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The
Squamidian Report – June 1 / 24
Online
Versions
Of This And Past Issues Issue
#1149 Russ Gary Sus The Ontarion Doug
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From Russ
What's buzzn' cousin? There's lots of 'buzz' about Cicadas lately - the Weather Network has been warning we'll be soon inundated with millions of the insects. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't we in Southern Ontario experience these critters during what is called "Dog days of Summer"? I can remember as a kid hearing them buzz late in the Summer when the days are hot - maybe in September. I remember asking my Dad what was making that "endless" sound. He said they were Cicadas - and left it at that. I thought I heard a buzzing sound here in Point Clark the other day. It wasn't a Cicada as it stopped. Cicadas never seem to stop to take a breath! I've since learned they don't make that sound by blowing air out of their mouths like birds. They suck sap from roots and trunks of selected trees, and (only males)can buzz. They do so to attract a female, and if he's lucky she will click her wings to show acceptance. Cicadas have a 3-stage life cycle; from egg, to nymph, to adult over a span of 2 to 5 years. Like all Cicadas, they spend most of their life underground and emerge only to breed. They are so 'horny' they don't eat anything and live only 4 to 6 weeks! But what a way to 'go'! And, about that buzzing sound, the males have two tymbals (glands), one on each side of their under belly, and are able to buzz as loud as a chainsaw! I've never seen one up close, but they say ours are brown with see-thru wings, and 5 eyes; 2 prominent eyes (to wink at the ladies)and 3 simple eyes that help them see approaching predators from above. Here's a partial list of their predators=> birds, squirrels, fish, spiders, and wasps. Some people roast and salt them and claim they are a healthy alternative to potato chips! UGH!! There are 3000 Species Worldwide. They thrive all over our planet except in Polar regions. Those found in Asia are BIG - 3inches long! Cicadas don't bite, sting or harm humans or animals. They have no teeth, instead they have a tiny drill to access tree/shrub juices, and the females also have a tiny saw for slicing into tree-bark or limbs to make a tiny trench into which they stuff their eggs. She's a "going concern" - she deposits up to 20 eggs in a trench, and repeats the process producing up to 600 eggs over 3 to 4 weeks! The eggs hatch after about 6 weeks and the nymphs drop to the ground (unhurt, as they are very tiny, and almost float to the ground) Once on the ground they quickly burrow into the soil and tap into plant or tree roots to feed on juices. They move only to find new food sources as they slowly mature, and emerge only to breed and create the next generation of Cicadas. To get a comparison to the Cicadas in USA, I was introduced to a cousin of my Canadian contact who provided all of the a.m. info. It was painful, to say the least, as I had to put my ear to the ground in order to make out what it was saying, as it was still 8 inches underground. He said he was not emerging until the temperature at his location was about 64 Degrees F. and the ground above him had been softened by warm spring rains. Our neighbors to the South always have to brag that everything American is "Bigger & Better"! You will note as you read next week's story that there is quite a difference between Canadian and American Cicadas. Most of the Weather Network info is about the "Family Reunion" of both Broods of the insect. The last reunion of both Broods was 221 years ago, and they are expecting trillions of Cicadas to take over the business of buzzing & breeding. Some American's are hoping the Cicadas with 'drown-out' that other big 'noise-maker' - Trump.
