The Squamidian Report – April 12 / 08
Issue #307
Including:
From the Shores of Lake Huron
A Note From Russ & Barb
A Note From Maggie And Ron
The Ontarion
Hi All,
I could have been gone on a motorcycle trip right now but I bowed out. My neighbour who rides the Harley similar to mine invited me along on a run he and a couple of his friends are taking. They were meeting in Kamloops and then heading south down into the States, all the way to California. However, the timing wasn’t right so I declined. I intend to take time during the better riding weather to do some weekend and longer runs. And besides, for him to get to Kamloops he has to climb up over the coastal mountain passes where it is still winter. Not really my thing, but the trip was tempting to say the least.
However, the wife and I did make a ‘trip’ down to the local coffee shop last evening on the bike. The temperature was a bit on the cool side so it gave me a chance to try out my new heated vest. You might recall I’ve talked about Sue’s vest in the past and may have mentioned wanting one for myself, which I now have. Wow, talk about decadence. Rumbling down the highway under the stars, on a big old Hog, warmed by an electric heating vest and listening to the tunes on the bike stereo. Gotta love it.
Hoe-key-toot! Those vests work nice. For starters, they are warm even without being plugged in. The shell is some kind of wind proof material and the insulation is Thinsilate or something similar. The heating elements run all throughout including inside the collar so even the back of the neck stays warm. The electric cord runs out from inside the front left and has an easy to use on / off switch. The cord plugs into a plug that is run up from under the bike seat. The usual place is from out near the front by the gas tank but I’ve run ours up through the slot in the seat where my backrest mounts. The cord is hard wired to the battery and has an inline fuse for protection. By bringing it up through the seat, Sue can plug herself in easily even if we are under way, and I’ve make a splitter so both of us can be plugged in at the same time. If you start to get cold, you just turn yourself on. If you get too warm, you just turn yourself off. There are temperature controller thermostat switches available but lets not get too carried away, at least not just yet.
The important thing is not just the comfort, but also the safety. By keeping your core warm your whole body stays warm and you can stay alert. I’ve ridden way back in the past where I had gotten so cold I could barely walk or talk. Not at all a good thing and now at my age I’m into comfort in a bit way.
*
If the position of ‘Natural Selection Enforcer’ in the Mother Nature Company ever comes up for grabs, I want it. And I want some sort of StarTrec phaser vaporizer tool for performing said position. Natural selection as a way of weeding out the unworkable or undesirable branches of evolution generally works out. But every once in a while you see something that should have never have been in the first place, or at least stopped in its tracks before it can extend its own gene pool.
Case in point… I was sitting in my truck before work one morning down at Horton’s. I like to do that, just watch the world go by and observer the tourists and locals alike. There was this one vehicle that pulled up and a lanky young lad climbed out. He had a fair amount of difficulty getting out as he was wearing his pants so low that the crotch was mid way between his knees and his ankles. The waist was below his butt, leaving his skivvies as the only barrier between him and the rest of the world. He had to waddle like a penguin just to move around. On his head was one of those knitted toque type hats that look like something a two year old should wear. Getting back into his vehicle was even more of a challenge for him, but after slithering around for a while he did manage to do it.
If I wouldn’t be aloud to use a vaporizer on him, I’d at least like to have the option of using a staple gun on this dork. Just staple those pants up where they should be… I’d be doing him a favour as he’d at least be able to walk properly. Kind of an humanitarian gesture on my part when you thing about it.
doug
****
Greetings everyone.
Well it's Friday night and seeing that the Rangers swept Sarnia in the second round of playoffs I am at home. Imagine that, another bout of Ranger withdrawal. The next round we will play Sault St. Marie. These games start next Wednesday and Thursday in Kitchener then Sunday and Monday in the Sault. Hopefully the can take the in 5 games as after that it's back and forth for one game at each rink.
Today (Friday) we had some very heavy rains and are still having them. As I went thru Paisley today the Saugeen River is still very high I would about 4 to 4 1/2 feet at least. With this heavy rain it will likely rise another 2 feet or more by late tomorrow or Monday. That's one pile of water.
Last week has been great weather-wise nice warm temps and dry up till today. Last Saturday I got the bike out and went for about an 1 1/2 hour ride both Saturday and Sunday. Man that's great. Doug gave me a couple of web sites for motorcycle wear and I ordered some chaps to keep the legs warm. I don't have a full fairing just a windshield so chaps will definitely help. Still it was not all that bad riding last week. This weekend will probably not to great to ride (maybe Sunday) as it's calling for rain Saturday but dry on Sunday.
The annual home show is this weekend in town here and Sunday I am helping out with the Fishing Clubs display there. We bring some of the small salmon in and have a great display of pictures etc. of the gathering of the eggs until they are released into rivers in about a month from now. We get a lot of interest from the kids and adult also with many questions.
All of the shore ice has disappeared now and by the end of next week the harbour should be ice-free also. Which means that the boat will be coming out to go fishing. What a great life biking and fishing. Well I can dream anyway, work seems to get in the way far too much.
Well I am going to sign off for now so everyone have a great week.
