The Squamidian Report – July 16 / 05
Also in this issue:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Now I know this is going to sound like a scene right out of ‘Keystone Cops’ but I saw it happen. There are traffic lights on the highway at the Industrial Way intersection. This is also the corner where our Tim Horton’s is located. A vehicle did a no-no in the intersection and was spotted by an RCMP. The cruiser then attempted to pull over the offending vehicle, who seemed to be ignoring the police officer. The offending vehicle not only headed for the Horton’s lot but pulled into the drive-through lineup with the cop car right on it’s tail, light flashing and siren tooting. So there they were, in the drive-through line, the chased and the chaser.
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I know the national weather reports have been telling the world that the west coast has been having it pretty cloudy and wet. Well yes, it has been somewhat cloudy and wet but not really all that uncomfortable, quite nice in fact. It can pour all night and then be quite pleasant during the day. Or there can be showers in one spot and bright sunshine right beside it. We were out for a walk one evening and spotted the widest, brightest rainbow we’ve ever seen. It was also the shortest. We were walking in bright sun under a clear sky but there was heavy cloud hanging just over Mt Mulligan. From our visual perspective the rainbow appeared to sprout out of the alpine valley up there and climb up to the base of the cloud. That cloud was just above the valley so the rainbow was very short, shorter than it was wide.
It ran through every colour from deep purple to the yellows and oranges, each band being bright and wide. What was really neat was that our walk took almost half and hour and it stayed right there the whole time. It began to fade as we were climbing back up Thunderbird Dr but that may simply have been that the angle we were viewing from was changing.
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We have been keeping an eye on the snow line up on Brohm Ridge. Haven’t been up there since last Fall and until the trail up to the ridge is clear we couldn’t very well do that bike ride again. Finally felt the time was right to give it a try. Last Sunday dawned bright and clear, perfect for riding and enjoying the scenery. Warren and I met at the Cat Lake road and headed up. UP is the operative word. It is an elevation climb of about a mile to the open area along the ridge that sweeps up to the flanks of the peaks of Garibaldi. The mountaintop actually has two, Diamond Head and Atwell Peak. There is a large glacier and snowfield area running off to the northeast. Brohm runs to the west.
Sections of the trail we follow take us through thick forest, other sections take us along the side of the mountain where the trees have been harvested at some point in the past, leaving the road hanging out into the sky. The entire time the one constant is ‘up’. Sections of the trail are not too bad, other sections are very loose, rough and rocky. There is a point along the way called Mid Station. It is the remains of a never finished concrete foundation for a never built ski lift station from a long since failed development scheme. It marks a change in the ‘feel’ of the ride. From here on up most of the trail is more open and you become very aware that you are climbing up into the Alpine regions.
The trail on the final approach to the Ridge becomes narrow and rocky. There were still some snow patches but we were able to squeeze past them. As we broke out onto the top the trail disappeared under a section of snow that was probably a couple of meters deep. Some areas up there are now free of snow, other areas are still buried. The patches of stunted trees are just feeling the first of their spring season. The mountain heather is just starting to bloom. Couldn’t do too much riding around so we parked the bikes and hiked over a snowfield to a spot where we had our lunch. Hard to eat when there is so much to look at. Because Garibaldi is visible from most of the surrounding area, most of the surrounding area is visible from up on Garibaldi.
We could see right up to the top end of the Ashlu Valley, straight up the Roe Creek Valley. The Black Tusk and Table Top are right in front of you. You are surrounded on all sides by the peaks of the Coastal Mountains. Howe Sound opens out into the St of Georgia to the south. Like all bike runs, at some point we have to head back so now we had a whole lot of downhill to do. The real trick is to keep your speed under control and just take your time. We met several riders heading up as we headed down. Some were the young hotshots that blast by like they own the world. Met a couple of bikers that had spun out on a steep loose section. That meant they had to figure out how to get moving again. All part of the fun. Got back to the trucks just fine, another great run to post on the web site. One thing I did notice back at the truck, my water bottle that I had been drinking from up on top had collapsed to about half it’s normal size due to the crushing effect of the increasing air pressure as we descended.
http://www.thedougsite.ca/Pictures/Brohm%20Ridge/brohm3.htm
d
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Carol’s deer picture: http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b/Pictures/Others/carol.htm
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Hey
everyone!
