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Issue #1096
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Nova Scotia Sus

Russ

The Ontarion

Hey There,

Did I ever mention that I very much dislike the service departments in most Harley dealerships. There are a few good ones spread very thinly across the country but the Vancouver area ones are the pits. My little Sportster was in need of 2 new tires. Hard to believe but it does have almost 20 thousand clicks on it. The front tire should have lasted longer but both were down to the minimum tread dept. These are the OEM tires that came with the bike new, Michelins to be exact and I’m glad they were both warn out because I never liked how they handled or felt. They just never seemed to feel like they were gripping the road the way a bike tire should. So, I made an appointment with the Vancouver Harley dealership as there is really no other choice. You can’t take a bike into a car tire place because they won’t even look at it. My appointment was for 9am Thursday morning and I got there just past 8:30. When heading into the city you must always give yourself lots of extra time as you never know what the traffic is doing. As it was, the section of the Upper Levels highway from the top of the ‘cut’ to over the Second Narrows Bridge and through the tunnel was a stop and go parking lot.

Anyway, my bike was signed in at 9am as per my appointment and I headed into the showroom to look at the bikes and to find a comfortable chair in the waiting lounge. Those idiots never even touched my bike until after lunch even though they knew I was from out of town and waiting for it. All they had to do was change two tires and check the wheel bearing for good measure while the wheels were off the bike. That’s all. But no, they left me sitting there all day and didn’t get the job done until almost 4pm. Needless to say I was a bit miffed but there is nothing you can do or say if you want your bike back and treated properly. You know, like similar to never send your restaurant food back to be heated or anything because the chief might spit in it out of spite). That was blatantly treating a customer with zero respect. The up-side was that both the ride in and the ride home were quite nice and I guess that’s what matters. And yes, the new tires, Dunlop 401’s, ride and feel just fine. They are not my first choice in replacement tires but they were what was available and they will do.

And speaking of bikes, I rode down to Horseshoe Bay on Friday to hook up with a few friends and on the way down, as I headed south, I noticed (couldn’t help but notice) a broken down dump truck in the right hand north bound lane of the Furry Creek hill, about half way up. On the way back there were pylons out and several other service vehicles at the scene. What was kind of cool was that there was a HUGE green tow truck there and the operator was hooking up the dump truck. The operator was Al Quiring of ‘Highway Through Hell’ fame. It made sense that they had called him in all the way from Abbottsford because a fully loaded dump truck in perfect condition would never be able to pull away from a dead stop on that hill, and this truck was broken down. A loaded truck like that would simply blow it’s axils or drive shafts or clutch or transmission if it were to even attempt to get moving. That hill is long and steep. They needed a perfect beast of a tow truck to pull it and that green giant truck of Al Quiring fame would be one of the few on the whole west coast that could do it. Quite impressive.

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Well kids, I did it again. I video’d another song. But full confession, I did it for me, not for you. You see, one can sit there strumming away and singing away for hours on end and make the same errors over and over, or constantly scratch their ear, or whatever without even knowing it unless they can see what they look and hear what they sound like, which is where doing a video comes in very nicely. So, it’s mostly a learning tool for me but don’t worry, you are more than welcome to watch the video if you want to. Otherwise, I wouldn’t bother to post any of them. This one is that nice old song, ‘Old Flames Can’t Hold A Candle To You’. I did an audio version of it a while back, in the April 8^th issue, that I posted, should you want a refresher on such things. Anyway, here’s my video version, just me and my guitar, voice and fingers getting older, hair (what there is of it) getting longer, and so on.

Old Flames Can’t Hold A Candle To You
(the video version)

doug

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From Nova Scotia Sus

I would like to wish Uncle Russell a very Happy Belated Birthday and also congratulate him on the arrival of his book. That was a long wait and I know it will be so worth it.

We had a surprise visit the other day. A bear appeared in our yard knocking over our compost bin and leaving a trail of stuff everywhere. I thought I had the bin very secure with large stones surrounding it. I was more worried about raccoons tipping it over. We use leaves as a cover to keep the smell down so as not to attract wildlife. The bears are too smart! Now when I go to the chicken pen in the evening I do a look around to see if the coast is clear. We aren't the only ones the bears are visiting as we have heard from neighbours.

Next Friday my brother Warren from B.C. is arriving for a month long visit. He wants to help with clean up from Fiona. He will be very shocked to see our properties. I'm still not used to it. He will bring his guitar so music will be happening too.

