The Squamidian Report – June 6 / 09
Issue #367
Including:
North Nova News
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Hard to believe we are coming up on half way through the year already and summer is just around the corner. Time sure flies. Spring time out here has been nothing short of spectacular this year, it had been a tad on the slow side to warm up but the weather itself has been great. An abundance of sunny clear days, most rain has been at night. Can’t beat that. However, we do need more rain, desperately. The forest fire hazard is extreme throughout most of BC and there have already been several major fires. Normally we would get a month of rain during the early spring but that didn’t happen and the hot sunny days are melting the snow pack quickly.
Not seeing as many bears as we had been earlier. The cool start to spring meant that the only vegetation they could find was down in the valley bottoms and along the roadways. However, as springtime moved up the mountainsides so did the available vegetation and therefore so did the bears. At least many of them. There seems to be several momma bears with their cubs still living in the heavily treed areas around town but the bears that had been grazing the grass along the highway every morning have departed.
What we also have lurking in the forested parts around town are young cougars of the age group that has left their mothers but do not yet have their own territory. We saw one just a block from our local Tim Horton’s one morning as we were repairing a sani main for the municipality. Kind of makes one want to do his or her walking somewhere other than on the numerous paths that wind through the woodlands.
Anyway, the cooler days of early spring have given way to some rather hot dry weather. In fact, many places in BC broke heat records numerous times this past week. Squamish set new records on 4 consecutive days. To add to the heat, the forest fires that are burning have been putting up a lot of smoke and there have been several days that we have been barely able to see across the valley. A large out of control fire west of Lillooet has the whole area under a heavy blanket of smoke.
Between the heat and the smoke, working on the highway in Whistler has been a bit uncomfortable. Until the winds flushed some of the smoke out of the valleys at the end of the week, visibility was quite restricted. And that heat was so high that by mid afternoons the steel tracks on the excavator I run were sinking into the highway pavement. The tourists and the daily users of the highway were all irate and frustrated with sitting in construction holdups under a baking sun and we were all cranky from having to put up with the conditions.
And like I said, another side effect of the heat besides turning the forests into powder kegs has been that the snow pack up in the mountains is melting at an alarming rate. All the streams are rushing wildly, high and fast. There are some areas that are under both a forest fire watch and a flood watch, at the same time. As Star Trek’s Mr. Sock might say, “fascinating”.
doug
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You can send some of that hot weather this way, please! Actually it hasn't been a bad spring and better than most for Nova Scotia. It's just that I like it warmer than 10 to 18 degrees. The real Nova Scotians are getting sunburned, it reminds me of Scotland when they say it was a scorcher of a day! When??? Anyway I won't complain since it hasn't snowed in quite awhile. I have all my plants out in pots now and it looks quite pretty. I even bought some of those solar lights to go around my patio. My geraniums did great all winter and were even blooming in my sunroom, then I put them out and we had a flash hot sunny day and they got burned. So now it will be awhile before they start looking good again. I've been trimming my trees around the yard to open it up a bit. Those spruce trees get larger every year and soon there is no lawn left. Also my apple tree was making mowing difficult from the branches practically reaching the ground so I gave it a good pruning. Not a good time of year for that since it was already blossoming but at least it is done.
I'm having a little more time off these days since I hired a full time hairstylist (Carol) to replace Teri who is leaving at the end of June. So there are three of us, styling that is, and that sure takes the pressure off. We even had to make our parking lot larger to accommodate staff and clients. You know you are busy when the parking lot is full! I don't know what happened but this year, we have the most girls ever, coming in for the junior prom. Thank goodness we have Carol now. It will be an interesting day with chatty, excited teenagers from morning until night. I'll need a day off after that! Our massage therapist, Rebecca, is also looking for another therapist so we will have even more staff. I may have to employ a receptionist in the future to keep it from getting confusing. Maybe I'll take that job!!
