The Squamidian Report – March 15 / 08
Issue #303
Including:
From The Shores Of Lake Huron
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Something I do a lot around here is look up. There is always something to see. If it’s cloudy, the clouds and light show a different perspective of the mountains than when it’s sunny. When it is sunny, the mountains glow all the way down to the snowline. However, when I stole a quick glance up from my work one day this week I saw what at first looked like a large, slow moving ‘V’ of geese. But they didn’t seem to be normal geese. As they flew closer it became clear that they weren’t geese at all. They were swans. Their white bodies looked almost silver against the sky. Their very long necks were stretched out in front and their incredibly wide wingspan made them seem un-real.
When I first realized they were white I thought perhaps they were snow geese but their size and flight movements were that of swans. There was too much noise around me to let me hear any sound they were making but they were magnificent to see. Both swans and snow geese will winter in the lower mainland but the biggest populations are over on the Island in the Comox area. I’ve watched a couple of pairs of swan nest over by the estuary in the summer so we do have a good presence of them around here. But seeing a whole flock fly over low and slow was a first for me.
*
Now here’s an interesting tidbit of information I came across while reading the kinds of books that I tend to read…. If it weren’t for Plate Tectonics and related geological activities, this whole planet we call home would be covered by about 2 kilometers of water.
You see, the very same dynamic forces that make it dangerous to live near fault lines and volcanoes are the same forces that make life on dry land, and that dry land itself, possible. Because our world is geologically alive, it is always renewing itself. Continental plates are absorbed and reborn. Land is pushed up above sea level by pressure and movement, and volcanic deposits build on top of that. Working against these forces is the relentless force of gravity and the erosive actions of wind and water. If this planet were geologically dead, that is, if continents and mountains etc had not been continually rebuilt over the several billion years of the Earth’s life, erosion and gravity would have worn any landmasses down to sea level. Wave and current action would have continued the process until everything equaled out. The planet would have become a water-covered world with a relatively smooth solid core drowned under 2 clicks of water.
Now that’s certainly a very simplified explanation of the whole process but you get my drift. Certainly quite fascinating when you think about it. And of course I am making a rather basic assumption here…. that the Earth would still have its atmosphere. Volcanic emissions helped create one way back in the beginning. Without an atmosphere there would be no weather, therefore no rain or wind. Without a protective atmosphere there would also be no free water to form the oceans. Any surface water would simply boil off into Space (atmospheric pressure dictates the boiling point of water), or be frozen solid and you’d end up with a surface very much like that of the Moon.
But lets assume that there would still be an atmosphere to protect the one big all encompassing ocean. It is hard to imagine what kind of aquatic life might have evolved in a 2-kilometer deep global ocean covered by a wild and stormy marine atmosphere. There would be no warm shallow protected bays or reefs to act as spawning grounds. There would be no fresh water estuaries rich in nutrients. The only ‘life’ zone would be in the narrow layer at the surface where sunlight could penetrate but if the surface was constantly being battered by open ocean storms even planktonic life would have had a hard time getting started. So any life that would have evolved in that ocean would be very alien to our imagination. This would simply be a very different world from the one we know. Not our world at all.
Pretty cool where my old brain takes me when it gets a few minutes to think about stuff, eh? Try being on this side of it!!
*
Wow, are we ever into pollen season out here on in Lotus Land. Alder pollen starts to disperse into the air in late February and by mid March is in full bloom. Many of the other similar types of trees in the poplar family are also madly pollinating. So out comes the antihistamines and eye drops. Out come the multiple boxes of Kleenex and the ever-present plastic grocery bag tied to my belt as a place to deposit the used tissue. However, pollen season, or at least the kind of pollen that bothers me, will be over with by about the time the rest of the country is just getting into it.
*
And lastly, Warren and I took a short toot up in behind Furry Creek on our dirt bikes. This year’s low snowline is receding and we were able to go further than I had thought we might, but not as far as I had hoped we might. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring fresh batteries for my camera so I was only able to take 4 shots before it died.
http://www.thedougsite.net/FurryCr/furry.htm
doug
****
Greetings everyone.
