The Squamidian Report – Dec. 4 / 04
Also in this issue:
A hodge-podge from Gale
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Ryan and I went out for another great dirt bike ride last weekend. The sun was shinning in a bright blue sky. We decided it would be fun to see how far we could make it up the Indian Arm Pass. The thing to remember about mountain riding is that temperature drops as you climb in altitude so we would be riding up into winter. We bundled up and away we went. The trail up into the pass climbs fast so it wasn’t long before we were into icy conditions and then snow. We turned back at the 1800 ft level, about half way up. Riding uphill in snow is one thing. To ride back down a steep snowy trail is something else, tricky to say the least. But boy, it’s fun.
Went for a little walk where we turned around to get ourselves warmed up a bit. We made it back down with no problems. Stopped on an icy bridge that crossed a river to admire the turbulence in the gorge below us. Unfortunately, cameras just can’t capture the true effect of vertical sided river canyons. So we didn’t bother to take a picture of that. We did take some pictures of where we turned around. They can be seen at:
http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b2/Pictures/i-a-snow.htm
Once we were out of the mountains we tooted into town and out the Spit. Riding in the sunlight at sea level was down right comfy. Got back home and Sue had make banana chocolate chip muffins. Life just can’t get much better than this.
Warren and I also got out on the bikes when Ryan was working. We found a kind of fun muddy section of logging road and some tricky cross ditches. We also found a vantage point with an interesting view of the Chief and top end of the Sound but the batteries in the camera had run down so I couldn’t get a picture. Good excuse to go back to that spot.
And then Monday afternoon ‘winter’ came down to sea level to meet us. We had our first taste of winter driving conditions when about 10 cm of sticky white stuff fell. Sure makes everything look like a Christmas post card with all the trees painted silver. Sure brings out all the bad drivers who don’t know or care about proper driving methods and courtesies. Just as the worst of the motorcycle riders seen to give all bikers a bad image, the worst of the SUV drivers give SUV’s a bad image here. They always seem to be too important and in too much of a hurry to drive safely and carefully with the rest of the traffic. You curse at them when they pass on the right on a steep two-lane section of highway, you chuckle when they roll onto their roof in the ditch.
A side effect of our taste of winter was that the job site in Britannia Beach was too icy for the big off-road trucks to run. They are amazing in mud and rocks and steep hills but they have no control on ice. As the trucks couldn’t be used to haul gravel to me where I am building a roadway, I had Tuesday off. Didn’t go dirt biking, did re-build one of my web sites. The ‘Brubacher Family Site’, site. Same content, just simpler code and cleaner layout. No big deal, just something I’ve wanted to do for a while. Actually, I simply used that old freebee program FrontPage Express. While Microsoft doesn’t offer it any more, it can still be found on the Net or on any old Win95 CD. Works just fine if you don’t need anything too fancy or professional looking.
And just as our northern hemisphere is entering winter, way down there in the southern hemisphere in Karin Land it’s approaching summer.
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It has taken me a while to catch up on all the Squamidians because when you're retired but actually working just about every day in all sorts of different classes you really can only call yourself "tired". As a result, some of this will be dated so brace yourself for a hodge-podge of comments!
First of all, going way back to October, I must say that Evelyn's reflections on the changes in the world since Grandpa B died 30 years ago were very insightful. It certainly made me pause and think on so many levels ranging all the way from the personal to the global. What a great article! I look forward to more.
Secondly, mom's recollections of her school days was a treat to read, especially for someone who has attended school one way or another for 54 years. I wonder where one buys a good, solid strap now days - Toys-r-us ? I'll have to check it out.
And then I read about Yogi. No matter what our "intellect" says, a pet truly IS a family member and I appreciate that Doug let us share his and Sue's mourning.
Next, we all know that Carol is accident-prone so why does she have to go on proving it? But even though she had a week of painful spills on top of a root canal, she was there for Al when his special grandfather died. We are thinking about both of you!
Lastly, I want to do a bit of bragging. I was so proud of my sons today (Friday) at their Grannie's funeral. Ewan, as representative of the grand children, gave the final tribute in the sermon and he did an absolutely wonderful job! And Jamie was strong as a rock for those around him!
I guess I didn't screw up too badly after all with those 2 boys - no - men!
As I said - a hodge-podge! Gale
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THE ONTARION REPORT
December 4, 2004
Hi again everyone! Hope all
is well in the many locations this report is read!
To start things off, we’ve
had a bit of snow here in KW but not really anything to complain about or
celebrate over. I know the skiers and snowmobilers are looking forward to the
snow but they are definitely in the minority. The weatherman says we are going
to have lots of snow this winter. As long as I can still choose not to venture
out in it, I really don’t give a bleep bleep how much we get. It’s just one
more seasonal notch in the belt of all Ontarions. I’m sure we’ll all get
through it no matter how dastardly it gets. Just think of it this way, only 4
more months till Spring. There, now doesn’t that make you feel better?
*
This time of year is not to Bailey’s liking either. (Bailey is our Toy Poodle) In case you didn’t know. He’s a pretty savvy guy and he has figured out that it’s uncomfortable to say the least to have to do his business outside. When we first got him, I was searching the net to check out training aids. I came across a device called a Doggie Toilet. It’s made of plastic somewhere in the states and retails for $89.99 plus taxes, shipping and handling. It comes to around $125.00 by the time it would arrive up here. I decided to make one instead of buying from the US. It’s basically a 2’x2’ square picture frame with a plastic back glued to it. It’s approximately 1” deep. It is placed on the floor and newspaper is laid in the frame. I then picked up a plastic “eggcrate” sheet from Home Depot that you would find in a fluorescent light fixture. I cut it to fit in the frame and set it on top of the newspaper. I covered the eggcrate with door screen so when Bailey stood on it to do his business, his little paws wouldn’t be hurt by the sharp edges of the squares in the eggcrate. The idea is for him to stand on it and do his business. When he pees, the pee runs through the screen and soaks into the paper. Then when he walks away, he doesn’t walk in the wet spot. Also, when he poops, it just lands on the screen and we pick it up with some tissue and flush it in the people toilet. The paper lasts about 2 days before we change it. It’s an amazing invention. Much better than just putting newspaper directly on the floor, doing that only lets the pee soak through and stain the floor. I take the screen out once a week and wash it and the base. In the meantime the paper has been changed about 4 times. This has been great for Bailey and us when we go out for the day, he knows enough to do his jobs on his own toilet. The whole project cost me about $10.00 and believe me, it’s worth 10 times that in convenience! It’s been so handy not only for when we are away but also for when we don’t want to go out in the cold or rain any more than Bailey does. I guess that just sounded like we use it rather than peeing outside but you know that’s NOT what I meant! LOL! It means we don’t have to stand outside with Bailey when he goes. Now if we could only teach him to pick up his own poop and flush it we’d really have something! He’s a pretty talented pup but not quite THAT talented! Anyway, if any of you have pooches and you think you might like to make a Doggie Toilet for him or her, let me know and I’ll take some pictures of it and send them to Doug to post on his website.
Well, that’s about as exciting as it gets for this week. I thank you all once again for tuning in and look forward to next weeks edition.
Bye for now…..GREG.
PS: Something to Think About>
Old
Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard to get her poor daughter a dress. When she
got there, the cupboard was bare and so was her daughter I guess!
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The family site:
http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b/
The Squamidian Site:
http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b2/
Have a good one..
the
doug