The Squamidian Report – June 3 / 06
Issue #209
Also in this issue:
Hi All,
A few weeks ago Warren and I played at the Sea to Sky Stables, inside what is billed as the world’s biggest Teepee. That was a rather unmemorable experience, or at least I prefer not to remember it. But anyway, they were having a bbq there and anyone that had donated their playing time that day was invited. So we went to the bbq to see what was happening. There were lots of people there from the group that was putting on the bbq but only two other musicians turned up. Don’t really blame the rest for not showing. That meant Warren and I were the entertainment for the evening instead of it being a jam session like it was supposed to be. Weather was supposed to be seasonal and sunny but it turned cold as wet so even though we were under a roof it was not the most comfortable evening I’ve had. Plus they had a big bone fire going and the smoke came right to where we were. Smoke always seems to do that. I bugged out after a couple of hours of playing as the smoke was making my eyes and throat sore.
Don’t know why the smoke picked on me, we were too far from the fire for the thermal effect to kick in. If you are close to a fire there is a perfectly good reason why smoke comes straight to you. As the radiant energy from the fire warms up your surface facing the fire, your surface warms the layer of air directly in front of it. That air begins to rise, drawing in more air, which starts an air current that draws in the smoke. At least that’s how I see it happening. It’s not actually a personal thing that the smoke has against you.
And as for the ‘worlds largest teepee’, perhaps it is. It is about 60 feet wide at the base and about 60 feet high in the middle. The silly thing here is that this is not teepee country. The natives lived in wood structures covered with bark, longhouses, that kind of thing. Teepees were a prairie structure where portability was important. There was also a bunch of pretend Chuck wagons but those things were never a part of the heritage of this area either. I guess as long as we don’t tell the tourists everyone will be happy.
*
Just a piece of newsletter business, the Squamidian will be published next Friday evening instead of Saturday morning. I will be flying up to Prince George on Friday evening to visit with Sue for the weekend and so I’ll do the publishing thing just before I head to the airport. So if anyone wants something included in the June 10 issue, you’ll have to get it to me by the evening of Thursday the 8th.
doug
****
(May 31, 2006.)
" Last day of May, beautiful day; bugs are biting, so fish oughta be fighting."
4:30 a. m. Instinctively, I jump out of bed, not sure why at the time; whether it be Janice's snoring or a sub-concious urge to go fishing.
Janice hears me stirring at 5:30, figures out my intentions, decides no, she doesn't want to come along but fixes me an incredible breakfast while I get my gear together. ( gotta love that woman)
A brief walk outside tells me it is unusually warm, still and humid out with some high cloud cover slowly moving in. Again, that instinct kicks in and I decide to make Blackwater Lake my destination, just a 2 hour drive north;should be a good choice of lakes for a day of fishing.
Instantly, I decide to take the dirt bike along also, in case I experience a lull on the water.
In the past, before we were so tied to our retreat accommodation, Janice and I often went lake fishing together with our 16 foot canoe. She'd become a master at maneuvering the canoe delicately along the shoreline while I cast my fly into all those great hang-outs that trout love to lurk in.
One cannot flyfish properly alone in a canoe easily. Last fall I bought a pontoon style float tube which is the perfect answer to this problem.
By 10:00 a.m. I was on the water. I must have tried all my best fly's but could not interest the trout, yet they were jumping vigorously all day. At 2:00p.m. I decided to go for a dirt bike ride so I flippered my way back where I discovered an incredibly large dragonfly hatch happening around the wooden dock. Here there were big fish feeding in less than 2 feet of water. Had one on, but lost it as they were spooked by my presence. I thought, ' I'll come back this evening after my ride'.
A half hour drive took me down to the small Indian settlement of D'arcy on the south end of Anderson Lake. The local Indian band has had a blockade here since April to stop logging from happening up along the 28 kilometer stretch of what they call the 4by4 highline road to Seton Portage. I asked them if they'd mind if I parked my truck with them for a few hours while I scoot up with the bike for some pictures of Anderson Lake. The native leader was a native woman who looked like boredom was more her enemy than the loggers they were protesting. She had no problem with my request and they all looked quite docile so I thought,' better here than on some secluded stretch of road on the reserve'.
