The Squamidian Report – Nov. 3 / 18
Issue #858
Including:
From Russ
The Ontarion
Hi All,
This year I was able to avoid the predicament I found myself in last
year. You see, last year I ended up putting the motorcycle away dirty.
(The bike being dirty, not me that I know of, in case you were
wondering). The end of my riding season last year came upon me a bit
earlier than expected as the weather changed a few days ahead of what
the forecast was calling for and that left me with having to choose
between putting the bike away dirty but dry, or putting it away clean
but damp. I chose dirty and dry. If I’d have washed it I’d have had to
take it out for a run in order to be sure all the water was blown or
heated away but being that the weather had unexpectedly turned wet,
taking the bike back out after a wash and shine would have just made it
wet again as well as dirty, again. If I had washed it and then simply
hand dried it, it would have still been wet in some of the areas that
can’t be hand dried, like inside the exhaust system, in those little
impossible to reach crevices around the engine and so on. It was
already dirty but dry and thats how she was put away. Parked up against
the back wall of the garage, covered up and left alone, lonely and sad
until riding season would come again in March.
This year I was able to give her a good wash and shine and still have a
dry day to take her for that last toot of the season in order to be
sure she was good and dry and to top up the tank as well as add the
recommended fuel stabilizer.
So, last Saturday we mounted up and rode down to Porteau Cove. It was
supposed to be nice and sunny but shades of memories of last year, a
weather front was moving in. The temperament was unable to reach the
comfort zone and the winds were buffeting. When we got to Porteau there
were huge waves, topped with white-caps breaking onto the rocks. As
well, there were a dozen or so scuba divers bobbing around, being blown
back toward shore. Porteau is a popular diving location and divers
don’t seem to mind the weather, I guess once they are under water it
really doesn’t make much difference. Anyway, we rode to there, then
back up to Squamish and stopped at the gas station where I poured some
stabilizer into the tank and then topped it up with fuel. Then we
headed back up the hill to home where I parked the bike against the
back wall of the garage.
Thats a sad thing to do. It rather forcefully drives home the fact the
my riding season is probably over for this year. I say ‘probably’
because there is always the faint chance that a nice day will pop up
between now and when my insurance expires in another few days but thats
unlikely give that I’d want the roads to be dry. This time of year wet
roads means wet leaves and wet leaves are a major danger for riders.
They can be very slippery, like splops of grease all over the road, not
good at all when on two wheels. Weather very seldom changes
unexpectedly for the better. Not saying our weather has turned ‘bad’,
just that its turned cooler and wetter and thats no fun on a bike. At
my age, I prefer to be comfortable. I don’t have to be out there on two
wheels unless I want to be.
It wasn’t a great riding season right from the beginning this time
round. Winter didn’t want to give up, spring lingered too long and then
when summer hit, it hit hot and dry with uncomfortable amounts of
forest fire smoke along with ridiculous amounts of frenzied tourist
traffic congestion. Every planned day trip or longer trip didn’t happen
and suddenly summer was over. We had an incredible October but the
nights were just cold enough to make crossing any of the mountain
passes on a bike less that advisable. Now its November and she is
parked, looking all sad and dejected again. I only managed to ride
about 12,000 kilometers this year. Thats the shortest amount of riding
I’ve done in a long time. Oh well, as they say, there’s always next
year. But for me, putting the bike away for the winter is not a nice
thought at all, its so ‘final’, so ‘resigned’. And this time is
especially hard because it means that the next time I ride that bike I
will be in my 70’s. That alone is a disturbing thought.
*
We
all know this past Wednesday was Halloween. I’ve mentioned this before
but I’ll do it again, Halloween is a very big deal out here. Bigger
than Christmas in many ways. I guess thats because while Christmas has,
or is supposed to have, meaning for specific cultures or segments of
the population, and those segments being in the minority in coastal BC,
Halloween can be observed right across cultural lines. That makes the
retailers very happy and they spare no effort in milking every cent out
of as many participants as they can. The lead-up has decorating and
parties and all sorts of silly things. There is the usual door to door
trick-or-treating although that is slowly thinning down in favor of
house or block parties. Fireworks are everywhere, blasting away from
just after dark until whoever is shooting them off runs out of
ammunition.
