The Squamidian Report – Aug. 23 / 14
Issue #639
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
This was rather gruesome and unsettling and not at all nice to see
happen. We were driving in to the city the other day and we were on a
section of the highway that is 4 lanes wide with a safety barrier down
the middle. A deer jumped out in front of the car that was 2 cars ahead
of us, they seem to be able to come out of now where. That car managed
to slow down a bit and the deer made it onto the left lane. From there
it jumped the center barrier, right in to the path of the on-coming
traffic. A wall of vehicles, two abreast was traveling a the usual high
speed along that section. There was a sound like a bang and thud and
splat and the deer simple disappeared. In its place was flying parts
and guck. The head went one way, a leg went another, a piece of torso
another and the rest was a spray of blended leftovers.
There was nothing we could really do except to continue on. Its too
dangerous to pull over on that road unless you absolutely have to. The
deer could not be helped, it had exploded into a spray of parts and
particles. I would imagine the car that hit it was damaged although it
was probably a good thing that the hit was as fast and hard as it was.
An exploding deer flies in every direction instead of coming though a
windshield. I do know there would have been a lot of very shook-up
people. So, no matter what you drive, keep that peripheral vision
working, scanning the sides of the road for anything that might jump
out in front of you.
*
And here's a bummer but on a much more benign level,
blueberry season is pretty well over. At least in my back yard. My crop
was OK but not a bumper crop like last year. That I expected because
last season my plants were loaded. They needed to recover a bit this
year. What we did have this year was sunshine. Last year there was not
enough to ripen the berries. This year they ripened just fine although
we did have to water quite a bit. There is just one plant left with
berries still on it, a late fruiting variety, and as fast as they
ripen, Kyra eats them. She has learned how to identify the dark blue
berries and just picks them, leaving the unripe ones untouched. She has
however eaten more of my berries that I have. She can sure shovel them
in. There is an 'up-side' to my berry season being over, I eat way too
much ice cream when there is a bowl full of berries to be disposed of
every day. Now my ice cream intake is back to normal which is well,
none.
*
We worked our buns off for a couple of days this past
week. Ryan and Lauren needed to have their fence down one side of their
unit replaced. The other side had been replaced by that neighbour
although he did a rather pathetic job of it. Anyway, we loaded all the
tools etc we thought we might need into the back of my truck and went
to their place to build a fence. Had to pull down what was left of the
old one, dispose of that material and then pick up the new lumber
needed to build with. We all worked very hard for two days, and got the
job done. Well, almost done. They still had to stain the exposed wood
but that can be done as time permits. By the time we were done I was so
tired and warn out that I couldn't even drive home. So it was up to
'The Wife' and Willow to decide amongst themselves who would do the
driving. 'The Wife' won and drove home with poor Willow again stuck in
the little back seat area of my truck. We all worked very hard and the
fence looks great. Even Kyra helped a bit by handing us screws, or at
least she thought she was helping which is just as good.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Our weather has been off and on wet over the past week or so but it’s
not been as wet as the forecasters have called for. I think all
residents of the Waterloo Region are grateful for the weather folk’s
misinterpretation of the radar data they’ve been reporting. Of course,
as usual, weather forecasting is not an art but little more than
guesswork at best at any time. So, I won’t be too hard on the CTV
reporters this time. Let’s hope that our summer’s end turns into the
lovely lead-up to Fall that it’s supposed to be!
Anyway, the wild life around here seems to be enjoying the weather
we’ve been having and they’re out and about quite a bit these days.
We’ve been enjoying watching, feeding and talking to a family of
chipmunks all summer long and they’re enjoying the feast of popcorn and
peanuts that Carole has been doling out to them over the past weeks.
She popped a bag of Orville Redenbacher’s the other week and the
chipmunks took to it like kids watching a movie on a Saturday
afternoon! They seemed to be slowing down on the popcorn after a few
days so while we were shopping this week, Carole picked up a large bag
of Virginia Peanuts in the shell and the little dickens are back at it
and loving them! They will open the odd one and eat it right in front
of us but for the most part, they tuck them shell and all into their
amazingly stretchy cheeks and head off into one of their many hiding
spots around the outside of our house. I’m sure they’ve already got
enough of a stash to last them through next winter but they keep coming
back for more. They are the cutest little things and don’t seem to be
afraid of either of us when we’re outside sitting either out back or on
the front porch. We sit and enjoy a cup of tea and they come begging on
their little hind ends if we forget to bring out their treats. LOL!
They come right to our feet and sit up like a begging dog and look us
right in the eyes until we give in and go get some nuts or popcorn. I
think they prefer the peanuts though! We watched over the summer, as
the first two chipmunks to appear in the spring became little tiny
chipmunk miniatures. We were surprised to see that the first two
suddenly had babies since neither one of them looked to be with child!
I guess they don’t gain much weight or size when pregnant. However,
they produced from what we can tell, two babies and at times we had all
four of them running around the back patio looking for handouts! The
adults are cute as heck but the babies are just darling little replicas
of their parents and so much fun to watch. They follow their parents
around and at times were even climbing and riding on their parent’s
backs. They’d toss each other around as if in a wrestling match at
times and we could hear them squeak and chatter as they did so! What a
hoot to enjoy mother nature so close up and I think we owe it all to
the amount of gardens we have thanks to Carole, in our back yard. It’s
not a big yard but it sure has become a haven for these little
critters. They live under our front concrete porch as well as under the
concrete patio. Funny, I always thought they lived in trees like
squirrels! Hmmm? Oh well, like I always say, “You learn something new
every day”!
I witnessed another interesting sight today. We were sitting on the
front porch and as I gazed out onto the front lawn, two Robins landed
and started to pick up insects from the grass. Then another two Robins
came scampering across the street to join them. I commented to Carole
that it was odd to see them hopping all that way rather than just fly
over the road. After watching the four of them on our lawn, I noticed
that there were 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Robins on the lawn across the
street and then I saw another 6 more on another neighbour’s lawn across
the street to the right of our porch. I’ve never seen so many
Robins all at the same time before! That made a total of 19 Robins
altogether on the three lawns. I know it’s not unusual to see that many
starlings or even hundreds of starlings on a lawn but, Robins???? I was
amazed! Oh well, I guess Robins have to eat while the picking’s good
too!
I hope it’s not a sign that our lawns are full of grubs! LOL!
Oops! I guess that’s not a laughing matter is it? Oh well, at least the
birds are hopefully removing the population of whatever insect they
were eating and I guess that’s a good thing! I’ll have to keep and eye
on the lawn and if necessary, call an exterminator to treat the lawn
for whatever infestation shows up! I think you’re still allowed to
spray if you call in an expert company to do so!
Guess I’ll find out soon enough if I do call one!
Anyway, that’s about it for this week folks1
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>
Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that’s attached at only one
end! ………………. I think! LOL! Is that other thingy considered a muscle?
****
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.
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