The Squamidian Report – Nov. 17 / 07
Issue #286
Also in this issue:
From the Shores of Lake Huron
The Ontarion
Hi All,
The gales of November. Those endless storms that come pumping in off the open Pacific this time of year. Mind you, this year the only way we can actually tell we are having a storm is that the rain falls harder and the wind blows harder. Otherwise, it’s not all that different from how the weather has been for months and months. But we could sure tell we were having a November storm last weekend. On both Sunday and Monday the rain pelted down in sheets. The wind bent the trees, trimming any and all loose or broken branches. Part of my eve’s trough blew away and I never did find it. Could have stayed airborne for miles. All the chairs out on the deck were scooting around like little wind-up toys gone wild.
There was thunder and lightning, which is very rare for the coastal areas. There was lots of snow up in the high country. In fact, ski hills like Whistler picked up nearly a meter of snow. Whistler plans to open for skiing this weekend, a week ahead of normal. Major sections of Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland and the Interior suffered wind damage and power outages.
Then another wind and rainstorm moved in on Thursday, and it’s still raining. Kind of a footnote to all of this, the Stanley Park Sea Wall that was damaged so badly during last year’s early winter storms was finally re-opened this week after extensive repairs.
*
Ever hear a statement in the media that is totally ludicrous?? Well, here’s one I’ve been listening to on the local news. They have announced that a bunch of 7,000 year old tree stumps have been found under a melting glacier high up in the back country of Garibaldi Park. That’s the alpine wilderness area up behind us.
The geologists who found the stumps are claiming that they are proof that the climate is warming faster now that at any time during those last 7,000 years. Huh?? That just doesn’t make any sense. How can the discovery of ancient stumps prove that the climate is warming faster? It does prove that the climate is warming, because the glacier is melting. But it also proves that 7,000 years ago it was enough warmer than it is now to promote the growth of trees way up in the high alpine. 3,000 years before that this entire area was under a mile of ice. So during those 3,000 years the climate went from a deep ice age into a warm period where trees could grow in the very high mountain canyons.
Then the climate obviously cooled again because for the last several thousand years the high valleys and canyons have been glaciated. Those glaciers are now retreating again, and have been doing so for hundreds of years. Cycles, and cycles within cycles. Who knows, the climate might even get back to where it was 7,000 years ago with trees growing high up where it is currently too cold for anything to grow right now. Or it could do a turn around and we could end up under a mile of ice again. Those ancient tree stumps prove that there is now and always has been changes happening in the climate. That’s the way of a living planet. The effects of change can be quite troubling to us, because face it, we don’t like change of any kind. We tend to like things just the way we think they should be. And yes, there is lots we need to be doing to clean up the mess we are making, but scare tactics like citing old stumps as ‘proof’ of an increase in warming just muddies the water and makes the those sensationalist scientists who have jumped on a political band wagon look stupid. So there!
doug
****
Greetings everyone. Well like Doug I to have put the bike away for the winter. I think I got a pretty good deal from the detailing guy in town. For the sum of $50.00 dollars he washed waxed cleaned the under carriage and polished all the chrome (there is a lot of that) on my bike. I am very pleased in two ways as he did a marvelous job and I got out of the dastardly deed of the cleaning and polishing. The bike is now covered for the winter and may that be short.
The wild life population around Port Elgin seems to be thriving very well as this past spring there were several bears spotted in the town area and recently there have been a lot of coyote seen and heard. Actually Halloween night I could hear them in the bush behind my place howling at each other. The same with the night after. They make a very eerie sound. A friend of mine was out hunting geese a couple of weeks back and had to dispose of two goose carcasses as they only take the breast part of the bird so I said we could put them behind my place. I checked the next morning and they were totally gone except for a hand full of down feathers. I find that amazing how even the ordinary feathers could be gone without a trace. I guess that’s mother nature’s way.
