The Squamidian Report – Sept. 20 / 08
Issue #330
Including:
North Nova News
From The Shores Of Lake Huron
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Last Sunday was the ‘Rumble to the Rock’ motorcycle ride from Burnaby to Squamish. To be clearer, it was the second annual Rumble to the Rock ride. It used to be called the ‘Ride to the Mountain’ and went on up to Whistler, but at some point Whistler decided that it didn’t want a bunch of motorcycles converging on their uppity tourist trap. So the ride’s name and destination was changed and Squamish is quite happy to host the event.
Sue and I attended again. We rode in bright and early while it was still quite cool out. It was clear and sunny but we did need out leathers. By the time we got to the staging parking lot behind Dealey Harley Davidson, it had warmed up quite a bit. By the time the ride was ready hit the road at 11 am it was getting hot. There were some organization problems this year, the first one being that the local police were not able to send any cops over to block the intersections and let the procession of bikes up onto the highway. This meant that the hundreds of bikes ended up fragmented and the first few miles on the Upper Levels Highway were disorganized and chaotic. The bikes ended up forming smaller groups as they rode along.
Rides like this tend to attract the inevitable asshole bikers that are out there to race back and forth through the traffic lanes and generally make a nuisance of themselves. Jerks like these disrupt the columns of riders as well as the rest of the traffic. There are also the car drives who don’t know how to behave themselves on the highway and end up trying to pass 6 or 8 hundred bikes just when a passing lane is coming to an end, or try to insert themselves into the column of bikes somehow thinking it is cool. But this inevitable kind of behavior is to be expected when dealing with vehicles, highways and the general public. Can’t be avoided. However, we all made it to Squamish just fine.
By the time we reached Horseshoe Bay the ride had formed up into about 3 groups of perhaps 300 bikes each as well as the occasional car that couldn’t figure out that there was another lane they could be in. The bikes wound their way up the Sound making enough noise to be heard for miles. When we rolled into Squamish, the local police there were ready to block the highway and let us make the turn onto Cleveland Ave, the main street. The whole west end of the street as blocked off for the bikes, and we parked down both sides as well as down the middle. The local car club had their cars all lined up on display and had organized a BBQ as well as some other activities. Generally speaking, it was a pretty good time.
We hung out for an hour or so and then headed home, happy to get into the house and out from under a rather hot late summer sun.
And now, or in about an hour from now to be more precise, we are heading out to join in the Britannia Toy Run. Cool, eh?
doug
****
Well summer has come and gone and its time I put out another report. It seems its been raining forever! At least the rain in September has slowed down. Our pond almost overflowed the dyke. One morning after another heavy downpour I opened my door to hear a loud roar. It sounded like a waterfall so I headed down to the pond to see. The outlet was taking all the water it could and the sound was deafening. As I walked around the dam the water was starting to creep over it, any more rain and it would probably wash out. This was always a big concern for my Dad and he worried constantly about losing our pond one day. Last year was the battle with the beaver and now this year no sign of beaver but so much rain the outlet couldn’t handle it. I am so glad we had the reunion last year in August when the weather was beautiful. This year would have been a wash out. My brother Ward has been doing a lot of carving lately, carving letters that is. The log benches he builds now have messages or names carved into the backrests. His clients are delighted and he is busy. We now have a new sign hanging by our pond and it looks like it should have always been there. I guess years ago there was a sawmill on our property in the location of our pond so the sign says Sawmill Pond and on the other side my mother and father’s names. It’s absolutely beautiful. I will post a picture for Doug to show you.
As you might have guessed the sailing season was not great with all the rain but we got out as much as possible. July 1st weekend we spent in Charlottetown for the Festival of Lights. It’s fun to dock your boat at the downtown marina with all the activities so close at hand. They have big name bands playing each night, buskers, fireworks, huge crowds and lots of neat shopping. A couple of weekends we managed to sail to our favourite spots like Pictou Island and Merigomish Harbour. These trips are about a two to four hour sail, which is about right for me. Then we do some serious walking, barbecuing and socializing. On Pictou Island the beaches are beautiful and the water clear and you can walk for miles. The island is only about 5 miles long though and very peaceful except on long weekends when all the mainland kids come to party. They mostly come over on the small ferry then load themselves on the back of old trucks and take off for a party. We were woken one night by the RCMP boat. With bright lights, a loudspeaker and siren they rescued a couple of guys who had drank so much they were seriously sick. It was no easy task to get those stretchers down off the wharf and they barely fit on the boat. It was a little hard to get back to sleep after all that excitement.
