The Squamidian Report – Nov. 22 / 03
Also in this issue:
North Nova News
The Ontarion
Hi All,
The ski season opens this weekend at Whistler. They have a snow base now of around 2 metes, one meter of that landing on the slopes last Tuesday. We even got a dusting here although perhaps dusting isn’t the right word. It was so wet that it was more of a splopping. The sun broke through on Wednesday morning, lighting up all the fresh snow on the mountains around us. Very white, very bright. Mind you, I guess once you’ve seen one snow covered mountain, you’ve seen them all ;) The rest of the week was bright and sunny but a bit on the chilly side for this area. All the locals think it’s cold; all us imports think it’s more like late October.
Along with ski season opening, come the skiers. Row after row of them in their SUV’s heading up the highway with boards and skis on the roofs. These are the people that shoulder their way to the front of the line at Horton’s and then stand their trying to decide what they want. All they know is they want it in a hurry.
Because of our ‘unseasonal’ cold spell even the ski runs on the North Shore Mountains are opening early and expecting excellent conditions.
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Remember that expensive piece of dentistry that jumped out of my head? Well, my dentist out here could not save it or the root that was left in there. We had been seeing the same dentist for 30 years back in Kitchener and while he was cutting edge and skilled for many of those years, near the end he had become old and not so skilled. I probably should have found a new one about 10 years ago. This is the second of his relatively resent crown installations that I have lost with the lose of the rest of the tooth as well. The structure under the crown had been deteriorating and had to be removed.
That’s a fun hour to spend in a dentist chair. They get to use all those little tiny jackhammers and demolition tools. Actually, this young dentist here seemed to know what he was doing and was able to get the thing out without having to split the gum or any such thing. Basically, he used the same method you would use to remove a broken off bolt or stud. He drilled it out from the inside and then picked out the remaining pieces.
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One of the ways I like to relax is to sit at the computer and do stuff. So I was relaxing this week and playing around with the FrontPage Express html editor, the old freeware version of FrontPage that Microsoft used to give away. It can still be found at various download sites. This program can’t do anything more high tech than insert pictures and format text. I put together a very low-tech version of my existing web site, without the frames and fancy colouring. I wanted to create a site with internal links so it could run from a hard drive with no Internet connection or from a web server.
In order to test the ‘site’ beyond my HD I had to upload it to somewhere so I set up another wet site under my Shaw account. We are allowed up to 7 sites of 10MB each. That’s pretty cool because if you have a very large site that is running out of space you can create a new site space and locate some of the files there. My low-tech site is at about the same technical level as what was being produced back in the days of Netscape 2 or so. It can be seen at http://www.members.shaw.ca/doug_b2/ and should actually load faster than my official site because the coding is kept to a very minimum. It’s an enjoyable way to spend a rainy afternoon and Clyde doesn’t have to worry one little bit about the competition.
And now I’m scrapping the bottom of the barrel (literally) for something to write about. Have you ever had to clean out the drain trap of your bathtub? Grooooose. I don’t know why hair and soap like to congregate together into lumps the size of dead mice, or should that be dead moles. The first hint that something needs attention is when the water rises to over your ankles when you shower and takes an hour to drain away. The second hint that something needs attention is when you wife points out the drain problem every day for a month or so. After a while you get the hint.
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Our weather for this time of the year has been unbelievable! For two days now the daytime temperature has been 19 degrees with very little sun but who cares…..life is good when you don’t have to shovel and scrape. So much for my rush to get the studded tires on. Yesterday we had the windows open at work and I was wishing I’d worn my sandals. Our morning walks have been so pleasant dressing in lighter clothing and of course our orange hunting vests. It’s still deer season for another 8 days. Walking Friday morning we saw what we thought was two pure white birds flitting in unison fairly close to the ground. They turned out to be the tails of two deer we had scared up. It’s not unusual to see tracks but actually catch sight of deer while walking and especially during hunting season. They usually hide deep in the woods to be safe from hunters. There seems to be a lot less hunting going on this year.
In the last few years farming around here has been changing from the usual cows, sheep and chickens. One farmer out in Tatamagouche (a village approx. 30 min. from here) started raising Bison a couple of years ago. We just heard on the radio this morning that his herd had broken through the fences and were now roaming the area. He has had to shoot 22 and there are still 60 on the loose. I guess they are not easily rounded up as they are used to getting enough food to survive on their own. They issued a warning to be on the lookout for bison and drivers to be careful not to hit one as it would be more dangerous than hitting a moose. I don’t think I’d be walking in that area for awhile. Alpaca and ostrich farming are being tried in this area too. The times they are a-changing.
Well we had our first Monday night curling (no longer Men’s night) and to my delight 4 women showed up. All of us were very much relieved to be not the only woman to disrupt the tradition. Wednesday night went well also with our Pictou Yacht Club team winning by a whopping 5 points. There is a rule in the club that the winning team members buy the losing team a drink at the end of the game. Buying the drink was new to me since the last three years of curling I’ve been mostly on the losing side and have been solaced with free drinks. Curling 3 nights a week should improve my skills and therefore, may bankrupt me. Due to the mild weather Friday night curling was cancelled. Our club is very old and doesn’t have the insulation to keep the ice from going soft.
