The
Squamidian Report – Aug. 7 / 10
Issue #428
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
It’s a bit frustrating, after having lots to talk about for several
weeks I’m back to scraping the bottom of the barrow for ideas. Doesn’t
help that I’m back to work. Made the mistake of telling the guy I work
for (casual part-time when I’m needed) that we were home and so now I’m
working again. They actually aren’t that busy but there are some
machine jobs that need someone more skilled than a landscape laborer to
do. I don’t want to work and I certainly don’t like to work but I’m
obligated to work when he needs me. I’m trying my darndest to be
semi-retired. Really only want enough work to make some money for
Christmas shopping, and so I can have some funds stashed away for tires
and insurance for the bike for next year. I’d much rather be called in
to work once the weather goes downhill in the Fall.
We do intend to make the retirement thing official as of the beginning
of next year. We’ve started the paperwork for Canada Pension and that
means I actually have to stop working by early December. Cool. After
that I can still be casual part-time but only have to work when I want
to, not when they want me although I guess I’d have to want to AND they
would have to want me to at the same time for that to work. That sounds
even better. Its not that I’m laze, well, yes I am but that’s not the
point. It’s that I’ve spent the better part of the last 45 years
working hard instead of smart and now I’m a bit tired of official
‘work’. Besides, I’ve got so many hobbies and things to take up my time
and attention that there is no time left for working. It just gets in
the way.
*
Any of you who have been out this way know how stunning and majestic
the mountains all around us are. The scenery is world class
spectacular. Many of you also know about the nearly 500 forest fires
burning in BC. The smoke from all those fires has created a haze that
has blanketed the whole province. Currently, we cannot see the
mountains around us. The haze is so thick that we can’t see across the
valley to the other side. We can’t see ‘The Chief’. We can’t even see
Garibaldi. It is a thick impenetrable white haze. I guess if this were
back east it would be yellow. Either way, it is quite disturbing to not
be able to see the scenery. Even when you look straight up, the sky is
white, not blue. Most private aviation is at a halt because visibility
is too low for minimum VFR flight.
And yes, breathing is not so good right now. Everyone has burning eyes
and is short of breath. There are campfire bans and even bans on
charcoal BBQs. Although many of the fires have been caused by human
behavior, the majority has been lit from lightning strikes. There has
been a non-stop parade of dry thunderstorms, which yield no rain but
lots of lightning. And with conditions hot and tinder dry, that’s all
it takes.
You know those Coast Mountains we can’t see right now? This is actually
the second time around for them. They had existed 45 million years ago,
having been pushed up by the usual method of one tectonic plate pushing
on another. Then that pressure stopped and they slowly eroded down to
rolling hills. Then, about 7 or 8 million years ago they started to
grow again and have grown into their present state. This time however
the cause was not one plate pushing on or colliding with another. It
was heat from below. The same heat as from the source of the volcanic
activity throughout the coastal area. It caused and is till causing
thermal expansion of the crust and that expansion has forced the
granite to rise about 2 kilometers.
Here’s another interesting geographical factoid. The lowest elevation
point in Montana is about 30 miles south of the BC border where the
Kootenai River crosses into Idaho. That elevation is 1820 ft.
Interestingly, the Kootenai River crosses the BC border twice and when
it is on the Canadian side where it started from it is called the
Kootenay River. Slight difference in spelling, don’t know why, guess
it’s cultural. The river widens out into a lake that reaches into both
Canada and the US where it flows south into the States. That lake is
called Lake Koocanusa, after the river and both countries. After
flowing west into Idaho the river turns north and crosses back into
Canada just south of Creston BC. Just north of there it flows into
Kootenay Lake and then out of that lake near Nelson. From there it runs
a short distance before emptying into the Columbia at Castlegar, just
north of the US border. And as you probably know, the Columbia crosses
into the States and swings down under Washington State on its way to
the Pacific.