This has got to be one of B.C's top scenic 4by 4 routes. Excuse all the transmission lines as there is a 10 megawatt micro-hydro power station located at Seton Portage.
The above photo (see web link for this article with pictures) is as far as I rode (28 km) from the south end where i left my truck at D'arcy with the friendly natives. Time to head back to take in the evening fishing, boys.
Back in 1990 I drove this route as a shortcut to Lillooet rather than taking the longer highway route over the Duffey. (Doug wrote about the alternative Duffey Lake route on his Prince George trip with Sue recently.) I remember I darn near shit my pants on some of the hair pin turns! This road was really rugged back then. It's a breeze now; or is it that I'm just used to it, maybe?
Back to the Indian barricade by 5:30 p.m. where I call Janice from a
phone booth at the one and only little grocery/gas stop in the village.
"Expect me around 10:00 this evening, honey." The truck was in good
hands, load up and back to Blackwater Lake for a couple of hours fishing.
The lake was dead calm and skitters biting near as bad as Lorne and Vivians woodsy haven in Southern Ontario. Good sign!
Within the hour I picked up a fat twelve incher and missed a few good strikes too.
The fish in this lake are well fed, fat and happy but being of the wild, native variety they are tricky to catch. I think the bird wildlife are they're number one predator. A resident eagle and osprey are often seen but the loons are incredibly aggressive. I asked a conservation officer one time why the fish in Blackwater leap so high out; sometimes six feet out of the water in quite an amazing show. I have never seen this before on other lakes. I was told that they are trying to knock off their lice. It sure doesn't affect their flavour. They are delicious.
I have my own theory about these trout. Its not lice that makes them jump in this manner. I believe its the loons. Too often I have battled a loon for the trout I am trying to land. As a matter of fact, this trip makes it my third encounter with a loon while fishing.
This time was the last straw. These loons need to be taught a lesson. From now on I've decided to carry a paint ball gun with me. You can't believe the feeling of helplessness and frustration that I get when these creatures invade my fishing. First they watch carefully which fisherman on the lake is having the best luck'then they move in and wait for your fly to be snatched up by a fish. Instantly, they submerg like a heat-seeker torpedo and the next thing you know you've got a tug of war happening that only the loon can win.
The reason I sound so pissed off is because last night a loon took what could quite possibly be the largest trout I have ever caught on a fly rod. I played this trout with amazing skill and coolness. It must have been 10 minutes or so with all its leaping and diving while all the while wondering how I was going to land it as I had no net. I was only about 100 feet from the dock so my plan was to play it out and drag it up onto the shore. By the time I had the fish tamed this loon showed up just 5 feet in front of me. It was so huge my heart skipped a beat and all hell broke loose. The fish suddenly came to life and dove hard. I felt and incredible surge of pulling and the fish was gone.
I could go on to say how big this fish must have been but I was
too upset at the time. I literally flippered to shore, packed up and went home.
I can laugh at it now but I am serious I will be armed next time. If you see
any loons with yellow splotches on them they came from Blackwater.
Tales from Wildwood Warren.
For the web version of this story with the accompanying pictures, click on over to:
http://members.shaw.ca/coastalcedarcreations/bw.htm
****
Golden Southwest Tour
I had planned to work on my
Rosebeds the last few days but it has been too hot and humid for both me and
the roses. I decided to write about our
trip, taken April 1 to April 15 instead.
Our tour consisted of flying to Los Angeles from Toronto and joining travellers from all over the States and Canada. There were 120 of us, we were divided into 3 busloads and we travelled approximately 2,500 miles through parts of Nevada, Arizona and California. It was quite the adventure, at least for us “older folks”.
