The Squamidian Report – Aug. 18 / 18
Online Version
Including:
From Russ
From Ewan
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Here is my confession.....
Back in early July I purchased a telescope. Well, another telescope to be more precise.
There, I've now confessed....
For years now I've wanted one of those really good, computer controlled
units. The kind where you simply aline it with a few stars and then
tell the controller what you want to look at. It then automatically
slews to the object and tracks the object until told not to. Well,
thats not what I purchased. They are expensive and I really can't
justify doing that, at least not now, perhaps at some point in the
future but not now. What I did purchase is a Celestron Omni AZ 102mm
refractor. That gives a full 4 inches of primary lens. 4 inches seems
to be the tipping point in that for every increment bigger, the price
seems to about double. 4 inches collects a very nice sharp image of
what you might want to look at. I had showed the rings of Saturn and
Jupiter's visible moons to our visitors that came out last June through
my 4.5 inch reflector and it certainly worked ok, but this refractor is
clearer. The larger reflector can see dimmer objects as it can collect
more light, but the refractor sees things crisper.
You'll notice I'm using two terms 'reflector' and 'refractor'. For
those unsure of the terminology I'll clarify.... a reflector does not
have a primary lens out at the front but rather has a primary mirror at
the base. The front is open. Light passed down the length of the
telescope tube and is then reflected by the curved mirror back up to a
secondary mirror that is set on a 45 degree angle to bounce the light
90 degrees into the focuser and eyepiece. The eyepiece is therefore
mounted at the front, or top, of the scope. This style of scope gives
the biggest aperture size bang for the buck.
On the other hand, a 'refractor' uses a primary lens at the front.
Light passes through this lens, is refracted down the length of the
tube and into the eyepiece at the bottom end of the tube. There are
limitation when manufacturing primary lenses that cause them to get
more expensive as the size increases but they can be of extremely high
quality in any size. Reflecting mirrors can be built very large and in
fact can even be segmented. They can also be a bit flexible and that
property can be utilized for adjusting the mirror. Incidentally, the
aperture or mirror size of a scope has nothing to do with magnification
power, just with light gathering ability. Magnification is achieved via
the eyepiece in relation to the focal length. The rings of Saturn
would look the same through both a big and little scope when using the
same level of magnification.
Anyway, I now have a nice 4-in refractor that comes with a red dot
finder instead of the old style optical finder scope. (Finder scopes
are used for aiming the main scope). Those little finder scopes were a
pain to aline and use. Many new telescopes now come with some variety
of red dot or laser finder that is easy to use and makes aiming the
main scope a breeze. That takes most of the frustration out of sighting
on something interesting in the sky. I had been looking at this scope
as well as another model that was similar for quite a while on line
through several telescope dealers. As usual the US dealers were way
cheaper than the Canadian dealers, even when the dollar difference was
taken into account. We sure get screwed in this country, by our own
companies and businesses no less. Interestingly, the Best Buy place
(Bestbuy.ca) occasionally carries these kinds of things and the price
will usually be very similar to the big specialty stores. However,
every once in a while they will post an add on the NET (advertisers
track what we all look at on line) for a given item and that add will
show the price very reduced for a limited time. And thats how I bought
this scope, as well as that terrestrial spotting scope I had purchased
a year ago or so. Their add popped up, showing the scope for $150 off,
shipping included. It also showed a countdown clock that would run out
in 5 hours at which time the price would go back up. So, I bought the
scope, the exact same scope that I could have bought for full price
from any telescope dealer, and saved $150. Five hours later they were
back up to full price. Works for me.
Now I can enjoy the night sky even more than before. Well, I could if I
could see it. For the last couple of weeks we have been choked in
smoke. Can barely see the end of the street let alone the sky. I'll
have more to say about the forest fires and smoke next week, unless
something more interesting pops up. So, stay tuned as we'll just have
to wait and see.
doug
****
From Russ
“Pot Cops” At first they taught us how to enforce the laws surrounding
this “new problem, coming up from the U.S.” Marijuana was placed on the
Narcotic Control Act, and it was a crime to simply have it in your
possession, let alone sell the stuff. Canadians knew nothing about
“weed”, but the Addiction Research Foundation was vehemently opposed to
it, and took the official position, “that smoking marijuana would lead
users to move onto opium and cocaine use, and ultimately become
addicted to ‘hard’ drugs with life-threatening results”...And we (cops)
believed them.
