The Squamidian Report – Oct. 6 / 07
Issue #280
Also in this issue:
From The Shores of Lake Huron
Quading in Tofino
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Well, now that ‘November’ is over I hope October will be a bit better, weather wise. However, the forecasts don’t seem to see any indication of change. Our normal January daytime high around here is about 5 or 6 C. During the last few days of ‘November’ oops, I mean September, we barely reached 5, and there is fresh snow up in the hills around us. Not only has it been cold, it has been wet. I accidentally left our wheelbarrow out during the last week. When I went to put it away, it was right full to the top with water. It has sides about a foot high so that tells you how much rain we had during last week.
*
We’ve been working in the Valleycliff section of Squamish for the last month or so. New water mains and storm sewers are going in along Westway, as well as the replacement of the bridge that was washed out last winter. So traffic in and out of that area has had to put up with construction and single lane travel. And mud and potholes.
For the most part things have been moving along as they should. The work is slow at times due to low overhead wires and unmarked gas lines under ground. The weather hasn’t helped either. There has also been a couple of frustrating events. For starters, I had my little pickup truck parked along the side of the road where we were working when for no apparent reason a tree branch let go and came down butt end first right onto the truck’s hood. It dented the hood. So I stopped in at an auto body shop for a repair price. One little dent will cost just under $1300 to fix. I guess it doesn’t matter how small the dent is, it would have cost the same if the whole hood had been caved in. So even by going through my insurance it is still going to cost me the $300 deductible. The company I work for is too cheap to offer to pick up the tab.
Then on another occasion, one of our laborers received a rather strange injury. He was standing at the side of the road, waiting for a break in traffic so he could signal me to cross with the excavator. A passing car drove over a small stone, which shot out from under the wheel and hit him in the shin. A rather surprised and puzzled look came over his face. He looked down and saw blood oozing through his jeans. The resulting impact from the stone caused a wound that looked like he had been shot. He was in a bit of pain. The foreman suggested that he put a bandage over it and just shake it off and get back to work. I had other ideas and phoned our boss to come and take him up to get checked out. Turned out the stone had chipped his shinbone and he needed to stay off of it for a couple of days.
Now, I actually know what a leg that has been shot by a pellet gun looks like. Way back when we were kids, in our early teens, we used to play a game we called ‘ capture the barn’. We would put one guy in the barn with a pellet gun, and the rest would try to capture it using BB guns. During one of our campaigns while I was defending the barn, cousin Ward made the mistake of leaving his leg exposed while he took shelter behind a tree. I couldn’t resist. Nailed him right in the back of the calf. He sure yelped.
Yes, I know, but that was a long time ago and we were pretty stupid. Please don’t tell our parent’s.
Doug
****
Greeting everyone and Happy Thanksgiving. Where is the year going? Today we have our thanksgiving dinner at the trailer park where I once stayed on weekends in the summer. I just got back from there after putting on the turkey (about 27 lbs) on my old barbeque which now my son owns(sort of). There will about 50 people there for supper lots of food and fun. This weather is amazing as far as temps go records are probably going to be broken in Ontario this weekend.
Today is Pumpkinfest in the Port Elgin area. For those of you that do not know what that is I will give a brief description. There are lots of great activities such as the antique car show ( probably somewhere between 1000 and 1100) cars lining the main drag and side streets. Up at the high school they have activities for the kids and adults, and the weigh off of the humungus pumpkins some weighing over a 1000 lbs. The growers have to be very careful handling these because if it splits or cracks it is disqualified. They also have other huge vegetables and fruits something that the jolly green giant would have for a snack. There are expected to be an additional 65000 people in the town over today and tomorrow. I usually go look at the cars etc but avoid the other stuff due to the large crowds. Not my cup of tea!
Carol you were asking where my seat location is for the rangers I have four sets in section 2 row F seats 1 to 4. This is behind. the rangers home end net for two periods. Anyway I better sign off for now and get back into town to keep an eye on the turkey. Everyone have a great week bye for now.
****
http://www.thedougsite.net/Warren/quading.htm
by Warren and Janice Brubacher.
Janice and I recently invested in an ATV for our Tantalus View Retreat, homestead. It is the 'Harley Davidson' of all quads and as far as I know, the only quad out there designed for ultimate comfort with passenger in mind. It is the CanAm 800cc., MaxXT(with all the bells and whistles)
We'd been planning a quading vacation all year and managed to coordinate Becky, Jay and their little girl, Emily into taking their vacation time managing our Retreat while away to Tofino.
On a beautiful, sunny September day we set sail (by ferry) for Vancouver Island,up Hwy 4, past Cathedral Grove and on down to the Wild Pacific Coast. We pre-booked a rustic, secluded cabin for our 5 night stay right on the shore of Browning Passage, just before the town of Tofino.
We had the entire Pacific Rim Provincial Park practically to ourselves to hike the endless beaches and old growth trails with the tourist season almost to an end. The backroads into the Tofino Inlet and Clayoquat Arm were our chosen areas to explore by quad on our fair weather days.
