The Squamidian Report – June 5 / 04
For the ‘ON LINE’ version of this newsletter, go to:
http://www.members.shaw.ca/doug_b2/report.htm
Also in this issue:
A Memory of Moving
A Word from Ewan
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Well this is rather frustrating. I seem to have come full circle. I’m working in Whistler again. It should only be for a couple of weeks or so but I’ll be glad when it’s over. The first company I worked for out here was based in Whistler and I had to do that exhausting commute every day. Any of you who have followed this letter have heard me say that Whistler is a fantasyland. The rich are very rich and the workers are arrogant and aloof.
Anyway, the company I currently work for is based out of Whistler but I was hired to work in the Squamish area. We are in between projects here so I’m stuck up there. We start working the machines at 7 so that means getting there just after 6:30 to service them and warm up the engines and hydraulics. The highway north of Squamish through the Checkamuss Canyon is under construction and is closed a night till 6 am. The trick is to leave here about 5:45 so you hit the closed section just as it is being opened.
We are working where a new subdivision is going in. This is not your ordinary subdivision, it is being carved up the side of a mountain. The lots are very large and spaced so each one has a view of the valley, the village and the surrounding peaks. Only very large mansions will be built on these lots and due to vertical separation and rugged terrain each will be totally secluded. The lots start at over 3 million for the cheapest and the best are up around 10 mill. The homes going in well all be custom designed and built and will run many millions each. The cheapest structures in there will be ‘grounds keepers’ cottages. They will be lowly 700 grand shacks.
Now don’t go thinking any of us could buy a place in there if we were to hit the big jackpot. Being very rich is just the first of several requirements to be met before they will sell you a lot. As well as very rich, you must be either famous, powerful or important. If you are famous and powerful and important you will be accepted. If you meet only one of these requirements you would need to be sponsored by someone who is all three.
What’s really wild is that most of these places will only be lived in part time. The owners will fly in for a few weeks each summer and winter. The rest of the time they will be at their homes in some big important city somewhere around the world. Even the owners that will live there ‘full time’ will still maintain homes where they do their important business. Mostly these places will be where they entertain their important snooty friend.
*
For a long time, poor old Yogi has had trouble climbing into the van. He will stand at the open door, wine in frustration and then take another ‘run’ at it. Sometimes he is able to step up into the van after the first run or two. Other times it takes several tries. After very close observation I finally figured out what was going on. He can only step up into the van if he leads with his left front foot. But he can only lead with the left front if that is the foot that’s next in line to step with. As he walks, left, right, left, right etc he must get to the van door on the correct step finishing with his right so the left is next.
And speaking of poor Yogi, Sue decided that it was time for him to be clipped. That thick black hair of his grows quite fast and is very warm to be living in. He hates being clipped but likes having been clipped. So he puts up a token amount of struggling but mostly just lays there in dejected misery. When she’s done he goes over and hides behind the chair. Of course, a trip to Horton’s or the DQ would help to make him feel less sad.
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A Memory of Moving
In Greg’s last column he mentioned that maybe Doug’s house on Hidden Valley was being torn down. Just over two years ago Doug locked the door for the last time and with the two dogs, Tracy and Yogi got into his loaded van and came to our house for the night. The following morning with the dogs loaded he went to pick up Ryan and headed for Garibaldi Highlands where he and Sue are now.
That reminded me of the first time I can remember moving.
I was about 1 month short of my 4th birthday so it was January 1930. My Dad had bought an old farm 1 concession north of Cedarville. They had to move from Hanover in a cold winter when no roads were ploughed and with 4 children, the youngest my brother who was about one. It is hard to imagine now when a moving truck picks up your things and you let them in at the new place. My dad and uncle Colin (courtesy uncle) each loaded their sleighs the night before as it was a full day’s trip. On the back half of my dad’s sleigh they put the springs and mattresses on their sides around the edge with some hay or straw on the floor and the buffalo robe over it. The sofa and chairs were placed around for us to sit or sleep on. Last they carried the “heater stove” with a fire going in it and set it up with enough wood to keep the fire going and pipes up into the air to take the smoke away. I can remember the men taking turns coming down into the cosy box for a cup of tea and a sandwich with the dog running along behind. I think they stopped for the 2 teams of horses to have something to eat and drink because with my dad the animals always came first.
