|
The Squamidian Report – Sept. 2 / 17
Issue #797 Including: The Ontarion Hi All, This has been one hot dry summer. Last weekend and the first half of this week were so hot around here that we set all sorts of new high records. It cooled off back down to almost normal for the second half of the week but now the forecast is for even hotter temps this weekend and into next week. Along with the heat was smoke. Our nice fresh clean air turned very smoky again, both from fires down across the border, and from one right here just outside of town. There is an area up the Mamquam Valley, about 10 k or so up the valley, that is popular with both illegal campers and for bush parties. Neither seems to attract the intelligent responsible types of persons. And so, sometime last Sunday someone's camp fire got away from them. It didn't seem to matter to those individual that there is a total ban on all outdoor fires and has been ever since this summer turned so dry and dangerous. By Monday the fire had added its smoke to the stuff coming up from the south and by Tuesday the fire had grown and was considered to be 'out of control'. There was a lot of helicopter activity over head as they worked on the fire. They can scoop their water from the river back there but need to come out to our little airport for fuel. By the end of the week the fire was contained and is hopefully burning itself out. On a much more pleasant note, I had a wonderful day this past Thursday, a day as good as one can have. I had gotten a call from Ryan telling me that he has finally had some time to put insurance on his motorcycle and that he had most of Thursday available to go riding. So, I rode down to his place on Wednesday so I could visit with the granddaughters for the evening and so we could then head out for a day-ride. We took off after he dropped the kids off at daycare and rode east to Hope. After some discussion as to where to go and how long we could be gone for, we headed north up highway #1 and the Fraser Canyon to Lytton where we left #1 and followed #12 along the Fraser to Lillooet. From there is was over the Duffy and down through Pemberton and Whistler to Squamish. By then we were pretty tired as we had put on a lot of miles and Squamish made for a great place to stop because obviously I live there so thats where we stopped for the night. He needed to be home by late morning on Friday so we left Squamish with lots of time, rode down to Horseshoe Bay for a coffee and then he headed on out to Maple Ridge and I headed back up the highway to home. The bikes purred like kittens as we put on the miles, traffic wasn't too bad and I can't wait for the next opportunity to go riding with him again. That ride, and route, is know as the 'circle route' and is a popular ride for many bikers. From start point all the way around and back to the start point is something well over 600 clicks so it takes a full day to do it. But what a great way to spend a day. We had ridden east on #7 from his place rather than take the 'slab', otherwise known as highway #1. The old #7 takes you through the farmland of the Fraser Valley, staying on the north side of the river, all the way out to Hope. Therefore we had to cross the river to get into Hope where we enjoyed a coffee and topped up our gas tanks. From there it was back over the river and up into the Fraser Canyon. The highway crossed back over the river at Yale, on a high narrow bridge where you can look down and see the muddy water swirling between the rocky banks. While the Fraser River runs east / west out the Fraser Valley, it runs down from the north through its long deep canyon. After crossing the bridge the highway is on the east side of the river and there are half a dozen tunnels that it passes through. Kind of fun but I wouldn't want to see two big tractor trailer trucks meeting in one of them, they tend to feel a bit narrow. We followed #1 up to Lytton. Thats where the Thompson River empties into the Fraser. The Thompson is crystal blue and clear so the two rivers can be seen seemingly running side by side until the water finally mix. It was hot in Lytton so we didn't dally there too long. We headed up the old #12 which continues to follow the canyon. #1 heads a bit inland up to Cache Creek before turning east to Kamloops. Anyway, that narrow winding #12 is also bumpy. Very bumpy and we were quite happy to turn off, over the bridge at Lillooet and ride into the small town to grab some lunch and cool off a bit. Then it was fuel up again and head south over the Duffy, always a great ride although there is always the RVs that waddle along and don't seem to be very willing to let other traffic get by. At least being on bikes we could get by them and we did. We stopped for cold drinks (Gator aid) in Pemberton and then continued down to Squamish. The rest you know. One thing that made it even more fun for us was the use of our comm systems. The group I'm in uses a bike to bike comm system that works pretty good and by fitting my spare set into Ryan's helmet we were able to communicate as necessary, chat as desired and generally share the adventure. At one point along the way I heard a loud sound that was something between a whack and a smack. It had been a very big hard bug that had smashed itself into the face shield of Ryan's helmet and I head the impact through his pickup, transmitted to my helmet speakers. All part of the adventure. We reached Whistler near the back end of the commuter rush that was headed down the highway so even the last leg of the day's ride was quite enjoyable. Like I said, can't wait till next time. doug