Believe it or not we missed out on the large snow dump last weekend that hit the London, Kitchener. Toronto and parts east of there with a major dumping of snow. According to news reports those areas are going to way over budget on snow removal. The city officials I think get too laid back in the years of little or no snow and forget that we live in the great lakes basin and large amounts of snow can arrive in a short time. Apparently many areas have run out of salt for the roads. Probably because unless they dump on mega amounts people just can't seem to fathom that you have to slow down in bad weather.
In a weeks time it will be spring
according to the date on the calendar, it can't come soon enough as I keep an
eye on the lake for the ice to disappear as it move in and out depending on the
direction of the wind. Most of it is pack ice so it moves pretty easy. The boat
and I are just itching to go. I am also waiting for to get back on the bike. I
imagine Doug must be getting extremely close to riding by now.
Excuse the screw up in the style of lettering as I am typing this on my new laptop and I have no idea how come it changed fonts. I some how must have hit a wrong key and I was to far into the paragraph before I noticed it. I am not the world’s fastest typer so I just left it instead of changing it. By the way it will soon be a year since I started the motel addition and I am still there. I get one job done and they seem to add two or three more. I almost feel like the energizer bunny I keep going and going. They are also wanting to add to their house, which is just 4 lots up the road from me. That would be nice as I can drop my trailer there, leave it and take my four-wheeler to work every day. At the price of gas I can drive to work for a month on a tank of gas.
Well its time to sign off so everyone have a great week and a safe one.
****
Hello
everyone!
Well,
we’re still up to our knees in snow around KW but I’m sure we’ll start to see
the melting process soon. We’d better see it soon, my new motorcycle is still
in the box up on a shelf at the dealer and for the past 5 weeks I’ve been like
a kid anticipating Christmas morning. Just have to keep my fingers crossed that
the sun will shine more often than not for the next few weeks and we’ll be into
warm weather in early April. I know that Doug has said they are into the pollen
allergies hot and heavy out in BC. That must mean we’re next!
*
Back in
January we received a letter in the mail from the City Of Kitchener planning
dept. They said that anyone living on a corner lot and having a fence that
lined the “corner” side of the property that may not meet the city by-law
requirements must file an application for a “variance” no later than March 7
2008. They sent along a pamphlet outlining the height requirements and distance
from the property line requirements for each height. Of course our fence having
been erected over 20 years ago by a previous owner was planted right smack dab
on the property line about 18” in from the sidewalk. It was also 40” high at
the front half of the property and 6’ high around part of the side lot and all
of the back yard. This means that we do not meet the by-law requirements and
must file for a variance. What a pain in the butt this was! It all came about
apparently from one townhouse developer who had been ordered to move 400’ of
fence back 10’ from where he had just erected it at great expense because
someone complained that he was too close to a city walkway for the height of
his fence as well as being too high for being near a corner. He got his dander
up and had his lawyer send a letter demanding that City Hall contact every
corner lot owner in the city and make them comply as well. Well, since his was
a brand new fence, he had no other construction or landscaping in place that
had to be moved along with the fence. His move was a simple but expensive one.
People like us who have spent thousands of dollars on landscaping that lines
the inside of their fence would be stung hard if we had to move the fence back
5’ from the property line. When I checked with the city they told me that was
the reason they were letting people apply for a variance. Thus as long as the
variance was approved by the planning department for your particular fence it
could remain where it is. I guess this was a way of satisfying the demands of
the contractor that got ordered to move his fence when they could tell him that
everyone else was notified and had taken action. So, I had to download an
application from the City website and fill it in. Then I had to take two
pictures of my fence from different angles and make 4 copies of each. Then I
had to write a letter explaining why I wanted the fence to remain where it is
and beg for the variance to be approved. Along with the application I had to
submit a copy of an official lot plan of my property showing all the buildings
and the location of the fence. I also had to draw up a “landscape” plan to show
what plants I was planning to plant along the fence to make it look nice. The
city has 4 lists of different plants of varying sizes to suit each land space
along a fence. You had to choose plants that would fit in your particular space
between the fence and city property i.e.: The sidewalk. This meant that my choice
was limited to several brands of IVY. After all, there aren’t many plants or
shrubs that will fit on an 18” space and not grow out over the sidewalk.
