The Squamidian Report – May 21 / 05
Also in this issue:
Hi All,
Loading trucks at the gravel pit. That makes for a long boring tedious week. You just sit there swinging gravel into truck after truck after truck after truck. The pit is up Ring Creek Rd, or Diamond Head Rd, depending on whom you ask. Same road, different name. The road is steep and narrow and drops off almost straight down through the trees on one side so the trucks have to communicate by radio to co-ordinate coming up to the pit and heading back down. It takes 4 scoops to load a standard tandem dump truck, 3 to load a pony trailer and 7 to load an end-dump. That’s with the 325. There is a 330 loading further up with a bigger bucket so he wouldn’t have to make as many passes.
The gravel deposit is huge. I assume the last ice age glaciers and many geological floods had a hand in placing the many layers. The deposit has hundreds of layer, some of very fine material, some of very course material. Mixed in with the whole thing are large boulder, or nuggets as they are called here. The layers lay on about a 30-degree angle which means the area has lifted and tilted at some point. A lot can happen in ten thousand years.
*
We’ve had a week of sunshine mixed with showers. The kind of weather where the clouds spill through the mountain passes and flow into the valleys, around the ridges and up the streets. One day the front of our house and the street out front were in brilliant sunshine with the local kids out playing. Our back yard was having a heavy drenching rainstorm. Dark and wet. Mountain weather at it’s most interesting.
I guess the reason mountain weather is so fascinating is that it happens not just above us, but also below us and beside us. All around us. And the backdrop of the mountains gives it definition, something to focus on and impart depth. Pretty cool to see.
*
Ok, more bike stuff to either bore you with or rub your nose in, depending on your point of view. This time we tackled Mt Mulligan. It is visible from our front balcony and there are old cut blocks high up the side. Finding a way up to there was our goal. The old logging road that showed on my topo map would get us into the area. However, we found that road to be blocked just shortly after leaving the Mamquam Main. There is a road that branches off that the map indicated would follow the power lines. After a steep climb that road branched. The lower branch headed off toward the lines, the other branch continued to climb.
So up we went. That was a fun, tricky ride. Deep cross ditches, loose rocks and boulders mixed with very steep grades. Sections are almost overgrown by alders that slap at you as you ride by. Rides like that leave you arms and legs aching and your back sweating. Unfortunately, not somewhere I could take a novice rider on a borrowed bike. Anyway, I digress. We got up to the cut block area where the view of the Squamish Valley opened out below us. We had a heavy overcast with threatening rain so picture taking wasn’t great but we did take some for your viewing pleasure.
The road continued to follow around the mountain and up into a bowel area below the peak with an alpine meadow and old growth trees. The snowline turned us back, it turned the road rather slippery. We will return in a few weeks when the snow has receded and the sky is clear to explore the meadow and area below the peak. Should be great. The pictures taken so far can be seen at:
http://www.thedougsite.ca/Pictures/Mulligan/mulligan1.htm
d
****
As many of you know, Nova Scotia Sus who lives way out there on the east coast and is a sister to Wild Wood Warren, owns a hair salon in Scottsburn Nova Scotia. She has just put up a new web site for her gallery. It can be seen at:
http://www.scotsburnhairgallery.ca/
****
Signs that I am starting to become a county girl:
1. I repair the tear in my bug shirt with duct tape.
2. I yell "yee-ha!" when I get to drive the ATV by myself while we're back in the bush hauling out firewood.
3. I start referring to insect repellant as "bug dope".
4. I seriously consider the local secret for beating the black flies...which is to stop bathing.
Thankfully, I still have enough of the city girl in me to resist that last one. And if you noticed my numerous references to bugs, it's no accident. Black flies are THE topic of discussion with people around here...how long the black fly season will last, what type of weather we need to kill them off, if this will be a bad year for them...you get the idea. Much the same way people talk about the weather in winter. The good news is, even with the pests, I can still enjoy our beautiful outdoor playground. The mornings are cool enough that I can take the dog for a walk without any trouble. And after the sun goes down, the only things flying around out there are moths, so there's nothing to keep us from the hot tub. I also discovered that I can go for a bike ride in the middle of the day because the flies can't keep up with me while I'm zipping along. Eat my dust, you little buggers!!!
I tend to take this war between the species quite seriously. In fact, I've gone so far as to buy one of those propane mosquito magnets. We were talking to a lady who has three wooded acres and she swears by her bug catcher. She says it keeps about an acre of her property clear enough to enjoy without any extra defenses. I just picked ours up today so we'll see how it works. Keep your fingers crossed for me. On the construction front, this week's progress report is a happy one. We now have a deck off the kitchen. There was just a narrow porch there before (that's actually where the fire started) but we've requested a larger surface so we can get more use of it. It'll be nice for privacy, since it won't be for guest use. We enjoy meeting people and I'm sure we'll like to hang out with some guests some of the time, but that's not what everyone wants when they go away for a vacation. We need to be able to give guests their space, and we also need some places to retreat to ourselves.
I also have plumbing in my bathroom!!! Still no shower for the tub, buy that's okay for now. Jim and I can now officially move into our house, three and a half months after buying it. Wahoo! Now the work begins in earnest. We have a gazillion things to unpack and find new places for. We have repairs to make to the guest house once we move our stuff out that we've been storing there, we have a ton of painting to do to spruce up the rooms, we have to put the finishing touches on the main house--and all this before the busy season, which starts anywhere from now to a few weeks from now. Where did I get the idea that I was leaving the city for a slower pace? :)
Speaking of slower pace, I'm going to go have a nice soak in the tub, look at the moon through our little telescope, and then call it a night.
