The Squamidian Report – Nov. 22 / 14
Issue #652
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
The west coast seems to be back to normal, seasonal weather. The
frigged outflow winds and below freezing temperatures have faded away.
Even though those winds would set up each day and blow pretty stiffly
down the valley, the winds stayed pretty calm until about mid morning.
So, I've had several opportunities to get the little RC plane out and
go flying down at the local ball park. 'The Wife' and Kyra would tag
along but of course it would not take Kyra long to loose interest in
watching a little yellow plane buzz around but that was ok. There is a
large network of walking trails running through the valley and 'The
Wife' and Kyra would head out along the trail that runs behind the
field, through the forest all the way to the tourist info place. They
were able to 'discover' all sorts of things like little bridges that
crossed the numerous streams, sticks, all little kids like sticks,
frozen leaves, frozen water in the streams, and so on. Kyra got a big
kick out of whacking the ice on the frozen streams with her stick while
'The Wife' kept a good grip on her so she would not tumble in. While
not deep, that water would be alarmingly cold. There were other things
to discover, those trail are not just used by people, they are also
used by horses. Needless to say, big piles of horse poop are quite
fascinating to someone who is not yet 3.
And so while they enjoyed their adventure walks, I enjoyed the ball
fields. Those fields are busy on the weekends but totally vacant during
the week. I have the place to myself, including the airspace above. Its
a lot of fun and very relaxing to just remotely fly an RC and watch as
it does what you instruct it to do. Of course, when the winds start to
pick up, and they pick up quite quickly, flying the RC's instantly
becomes challenging. These things weight next to nothing and any wind
turbulence at all tends to toss them around like so many dry leaves.
The trick then becomes keeping the plane under control and bringing it
in for a 'successful' landing. The infield makes a great landing area
as it is groomed sand, nice and smooth. By about that time 'The Wife'
and Kyra are back from their adventure walk and we head home. Its a
hard life :)
When I said I have the fields to myself, I meant it. We flew at the
ball park last winter and in the spring before the biking season rode
off with our attention and although there was no other people there, we
sure didn't have the fields to ourselves. We had to compete with
massive flocks of Canada Geese, those flying rats that would cover the
fields with incredible amounts of crap. And goose crap is not like some
cute little birdie's poop, its like something that would come out of
flying rottweilers or dobermans. There was a time when goose meat was
considered good to eat and a bagged goose meant a special Sunday
dinner. Only problem was, geese were very scarce. Now, no one eats them
and we are over run. Look at all the hungry people in this country who
could benefit greatly by consuming easily gotten goose meat but I
digress.... the geese have moved about a half kilometer to the soccer
fields, fields that are in use almost every day of the week. We had
been cursing walking on grass that was covered in crap, now the kids
playing soccer are running, falling and sliding in massive amounts of
free fertilizer. I guess the geese have a sense of humor and have found
it more fun to dump where it is the most noticeable.
As mentioned above, our first taste of 'almost' winter has left,
replaced by more seasonal rain. Now there is no winter in sight
according to the various long range forecasts. But, just to be on the
safe side I've moved the snowblower from the lower back shed into the
garage where it can be reached easily should it be needed. The thing
is, having it easily available is like having an insurance policy. If
its sitting right there it probably won't be needed for quite a while.
If it were to be left in the lower back yard, hard to get to and hard
to get out and around to the front, it would be needed some slippery
stormy morning. So, its ready to go and will now probably sit un-needed
for a month or more. Thats ok, 'The Wife' still wants to send more time
in her flowerbeds.
*
Different subject.... hard to believe but we are 3/4's
of the way through November. So, here's the deal. Last year I sent out
CD's of my original music as Christmas gifts to those of you I figured
might enjoy them. I still have no idea as to whether or not some of
those CD's ever got delivered because I've never heard whether or not
they had been received. This year I again have some new original songs
recorded that I will be burning to CD and sending out as gifts, but,
there is a catch. As happy as I am to send them to anyone who wants
one, anyone who does want one must actually request one. That way I
won't waste CD's, envelopes and postage on anyone who really could care
less. AND, anyone wanting one must also agree to acknowledge receipt of
their CD when it arrives. Thats only fair and thats all I ask, I'm
grumpy and thats the way it is. It is irrelevant as to whether or not
someone requesting a CD likes my music, heck, I don't like most kinds
of music, but like I said, I'm more than happy to send them out to
anyone who wants one. There will only be 6 or 7 numbers on this CD,
this has been a hectic year with very little opportunity to be creative
or do any recording. Some of you have already heard some of these songs
so you already have an idea as to what to expect. Anyway, if you want
one, let me know, its up to you.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
I guess I’m not telling you anything new if I mention the snow we’ve
gotten so far. All I can say is thank goodness we aren’t situated on
the south side of Lakes Erie and Ontario! With all the disastrous snow
clearing work they are doing down there in Buffalo etc I still haven’t
heard a word of complaint out of their administration about being over
budget on their winter work allowance! Here in KW it seams to be all
they do is bitch about overspending on the little bit of snow work
they’ve had to do so far this year. If they’d do the snow clearing of
the city streets and roads during the daylight hours instead of during
the “Overtime” hours, there might just be enough money in their winter
budget! Either that or put half of the works employees on a night shift
at “straight time” so we can save some money. It seams that our city
works employees prefer to work after hours so they can take advantage
of the “double time” pay cheques. Guess if I ever want that situation
to improve, I’ll have to run for council and battle it from the inside!
