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The Squamidian Report – July 27/19
Issue => #896 <=
Including: From Lorne From Sus From Russ From Wayne The Ontarion Hi All, We are at that state in planetary orbits where both Jupiter and Saturn are spectacularly visible as the evening sky gives way to darkness. Actually, Jupiter is visible just before dark if you know where to look, that being just east of south, and fairly low. The cool thing about Jupiter is that with a good pair of binoculars or a small amateur type telescope you can see 4 of her moons as well as those bands of color that circle that planet. And the cool thing about her visible moons is that they are constantly changing position as they move in their orbits so the view is never the same. Jupiter obviously has many more moons but these 4 are the ones visible through small scopes etc. As for Saturn, her rings are currently on enough of an angle from our viewing perspective to let them appear nicely, separated from the planet. From a viewing perspective, we’ve been having some really nice opportunities because after a scary dry spring, out summer has been wet enough that forest fires have not filled our air with smoke and when we do get clear dry days, out humidity is very low keeping the atmosphere stable, making for good viewing. There are also the summer constellations to look at so get out there and enjoy. *
Because
of that parched dry spring we endured, I didn’t have very high
expectations from my blueberry patch. There had been no local
strawberries at all due to the early drought. I had watered my plants
regularly but there weren’t many blossoms on them. Face it, the last
few dry summers were very hard on all the shrubs etc. Anyway, because
my expectations were low, any berries at all would be a bonus, and low
and behold, I’m actually getting a handful a day right now.
Unfortunately, so are the birds. The stupid things take one peck out of
a berry, knock it off the stem and it ends up on the ground, damaged
and ruined. So, I’m having to pick my blueberries just before they get
fully ripe. If I wait until full ripeness, they are lost to the birds.
That means they are a bit tart in taste but certainly go nicely om a
bowl of cereal in the morning, but not sweat enough for on ice cream
which may be a good thing because blueberries can cause me to eat way
too much of that stuff as I do like to put a bit of ice cream on my
berries. I could always revert to buying them at the store or market
but I’ve found that commercial berries are about as tasteless as water.
No nice blueberry odor either, just boring.A few years ago when we were having problems with birds pecking at the berries I had tried putting netting over the plants. That only sort of worked because while it would keep birds out, it would also snag on the tips of the branches and I’d end up damaging the plants when trying to remove the netting. So, I end up compromising, the birds grudgingly get some of the berries and I end up with not quite ripe, sour berries with my breakfast. I think I’m getting the raw end of this deal. *
And
what is with the self centered entitled morons in Ontario who are
complaining about being awaken because an Amber Alert has been
broadcast to their phone. Can it even be possible to be more selfish
and self absorbed? The thought of someone having a problem with getting
the message of a missing child spread as fast and far as possible is
unbelievable. If these morons had any brains, which they don’t, they’d
realize they could simply turn off their phones, but then they might
miss an ‘important’ call or text. Unbelievable!doug
**** From Lorne We have lost the heat and high humidity allowing me to once again sit here at the computer and type off some highly intelligent, heartwarming and inspirational message that all 12 of you look forward to each issue. Well, what this is leading up to, is, I cant think of anything to say. Oh, by the way. I just spent some more of my kid's inheritance by taking delivery of another new car. Lorne
**** From Sus The summer is passing by quickly as usual. What isn't usual is the black flies are still out in full force. By now they should have died off and the deer and moose flies would be the problem. I guess the explanation is we had a long cool wet spring and even now it isn't all that hot, only a day here or there. The gardens are finally looking good. I thinned out the carrots yesterday giving us a nice feed for us and the chickens. I actually bought myself one of those bug netted hats so as to keep weeding and not be driven out of the garden too soon. The deer are plentiful and have already eaten most of my hostas. They seem to have discovered this plant of lately since over the years the hostas were never touched. We