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The
Squamidian Report – Sept. 6 / 25
Online
Versions
Of This And Past Issues Issue
#1215
Rosemary ****
From Rosemary My summer this year involved pets. My daughter, Adrienne, is a vet technician and is animal-crazy. She and her family have 3 cats, 1 dog, 1 dwarf hamster, 2 chickens, and 3 roosters. There was a big family gathering at her place last Sunday when many of us were introduced to the 2 chickens. I don't know what kind they are. They don't look like any chicken I've ever seen. But they like to be held so several of us took turns. I'm including a photo of my daughter holding one, and also one of my granddaughter, who was quite smitten with the odd creatures. It's the bouffant hairstyle that gets me!
Adrienne also has a Golden Lab named Waffles. The two kids named all of their animals after food (I know, sigh). Waffles has turned me into a dog person. I often take him on Fridays. A neighbour has an English Bulldog named Melvin. Melvin will only play with Waffles. He's not keen on other dogs. Like most bulldogs, Melvin does not like going for walks, especially on hot, sunny days. We often get half way down the street when he refuses to take another step. So we turn around and go back to Melvin's place where his "mom" gives pieces of frozen banana to them. Both dogs love that part of the "walk". I must share a photo of Melvin and Waffles with you, taken after one of their recent hot walks. They couldn't look more different, except for their tongues. They make quite the hilarious couple. I hope all of you enjoyed the dog days of summer this year.  Rosemary ****
From Gail Getting Ready for the Queen Mary 2 We had our passports, tickets and luggage - what more could we need ? Well, for one, we each needed a UK ETA which, basically, is a 10 pound ( $18) tax to enter the UK. This had to be done with both a camera and a computer to send a picture of our passports and a selfie. Passports are shiny so it took many tries in many areas of the house to finally get a picture without glare. As well, the selfies had very specific rules to be accepted. The app, being conducted by a second party, not the government, ended up costing almost $40 each. Getting our boarding passes and luggage tags printed off for the ship was even more convoluted and frustrating ! However, once we landed in N.Y., we were met by employees from Cunard (pronounced Qnard) and the rest was "smooth sailing" so to speak. Next week - the ocean voyage. Gail Different topic but Gail related, here are some pics that Carol sent in from Gail’s long weekend annual bocci ball tournament.
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From Nova Scotia Sus
The summer went by fast with the best weather ever. it's great to have such beautiful days but the problem with that is forest fires. We are lucky so far but there are areas further south with evacuations. The odd time we smell smoke. One morning we smelled smoke and called 911 thinking it was close. Luckily not near but it makes you think we should be ready and be extra careful. All the nature trails are closed and no hunting allowed. No BBQ too. In July we bought 20 one day old meat birds like we do every year. After 6 weeks they have grown into big chickens and are ready for the butcher. Then a week later we bought 20 more one day old chick's. We usually have visitors coming to see the little chick because they are as cute as a button. They were doing well and seemed very energetic. On the fourth day as usual I go in the early morning to check on our little birds and found every one of the birds were dead! I could have cried. We figured it was a weasel that somehow got in to our very secure pen. We still don't know how it got in. I guess that is farming! It's good to be back in the Squamidian again. I look forward to hearing from everyone. Sus **** From Me
Hi Guys... Great to hear from some of you and great to be sending out the Squid again to all of you. With the exception of the forest fire on that edge of town last June, we had been quite lucky this summer in that we stayed mostly smoke free. However, we are paying for that now. Last weekend we had 2 thunderstorms come through the south west part of the province and they set off fires all over the place. So, this week has been very very smoky. The kind of thick smelly smoke that makes it impossible to breath and makes it necessary to drive with your full headlights on. Air quality badness was off the scale. We were all advised to stay indoors, for good reason. It was choking out there. Our HEPA filters have been worth their weight in gold. As well, for us on the what used to be called the ‘wet coast’, this has been a very hot summer. Heat records kept falling everywhere, day after day. Our heat pump has been a life saver as those thing can pump out very comfortable, almost soft, coolness. It sure has helped keep me fairly sane. Traffic (my favorite pet peeve), has been beyond atrocious all summer. Its reached the point where you can’t even go into town. Its common for motorists heading back to the city to find themselves in stop and go gridlocked situations that are backed up for miles. The highways become parking lots. What a great way to spend hours and hours, sitting in hot vehicles on a hot highway going nowhere. * I promised to tell you about how my music has taken a really cool turn, so, I will. There is a young woman down the street, Jane, who has a great singing voice. Well, she’s retired but compared to me she’s young. Her music background is very different from mine and she is not familiar with most of my material but she became interested in giving it a try. To that end we’ve been getting together here and working on some songs. Currently we have about a dozen numbers, enough for a set, that are polished enough to play anywhere in public. Some of the numbers we do are of her choice and some are from my play lists. I harmonize to her, she harmonizes to me, and so on. We’ve now got a sound that I’m very proud of, we’ve worked hard and our sound is smooth, tight, and down right pleasing, very laid back. We are intending to put on a street concert sometime soon, and I’ve had some discussions with some management at the gondola about playing up there. All of this is a good distraction for me as I can loose myself in the music for a few hour so that makes it an even better thing. It didn’t start all that easy. We had to learn how to work together, how to listen to and hear each other. It took a lot of spunk on her part to come into our house and try singing. It was quite rough at first and then all of a sudden it clicked and from there on just got better each time. Now we do 2-hr practice session that are about as fun as can be and as rewarding as could possibly be. I’ve got better callouses on my guitar fingers than I’ve ever had. We are having fun, I am having fun. This has rekindled my interest in music. I’d become quite distracted by Sue’s situation and was having trouble staying interested. Now I’m playing regularly again and enjoying it. As well as doing music with Jane, I’m doing my own thing too. I’ve learned several new to me songs that I’ve added to my playlist and that I’ve now done recordings of. You know, where I record a song and put in lots of other track of me harmonizing with me. I’ve got them uploaded and ready to be linked in the next few weekly Squids. So, here is the first one, a Patty Loveless song from the 80’s or so called Timber, I’m Falling In Love. Just me and some more of me. Click the link and enjoy. Timber,
I’m
Falling In Love Doug ****
Have
a
Good One
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