The Squamidian Report – Jan. 5 / 08
Issue #293
Also in this issue:
A Note From Vivyan
From the Shores of Lake Huron
The Ontarion
Hi All,
As per usual, we passed into the New Year very quietly. On New Years Eve we went up to Whistler with our biking neighbours (in a car of course, it is winter here after all). They have never really spent much time there and were interested in checking it out. We arrived about 8pm and simply walked around the village. Both Ryan and Emily were working that day and night. However, Ryan was able to slip away from the sound equipment he was in charge of and hook up with us for a while. One of the disappointments in Whistler this time was the fact that you had to pay to get into any of the festivities, no matter how silly or uninteresting they were. With Ryan as our guide we were able to bypass the security gates and enter some of the entertainment areas the same way the tech people do. We didn’t stay long in those areas as we found it more interesting to just wander around looking at the tourists and the displays than standing in front of some outdoor stage watching a performer.
Another disappointment was the fact that even though there were postings all over the place as well as on the radio that there would be ride-check locations were the police would be stopping traffic to check for drinking and other unacceptable activities, we couldn’t seem to find any to get stopped and checked in. It’s just one of those fun things that I like doing. Finally, on our way out of Whistler at about 10pm we found a checkpoint. They were stopping traffic coming into town as well as traffic heading out. But it was the only checkpoint we found all evening. Oh well.
Those 2 hours of wandering around in Whistler had been enough. None of use are wild party people and even though it is cool and interesting to be in Whistler on New Years Eve, once you’ve had enough, you’ve had enough. We were home by 11. The neighbours went to their place and we went to ours. We watched a couple episodes of ‘Corner Gas’ and then hit the hay. We were both asleep before midnight, as usual.
We awoke the next morning to our first view of the New Year. Didn’t look all that different from the old one. I won’t bother making any predictions or resolutions but I do hope the almost endless rains of the last year or so will peter out at some point. I do hope we make the time to do some interesting longer trips on our big old Harley touring bike. Well, any trip will be interesting, so we just need to start making the time available so they can be longer. Heck, if it would stop raining or snowing we could even get out on the dirt bikes a bit before highway riding season comes along. There will be some big changes again this year, presumably for the better. Change can be good; it stirs things up a bit.
We’ll certainly try to keep this Squamidian thing going for a while yet, at least as long as there seems to be interest out there. I sure couldn’t do it without Greg as my anchor and Brian writing in from Lake Huron whenever he can. You sure have to admire those guys. I hope some of you others will find the time to share your take on life with the rest of us. It’s always interesting and always great.
So enjoy the New Year, it’s the only one we have at the moment, and it will be getting old and coming to an end before you know it. The older we get, the faster time seems to go.
*
I know that some of you probably expect me to use this first issue of the New Year to do some preaching about how you should be doing a major backup of all that important data you have stored on your computer. Well, guess what? I’m not going to. In fact, I’m not going to say a single word about it!
doug
****
Happy New Year To the Squamidian Family
Greg’s letter the other week reminded me of Christmases when my family was young. Lorne started working at Carlings in 1953 and the union had a couple of great things they always did for the families of the workers. One was a picnic, usually at Victoria Park, in the summer where they served great food. Gale loved olives. When she was 7 or 8 she had each of her siblings pick up a handful of olives for her, going the food line. She didn’t get sick but she must have eaten at least a jar’s worth on her own. (Carol here, typing this – just wanted to add that I had forgotten about the picnics but do remember now the pony rides and that we could keep going back for ice cream cones) The family thing the kids liked best was the Christmas party Carlings put on. The first years they held it at KW Collegiate. They always had entertainment and then Santa came and they had gifts for every child. The children were called up by name and the gifts were always great.