have a high pea fence on two sides of the garden and the rest is fenced in by two levels of logs from trees we have cut down. I hung tin foil plates everywhere to reflect light and make noises in the wind to keep the deer out. Hopefully the deer get the message. About 6 weeks ago we bought one day old chicks, 18 meat birds and 6 laying hens. The laying hens were purposely black so we could tell the difference from the yellow meat chicks. About a week later we realized that there were only 18 birds altogether. Our first thought was a predator had stolen 6 birds! But how would it get in, our pen was impossible to penetrate and there was no obvious stress on the birds that remained. We even wondered if someone had played a trick on us and had taken the birds. After a week or so we decided there most likely were not 24 birds in the first place that we bought. When they are so small they huddle and keep moving so it is impossible to count them. We called the farm co-op and they confirmed that mistakes like this happen all the time as chick day is extremely busy at the store what with all the farmers showing up to pick their chicks. We have had lots of company from away already this summer. My brother Warren and his wife, Rochelle were here for a week. They had flown out to Newfoundland for a holiday and to view the ice bergs floating by. They were so impressed by them they even packed a chunk in their luggage. When they arrived at our house and we opened the wine Rochelle broke off a chunk for our drinks. It hadn't melted at all on their flight to Halifax!! Last week Hugh Cameron and Mary visited after attending the Antigonish Highland Games. Hugh judges every year for the games and I always go pick him up so he can have a well earned rest and visit with us. We were thrilled that this year Mary visited us as well. We tried our best to feed them with good Maritime seafood and all that is local. We hope to get away ourselves for a weekend, possibly the Stan Rogers Folk festival and the Louisburg crab festival. We can also do a day trip to these events as they are only 3 hours away. Have a great summer everyone! Sus
**** From Russ Wayne and Sylvia Brubacher hosted the 1st Haufschild – Brubacher Reunion (formerly the Cousin’s Reunion) at their beautiful home near New Hamburg, Ontario, Canada on Saturday, July 20th, 2019. Saturday was another blistering hot one, but their home was kept cool by multiple ceiling fans, iced drinks, and really cool company! Don’t know – didn’t count, but it seemed everyone I ever knew was there! Our gracious hostess, Sylvia had, as usual, prepared some delicious, exotic foods, and we thank you again for your tireless effort. It sure paid off! After most of the guests were gone (leaving a bit of a mess), Sylvia confided in me saying, “I was kept so busy in the kitchen, I really never had time to visit with many of you”, and added, “that’s the down side of being the host”. She looked beat – “pretty”, but beat. And Wayne, our handsome host had as usual, kept us all supplied with beverages from his well-stocked liquor cabinet and beer and wine cooler. What fine choices he had to offer! Too bad my son, Greg and I couldn’t partake – but we have our reasons(nothing too sinister). It was still very hot (31 C.) when we left the party around 7:30PM, and about half-way to Point Clark we ran into the WORST rain and wind storm! Greg, who will stop for nothing, had to pull off the road and stop 3 times, as we simply couldn’t see where we were going! The wipers could not handle the rain in that weather condition! But, thank God, we got home safely to the most beautiful sunset we’ve seen for years. Time 9:30PM. Our special thanks, for making this newly-renamed reunion such a great success, goes to Wayne and Sylvia and to those who helped, from all of us - who sat on our butts. Whoever hosts the reunion next year, as they say in show business, will have one Hell of a tough act to follow!! Uncle Russ.
**** From Wayne Cousins' Reunion at Sylvia and Wayne's place in New Hamburg July 20, 2019. Everything went swimmingly, as the British say. The food was great and thanks to those who brought salads and desserts. We are still eating left-overs, The attendance was good, the weather was HOT! HOT! HOT!, the drinks were cool and the two generations got along just fine. Obviously we are not orientals because NOBODY took a single photograph. To remedy that situation, through the marvel of science I was able to capture images from the leftover presence of spirits. Parking is available but in small lots that are far from the house so we ran a shuttle service using our golf cart as pictured below. I was able to reconstruct everyone as everyone possessed metaphysical powers. Here is what I got, Wayne and Sylvia.
