|
The
Squamidian Report – Feb. 1 / 25
Online
Versions
Of This And Past Issues Issue
#1184 The
Ontarion **** From Greg – The Ontarion Hello everyone! Today was a day to remember the horror of the WWII death camps of Auschwitz and others! We all know that the deaths of over a million mostly Jewish people at the hands of the nazi forces! At the time, the nazi leader Adolf Hitler decreed the deaths of any and all Jews they were able to round up and herd into the camps! On this day in history, I can’t help but feel a personal connection to this event! When I was 11 years old my brother was 13 and worked for Morris Custom Tailors in downtown Kitchener, carrying clothes to and from several stores to the tailor’s shop to be altered! When my brother didn’t feel like working on a Saturday, he would fake feeling ill and my mother would roust me out of bed to take his place! This is how I wound up doing that job every week and he got out of doing it for the next couple of years! Like I’ve said before, I worked for the shop for three years from then on! The tailor and owner was Zenek Taub and his wife! When working for “Morris” I couldn’t help but notice the numbers in blue ink tatood on both his and his wife’s forearms! When I asked what they meant, Zenek told me they were put there by death camp officials during the WW11! He then told me that being a Jew he and his entire family members were taken to Nazi death camp Auschwitz and the Nazis shot all of his family members right before his eyes and imprisoned him for three years during the war! That was where he met his wife and once freed by allied forces, they married and eventually moved to Canada. He said they both learned to alter clothing of prisoners and soldiers while in the camp! While Zenek and Mrs Taub sat and told me about their horrifying experience they were both moved to tears, as was I! This was the first I had heard of such horrors of war! This lovely couple was subjected to terrible war crimes and hence were able to make a living at their forced learned trade here in Canada after the war! They treated me with respect and kindness when I worked for them! They paid me $3.00 for working Friday evenings and Saturdays and I was happy to have them pay me that amount! I managed to buy all of the important items of life as a young boy with that money! I bought all of the gifts I’d give to my family members at birthdays and Christmas as well! I even bought my roller skates that I still own to this day with that money! So, when this occasion arrises each year I think of Zenek and Mrs Taub and I thank them for enlightening me and ask that I and the rest of the free world NEVER FORGET to prevent it from ever happening again! From here on in, I pray that no such tyrants as Hitler will never rise to power again! I hesitate to say this but the world must be wary of people with the mind set of Donald Trump! HE IS INDEED ONE SCAREY DUDE! Thanks for reading this week’s Ontarion! Bye for now……..Greg: ****
From Nova Scotia Sus
I missed writing last week when absolutely nothing came to me to write about. Hey Wayne that was quite a story you told last week and a picture to prove it. As I read I felt a chill and suspense coming. Thank goodness you were not involved. Also seeing deer on the road is tricky enough. You never know what they are going to do. Its funny we live in the country and only see deer once in awhile. In New Glasgow ( our nearest town) they are everywhere, on lawns and gardens and crossing streets. it's crazy. They are so used to traffic that they calmly walk back and forth. A friend of ours who lives there has chainlink fences around his gardens and sitting areas. Yea Carol I have dreams that seem so real. Especially since we do so much babysitting I tend to jump out of bed to stop Ember from falling down the stairs. But she is not there. We never have her overnight. Luckily I then realize it was just a dream. I'm way too responsible , always have been!
Sus ****
From Russ
Pooped! Just returned from an "attempted" bike ride. The temp has gone up to zero so it shouldn't be so cold. Yes? With the wind off Lake Huron gusting to 56 km/Ph - there was some windchill - but the bike-riding conditions left something to desire - salt/sand had been spread at intersections and hills, leaving a kind of heavy crap that pulled me to a dead stop! Had to de-bike and push the 3-wheeler until finding some road surface that had not been mutilated. * Getting up early this morning to make a "slow-cooker" meal before the arrival of Gail (my P.S.W.) she phoned saying "The wind is causing white-outs and I can't get to your place today". She generally helps me with my shower on Mondays and my sits-bath on Thursdays, so I'll have to stay dirty until possibly next Monday. OOPS! The power just blinked - enough to scare the hell out of my old computer - just left it alone, and it recovered after about 15 minutes - but will make this short, as the wind is picking up and more power outages are likely. The weather children are threatening winds gusting up to 100 Km/Ph later today. My son, Greg who lives in Ripley just darkened my doorway - proud as punch because he bucked large snowdrifts, and survived whiteouts to get here. "Why did you take such a chance?" I asked. Now get this.......he answered, "To bring in your garbage pail" Now, that's 'commitment'! Truth is; he got new winter tires ($1700.00 worth!) and just wanted to try them out in a real storm....drifts 4 feet deep didn't stop him!! Russ😮 ** Its now Wed., our regular grocery shopping day and another day being "snowed-in" - had an appointment with my family doctor, my foot doctor, and my financial advisor. All had to be cancelled and a new date planned - one in which the roads are not closed like today. This is known as "The land of horizontal snow", as the snow remains air-born at high speed until it spies a roadway - where it drops! There's hardly any snow in the wide-open fields - its all along the shoulders of the roads, and that's not good, as that causes drifts that must be plowed back onto the shoulders in order to cause new drifts. What ever happened to "snow fences"? They were great, unless placed too close to the road, in which case they caused further drifting. They never learned to place them farther away from the roadways! I guess we now learned what happened to snow fences - they never learned where they should be placed! Your Uncle Russ. ****
