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The
Squamidian Report – Apr. 22 / 23
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Of This And Past Issues Issue
#1091 Russ Karl Nova Scotia Sus Wayne The Ontarion
Hey There, Just to show how irresponsible and immature I am, I went out and got myself another toy. I can not justify this in any way what so ever and so won’t even try. I already have a really cool Harley sitting in the garage but for some silly reason I got the idea that it would be nice to be able to ride some of the roads that the Harley is not suited for. She’s at her best rumbling along the mountain highways as her ‘Harley’ sounding exhaust note reverberates off the hills. And, the Harley puts out more power than I’ll ever need or use. I will continue to do that kind of riding every chance I get. She’s also nice and low and easy for Sue to climb onto so theres that as well. This new toy is a Royal Enfield Himalayan, classified as an ‘adventure’ bike. All that means is it’s a modern version of a dual sport with a comfortable seat. This particular model is the same bike that the YouTub’er known as Itchy Boots spent three years riding the world on. The Himalayan is not a powerful bike at all, in fact it is very underpowered but its built like a farm tractor and meant to go anywhere, just not very fast and that’s exactly what riding the back roads should be. The Royal Enfield’s were first made in Britton but then the company moved to India where they have been building bikes for decades, mostly for the Indian and Asian markets. In the last decade or so they have re-introduced themselves to the ‘western’ market. These are the kind of bikes that you see in pictures where the husband, wife, several kids, a basket of chickens and a goat are all riding on their way to the next village. This bike has a little single cylinder 411cc thumper engine compared to my Harley’s 1200cc V Twin engine. Ryan and I picked up our bikes, identical except his is black and mine is grey, from a motorcycle dealer in Langley which is fairly close to where he lives. It was pouring rain the whole day and so there was no way I’d be riding mine back to Squamish. We loaded mine into the back of my truck and he rode his back to his place where I took this pic of mine strapped into the bed of the truck. And it rained hard and none-stop all that day (Saturday) as well as Sunday and so on.
The rain let up just long enough on Sunday afternoon that I was able to enlist the help of a couple of nighbours to get the bike unloaded. One nighbour has a snowmobile ramp which works great for that kind of thing. So, my first ride on this bike was up to the end of the street and back, in the rain that had started up again. Something I’m going to have to get used to is the fact that the Enfield has a frame mounted nose, the front stays ridged with the rest of the bike when you turn the bars and front wheel. My Harley has a fork mounted front end, everything turns back and forth with the bars. On Monday I was able to ride it down to the gas station and back, a whole 10k round trip but at least I got out for a short ride. Tuesday was 3 degrees and raining wet snow and the rest of the week was cold and wet so both bikes are sitting in the back of our garage, waiting and ready to go riding, should spring ever make a comeback. doug ****
From Karl Hi from Melbourne Australia well we are having typical Melbourne weather hot one day freezing next day but today is a nice day great for a walk which I love to do and take photos I do post some of my photos on the local weather Chanel and hope they post it time will tell lol ,I want to say thank you to the great read every week you guys post it keeps us informed of what is happening in Canada especially in Kitchener where Greg keeps up with the local news and Doug from the West coast and Sue from the East coast and who can not read the lovely writings from Russ ,I love reading the stories from Russ YOU write so well ,I hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to the next instalment of the Squamidian ,I will finish with a few photos from this last week’s walk in the City and thanks again to everyone who contributes ,Stay safe and have a great Summer cheers from Karl..
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From Nova Scotia Sus Time flies and as usual I forgot something very important. I was in New Glasgow picking up my books from the accountant when I decided to check the deadline on my inspection sticker. It read March 23rd of this year. Oops! Nothing like knowingly driving without a good sticker. I made the call to the Honda dealer to plead my case. They said how about next Thursday...I said I need it now or maybe you could put a rejection sticker on the car so I can drive until next Thursday. They broke down and said how is 4pm. today. I thanked them from the bottom of my heart. I still needed to drive home and then back to New Glasgow for my 4pm appointment. I'm not a nervous driver normally but I made sure to stay under the posted speed signs. All went well after all. I will try hard to not miss my date 2 years from now.
