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Issue #1086
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Russ

Sus

The Ontarion

Hey There,

Often I have very little to talk about, other times I can go on and on about nothing without even trying. This time I’m going to try to keep the words to a minimum and let the pictures do the talking. My ‘theme’ is contrasts.

The week started off with cold wet weather but one of the fascinating things about living here is that cold wet rain down in the valleys often means lots of fresh snow higher up. The kids were here for a few days and so we abandoned the rain and headed up the gondola into the snow. The girls love the snow and happily tagged along on our walk. The snow on the packed trail is several feet deep so you wouldn’t want to step off the trail into the unpacked snow, you’d need help getting back out.

Here is Olivia and Kyra having a great time as well hiked along through the falling snow.

So, we had the contrast between gloomy and wet, and fresh and white. Thats always nice. Then, there is the contrast between that dark gloomy sky and a bright sunny sky. The sun came out a few days later. I couldn't put it off any longer and decided to put the insurance back on the motorcycle and head out for my first ride of the season. That was down right therapeutic. And, it highlighted another contrast, during the last riding seasons I was in a lot of pain due to that bad hip. Now, with it gone and a shiny new one installed in it’s place, the pain is gone. I can mount the bike, sit comfortably, move my legs and feet as necessary, all in total comfort. Now I await the contrast between cold weather riding and warm weather riding. I’ll know it when I feel it.

Given the fact that we head up into the snow each morning for a nice hike out the ridge, and the fact that I’ve now ridden the motorcycle to Horseshoe Bay a couple of times this week, well, that’s a pretty cool contrast as well. Hike in the snow then go for a bike ride down the highway, it can’t get much better than that.

doug

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From Russ

The "Golden years" are a pain-in-the-ass!!

Those of you in your Golden Years already know this to be true - while you "youngun's" have this to look forward to. Picture this: An older woman is being carefully observed by an eight-year-old as she was attempting to help with a meal at our home. She was cleaning the poop off some fresh mushrooms with hands so very crippled from osteoarthritis that it "turned my stomach" so, that I was not able to look a mushroom in the eye, and totally unable eat mushrooms, for many years thereafter! Poor, brave, soul, she must have been suffering from "pain", but I never heard her complain. Some of us have a higher tolerance for pain than others, ex. Greg Payne (no pun intended) - he may be "accident prone", and get all banged-up (LOL), but we never hear him complain!? Why is this?

    "Pain is highly subjective.

    Pain lets us know something is wrong.

    Some pain can be managed at home - other types of

    pain are signs of serious health conditions that require medical attention to treat". (By Healthline)

OK. We are all familiar with pain, and if we are being honest we must admit we are a "pill-popping society"! Doctors are known for their "quick-draw" with their prescription pads! Many of us are "over-subscribed with pills"! The writer takes so many that he must take a pill each morning before breakfast to help sooth the pain and damage the pills are doing to his stomach!!

"What is pain? Pain is a general term that describes uncomfortable sensations in the body. It stems from activation of the nervous system. Pain can range from annoying to debilitating. It may feel like a sharp jab or dull ache. It may also be described as throbbing, pinching, stinging, burning, or sore.

Pain may be consistent, it may start and stop frequently, or it may occur only under some conditions. It may be acute, developing suddenly and lasting for a short period of time - or it may be chronic, with ongoing sensations that last or return repeatedly over several months or years." (By Healthline)

If you ever make a donation to the Arthritic Society you can be sure they will continue to phone or mail requests for further donations, again, and again. The writer often listens to their "rehearsed pitch" where they tell me how many people suffer from arthritis - I tell them I suffer from arthritis all over the place - hands, feet, shoulders, hips, and lower back - and nobody ever sends me money to cover my medical expenses!

Please bear with me - I know the LAST thing you want to read about is my arthritis, but I researched it for my personal reasons and learned quite a bit, and would like to share; for example, my arthritis causes fatigue (I wondered why I was always so tired?) My infected joints swell (I thought I was getting fat!) And I won't even mention those 'mood changes'.

Many of you know I was a cop for a dozen years, but did you know that much earlier, I worked as a labourer for Dunker Construction when the new wing of KW Hospital was being built? I was in my early 'teens', still developing physically, subjecting my growing body to heavy work beyond my capabilities thus injuring my back, and today, as I write this article, I suffer from chronic, neurropathic pain caused by 5 or6 damaged discs in my lower spine. The pressure on certain nerves sends an electrical signal to my brain, and back to the damaged nerves which I perceive as pain. Now that's an oversimplification - the neurons in the brain generate low voltage electricity, which I've studied religiously, but it's too complicated for this old man's brain to explain it here and now!

Next week, my article is titled "Why me?"

Russ.

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From Sus

So far only one day of run in the Maple woods. We collected a bucket and a half altogether. Not a great start to the season but the weather forecast for the next week looks promising. We actually lost some when our sled turned over while pulling it over a rough patch. That's not progress. Oh well accidents happen. We still enjoyed our time in the woods.

Tomorrow we are off to Home Depot in Dartmouth to pick up some building supplies for our new greenhouse. They have some red cedar boards that will work nicely in our plan.

We have salvaged old windows and frames reusing anything we can find to make it more reasonable to build.

Sus

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The Ontarion

Hello everyone!

Happy Belated St Patrick’s Day!

Well since I’m writing this one day before the Irish Event, I won’t know how the big party of Waterloo turned out until after this arrives in your “In Boxes”!

I’m sure however that the University “Semi-adults” will have shamed the two Waterloo Universities the same as they have other years! Not to mention cost the taxpayers of Waterloo region a pretty penny again! It’s about time the party event is shut down permanently although I’m not sure how the authorities would enforce such a ban! Maybe it’s time they started setting up a set of gates and charging every participant a hefty fine to leave the party scene at the end of the day! Of course they’d have to trap them inside a corralled type enclosure once they’ve gathered, to enable such a controlled exit! Maybe give them the use of the football field and then fence the exits in once the field is filled with students! Then they’d have them trapped on the field and at that point they could charge each one of them to leave the party! After making them clean up their mess first of course!

There really is no way to control such an unruly crowd as has been proven other years so, let them party I guess and have the authorities admit defeat!

Apparently there is another huge university party on St Paddy’s day in Kingston Ontario as well! I wonder how they control their student bash in That city? Maybe they have a solution they could share with Waterloo Region!

The city of Chicago has a solution, they turn the whole city into a giant party and even dye the local river Green to celebrate the event! The Waterloo Region turns itself into a giant party for Oktoberfest why not for St Patrick’s Day as well?

There they go! I’ve found a solution for the Region of Waterloo! I’m sure it would be a financial windfall for the entire Region if they did that! The only stipulation I would make would be that the entire week before and including St Patrick’s Day would have to be included in the party! I think I’ve hit on the solution! Make it St Patrick’s WEEK!

That’s about all I have for this week’s Ontarion folks!

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

Bye for now……and “The Top O’ The Mornin’ to You All!” ……Greg

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