The Squamidian Report – July 7 / 07
Issue #267
Also in this issue:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Well now, after a long drawn out rainy season, summer has sizzled into the mountains. Boy, is it hot here now. We’ve been doing some work down town for the municipality and that means I’m running back and forth on the paved streets with a steel tracked excavator. When it was cool and damp, the machine barely made a mark. Triple grousers give lots of floatation. But that hot old sun gets the asphalt heated up and softened. Now I’m leaving marks all over the place, even sinking in at times. Not really a problem as the streets we are working on are all going to be re-paved but it sure shows how quickly you can make a mess of things.
This heat is also melting the snow pack that is still up in the mountains. The melting had been slow up until now. But with accelerated melt comes accelerated run-off. The streams and rivers run high and fast during the afternoons and evenings as the melt water works its way down. During the night when things cool off, the melt water rate slows and the streams drop down to normal again. Just like clock-work.
*
We did a day short trip on the Harley last Sunday. I think I’ve mentioned that we have a neighbor up the street who bought the identical bike to mine at about the same time. He has a wife, I have a wife! So the four of us have done some riding together. We started off by heading up to the Wildwood in Whistler for breakfast again. The ride up was a bit on the cool side but by the time we were on the road again it had warmed up quite nicely. Headed north up to Pemberton again, then went out into the Pemberton Meadows. This paved section of road takes us in the direction of the Pemberton Ice Fields and the Hurley Pass. It winds through some beautiful farmland as it follows the river. The valley is very flat, in stark contrast to the steep close mountainsides that hem it in.
We went as far as the end of pavement. No way we were taking our shiny new very heavy and very expensive Harley’s onto gravel. So at the end of pavement we stopped for a while, enjoyed the scenery and headed back to Pemberton. Last Sunday was Canada Day and I guess they were about to have a parade because the main street was lined with people and the parade stuff was getting ready. As we cruised along everyone waved at us and we waved back. Or maybe that’s just how they treat Harley riders there.
By the time we were back out onto Highway 99 and headed south it had gotten quite warm. The wind in or faces felt pretty good. The neighbor tends to drive a bit faster than I’m comfortable with but traffic was light and the run was fun. I think Sue fell asleep on the back of the bike, AGAIN. Might have to rig up some kind of seat belt, or alarm system or something.
Bet you can tell it’s been a slow news week!
doug
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Hello
everyone!
Well, we
finally got some rain here in KW but it wasn’t much. They were calling for a
full day of rain today and nothing happened. Yesterday we got some off an on
but like I said less than was expected. I can see a bit of a difference in our
lawn but we certainly could have used about 5 times the amount we got. Oh well,
it’s bound to rain enough to make up for the drought sooner or later. The
conservation authority said our reserves are getting low and that in June we
needed 60ml more than we got just to keep our levels at a “normal” amount. I
guess we’re going to have a rough summer if we don’t soon get a good drenching.
Just by driving over the Grand River and taking a look from the car as you
cross the bridge, you can tell that we’re running short. I know that the Grand
isn’t very deep at any time but at this point you can literally walk across it
in most spots without getting your knees wet! Makes for a sad season for the
canoeists and kayakers on the Grand for sure. I guess I’ll just have to stick
to riding my motorcycle rather than kayaking till we get some rain. Speaking of
riding my motorcycle, I was out the other day for a ride and suddenly realized
that my windshield was flapping in the breeze. I stopped and looked at the
situation and found that the right hand bracket that is welded to the
handlebars had broken loose. Adam had welded it to the bars for me when I first
got the windshield. I figured all I had to do was weld the thing back in place
once more. I wasn’t too far from a friend’s place that is a pro welder. I
dropped in to talk to him and he said he’d fix the bracket for me in a minute.
We went out to his garage and wheeled the bike inside to his welder. When he
tried to clamp the ground cable onto the handlebars, the paint kept it from
making contact. So, he moved the clamp to the bare metal nut on the top of one
of the shocks on the front forks. As he struck an arc with the welding rod, he
noticed that the clutch cable was glowing bright red where it attaches to the
transmission on the motor. He quickly stopped welding and we moved the ground
cable to the bars after scraping some paint off. We got a ground there and
finished welding the bracket back in place. When I went to squeeze the clutch
lever to start the bike, the handle was solid. I couldn’t move the cable at
all. When the cable heated up a few minutes earlier, it melted the rubber
lining inside the casing that protects the cable. This turned the inside of the
cable into a solid glob. Of course with this happening, the cable wouldn’t
slide through the outer sheath to operate the clutch. OOPS! I guess we goofed
up! Well, after fiddling with the darned thing for a bit, we finally got it to
move enough to disengage the clutch but it wouldn’t spring back quite enough to
reengage the clutch. We found a large spring in his shop and managed to hook it
to the clutch lever at the motor and it helped me pull the cable enough to
allow me to drive it home. Nothing to do but order a new cable and replace it.
