The
Squamidian Report – May 1 / 10
Issue # 414
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Some more information about our winter that wasn’t and now won’t go away, besides the fact that every time they forecast a nice weekend we end up with cold rain in the valleys and snow up on the hills. Mt Washington received over 25 meters of snow this past winter, that’s over 82 feet of snowfall. Mt Washington is the premier ski hill over on Vancouver Island, just inland from Courtenay, over looking the Comox Valley. It’s not the highest mountain on the Island but it is in the right place to capture all that Pacific moisture and it is high enough for that moisture to be snow. All of the Island’s rugged mountain backbone gets dumped on each winter but most of the interior is inaccessible. It is simply too rugged to make easy passage possible. Washington just happens to be near enough to the east coast of the Island to make it feasible for development and it has become a major ski hill. In fact, it is where many of the Olympic competitors did their practicing. Try to picture 82 ft of snow. Even with intermittent melting and with compaction that’s a very deep snowpack.
I’ve been working up in Whistler this past week. On Cougar Mountain to be specific. There is an outdoor adventure company called Wild Play that has all sorts of mountain-orientated activities aimed at attracting both the tourists and the locals. They have rock and tree climbing, paint gun stuff, quad riding and backcountry exploring. They also have zip-line rides that zigzag back and fourth between Cougar and Rainbow mountains. The job I’m on is getting preformed concrete footings up to the staging areas and set in place so they can build snow shed roofs over the staging areas. A staging area is where you start off down the cable on a zip ride, and where you end up at the end of the ride. And it ain’t easy!
I’m using a mid sized excavator to punch temporary access roads in to the staging locations. That means its either very steep up or very steep down and by necessity the seat belt is synched very tightly. To make it more of a challenge, the track shoes on the machine are designed for working on streets and normal type terrain. They have shallow triple grousers that give almost no traction. As an example, to climb up the old access road I need to grab big boulders or tree stumps with the bucket so I can pull my way up. If I let go before the tracks have found something to bite into I just toboggan right back down. Very unsettling feeling. Anyway, we had a log skidder bring our concrete footings up to a central location because I could not carry them and climb at the same time. Then the location for each footing has to be excavated and prepared so that each footing can be swung into place. That’s also tedious. Getting a 3,000 lb lump of concrete set exactly right is not easy when the machine is sitting precariously on an angle hanging over a slope and I have to reach out to max just to reach the spot. But we are very slowly getting there and I’m coming home pretty well exhausted each day.
And of course I’ve also got that commute back and forth to Whistler each day. I must say it is not near as stressful as I was before the highway was rebuilt. In those days it was a mad free-for-all dash where you took your life in your hands just by going onto that narrow windy highway. The mix of hardened locals speeding along at 120, and gawking tourists putting along at 55 was deadly. Now with lots of 3 and 4 lane sections and with the worst of the twisties removed the drive is smooth and easy. I’d rather not be spending 2 hours each day driving but the job will only last another week or so, so I guess I can put up with it.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Spring had sprung of course and I’ve finally gotten the new soil and seed spread on the back lawn Mole trenches. The stuff I used was supposed to grow grass in a hurry and even on concrete or shitty soil. I think I must have got a dud batch of the stuff because it’s been a week and barely a 10th of the seed I’ve spread has sprouted. Carole covered the patches with burlap and it’s helped a little but like I say, this stuff isn’t sprouting like they claim on the bag. Guess I’ll just have to wait another week and get new seed if it doesn’t grow better than it has by now. I hate when a produce doesn’t do what it’s advertised to do! I always feel like I’ve been ripped off! We’ll see come next week this time.
The weather has been lovely here in KW and we’re just waiting now to see what the weekend will bring. It’s supposed to be wet today but it’s sunny. I guess there’s very little accuracy with weather prediction!
I took a step back in time last night and attended the annual Waterloo Fire Fighter’s retirement banquet. It was great to see and talk to many of the guys that I worked with for 30 years but it was a shocked to see all the new people on the job that I don’t know. In just 7 years it’s changed by about 60% the number of new hirees on the job. Things have really changed since my years on the dept. In the middle of the union president’s introduction of all the people present, one of the new guys shouted out “Fuckin’ Eh” when someone’s name was mentioned. I don’t know where these “kids” learn their manners but I certainly wasn’t impressed. The atmosphere of this event is usually quite respectful but over the years there has been moderate cheering and clapping at the mention of different member’s names so that’s to be expected. However the language has always been respectful to all present and is expected to be that way at such a function. With Elizabeth Wittmer Waterloo’s MPP present and other dignitaries as the guests of WFD’s union event, the decorum should always be conducted with everyone’s feelings in the room in mind. I certainly hope that the president John Dietrich will remind the new members at the next union meeting to pull up their sox with regards to manners and respect for others as well as respect for their position as professional fire fighters and the image they are expected to maintain. Such an outburst lowers the standard of everyone in the organization if not checked by one of the members that recognizes a problem when it arises.
Other than that one incident, the night went off without a hitch. The meal was wonderful at the Golf Steak House in Bridgeport as usual and catching up with other retired members and former fellow employees was very interesting and a lot of fun! I look forward to attending this event every year and as long as I’m able, I’ll be there to enjoy it again for many years to come.
That’s it for this week I guess! Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to talking to you all again next time in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now…. Greg.
PS: Something To Think About>
You don’t have to win every argument. Sometimes you just have to agree to disagree!
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Have a good one..
the doug
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