****
My comp. has been down for many days...I wanted to share with the
readers an shocking experience we had in our apt. bldg.
Donny(our Standard Poodle), was restless from the wee morning hours until about 7 AM, when I got up to take him for his early morning pee.
I opened our door, Donny ran out ahead of me on his 16 foot leash, rounded the corner and let out a howl like I’ve never heard before...there, standing by the elevator was a cop in full combat gear, fully-automatic rifle and all! "What apartment are you from?" I was a bit stunned and couldn’t remember our apartment number.....I gushed :1428........1408.....1407, yes, that’s it 1407. "Who lives there with you?", he demanded. "Just the two of us, my wife and me". (I got that out alright). "When you come back with him, stay in your unite and lock the door...don’t come out...we’re trying to arrest somebody here!"
When we got down to the lobby there were about eight "Swat Team" officers .......fully armed with machine guns, lining both sides of the entrance area, so I mumbled, "I’ll go out the side door". When I got outside, I counted eleven police vehicles in the turn-around area, completely blocking off entrance and exit. Craig, the tenant in Unite 104, which is on the ground floor facing all the action, told me they were trying to arrest an armed drug dealer who is holed-up in Unite 1404 (just down the hall from us!) He said also that the cops had set up a Command Unite at the Cambridge Surplus Store, down the block from our apartment. The TV news people were there too.
The TV news at noon today said only that an apartment block in Preston was in "Lockdown" mode after a weapons scare in the building. They didn’t say that the entire "Swat Team" had surrounded the building, and heavily armed officers were preventing tenants from leaving or returning to their Unites. As I walked around the building I saw police posted at all entrances/exits. Tenants in the upper floors were prevented from using the elevators, so, my friend, Dave, with the big black Lab was trying to take Thunder out for his pee by trying to go down the stairwell from the 15th floor.....naturally, police stopped him....the stairwells were crawling with cops!
Today, Friday, April 11, The Record had this to say about a disturbance at 100 Eagle Street North, Cambridge:
" Police officers arrest 3 after handgun fired through door"
" About 3:45 AM, police received a 911 call from a resident who reported hearing a gunshot in the building at 100 Eagle Street, North. When police arrived, they discovered a bullet hole from a handgun in the door of one Unit."
The events unfolded like this:
- disturbance in Unit 602
-gun fired through the door
- suspects fled.......possibly to Unit 1404.
-our neighbours had to evacuate their Unit 1405, as police wanted to observe the suspect apartment from the balcony of Bob and Margaret Cole.
-execution of a Search Warrant revealed no one in unit 1404!!!???
-evidence found during search, led police to Chandler Drive in Kitchener, where another warrant was executed , resulting in three people being arrested in connection with the Eagle Street disturbance.
-a 30 year old man was charged with possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, a 27 year old man was charged with intimidation (threats) At this time we don’t know what the 3rd man is charged with.
The Building Manager, John Morton wants all residents to know that Tricar, owners, have evicted the tenants of Units 602 and 1404.
We’re all OK, Donny who was quite upset with all the activity, has settled down, and we’re about to go out to one of our favourite restaurants for dinner
****
We went last night to reunion of Gail Selkirk and Peter Palandalino after 35 years of splitting up from Major Hooples Boarding House. For us, it really was a trip down memory lane. Also, Gail said that she had not realized that a couple of years ago when you changed the Squid and had asked for people to confirm that they wanted to be on it, that she had not replied. So could you please add her back on?
Anyway here is the report:
Major Hooples - Alive and well....
How many of you grew up listening to the amazing keyboards and the voice of Gail Selkik and the guitar and voice of Peter Palandalino of Major Hooples Boarding House Band? How many of you went to school dances or concerts with this band? I know I did. In 1969, 1970 and 1971, they played at my high school dances and many of the high schools in Ontario. It was a band of 7 men and Gail Selkirk (and correct me if I am wrong, Gail). I have vivid memories of Grade 11 and 12 dances at Parkside High School dances (Dundas, where I grew up) and Gail, just playing those keyboards and wowing the crowd with her voice. Then, there was Peter and his guitar as he harmonized with Gail.
Well, last night, Dave, Gale, Ron and I went on a memory journey when we went to the re-union of Gail and Peter playing together after 35 years. It was like being on a time warp as they sang songs from those high school days. Ron was in his element of 6 degrees of separation as he chatted with Gail because they grew up just a few doors apart. Gail was mesmerizing to watch as she maneuvered the keyboard - her face showed the musical journey she was on. There was no need to see her hands on the keys - her face said it all. We are glad we went, and Clyde, it is a shame you were not there! All in all, it was a fun evening. It was great to see two legends together bringing back old memories...
So now we have a question__________________ Where does the name of Major Hoople originate from???? And Gail, it is too bad you didn't sing "White Rabbit" - that is my most powerful memory of you. I was a great evening and trip down memory lane...
Cheers
****
Hello
everyone!
Well,
spring has definitely sprung over the past week. We’ve gotten rid of 99.9% of
our snow here in Kitchener and the little that’s left is just that dirty mess
we see piled up in the parking lots around town. I keep thinking it might be worth
someone’s while to take a walk through all of these lots as the snow melts to
check for the bits of treasure that people dropped during the winter months.