Police training in “Drug Enforcement” was lead by the RCMP. Special
classes were provided at The Ontario Police College, and the Mounties
came equipped with very real teaching aids...’marijuana tobacco’, and
cigarette papers...Now “role-your-own!” None of us ‘green’ Ontario cops
had ever seen the stuff, and most had never rolled a cigarette!
Fortunately, I was a smoker at that time, and used to ‘home-made’
smokes, and had no trouble making my first ‘joint’. I also helped
some of the non-smokers (and those used to ‘tailor-made’ cigarettes)
get ‘lit-up”! We were supposed to learn how to identify the stuff by
sight, smell, and feel BEFORE lighting-up, but we were so anxious to
“try the stuff”, we lit-up in haste!! There were 30 men in the
classroom, and all were smoking pot! The air was soon blue, but
who knew/cared?
All-in-all, the ‘session’ was a great success (I think), and we came
away with ‘more knowledge than we came in with’. But, I had a problem.
For months after smoking weed; every time I was exposed to the smell of
marijuana, I experienced a “flash-back”! A short-sweet- high! I became
‘woozy’, and just a wee bit ‘numb’....And that’s NOT GOOD if you are a
cop, and it is your SWORN DUTY to enforce the NCA !!
Fast-forward 60 years......Now they are training cops how to enforce the law when marijuana becomes LEGAL.
“Legal”?
The only place you may smoke it is in your private home,
You must be at least 19,
The Province of Ontario will be the only lawful distributor
Private stores must obtain licenses from the Municipality
You will be paying two levels of taxes on your product
Edibles won’t be legal until 2020
Police will have the power to submit drivers of vehicles and boats to
submit to ‘sobriety tests’, as with suspected drunk drivers, and will
be given the powers to ‘arrest without warrant’ suspected ‘stoned’
drivers.
The Government says, “Police have the tools and the training” to enforce the use of this “legal” substance!
And, finally, speaking of SMOKE, are you in Squamish suffering
from any of the many forest fires burning out of control in BC? The
prevailing winds are from the West, so the smoke has reached Manitoba,
right on our doorstep here in Ontario, but so far the “West Coast of
Ontario” is smoke-free.
Concerned.
Your old Uncle Russ.
****
From Ewan
Hello all,
When
I was little, before kindergarten, I went each day to the home of my
babysitter, Blanche. It was around 40 years ago so I’ve forgotten quite
a bit, but it’s remarkable how much I remember. Okay maybe it’s more
like I remember remembering or something like that. She was a very kind
woman, in charge but friendly and warm. They had a very large dog,
although I was very small so he, King, may have really been just a
small dog. He seemed large to me anyway, but gentle and mostly
indifferent. She had three lovely daughters and I remember that as I
grew at least two of them babysat me at our house.
Anyway
Blanche lived over on Weber Street near Ottawa, up the hill from the
Dairy Queen. So there are many locations in the Dairy Queen chain and
some people may refer to this one or that one as “the” Dairy Queen but
the one to which I refer is THE Dairy Queen. It predates me and may
well last longer than me and most are familiar with it so I won’t say
much more about it now. This was many uniforms ago, ten years before DQ
Blizzards were made and about twenty years after Dilly Bars were
invented. Blanche worked at the Dairy Queen, along with my grandmother,
Grandma. She wasn’t working while taking care of me, but we would go
for a walk down there fairly regularly. It was always good to see
Grandma. It was made clear to me that I would not receive a Dairy Queen
treat each and every time we went down there. However now and then, if
I was good, I could get a Dilly Bar which was a really big deal. Plus
seeing Grandma on the other side of the counter was fun. It was a
friendly, colourful, busy place filled with nice people who were glad
to see me.
