The Squamidian Report – June 1 /19
 
Issue #888

Including:
From Lorne
From Russ
The Ontarion

Hi All,

I’ve been taking some flack for getting the date of Russ’s birthday wrong. Well, I won’t apologize because I simply wasn’t there at the time. Therefore, I really had no way of knowing for sure what the exact date was. And, I was only out be a few days. And, by being out those few days, I actually had Russ being several days younger than the rest of you thought he was. So, I should be thanked for doing a good and kind deed. You’re welcome. And Oh, a belated birthday to Russ’s baby brother. I didn’t even know about that one until it was too late. Again, I wasn’t there so can take no responsibility.
*
We’ve just had our 6 old skylights replaced with 6 nice shiny brand new ones. Thats a good thing. We’ve been trying for a very long time to find someone that would supply and install new skylights but to no avail. Our old ones were made from that acrylic plastic that was so common 30 years ago when they were incorporated into the roof of this house at time of construction. Since then they have lost their seal between the pane and have deteriorated in other ways as well. For several years we’ve been trying to find someone who would do the job. Over the past year I’ve been calling roofing companies that claim to install skylights and not one would even return my call. We’ve phoned, emailed, left messages on their web sites and so on but not a single place would respond. We’d asked various contractors working in the area if they do skylights and every one said “NO” unless it was part of a full roofing job. Then one day a few months ago a contractor was in our neighbor’s back yard talking with her. She has her own architect business and has worked with this guy on several of her projects. He was at her place to look at her siding, the siding that has been damaged by the flicker (a large woodpecker that is very good at damaging siding). I asked if he’d be interested in at least looking at our problem and he said “sure”, he’d take our number and get back to us.

Several weeks went by and we figured it was just another dead end but then low and behold, he called to see if we still wanted the work done and if so, when could he pop by to measure the existing lights. Cool. He came by, checked things out, and said he could order new skylights and get the job done before summer if we wanted. And away we went. He came over this week, set up scaffolding and removed the old windows and installed nice new modern ones that have the UV blocking, the proper thermal values and so on. There were issues due to the way that the skylights were set into the roof and interior walls, and we need to jury rig the openers for the 3 that open but otherwise the job is done. And thats the bottom line….THE JOB IS DONE! We will be using this guy again, perhaps several times, on other projects that I’ve either grown too old to do or don’t know how.
doug
****

From Lorne

I have intruders. This has happened several times. Like my father and his father before him, as old age approaches, I find having a nap at some time each day, usually after lunch, is most desirable. This is when intruders choose to quietly enter, check to see if I'm lying on the couch, then leave some food, generally baking, and are gone without a sound or any hint of whom. It happened again just now, Wed., May 29. This time 4 squares of something sweat on a paper plate covered with that stuff that people use to cover stuff. I will be polite and thank the unknown.

We attended brother Russ's 90th. Well we didn't quite make the actual reception as I had an earlier appointment in London that afternoon. Missed the fun in the afternoon but hung around for the evening. Actually hung around until Tues. morning. I know a good time when I see one.

Noticed on the trip home from Point Clark, a lot of water covering fields that should by now have been seeded and those that have been will be unproductive because of seed rot, reducing crops, sending food prices up. But shortages don't raise prices, people do.

This just in. As I'm preparing to send this, the phone rings and it's Sue from B.C. She is here. The mystery is solved. Sue confessed it was her and her sister. They  pleaded guilty to break and entry. Left the 4 date squares and a stack of lawn chairs. I'm thankful now for not calling 911.
Lorne
****

From Russ

I Made It.

