The
Squamidian Report – Jan. 7 / 12
Issue #502
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi and best wishes, Ron and Maggie, from the whole Squamidian family. We are all relieved that Ron came through the surgery nicely. There is a lot of healing ahead, with many changes and challenges for both of you. You have our thoughts and support.
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Hi All,
Good grief, its next year already, again. Ever notice that years go by faster than months do, and months go by faster than weeks do, and weeks go by faster than days do, and days go by faster than hours do, and hours go by faster than minutes do, and minutes go by so fast you can’t even perceive them. No wonder years go by so fast. Makes your head spin. And speaking of spinning, radio controlled model airplanes are a lot harder to fly than one might think. I’ve always been a fan of those little planes, years ago I used to take Ryan out to Kaufman’s Flats near Bridgeport where the Flying Dutchmen would put on ‘air shows’ so we could watch them fly. Anyway, Ryan spent way too much money for a gift for me and presented me with a ‘beginner level’ model plane. It’s made from Styrofoam, with an electric motor that gives it a top speed of about 50 kph. The radio control equipment and battery are carried inside the fuselage.
I read the manual and watched the video and then practiced taxiing up and down our street. That sure brought out all the other ‘kids’ on the block. I needed to learn to control the steering etc before I would want to fly. But I did want to fly it so once I was able to have it scoot up and down the street without hitting anything, I took it to the sports fields down in the valley. On my first attempt at flight, I managed to get it up (that part was easy), but I could not control the descent and I crashed it. Damage was limited, just a smashed the engine cowling and bent wheel strut. Perhaps I should mention that Willow loves to chase model airplanes and stands guard over them when the poor thing is down. Took it home and taped up the cowling and bent the wheel back to where it should be. Should have left it at that but no, I wanted to try again and the forecasted winds had not yet started. So, back to the sports field I went. This time I got up ok again and flew around the field but when I tried to bring it in, my landing was a bit abrupt and it did an end-over-end. Minimal damage, so I had it take off again. I don’t know if the winds had picked up or not, and these little models can’t handle anything stronger than almost no wind, but I was having trouble controlling it. At one point it went into a left turn dive from about 40 ft and I attempted to correct to the right. However, when radio controlled models, be they cars or planes, are coming toward you, you have to think backward when using the steering control function and I screwed up. I pushed the control the wrong way and the plane spiraled right into the ground with no time left to recover.
From where ‘the wife’ and I were standing, we could see broken wings and parts of the fuselage settle into a pile. Willow was there in a flash but all she could do was stand guard over the wreckage. We picked up all the pieces and went back to the car, chest fallen and heart broken. Once home, I laid out all the pieces on the dining room table in order to see what could be salvaged. These models are supposed to be very fixable, so I took what was still together apart and glued the wings back together, and glued the fuselage which had broken in half, back together. I will have to order new struts as they are beyond repair, as well as a new engine cowling and the firewall that holds the motor. I don’t know how well the glued repair will hold so I’ll order new wings and fuselage as well. Might as well assume I will be crashing again before I master this surprisingly difficult skill of flying model planes.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone and welcome to 2012!
With 2012 starting off on a relatively mild note weather wise, it’s been enjoyable so far to experience the New Year! If this keeps up, we’ll be rivaling BC for their normal winter weather. I’d be willing to bet though that we’re in for more of a conventional Southern Ontario winter within a week or so and it’ll likely stay with us until April as per usual. If we were living closer to the eastern shore of Lake Huron, we’d be feeling more like normal. London, which is only 90km west of Kitchener got hit with 40cm of snow the other day and we didn’t get anything here in KW. Lucky London!
