The
Squamidian Report – Apr. 6 / 13
Issue #567
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
It had been a long, long time since the west coast enjoyed warm, above normal temperatures but we sure made up for it over the Easter long weekend. Sunny and clear with daytime highs hitting into the low 20s. The nicer than nice weather brought out all the long weekend traffic, all the campers, all the bikers, hikers and you name it. The flowers and buds that had been a month behind used the week of sunshine to catch up. Anything and everything that puts out pollen exploded into pollen production, filling my eyes and nose with the vile stuff.
I did manage several nice local rides down along Howe Sound. Ryan and family were up for the weekend and even though he won’t be insuring his bike until sometime in May because the Adam’s tour is headed for Australia, he did want to take his motorcycle back down to Maple Ridge when they left so he put a 3-day temp pass on it. That meant he was able to join me on a ride or two. Just like the good old days. We both rode to Horseshoe Bay where my chapter meets for coffee and hung out with some of them for a while before heading back. I was disappointed that there wasn’t a police radar presence on the highway because the sun tends to bring out all the nut cases. However, there was a police helicopter patrolling so they would have nabbed some of the drivers who are always in a big hurry for no reason.
We are now back to our normal, below normal temperatures but it sure was nice while it lasted and who knows, there might be some more nice weather in the near future.
Had to do a little home project this week, mainly, building and installing a couple of baby-gates for our back deck. When babies are just little blobs that can’t move very far they tend to stay out of harms way. But, when they start walking they actually go straight to running and then they can get into everything and they are way faster than you’d ever think those little lets could take them. With the winter over and periods of nice outdoor type weather on the way to enjoy, the obvious place to enjoy it is on the back deck but it has steps at one end and steep stairs at the other. Hence the need for gates.
We could have simply purchased those silly plastic things that wedge into place but we would have needed 2, and for half the price of 1 plastic gate we could purchase some lumber and build gates that matched the deck railing so that’s what we did. I don’t get to use my table saw or miter saw very often so this was my chance to pull them out from under the work bench and cut up some wood. The gates are build in such a way that they can swing open 180 degrees. That way they can swing right out of the way and sit against the adjoining section of railing when not needed. And face it, they will only be needed when we are being visited by little persons who we’d rather not have go running, falling, tripping or otherwise propelling themselves off the deck. On the other hand, Willow will not want them closed when they are not needed. She would most likely go running out in the dark barking at some un-seen or imaginary creature and crash head first into one of them simply because she isn’t used to them being there. A dog’s life is a hard one, no matter how soft that life is.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Short one probably
but I’ll give it a go!
Carole and I were
out and about last week and our conversation while driving to our destinations
got around to people and their cell phones. We talked about the drivers who
still break the law by using their phone while driving their cars. That really
bothers me when I see that going on! The ones who text are also dangerous and
likely even more so than the phone talkers! I said I’d love to be a cop and I’d
be busting the asses of every one of these idiots I came across while on
patrol! It’s a total disregard for the safety of others on the road for sure.
If you want to kill yourself, go ahead and drive into a concrete wall at high
speed but make sure there’s nobody else on the road around you when you do! The
most selfish thing a driver can do is commit an offence that will cause the
death of another person using the roadways!
As we talked about
this situation, Carole said that she can’t see why people can’t be detached
from their phones for even a few minutes and I agree! It bothers me to be
sitting in a restaurant, Doctor’s office, Hospital or even standing in line at
the store and have to listen to someone’s phone ringing or them yakking on the
phone like there’s nobody within hearing range! What ever happened to calling
someone’s home phone and leaving a message if they don’t answer? I guess that
the invention of the cell phone is just too convenient for people to resist
constant use and contact. We even observed, at almost every red light we stopped
at that day that there were people either texting or talking on their phone as
they waited for a bus, waited to cross the street or as they walked across the
intersection! No bloody wonder there has been a huge increase in the number of
vehicle pedestrian collisions over the past 5 years or more! Next time you’re
out in public, just take a look around at the pedestrians you see and take note
of how many of them are actually watching where they’re going! Talk about an
addiction, the computer age has really given the world a new one to try to find
a cure for indeed! Like Carole said that day, “If people can’t wait till we get
home to talk to us when we’re out, then that’s too darned bad! We do have a
cell phone but it is plugged in to the car and stays on the console for
emergency use while traveling and we really don’t find that we have any need to
either receive or make phone calls in most instances unless we are at home. If
we do have to make the odd call when we’re out and about, we pull the car over
to a safe parking spot and make a short call. We don’t give the number out to
every person we know and the folks that want to call us still manage to reach
us through our home phone just fine. I think we’ve gotten a few calls on the
cell from our son when he needs to find us but those calls are few and far
between.
The world is small
enough without having every Tom Dick or Harry ringing my phone and bothering me
just to ask me “Whatcha doin’?”
and “Where are ya now?” Hell, I don’t need anybody
knowing that I just took a shit and now I’m watching Jay Leno Or that I’m just
walking into Wal-Mart to pick up some buns for supper! Enough of my life is
open to public observation without having to report it minute by minute, move
by move through the computerized world of cell phone waves!
So, if you can’t get
me by phoning my home phone or sending me an e-mail, LEAVE A MESSAGE AND I’LL
GET BACK TO YOU!
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>
There was a person
who sent 10 puns to his friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns
would make them laugh. No pun in ten did!
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Have a good one..
the doug
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