We started our trip, very pleasantly, on Friday night at the T.O. Hilton, dining in their elegant restaurant. We arrived at the Toronto airport at 4:30a.m. Saturday morning and couldn’t believe the amount of people there so early – that is the middle of the night for Ed and I. We had to change planes at Chicago’s O’Hare airport, the hugest I’ve ever seen. It was just like a traffic jam. We were the 14th plane waiting for take-off, just on our runway. Our runway was built on an overpass over a main highway. The wings of the plane protruded over the sides of the runway, high above the road. Flying over Arizona I saw the Grand Canyon from the air, it was absolutely awesome. The sky was clear so the view was spectacular. My camera, a 35mm wouldn’t have taken a clear picture from that distance, Ed’s digital would have but he was sound asleep. I was seated in the window seat and would have missed part of the phenomenon before my eyes if I had retrieved his camera from the carry-on above the seats. When we landed in L.A. we were met by our Man Tour Reps and driven to the hacienda Hotel. The streets were lined with palm trees, bougainvillaeas growing up walls, and many other kinds of flowering shrubs. The weather was clear and comfortably warm. The hotel was modern with a Mexican theme.
We left early for Primm, Nevada. The hotel was 14 stories high, nothing unusual about that except it was encircled by a huge roller coaster going all around the building, from top to bottom. When it zipped past our window all we saw was a blur. Apparently it is the fastest roller coaster in the U.S. No, we didn’t take a ride on it, the old wooden one at the C.N.E. was fast enough for me. The main floor of the hotel consisted of casinos, restaurants and entertainment.
We spent the evening in Los Vegas – quite a sight! There is a 6 block canapé, about 80ft. in the air, running all along Freemont St. Moving pictures are projected on this, depicting the various aspects of L.V. – at least the ones that can be “tastefully” shown. Entertainment, shops, bars and slots are along the street, the “people watching” was also very entertaining. Hotels are very lavish. In one lobby we saw a display of a dozen crystal flowers, towering about 20ft. high, each worth $80,000.
The next day was my birthday and we spent part of it at Hoover Dam. The bus driver has your name and birth date so everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to me and he loudly wished me a happy 74th. The dam is very interesting but has very tight security since 9-11. We had to empty our bags, pockets, etc. before entering the area. Only cars are allowed on the road over the dam. Truckers have to take a 200 mile detour to avoid travelling over the dam. Our bus was okay because we just drove in and out of the area, not over. A new bridge and roadway are being built. Seeing the heavy machinery, teetering dangerously over the edge made me think of Doug and his often, not too safe situations. We viewed a movie showing how the dam was constructed in the 30’s – quite an achievement considering the limited technology back then.
For the next several days we drove through the Majove Desert. The landscape is strange, almost eerie. It reminded us of a photo we saw of Iraq & Afghanistan. The terrain was made up of rock and hills like round mounds, almost shaped like an ice-cream scoop. On the hills grow sagebrush, creosote and Joshua trees – not very colourful. The Jolla cactus is also plentiful, it was in full bloom with large yellow cone shaped flowers. The Saguaro cacti are everywhere, they grow up to 30ft. high. From a distance they look like 3-prong utility poles. The Joshua trees vary in size from 2 to 10 ft. high. They are found in the Majove Desert, the Sonoran Desert and around the Phoenix area. Our driver said that April is the best time to travel in the desert as it is the most colourful and without high temperatures. It must look extremely desolate other times. Over the next week, as we are travelling from one area to the next, we visit several cacti gardens, arboretums and green houses with beautiful displays of flowers and some unusual plants.
On our way to Laughlin, Nevada we spent some time in L.V. mostly trying to find our way out of casinos. Those casinos are larger then any mall or superstore I have ever been in. We were so happy to see daylight again we decided to take in some of the many fabulous sights. The M.G.M. casino features a replica of the Statue of Liberty. The Paris hotel has one of the Eiffel tower. Unfortunately the signs in front of these hotels are so huge they seem only a block away when they are actually a mile away. We walked until we almost dropped. We had to be back at the bus at a set time and didn’t have the energy to walk back but were able to return by cab at a reasonable charge.
