The Squamidian Report – July 25 / 15
Issue #687
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
This was kind of silly, last weekend Southern Ontario was put under a
heat alert by Environment Canada. The temperature was expected to reach
and did reach about 32. At the same time, Squamish was expected to
reach 32 C as well but wasn't issued any kind of warning. Ironically,
Squamish's actual temperature last Sunday was a sizzling 35 C. Mind
you, the humidity in Southern Ontario was though the roof making life
totally miserable while ours was so low it barely registered. Dry as
the preverbal bone. I'll take the 35 with the low humidity anytime
thank you.
Something that is attributable to our hot dry summer besides everything
being hot and dry is the early appearance of wasps. They are
everywhere. Normally it would be mid or late August before the wasps
would start being a nuisance and appear in such quantities. They are
like flies, buzzing all over the place. Poor Kyra got stung playing in
our living room. One had come in and nailed her. Not good. I have not
been able to find any nests but there must be one or more somewhere
close by. The problem is, wasps (hornets, yellow jackets etc) are
desirable creatures to have around. They pray upon the undesirable
insects that are found in gardens and back yards. Unfortunately, they
are also attracted to us and the things we happen to be eating or
doing. I would only destroy a wasp nest if it were somewhere where we
could interact with it. And I really don't like to use the strong
poisons necessary to kill a nest. Not good stuff. So, instead we have
hung up a wasp trap. Its a simple device that catches them as they try
to get the fruit juice bate that you put in it. The wasps go in but
can't get back out. We are catching 3 dozen a day out on our deck. Like
I said, a nest must be close by but I don't know where. The 3 dozen we
are catching won't be stinging anyone and won't be buzzing around in
the house or out on the deck where we spend the evenings.
And guess what? I washed the bike for the first time in about 2 months.
The last time was a week or so before I had my surgery and I really
couldn't do it after until 'things' were nicely healed up. The poor
bike sure was dusty and in need of a bath. Now she's nice and shiny
again. And, because of my washing of the bike, we are now having some
rain and showers. Not much but at this point any amount is desperately
needed and wanted. So, because I've washed the bike, I take full credit
for any rain the west coast gets. Thats how it works. Its also cooled
off nicely, in fact for the next few days we will be below average in
temperatures before plunging back into the hot dry stuff that will
return by next weekend.
But getting back to last weekend's heat, my riding club had a ride to
Squamish planned with the intent on going to the mini golf place that
opened a while back. So, about 10 of us met up in Horseshoe Bay and
rode up. Most of us have not played mini golf in years. The last time I
did was when Ryan was just a kid. And none of us are any good at it at
all. Needless to say, we had a great time. In fact, we were having so
much fun we didn't really notice just how hot it was until we were
done. When we left the mini golf place we rode over to a restaurant for
lunch and each of us downed a jug of cold water. Getting back to the
mini golf thing, for some silly reason we kept score. Turned out I was
the winner because apparently its the lowest score that wins. I had the
lowest score. Got off to a good start because on the first hole I got a
hole in one. Thats kind of a rip-off because it means you only get to
hit the ball once. The others all got to hit their balls 5 or 6 times.
Most of us averaged about 4 shots per hole, understandably given the
scorching 35 C heat that was clouding our brains. Then, at the last
hole, the 18th, I got another hole in one. That one earned me a free
play that I'll make use of next time. I'm not sure what the people
running the place thought about a bunch of lowly bikers having fun on
their course but given that we were the only people on the course that
morning, it was business that they wouldn't have had. Sane people were
staying out of the hot sun. Anyway, a good time was had by all.
