Online Versions Of This And Past Issues
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Issue #1005
Including:

From Nova Scotia Sus

From Russ

From Wayne & Sylvia

The Ontarion

Hi All,

Most of you were not aware of it, but I ran an Email experiment last week when I sent out the news letter. I sent it out using a different address. You see, several recipients have been having problems receiving their copies lately. Mostly, its the people in Ontario who are on the Roger’s Internet system, but not limited to just them. By sending the letter out from a different address, it would become obvious if it’s my normal email address that is being blocked by Roger’s or whoever. However, there was no change in delivery, the same people who have not been receiving the letter (or have been finding it in their Junk box) still did not receive it. So, that meant it is not my address that is being blocked, unless Roger’s or whoever is blocking any mailings that include multiple addresses. If thats the case, there is nothing I can do at my end to fix the issue. Otherwise, the problem is on their end, with their own equipment. That means, or at least in my understanding of how this works, that the computer of someone receiving this letter is flagging this letter as ‘junk’ and sending it into the junk box or out right deleting it. The only way to fix that is to tell the receiving computer that the letter is not junk and hopefully train the receiving computer to except the email. If, on the other hand, Roger’s is in fact rejecting emails that contain multiple addresses, then like I said, there is nothing I or anyone can do about it. That would be a problem.

As for the alternate address that I set up and sent from, don’t worry about it. It has no effect on any of you at all, everything continued to work just like it should. I’ll probably not continue to use it as there is no point, the rejection continued to happen. So, we’ll just carry on as per usual. If any of you aren't receiving this, let me know. But of course, if you aren’t, well, you won’t be reading this to know to let me know. Funny how that works.

Incidentally, if you ever wonder if a Squamidian has been sent out for a given week because you didn’t get one or think you didn’t get one, an easy way to tell is just click on the link at the top of any of these letters, including at the top of this one, the link that says ‘On line versions of this and past issues’. It will take you to a web page that shows all the years, and each year link will take you to a page for that year that shows all the issue dates. Each date will take you to that date’s issue. So, they are all there right from the beginning up to the last one sent out. You can therefore read the issue you are looking for on line. That’s a well kept secret that no one knows about.

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Guess what? Our grass is slowly regaining a green tinge. Over the past 2 weeks we’ve had wonderfully comfortably cooler temperatures and more important, some rain and showers. In fact, we seem to have returned to ‘seasonal’ weather. The fires are still raging in the BC Interior but they have also received some desperately needed rain. No one has had near enough rain yet but even 1 single drop is better than none. The province is still in a deep drought, the fires may continue to burn right into winter, an incredible amount of damage has been done, but, a corner seems to have been turned and thats a good thing.

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As promised, we’ve got a double-header for this week’s attempt at entertainment. The song was written by the late John Prine. He wrote a lot of some rather interesting material. This one is called ‘The Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness’ and is a sad yet somehow a very nice song. I quite enjoyed recording it. I used a finger picking style in both the audio and video versions, and in the audio version I used two finger picking tracks, one in D on the second fret and the other in C on the fourth fret with the root key being E. I was able to come up with some nice close harmonies for the audio version which worked out fairly nicely, at least to my ear. In fact, I’ve got four harmony tracks plus the lead which is always kind of fun. So, give both a look and listen.

Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness
Audio version

Video version

doug

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From Nova Scotia Sus

Doug has always encouraged me to play my guitar. I certainly need encouragement and have been very lazy about it. I still have the guitar that Doug and I picked out for me many years ago. I've never let it go even though I haven't played it much since the old band years. I had promised myself I would take it up again when I retire. Well part of the problem is, even at 72, I have not retired completely. That is only an excuse. I made a trip to the music store and purchased new strings, a new capo and a Snark clip-on tuner. So I am all set. All I need now is practice. Something I discovered just today was I could go online and tune my guitar to a video.

That was amazing. I tend to not use my computer enough. Now I think I will look for lessons online. After that delightful evening when a neighbour joined us outside for some music I do feel inspired. Something else I kept all these years is the sheets and sheets of music. One day while watching Doug's music videos I tried playing along. So Doug, I will be playing along with you as best I can. Thanks so much for all your efforts.

Sus

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From Russ

What am I?

I am the worlds most poisonous common plant (Guinness World Records).

Chewing, and ingesting 4 to 8 of my seeds will likely kill you (unless treated).

I contain both male and female parts on the flowers of one plant, and favor self-pollination (no, not masturbation)

Mom used my parts to lubricate the parts of her old sewing machine.

My flowers have no petals.

I usually grow tallest (39 feet) in tropical regions, but just for the Hell of it I shot up taller than Mr. Brubacher in Ontario.