I'm so happy to hear that my brother, Dennis, will be home for the Brubacher and friends reunion in early August. I haven't seen him since my trip to Mexico three years ago. It's hard to believe the reunion is less than 8 weeks away!! I'm ready for a holiday and can't wait to see everyone. Keep that good weather too. I haven't heard from my niece Michelle and her daughter Emilie from Switzerland for a long time. I hope their plans are still happening and they will join us at the reunion. I was talking to Warren a couple of weeks ago and he said he didn't think the logging trucks will be running (thanks to the recession!) when we are there, thank-goodness!! That sure would have complicated things. I don't want to meet one of those big trucks on his lane and it would have been busy with the trucks coming right through their yard.
Spring does something to people. It gives you renewed energy and inspirations. I painted my cupboards and chairs to match in a brownie green colour. That is the best way I can describe it. I get my paint for free if I don't mind using the left over colours from the shop. Now I'm looking at my bathroom and spare bedroom for some upgrading. It will be interesting to see just how much I get done. I always amaze myself, when I actually stay home for a day, how much I get done. The windows on Dad's house were in dire need of scaping and painting so I managed to spend some time over there. We also have had an ant problem year after year and most of the remidies haven't worked. So I think I have tried everything but this year I found a liquid spray that the ants do not like and if I can keep it up we may finally have licked the problem. It's made by Wilson. I sprayed around the outside perimeter of both houses a couple of times a week apart and the ants are definitely disappearing. I've also managed to kill lots of other bugs too which I'm sorry for but what can you do. The ants are the most damaging and need to be rid of. The funny thing is they are not interested in food so we have no problem in the kitchen. At this time of the year they are only outside and that's where I am tackling the problem to prevent them entering the house later.
Peter has the boat all ready to go. Now we just have to wait for the weather to warm up. I always like Peter to get out on the water a couple of times without me to make sure all is working well with the boat. I like everything to run smooth so I can relax and enjoy the scenery. I have enough stress in my job, I don't need it out in the middle of the Northumberland St. Our first trip will be to Charlottetown for the July 1st celebrations. We always have a great time over there. Zane and his friends crew for us so we have quite a crowd on the boat. They get to see all the bands and have a place to stay on the waterfront in the center of all the action. Our Lady Peace, Collective Soul and Tragically Hip are just some of the bands that will be there. From our boat we can hear it all, no need to pay the high price on the other side of the fence.
Well I've said enough. Hope to see most of you this summer,
Until next time,
Sus
****
Hello
everyone!
I’m sorry
but this will be a short column this week I am packing for my first bike trip
on the new Kawasaki. We are leaving at 8am Thursday June 4th and I
don’t have a lot of time to write this. The change of timing came up suddenly
and since we have other plans this evening I just a few minutes to tap
something out!
I’ve
never taken a ride longer than a couple of hours on any of the motorcycles I’ve
owned and have always envied Doug for the ventures he sets out on, on a regular
basis. Even his one-day rides seem to be longer when I read his description of
each one of them. I’ve had many a one-day rides and really enjoyed them but
this upcoming toot will be for three days. This ride will be to Eganville
Ontario which is up near Petawawa on the eastern end of Algonquin Park. My
cousin Randy has a Harley and he invited me to ride along. We’ll be home late
Saturday and I’ll be sure to write a report on the trip if it turns out to have
been an interesting ride! I’m really looking forward to this trip and made some
last minute changes to my bike just for the occasion. I ordered a set of Highway
Foot Pegs from Rhode Island USA last Thursday morning and they arrived today at
noon. Just in the nick o’ time for the ride. I always seem to get cramps in the
hips with the riding position I’m in on my bike. It’s got a bit of a “Crotch
Rocket” sitting position when it comes to the legs. I sit quite upright on this
bike but my legs are directly under me and consequently not stretched out very
much. This leads to the legs seizing up on longer rides of a few hours. So, I
figured the only way to beat that problem for a much longer ride was to install
a set of forward foot pegs to allow me to stretch my legs out when on cruises.
This should work well and at least allow me to move the legs back and forth to
keep the circulation moving. I’ll find out if they work well or not when I
spend tomorrow in the saddle for 8 hours or so!
Gotta go
for now!
Thanks
for allowing me to shorten this one up.
I
appreciate your tuning in and look forward to talking to you all again next
week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now.. Greg.
PS:
Something To Think About>
What did
Al Capone’s business card say was his vocation?
****
Have a good one..
the doug
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