The Squamidian Report – Oct. 4 / 03
Also in this issue:
Hurricane Sus - North Nova News
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Last week it was just too hot for me to write a column that was coherent or informative. This week also stayed in the 30s till midweek, then it cooled off down to the mid 20s. All that heat is more than my brain can handle. Good thing it lets up at night.
Hey, it’s October again already. Do you realize this will be the second Octorberfest that I won’t have had to endure. Life is good.
One of the neat things about working on a deck project I started last week or any other project for that matter is that you always need a tool that you don’t have. I’ve always used those stupid little miter boxes and I’ve always cursed them. I’ve always wanted a good electric Miter Saw on a good stand that could cut dependable angles and straight edges. So we went into the city and picked up a nice sliding compound miter saw and a stand to mount it on. That expenditure set any plans for retirement back another ten years or so but Oh Well.
There are several future projects around here that it will come in handy for. As an example, I don’t like the baseboards in the house so now I can replace them sometime. That will be a good winter job, right after I finish the painting that I didn’t finish last winter.
A sliding miter saw allows you to make longer cuts than a normal compound saw. That means you can do stuff with 2x12 boards, that type of thing. Kind of handy when you don’t have a table saw. Maybe I’ll need a project that will require one of those at some time.
There was no time during the week to get any more of the deck done but I’ll make good use of the weekend. No choice, Sue is home.
Warren has guests from Washington DC in his chalet for the whole month of September and into early October. They have been vacationing in this area for several years and decided to live in the chalet rather than a motel. Warren figured that he had a good thing going because it looked like these people would be regulars, coming back every year. Only problem is, they have decide that it is a lot nicer living here than in DC and have gone out and purchased a house here in the Highlands. That’s what happens around here, you come out for vacation and end up staying. That explains why most people here are from somewhere else. You very seldom run into a ‘local’ and when you do find one, they are usually an unemployed logger.
There are more people on the street we live on from southern Ontario than from anywhere else. Pretty well every town and city is represented. The two main reasons for moving here that you will get are the climate and the scenery. We have both. In fact, most of this week it has been foggy in the Vancouver area. That’s what happens when the cooler night air settles over the warm St of Georgia and the Fraser River. We have been clear and sunny. That’s normal. That’s why every one is here.
I talked a bit last week about the sunrise first lighting the mountain peaks to the west before the sunlight worked it’s way down into the valley. There is an equally colourful opposite event in the evening. As the sun sets behind the Tantalus range to the west, the valley is again in twilight. The peaks to the east are now lit up. Because of the sunset colours in the sky, the light has a pink glow to it. The glacier and ice fields of the Mamquam as well as Diamond Head all glow above the darkening valley. You could get a stiff neck around here from always looking up at things.
****
North Nova News
Well if I don’t have much to write about now, I never will! A hurricane is big news before and after the event. Hurricane Juan left a trail of destruction from Yarmouth to Charlottetown and still we feel we got off lucky with only 2 deaths as a result of it. Trees were down everywhere, some on top of cars, houses, blocking driveways and roads, roofs blown off, barns collapsing, and power lines cut off. At the height of the storm 300,000 people were out of power and some may not have any until this weekend. None of us worried much about the big wind that was headed towards our province. We did the usual putting away lawn furniture and anything that may fly around. Our biggest concern was the boat so on Sunday yacht club members spent time at the marina checking all the lines to make sure they were tied securely and leaving nothing to catch wind. Some stayed the night in case the high tide and wind caused problems.