I bear fruit but you wouldn't want to eat my spiny, greenish (to reddish-purple) capsule because of the seeds.

Without me you wouldn't have silkworms - or silk!

If you are over 70 years, you very likely were introduced to me if you were "bound-up"!

Me and dead Beaver together make good 'scents'.

Because of my 'special powers' to heal wounds and cure ailments, I'm also called "PALM of CHRIST".

Although I'm highly poisonous, an alcoholic extract from my leaves has shown to protect your liver from certain poisons.

My oil is an effective lubricant for internal combustion engines - from model airplanes to race cars to World War 1 aircraft.

Because my beans (seeds) are the right size and shape people make me into everything from jewellery to sling-shot ammo.

I play host to moths and butterflies, but please don't laugh, a 'jumping spider' finds me an ideal location for courtship!

Question: Do you like almonds? Did you know they contain cyanide? The poison is extracted before you get your hands on them. The poison in my beans (seeds) can also be removed - but, it's complicated - so don't try it at home.

My beans are pretty, smooth, hard, and 'harmless' - you may even swallow them whole and they will pass in your stools in the same condition in which they were swallowed. (just stinkier) But, DON'T put them into your mouth or allow your children or pets to do so. If broken or chewed the poison (ricin) will be ingested, symptoms begin within 2-4 hours (but, may be delayed by up to 36 hours). These include a burning sensation in the mouth and throat, stomach pain, purging and bloody diarrhea. Within several days there is severe dehydration, a drop in blood pressure, and decrease in urine. Unless treated, death can be expected within 3-5 days; however, in most cases a full recovery can be made.

Why am I so very poisonous? The toxin provides me with some degree of protection from insect pests such as aphids. Ricin has been investigated for its potential use as an insecticide, and as a natural fungicide.

I'm not ALL bad; my "cold-pressed" commercial oil is NOT toxic to humans in normal doses, whether internal or external.

Because I have so many "modern commercial uses", my global seed production is around two million tons per year (2006)

In my "home town" India, we produce over three-quarters of the global yield; with China, Mozambique, and Ethiopia also contributing.

I don't want to brag, but a AM a most fascinating plant; whether natural, blended, or chemically altered my oil has many uses: Ex. non-freezing lubricant.

    chemical feedstock.

    raw material for some biodiesel

    sling-shot balls (no kidding)

    low cost personal adornments

    a component of many cosmetics

    to prevent skin dryness

    inhibits many microbes; viral, bacterial, and fungal

    a component of many ointments

i    mproves the flow of cocoa butter in the manufacture of chocolate bars,

    and finally, as a repellent for moles and voles in your lawn.

Next week (unless Doug fires me), I will continue describing this fascinating plant: By now, you all have guessed what I am. but you won't believe what I have yet to reveal about my identity.

Uncle Russ.

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From Wayne & Sylvia

Hi:

This is just a short note to say that we arrived safely at our new home in New Brunswick about a month ago. We got email service just tonight although we were able to read incoming mail. Use this address until further notice.

wdbrubac@xplornet.ca

Our address is 65 Boyd Loop Road, Coles Island, NB, E4C 2W7. If you look for it on Google earth, it may only recognize Boyd Road and it will put you at the wrong part of the road. We are immediately west of the golf course.

Wayne & Sylvia Brubacher

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THE ONTARION REPORT

Hello everyone!

We’re in the midst of another hot week here in Ontario and it just so happens that Thursday was destined to be the hottest day of this year and may have set a record for so many years in the past decade! Carole and I went out to do some much needed shopping but it was so hot we had trouble breathing once we were out of the AC in the Jeep. Even the stores we were in didn’t seem to have much in the way of AC running. Of course they were all cranking down the AC but it didn’t seem to do much good to cool their stores! Oh well, we’ll just have to put up with the heat until it subsides later this month or early next month. Hopefully the fall will be much more bearable.

