The
Squamidian Report – Feb. 18 / 12
Issue #508
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
I had hoped other, more qualified people would deal with updating any interested readers regarding this little infant that has moved into our house. But, much to my dismay, no one has stepped forward to do it and so I am stuck with it for now. So, here goes…
Little Kyra definitely has some ‘Brubacher’ in her. How do I know, well, she is a master FARTER. She can let rip with decibel levels formerly reserved for much older, male members of the clan. The poor dog is at wit’s end as to what to do about it, the sound is startling but the odor is interesting. Well, interesting for a dog, not so much of the rest of us. The poor dog also has no idea what to do about the crying, and crying seems to be something babies do. Willow just can’t figure out why we don’t ‘fix’ it. Anyway, back to the farts, some of them would register on the Richter Scale. They certainly wake her up if she had been asleep at the onset. Startling at first, but apparently quite satisfying after.
That’s pretty well the extent of my observations so far, hopefully some other member of this household will take over from here.
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This has been a hard week for the local cougar population around here. I don’t mean the middle aged women kind of cougars who prowl the bars and other trendy hang-outs looking for young, tender prey, I mean the mountain lion cat kind of cougar. One cat was hit by a car on the highway near Furry Creek, and another was shot by conservation officers here in the Valley. It had been going after the house pets. A third was shot at and chased away as it wandered through a Whistler neighborhood. Funny, everyone talks about living with Nature, restoring things back to ‘natural’, living in harmony with the wildlife, etc. But, as soon as one of Nature’s predators turns up in someone’s back yard, we want it eliminated.
I guess what we really want is for ‘Nature’ to happen in someone else’s back yard, not our own. That way, we can ‘see’ it, and enjoy it, but not have to be responsible for it or have ‘it’ impact us in any inconvenient way. And now, we are just around the corner from when all those hungry bears will be waking up. Wow, we will be doubly inconvenienced.
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I’m not sure yet how or if next week’s Squid will be published. I will be in Kitchener starting tomorrow, from Feb 19th until the 27th so it will depend on finding an Internet connection. If you get your copy, I found one. If you don’t, I didn’t. I’ll be bringing copies of my CD’s for those who have requested them. That statement was a warning, you asked for them, so you hafta take them. I don’t want to bring them all the way back with me. And if someone wants them and didn’t ask ahead of time, I do have a couple of spares, but keep that under your hat.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello Everyone!
Well, it looks like February is going to be our snowiest month of the winter this year. The little that we do have seems to be hanging around but the weather predictors have been saying it’s about to melt again any day. Of course we all know how accurate most weather predictions are! I hope the remnants of white stuff do melt over the next few days and Spring springs quicker than it has in years gone by. It would be nice to have a real early Spring and a nice hot summer this year. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for both!
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I’ve gotten some interesting e-mails lately but the one that actually shocked me a tad was one containing a video of a young lad standing in the waters edge on the ocean, maybe ankle deep at the most. There were two small seals playing in the water at his feet. His friend or family member was taking video of his activity when all of a sudden a large “Killer” whale swam up to him and grabbed him in it’s jaws and swam away with him. I was amazed to see this happen but I also found it amazing that such a huge animal would be swimming in only a few inches of water. The whale struggled a little to get back into deeper water but managed to do so with relative ease. When I watched the video a few times I realized that it was actually after the seals but took the boy by mistake. I guess it thought whatever it grabbed was one of the seals. If the person taking the video hadn’t been doing so, nobody would have known what happened to the boy. This sort of thing has happened to surfers before but I have never heard of it happening to someone standing so close to shore in such shallow water! It makes me think of the times we were in Florida and wading in the edge water of the Gulf of Mexico. I’ve heard of shark attacks happening in knee-deep water but never Killer Whale attacks.
I’m probably not the only one who has been skeptical about swimming in the ocean since the release of the movie “Jaws” but now I’m really going to be cautious even at the waters edge! I think back to the time two years ago when Carole and I found that small (8’) Great White shark on the shore of the Gulf in Pensacola Beach Florida and I can imagine what would or could have happened had it been cruising for food while we were walking just off shore. With the teeth that it had and the good size of it’s mouth it could well have taken a dandy bite out of one’s leg if not taken the whole person out to sea. We could tell the magnificence of its strength just by the shape and size of what was surely a young shark. If you get a chance to view the “Killer Whale” video I’m talking about, check it out and you’ll be amazed I’m sure, just as I was!
It’s a shocker and almost hard to believe!
That’s all 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: The title of the video is KillerWhale.wmv
I think if you enter that title on Google and hit “enter” you should be able to view it.
PPS: Something To Think About>
The dangers of shallow water are something enough to think about! LOL! I wonder if Victoria Park Lake will have any sharks of Killer Whales in it?
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Have a good one..
the doug
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