The Squamidian Report – Aug. 19 / 06
Issue #220
Also in this issue:
A Note From Ewan
The Ontarion
Hi All,
It is with deep sadness and profound regret that I must tell you my blueberries are finished for the season. It was a good run, I had a steady stream of fresh berries for about 6 weeks. Now they are done, none left, all eaten. They found their way onto my cereal pretty well every morning, onto ice cream or by themselves every evening. You know, if you eat about 6 double handfuls of blueberries every day, they not only keep you regular, they keep you regular twice as often! But all is not lost. There are still lots to be found at the fruit markets and growing wild in the mountains.
*
Waking up to Mountain FM, our local radio station is effective to say the least. We have been getting up about 5 because Sue needs to head into the city by 5:30. With most clock radios, the radio would come on at the desired time and then you would slowly wake to the sound of music or news or whatever you chose. But Mountain FM isn’t called Mountain phlegm for nothing. Their play list is a choice of the worst commercial crap in the free world. It is like they went shopping in one of those bargain bins at Wal-Mart for CDs priced under $1.29 and then rejected most of them for being too classy. No one wants to wake to the sound of rap music mixed with elevator and 80’s boy bands.
But wake you do, very fast. There is no danger of lying back and listening to a song you might like. You tense up and grit you teeth as you stumble out of bed as fast as possible. Why do we even have that station on our radio you might ask? It’s the only station a little clock radio can get. If it had an antenna we might get CBC but that would be it. And yes, it does give the road report which while inaccurate is at least something.
*
Once each summer, the Britannia Beach Mining Museum puts on their Fire and Copper Day celebration. Warren and I were asked to play at it again this year, along with other entertainers. We each were allotted an hour time slot to fill as best we could. So we played our homegrown style of mountain music for them. We seem to be the only ones around here that incorporate vocal harmony into the music. Most others seem to be single acts or single voices.
Tourists come to this thing and buy stuff, pan for gold in a trough full of gravel and water and go for tours of the old mine. There were exhibits of glass blowing, copper smelting, clay firing and so on, most of which the tourists could participate in. The day went OK, we survived.
doug
****
A Note From Ewan
Hello
all,
Well,
here I sit writing to you as I sometimes do. But this is one of those rare and
special messages because I'm getting paid overtime to write it! Ha! I foolishly
planned to have a BBQ while on call today, which is a recipe for a hassle. I
won't be able to make it to see Karin for the same reason. But right now I'm
waiting for a support specialist to correct a software problem. The key part of
that last sentence is "waiting." In the mean time most Rogers
Wireless and Fido customers in southern Ontario outside of Toronto are unable
to call *611, and I get to write for the Squamidian on a lovely Sunday
afternoon. I hope that people can still find a way to enjoy the weekend without
being able to call *611.
I had
a great time at the cottage with some of the rest of the family, as Carol
described in the last issue. It was a real treat just to relax, eat some home
cooked food, have a drink and play cards with some friends and family. I
enjoyed the blue berry pancakes that they whipped up after Carol and Grandpa
picked those wild ones. He also pointed out some plump thimble berries right on
the property which were as much of a treat as anything. The boys joined me in a
quick excursion over to Killbear Provincial Park, which is just a little
further down the same highway. I'd heard that it's a great spot and we weren't
disappointed. There are a few good trails with beautiful views of the water and
some good beaches. Next time I'll bring my bathing suit. Swimming right at the
cottage was nice too though. Once we quieted down to listen, Beth's music was a
great way to end the day. I was happy that she brought along Cameron and
Duncan. With them, Nicky and Jamie to horse around with it was a good chance
for me to be a kid.
This
summer has been generally very nice in and around Toronto. July was hot and
also very wet. It seems to make the plants happy, but the bugs hungry. Every
time I set foot outside of the city I loose half a pint! Even in town there are
spots where they are waiting. Much scarier than the gun violence, on account of
the odds. I guess everywhere in this part of the world the mosquitoes are
thicker than usual. I hope they thin out before I go camping in September.