The sad thing is, the instant Halloween is over, out come the Christmas
advertisings on TV and in the stores. The greed that fuels the
commercialism can’t be bothered to wait until after Remembrance Day
because there is no profit to be made by remembering. Greed seems to be
the universal constant. Sad indeed.
And lastly, don’t forget to turn your clocks back tonight, back to
Daylight Standard Time. Personally I wish they’d leave the time set to
Daylight Savings Time as that seems to fit the actual cycle of light
and dark better, and its been proven that vehicle crashes go way up
during the week following the change in either direction. When we get
back to summer time time next spring, lets leave it there.
doug
****
From Russ
You may remember my last column:
Brubacher Bitten By a Black, Bouvier “Bugger”, owned by Bob Burdet.
I’m slowly healing. But, still Bandaging, Bandaging, Bandaging. Bummer!
Now, let me take you way back to September 11, 1961:
I’d been on the Kitchener Police Force since 1957, 4 years, and I’m
finally getting some “In-Service-Training”. The OPP College was
located, of all places, in the “Snake-pit” area, at the foot of Jarvis
Street, on Sherbourne Street in the fair city of Toronto. What a place
to house and train a rowdy bunch of testosterone-loaded Rookie cops! At
that time the place was running over with prostitutes!
But, in this issue of the Squamidian, I won’t touch on that aspect of
the adventure, but instead focus on the actual classroom experience.
Classes started at 7:45AM, and went until 4:30PM, with a one-half hour
lunch-break, at which time a “gut wagon” arrived on the parade square.
After eating gut-bombs washed down with coffee, we’re back in class.
Sgt. Cresswell, whose specialty was “Cruelty to Animals”, also taught
us all about the organization of the OPP. Sort of like a “commercial”.
But a man who really stuck out was Inspector A.H. Bird. He had a
routine from which he never varied. We were seated as he rushed in, and
because of his high Rank, we all stood at attention until given
permission to take our seats. Permission was withheld until he removed
his coat, hung it on a pole; removed his white scarf, hung it over the
coat; removed his cap(the peak of which was covered in “scramble eggs”,
after all he IS an Inspector!), placed it carefully on his desk; wiped
his brow with a white cloth handkerchief, and said, “Sit”.
He always looked a if he were “about to explode”. His face was round,
red, and flushed. He had black, bulging, angry eyes; slick, black
Military-style haircut. He frequently mopped his whole face. Looking
back, now I think he was “out of his league”. I think it was all
nerves. He was scared.
His subjects, however, were extremely valuable...I still have all my notes from his classes.
On the final day of the course, he cracked his first and only smile, when he said, “They call me Smiley”.
Some say, he married Rank. Probably true. He married the daughter of the Commissioner of the OPP. (that’ll do it)
Respectfully submitted by Constable #20, KPD R.G. Brubacher.
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello Everyone!
It’s now November and that means the onset of the snow season around
here! I’m sure you are all looking forward to the lovely white stuff
arriving soon. You’ll all be shoveling or blowing the snow off your
walkways and driveways before the end of this month most likely. I’m
actually looking forward to doing that myself this winter as I had to
spend most of last winter in the hospital and could only watch the
winter through the windows of St Mary’s. Not that I’m complaining, just
looking back on the winter of 2017/18. It’ll actually be fun to get out
and follow my Toro along the walkways this winter. I’m still waiting
for a call from the repair shop to say I can pick up my Toro after it’s
one and only tune up in 12 years! LOL! I guess I should have taken it
in to the Toro doctor’s shop long before this but oh well, it’s in
there now and will come home looking and running like it did when it
was new! I hope it will start easily after this trip to the small
engine specialists shop. I couldn’t get it to start with the manual
pull start for several years now and had to resort to using the
electric start function to get it going. They say that the Toro blowers
and mowers should start first pull every time but I guess when you let
them go for 12 years without a tune up you can’t expect that to be
true. Hopefully this visit to the service shop will do the trick and
it’ll be much easier to start!
