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Issue #1087
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Russ

Nova Scotia Sus

The Ontarion

Hey There,

It’s pollen season, again. Bummer. Time to bring out the antihistamines and the allergy eye drops and the Kleenex and so on. The local Alder trees are the first to spread their misery each year. They tend to start off by turning a reddish colour in mid to late January and if the weather permits they can be spewing pollen by mid February. If spring is abnormally cold or wet that gets delayed a bit. We are now past mid March and the pollen is starting with a vengeance. Each time I go out for a ride on the Harley I come home with runny, itch eyes and congested nasal passages from having the laden air rammed into my face. That kind of takes some of the fun out of it.

But, have you ever thought about pollen and pollination and even the sweet smell of flowers? It’s how plants reproduce and therefore it’s the sexual activity of vegetation. So, we are in fact being sexually abused by trees and flowers every time we breath in pollen or take the time to smell the roses. Therefor, we are victims. There doesn’t seem to be any recourse or even laws against such behavior and I for one am feeling quite OFFENDED.

Then there was the interesting article in the Vancouver Sun newspaper the other day that had nothing at all to do with pollen but was all about volcanoes, the local volcanoes to be exact. There is no connection between volcanoes and pollen spewing trees except that they both spew, the trees spew pollen and the volcanoes spew lava and gasses etc.

The article talked about how our local volcanoes are dormant but NOT extinct and how our federal government is doing one of the worst jobs of monitoring these sites as compared to almost every other country in the world that has volcanic sites. The local volcanic belt is part of the ‘Pacific Ring Of Fire’, and includes mountains in Washington and Oregon States as well as the ones here in BC and into Alaska. Our most local sites are Garibaldi, which dominates the Squamish skyline as well as the whole Howe Sound area, and Kaylie up the Upper Squamish, and Meager west of Pemberton. All of these have been active within the last several thousand years and could become active again. All of these would be a real problem if they did in fact start to rumble. Meager is the most likely to become active as it has geothermal hot springs, and constant rock slides due to it’s unstable condition. The last time Garibaldi erupted it sent a lava flow out from it’s east side that curved back around and flowed almost to the edge of what it now Squamish. That flow is now a favorite ride for the local mountain bikers.

The columnar basalt layers that can be seen all over the place around here were laid down during massive lava flows. This would have been a rather interesting and hostile area at the time that was happening. The ‘Tusk’ and the ‘Table Top’ are all remnants of past eruptions but those seem to be extinct now, at least probably but who knows for sure. When Garibaldi was being built by volcanic activity at the end of the last ice age (it is a very young mountain by geological standards), it had eruptions that flowed out over the mile deep ice that covered the area. When the ice collapsed under the heat and weight, the whole west side of the mountain gave way and the area known as the ‘Cheekye Fan’ is the remnants of that event. So, for pollen we can take antihistamines. For lava we can’t do much at all except to realize that the chances of an eruption in ‘our’ life time is very low. It’s not zero but it is very low and just serves to remind us that we are in fact ‘guests’ on this planet and it could evict us all in the blink of an eye if we don’t beat it to doing that ourselves.

doug

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From Russ

Lady Luck

I changed my mind - was going to continue with my findings on "pain", titled, "Why me?", but let's put that aside while I reveal the secret to winning the lottery. The secret is 'sacred' - don't share it with anybody, not even your spouse, or children, or siblings. Once it's out, everybody will be a winner, and your winnings will be shared among so many that you won't get much more than you risked! Your dream of "winning Big" will be gone, and it will be "game over"! Consider yourself "sworn to secrecy" - - here is the secret:

Simply enter the correct numbers at the right time.

Now, let's get serious for a moment. Her name was Eva, she always sat in the same pew directly in front of me. I usually helped her off & on with her coat, which she appreciated. I had great respect & admiration of her. She was well-educated, a former school teacher, former Rector's Warden, President of the Anglican Church Women (ACW), in charge of The Memorial Fund, and the Walk of Memories, and if that isn't enough, when St. Luke's Anglican Church celebrated it's 150th Anniversary, Eva was in charge of all planning & events!! Yet, she was humble, polite, and always pleasant. She passed away last year after a hard-fought battle with Alzheimer's. I had the honor of attending her funeral which was a celebration of her full, rich life. Her former students, church friends, nurses, admirers, and most of the residents of the nursing-home were there!!

If there is a 'Heaven', you can be sure Eva will be there, making sure everything is in order and ready for you and me. But, this story isn't all about Eva, and she is NOT "Lady Luck"! To the contrary - she didn't believe in luck! She was often heard to say,

"There is no such thing as luck; whether good or bad!" No, she was not a fatalist, believing that fate controls everything that happens; Eva's beliefs were founded on "faith in God". Do you agree with Eva? If not, do you accept this statement? "There is no such thing as luck, only fortune & misfortune". The Dictionary says, good luck and fortune are about the same thing, hence, bad luck & misfortune are also about the same.

