The
Squamidian Report – Nov. 5 / 11
issue #493
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
The best part about doing the Squamidian is when its all finished, checked over for errors, re-checked to find some of the remaining errors I missed the first time, and then pasted into an Email for sending out. Its done, I can relax. The worst part about doing the Squamidian is when it is finished and ready to send out, because that means both Greg and I are again under pressure to come up with content for our next addition. It’s a big cycle that keeps revolving, the minute one revolutions is complete, the next one starts. When life is busy and there is lots of activity it is relatively easy to spot something to talk about. When life is in the slow lane its very hard to come up with items of interest. Being good Canadians, we like to talk about the weather a lot but that topic tends to get worked over too often. Usually as a fall-back for when there was nothing else happening although sometimes the weather IS what is happening.
Anyone who happens to look up at the top of this particular issue will notice that this is the 493rd time we’ve had to come up with something to write about. That’s a lot of head scratching and desperate grasping. I often wonder how many times I’ve covered the exact same thing without even noticing. Nothing wrong with covering the same topic if the details have changed but sometimes perhaps nothing has changed. I guess it could be interesting to do searches through old Squids to see what is actually there some boring rainy day when watching paint dry starts to look exciting.
With this being #493, it also indicates is that we are just 7 additions from #500, which will fall on December 24. Kind of convenient I guess because that will be our Christmas issue. That also means I’ve got to come up with an idea for this week’s issue plus 7 more just to reach the 500th. That’s hard. During some parts of the year I can go out and create a topic, like doing some sort of motorcycle adventure and videoing it, or knocking down part of my fence so I need to re-build it. That kind of thing. But as we get into this time of year my options for creating topics are greatly reduced. Face it, November is the pits. Nothing much ever happens and it just keeps getting darker out, and colder too.
OH, I just thought of something to write about…. Willow sure misses Sue. While ‘The Wife’ is away, Willow sticks like glue, or some such other sticky substance that smells like a dog and sheds hair all over the place. I can’t go any where or do anything without her watching and wanting to come along. When I’m trying to do something that interests me, as opposed to something that interests her, she tries to get my attention by tossing one of her stuffed toys, or by pretending there is something outside that needs her immediate attention. But, I guess that’s normal for a dog that is spoiled rotten. She’s not too happy when I do go out and leave her home alone. I’ve headed into the city a couple of time to attend my motorcycle chapter meetings and the poor sad creature has had to fend for herself. Now how hard can that be? She’s in a nice warm house, she has her own beds, 3 in fact. She always has her food on time and its always top-of-the-line quality. Yup, its sure a hard life. A dog’s life. Free food, sleep 22 hours a day and have all your needs taken care of. There, I came up with something to write about.
Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?
Oh, by the way, I just picked up ‘The Wife’ from the airport late last evening and now Willow can stick to her like glue. I’m off the hook.
Another ‘Oh, by the way’… I’ve uploaded a couple more of my recording episodes to my web site. Had to take advantage of the last few days of quietness in the house, although its quite amazing how noisy a quiet house is. There are fans running, dogs snoring, phones ringing and so on. Anyway, I even managed to get some 4-part harmony going in the chorus of the last one. I guess you could say I’m ‘beside myself’ with having fun with this stuff. http://www.thedougsite.net/Songs/songs.htm
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
We’re getting closer and closer to the snow season but our weather here in KW is still holding! I’m hoping the forecast for a long and sunny fall gives us at least another month without snow! Oh well, at least I have my new tires on if it does start to snow. If it holds off until after this weekend at least, I’ll be totally ready because I’ve booked the Jeep for it’s annual Rust Proofing session on Saturday!
