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The
Squamidian Report – Feb. 18 / 23
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#1082 Nova
Scotia
Sus
Hey There, Not much going on here in Lotus Land these days so not a whole lot to chat about but I’ll think of something.... The weather can’t decide if it wants to be winter or spring. It’s mostly early spring down in the valleys and out on the coast but definitely still winter up higher but there sure isn’t any where near as much snow up in the mountains as there was last year. There is however enough to make those hikes up at the gondola quite nice. And, we have been taking advantage of that. After doing that nice ‘first’ hike out the Panorama Trail last week we have been doing that trail almost regularly now, as in almost every day that we have been up there. That hike last week had been on an incredibly nice day, and we had a couple of days like that this week. I didn’t bother with pictures of that because there is no point in taking the same picture over and over. However, by Thursday of this week the weather had closed back in with rain in the valleys and a bit of snow higher up. So, we did that hike again but this time in gently falling snow. Crampons on our boots are a must these days because without them I could not chance going out there. The risk of a slip or fall would be too great. And of course the walking sticks help a lot. Because it was socked in I decided to take the same pictures again but this time the background and mountains were totally invisible. This picture is the same as the one I showed here last week except that the scenery is totally obscured by the weather. So, the foreground trees are there but the mountains are not. It makes for an interesting perspective.
Then, on Friday, after a night of wet snow and rain down here, we had a nice dump of fluffy white snow up higher, as in at the gondola. So, we did the hike again. I must say it was a bit of a workout for us as we carefully trudged through the new snow. The scenery was different, again, as we knew it would be. That's what is so cool about different weather conditions, they make for dynamic scenery. So, here is the same view, again, with clouds obscuring the mountains and snow piled on the trees.
This picture is from the same area but looking southwest and down through the trees. A bit of Howe Sound is visible below the lower cloud deck.
And then there is this pic of Sue as we were headed out onto the trail. Walking was a bit of a workout for us but that’s a good thing, and of course we wore our crampons so our footing was secure.
* A few weeks ago I had posted my video version of this Bellamy Brother’s song, ‘If You Ever Leave I’m Going With You’ and at the time I’d promised an audio version. So, being true to my word, here it is. Lots of harmony, lots of instrumentation and so on. It’s a nice song, at least I think so, as it expresses a very nice sentiment and has a catchy tune. Enjoy. doug **** From
Nova
Scotia Sus It seems this winter just comes and goes. After having a good snowfall we now have rising temps and ice everywhere. I'm always ready with a good supply of sand and salt mixed. The last thing I need is a client slipping and falling or me. We have been busy lately improving our chicken housing. Since our chicken numbers have gone down we are planning on adding to our flock. Increase our layers by 24 should bring us plenty of eggs for the demand. Also it's time to order our meat birds. Last year we had almost 60 birds in our freezer. We share them with our family and friends. You visit us and you may go home with a meat bird for dinner. I love raising chickens and I try to think like a farmer that this is for food. The laying hens live as long as they like and provide us with food. We have been expanding our coop and putting in bigger windows for air and light. Also trap doors between rooms so we can easily separate meat birds from layers. Never thought I'd be a chicken farmer and love it.
Sus ****
From Russ
Superstitions surrounding death. Some of us are superstitious surrounding death, burial and cemeteries - but I'm not. Some even find cemeteries interesting places to visit, to read inscriptions, to ponder on what caused certain deaths - not me. I can't say the same for my dear, departed brother, Howard. He loved to go into a cemetery at night and try to scare me and maybe himself also. When we were in our early teens and lived in Riverbank (near Freeport), there was a rural cemetery on the road to our home, and if we were walking home after dark my 'big brother' Howard would 'taunt me' to walk into the spooky, old, place of burial. One night as we stood silently listening for 'ghosts', the ground beneath us began to drop - with a sigh! YIKES!! We scrambled out of the depression and ran as hard as we could, all the way home where we breathlessly tried to explain our harrowing experience to whoever would listen. It seams our dad listened, then calmly explained what likely happened. He said, "The wooden coffin rotted away, and with your extra weight upon the earth above, forced the ground to sag" "Yeah but we heard a "sigh' come from the sunken grave!" we blurted-out. Our dad (whom we called Pop) had an explanation for that sound coming from beneath our trembling knees, "There would be a certain amount of air forced out as the coffin collapsed, making a sound like a dead body exhaling". That was not necessarily comforting to boys age 14, and 16. * Wayne might remember when this same cemetery hit the gossip. A member of our church, Freeport United, had lost his beloved wife of 30+ years, and was buried in said cemetery. He was so very distraught, he exhumed her body, removed his "special part", and somehow he was caught and charged with "Indignity to a dead body" And now, back to some superstitions associated with cemeteries and burial. >Special 'mourning clothing', including veils, were worn as a way of hiding the mourner's identity, thereby protecting them from the dead. This is why today we wear black at funerals - black is associated with the grief of the mourner. >Pallbearers were to ware gloves so the spirit of the deceased could not enter their body. The were also warned to "cover their mouth" if they yawned so the spirit could not enter their body.
