The Squamidian Report – Aug. 10/19
Issue #898
Including:
From Russ
From ‘The Wife’
From Lorne
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Risky activities can and do jump up and bite those who participate. We
live in a part of the world where a lot of people partake in risky
activities and it keeps both our local search and rescue teams as well
as the military SAR teams much busier than they’d like to be kept.
There are constant instances of hikers getting lost or injured, getting
stranded when they head out into the back country unprepared or unaware
of the conditions. On summer weekends the SARs never get a break, the
calls just keep on coming and often one lost or injured person will
have to wait their turn to be rescued, have to wait until a SAR team
has finished its current mission. Then there are the climbers on the
Chief, that big 2000ft high granite monolith that sits right by the
highway at the south end of town. (For the life of my I can’t figure
out why they’d put a big cliff right beside a highway where it can
attract all sorts of people). We tend to lose 2 or 3 climbers per
season and this year is right on track. About 6 weeks ago a climber
fell when he leaned back, only to find he was not tied off. That didn’t
end so good and it tied up a SAR team and a helicopter for hours as
they tried to retrieve his body. Then this past weekend another one
fell to his death as he lead a group of climbers up a popular section
of cliff face. Again, the SARs were tied up for hours as they attempted
to extract the body. The fallers don’t tend to land in convenient
locations but get jammed into some rock crevice somewhere below where
they fell from, and that can still be a long way up. The number of
climbers who fall a short distance and end up badly hurt is too high
keep track of, just like the number of back country hikers who get into
trouble.
The news media then interviews other climbers who all say the same
thing, that being: “we are a tight nick community and everyone knows
everyone and we all feel badly BUT its all part of the game and we all
know the risks and things like this happen”. Some of them will actually
smirk a bit as if its some king of big joke. Then, once the authorities
have cleared out, up they all go again.
Now, I have no problem with the concept of people taking personal
risks, but, they are putting a constant strain on the SAR teams. With
the exception of the military team out of Comox who are paid
professionals, the SARs are all volunteers, giving up they free time to
look for lost people, rescue lost or injured people, and extract bodies
from cliff faces. The partakers of the extreme sports are cavalier
about it while the SARs are burning out. Some of the North Shore SAR
teams have special structures in strategic locations through out the
back country where they stash rescue gear and equipment so it will be
available when needed. But unbelievably, they are constantly finding
the storage structures have been vandalized and the equipment stollen.
There are way too many people on this planet who hale from the shallow
end of the gene pool.
Now, getting back to the usual statement that they “know what they are
doing and except the risks”…. Using that logic shouldn’t someone
driving down a public highway (climbers and hikers are on public land)
speeding along at about twice the speed limit, be able to tell the
hypothetical cop that has just pulled them over that they “know what
they are doing and understand the risks” and simply be let off, no
charges, no nothing, scot-free. Its basically the same thing. At least
thats how I see it.
doug
****
From Russ
Not a lot going on - Oh yeah?
This is not about ticks as promised, but about a lot of things going on here at Point Clark.
A little, old Lady I’ve known for some 68 years (she’s 98), owns a
vacant lot next to my property, and another lot on which her very old
cottage stands. It’s Lake front property and valued at around a
million. She’s a bit ‘different’ to say the least, and a “tree hugger”
as well. She will not cut down any tree, even if it’s sick and dying –
she’ll prop it up somehow until it eventually dies, then she’ll have
more trees planted to take it’s place until you can’t see her cottage
for trees! The sun never breaks through, so nothing grows – but she
keeps on planting more young trees!! She once called the Police and
told them her neighbour is poisoning her trees, and that’s why they
keep dying. It could be true, because the neighbour loved to torment
her – all because of her obsession with her precious trees!
There has been an infestation of the “Emerald Ash Borer” which has
killed most of the mature Ash trees in Ontario, and this area in Point
Clark, which was beautifully treed with Ash, some reaching heights of
100 feet, and some as old as 100 years have had to be cut down for
safety reasons, and in an attempt to stop the spread of the devastation.
