The
Squamidian Report – Sept. 7 / 13
Issue #589
Including:
Carol & Al’s Trip
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Blueberry season is over, has been for a week or so now. That’s always a sad time for me. This years crop was quite light but at least they were able to ripen. There was sufficient sunlight to permit ripening this time. Last year was a very heavy year for the berries but there was not enough sunlight and they never did ripen. Funny how it can be so different from year to year. The wild berries high up in the mountains are probably just staring to be in their prime now and that will be a good thing for the bears. We haven’t seen any bears all summer, last time one was on our street that we saw (and face it, they could be walking all over the place in the middle of the night and we wouldn’t even know), was last spring. However, the other evening we saw a sow and her two cubs on the sidewalk just down the hill from here. The local fruit trees and vegetables are starting to get their attention as they attempt to fatten themselves up for the winter. That’s an icky word we don’t want to start using just yet, ‘winter’, but its not all that far away.
Perhaps that’s what prompted Ryan and I to do something both silly and fun. ‘The Wife’ and I were down at their place on Wednesday to visit and to run his motorcycle down for him. It had been left here a couple of weeks ago when he was working in Whistler and circumstances worked out in such a way the he ended up going home in the car, leaving the bike here. But I digress….we decide to walk over to a near by plaza when ‘the girls’ were busy, making it possible for us to slip away undetected. In the plaza is a London Drugs store, common here but I don’t think the exist back east. They are a large chain drug store with a great electronics department as well as all sorts of other non-drug items. Like most places, they have weekly specials and promotions. One of the many things they had on as a promotion this week was tiny little remote controlled battery powered helicopters, including the controller, for $29.95. We looked at them and thought they’d be a lot of fun. The little helicopter unit weighs almost nothing, is made of plastic and metal, has an on-board rechargeable battery that gives about 7 minutes of flying time per charge. They are intended to be used indoors as any air movement at all will blow them around, and, the controller is IR and range is only about 30 ft.
So, we figured what the heck, why not. We each picked up a box and headed to the checkout. The woman at the checkout counter looked at our ‘toys’ and looked at us and asked us what we were up to and if our wives or mothers knew we were out buying toys for ourselves. We had a good laugh as she scolded us about playing in the house and so on. Anyway, we walked back to Ryan’s and charged up the on-board battery and put the required batteries into the control units. They we tried them out. Wow, I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun with a little toy. We had to take them down to his rec-room because while Kyra was fascinated with the little helicopters and the flashing lights mounted on them, she was a bit concerned with the whirring sound they made, and Willow thought they were gigantic bugs flying around and wanted to check them out which resulted in one crashing into her nose. Didn’t hurt her but she decided they weren’t as much fun as a real bug, gigantic or not. We found they would hover perfectly, climb, descend, turn and move around well beyond anything we had expected. I think ‘the girls’ were wondering about all the laughing that was happening in the rec-room, most of which was the result of the crashes from our learning to fly the things. There is a tendency to climb too fast, go straight up and hit the ceiling and have the thing do a free-fall back down to the floor if you don’t be real gentle with the speed control lever, all part of learning to fly the units. And, the helicopters seem to survive the crashes uninjured just fine.
Since then, I’ve been flying my unit all through my house. It’s a bit trickier here because we have several ceiling fans that are there to stir up and circulate the air and apparently they are doing that just fine because there are interesting and unexpected currents and turbulences all over the place. That makes flying quite challenging but adds to the fun. I’ve been able to take off from the living room, fly into the dining room, land on the table, then take off and go though the kitchen and out into the hall through the doorway and then down the hall, turn around and go back to the living room, usually without crashing. But, I have to continually adjust for rising and falling air currents, especially near the walls. It gets really interesting when I climb up toward the ceiling which is high and sloped in the living room. The air from the upstairs fan flows down the ceiling so you never quite know how the helicopter will respond in any given location.
The approximately 7 minutes of flying time from a charge passes by pretty quick when flying. Keep in mind the on-board battery is very tiny. However, the on-board electronics are pretty incredible given the whole package only cost $29.95 and if you are air-born when the battery starts to give out, it slows the blades and sets itself down rather than just falling out of the air. Quite incredible really, sophisticated electronics and mechanics that all the money in the world couldn’t have purchase a few years ago is now available dirt cheap and being used in really fun, cool, toys. Make that ‘big boy’ toys. These are way too cool and fun to waist on kids, but any kid 10 or older would master them in minutes, but probably wouldn’t appreciate them like an adult might.
doug
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Carol & Al’s Trip
It’s official – we are definitely old! Taking only 4 days to return from BC has left us stiff, sore & tired. Next time we fly or take the train. But it was still a wonderful trip, especially the parts we shared with the grandchildren.
