The Squamidian Report – July 4 / 15
Issue #684
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
I hope any of you who were interested were watching the conjunction of
Jupiter and Venus this past week. It was pretty nice. While in reality
they are actually very far apart, visually they came ever closer
together until Jupiter passed just above Venus. They are now visually
drawing further apart with each viewing. Of course Venus is an 'inner'
planet and Jupiter is and 'outer' planet. They just appear to be close
together as they are both on the same visual plane. Sadly, Jupiter will
soon be out of sight and no longer visible for a while, just like Mars
and Mercury currently are not available in the evening sky. But, as
those planets move further ahead of the Sun, they will soon be visible
in the pre-dawn sky. Always something to look at or forward to.
Aside from that, there really isn't much to write about this week. All
we've been doing is hiding from the intense heat that has been gripping
much of the continent for weeks. We've been hunkering down in the house
and not doing anything that would create or ad to the heat, trying to
keep things as bearable as possible. And I do mean heat. We've been up
into the low – mid 30s for several weeks with almost no relief. This
coming weekend could very well see temps in the high 30s which would
put it at the incredible level of 100 or over. Thats historically
unheard of on or near the coast, at least within our rather short
recored history.
The on going none stop heat has devastated the local ice fields. The
local mountains have lost most of their snow and ice and whats still
there is melting fast. The forests are unbelievably dry. BC had to ban
ALL private fireworks on Canada Day, a very wise move. All camping
fires of any type are banned as well, again, a very wise move. One
spark wouldn't just set the forests on fire, the forests would explode.
The humidity levels are almost none existent, making everything even
more dry. When back east gets extreme heat, it also tends to get high
humidity levels, humidity so high that its almost unbearable. Here, the
air is so dry that I've got to run my humidifiers to keep my
instruments from drying out.
In a way, the heat is forcing me to behave myself. I'm itching to get
back on the bike. I have not redden since the beginning of June due to
that surgery and I'm probably supposed to give things a chance to heal
for another week or two. Because things seem to be coming along so well
I'm very tempted to go riding, except for the fact that its actually
TOO hot to go riding. Even if I could, I probably wouldn't, except for
the late evenings but the heat has us so exhausted that by then I'm too
tired. Bummer, who'd 'a thunk it, too much summer.
doug
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
What is it that makes people stare at things that have nothing to do
with them? Especially when they’re passing your house in their car they
tend to gawk. I find that this is a common occurrence as cars pass when
they are turning the corner of the street in front of our house.
Maybe they’re just intrigued with the handsome features of the man
sitting enjoying a tea on the porch or they’re jealous of the beauty of
the property they’re looking at! It makes me want to yell “Take a
picture it’ll last longer!” At times I find it hard to believe they
have time to gawk when they’re busy running through the STOP sign at
the corner. They most certainly are not paying attention to the traffic
on the cross street! When we sit on the porch most times it’s easier to
count the cars that stop than those that don’t! If the police would
only take the time to sit near the intersection some day, they’d be
amazed at how many cars run the stop sign. I’d hazard a guess that less
than 10% of them come to a complete stop. In fact most of them barely
slow down at all let alone stop. I’d say that 25% of them just drive
through without either signaling or slowing down. I’m amazed that we
don’t have regular collisions out front with the distracted drivers
that pass through the intersection. We’ve often stated that if the cops
would put a traffic camera up here they’d be able to buy a new cruiser
every month with the revenue from the fines! I must say that many more
drivers stop when the Crossing Guard is on duty during school hours but
that’s only a total of about one hour a day when the kids are walking
to and from school.
A number of years ago I contacted our city council rep and asked if we
could have a three way stop set up since its a T intersection. He told
me that if I could get a petition written and signed by the homeowners
within a block of the intersection that council might consider doing
something. He also said that I would have to make an appearance in
front of council to state my case in person and then they would likely
want at least 100 signatures on a follow up petition. Then, they’d have
to do a traffic count over a three-week period to see if the amount of
vehicles passing the intersection was worth the expense! He candidly
said that a quicker way of getting the attention of council regarding
the matter would be to have a child hit by a car at the intersection on
several occasions. I said ok, you supply the kids and I’ll
present the number of casualties with photo evidence to council! Or
maybe better still supply one of the councilors to get hit and then it
might wake them up to the fact that this intersection is dangerous
enough to warrant a three way stop!
It’s been a couple of years since I last requested the additional stop
signs so maybe it’s time to try again! Once again, dealing with
government of any level is like banging one’s head against a brick
wall!
Our guests are safely home in Saskatchewan once again and won’t be back
this way until the end of August. They will be taking possession of
their new home in Grand Bend at that point and will be beginning their
new life as retirees. I’m sure they’ll both be happy to have finally
ended their constant moving to accommodate his job requirements. At
least they’ll be close enough that we will be able to get together with
them more than once every few years! It’s amazing how employment
responsibilities can turn into long distance friendships and it’s also
amazing how long distance friendships can endure after all the time
some friends spend apart in the better part of a life span! Oh well, if
a friendship is true, it’ll last through the difficult and long
distance times!
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 Abour>
It is said that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is
like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the
handle. – Winston Churchill (1856 – 1950)
****
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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