Issue #947
Including:

From Russ
The Ontarion

Hi All,

The west coast has, much to our surprise, had a few almost nice days. Days where the sun has come out, no rain or almost no rain, and temperatures that have climbed all the way up to normal. We don’t know how to deal with that. We don’t know how to dress for ‘normal’ temperatures. Heck, we didn’t even have to have the heat on in the house for a few days.

It’s also raspberry season. I kind of like raspberries. In some ways I shouldn’t given an experience I had back, way, way back, when I was about 6 or 8 years old. I had accompanied my grandfather (Mom’s dad) to a neighboring farm where he had wanted to chat with the farmer. I have no idea about what but thats not important. The farmer’s wife invited me in for a nice big bowl of raspberries and cream. How could I resist? I vividly remember sitting at what seemed to me to be a giant table, perched on a giant chair. Keep in mind I was just a small kid. Anyway, she set this bowl of raspberries in front of me and handed me a big spoon. As I took my first scoop I noticed some sort of caterpillar crawling around on top of the berries. Now, these were very nice, kind people but also very stern as was my grandfather and I dared not complain and didn’t dared not eat all the bowl of berries. So, very carefully I ate around the caterpillar until all that was left in the bowl was said caterpillar. I think I felt creepy the rest of the day and who knows for how long after.

And that brings me to when we were in our early teens or perhaps a bit younger. The neighbors up the hill from the homestead, Schnieders, had a huge raspberry patch out back. During raspberry season my brothers and I would sneak up after dark and gorge ourselves on the berries. Problem was, it was dark out and we couldn’t see a thing. No way of telling what we might actually be stuffing into our mouths. And yes, there were times that a given handful didn’t taste quite right but the next one would so it all seemed to have worked out fine. I’ll never know how many of those little caterpillars I may have ended up eating after all.

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I’ve actually had a few comments regarding that little video I did last week. Some of them got me thinking a bit more about somehow inserting extra music tracks and possibly editing the sound balance in order to make the vid better. To that end I’ve tried a few different things. I’ve discovered that I can in fact import a video into Logic Pro, my audio program. Then, I can in add some harmonies etc. However, when the video is put back together by the audio software it seems to end up just slightly ‘out’, as if there is a latency issue, making it look like the person in the vid, me, is lip-syncing. It just doesn’t come out quite right. I think it may be better to simply work on getting the audio part of a given video recorded better in the first place and Ryan has some ideas for doing that. He even has the right equipment so that will be my next endeavor. Perhaps I’ll have a new vid ready for next week that will reflect that. In the mean time, I’ve put links here to both last weeks vid again, and the ‘edited’ version of last weeks with some added harmonies. You’ll be able to compare, and see and hear what I meant regarding the latency of the sound. I assume if you had a studio and tech’s who know what they are doing and how to do it, it would be easy. Anyway, if you are interested, compare the two versions. If not, don’t bother.

Last weeks song.

Same song with added tracts.

doug

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From Russ

"Some days are diamonds; some days are coal"

When the phone rings this early it can’t be good news. Naked, and about to have my daily bath, I made it to the phone on the ‘last ring’.

“Hello Russ, this is Grant”, he began, “How are you doing these days?”

“What’s up?” I asked (wanting to get to the point)

“We got some bad news yesterday, and sent an email to all our members – we didn’t know if you had read it”.

“No. Haven’t opened-up my computer as yet” says I. “You’re talking to a naked man”.

“It’s about Don – he was suffering from a bowel obstruction – he’s been ‘going down hill of late”. (pause) “Don went in for an operation and died on the operating table”. (silence). I started to shake – my hands trembled, good thing I was sort of sitting down, as my knees went weak.

Over a decade ago, when I first began living in Point Clark ‘full-time’, and about to attend the local church, Don was the first member I met. It was a warm Summer morning, and we began talking outside before the Service.

“I buried my wife not long ago – she’s in the United Church side of the cemetery”, he explained, with a ‘lump’ in his throat.

“My wife’s buried in the same side as well”, I responded. “Look – over there” I said as I pointed to our headstone.

That brief encounter lead to eleven years of a close friendship. Don was still driving then, and would take me to church every Sunday morning, and after church we’d go to the (only) restaurant in Point Clark for brunch. Don always liked a “heated discussion” (no ‘small talk’ for him!). Sometimes we’d get so wrapped-up, we nearly ‘came to blows’! But it was always in good faith. If anything it brought us ‘closer’ as friends.

Why am I telling you all this? Because I need to talk to ‘someone’ right now, and you all are my friends.

