The Squamidian Report – Feb. 26 / 11

Issue #457

Including:

A Note From Carol

The Ontarion

Hi All,

Well now, it would appear that I'm back home after my visit to Ontario. I was still there when I started this episode of the squid, and worked on it a bit during my flight home and then finished it at the comfort of my own desk. That KW area is growing out of control like some kind of bad weed. I'd hate to have to navigate my way around there on a full time basis. I did however enjoy the -15 temperatures one night and morning. It felt kind of neat. I also enjoyed the short little snowfall that deposited 4 or 5 inches of light dusty power. We don't get those kinds of temperatures or snowfalls on the coast very often. Our snow is almost always heavy and totally incapable of being blown around and our cold is lucky to drop to a few degrees below the freezing level. Ironically though, I returned home to those same -15s, but here they were record-breaking.

One thing that was very enjoyable was a short trip out into the farm country west of KW. Lorne wanted to go to a farm near Washington out highway 97 to pick up some farm-fresh double-yoke eggs as well as to New Hamburg to pick up some cheese. We drove out Plains Rd to 97 and the egg place, and then found a cross-county back route up to New Hamburg. My Coastal Mountain eyes find the gentle rolling almost flat local farm fields to be very pleasing and interesting. It kind of reminds me of the line in the first episode of Corner Gas where the Hank character remarks that there is nothing to block the view. Another thing really nice to see was the old stone houses out that way. There is simply nothing like them in the BC Lower Mainland. These old homes are built from the native rocks that had been laboriously picked up from the surrounding fields as they were being worked. The kind of skilled stone mason that built those structures, chiseled the rocks into a somewhat square shape and used them to construct the thick strong walls does not even exist anymore. These are incredible buildings that can not be reproduced now at any cost. The huge graceful stone house at the farm that produces the eggs has a corner stone with the date '1871' on it. There wasn't a single visible crack anywhere to be seen.

As with all visits, the time flew by and I did not get to see everyone that I had wanted to see. Oh well, perhaps next time. (As I wrote this paragraph I looked out my airplane window and enjoyed the night lights of Winnipeg at about the same time that we popped back up over the border into Canada. Cool.) I could have spent most of the week bombing around in Vivyan's car but that would have been silly. At the price of gas there is no point in driving through a city that you don’t enjoy driving in. That and the fact that we discovered they had forgotten to renew the registration sticker. Good thing I hadn’t been pulled over.

Lorne told me about the ‘ground water management tax’ that is being imposed on the KW region. I don’t know if the intent is to persuade property owners to reduce the amount of rain that falls on them, or more likely, just another ridiculous money grab. The city of Vancouver did something similar in that they decided to bill users for their actual water consumption. There had never been water meters installed on the water system, there was just a flat usage fee. So, once people were aware, they started to use less water. This created an unexpected result… the money collected by the city for water use did not go up as expected and planned for, but went down totally throwing the greedy budget makers for a loop. End result, they raised the water rate in order to recoup the ‘lost’ funding. Now the home owners in Vancouver are being punished for using less water. No wonder people get fed up with politicians and bureaucrats, they all seem to check their brains at the door when they head off to work.

Anyway, I’m home, its good to be home, and ‘The Wife’s’ dog Willow was so excited to seem me that she was blurry. Then she (Willow, not ‘The Wife’) showed me here newest stuffed toy, it looks like some kind of rodent and she is very proud of it.

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A Note From Carol

As I write this Doug is winging his way west, back home to Sue and Willow. We enjoyed having him stay with us, in Al’s words “I’ll miss the old grump”. While he was here Doug hooked us up to “Skype”. We were intrigued when he hooked his laptop up to our internet and called Sue each night over the computer. Seeing Sue, even seeing her dog, Willow, was so neat, almost as if Sue was here visiting with him. I finally got to meet Ryan’s girl Lauren by way of Skype and now I will recognize her if I see her. Doug installed the program and the camera/mike yesterday for us. Last night and briefly again today I was able to speak to Karin & Karl in Australia. Karin will be able to carry her laptop around her yard and show me the place. I still hope to visit Australia someday but this is a pretty good substitute for visiting. I gather that Ryan was able to show his parents where he stayed while in Naples on the Bryan Adams tour. Dad doesn’t have the high speed internet that you need to support Skype so they spoke to Sue last night here. I will have Mom over at least once a week so she can “see” Doug and Tim. Doug also told me that I can use the program to call any phone number in the world, even those without Skype, for only about 2¢ a minute! That is certainly cheaper then our phone plan. I remember in the early 70’s when my first husband called his grandparents in Germany and spoke for an hour. That phone bill cost me a week’s wages! Now that same call would cost around a dollar or two using Skype. The cost of food, fuel housing etc might be rising at an alarming rate but technology keeps getting better and cheaper.

For those of you who couldn’t make it, you missed another great party at the homestead last weekend. Only Tim of Mom’s children didn’t make it but I understand Tim will be here in April though for a work related event so we all look forward to seeing him then. How is it that we always worry about having enough food and beverages for an event and then end up with way too much? People want to contribute, and we are happy to let them, the results are delicious. My granddaughter, Vivvy, just adores Tim’s granddaughter, Ella and loved following her around at the party. That is probably the best part of gatherings at the homestead; four generations happily mingle and enjoy each other.

The next big gathering of family at the homestead will be for Gary’s wedding in August. I do know of at least 2 other marriages that will be happening in the families of the Squamidian readers. I expect to read about the destination wedding of Rosemary’s daughter next week in Punta Cana when Rosemary returns. (I hope you read this when you get back Rosemary and send something in). Also Sherry & Paul’s daughter is getting married in July so hopefully we will also here from them. I shamed Wayne into writing a few weeks back (much appreciated Wayne) so I’m hoping it will work with Rosie & Sherry also. I love reading the Squid each week but know it is hard for Doug to always come up with topics. If you enjoy the Squid as much as I do then send something in occasionally, especially if you have been travelling or had a unique experience worth sharing.

Carol

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Have a good one..

the doug

http://www.thedougsite.net

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