The
Squamidian Report – March 19 / 11
Issue #460
Including:
A Note From Vivyan
The Ontarion
Hi All,
I almost caved in on Wednesday. The sun poked through the clouds, the temperature shot up and I could barely stand it any more. It was only with the most extra-human strength of will that I was able to control myself and NOT pull the cover off of the Harley. She’s been sitting quietly along the back wall of the garage, patiently biding her time till riding season finally comes back. Nestled next to her is Ryan’s Harley, also covered and waiting out the last days of cool wet weather. I don’t really know if they keep each other company or just go into some sort of hibernation where they become oblivious to their surroundings and to the passing of time. If they do tend to keep each other company, then I would hope they are also including the old Yamaha who is tucked in along the far wall. If they don’t pay any attention to each other, it does not matter who is parked where.
Biking season never really comes to an end throughout most of the Lower Mainland. If you are in most of the western end of the Fraser Valley you can ride whenever it is dry enough. There may be the occasional snow event but they don’t last long along the coast. Rain is the biggest obstacle but if the sun comes out, so do the bikes. However, up here in Squamish we do get winter and while it is pretty impotent compared to most of the country, the roads get covered with a lot of salt and sand, and the rains that blow in off the ocean tend to funnel up the Sound and dump on us. So, our bikes get up away in November and don’t come back out until late March. There are riders here who ride most of the winter but I have no interest in doing that to relatively new, expensive machines. Just not worth getting caught in a cold rain or sliding out on the excessive amounts of sand currently on our pavement.
But then on Thursday, with the sun out and the temperature taunting me, I could no longer resist. I pulled off the bike cover and there she was, all shiny chrome and sparkly blue paint. I could almost feel her smiling in anticipation. She was out from under her dark winter cover, she could feel the light. So, I really had no choice but to fire her up. To not start her would have been cruel to both of us. With my security FOB in my pocket, I climbed aboard and turned the ignition switch to the ON position, then flipped the run switch to the RUN position where the fuel system charges and the on-board computer does it’s system checks. Once the system light went out I hit the start button. NOTHING! Dead!! No sound, no starter. What could be wrong?
These bikes won’t start if the battery in the security FOB is dead but trying to start it with a dead FOB would trigger the alarm. The alarm was not being triggered and the lights were indication that the security system was arming and disarming properly. Then it occurred to me that the neutral light was not on. There is a safety switch that ensures that if the transmission is in gear and the clutch lever is not pulled in, the starter will not engage. Sure enough, the bike was in gear. The foot shift lever must have been bumped at some point. Popped her into neutral, touched the starter switch and away she went, fired up like no time at all had passed since she was put away for the winter. Only she sounded really strange until it occurred to me that it was not the engine sounding strange but it was my faulty hearing making it sound like the engine was sounding strange. ‘Big Blue’ is running as nice and smooth and rumbley as the day she was new.
I’ve come to the conclusion that it is the absolute pits to be about 3/4s deaf. My sinuses had bunged up on me while I was in Ontario in February and on my flight home, my head imploded when we came into Vancouver for our landing. Since then there has been almost no hearing at all through my right ear and only some through my left. There is pressure behind them that feels like it will ‘pop’ at any time and all of a sudden I will be able to hear again but so far that has not happened. They’ve tried antibiotics and decongestants but nothing has helped yet. Not only does my trusty Harley sound weird to me but trying to play music is frustrating and discouraging. All I can hear in my right ear is ME, sounding like I am inside my ear, loud, muffled and distorted. I can’t hear the instruments or voices. I can’t even keep time properly. If I have the TV turned up to where I can hear it, so can the whole neighborhood. And then ‘the wife’ gets mad at me for having it so loud but I can’t hear her being mad at me so that part works out ok.
doug
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A Note From Vivyan
Guess what everyone – it’s winter, which means “ice”. On Friday, March 11th I was taking some green stuff out to my compost box. I thought the driveway was free of ice although we had a little fresh snow, but most of it had melted. I decided to take a pail of greens to the compost box on the far side of the driveway. The little bit of fresh snow made everything look nice and clean but most of it had melted. As I went to step up to empty my pail I must have stepped on snow that had ice under it. You can guess what happened next. A high school boy about 15 or 16 was walking past on his way home from school and saw me fall. Despite Teddy making an awful fuss, he came in and over to me to see if he could help. He managed to get me onto my feet. I knew nothing was broken although I managed to do a number on my left knee (naturally my good one). Anyway I want everyone to know how good and thoughtful teenagers can be. He helped me back to the house and offered to phone someone for me if I thought I needed more help. I hope I see him again because I would like to thank him more then I did. The knee is coming along, although quite sore yet. I’ll be glad when winter is over. The only snow left is where the plows piled it up but I’ll be glad when the yard turns green because it looks so much nicer.