I hope everyone has an equally relaxing and enjoyable long weekend.
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Well, as it turned out, we are not heading for
another federal election. They say we will however be doing so this time next
year. That’ll give the government time to rake in enough money to pay for at
least half of the cost of it anyway. I gather Belinda Stronuk will be able to
feed and clothe her daughters with the raise she will get now that she’s a cabinet
minister for the Liberals. I heard she was having a hard time making ends meet
with the PC salary, poor thing! As I told Clyde in a series of e-mails we’ve
exchanged over the past week, I think Belinda is heading for the office of
Prime Minister of Canada and not to give the PM any sexual favours but to take
his job away from him! She doesn’t fool me for one minute with that story of
the PC’s alignment with the Bloc de Quebeqois upsetting her and being the
reason she switched parties. She has her sites set on being the next female PM
of Canada I’m sure! Maybe she’ll change the title from Prime Minister to Queen.
At least if she does that, she’s the right gender. Trouble with that is they’ll
have to change the title back after she’s eventually finished her term in
office, that is unless maybe Svend Robinson makes a big comeback! LOL!
Naaaaaa…I doubt that, he’s not a big enough thief, he only steals diamond rings
worth a couple grand. Oh well, we’ll just have to wait till next year to see
what happens. By then, the whole country will have forgotten about the Gomery
Inquiry and some other scandal will be grabbing the headlines. History has
shown that no matter what political party is in power, there is abuse of that
power in one way or another. It seems that politics does that to people, it
makes them do things they might not ordinarily do. In particular, the one thing
most politicians have in common is that they tend to lie or at least twist the
truth to suit the issue of the day. I doubt that will ever change so we might
just as well stop trying to find an honest leader and hope for the least
dishonest one to take the reins of the country. Lord help us!
*
Well, now that we are heavy into Spring, the
dandelions are back in full bloom. Hey Clyde, I checked my shed yesterday and
found that my supply of Killex has dwindled, have you still go that 40 litre
jug you picked up last year? I noticed on the news the other night that the
region hopes to have a bylaw in place within 3-4 months stopping the spraying
of all insecticides and herbicides by private individuals within the Region of
Waterloo. I guess we’ll have to do our spraying after dark! LOL! JUST KIDDING!
Don’t let me get anyone all upset again this year. If and when this bylaw is in
place, we’ll all have to find another way to control such pests. The time may
come when we’ll just have to put up with having yellow lawns. I have a
neighbour that says he just set his lawn mower at it’s lowest cutting height
and makes sure he cut’s his lawn often enough to keep the heads of the
dandelions playing Anne Bollyn (not sure of the spelling on that one but you
know who I mean). I can hear the little yellow pests screaming from my place
every time he makes a pass on his front lawn. I’m sure it hurts them more than
it does him. Oh well, at least that way his lawn looks green most of the time.
I’ve noticed that even with the mower level set low, there still seem to be a
few dandelions that miss the cut. I guess with about a dozen of the yellow
critters on my lawn I should consider myself lucky that that’s all I’ve got.
The hydro right of way behind us looks like a farmer’s mustard crop. When one
thinks of it, a few weeds in one’s lawn is probably the least of most people’s
worries.
*
This weather has been wonderful for the past week or
so. I even started up the MGB the other day, just to see if the battery was
still strong. It was and the car started on about the third revolution of the
motor. I think I’m going to the license bureau and get my sticker for the
weekend. Should be a nice weekend to do a little touring with Carole. I have a
new roof for the MG that I bought at a car show 4 years ago. It’s still in the
box in the garage. I guess I’ll have to finally install it this year. The one
that’s on the car now is the original and has a couple of large rips in it on
either side. It seems that the previous owner squished the roof into the down
position without regard for the proper folding of the material. It’s had the
holes in it ever since we got the car but they are now getting larger. The
problem is that once I put the roof down, we tend to only put it back up if
we’re caught out in the rain. So, for the past 3 years I’ve said to heck with
putting the new roof on if we don’t use it that often. However, like Carole
says, “Why did you buy it if you’re not going to install it on the car?” so
with that in mind, she’s got a real good point. I guess I’ll get at it and
complete the job sometime soon. We’ve had the MG since 1989 and the only thing
left to do is a little bit of body work and a new paint job. It’s only got 3
tiny holes in the underside of the rocker panels that you don’t see unless you
get on your knees and stick your head under the car. Basically, the car looks
good but whatever work was done on the body before we got it wasn’t done that
well. You can see it needs work when you look closely. We’ve completely redone
the interior, the engine and all of the mechanical stuff, I guess it’s time to
complete it with the body and paint. We have a lot of fun with this little car
and it’s not likely we’ll want it laid up during the sunny season to do the
body work. So, I’m sure it’ll wait till Fall for that part of the restoration.
Well, if I’m going to get up early and pick up that license sticker, I should
sign off for tonight.
Thanks to all of you for tuning in and I look
forward to talking to you again next time in The Ontarion Report.
Bye for now…. GREG.
PS: Something To Think About>
If you don’t make a decision, someone else will make
it for you!
****
The Family and the Squamidian sites:
http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b/ and http://www.thedougsite.ca
Have a good one..
the
doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.