Beth, Nick, Vivienne & I left Kitchener on a Tuesday afternoon for Wiarton, putting us a couple of hours closer to the Che-Cheemaun ferry. Wednesday morning we headed up to “the Tub” for the crossing and then on to “the Soo”. The drive between Sault St. Marie and Thunder Bay is one of the most beautiful drives I have ever been on; I hope all of you readers have taken that trip at least once. I made a point of taking Vivvy & Nick’s pictures in front of the Wawa goose to add to the one of Beth & Jackie when they were little & the one of myself as a teen. We also stopped at the Terry Fox statue on the look-out over Thunder Bay. I was happy to learn that even though Terry died back in 1981, Nick still knew all about him. Al, Jamie & Duncan left early Friday morning from Kitchener and drove hard to catch up with us at my brother Tim’s place in Stonewall, Manitoba. The four of us had 2 nights at Heidi & Tim’s to enjoy their hospitality and attend the local fair where Vivvy & Nick had fun on the rides. Heidi has been missing her own grandchildren and loved being able to share ours. I love & miss my brothers who no longer live here but I really, really miss my sisters-in-law and being able to spend time with Heidi & Sue on vacation was the best part for me.
On the Sunday the 7 of us headed out, during one heck of a rain storm, for Saskatoon. It is a bit out of the way but Beth needed to connect with a friend from there who is suffering from stage 4 cancer. I wish we would have had more time for Beth to visit and the rest of us to explore the “city of bridges”. We went on to Drumheller for the dinosaur museum, the hoodoos and to explore the badlands. Duncan & Nick climbed to the top of a badlands cliff (about 300'). They seemed the size of ants at the top but the hard and dangerous part is coming down and I was very relieved when they were back on flat ground. Doug doesn’t climb “the Chief” anymore & I didn’t tackle it this time not because of the going up but the coming down. See, I said we were old – the knees, ankles & brittle bones can’t take it anymore. We were proud of the boys though, especially Nick who did many things outside his comfort zone this trip. He overcame his fear of heights to do that climb, walk on a suspension bridge, etc. Both boys had rides on the back of Doug’s motorcycle and I think the next generation of riders is all most upon us.
Everyone loved their first view of Lake Louise. Each time I’ve visited the glacier cover is less and the snow caps were gone from many of the mountains this late in the season but that is still one of those places every Canadian should see at least once. The boys took a canoe ride on the lake and we girls checked out the Fairmount Chateau. Vivvy wants to move in there because she thinks it is the perfect princess castle, a feeling added to by the beautiful, costumed harp player. As wonderful as driving through the Rockies is I do believe the ride on Hyw.99 over the Duffy is even better (but in both places I wish if they were going to do clearcut logging they would do it beside the road, the trees often obscure the view). We watched Doug’s videos again after coming home to help relive the drive. Doug met us in Whistler and all 7 of us landed in on them that day. We finally had a chance to see Kyra in person (she has her Grandpa wrapped around her little finger). Beth & Doug were able to jam a little on the guitars and it was nice that everyone got to see Sue, Ryan & Lauren also. The next day Beth, Jamie, Duncan, Nick & Vivienne headed to Jamie’s twin’s place in Victoria. They will have to let you know how they spent their time.
Al and I got to stay and have a peaceful time with Doug & Sue. We visited Shannon Falls again, also Brandy Wine Falls on the way back from brunch in Whistler. We went to Pordeau & Grouse Mountain (the lumberjack show was worth the cost of the gondola ride up alone) and just the trails by their place are worth the trip. We finally met Warren’s new wife, Rochelle, as they came to Doug & Sue’s for dinner on the Saturday & we went to their place for dinner on the Sunday. The view from Warren’s chalet is still as stunning as ever and Rochelle lived up to her great reviews as a musician. The 3 of them entertained us with their music on both nights. It has been a year but Warren & Rochelle are still obviously happily in the Honeymoon stage. One evening there was a double rainbow. Our camera didn’t pick it up as well as I would like but if you look you can see that the colours in the 2 rainbows are mirror images of each other. The red is at the top of the bottom rainbow & the bottom of the top rainbow.
