The Squamidian Report – Jan 28 / 06
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Hi All,
The strangest thing happened this week. The sky cleared up. Only lasted a day or so but it was sure nice. Before daylight the crescent moon and Jupiter shown brightly in the southeast and Saturn was in the west. All the winter constellations were there. You tend to forget about stars and planets when it is overcast for a month or so. Then the sun came up and highlighted all the snow up on the mountains. I had to put up with the almost blinding reflection of light off the waters of Howe Sound as I worked at Britannia for the day. Then on the drive home the snow up on Brohm and Garibaldi glowed. By then the sun was low enough that the valley was in shade but the upper slopes were still sun-lit.
And because this is the west coast, even this time of year when the sun comes out everyone is all of a sudden walking around in short sleeves. It is instantly mid spring.
Then it was back to our rain again. All the locals are saying that this has been the wettest winter in memory. I guess one of these days it will turn nice again. One interesting thing about the rain is that it is snow at the higher elevations. At times that can mean just a few hundred feet above you, or the tree tops above you. We can often look up and see it snowing on the slopes. It is very visible as it falls onto the mountains. Any flakes that pass through the temperature change into warmer lower air turn to light rain.
The snowline here in Squamish is about where the trees end below the top of the first peak of the Chief. As you head north up the highway toward Whistler the line falls as the land rises. Whistler Village is about 500 feet higher than the Chief so it is winter there and spring-like here. The transition is somewhere in between.
The transition zone is also where the bad driving is. I don’t have to deal with it but Ryan commutes to Whistler almost every day and has to deal with crossing between two seasons on a regular basis. Mix in all the tourists and city people in a big hurry and it can get pretty hairy at times.
Anyway, time to get back to assembling an exercise thing that the wife bought by mail-order. It came in a box weighing in at over 50 lbs and has assembly instructions that must be a literal translation of their original Asian composition. The sentences just don’t make much sense. It takes my old brain a bit of grinding to understand what part is supposed to go where and how. I’ve always considered myself to be pretty handy with a wrench or screwdriver but it’s turning out to be quite a challenge. Oh well, it will be up and running by the time she gets home at the end of the week. She was on a Winnipeg audit this past week so she flew into Toronto for a quick visit back home rather than flying all the way to Vancouver and then back out onto the prairies on Monday.
doug
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I’ve been bellyaching about my dislocated shoulder for a while now. But some people have it a whole lot worse than I do. I received this information regarding Vivyan from Gale this week. Doug.
Hi Doug
I don't know if dad would have thought to call you about this. Mom fell and hurt her knee and wrist this morning while walking the dog. The wrist just has a sprain but the knee is broken. There isn't much else to tell yet. They can't do the surgery today so they have her at Vivtoria Place which is near St Mary's hospital and has the facilities for taking care of her over night. They will transport her to KW in the morning because that is where the bone clinic is located. - it is $139 for each little trip would you believe!!! They will examine her knee and decide at that point when to do the surgery. At this point she is cheerful (or stoned?)
She took the dog for a walk in the woods early this morning before it was completely light and slipped on ice or a root. Luckily she had her cell phone and called dad (who was still in his pj's) to bring a cane. Since he can't get around that well himself, he hooked up the tractor and trailer which turned out to be a good thing. Typical parents, on the way to the hospital they dropped the dog off at the vwts for his"snip" appointment and picked up Cindy to help out.
I will let you know more as it happens.
I'll talk to you soon. Gale
**
Hi Again, Here is an update.
Mom's femur is broken just above the left knee. She will have surgery sometime tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon and will be in the hospital about five days and then it will be about seven weeks before she can put weight on it.
When she arrived at the second hospital this morning - another $139 - they had no idea she was coming and gave her a hard time. It turned out that their own receptionist hadn't passed on the info! There was no bone clinic today because the doctor was away at a funeral or something. Fortunately the doctor popped in about something else during all of this and stopped to have a look at the x-rays that mom had with her. This Dr. Hoople INSISTED that they find a bed for her and NOT send her away. He wasn't impressed with St. Mary's doing that the day before.
