The Squamidian Report – March 1 / 08
Issue #301
Including:
From the Shores of Lake Huron
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Landing on and taking off from my old runways back at WW was pretty neat. The surrounding area and approach paths are still basically the same. But the airport itself has changed a lot since I flew light Censna airplanes back in the 70’s and 80’s. There was very little of that aviation industry infrastructure that has grown up on the field. The flying club was just that, now it houses a restaurant. Runway 14/32 hasn’t changed but runway 07/25 has. It used to be about 5500 ft long. It was lengthened out to 7000 ft to accommodate the big jets that now land there. Back in my flying days the biggest things that came in were corporate jets and the occasional military plane. Now the regularly scheduled passenger jets come in daily. Oh, there is one other change that took me by surprise. The posted elevation of the field used to be 1031 ft. Now it is posted as 1027 ft. I have no idea where that other 4 ft of elevation went. Very strange in deed.
Getting back to work was a drag. Not so much because work is a drag but because I ended up quite jet-lagged. When you land at WW on a flight from the west you get in at about 5:40 or so. Not a problem as you have the whole evening still ahead. But when you take off, you take off at about 6:20 and you still have 5 hours of flight time to endure plus the connection in Calgary. So that puts you into Vancouver at midnight unless there is a delay in Calgary, which there was. We boarded on time and pulled away from the gate on time, but then we stopped after backing up about 20 ft and just sat there. No explanation or anything. We just sat there and sat there. Eventually we proceeded on to Vancouver but by then it was really late, or should I say very early, next day wise. Sue was there to pick me up and we enjoyed a nice nighttime drive up to Squamish. End of trip.
Anyway, Monday wasn’t too bad, didn’t even have trouble waking up or getting going. But by Monday evening the jet-lag hit and I could barley keep my eyes open. Tuesday at work was just as bad. However, by Wednesday my internal clock was correcting itself and now I’m pretty well back to normal.
We’d been having nice warmish sunny spring weather out here for the last two or three weeks and the buds are starting to bud. The pussy willows are starting to pussy or willow or whatever you call it when they get those fuzzy little ends forming. There is no snow left in the valley bottom or even up here in the Highlands. One of these days the bike will be going back on the road but I’ve got to resist the urge for a couple of weeks yet just to be sure. Wouldn’t want to jump the gun and have the weather get even by hitting us with one last winter blast.
One sure sign of spring is that our roof is finally about to be replaced. We have had our name on a roofing company’s list for almost a year as we waited for them to get around to doing it. There is a sever shortage of labour and trades people out here while at the same time there is a heavy demand for labour and the trades. What few companies are around have leaned that they can do whatever they want and charge whatever they want. ‘Gouge’ is the keyword. I won’t tell you what it is costing us to have the roof replaced but I could have rounded up a crew of roofers in Ontario and flown them out, supplied them with everything they needed and put them up in a motel and still been ahead by several thousand dollars.
But at least there is some progress, a big dumpster has been deposited on our driveway and there are some safety ropes fastened to the peak of the roof. I haven’t actually seen anyone around but I assume they will turn up next week to strip the old shingles and install new ones. We are going for the new 30-year shingles so that the chances of us having to re-do the roof are minimal. Hopefully there won’t be too much water damage under the old ones, requiring major repairs.
By the way, we just had a leap year type of February. Hope you all had a happy Sadie Hawkins Day.
doug
****
Greetings Everyone.
I don't know how many of you got to see Doug when he was back but I had lunch with him and his brother in law last Friday at Swiss Chalet. We had some great conversation and not to bad of food. Doug you haven't aged any since moving out to BC. It must the great climate and relaxing atmosphere there.
Well Ontarion has bitter cold temperatures at the present time but it’s supposed to warm up to normal over the next few days. By the way Doug I got a new seat bar sensor for the skid steer and it still doesn't work so the guy is sending me some additional parts for the same area as the sensor. He thinks it might be the magnetic bushing not functioning right when the bar is put down. I don't have a clue. I know if it had something to due with carpentry NO PROBLEM I'm just not a mechanic. He suggested I bring it to Owen Sound for him to look at but I said to him if I can't move it how am I supposed to load on the float. Surprise he said oh yah. DUH ! He may end up coming over hear if this doesn't work.
Last Saturday I went down to London Boat show it wasn't bad but wasn't great either. On the way back up just outside of Clinton I saw something that looked like and ran like a squirrel but it was pure white. As I followed it into a driveway my eyes confirmed that it defiantly was a white squirrel. Once it hit the snow the only way I could tell where it was by the snow flying behind as it ran. I was told by a friend of mine that Exeter has a huge population of these white squirrels. It's amazing no matter how old you are there is always something you haven't seen or heard of before. Well everyone it's time to sign off so have a great and safe week.
****
Hello
everyone!
OK, today
is the first day of March so where’s the melting factor??? Guess we’ll have to
wait a little longer to get rid of this white stuff. Yesterday I watched as the
city “sidewalk” plow cleared the walkway beside our house of snow that isn’t
there. There is lots of snow to either side of the walkway but the sidewalk
itself is bare. I guess the operators of these neat machines just get so used
to driving their route that they are oblivious of the fact that they just
scraped the same concrete yesterday. I thought to myself when I saw this
machine go by “It’s not a weekend or 2am on a holiday so why would this guy be
plowing non existent snow?” Then it dawned on me, these guys do have regular
working hours as well as the lucrative “Overtime” hours they seem to be so fond
of. I suppose they have to show up for work anyway so why not spend eight hours
in a nice little articulating vehicle with a heated cab and a comfy seat
checking out places to diddle away their overtime hours later? After all once
the snow does melt, their excuse for doubling their weekly work hours and
tripling their take home pay will be gone down the drain as well. I suppose
it’s the old “Make hay while the sun shines” or snow falls or whatever that
saying is! What the heck, if the Mayor and Kitchener City Councilors can
partake of free Elton John tickets (and Lord knows what else) surely the city
employees that actually do some work for their pay can squeeze in a little
questionable overtime now and then can’t they?
*
I’m sure
after what seems to be a long winter but is actually a normal Canadian winter
for a change we’re all looking forward to Spring and Summer this year. I can’t
imagine what it would be like to be living way up north where they’re subjected
to 6 months of darkness and 6 months of light alternatively! I can take gray
days and blizzards and ice storms as long as there is a change in the amount of
light we have in a 24 hour day. With the onset of Spring I’m actually looking
forward to the flurry of oil changes and tune ups I’ll have to do on the lawn
mower and snow blower, one to bring out for summer use and one for storage till
next winter. With the change of seasons there is always a lot to do to prepare.
Life would sure be boring if we didn’t have 4 seasons to spice things up
wouldn’t it!
*
I
understand Doug made it home safely and is also looking forward to spring out
in BC. They’ve had such a wet summer and winter this past year that BC is
really itching to get back to their normal long spring, summer and fall.
Usually they don’t have much of a winter to speak of and this year than managed
to experience one that was more like a winter the rest of Canada usually has.
Maybe the folks of BC will appreciate their mild weather a whole lot more now
that they’ve been to the mountain so to speak!
Guess
that’s about it for my ramblings for this week.
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>
Experience
is something you don’t get until just after you need it!
****
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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