Sus ****
From Russ
It's come alive! It's Wednesday, April 19th - the welcome sun has come out raising the temp. to 8.9C from an early morning zero. Have just returned from a one-hour bike ride around the village of Point Clark, a "resort area" lying on the shores of beautiful, blue, Lake Huron. Today she is calm, not angry and roaring as she has been doing lately! The birds have returned, being very vocal, shattering the silence of the winter. We've had a 'mess of rain' (nine inches in one downpour) flooding basements, washing out roads, and leaving ponds where they don't belong. My sump-pump has been running 24-7 for weeks - now it's resting. The rain has caused Spring to arrive in leaps, and bounds - lawns are green, Daffodils are in full bloom - smiling at us from everywhere with their happy, yellow, and white faces. The air is brisk, and so clean you want to ingest it! I'm riding in the "Garden of Eden" - undeserving of such blessings!! A large doe, off to my right, standing perfectly still with her ears pointing skyward is but one of many deer living in this perfectly safe community. No hunting is allowed in Point Clark, and they know it! I round the corner, and suddenly the sounds of Nature are shattered by two men high in a willow tree, cutting limbs, and dropping them to two more men who are 'feeding' the cut limbs into a 'shredder' which 'snorts',and chews-up the huge limbs and branches as though they were saplings! The gentle sounds of nature are drowned-out - I'm no longer in my Garden of Eden! And as the weekenders arrive, they do their very best to make as much noise as they are accustomed to in the city> power lawnmowers; leaf-blowers which scream requiring the operators to wear hearing protectors; golf carts, and off-road vehicles shoot up, and down our narrow roads, breaking the posted speed limits by more than 40km (signs posted at 45km) 85km is "highway speed" We don't often see police around these parts. Maybe they don't want to interfere with the tourists fun! On holiday weekends in summer, it's not safe for me to leave my driveway for fear of being hit by some "need-for-speed" weekender! That's what I get for living in a "resort area". Honestly, I prefer winter as the only things I need to watch-out-for are snow mobiles. Yup. The Point has come alive!
Russ. ****
From Wayne & Sylvia
Nosy Moose Now that we have a deck and a glass enclosure that gives us beautiful sunrises and views we get to see more wild life.This week a nosy young moose thought that he should do some sightseeing so he came up to within 100 metres of our vantage point and waited for us to get the camera. We have a large beaver lodge in the river straight out from the deck and deer that check in the evening to see if we have planted anything yet. I saw a herd of five deer yesterday on a drive into Sussex. The Canada geese are back in large numbers - forty-six in a flock the other day. There are ducks on our pond of species that demand that we keep the Audubon book handy for identification, Eagles and Osprey are a common sight too. The river is in flood now so the birds are waiting for the water's subsidence which will trap some aquatic life in flooded areas that won't easily drain. Lots to see here. Wayne & Sylvia.
