The Squamidian Report – July 18 / 09
Issue #373
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Finding ones self home and back to daily life after a motorcycle trip is a tad anticlimactic. There are no open roads beckoning, no endless horizons to chase. No new vistas to catch the eye, no new adventures to catch the imagination. The bikes are cleaned up and polished back to their usual shine. The luggage and riding gear has been put away. Boring !!
However, the raspberry patch is producing copulas amounts of raspberries even though there isn’t even supposed to be a berry patch there. Some silly bird must have dropped a raspberry seed into one end of our flower bed by the back deck a couple of years ago and now there is a large and growing stand of producing canes. The early blueberries are also ripening at a rate of about one handful per day. So that part of ‘life back to normal’ is good. Can’t beat fresh ripe berries for flavor.
The Whistler project is winding down. There are only a few tie-ins left to complete. Local work is also running low, a combination of the economy and mid summer doldrums so there is the rather pleasant prospect of downtime to look forward to, at least in the short term. Heck, with the reunion coming up I’ll take all the extra time off I can get, and if there is more after that I just might be able to saddle up and hit the road again on the HOG. Never know, always a silver lining.
Just for the heck of it, we have put the old ’84 Yamaha Virago back on the road. Or to be precise, Ryan has. It has been sitting here in the garage since last fall. Unused and unloved. That does not do anything mechanical any good. So now that it is licensed and insured we can drive it around. Sure feels light and nimble and easy after riding our heavy Harleys. And face it, it never hurts to have a spare motorcycle sitting around.
One more seemingly unrelated item. It has been hot and dry again here on the coast. The fire hazard rating is climbing fast. The last of the snowpack is melting and the forests are tinder dry again. We’ve had temperatures in the high 20’s and low to mid 30’s with really no relief in sight. I don’t really like it that hot but it does make for nice sitting out on the back deck at night looking up at the stars and enjoying the cool night air. One bonus when living on or near the coast is that no matter how hot it gets during the day, it cools way down at night. Again, always a silver lining.
doug
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Hello everyone!
Well, they say that summer has yet to start in
southern Ontario but I’ve been having a good one here in Kitchener. Carole and
I have been enjoying the weather so far this summer. It’s been in and around
the 20c to 25c mark for the past 6 weeks and we think that’s a very nice summer
temp. I know that the die hard summer buffs like it hot enough to make them
sweat buckets but I’m sure when asked, they’d agree that that’s not a comfortable
way to spend their time outdoors even if it is the summer time. In fact, we
could use some rain around our area to freshen up the lawns. Things are drying
out a tad and that’s not good for the greenery or the water table. Time for a
good soaking methinks! The last few times our local TV station predicted rain
all we got was a few sprinkles so, I’m hoping that over the next few days we
get a good steady soaker to bring things back to normal. My precious lawn is
starting to brown out a tad and I don’t want to have to resort to dragging out
the hose to rejuvenate it. I’m sure the weather man will favour us soon.
*
I’m sure I mentioned my new BBQ that we bought
through Home Depot last fall. Well, just an update on its use. I couldn’t be
happier with it. It’s one of those big stainless steel babies that has all the
bells and whistles. I never thought I’d see a need for one of this size and
caliber but it’s worked out great. It is a little larger than we need but it
comes in handy when I am cooking for company on occasion. I’ve discovered that
the special burner across the back wall of the Q is my favourite way to cook. I
have been doing chickens on the spit and that burner produces the most
delicious birds possible. The chicken just melts in your mouth and has incredible
flavour. I think I told you last fall about the 23 lb turkey I did on the BBQ
and may have even included a picture of the finished product. MMMmmmmmmmm……that
was some tasty turkey! We’re making good use of this new Q and have even used
the “side” burner to cook the dog’s dinner!
YES, you heard me, the dog’s dinner gets cooked each
meal too! He’s a spoiled little stinker of a toy poodle and he deserves a home
cooked meal too! LOL! After all, what good is a BBQ if the whole family can’t
make use of it? The only beef I have about the new Q is that it’s made of
stainless and is subject to endless finger print markings. It’s a nuisance to
keep the prints off the lid and doors but I manage. At least this new style
doesn’t require the use of those messy “charcoal” chunks in the bottom. This
one has stainless lids over the burners and the drippings land on them. When
the Q cools off, all you do is gently brush the burned drippings off with a
brush and scoop them into the garbage. I only have to do this about once a
month. The main racks are the type that have a permanent easy clean none stick
coating. The brush takes care of keeping them clean as well. Man, we’ve come a
long way from the $29.95 three legged tin things that required bags of dirty
black charcoal and half a gallon of lighter fluid to burn a meal on. Thank
goodness they’ve gone the way of the dodo bird. Do any of you remember the
“Hibachi”? We used to have one of those and even though I was on the fire dept
at the time and knew better, I used to cook on the balcony of our ground floor
apartment in Lakeshore with one of these little black beauties. Many times I
had the flames licking the underbelly of the balcony above ours trying to get
those darned brickettes to light so I could cook. Luckily the balconies were
concrete and it was easy to wash the black scorch marks off after I was done
cooking. LOL! Anyway, those days are
long gone and I’m happy to say that I’ve rejoined the world of outdoor chefs
and things are going well on the patio once again!
That’s 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>
If you’re an average Canadian driver, you will spend
in your life time approximately 6 months waiting for red lights!
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Have a good one..
the doug
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