My neighbours up the road were telling me they had a guy come in to eliminate a mole problem in their grass. They paid the guy to come and smoke them out twice but still had the little buggers there. I once had the same problem in Kitchener and learned of an easy but effective way of how to rid yourself of the little pests. Take your basic mousetrap and bait it with peanut butter. They like me were a little pessimistic but so far they have caught six in and 4 days. I guarantee these little buggers wont be back and you definitely know they are dead. Works like a charm!
The weatherman screwed up again as Thursdays night and into Friday we were to get a lot of lake effect snow flurries. Didn't happen so this one time when wrong is a great thing. Next week they are calling for rain again. Well at least you don't have to shovel it.
Well it's getting late so I am going to sign off for now so everyone have a safe and happy week.
****
Hello
everyone!
I know
that Doug promised not to tell any more motorcycle stories for the remainder of
this year but I didn’t! LOL! Just a quick note to rub our fine weather in to
the westerners. We’ve had a couple of unexpected days this past week that were
dominated by sunshine and warmer temperatures than usual. With this happening
and Adam having some time off work, we decided to take the motorcycles out for
a spin on Tuesday. As it turned out, we repeated the adventure on Wednesday as
well. The weather was sunny and clear yet a tad cooler than usual for riding
one’s motorcycle. We made sure we were dressed for the ride and after a few
hours of riding we were still enjoying the day. It makes good sense to wear the
proper attire for the sport and your own body generates enough warmth to keep
things comfortable. Adam was riding his new 2007 Yamaha FRJ1300A Sport Touring
bike that we picked up in Michigan a couple of weeks ago. He was looking for a
new bike here in Ontario and just happened to find the exact model he was
wanting on line and in a nearby state. He contacted the dealer and worked a
deal that was too good to resist. As a result, we went to Michigan two weeks
ago and concluded the deal. We brought the new bike home in a U Haul covered
trailer. The process of buying a vehicle in the States is quite simple. As long
as you do the paper work properly and prepare ahead of time as required by the
US Customs, there’s little to the process of importing a vehicle to Canada. The
resulting savings was well worth any effort it took to complete the purchase.
He’s now riding his new acquisition and is happy that the weather held out long
enough for him to at least manage a couple of days of riding before having to store
the bike for the winter. With the completion of this purchase under our belts,
it’s hard to see any justification in the difference in retail prices on
vehicles between the USA and Canada. It’s just not fair to Canadians to have to
pay 30% more for a vehicle than the Americans. Maybe we’ll see an adjustment in
pricing now that the Canadian dollar is worth more than the US dollar.
Hopefully it’ll stay that way for the foreseeable future and give Canadians a
chance to feel better about our economy and gain back some of the former
inequities that we’ve had to put up with for the past 40 years. The Americans
seemed to like to rub our noses in the dollar difference every chance they got.
Now the shoe is on the other foot but Canadians are probably too polite to do
the same to the Yanks. When we crossed the border into the States when we went
to pick up the motorcycle, the Americans were reluctant to acknowledge the fact
that our dollar was worth more than theirs. Their toll charges at the border
were still more in Canadian money than in US money. I guess it’s a matter of
them thinking “If you want to enter the States, you’ll pay it when told to do
so or you can turn around right now!” I know that all Americans can’t be tarred
with the same stick but it seems that the closer to the border you are, the
more ignorant they tend to be. It’s a whole new long story but I will just say
this for now, the US Customs Officers were the most ignorant, self righteous,
power hungry, egotistical SOB’s I’ve ever encountered. I’ll tell that story
sometime when I have nothing worthwhile to write about. Otherwise, I’ll not
waste my effort on writing about them for now.
Let’s
hope our weather stays mild to semi-mild for the next few weeks so we can ease
into winter. They are calling for a few flurries for tomorrow but after that,
higher temperatures are in the forecast for a few days. I’m hoping we’ll have a
mild winter so we can get out on the bikes the odd day. If I have to pay
insurance for a full year, I’d like to be able to ride my motorcycle all year
long.
That’s 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.
Something
To Think About>
Leonardo
Da Vinci invented the scissors.
****
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!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.