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Issue #1123
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Nova Scotia Sus

Carol

The Ontarion

Hi Guys…..

A couple of weeks ago I reminisced about listening to a radio station on a battery powered radio while up on the farm. That triggered some memories in some of you, and it triggered some other some what related memories in me. Again, I was a kid up on the farm, the place I preferred to be. In those days there were always several of us, siblings or cousins or whoever. The farm was literally in the middle of nowhere. The closest villages were Cedarville and Conn and Hopeville. Conn and Hopeville both had a small general store where you could get some of the bare necessities but for any meaningful groceries, banking, or other needed services you had to go into ‘town’. That meant a drive along the fairly crude gravel track back roads all the way over to Mount Forest, perhaps 15 miles or so to the west.

In those days towns tended to shut down and roll up the sidewalks about 5 in the afternoon and would be totally closed on Sundays. However, the merchants and services knew that the farm people in the surrounding countryside could not come into ‘town’ through the week or on Saturdays as that was also a work day. They needed access to those services and that meant ‘town’ had to stay open on a weekday evening. So, ‘town’ was open on Wednesday evenings for all the people who could not come during the normal daytime hours.

This is where it got fun. My grandparents had a beat up old pickup truck. The one I remember best was a dark blue Fargo with wooden racks that extended the truck’s cargo box sides high enough that pigs or cows could not fall out. It was in the back of that truck we would ride, sitting on a bale of hay or hanging out over the tail gate. Can you imagine letting kids do that these days? You’d be jailed. The cabs on those old pickup trucks were pretty small so there was only room for the grandparents inside although if one of the attending kids was small enough, it could sometimes ride inside. The drive into ‘town’ was usually while it was still light out but the drive back to the farm was inevitably in the dark. By the time they had attended to any necessary banking and other business, and picked up a sack of flour and other items from the IGA and so on, it would be getting late and night would have fallen.

You’d almost NEVER meet another vehicle on those old country roads, and the drive back in the dark was fun and spooky and often quite chilly. If you’ve ever been out in the country at night you know that cooler air tends to pool in the low-lying areas. Every time the old bumpy gravel road dipped down through a swamp or other low area, the temperature would drop quite a bit. There would often be fog in the swamps as well. The bumping from those roads was due to the fact that under the thin layer of course gravel would be the original corduroy road base made from logs laid crossways. Very bumpy. And of course there would be the dust, it would cover everything. Then, once we got back to the farm it would be quite late as in those days it took quite a while to travel that 15 miles in that old truck with grandpa driving. But, there was often a special treat waiting for everyone when we did get back to the farm. They would have picked up a brick of ice-cream while in the IGA and because they didn’t have electricity, they didn’t have any way of keeping the ice-cream from melting and that meant it had to be divided between everyone there and we all had a nice serving to ourselves.

That pretty well put an end to a rather long day and morning would come early because the chores would have to be done and the cows didn’t like to be kept waiting. However, I’d always manage to take a few more minutes to go back outside, into the total darkness, and marvel at the starry sky. With no light pollution of any kind, that sky was almost overpowering. And I loved it.

Riding to town in the back of pickup trucks was just how it was and how cool was that. Just like with driving tractors and doing other farm work was fun and cool and the way it was. It’s what we did as kids. Kids now-a-days simply have no idea how much better those simpler times were.

Doug

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From Nova Scotia Sus

I got the news a couple of days ago that my good friend and client had passed away. I have written before about this amazing woman who has faithfully every 2 weeks entered my shop for hair services since 1988. And way before that in the 1966's was my sewing teacher here in Nova Scotia. She was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and came to Nova Scotia as a young woman to teach. This is where she met her husband....a farmer and large land owner. She blended into the community...tea and cookies at Zena's was a special treat in the Scottish style. Everyone knew her.

Two years ago she turned 100 and the gathering was amazing with long line ups to congratulate her reaching 100.