When the kids were young we took them each Christmas Eve day to the Towne Bowl and let them play for a few games. Then we would go on to a restaurant for an ice cream sundae so that was special also. By the time we got home it would be time for Christmas dinner and they would be pretty anxious for Santa to come. Lorne’s families were of German tradition so the gifts were always Christmas Eve. We’d try to keep them busy until that knock came on the door, but by the time they got there Santa had taken off, leaving the gifts in a basket by the door. Grandpa just happened to arrive at the same time with a tale of having seen the reindeer disappearing over the house.
Christmas was great for us this year as we had so many of the family at home. We missed Doug, Sue, Emily & Ryan. The twins weren’t home either but they had been at Gale’s for Ewan’s birthday dinner on the Saturday. That was a great day also with lots of food. We saw Jackie, when she came home for a couple of days, celebrating the visit with a great Turkey dinner at Carol’s on the 18th. On Christmas Day we went to Beth’s and had another wonderful dinner (tur-duck-en, turkey stuffed with duck stuffed with chicken). That made 4 huge meals in a week and somehow I managed to lose a pound despite eating lots of great food.
For New Year’s Eve there were about a dozen of us here. Beth took her gang home early (but late for the boys). Carol, Al, Cindy, Lorne and I hung in for the New Year to arrive. Now today (New Year’s Day) we are going to Al & Carol’s for dinner. We got a dump of fresh snow overnight. When I walked with Teddy this morning the snow was up to his stomach. He kept stopping as each foot got a big snowball on them. He couldn’t figure it out but he kept running through it anyway.
Our phone died on us, so for a few days we had the old rotary dial phone on the phone table. It is so big and heavy, with no memory numbers so I thought I would wear out my fingers. It is very hard to find just a plain phone without all the extras but we finally found one just like the old one that died so there is nothing new I have to learn to use it. The little birds are very busy at the feeders today, but we aren’t seeing many blue jays nor cardinals. I’m also not even hearing them in the bush. The pair of cardinals is at the feeder right now – they show up well against the white snow.
I wish everyone a great 2008!
****
Greetings all!
Trusting everyone had a great New Years Eve and day. I must be getting old because it was all I could do to stay awake to greet the year 2008. It would of came in just the same had I fallen asleep, there just isn't the enthusiasm we had when we were in our younger years.
I just got back from Kitchener again, I just can't believe the amount of snow down there compared to here. The last two snow storms they got we never got any more than about 1 inch give or take a 1/2". Usually it's the other way around.
Well the eggs in the fish hatchery are now all hatched and the first ones are being moved into the larger tanks this weekend, therefore the added task of feeding will now start. It's a great thing watching the little buggers develop into fish. Mother nature works in marvelous ways sometimes. Speaking of wild life last Saturday I saw something move outside the rear door going to the deck out of the corner of my eye and upon further investigation it turned out to be a small flock of wild turkeys heading for the area of my bird feeder. I also have a large dish in which I put corn hoping to attract deer but it seems the turkeys like it to. They are a very skittish bird so they eat for about 10 minutes and leave. They also have an order in which what birds eat at what time. There were two older hens feeding and even though there was lots of room at the dish when two younger birds tried to eat at the same time they were sternly reprimanded with a peck to the head. When the old birds left the younger ones could eat then.
I also had a possum hanging around to. What an ugly creature they are. I always thought they were warm climate animals but I guess not and they don't frighten off to easy as it was on the deck and I tried to chase it away and it just turned looked at me and showed me it's teeth. I assume it wasn't just smiling so I sort of left it be and being the deck is on the sunny side of the house it soaked up the warmth from the brick and then left but came back the next couple of days and did the same thing. My neighbour up the road tells me it's hanging around there now. They didn't know what it was until I told them and I told them not to try to chase it away because I thought they might get chased by it. Apparently its has left now not to be seen since but you never know. I kind of look out before I go out on the deck to barbeque now.
Well I must end for now so everyone have a great and safe week.
****
Hello and
welcome to the dawn of a new year of “The Squamidian” weekly!