     **** THE ONTARION REPORT Hello everyone! Good to be talking to you once again in The Ontarion. I had a good week and the main event was another visit with Doug’s uncle Russ on Monday. I drove to Amberly to visit him for the afternoon. It’s a two-hour drive from Kitchener to his place but with the heavy traffic on Monday morning it took me almost three hours. I drove strait west on Hwy 86 until I hit a detour at Lucknow which took me about 5 km north and then allowed me to once again head west. Luckily that road took me directly into the north end of the subdivision that Russ lives in and consequently didn’t cause me any delay. With the length of that drive I still like to get to Russ’s place with enough time to have a good visit. We had a real good conversation as usual and enjoyed a “near beer” on his back deck to start off the day. As it turns out, Russ and I have quite a lot in common. I guess with his 90 years and my 70 years of life experiences, we’ve seen and been through enough to fill several thick volumes of written stories if we so desired! You don’t live that long and not experience a lot of interesting happenings. Of course spending a career as a police officer and one as a fire fighter affords one plenty of happenings to allow for the same number of memories to relate to one another. I enjoy his cop stories and he in turn enjoys hearing my fire related stories. After shooting the breeze for about an hour we headed to his local restaurant for a quick lunch. Of course that quick lunch turned into about an hour and a half gabfest! LOL! After lunch we headed back to his place on the lake for a quick bathroom break and another refreshment. Once feeling refreshed he offered to show me his 4x4 that he keeps hidden in his garage. It’s a fairly large two seater utility vehicle that he uses for yard work as well as for scooting around his neighbourhood. It’s really fun to ride in and the next time I visit I’ll try my hand at driving it as well. This vehicle has a square box on the back that also is a hydraulic dump! It sure seems to be a handy vehicle and does not require a license to drive on the roads or to operate. After our 4x4 tour, we decided to scoot up to Kincardin for a coffee before I had to head for home. We toured around that town for a little while and he showed me the new training centre for the nuclear facility that is on the lakeshore in Kincardin and is the largest one of it’s kind in the world! The training centre is a huge warehouse like structure. It’s about 40 feet high by 300 feet wide by 800 feet long and hasn’t got one window in the place. I guess it’s top secret so nobody can peek in to learn Ontario Hydro’s secrets! LOL! Oh well, who wants to know what they’re teaching their members anyway. I guess it only matters if you work for them! We visited the local Tim Horton’s and enjoyed a nice black decaf before I dropped Russ back at home. We both enjoyed the day and the weather was beautiful by the lake. After another 20-minute talk at Russ’s patio I got back into the Jeep and headed for Kitchener once again. It was a much more enjoyable drive home during the evening on Monday since at that time of day the traffic on Hwy 86 is markedly less busy! I stopped in Lucknow and purchased a 6/49 ticket for Wednesday’s draw and as it turned out it was no luckier buying it in Lucknow than it usually is when bought in Kitchener! LOL! I thought the name of that town might give me a winner but I guess I might as well have waited until I got back to KW before buying a ticket! Hahahahaha…….. Oh well, I consider myself a winner having enjoyed a nice visit with my interesting friend Russ! I thank him for his hospitality and will most certainly do it again sometime soon! *
As
I told you last time, we’re finally enjoying some sunny and hot
weather here in southern Ontario and it’s supposed to continue for a
while yet. I hope it lasts until January LOL and then gets nice! At
least I can still enjoy mowing my lawn and trimming it as well. It’s
about the most exercise I get these days. I’ve always enjoyed the
outdoor maintenance work on our house and this year is no exception.
I’m just happy to be healthy enough to do all those things but of
course at a much slower pace! LOL! Life is good to say the least and
both Russ and I agree that we intend to make it to the 100 mark before
thinking of the future! He’s really doing well and so am I at this
point. Just gotta keep eating our Wheaties I guess! I hope you’re all
enjoying this lovely summer weather as Carole and I are. At times it’s
a tad too warm but we shouldn’t complain I guess!We’ve been enjoying cruising in the MGB but this week I’ve had to have my mechanic check out a problem we have with the clutch. It’s in need of a new “slave cylinder” as well as a new “master cylinder” for the clutch. Without them the foot pedal is engaging the transmission too close to the floor. If I leave it any longer and it gets worse, the mechanic said I wouldn’t be able to shift the transmission at all. So, I’ve ordered both parts and will have him install them as soon as possible so we can keep on crusin’ for the rest of the Summer. Since the MGB is now 40 years old, it’s prone to having parts failures every once in a while. The parts that just failed are original to the vehicle so I’m not too put out about them dying at this time. Luckily they are both still readily available for purchase so I can rest easy and just pay the bill! LOL! That’s about it for this week folks! 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>A woman has two views about a secret. Either it’s not worth keeping, or it’s too good to keep! ****
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. |