The
Squamidian Report – March 27 / 10
Issue #409
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
I’ve put the snow blower away. Probably should have never bother to have gotten it out in the first place last fall. It simply took up space in the garage all the way though our non-winter. Only used it once right at the beginning of December and even at that I could have shoveled by hand. I did find at the time that the poly skid shoes I made would not stand up to the abrasive surface of our driveway and that sent me on a quest for better replacement shoes. You might remember that I did find some high-density poly plastic shoes made by MTD and sold through CTC. I was able to order a set, which I installed onto the machine but I was never able to try them out. Not once. We have not seen one single snowflake at or below our elevation since that first small snowfall. We’ve seen it come down as far as the ridge just above us but not any lower.
Anyway, where this is all leading is that normally I would put the blower away with a full tank of gas that I’d mixed some stabilizer into. However, because the blower still had a full tank of fuel from when it was put away the year before I could not do that. If I did I would end up with gas that was 2 years old when I try to start the blower next winter. Not a good thing at all as gas goes stale quite quickly. I would have had to dismantle the carb and clean it right out. So I’ve drained the tank and the carb bowl so the whole system is dry. By doing so I should be able to simply fill the tank with fresh gas, open the fuel valve and prime the carb when its time to start her up again. At least that’s the theory.
‘The Wife’ came home to a pleasant surprise. She had bought a raffle ticket for an official Olympic hockey jersey. I think she paid a whole dollar for the ticket. The day she got home there was a message waiting for her that she had won the jersey and that she should come and pick it up before it disappeared. They were concerned that it might grow little legs and walk away when no one was looking. Those things are worth almost $400 and the few that were available were in big demand. Included with the jersey was a pair of those red mittens with the white leaf. She already has a pair of the Olympic red mittens that she had picked up in Winnipeg way back in the audit days last fall, so now she has two pairs.
Speaking of ‘The Wife’, she had her first ride on Big Blue this week. I was not sure how the new bike would feel or handle with her on the back because the bike is so big and heavy and because it sits higher than the old one. I must say, I was very pleasantly surprised. I was expecting some issues with starting and stopping and slow speed maneuvering. There are absolutely NO issues at all. The bike handles so smoothly and precisely at all speeds that I could barley tell she was on the back. I had been concerned about not being able to get sufficient footing to hold the bike up when stopped, not an issue. Her weight brings the suspension down just enough that my boots can grip the ground nicely. Big Blue seems to want to stay upright when stopped, might be just my imagination or it might be at least in part due to the big fat rear tire. All I know is I / we are ready to ride.
doug
****
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Pretty as a midsummer’s morn but cold as a winter’s night in January! That’s the way I would describe this lovely Friday in March. It’s surprising how different our weather has been for the past six months. When it’s supposed to be hot, it’s freezing! When it’s supposed to be cold, it’s hot. We all know this has been one of the least snowy winters in many years at least in the Waterloo Region. The whole world is noticing different weather patterns and a lot of people are panicing with the notion that something drastic is going on and maybe even the sky is falling! Yikes! Maybe the world is coming to an end? I sure hope not but from my point of view, there’s lots of world left to live on for many years to come. The whole “global warming” thing is in my mind just another big business ploy to generate money. Take a look at all the businesses that have been spawned by this attitude that “We’ve got to do something or we’re in trouble!” Everything from the recycle business to the water purification businesses that have sprung up out of fear, fear that has been mongered by even the highest of government officials around the world. Al Gore is the “Big Kahuna” when it comes to spreading the fear that the world is about to end. From what I’ve heard and read, he’s one of the main profiteers from the big scare that he’s spreading. He not only owns some of the biggest “ecology” based companies in the world he gets paid somewhere in the neighbourhood of $300,000.00 per evening to speak publically about the world going down the toilet if we don’t invest in his companies! Companies that manufacture and install wind farm equipment, tidal power generating systems and many other fear based items that have sprung up since this global warming thing started. He’s even got his own production company that makes and distributes films about the world coming to an end. He’s one crafty bugger when it comes to scaring people into giving him their hard earned cash. I’d like to have the interest he makes in one month on his investments.
Now, I’m not saying there in NO reason to be concerned about out environment, of course there is but it’s always been that way and with today’s modern world wide communication systems we are simply able to more readily see what’s happening on the other side of the world and it scares us. If each one of us just has the presence of mind to turn of the lights when they aren’t needed, pick up that Tim Horton’s coffee cup and toss it into the garbage that’s right beside it and make sensible choices when it comes to the food we purchase and the vehicles we drive, this world would improve immensely ecologically within a year! The next time you as a smoker are about to flick that cigarette butt on the road or sidewalk rather than put it in a proper receptacle please think about what you’re doing. There are billions and billions of butts tossed out of cars and dropped by walkers every year and that captured nicotine and non-bio degradable filter material has to be doing great damage to the soil around us. What makes smokers think they have the right to just dispose of their leftovers by dropping their butts at their asses or feet as the case may be? It disgusts me when I look at the roadway at any stoplight or intersection and see all the discarded cigarette remnants at the curbside.
The other day the guy ahead of me in a traffic line up at Fischer-Hallman Rd and the ramp to highway 7/8 opened his door while waiting for the light to change and dumped his ashtray on the road. I honked my horn and hollered out to him not to leave his polluting mess on a public street and his reply was to raise the middle finger of his left hand above the roofline of his car and mouth a few rude words of defiance in his mirror! What a jerk! I wonder if I had taken his license plate number and reported him to the police, what would have come of it? I’d probably be told that I would have to personally lay a charge against him and I would have to pay the cost of processing that charge in court. Hell, why not, I’m already paying the cost of picking up his damned garbage from the streets my taxes support. I guess A-holes like him figure since they pay their taxes they have the “right” to pollute in this manner whenever they need to remove the stinky mess from inside their vehicles. I think it’s time to make cigarettes cost $25.00 per pack and let it be known to all who smoke that the reason for this increase is to pay for cleaning up the global mess their law breaking littering has caused! Maybe then they’d think twice before dumping their ashtrays on a public thoroughfare!
I guess it’s unrealistic to ban smoking altogether since the governments still make billions of dollars in taxes from the sale of smokes even in today’s society. After all, banning the smoking of tobacco products in many public places hasn’t stopped people from smoking so far and I’m sure the governments know this and are counting on people still puffing and making tax money for them regardless of the fact they have to stand outside in the snow and rain to give themselves that God given right to drop the butts and give themselves cancer as well! I guess the more you tell people NO, the more they’ll defy that order!
I say “Yes, people do have the right to smoke but …….. that doesn’t give them the right to pollute my share of fresh air and the right to breathe it!
That’s my view from the soapbox 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>
Will March go out like a lion or a lamb?
****
Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.