The Squamidian
Report – July 24 / 10
Issue #426
Including:
A Note From Carol
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Ever noticed how nose hair grows so quickly and is all of a sudden
sticking way out in a big clump? The stuff seems to grow like a shark’s
teeth. Remove the visible hairs and within the blink of an eye there is
a whole new batch ready to drop down and take its place. And they are
not new short soft hairs, they are fully formed stiff bristles. While
this may not be a big deal to most people most of the time it sure is a
nuisance when riding a motorcycle. The wind catches those stiff
bristles and causes them to tickle the nose from whence they protrude.
Big time! It tickles enough to make your eye water and to make you want
to rip your nose right off with your gloved hand. Problem with that is
that those gloved hands are usually busy holding onto the bike’s
handlebars.
The solution would seem simple, just keep those nasal hairs trimmed.
But like I said, there seems to be an endless supply waiting to move
forward and drop down into place. It’s like something out of ‘Wild
Kingdom’. Maybe someone with a video camera should do a documentary on
the subject.
Oh, by the way, we are home safely from our epic motorcycle road trip.
And quite a trip it was. We put on almost 11,000 kilometers. That’s a
lot of riding. But that’s what road trips are all about. You get up,
saddle up and away you go with no real concern at all about where you
will end up at the end of the day. It’s the journey, just that simple.
I’m not going to go into any amount of detail now because as soon as I
can post the adventure with pictures to my web site I’ll send out a
link so anyone who cares to check it out can. In the mean time I’ll jus
touch on the highlights. We left here and rode east, across the
mountains and over the prairies to Winnipeg where we hooked up with
brother Gary who had ridden out from S. Ont. We met at Tim’s, our other
brother. From there we headed on east and into Ontario where we came
over the top of the Lakes and down into the KW area where we hooked up
with Paul and Sherry.
From there we headed south all the way to West Virginia. At that point
we split, they heading east and us west. We crossed or at least partly
crossed Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, South Dakota, Wyoming,
Montana, Idaho, Washington and then back into BC. Rode through hot,
cold, rain and wind. Watched the world go by, watched the topography
change. Sometimes very slowly, sometimes very quickly. We got home
safe, happy and tired. And we got home in time for some of my blueberry
crop.
I had thought for sure my blueberry crop would be over with before we
got home but at least half of it is still here, still ripening.
Apparently even though it has been hot and sunny on the west coast the
nights have been very cool so the berries have not all ripened at once.
So now I can enjoy them as I hoard them all to myself.
I spent the better part of the day after we got home washing the bike.
I don’t think I’ll ever get all the bug splats cleaned off of Big Blue
but at least she looks presentable from a distance now. And speaking of
Big Blue, she averaged just over 54 mpg, with the lowest mileage of 48
mpg during bucking a strong buffeting headwind while climbing long
steep hills and the highest mileage of 63 mpg along smooth, flat
highway with a tailwind. Can’t complain at all. And like I said, as
soon as I have some story with pictures posted I’ll let you know.
Well guess what, I put in some overtime at the old keyboard and got my
web version of the bike trip up and running. Here is the link:
http://www.thedougsite.net/10-Trip/2010Trip1.htm
doug
****
A Note From Carol
Our Week
We were very happy to hear that Doug was home and ready to resume
sending out his Squamidian. I’m not sure how he and Greg come up
with something interesting to say week after week. Thanks guys
for a job well done, you are appreciated even though I’m sure it must
seem like you are creating in a vacuum sometimes. Jackie was
saying that she keeps intending to contribute articles to Doug but
never has the time. Can I suggest that when Jackie writes
something for her Fernglen Inn blog that she also sends a copy to Doug
for inclusion in the Squid?
This has been an uneventful week, Al spent a few days in Wiarton
visiting his Mom and I enjoyed having Vivvy. I was happy to know
I didn’t need to write anything this week because I thought I would not
have anything to say. Mother Nature changed that. It
started pouring, off and on, around midnight (today is Friday).
By 8:00a.m. the storm drains on our street were overwhelmed and the
flood came. At the high point the water was lapping almost to our
front door. I went outside when the water had receded a bit and
the rain eased off. The water was still over half a foot deep on
the sidewalk and over knee deep on the street. I know because
some of the young male neighbours were pushing flooded cars to higher
ground – they even started swimming and cavorting in the water.