There’s probably a small fortune in change just waiting to be plucked from
these lots. Why invest in a metal detector when you can just wait for spring?
LOL!
Just one
week ago we still had a couple of feet of snow on the lawns of KW and we were
getting real tired of waiting for warmer temperatures. All of a sudden, BANG…..
we had spring in a real nice way! Lots of sunshine and warm temperatures and
within 4 days of last week’s Squamidian Report our snow was gone. I know that
I’m happy to see the grass and bare roads. Apparently so is every motorcycle
owner in Waterloo Region. With the onset of the warmer weather, the roads are
swarming with bikes. Over the past few years, motorcycling has become a very
popular pastime. It seems that riding a motorcycle is every man’s dream at one
time or another in their life. Male baby boomers tend to gravitate towards the
Harley make of bike for the most part. Although Harley makes the “American
Dream” of all motorcycles for the long haul there are many manufacturers that
also make excellent long distance versions of the touring motorcycle. It
depends on one’s preference when it comes to style and technology. Some like
the high revving, huge horsepower, giant cubic inch monsters produced by the
Japanese manufacturers and others like the mellow sound of the big V Twin that
is the signature power plant of Harley Davidson. Most people that ride spend
the majority of their riding time putting around town. With that in mind, one
has to give consideration to the size of their choice of bike. If you do most
of your riding in town, is there justification to riding a top of the line
monster Harley or the biggest most technologically advanced Honda Gold Wing
made? I think that most riders of machines of this size and value don’t give
enough thought to the main purpose for their mount before making their
purchase. On the other hand, if you do a good amount of out of town, cross
country riding then this style of motorcycle is ideal and should well be your
choice of machine. I myself have to admit that the majority of my riding is in
and around town. Therefore it makes sense for me to ride a more diversified
style and size of bike. I have just traded my Suzuki DR650cc “dual purpose”
bike on a new machine. My DR650 was designed for riding both on and off road.
Of course it was a fun bike to ride for the past three years but not once did I
take that fully capable machine off road. I even changed the tires from
“Knobby” style to pure road style so it would suit my type of riding better.
Now that I’ve purchased another bike, I put a lot of thought into which type
and what size to buy. I decided that I needed a bike that would suit the around
town riding as well as serve a cross country trip if ever I would wish to take
one with as much ease and competency in either situation. I found a new design
by Kawasaki called the Kawasaki Versys 650. It’s a bike that is designed to do
pretty much any type of riding well. I did a lot of reading and research into
this brand new design of motorcycle. The bike magazines and all the test
facilities that check out new machines from the different manufacturers have
rated this bike one of the best in its class. It handles city riding with style
and is also quite capable of carrying two passengers on a long trip. The
engineers at Kawasaki designed the Versys to be adaptable to most types of
riding. They even say if you want to put a mild set of knobby tires on it, it
will handle dirt road riding with ease. They made the list of accessories for
this new machine endless. It is designed to carry a full compliment of saddle
bags and rear trunk for touring with ease. That means that a simple switch from
about town to cross country is a snap and there’s now need to worry whether or
not this motorcycle will do both jobs equally well. The power plant is a 650cc
parallel twin cylinder high performance engine with loads of torque to enable
it to pull a load on the long mileage trips and have plenty of power to move
safely and strongly on the highway. It’s a heavy enough motorcycle to be safe
on the busy roads and yet it’s a light enough machine to enable one to handle
it with relative ease without fear of losing balance easily because of the huge
mass and weight of it. Now mind you any motorcycle is heavy enough that if it
starts to tip you will have a difficult time stopping it but I don’t see the
need to have a bike that weighs 800 lbs for my purposes. I’m taking delivery of
my new Versys next week and am looking forward to riding this new style of
machine. The saddle bags that the dealer I’ve purchased the bike from sells are
not the style I like so I’ve decided to take the Versys without any bags for
now and order a set of more practical style saddle bags from a company in
Germany. It’ll take a month or two to have the new bags shipped to me here but
they are part of the very first shipment of this make of saddle bag ever sold
in North America. I have to get them through a company called Twisted Throttle
in Rhode Island USA and they will only have their first shipment in June. I’m
anxious to get the total package together and on the road but I guess waiting
till June for the extras won’t be that hard to take. It’ll be exactly what I
want in the end so it’s worth the wait.
Sounds
like the Squamidian members are slowly becoming motorcycle enthusiasts. Doug
and Sue are really enjoying their new Harley and now Sue’s sister and her
husband have their new HD too. Congratulations to them and I sincerely hope
they have many happy trips on their new machine. It looks like we’re in for a
nice long hot summer and that’s ideal for motorcycling. Our son Adam also has
his new Yamaha FJR1300 touring bike. I’m sure we’ll get lots of use out of
these new toys this summer.
That’s
about it for this week folks!
Thanks
for tuning in and I look forward to talking to you all again next week in The
Ontarion Report!
Bye for now… Greg.
PS:
Something To Think About>
There are
293 ways to make change for a dollar.
****
Have a good one..
the doug
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