The long and the short of it - it took from 9 am. Tues. until 3pm. Wed. for her to get a hospital bed and that is with a rather badly broken leg and messed up wrist!
Carol and I were up there tonight and helped with some paper work, phone and clothing details etc. I will let you know about the surgery and other details as they happen.
The pain killers made her a little sick but she is in good spirits. Gale
**
Hi a third time.
Mom had her surgery last evening (Thursday) around 5 and it went about 2 hours and all went well. She has a plate(s) and pins in her leg. She doesn't have much of an appetite but that is normal when they are pumping in pain killers I think. It appears that they opened up a private room that hasn't been in use for a while but is giving her a little privacy. Now we have 5 or so days to organize the "after the hospital" stuff!
Other things like dog walking, etc., we are handling day by day. We have come up with some more permanent ideas for dog walking that I'll explain some other time.
In spite of it all, Dad still did his usual Fri. morning volunteer work at Sunnyside Senior Retirement home and took the dog with him.
Mom is okay but there are many months ahead that will involve physiotherapy, home care, house keeping, meals and problem solving - but she is OKAY -yeah!
****
Karin sent some great pictures of the local birds in Melbourne. Follow the link and enjoy.
http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b2/Misc/ginger.htm
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Hi gang! I've been meaning to write an update on the happenings here at Fern Glen Inn but haven't had the chance. I did, however, come across a little story I wrote some time ago. I figure I'll send it along to Doug this week and hopefully give Vivyan a little huckle as she recovers from surgery. Get well soon, Grandma!
I was a single woman in my early twenties, fresh out of school, in my first apartment, and ready to single-handedly kick some ass out there in the real world. First order of business was to express my personality by furnishing and decorating my new home. This included hanging a rather heavy mirror on a thick concrete-block wall by my entry door. I didn't know much about home repairs, but knew enough to realize that a wall like that needed more than a little hook and nail to keep the mirror up. So I borrowed my mom's power drill, along with a heavy screw and and anchor...
Saturday afternoon rolls around and I figure I'll get the little task out of the way in no time. I put a medium sized bit in the drill, put drill to wall and press the trigger. The drill whirs and spins but does no more damage to the wall than a scratch through the paint. I remove the bit and replace it with mom's heaviest bit. I try again but still no luck. Hmmm.
Undaunted, I decide to get in my car and take a short spin over to the local Canadian Tire store. I find a staff member in the hardware department, explain I'm trying to drill into a concrete wall and that my bits aren't doing the job. No problem, he locates for me a concrete drill bit, some bigger anchors and screws, and sends me on my way.
Driving home, I'm feeling quite pleased with my ability to solve the little problems that come with my new self-sufficient status. Back at my apartment, I put the new bit in the drill and set about making a hole in the wall. No hole. I apply more pressure and manage to remove more paint. Arg.
Back to Canadian Tire and the same fellow in the hardware department. The drill bit's not doing it, I tell him. Must be a solid building you're living in, he replies as he finds for me a beefier concrete bit and equally beefy anchors and screws. Try this.
So back home I trot to try again. More paint comes off and the concrete underneath is showing some scratches. I apply more pressure and the concrete shows more distress. I keep at it and manage to loosen a bit of rubble but nothing remotely resembling a hole is in the near future. I know that other people in recorded history have managed to drill holes into concrete walls...why can't I?!? The wall must be made of titanium. This is insane. But I won't be bested by a wall!
So back to Canadian Tire I go, AGAIN, and throw myself on the mercy of the poor hardware guy. The drill bit isn't working, it's barely making a dent. Time to bring out the big guns. So he gives me a drill bit that could take down a rhino and an anchor the size of a small pylon and back home I go to face my nemesis.
Drill bit in drill. Drill to wall. Whir. Spin. No hole! This wall must be made of cryptonite. But it's just a wall! What is wrong with me? Why can't I put a simple freaking hole in a simple freaking wall?!? Defeated by a wall...what chance do I have against the big bad world if I can be defeated by a wall? By this time I am slumped on the floor with tears of frustration and despair in my eyes. I hang my head in defeat, with drill and mother-of-all-drill-bits in my hands. As I sit there wallowing, I notice a little switch on the underside of the drill. Beside the switch is the word Reverse. Who knew that a drill goes in two directions?
