The Squamidian Report – Dec. 30 / 06
Issue #240
Also in this issue:
Some Squamidian Business Repeated
A Birthday Story
The Ontarion
Hi All,
We almost had a white Christmas, came awful close. Another winter storm moved in on Christmas Eve day and by evening people were being warned to stay off the roads unless they had very good winter tires or tire chains. Then, and very common to west coast weather, the temperatures climbed about 5 degrees instead of falling a couple degrees and everything turned over to rain. Washed away what little snow was left from 2 weeks ago.
And you know, maybe people are actually starting to learn. During the days following Christmas you tend to overhear the usual greeting from everyone as they see friends and family out and about. The old “how was your Christmas” question. The most common replies tend to be things like “nice and quiet” or “nice and relaxed” and so on. So perhaps there is hope for sanity after all.
We had this past week off from work and I spent it doing almost nothing. An admirable way to pass the time I’d say. I needed the physical rest as that shoulder I injured a year ago never stopped hurting and never regained it’s strength. So as well as rest it for the week, I booked some sessions with a physiotherapist. The kind that deal with sports and work type injuries. Kind of interesting what she found. Both arms are hanging out of their shoulder joints. The injured one about twice as far as the other one. The ligaments that hold things together seem to be stretched way out of shape. I guess that explains the paining and limited mobility I’ve been living with. So now I’m doing a series of exercises designed to tighten the ligaments and re-train the muscles so they can hold my shoulders together. Makes sense. Heck, maybe some time soon I’ll be able to climb back onto my dirt bike and enjoy the ride instead of coming away exhausted and hurting. Looking forward to that.
Basically though, it’s been another pretty good year. The highlight of course being the wedding of Ryan and Emily. They seem to have settled into Squamish life quite nicely. They comfortably move through the worlds of Whistler and Vancouver with the slower pace of the small town always there to come home to. Sue went from ‘road warrior’ as she traveled the western part of the country doing audits, to managing a bank branch in Prince George for a couple of months in the early summer. From there she did fill in manager positions in various branches in the city until her own branch became available. I think she likes being the manager of a downtown Vancouver branch. She certainly worked for it long enough. And the commute doesn’t seem to bother her, it doesn’t take longer time-wise than what most people living in the city have to take in getting into the down town area.
While we have regrettably never found the time to do much vacation type traveling around out here, we did find the time to do enough weekend motorcycling to realize that it’s a hobby we would like to expand next biking season. That may simply mean more short day trips up and down the highway on the old Virago, or we may give some thought to a bigger, heavier bike and get into the habit of doing some longer day-trips and some over-nighters. Bikes have their inherent dangers but they are an incredible way to see the country. Of course, if something like that were to come along, Ryan would ‘inherit’ the old bike and we would instantly have our own little motorcycle club for highway riding. Well, we’ll at least give it some thought. Or not, who knows.
Not much of a year end summery but then you were all along for the ride anyway and know as much about my past year as I do. Have a good one and happy New Year everyone.
doug
****
The time has come to clean up my Email address book a bit and I’m going to need your help in the form of a very tiny bit of effort on your part to do it. In order to clean up my address book lists and to avoid sending to anyone who doesn’t really want the Squamidian to turn up in their Inbox each Saturday, I would like each of you who do want to receive our little news letter to simply replay and let me know. That simple. Couldn’t be easier. Anyone who I haven’t heard from by the end of the year will be dropped from the list, simply because I do not want to be sending to anyone who doesn’t actually want to receive the letter.
****
A Birthday Story
With Ewan's birthday being on the 23 rd. of December, it has become our traditional beginning to the holiday festivities. We have faithfully celebrated this day even when Ewan, himself, couldn't make it due to a college exam or work. Over the years, there has usually been something that occurs to make each party stand out from the rest. Many of you will have your own particular memories that this day triggers that you might also want to share.
Like the year that I forgot to count six of the people when planning the food and ALMOST ran out - fortunately I'm related to my mother so I naturally make lots of "extra" just in case thank goodness.
And the year of the big snowstorm when dad became hopelessly stuck in a snowbank and Carol went knocking on a stranger's door to find a cleared driveway in which to park because anyone who stopped never got going again. By the way, that kind stranger scored a big piece of the traditional rum cake. Dinner was very late that year due to pushing and shoveling but, funnily enough, everyone was in exceptionally great spirits. I guess we were determined to have a good time in spite of the elements!
This year was no exception in terms of establishing its' place in the birthday chronicles. We had to celebrate a day early but Ewan and UU had the day off and were planning to be here in time to greet the crowd (first phone call at 3:30 - UU should arrive at any minute to pick him up - they were pushing it!). They didn't consider the shear volume of traffic on the Friday before Christmas (second phone call at 4:35 - UU hadn't gotten across T.O. yet). They DID listen to the traffic reports and learned that the 401 was a mess of accidents and was virtually closed so they wisely planned a different route. ( third phone call - almost 6:00 - they missed their exit and were in St. Catherines seeing signs for the US boarder) (frantic phone calls back and forth - the exits never mention Kitchener!! - didn't the Skyway bridge give you a clue??? - etc.) At some point, we gave up waiting, started eating and made bets as to when (or if) they would arrive. Although UU had been driving for FIVE hours, arrive they did, safe and sound, and they were even still speaking civilly to each other.