Oh, one last bit of silliness that I almost forgot about.... regardless
of the wonderful little showers we are getting right now, this is
shaping up to be one of the worst, and most expensive forest fire years
in BC. Now here's where the silliness comes in, this year, the BC
government budgeted 63 million dollars for fighting forest fires and is
complaining that the total bill will far surpass that figure by several
hundred million dollars. The AVERAGE cost per year over the last 10
years has been 170 million dollars. So how in heck does any sane
government ignore 10 years of cost data and come up with a figure that
is just over a third of the average yearly cost? Boggles the mind. Oh
right, that word 'sane' has no place in any discussion about
governments.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Well, we’re into another beautiful weekend and I’m looking forward to
tomorrow morning. Adam and I are heading for Glenn Abby Golf Club to
watch the final round of the Canadian Open! I received a pair of
tickets for this years Open from Adam for Father’s Day and I’ve been
itching to go watch the pros ever since. The weather man is supposed to
be treating the final day of the tournament very well and we should
have pure sunshine for our walk with the professionals. We’ll just have
to decide which foursome to follow once we get to Oakville. There are
quite a few to choose from but we may just wind up hanging out at the
18th green to watch the final groups as they finish their day. It’ll be
interesting to watch especially if we happen to see the foursome
containing the overall winner of this year’s Open! I’m of course hoping
it’ll be a Canadian that wins it but there are some amazing American
Golfers that have a lot more experience than the few Canadian entrants.
We’ll just have to wait and see how it all pans out!
Last week on Friday I believe it was, the mailman dropped off a large
stiff envelope with my name on it. When I brought in the mail and
opened that one in front of Carole, we were surprised to see what was
inside. It was a letter of congratulations from the Chairperson in
charge of the committee for “Kitchener In Bloom”! She congratulated us
for being nominated by an anonymous local resident for having one of
the best-manicured and most beautifully landscaped homes in the city!
WOW! The letter went on to ask if we would kindly place the “Kitchener
In Bloom” sign that was contained within the letter in a conspicuous
location in our front yard so as to let the neighbourhood and other
passersby know we’ve been nominated for this years judging. We were
also asked to let them know if we were interested in having our home
location posted on the “Kitchener In Bloom” website so that people
interested in joining the bus tour and or bike tour that is taken by
the KIB committee on several days to view all of the homes that have
been nominated could take a look at our gardening and yard maintenance
efforts.
There was no mention of what the home judged to be the winner might
receive but I have a hunch it’s not much more than a mention in the
“Kitchener City Events Paper” that comes around once a month with the
mail as well as I suppose a mention in the KW Record that will no doubt
carry an article about the results of this year’s “Kitchener In Bloom”
contest. We of course are very proud of the looks and condition of our
landscaping and feel honoured to have been nominated. However, we
aren’t much for having a stream of folks passing by or stopping to take
in our efforts by simply viewing or taking photos of the front of our
home so we have declined to remain in the contest. I think the results
will be posted sometime in late August. I’ll have to keep an eye out
for the announcements and at least read about the event and the final
results. Just having been nominated for such a citywide event is of
course an honour and we’re grateful to whoever put our home in as a
contender. Just makes all the effort to keep our property looking
lovely worthwhile! I’ll have to keep this in mind the next time I don’t
feel like mowing the lawn! LOL!
Speaking of mowing the lawn; You may remember my column of two weeks
ago when I told you all about the problem I had with my lawn mower when
I hit the huge bolt hidden in my boulevard! Well, I decided to call my
friend who is a retired welder/pipe fitter and ask him if he could
please weld a couple of pieces of steel to the base of the mower to
hold the handle mounts more securely. He said, “Sure, bring it over in
the morning!” so, the following morning I loaded my Ninja into the Jeep
and headed for Frank’s place. When I got there, he was waiting for me
in his garage/shop and after a few minutes of catching up, he asked me
to bring the mower in so we could have a look at the condition. There
were a few bolts I had to remove to allow me to take the plastic
“mulching” cover off of the “side discharge” hole on the body. When I
took it off, we were both shocked at the amount of rust that had grown
on the body underneath the cover. He took one look at it and said, “My
friend, I’m afraid your old “Snapper” has had the biscuit! LOL! We both
stood there and laughed as what he had said was painfully obvious!
There was so much rust on the body of the mower that only the plastic
mulching cover was holding that side of the mower together.
As we talked about my “Snapper’s” demise he began to mention a few
options other than purchasing a new mower. Frank usually has a few old
mowers sitting around since different friends drop their no longer
needed or wanted mowers off for him to tinker with and save parts from.