With all the hubbub this past couple of months concerning civic
elections and the change of council members and the Mayor of our city I
hope they dump a lot of the old guard ideas and start thinking in a
modern more and efficient way. Our new Mayor is Barry Verbanovic who
has been on council for many years and seems to have the experience to
put some new effort into the running of Kitchener. He showed up at my
door during the campaigning and asked if I had any concerns I’d like to
discuss with him. I talked for a few minutes with him about the
upcoming election but thought I’d save my bigger complaints for when
and IF he made it into office. Well, he is now the new Mayor as I said
and I think I’ll give him a call one of these days soon and bend his
ear about the so called “Retention Pay” that the Local Fire Fighters
are receiving over and above their $100,000.00 regular pay! I don’t
have the exact details of just how this program works in Kitchener but
I have had some inside info on the Waterloo Fire Dept set up which is
apparently similar. After one is a firefighter for I believe 6 to 8
years, they are entitled to start receiving “Retention Pay”. This is a
once a year payment of a percentage of their annual salary and it was
instituted by the Fire Fighter’s Union as part of their annual
contract. It started in Toronto about 10 years ago as a bonus system to
encourage the members of their Fire Dept to remain on the Toronto Fire
Service rather than quit TFD and take jobs on smaller less intense Fire
Departments elsewhere in Ontario. The idea there was to move to the
same job in a smaller city or town that responds to many many less
emergency calls per year but receive the same amount of pay as they
were receiving in Toronto. Most fire departments in Ontario bargain to
keep their annual salaries on a par with other cities of similar size
but over the years smaller cities have increased the amount paid to
their fire fighters to be very close to a par with larger cities such
as Toronto and this has placed a great burden on many cities during
budget time. Toronto found that they were doing a great deal of
training their fire dept members only to have them work for a few years
to gain experience and then move to a smaller department with less
calls and consequently less danger for pretty much the same money! SO,
they agreed at contract time to add a “Retention Bonus” to the salaries
of their experienced members to try to keep them on Toronto Fire! It
worked! Once the rest of the fire departments in Ontario heard about
TFD’s success in securing this “bonus” for their members, the fuse was
lit and many more of the fire departments in Ontario jumped on the
bandwagon.
It’s been a successful move for many of the mid to large sized
departments and of course KFD is no exception. Now if I were still on
the job, I most likely would have supported this addition to my annual
income but as a taxpayer, I find it a hard pill to swallow! Even back
when I was on WFD the saying was “If you don’t like working here, QUIT!
There’s always someone that would be very happy to have your job!” This
was indeed as true as I’m sitting here today and absolutely nothing has
changed in that regard! With the average fire fighter in Kitchener and
Waterloo making close to the $100,000.000 mark and many making over
that there is no need to be paying these people a $10,000.00 to
$15,000.00 lump sum to keep them from quitting their job! They are well
compensated for the job they do and I can’t think of one of them that
would quit their job if this retention pay clause in their contract
were rescinded! I say to these much needed members of our Local Fire
Service, Yes, you are an essential service and we’d be in deep trouble
without such a service but with the more than fair salaries that your
members are paid to perform your duties in today’s world, is it really
necessary to be paid a “Bonus” not to quit your career for any monetary
reason? The “Protective Services” budget is a necessary part of running
a city in today’s world but let’s be honest here, the “Retention Pay”
is an unfair burden on the taxpayers you’re already well paid to
protect!
I really do wonder what the new Mayor of Kitchener thinks about this
clause of the Fire Fighter’s contract? I’m sure if asked, the fire
fighters have a list of reasons for this “Bonus” to continue but in
reality, if they have a conscience, even they should admit it’s an
unnecessary cost to the citizens they are already paid well to serve!
That’s about 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>
I think I’ve already given you plenty to think about this week!
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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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