That alone would create the "Do you remember the year..." but there's more. Mom came wearing a matching pair of shoes but went home wearing two lefts (or was it rights?). Now you might think she had to have been three sheets in the wind but she says not. Apparently her one foot is always sore so she claims that is why she didn't notice the odd arrangement. The rest of us had a good laugh at her expense, however, when Maggie went to leave she had to squeeze into the other "pair" of shoes.
The other final touch to make Ewan's birthday memorable was four DAY old Lars, Christian and Sandy's new baby. How better to celebrate a birthday than with a birth!
All in all, a safe and happy birthday as well as Christmas. I hope all of you had the same!
****
Hello
everyone!
With one
and a half days left in the year 2006 I’m ready to let go and looking forward
to the New Year. Although we’ve lost some good people of fame and not so famous
this year, the world is also rid of many of its Tyrants. Thanks to the efforts
of our Canadian forces and the American military we have many less terrorists.
At this time, they have not yet hanged Sadam Hussein but hopefully they will
accomplish this feat before midnight Saturday. They say they can’t hang him on
the Sabbath so he must be gone before midnight Saturday. I don’t think there’s
any need to make a public spectacle of his demise but most certainly someone
will take a video of the event and it’ll be on the internet before the rope
stops vibrating. Just to let the world know he’s met his just reward will make
the world a better place. There are so many more threats in this world that
must be quashed but I’m afraid it’ll take several more years to make a dent in
this list. Let’s all hope that the New Year brings peace and civility to the
troubled parts of the world and we are able to bring the troops of all the UN
member countries home soon.
*
Christmas
was quiet, mild weathered and enjoyable this year. I’m writing to you on the
new computer that Adam gave to Carole and I for Christmas. Doug and Clyde will
be glad to know that I finally have all the gadgets in this one that enable me
to open the videos and audios they send me. In fact, they may even be a tad
envious if they only knew all gismos and gadgets this machine has. I’d gladly
tell them but I must admit I don’t know myself what all is in it. I asked Adam
and by the time he got midway into the description, he’d lost me in the dust.
Let’s just say it’s Smokin’ Fast and trouble free. As long as it works when I
push the buttons I’m happy! Thanks Adam for making my column writing easier!
All I know is that the “old” one clicked and hummed and buzzed like a robot and
this one is whisper quiet and I like that! I’m sure this one with it’s 250 GB of
Hard Drive and GB of Ram and dual processors and on and on and on will last us
at least 10 years I’m sure. I hope you
all know what I just said! LOL! All I know is that it took Adam the better part
of yesterday to set it up and install all the programs etc that are needed to
have the new computer in operation. It’s amazing how fast everything happens
when compared to the older unit we had. Looks like I’ll have no technical
excuse for dropping out of the column writing now that we have this beauty to
work with. That’s ok, I’d miss the weekly more than you guys if I stopped
writing now.
*
We’re
still enjoying the mildest winter we’ve had in many years here in Southern
Ontario. I hope we see it continue for another month or two until Spring sets
in. I look at it this way, it’ll keep my new Toro Snow Blower “new” for another
year. LOL! Now if I can only get the grass to stop growing yet stay green for
the summer, I’ll be all set. The mild weather is a bonus in a couple of ways. I
don’t think we’ve had the furnace on more than a dozen days since summer.
Should make for a reasonable energy bill if the rest of the winter is like
this. We’ll have to keep our fingers crossed that it lasts.
*
I’m
looking forward to seeing just how many of the original list of Squamidians
have sent Doug a note to say they still want to keep receiving the Weekly. I
hope you’ve all replied in the affirmative and will continue to read what’s
being sent out each week. It’s a lot of fun to write but it’s a lot more fun
when we know someone is reading what we’ve written. Grant it, sometimes the
topics aren’t that interesting but when we know people are at least reading the
weekly it makes it all worth while. I hope you’ll all continue to be with us in
the New Year and I look forward to another 52 weeks of scratching my head for
ideas. If any of you would like to suggest topics for me to write about, don’t
be shy. I’d be glad to do some research into whatever the topic may be and make
an effort to write about it constructively. If there’s anything you would like
to know about that concerns the Waterloo Region area, let me know and I’ll
check it out for you.
*
Carole
and I want to wish you all a Very Happy
and Prosperous New Year!
That’s it
for this week and I look forward to talking to you all again next (year) week
in “The Ontarion Report”.
Bye for now… Greg
PS:
Something To Think About>
A dime
has 118 ridges around the edge.
****
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.