From Gary
Hello fellow Squamidians. My son, Max is an avid fisherman. He especially loves ice fishing. When I go with him we always get skunked. When he goes on his own he is always sending pictures of all the fish he catches. All of us have lots of pickerel fillets in the freezer so he releases everything. The other night he caught over 30 fish. I guess I’m bad luck. Past Tuesday we had strong winds and snow squalls. Everyone was in a panic. By morning we had a whopping 4 or 5”. We get a 2” dusting of snow and most people are afraid to drive faster than walking speed. Where we used to live in Wiarton on Georgian bay they’ve had a snowstorm for 2 weeks and now and 6-8’ on the ground. It sure is nice living in the banana belt when it comes to shoveling snow. Stay safe everyone. Gary ****
From Carol
I believe we all have some regrets in life; wrong decisions made, roads not taken, words not spoken. I have made some poor choices (but also some good ones) but would not go back and change my bad choices because then I may not be who I am today with the loved ones and family I have now. There is one thing I do wish I could travel back in time for, that would be visiting my grandparents and talking to them adult to adult. For instance; I know both my grandmothers lost their fathers in accidents while still in their teens but do not know how the loss affected them emotionally and coulored their future relationships. As a child it never occurred to me to wonder. I know how loosing her daughter affected my Grandma Brubacher because she made it clear. I didn’t even know my other grandmother lost a baby girl also until I was an adult. I have no idea if any of my grandparents knew their grandparents. I would love to question all of them regarding what they knew of their personal family history, after all that is my and my children’s family history. Both my grandfathers were born in 1895. They were the perfect age to be conscripted into fighting WW1 but neither were. I would love to know how they avoided that. Grandpa Hockridge lost 2 sisters to the Spanish Flu but never mentioned that to me, didn’t know until after he was gone. I also never knew until years later that the reason Grandpa was gored by a bull was because he jumped into the pen to rescue my cousin Terry who had fallen in. My grandpa Brubacher was always working on something in his barn but I never knew what nor how he made his living this way. Perhaps Russel or Wayne could enlighten me. I’m sure both grandfathers would have shared stories of their lives if I had just thought to ask. I don’t want my grandchildren to regret not knowing more of their family history so I am starting to write things down. I will never put out books like Russel. I encourage each of you to think about what you should share with grandchildren, nieces, nephews etc. while still able.
Carol ****
From Doug
How’s it going…..eh? Firstly, Carol had asked if we remember our dreams. Yes, I often do, and if I articulate a dream out loud just after waking, I remember it longer. Some disappear as soon as I awaken which is frustrating. A few select others I seem to be remembering all my life. I’m not sure if thats good or unsettling. Daydreams are much better, you can manipulate them. We haven’t seen any bears lately and thats a good thing. However, now we are over run with raccoons. Actually, they have been here all along but had been keeping a low profile. For what ever reason now, they aren’t just slinking around at night but are all over the place day and night. There was a pack of about 8 hanging around in the neighbor's back yard and our back yard this week. They would come up onto our porch looking for food. Heck, one even left hand prints all over our glass door. They went up onto our neighbor’s balcony to looking in their door. There are two big dogs living in that house and its a wonder that one of them didn’t go right through that door as she tried to ‘get’ herself a coon. That particular dog is a rescue and fully capable of fending for herself in the quest of food. As viscous as a raccoon is, that dog would have literally had it for dinner. Its not the absence of bears that has let the coons take over the area, its the lack of coyotes. For quite a while there had been a pack of coyotes working the area. They seem to have moved on and now the raccoons have free run. I guess its all cycles. Either coyotes or cougars will move back in at some point and clear out the coons. If its the coyotes that eat all the coons, then it will be the cougars that move back in and eat the coyotes, and so on. Natures cycles. In the mean time I can have a little bit of fun shooting at the coons with my slingshot. Don’t get upset, I can’t hit the broad side of a barn with the darn thing so the pesky coons are quite safe. Another strange cycle is the weather (I know, your eyes are glazing over already). After a late summer and all of fall of non-stop rain, the rain did in fact stop around New Years. Since then it has been incredibly dry. Our nights have been west coast cold, as in -5 ish and our days have been mild as in +5 ish but the humidity level is so low that everyone has a scratchy throat and dry mouth and nose. But, that is changing as we speak. A low pressure zone has moved onto the coast bringing a bit of snow and lots of rain, depending on location and elevation. We need both so thats ok. Sue’s sister Sherry sent me these photos. It was a friend of hers in Sauble Beach that sent them to her. This are how I remember good old Ontario winters. This pic was taken at 9pm on Monday evening. Not much of that stop sign is showing above the snow.
This one was taken north of Wiarton. Time to get out the snowshoes.
Doug ****
Have
a
Good One ****
|
