The Squamidian Report – Mar. 11 / 17
Issue #772
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
'The Wife' flew home last Sunday evening and I found myself with a bit
of a dilemma. I needed to make a decision before heading to the airport
to pick her up. You see, we were having a snowstorm and the roads were
bad and becoming badder. I watched as the snow piled deeper on my
driveway and on the street out front. I checked the Internet web cams
to see what the state of the traffic was but frustratingly, many of the
web cams were temporarily out of commission. I needed to decide wether
to drive in with the car, or with the 4x4 pickup. If conditions
continued to deteriorate I'd have problems making it up some of the
hills along the way with the car and perhaps even not be able to get
all the way to the airport, or, not be able to get back home. Even if
the highway stayed passible I might have trouble getting up to our
place from the valley below. But, if I took the truck, Willow would
have to stay home. I have no idea how she knows when its an 'airport'
day but she does. As Sunday wore on she stuck closer and closer, not
wanting to let me get away without her, not wanting to be left home
alone. That part I could understand. Now that she has lost her sight
she needs a bit of help and needs to know where I am at all times. So,
I decided to take a chance on the car and gave myself lots of extra
time for the drive in. As it was, Willow was pretty stressed by the
fact that I had to leave her in the house while I shoveled a couple of
tracks down the driveway so that the car wouldn’t start to slip and end
up sliding out onto the street. With some guidance, Willow was able to
find her way through the man door into the garage and around the car to
the door she always uses. In fact, even if the car is not there, she
now walks 'around' it when in the garage. She settled down on the back
seat and was happy to be going along. She has always liked when we pick
someone up at the airport, that someone usually being 'The Wife'.
Anyway, as we headed down Thunderbird, a rather steep street as some of
you know, I quickly realized that if the plow didn't make a few passes
before we returned a few hours later, we would not be able to drive
back up. We'd have to ditch the car down below and trudge up through
the snow. However, it was too late to turn back, couldn't if I wanted
to as there was no way the car could have made it back up the hill. I
was committed, we headed for the airport. The highway was a mess,
visibility poor through the heavy snow, pavement icy under the snow and
those predictable moronic drivers flying past anyone who was being even
remotely cautious. Thankfully, by the time we were south of Porteau the
snow had changed to rain so the road was no longer as slippery and
visibility was a bit better. Surprisingly, after we'd rounded the curve
above Horseshoe Bay the rain let up and by the time we were crossing
the Lions Gate bridge the rain had stopped. The drive down through the
city was fine, and being a Sunday night helped because traffic was
relatively light. Her flight go in on time, believe it or not, and so
we where good to go, to head for home. And yes, Willow was very happy
to 'see' her.
Driving back up through the city that late on a Sunday night meant very
little traffic, and almost none of those pedestrians that jay-walk all
over the place while wearing black cloths that make them invisible. We
didn't run back into rain until we were onto the Sea to Sky and
luckily, didn't run back into snow until the top of the Furry Creek
hill. From above Britannia on it was pretty dicy going but we seemed to
be the only vehicle on the road so it was just a matter of driving
properly for the conditions. I was quite relieved to see that the plow
had indeed cleared the Thunderbird hill so we were able to drive up and
even manage to get up our driveway and into the garage by not slowing
down too much making the turn off the street. (Our remote garage door
openers seem to work from a good distance away). Turned out we hadn't
need the 4x4, but just barely, and, Willow enjoyed a nice ride to and
from the airport.
Now, the rain and snow in the lower elevations and along the coast was
a real good dump of fluffy snow up in the alpine. So, on Monday morning
after dragging out the snow blower and clearing half a foot of the
white stuff from my driveway, we headed for the gondola and our usual
morning walk. As usual, I and this time we, broke trail, sinking almost
to our knees in the new snow and that was with wearing snowshoes. That
was quite a workout. But wow, the snow is deep and heaping. The trees
are laden with it meaning every once in a while a big heavy snow-bomb
can come crashing down. So be wary. Its pretty cool being the one who
makes the new fresh tracks out there most mornings. Not a bad way to
kick off each day.
Did the same trail breaking on snowshoes agin Tuesday morning but this
time alone again. 'The Wife' headed down to Maple Ridge to babysit
first thing in the morning and after shoveling the driveway I headed
for the hills, so to speak. It had snowed all night and the new powder
was just as deep as it was the day before. There is an incredible
amount of snow up in the hills and therefore along the ridge where we
go for our morning walk. The poor attendants up at the top of the
gondola haven't stopped shoveling in days, it just keeps on coming. And
yes, I said shoveling the driveway. I had gone out to simply clear two
tire tracks so 'The Wife' could back out of the garage to head for the
city and once I got started it didn't make much sense to stop and after
a while it didn't make much sense to finish with the blower. My wrecked
shoulders don't like throwing snow onto the pile along the driveway
that is over my head in height but what the heck, never hurts to do it
the old fashion way once in a while. (Actually it did kind of hurt but
thats ok too).
Same thing again on Wednesday, broke trail through another dump of knee
deep snow. The standing joke in the shoveling crew up there that keeps
the decks etc clear is that it was snowing so hard and for so long on
Wednesday that they didn't even have to driver the walk-behind snow
blower, they could just let is sit in one place running and it would
still be blowing snow. Thursday morning's snow up there was an just 4
inches or so, pretty easy going on the snowshoes. As for snow blowers,
I had to use mine again on Friday morning. But, that poor old machine
has finally let me down. The drive belt for the blower section has been
slipping a bit and Friday's snow was 5 inches of slush with rain coming
down hard. That proved to be just a bit too much and I had to finish by
hand. She just can't turn the auger and impeller any more. As well, I
think there is a problem with a bearing on one of the augers so I'll
have to find somewhere to have it fixed up with new drive belts and
bearings. Engine still runs like new and everything else is is great
shape so a rebuild of the blower sections will just make the whole
machine like new again. The thing is worth its weight in gold and I
wouldn't be without one for anything. So I'll spend a few bucks and
have it fixed right up again, good as new.