The dealer said it would take a day or two to get the cable in and he’d call me
when he got it. I immediately pulled the bike in the garage and started to
dismantle it. I figured it wouldn’t take much to remove the old cable. WRONG!!!
I had to remove the windshield, the seat, the rear carrier, the gas tank and
both side covers just to gain access to the cable. It took me about an hour to
get it all apart and to figure out how to remove the cable. I was beginning to
think I had made a mistake in not letting the dealer do the replacement. Oh
well, I was too far into it by that time to stop now. I finally spent another
half hour and managed to remove the old cable. In doing so, I learned a lot
about clutch cables that’s for sure! Now all I have to do is get the new one
before I forget how to put it all back together. I called the dealer today and
they told me it wouldn’t be in until late this afternoon. WRONG again! I never
heard from them so I guess it’ll be tomorrow at the earliest before I get the
new cable. I hope I have it for the weekend because it’s supposed to be
beautiful weather for biking. I was happy that I was alone while doing this job
because I’d probably have torn my hair out if I had any and that would have
proved embarrassing in front of company! LOL! After I got it all figured out, I
was telling Carole about it and she made one of the most common sense
observations of the day. She said “Just look at how much you learned today by
doing it yourself!” My frustration quickly turned to pride when my darling wife
pointed that out to me! I can always count on Carole to snap me out of a funk
when I’m in one. I thanked her for her wisdom and am now looking forward to
that call from the dealer telling me the cable is in! I’m sure the installation
of the new part will go much more smoothly than the removal of the old one now
that I have the experience of yesterday. It truly is amazing what you can learn
even when you are an OLD dog! LOL!
You’d think that once one is retired, one wouldn’t get as frustrated
while working on a perplexing project as he did when he didn’t have all the
time in the world to accomplish the task. I guess I just have to learn to slow
down a little and realize that things don’t have to be done yesterday anymore.
So, if any of you bikers out there ever need your clutch cable replaced, don’t
call me, do it yourself and just look at how much you’ll learn too! LOL!
Vrrrrroooom Vrrrroooooom! Now all I need is the part!
*
Carole
and I went to a very enjoyable show at the St Jacob’s Playhouse last night. We
didn’t know what to expect but thought we’d at least have a night out. The show
that was playing was “The Legends Of Rock and Roll”. It wasn’t a play, it was a
review of the music that we grew up with from the 50’s to the 70’s. The regular
players that star in most of the shows up there were the people that portrayed
such greats as the Beatles and the Stones, man were they amazing! The show
started at 8pm and lasted until 11:20pm. There was a band in the background on
stage and the entertainers were singing and dancing to the music. The voices on
these people were amazing. We’ve been watching Canadian Idol on TV and these
kids last night put any of the “Idol” contestants to shame. In fact, we decided
the other night when “Idol” was over that we wouldn’t watch it again. There is
no talent at all on that show when compared to a show such as St Jacob’s put
on. I know these people do this for a living but they are still amateurs. There
wasn’t one person on the stage that wouldn’t knock the socks off the judges if
they were to perform on “Canadian Idol”. The show was wonderful and we both
commented that we’ve never enjoyed ourselves more than we did last night. If
you want to be really well entertained, spend the money on a pair of tickets
for this show. You won’t regret it! They did a few songs by each group or
individual that they were portraying. They did songs by The Hollys, The Guess
Who, The Monkeys, The Beatles, The Stones, Simon and Garfunkel, John Lennon,
Mick Jagger, Paul Anka, Janis Joplin, Sammy Davis Jr, Dean Martin, The Everly
Brothers, The Beach Boys, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly and The Crickets and on and
on and on…! Every one of them sounded exactly like the real thing! We couldn’t
believe our ears. The dances they did were incredible as well and to top it all
off, almost all of them played instruments as well. I say again, an amazing
show of Canadian talent that rises up to the level of any that we’ve seen from
any source. That was money well spent for sure!
*
I guess
that’s about it 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>
Baby’s
have no knee caps when they are new born.
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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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