Issue #926
Including:

From Kyra
From Olivia
From Russ
The Ontarion

Hi All,

I didn’t write as much as I could have about the gondola opening day because it would have rambled on more than necessary. However, I’ll expand a bit in this issue. Last Friday morning (Feb 14) was the opening, as you know. They started off with some speeches. Long before the important people started their speeches, the general public had lined up and was waiting to go up. The general public really wasn’t all that interested in listening to important people yap about themselves but we didn’t have much choice. It started off with the general manager talking for a few minutes about the journey taken from the time of the cable cutting to opening. Fine. Then the politicians took over. They rambled on and on about how great they were. They were politically correct in everything they said to the point of being obnoxious, and ended up praising themselves a few more times. Then a representative from the local First Nations did basically the same thing, you could hear people yawning. Eventually, the speeches were over with, which was good because the general public was getting cold and tired of standing there.

Once the dignitaries and other overly important people boarded their cabins, the rest of the VIP’s boarded. We were tucked in on the tail end of that group. Our Friday morning coffee group was at the front of the lowly general public line but that put them right behind us so that worked out ok. The ride up was just like it had always been, up through the clouds into a nice sunny winter wonderland. I had expected some changes or improvements inside the lodge as ‘they’ had been working up there all along but except for some paint and a few minor rearrangements, nothing had really changed. But, it was all good. Really good to be back up there.

On the Saturday morning we finally had a chance to hike our ‘usual’ trail. That felt good, perhaps even therapeutic. When we got out to the Chief overlook lookout I noticed something missing, the world’s most famous and most photographed dead tree was gone. Most of you have seen pictures of it, if not having seen it in person. It had been dead a long time, was twisted and grey. There was no sign of it on or under the snow but if it went down in a wind storm (and it had been leaning more and more as time went by) it might have gone over the cliff and just kept on going for several hundred feet down into the forest below. I posted a picture of it not being there on FB. We were a bit socked in which made for an interesting pic but it couldn’t show the missing tree in perspective so I took another pic of the missing tree a day or so later when the weather had cleared out. This pic was as close to the perspective of one I’d taken a few years ago so I’m posting both here for comparison.

Here is the picture of the world famous, most photographed tree, taken a few years ago.
The 3rd peak of the Chief and the Squamish Valley are in the background.

Here is basically the same shot, taken this week, with the tree gone.
It's kind of empty.

doug

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From Kyra

(Most of this was typed by Kyra)

Day 1: We were taking off in an airplane in the morning and when we got there it was night time.

Day 2: We were in a hotel and Olivia was sleeping. It was 9:30. We went up to Kitchener and went to another hotel at the end of the day.

Day 3: Me and Olivia were playing together and then Olivia wanted a bath when she already had a bath on day 2. We went to see Sherry.

Day 4: I got my ears pierced.

Day 5: We were shopping and then Mom almost forgot that she needed to buy some ear solution for my ears. I saw my grampas’s dad at his house. There was a party there.

Day 6: We went Toronto. We saw dads friends.

Day7: We went home.

Kyra

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From Olivia

(first line typed by Olivia)

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So first I got to drop off my car and then I got on an airplane. And then I finally got to my hotel and it was super dark outside and we didn’t even brush our teeth. And then it was sunny and rainy it was cloudy it was snowing. And next we finally went to bed and thats all.

Olivia

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From Russ

Weather, whether you like it or not.

I was going to a meeting today (Thu. Feb. 20) and expecting to be picked up by a friend, but that didn’t happen so I chanced driving my Cub Cadet. Although it has role bars and stuff it is not one of those “off road” vehicles the young and the ‘young-at-heart’ drive on off road trails, through the bush, up-and-down steep hills, rolling over occasionally, and not stopping until they are so caked with mud/slush they can’t see where they’re going. Mine is classed as a ‘Farm Utility’ vehicle. It has a dump box, 4-wheel drive, aggressive, knobby tires but no doors/side windows. Parking in an “handicapped space” facing East, I went into my meeting pushing my ‘other’ vehicle – my Rollator, which I’d carried in the box.