Well until next time,
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THE ONTARION REPORT
November
20, 2003
Ho
Ho Ho everyone! I know that it’s not Christmas yet but we’ve been seeing signs
of the Christmas spirit all over the KW region for the past couple of weeks. In
fact, Carole has spent the past couple of days putting up the Xmas decorations
around the Payne household. It’s actually nice to have a change of pace. If we
must have flurries in the forecast then why not get into the spirit a tad early
too? I’ve actually shoveled our driveway already this year. I have the snow
blower sitting in the garage behind the covered up MG just waiting for the
first BIG snowfall. Each year we decorate the house for Xmas. For the first
three years we lived in this house we had “Icicle Lights” strung around the
perimeter of the eves. Which meant that according to our tradition of having
everything from the old year put away before the New Year comes in I had to
climb onto the roof and remove all the lighting on Boxing Day. This has been a
regular job for the past 30 years. Usually on Boxing Day the roof is covered
with snow and it’s quite a treacherous task to remove all the lighting without
falling off the roof. Last year Carole decided to do things a little
differently. She decided that the lighting would look good on the inside of the
windows rather than around the roof. We went about hanging each window with the
Icicle lights on the inside. This meant that I had to modify a string of lights
for each window. These “Icicle” lights don’t come in short strings. It’s
virtually impossible to cut and shorten these strings and have them actually
work when you plug them back in. So, I had to make my own sets. I bought short
strings of straight lights and bent and tied them into a configuration that
resembled the “Icicle Lights”. The end result was one that I must say, looked
professionally done. One would never know that they were home made. I was very
happy that I didn’t have to climb on the roof to remove them last year because
the winter was pretty intense. This year we are doing the decorating a little
different again. Carole is taking her time and decorating each room with a new
flare. I don’t think she’s even going to use the “modified” lights at all but……I’ll
just have to wait and see what she decides. Not that I’m lazy or anything but
I’ve always said if it were up to me, I’d hang a wreath on the front door and
put up a small Christmas Tree in the living room.
We
have 12 large Rubbermaid Tubs full of decorations for Christmas. Each year they
are stored up on a 4x8 mezzanine in the garage. We also have Easter and
Halloween tubs in that location as well. They get rotated in order to suit the
occasion as the year progresses.
Getting
back to the tradition of having the Old out before the New comes in. It’s
simply a belief in having a fresh start to each New Year. It’s just a tradition
that Carole has carried on from when her mum was alive and did the same thing
each year since Carole and her brothers were children. I think it’s nice to
have this as a remembrance of the ways of her mum and dad. I’m not sure what
our son will carry on as a tradition of ours but it might just be the same
Christmas theme. Funny how we don’t think of things like this until our parents
are no longer with us. We tend to take our lives for granted and sometimes
leave things that we should be noting until it’s too late. It might be a good
idea to jot ideas such as “traditions” down in a journal so our kids can be
reminded of them once we’re gone. I know that there are lots of questions that
I’d like to ask my parents if they were still here. We have a great
relationship with our son Adam but when I get thinking about stuff like this I
know that we should talk even more than we do with him. I’ve been in many a
situation where I’ve had to deal with the families of a person lying deceased
in the next room and had them say to me “but, there were so many things I
wanted to say and now I won’t get the chance”! In retrospect, I really should
take advantage of the lesson I’ve just been reminded of and make a point of
saying what’s important to my family and friends before one of us is no longer
here. We tend to think that there will always be a tomorrow and we can always
say what we’re thinking later. More often than not tragedy strikes and prevents
one from telling a loved one something that would make a difference in that
person’s life. So, go ahead and make a point of really talking to your family
members today. Don’t put it off until you no longer have the chance. What
better time of year to really open up to your loved ones than Christmas? Give
them a REAL present this year and have a close personal conversation with each
one of them. You’ll never regret it and you’ll never have to say “If only I’d
told him or her that before it was too late”!
Gee,
there I go getting all sentimental again. Oh well, this just proves that I
never know what I’m going to say in the Ontarion until the moment I sit at the
keyboard. It’s kind of a nice way to do it. It makes the Ontarion a surprise
for me too. I think we all hate knowing what the ending will be before reading
the book!
I
guess I should end it here and hit the hay. I still have a lot of decorations
to help Carole with in the morning. When I’m tired I tend to drop things and
that would never do now would it? I hope I’ve inspired some of you to get into
the spirit early and get those decorations up. Of course if you’re into putting
up a REAL tree, I wouldn’t advise doing that just yet. Probably one week before
Christmas would be plenty early enough. If you’re stuck for an idea for a gift
for a loved one or friend this year I have a great suggestion. Buy that special
someone a SMOKE DETECTOR. What better gift can you give someone than something
that could save their life?
Have
a safe week and I’ll talk to you next time. Thanks for tuning in!
Bye for now
GREG.
PS: Something to Think About>
You may retire from work but don’t
retire from living!
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http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b/
Have a good one..
the
doug