The Squamidian Report – Feb. 15 / 14
Issue #612
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
We almost got some snow. Well actually we did get a tiny bit. The west
coast was supposed to get hit by a big winter storm that was expected
to dump copulas amounts of the white stuff on the lower mainland and
well into the Interior. But, as usual, just as it was about to hit, it
fizzled out. Up here we had perhaps 3 inches of snow. Enough to make it
look quite nice and wintery for a few hours. I even used the snow
blower, not so much because I needed it for snow removal but simply
because it still has the gas in it from last winter and it needs to be
used up or drained before the blower is put away at the end of this
season. The lower mainland did get some freezing rain which is fairly
uncommon but can happen on rare occasions. Now we seem to be back to
normal February weather, a mix of sun and rain. We need the rain as
long as its snow in up in the higher mountains so there will be water
this summer.
The interesting thing is that this has actually been a below normal
winter temperature wise. The thing that has made it different is that
it has been dry, very dry. We have had just a fraction of our usual
winter precipitation. We've had a lot of very nice days with bright
sunshine, days where the locals were out in their flower beds and
yards. But the temps were 'normal', or 'average'. We've had more than
our share of record breaking cold days and nights and we've set dozens
of new, cold temperature records this winter. Normally we get two
Arctic Outflow events that last a couple of weeks each. They are
somewhat similar to the back east Arctic Vortex events. This winter
we've already had three Arctic Outflow events.
Our spring usually gets started in mid February and it will definitely
be a bit late this time. Hopefully by the time I get back from visiting
Kitchener this coming week winter will be done with and I can get on
with the biking season. And the R/C season too. My fingers get cold
working those radio controllers when its cold out and as you well know,
that DX4e doesn't like being cold either. I can fly the SR 120
helicopter in the house but its nicer to do outside where there is some
room to scoom, and no furniture or walls to crash into. I'd also like
to get out on the bike and try out that helmet I purchased after the
motorcycle show. There are several riders waiting for my 'review' of
the helmet so they can decide whether or not to get one.
And speaking of visiting, it always frustrates me when dealing with the
airlines how far they will go out of their way to make their customers
lives miserable. They seem to relish out doing each other with more
charges, less service, less useful schedules and so on. About the only
thing WestJet has going for it anymore is that it flies in to YKF but
it takes all day to get you there, but that still beats flying in to
YYZ on Air Canada. And getting back to YVR is exhausting, you don't get
in till almost midnight west coast time. Thats WAY past my bedtime. So,
WestJet it is, into YKF on Wednesday evening. I sure hope you Ontario
people still have some cold and snow hanging around just so I remember
what I'm not missing. I'm also hoping someone volunteers or picks the
shortest straw, to pick me up at the airport but we shall cross that
bridge when we get to it.
I'm looking forward to my usual 'hang out with Greg' day where we start
off with breakfast at Country Boys or some such place and then hit the
bike dealers and hobby shops. Mind you, I've heard horror stories about
how the streets in the KW area are now very narrow due to snow banks,
and those same snow banks are making it dangerous to pull out of side
streets and driveways so I'm not sure how good and idea it is to go
driving around. We shall see, perhaps I'm just used to the west coast
easy life. One cool thing about hitting the KW motorcycle shops is that
prices are cheaper in Ontario so if I run across something I might want
or need, I can purchase it there as long as it fits in my suitcase,
(one suitcase per customer on the airlines these days). Same goes for
R/C parts and accessories, much cheaper in Ontario. We get pretty well
screwed out here on consumer goods and other day to day costs, mostly
because we are still paying for 10 years of NDP government from back in
the '90s that left the province devastated. Oh, and if I find I need
the use of a guitar while I'm there I'll simply rent one from L & M
in Waterloo. No point in trying to bring something like that on an
airplane.
Speaking of guitars, I had not written any new material since I
finished that CD in December. The creative well seemed to just dry up,
nothing, no ideas, no nothing. Then, last week when 'the wife'
was down at Ryan's for a couple of days a new song just fell out of my
head. No effort, no struggling, not even intentional. Funny how that
works. What is also funning is I have no way of knowing if the tune or
part there of, or if some of the lyrics or melodies of any song I've
written doesn't already exist as some one else's music. How do I know
I'm not simply remembering something or bits of something that I've
heard long ago or from just outside my awareness bubble. There is no
way of knowing, and my creations certainly can't be cross-checked
against all the existing music in the world. Perhaps it's a good thing
that very few people ever get to hear the stuff I come up with, and
some of it will never be heard by anyone else.
doug
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
We almost cracked the minus single digit temperatures today. I stepped
out side and noticed the brilliant sunshine and how good it felt. I
also noticed that it actually had an odour of spring in the air! Then,
I checked the thermometer and it showed -10c and with no breeze at the
time, it actually felt warm standing in the sun. Of course, thinking
back to yesterday when we cracked the record low for the day of -31c
anything warmer than -11 would feel like spring with the sun shining. I
sure hope this is a sign of things to come. Speaking of signs of things
to come with the sun shining on our driveway today, I could actually
see the concrete driveway as if it really was spring! Having had
sunshine for the past few days, our roads are now bare and much safer
to drive on than they have been in a long time this winter.
We actually ventured out and did some grocery shopping today and it
felt good just to be out of the house for a few hours without having to
fight a winter storm. The roadsides are still lined with 4 to 6 feet of
snow in most places and the local shopping mall has huge and I do mean
huge piles of snow from the ploughs clearing the parking lots. It’ll be
well into the spring before all that snow is melted away this year.
*
I don’t know if you heard about this but there was
some sad news out of Bowling Green Kentucky today. Bowling Green is the
home of the infamous Corvette and they are also the home of the
Corvette Museum. Approximately 5am Thursday February 13, the fire alarm
system activated at the Museum and when the fire department arrived
they found a huge sinkhole in the middle of the showroom floor. The
ground under part of the showroom had been undermined and became a huge
cavity. The weight of the flooring and that of the Classic Corvettes
parked on it was too much and the showroom caved in. There were 8
classic and highly valuable Corvettes that fell into the hole and were
quite badly damaged if not completely destroyed. That region of
Kentucky is known to have many underground cave systems and has
experienced “sinkholes” in the past. The Museum was built in 1991 and
the engineers at the time deemed the soil under the new building safe
for construction of such a large project as the museum. I guess they’re
rethinking that assessment now! They are going to try to salvage the
Corvettes that were damaged and have called in engineers to do a study
on the remaining structure and it’s foundations to make sure that no
further sinkholes suddenly happen again to add to the disaster!
I’m sure they’ll be nervous for a long time to come around the Bowling Green area.
I’m kind of beat from all the shopping and running around we did today
so I’m going to call it a day! That’s it for this week! Thanks for
tuning in and I’ll be looking forward to talking to you all again next
week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now … Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
"I tried to catch some fog, I mist!"
****
Have a good one..
the doug
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