The Squamidian Report – April 16 / 05
Also in this issue:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
I know I’ve mentioned this stuff before but I’m going to bring it up again. One of the most predominant aspects of west coast life is the staggering amount of incompetence that is prevalent in all the construction related trades. For example, there is a locale contractor who advertises on our radio station that he actually cleans up the mess he makes. Just imagine, your biggest claim to fame is that you clean up after yourself. And then there is the plumber who was called in to replace a water line we dug up for the Parks Department. He had to make three connections. All three leaked. The first one was the easiest to fix, he hadn’t tightened the compression joint. The other two were just screwed up and had to be re-done with new fittings. Then he wanted me to bury the lines before he did a final pressure test.
We needed to have the water lines located for that job. The person in charge of Parks wandered around with witching sticks until she figured she had found the lines. She was only about eighty feet out but who’s counting. Of course that meant tearing up a large section of paved parking lot but oh well. The parking lot is falling apart anyway because it was paved right over mud, logs and stumps. I haven’t decided yet whether the whole thing is hilarious or horrendous.
Then there is the survey crew that came to re-set the grades at the new ball field I was grading. Their first grade markings made no sense at all. So they shot all the stakes again and re-marked them. Just before they departed I looked at the new grades and told them they still made no sense. After some head scratching and number checking they agreed that something was wrong but they didn’t know for sure what. Their advice was to have me knock about 20 cm off each grade mark and that should be close, or at least closer. Just make it look right, they said.
There seems to be no integrity in any of the professions out here on the laid-back west coast. It can be frustrating.
*
Sue had kind of a neat day this week. They were ‘in the office’ this past week and that included meetings and presentations at various branches. One of the branches is over in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. They took the walk on fast ferry over and then flew back from the Nanaimo harbor to Vancouver in a floatplane. It brought them in low over Stanley Park and landed on Burrard Inlet by the floatplane docks, obviously. Just one of those neat things.
*
One other little tidbit of info. I was out on the front balcony the other night scanning the sky (nothing abnormal about that) when I saw what at first appeared to be a bright star just over Brohm Ridge. Problem was, there should be no bright stars in that part of the northern sky. So I took a better look through my binoculars and saw several ‘stars’ moving around. Best I can figure is it was snowmobiles buzzing around on the snowfields up there. I’d think that would be a pretty scary place to snowmobile at night but to each there own.
*
Well hey, we had another great dirt bike ride to tell the converted about. Warren and I loaded our bikes into the back of my little new pickup truck and headed out. This was the first time I’ve tried loading bikes into the back so we had to come up with the best way to situate then for tie-down. Seems to work well, and I guess it should. Anyway, we only had a few hours so we parked near the Chief and rode up the Mamquam Main logging road. Veered off up the Indian Arm Pass road. It is gated right now (the bikes can bypass the gate pretty easily) because of a massive landslide several miles up the way that has taken out the road and left a large bolder and debris field.
We figure we could climb our bikes over the mess and may well do so when we return with more time on hand. Took some pictures of the slide, then headed up the road that climbs into the high country behind the Chief, up into the drainage basin of Shannon Creek. This is a fun climb. Very ruff and rugged with large deep cross ditches that have fast flowing water running through them. Even the best-behaved bike would like nothing better than to buck you off on some of the steep rock strewn sections. We went up as far as the spot we went to last fall on Ryan’s first ride with us. That time we turned back because of ice. This time we turned back because there are some rocks blocking the way and we had run out of time. We will clear the rocks next time and continue on. The ride back down always presents it’s own set of challenges. Momentum and speed are necessary when climbing, they are to be avoided when descending. Very easy to loose control on these roads. But we didn’t, just had a great time.
Did run into one problem early in our ride. The last riding I had been doing was on the streets and had therefore adjusted tire pressure for street riding. 30 psi is right for pavement but way too hard for rocky washed out back roads and trails. The hard tire has the same effect as an Indian Rubber Ball, it bounces often and high. Couldn’t keep the wheels on the ground, it was like a wild creature. So I reduced pressure to about half that and control was restored as well as a much better ride. One unfortunate side effect of the bouncing was that I had strapped a lunch onto the back of the bike seat and it included a banana. During some of those bounces I had placed my body well back on the bike in an effort to hold the drive wheel down for traction. My butt met the lunch bag and banana several times. When we stopped to have our lunch break everything inside the bag was covered with mashed banana. I had even squeezed the peanut butter out from between its bread slices. Quite a mess. Think I’ll go back to wearing a backpack to carry stuff like that, regardless of tire pressure. Took a few pictures, nothing special but they can be seen at: http://www.thedougsite.ca/Pictures/Indian%20Arm/FirstTruck.htm
Tacked onto the end of that web page are a couple of pictures Warren took while out on his own. They are of scree and rock formations at Freeman Lake, up toward Whistler.
