat or drink after midnight. On the road by 7:00 AM - rain, off and on both there and back. Temperature hovering between 2 and 3C all day. At times, rain so hard unable to see through the windshield. Out of Huron and into Bruce arriving just on time! She is one Hell of a good driver!! Picked up prescription at hospital pharmacy (Botox), then on to Day Surgery.

"Take off all your clothes, including your underwear, wear your mask, and put everything into this large plastic bag" she said, with a kind, cultured, voice which I couldn't ignore. She was so nice, I stripped in a heart-beat, and stuffed my stuff.

"Now, put on this gown which ties at the back, then this robe over top - then, these little, blue, booties" Being obedient by nature, I did as she bid, and looking like the rest of the victims, took a seat on death row. A pretty, young nurse placed a hot sheet over my knees, and before I could give it another thought, someone announced my name. Now, I'm on my way to another little, curtained-off space, where a nurse asked me the same questions I had given to other nurses three time already! I don't mind - they're so polite, and also very proficient.

"They are ready for you in the OR" announced someone - we're are off at 'high speed'. I'm invited to climb up onto an operating slab,

"Lie with your head at this end - flat on your back" a nurse explained - then, a masked man in a cloak -and-gown said dryly,

"We are going to put you to sleep so you won't feel a thing, and it will all be over in a few minutes". (All over?? Now I know what a "death penalty by lethal injection" must feel like to the prisoner!) But ....it was all over in less than a heartbeat! The procedure had been done without any passage of time!

"How do you feel ?" asked a pleasant nurse, who really seemed to care.

I feel OK - no pain - no nausea - no problems.

"We will have to keep you here for a little while" she said (as she took my 'vitals') Then, someone covered me with a heated sheet which I deeply appreciated, as the OR was cold as a morgue.

"Could you eat some cookies and have something to drink?" she asked. That would be much appreciated, as I hadn't eaten since 4:00PM the previous day, and it was now 1:30PM

Upon my 'release' we headed for the nearest Tim's which was not far from the hospital or the high school kids - the store was 'packed', no place to sit, so we proceeded to the next Tim's, it was also 'closed'! On to the next town, only to find Tim's was closed there also!

"Can you believe it?!" shouted my driver, care-giver, Daughter-in-law, Bettie. Only the "Drive-through' was open in all three Tim's we checked - the doors were locked! Couldn't get in even to use the washrooms! (We both had to pee badly!) We finally had to settle for that 'fast-food' store that "makes hamburgers a 'beautiful thing" (Harvey's) What to do first? Order food, or relieve ourselves? We ordered food (one will die without it, and I was now 'fasting' for 22 hours! Much too long for a Type Two Diabetic!)

By the way, the 'procedure' I had done in the hospital in Owen Sound is officially called a "Cystoscopy" ( I unofficially call it "Up the spout - into the gutter") which, I seriously recommend for anyone suffering incontinence.

Your old, and getting older, Uncle Russ.

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The Ontarion

Hello everyone!

It’s amazing how quickly the leaves turned colour this year! It seemed that they did so much faster than they have most other years! I was watching the weather channel and they had an expert on that said the quicker the cold weather sets in the faster the chlorophyll in the leaves disappears and that facilitates the changing of the colour of the leaves! It also makes the colour a darker red and once the final chlorophyll has been subjected to the cold more than a few days, the colour tends to become lighter in shade! Thus, the trees tend to look a lot more yellow than red this time of year. I guess that’s Mother Nature’s way of painting the forests whatever colour she wants! This years colour scheme was changed in a hurry for sure so I guess Mother Nature just wanted to experiment a little more than she did other years. The trees on the boulevard across the street from our front porch were green for the longest time as others on the street had turned colour much earlier than them but I had commented about the ones across the street staying green longer than most when not more than two days after, they were a bright red and orange mixture! It’s amazing like I said that they can change so quickly indeed! This years colours have been and are an incredibly beautiful mixture of colours! They are a photographer’s dream if you’re into taking pictures of Mother Nature’s handy work! On the news the other night, there were dozens of people taking photos of the forests up in Algonquin Park from a viewing platform provided by the park authority of Ontario.

I guess if you like to take pictures of such beauty, the drive to Algonquin Park would be worthwhile! However in reality, one can stay right here in the region, since we’ve got tons of beautiful trees in our own neighbourhoods! I’d like to apologize for the shortness of this week’s Ontarion but the beauty of Mother Nature’s work this year is about all that’s been on my mind lately and the Weather Channel brought that even further to mind when I watched it this week!

Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next time in The Ontarion Report!

Bye for now … Greg!

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