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Issue #1181
Including:

The Ontarion
Russ
Nova Scotia Sus
Doug

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From Greg – The Ontarion

Hello everyone!

Well, the new year is under way and we finally got some snow!

The first squid was a good one with lots of participation! Let’s try to keep this up!

It’s always good to know that others can write as well as the usual few!

Thoughts of new years always bring back one year when I was a 16 year old teen! I was still a member of the Preston Scout House drum and beugal corps and played a baritone horn in the band! That New Year’s Eve, I got together with a group of my friends and we marched up and down Maplewood place off Union st with me leading the group and playing “auld Lange sign” on my bugle at midnight! Needless to say we had a ball that night! The party was held by a chap named Bob Baier, his dad owned a local fuel oil business and they lived on sunset pl just off union st as well. Their house was rather large and a fun time was had by all! After our march, we adjourned to bob’s house and spent a few hours racing slot cars on his huge “scalectric” car set up in their basement!

Aaaaaw the good old days!!!

What would we have without our memories?

Take care all….greg!

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From Russ

The left-over crumbs.

I call this story "left-over crumbs" as it is the final little pieces of Scottish Custom I've been sending out for the past weeks.

If there is only one "hogmanay custom" you know, it is probably this....."Auld Lang Syne" It is sung all over the world (including Ottawa) on December 31st, and its words come from a poem penned by Robert Burns in the 18th Century.The phrase means 'times long since', and the song is fittingly all about looking back at the year gone by and celebrating old friendships. As you may have seen, it is traditional (in Scotland) for those singing auld lang syne to join hands (crossed) and form a (big) circle. This was always done in the Fred Dickson household on December 31st, and they had me join in! I had no idea what the words were, and why we were in a circle with our hands held across ourselves. It was embarrassing!

So, if you don't know the lyrics to auld lang syne, and wish to - here they are:

Verse #1 Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? Should old acquaintance be forgot in the days of auld lang syne?

Verse #2 For auld lang syne , my dear, for auld lang syne - We'll drink a cup of kindness yet - for the sake of auld lang syne.

Verse #3 And surely you will bring your cup, and surely I'll bring mine! We'll take a cup of kindness yet for the sake of auld lang syne.

Verse #4 We two who've paddled in the stream from morning sun 'till night - For seas between us roared and swelled, since the days of auld sang syne.

Now, I want to warn you the song has 7 Verses! But they are of the same wording except for one or two words.

I guess, Robby Burns wanted to keep the gang singing and swaying - and away from the jug!

As a song, Auld Lang Syne never became popular in the US until I was born (1929), when Guy Lombardo and his brother performed it. The band was called The Royal Canadians and performed it on a radio show at The Roosevelt Hotel in New York.

Now, you know the rest of the story, and I won't mention it again until December 31st, 2025.

😭 Russ.

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From Nova Scotia Sus

Well we had quite a start to this week. Monday morning is garbage pick up so I was getting everything ready the night before and putting it in my car since the weather was blustery and not to lose the bags over night. Luckily I looked over towards the greenhouse and saw the huge roof tarp was flapping in the wind and not attached on one side anymore. I ran into the house to get Dave and tell him the bad news. He jumped into action and of course knew what to do. We gathered up long boards and screws and screw gun. As I pulled down one end of the tarp he screwed the board in place. I thought I would be blown away as it took all my might to hold it in place. We moved along the whole side of the building putting on boards and finally it was done. It was quite a job working against the wind and so far it is holding. Tarps and wind do not go together. Good thing I do yoga 🧘‍♂️

Sus

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From Doug

How’s it going…..eh?

This is your lucky day because nothing has happened around here this week so I have nothing to write about. You are welcome.

I did early this week get an invitation to ride down to Horseshoe Bay to hook up with some motorcycle friends who were headed that way from the city. They were having a very nice day that included dry roads but up here the frost didn’t melt off the streets until mid day and anywhere that stayed in the shade didn’t melt at all. Frost is ice and not something you take a chance riding a 2-wheel vehicle on. I’m too old to take chances like that. So, nothing to write about there.

The warmer than normal temperature are melting what little snow they have up at the gondola so nothing to write about there either.

We are having major parking problems on our once quiet street due to the fact that a house just up from us was rented out to a couple who in turned brought in 3 more couples. That means 8 people now living in a single family house and all 8 of them have vehicles. One vehicle is a school bus that has been converted into a hippy bus and takes up most of the driveway. Another is a big van that gets parked on the street along with several other cars that can’t fit on the driveway. So, they get parked in front of everyone else’s houses and cause frustration and other issues. The town won’t do anything about it because it all falls within the misguided nonsense called ‘densification’ that the Feds forced on us a while back. It drives me nuts, but, what do I know, so I guess I’m just griping, and of course, nothing to write about here either.

Oh, I stand corrected, I just remembered there is something worth mentioning, there is still a very big bear prowling the neighborhood and we came across it early in the week while out for a walk. It came lumbering out of the trail at the end of the street just as we were approaching the trail. Needless to say we back off and let it proceed. It ignored us and began to check out all the yards along the street, working its way along looking for anything edible. This is a very big black bear, the same very big bear we have seen many times over the past year or so. Most of the local bears have retreated up into the hill and have denned but I guess there is still enough food for the big guy to get by on because hes still around. That is actually not a good thing, but there isn’t much anyone can do about it. It is wearing an ear tag so its been picked up once before. If it gets picked up again, that will be the end of it as they don’t get a second chance.

Doug

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Have a Good One
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