When
Alison and I bought our house we got half a house (semi-detached) in
East York, in Toronto. A half a house in Toronto these days costs a
crazy amount of money but it is worth it for us. Our neighbourhood is
not totally done being improved yet, which is a good thing. We are
close to a subway station but the area is very quiet with lots of young
families, and a strong community. We are a few doors North of a
highschool, to which the Olympic champion Penny Oleksiak attended when
we bought in 2016. Beside it is a park with lots of trees, a pool with
a splash pad and a playground.
There
was a gap of about two weeks between the time we closed and when we
actually took possession. At that time there was a shooting at the end
of the street, two blocks away, not far from the subway station. Yikes!
What have we done?! It made us feel a little better when the mayor
spoke about it. The plan was to shut down a business that was
attracting a rough crowd, and put in something more family friendly,
like a day care centre. I’m not sure how much it had to do with Penny
Oleksiak, but she didn’t hurt. I’m a fan either way.
They
did it. Once in a while they do what they say they’re going to do. It
took a while, but it turned out to be a modern two story day care
centre with an outdoor play area and several rooms for lots of kids of
different ages. The upstairs section took a little longer to finish,
and opened at the beginning of this month. Quinn started upstairs at
the same time.
No
matter all the things that happened, and all the great people and
facilities at the daycare it all comes down to that moment when we have
to say goodbye to him. That moment is probably fairly similar for most
parents. It sure wasn’t any fun. The kids are usually very upset to be
left by their parents, and although we express it differently I have to
say we were too. After a few days he started to relax a little more and
have some fun. He’s still improving but he is taking to it more each
day. He gets very upset when we leave him, particularly when Alison has
to go, but he is engaging more with the other toddlers and playing. He
is learning to move past it. They put pictures of him in a log book for
us. We miss him all day. It helps knowing a lady there picks him up and
makes him feel much better.
Ewan
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello Everyone!
Wow has it ever been a hot summer eh? We’ve been enjoying the air
conditioning for sure but the problem is that with the comfort of AC we
don’t spend much time outdoors. We usually love to be outside in the
warmth and sunshine but this year’s summer months have just been too
devastatingly hot! I especially have difficulty breathing since my
heart operation and this weather makes it that much harder to stand.
I’ll eventually get used to it I guess but not before this summer is
over with. We love to cruise in the MG and even on hot days it’s some
relief to be enjoying the airflow that comes with riding in a
convertible. However, with all the work that’s had to be done to the
MG, it’s been in the shop most of the hot weather. We just got it home
about three weeks ago and once it was here, I had to spend the past
couple of weeks working on installing the new black interior. I finally
got it finished last week and when we tried to install the new
convertible top we ran into a problem making it fit properly. So, I
decided to take it into a professional auto trim place and let them do
the job. It’s been in this week at Herman’s Auto Trim on Shirley Ave.
They said they would have it back to me by the end of the week but I’m
not so sure they’ll have it done in time for this weekend, which is
supposed to be the only nice couple of days without rain this week. Of
course there will be more sunny days coming up but every day we miss,
is another day closer to the colder weather. I hope to have the car
finished soon enough to enjoy what’s left of summer. I’m sure that this
fall will bring loads of nice cruising days so all is not lost, YET!
That’s ok; at least we’ll have a roof to put up over our heads if we do
get some cooler or wetter days while driving it this fall. We’ve been
waiting patiently for the end result and I’m sure it’ll pay off
eventually. Like I’ve pointed out before it’s been 29 years of slow
progress to completely rebuild and refurbish this vehicle so I guess a
few more days won’t hurt us! I’ll write a more full report on the
progress once I have it home again with the new roof intact.