It started to snow, then it snowed harder, then you could hardly see anything out the windows. It was one of those snowsqualls for which Lake Huron is famous. They cut short the activities so drivers could get home safely. But for me it was too late. Wind had come in from the North and filled the box, the dashboard, the windshield, and both seats. Me with no snowbrush. I started clearing snow from the inside of my Cubby using my gloved hands, and wasn’t getting anywhere. A man from the meeting, seeing my plight said, “I got a snowbrush”, and before I knew it he was sweeping off the whole vehicle – inside and out!

The footing was very slippery, and I was struggling to load the Rollator back into the box of my Cubby. “Here, I can help you with that – you just get in and drive”. It was the same guy, I thanked him again (embarrassed, I don’t know his name). “No problem – anytime” he replied while brushing the snow from his vehicle.

How nice was that? Only in Bruce County.

It was a good thing I had 4-wheel drive, as some of the roads were not plowed – including my driveway. As I pulled into my drive I saw there was mail and pondered how I was going to do this without having to unload my Rollator. I can walk only a few steps without aid, and with snow-covered ice, it was not safe. Just then, a red pick-up pulled up, stopped, and a woman tumbled out of the passenger side of the truck shouting, “Happy New Year, Russ – can I get your mail?”. Then the man appeared- they are my ‘summertime’ neighbours and they were just up checking their cottage. His name is “Sandy” and hers is something else.

What great people surround me – and I can’t remember their names!

We all complain about the weather; It’s too hot!, It’s too cold!, It’s too windy!, It’s so humid, I can hardly breathe! This winter is/was a strange one, it seems to be having a hard time getting started. Those who love winter sports: cross-country skiing; snowmobiling; snow-shoeing; jogging; tricycling; just to name a few, love to fill their lungs with cold, dry air. Don’t they realize they are drawing gases into their lungs? Gases like: Nitrogen, Oxygen, Argon, Carbon Dioxide, and water vapor? Do they never give a thought that they may also be drawing polluted air into those precious lungs?

Air Pollution is the soiling of the atmosphere by contaminants to the point that they may cause injury to health, property, plant, or animal life, or prevent the use and enjoyment of the outdoors.

We’re all aware of global warming and the serious harm it’s doing to this tiny blue dot that’s swirling around in space. Let’s face it folks, it’s the only place in the Universe that we’ve found (so far) that can support humanity. The culprit is ‘Greenhouse Effect’ – The overall warming of the earth’s lower atmosphere primarily due to carbon dioxide and water vapor which permit the sun’s rays to heat the earth, but then restrict some heat energy from escaping back into space. Anything that burns fossil fuel leaves a carbon footprint.

Question: Is taxing carbon the answer?

Question: Is ‘taxing’ over-weight passenger luggage the answer?

Question: Is severity of punishment an effective means to crime prevention?

Continued next week.

Uncle Russ.

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THE ONTARION REPORT

Hello everyone!

It’s been a busy week and we’ve just gotten home from the USA after a two day visit to Niagara Falls NY. We decided to take a couple of days there to get away for a bit of a change. We did a little shopping and had a couple of nice meals out while there. It was a relaxing time just to get away from the humdrum of winter in the KW area. I know that the winter is the same in NY but it was just the change of scenery and routine that we needed. I thought we might be getting stuck on the QEW on the way down or back since the Jeep had been what I call stuttering and sputting when I tried to accelerate above 80 km per hr. I don’t know what caused it but it seemed to be a gas flow problem. I bought a small bottle of injector cleaner down there and put it in the tank when we filled up to come home and that seemed to make a difference. I’ll have to get my mechanic buddy to check it out. Might be time to trade the old girl in on something newer. It’s not a vehicle with high mileage on it but when things start too act up its time for a change. Maybe!