Looks
like our hot humid weather is turning to more of a partially rainy atmosphere
for the next week. The farmers are looking forward to the moisture for their
crops and most people are hoping the precipitation will cool things off a tad.
Authorities
are saying that this type of weather will be norm for the foreseeable future
due to the world climates being affected by the greenhouse gas situation. I just said to Carole the other day that I
remember many summers like this when I was a kid. We didn’t have central air
conditioning and just put up with the heat and humidity. We rode our bikes all
over the city and pretty much everyone was sweating and putting up with the
heat and I don’t remember many of them complaining about it. It was just part
of summer! I personally think that we over-analyze everything these days. When
the world was a simpler place because of the general ignorance of the public,
we just got used to whatever we were presented with. In this day and age of
highly accessible explanations for just about everything from war to weather, we
tend to worry too much about things we can do nothing about. They say we can do
something about the greenhouse gas thing, but, will we? It seems to me that
today’s population is just too selfish to consider making such sacrifices as
are necessary for the good of all mankind. I’ve read that if we would all leave
our cars in the driveway for one day a week and take public transit, it would
have a definite positive affect on the reduction of emissions in our air. I
don’t think that’s too much to ask and I have actually been using our vehicles
quite a bit less since my retirement. I make a point of walking whenever I can.
I walk to the store most times when I have to pick something up. It really is
wasteful to drive two blocks to buy a lotto ticket when walking is good for me
as well as the atmosphere.
It’s time
we all made these small but helpful adjustments to our habits. Every little bit
helps.
On the
home front: We have been trying to clear up the green/brown looking water in
the fish pond. After visiting the Grand River Garden Centre and having the
water tested, we were told that a combination of two products they sell would
clear up the water. Well, after a week and a half, the water was no clearer. I
took another sample to the same place and a different person retested the
water. He told me that the person who sold me the solution the last time, sold
me the wrong stuff. I said “Great, now I’m out $37.00 for nothing, what do I do
now?” He said I needed a mechanical filter for the water as well as the biological
filter I had built in the floor of the pond last year. He then proceeded to
show me a manufactured 3 layer filter plastic box that they sell for a mere
$150.00. The 24”x12”wide x 18”deep plastic box contained three trays. The
bottom one had stones in it to make a bio-filter like the one I have in the bed
of the pond already. The second level tray was for a foam or fiber filter pad
2” thick and the top tray held special filter bags that treat the water for ph
levels or other readings that need adjustment. I decided to make my own filter
container system since I already had the bio-filter in the pond bottom. I went
to CTC and purchased a plastic box approximately the same size as the
professional one. I also went to Wal-Mart and bought two Rubbermaid plastic
trays that would fit in the box and were each about 5” deep. By the time I had
all the necessary supplies for the job I had spent $60.00. I stacked the trays
in the box and fitted the box with an inlet port for the water and also 3
outlet ports. Adam and I mounted the box at the top of the falls and piled the
huge rocks around it to hide it. The pump now forces the water up into the top
of the box and it feeds via gravity down through the two media systems in the
trays. I also added a bacterial powder to the pond water that grows a natural
filtering algae on the bio bed. The fellow at the nursery guaranteed me that
the water would clear up within the week. It’s been two days and the water is
already clearing up. I sure hope that after all my effort we’ve found a
solution to the “dark water” problem. We find it a lot nicer to have the pond
in the garden when we can see the fish. So far so good but we’ll just have to
wait another few days to see if it works as well as the pond specialist at the
garden center promised. I told him that if I followed his directions to the
letter and still had a problem, he’d be held to his promise of coming over to
the house and personally solving the situation. He laughed and assured me that
he’d be glad to if it didn’t work as he said. Hopefully his attention won’t be
necessary. The pond is a lot more work to keep in shape than we anticipated but
when it’s working well it’s worth all the hard work.
I should
go for now. I look forward to talking to you all again next time in The
Ontarion Report.
Bye for now…. GREG.
PS:
Something to Think About>
To me old
age is always 15 years older than I am.
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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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