Our hotel in Laughlin was right on the shore of the Colorado River with a beautiful view from our room. The 2 evenings we were there we strolled, hand in hand, along the boardwalk edging the river. Tiny songbirds were flitting from bush to bush, azaleas were 4-5ft. high. Tulips, irises and roses were planted along the way. It was absolutely beautiful and quite a change of scenery from the desert. It was sunny clear weather, what a day to visit Lake Havasau and enjoy a scenic boat ride along the lake. The lake is 45 miles in length, created by the Hoover Dam. It is a beautiful lake with fishing and sail boats enjoying the day. The tourist part of the town is Olde English style, with shops and restaurants. The London bridge, dating back to the 18th century has been rebuilt and spans across the lake. MacLauglin was the man that was responsible for having it taken apart, stone by stone and shipped from England. He had won it in a poker game. The bridge was up for sale, to be replaced by a new one in London. The town itself is made up of 9000 retirees, living in small adobe homes or condominiums. Here we saw manu trees looking like stunted pines. They are the Arizona state tress, called Pato Verde. The trunk is mostly in the ground, in order for the tree to draw as much water from the ground as possible. Bottle Brush trees are also seen here, the flowers on them look like red bottles.
We then journeyed through the desert to a ghost town called Oatman. What fun! At times the road narrowed to less the one lane, twisting and turning, for no apparent reason. This road is part of the old Route 66, it went west from Chicago to L.A. It was probably one of the first super highways in the 20’s. The landscape was eerie and desolate again. Thunder clouds and lightening were looming over the “mountains”. Our driver pretended that he was lost and the “wild” Majove Indians might come and take the women away and make them their squaws. He should have been an actor. Some passengers actually believed him. Oatman had once been a thriving place but now is decrepit but is interesting with old time shops and a run down hotel. Clark Gabel and Carol Lombard had spent their wedding night there in the late 40’s. Not very luxurious, even for that era. Wild donkeys walk all over the place, you have to watch were you put you step. When we left Oatman it looked like we were in for quite a storm bur we only had high winds which made the desert even more eerie.
We got an early start the next morning, Grand Canyon day. It was a clear warm day for our 3 hour drive to the canyon. The landscape was changing again with more rock and becoming very colourful. After about 2 hours of driving we started to see snow on the ground with more snow the closer we got to the canyon. We were now 5,00ft. above sea-level, tall Ponderosa pines lined the road. The park has it’s own diesel powered buses and only allows the tour (gas) buses to stop at only a few lookouts. Supposedly to protect the environment but probably to get more tourists to ride their own park buses. We stopped at Angel Face, the main lookout, so awesome and the snow brought out the deep crevices in the rock. We were dressed warm as it was very cold and windy, about 40°F. Some tourists were in shorts and tee-shirts trudging through the snow with only beach thongs on their feet. We stopped at several other lookouts – awesome. You can’t believe what your eyes are seeing. We took many photos but pictures and postcards cannot do justice to the miles and miles of utterly beautiful coloured rock. Another lookout has a high tower situated very close to the edge. You can climb it to get a better view. Ed climbed it but I didn’t attempt it. We were now over 6,00ft. above sea-level and my breathing was getting rather laboured, because of my asthma. We drove to many other lookouts. The driver wasn’t allowed to stop but drove very slowly to get more fantastic views.
We drove 2 hours south to Flagstaff, Arizona. We saw many little canyons, they looked like flat fields and mesas. With a closer look you could see deep crevices in the land. The rock inside the crevices was a bright deep orange with red tinges to them. There are Indian settlements, cattle are grazing, very few fences along the way. I wonder how many people and animals have fallen down into the deep crevices. The scenery looked just like the scenery in an old western movie. Now we were about 7,200ft. above sea-level, my breathing not good, many other people were having the same problem. We had to walk about a block to a Cracker Barrel for dinner, with high winds and high altitude it was not a pleasant experience for me. But the fantastic phenomenon that we experienced that day was well worth the uncomfortable feeling of not being able to breathe too well. Flagstaff, AZ will be a place I won’t be revisiting.
It was another clear morning as we travelled down from 7,200ft. to 4,00oft. I gradually felt much better. We drove through Oak Ridge Canyon, very scenic, rocks of odd shapes, brilliant coloured, many twists and turns in the road, several times very close to a the edge of a steep embankment. We arrived at a very picturesque town, Sedona, stopping for several hours, very interesting sights to see. As you walk along the street there are lifelike statues made of bronze but wearing clothes made of cloth fabric. There were flower beds everywhere, huge flowering almond trees, apple and peach trees in bloom. Unique scenery, rock mountains in many different colours in every direction. Ed bought me a birthday gift, silver necklace and earrings, inset with black onyx stones, beautiful.
