The
Squamidian Report – Dec. 3 / 11
Issue #497
Including:
Beth’s JibJab
From Carol
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Yes, I know. I’ve heard all the excuses. “I’m too busy”, Nothing interesting ever happens around here”, “I can’t think of anything”, “We’re out of milk”, and so on. Well, I’d feel sorry for you except for the fact that those excuses are just a bunch of bull. Anyone who is too busy is hiding from enjoying life, and life is way too short to hide from. And interesting things happen to everyone, every day. It could be something as simple as spotting a new bird at your feeder or observing how silly people in the grocery line are. Which brings me to being out of milk. If your daily planning is so bad you need to run out for milk when you should be relaxing, you need to plan better. Or if you are so bored that going for milk is something you secretly planned to have happen just for the excitement, then get a life, but once you do, take the time to enjoy it.
So, as you can see, there is no real excuse for not writing something for the 500th addition of the Squamidian, which is conveniently also the Christmas addition. Pretty cool how I timed things almost 10 years ago for this to coincide like that. There is no reason for not coming up with something for the 500th. For some, Christmas has a very deep meaning. There has to be a story there, either from the past or the present, or even the future. Others may find a recent adventure or misadventure pops in to mind. Some might even have something to write about that is so totally off the cuff it completely throws us for a loop. The point is, everyone has something to say, to write about, and this is the perfect opportunity. The 500th AND Christmas at the same time. We don’t ask for much, but the occasional contributions in the form of a short, or long, article should be very do-able for everyone. You might even find you liked it and want to do it some more. That would be cool too. So, crank up that word processor and get to work, time is running out, quickly.
Thank goodness for procrastination, or at least the results there-of. I was desperate for something to write about this week, after all, after 497 issues of this letter I do have an excuse for occasionally running out of things to babble about. You might remember that I had started to take down our nice big blue spruce out at the front corner of the driveway but had decided to leave the actual event for some time in the future. Well, the future is now, or to be more precise, yesterday. All of a sudden now that it is December, Christmas tree lots have sprung up with their stock of trees, cut way back when, now for sale. So, just so I’d have something to write about, I cut down the tree.
It went as smooth as could be and exactly as planned. The tree was only about 25 ft tall so it was not really a very big one to begin with but it did matter where it landed. Didn’t want it coming down over the road, or onto the neighbours. I did want it to fall right across the driveway, and that’s where it landed. I had hooked a rope to a branch stub part way up and had ‘the wife’ put some positive pressure on the rope to encourage the tree to start in the right direction. It came down perfectly. Then we cut off all the branches and set aside the really nice ones for decorations. These branches are very thick and two-toned, bluish and green. They would make good door swaths and ‘the wife’ has been busy giving many of them away to the eager neighborhood wives. We cut up the trunk and piled the pieces on another neighbours lawn. He wants the wood for his fireplace. There is no hardwood around here so people are stuck with softwood. Two hours after starting, the tree is down, cut up and cleaned up. Everything that wasn’t ‘wanted’ was piled in the back of the truck for disposal. We set aside the top 4 ft to be used as our Christmas tree. With a little creative trimming, it should be quite nice.
And yes, my tiny little Echo chainsaw that gets to run about once every 5 years or so ran just fine. Now I have to wonder what I’ll be using it to cut up in five years from now.
doug
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Beth’s JibJab
Beth put some familiar faces onto the JibJab site to create some seasonal greetings. Check them out at:
http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/YlPyRju8LFiesFic7YUn
http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/OwjQN97aVXaotuk8riUC
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From Carol
Hi Everyone,
It is now 3 weeks since we had our 40-60-80 party and I never did write about it for the Squamidian. Neither Ed, Gary nor Jackie look nor act their ages but it was a great excuse for a party. It had been a year since Jackie had made it to Kitchener so it was nice to have her, Jim and our Grand-dog, Saba for a couple of days. The time was short and busy so we will have to make a trip up to Fernglen in for a proper visit. Besides the Saturday night gathering we also had a party Friday night for Jackie’s old gang to celebrate her 40th with her and on Sunday our church had its 50th Anniversary celebration so my time was concentrated on the 5 cakes I needed to produce – thank goodness Beth helped me with the decorating.
Mom and Gary had no idea that Sus was coming from Nova Scotia. The looks on their faces were priceless when she walked in the door. The gathering was just family (and honourary family) but in this family that still filled the homestead. I was especially happy to see Wayne, Sylvia & Sonja there. Sus was only in town for 5 days but she made the most of her time here. On her last night some of us met for dinner and to listen to Sue Windover sing at the Blue Moon.
