The Squamidian Report – Feb. 3 / 07
Issue #245
Also in this issue:
North Nova News
The Ontarion
Hi All,
After a long dark cold wet winter, we have finally returned to our more ‘normal’ weather. It is after all, February, and on the west coast that roughly equates to about April in Central Canada. We will soon be into pollen and blossoms and a general more greening-up of the landscape. When it is nice out here, it tends to be INCREDIBLY nice out. So nice in fact that it is exciting.
I was out for a walk on just such a day, with the sun shining down from a brilliant clear blue sky and the deep snow on the surrounding mountains was glowing. My frustrating brain (which seems to have conversations with itself) never seems to stop chewing away at things and on the walk it stumbled onto the topic of global warming. Well, right there it meets with a dilemma. Because while the powers-to-be are babbling about global warming, they should actually be dealing with global poisoning. Global warming is part of a natural cycle that has been going on since the beginning of the planetary atmosphere. There has been global cooling as well. We see both in the numerous ice ages and tropical ages that have happened over the ages. And there are cycles within cycles within cycles. Climate change is simply a result of leaving the last ice age as we warm up toward the next tropical age. And yes, we are affecting the current warming trend to some degree, but what should really be the point is the rate at which we are poisoning the atmosphere. It is the poisoning that is doing the damage to our life forms. Any warming WE are causing is a side effect of the poisoning.
I guess the up-side to that is that once we have poisoned the atmosphere and planet to the point where we wipe ourselves out, the atmosphere will self-heal. Within a few thousand years after we cease to exist there will be virtually no trace or clue to the fact that we had ever been here. Problem solved. So to avoid that we need to focus on stopping the poisoning, not on trying to stop the warming. The warming will happen weather (pun intended) we are here on not.
At least our poisoning of the atmosphere is temporary. Either we stop it or it stops us. One way or another, it will stop at some point in time. There have been other mass poisonings of the atmosphere that were not so temporary throughout our geological history. About three billion years ago the atmosphere was flooded with an incredibly toxic, corrosive gas that wiped out almost all of the life forms on earth and changed even the chemical composition of rock as it formed. That gas stayed and has shaped every aspect of the planet. We call it oxygen. Life before then would have called it devastation.
As for global warming, ten thousand years ago this whole area was under a mile of glacial ice. The ice has been receding ever since. And we didn’t cause that to happen. It is now reduced to small, localized glaciers and ice-fields up in the mountains. These are shrinking every year. They will continue to shrink. We cannot stop a planetary natural occurrence. To try to is fruitless and arrogant. We don’t like the consequences of the warming, changes in weather patterns and severity, changes in ocean currents and sea levels. But it’s a waste of time to fight them, we have to adapt. Forecast where things are going and be ready for the changes. If we don’t, we will only be a minor footnote in our planetary history. The creatures on this planet that will successfully adapt regardless of what we do are the insects. They will be around no matter what we do or how long we last.
But don’t get me wrong here. While the hyped concept of global warming is just a symptom of global poisoning, any increase we may be causing is serious. But the focus is wrong, it is on a side effect of the real problem and therefore looses credibility. It’s like they fear to broach the real problem, and it will take the whole world working together to fix it. Fat chance of that ever happening under current political climates. No one seems to want to talk about the thousands that will die this year alone in and around our relatively clean Canadian cites just from breathing the poisoned air.
And then there is another part to the equation that is a whole topic unto itself. Solar dimming! And there is truly nothing we can do about that. Now, aren’t you glad you don’t have to live inside MY head!
*
Sue had quite an exhausting day of travel last Saturday. Her plane was 2 hours late getting away from Toronto because of weather problems there. When it finally took off it was crammed to the rafters with passengers making for a crowded noisy 5-hour flight home. Her flight was obviously 2 hours late getting in as well. I met her at the airport and we grabbed a bit of supper and then headed home. Due to the high pressure sitting over the west coast, the airport and large sections of the city that sit at sea level were socked right in with dense fog so until we climbed to higher ground the driving was pretty tough. Add to that the fact that large areas of the city were without power for some reason, meaning that the traffic lights were out and it made the drive that much more exciting. Intersections where the lights are not working are supposed to be dealt with like 4-way stops. Tell that to the average Vancouver driver! They haven’t got a clue. But we made it out of the city and it was clear sailing on up to the land of Squamidia.