It was with caring parents, tolerant siblings, and just plain good luck that I made it to age 90.  No one believes I’m so old – especially me!!
    Having been nearly electrocuted several times (electrician)
    Nearly strangled and threatened with death (cop)
    Spent 26 years planning how to murder my boss (teacher)
    Forced into the role of ‘care-giver’. Hardest job of all.
And I’m not going to mention a childhood fraught with danger, sexual abuse (no, not by parents or siblings). And smoking those “Monkey tobacco” cigarettes rolled in newspaper, which not only burned my mouth and throat, but nearly burned down the chicken pens where I smoked them!
While attending Kitchener Collegiate Institute (KCI); and being required to crawl on our hands and knees under the school, onto dirt floors with less than a 3 foot headroom; and shoot with .22 Cal. live ammunition, at paper targets, with little or no formal safety training – bullets flying everywhere; just so we’d be able to help protect ‘the Homeland’ in case of an invasion by German troops!  Yup, we were in a ‘desperate war with Germany’, and the ‘Youthful Underground’ was being trained under KCI.
*
Now about my 90th Birthday party: My sweet daughter-in-law, Greg’s wife Bettie, arranged the whole event (bless her heart), and planned for a large crowd of 40 or possibly 50.
“No – I don’t even know that many people”, I said.
I thought we’d hold the small gathering of my church friends in the Hall and I guessed about 16 old parishioners would attend if it was held following the Sunday Service. I meet my neighbours on my daily bike rides around here, so I casually said, “Are you coming to my Birthday party on Sunday?” About a dozen said they would be delighted.
Now the party was to be BIGGER and Greg & Bettie were able to reserve the Canadian Legion Hall in Ripley for Sunday afternoon, May 26th.
I wasn’t aware, but G & B invited the relatives from all sides and the final tally was 75!!
I was overwhelmed! I was surprised I actually knew all of the guests, and as I remain seated most of the time (handicapped, you know), the girls/young women/old ladies and even some of the men, kept bending/kneeling down and KISSING me – I was pinned down and couldn’t escape (even if I wanted to!) I thanked each person for coming to my party (who was able to get through to me).
 
I never had a better time EVER in my whole  l  o  n  g  life!!
 
PS  Sorry you couldn’t make it Doug, but Sue was a real ‘trouper’ and made up for your absence. The rest of your siblings were there – how great was that?
PPS  Guess who were just about the first ones there? Our mutual friends, Greg and Carole Payne. Thanks again for the ‘historic’ T-shirt.
Cpl. Russell Brubacher KPD 1963
****

THE ONTARION REPORT

Hello everyone!
Well, I finally have something to actually report on for a change. It is of course the event that took place last Sunday in Ripley, believe it or not! LOL!

The event to which I’m referring is of course Uncle Russ’s 90th birthday bash! It was more of a meet and greet than a bash I guess but whatever it was called, it was a fun time for sure. We started the day by leaving two and a half hours before the party was supposed to start figuring it would take us about two hours to go that distance. We don’t like to be late so we thought we’d be at least a little early arriving at the Legion in Ripley. As it turned out, we arrived right on time for the start of the bash. There were only four people there before us plus Russ of course. So upon our arrival at the Legion Russ introduced Carole and I to his two sons Greg and Mac and Mac’s son. He and Mac had arrived earlier that week and had spent a few days with Russ while he showed them around the Bruce County area of Southern Ontario. They had a good time entertaining each other with the different ventures out from Russ’s place. I’m sure Russ will tell you all about their time together. The only other person there upon our arrival was Tim, Doug’s brother. He had ridden to Ripley on his Harley all the way from Woodstock. I hadn’t seen Tim for several years but recognized his smiling face immediately. It wasn’t long before more and more attendees began to arrive and most of them arrived baring small gifts or at least a congratulatory card to mark the occasion. Uncle Russ had stated that gifts were neither expected or wanted at the event, just everybody’s smiling faces and happy regards to mark his 90th birthday. Carole and I had decided that it would be fitting to at least bring along a token gift to mark the occasion so we wracked out brains for a couple of weeks before the day to try to come up with something that a person of Russ’s stature and age would appreciate and make use of. As most of you can imagine, someone that has reached the age that Russ was celebrating would by then either own or have been the owner at one time or another of pretty much anything a man could ever want. LOL! SO, deciding on a gift that would be useful to him was a challenge. We ran the gamut with the usual light gifts that ranged from Lotto Tickets to music CD’s to many other items but for the most part came up dry.

