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Issue #1094
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Nova Scotia Sus

Russ

The Ontarion

Hey There,

We rode down to Horseshoe Bay on the Harley last Sunday morning as we are prone to do on ridable Sunday mornings, where we hooked up with a few other riders to enjoy the scenery and a coffee. Some Sundays you can’t get near that place because of the tourists and others aren’t too bad. That one wasn’t too bad as there was some dark grey clouds in the sky and the occasional rain shower around to help keep the tourists away. Three of our riding friends decided to ride back up to Squamish with us which was certainly fine. A small group ride is always fun. Two of those riders are women and they can out-ride any of us old men. One of them wrote that book I mentioned a couple of years ago called ‘Ruby’s Dance’. The book was all about her adventures as she rode across the continent on her bike named ‘Ruby’. The other is a guy who gave up on his very heavy old Harley and is now riding a CanAm Spider, one of those 3-wheeled things that look like a snowmobile but with wheels instead of runners and tracks. He’s First Nations and spent most of his life in the Canadian military, and has some pretty interesting stories to tell.

The ride up the highway was great, good temperature and the traffic had not yet gotten too heavy. Sue offered to make some lunch so that was good. Mary, the woman who wrote the book about riding all over the country solo, on her Sportster, is quite interested in the adventure style bikes, which my Enfield is. She has an old Honda ADV but expressed an interest in trying out the Enfield so I handed her the key and away she went. Her intention was to putter up the end of the street and back but she ended up puttering all over the neighborhood. She came back smiling and reluctant to hand the keys back. So, it was a good day.

Then, a few days later after I had been tooting around on the logging roads on the Enfield I realize that it needed to be washed. Mud and dust tend to make a bike dirty. It also occurred to me that the Harley needed a good cleaning as it hadn’t been washed since before she had been tucked away for the winter. So, that meant I had to wash 2 bikes. I hadn’t thought of that when I purchased the Enfield. Oh well, even that was a good day.

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I’ve bounced this off of Greg and Russ and now I’ll bounce it off of you guys. Last year we took a nice 3-month summer break from doing this Saturday morning Squid thing and it made for a nice break for all of us. Well, summer is fast approaching and perhaps we should give some thought to doing it again. This time I’m proposing just taking July and August off. I’m sure Greg, Russ, and Sus could all use the time. By the way, it’s been really great that Sus of Nova Scotia fame has become a regular contributor, I think you’d agree. Anyway, I’d suggest the last Saturday of June to be our last issue before breaking for the summer. The reason for that date, June 24, is that it will be our 1100^th issue and we could all make it a great one to finish up with. Then, we can go about our summer free of the weekly deadlines and need to ‘come up with something’. And then, like last year, if the interest in starting up again is there, well, we can do so. Let us know your thoughts on this.

doug

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From Nova Scotia Sus

Our weather has finally come around to spring like. It's been hovering around zero to one or two degrees at night and not much better in the daytime. We have had a fire on in the woodstove to keep things comfortable. The north wind kept us bundled up while trying to get our potatoes and onions planted. I love working outside but when you have to wear so many clothes it makes every move harder. So today and for awhile the weather reports are starting to act like spring.

Our cat lately is staying outside more and only comes in for food. This is the cat that was dropped off after the hurricane last fall that we adopted. He is super friendly and joins me in walks and chores around the yard. Yesterday he came inside with a tick on him. Being an orange cat it was easy to spot. Today our dog had one on her and again it was easy to see on a white dog.

Ticks have gradually moved into our area. I guess it's something we will have to live with.

Sus

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From Russ

Dandelions.

Have never seen so many Dandelions in my life......and I've been around awhile! You see them everywhere - in fields, along the roads, in ditches, and in highly-manicured lawns! Don't you just hate them?! We even have hay- fields totally overtaken by that most nasty of weeds!! That crop is worthless - cattle won't eat Dandelions! Right? Wrong - Dandelions are the most nourishing, and tasty fodder for cattle during the long, winter months. Yes, and cattle love to eat them when green and tender.

Well - take it from a "convert" - I now appreciate the 'great value' of that most prolific of weeds! I apologize for all the "bad-mouthing" I've done over the years. It's NOT just a weed! There are 13 emerging health benefits for this lowly weed. We'll look at some of them later in this article. Right now, I want to take you back to our Primary school days in Rural Ontario. Picture this; we are picking Dandelions and making costume jewellery from the stems. Sure! you exclaim - we did that too! The stem is hollow and tapered making it easy to create a circle, so from finger rings to bracelets, and from bangles to beads we charmed our girlfriends by making gifts of these treasures. Want to know a good "pick-up" line? Approach the unapproachable and place the Dandelion flower under, but without touching her chin - if it reflects yellow, you say, "you love butter". Pretty limp you say? Hey give us credit we're still feeling our way with this s**t.