Do you remember (I’m sure the guys will) way back in the 60’s and 70’s when most makes and models of vehicles were very susceptible to rusting out? There were a lot of horror stories circulating about rusted out vehicles. Actually my brother was serving a paint and body apprenticeship with a local car dealer called Jackson Motors on Victoria St S at Joseph St and they came across a surprise of their own one day. They were investigating a complaint from a customer about rust on the bottom edge of the driver’s door on his new ’67 Plymouth “Satalite GTX”. My brother’s co worker removed the inside door panel from the driver’s door and was shocked when he looked at the interior side of the door! He found a totally intact but slightly flattened “Pepsi Cola” sign imprinted on the panel! In those days the car companies were in the early stages of recycling metal into the production of their car bodies and apparently someone missed the sign that was used to punch out the door panel on this car! LOL! What a shocker that must have been! I remember the Kitchener Record running a picture of my brother and his co-worker holding up the door panel with the imprint of the sign inside! It was quite an article. I wonder if he still has the paper in his scrapbook? LOL!
I don’t remember all the details or what Jackson’s or Chrysler did for the guy but I’m sure he wound up with at least a new door on his Plymouth! Chrysler was plagued with a lot of rust problems back in those days and so was FORD. Hard lessons were learned by all of the car manufacturers in those days with regard to body metal quality. I do remember way back in 1964 when I was 15 and working for a Supertest Gas station at the corner of Guelph St and Margaret Avenue pumping gas on weekends, the owner John W Kanter used to save all the oil he removed from engines when doing oil changes. He would then spend his Sundays with a lineup of cars at his station waiting to have their cars put up on his hoist and sprayed with this used oil to help them ward off rust problems in the coming winter! What a mess that made and Mr Kanter’s son and I had to clean up the mess when he was finished for the day. There are still some companies that spray used oil on vehicles as undercoating but most “Rust Proofing” businesses now use more sophisticated products to do the job. I know that the place I take my vehicle has a very good record of success in stopping vehicles from rusting. I had my Jeep done by “KROWN Rust Control” the same week we bought it and the undercarriage is still like new 9 years later! My mechanic is amazed at the condition of this vehicle and attributes this to the KROWN spray I’ve had applied every year. I made an appointment to have my Jeep and Adam’s MINI COOPER rust proofed today Saturday Nov 5th.
The Fire Department in Waterloo put me on to this company because they always had their trucks done at KROWN and were very happy with their rust free fire trucks! In their waiting room at KROWN they have a wall of pictures of vehicles they’ve been treating since opening their business in Waterloo some 35 years ago and many of the vehicles are still on the road today and look just as healthy body wise as they did after the first treatment! Who knows, I’ve got 245,000 km on the Jeep now and it still looks like new! I may just hang on to it and see if I can’t make another 245,000 km before trading it in! LOL!
I read an article the other day in the paper about a gentleman who lives in Connecticut and back in 2004 he bought a used 2000 Honda Accord with 65,000 miles on it. He’s been putting on at least 63,000 miles a year since and has just hit the ONE MILLION MILE mark! When HONDA found out how many miles he had on his car when he hit the 900,000 mile mark, they kept track of him and his Accord until he hit a Million Miles. When that mark was reached, HONDA MOTOR Co presented him with a brand new 2012 Honda Accord through his local dealer. They even arranged to have a parade through his town with the two cars on a float and a couple of marching bands to mark the celebration. I gather they used the event as an advertising gimmick. The article said that he is now trying to sell his 2000 Honda because it’s still running great!
He is an automobile technician by trade and said he set up a regular maintenance schedule and stuck to it. He even used the same brand of oil every time he changed the oil. The HONDA executive that was interviewed stated that it’s a good thing that every Honda owner doesn’t take as good a care of their cars or HONDA would be out of business!
This just goes to show you that if you look after your vehicles and religiously maintain them they will last a very long time and give you very little trouble! I believe this since I’ve been like clockwork with the maintenance on our Jeep and we now have 245,000 km on it with very few problems. In fact, the Jeep still runs like the day we bought it and I’ve decided to keep it for at least a few more years! That is unless Doug and I finally pick a big winner with our “Lotto” group we’ve been in for the past 10 years! If that happens there’s no telling what might show up in my driveway!
But for now, if the mechanical end of the Jeep holds up as well as the body is doing, I’ll be more than happy to drive it for another 10 years!
That’s it for this week!
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>
“The hurrier I go, the behinder I get!”
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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.