The Squamidian Report – Sept. 30 / 17
 
Issue #801

Including:
The Ontarion

Hi All,

It would seem I've been inducted into the society of little kids. There are a bunch of kids on this street that are in the 6 to 8 yr age bracket. They've always been interested in my motorcycle and wave as I go by and of course I wave back. At one point a couple of little boys ventured up our driveway in hopes of getting a better glimpse of the bike and I let them go into our garage and check the bike out. This group of kids has gotten comfortable enough with us that they will use our sloped driveway when bombing around on their bicycles. Anyway, the other day there was a knock on the door and it was a couple of the young boys. They seemed to want to ask something but were unsure as to how to broach their question. After some digging it became obvious that they wanted another look at the Harley so I opened the garaged door. They flooded me with questions about 'real' motorcycles and then started to hint that it would be really cool to actually sit on a real motorcycle. So, I let each of then sit on the bike. That made them a bit braver because their rambling conversation then turned toward how much fun it would be to have a ride on a real bike. Unfortunately I had to inform them that there were several reasons I could not give them rides, those being that firstly, they would have to have parental permission. Secondly, they would need to be wearing a properly fitted DOT motorcycle helmet, and thirdly, they must be tall enough that their feet can rest fully on the passenger foot boards. None of these requirements could be met. On many bikes the passenger foot boards would be close enough to the passenger seat but on my big bagger type bike the saddle bags are in the way of short lets. So, no ride for them but they seemed to accept that and eventually went their little kid ways.

An hour or so later the front door bell rang. I went down to see who was there but couldn't see anyone through the door window. Thats not uncommon as these same kids do occasionally ring our bell and then run like hell, giggling the whole way. Or they will hide down below our front retaining wall and I usually find them there and end up showing them better hiding places. Anyway, this time I caught a glimpse of them hiding off to the side of the door, still on the porch. When I opened the door they sprang into view and peppered me with styrofoam bullets from their pump-up nerf guns until they ran out of ammunition. They thought this whole thing was hilarious and I must admit I was laughing as well. It was at this point that a dog that was with them darted though the open front door and up the stairs into the house. We all ended up running around trying to catch said dog, and it never became very clear as to who's dog it actually was. There were several other kids I had not seen before hanging around by the door as well and they seemed to be enjoying the situation.

I figure that for some reason I've now become an accepted honorary member of the local little kid society. There are certainly worse situations I could find myself in. And face it, in a few years these little kids will become teenagers and turn sullen and grumpy and miserable. Might as well be on their good side, for now at least.
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We enjoyed some spectacular September weather this past week and to that end a friend and I decided to ride to Lillooet for lunch. Thats roughly about a 400k round trip for me, a bit further for him as he came up from the city. Now that summer is over traffic is a bit lighter than it had been but we are still plagued by those rental RV things with Alberta plates that wallow up and down our highways, usually being driven by some brain dead moron that seems incapable of staying in their lane or navigating its way around a steep highway curve. Some of them are a real special kind of stupid and are willing to risk the safety of everyone in order to be 'at the front' of the traffic. Case in point, as we rode north toward Whistler a rental RV decided to come charging out of the Brandywine parking lot. There were no vehicles behind us and yet this driver thought it necessary to cut right out onto the highway in order to be in front of two motorcycles, rather than be stuck behind them, (assuming he could have kept up, which he couldn't). Posted speed is 100, which he couldn't do on that twisty road, and yet once out onto the highway he was determined to stay in front by doing everything possible to keep anyone from passing. We had had to brake very hard and fast when he pulled out in front of us as we had been riding at that posted 100. Once we reached the next 4-lane section we just scooted out around him and left him all alone. We encountered way too many other rental RVs on the Duffy that simply didn't want not let anyone, regardless of what they were driving, get past. As you know, the Duffy is a narrow winding mountain highway with very few passing locations and what most drivers that are familiar with the area do is let faster vehicles get by. But not the RV drives, they seem to like accumulating dozens of vehicles behind them as they white knuckle it around the curves and up and down the 15% grade hills. But I digress, except for the rental RVs we encountered, we had a great ride.

Duffy Lake was glass smooth, not a ripple and therefore reflected the mountain glaciers and fall colours like a mirror. There were other areas where we would ride into an invisible river of icy cold air that would be flowing down from some un-seen snowfield far above us and then we'd ride into a sun-warmed valley that was as hot as the cold air was cold. One of the great things about riding through and area is that you actually 'feel and smell' your surrounding. And yes, the fall mountain air was wonderful. As you drop down toward Lillooet, all the mountain streams that had been converging come together as Seaton River. They then empty into the muddy Fraser right there by the bridge over the Fraser creating an interesting contrast because the cold clear water doesn't mix well with the warmer muddy Fraser. The clear waters of the contributory travels quite far down stream before being absorbed.

There really isn't much to do in Lillooet except have lunch so once we did that we turned around and headed south, again braving the RVs and tour busses that are also still way too abundant. By the time we reached Whistler we were into afternoon traffic. We were down to Squamish by 5 or so. A great ride on a rather spectacular fall day. Like if hard.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT

Hello everyone!

Well, I guess you all saw on the news the other day that they finally arrested the Waterloo Arsonist! Although there haven’t been any more fires since we last spoke about him the tips kept coming in to the police and Fire Departments. With the help of the public they managed to track the culprit down and arrest him this week. He’s a 31-year-old resident of Waterloo and has been in trouble with the law before this so they said on the news. I hope they make an example of him and put him away for a good long while!  Now the people of Waterloo and in particular those living in Lakeshore Village can rest easy. Of course, knowing our justice system, some do-gooder Judge will let him out on bail when he promises not to do it again! What we need around here is another Judge like we had years ago in the form of JRH Kirkpatrick who was known to be tough on our local criminals! We’ll just have to wait and see what happens to this arsonist when his trial comes up a year from now! However, knowing the way things happen around here, they’ll wait too long to bring him to court and he’ll have his charges dropped because of the delay! LOL! Or maybe Kathleen Wynn will issue him a pardon because he’s a Liberal Party member and didn’t mean to do it or some such nonsense! We’ll see!
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Just to bring you all up to date, I have a meeting with the Surgeon on Oct 4th about my surgery. Then on the 5th I will be placed in the “Pre-Op” program (whatever that is) and within the following week I will have my heart surgery! I’m looking forward to getting this all over with but I gotta admit it’s unnerving to say the least!

I have wonderful family support as well as good wishes from many friends so I’m sure I’ll come out the other side in good shape! Thanks for all your kind wishes and I’m looking forward to getting back at the Ontarion Keyboard as soon as I can do more than hug a pillow once I’m home again!

That’s about it for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again once I’m home and on the mend!
Bye for now … Greg

PS: Something To Think About>
If you’re so inclined, please consider making a donation to your local “Heart Fund”!
     
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Have a good one..
the doug
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