My breathing is back to normal as we head to Phoenix. We have a great hotel in Phoenix but after a good dinner and some time spent with fellow travellers from Victoria, B.C. we head for bed. Tomorrow it’s off to Apache Trail and Canyon Lake. Everyday is something different, truly an amazing trip. I’ll try not to write as long a synopsis about our second week.
****
You'll usually hear me wax poetic about the beauty and delightfulness of the natural woodland setting I call home. But not today. And not for the past few weeks or the next few weeks. For you see, we are deep in the thick of bug season. Bug season falls between the fresh, dewy wake-up call of spring and the lazy, lakeside days of summer. It started with a few lonely black flies in early May, then some mosquitos joined in, then a few million more black flies decided it was time to party, and now it's building to a crescendo with swarms of black flies, legions of mosquitos, and now saber-toothed deer flies have launched their first attacks. Arg!
This is definitely NOT the time to come for a visit. Unfortunately, most of the traveling public also know this... so business is rather slow. Spring, in general, is not a busy time for tourism in cottage country and beyond. Even during a nice spring. April, for instance, was a beautiful month. Warm—sometimes a hot 28°C—days and cool nights. Plenty of sunshine and enough rain to bring the deciduous trees back to life. And no bugs! Our biggest challenge then came with the unfortunate combination of excessive snow-melt, power outages and an electric sump pump. Put those three factors together and what do you get? Countless trips carrying buckets of water up from the basement to dump outside (downhill from the house!). Thankfully, we finally bought an emergency generator so we can plug in some essentials when the need arises.
The slow season is a good time for Jim and I to catch up on maintenance and other projects. One thing that has kept me busy with meetings, phone calls, paperwork and plans is the start-up of a B&B association for our region. With just eight members so far, we are quite small but I'm pleased with the way things are shaping up. As a first project together, we've organized a guided bird-watching weekend including expert guides, packed lunch, group dinner at a local golf club, and of course accommodations at an area B&B. I don't know much about birds myself, but apparently we are in a transition zone where we get birds typical of both the north and south regions of the province. Lets hope this project flies! (ha ha)
Even in this slow time, we don't make big dents in our To Do lists. It seems like every time we cross one item off the list, we're adding three more. And of course, there are always surprises.Take the May 24 weekend, for example. We had four rooms booked over the long weekend, the busiest we've been in a while. Although our guests were an odd mix of people, everything was going smoothly until about 11:00 on the Sunday night. That's when the couple from a downstairs room came to tell us there was water coming through their ceiling. Sure enough, water was trickling and the paint was bubbled and torn down one corner in the bathroom and a stream of water had travelled along the bedroom ceiling, breaking through just above the bed. Thankfully, our guests had shoved the bed aside to protect the mattress and put a boot tray down to catch the water.
As it turns out, the couple in the room above them have a poor understanding of the concept of 'water displacement'. It seems they filled the tub with water before getting in and overwhelmed the runoff valve. When I went upstairs to check on the situation, they said "just a little water ran over the side". Meanwhile, both bath towels are soaking wet from them mopping up the floor and some floor tiles behind the tub have lifted. They told me the tiles were already like that, but I wash that floor by hand after every guest so I know that wasn't the case. Frustrating, but it's not like they planned to flood the house. So now I'm thinking if we don't fix any of the damage, we can just call it an in-room water feature and charge extra!Fortunately, the downstairs guests took it all in stride. They were great sports about the whole thing, scampering in their pajamas across the deck at midnight to a cold (but dry) room. Actually, it's guests like these that make the crazy times worth it. They loved everything about our place and their forays around the area. The weather was miserable, cold, overcast. They said what a nice change it was for them to be cold at this time of year and how uncommon an overcast day is at home (they're from Arizona). They loved the fact that it snowed—yes, it snowed here three times on the May 24 weekend!—and we all had a laugh about how they can now perpetuate the myth about Canadians all living in igloos.
I suppose if I look at the bright side of our latest misadventure of the spontaneous waterfall, at least it's an INDOOR repair job. It could always be worse and have Jim up on the roof or us back in the woods, feeding the winged wildlife. Another happy note: the dragonflies have already started with their air patrols! These remarkable hunters will clear the way for the summer season to roll in. Soon, I hope!!!Until then, take care.