So now comes the next big job, getting the income tax stuff organized. I think when that is finished I’ll try to talk someone into taking me away for a weekend. I’ll be glad to go to Collingwood for the Barbershop Spring Convention. That is always a good time since I won’t have to do anything but enjoy. We book well enough in advance that we get the same room each year because we ask for it. It is always well planned and as long as Kitchener isn’t hosting we’re not involved in the work. They have good programs, if you like their music – and I do. It is always nice to meet up with old friends there.
We have a wonderful little great-granddaughter. Teddy thinks she’s pretty great also and stays close to her when she is visiting. I think he hopes she will share her snacks with him, although he won’t take anything from her unless he thinks she is offering it to him and then he is very gentle. Hope everyone is enjoying the spring weather we’ve been having the last couple of days. Hope it lasts for awhile so I can get out and enjoy it.
Vivyan
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Guess I can’t complain about the snow anymore this year, I hope! This has been a very nice week for the middle of March and I hope it keeps on getting nicer. I was out and about today for a bit and actually spotted about a dozen motorcycles tooting around. I’m tempted to get mine out but I don’t like to ride when the roads are still sandy and therefore slippery! It’s just too iffy on the corners and when trying to stop in a hurry. I think I’ll wait for another few weeks till the rain has a chance to wash the streets clean of the winter debris.
My Jeep has been a very good and reliable vehicle since we bought it back in spring of 2003. The only major item I’ve had to replace on it has been a left front wheel bearing before we headed to Florida at the end of January. Other than that it’s been pretty much a trouble free vehicle. The only other time it concerned me was when that tree jumped out behind me when I was backing out of Lorne and Vivyan’s driveway and the Jeep took a bump in the right rear of the bumper. No damage was done to the car or tree but I’m still going to sneak over to Lorne’s some day when they’re at market and take a chainsaw to the tree just to show it who’s boss! Or maybe I’ll just drive forward around the circle the next time I’m leaving the homestead at night! LOL! It’s a lot easier and safer to go in “Drive” when making that circle at night!
Yesterday I spotted a tiny pinhole leak in the top of the rad on the Jeep. I decided to head to CTC and buy a repair kit. I managed to pick an epoxy patch kit up for $19.00. I figured this was a lot cheaper than replacing the rad. Today I took the Jeep out for the first run since doing the repair job. I drove across town and back and when I parked in the driveway at home again, the darned thing was steaming and leaking antifreeze all over the drive. I checked my patch job and it was fine! The problem was that the tank on the rad had developed a more serious leak about half way down the side of the same tank the patch was on. I placed a panicked phone call to a mechanic friend of mine and he said he’d get back to me with a date to replace the rad. He had to see when and if he could get a new one for me. In the meantime I called the Chrysler dealer in Waterloo and they gave me a price of $650.00 including tax and a wait time of at least 5 days. GREAT, what would I do for wheels in the meantime if I had them do the job. Luckily my friend called me back with good news. He found a new rad for the Jeep from his supplier for only $159.00 plus tax his cost and he said I could have it for his cost. What a deal. I went up to Waterloo and picked up the new rad and delivered the Jeep and the rad to his house after supper tonight. He’s going to install the new rad for me in the morning and I’ll have the Jeep back by noon tomorrow (Friday). Now I can’t ask for much better service than that can I? He usually charges me $30.00 per hour to work on the Jeep so I’m expecting no more than $100.00 on top of the cost of the rad for the whole repair! He’s a great mechanic and a very good friend so whatever he charges in the end will be well worth it! The end result will be somewhere around a $400.00 saving when compared to the quote from the Chrysler dealer. I’m lucky to be pals with someone that’s also a very good mechanic. I’ll give him a little bonus with the payment for sure!
I’m going to start to look around for another Jeep this summer. We’ve really had good luck with this one but it’s now got over 230,000 km on it. I know I can get another Liberty a couple of years newer at least with a lot less mileage on it for not too much money. If I spend $10,000.00 every 10 years on a vehicle I figure I’m ahead of the game! We love the Jeep Liberty and want another the same. I’m sure we’ll be able to find one 5 years newer and with less than 100 k on it for not a lot of money. The one we have should still bring over $5000.00 so we won’t have to add much to that to get what we’re looking for. Then, we’ll be all set for another five to 8 years. Wish me luck!
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>
Will March go out like a lion or a lamb?
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Have a good one..
the doug
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