**** **Lorne has sent some pictures taken on their Newfoundland trip. They can be seen at the bottom of this letter assuming I remember to attach them.** **** THE ONTARION REPORT Hello everyone! I’m writing to you with a painfully sore shoulder this week. I bashed my right shoulder on the upper corner of my Jeep driver’s door two days ago and it’s likely that I cracked or chipped the bone. I have a bruise the size of a golf ball on the front of the shoulder and the entire shoulder is aching through to the rear. Not through to my rear, but to the rear of the shoulder! LOL! In fact it hurts when I laugh at my own witty comments! OUCH! There it goes again! Sheesh, I sure hope this constant pain subsides in the next couple of days or I’ll be heading in for an X-ray. Should likely have done that already but I’m hoping it’s going to get better soon. I’ve got a pile of flat multi shaped stones that I took up from the pathway around our pond waiting for me to re-lay after I raise the level of the pathway with sand and pea gravel. I guess they’ll just have to wait until the shoulder is better. For a few years now the water has been sitting about two inches deep on the pathway every time it rains. I figured it was time to take them up and raise the bed earlier this week and then WHACK, I banged my shoulder and it took me out of commission. The day I did the injury I was still able to take up the Flag Stones but after an hour or so of that sort of work, I found my shoulder aching beyond mobility. I haven’t been able to raise my arm above shoulder height for the past two days. Guess all I can do is take it easy for a few more days and see how it improves. It’s a good thing we’ve got an automatic transmission in the Jeep or I’d have to have Carole do the chauffeuring duties whenever we have a need to go somewhere. I took the MG around the block today and could hardly manage to shift the gears with my injured wing! It’s even been difficult to manage a few hours sleep at night. Every time I move or roll over the pain wakes me up with a severe jolt! Might have to sleep sitting up and see if that works. That seems to be the only position that relieves the pain. Good thing I have a left arm and hand that still work ok or I’d be needing assistance to tear the pages off the Sears n Roebuck catalogue on the wall next to the two hole plank in the little brown shack out back! Hahahahaha….. OUCH! Damn! That one hurt too! LOL! I remember what it was like when I was 11 years old when on the last day of grade 5 I took a soccer ball on the end of the little finger on my right hand. It split the bones in that finger from top to bottom and they had to put a cast on my right hand and wrist for a month. Being right handed it was very difficult to switch to using my left hand to do washroom duties and many other things for that month. Oh well, I lived through that and I’m sure I’ll survive this shoulder injury too. Speaking of breaking bones and wearing casts there were a few times while growing up that I had to allow bones to heal. The first instance was when I was three years old and we had just moved into our new house on Floyd St. the driveway was not yet paved and when I jumped off the front porch on to the driveway I twisted my ankle on a large rock and broke it! I had a cast on my right leg for 6 weeks and for the first two weeks it wasn’t a walking cast so I hopped everywhere I went. I stayed with my grandparents who lived on Glasgow St directly behind KCI. My dad would drop me off there on Monday and pick me up on the weekends. I remember when I got the Walking Sole added to the cast. It was hard to balance on it for the first while. I remember practicing walking on it by walking around my Grandma Hoy’s washing machine while holding onto the rim of the washer. Funny how these things come to mind after 65 years! My second break was a broken heal bone in my left foot. I received that injury when I jumped off the back of a pickup truck tailgate at the age of 8 years during a 22nd Kitchener Cub Pack paper drive! They didn’t put a cast on that one at first but after a week the wire screen support that KW Hospital had bandaged to my lower leg was in shreds and the wires were sharp and cutting my foot. So, back up to KW I went and Mack the cast guy who was getting to know me by now removed the screen splint and installed a plaster cast up to my knee. He’s said he’d see me in 6 weeks for removal. Man, that was a long summer! It’s no fun sitting on your wagon watching while all the neighbourhood kids played games on the street in front of your house! I even had to sit on my beach towel in the sand of Long Point Beach while everybody else played and swam in Lake Erie during our two-week summer cottage vacation, BUMMER! It seamed that my limbs were the bones that took most of the beatings as a kid. When I was 16 and taking Judo at KCI the school team took part in a tournament at Seagram’s Gym in Waterloo. I had three fights in the lineup and won the first two, the first one with a beautifully executed shoulder throw. I tossed my opponent half way across the mat for a full point victory. The second bout I won by choking a guy