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The
Squamidian Report – Nov. 25 / 23
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Of This And Past Issues Issue
#1122 Nova
Scotia
Sus
Hey kids…..
Being the kind of old fart that I am, I often go out onto the our front balcony after dark just to look at the sky and the dark mountains that surround us. A few evenings ago I went out there, and the sound of a helicopter caught my attention. The copter was relatively low which is not normal after dark. Our local airport is certified for day use only as it does not have any night capabilities, not runway lighting or beacons. The only aircraft we would normally see after dark are ones that are fairly high up, passing by on their way to somewhere else. This copter was hovering about half way up the side of Mt Habrich, about 5km to our south. It was fully dark out so all I could see was it’s nav lights and it’s search beam that was lighting up a section below it. Being the nosy kind of person that I am, I got out my spotter scope and took a closer look. Through the scope I could make out the copter against the black background, and could see the patch of trees being illuminated by the search light.
There was some movement visible as I could just make out a tiny orange dot which would be the rescue sling that someone being rescued would be loaded into. This indeed was a mountain side rescue in progress. Our local search and rescue organization does not have a night capable helicopter but the North Shore S&R group does so this would be their machine assisting the Squamish S&R. Cool.
I couldn’t help but marvel at the skill of the pilot because the copter was hovering in one spot for quite a long time and even through my scope it didn’t appear to deviate at all. That would not be easy to do along the side of a mountain, especially in the dark. After a while, the copter lifted higher, with the tiny orange dot dangling below, and headed away from the mountain. (This is whats known as a long-line rescue). The person being rescued turned out to be a tourist who had gotten lost while hiking in rather rugged and dangerous terrain. Once he had run out of daylight it got a lot more dangerous but he was able to use his phone which was almost out of battery to put in a frantic call for help. The terrain was too dangerous or the local S&R to try to go in on foot in the dark and so they called in the helicopter which was able to locate the hiker, lower a sar-tech down to him, and extract both.
Most rescues don’t always have as good an ending as most people being rescued are badly injured. In this case, it all worked out well although if they had not been able to find the hiker he probably would not have survived the night. He would have either fallen off a cliff or froze to death. Mountains in the dark are not very forgiving. However, it all worked out well. And here’s an interesting fact, all the S&R personnel here in BC are volunteers. They are incredible people who dedicate their spare time not just to rescuing people but also to the endless training that is needed for them to be able to perform those rescues. Another interesting fact, they have equipment stashes throughout the local mountains for use when they have to do extensive searches on foot. Those stashes are in locked containers. Now a disgusting fact. Sadly, they occasionally find those containers broken into and their equipment gone. I can’t fathom what kind of low-life would do that kind of thing but they exist. Their mothers must be so proud. The rest of us are very proud of S&R teams that are there, day and night, to save people from themselves. * It’s a hard life but someone has to do it because we have to put up with these kinds of views as we ride up to our morning coffee spot. Oh well.
* About a month ago I posted my audio version of that old Lucille Star song called ‘When The Sun Says Hello To The Mountain’. Well, I finally had a chance to do the video version. You know, the bare bones video’s I tend to do that are just me and my guitar. So, here it is if you are interested. Just click on the link below and sing along. One small confession….for whatever reason, I have not yet fully memorize the lyrics so I’ve got the words in front of me so I can cheat whenever I need to know what line is next. Sorry about that but I’ll get them memorized one of these days. Its just that I actually had an opportunity (house to myself) to record this video and I couldn’t pass it up even though I’m not quite ready to do it yet. That’s how it goes sometimes.
The Video Version
Doug ****
From Nova Scotia Sus
Last Tuesday we woke up to a couple inches of snow and a blowing wind. At times you couldn't see across the yard. I wondered if I should close the shop for the day since most of my clients drive further out in the country to come to my shop. Instead I waited to see if they call me to cancel. They all made it out because the bad weather was only where I live! Ten minutes down the road and all downhill from here there was no snow. So only the highlands got it.