*
With
Russ talking about his days on the beat in downtown Kitchener when he
was a cop, he got me to thinking back on my youthful years working for
Morris Custom Tailors in downtown Kitchener. I’m sure that back in the
early 60’s when I worked on King St that Russ and I had our paths cross
without knowing it! He was walking the beat and I was carrying clothing
to several stores. I used to carry a load of clothing over my arms from
the tailor shop to Mitty’s Men’s Wear, Frank’s Thrift Store, Eaton’s,
Budds Store, Sommer’s Clothing Store as well as a place called Coward’s
Clothier all on King St. Once I had taken the altered clothes back to
these stores I’d pick up more items of clothing that needed to be
altered by Morris. They’d of course have to be taken back to the stores
once the tailor had finished the work on them. This kept me busy on
Friday evenings and all day Saturday. I happened into this job when I
was 11 years old. My brother who was two years my senior was supposed
to be doing this job but whenever he didn’t feel like working he’d fake
being sick and my mother would yank me out of bed and demand that I
take his place. I finally decided to take his place permanently and the
job lasted for three years. I worked like a young pack mule, carrying
heavy loads of clothes up and down King St for a measly $3.00 a week!
I’m sure that Russ and I must have passed each other on the walk
hundreds of times and who’d have ever guessed we’d meet and become
friends some 40 or more years later? LOL!
Oh well, it’s been a good experience to meet and enjoy conversations
with Russ for sure and due to the years we spent on King St we have
lots to talk about and it’s fun to reminisce! There were so many spots
on King St that we both remember and had in common back in those days.
Just to name a few, there was the Nut Shack which was directly across
from the Tailor shop I worked in and Russ mentioned frequenting that
place and being the recipient of Free bags of nuts while on the beat!
LOL! Talk about cops getting free coffees, if I were a cop on the beat
I think I’d make the most of such freebees too! I used to visit the Nut
Shack every once in a while and gained a love for their cashews! They
were expensive but I’d make a point of enjoying a warm bag of them
whenever I could afford it! Most of my lunch breaks were however spent
at The Jumbo Ice Cream parlor on King near Francis St. I’d go there
every Saturday at noon and have a hamburger and a chocolate shake. No
wonder I was a bit of chubby kid! You’d have thought I’d easily wear
off all those calories with all the walking and carrying I had to do
during my job at the Tailor Shop. LOL!
One more of my favourite haunts on King St was on the corner of King
and Water Sts. It was a large store that was painted bright yellow and
it was called The TNT store and was an Army and Navy surplus store.
They had so many cool things for sale in that store. In particular,
there was a huge yellow rubber inflatable raft that hung from the
ceiling. I wanted that raft so badly but with my meager $3.00 weekly
salary I just couldn’t muster enough cash to buy it! I don’t think I
ever did purchase anything from that store but it sure was cool to
browse around for a half hour each Saturday. On well, at least I have
some good memories of my years on King St and I think back on those
days quite often. About 10 or more years ago the building that housed
the Tailor Shop caught on fire and before they tore the remnants down I
managed to go downtown and take a few pictures of the burned out
structure with the pathetic little Morris Custom Tailors sign still in
the blackened window on the second floor. It had been in a room
directly above Weston’s Credit Jewelers. Today there is an outdoor
patio on Street level and a pub at the back of the patio. I’m not sure
of the name of the place but whenever I pass by I still think of Morris
and his wife working their magic in the window overlooking King St and
the Nut Shack and Lyric Theatre directly across the street. When I
think about it I can even see that lanky cop walking the beat on the
north side of King St as he gawked at the selection of freshly roasted
nuts in the window of The Nut Shack! I’m sure he might have even
glanced up to the Tailor Shop window a few times and noticed the
11-year-old kid sitting at the window, waiting for his next load of
clothing. It sure would have been cool to have met Russ back then! Just
imagine the length of friendship we might have had if such an event had
taken place! Memories and thoughts of yesteryear sure are fun to look
back on! Oh well, at least we did finally meet and just listen to the
great stories we have to relate to this very day! Who’d a thunk it?
I think that’s enough for this week but I look forward to the next time
Russ and I get a chance to do some more reminiscing! I’m sure all of
you have childhood memories that are your favourites! If you feel up to
it, maybe you can tell a few stories from your past in a submission to
the Squid next week!
We’ll all look forward to reading about them sometime soon!
That’s all for this week folks!
Thank 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>
Photographs and memories! What would we do without them?
****
Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
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