The Squamidian Report – Feb. 27 / 16
Issue #718
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Funny how there are always household projects competing for your
attention. In our case one of those projects is the on-going fence
replacement. We've been working away at replacing the fence in the back
yard for years. Each time an old section of the original fence reaches
the point where it can no longer be ignored, we replace it. I'd have
done the whole thing long ago but cost is an issue and there is and was
no point in pulling out old fence just because it was old. Once it
starts to fall apart it becomes another matter and must be taken care
of. The latest section is the south west back corner. The corner post
had rotted off underground. So, while the post stayed upright because
it was held in place by the side fence and back fence panels, it did
start to sink, pulling the adjacent panels down with it. Aside from
turning the panels into parallelograms, it put stress on the other
posts up the line, pulling them off of true. Both corner panels were
still original and in need of replacement as well so that gave us a
nice little early spring thing to work on.
Little kids always like to help with 'big people' projects and should
of course be encouraged. So, its a given that Kyra wants to be
involved. But there is a bit of a twist to her involvement, she has
this thing about being a retail outlet. She loves to play fruit stand
where we are her customers and we walk up to her stand where she asks
“hello, how can I help you?” to which we reply, “I'd like to buy a nice
apple” (or whatever) and she then sells us the pretend item. There are
several versions of this game, such as 'bakery stand', 'ice cream
stand' (where she proceeds to eat my ice cream), and so on. Anyway,
fence repairs seem to fall right into her service industry interests.
When I built the play deck out back last summer I made the railings low
for kids and wide so they could substitute as counter tops etc. As we
work on the fence, she sets up shop on her deck where she 'sells' us
things like screws, power tools, hammers and so on. It seems to be a
win-win situation as she is kept both busy and involved and we can
accomplish what we had set out to do.
So, we removed the rotted off corner post and replaced it with a new,
treated post. Then, we built new panels and installed them. The fence
panels are topped with a section of lattes enclosed in a 2x4 frame. I
had installed those a few years ago so that part was already done, just
needed to be removed, cleaned up and then replaced on top of the new
panels. Of course, our little retail expert was standing by, with tools
and screws laid out, ready to 'sell' us the stuff we needed. It was a
nice way to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon.
We had come up with a process for building fence panels a few years ago
that works well. We can build them in the garage and then just cary
them to where they are needed and screw them into place. I never use
nails for anything, always screws. That way things go together strongly
and can be taken apart easily if needed. Thats a good thing because
while I replaced all the posts and lattes sections across the back a
while back, the rest of those panels are all in need of replacement
now. Our little retail clerk will have lots of business as we work on
that section.
*
Well, I haven't used the snow blower since early
January and the chances of needing it any more this season are pretty
low. So, I've moved it out of the garage. However, even though it is
too early to declare winter officially over, its definitely pollen
season around here now. To that end, I've simply run it up the steps
and into the back yard where its now parked under the deck. That way
its relatively easy to get at should there be any unlikely surprises.
I'll leave it there for a few weeks and then run it down to the shed
where it will sit again until next November. Now that its out of the
garage I can let myself be tempted to pull the cover off the bike and
get the riding season under way. We've had lots of days when one could
certainly have been out riding but they have been flanked by numerous
days of cold rain making it not worth insuring the bike just yet. I'll
control myself until early or mid March, probably earlier than mid.
Then, I'll give in and fire up the old Harley. Thats always a nice day
as well.
I also hadn't used the little R/C plane for a while, like sometime last
December or so. To that end I'd been watching for a chance to take it
out flying but until now it just never worked out. It takes 3 things
coming together to make it work, I need to have the opportunity, the
weather must be be good, and the field must be free of people. All 3
requirements must come together at the same time. And they did this
past Thursday. Beautiful warm sunny day with only a slight breeze, no
one on the field, and I had some time available. The field is a bit
rough right now as they are doing improvements including raising the
infield, and I was a bit rusty at first but the flying was good. Still
a bit too much goose poop making walking around dicy but as long as you
take off and land right at your feet its not much of an issue. So, I
had a good fly, two battery charges worth. And that added to that nice
day.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
I just read an article about a legal battle that a Texas family has had
with Johnson and Johnson over the families claim that J&J’s Baby
Powder was the cause of their mother’s ovarian cancer death. They
claimed that she had used Baby Powder and Shower To Shower “Powder” for
the past 30 years and that they were told by cancer doctors in Texas
that these two products were the cause of her cancer. She passed away
from the cancer and her family sued J & J over the matter and after
a three-week trial by judge and jury the case was decided in favour of
the family. The jury took only four hours to decide that J & J was
responsible for her death and found them guilty of lying to their
customers as well as to the food and drug administration of the United
States. They were also found guilty of fraud among other shady business
practices regarding the representation or misrepresentation of their
products. The family or should I say the lawyers for the family were
awarded more than $75,000,000.00 by the jury in a very short
deliberation after the court case finished. The company is of course
going to appeal but that only means they will likely be able to strike
a lesser amount they’ll have to pay the family after negotiating
through the appeal process. The family will still receive a sizeable
amount of cash as well the legal team that represented them in court.
It’s a sad situation to have lost a loved one but after reading this
article I wonder why, if it’s true, we haven’t heard about the dangers
of Baby Powder before this? Heck, my mother used baby powder on all of
our bottoms way back in the 40’s and if I’m not mistaken so did 90% of
all mothers in North America then and since then!
This leads me to wonder just how this Texas woman used the product? The
ovaries are an internal organ and for the life of me I can’t imagine
just how they were affected by Baby Powder or “Shower to Shower”
powder! One would have to have taken either internally to have an
affect on internal organs and most likely for an extended period of
time as well. I personally like the smell of baby powder and have
used deodorant with that scent for years. Every time I apply some to my
underarms it reminds me of the hundreds of times I changed or watched
Carole change our baby boy’s diapers over the first couple of years of
his life. I guess I should just be glad that he had no orifices that
were susceptible to the migration of the powder to his internal organs!
Have any of you ever heard of such a situation before reading this?
It’s a curious one in my mind and I’m still dumbfounded as to why this
is the first incident of this type to make headlines! If you happen to
know more about this or other similar products please enlighten me!
I’ve gotten off my usual track this week but it’s a topic that
interested me and I hope it spurs all of you to be more careful about
the products you choose to use on yourself or your loved ones in the
future!
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>
There’s a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can’t get away!
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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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