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Issue #1079
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Nova Scotia Sus

Russ

The Ontarion

Hey There,

I must confess to the fact that I have nothing to write about this week. However, ‘nothing’ could actually be an interesting topic because one must ask him/her self, what IS nothing. Zero is not nothing because zero is an increment and a measurement. It’s half way between +1 and -1. Having ‘nothing’ to do still results in doing something, that something being nothing. You’d have to get all the way down to a temperature of absolute zero before you have no thermal energy left and yet at that point no temperature is still not nothing, it’s just the lack of any energy. You might have nothing to eat but there would still be stuff that is edible. You might have nothing to wear but we won’t go there. So, ‘nothing’ is perhaps the absence of something but it is still a form of measurement or comparison and therefore, nothing is still something. Go figure.

Nothing could also indicate the amount of interest most would feel in the fact that both our vehicles went in this past week for scheduled servicing. Both vehicles were purchased right at the end of a given January, my Tacoma pickup being January 2020 and Sue’s Rave4 being January 2021. Therefore servicing always happens at the same time for both of them. That works out ok because we make an appointment for each of them for the same day, drop one off first thing in the morning and then the other off when we pick up the first one.

One of the things that has always bugged me about leaving either of the vehicles at the dealer’s service department is that when we go to pick it up, the seat is always as far back as it will go and the seat back is aways reclined so far I can barley reach the steering wheel or foot peddles. I finally solved that mystery: the guy who drives the vehicles over to the car wash (included with the oil change) is about 7 ft tall and the only way he can squeeze himself into a vehicle is to set the seat back all the way. Of course that leaves me struggling to get the truck’s seat back to where I want it, to where it feels right. I hate that. It’s easier with Sue’s car because it has buttons that you set for seat location and all you need to do is set the seat once and then it can always be returned to that setting by pushing said button. There’s one setting for her and another for me. I wish the truck was adorned with such luxury.

Then there is the silly service ‘advisor’ who checks the vehicles in and then back out once servicing is finished and you come back to get your vehicle. As I stand in front of the service counter to retrieve the truck and it’s related FOB, and at the same time hand in the car’s FOB, he asks if I need a ride home. I simply say no, I’ll just use the vehicle that works with the FOB you just handed me. That tends to result in a rather blank look on his face.

An interesting thing about keyless entry and keyless start vehicles and their FOB’s, if you are interested, is the fact that high tech thieves can bypass them easily with the right software on a portable device such as a laptop or pad. The creep with the software on his device can drive along a street where such equipped vehicles are parked and scan for a returned signal. If he finds one, he can then duplicate the signal and not only open the vehicle door but start the engine and drive away. We park in our garage so no one even sees our vehicles so not much to worry about there. There is however a very easy work-around for vehicles parked outside...most FOB’s can be disabled in either one of two ways. The hard way is to remove the battery. A dead FOB can’t reply to any signal being sent out. The easy way is to do the button pushing sequence that will disable the FOB and it’s really easy to do. In the case or our Toyota vehicles, you simply hold down the door lock button and while its down, push the unlock button twice. The FOB is now dead to the world, it can’t reply to any incoming signals. To enable it again you simply push any button. Simple as that. Other makes of vehicles would have some similar method. If you weren’t interested in this information, it will obviously have meant ‘nothing’ to you.

doug

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From Nova Scotia Sus

Another weird weather system moving in. We just got a nice snowfall and a picture perfect winter scene and now it all has to change. Rain and high winds are predicted and no doubt a very icy driveway in the change over to plus 11 degrees. Wish it would make up its mind and be winter.

I read in my chicken book how to make their nests cleaner. You place good fitting cardboard pieces under straw to line their laying boxes. This should work for a bit and then do it all over again. My worry is they will end of scratching with their feet and the whole thing goes flying out of the nest..and eggs with it. So I only lined a few as an experiment. Someone must have tried it and it worked. We are now down to 15 chickens as some naturally die of old age. We are thinking about expanding our numbers in the spring as I have clients who buy our eggs regularly. Also thinking about raising pheasant and then releasing them into the wild. I think that would be a nice experience. I'm not sure if I would take on bees even though I love honey I'm very afraid of getting stung.

So good to hear Doug that you are getting along well in your recovery. Your description of old parts and new parts was quite interesting.

Sus

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From Russ

Groundhog Day - February 2nd

Here yea! Here yea! the Town Crier will call-out loud and clear in a town in Bruce County, Ontario. Each year on February 2nd the town of Wiarton will celebrate a festival known as Groundhog Day. The star of the show is a groundhog named Wiarton Willie, his role is to predict whether there will be an early spring. The event attracts visitors from near and far looking for some mid-winter fun. Everyone knows an animal can't predict the weather, but the 'myth' goes like this: If Willie sees his shadow, because February 2nd is a bright, sunny day, he'll go back into his den to continue sleeping because there will be another 6 weeks of winter.

In other locations in North America is held a mid-winter celebration involving an animal with 'predictive power', inspired by an old Scottish couplet: "If Candlemas Day is bright and clear/There will be two winters in the year". The story of Wiarton Willie dates back to 1956; A Wiarton resident named Mac McKenzie wanted to showcase his childhood home to his many friends, so he sent out invitations for a "Groundhog Day" gathering - one of these invitations fell into the hands of a Toronto Star reporter who traveled to Wirarton looking for the big event. None of the townspeople knew about a festival, but one suggested he check at the Arlington Hotel, the local "watering hole". There the reporter found McKenzie and his friends partying and was invites to join them. Let's listen to what happened next:

"No, it's all a big joke" explained Mac. He went on, "I just wanted to bring a bunch of my personal friends to Wiarton so I could show-off the renovations I made to the old homestead where I was born - you know - boast a bit"

"You mean there's no festival? No groundhog?" lamented the reporter! He went on, "I'll need some kind of a story to take back to justify my expenses"! Mac, being a true Scot, and not wanting to get the reporter into trouble, he said, "Wait here - I've got an idea". With that, Mac was out of the hotel and into his temporary in-town residence, shouting, "Sweetie! Sweetie! I needs to borrow yer fur hat for a while - you know, the one with the large button on front".