Now, let's look at some of those 13 emerging health benefits of the Dandelion:

1) Highly nutritious: From root to flower, dandelions are highly nutritious plants loaded with minerals and fiber. Dandelion greens can be eaten cooked or raw and are an excellent source of vitamins A, C, and K. They also contain Vit. E folate, and small amounts of other B vitamins. What's more, dandelion greens provide a substantial amount of several vitamins, including iron, calcium, magnesium, and potassium. The root of the dandelion (which is a 'tap root' type, going straight down 9-12 inches - making it hard to dig out) is rich in carbohydrate inulin, a type of soluble fiber found in plants that support the growth and maintenance of healthy gut bacteria in your digestive tract.

Tea - anyone? Dandelion root is often dried and made into tea, but you can also eat it whole as you do carrots or other root vegetables. My Grandfather Brubacher used to drink various herbal teas including one made from dried dandelion root with his noon meal. Brother Howard, and I used to work for him during evenings and summer holidays, Grampa used to offer some of his "special tea" to us - we could hardly get it past our noses because of the smell - we likened it to urine!! But said nothing out loud. We were afraid of him.

2. Contains potent antioxidants: Dandelion is full of antioxidants, which may explain many of its medical properties. Antioxidants are crucial for keeping your body healthy. I know a lady who eats so many carrots, her skin is yellow like an Asian. But did you know dandelions contain high levels of antioxidant beta carrotene which may protect against cell damage and oxidative stress? And by eating dandelions you can turn yellow even quicker!

3. May help fight inflammation: Thanks to compounds such as polyphenols. I suffer from various types of inflammation which is a normal immune system response to injury or infection. However, long-term inflammation may lead to permanent damage to my body tissues and DNA.

Caution: Limited animal and test-tube research suggest that dandelion has anti-inflammatory properties, though human studies are lacking.

Next week we will continue to examine the health benefits of dandelions, and equate them to personal issues like "I can't stand to sit any longer due to a 'bed-sore' (ulcer) on my butt!"

Over and ouch,

Russ.

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The Ontarion

Hello everyone!

I have some good news as far as we are concerned at least! You may remember that we have in the past many years had problems with the noisy stinky buses parking beside our side fence while the drivers get out for a smoke! This was done rather than them stopping at the proper bus stop on the far side of the Hydro right of way where they should sit to make up time or stop for a smoke if they really need one! After years of recording the bus numbers every time this happens and complaining to the GRT commissioner via e-mail and phone, they finally moved the bus stop further to the opposite edge of the Right of Way from our house. However that was about a year ago and of course to no avail! The drivers that were in the habit of stopping beside our house were still too stubborn to break that habit! So on and on went the problem! 
However, during the strike of this past week by the transit drivers, there has been a new sign posted on the bus stop! I finally took a walk up to the bus stop to get close enough to read the new sign. Of course I thought the new sign would read that they were going to move the bus stop closer to our side of the Right of Way again, knowing my luck! However, upon reading the sign, I found out that the GRT are indeed cancelling the route that passes our house all together come September the 4th! YAY! Finally they are now changing the bus route through our neighbourhood so that it bypasses our street by about a block away! So, no more stinky noisy bus sitting beside our house half a dozen times each day! The ridership on these buses was so low that most times the bus either passed or sat beside our house with nobody on it but the driver! It was to say the least, not a busy bus route at all so I guess they finally got tired of having their buses run empty most times and put those buses to better use else ware!

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Talk about changes, have you driven down King St in Kitchener or Waterloo or both for that matter! It’s like mid town Toronto down there these days. With all the new “High Rises” That have either gone up or are being built along King you can not even enjoy the sunshine as you walk during down town shopping! There are so many huge condo buildings lining either side of King St in both cities that the sun is literally blocked out from shining on King St at all! I don’t know where all the people that would rent such high cost residences are coming from anyway!??? Who can afford $2000.00 to $3000.00 per month these days? Certainly not us, living on a pension that is only increasing by Maximum of 1% per year! LOL! I say that with tongue in cheek since it’s certainly not a laughing matter! It’s about time that the federal government gained more concern and respect for the elderly folks of this fine country and upped the amount they are paying each month in our meagre pensions! They can most certainly spend Millions and Millions on foreign aid and other Charitable ventures but can’t seem to find a few more dollars to support the people that have paid all their lives into the pension fund and are still being taxed to death on our meagre pensions each year!

When will the government come to their senses and realize that the people that built this country and are still supporting it’s status in the world need to be supported in a more generous manner?

I think it’s time for the coin to flip in favour of the pensioners of this country and stop doling our tax dollars out by the Multi-millions to every Tom Dick and Harry with their hand out and have never contributed to our tax base!


That’s about all I have to say for this week!

Thanks for tuning in this week 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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