>Rain on a funeral was felt to be a good omen that the deceased would go to Heaven. If it also thundered, that was even better as it indicated that the soul had made it to Heaven. >Tombstones were initially just rocks and stones used to mark where the deceased was buried. But over time, the stones became large monuments not only to mark the grave but to stop the spirit from escaping. >Taking flowers from a grave means that the spirit will haunt you. Pissing on a grave is rude and unacceptable, and also relieves pressure on one's bladder. (Just checking to see if you are paying attention) >And for God's sake one should never whistle is a cemetery as it will summon the devil. And finally, some clever entrepreneur must have started this superstition, >as long as the funeral bill remains unpaid, the dead will not rest in the grave. * In closing, I feel the need to tell you a short story about our pretty, young, Aunt Edna (whose husband, Willard was overseas at the time, helping our Allies to defeat Hitler) and Edna was not much older than our brother, Lorne, and she loved to "be frightened". Woodlawn Cemetery in the East end of Kitchener, is where most of my family are buried. There is a building on said property called a mausoleum with drawers containing ashes of the deceased, and larger ones containing actual corpses. We kids loved to go into this facility for the sole purpose of scaring ourselves. One time, we decided to 'introduce' Aunt Edna to this "Place of Horror". Now when I say "we" I mean mostly brother Howard. His plan was to get Edna and anybody else brave enough to enter said "stone-cold place", and while we got our "Guinea pigs" far from the door, turn the lights off, leaving only pendant, dim, red lights on which gave the place an even ghostlier feeling, closing the only escape door, and securing it so no one could get out, waited for the inevitable screams. Edna, who was always a good sport, pretended to be scared......or was she pretending? Russ. PS Do you believe in ghosts? I don't. I've seen only one, and felt the presence of only two so far. ****
The Ontarion Hello everyone! Well, hopefully we’ve just had the last ice storm of this winter! Most likely not but finger’s crossed it will be! It only took me a half hour to scrape the ice off the Jeep so I could do some running today to order my new hearing aids! I didn’t realize I’ve had aids for a total of almost 10 years but when I went in to have them serviced the other day they told me that I was due for new ones and that my current ones were my second ones at 5 years per pair! Wow, it doesn’t seem that long since I got my first set! Oh well, I guess time flies as they say! I’m lucky that I’ve had them paid for by WSIB since first getting them so long ago. Actually the first set I had to pay for myself and they cost over $3,000.00 dollars. Then I found out that WSIB would have paid for them since my hearing loss was attributed to having put up with loud noise from the Pumpers at work. So consequently, work place hearing loss is covered by WSIB insurance co. Thank goodness for insurance! After that first set, every 5 years they will pay for a new set of aids for me and now it’s time for new ones once again! Hearing aids don’t give you perfect hearing again but they enhance what hearing ability you still have! For the most part, they allow you to hear better than you could without them but your hearing with them is better by far than without them! There are times when I still miss what is being said to me but that’s just part of the game! People around you just have to understand that with aids your hearing isn’t what it used to be with perfect hearing and sometimes you’ll miss what was said to you! Oh well, hearing with them is most certainly better than depending on your natural hearing ability when you’ve lost some of that ability! It’s a fact that the older you get, the more things go wrong with your health! I personally have a whole litany of problems but luckily our health care system here in Canada has kept me going! With type two diabetes, skin cancer, arthritis, and heart problems I’ve had more than my share of visits to the doctors and hospitals over the years but I’m happy to still be on the right side of the grass and enjoying it! Speaking of grass, it’s the middle of winter here in southern Ontario and we can still see the green grass of our lawns. This is one of the mildest winters in many years here in Canada so we’re lucky not to have the usual amount of snow piled along our streets and sidewalks! We’re all hoping that the rest of this winter will be as mild as it has been so far! I personally am looking forward to spring so I can get the MG out of storage and cruise the country side once again with the top down in the warm sunshine! Carole and I are rally tired of being cooped up indoors with this Covid-19 crap but I guess we’re just lucky that we haven’t contracted Covid in the three years it’s been ravaging the earth in so many countries! We’ve been very careful not to expose ourselves to the virus by frequenting places with large crowds. We only go out when we need groceries or visits to the doctor etc when necessary! I guess it’s paid off to be careful but it’s not very nice to have spent three years in the house for the most part! I hope it will be over with soon enough that we can get back to a normal life style again! It’s been a long haul for most of the countries in the world and it sure will be nice once it’s over and done with! That’s about all I have for this week folks! Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now… Greg. ****
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