The Squamidian Report – June 27 / 15
Issue #683
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
My blueberries are starting to ripen. They are at about a handful per
day right now. Pretty soon they will be producing a big bowl per day.
The 'local' berries from the Fraser Valley have been in the stores for
a while now. The Fraser Valley is a couple of weeks ahead of us up here
in the mountains, but our berries are ahead of their normal ripening
time due to our hot sunny spring. Luckily, I've got several varieties.
Some ripen early, others mid season and others ripen late so hopefully
I'll be picking and munching all summer long.
Last year I was having problems with birds pecking the berries. I had
first tried netting but that didn't work as the nets would catch on the
plants and break the tips off the small branches. Then I had switched
to hanging old CDs from the plants. That seemed to work. The CDs would
dangle and move around casting bright reflections all over the place
and that scares the birds away. So, all winter I've been saving my old
CDs for the same purpose. I've got lots of them because whenever I
record a song I burn it to CD in order to test the mix in various
players. Sometimes it takes several tries to get it as right as its
going to get, ending up with several used CDs destined for blueberry
patrol. Anyway, I've got about two dozen CDs hanging from my plants.
There is so much visual motion and moving light that any bird coming
close will get dizzy. At least thats the theory. So far it seems to be
working.
The hot sunny weather that has lead to early bumper berry crops out
here has also lead to drought and a severe fire rating. The rain
forests are tinder dry. Last year it never stopped raining until mid
summer and there was no fire season. This year is the opposite. It has
not really rained since March and there has been more forest fires so
far than all of last year put together, by many times over. The
frustrating thing is that most of the fires have been caused by
careless human activity and the most common activity is the careless
tossing of lit cigarette butts, either out a car window or simply
dropped as the jerk walks along. West Van is averaging about 2 fires
per day that are directly traced back to tossed cigarettes. Appalling.
You'd think that after all these years of trying to educate the public
that the message would sink in but I guess the vary people that need to
hear that message are incapable of applying it to themselves.
On Tuesday evenings we meet with out motorcycle group in Horseshoe Bay.
This past Tuesday as we all sat around, we watched a helicopter filling
its big water bag from the waters of the bay and lifting it up over the
highway to a fire that was burning in very steep terrain just above the
ferry terminals. This fire was started by a tossed butt. It took 2 days
for then to fully extinguish it. And on, and on, and on. Very scary and
so totally unnecessary. Canada Day is next week and normally that means
fireworks. This year most municipalities around here have banned them.
Can you imagine the outcome if all the morons who would normally be
shooting off firecrackers and sky rockets from their back yard were to
do that when the whole area is a tinder box? Unfortunately, many of
those morons will ignore the ban and light their stuff regardless of
the risk. We are into record dry and record heat now, and the long
range forecast is for even hotter. Ouch.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Wow! It seems like it’s been longer than a week since we last talked
but I guess it’s only been 7 days. We’ve had a whirlwind week hosting
friends of ours from Saskatchewan. They are moving back to Ontario and
have spent the past two weeks making a deal to buy a home in Grand
Bend. They stayed at “The Bend” in another friend’s cottage and in the
first week they purchased a home in a seniors community called “Grand
Cove”. It’s a modest gated community in “The Bend” that’s been there
for over 50 years. It’s one of those that is comprised of small but
nice houses that were pre-fabricated. They are all between 800 and 1200
sq/ft and are very reasonably priced. There was in the range of a dozen
or more homes for sale and our friends toured most of them before
picking a nice one that needs very little work to meet their wants and
needs. The community has a social club that holds dances, bingo nights
and other activities for the pleasure of their residents. The community
centre also has pool tables, tennis courts, dart nights, dinner events,
a swimming pool, outdoor BBQ’s and more for their enjoyment. These
homes are built on either flat pads or on elevated pillars. There are
no basements. They have city water, city sewage, natural gas, air
conditioning and more. For a modest monthly fee, their taxes, snow
removal, repairs to their homes and the use and activities I mentioned
are all covered. Our friends are very pleased that they were able to
find such a home to retire in! They intend to live there most of the
year and spend from one to three months in Florida or wherever they
choose for as long as their health holds out. They are looking forward
to their retirement and living back here in Ontario. They have traveled
for the past 15 years for the company he worked for because of his many
transfers and are glad to finally be settling down once and for all.
They are from KW and 15 years ago he was sent to South Carolina, then
to Texas and back to Brampton Ontario. After spending a year in
Brampton he was moved to Petrolia Ont and then on to Saskatchewan. His
talents were such that the company had him move to wherever they had
organizational troubles and he’d take charge and get things back into
money making shape. Once he had things in order they’d find another
trouble spot to send him to. So, he’s had one stressful assignment
after the other for most of his career and is really looking forward to
putting that all behind him. He’s a great guy and deserves a long and
happy retirement.
For the second week of their quest for a new house they have been
staying with us while they wrap up the details of their purchase. We’ve
been friends with them for over 40 years and it’ll certainly be great
to have them within visiting distance once again. Their family and
grandchildren are here in Kitchener and that also is one of their
reasons for coming “HOME”!
We have had a great time catching up with them while hosting them this
week and it’ll be fun to be back into a regular friendship once again!
We’ve always loved to get together with them and do weekends together
among other activities and we’re hoping to have many more years
together! They are driving back to Saskatchewan tomorrow and will be
taking possession of their new home August 31st. He retires officially
the third week of August and just can’t wait to do so! We’re very happy
for both of them and it’s very nice to have our good friends back in
Ontario so we can make the most of our friendship once again! It’s been
too long!
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>
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenaged boys! PJ O’Rourke.
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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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