The next Friday was a PD day for the boys so we picked them up after school on Thursday and took them to the Falls for a 2 day get-away. We were joined by Nick’s other grandparents. Since Nick and Duncan are now in grade 9 we can’t very well take them out of school for the twice annual get-away as we have been for years so we’ll watch for their PD days. From now on we will be taking Vivienne to the Cairn Croft with the gang the way we took the boys. Nick had his 14th birthday last Sunday. It seems like just yesterday our girls were in high school, how can I possibly have a grandson that age? On the other hand our grandmother (Mom’s mom) became a great-grandmother at 61 so I’ll just be grateful I’m only a grandma. Vivienne turns 3 tomorrow, more years that have just flown by. I must say that as much as I loved and enjoyed my girls when they were young it is more fun being a grandparent. The trouble with becoming a parent is that you make mistakes while learning on the job and are focused on providing for the kids. On the other hand we grandparents are experienced so every little sniffle doesn’t worry us and we can just enjoy the kids. It will be interesting to watch how Doug takes to being a grandfather. My guess is that by the time she is walking and talking she will have him wrapped around her little finger.
Bye for now,
Carol
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Well, things to do with Christmas are going along smoothly this year and I might say, ahead of schedule too!
We managed to get the outdoor decorations up over a week ago and also succeeded in putting the Christmas tree up in the living room. I think this is the earliest we’ve ever put the tree up. We used to be the first house on the street to have our lights up but even though this is our earliest year ever for decorations there were a few neighbours that beat us to it! Guess we’ll have to put them up in September next year if we want to be first. Of course the lazy folks that leave their lights up all year long don’t count as competition. A couple of years ago we started eliminating the use of standard incandescent lights to decorate the outside of the house for the season. This year we put the final touches on our stock of LED lighting and they look amazing indeed! Not only do we not have to spend hours replacing bulbs, we don’t have to worry about these little beauties burning out!
Apparently LED’s will last for many, many years! I’m sure the wires will decay before the LED lights will bite the dust! I must confess, we do have one incandescent light in our collection and I doubt that one will be replaced by an LED. It’s the one big spot light that I have shining up from between the twin trunks of our white birch tree on the front lawn to show off the lovely spreading branches of the tree. It sure adds to the décor of the front of the house for the Christmas season! I’ve stopped hanging “icicle” lighting along the eves troughs of the house simply because it’s too dangerous to be climbing on the roof when it’s time to take them down. Not to mention that that sort of lighting with the icicle look is pretty much outdated! With lovely green wreaths in each upper window, lighted by a single red candle in each, the house decorating looks much more elegant.
We also have a couple of “Kissing Balls” hanging on the front porch along with “net lighting” on the two center bushes in front of the porch. To top it all off, I put a huge wreath on the front gable of the garage roof above the twin doors and it’s lit up with LED’s as well and has a big bow tied to the bottom to accent it’s looks. The only other accents we have are fluorescent bulbs in red in our three outside wall lights, two along the walkway to the porch and one between the garage doors. All in all, the house looks rather festive and quite nicely decorated this year! The bonus of this decorating plan is that it only took one afternoon to put it all up and it will only take one afternoon to take it all down! After decorating for Christmas for 39 years now I’d say we have it down to a science! Once it’s all up and looking good, I’m happy with it but if I ever get my way, we’ll have a two-foot high tree on a table in one corner of the living room and a single wreath on the front door and that’ll be it! I’m thinking, “The simpler the better!” and I’ll convince Carole to do it my way if it takes me another 39 years! LOL!
That’s it for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now… Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
If you’re having trouble thinking of what to buy your loved ones this Christmas, consider contributing to the wellbeing of Canada by supporting local businesses. Not by buying items that were made in China from stores such as Wal-Mart etc but by purchasing goods and services produced and performed by Canadian companies and service suppliers right in our own communities! For example, if you have a car nut on your list, buy him or her an oil change and a tune up for his or her vehicle. Gift certificates from grocery stores, restaurants or clothing stores are a good idea. They not only are useful gifts but they provide work and income for local businesses! IF we all gave gifts from these sources, even as part of our list, just imagine how it would boost the economy of our beautiful country! Be creative, I’m sure you can think of loads of gifts of this type you can give this Christmas season!
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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.