Some say, "Being lucky or not is all in the timing". Agree? Don't agree? OK, let's test it > Being in the right place at the right time may well bring you good luck - looking at the other side of the coin > Being in the wrong place at the wrong time will likely bring you bad luck. Could it be true that it's all in the timing? We've all experienced "good timing" ex. At an auction sale; "Wow! I just happened to bid at the right time - I bought that......for peanuts!". Or an example of bad timing; "Damn! Just got on that elevator at the wrong time - now I'm stuck between floors!"

Do you 'play' the lotteries? Yes? How does timing affect winning or losing? According to our secret, choosing to play the right numbers at the right time will make you a winner! But, chances are you will lose as nobody knows the right numbers or, the right time to 'play' those numbers! (as they say in Mexico, el tougho shito!)

Next week we discuss "chance = risk". Test that if you like. Does timing play a part?

Russ.

Let's set that aside for now while I wax philosophical.

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From Nova Scotia Sus

Spring has sprung and so is the maple sap time. Cold nights and warm days have put us into daily sap runs. After two boil downs we now have 19, 250ML

size bottles in our pantry.

To fill our pan we need 4 or 5 storage buckets that hold 19 liters each. We seem to have no trouble getting that much daily now. It's always exciting collecting sap....some trees producing lots of sap and others a drop or so. Lots of exercise and fun. Also never knowing how long the run will be depending on weather.

Not much else happening at this time. Happy Spring everyone!

Sus

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The Ontarion

Hello everyone!

I guess we should be surprised that Karl and Karin have opened a string of their once popular “Zeller’s” stores here in Ontario as of today! Carole and I remember shopping at this once popular store when we were first married in the early 70’s! They were a very popular line of stores akin to such department stores as “ Towers” and others that have since become defunct for many years! Now, of course I’m just kidding about them being of any connection to the famous Australian Zellers but it was kind of fun to make that assumption! The Zeller’s stores are being resurrected here in Ontario as an experimental business to see how they will be received by the buying public once more in Ontario! A university of Guelph Professor of business doesn’t have much faith in their being very successful this second time around! However, they were well liked in their first kick at the cat many years ago and I personally think they may do well again this time! Their claim to fame in the 60’s and 70’s was their “Lower prices than any other of their competitors”. They did however tend to go down hill quality wise just before they had to close down their entire chain of stores because of this poor quality of merchandise!

They are currently owned by the Canadian conglomerate “The Bay” and their current stores are being opened within the much larger “Bay” stores. The closest Zeller’s store to us here in KW is one in “The Bay” located in Cambridge! So if you wish to check one of these new Zeller’s stores, you’ll have to take a drive to Cambridge on Hespeler Rd and visit “The Bay” down there! We may just take a quick drive down sometime soon to have a look at the new Zeller’s store before they get closed down once again! I remember buying my first set of golf clubs in one of Zeller’s competitor’s stores by the name of Tower’s department store! It was located in a building that is now a Walmart on Bridgeport Rd in Waterloo! I had those Clubs until a few months ago when Carole sold them on line for $20.00. I had given them to her many years ago when she gave me a much better set. However, I don’t recall her ever using them more than once or twice while they were in her possession. She was not a golf enthusiast but did try golfing in a neighbourhood tournament when we lived in Linwood Ontario back in the 90’s. I think that might have been the one and only time Carole ever made an attempt at golfing! Now her second hand set is history and my better set is still occupying a space on the mezzanine or our garage and hasn’t seen any action on a golf course since the days when I was still working for WFD and we had an annual tournament for work! I guess I might as well put my set on line for sale too since I really have no use for them anymore either! I may try golfing once the weather gets better this spring or summer if I can talk Adam in to taking a day on the course just for fun!

I’ll have to rent a golf cart for the trip around any course if we do go since I know I’d never be able to walk the entire length of any golf course in my condition! The last time he and I played a round of golf together was when Carole he and I were in Ireland 6 or 7 years ago on a holiday! We were touring the south of Ireland and stayed a night in a suite on the Blarney Golf Resort and the manager was kind enough to allow Adam and I to play a round of golf early the next morning before their annual membership tournament teed off for the day. We had a fun time golfing on the Famous course when no others were on the course so early that morning. We had an experience of a lifetime that morning golfing in the slightly foggy and dew-laden atmosphere of such a famous course! I must say one of the highlights happened on the 14th hole of the course when we couldn’t tell what was making a Screaming noise and to our surprise when we approached the green, we saw several large jack rabbits pouncing around the green and they were chasing each other around on the dewy green and screaming at each other as they pounced and tumbled with each other! Neither of us had any idea that rabbits were capable of making any sort of vocal sounds at all! What a surprise we had when we heard them squealing at each other! We stopped and watched them for about 5 minutes as they tumbled and made their strange noises while playing in the dew-laden short grassed green! That morning is something we will never forget! We both learned that we were true amateurs when playing on a “Pro Length” course and also that Rabbits can speak! LOL!

Well, 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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