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The
Squamidian Report – June 12 / 21
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Of This And Past Issues Issue
#994 From Russ The Ontarion
Hi All, The last week and a half or so have been too cold and too wet to do much riding on my little Harley. This is after all, June-uary. Thats what June is called on the west coast. For whatever reason, June tends to be more like January than the month that brings in summer. The sky is dark with heavy clouds, the rains are cold, and so on. So, there hasn’t been much riding opportunities. However, one day this week there was a bit of a break in the weather and I had a chance to go out for a ride so I rode up to Pemberton for lunch. Thats a rather scenic 200 km round trip. This bike, typical of all Harley Sportsters, has a very small capacity fuel tank and so I’m quite interested in what range I can expect. And now that there are about 2500 kilometers on the bike, it’s now broken in and its milage should be getting fairly good. And, it is. She got about 64 mpg. I tend to think in terms of miles per gallon although liters per hundred kilometers sort of works. That would be just under 4.5 liters per hundred. And boy, is that bike fun to ride through those tight mountain switchbacks on the highway. * I guess the ‘big’ news for this week is the fact that the Gondola has re-opened. Sue is babysitting in Maple Ridge so that left me to check the place out myself. We had some pretty disappointing issues with management last summer so our view of the place is a bit tarnished. There are very few familiar faces working there now, most of the ‘good’ people have long since left. Unfortunately, the people that should have been kicked out on their butts are still there and still in management positions. Oh well. The ride up is still breathtaking, but the upper deck and main part of the lodge are still only for customers who have made a reservation. I don’t know who they think their customer base is but its NOT the kind of people who are going out for ‘fine dining’. It can never be, its a cafeteria at best. But, we will be able to go up for some nice hikes along the trails and thats all that matters. In fact, I snuck up and did a walk on the trail. Its still very early spring up there. The mountain heather is in bloom which is nice. Heather looks like a low evergreen type of shrub and puts out nice pink bosoms. The skunk cabbage is also blooming. That stuff is one of the early food sources for the bears as they wake up each spring. Again, spring happened long ago down in the valleys but up there its just getting started. * This week’s attempt at musical distraction is a song I really shouldn’t be doing in public, assuming this letter is ‘public’. I’m not even sure its a song I should be doing in private, simply because I can’t do it. At least can’t do it the way it should be done. The song is called ‘The Orange Blossom Special’ and while originally a very old country number, it became a big blue grass tune. Played on a hot blue grass fiddle with a tight band backing it up, hearing it can make the hair on the back of you neck stand up. Its just one of those really good tunes when done right. But, I’m not a blue grass player. So, I do it as best I can with vocals and my guitar. Don’t be too hard on me, its a really fun song for me to do as long as I except the fact that I will never be able to do it justice. And for those who prefer audio entertainment over the videos, well, I’ve got 3 of those coming up over the next 6 weeks and for those who keep track, those 6 weeks will take us to our 1000th issue of this letter. So, you have been forewarned. ‘Orange Blossom Special’ doug **** From Russ Go figure! My brother Howard and I built a small (12’ by 16’) one-room, self-contained cottage on a friend’s property in Centreville on ‘speculation’. Howard had building experience, having worked for a general contractor, and was able to design, and build the “portable cottage”. He also could do plumbing installations, while I could do the electrical work. It took two years, and many, many, many bottles of Loganberry wine to do the job! When it was finally ready to be shown as a “demonstrator”, asking price $500.00, we advertised in the Kitchener Record, and got very little response. Finally, a lady was interested, but wanted ‘free delivery’ to someplace distant. When we told her we’d be happy to build her one of our small cottages, but she’d be responsible for delivery, she demanded we lower our asking price. We stuck to our guns – she backed-out. Enter a pretty, young widow – Barbara Pittman (nee Dickson). We courted, fell in love, planned to marry. She had property at Point Clark, but no building – I had a building but no property. As I had paid for most of the material to build our ‘demo’, I offered to “buy Howard out”, he was quick to agree at a 50-50 split. The cottage was now mine. So was the problem of transporting it all the way to Barbara’s property at Point Clark. We hired a ‘flat-bed’ trucker named Forwell to do the haulage. He chose to travel on Highway #8 from Centreville, through Downtown Kitchener. I had a ‘ring-side seat’ watching the ‘convoy’ (police, Public Utilities, and a car driven by my ‘betrothed’), moving slowly past B.F. Goodrich Rubber, King St., West. What was I doing in the rubber factory? Working for Canadian Comstock, doing “Frequency Conversion”. I was NOT allowed to take the day off to assist in the move - converting from 25 to 60 cycle came first! Bummer – I was hoping to get the job of sitting on the roof of the cottage to lift the electric service wires which sometimes drooped low and had to be carefully lifted as not to become caught on the peek of the cottage roof. After-all, I was the only electrician licenced to do such work. I believe my brother Wayne got the job. The trip was slow, tedious, and fraught with problems; Ontario Hydro truck joined the convoy and when a wire could not be lifted, the service cable had to be disconnected, then re-connected as the convoy passed through. An old, iron bridge proved to be too narrow for our load, so an alternate route had to be found, etc. Finally arriving at the property in Point Clark, the driver of the flat-bed simply backed into the ditch, raised the ‘dump’, slid off the cottage, and drove away! One corner of the building partly on the road, meant we had to move it promptly! (according to the OPP). I was eventually given the day off, so I gathered the stuff needed to haul the building off the road, out of the ditch, and up onto a sand-dune. All by myself! Using borrowed ‘chain-falls’, and nearby trees, I was able to accomplish the ‘impossible’- the building, miraculously, placed where intended, I now jacked it up onto cement blocks. And there it stood for 70 years. Of course, after we were ‘Wed’, we now became a ‘family of four’, and had to enlarge the unit considerably. The original 12’ by 16’ unit became an “H” shaped structure measuring 44’ wide by 20’ deep. Our address was 91A, Lake Side Trail until we made a driveway coming off Victoria Road in the rear, and the Township ‘arbitrarily’ changed our address. We are now, living at 881 Victoria Road. No problem – right? Wrong! Next week I’ll tell you about a very serious problem; “WHAT? You will charge me an extra $700.00 ??” You’re angry, old Uncle Russ. **** From The shores of Lake Huron
