The Squamidian Report – Dec. 09 / 06
Issue #237
Also in this issue:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Something we have stumbled across that is very useful are yellow driving goggles. At this time of year we seem to be doing all our driving in the dark, often made darker by rain. The yellow goggles seem to be able to cut through the dark and rain, bringing hard to see objects into view. They also deal with those annoying harsh bright bluish headlights that seem to be on many of the newer vehicles. Those lights are hard to look at and dangerous because they impede the vision of the driver that has to look toward them. The yellow goggles render all headlights into soft yellow lights that don’t blind you. They also make driving in fog or snow much easier, as well as driving in plain old dull daylight. Red and green traffic lights still look red or green so there is no downside at all, just safer easier driving. Just thought I’d pass that along.
*
I’ve been working up at Alice Lake Park lately, doing the trenching for a company from the city that is installing new waterlines throughout the campground areas. It is kind of a weird place to be working this time of year. The campground is deserted and dark. With the tall trees reaching up 150 ft or more daylight just never seems to reach the forest floor. So it never gets light in there, we are working in perpetual gloom. The company doing the work seems to be in way over their head with the contract as they are not experienced with ‘mountain’ conditions. Progress is poor, workmanship is poor and they all seem to be in a bad mood.
But there are some interesting things as well. Alice Lake Park is situated on the Cheekeye Fan, a geological formation that was created when a large section of Mt Garibaldi that had formed from lava irruptions over top of the mile deep ice sheet of the last Ice Age collapsed. The collapse left behind the gapping side now visible below the two peaks and Brohm Ridge. The material fanned out all the way to the Checkamuss River where it actually blocked the river and formed a lake that lasted for a few thousand years. The lake is now gone, the river having filled it with silt and gravel.
Highway 99 climbs over the Fan as it winds its way toward Whistler. The Fan is still considered to be ‘unstable’ which means it could very easily become liquefied under the right geological or seismic conditions. The material it is made of consists of boulders and silt and find sand that has been for the time being solidified into a hardpan with a layer of organics on the surface. The hardpan is so hard that those huge trees can’t put roots into it. The entire root mass is congested into the organic layer.
The trees that are in there are second growth, there are still stumps and logs left from the originals. Some of those old logs laying half buried in the soil are well over a hundred feet long and still over 4 feet in diameter where the top end had been broken away. Just thought I’d pass that along.
doug
****
****
Hello
everyone!
Well, I
finally got to use the new snow blower yesterday. We had about 3” of snow so I
decided to give her a try. It was wet soggy stuff and the blower still threw it
about 25’. The old one used to barely lob it out onto it’s own wheel when it
was heavy and wet. I’m totally impressed with this Toro and am actually looking
forward to the next decent snowfall. I had a surprise yesterday around noon.
Carole and I had just finished lunch and I went to the front door to check for
mail. I opened the door and noticed that the fence that we have along the front
corner and side of our property had three 8’ sections of it laying on the front
lawn among a set of tire treads in the snow. I could also see a set of skid
marks in the snow on the road leading to the busted fence. Being on a corner,
we have expected ever since we moved here that one day a car would miss the
turn and wind up in our living room. Well, this wasn’t quite that bad thank
Gord but it still made mincemeat of our fence. As I turned to tell Carole about
the fence, a young guy came to the door and told me how sorry he was for
hitting out fence and that he will either fix it now or in the spring whichever
I prefer. I told him to give me his address and phone number and I’d call him
in a day or so to work it out. I also went out while he picked up the fence
sections and checked his ’95 Nissan Pathfinder. There was a V shaped impact
right in the middle of the bumper, grill and hood of the vehicle. He said he
wasn’t concerned about the vehicle since he’s about to buy a new one anyway. I
wrote down the license number and make and model of the vehicle just in case he
was giving me false information. I’ll find out when I phone him tonight if he’s
been honest with me.
I sure
hope he was because I really don’t want to go through the police thing to chase
him for restitution. Actually the main problem will be replacing the 4x4 posts.
There are two of them broken off slightly below ground level and it’ll be a bit
of work getting them out to replace them. The three sections of fence are still
ok so there won’t be a big expense to the repair. I’ll just replace the posts
and reattach the fence sections to the new posts. I know I should make this guy
do the work but he won’t do the job the way I would. LOL! It always seems that
way. You know the old adage, “If you want something done right, do it
yourself”! Oh well, we’ll see how this works out when I talk to him tonight.
*
It’s not
often that Carole and I go to an actual movie theater to see a movie but we did
just that a couple of nights ago. Carole won tickets through CHYM to see D`eja
Vu with Denzell Washington. I won’t tell you about the plot of the movie in
case you want to see it for yourself. I’ll only say that this is one of the
best movies I’ve seen in years. The acting skills of Denzell Washington make
this movie even more enjoyable but the story and production were both inspiring
and thrilling. It’s as I said, an excellent movie and I recommend it if you’re
in need of an evening out.
*
Gotta go
for now.
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: Something
To Think About>
If the
population of China walked past you in single file, the line would never end
because of the rate of reproduction.
****
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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