I’ve lost 17 large Ash trees already, and there are still more to be cut down.
We’ve been after Anne (a.m. little, old lady) for years to have her
dead and dangerous Ash trees cut down, she always promises to “attend
to the matter next time she’s up” (she lives in TO), but never does.
She’s had written notice that her trees pose an imminent danger to her
neighbours on both the North (me) and the South (Cameron’s) sides of
her vacant, jungle-like lot. I live in fear each time the wind blows
from her direction that a 20 Ton tree will come crashing down on my
cottage with me in it! That’s it! I’ve had enough!
Anne has a nephew living in Kincardine to whom she has given her
consent to “look after her property”, with the result we now have
“written consent” to enter upon her property and cut down 4 dead Ash
trees that pose the threat.
I hired John, an arborist (Out On A Limb Tree Service) to do his thing.
He looked over the job, gave me a written estimate, and said he’d start
with the “easiest” one (the one which the Pileated Woodpecker had
riddled with 30+ large holes as noted in a previous Squamidian).
Dropping it was the easy part – when John tried to retrieve some of his
equipment, he was attacked by a swarm of honey bees, and was stung
several times before he was able to make his get-away! Getting away is
not fast, and definitely not easy, as the floor of this swampy jungle
is beset with downed tree limbs, tall weeds, and years of accumulation
of dead leaves. Tripping and falling is a ‘given’! I might mention here
that in the Spring melt, or after every heavy rainfall, the swamp
acquires 2 small but deep ponds which remain for months making an
excellent breeding place for mosquitoes. John returned several times
over a two day period to continue with his project, only to be driven
back by swarms of bees.
We contacted a ‘Bee keeper’ in the area named Josh, Vice President of
Anderkin Foods Inc., who came quickly along with a helper,
chainsaw, smoker, sprayer and wearing ‘bee-proof attire’ (all necessary
gear for the safety of the men) They saw no evidence of a nest in the
lower trunk of the tree, but quickly found a huge nest in the upper
part of the 75 – 80 foot tree. Josh used his smoker to pacify the
bees, then his chainsaw to cut a 5 foot ‘chunk’ from the trunk
containing the beehive. His helper plugged all the holes so no bees
could escape (but many did), and they carried the 200 pound log to
their truck, removed their protective gear and drove off leaving their
Stihl chainsaw behind!
Josh had earlier instructed me to wait until dusk, then spray the
remaining bees with a special stuff to kill the bees on contact.
“Greg, I’m looking for a ‘brave soul’ to spray the bees tonight, do you know who I might contact?”
“I’ll come down and do it”, said the ‘brave soul’.
Now Greg, who is terrified of spiders and wasps and hornets and BEES,
had to ‘gear-up’ for the episode; he brought an old rain suit, bright
yellow, he wore while working on an oil-drilling platform in the North
Sea off Scotland several years ago, and he had ‘saved it’ in case he
was ever called back to work on an oil rig on some ocean – which never
happened. Sad.
“Can I help?” I asked, (knowing I am useless). While duct-taping his pants into his big, heavy, high boots, he replied,
“You can duct-tape my cuffs” as he pulled on some heavy leather work-gloves.
“Where’s the old beekeeper’s hood we used to have around here?”
“It’s around here somewhere” I replied, as we both started looking
around in the garage where all this preparation was taking place. Greg
quickly found it and pulled it over his head, I tucked the bottom of
the hood into the top of the rain suit, and we’re all set to do some
serious bee killing! I had to stifle a laugh as he walked off carrying
a can of spray in one hand and a large spotlight in the other. He
looked like he was about to walk on the moon!