He said he didn’t think he had any mower in his collection that was in
any better condition than mine was but we’d take a look out behind his
shop. Before we got two steps outside his garage door, he pointed at a
pile of tires in front of the second door and said “What’s that under
those tires?” I took a few of the tires off the pile and noticed an old
snow blower. I said “It’s just an old snow blower but there is
something else buried behind it!” When I cleared away a few more tires
I discovered a black beauty of a lawn mower. He said to take it out and
he’d take a look to see if we could make one mower out of the two! I
hauled it into the garage and we discovered that it had the exact same
model motor as was on my mower. I checked the oil and it was clean and
topped right up. Frank remembered at that point that someone had
dropped it at his place a couple of years before saying that if he
could get the front wheel drive system to work he could keep the mower
for his effort. I said I’d do the work if he’d be willing to make some
sort of deal once we got it working. I took the plastic cover off of
the drive system and discovered that the only reason the drive system
wasn’t working was because the rubber belt had broken in two. Frank
asked if I cared whether or not the drive system worked and I said of
course not, I was used to pushing my mower manually anyway! We removed
the spark plug and air filter and found that even though the mower had
been sitting under all those tires and a blanket of snow for a couple
of years, the filter was clean and the spark plug just needed a
cleaning and an adjustment. I blew out the air filter and Frank set the
point gap on the plug. I put the plug and filter back in the motor and
with a little gas in the tank and three pulls on the stating rope, the
motor came to life like it was new!
The body of this mower, which was made by a company called “Murray”,
was in amazing condition. It only had a little rust on the underside of
the body and of course still had some old grass there as well. Just
goes to show you that the previous owner didn’t clean his mower either!
LOL! Anyway, I blew off the dirt and dust with the Frank’s air hose and
I said, “Ok, what can I give you for this fine machine Frank?” He
chuckled and said he didn’t want anything for it and he didn’t have any
use for my “Snapper” either so I was just to take both mowers and
“Happy Mowing!” I laughed and thanked him and said surely there must be
something I could do for him or pay him for the fine machine! He
finally chuckled and said “OK, if it’ll make you feel better, you can
go over to the Beer Store on Victoria St and bring me a case of
“Coors”! I thought that was fair enough since a case of “Coors” is only
$44.70 and the mower was well worth more than that! I went over and
picked up the beer and delivered it back to Frank and thanked in once
more. When I got the mower home I cleaned it up and followed a
suggestion that Frank had made to me before I left his place. I went to
CTC and bought a can of conditioner that you spray right over rust.
This conditioner turns into a tough primer and once it’s dry, Frank
suggested I buy a can of spray-on pickup truck box liner. It’s that
black stuff that is sprayed on the floor and sides of truck boxes to
keep them from rusting. I put three coats of that spray on the
underside of the “new” mower after removing as much of the rust as I
could and let each dry for half an hour. MAN! Is that stuff tuff! It’s
literally hard as nails and you can’t scratch or chip it with even a
hammer and chisel! The mower to my surprise even had a “like new”
mulching blade on it! When my back was turned Frank had even tossed in
a grass bag for the mower that goes on the back of the mower if you
want to catch and dispose of the grass clippings. Since I prefer to use
the mulching feature when I cut my grass the bag will remain in the
“Like New” condition it’s in! What a deal I made with Frank that
day and he didn’t want my old mower either. He said “Keep the old one
and some day when you blow the motor on the new one, you’ll have a
spare! LOL!
I mowed the lawn for the first time with the “Murray” the other day and
it does a nicer job than the “Snapper” had done the last few times I
used it. I guess the “Snapper” was just plain worn out or rather
“Rusted Out” and the only good part left on it is the motor. I’ll
remove that and keep it for a spare like Frank said!
I also spent a couple of hours the first day home with the “Murray” and
removed the gearbox and drive system for the front wheels and turned
“Murray” into a true PUSH mower!
Why would anyone buy a new mower for $hundreds of dollars when it’s possible to find a good used one for a case of beer? LOL!
Of course, not everyone has a friend like Frank!
That’s about 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>
You don’t need a parachute to skydive, unless you want to do it again!
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Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
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