The Squamidian Report – July 5 / 14
Issue #632
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
We were up enjoying the scenic lookout trail on the ridge at the top of
the Gondola one day this week and I found myself having to yell at a
stupid kid, and it felt great. There they were, this idiot tourist
family floundering along, and this kid was picking rocks out of the
side of the walking trail and throwing them into the delicate
'wetlands', to make splashes I guess. At several places along the
trail, there are little wet areas with reeds and skunk cabbage and
small aquatic life forms indigenous to the high mountain areas. There
is also the unfortunately very necessary signage telling people to say
on the trails and to not disturb or interfere with the very delicate,
sensitive areas. That does not seem to sink in at all to many of the
tourists, they drop garbage, they pull out small trees, rip the bark
from trees, trample the vegetation and so on. The stupid kid's own
parents didn't seem to notice, or more likely not care, that this idiot
was removing the rocks that line the edge of the trail, and tossing
them into a small, natural pond. The kid jumped about 3 feet when I
yelled, and dropped the rock. His parents just looked at me with a dumb
expression on their faces and then kept going. Not far behind us was
another couple enjoying the trail, regulars, because they were wearing
their season passes, just like we were. They looked at me and gave me a
big 'thumbs up'.
When we returned to the Summit Lodge, where the gondola loads and
unloads, I informed the attendant of what I did and why. He put his
hand on my shoulder and said, “good for you”. They are having a
constant battle trying to keep a pristine area, pristine. We are all
privileged to be there, yet there are people who simply have no respect
for it, or anything, the same jerks who drop garbage anywhere and
basically disrespect anything and everything. Smokers are also a very
big concern. We've had some discussions with some of the staff, there
is a lot of concern about smokers. We've seen and they have seen people
walk right past the very prominent 'no smoking' signs and light up.
Very scary. I know where a fire extinguisher is hidden under the Chief
Overlook viewing deck, and I know there are numerous other ones spread
around. A careless and/or entitled jerk could set the whole
mountainside on fire very easily. Unfortunately, the very 'general
public' they need in order to be in business contains the very people
that could put them out of business very quickly, or at least spoil the
experience for everyone else. Bottom line is, the 'locals' are very
protective of this incredible venture and want to help keep it as nice
as possible.
Here's something cool, the Gondola is putting in a concrete pad for
motorcycle parking just off the south end of the main parking lot. They
have a small area of paved parking that is set aside for handicapped
parking. They has set aside the last paved spot for bikes but even
though it is marked 'bike parking only' and there is a sign on a post
right there, more often than not some car driver has elected to ignore
the sign and park there anyway. So, much to the delight of all us
bikers, there will be dedicated bike parking that can not be accessed
by the cars. It will be behind the sidewalk and the only way to get to
it will be through a narrow opening.
*
Well, the politicians and bureaucrats have done it again. They've made
the same type of brain-dead decision that I complained about when BC
Ferries raised rates and reduced service. This time its the 'authority'
that deals with bridge tolls. A few years ago a new bridge crossing of
the Fraser River was built, the Golden Ears Bridge. The tolls were set
higher than most people felt was fair, so most drivers simply 'go
around', they prefer to take the long way rather than pay the toll,
even with traffic congestion and ever increasing fuel costs. So, use of
the bridge never met projected numbers and therefore revenue has never
met projected numbers. What solution has the elite rulers of this
province come up with?, why, raise the toll of course in order to
generate more revenue. It simply can not occur to them try lowering the
already over-priced crossing toll in order to generate more usage and
therefore more revenue. No, much better to punish those few who are
using the bridge. Thats seems to be how its done. Oh, someone high up
will most definitely be getting a huge bonus for this, they always do.
Oh, I did a nice two-day toot on the bike this week. In fact, I just
got in a few hours ago. I'll tell you about it next week unless
something more interesting comes along.
doug
****
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Good to be here again this week and be enjoying the sunshine once
again. We’ve had some nasty rainstorms over the past week but when all
is said and done, it’s just been exactly what we needed to get the
lawns back in shape. Now I can start mowing again! LOL! This past
weekend Carole and I took our Poodle “Bailey” and went on our first
long drive in the new Jeep. We decided to make the drive to Grand Bend
and attend the Sunday Flea Market that is a weekly occurrence down that
way. It’s always interesting to walk through the many rows of booths
that are just filled with odds and ends. Since Bailey is blind and
needs constant supervision we purchased a “Doggie Stroller” about a
year ago for exactly this sort of outing. The stroller is just like one
for a human child only it’s a bit lighter built. It’s got two drink cup
holders and a small tray attached to the handle for human convenience
and also has a shelf with screened in sides under the main body of the
stroller so Carole can put her purse and whatever underneath while
pushing it along. There’s a collapsible hood over the dog compartment
with a small screen in the top so the driver can keep an eye on the
pooch through the roof! With a nice padded floor in the stroller we
just plop a blanket in before inserting the dog and he’s got a rolling
bed to keep him comfortable. We even have a portable collapsible
drinking dish that allows us to supply him with water whenever he gets
a thirst on! Bottled water from our cooler is handy for his drinking
purposes as well as ours on a hot summer day and the bottles fit
perfectly in the cup holders. It just so happens that every time we
visit this flea market it seems to be on the hottest day of the summer!