I flip the switch to Forward and put in the original concrete drill bit. Within minutes I have myself a beautiful little hole in the wall, with anchor and screw secured. My new mirror is hanging a little higher than I intended—high enough to hide the battle scars—but I don't care... I have Victory!
Hope you enjoyed my little story. Unfortunately, it's all true.
Have a great week!
****
Hello
everyone!
It’s been a week now since we arrived home from our
trip to Florida.
We had a great time visiting out friends in Tarpon
Springs. They have purchased their condo and are in their first 6 month winter
stay in the Sunshine State. We had visions of us doing something the same in
the future after hearing how much they enjoyed their home away from home.
However, once we spent the week with them and an additional few days touring
further south in the state, we decided neither of us would like to do the
Florida thing every year for extended periods and that we would rather take a
week or two per year and do the “all inclusive” holiday in different places. We
talked many years ago about buying a cottage but decided back then that having
two residences to maintain was not something we relished. We have several
friends that bought cottages and spent their time there performing home
renovations and lawn mowing etc. This to me is not an enjoyable way to spend
your holiday time. Holidays are for relaxing and unwinding, not duplicating the
house and home work we do every day.
The drive to the south was very enjoyable in both
directions. We spent the first night in Windsor as we didn’t get away from
Kitchener until mid afternoon. I have driven to Florida in a straight run of 23
hours several times in my younger years and decided to do it in a few days of
daylight driving only. We enjoyed the evening in Windsor and Carole even
managed to pick up $300.00 at the slots before we retired for the night.
Nothing like picking up a little gas money at the last minute! LOL! We hit the
road again the next morning at 10am. As we crossed the bridge into Michigan,
the toll booth lady told us that the roads in Detroit including the I-75 were a
mess with black ice and to be very careful until the salt trucks did their
duty. We found it very slippery for the first 30 or so kms. After that the
roads improved and by the time we hit Ohio the sun was out and the temp began
to climb. The rest of our drive south was like driving in a pleasantly sunny
fall day in Ontario. The one thing that we were both impressed with was the
nicely manicured condition of I-75. Other than 6 deer and 5 wolves lying dead
on the sides of the highway there was absolutely no litter along the way. The
Americans know how to groom their shoulders and median areas. The maintenance
they put into keeping their highways clean and drivable puts the same
thoroughfares in Canada to shame for sure. Upon arrival back on this side of
the 49th parallel we felt ashamed as we compared our highway
conditions to those of the Yanks. It seems that Canada’s fleet of lawn mowers
has been mothballed forever. I know it’s not the time of year for this type of
work here in Canada but the weeds and scrub bushes along the 401 are not
something that has grown in the past 3 or 4 months. Maybe the Conservative Feds
will cough up with some financial help for the provinces to clean up their
act. Sorry, didn’t mean to slip into a
political mode!
While we were staying with our friends in Florida,
the girls were lounging around the pool. I decided to take a walk around the 45
acre condo complex lake and took my camera along. They had some interesting
Heron like birds standing along the shoreline. I walked about half way around
the lake when I noticed what had looked like a log on shore from the other side
turn and look back at me. It was an Alligator that measured approximately 5-6
feet in length. I took a couple of quick shots of it and before I could check
my results the gator slipped into the lake. He resurfaced about a hundred feet
from shore and followed me as I walked around the rest of the lake. I guess he
was as curious about me as I was about him. I tried on two more occasions to
sneak around the lake to get better pictures of him but after the first
encounter he would spot me coming from the moment I appeared on the shore. I
could only get within about 50 yards of his sunning spot and in he’d go. I
guess my bright white Canadian tan was a dead give away! LOL! Carole said she
could see my skinny white legs reflecting in the sun from the opposite side of
the lake when she was lounging at the pool. I guess I should have worn jeans
and the gator might not have seen me coming! Oh well, I did get pictures of him,
just not quite the close-ups I wanted.