Monday, September 24th, our first morning, we woke up to a dreary, misty day. We decided to play the part of tourists and walk some of the trails and beaches in the park.
Long Beach, we found is very well named. It is an endless
strip of driftwood and sand that looks very much the same from end to end.
Imagine what it must be like in mid-summer.....wall to wall people. 800,000
tourists come here each year. I wonder how much of that number come to
storm watch? Peak month for storm-watching is March.
Next, we drove up to the war memorial on Radar Hill. A short walk from the parking area took us to a wonderful viewpoint where we could look up the pennisula toward Tofino and Clayoquat Sound. Up here the trees are all stunted and the domineering undergrowth makes for an impassable jungle. We were told by a local dirt biker that an hour hike nearby will take you to an old bomber crash site. It is these unmarked trails that are extremely vulnerable to erosion as they soon turn into new watercourses.
Janice wanted to do some beachcombing for shells, pebbles and small driftwood so we chose for our next walk a trail that led us through old growth cedar, hemlock, fir and Sitka Spruce and down onto Florencia Beach. Ahhhhhhhhhhh.........this is more like it!
As the tide receded, we found tidal pools, shell and
pebble dunes and driftwood. A beachcombers paradise. The park
officials frown on people taking this stuff with them. I guess with the shear
numbers here, in high season, the beaches would be picked clean of cool
stuff to look at. We kept our pickin's to a minimum.
We made the Wickaninnish Interpretive Centre our final stop of the day. This bay has extremely strong rip tides that can carry away even the most experienced surfer. Warning signs are posted.
Here, we were able to study topographic maps and a large model of the coast and mountains. Of particular interest was the color coding that showed us the best areas we could quad in old growth forest. We wanted to avoid clearcuts. We were able to also make decisions as to how far we would drive the truck before off-loading our quad.
Day two, Tuesday, the weather improved as the day progressed. After picking up a backroads map from the Info Centre at the Junction to Ucluelet, we headed up the Kennedy Lake west main for about 20km. We off-loaded the quad near Berryman Point, Tofino Inlet. Here the road narrowed and we were soon quading along the shores of the Inlet through mostly old growth cedar stands with the occasional eye-popping view of the water and her islands.
Words cannot describe the beauty of it all.
Being an artist in 'wildwood', I found most of the trees here are of the wild nature meaning very twisted. Back home in Squamish I have to search for these trees. Here I'd have to search for the straight ones.
Wind-blown pine on the rocky bluffs remind me of those African plains trees.
Me thinks maybe the Charlottes next summer.
Tofino Creek at the end of the Tofino Inlet has a splendid waterfalls. It is called the Virgin Falls and we set out this day hoping to find it. At the first bridge crossing we spotted a pair of eagles feeding on the river.
About 8km furthur upstream we found the Virgin Falls. A small path led us through giant Sitka spruce from the bridge. Someone had made a driftwood hut. Very common here on the coast.
Sitka Spruce
We continued on from the falls to a fork in the road. The sign says Tofino pointing in the wrong direction. How can that be?
The road came to a grassy end with fresh bear scat everywhere. Time to head back.
This giant, candelebra cedar snag stands majestically over the second growth and the distant road from which we came.
By mid-afternoon and half way back to the truck the skies are clearing giving a new perspective over the waters of Tofino Inlet.
We put over 74 km on the quad this day and only used a quarter of a
tank of gas. We rarely needed low range or 4 wheel drive on this
trek making for excellent fuel economy.
Once back to the Junction, we decided to check out the town of Ucluelet. At the end of the pennisula we found the lighthouse and the 'Wild Pacific Trail'. This is Barkley Sound off this point and the Broken Islands way in the distance.
Memorial benches along the Wild Pacific Trail.
Absolutely glorious day of wild, Pacific west coast scenes from ocean to Inlet.
We were so exhilarated from our eventful day that I suggested
to Janice we treat ourselves to a fabulous meal at the Wickaninnish
Inn. I could just picture ourselves sitting in their glassed-in
restaurant located right out on the point and watching the sun go down
over the Pacific Ocean.
We pulled into the very ritzy looking lodge; walked in looking very grubby and I could see Janice looking incredibly uncomfortable amongst the high-class clientelle. She was signalling me to exit this joint quickly. One look at the menu podium on the way out was enough to convince me she was right. Seventeen dollars for a salad ! Probably of the ornamental variety too. Oh well, we got a glimpse of how the wealthy live anyway.
We carried on down the highway into Tofino and found a seafood restaurant next to the fisherman's wharf. The waiter suggested we couldn't go wrong with the 'cedar plank salmon' dish. Fresh, wild coho. I replied back, "if you can't get fresh seafood in Tofino, where can you get it."
It was the driest salmon I have ever tasted. About the texture of an old cedar board. Oh well, the ambiance was incredible with a gorgeous view of the sun going down on one side of us and a huge, full moon coming up over Meares Island on our left through a large portal window.
Coming soon - Part 2 - Quading Clayoquat Arm - Continuation of Janice and Warren's, Quading in Tofino.