LOL! This past Sunday was no exception as it was hovering around the
32c mark with huge humidity making the day feel around the 40c mark and
of course difficult to breath. Luckily the flea market is mostly
covered by huge old shade trees so with a bit of a breeze the time
spent looking at all they had to offer was bearable and we actually
enjoyed a couple of hours of browsing. Of course every second person or
kid we passed commented on the fact that “The cute little puppy” was in
a stroller. Most people were polite and amused and some asked why he
wasn’t walking on a leash. We had to explain that he’s blind and would
get stepped on if he were on a leash. There was one little impudent
puke of a kid about 5 years old that said as we passed “That’s STUPID!”
as he pointed at Bailey in the stroller. Carole kept her cool and
calmly explained to the kid why our dog was in a stroller. The kids
father tried to shush the kid out of embarrassment I suppose but on the
other hand, maybe he’d said the same thing to his wife in front of the
kid as we approached and the kid was just repeating what the father had
said. At any rate, the father was quite red in the face as Carole took
the time to explain to the kid what was going on. It didn’t take long
for him to grab the kid’s hand and disappear into the crowd a moment
later. Some people should learn to keep their comments to themselves in
front of their children! Anyway, we didn’t see anything worth investing
in other than a nice Celtic silver ring that Carole liked so that was
our only purchase.
We then headed out of the flea market and up highway 21 to pass through
Grand Bend on the way home. We got into a lineup of cars about half a
kilometer from the main intersection of “The Bend” and it started to
rain. We were in stop and go traffic of the long weekend, which was bad
enough, but to top it all off, the rain was one of the heaviest
thunderstorms of the season so far this year. It was raining so hard
that we could barely see the car ahead of us at times. It took us
almost an hour to get through Grand Bend and it rained the entire time.
The crowd from the beach was of course leaving because of the rain and
there were hundreds of cars from there trying to get through the
intersection of the main street and hwy 21 at the only stop light in
Grand Bend. What a snarled mess of cars indeed! There was one cop
directing traffic at the same time as the light and he was just making
things worse! Anyway, we made it through that mess and decided to just
to head for home. It was around 3:30pm and the huge storm off Lake
Huron was a dandy that was not letting up at all. We turned off Hwy 21
toward Exeter, which is about 20kms from The Bend, and we were finally
in well moving traffic. We managed to drive at a reasonable speed but
the rain was still pounding down and making it difficult to see! The
speed limit was 80km/hr and we were moving at about 60km/hr. On a
stretch of road that was clearly marked with a bright white double
solid line there were cars ahead and the one in front of us was about 5
car lengths ahead and we could see headlights coming toward us. The
road was rolling up and down gentle hills that made it a definite NO-NO
to be passing anybody! I looked in my rear view mirror and the white
Lincoln Navigator that had been tailgating us for 15 minutes was
suddenly not there! I turned and looked to my left and SHE was beside
me going like hell in an attempt to pass us! I looked ahead and all I
could see was a line up of headlights coming at the Lincoln through the
torrential rain. I slammed on my brakes as Carole and I both reacted to
the idiotic move of the Lincoln driver and if I hadn’t done so, she
would have piled head on into the oncoming car! She made it back into
line by the skin of her teeth and immediately had to brake hard to keep
from rear-ending the vehicle that had been in front of us! What a
damned fool move that was! She almost killed the occupants of several
vehicles with such a dumb stunt! I have no doubt she was driving drunk
since she had been bobbing back and forth behind us for several
kilometers before that! It appeared that she had a couple of adult male
passengers in the car with her and was likely celebrating the long
weekend. She’s damned lucky that she will live to see another one after
a stunt like that!
We were in the torrential downpour and storm all the way to Stratford
and then we hit a bit of a clear spot. In the distance we could see a
blue opening in the sky and I said to Carole “Look, it’s not raining at
our house!” LOL! We stopped for a minute so I could take Bailey out on
a patch of grass for a pee and by the time he finished it was starting
to rain once again. We had been driving in the leading edge of this
storm all way from Lake Huron and it appeared we’d be in it the rest of
the way to Kitchener as well. By the time we exited Stratford, it was
pouring once again and my wipers were going full tilt as they had been
for over two hours already. As we exited Hwy 7/8 at Trussler Rd a few
blocks from our house, we noticed that the roads were not wet in the
least! Hahahaaa…….. I guess I was right when I said it wasn’t raining
over our house! Bye the time we pulled in the drive at home we were
being rained on once again. It poured rain for about 10 minutes and
then the sun came out and the rest of the evening was clear blue sky
over Kitchener but for miles around we could see the storm! I guess
Mother Nature figured Kitchener didn’t need the water!
Well, after all the wet weather, we still had a fun and interesting day
and made it home in one piece! Bailey behaved well and I found out that
the Jeep gives much better fuel economy on the highway than it does in
the city! If only I could drive around in the city at 80 Km/hr on
“Cruise Control”!
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>
If you have three eggs and you take two of those eggs, how many eggs do you then have?
****
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.
|