Don was two years younger than I. He leaves four sons, a farm, and a cottage on the lake-front. He died a ‘property millionaire’, and a ‘personal billionaire’. God alone, knows how greatly we’ll miss him.

Russ.

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THE ONTARION REPORT

Hello everyone!

I’ve just been thinking of all the things we used to do as kids that kids today don’t do because of all the hazards they face in reality nowadays. We used to get on our bicycles early on a summer’s day and our parents wouldn’t see us again until the street lights came on in the evening! It seams that kids today won’t ride more than around their own block or maybe they just aren’t allowed to go further than that due to their parents rules! When I was a kid, we had days where we’d take a hike through the fields that existed at the end of our street that led into Breithaupt Park and if we ventured through the park, there was a bush behind the park that if we walked far enough, we’d wind up exiting the bush onto Bridgeport Rd! Crossing Bridgeport Rd we’d come upon a large pond that had loads of turtles in it and we also found vines growing from the trees that surrounded the pond that we could swing on and chance falling off of them into the water of the pond. It was great fun and we could pretend that we were in the jungle of Africa swinging with Tarzan!

Yes, it was great fun indeed! That pond is now partly taken up by a modern curving ramp onto today’s Expressway that leads into north Waterloo. What great times we had venturing that far from home! We never gave a thought to whether or not our parents knew where we were all day. Most time’s we’d have told them we were going to the bush behind the park to hunt for turtles in the pond. There were also times when we’d venture much further than the pond and we’d spend the day on the bank of the Grand River in Bridgeport, down behind what we called The Casino in those days. While down there, we would stand on the huge culvert that brought sewage into the Grand from the city of Kitchener and town of Bridgeport! It was a lot of fun watching the human turds bob in the water flowing from that culvert! Moving up stream from that culvert towards the humps of the bridge that crossed the river to avoid wading in the sewage, we’d spend some of the day catching the huge carp by hand that lazed in the shallows of the river and once we had a few, we’d load them onto our wagon and pull it up the Bridgeport Hill of Lancaster St and knock on the door of the old decrepit house across from The Casino. It was the house that “The General” and his mother lived in and she would buy the carp from us for a quarter a piece! In case some of you don’t know who the General was, he was an older gentleman that dressed in dark raggedy clothes and an old peak cap and he took it upon himself to make a homemade “Stop” sign that he held on a broom handle. He would faithfully be at the corner of the street where he lived on the Lancaster St hill every day at the right time and he would do the job of a modern day crossing guard! He became quite well known through the many years of his life due to his care for the children as they crossed the street walking to and from school! In fact, a school friend of mine by the name of Bruce Herchenrader who became a well known artist in his adult life painted a famous portrait of “The General” holding his stop sign in the middle of Lancaster St hill. I’m not sure where the original painting is now but I’m sure it’s worth a pretty penny if anyone could locate it for their collection! Bruce also painted pictures of many local landmarks other than the one of “The General”. For Carole’s and my 10th anniversary, I purchased one of Bruce’s Paintings of “The Loo” which was the name of a pub in the basement of The Waterloo Hotel on the corner of King and Erb Sts in uptown Waterloo. “The Loo” was a very well known pub so Bruce’s painting of that pub sold many prints to those who had frequented “The Loo” in their high school and University days! When I purchased the print of “The Loo”, It just so happened that Bruce was in the Framing Shop where I bought it at the moment of my purchase as a gift for Carole for our tenth anniversary and he was kind enough to autograph the print for me! Great memories indeed! Bruce and I had many fun times together in our public school days. Who would have guessed that he’d ever become a famous artist in his adulthood?

I know I’ve changed topics a couple of times during this weeks ramble but it’s fun to think back and make the connections of different adventures of my youth. I’m sure many of you can do the same if you think back to your younger days.

The Herchenrader family was well known in the North Ward of Kitchener. In fact, Bruce had a brother by the name of Wayne and he was one year older than Bruce and I and was famous in our school (Prueter Public School) for being able to imitate the sound of many animals with his voice! Bruce and Wayne’s father was a Kitchener Police officer by the name of Alf Herchenrader! Maybe Russ knew Alf when he worked on Kitchener Police Force? I believe Alf was in the Traffic Division and was known to ride one of the Kitchener Police Department’s three wheeled “Trike” Harley Davidson motorcycles! I’m sure if Russ remembers Alf Herchenrader, I’ve just struck upon another example of what a small world we live in!

Well, that’s about all I have to blab about 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>
Do you remember making your feet numb from the buzzing of the steel wheels of your roller skates on the cement sidewalks of your block when you were a kid? I do! LOL!

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