Sunday evening was beautiful and no sign of any bad weather coming. We went to bed thinking all would be fine. About 2:00am. we woke to strong winds hitting the house and sleeping in the loft became very worrisome so we jumped into our clothes ready to leave the house if we had to. It wasn’t a surprise to see the power had gone out but we had a flashlight and candles ready. It wasn’t long before we heard a loud bang and something hit the roof. All I could think of was, there goes the new metal roof we put on the woodshed last year. It was so black out we couldn’t even see out the windows to see what had made the noise. After a couple of hours the wind seemed to subside and we decided to try sleeping again only on the main floor this time. At dawn things had calmed down considerably. Peter went out to see the damage. We have a tower on our house with a revolving dome (observatory). The dome had been ripped off and tossed into the yard narrowly missing our hot tub and only denting the tower slightly. We scrambled to find a tarp to cover the gaping 8-foot diameter hole in our roof. Luckily not much rain had come with the storm or we would have been flooded out. After covering the tower we picked up Zane and drove into Pictou to see how the rest of the world fared. It was not good, there was destruction everywhere. As we entered Pictou we couldn’t believe our eyes. Our famous tall ship, Hector had broke from its slip and lay on its side on the rocks with its bow stuck in the roof of the Salt Water Café. What a sight. On its way to shore it had taken out three boats including our main competition in the tour boat business. The downtown marina (not ours) was totally destroyed. Apparently during the storm a 42-foot sailboat broke from its lines and wiped out the middle dock taking all the boats with it and ended up crashing its bow into the boardwalk. Two boats sank and those that were still floating were scratched and dented. After seeing all this destruction we hurried over to our marina further up the harbour. With our hearts in our throats we drove down the ramp to the marina to see everything just as we left it. What a relief.
We spent the rest of the day helping our friends untangle the mess downtown. With no work that day crowds gathered to watch and offer help. Most wanted to see the damage to the sunken boats being hauled out. Divers had to be called in to put the straps around the boats so the cranes could get them out of the water. The day just flew by. I should have had a camera. Zane was right in there with Peter doing what they could. It had to be one of the most incredible experiences we’ve ever had. Arriving home exhausted around 8pm we still had no power and the rain had come through the old tarp so the mopping began. I used every bucket, pot and bowl to catch the drips. Another sleepless night! Early Tuesday morning ( still no power) we bought an extremely large tarp and plenty of rope and spent a couple of hours on the roof sealing off the tower. Our next project was throwing out all the food in the freezer and fridge. I wasn’t taking any chances eating any of it. The temperature has been quite warm since the storm. We finally regained power Tuesday evening but lost it again for the day on Thursday. The carpenter will start to repair our roof Friday and maybe by early next week we will be back to normal. After hearing of much worse cases from the hurricane we feel very fortunate but it still was an experience we will never forget.
Until next time, Sus
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THE ONTARION REPORT
October
2, 2003
Hi
everyone! It’s amazing that we are into Fall already. I guess it had to happen
but why so soon, we’ve only started to enjoy Summer! Oh well, that’s one thing
that we just can’t control so live with it. Besides, Fall is one of the most
enjoyable seasons in my book. It’s just a tad too short for my liking. Here in
Kitchener, we’ve had a succession of about 10 days that they predicted rain but
it’s been only the occasional shower. We’ve had a few days of steady rain but
nothing to really bellyache about. I’d probably think differently if I had to
work in it but I don’t. Seems that once a person retires, he can choose whether
or not to step out side when it’s raining. I think I like this new life! LOL!
Sorry, didn’t mean to rub in the fact that I’m retired but one can’t help
having that on one’s mind when talking to a bunch of people that still have to
work. It’s been a year and a month now since I called it quits and I’m still
not bored. I have however been thinking of taking some kind of job a few days a
week. I could always to back to the business I was doing on the side for 25
years and that is residential air conditioning installation but it’s too much
work and responsibility at this point. I’ve gotten tired of that kind of
slugging and besides, I don’t have a truck anymore. I’ve been thinking of
upgrading my drivers license to enable me to drive a highway coach bus. There
are a couple of charter companies in K/W that have been looking for part time
drivers and since I like to drive it just might be the ticket. I’ll have to do
some more investigation into it and see if I’d fit in. It would be kind of cool
if I could take Carole along on the charter runs. After all, they do have to
supply the driver with a hotel room anyway and as long as there’s an open seat
on the bus why would the company mind. Have to check into this in more detail.