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The Ontarion
Hello everyone! It was Christmas morning, 1954 and we were surprised to find a grand toy beneath the tree that was left in both my brother Brent’s and my names! It was a beautiful “O” Gage Lionel Train complete with several cars and other track accessories that were activated when the train ran over their switches. There was a bell crossing system that warned of the train’s approach! There was also a swell Bridge that the train could cross as if crossing a river etc. and a lovely train station that served as a passenger pick up spot for our make believe town! It was an amazing set up and I have it stored in a wooden crate up in our garage mezzanine to this very day! I should dig it out sometime soon and see if it’s still in working order! My dad and our neighbour spent most of that Christmas day setting up that train set and of course playing with it as well! LOL! My brother and I didn’t even get to play with the train until it was almost time for bed and Mr Urquhart went home to tuck his two daughters in for the evening! I guess he must not have wanted to be playing with the dolls he and his wife had given the girls for Christmas but eventually he had to go home for their sake to be with them rather than his buddy across the street, my dad and our train set! Hahahahahaaa….. My mother was not pleased with them commandeering our train set but back then what could she say that wasn’t rude to my dad’s buddy Huey from across the street! After all, my dad had invited him over to “help” with the set up of “our” train! LOL! It worked out ok since it prevented me and my brother from fighting over how to set up the train set! Once the first day with the train had passed, at least it was completely set up and working for our pleasure! It came complete with a little bottle of liquid that when dripped into the engine’s smoke stack with an eye dropper, would make beautiful smoke puff from the engine’s smoke stack like a real train! The train set was amazing and you could set up the tracks in both a large oval or a figure 8 shape, whichever caught our fancy on the day of playing with it! Of course this caused many arguments between my brother and I when it came to a “Train set” Play day! Also my brother being two years older than I was and also pretty much of a bully even when young kids, he usually got his way with things that we were supposed to share! Giving one gift to two young boys turned out to be a bad idea and didn’t happen again for the rest of our young lives! Even when we were adults, we had a disagreement over the possession of that train set! When Carole and Adam and I had moved to Linwood and were well set as a rural family, the possession of that train set came into question once again! When my brother got married, he said he no longer wanted any of our childhood toys including that train set. So at that time, I gathered up our old toys including that train set and tucked them away into our storage room in the basement in Linwood. Once again several years later when my brother and his wife had twin boys and they started to have kids of their own, I was asked for the train set back so my brother could give it to his grand kids. Well, since possession is 9/10ths of the law, I decided to keep the train set for our son rather than give it to my bully of a brother! After all, he had given up ownership of that train many years ago! So, since it was well stashed away in my storage room in the basement I told my bully of a brother who lived in Guelph at the time, that I had sold the train set in one of my garage sales that I was famous for! He was of course quite ticked off but, so what, I had the upper hand and wanted to keep it that way! Now that those years are long behind us and he is no longer on this earth the train is mine and shall remain so until I’m no longer around! That train inspired me to have and interest in real trains as a youth and with a real train station here in Kitchener, my friend David Bernhardt and I would ride our bikes to the old wooden bridge on Margaret Avenue that was there to allow vehicle traffic to cross over the train tracks that came into town from as far away as Toronto! We would park our bikes by the railing of the bridge and climb over the railing. We would straddle the huge beams that supported the bridge and wait for the large steam engines to pass beneath us. It was great fun to sit there and become engulfed by the great plumes of steam and smoke that were puffed from the smoke stacks of the trains below! Every once in a while, the railroad police would come along and chase our skinny behinds off the bridge! They would threaten to confiscate our bicycles if we ever came back but of course we still did, many times! The train station was also an attraction for us when young teenagers! It was great fun to hang around the station and when we would see a train approaching we would have fun placing pennies on the rails for the train to run over! The pennies would be of course flattened and become very large after being run over by the heavy locomotives. They were collector’s items that we kept for many years as kids and even young adults! In fact, talking about this makes me want to go down to that same train station and repeat the “penny” trick even today! It would indeed still be fun to try that again! I wonder if kids today are still up to such tricks? Thinking of this, the new diesel trains might even be heavier than the old steam engines and might make even larger flatter pennies! LOL! Of course we no longer have pennies to place on the track so I’d have to do that same trick using Loonies I guess! LOL! Can you imagine the size of a flattened “Loony”? WOW! I think I’m going to take a drive down to the train station and give that same trick a go with a Loony sometime soon! How cool would that be? Since they’ve rebuilt the old bridge on Margaret Avenue and it’s no longer held up by huge beams, I can’t sit on them and watch the trains pass beneath me I’ll have to forego that trick as a mature adult! LOL! However it would still be interesting to go to the bridge and watch the trains pass beneath the structure and bring back all those old memories! Maybe some day I’ll give it a go to stand on the bridge and watch the diesel trains pass below just for the heck of it! That’s about it 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 ****
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