On the sailing trip to Merigomish Harbour you follow the mainland past Little Harbour, Chance Harbour, beautiful cottages and a very popular beach called Melmerby Beach. Then just past the mouth of Merigomish you follow a channel past small islands here and there until you enter an extremely sheltered cove called Black Hull Gut. This is another favourite place for boaters. We rafted up to seven other sailboats and spent a night enjoying the company of our sailor friends. A couple of years ago we spent a night here on a friend’s boat that was trying to avoid a hurricane. It seemed a crazy thing to do at the time but he had major damage during Hurricane Juan when his boat was in the downtown Marina in Pictou. Most of the damage had occurred from other boats crashing into him. So he wasn’t about to have that happen again. With two anchors out and tied to a mooring ball we were the lone boat in the most sheltered spot we knew with no other boats around to crash into because no one else was crazy enough to leave a safe harbour and sail away when a hurricane was forecasted. We spent the night playing cards and listening to the wind. Sleep was not an option. By early morning we knew the storm had veered away from us and headed out to sea.
Our little brother, Zane, ( Big Brothers Assoc.) who is now 18 years old and not little anymore decided again this year he would get two cars ready for the demolition derby at the Pictou Exhibition. Zane and his friend Alex spent many nights in our barn stripping and painting the cars. There must be no glass or seats except for the drivers, no headlights or rear lights, a hole cut out of the hood (in case of fire), the hood, trunk and doors all chained shut, the drivers door strengthened and padded and many more rules that I don’t know about. He entered the front wheel drive (Toyota) demolition one night and the rear wheel drive (Ford Ltd) the next night. It’s hard to imagine anyone wanting to be in the middle of cars banging and bashing each other but he finds it very exciting and is planning next year already. Last year he came in third but this year he was out of the game quickly. His tire went flat and so he just became a sitting duck spinning his tires and creating all kinds of smoke and mud flying. At one point a hit caused his car to leap into the air and we all gasped at the thought of him flipping. No one was hurt and they all had a great time.
That’s
all for now folks!
View the pictures !
http://www.thedougsite.net/F&F/Pictures/NorthNova/northnov2.htm
****
Greetings everyone from the sunny shores of Lake Huron.
Quite a change from last Sunday where we had 3 1/4" of rain from late Saturday until Monday morning with the bulk coming on Sunday. It seemed like it was never going to slow down or even stop. I was glad my lawn and topsoil never got washed out, I guess it was because we mixed in some wheat seeds before planting the regular grass seed as it grows rather quickly creating roots to bond the soil together. Besides it's green when it comes up and it looks like you have a good crop of grass growing.
This was also an interesting workweek as Monday I was supposed to pick up rental mini excavator to complete the outside work around the garage addition just up the road from my place. I phone the rental place and the customer and said it wouldn't happen until Tuesday, as is an area that was quite low and I would have had to have an ark to move the machine around in the work area.
Tuesday I picked up the excavator a Bobcat 331, actually quite a nice machine to do what I needed to do. The work consisted of bringing up the grade adjacent to the addition with a fill type material, Re installing a rock garden that was removed before the addition went on and then topsoiling the complete area. Also had to pour a new sidewalk around the addition.
After I got the first load of fill in and graded as to suit the customer, I began the lifting and placing of rocks as per their plan (design build… they design as you build). The first one took a bit to get to stay on the bucket but after a couple of attempts I managed to get it to stay and gently moved the excavator and the rock into position. Well after that I got pretty good at this part of the work. By the end of the day we had all the rock placed and I never injured anyone, anything or the machine quite an accomplishment. Doug you would be proud of me! HA HA.
The next day I finished putting in the rest of the required fill, formed and poured the sidewalk. Finally on the third day I place and graded 2 triaxel loads of topsoil. The nice thing about these small excavators is the fact that you can knock down these large mounds of topsoil then take the excavator, which has a blade on it, and use it similar to a dozer to level and fine grade the soil.