I guess
you’re all back in the groove after the holidays and ready to settle down for
the rest of the winter. I can’t help wondering how Jackie and Jim are handling
the winter in their neck of the woods. I hope you guys are still enjoying your
wilderness home and that people are still able to find your B&B in all that
snow! Bye the sounds of things Doug and Sue are experiencing the most “Winter
Like” winter season they’ve seen so far out there in BC. Surly this years
snowfalls out in Squamish are a pleasant reminder of the winters they enjoyed
when they were here in Ontario for many years. I bet in a way, it’s making them
home sick just a little! I was watching the weather report on TV tonight and
our local forecasters are calling for “Spring Like” temperatures by Sunday of
this weekend. They even say we’ll be into temps as high as +13c by Tuesday.
What a melting pot that’ll stimulate with all the snow we’ve picked up over the
past couple of weeks. There should be some flooding if the warm spell lasts a
few days as predicted. I would rather have the temps warm up slowly so the thaw
is gradual and probably at the appropriate time of year as well. Spring should
happen in the Spring if you ask me!
*
I spent a
couple of hours this evening traveling through the desert states of the Western
US on a motorcycle. I inherited a stack of biking books from my cousin who is
also into motorcycling. The articles in these particular books are well written
and are done so for the express purpose of drawing comparisons between
different brands of motorcycles. I like to read them just to get away in my
mind and it truly is enjoyable to go along on the rides described in the
write-ups. Just casting my mind into the deserts of New Mexico and California
for a couple of hours had me warmed up not wanting to come home until summer.
We have beautiful scenery here in Ontario but it’s totally different than that
of the blistering hot surroundings of such states as Nevada, New Mexico,
Arizona and California. I’ve never actually been to any one of these states but
can imagine the feel of riding the long dusty highways of the American
southwest. As I write this article I can actually feel the heat blasting on my
face while listening to the rumble of the other motorcycles accompanying me on
my ride, feeling the freedom of the open road with the smiles of my fellow
riders Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda cracking in the midday sun of the desert
states! I suddenly catch the glint of something shining in the distance ahead
of us just over the upcoming rise in the road. As I twist the throttle of my
trusty Suzuki taking me faster and faster I can see the shape of a large Black
Harley Davidson sparkling on the horizon. As we draw closer and the exhaust
smoke clears………… why it’s…… it’s a BC license plate…………. what the hey…………..it’s
Doug and Sue rumbling along with the HD’s stereo blasting out tunes from the
latest CD by “Whisky Sam”!
What a
throw back to the 60’s this is with a scene right out of “Easy Rider”. Who says
you can’t go back! Wait a minute, as I got smacked in the forehead by a big
juicy desert grasshopper I suddenly snap out of it and find myself wondering
where the open road went and find Carole shaking me in my wingback chair saying
“Wake up! Wake up Captain America, the movie’s over! Time to park yer ride for
another couple of months until the weather is actually good enough to take it
out again!”
Oh well,
I guess Dennis and Peter will have to finish their ride without me this time
and Doug and Sue will be Ok too as they cross the 49th parallel back
into BC and on home to Squamish. I’m sure there’ll be other times when we’ll
meet up and finish the ride we started in my fantasy scoot for this week. I’ll
save my dreaming for another time. After all, we have loads more winter to come
here in Ontario and I’m sure I’ll need the rest of the stack of Bike magazines
to get me through a few more ccccold evenings. Tell the truth now, did you find
yourself riding along with us just for a few wispy minutes? C’mon, sure you
did! Whether or not you’re a biker you can’t help feeling the freedom of the
open road at least in your imagination when that old classic “Easy Rider” is
brought to mind. If you’re younger than I am and don’t know what the hell I’m
talking about, head on down to your local video store and rent yourself a copy
of “Easy Rider” and take a cross country bike trip with the classics!
Gotta go
for now!
Thanks
for tuning in (and riding along) and I hope to talk to you all again next week
in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now… Greg.
PS:
Something To Think About>
Have you
ever just wanted to “Get away from it all”?
****
The Family Site:
http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b/
The Squamidian Site:
The Biking And Stuff Site:
Have a good one..
the
doug
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