that was 40 lbs heavier than me. I figured if I couldn’t lift him off his feet to throw him I’d have to choke him to win and it worked! By the time my third fight was due, I had cooled off and was just hoping for a quick win so I could go home. I didn’t want to be walking home in the dark, all the way to Kitchener’s North Ward. It was about an hour’s walk and a cool spring evening. I stepped onto the mat and bowed to my opponent. He looked like King Kong he was a huge guy indeed and had a mean scowl on his face. We were about 30 seconds into the match and I stepped into him turning my back to him as I tried to execute another shoulder throw that had worked so well during the first match. Well, he surprised me by lifting me up with his knee in my butt and slammed me onto the mat with a terrible thud. My left leg came down with a thump and from just below my knee to my foot, my leg was hanging off the “tatami” or mat. The thickness of the mat was about and inch and a half and was just enough to allow my ankle to snap down and crack on the tile gymnasium floor. It hurt but when you’re 16 and think you’re invincible you shake it off and act like it was “nothing”! My coach said “Shake it off Payne, Shake It OFF!” I shook it off and bowed to the big goon that had just defeated me in my final match of the day. It was time to head for home and I knew with my sore ankle it would be a long walk home. I limped out of the Seagram Gym and headed down Erb St. It took me almost two hours to make my way home and by the time I got there my leg was aching like a trooper! I took my shoe off and my foot and lower leg swelled up like a balloon! The next day my dad drove me up to KW hospital emergency dept and had the leg X-rayed once again. This was my third leg injury and this time it was a doozie! My ankle was shattered and my shinbone was cracked in what they call a greenstick fracture. The doctor in Emergency said it would need a cast and I would not be able to walk on it for at least 6 weeks. Then he would see if I’d still need another cast. Luckily I had a friend that had his own car and he drove me to and from school at KCI. That ticked me off since I was unable to hook off school to go to Ontario Billiards for my usual once a week “sick day” to shoot pool with my old buddy Joe Doczi. Up until then, we had made it a regular thing to hook off and play pool at least one day a week! Oh well, with only a pair of crutches to get me around I figured maybe I’d finally get some homework completed! I think the vice principal Ross Dunford was shocked to find that I wasn’t missing a day a week due to “the flu” until he learned that I had broken my leg and was unable to get away without help. LOL! The joke was on me for sure that couple of months. I finally got to have the cast off for good after 8 weeks but I still had to quit the Judo club for the rest of that school year. I have one more broken bone story to tell you about and then I’ll stop for this week. I was 20 years old and serving my apprenticeship in Refrigeration with Zehr’s Markets. A group of bosses from Zehr’s, one of them my boss and a couple of other supervisors asked me to play softball one evening in the park at Frederick and Edna Sts. I wasn’t much of a ball player but decided it was just for fun so why not! We were playing after work on a Friday evening and my boss’s sons were teenagers and wanted to play as well. After about three innings I was running toward second base from centre field to pick up a ground ball! One of my boss’s sons was also trying for the same grounder and decided to give me a little push from behind. As I bent over to scoop up the ball, his push put me off balance and I stumbled and hit the ground with a thump! I of course cursed him and tried to stand up. OUCH! Once again I had twisted my right ankle this time and when I looked under my sock, the ankle was black and blue and yellow! It was also about twice its normal size once again! So I had my boss drive me up to KW Hospital and sure enough I had broken the ankle once more. What was it with me and broken ankles and legs anyway? As it turned out I had another stretch of 6 weeks in a cast and crutches for legs! I couldn’t work at my regular job while in a cast so I had to take off work. A friend of mine who was also a Refrigeration apprentice had a part time job catching shoplifters at Sears. He asked me if I’d be interested in working with him while I was in the cast! I accepted his offer and worked for an X OPP officer who headed the security for Sears in Kitchener. I hobbled around Sears for the next 6 weeks and although I couldn’t run after anyone I did manage to catch a number of thieves in the act while having the great cover of being on crutches! That was the first time I actually enjoyed having a broken bone. I had fun learning the store security business and actually got paid to do it! Once I was back to my regular job I decided to part from Sears but it was fun while it lasted! I’m sure you’re all tired of hearing my list of injuries so I’ll give you a “break” and end this series of payne-ful stories for this week! Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next time in The Ontarion Report! Bye for now… Greg
PS: Something To Think About> Bad habits are like a comfortable bed … EASY to get into but HARD to get out of. ****
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.    |