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The
Squamidian Report – April 10 / 21
Online Versions Of This And Past Issues (Choose the year and then the date for the online issue you want) Issue
#985 From Wayne Update About Russ The Ontarion
Hi All, Here's something some of you may find interesting…. I no longer own my big old Harley Davidson Electra Glide motorcycle. In fact, for the first time in half a century, and for a few days, I no longer even owned a bike. Yup. She is gone, I think to a good home. I had realized during last year’s riding season that I could no longer handle the extreme weight of the bike (900 lbs). I could no longer be safe at low speeds or coming to a stop etc. I had to concentrate too much on the bike and so could not concentrate on the surrounding traffic. Not safe at all. My old bones no longer had the strength needed to muscle the bike around. So, as heart breaking as it was, I sold her. I won’t bother with the details of the sale except to say Harleys hold their value incredibly well and when its in top shape as mine was, sell almost instantly. The agreement to sell was made during the winter but the buyer didn’t have enough money at the time so she (yes, ‘she’ although it was hard to tell by looking at her) handed me a nice big cash deposit to hold the bike for her. So, the bike stayed covered up in my garage until last week when she came back, the rest of the cash in hand. I must say, both Sue and I had teary eyes as we watched the big blue Harley leave, new owner on board, and us hearing that Harley rumble one last time. We’ve built some incredible memories from the back of that bike. Interestingly, we will probably see that bike once in a while as the new owner knows many of the same people we know and hangs out in The Bay once in a while. So, I’ve been stressing over what to replace the big bike with for quite a while. I’m not ready to give up riding but while the big bike was enjoyable to ride, it had long since stopped being fun to ride. I looked at the new Honda Rebel 1100, a full 400 lbs lighter. They just came out and have some pretty impressive technology built into them but when I test rode on, I hated it. I had wanted to love it but no, I hated it. I was also interested in the Indian Scout, another very low and light bike. It test rode nicely but the dealers can’t get them so that wouldn’t work. Then, we happened to walk into the Vancouver Harley dealer, not really expecting to find anything of interest as most of their bikes are just as big and heavy as my old one. Low and behold, right in front of us was a Sportster 1200 Iron. I need lower and way lighter. This bike was lower and way lighter, 350 lbs lighter, and looked really cool. And, it had just been rolled out onto the showroom floor the day before. We chatted with a salesperson, I took the bike out for a short test ride, came back in and bought it. I hadn’t even considered Sportsters because of how Harley was designing them these days. Most new Sportsters look stupid and sit way too high. This one was perfect. I won’t have the new bike for a few days yet as I’ve ordered some ad-on’s like a windshield, passenger seat and back rest, saddle bags etc, all ‘quick attach’ so they can be removed when not wanted. I’m very relieved that I’m done with looking for a replacement bike. I had combed the ‘for sale’ web sites for months and found nothing of interest in used bikes. I’m relieved that I will be going forward on another Harley Davidson. After years of riding the BC mountains and beyond on a Harley, there is simply nothing quite like it. A Honda is not a Harley and in all fairness, a Harley is not a Honda, and so on. But, there is a ‘feel’ to a Harley that other makes try to duplicate but can’t. Bring on summer. Here’s a pic of me with the new toy in the dealer’s showroom. I’ll post more pics once the bike is home.  Well now, this week’s musical distraction is an old song that was done by Leroy Van Dyke, someone most of you will have never even heard of. The song is called ‘The Auctioneer’ and has a double story line. One line is about a boy who wants to be and then grows up to be an auctioneer. The second story line is the auctioning off of a small pig or goat or some such thing, as the bids climb up to the final sale price. It’s a fairly hard song to do, I’ve been trying for decades with varying results so don’t be too hard on me. I’m doing the best that I can. So, give it a look-see and hopefully you’ll be entertained for a few minutes. doug **** From Wayne We had a strange episode with our cat that cat owners might want to be aware of: Hi fellow cat owners. Have you ever heard of the Tom and Jerry syndrome? That's what it is called in Britain but the technical name is FARS (Feline Audiogenic Reflex Seizures). Here is a quote from a veterinarian: "This condition, identified primarily in older cats, is triggered by sudden noises. The cats go into a grand mal seizure, with drooling, evacuation, extension and paddling of the feet after falling to one side." I had never heard of such a thing and it is quite disturbing to watch. We had noticed that our cat would make a quick jump at the sound of crinkling foil or tapping of a spoon on his dish to remove some stubborn cat food. A couple of days ago I had called him back to his dish because, instead of eating it, he just pushed most of it around with his tongue. He watched as I collected it on a pile and then I tapped the spoon down to remove the remaining food. I laughed when he jumped so I did it again because I thought it was so much fun. Fun it was not. He went into a seizure, fell on one side and began running at full speed (not going anywhere, of course). This continued for about 2 minutes and because he was expending so much energy and because I thought it was a heart attack or a stroke, I thought that he was a goner. After lying