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I’ve been thinking of spring of course but then again isn’t everyone these days? With such a mild start and middle to our winter this year it’s been a bit of a disappointment having so much cold and snow in the latter part of the season that it’s got everyone crossing their fingers for an early spring. Last week, I finally made use of a very nice gift that Carole and Adam had given me for Christmas. They gave me a set of four “dollies” on which to mount the MG. They are steel plates with four heavy casters on each one that go under the four wheels of a vehicle so that you can roll the vehicle around without having to start it or push it around in your garage or storage space. The MG doesn’t take up a lot of space in the garage but it’s difficult to get it parked close to the side of the garage and then get out of the car afterwards. So the casters make it easy to push it by hand into the corner and to one side of the garage for the winter. Adam assembled the dollies for me and then we teamed up to jack the car up and place a dolly under each wheel. From then on it was a snap to push the car to one side. With the dollies under the wheels the car cover no longer drags on the floor of the garage to soak up salt and water from the winter mess. What a great idea these items are when you are storing a vehicle for the winter.

When I drive down our street or any street for that matter I can’t help notice that most people park their cars in the driveway and have their garages filled with junk for the winter and summer. What a waste of space when their garage isn’t used for its intended purpose. I remember when my dad finally had a garage built at the back end of our narrow driveway when I lived at home on Floyd St. He was one of the only people on the street to have a garage in which to park his big Buick. He was the envy of all the neighbours at the time. He parked the car in the garage for about the first two years then he started to accumulate other stuff that filled the garage. It didn’t take long before the Buick was back out on the driveway year round. I remember my mother asking him why they spent all that money on a garage if he wasn’t going to park the car in it! His answer was “Well Honey, a guy needs a place for his stuff and that’s where I keep MY stuff!” Then, after my brother was old enough to own a car, he bought a “29 Ford Roadster hotrod and guess what, he cleaned up the garage and made enough room in it to store his precious hotrod! End of story! My dad’s Buick never did see the inside of his garage again! So, I vowed that if I ever owned a house it would have a double garage so I could use half for my “Stuff” and half in which to park my car! Now we have two cars and even with a lot of stuff in the garage, we have enough room for both vehicles. I think it would be nice to have a house on a couple of acres of land so I could have an auxiliary building with more than two bays so all of my stuff plus a couple of fun vehicles would fit in without a problem. Oh well, we’re getting along ok with just the double garage but more room would be nice! LOL! Come to think of it, more money would help as well! Hahahahaha…… guess I’ll just have to keep on dreaming and buying those lotto tickets won’t I!

A couple of weeks ago I was inspired by Karl’s photos of the beach in Australia with the sun shrouded by the smoke and haze caused by the fires in their country. I had made up my mind to make better use of my new Canon camera once the weather gets warmer. However, I then decided to get my winter woolies on and take a drive into the country with my camera and see if I could get some good winter scene shots. I spent one whole afternoon scouting the countryside but came home with pictures of a few cattle and one dead tree in the middle of a farmer’s field! I set out to take some wildlife shots but with all my scouting, I failed to come across any wildlife at all. Usually when we are driving through the farm country, we tend to see at least a deer or two foraging in the open fields and I always say, “Gee, I wish I had my camera along now!” Of course when you do have your camera handy, there’s nothing much to take pictures of! Like Karl said, you just have to be in the right spot at the right time! I guess I’ll have to start carrying my camera every time I go anywhere from now on and maybe I’ll have better luck. The cold weather shouldn’t be a deterrent to a good day out taking pics but I tend to like the warmer weather better for many reasons! One of those reasons being, the less clothing you have to fumble with, such as winter gloves, the easier it is to grab your camera and take the shot that you’re afraid you would miss otherwise. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll get more proficient with practice! Like my mother used to say when I was a young kid taking accordion lessons, “Practice makes perfect!” which was one of the reasons I hated to practice! Thanks for the encouragement Mum!

That’s about all I have 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>
Musical talent, you either have it or you don’t!

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