Grandpa had pointed out how thick the berries etc. have been coming in, I guess
the two are related by the weather. "If you have seven barns, fill them. There
could be seven years of drought."
I must
stock up on some yummy preserved things from well outside of the Toronto area.
It
always seems like the most dramatic Squamidian news comes out of B.C. Motorbike
adventures in the mountains, panoramic views, crazy weather and so on. Most of
what happens around Squamish is so positive, it's tough to imagine the oil
spill. Weren't they just hit by a train spill a while back?! It's ironic and
tragic that places so beautiful and full of life get hit this way. I guess it's
no surprise that the "clean up" was slow to begin and from the sounds
of it less than adequate. Sort of reminds me of just about everything else that
we rely on the government to do. I guess the important thing is that the
millions get spent on it, and any investors in the company that caused the
spill don't suffer more than a billionth of a penny less in profit. Maybe it
isn't that bad, I hope not.
Sometimes
financial reports in the media make the world out to be made of glass. I
remember when the SARS thing was affecting Toronto, and one of the big topics
was down playing the problem for the sake of travel and tourism. Those are
important things, and a lot of people rely on them for their income. The
weather is important too, and it changes all the time. People are affected by
that also. From the media you'd guess that with a couple of slow summers for
travel and tourism for Toronto there just wasn't any point in living any more.
The whole province might as well just give up on life because unless Toronto's
travel and tourism is at about 110% all the time the whole economy will crash.
I'm shocked that we haven't been reduced to clubbing each other over scraps of
food! This is the same media that painted Torontonians to be walking around in
surgical masks. Those were muggers, duh!
As an
occasional driver some things that are common to most people surprise me. I've
noticed that with gas prices so high people go nuts when they can get it under
$1 / litre. I've seen people get aggressive with each other and many near low
speed collisions, just to get at a pump that's at 99.7. The Petro Can near me
is a nut house, all hours as long as it's a couple of cents cheaper than the
other stations. No one likes getting gouged. But I've learned that I'd rather
pay an extra $4 at the quiet station. It seems worth it to avoid any nut cases
fighting at the Petro Can. I'm not against a little elbow in the corners to get
at the puck, but I would like to believe that we're separated from the Lord of
the Flies by more than the digits on a gas station sign, but I'm an optimist...
Okay,
on a brighter note… Before heading up to the cottage we went back to the
Hillside Festival in Guelph. I didn't see Greg's eagle this time, but it was a
lot of fun. Good music, good weather and good food. A lot of festivals have
none of these things. It was crowded as always, but the people are relaxed and
happy so it's always fine. It's nice to have multiple stages, even though it
can be frustrating when they all have good music at the same time! It's nice to
be able to find a spot in the sun or under a tree, in a beer tent or somewhere
to dance, something upbeat or relaxed. The one problem is that it's just too
loud, in my opinion (I'm not alone in this). Well, that and the mosquitoes this
year!
Greg,
I thought your pictures of the eagle were excellent. Something like that isn't
easy to photograph. It's nice to see some high quality pics to rival the ones
that Doug's posts!
Sadly,
I've run out of e-mail before this problem has been resolved. My mistake was
buying food while on call. Take out is the food of those who are on call…
*
Well I
had time to go home, frantically prepare, BBQ and have desert. It was a lovely,
if hectic BBQ. But no more entertaining while I'm on call, I've learned my
lesson! Now I can get back to waiting…
One
more note on the evacuation of Canadians from Lebanon. At the beginning of this
latest conflict there were about 50 000 Canadians living in Lebanon. That's
about 25% of the population of Kitchener. Just when the Squamidian readers were
debating the issue on line, my friend Edgar brought it up too. He's from
Mexico. He's a Canadian citizen now, but he was a Mexican living in Canada for
a while. He didn't put it quite like Greg, but his question was along the same
lines. How can someone complain? In my opinion, someone always complains about
everything. His question was how can anyone be expected to be saved when they
went to live in such a dangerous place. He said that it's different for him
because Canada is a safe place. But he said that if something had happened he
should expect Mexico to save him? Once he left Mexico, he was on his own.
