The
Squamidian Report – Dec. 29 / 12
Issue #553
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Well, here we are, the last Squamidian…. Ok, the last Squamidian of 2012. This thing has been going since the spring of 2002. If it were a dog, it would be coming up on 77 years old. If it were a dog it would sleep a lot and be able to lick it’s own private parts, and it would also sniff here and there and everywhere finding interesting things to talk about. So perhaps we all need to learn a thing or two from our faithful family pets. Interesting stuff has and can be quite hard to come up with at times. Perhaps we need to learn to sniff a little better. But not this week, this will be a short issue for a week that is always pretty quiet.
Speaking of the family pet, I sure wish some of you could see ‘The Wife’s dog Willow’, and little Kyra interact. Oh, you can I guess, at least a little bit. I’ve set up a couple of pages of pictures of Kyra’s first Christmas and several of the pics include her furry buddy Willow as they hang out together. Here’s the link:
http://www.thedougsite.net/Pictures/Kyra/FirstChristmas.html
If there is anything that demonstrates the madness and greed and stupidity of the ‘commercialization of Christmas’, its Boxing Day. I can proudly say I didn’t do shopping, or go shopping or add to or partake in the embarrassing frenzy in any way at all. But a lot of people sure did. The shopping frenzy was the main story on the TV news, as if it were somehow something to be proud of. It was ludicrous. Crowds of people lined up hours before the stores opened just to be first to get their dirty greedy hands on whatever piece of junk was marked 50% off. There were big shopping plazas in the city where grid locked traffic had gotten so bad that morons were calling 911 to complain that THEY couldn’t get through. And there were arguments over parking spots that required police to settle things down. So much for Christmas spirit.
We managed to keep Christmas quiet and relaxed and commercial free. Except for a few small exceptions, the few gifts we gave out were things we made or created ourselves. Ryan and Lauren and Kyra were here and that was all we needed or wanted, and it was wonderful. It was a very white Christmas here, although most of the Lower Mainland was green, but that’s normal and the way it should be. I trust everyone had a nice Christmas, and I and the whole Squamidian staff wish you all a happy and healthy New Year.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Doug had sent me a couple of communications telling me that he had already used his snow blower more in the past two weeks than he had all last year. I was lamenting to him that it was looking more and more like we here in KW would be looking at a green Christmas. Well, we managed to eek out a meager dusting of white stuff here in Kitchener for Christmas eve and day but it was pathetic to even call it a “White Christmas”. Then over the next couple of days the weatherman was predicting a bit more snow and on Wednesday evening it began to snow and sure enough, Thursday morning we woke up to about 5” of snow to start off our winter accumulation. Finally it’s here but then there’s rumor that it may just melt over the next week or so to take us back to greenery once again! If it does melt I hope it doesn’t last long since it was kind of fun to put on the blowing duds and take the TORO out for a spin! I actually like to blow the snow when conditions are right for it. When it’s wet and sloppy or icy it’s a different story but when it’s flakey and light it’s actually enjoyable. I spent approximately one and a half hours doing a thorough clearing of the fluffy white stuff on Thursday and the blower still has it in ‘er to make it right across the street from the foot of our drive to hit the boulevard on the opposite side. I’m sure we’ll be getting a lot more snow before long and the winter will be on for sure. I just hope that it’s all played out by the time we reach mid March! I’m scheduled for surgery on my right hand to correct my carpal tunnel problem in mid January and am hoping that things will be well enough by early spring so I can ride the motorcycle again. With some arthritis in the hands along with carpal tunnel problems as well it’s been a rough summer past and of course as I said before little to no riding of the motorcycle. Pretty hard to squeeze the clutch or brake with both hands feeling like they’re experiencing electric shocks with any sort of pressure when under duress from such ailments. Oh well, I don’t want to whine about it any more it just ticks me off that it stops me from doing things that I enjoy whether they are fun things or necessary things around the house. Getting OLD SUCKS!
Of course once I get them fixed up in January I’ll be YOUNG again! Well, maybe not BE young but at least feel younger when the hands work again!
Carole and I spent Wednesday afternoon taking down the outdoor decorations before the arrival of snow and then after I blew the snow Thursday morning we finished undecorating the tree and the interior of the house. It only took about 5 hours to pack it all away in our big plastic tubs and to dismantle the tree and pack it into the huge duffle bag we have for it. Then, once Adam came over for supper he helped me to place the tubs up on the mezzanine in the garage for another year. Whew! It seems to be coming more of a chore every year but I think it was so this year because without any snow to put us in the Christmas mood it just wasn’t the same doing the decorating. If we had had about a half foot of snow for the week before the occasion it would have been more fun getting ready for Christmas than it was. Oh well, I’m sure next year we’ll be back to our normal 2’ of the white stuff like we usually have by mid December! Santa was good to all of us once again and today I got to try out one of the neatest gifts I’ve received. Carole bought me a bright red “Hot Dog Toaster”! It is truly something I’ve never seen or even heard of before! It looks like a flat topped toaster with two one inch vertical holes side by side in the middle and a half moon hole at either end of the flat top. The two holes in the center are for the wieners and the half moon holes at the ends are for placing opened hot dog buns in for toasting. You place them in the proper holes and push the plunger down. It takes about 4 minutes and up pops your finished hot dog materials. The buns are lightly toasted and the dogs are perfectly cooked right through! What a cool invention indeed! It’s the perfect appliance for when someone like me is cooking lunch for himself! What the heck, it would even work if I had to cook supper for the whole family as well, don’tcha think? LOL! I’d bet that after reading this, Uncle Russ will be ripping out to buy one for himself as well! Can’t beat a good meal of gourmet hot dogs and this is one cool way to cook ‘em!
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>
What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary?
A “Thesaurus” of course!
PPS: Here’s wishing each and every member of our Squamidian Family a Very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous NEW YEAR! Be safe and enjoy your New Years Eve festivities!
And IF you imbibe to any degree, take a CAB!
ENJOY and I’ll talk to you again NEXT YEAR!
2013….. WOW! My dad would have been 100 years old in October of this coming year. He was born in Hespeler in 1913.
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Have a good one..
the doug
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