The Squamidian Report – June 28 / 14
Issue #631
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
I've seen it all now, and it ain't pretty. I stopped in at the local
CTC to pick up some AA batteries, and when I came out there was a young
couple trying to figure out how to mount a jerry can to the front of
their motorcycle. This couple looked like the type that you'd normally
find puddling down the road in an old beat up VW camper van. Instead,
they were riding a bike, but the bike was in worse condition than any
old VW camper I've ever seen. It was, or at least used to be, a Yamaha
Virago. It was rusted from end to end. The front tire was a warn out
knobby, the kind dirt bikes use on their rear wheel for traction in the
mud. The rear tire was a totally warn out street tire, and of the wrong
size. They had a high sissy-bar on the back for her to lean on, and the
back side of the bar was holding all their luggage, tied on with cords.
The bike was already top heavy without her on the back. The rear finder
was completely missing and the brake / running light unit was tucked up
under the luggage, and was broken. I couldn't even see the license
plate to tell where they were from. He had made a set of home-built
exhaust for the bike, made from old piping welded together and had
modeled it after the old '60s chopper style. It pointed up beside the
sissy-bar. There was no shielding over any of it to protect either of
them from burns. The reason they were trying to mount a jerry can was
that because one side of the bike's gas tank was caved in, he had taken
a hammer to the other side to make it look balanced and had therefore
reduced the tank's fuel capacity by a fair amount. The whole thing was
a death trap. I have no idea how they could go anywhere without being
pulled over by every cop that spotted them. Aside from the mandatory
helmets, they didn't appear to have any protective or appropriate
riding clothing at all. They thought the whole thing was cool and funny
and exciting. Motorcycling is inherently dangerous but this was
ridiculous. There is a term in the motorcycle world for riders like
them. Unfortunately, that term is 'organ donor'.
*
I think I mentioned a few weeks ago that 'The Wife'
and I had hiked back in to where the old bridge was no longer in place
over the Shannon Creek, way back in near the top end of the watershed.
That hike is accessible from the Sea to Sky Gondola Lodge, now that the
lodge etc is there, making it do-able for people like us. If I did
mention it, you might remember me doing so. If I didn't, then you have
an excuse for not remembering. The old logging bridge had been made
from several railway flatcars that had been dragged all the way up and
in, and then laid across the creek to form a bridge. That was easier
and cheaper than building a permanent log bridge. I think the idea was
that once the area had been logged, the railcars would be hauled back
out and used elsewhere. That didn't happen, the cars had simply been
dragged back from the creek and abandoned.
Except for at very low flow times, the creek would prove too dangerous
to cross by trying to walk through it or jump from rock to rock. And
believe me, you would not want to get swept down stream. Hiking trail
access was needed now that people could get up into the Shannon upper
valley area and so some sort of new crossing was needed. So, they built
a narrow, rather rough and rustic wooden foot bridge. They used the
material at hand, dropped a couple of trees for stringers and then
split up shorter chunks and used that as planking. End results, a
perfectly good foot bridge that will last the summer and fall. It will
most likely get swept away once the high water flows of winter come but
by then not too many will be wandering around back in there, the snow
will be thirty feet deep. We took some shots of the bridge and creek
and rail cars, they can be seen via this link.
http://www.thedougsite.net/Gondola/ShannonBridge.html
A cool thing, we've now seen 2 grouse hens with chicks wandering around in the underbrush up there on the ridge.
doug
****
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
I’m starting this week’s Ontarion with a sad note. One of the finest
officers and a real gentleman that I worked with and for over a 17-year
period passed away on Tuesday June 24 of this week. Lorne J Huber was a
lot of fun and a real knowledgeable firefighter to work with and also
to learn from. He became my Lieutenant when I was assigned to my first
shift back in 1973 on the Waterloo Fire Department. We worked for many
years together and he taught me so much about pump operations and
firefighting in general that I will never forget the years we worked
together doing just that, fighting fires and serving the citizens of
Waterloo. The city hired 24 of us in 1973 to man the new Fire Station
on Westmount Rd. We were trained at the Head Quarters station at 216
Weber St N for the first 6 weeks and then were spread out onto one of
the four shifts that made up the fire crews of WFD. I was sent to
Station #2 on Westmount and there I worked for Lorne Huber. As it turns
out, many years later I would become friends with Doug Brubacher and
his family and find out that a couple of the Brubacher clan members
were also related to Lorne! He was married to Shirley “Mansz” who was a
cousin I believe to Ed Mansz a distinguished member of the Squamidian
group and I believe an uncle to Doug and others of the Brubacher
family. My condolences are extended to Ed and his family with the
passing of Lorne.