Canada isn't Mexico, we help our citizens (preferably in the slowest, more
expensive way possible, but still). He worked (and works) hard just to be here,
and it seemed wrong to him that people expect Canada to help them when the
don't live here. The angles of the thing can be debated for ever, and maybe
there are no absolutely right or wrong answers. But what stood out for me is
that part of what Edgar said is the same as what Greg wrote. But when Edgar
said it sounded different, and no one thought him a bigot. The only difference
is context, point of view, and the tone between the lines. Regardless of how we
see the world and each other always remember that there is always another point
of view. My attitude has improved a bit just because I had a good dinner.
Ewan
****
Hello
everyone!
It’s hard
to imagine but we’re over half way through the summer. I guess all good things
must come to an end but this beautiful summer should be here for another 6
months at least, don’t you think? I’ve said before that I’m not so sure I would
enjoy having summer weather all year round but, I don’t know, this summer has
really made an impression on me. The sun has shone and the temperatures have
been as close to perfect as one could ask for. With all the gloom and doom that
the scientists have been preaching about “global warming” it’s very gratifying
to have such beautiful weather. It makes me wonder if they’re missing the mark
somehow.
*
I got an
e-mail from Clyde last week asking if I’d be able to give him a hand installing
a new storm door on the front of his house. Of course I am game for any such
project and said I’d be happy to help. We met at his place at around 9am
figuring we’d just take some measurements and hit the local Home Depot. With
this in mind we figured we’d be finished with the whole project by noon, have a
slice or two of pizza and a beer and be on the way home. Well, it just didn’t
work out that way. We found out that HD has changed the models of aluminum
doors that they sell and they didn’t have a match to the door that we installed
on the rear of Clyde and Barbara’s house last year. Oh well, on to the next
store that sells storm doors. From HD we went to Strassburger Windows a company
that manufactures the doors. We were shocked to find that we might as well have
been invisible as we toured their show room. The three women employees that
were in the office and at a desk on the show floor didn’t even lift their eyes
off their desks as we passed. We spent about 5 minutes looking at their
products and discovered quickly that they didn’t have what Clyde was looking
for either. From there we went to Home Hardware, Rona Home Building Centre and
then on to another Home Depot. None of these companies carried what we needed.
It seems that the latest craze is to have a screen only at the top 12” of the
door. The unit we were looking for has a full screen in it and either the top
or bottom window can be raised or lowered to reveal the screen. After trudging
around Kitchener Waterloo for the entire morning we headed back to Clyde’s
empty handed. Clyde is now searching the internet for the style door they want
and then we’ll make another attempt at a day of installation. I’m sure we’ll be
able to get it done soon. With all that effort expended we decided to forego
the pizza idea and settle for a quick Export Ale and call it a day. Not all
home projects go smoothly and this was one of those “try agains”. After all
that, the beer was cold and enjoyable and the company fun. We’ll do it again
soon. Clyde and I always have a great time talking about the latest news and
government events among other topics and the morning together gave us a chance
to do just that. I consider the day a success after all. When you spend time
with a good friend the time is never wasted.
I look
forward to the day we do get the door they want and we’ll do it all again, this
time WITH Pizza!
That’s
all for this week.
Thanks
for tuning in and I look forward to talking to you all again next time in The
Ontarion Report.
Bye for now… GREG.
PS:
Carole and I look forward to seeing you all later today at the Brubacher
Homestead and to meeting Karin in person, all the way from the land of OZ!
PS:
Something To Think About>
To me,
fair friend, you never can be old.
William
Shakespeare
****
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.