"That's my newest hat!" she cried, "What in blazes do you need my fur hat for?!!" Mac quickly grabbed her hat saying, "Explain later - no time now"! Out the door and into the hotel parking lot where he dug a burrow in the snow with his bare hands - stuffed the hat into the hole, and ran back into the beverage Room where he'd left the troubled reporter.

"Everybody outside!" he shouted. "The Groundhog Festival is about to begin"!! All Mac's friends and all other patrons (who could still walk on their own) assembled in the hotel parking lot. Mac reached in - pulled-out the hat - held it high and pronounced a prognostigation (which no one remembers) .

The picture of Mac and the hat ran in the February 3rd, 1956 edition of the Toronto Star. A year later, about 50 people arrived for the Annual Festival - half were reporters from various media including the CBC and Canadian Press. Seizing the opportunity, Mac invented a festival that has been added-to over the years.

The Festival brings in tourists who bring in money, and except for the pandemic the Annual Festival has helped local businesses to thrive as the event has been growing steadily and they expect a huge turnout this year on Feb 2.

Now, I ask you - is there any truth in what Willie indicates? Here are the facts: Wiarton Willie's predictive powers are attributed (by his followers) to his situation on the 45th Parallel, exactly half-way between the Equator and the North Pole. Locals claim his accuracy to be around 90% of the time. Scientists have estimated Willies accuracy at 25%.

This has been both fun and educational for me. Thanks for showing an interest. Remember, we're here for a good time - not for a long time!

Russ.

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The Ontarion

Hello everyone

It’s the weekend once again and it’s been another long week of running to the hospital for me. On Sunday evening I developed a nose bleed that I just couldn’t stop! It was like Niagara falls. I sat from 9pm until 2am pinching my nose with an Ice pack on my nose and forehead but to no avail! So, Adam drove me up to the hospital emergency ward. They took me in right away since I was the only patient in the place for a change but then, I laid on a bed in their ambulatory patient room for another 4 hours waiting for the doctor to arrive. FINALLY he came in and checked my nose. He said the only way he had at that time to stop the flow was to shove a balloon type device up my nostril and inflate it to put pressure on the open flow spot. I had never heard of this device but it sounded like it would work. The only catch was … I would have to leave it there for 48 to 72 hours and then return to the emerge then and have a doctor remove the balloon. So, he proceeded to shove a 4” long balloon up into my sinus cavity. He said it would feel like he was shoving it into my brain but not to worry! Then he laughed. Finally after another hour of waiting, the flow had stopped and at 6am he sent me home. Luckily Adam was along with me to drive me home since the device up my schnoz was making me dizzy. When I got home I slept sitting up in my easy chair for the next two nights. Finally I decided to sleep for a few hours in my actual bed since the chair wasn’t very conducive to a good nights sleep!

Late Thursday afternoon I went up to emerge again to have the device removed. As luck would have it the doctor that implanted the device had preregistered my coming so when I arrived they told me that I was #2 on the list to be served. Well, even so, I still had to wait for that turn to come. Two hours later I was finally taken to see the doctor. Of course it was not the same doctor that worked on me last Monday morning. So, when the new Doctor came into the room, he had to review all that had happened before attempting to remove the balloon! Before removing the balloon, he said to me “Now this may hurt a little!” I said give her whatever it is you have to do since I’m used to this sort of thing, stitches and slicing of my scalp etc etc! so, he proceeded to pull on the small tube that had been hanging out of my face for three days. He pulled and the balloon was stubborn and dried in place. As he pulled on it he managed to break the tube off. He then finally got hold of the remainder of the tube and pulled and wiggled until he yanked the device out of my nose! I then had to lay on the bed draped in towels for an hour until he waited to see of the device had worked and stopped the flow. Luckily it had worked but he told me not to either blow my nose or wipe it hard for anther few days and to run a room humidifier in my bedroom if I had one. Well, Thursday night was the first one when I could sleep the night in my bed and it felt very good after sleeping in the chair. I have got to be careful not to disturb the inside of my schnoz for a few days but hopefully I won’t bump my nose in the middle of the night and start it bleeding again! Luckily we have a room humidifier!

Well now that I’ve totally grossed you all out, I should continue on a happier note! We’ve finally gotten to experience a real Ontario winter here in KW! Over the past three days, it’s finally snowed for about 48 hours steady and deposited about a foot of white stuff on the ground. Adam and Carole worked the snow blower and cleared the snow from the drive and walkways. Both Adam’s truck and our Jeep are 4x4’s so getting through the snow is no problem these past few day! My adventures to medical are not over yet, I got a call from my cardiologist and it’s time for my annual heart check up! So, when I’ve finished this report I’m off to have an ECG done and then in another week I have to visit his office to review the results with the actual Doctor. This happens once a year so hopefully I’ll have the same good results as I’ve had from this check up for the past 5 years! I used to have to go for this check up every three months but now it’s once a year which is a good thing I guess! It means two things either My heart condition has improved and there’s no need to do it so often or the Cardiologist is sick of looking at my ugly old face! LOL! I hope it’s the former! Hahahaha……!

Well, I guess I’ll sign off for this week and hope to see you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!

Bye for now ….. Greg.

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