Then on Sunday morning we took advantage of the brilliant warm sunshine and drove up to Whistler for breakfast. Kind of hard to find a parking spot because they’ve had over 30 feet of snow so far this winter, making for big piles of the stuff all over the place. We had a nice meal at the Wildwood and then drove home. On the way back down we made like tourists and stopped at the Tantalus lookout. The view of the ice fields and craggy peaks is worth the drive itself. The prospective is made even better by the fact that you can also look way down into Paradise Valley and on out toward the coast. I just happened to have my binoculars along so we blended right in with all the other gawkers.
Wow, have I ever been long winded in this issue!
doug
****
We are freezing here in Nova Scotia! For the last few weeks we have been experiencing extremely cold temperatures making it hard to heat our home. I seem to be hugging the wood stove whenever I’m home. We were very spoiled most of the winter with little or no snow and mild temperatures until this deep freeze hit. Curling has been almost torture, good thing I’m really into it, or I know I wouldn’t last the two hours until the end of the game. Around the 6th end you start wondering what you are doing in a frozen rink chasing stones from one end of the building to the other. But that passes (I think we are numb by that time) and you manage to get through the next two ends. I am on the only female team in our industrial league and we get great satisfaction beating our male opponents. I’m not saying we always win, but when we do we don’t let them forget it. We are very vocal about our successes but all in fun, of course. Last Friday night we had a Robbie Burns night at the curling club with a brave soul reading Ode to the Haggis after being piped around the room. That is quite a feat reading that poem! I decided to pass on the haggis after two other attempts over the years. Not my cup of tea. It seems to come in different shapes and sizes depending on how it is prepared but never to me does it seem appetizing. However we all drank toasts with scotch that the bartender complained someone had ordered and never drank. Apparently it wasn’t the best brand of scotch but it went with the occasion.
It’s a fairly quiet time of the year for my business so I can take a little more time off work for a change. Last night I took Zane and a couple of his friends to a hockey game in New Glasgow. The Tim Horton’s team played against the police team and slaughtered them as they do every year. They are made up of retired hockey heroes so the cops don’t have a chance. I’m not much into hockey but it is all in fun. Whenever anyone scores a goal they throw T-shirts and Tim-bits into the loudest screaming crowd, a little hard on the eardrums. Also the music is great. I sure get a lot of use out of my long underwear spending time in cold rinks.
Apart from curling I started kick-boxing this year. I definitely recommend it. It’s fun and energetic. A great way to relieve stress and frustrations and get a well toned body. I dropped the fencing since I got stabbed in the rib. It took me too long to get over that and I’m not into anything where injuries are involved. My reflexes just aren’t quick enough for that sport. Peter, on the other hand, loves it and is extremely quick. You don’t want to mess with him. Even the teacher has to admit he is fast. It’s great to have all these sports available to us. I also take Yoga on Wednesdays from 11:00am to 12:00. I manage to fit it in around my appointments. It’s amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it. It also keeps us warm….
Things are looking good for the reunion
next August. One of my clients said she
was moving so I asked if she had any extra beds she wanted to get rid of. So Dad’s house is well set up now for
guests. All I had to do was give her a
hairstyle and a manicure in exchange.
Bartering can be fun. I don’t do
a lot of it because I like money too much and it doesn’t pay the bills but it
feels like you are getting something for free once in awhile. Well I must go now, its been nice chatting
with you,
Until next time,
****
Hello
Everyone!