Sus

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From Russ

Visitors

It's 4:30, they just left, they're on their way to Wiarton. It is sunny here, but the wind is from the North-East, and unless you're out of the wind, it's too cold to sit out on the deck. Carol is doing the driving, Al is relaxing on the passenger seat beside her, while Cindy is occupying the back seat. They have taken a book for Sus (who wanted one for her sister, Michelle as well). They were going to take one for Gary, but he wants to come here to pick up his own autographed copy, and while here for a visit, he will bring several of my earlier books along to have me sign them as well. That makes this old man proud - to think he cares. (Maybe he knows something about my mortality that I don't!)

It was a pleasure to have them visit - I don't get many visitors. Last time I saw Cindy was at Lorne's funeral. She was very happy to get a book about my parents whom she's known for many years. She is "legally blind" as was my wife during the last 12 years of her life, and like Bobbie, she goes to the vision clinic at the U. of Waterloo for her special viewing devices. Now, Cindy can read her book on her own, and she's thrilled to be able to do so. I'm also feeling good that she appreciates her 'gift' of sight. All thanks be to God.

Yes Greg, she has your book and the one you are so kindly going to deliver to the Waterloo Region Museum.

Doug, your book is on the way to Squamish, and Linda, yours is on the way to Buckhorn, having been sent 'Parcel post' and mailed Wed. May 24th.

As of today, Thur., May 25th over half of the books will have been hand-delivered, or sent to you guys. The other half will leave my place shortly. I still need some books delivered in KW area, and I have to make a few calls.

*

One final short story about the value of letting your dandelions grow: While looking out my large picture window which faces the lake, I saw a cotton-tail bunny eating dandelion stems and top fluff! It bit the stem off at the bottom, spun it around and began nibbling the bitter stem all the way to the fluffy seed head and chomped that down as well! Some Cheek! Didn't it know the stem is terribly bitter? Didn't it know the fluffy top is full of seeds? I tried to warn it, using sign-language (because they don't understand us when we speak), but t'was to no avail! It just kept on eating the dandelions which had gone to seed as if it were perfectly normal behavior!! We have a multitude of bunnies around our place, and we hope they will keep on eating the dandelions which have gone to seed before the wind disperses them all over those neighbour's lawns that have no use for the weeds.

Meanwhile, I'll just sit back and let nature run it's course.

Russ.

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The Ontarion

Hello everyone!

I’m sure you can all imagine how difficult it is to come up with something to write about each and every week but it seems that when faced with this task, there is always something that pops into one’s mind as one sits down at the keyboard! Today is one of the exceptions as I’ve drawn a blank. However, with a passion for classic vehicles how can I ignore the beautiful bright red 1950 Ford pickup truck that I noticed in one of my neighbour’s driveways today as I was coming home from the hearing aid store in Forest Hills plaza this afternoon! As I turned the corner onto my street, I couldn’t help but notice this beauty of a classic truck gleaming in the bright spring sunlight! I couldn’t help myself, I had to pull over in front of the driveway containing this rare beauty! As I stopped on the wrong side of the street to get a better look at it, a woman stepped out of the house and asked if she could help me! I said I don’t want to bother you but I just had to pull over and admire your beautiful red truck. I asked her what year it is and she gladly told me that it is a 1950 Ford and that her husband had always wanted a classic truck. She said now that he had just recently retired they decided to treat him to his dream vehicle as a retirement gift! She said they had looked all across Canada and finally found this beauty in northern Ontario and had just picked it up yesterday!

I can’t help but be a tad jealous of this man’s new acquisition. His new “old” truck is exactly what I’d choose if I were in a position to find one of these classics for my garage if I had the room to keep one as a member of my fleet! However, Since we already have the MGB, I have neither a need or the room for another vehicle in our present home! His new truck sure is a beauty to be admired though! With already a fleet of four vehicles in our driveway and garage, Unless we move to a new home with a couple of acres of land and a large multi car garage, there will be no hope of adding to our collection soon! LOL!

At last count, I’ve owned 43 different vehicles and so far I’ve stopped counting but, who knows? There’s always room for more if things change!

However, for the time being any new vehicles are just pipe dreams and will likely stay that way for the foreseeable future!

That’s about all I have on my mind for this week 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…. Greg

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