After the first week, we decided to head south to
Fort Myers and check out anything that looked interesting. We found the Summer
homes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. They were good friends and had built
identical homes in Florida way back in the 1920’s. Edison was the first to
build and when Ford visited him and liked what he saw, he bought the property
adjoining Edison’s and built his “cottage”. These homes are about 2000 sq ft in
floor area and nothing to write home about. They are on a plot of land about 6
acres in size that backs on to the Caloosahatchee River. The estates are now
owned by the city of Fort Myers and they operate them as cash cows. It costs
$16.00 per adult to take a walking tour of the grounds and a quick look inside
the houses. When we were there, the furnishings had been removed and the homes
were under renovation. We were still allowed inside but with no furniture there
wasn’t much to look at. Still, the guide was well informed and gave an
interesting talk about the history of
both gentlemen. The number of inventions and patents belonging to Thomas Edison
is amazing. He held 1022 patents if I recall correctly. He, Ford and a gentleman
named Firestone (of tire fame) each put $25 G’s into a pot and built a lab on
the property. The lab still stands today and still contains every scrap of
equipment that was in it the day they abandoned it. The lab was used every day
for over 5 years to attempt to find a vegetation source for rubber in North
America. The best they could do after testing thousands of plants was the
“Goldenrod” leaf. For every 100 lbs of leaves they processed, they could
produce 12 lbs of rubber. This was only a 12% return for their effort so they
scrapped the idea and continued to buy their rubber from England. England was
the owner of huge rubber plantations all over the world and had a lock on the
market back in the early 20th century. There is also a museum on the
grounds containing examples of most of Edison’s inventions. I took pictures of
his electrical accomplishments. One of the big ones was the invention of a 3
wire electrical system for supplying electricity to homes and industry. I took
a close up of the first drawings he did of his design so I could show Adam the
origins of the trade he is now a journeyman in. He found it quite interesting
when he looked at the drawings.
If you want to spend a few interesting hours on the
internet, look up Edison’s list of inventions and I’m sure you’ll be surprised
to find out what’s on that list. One last tidbit of info about Edison, he once
worked in a place in Ontario called “Stratford Junction” as a telegraph
operator. He was fired after 3 days for sleeping on the job. This is the
original crossroads that is Stratford Ontario today. Cool eh?
From Fort Myers, we went to Fort Myers beach. The
beach is made up of flour like white sand and is quite a nice spot. The area
around the beach is however like any beach town. It’s made up of rows and rows
of run down older motels and bars that are inhabited by thousands of young,
hooting and hollering beach bunnies and muscle heads. Not the atmosphere that a
couple of “mature” sun lovers such as Carole and I like to spend a lot of time in
these days. After we spent a couple of hours on the beach we decided to head
out of town. We traveled north to a small town called Punta Gorda and found a
newly rebuilt motel with a beautiful pool and steak house attached. We spent
the next two days there and just lazed around the pool. It was a truly
enjoyable time and turned out to be enough relaxation to satisfy our needs. The
third morning we decided to head toward home and just stop along the way if we
saw something worth checking out. Once again the weather was sunny with
pleasant temperatures all the way to Ontario. Two days later we were pulling in
our driveway. It had been an enjoyable trip but it was nice to be home again.
One more quick note. I checked the mileage traveled
during the trip and figured the results in “Miles Per Gallon”. I don’t like
this metric stuff so I convert it all back to something I can understand. I
took into account every ounce of fuel and every mile covered from start to
finish. I included all the driving, both city and highway and was very happy
with the results. The fuel economy worked out to be 25.74 Miles Per Gallon.
That’s pretty darned good for a 4x4 vehicle weighing in at 4200 lbs and
carrying a full load of people and luggage. I think we’ll keep it for a few years!
I’ve kept your attention (I hope) for long enough.
It’s time to give you a break until next week when I hope to talk to you all
again in The Ontarion Report.
Thanks for tuning in!
Bye for now… GREG.
PS: Something To Think About>
“There’s a way to do it better – find it!”
Thomas Alva Edison.
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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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