*
Since
I have been in the recuperation mode for the past year I haven’t been
all that active. However I’m feeling much more like my old self now and
have been getting back to doing a bit more effort wise. I’ve started to
work in my little basement wood shop over the past few weeks and am
working on amassing a collection of wooden toys that I make down there.
I intend to have a good number of toys finished by spring and am
looking forward to having my first toy sale on the driveway come
spring. I of course will have to wait for the first warm sunny weekend
to do so but this project will give me something to work for over the
winter. So far I’ve only got about a dozen toys finished but I intend
to produce at least one toy per day of work down in the shop. I’m sure
I can manage that over the winter. I’m looking on line for ideas of
what to make for my toy collection. So far I’ve made a few race cars, a
tractor, a train, a logging truck, a pick up truck loaded with lumber,
and two helicopters. I’m sure I’ll come up with more ideas over the
winter. I don’t want to get too complicated with my designs. I want to
keep the toys simple so they appeal to the younger generation. You
know, the type of toys that have little people that can be taken out of
the cars and other forms of transportation. I figure this will
stimulate the imaginations of the young kids that will play with them!
I’m not painting the toys and figure that if parents want the toys
colored they can have fun with their kids painting the toys together.
Besides, it’s easier on me not to have to paint them. This hobby will
become an interesting time for sure. So far it’s been a lot of fun just
to make a few different toys and I’m sure it will continue to do so.
There’s a guy at the St Jacob’s Farmer’s Market that has a booth where
he sells his wooden toys. I thought I’d take a run up and take some
photos of his line up of toys for some ideas to add to my collection. I
went up last week to do so but when I got there he had closed up his
display because it was raining out. Oh well, I’m sure he’ll be there on
the next sunny day, if there is one! LOL!
If I remember correctly, his collection is rather complicated. He has
great detail in his toys but at least looking over his array of toys
will give me some ideas. Maybe I can simplify the toys he makes when I
copy them. I don’t want to get into too many moving parts on my toys as
that just makes it more time consuming and less fun to make! It’ll be
interesting to see how this hobby turns out. By spring, I should have
quite a good number of toys for the little ones to choose from.
Hopefully my display will attract lots of loving grandparents who wish
to buy for their little grandchildren! I think the cars in the
collection will be one of the more popular items, as they are fun even
for me to push around the floor! I’m trying to make toy vehicles that
role easily like the “Dinky” toys I used to play with when I was a kid
many years ago. I specifically remember a burgundy pick up truck that I
had that was the best “roller” of the bunch. I could always out run any
of my brother’s toy vehicles with that little truck and I’ve never
forgotten it! Even nowadays when I see Dinky Toys in places like
Wal-Mart I look for that little truck but haven’t seen anything like it
since. Some day I’ll find one and I’ll be sure to purchase it when I
do! Maybe my passion for pick up trucks as an adult came from my love
for that very toy as a kid! You never know! I think that is exactly why
I like pickup trucks now that I think of it. I’ve always loved pickup
trucks and some day will own another one. I’m not into the big ones
that have four doors and huge beds on the back like most of the ones
you see on the roads these days. I like the two door conventional cab
type that have what they call a “short box” and are preferably four
wheel drive systems. They look cooler in my estimation and I like the
fact that they sit high up on their suspension. Riding in an elevated
vehicle like that makes me feel safer in the traffic since you get a
better view of what’s happening around you as you drive. Just my
opinion I guess. Some day I’ll own another one and be back in my glory
as a pickup driver! Right now we have enough vehicles so my driveway is
full. Guess I’ll just have to wait for the right time and place to have
another one!
I think that’s about all I have to say 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>
It’s that time again when we should all be putting new batteries in our
smoke detectors and carbon monoxide devices. Do it now while it’s fresh
in our minds!
****
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.
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