Greetings everyone, another week has come and gone. I firmly believe that the older you get the faster time goes. Last year at this time not only was Lake Huron at record high level but most of the great lakes were also. There was a lot of erosion along the shore line between Tobermory and Sarnia to the point some cottage were in serious danger of being possibly falling into the lake. In our area with the high water and very strong winds along the north shore between Port Elgin and Southampton the shoreline took a real beating. The municipality maybe around 4 or 5 years ago installed a walking ? bike trail, paved no less, had a huge amount of damage done to it. There were huge gouges in the shore and paved trail. In fact the town wanted to make the road a one way road from a 2 lane road until the residents living in that are raise such a stink because if you lived to the Port Elgin end of it you would have a minimum 10 to 15 minute trip to get back into town to the downtown area. In lieu of that they patched up the eroded areas with huge boulders and stone to shore it up until proper measures could be taken. There were areas of the trail barricaded off to walking and bike thus the reasoning behind the one way. Also to the south area beach know as Goble's Grove which all though is away from the main beach and is very popular had little or no beach that year and also one half of the paved road disappeared. This year the lake has dropped between 15 and 20 inches causing one to wonder where in one winter and spring can that much water go. there had to billions and billions of gallons that virtually disappeared. I guess that explains my baldness due to scratching my head try to figure out these unanswered happenings. Well folks have a super week and enjoy and stay safe.
Brian **** ONTARION REPORT Hello everyone! This week brings me to you with a story of pets and nature! First off, we were sitting on the front porch enjoying the afternoon sun and the warmth of a summer day. While watching the passersby as they walked their dogs and just people watching. Adam noticed a couple and their two children walking on the opposite side of the street to us and pointed out to me that they had a pet cat walking with them. There is in the first place the unusual fact that they were walking their cat which most people don’t do. Then he pointed out the fact that the cat was not even on a leash! The kids were just talking to each other and their parents while the cat followed them about 5’ behind. Then about 20 minutes later Carole joined us on the porch and the same kids came walking back in the direction from which they came the first time we spotted them and we were able to show Carole this unusual site! We were all amazed at the attentiveness of the cat! We had never seen such a site before. Most people put their cat out in the morning and don’t even seem to care if they come home at night! This site was very cool indeed! Then, this afternoon we were sitting on the porch once again and what appeared to be a teenaged girl came walking past our house with a parrot sitting on her shoulder. The parrot was nibbling treats from the girls fingers as they walked along. Adam then noticed that the parrot was secured to the young ladies shoulder by a leash attached to it’s one leg. I guess that was just for security to keep it from flying away. Again, none of us had ever seen anyone walking down the street with a parrot on their shoulder! A couple of interesting sites to say the least! Now for the Nature part of my story of the week! You will remember me talking about the Robins that nest in a tin watering can on our back wall. Well, about 6 weeks ago they had nested and laid three eggs in the nest. Those three eggs had hatched and we watched as the parents fed the babies as they all hopped around our back yard and garden. That was an interesting family to watch grow from eggs to babies and adult Robins. Then I mentioned that the Robins had laid three more eggs in that same nest. Well, it’s only been about two weeks since then and those eggs have now hatched and the pair of Robins are now taking turns feeding the new babies. Also in our yard at the back corner of our house beside the walkway to the yard, we have a quaint old water pump that I picked up on the side of the street that someone discarded a few years ago. We have it sitting on the base of an old bird bath that is fashioned to look like a tree stump. It’s made out of concrete and makes a perfect resting place for the old pump. The pump is the type you used to see on farm house sinks! Well, last week I mentioned that there were two tiny “Black capped chickadees” that Adam had spotted going in and out of the spout of that old pump. He checked with his camera phone and found that they had built a nest in the old pump. Last week he noticed that they had laid one single tiny egg in the nest. Well about a day later, when he checked with his camera once again, they had laid another 6 eggs in that same nest! So rather than just having one baby chick, they have now hatched a total of 7 baby chickadees! Adam has followed their progress with pictures and the babies are growing quickly and they already have quite a crop of feathers. The little chickadee parents are not at all afraid to fly in and out of the nest while we are right next to the pump going about our business out back. It’s pretty amazing to watch mother nature at work this way! The new baby Robins are also increasing in size quite rapidly! The Mother sits on the nest and watches while I BBQ right below her and the father Robin sits on the fence at the back of the yard and squawks and complains that I’m too close to the nest but I guess they both know that I mean them no harm! Well, so much for my Mother Nature story 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 Something
To
Think About> PPS: I have attached a few pictures that Adam has taken of both the Robins on their nest as well as the old pump nest of the Chickadees and their babies all huddled in the nest! There is also a picture of the one Chickadee perched on the spout of the pump!
**** Take
Care
And Be Safe |