I just finished washing the Jeep. It’s been about 2 weeks since we’ve had weather good enough to give it a good washing. I’m one guy that doesn’t like to drive around in a dirty vehicle. I like to have my wheels looking as clean as Carole likes have her house. She has always said “if you want to know what a person’s house looks like inside, take a close look at their vehicle” I think she’s right on with that one.
When
working in the fire dept we had to do home inspections by the hundreds every
year. Man, if you want an eye opener into sloppy house keeping, just tag along
on some of those with the firefighters. You wouldn’t believe how utterly filthy
some people are! It’s disgusting when you get into some of the homes. I can
remember one place in particular where we knocked on the door and the lady said
“c’mon in but please don’t mind the mess, I haven’t tidied up in a couple of
days”! Well, we just about puked when we walked in. We carried blue “hospital”
booties to put over our shoes so as not to soil people’s floors or rugs. Well,
let me tell you, we put them on quickly so we wouldn’t soil our shoes!!!! There
were 3 little kids playing in their underwear and they looked like they hadn’t
had a bath in months. They all had snot running down their faces and onto their
chests and absolutely filthy hair with black feet and hands. The kitchen
counter top and table were covered with garbage and dirty dishes and so was the
floor. She also had two big dogs one Rottweiler and a mixed breed Sheppard of
sorts. The dogs looked better cared for than the children. The lady (I hesitate
to call her that) of the house asked us to show her where to put a Carbon
Monoxide Detector that she had just bought. We proceeded to ascend the steps to
the bedroom area, trying not to step on or trip over all the toys on the
stairway. When we got to the top of the stairway I pointed to a hallway
receptacle and told her to plug it in there. She asked if I would check the
smoke detectors in all the bedrooms. She told us that she wanted to make sure
that her children were protected in case of a fire. One of my crew members
pushed the bedroom door open to the boy’s room and the stench was terrible. I
looked down to see that the door had smeared dog feces across the floor as he
opened it. The woman said “Oh that darned dog must have done a job there, I’ll
clean it up after you leave”! My partner stepped over the mess and into the
center of the bedroom to check the detector and stuck his foot into another
huge pile of the same crap. At that point I said “That’s the last straw guys,
let’s get the hell out of here”! The woman said “Aren’t you going to finish my inspection”? I looked her in the
eyes and said “Here’s the inspection form, give the number at the bottom of the
page a call once you’ve got this place cleaned up and we’ll send someone back
to finish the inspection”. I told my
Platoon Chief about the situation because I actually expected the woman to call
and complain about my attitude but she never called.
I
do believe my PC phoned the Children’s Aid but I never did hear what came of
the complaint. This house was a semi detached home on Dunvegan Dr in Waterloo,
about 3 houses off Lexington Rd. It was in a decent area of the city and we
were just flabbergasted when we saw the mess. About 4 months later, there was a
fire in the same house. It happened on the night shift, just after supper. The
family was away at the time and the house was heavily damaged. The fire was
contained to the kitchen and part of the dining area but the rest of the house
suffered heavy smoke damage. Luckily the place had to be gutted and refinished
after the fire. I doubt the new interior stayed clean for very long once the
people moved back in. I’ve learned from many such experiences, Once a Pig,
Always a Pig! I really felt badly for the kids but there’s little that can be
done about such situations. My opinion is that people subjecting their kids to
such deplorable conditions are guilty of Child Abuse and should be charged
accordingly.
I hope I haven’t ruined anyone’s appetite with this one but after all these years, it still sticks in my mind when I think of housekeeping and cleaning.
Speaking of cleaning, I’d better get out of here and help the gov’t of my choice make a clean sweep at the poles! Gotta Vote!
Bye for now. Have a good weekend.
PS: Something to Think About<
People who throw kisses, are hopelessly lazy!
****
The ‘Hector’ that Sus referred to is an old style sailing ship. I have posted a picture of the ship, blown up onto the rocks, on my web site. There is a new link at the bottom of my link list along the left side of the site called ‘Pictures’.
http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b/
Have a good one..
the
doug