We are now on rat patrol with a vengeance. There has been a lot of tunneling into our coop and up till now we caught small rats. Yesterday we caught the mother...the biggest rat I've ever seen! Hopefully we are getting somewhere. The chickens are not bothered by them even though they eat their feed at night I have noticed.
Yesterday I saw paw prints all around our house. I followed them right in to our hot tub shelter and there was a black cat laying near the tub. We lost our cat awhile back so I was hoping this one was looking for a home. I guess I scared it by talking to it and it scurried away. Maybe it'll be back and maybe it is looking for a home. It sure would help with the rat problem.
Sus ****
The Ontarion
Hello everyone This comes with my apologies for missing my column last week! Time just got away from me and it was too late to send a write up! However I’m back for this week!
Looking back many years to my childhood and Christmas! We always loved the time when my dad would take the three of us kids to Romies’ Esso station to pick out the perfect tree. Romie was a friend of my dad and he had an Esso gas and repair business at the corner of Victoria and Ahrens streets! He did all of my dads car repairs and he also sold Christmas trees each year from his lot! Each year we would patronize his lot to buy our tree! He would always give my dad a discount on our tree and back then a $2.00 discount was a lot of money! I think the tree would cost about $7.00 retail! Then dad would tie the tree to the roof of his 1959 Buick with heavy string and home we would go! It was one of the most exciting family times of year! Sometimes my mum would also go along as well! She most times would stay home to get the tree ornaments out of the crawl space up stairs where we kept them in the off season! We lived in a small story and a half on Floyd st in the North ward of Kitchener as I’ve said before! The tree was usually a tad too tall when we got it home so dad always had to saw some off the bottom to make it fit the living room. In those days nobody had artificial trees! My mum did have a small all white tree That she stood on the coffee table as well and it was an artificial one of course but she loved it as a tradition as well! We also had items such as a plastic “frosty the snow man” that sat on the table too! That was my favourite but his pipe was broken off. That didn’t matter to me as long as his head was still attached! “Frosty” had an open sack on his back and Santa always put a few candy canes in that sack on Christmas eve!
We would finally get around to decorating the tree about a week before Christmas! We would spend hours cutting strips of construction paper to glue into loops that we stuck together to make colourful paper chains! Then the chains were strung around the tree to add colour! One of the other items that was popular in those days was tinsel. It was as I thought, such a waste that the tinsel went out to the garbage with the tree after Christmas since we couldn’t save all of it off the tree! Then the tree sat upright in the snow bank in front of our house for about a week until the big truck finally came by to gather the dead trees up! Then, the rest of the winter was rather drab!
I remember walking to and from school in the freezing cold of winter! I’d get home with the cuffs of my pants frozen from the wet puddles we walked through! Mum would make us take the pants off and she would hang them on a clothes hanger over the bath tub to dry until morning! We three kids would stand in front of the furnace grill in the hallway to thaw out our red and freezing cold feet from the walk home! I remember my toes burning from the cold but they survived the ordeal since I still have all 10 of them! LOL! That walk home was nothing when compared to the freezing mess I was in after a day of tobogganing at Prueter School on the weekends! I was literally a frozen popsicle when I got home from several hours of conquering the hill at the school!
Usually it was dark out by the time we’d had enough of trips down the hill! We had a beauty of a toboggan but we discovered that a sheet of cardboard worked even better as a vehicle on which to ride the snow packed hill! The only advantage to the toboggan was that we could pile about 5 or 6 of us on the toboggan and it was great fun crashing half way down the hill in a tangled mess of arms and legs! What great fun we had in those younger days! Ahh, The memories of one’s youth!!!
I guess that’s enough for this week! So, I’ll say goodbye for now and wish you all a happy winter ahead! Drive carefully and happy sledding if you venture out onto your local hill alone or with your kids! That is, if your kids aren’t 40 years old by now! Or, what the heck, even if they are, drag them to the nearest hill with their sheet of cardboard and rekindle some memories of your own!
Bye for now and thanks for tuning in until next week when we meet again!
All the best from….Greg ****
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