I must say there wasn't much raking the customer had to do. If I could justify the costs for a unit like that I would consider buying one and become the Doug Brubacher of the Port Elgin area, but alas there is too much competition out there already besides I should stick to what I do best being a carpenter.
Well enough said for this week so I will sign off until next. Everyone have a good and safe week.
By the way The Rangers won their home opener for the season Friday Night. Actually it was an impressive game.
****
Hello
everyone!
Just when
I thought the bottom had fallen out of this beautiful summer we’ve been having,
Carole and I took a drive up to the St Jacob’s Farmer’s Market at the north end
of Waterloo and my faith in Mother Nature was instantly restored! I was
immediately swept up in the sights, sounds and smells of the hustle and bustle
of this colourful place. As we approached the busy rows of farm produced
vegetables on display we couldn’t help but notice the odour of fried onions in
the air. Mmmmmmm…….. My how good they smelled! Especially when you happen to be
arriving there around noon and doing so without having had lunch yet! We were
on a mission to find a stock of items that Carole needs for her fall canning
program. As we walked the rows of offerings we were thrilled with the amazing
colours presented by the vendors. Just the look of the colourful produce is
enough to make you want to take a big bite out of the first item you can lay
your hands on. Even the onions look like they could compete with the best
apples on display for a snack! We discovered a vendor there last year that
sells the sweetest onions we’ve ever tasted. We were up to the market a few
weeks ago and he told us at the time that the “Sweet” onions wouldn’t be
available until the middle of September. Well, as we approached his tables of
veggies today, there they were, bag after bag of sweet Spanish onions just
waiting for me to take ‘em home and start my “peanut butter and onion” sandwich
campaign! As I’ve told you in previous Ontarions I was lucky as a kid to have a
father that liked to experiment with food and was probably the only kid in
Kitchener (Other than my brother and sister) to take this gourmet delight to
school for many of my lunches. Guess that just might explain why I was a lonely
kid while in high school! LOL! Just kidding! I did however chew a lot of
“Chlorrettes” gum in my high school days. That was the strongest chewing gum
available those days and it succeeded in covering up the onion breath that my
dad’s famous sandwiches created. A little further down the line of vendors was
a fine table of baskets filled with field grown “Beef Steak” tomatoes. They
were the size of a loaf of bread in diameter. I just had to take some home for
lunch so Carole scooped up a basket of beauties along with a couple of giant
plastic bags of “Roma” tomatoes for her Salsa production. These red beauties
were only part of the days shopping items. We also bought two large bags of
peppers, one bag of large sweet red peppers and another bag of “Hot” red
peppers for a variety of tastes to tide us over the winter months. Carole loves
to can and has done so for many years. If we ever get hit with a natural
disaster that cuts off our food supply, we’ll be able to sustain ourselves for
months just on the preserves we have in the cold cellar. With places such as
the “Farmer’s Market” we’re lucky that we can enjoy the fruits and veggies
produced by our local farmers. There’s nothing more disconcerting to me than
shopping at the local “Grocery” store and finding when I get the veggies home
that they are a product of Mexico or China or some other far off foreign
country when we have such beautiful and nourishing home grown foodstuffs right
here in our own surrounding country side farms. I’d like to take this
opportunity to say “Let’s make an effort to support our own farmers and we can
do that by reading the labels on the foods we buy at the “local” market and
start to refuse to buy that which isn’t Canadian grown or produced”!
With our
trip to the Farmer’s Market today being so enjoyable and productive, I don’t
think I’ll miss summer as much as I thought I would. The beauty and
productivity of Fall very adequately replaces the warmth and sunshine of
summer. Each season has its positive aspects and the most positive aspect of
Fall is the amazing harvest we’re offered by the hard working farmers of our
region. Let’s support them as much as possible!
That’s it
for this week folks!
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>
When you
get two leaders from the two worst money managing political parties in history
teaming up (Bob Rae and What is that French guy’s name?) to try to win an
election to lead this great country. You’d bet your ass you’d better remember
why they shouldn’t be doing that job! The “Provincial NDP” years of Bob Rae
damned near bankrupted the province of Ontario and the Federal “Liberal” years
were frat with serious theft and lies and excuses to cover up that theft, so
you tell me why in hell these guys should be trusted as a team with governing
Canada’s future!
****
Have a good one..
the doug
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