d
****
What a treat the past couple of weeks have been
weather wise! It’s been sunny and enjoyable after what seemed to be a long
winter. I know that Bailey is glad to be able to step outside without his belly
dragging in the sub zero snow and his little paws freezing to the ice on the
walkways. He’s been back outside every chance he gets and is once again marking
his ownership of the perimeter of the property. He’s only a 12 pounder but he
likes the neighbourhood dogs to know who’s place they’re peeing on when they stop
at the fencepost at the corner of the front yard. Although most of the dog
walkers carry a plastic bag to pick up after their pooch, some still prefer to
poop and run. I’m not shy when it comes to speaking up to these culprits should
I happen to be out when they try to leave their mess for me to pick up. You
should see the shocked and embarrassed look on their faces when I offer to
supply a plastic bag for them to take their prize home in! Most times they
choose to walk a different route after they’ve been subjected to the
humiliation of such a confrontation. It’s just common decency to pick up after
your dog.
*
It’s a nice change to be able to get a load of the
yard work done at such an early date. I actually managed to clean and pump out
the pond yesterday.
The new filter system that I built last year worked
like a charm. This year I bought a submersible pump to use to clean out the
pond. I set the pump in the water at the lowest point and use my pressure
washer to stir up the guck that settled in the lava rock filter bed. With the
pump running and the washer stirring up the settlings the pond is soon devoid
of any and all debris. I drilled a hole in the back fence and put the 1 ½” hose
from the pump out through the hole onto the hydro right of way behind the
house. This is the perfect place to drain the water to. I managed to half fill
and drain the pond twice after first emptying the original winter water out
with most of the sediment in it. After I flushed the pond with a continuous
flow of fresh water, it took about an hour or so to refill it. Last year I
discovered that floating a mesh bag containing barley straw pellets in the
moving flow of water from the waterfalls keeps the water crystal clear. I guess
the pellets strain the suspended impurities out of the water as well as balance
the natural ph or whatever in the water. A pond isn’t like a swimming pool
where you can treat the water with chlorine to keep it purified, you have to
try your best to keep it clean naturally. The fish don’t take well to chemicals
in their water. We’ll let the water flow for a couple of days and then
introduce the fish back into it for the summer. We still have 9 out of our
original 10 fish from the first season with the pond. The vegetation that
Carole has planted around the pond is maturing well and giving it a real
natural look. I spent this afternoon raking up all the cedar bark chips that
have been in the gardens for the past 5 years. They looked good when we first
put them into the gardens but after that first season, they tended to just be a
pain in the shovel when Carole wanted to add to or rearrange the plants in the
gardens. So, last year we removed a lot of them and actually sold about 10
large bags of these used chips to a neighbour up the street. Today I removed
another 4 giant bags of them. This time I’m just leaving them for the garbage
man. The gardens look 100% better without the chips. We are experiencing
terrific weather for this time of year. Most years we don’t have this much
sunshine and warm temps until late in May. Who knows, we may just get one more
shot of winter yet but let’s hope not!
I’m no fan of gardening as I’ve told you all before
but the weather was too nice today to pass up the chance to clean the beds up
for a good start. Carole will take the lead when it comes to what to plant and
when to plant whatever will grow in the gardens this year. She always does an
amazing job of the gardens and I look after the lawn. It’s a good way to have
it and that way we aren’t infringing on each other’s projects. So far, we are
quite happy with the progress we’ve made at this early stage. Now all we need
is things to get a tad warmer so the plants can begin to grow. We’ve noticed
some plants with buds on them already. Hopefully we won’t be hit with any surprise
frosts to retard the blooming of what promises to be an early growth season.
Monday is flagpole day. I am determined to make it
easier to raise and lower the flag this year. I’ve been lowering the pole to
the ground every time the flag needs to be washed or repaired or whatever. The
flag was a new one last year and I decided to take it down for the winter. I
was concerned that it may be subjected to vandalism when I first installed the
pole but I’ve decided not to worry about making it easier for a thief to get at
the flag and make it easier on myself when it comes to servicing it. Hopefully
any would be vandals won’t notice that I’ve installed a halyard on the pole and
we won’t lose any flags this year either.
Well, we’ve got a jump on spring and the weather is
supposed to stay nice for another five days or so. Let’s hope it continues to
improve and we have a nice long pleasant summer.
I’ll sign off for now and I’ll talk to you all again
next week in The Ontarion Report. Thanks for tuning in!
Bye for now….GREG.
PS: Something To
Think About>
Spring has sprung
The grass is riz
I wonder where the
boidies is
Could it be
The boid is on da
wing?
How absoid
The wing is on da
boid!
****
The Family and the Squamidian sites:
http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b/ and http://www.thedougsite.ca
Have a good one..
the
doug
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