I know it was still light when we got to the new place. The first thing they took into the house, which had been empty for some time so was very cold was the stove with the fire still going. (In case you are wondering the stove had short legs so they placed a wide board, about 15-18 inches under it and the men were able to then carry the hot stove with one at each end.) They then took in the kitchen stove and pipes and built up a roaring fire in both stoves. I don’t remember much more then being able to cuddle down near the heater and I probably slept while the adults did the hard work of unloading.
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A Word From Ewan
Hello all!
I've missed talking with you, it's been too long! I
want to let everyone know that I love reading the Squamidian. I often have
comments to add to the discussion, but it's always too late. I'm always at
least two weeks behind! This is the first time that I've been completely caught
up since last October!
Jackie, I'll get to your website, that's a promise!
I have a great many ridiculous things to tell you
about, and I will. But I don't want to send a whole novel at once... better a
bit at a time like the others. A few paragraphs can somehow have so much more
impact than something longer. Bit sized bits, yeah!
For the last couple of years I've been trying hard
to find some kind of balance in my life, and within myself. It's a great idea
but I haven't been able to pull it off. If anyone has any ideas please forward
them to me. No touchingly sincere "lucky" e-mail that just has to be
forwarded to at least 9 people, thank you. Jackie has been great in helping me
find the way.
You quasi retired people talk about being busy, and
I can understand why. All those things that you're doing... those things that
make life livable? They just don't get done half the time when you're working
full time. Think back, you can remember! Did you shop for wholesome food and
prepare satisfying meals, or did you gulp down whatever you could get your
shaky hands on? A little of both maybe? Was the house livable, but a little
rougher around the edges, hmm? Priorities. Survival. Valuable weekend hours.
Sanity. It's all a delicate balance eh!
Kids force people to take better care of things.
Well decent people, anyway. Usually that means taking better care of themselves
along the way. Sometimes it means they go without (thanks Mom!). This is never
plainer than when I see people camping. The elderly and those with small kids
plan things out so that they suffer as little adversity as possible, and it
shows. There are few things sadder, funnier or more annoying than a bunch of
teenagers in the woods.
To reply to a few items of discussion:
Greg: does that bug deflector increase your wind
resistance? Does it mess up your aerodynamics significantly? Would anyone ever
care about that anyway?!
Doug: I for one enjoy the computer geek stuff,
especially with the layman's terms thrown in. I don't know much about
computers, but I'm one-third nerd on my Dad's side.
Carol: happy (belated) birthday!!! You've definitely
spoiled me over the years! Someday that has to pay off for you.
I was fascinated by the cause and effect talk regarding
the ruptured lines. See what I mean about being behind the times?! These things
intrigue me. As a technician, and someone who knows Doug, I find the
coincidence theory hard to swallow. They do happen though! I have several
theories of my own on the subject, but I'll only share the most compelling two.
There are a lot of clues there. Doug has great
experience and knowledge when it comes to operating heavy machinery, as well as
an innate intuition about such things. I believe that anyone like that would use
(at least) the five basic senses to get a feel for the machine. I bet he'd pick
up on the sound, vibration, control responses and maybe even the way the
thing smells to know what's going on! There's more than that too. So all these
details are swimming around in his brain, nothing much worth thinking about
though, most of the time. The thing is he can do it in his sleep. Processing
this type of background information is done by the subconscious because it's
just not demanding enough unto it self, he has other things on his mind (like
what he's actually doing!).
Things always feel a little different, depending on
all kinds of variables. He knows how it should feel and react. So a few little
things start to change. The changes are so subtle and seemingly unrelated that
no one would ever notice. But the little computer / database in a corner of his
brain (the part that remembers everything the machines do) puts together clues.
Based on the past and what it knows it raises an alarm. But it's just a seed of
a thought, a small, blinking "impending hydraulic rupture" light on
the dashboard of his mind.
Could the sixth sense really be what we piece
together from the other five? Is that the gut feeling?
Maybe. The other theory is that the job just needed
to be slowed down. Doug keeps going,
but subconsciously realizes that it would be better to stop. A small sabotage
might actually increase efficiency, and make everyone happier. But he can't
sabotage himself! There's no reason to be sick or injured. So sabotage the
machine!
I think that would be against Doug's innate nature.
So I guess I flogged that one to death! I sabotage myself from time to time.
The trick to avoiding that is to listen to the little dashboard light when it
first starts to blink.
I would love to hear anyone's stories like that!
