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Issue #1175
Including:

The Ontarion
Russ
Nova Scotia Sus
Doug

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From Greg – The Ontarion

Hello everyone:

With Christmas fast approaching, Carole and Adam put up the decorations! As usual, they look great! The tree went up on Sunday and looks magnificent as well! We do have a great shaped and looking artificial tree! No worry about all the dead needle droppings as with a real tree plus, it’s environmentally sound! No need to depleat the real tree sources! I know tree farms regrow their crops every 5 years but still, artificial trees are the way to go! They are perfect every year with no mess!

I remember all the real trees we had as kids! Dad and us kids would. Get in his Buick and drive to “Romie’s Esso” at the corner of Victoria and Ahrens streets to pick out the best tree for the whopping price of $8.00! Then home we would go with the tree tied to the roof of the car! It was an exciting time for all! Next we’d decorate the tree with home made decorations as well as some collectible ornaments mum had from her youth! Back then those were made of clear glass and hand painted! I remember sitting for hours making colourful chains out of construction paper to string around the tree branches! Also back then people draped their trees with silver tinsel that was always a mess to clean up after Christmas was over! In the late 50’s Sputnik was all the rage and of course we had a red plastic Sputnik to top the tree! It was in use for years after that satellite was launched! Now we have a red beaded star to top off our tree!

My mother eventually went to Towers department store and fell in love with a white artificial tree so, she decided then to go artificial! As far as I Know she put that tree up until long after I was married and gone! It was most likely land fill once my dad was on his own after my mums passing! The artifacts are long gone but the memories linger on!

I’m sure you all have vivid memories of your christmases through the years and at this time of year they all come flooding back! I may be a tad early with this recount of Christmas past in my life but it what was on my mind today! Thanks for reading and hope to have stirred your memories of years gone by!

All the best to you all!
Until next time!

Bye for now…..Greg.

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From Russ

Demure

Good-day to you all! Just returned from a ride around Point Clark to get some much-needed exercise. Never saw man nor beast. It's cold and windy, and at the speed I travel on my 3-wheeler, my nose and eyes water, and drip down onto my fleece-lined trousers. Windchill standing still, is -3C......at my reckless speed it's more like -23C!!

Still no snow here, but the weather children threaten "snow squalls with 'unbearable amounts of heavy snow'". Of course, they always exaggerate a bunch. Lake Huron is choppy, and angry - just looking at the swells makes me shiver!

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Am "winding-down" - purging my closets, giving away everything I haven't worn in ten years (can't believe I have clothes in all five closets, plus a bunch draped over an over-loaded "hall-tree" in the laundry!!) I used to blame my wife for 'filling all the closet space", but it's ME! Been a live-alone widower for the past 15 years and didn't realize I was becoming a HOARDER!

Just gave away a cordless vacuum-cleaner with an attached hand-held vac which rides along on the handle of the main unite - never use it - never will! My son, Greg, and his wife, Bettie are clearing out the garage as I type this story today. Luckily, Greg has a large trailer because most of the stuff in the garage is bound for the dump!

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What has the Subject, demure got to do with this story? you ask. It well describes me during all this clearing-out - I'm quiet and modest in behaviour. I say, "Please remove anything, and everything I won't be using in the future" In my case, the future is not very long (My target age is 100 and that's only 4 years, 6 months away)

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The word demure is not used very much in today's speaking, but at one time it was considered a word used to flatter a young lady. Is it not also the "buzzword" for 2025 in some new dictionaries?

Russ🙂😉

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From Nova Scotia Sus

After many, many days of long needed rain we finally see the sun. Our temps are hovering around the freezing point today and it feels good. Our local radio station has been playing Christmas carols for a couple of weeks now and I'm afraid we will be sick of them by Christmas. It doesn't feel right to play them in November.

We are hoping the snow stays away for a bit yet. Our green house still needs a roof so we are working hard to get it winterized. We have been busy babysitting our grandchild who is 2 years old and quite a handful at times and an angel when sleeping. We love her so much but need a break. She was in daycare for awhile until they shut down due to an illness of one of the children. They may not re open. It's hard to get in to another daycare as there are long waits.

Sus

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From Doug

Howdy….

I went into this week with nothing to write about. It seemed like nothing was happening, just a late November dull time with no excitement. I certainly can’t go on and on about some simulator flights even though they are a lot of fun and challenging to me. No need to bore you with the weather, face it, its November. Perhaps its a good thing that tomorrow is December with a fresh monthly start. Then it occurred to me, this has in fact been a very hectic week.

It started off last Saturday when we picked up Sue’s sister at the bus stop here in town. She came out again which is really great. Her flight takes her into YVR and then she uses the Whistler bus to get to Squamish. The time spent waiting for the bus is no longer than the time I’d spend driving and I really don’t like driving through Vancouver to the airport and back. That drive has become a nightmare. Sherry left yesterday morning (Friday). It was a short visit but it was good.

Then, our 5-yr old oven died. We had turned it on to pre-heat and all of a sudden the back metal wall began to glow red and then poof, some smoke, and that was it. The top burners still worked but not the oven. I pulled the back off and could see some scorching in the insulation but no burned wires or components that I could get to, or any other obvious thing. I could not figure out how to get the next layer of metal walls off as that would mean a total dismantlement of the oven. Calling a repair person these days is not much of an option living here in a small town, and on inquiring, the cost of a repair would be almost as much as a new unit, or perhaps even more. In the old days you simply replaced a burner or some wires or a knob or whatever and all was well but our modern, throw away culture put an end to that. It was cheaper to purchase a new oven, so we did. It got delivered a few days later and the old one was taken away. Being grumpy and a bit on the cheap side, I removed the old oven’s electrical chord. Heavy chords like that and especially that big 4-prong plug on the end are expensive. I don’t have any use for it at the moment BUT IF I DID, I’D HAVE ONE HANDY. I know, thats silly but I OWN that chord so by-golly, I’m keeping it.

Then, one of our cupboard doors fell off. Well actually one of its hinges broke so the door was hanging by its other hinge. Bummer. It was one of the doors under the sink section of the kitchen counter. So, over to Home Depot we went and picked up some new hinges. I had taken one of the old ones with me so that I could get the ‘right’ replacement. Upon getting home I removed the old hinges from the door and the door frame and then figured out how these cupboard hinges work and are installed. Brother Gary could install them with his eyes closed but I had to fiddle a bit to understand how they are supposed to be. I had picked up 4 hinges at the store, in little plastic bags. The other under sink door may as well have its hinges replaced and some of the other cabinet doors in the house probably need new hinges as well and I well get to them when I get around to it. When I opened the first plastic bag, I realize that there was a set of 2 hinges in each bag. Ok, silly me, didn’t need 4 sets, but oh well, I’m sure more of those 40 plus year old doors could use new hardware so its all good.

Oh, the kids dropped in as well. Ryan got home from one tour with a scant few days off before he heads out again so that whole family headed up to Whistler. They stopped in on their way by, and that was nice because they were able to visit with Sherry as well.

So, thats my boring week where nothing of interest happened.

Doug

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Have a Good One
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