However, on the Wednesday before the event, I had a brainy idea, why not get Russ something that would take him back many years to a time that was most prominent in his lifetime career? I said to Carole, “Why not have a tee shirt made for Russ that commemorated his early career on the Kitchener Police Department?” We both thought this would at least be something he could use if only on hot days when riding his trike! So, I went to a company at 100 Ahrens St in Kitchener that does “Screen Printing” and asked if they could print up a dark blue tee shirt with white lettering to my design on time for the Sunday’s event. The gentleman there said he could have it for me the next day (Friday) as it was Thursday before I could get to the company site. I showed a quick drawing of what I thought would look good on the shirt and he said “No problem, I’ll call you tomorrow when it’s ready for pick up!” Needless to say we waited with baited breath for the phone to ring on Friday since the company was closed on the weekends. The phone rang at about three o’clock Friday afternoon and I raced right down to the location to see the results. There it was, sitting on the counter as I entered the establishment. It was beautiful indeed! The shirt was dark navy blue with white lettering, just as I had pictured it! On the front left side of the chest was printed in small lettering “Cpl R G Brubacher” with the date “1963” beneath the name. I did this to commemorate the year that Uncle Russ had been promoted to Corporal and had been tasked with the establishment of the Kitchener Police Department “Juvenile Crime Division”. It was a proud moment in Russ’s career so I figured he’d like that! Then on the reverse side of the shirt in Large BLOCK letters, they had printed “KITCHENER”  PD This of course to denote the Police Department that started Russ’s life long career in law enforcement.
We were quite anxious to see Russ’s reaction when he opened the small box containing the shirt with this commemorative printing on it.


As it turned out, the event on Sunday was planned to be a drop in and say hello and leave after a short visit however, with the way everyone socialized after arrival, nobody left after a short while. Most of the visitors stayed the entire four hour time period that had been allotted for the celebration. Consequently, we stayed on as well until the end and had to prod Russ to start opening his cards and gifts before everyone had gone home! LOL! He finally relented and began to open them with ours being the first gift to be opened. When he first pulled the shirt out of the box, he really didn’t realize I don’t think what it was all about. His son  Mac finally said to him, “Read the lettering Dad!” And then Russ read the front of the shirt first. His facial expression was priceless indeed! He was quite surprised when he read the “Cpl R G Brubacher” on the front and then began to smile at Carole and I and stating how wonderful he thought it was that we thought of such a cool reminder of his career. His son Mac then told him to read what was printed on the back of the shirt. It took a minute for it all to sink into Russ’s busy mind and then it struck him how cool the shirt and its message truly was. He was thrilled with the gift and it’s message and could not express his gratitude enough. Of course Carole and I were equally happy that the idea for our gift to Russ had worked out so well. I think it was the hit of the day, at least for us and hopefully for Russ as well. Of course he received many other nice gifts and was happy with all of them for sure.

We were at the end of the time allotted for the event so we decided it was time to leave and head for home.            

We had another pleasant surprise at the party when we realized that Sue Brubacher was in attendance from BC. She had come to Kitchener to attend to some family business and made time to also attend the party for Russ. Sue and Carole and I sat together for the afternoon and the ladies had a good visit. When Sue said she had to leave earlier than we expected because her ride was leaving soon, we suggested she ride home with us and that would allow her to stay for the rest of the afternoon. She agreed and was able to stay for the opening of the gifts. When things wound down and we were among the last to leave, the weather was sunny and nice for the drive home to KW. Of course Sue was staying with her sister and brother-in-law in Maryhill so we had to take a short detour from our homeward direction to drop her off in Maryhill. That gave us a good couple of hours during the drive to chat some more and it was nice and quiet when compared to the 75 or more people crammed into the small room at the legion and all talking at once! LOL! It’s amazing how loud the conversations become when everyone is trying to compete and be heard in a small room.

As it turned out, the afternoon was a howling success and the only thing missing was the usual Brubacher Music. It was too bad that Doug and a few others that usually strum and sing were not able to be there but the day was an enjoyable one anyway!

I think that’s about all 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>
Curiosity is the only intelligence test, which tells what one may become as well as what one is.
                                      

****

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.