Until next time,
Ewan
P.S. Sorry to
centre you out for the 50-minute shrink hour, Doug.
Nothing personal!
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
June 5, 2004
Hi everyone!
It’s been a truly nice week here in KW. The sun has shone most of the week and we’ve gotten so much yard work done it’s hard to believe. I finally finished the pond opening. This year I decided to make my own “bio-filter” for the pond. As I told you in a previous Ontarion (or maybe I just told Doug) no matter, I’ll repeat myself just a little more. I decided to copy the floor sized filter that we used in the aquarium over the winter only on a larger scale. Last weekend I made up a 3’x3.5’ maze of piping for the floor of the pond. I drilled a series of 5/16” holes in 2 sides of each ½” plastic pipe and then attached a piece of garden hose to the center pipe and the other end of the hose to the pump. Then I covered the pipe and most of the floor of the pond with a mixture of black and red lava rock. The pump drawing the water down through the lava rock creates what they call a “bio-filter”. The lava rock not only strains the chunks and impurities out of the water, it promotes the growth of “good” bacteria which in turn eats the unwanted algae and feces from the fish. I was told not to feed the fish at all. They live off the bugs and algae that land and form in the pond naturally. As you may recall, we had a heck of a time keeping the water clear last year. I must have completely drained and pressure washed the pond 5 times last summer. No more of that this year I hope. After placing the lava rock in the bottom, Adam and I placed clean 2-4” diameter round river rocks in a ring around the outer edge of the bottom of the pond. These rocks provide a large surface area on which the good algae can grow.
The fish get their nourishment from eating this growth off the rock surfaces. Carole and Adam also planted plastic aquarium plants among the rocks instead of planting real water plants. Last years planting of real water plants produced disastrous results in the form of murky stinky water. The plastic plants gather the algae for the fish to eat just as well as the real ones would. We don’t have a spec of unwanted silt in the pond so far and the professionals that I’ve talked to about this idea agree that the system should work just fine the way I’ve designed it. So far so good! We can actually see the fish in the pond, which is more than I can say for last years attempts. I’ll send a picture of the finished product to Doug next time so you can all see how it looks this year. Carole and I are really pleased with the results.
*
The dandelion season is dwindling to a close and I must say, I’ve only had a couple of them in our lawn. The hydro right of way behind our house has been filled with the yellow plague but we’ve been fortunate. Our lawn looks like a beautiful lush carpet so far and hopefully it’ll stay that way for the summer. So far I haven’t seen a need for my old buddy Killex. I know that they still sell it at Canadian Tire but I’ll hold off getting any as long as the lawn continues to look this good. Carole is really happy with the gardens this year as well. She’s got them looking great and is easily keeping up with the weeds. We gave the gardens a real good weeding and topping up with good soil a few weeks ago and I think they’ll continue to look great with very little work.
I still have a couple of projects that need to be looked after but sometime this coming week will do for them. I want to install a power roof vent to remove the heat from the attic space. This aids in cooling the upper floor of a 2 story house. It really does work. I used to tell my customers after I installed their central air that they would just have to put up with about a 6 to 8 degree difference between their lower and upper floors. Then I discovered through a friend that if you vented the heat from the attic space via a power vent, the cooler attic allowed the air below it on the second floor to cool more efficiently. I tried it in my own house at the time and it worked like a charm. The temp difference from that time on was only around 2-3 degrees F. This will be the third house we’ve had an attic fan in and for an investment of around a $100.00 it’s well worth it. The other project I have yet to do is creating a better swale between our house and our neighbour’s. I’m going to dig a small trench approximately 10’x1’ and line it with the rest of the river rock that I have left over from the pond. There has always been a bit of a wet spot between the houses and this year I intend to improve the drainage. I’m sure it won’t take much effort to accomplish this. I’m actually going to use Roundup on the remainder of the sparse grass in the same area and then cover what was lawn with white crushed stone. I’m tired of wasting my time trying to get grass to grow there. I’m sure the white stone will look much better anyway!
*
I think I’m going to stop at this point. For some strange reason I’m having one of those “Brain farts” that won’t allow me to be too creative this week. I promise I’ll do better for next weeks Ontarion.
Thanks for tuning in anyway and I’ll talk to you again soon.
Bye for now……GREG.
PS: Something to Think About>
People who have half an hour to spare usually spend it with somebody who hasn’t.
****
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the
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