****
Hello
everyone!
I’m
trying to keep my eyes open long enough to write this week’s column but it is
difficult. I’ve been up and on the move since 5am and am just winding down now.
I decided to get up at the same time as Adam so I don’t waste the day. It just
so happened he wanted to get to work a couple of hours early so it was an
exceptionally early day. Last night we had one heck of a storm and I spent an
hour in the “eye” of the storm making my way to Waterloo and back to retrieve
supper in the form of Chinese food. It never fails, whenever you have to go out
during a storm, you always wind up going during the worst part of it. I could
hardly see past the front of the Jeep all the way to Waterloo but it let up a
little on the way home. As it turned out, the food was worth the trip. We
always get it from a little place in the Beechwood Plaza. They have MSG free
Chinese food and in their “dinner for 2” there’s enough food for at least 4
people. I don’t know how they figure their portions but they certainly are
generous! Three of us filled up on the dishes last night and there was enough
to do lunch today as well. Guess that’s good value for your money.
*
I had a
busy day and accomplished a lot. I managed to get out and pay a couple of bills
and do a few other errands as well. I had an appointment with KROWN Rust Control
to undercoat the Jeep at 3pm and arrived just in the nick of time. They told me
it would take an hour or so to do the vehicle but they were also working on a
couple of others. So I figured it would be longer than just an hour.
I went
for a walk and arrived back at the shop an hour later. They had the third brake
light out of the Jeep when I looked into the shop. When the fellow came into
the office to tell me the Jeep was done, he told me he found a rust spot on the
back end. I said “Oh so I guess you’ll be needing it again to have the spot
repaired for me?” and he replied “No, the spot is in a location that is not
covered by our warranty!” I asked what the point was of my bring the vehicle to
them every year and paying $140.00 to have them guarantee their work if they
weren’t going to stand behind their guarantee and he said “Let me explain!” At
that, we walked out to the Jeep in the parking lot and he opened the back glass
to reveal a spot of rust bubbles in the cavity just under the third brake light
on the edge of the roof. There is a seam in there where the metal from the roof
panel containing the third brake light meets that of the channel holding the
rubber seal for the window. I guess that spot gets wet and holds the moisture
in the small groove allowing it to eventually rust. He said there must have
been a “wear spot” from something rubbing that allowed the water to have access
to bare metal. He then told me that they do not spray their product in that
upper roof edge cavity because it would seep into the roof lining and make a
mess. Therefore, since they don’t spray there, they don’t warrant that spot
against rust. I guess he felt sorry for me because he gave me a $15.00 spray
can of their product to spray on the spot every couple of months after I get it
cleaned up and repainted. The spot should be quite easy to clean up so I guess
I’ll do it myself. I should be able to grind off the rust and prime and paint
it. It just ticked me off to get that sort of news and reaction after paying
for what I thought was total coverage all these years.
*
From one
full day to the next! I’ll have another one tomorrow as well. I noticed that
the grass I cut 3 days ago has grown by leaps and bounds with the rain we had
yesterday. It’s hard to believe it grows that fast. I’ll be putting a few hours
into the job for sure. I have to whipper snip for sure before I’ll be able to
mow the lawn this time. I usually trim every second time which extends the work
load to double the “mow only” time. Oh well, if you want your place to look its
best you have to put in the time. At least the forecast for the next 5 days is
looking good. Which means I’ll cut the grass tomorrow and within another 3 days
it’ll need it again. Hahahaha… you just can’t win! At least we didn’t fertilize
this year so the growth isn’t quite as rapid. The gardens are looking heavily
grown too but Carole said they don’t get trimmed until they finish blooming.
That should give me a few days yet before having to fire up the clippers.
There’s always something to do when you have a house to keep in shape. What the
heck, what else do I have to do now that I’m retired anyway? LOL!
*
Thanks
for tuning in everyone! I look forward to talking to you all again next week in
The Ontarion Report.
Bye for now…
Greg.
PS: Something
To Think About>
A cat has
32 muscles in each ear.
****
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!
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