The Squamidian Report – July 22 / 06
Issue #216
Also in this issue:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Blueberries! They are in season and they are good. And good for you. My own little crop has been supplying enough for having with ice cream every evening but we are also buying them down at the fruit stand place. Face it, enough is just not enough when it comes to blueberries. One scoop of ice cream with four large handfuls of berries sounds about right. Same with cereal at breakfast time, a little cereal on a bowl of berries goes down real nice.
However, some sort of vicious lethal wild raspberry variant has invaded my blueberry patch. It comes up incredibly fast, growing several feet in one week and produces small but sweet dark purple berries. It winds its way through the blueberry bushes and jabs at you as you try to carefully pick around them. Some of these wild plants are even coming up in the semi dark under my deck. The thorns are small but very sharp and hooked which enables them to do maximum damage to anything that comes near. I’ve been cutting and digging them out but I think this battle will last a long time. They just don’t give up.
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Sue hired someone to wash our house windows. I’ve been intending to wash them for years but it is either too hot out or too cold out or I’m busy or tired or whatever. So this guy came in and did them all, and was done. That simple, no fuss or mess or complaining. Now we can see through them, just like we are supposed to be able to do.
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Last Christmas, Emily gave us a pair of theatre passes so we could catch a movie down at the local movie theatre. Would you believe we finally got around to using them? Seems kind of silly but it took us over half a year to find an evening where we could catch a show. Oh well.
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I had kind of rushed my article together for last weeks letter, and there had not been time to check any of the pictures I’d taken along the drive home. The most photogenic section of the drive was along the Fraser River Canyon near Lillooet where the land is almost desert and the river has cut banks that are a thousand feet high. Some of the shots I took along there show the area fairly well. There was no point taking more pictures of the Duffy area or the Coastal Mountains, been there, done that. But you can see the Fraser Canyon pictures at:
http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b/Pictures/PG/fraser.htm
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Anyway, it is just too darned hot to sit here at the computer so mine will be a short column this week. BC is baking right now, in some places the road pavement is melting.
doug
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Hi
everyone!
We’re
having a nice quiet evening of soft rain here in Kitchener. It’s been a warm
summer so far with just enough rain to keep things green. I guess for around
here it’s pretty much a normal summer weather wise. The rest of the world is screwed
up but so far we’re doin’ OK.
We had a
busy day today. We had an appointment this morning and then had to be home by
11am to wait for our new couch to arrive. As you all know we had purchased a
leather one that didn’t suit our needs about 6 months ago. We managed to return
it to Sears and obtain a refund. We didn’t see anything we liked there so went
shopping at other outlets. We found what we thought was a beauty of a leather
one at Marten’s Furniture. It was an expensive one but we figured you get what
you pay for. So, we had them deliver it and it looked and felt pretty comfy.
After a few weeks, we noticed it was sagging at either end where we spent most
of our time sitting. Even the large baggy cushions that you rest your head on
were starting to flatten out. We called Marten’s and complained. They sent a
service guy around and he said he could repack the cushions and they probably
wouldn’t do it again. He couldn’t guarantee that though. Carole and I decided
that for almost two grand, the couch should pretty much keep it’s shape and
comfort for 20 years. We called the manager and asked him to replace the couch
with a different one and he agreed that if we weren’t happy, he’d be glad to do
that for us. We went down to Martin’s and finally picked a more conventional
looking couch that was also covered in cloth rather than leather. We had found
the leather too hot after sitting on it for a little while. Neither of us liked
that about it. We also decided not to have the flip up leg rests on the new model.
We just got a conventional sit up type couch. No fancy features! LOL! Well,
that was two weeks ago and the truck showed up today as planned with the new
one. It is a tad smaller than the other one and is a lot firmer to sit on. We
really like it so far but, it’s only been in the house for 3 or 4 hours. We’ll
give it a good test sitting over the next couple of weeks and then we’ll see
how it’s doing. While the couch was being delivered, I guess someone from the
Post Office tried to deliver a package for Adam. I found the failed delivery
tag on the door knob after the furniture guys left. It was about 3pm by this
time and I figured I’d take the MG and go pick up the package. I had to drive
to Fischer-Hallman Rd and Westmount on the south side of town a “Farmasave”
drug store to their postal depot to get it.
The roof of the car was down and as I pulled out of the garage I looked
up to see some threatening clouds heading our way. The weather man said it
would rain but what the heck does he know? LOL! Wellllllllllll, I got just
about to my destination and on the way I figured I’d outrun the storm and make
it home dry. As I approached my deastination the drops started hitting the
windshield. I looked to my left and
there was a Petro Canada station. I decided to pull up to the pumps and under
the protection of the canopy I’d put the roof up on the MG. I no sooner got it
up and locked in place when all hell broke loose. It rained so hard that my
three little windshield wipers couldn’t keep up with it. Oh well, as long as I
drove slowly I’d be able to see well enough. A quick blitz through the drops
and I had my package and was on the way home. If nothing else, I had
accomplished a free car wash for the MGB along with the deal. Every time I’m
able to push that little button in the car and have the garage door open to a
nice dry bay into which I can park my car I thank the inventor of that device.
What a pleasure it is to step out into a dry room rather than have to make a
run for it through the rain. It rained a nice steady shower for a few hours and
is just letting up a little now. That means the grass should be nice and green
and the pond will be full by morning. The weekend is supposed to be totally
sunny and hot, perfect summer weather. I think the rest of the world must have
ticked someone up there off and southern Ontario has been behaving as it
should. I Oh well, it’s nice to know that someone up there likes us Ontarions!
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>
The early
bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese!
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Hi everyone!
I was just wondering if any of you would like to express your thoughts about the following news story?
Fact:
How about the gratitude expressed by a great number of our Lebanese/Canadian brothers and sisters as they came ashore from the boats in Cyprus and Turkey as well as deplaning from our Prime Ministers personal plane on Canadian soil?
I for one was disgusted with the comments aired on the news. One woman actually called her "treatment" by Canadian rescue personel "Disgusting" and then said "If I had known how we were going to be treated by the Canadians my children and I would have stayed in Lebanon under the bombs! It would have been easier!"
I personally think this woman and every one of the evacuees that expressed such disgust owe Prime Minister Harper and the "True" Citizens of Canada a public appology! If they refuse to do so, then we should buy them one more ticket on a plane, back to Lebanon!
Just another one of a long line of Muslim indisgressions if you ask me!
Even the Swiss have expressed their dislike and distrust for the Muslim population of the world. However, I guess that's a discussion for another week!
Thanks to all... Greg.
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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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