The Squamidian Report – Jan. 9 / 16
Issue #711
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Vancouver had a snowstorm. Well, it wasn't actually a storm and it
didn't actually snow. It was more like some wet flurries that somehow
managed to coat the inland higher sections away from Vancouver with a
slight dusting that didn't last very long. The only real 'storm' was
the media storm that started before the few flakes fell and went on for
hours as they tried to make a big story about it. Drivers in the city
did their usual panic. After all, all it takes is a couple of flakes
lazily drifting toward the ground to totally freak out the city
motorists. Kind of funny, those very drivers are used to grid-lock,
jaywalkers getting hit (some deserving it, some not) multi-vehicle
pileups that shut down the highways and bridges, and so on but dangle a
few flakes in front of them and its pandemonium. What is more of a
problem but seems to be taken in stride is the other stuff that falls
onto the highways. Twice now in the last couple of weeks the Sea to Sky
has been closed just north of Horseshoe Bay. First time due to a very
large tree that came sliding down the steep slope. It took out a fence,
some concrete barriers and several cars. It was sufficiently big that
they had to call a logging company to come and deal with it. Then, a
few days ago, a small rock slide came crashing down. That resulted in
several cars being damaged. Interestingly, both these episodes happened
at night and therefore in the dark making it harder for drivers to see
and avoid. Rock slides are fairly common on this highway and once the
debris is cleaned up everyone simply forgets about them and goes on
with whatever they are doing.
And staying with a winter theme, we had quite a snowy day here (here,
not in the city) on Tuesday. Sufficiently snowy that I didn't go in to
'The Bay' for my usual Tuesday evening get-together with my riding
club. The roads up this way were just too greasy to make playing in the
traffic with the usual nut cases worth the risk. Anyway, I ended up
blowing out the driveway with the snow blower twice that day, once in
the morning and then again in the evening with a total accumulation of
about 9 inches or so. So, next morning we figured we might as well do
some snowshoeing up at the top of the gondola. Our assumption was that
there would be lots of nice fresh fluffy snow to tralomp in.
Snowshoeing tends to require a bit of unpacked snow to give it some
cushion, otherwise its a bit hard on the knees and back. We got up
there only to discover that while we got dumped on, they only received
an additional 2 inches on top of the existing 6 or 8 feet that is on
the ground. Pretty weird. From up there we can see our street. You'd
think that if there was a difference it would be in their favor, not
ours. But, topography does have a very big effect on localized
conditions. What they do currently have happening up there though is
snow bombs. The trees got very laden with huge clumps of snow and those
clumps have been falling off. As the temperature has come up to or
perhaps even a bit above freezing that snow has become heavy and sticky
so when a bomb falls off it comes down like well, a bomb. You can hear
them and feel the whoomph they makes as they hit the snow on the
ground. We had a few snow bomb hit us when the snow was still light and
fluffy. That was interesting enough as you'd get snow down your back
and the impact could be quite awakening. We quickly discovered that we
didn't want to get hit with the now heavy blobs that were randomly
falling. We did our walk but didn't stay under any laden trees for any
longer than necessary and always kept an eye on what was above us. A
few bomb fell quite close and many had already landed on the trail
ahead of us but we came through unscathed. Another fun morning of
snowshoeing. Always interesting, never dull and it continues to make us
feel alive.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
I still can’t get over that it’s 2016! Guess it’ll take another week or
two to actually set in. Once I’ve been through my 67th birthday on
January 11th and Carole’s and my 43rd anniversary on January 19th it’ll
feel real! Until then I’ll just have to keep on keepin’ on. This week
we’ve finally been enjoying beautiful sunshine and clear skies. With a
minimum of snow still on the lawns it seems more like spring than
winter but I can handle that ok.
Is it just me or are half the people in this
world Lotto Nuts? I buy my share of Lotto tickets and also take care of
the ticket buying for a group of 8 people that has been together for
the past 15 years hoping to strike it rich on one of our large Canadian
lotteries. Like I always say, “You can’t win if you don’t have a
ticket!” so I myself think it’s prudent to at least purchase one ticket
per draw for your favourite lotto. I read in yesterday’s RECORD where a
Kitchener couple just won a one million dollar prize in December 25th’s
Lotto Max draw and every time I see that a local has won a large prize
it gets me all hopped up about the possibility once again. It just goes
to show that it can happen to anyone and the next winning ticket may
just be in my pocket! I had just finished reading about the Kitchener
couple’s lucky win when I turned on the CTV Kitchener news and one of
the big stories of the evening was about the record size of the
American “Power Ball” Lotto. The jackpot of 500 million for this past
weeks PB Lotto wasn’t won so this Saturday’s draw will be
$774,000,000.00 which equates to $997,000,000.00 in Canadian funds.
WOW! For those of you that aren’t used to speaking in such large
numbers, that’s just three little Million less than a “BILLION”
Dollars! I’d say a win of that size would be enough to set one up well
for the rest of their life! The news caster suggested that if you had
no other reason for a shopping run across the US border this week, that
a Power Ball ticket run might just be worthwhile! Of course the odds of
winning the big one are something like 355 million to 1 so the drive
might just be a waste of your time and gas to pick up the ticket.
However, like I said earlier, “You can’t win if you don’t have a
ticket!” and even if you have to leave half of the winning amount in
the hands of the US Government you’d still come home with
$498,500,000.00. Not a bad haul for a quick run to Niagara Falls NY and
back. Not to mention that there is a service provided by the Canadian
Government that helps you put in a claim to get the other half of your
US winnings back just by filling out a form of reclaim and sending it
into the US Revenue Dept. I’d say that would be worth a stamp wouldn’t
you?
Anyway, when there’s that much hype and money
involved, even the biggest non-gambler will think twice about making
that USA run before Saturday’s draw. I know nobody would have to twist
my arm!
Well, that’s all that’s on my mind for this week
folks! I hope I’ve inspired a few of you to cut loose and spend a
Looney or two if only to help you enjoy a dream of riches for a few
hours! Go ahead, make that US run or if you don’t feel like taking the
drive, you can log onto PowerBall.com and buy your tickets the easy
way! GOOD LUCK!
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>
Wouldn’t it be nice?
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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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