It reminded me of the fun we had when we were little playing in the
rain puddles, but I don’t remember puddles this big. A large
commercial van made it through the water by not slowing down but the
wave he created picked up a small car left parked on the road and moved
it a foot or so. The low point on our street is right in front of
our place so this is where people started congregating to watch the
action – it became almost a party, albeit a soggy one. One
neighbour has promised to e-mail me pictures and if he does I will send
one on to Doug for posting. Take care and have a good week.
Carol
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Looks like we’re back to our normal Southern Ontario summer weather
once more. It’s been a while since we had a summer like this one. I’m
thoroughly enjoying the sunshine and heat aren’t you? I must say though
that we’re not sparing the air conditioning here in hour house. Why own
a luxury item if you’re not going to use it. Even with the government
spearheading the dirty underhanded billing technique of variable rates
for hydro in the form of charging three different rates for a Kw/hr
depending on the time of day. I think we’re becoming a provincial
dictatorship rather than a democracy. With the hydro rates being
bounced around like a ping-pong ball I’m beginning to wonder when the
government will start representing the voters again …… IF they ever
did! It seems to me that the Liberals don’t give a darn what the voters
want and I was totally shocked to see that they withdrew the eco fees
on all the recyclables this week! The complaints from the voting public
finally rang a bell in that thick skull of McGuinty’s and I’m not sure
why but they backed off on the eco. I’m sure that’s not the last we’ll
hear of the eco fees. They’ll find a way to reinstate that “tax” about
a year from now and we probably won’t be told about it! It’ll probably
be hidden in the price of each article without our knowledge. It’s time
for the voters to come to their senses and vote the Liberals out before
they spend us into another Bob Rae mess if we aren’t already there!
*
And another thing!!!!!!!!
I have a bug up my behind about the G-20 “protesters” in Toronto the
other week. If they can travel all the way from several provinces to
Toronto just to cause havoc under the guise of “legal protest” when
there was actually nothing to protest, where the hell were they when
Queens Park was cramming the HST up our behinds without a care in the
world? It seems to me that when there is something worth protesting
these mobs are nowhere in sight. Yet when there is nothing or very
little to make an issue of they are out in full force! Hell, they were
all upset about the three days of “abusive” extra power given the
police when if they had paid attention to the government
announcement on security for the G-20 they might have picked up on the
fact that it was NOT made law but was just a suggestion that it might
be introduced for the three days of the summit only. The government let
the public assume that they were instituting such a temporary change
just to see if it would keep back the crowds of protesters and
curiosity seekers. I’m sure the government figured if the trick worked
they were ahead of the game but if it didn’t work that way it wouldn’t
have worked if legally enacted through parliament anyway! So who were
the losers? The thing that really galls me is that these protesters
might have done some good toward keeping the HST off the books had they
shown up at Queens Park in an orderly and legal fashion. But noooooooo,
they’d rather pick the more highly publicized event and make a mess of
the situation than make a worthwhile point! They of course were not all
vandals and hoodlums in attendance but the squeaky wheel gets the
grease as usual. For the most part, Canada is not known for it’s riots
and vandalism but for it’s quiet sensible protests to make a valid
point when we disagree with something the government is doing. In fact,
some would say Canadians are a little too passive in such situations. I
say we can be loud enough to make our point in protest but there is
absolutely no justification to rioting and causing damage of any kind
to public or private property. The individuals that are being
identified and arrested for their part in the G-20 unrest deserve
exactly what they get for breaking the law! It’s time to get tough with
such hooligans and stop giving these criminals house arrest. Maybe if
the Judges start putting them in the can for 30 days or more, other
would be trouble- makers will think twice before participating in these
riots. The presence of cell phones and video cameras at such a scene is
a modern blessing for the police. It’s time the trouble makers wise up
and realized that most of them if not all will have their faces or at
least enough of their faces on camera at such events that they will
eventually be identified and dealt with in the end. I hope the Toronto
police manage to corral every last one of them and the courts make them
pay restitution along with serving a jail sentence. Causing damage and
injury for the sake of “fun” is just plain stupid not to mention
criminal. Where the hell are their heads these days? Toss ‘em all in
the hoosegow and throw away the key!
*
That’s it for this weeks soapbox 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>
Learn from the mistakes of others. Trust me…you can’t live long enough
to make them all yourself. I’ve tried!
****
Have a good one..
the doug
http://www.thedougsite.net
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons
writing them and should be respected as such.