Then, I
had to make up four sets of application, lot plan, begging letter, landscape
plan and pictures so that each “Fencing” committee member would have their own
set to look at while deciding the fate of our fence. I had to hand deliver all
of this to the planning dept at City Hall and explain it all to one of their
planners. The fellow I dealt with was very understanding and found very little
wrong with my fence. However, the one thing that was in question was the front
corner section of the fence. There was only one 8’ section along the front of
the property but it came to a point with the side fence on the corner. He
pointed out that we don’t own the pointed corner of our front lawn. The actual
lot line is rounded and set back about 3’ from the point of the corner.
Therefore my fence point is on City property. In order to be able to leave it
there even with the variance, I would have to go down to “Legal” on the 3rd
floor and talk to them. I did so and was told that if I wanted to sign an
agreement with the city allowing me to leave the corner of my fence on their
land I’d have to pay an additional $200.00 application fee to have council
consider my application. I was already on the hook for $100.00 to the planning
dept up stairs for the variance application. (That is, as long as I paid it
before March 7 it would only be $100.00. If I paid it after March 7, it would
be $430.00) I was told that if I paid $100.00 at the time I filed the form with
the Legal dept they would accept my application for consideration by council.
Then when council made their decision, whether or not my exception was allowed
I would have to pay the second half of the fee, another $100.00) Also, if they
decided to allow me to leave the fence on the corner I would have to submit
proof to council that I had added a rider to my home owners insurance policy
covering any liability on behalf of the city should someone injure themselves
on that corner of the fence and lodge a law suit against the city for damages.
What a bloody mess this was becoming! That’s not all they also told me that
starting this year the city is going to charge an annual fee to anybody having
a fence or part of a structure sitting on city property. She wasn’t sure how
much it would be but probably in the neighbourhood of $50.00 to $100.00 per
year for something like my little corner of fence. I was told that the other
alternative to the problem was to reroute the fence on an angle to keep it on
my property or to remove the part of the fence that was on city property. I
told her I was pretty sure what my decision was going to be but I’d be back in
an hour. I took the application home and explained everything to Carole. We
were both in shock at this point. We agreed that we already pay the City enough
damned money in taxes and that paying them another application fee of $200.00
and then an annual surtax on top of that was outrageous and out of the
question. To hell with it, the 8’ of fence that sits on the Cities corner is
coming down! I returned to City Hall and told their Legal Dept that I’d be
removing the part of the fence that sits on the corner. I then returned to the
Planning office and told the same to the planner. He said “Do you want me to
help you figure out how much fence is on City property?” I said the only thing
I had to go by was the photocopy page of the “lot plan” that came with my deed.
I had used it to do the fence plan for the application. He said it was to scale
and he could figure it out from that drawing. He proceeded to measure and when
all was said and done, we have to remove the front piece of 8’ of fence and get
this….. 26’ of fence along the side. The curve of the property line starts that
far back from the front of my lawn. So, with that much fence being gone, I’m
sure we can expect to have a lot of foot traffic across the corner of our front
lawn come June. I say June because we have until June 1st to remove
the offending portion of the fence. I stated my disappointment with having to
remove that much of a fence that truly serves a useful purpose but of course I
have no alternative unless I want to pay and pay and pay and pay!!!!! As I
started to turn away from the planning counter the Planner said to me “I know
you’re upset with the length of fence you have to remove but keep this in mind,
we can’t accurately determine where that property line starts to curve unless
we actually send out a survey crew when we come to check to see that the work
has been done and I know we WILL NOT be doing that! We will simply send someone
out to see that some of the fence has been taken down as per our agreement.” He
was as much as saying “Make an effort to comply and nothing more will be said.”
At least, that’s what I read into his comment! I asked him when a final
decision would be made on whether or not our application for a variance would
be granted. He said “You’ll receive a notice in the mail in 2 to 3 weeks with
the approved variance enclosed!” In other words, all we really want is your
$100.00 fee and we’ll approve the variance. This whole ball of shit was just so
they can tell that complaining contractor that they made everyone else that
owned property on a corner comply with the by-law! There are two ways to
describe what happened. First, it was nothing but another “Cash Grab” and
second, It’s called “Covering their asses”! I paid the $100.00 grabbed my
receipt and headed for home.
It’s been
almost three weeks and we’re still waiting for the notice!
Whew!
That’s enough for this week folks!
Thanks
for tuning in and I hope to talk to you all again next time in The Ontarion
Report!
Bye for now…. Greg.
PS:
Something To Think About>
Good
fences make good neighbours!
****
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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