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Just a note on how TV is changing these days. There have always been cop shows on TV and I’ve been amazed at how the producers of these shows have managed to keep them interesting all these years. I’ve been watching cop shows since the days of Dragnet back in the 50’s and somehow they’ve managed to keep my interest. One would think they’d run out of plot ideas but the never seem to. I guess the story lines are only limited by the writer’s imaginations, just as “Lawyer” type shows keep their stories and court scenes interesting. The Law and Order series has been on the air for more than a decade now and I still find it riveting to watch! I’ve always found anything to do with police work and crime fighting interesting. That’s why I guess I really enjoyed reading Russ’s true-life book on his history as a local police officer. In the thirty years I spent on the fire department I had many an occasion to work with our Regional Police Force members and was for the most part impressed with the way the officers handled the situations they encountered. I always found that if I requested the assistance of a police officer at a scene we were called out to I got immediate response and total cooperation from the responding officer.
Our situations requiring their help usually involved a weapon of some sort or a violent person at the scene. I recall one such situation at an apartment building on Erb St E. We were dispatched to a person needing assistance in a second floor apartment. We were dispatched because there wasn’t an ambulance available to attend. There were three ambulances on duty in the Region that evening and they were all busy when this call came in. The dispatcher was unable to determine what the caller’s problem was, just that he needed assistance. These calls are usually the result of difficulty breathing or an elderly person that’s fallen and needs help to get up off the floor. When we arrived at the apartment we found a person lying in the middle of a hallway outside his apartment and the walls and floor were splattered with about a litre of blood! I immediately called dispatch and requested that the police respond. The victim had managed to call for help on his apartment phone and then made a run for it from his attacker. The attacker was a “friend” who had been asking him for drugs and when the victim told him he had none, the “friend” went nuts and ripped the apartment apart. He then pulled a knife and stabbed the victim 3 times in the abdomen and chest.
We had no sooner approached the victim when his attacker appeared at the other end of the hallway, screaming like a banshee at us to “Get the hell away from my friend!” It had been about 3 minutes since I had requested a police response. Of course it wasn’t very long but it suddenly seemed an eternity and I was thinking “Where the hell are the cops?” The knife wielding attacker was walking toward me while my guys were on the floor behind me trying to stop the bleeding of the wounds in the victims front. I was ready to try to fend off this nut with a coupling wrench I had in my belt when all of a sudden he was jumped from behind by a big burly police officer. They hit the floor with a thud and before I could blink the guy was disarmed and in cuffs! The officer had climbed a stairwell to the hallway we were on and watched as the attacker walked past the glass door in front of him. He had quietly opened the door after the nut had passed it and then jumped him like a pro wrestler! Was I ever glad to see that copper! Before the officer could pick the guy up off the floor, there were two more police officers on the scene. Was I ever glad to see those guys!
That was the closest I came to having to defend myself at a call. Most times when there was a weapon involved, we’d have prior warning from dispatch. The call would usually come to us as “Attention Attention! Pump #1 respond to 123 Weber St N Apartment #201 for person with uncontrolled bleeding! Upon arrival, stand by until notified by dispatch that police have offender under control!” This meant that we were to stay in our pumper until the cops had located the offender with the knife or gun and arrested him or her and then, we could enter the apartment to assist the wounded victim! There were a few times where the ambulance personnel had entered the scene before the police had arrived to secure the scene and wound up in the middle of a domestic dispute, which can be very dangerous! The rule was that the guys and girls with the guns and badges entered first whenever there was a hint of a weapon involved. This was and still is a very GOOD rule indeed! Firefighters and Paramedics are not COPS so letting the professional peacekeepers do their job is always the best way to handle such situation. Of course there were and always will be times when such information is not available when responding to emergency situations so the responding service just has to be careful and observant and hope to maintain control. My thanks to the police and paramedics for doing a terrific job and also for working with the fire service in such a cooperative manner. It was indeed gratifying to see them at the scene of our emergency responses when needed! I’m sure they appreciated our assistance and response as well.
It was an educational experience every time we worked together with these professional services. I’m sure Russ will agree!
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>
When you’re carrying your cell phone in your pocket, be sure to lock it so you don’t accidentally “pocket call” 911
PPS: I would like to say how glad we all were to hear from Maggy that Ron has come through his surgery so well and is doing just fine! Hang in there Ron and please keep in touch with us when you get home. I still like reading your corny jokes so keep ‘em coming!
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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.