doug
****
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
HOT? You darned tootin’ it is and it’s only going to cool off a little
over the next couple of days and then is supposed to go back up to the
same sweltering heat we’ve been having! I’m NOT complaining mind you
but it has been a tad like a sauna out there for the past couple of
weeks. Oh well, we would be bitchin’ a lot more if we were having
another poor summer like we had last year. So, let’s just take off a
layer of clothing and enjoy the sunshine while it lasts! I think
that even the west coast is now enjoying hotter temps and that’s a good
thing as far as having a summer goes. On the other hand they are having
a devastating year for forest fires and need some relief for sure in
that regard! I hope they get a handle on the 180 fires real soon before
there aren’t any trees left to burn in that province! They don’t know
the cause for sure of some of the fires close to the Squamish region
but rumor has it that sparks were seen being emitted from the pipes of
a Blue 2009 Harley that’s been streaking from mountain to mountain on
those sunny days in the Vancouver to Whistler corridor. I sure hope
it’s not from our Doug’s “Big Blue”! LOL! That’s what happens when you
get rid of your stock pipes for the sake of wanting to make some noise
with your new HOG! Maybe he’ll have to install a set of “Spark
Arrestors” on those near straight through pipes to make them less
volatile OR, maybe trade that beast in on a more civilized Japanese
model that doesn’t back fire under load! LOL! I guess that’s Doug’s
choice and he’ll make it in a couple of years when Big Blue get’s to
the 100,000 km mark.
*
Speaking of heat, I received an e-mail the other day from a friend of
mine who lives in Navarre Florida. Navarre is the mainland sister city
to Navarre Beach on the island of Santa Rosa where Carole and I
vacationed last February. It is in the northern panhandle of the state
of Florida and is one of the beaches affected by the BP oil spill. They
have finally permanently plugged the oil leak with concrete and mud and
now they are going to concentrate on cleaning up the Gulf. That should
only take about 3 to 5 years to get most of the remaining free-floating
oil picked up. Let’s hope they can get it all!
Anyway, my friend Frank was born in Canada and we were friends when we
lived in the same neighbourhood when we were kids. In 1960 his dad took
a job in California and moved the family there permanently. Frank
consequently became a US citizen and has lived in the states ever
since. He is now retired from the Texas Telephone Co and is living in
Florida. He wrote to me to say that he and his wife are wanting to find
a cottage to rent for a couple of weeks up here on one of the Great
Lakes. He said it’s so darned hot in Florida this year that they can’t
stand it and they’d like to come up to Canada to get some relief from
the heat! LOL! I wrote back to tell him that although it’s probably not
as hot here as down there, it is still uncomfortably hot here as well
and he may not get much relief by coming all the way to Ontario. I
guess he’s forgotten that we get hot summers too! Some people think I
guess that we live in igloos all year round! LOL! Little do they know
that our igloos melt come spring! Hahahaha…..! I don’t believe that
Florida experiences the kind of humidity that we do here in Southern
Ontario so they probably would find our kind of heat almost as
uncomfortable as their Hot and Dry heat. People always say that a dry
heat isn’t as hard to take as a humid one but I’m not so sure that’s
true. I don’t think I could take a 105F temps day after day after day.
Of course we may not have this heat all summer so Frank may be in for
some relief if he and Gayle come north for a few weeks. He’s got a
friend that lives in Port Elgin and he’s going to contact him and ask
him to look for a cottage for rent for he and Gayle. I guess that area
of the great lakes is known for it’s steady breeze off Lake Huron so
it’s probably the wisest choice for them to vacation up here if they
want a beach town to do it in. I’m sure they’ll find something to rent
and I hope they do come up this summer yet. If not, Frank said they
will be up for a few weeks next summer for sure. It might be too late
for them to find anything decent to rent this late in the season for
this year. Who knows, I may be wrong about that so all he can do is
try. Leaving the Florida heat to come up to Ontario and finding it
almost as hot here is akin to Doug and Sue thinking they’d come east to
escape the wet weather of BC only to find the rain had either followed
them east or beaten them here when on their bike trip. You never can
tell for sure what you’ll find in another part of the country weather
wise. Regardless, it’s good to hear that there are Americans that have
the urge to vacation in our beautiful country and that they’re not just
soaking up our Canadian money in their southern states. They call us
“Snowbirds” what do we call Americans that fly north to vacation?
That’s a topic for another time!
Guess that’s all 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> (Motorcycle Rider Wisdom)
Young riders pick a destination and go, mature riders pick a direction
and go!
Bugs taste the same at midnight as they do at noon!
****
Have a good one..
the doug
http://www.thedougsite.net
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