Carole has her canning plans all set for the next couple of weeks and we have two bushels of tomatoes sitting in the kitchen along with a large bag of sweet onions that she intends to make her famous salsa with this coming week. I’m looking forward to the end result for sure! She’s also got a large bag of beets that will soon be canned as well. Mmmmm Mmmmmm! Thinking of her canning takes my mind off the terrible heat wave we’re experiencing but all I have to do is step out the door and the heat smacks me in the kisser once again and the discomfort is back! They say it’s not good for older people like us to do much of anything in the outdoors during such a heat wave so we’re restricting our activities to mostly indoor stuff. Other than running out in the AC of the Jeep to get the necessary food stuffs we won’t be setting foot outdoors much over the next week! The last thing either of us needs is to suffer from heat stroke so we best be careful for sure! The only other outdoor activity I’ve done in this heat was to take some lovely Gladiolas (my mum’s favourite flower) out to Memory Gardens this afternoon to place them on my Mum and Dad’s grave. It’s been a long time since I visited their resting place and I found it difficult to even locate their plots. Memory Gardens has all flat grave markers so I actually had to go to the cemetery office and ask for directions to their grave site! Eventually I found their marker and placed the flowers in the holder on their marker. My mum passed in 1979 and my dad in 1988. It’s hard to believe they’ve both been gone that long! I hope those flowers will last for a decent while in this terrible heat! We only get out to visit their grave a couple of times a summer. Leave it to me to pick the hottest day of the year to wander around a cemetery for an hour trying to locate their plots! Oh well, at least I finally accomplished my mission! I’ll pick a cooler day before the fall is over with to visit them again for sure! No sense in risking joining them by being out in such strong heat again!

I felt that I was literally going to pass out by the time I finally found their marker today! Thank goodness for the AC in the Jeep for some relief!

It’s been so hot, our grass has stopped growing over the past weeks! Our large birch tree in the front lawn throws so much shade that the little bit of rain we’ve been getting doesn’t even make it through the heavy leaf cover to water the lawn enough to keep it healthy. With the rain forecast for the next few days, it may help the lawn but who knows, we really haven’t been able to count on the predictions of the weather people so it may not rain at all in the coming days! LOL!

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One of the new things I’ve discovered during our in-home Covid days, weeks and months is surfing through Kijiji and other sites looking for items that catch my fancy. One of my favourite sites is called Marketplace-Kitchener! It has different categories of stuff at various prices and one section is even “Free Stuff” and of course that’s become my favourite site. Carole and I both sit for about a half hour before going up to bed in the evenings and page through this “Free” site looking at all the cool stuff that people are giving away! A couple of nights ago Adam mentioned that he saw someone with a pile of off cuts of wood that were free for the pick up! With Adam having his new CNC routing machine waiting to be set up, wood pieces are an attractive item to use the machine on to make cool signs etc. He mentioned finding these wood pieces late at night so he figured it was too late to go pick the wood up that night. He also thought that it might have already been picked up by someone else by the time he saw the ad on Marketplace so he just headed up to bed! After Carole and I finished looking though the Marketplace free section I said to her “Maybe Adam should have taken a chance and driven over to the place that was giving the wood away rather than waiting till morning! Then the light bulb went on in my pea pickin’ little head and I said to her, “Do you want to go with me to check out the wood for him before hitting the hay?” We looked at the clock and it was 2am, kinda late but, we both said “What the heck, it’s only 10 minutes away from our house so let’s jump in the Jeep and go check it out!” So, I tossed on my clothes again and off we went to look at the wood! It was at a house just off Lancaster St so it wasn’t a long drive to get there! As we turned onto the street with the wood, there it was sitting on the curb in front of a house that was obviously being renovated.

I parked in front of the wood pile and got out of the car. I was surprised to find that all of the wood pieces were beautiful hardwood! Each piece was anywhere from a foot to two feet in length and most were about a foot or more wide! They were lovely dark walnut pieces about two inches thick and about ¾ of the pile were beautiful oak pieces! I’ve priced walnut and oak pieces of approximately the same size as these for projects over the past couple of years and they are priced at anywhere from $10.00 to $22.00 a board foot for this thickness! So these scraps as the add called them were quite valuable if I had to buy them! In all, I picked up the entire pile and wound up with 82 pieces when I counted them the next day as I piled them in the garage. They were quite a surprise to Adam when we showed him our booty in the morning. He was quite surprised when we told him that we had picked them up at 2am as a surprise for him to use on his new router system. He said he can hardly wait to get the system set up and give it a try on the lovely hardwood pieces in the pile! What a great find this hardwood was. So, I’ll be surfing my way through the “Free Stuff” site on a regular basis from now on! I said to Carole “If only I had a pickup truck, I could fill the garage with endless free stuff from this site!” I don’t think she was too impressed with that comment! LOL! I was just kidding but regardless, I would still love to have another pickup truck. I miss my old clunker of a truck I had when we first moved into this house 23 years ago! Oh well, you never can tell when you might see another pickup in our driveway again and my Marketplace surfing will start a new fad of collecting!

I’ve always liked visiting and holding garage sales over the years and that’s not much different than surfing the net for “FREE STUFF!”

That’s enough dreaming for this week folks!

Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!

Bye for now…. Greg

PS: Something To Think About>

What do those guys on the TV ads do with all the cool “Junk” they offer to make disappear from people’s yards?

I think they stick it in their second hand store and sell it for profit! Like they say, “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure!” LOL!

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Take Care And Be Safe
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.