The Squamidian Report – Feb. 14/18
Issue #822
Including:
More Stink From Russ
North Nova News
From Lorne
The Ontarion
Hi All,
There is no Ontarion again this week as Greg is still hospitalized.
Lets all hope for the best and extend out thoughts to him and his
family.
*
As
stated a couple of weeks ago, our old Toro snow blower has seen better
days. I must be clear here, that old machine does not own us a cent. It
has blown an incredible amount of snow over the years and has always
started first pull and run just fine. I had hoped it could limp the
rest of the way through this winter but no such luck. The bearings
holding the shaft from the pulley below the engine out to the gear box,
the impeller shaft I think its called, are shot, gone, kaput. The gear
box seals are shot, letting out oil. It can no longer blow any snow. My
preference is to have it repaired, even if it cost half of what a new
machine would cost. The Toro is a very good machine. Its just that some
of the parts that take a beating have taken a beating. The problem with
new machines, new anything for that matter, is that they are never as
good or as high quality as the old ones they replace. I'd prefer a
rebuilt unit over a new unit. So, we loaded it up and took it down into
town to the only repair place in town that works on that type of thing.
Of course, as luck would have it, all of BC including around here is
having record breaking cold and snow. Go figure. The blower will be
down for at least another week or so and we have snow forecast for
another week or so. I guess we will be doing some shoveling but thats
ok. By this time of year its usually spring around here so any snow,
including what is falling as we speak will melt. Hopefully sooner than
later.
*
Also
as stated a couple of weeks ago, Ryan had upgraded my recording
software to the full, more powerful version. Instead of being called
GarageBand, its called Logic. That was cool but even though the
interface is very similar, I had struggled a bit to use it when I
recorded that Full Moon song. It worked out ok but left me with a lot
of questions for him. When the opportunity arose, he answered many of
my questions and set up a template for me. The template is simply an
empty project file with all the pre-sets and expected tracks in place
making recording simple and easy which is a good thing for an old brain
like mine. I wanted to use the template to create a new project, to
record a song, in order to do it before I forgot it. However, I don't
currently have any new original material to work on so I decided to
pull out a very old Peter Paul and Mary song called 'If I Were Free'.
They recorded it way, way back in 1965, and it was an old song then. As
kids we used to sing that song as best we could and many of my
relatives will certainly remember it. Its a protest, peace type song
typical of the hippy movement, and has a nice simple melody. So, to
that end I laid down some guitar and 4-part harmony, and was able to
get it mostly done while the house was still quiet before 'The Wife'
came home. The mixing etc could be finished at any time, its just any
recording through a mic must be done in as complete silence as
possible. So, here is my attempt at reviving the old folk song 'If I
Were Free'. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did doing it.
Oops, almost forgot.... you will hear me taking breaths at the
beginning of each bar. Please don't let that bug you too much. My lungs
have never quite recovered from when I had pneumonia and dehydration
last spring and summer so I find myself gasping for air a bit as I try
to sing. I'm doing the best that I can.
http://www.thedougsite.net/Songs/Covers/If%20I%20Were%20Free.mp3
doug
****
More Stink From Russ
“Autumn leaves” I’m thankful that I live in a part of our little World
that has four Seasons. Each Season treats us with it’s particular
smells and aromas. Right now, we’re nearing the end of Winter (I
hope) and it’s been pouring rain for days, and with double digit
temperatures, it feels more like March....but just wait a bit and we’ll
be “back to Winter”. But whether it’s Winter, Summer, Spring or Fall,
some of us are blest/cursed with being able to detect the season’s
peculiar “smells”. Which brings me to the subject of this week’s first
smell; autumn leaves........
Picture yourself walking in a Maple bush in the Fall; the sun is
shining on the freshly fallen dry leaves, and as you kick them up an
aroma greets your nose which is as sweet as “Mom’s freshly-baked apple
pie”. These same leaves when wet, smell like freshly-turned sod,
when burning they smell like tobacco; pungent, rich....maybe too
rich! As a kid I was exposed to the smoke of burning leaves, as
each Fall it seemed everybody in Centreville used this wasteful,
unhealthy, ‘un-green’ method of getting rid of the ‘harvest of the
trees’. But the fire didn’t go to waste, as we often toasted bread in
the hot coals, but by this time I’d been exposed to so much smoke I
became nauseous, threw-up any/all of which I’d eaten that day!
Arbor Day was “celebrated” in our school, and we were given the “day
off from classes”, but it was NO holiday! We were sent home to get a
rake and some bushel baskets and “put to work” raking the entire
schoolyard. It was a large property, and it took us most of the day; it
was also a fun day....we laughed and jumped in the piles of leaves, and
‘horsed-around’ until we were too tired to rake anymore! Probably
today, this ‘activity’ would be called, “Child Exploitation”, but back
in the 40’s there was no Children’s Aid Society, only an Humane Society.