Picture this: It’s nearly dark; Greg is moving very slowly as he tries
not to disturb the estimated 5000 bees that have all snuggled up
together, afraid because they’ve lost their precious Queen. Moving is
tough, moving quietly is impossible! He stumbles over the fallen
branches making crashing noises with his large leather boots, and UGH!
UGH!
noises with his ‘ugh – er’. I have to give him credit as he didn’t fall
fully to the ground - the ‘jungle floor wouldn’t allow it! ( only
wish I could have recorded this!). He finally got close enough to see
the bees he was to dispatch. But the damned beekeepers hood kept
slipping down over his face so he couldn’t see a thing! I tried not to
laugh out loud. He sprayed the gang of bees hiding in one end of the
hollow tree until the can was nearly empty, then he crashed out of the
entanglement and rapidly headed for the safety of the garage about 60
feet away where we ripped off the duct tape in a panic, allowing for
his ‘release’ and the reward of a cold beer. A job well done – right?
Wrong. This morning the remaining bees were viciously protecting their
hollow log, thus preventing John to commence with his work. And what
about the hive that had occupied the lower trunk? They followed their
Queen and were now clinging to a branch on a nearby Maple tree – but
standing in the way of progress!
John will come back tomorrow (Friday) and climb the next Ash to be cut
down, and cut a branch that may hit the Maple tree thus set off another
swarming. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
By your old Uncle Russ.
****
From ‘The Wife’
As some of you already know, I am notorious for losing things (credit
cards, keys, glasses, wallets and so on) which does not really work
with a spouse who knows where all his valuables are at all times.
Back in late June, I was babysitting in Maple Ridge. I had dropped the
girls off at school (Kyra) and daycare (Olivia) and then headed to Tim
Hortons for a coffee. I did some shopping and headed back to Lauren
& Ryan’s place after that. I had lunch and did a few things, then
settled down to play Sudoka on my phone until it was time to pick up
the girls just before 4pm. I got their snacks ready and headed down to
the car. No keys to be found, so the frantic search began as I
obviously had not only driven there but had gotten into their condo.
….No keys anywhere!
NOW WHAT? I called BCAA who sent a gentleman in a tow truck who
opened my locked car as I thought I must have locked them in the trunk.
NO keys anywhere in the vehicle. (They were willing to tow me to
Squamish but that wasn’t going to work.) I called Lauren at work, about
45 minutes away and her boss let her leave early so that she could pick
up the girls and I phoned Day Care to let them know what was happening.
When Lauren and the girls got home we both did a very through search
again… no luck. Worse case scenario was that the keys had been left in
the door and someone took them (stuff like that has happened in Maple
Ridge to facilitate a break in later) I not only had my car key, our
mailbox key and house key on the ring but also Ryan & Lauren’s
condo key.
I filed a police report.
I then had to call a very unhappy Doug in Squamish to bring the spare
keys down to Maple Ridge (1.5-2 hour drive). Ryan phoned as he had just
landed in Vancouver and we told him the story so he bought a new lock
set for his front door on the way home. Ryan changed the lock on the
door. Doug went home and I stayed overnight as I was too stressed to
drive.
Two days later Doug and I got replacement keys cut.
Fast forward to July 23rd when I noticed that my prescription glasses
were missing. Here we go again…. Ripped the house apart, checked
outside in the flowerbeds I had been working in… no luck. Next morning,
Doug said he would check at the Gondola and I went to the grocery
store, Shoppers Drug and Canadian Tire to see if glasses had been
turned in.
Doug sent me a text about 9:30am with a picture asking if these glasses were mine. YES!!
Then, a few days ago, Ryan called to say he was cleaning his garage and found my keys on the floor under his toolbox.
ALL IS NOW RIGHT WITH MY WORLD!!! (The Wife)
for now
****
From Lorne
Confession time. I just bought my 4th flat of strawberries. A
total of 24 liters. Cindy took about 4 liters and I ate the rest raw on
cereal or froze them. I'm only commenting on my glutinous craving
because Doug hasn't even seen a strawberry this season. We, Gale, Carol
and I went blueberry picking last Wed. Second time for Gale and I.