I was lucky to have spent so much time with her at my shop. We talked about everything and mostly about her life in Edinburgh. I made sure we could have tea and her favorite cookies...molasses cookies which she was always so grateful for.

She managed to live another 2 years. Her visits with me were more difficult and mostly she slept. By writing this I am honoring her life and not meaning to make anyone sad.

Sus

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From Carol

I am still in hospital with no sign of the leak healing itself. Because surgery to fix the problem would be major, including the removal of my breast plate, all other options are being explored first. On Monday a feeding tube will be placed in my belly connected to my intestines. Sometime later in the week I will be sent home with the feeding and draining tubes. Every couple of weeks I will return for a swallow test to see if the leak is getting smaller. Home care will be arranged for changing the dressing on the tubes and for covering the dressings for a shower. The feeding will happen at night so I won’t be dragging the IV pole around with me during the day. I will be only allowed sips of water, should my mouth be dry, but nothing else by mouth. Right now my nutrition goes directly into my vein 24 hours a day. I haven’t eaten since October 29th but my weight has gone up. I consider that adding insult to injury. I know if I’m going to heal I will have a better chance at home. Keep me in your prayers.

Carol

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The Ontarion

Hello everyone

Well, we finally received our first snowfall of the winter season two days ago! So, I pulled the cover off the snow blower that Adam had worked to get out of the shed from summer storage!

I had to drive it across the lawn to reach the walkways. There was about 4” of white stuff on the lawn so I figured I’d just blow my way to the sidewalks! It worked pretty well and didn’t damage the grass beneath the snow. My strength isn’t what it used to be so it took some effort to wield the heavy machine around to clear all of the walks and the drive around the vehicles. I realized after the fact that it would have been much easier if I had moved the cars out of the driveway! Oh well, I managed to get the job done regardless of the crowded driveway! It was a lesson learned! After I had cleared the snow I went in to enjoy a nice cup of hot tea in front of the TV and watch the latest weather report. Lo and behold didn’t the weather reporter state that the following day was going to be unseasonably warm up to +6c and all of the previous days snow would be melted away! LOL! So I had wasted my time and effort blowing the snow! Oh well, at least I got some exercise out of the day!

Thinking of it now, in years gone by I would have easily shoveled that amount of snowfall by hand and thought nothing of it. The advent of the snow blower although convenient, has made us very lazy indeed! I have saved in my scrap book a picture of our crew of 8 firefighters out in front of our headquarters station in snow well up to our knees, shoveling the huge drive/ apron with large shovels and smiling while we did the clearing! It just so happened that a local news paper reporter was out looking for human interest opportunities to record for his news paper that day and he took a picture of the event! It took another 5 years to convince the deputy chief to purchase a snow blower for each station! In the meantime it was part of our duties to shovel the snow by hand. Back in the early days of my career the officer took great pleasure in ordering us to “get out there and clear the snow” before the day shift came on duty as he stood inside watching us tough it out and perform such arduous tasks!

I believe he just relished his authority a tad too much! He could easily have arranged with one of the city plows to drop by each station and clear the snow but that would have been too easy! Eventually we got a blower for each station and winter life around the stations was much easier for us grunts!

I realized that when and if I ever became an officer I would be much more considerate of my crew members when it came to having them perform such tasks around the stations. The officer in charge of the crews and stations has to consider saving the efforts of his crew for the more important task of responding to all the serious calls that come in one after the other, day after day during every shift!

When I think that in my day we handled about 3500 calls per year, I can only imagine how many they respond to in today’s busy times! I think of the jobs we handled year round, especially in winter each time I’m out clearing the snow with the blower!

I hate to be one of those people who start their comments to younger people with “IN MY DAY!” But it is true to say we had it very rough when compared to modern times and conveniences developed since then!

It’s always fun to think back and compare times and this has been one of those times!

Thanks for tuning in this week as always and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next time in the Ontarion report! Goodbye for now ans stay safe everyone!

All the best to you all….. Greg

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Have a Good One
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