motionless except for his diaphragm heaving slowly, he let out 4 howls the likes of which I had never heard. Eventually he calmed down but didn't move from the spot as he looked around the room as though he didn't know where he was. Slowly through the day he became totally normal again. A visit to the vet confirmed that it was FARS. His treatment is to stay away from cat food containing grain, especially corn and tuna is also off-limits. This condition is brought about by food additives which can contain small amounts of mold (grains) or iodine and mercury from tuna. Now he is on a much more expensive diet. I wonder if he was just putting on an act so that we would buy better food for him! Anyway, with genetically modified foods becoming the norm, we can expect to see more food reactions in the future - so this is a heads up! Wayne **** Update About Russ Russell is now home. He is in good spirits but still a bit weak. He found that out when trying out his 3 wheel bicycle. He will provide a fuller description for next week's edition but he had to say that he has 8 new girl friends and they range fro 19 years old to 97. He said that these girls raised his temperature and he was afraid that they might interpret that as a symptom of COVID instead of DOM (dirty old man). They still don't know how his bladder infection is getting into his blood. Thanks to Wayne for this update. **** THE ONTARION REPORT Hello everyone! This week’s Ontarion was inspired by a television show that Carole and I watch at least a couple of times a week. It’s a murder mystery two hour long show called The Aurora Teagarden Mysteries! It’s a very interesting program where a young librarian is intrigued by anything mysterious. She is into reading pretty much only murder mystery books and this has piqued her interest in solving crimes that happen in her small town. We were watching one of the episodes a couple of evenings ago and there was a scene where Aurora and a friend were sitting at a picnic table in a park. I happened to notice a huge rock in the background that looked like “The Chief” that Doug has mentioned many times in his reports on our regular Saturday blurb! So as a matter of curiosity after the show was over I went on line and looked up the location in which the show is filmed and as it turns out, they film the show in different locations in BC! The majority of the show is filmed in and around Squamish! They also use some locations in other small towns in BC but most of the work and locations are in Squamish. They also film some shots in Langley and Abbotsford BC but more in Squamish. The locations in Squamish that Doug and Sue may be familiar with are at the “Lawrenceton Public Library” named after the fictional town of “Lawrenceton NY” Which is the name of the town that the stories supposedly take place in! That library location is actually at 37907 2 Avenue in Squamish. 37989 Cleveland Ave in Squamish serves as the location for the Lawrenceton newspaper office in the show. Aurora’s condo is at 41719 Honey Ln, Squamish. At 1930 Diamond Rd is the filming location for the interiors of St John the Divine Anglican Church. 37955 2 Ave or 37995 2 Ave Squamish becomes the Lawrenceton Police Department. 38055 Cleveland Ave Doubles for The Ledge Community Coffee House where the cast spends their time having coffee and eating baked goods in the shows. I wonder if Doug and Sue have ever had a coffee at that location? It might be interesting to take a drive to that coffee shop some day for Doug and Sue. It’s always cool to see places on a TV show that you’ve been to or visited. I know that when we’re watching a movie and they show shots of places in Rome Italy, Belfast Northern Ireland, London England and Paris France that we had visited during our trips to those countries and cities it’s interesting to know that Carole, Adam and I have actually been to those locations during our vacations to those places. Maybe Doug and Sue have already become aware of the Television crews that film different TV shows in and around Squamish. The show is supposed to be taking place in Lawrenceton NY but only the opening scene of each show is filmed in a town in NY that actually has a large waterfall at the one end of it’s main street and that shot opens each show in the Aurora Teagarden series. It’s pretty cool how they can with the use of editing make all of these locations look as if they take place in one small town in NY State. I guess it’s cheaper to film a series like that in Canada rather than in the States. Just as they film several series in Cambridge Ontario because of the quaint architecture. Oh well, the spotting of “The Chief” in that series made my day and I thought you all might find it interesting to read about it this week in The Ontarion. I hope so anyway. * I was in contact via phone a couple of times this week with Uncle Russ and he seemed to be in good spirits but was anxious to get out of that recovery residence and get back to his own house today “Thursday” and also to resume his place in the weekly report. I know that I have missed reading his exploits each Saturday as I’m sure all of you have as well. We had a chuckle about the fact that he was the youngest resident in the Recovery residence in Ripley where he was staying while getting well again. He told me that he would be going home to his house on Thursday and would likely be seeing his Doctor again within a week of getting home. I sincerely hope that he’s made a full recovery while staying in Ripley! Let’s all wish him well and of course look forward to reading his submissions to the Squid again now that he’s home in Amberly! That’s all there is for The Ontarion 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: Please be sure to stay safe and follow the rules when avoiding the Covid Virus! **** Take
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