I also know that they lost Shirley not too long ago and I’m sure that
Lorne was quite saddened at the passing of his beloved wife of many
years. They are now destined to be reunited once again and may God
Bless them both!
I would like to tell you all just one of the many situations that Lorne
and I were called to attend together during our time on the Fire Dept.
We were working a night shift in the middle of January sometime in the
mid 70’s at Station #2 and the alarm rang about 9pm. The dispatcher
announced that there was one of the few barns still within the
boundaries of Waterloo that was on fire! It happened to be in our
district at the corner of Erb St W and Erbsville Rd across from what
was to become the Waterloo Bi-Lingual School. We had the tanker
stationed at #2 with us as well as a pumper. With a crew of 3 on the
pumper and one on the tanker we headed out to the barn fire. Of course
upon our arrival the barn was pretty much engulfed in flames. I was on
the back of the pump alone and Lorne was up front as the officer. Upon
arrival he ordered that we set up the portable 1000gallon tank since
there was no hydrant out that way. We would dump the contents of the
tanker into the portable and then send the tanker back into
Fischer-Hallman Rd and Erb to the closest hydrant for more water. We
had to wait for a few minutes for the arrival of the trucks and men
from HQ on Weber St so being short handed Lorne was helping with the
operation of the pumper and the tanker set up as well. Of course being
an officer he hadn’t operated the pumps in a few years. I was on the
only hose line and ready to start fighting the fire from the middle of
Erbsville Rd and needed water fast. The pump operator Larry Koch did
his job and sent water to my hose line and I spent about 15 minutes
using what little water we had in the portable tank and the tank on the
pumper to douse the flames. I was not making much headway but was
keeping the flames from spreading to the building across the street
from the barn. The main objective was to do just that, stop it from
spreading! The tanker arrived back with more water and they had to hook
it up to the pumper so it had water to send to me and also a line had
to be hooked onto the portable tank to fill it as a reserve. When this
operation takes place, the pump on the pumper truck must have it’s
pressure lowered before the tanker sends water to it or the pressure
would be so high it would send the person on the hose nozzle (ME)
flying on his rear end, especially due to the ice that had formed on
the road from the overspray!
Lorne decided he’d run the pumper so Larry Koch could set up a second
hose and give me a hand fighting the fire. He had forgotten like any
seasoned officer the part about lowering the Pumper pressure with the
incoming water from the Tanker. Larry and I were on two hose lines and
standing about 100’ up the road from where Lorne was! He opened up the
gate valves to both of our hoses and away we went!!! Flat on our
backsides and skidding along like we were on a toboggan on Mount
Trashmore! LOL! We both screamed for him to drop the pressure as we
skidded right up beside Lorne standing at the pump panel! He suddenly
realized what he had done and hit the shut off throttle to the engine
and of course that dropped the pressure to our hoses sharply! We were
laughing so hard we almost forgot for a moment that we were fighting a
fire! Lorne of course got things back under control and helped us to
our feet on the ice so we could get the hoses back to the fire scene!
Hahahaha…. We laughed about that one for the rest of our careers and of
course we never let Lorne forget his blooper either! With the help of
the HQ crew we were at that scene until about four in the morning and
had one heck of a cold night. With nobody hurt in the incident it
turned out to be just a laugh whenever we talked about it. That was
just one of the many memorable incidents we had with Lorne as our
officer but the years we spent together were some of the best in my
career and I’m sorry to think that Lorne is no longer with us!
It’s getting so I’m afraid to read the Obituaries these days when I
find I’m losing so many of my friends and acquaintances from over the
years. I guess it happens to all of us but wouldn’t it be nice if it
didn’t have to?
That’s all 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>
Give some thought to contacting old friends before they are no longer there to contact!
****
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.
|