****
Hello
everyone!
As is
traditional, I must comment on our beautiful fall weather here in Ontario. I
tend to defend our weather when Doug compares it to BC weather. I know that we
do have our share of smog and pollution laden days but we also have some very
beautiful weather and I think the good days far outweigh the bad. With the
advent of wind powered hydro generating turbine farms here in Ontario things
can only get better. They are in the incipient stages of developing huge
windmill farms on the western shores of Lake Huron and the northern shores of
Lake Erie. These power producing projects are aimed at reducing the number of
coal burning hydro plants currently in use in Ontario and there’s no reason why
they can’t eliminate their existence all together. I’m sure we can look forward
to cleaner air and consequently better health in the future here in Ontario
with the further development of this type of power production. We must all
admit I’m sure that we’ve had beautiful weather over the course of this past
spring and summer and so far this fall we’ve been experiencing excellent
climate as well. Unless the humidity is very high, some moisture in the air
doesn’t really bother me. It’s those heavy days when one can smell the odour of
our American neighbour’s industrial pollution in the atmosphere here in Ontario
that bothers me. It’s a fact that most of the heavy air in southern Ontario
isn’t produced here in Canada and that we have the normal jet stream to blame
for bringing it our way. I wonder if it eventually winds up in parts of Britain
and Europe. Interesting question!
Anyway,
Doug has told us all that they’ve had very little summer weather in BC this
year and that’s quite unusual. For the most part they’ve had rain rain and more
rain. The weather not withstanding, Doug and Sue have been able to put a
healthy 9,500 kms on their new Harley Davidson motorcycle and that’s not bad
for dodging raindrops all season. For putting up with lousy weather all summer
I hope they at least have a nice mild winter!
Buck up
ol’ chap! I’m sure things will improve for next summer and if not, you are
always welcome to come “home” and share in our beautiful Ontario sunshine!
*
Doug and
I have often talked about how challenging it can be to come up with our columns
week after week and at times wonder if anyone is actually reading the stuff we
write. Once in a while however we will receive a written comment from one of
our fellow Squamidians and whether the comment is positive or not it tends to refresh
our enthusiasm. The main thing is the participation not the content that helps
to keep us on track. We like to think that we’re providing something that keeps
us all in touch and makes the distance between all of us a little less, well,
distant!
I
received a phone call the other day that really made me feel good about what we
do every week. The phone call was from Doug’s uncle Russ. He phoned me out of
the blue and we talked for a good half hour. Russ told me that he and his wife
Barb are big fans of the Squamidian and the Ontarion and enjoy reading it every
weekend. They had an experience that they wanted to share with me being I had a
background in the fire service. Russ went on to tell me how proud he and Barb
were of their fire department in Cambridge. He and Barb now live in a beautiful
high rise building that borders the Speed River in Preston area of Cambridge
and their balcony overlooks the river and dam area of the Speed across from
Riverside Park. He said that they had noticed the amount of debris and logs
that had accumulated at the dam by the railway bridge that parallels King St
and had been there so long that there were actually bushes growing up out of
the massive jamb. Apparently one of the other tenants in their building had
lodged a complaint with the city of Cambridge and asked that the mess be
cleaned up. After the city had refused to do anything about it and the province
wouldn’t do anything, the Kitchener Record got involved and published a couple
of articles about the situation.
Finally
Russ said, the city of Cambridge decided that to save face they would volunteer
to clean up the dam. The heroes of the day were the Cambridge Firefighters.
They sent a crew down to the dam along with a large crane truck and spent the
day clearing the debris. Russ said the firefighters were wearing their
protective gear and wading in the water up to their chests to secure chains and
cables around the logs to enable the crane to pull them out of the dam. They
loaded at least 10 dump trucks full of logs etc from the jamb and after a lot
of hard dangerous work the mess was cleaned up. Russ says that with all that
work done, the dam and the river look so much better and he and Barb appreciate
what the fire fighters did to make their neighbourhood and the habitat more
beautiful. Russ, if you would take a few minutes to either call the Fire Chief
of Cambridge or write a letter to the Kitchener Record stating your
appreciation for the firefighter’s efforts I know the CFD members would be
absolutely thrilled to hear from you and Barb. It’s so seldom that anyone
expresses their appreciation of such efforts in person that I know it would be
a welcome call to the Fire Department.
Russ and
I talked about much more than the dam clean up but the more we talked the more
we had to talk about. We’ve decided to get together sometime and spend a couple
of hours just telling each other stories of our fire and police experiences. We
agreed that we both have enough material to write a book after spending so many
years in our respective careers. We figured we should share them at least with
each other for an afternoon. I look forward to doing so sometime soon.
I’d like
to thank Russ and Barb for thinking of me and for sharing their experience with
me this past weekend. I hope they both enjoy many years in their new high rise
home in Preston.
*
Guess I
should 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>
Life is
too short not to stay in touch with people we care about. Go ahead, make that
phone call, write that letter or send that e-mail! NOW!
****
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.