Don't forget to turn those clocks forward at 2am Sunday morning if you
are a stickler for details, or anytime Saturday evening or night if
you're a little more easy going than that.
doug
****
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
I’ve had some strange experiences in my life but last week I had what
was one of the strangest sensations ever. Over the years I’ve had a
series of firsts but as one gets older, they seem to happen less and
less. The only other recent time I’ve come across a first was a year
ago last October when Carole, Adam and I took a flight to Europe. I had
never experienced getting around a huge building on a “moving floor”
and a couple of the airports we moved through had just that, a moving
floor. It’s like an escalator only it’s flat and it’s designed to move
people at a much more efficient rate than simply having them walk while
pulling their luggage from one point to another in the airports. It was
a funny sensation at the time for a first time rider like me. I can
remember my first ride in an elevator as a kid as well. I was hardly
more than a toddler when my dad took me with him on a Saturday to check
on his “watchman” at Burn’s Meats on Guelph St in Kitchener. I remember
the smell of the seasoning in the huge racks of summer sausage and
bacon as we walked into the first floor of the meat packing plant. It
was a smell I’ll never forget and of course I’m reminded of that
experience every time I make myself a summer sausage sandwich! LOL! We
had to walk through the plant in order to find the watchman that worked
under my dad’s supervision. We had to travel up to the upper floor of
the meat processing area of the building in order to catch up with a
fellow named Joe Hubercheck. To me he was an elderly gentleman but in
reality he might only have been in his 40’s at the time. In order to
access the upper floor of the building, my dad pulled on a collapsible
gate in a wall that allowed us to enter a shiny silver room. He pushed
a button on the shiny wall and suddenly the room began to move. What a
funny sensation that caused! I remember my knees buckling slightly
under me as the room suddenly jerked in an upwardly direction. I said,
“Daddy, what is this room we’re in?” That’s when I heard the word
“elevator” for the first time and as it jerked to a stop a few seconds
later, the sliding door opened and we walked out of the silver room
into another area of the plant. Dad explained that we had been lifted
by the “elevator” to an upper floor of the building rather than having
to climb up a set of stairs! I was amazed indeed! We finally found Mr.
Hubercheck and while he talked to my dad, I was treated to a chunk of
delicious summer sausage fresh off the rack, courtesy of Mr.
Hubercheck’s jack knife! Come to think of it, that was another first
for me, a taste of fresh summer sausage! First ride in an elevator and
my first taste of summer sausage! How cool was that?
Anyway, getting back to the point of my moving floor story, last week
Carole and I were in Square One in Mississauga and were just walking
around looking at all the different stores in that huge mall. We came
up to a Wal-Mart and decided to walk around in that store for a while.
Carole was pushing a shopping cart just in case we found anything worth
purchasing while in the store. After a few minutes, Carole noticed that
the grocery section of the store was on the lower level and as we
walked toward the elevators she commented that she wanted to browse a
little more on the main floor so would I mind taking a run downstairs
to pick up a couple of jars of strawberry jam? I said no problem and as
I looked to my right, I noticed that there were two ramps, one that
took people down and another beside it that brought people back up to
the first floor. It reminded me of the moving floors in the airports
last year. I walked quite quickly on the moving “flat” escalator as it
moved like a conveyor belt to the lower floor. It was a surprise to me
that it wasn’t made of moving steps like a conventional escalator.
Anyway, I walked into the food section and found the jam I was looking
for and then preceded through the checkout to pay for the items. Once
paid for, I retraced my steps to go back to the conveyor belt to go
back up to find Carole. Before I got to the “up” belt, I met up with
Carole pushing her cart. I asked if she had taken the elevator down to
be able to bring her cart with her and she said, “No, I came down the
same moving ramp you did!” I was a little shocked that she would push a
grocery cart down a moving ramp without any difficulty of the cart
getting away on her. I said I was surprised that she was allowed to
push the cart down the “People” ramp! She said, “Let’s go back up with
the cart and you’ll see that it’s ok! So, up we went onto the upward
moving ramp and to my surprise she had no problem holding the cart in
place!
As we arrived at the upper floor, she laughed and suggested that we go
back down the other “belt” and that I should try holding the cart as we
did so, just to feel the sensation! So, onto the “Down” ramp we went
and I was totally shocked that once on the belt, the cart wouldn’t move
even if I pushed on it as we rode down! “Son of a gun!” I said, “It’s
magnetic!” Sure enough that’s exactly what it was, a magnetic belt that
gripped the wheels of the cart to hold it in place from top to bottom!
Well, what would they think of next? Honestly, I’d never seen or even
heard of such a contraption! What a great idea! As we arrived at the
bottom of the belt, a light flashed at the wheel level of the cart and
the wheels were free to roll off onto the floor of the store. Cool
indeed! Carole said that the store had the same mechanism at the
entrance and exits to stop the carts from being removed from the
premises. Guess what, I had just experienced another first! In fact,
that had made it “two” new firsts for me in one day! I guess we never
stop learning do we? I’m sure we’ve all had an endless supply of
“firsts” in our lives but some are more interesting than others!
Remember the first time you stuck your finger up your nose and it came
out with a snail on the end of it? LOL! EEEEEwwww!
Gross!
Guess that’s about enough 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>
Doug has been telling us about all the precipitation in BC this year.
Well, he can take heart that there is a wetter place than BC. It’s a
city called Mawsynram, India! In this city in India, it rains an
average of 467.35 inches per year and has a record of 1000 inches in
1985… much more than any other place on earth!
****
Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
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