Russ. ****
From Gary & Evy Hello fellow Squamidians from Evy and Gary. We sold our house in Owen Sound (after 10 years) and moved to Al and Carol’s 2nd house in Wiarton November 2022. It is absolutely beautiful here overlooking the bay. As much as we love it here and like the area, we are moving to Picton. From 3 hours northwest of Toronto to 2 hours east. Evy retired end of 2021. I semi retired end of January 2024. We will live at Phoebe and Pat’s for now. Our tenants lease is up mid August so we will move our stuff from Wiarton then. We went to the Philippines February 1st to May 15th. I had designed a house for Evys daughter and children. Evy oversaw construction of the 1st floor in June 2023. I oversaw the construction of the 2nd floor while we were there. It’s almost finished but livable. Now you are caught up to date with our lives. Take care and stay safe everyone. Ember
and
Julio on our front porch View
to
the north from an upstairs bathroom window Front
view
of our unfinished house Ember
talking
to a local farmer on the “street “ in front of our
house Crazy
tile
sidewalk west side of the house Breakfast
on
the balcony. The
last
supper, beer butt chicken North
side
of the house
Gary & Evy ****
From Nova Scotia Sus
It's Thursday and the road crew have finally got around to digging out our culvert and installing a new pipe. I had to change my clients appointments last minute as they would have no way in the lane. I'm hoping by this afternoon all would be done. We are happy to have this done its just not knowing ahead of time to make arrangements with my clients. My brother Warren is visiting from B.C. He flew in with an unending return ticket. He says it's time he can stay as long as he wants. It's great to see him so relaxed and happy. He has great memories of living here in Nova Scotia. Moving his family to the west was a good one although we missed them especially my parents. Now it's like coming home to him. It looks like the bears have left...thank goodness! There was no more compost left to eat. I still take a good look around after stepping out of the house. I'm hearing more bear stories from people around our area though. Sus ****
The Ontarion
Hello everyone! This spring is like other years with the robins nesting again on our patio wall! They come back every year and nest out in their usual spots. This year they once again laid three eggs in their nest and hatched three babies! A week after they hatched, Adam was out front and heard a commotion on the street! When he looked, it was three adult robins attacking a crow on the road who was tossing one of their babies up and tearing at the poor little thing! Before he could chase the crow away, it picked up. The baby and flew away with it! We figured all three of the babies were lost to these crows but a couple of days later we spotted one baby out back ! About a week later Adam looked and saw three new eggs in the nest again! This time the three of them hatched into babies! This time. We’ve been keeping an eye on the babies and so far they’re doing well! They are only a couple of days old! Hopefully the crows won’t get them when our backs are turned! The mum and dad and the first baby are taking care of the new brood! Fingers crossed they’ll be ok to maturity! With the three adults attending the new ones they should be safe! I’ll just have to keep watch over them better this time! We’re out back enough and the older robins don’t mind us being out there with them sitting on the nest! They know we won’t harm them! Here’s wishing them to maturity and good health! That’s about all for this week! Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to writing again in the coming weeks! The nest is in a little watering can tied to our back light!
Bye for now. And stay safe! Greg ****
From Me
How’s it going…..eh?
Welcome to June, we are now only 3 weeks away from the days getting shorter again. Ain’t that a nice thought? For what its worth, the west coast has been having ‘June’ weather for the last 3 weeks or so. You may think thats a good thing but no, its not. Normally, May is warm and dry and sunny whereas June would turn cold and wet and dreary. Well, May turned out to be a rather dismal month with endless rain, dark overcasts and very chilly days and night. Perhaps June will be July, who knows. What I do know it that it is greener and more lush now than it has been in several years and I guess thats a good thing. The moss growing everywhere is not so good and the knee deep grass is not so good but it beats forest fire smoke.
On the topic of June leading into July, I think its time to wind down this letter for the summer. The group has gone very quiet for quite a while now. Where is everyone? Where did the ‘interest’ go? We’ve been having great contributions to this letter itself (thank you to all of you who contribute) but even stories for Olivia and Kyra could not induce any notice. So, I’m suggesting that as of the end of this month, June, or sooner, we break for at least the summer, perhaps longer, depending on how everyone feels about it. I’m open to ideas and suggestions. * Got a little music video for you guys again this week. This time it is a very old folk song that has it’s roots in a 16th century poem, at least thats what I read when looking it up. The reason I decided to do this video is because way back over 6 decades ago, cousin Sus of Nova Scotia fame taught it to us. We were all in our early teens or so and that branch of the family, living in Nova Scotia, came up to KW for a visit. Sus was obviously with them, and, she had a GUITAR. Wow. It had never occurred to us that we could actually have guitars. We knew adults that had them but we certainly didn’t. And, she sort of knew how to strum a few chords. And, she knew a few folk songs. And, she taught them to us as best she could. One of the songs was called ‘BJ the DJ’. The other was ‘The Fox’ which is this song, the one I’ve done a video of. Its actually a bit harder to do than I remembered because there are so many words to get out in each breath. I had to use my metronome to keep from speeding up (a bad habit of mine) in order to not run out of breath during each verse. So, we tried to play this song all those years ago, I’ve tried to play it again now. Perhaps I’ll even do an audio version something soon. Anyway, this song is for you Sus, and hopefully some others of you will enjoy it too. Feel free to play and sing along.
the bare bones video Doug **** Have
a
Good One ****
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