Beth’s gang wanted to go to the Vancouver aquarium before heading home so we decided to meet back up in Hope, just east of the city. Having been to the aquarium before Al & I decided to stop at Bridal Veil Falls park then check in early to our Hope motel. We visited the Othello tunnels just outside Hope (Doug this would be a great destination for your cycle club – so would White Rock). The 7 of us had one last evening together before parting ways again. Al, Nick & I are the only ones with passports so we decided to travel home through the States. We touched base each night by phone, we spent a little less time on the road each day & went a little further east then Beth’s did on the northern route. We thought, starting at Hope, that we would be through the mountains in 1 day – not so. Those twisting, up & down mountain roads on hyw.3 take much longer to traverse then one expects. It was actually a relief to hit the big sky country of the prairies. Montana has huge wind farms & North Dakota is experiencing an oil boom. Oil wells are scattered everywhere, much like Alberta 45 years ago before they ran out of good oil. The bridge over the water where Lake Michigan & Huron meet is long and spectacular. We got home on the Saturday night, in time for Gale’s annual bocce ball & BBQ on the Sunday.
The link to some of the pictures taken:
Thank you Doug & Sue for putting up with us again. Hope you have a wonderful 40th anniversary on Sunday.
Carol
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
It was a shocker to
hear that the St Jacob’s Farmers Market had burned down over night last Monday!
They were so lucky that they didn’t have a west wind blowing at the time or it
would have pushed the flames into the other buildings on the property! They are
not very far apart so it would have been one heck of a job to keep the flames
from leaping to the next building for sure! With a building constructed of very
dry wood and mostly cedar at that, a fire will spread in a matter of minutes to
a point where it is almost impossible to extinguish so all the fire fighters
can do is try their best to keep it from spreading to the next closest
structure. The departments that were there did a good job of containing the
fire considering how far gone the building was upon their arrival. We call that
type of fire a “surround and drowned”! Nothing else can be done!
I doubt there’ll be
any problem rebuilding that structure by next spring. The market is too
important not to be replaced as soon as possible! I’m sure the owners are
already working on new plans as we speak. I hope they install a sprinkler
system in the new building this time.
I could have sworn
that I saw sprinkler piping along the ceiling of the old building the last time
I was on the second floor of the market. I guess it must have just been part of
the plumbing system that I was looking at. Oh well, too late to worry about
that now, I just hope they get it rebuilt soon!
Well, the kids are
back in school and the police are out in full force watching for careless
drivers in school zones. I was out the other day and saw 5 cruisers within a
4-block area from Queen’s Blvd along Fischer-Hallman Rd to the Expressway hear
Ottawa St. That area is one heck of a mess during rush hour periods and the
cops are making an effort to nail drivers that disobey the new “No Right Turn
On RED” signs that have been posted at Greenbrook Dr
and the Fischer-Hallman Rd / Expressway intersection. It seems that very few
users of that area have noticed the big signs posted beside the traffic lights
that hang over the intersection in all directions since they rebuilt the roads
that intersect right there! Ya gotta
be blind not to notice them but people still make the turn anyway. The cops sit
in the church beside the intersection and pick off the offenders one after the
other almost every day of the week! I’m just glad I happened to be stopped at
that intersection the day the crews were erecting those signs and a guy carried
one across the road right in front of my car so it was hard to miss! I really
don’t see the need for the “No Right Turn On RED” in any of the directions at
that intersection but I guess the traffic dept had their reasons.
Oh well, just keep
this in mind when you drive through that area!
After a busy and
sometimes very hot summer, I’m hoping for a nice warm and long lasting Fall
this year. It’ll be nice if the snow stays away until the week before Christmas
but there’s little chance of that I’m afraid. All we can do is hope for the
best!
Speaking of Fall, we
were out doing a little shopping today and noticed that the grocery stores
already have their Halloween stuff on display! I’ve also heard that Costco has
some of their Christmas stuff set up as well! What a crazy world of commerce we
live in eh?
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>
Words with two
meanings:
THINGY (thing-ee):
Female … Any part
under a car’s hood.
Male … The strap fastener on a woman’s bra.
****
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.