“Ammonia” The Public Swimming Pool on Homewood Ave. in Kitchener
charged an Admission which was ‘a little steep’ for our meager purse,
but to accommodate the “poorer Classes of Society” from outside the
City (or similarly entitled city dwellers), a very nominal fee of I
think ten cents, was charged for using the pool in the morning. We kids
had a long way to come; we’d board the Grand River Railway Radial Car
in Centreville Station, get off at Queen Street South Station, and walk
Southerly, past Verner’s Gingerale Bottling Plant (without stopping for
a drink of that ‘Heavenly’ pop....because it cost five cents a
bottle!), hang a left onto Homewood and attempt to gain entry for an
early morning, refreshing swim.
We were crafty little beggars; one of us would approach the ticket
wicket and proceed to pay for a ‘single fare’, while the rest of us
would crouch down, out of sight of the cashier, and slip into the
change rooms. The water was always very cold, and smelled strongly of
chlorine(which I mistakenly identified at the time, as ammonia! But now
is the only way I can ‘slip it into this Segment of IT STINKS). I
confess, I never really enjoyed the swimming pool as I spent most of
the time lying on a bench...shivering! We never brought towels....they
were for “sissies”, so we had to air dry our itchy woolen bathing suits
before getting dressed to go back home. This time, when walking
up Queen Street, we now had the price of a Verners...having
successfully gained almost “free entry” to the Public swimming pool.
The ‘horse stables’ of the Chicopee Riding Club, located East of
Centerville about a mile or two, was a place we kids often went,
especially in Winter. When we opened the door we were hit with a blast
of hot air so strong of ammonia we could hardly breath! Apparently,
horse urine has a VERY high ‘ammonia’ content, and these stables were
not properly ventilated.
Fast forward; I’m an electrician’s helper; Lloyd Brohman is my boss,
we’re working for Sutherland & Schultz Electric, doing a job at
Carling’s Brewery in Waterloo. We’re running conduit through some “cold
storage” rooms, naturally it’s VERY cold and my fingers are numb and I
need a rest, but Lloyd is a “bottomless pit of energy!”, and won’t stop
for anything.....unless it’s “for a COLD brew”. The beer was free
(at least we acted on that belief) and handy, there being a metal cup
attached by an anchored length of chain, to a faucet....opening same
caused the flow of exceedingly cold beer......as much as you
wanted! I DIDN’T want much! The beer was so cold it felt
like my teeth were cracking! And I’m still numb with COLD! Cold beer in
a cold room is just TOO refreshing!
What’s that got to do with the smell of ammonia? I’m coming to that;
ammonia is used in ‘refrigeration’, the “cold rooms” at Carling’s
smelled very strongly of ‘that stuff’...and there’s your ‘trigger’.
Next week, we feature the smells of “sulphur”, “manure piles” and finally, the “master of stink”.
And now, I better go down and check my basement, with all this melting
snow and heavy rain, my sump pump has been doing “double duty”, trying
to prevent a “second flood”.
Uncle Russ (old ‘gimpy’)
****
From Sus
So is everyone watching the Olympics? It sure has been exciting
everyday, we have satellite TV and only a starter package so we are
pretty limited on what to watch. CBC has been our main station
lately since the Olympics started. I'm not much of a hockey fan
but it is way more interesting to me watching our Canadian teams play
against the rest of the world. It really is amazing how hard
these athletes work and train to achieve a medal. I love the
variety of sports to watch everyday.
Today we went to the woods and tapped our maple trees. The weather has
been mild in the day and below freezing at night. We thought we
should get going to catch the first run. We usually tap about 14
trees but this year we are expanding by 10 more. By the end of
the season we've boiled down twice and usually get about a gallon of
finished maple syrup. Boil down usually takes all day so we bring
lots of food and drinks because you can't leave once you start
up. There is always lots to do like gathering wood and trimming
trees. Every year we talk about building a little sugar shack but
then when the season is over we forget all about it. There is
lots of time to talk, plan and have a drink of maple tea.
Everything tastes better outdoors by a fire. It's a great way to spend
February and March gathering our buckets and producing our own maple
syrup. Gotta love it!
Sus
****
From Lorne
Weird double digit cel weather has left us in grey old Ontario without
snow at the moment. This gave me an opportunity to hunt for the oil
filler cap for the tractor. Found it on the island in the driveway.
Then to the shed to remove the temporary wood plug and replace the real
cap only to find no wood plug and no oil on the dip stick. The 2nd time
running without engine oil. Bad habit. I added oil and replaced the
proper cap.
Now for an inside story. My computer has been slowing down just like
it's operator. Pop ups want me to sign up for services to improve it's
performance. Recently I am not able to open Facebook or most
similar in coming notifications. More recently a haker has sent me the
following ' THIS IS THE EXECULINK EMAIL UPGRADE ALERT. THIS IS AN
IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR EMERGENCY EMAIL UPGRADE. PLEASE IN ORDER TO
CARRYOUT THIS SERVICES PROPERLY IN YOUR WEBMAIL, YOU ARE ADVISED TO
VISIT OUR EMAIL UPGRADE WEBSITE (I wont show it here) FOR YOUR
IMMEDIATE UPGRADE. THANK YOU.
Poor gramer and other unusual wording made me suspicious so I
called Execulink using a number from the phone book and spoke to a real
live person who explained there are many such reports and I did
right by calling their office and to not open, but to delete the
message. I am still getting popups urging me to upgrade.
Lorne
****
Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
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