Man is
the time every flying by. It’s already the month of February and our winter is
more than half over. The way things are going we’ll be into spring in a few
months. Isn’t that amazing? LOL! I’m just trying to be optimistic and help all
of us through this depressing time of year. At least when the sun shines a
couple of times a week it helps to brighten things up. We really can’t complain
about the way things have been this winter. We’ve got what I think is a minimal
amount of snow on the ground and the roads have only been hazardous for driving
a few times. At least around the Kitchener area we’ve been lucky with the road
conditions. Carole and I were out today to pick up a few groceries and while
driving down Highland Rd, we encountered a guy on a motorcycle. That’s the
first time I’ve seen a motorcycle on the road in February in KW. I guess if you
can stand the cold wind in the face you’re ok as long as the roads are dry. I
think I’ll wait till the temps are a lot higher than they were today to get my
motorcycle out of the shed. I looked at the thermometer on my overhead console
and it read -9c. It may have been dry out but it sure wasn’t balmy!
*
I had a
little running around to do this morning. When I got up, I found a note from
Carole (who was still sleeping) on the computer keyboard. It read that I should
take the form in front of me (my new license sticker form) which she had just
realized was still sitting on the desk and should have been used to renew my
license back in January and go get the license sticker for the Jeep. I’d been
driving for over a month with an outdated plate on the Jeep. Lucky for me I
hadn’t been spotted by a cop in my travels. So I took the form and headed for
the DOT office on Belmont Ave. I handed the form and my proof of insurance to
the lady behind the counter. She smiled and said “Can I have your E-Test
results form as well please?” GULP! I asked “What E-Test form?” It was then
that she pointed out the red asterisk on the renewal sheet denoting the need
for a vehicle E-Test. She said it is now required every two years here in
Ontario. I took back all the forms and info and told her I’d be back as soon as
possible. Here I was already late by a month to renew my sticker and now I had
to head back out in public to try to find a shop that would do an E-Test in
short notice. I was lucky with my first try. I pulled into The Mufflerman shop
at Highland and Westmount Rds and was told to come back in half an hour at 11am
and they would do it for me. What a break! I went home and told Carole of the
situation and that she’d have to wait till I got this all done before we could
legally head out for the day to do our planned shopping. It was already 10:45am
so I headed right back to have the test done. If I recall, the last time I had
this test done it took the better part of an hour to finish up. They took the
Jeep in at five to eleven and by quarter after the hour, they called my name
and said the test was complete. I stepped up and quickly paid the blood sucking
fee of $38.45 and was on my way to Belmont Ave once more. I walked into the DOT
office and happened to step up to the same attendant that sent me packing
earlier. She was surprised to see me back in less than an hour with the
required paperwork. I chuckled as I finished up and headed out to my car with
sticker in hand. As I rounded the rear bumper of the Jeep to install the
sticker I realized I had one more hurdle to clear, how to place the sticker on
the plate through the clear plastic cover that stood between me and it’s
destination. I had no screw driver with me at the time and once again, I would
have to brave the open road between there and home with an invalid sticker on
my Jeep. What the heck, I had been doing that for over a month without so much
as a peep from the cops, what would one more 10 minute drive hurt! LOL! As luck
would have it, I made it home without a hitch even though I had a cop on my
tail all the way up Highland Rd from Belmont to my turn off onto Westheights
Dr. Either the cop was daydreaming or the mud on my plate was enough to obscure
his view of the sticker. When I got home, I immediately removed the cover and
installed the new sticker. I did however leave the dirt on the plastic
protector just to give the next cop something to squint about! That was my
exciting venture for today. Not what you might call a heart stopping event but
at least it gave me something to write about this week. I hope you all remember
to renew your stickers on time so you don’t have to go though all the hoopla
that I went through this time. I’m sure I’ll remember to be more on the ball
when my bike plate comes due. Hmm…. Come to think of it, it is due but I’m just
not going to bother renewing it until the weather warms up a tad. LOL! I’m sure
I’ll think of getting it before the day I want to take my first ride of the
season. I’m sure I will! I think? LOL!
*
Better
pack it in for this week. 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>
Always
look at the seat of the chair you’re about to sit on!
****
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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