Assigned a row, Gale began on one side and I on the other. The 1st bush
more than filled my 4 liter basket. Abundance is the only way to
describe it.
In other events, the new car to-day reached 1000 ks. Beating Gale's 2
year old new car by about 640k by last reading. She even drove
both times for blueberry picking.
Lorne
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Hope you enjoyed your long weekend this past week! The weather here in
KW was amazing and we certainly enjoyed every minute of it. For the
most part, we just stayed around home and did whatever needed to be
done around the house but at least, it wasn’t done in the rain!
Anyway, lately I’ve been taking walks around the block each morning
instead of spending half an hour on the treadmill and I find it very
relaxing to be walking out doors instead of in the basement. The only
difference is that the walk around our considerable block varies from
flat surface to downhill and then up hill for the last half km. I find
that I have to take my time and walk the uphill part slower of course
than the rest of the walk but I’ve been able to do it and it’s getting
easier each time I do. So, that’s what I call progress!
*
If
you’re old enough to remember a folk singer by the name of Arlo
Guthrie, then you might remember a song entitled “Dead Skunk In The
Middle Of The Road” that was made famous by him in the late 60’s!
You can Google it if you’re interested in bringing back some 60’s memories!
The reason I mention it is because three days ago when I was starting
out on my 8am walk around the block, I stepped out of our house and
noticed a distinct odour in the air. It was the smell of a skunk and it
was strong indeed. I looked around a bit and finally saw the body of
what looked to be a smaller sized skunk lying in the middle of the
road. It was on the crosswalk at our corner but had obviously made it
only half way across the street before getting hit by a vehicle of some
sort! I went over to it and looked at it with thought of removing it
and tossing it into the hydro right of way out back but decided against
it. I didn’t want to stink up one of my shovels and then have to clean
the shovel some how. As most of you know, the smell of skunk is very
difficult to get rid of in any way. So I left the little critter where
he fell. I figured he’d be squashed into nothing within a day. However,
it seemed that every vehicle that turned the corner missed his little
body and for two days he was still relatively intact! After that few
days, Carole and I were sitting on the front porch enjoying an
afternoon tea and suddenly, something caught our eye again on the
street. It was two huge “Turkey Buzzards” and I do mean HUGE! Their
wingspan as they landed on the street was at least 5 feet in width!
They had detected the smell of the dead skunk and decided to drop in
for lunch! One of them grabbed the dead skunk and dragged it onto the
lawn of the Jerk that lives across the street from us. You may remember
my account of that neighbour being a loud-mouthed jerk a few years ago.
Well, the dead skunk on his lawn looked good to us but of course it
didn’t stay there very long. The two huge buzzards made quick work of
eating the little guy over the next 15 minutes. It’s amazing how
quickly these birds consumed him. They pecked and munched away at him
literally tearing him to bite sized pieces. I decided to get my camera
and see if I could take some good pics of these interesting birds. When
I went in to get the camera one of them flew away, I guess he’d had
enough to eat! I tried to sneak up on the other one to get a good shot
of Mother Nature in action but I could only get within about 50 feet.
The pics turned out to be too distant for any detail but at least I got
a photo record of the event! When a few of the neighbours saw me taking
pictures of the big bird, they decided to take some too and with a
bunch of people approaching the bird, he got spooked and flew away. He
only made it far enough to land on our rooftop. I got a couple of
pictures of him sitting atop our house but again; they were too distant
for detail. Oh well, at least the two big birds and the little skunk
gave me something to write about this week! I’d like to thank Mother
Nature for her inspiration and for sending two of her custodians to
clean up the little stinker that should have looked both ways before
crossing our street but didn’t! LOL!
That’s about all for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now … Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
Every time you cross a street, be sure to look both ways or you might wind up as dinner for a couple of buzzards!
****
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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