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Issue #1176
Including:

The Ontarion
Russ
Wayne & Sylvia
Doug

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From Greg – The Ontarion

Hello everyone

Well, it’s finally arrived, the Canadian winter!

This is more like what we saw as kids in the 50’s and 60’s!

The news said that cottage country really got hit last night! Made me think of Ontario fire college and the winters I spent up in Gravenhurst attending that school over the years! Up to 6 weeks at a time taking fire fighting and dept management courses! I made the firefighting part but the closest I got to management, was being in charge of a station!

I also think of the first winters I spent on the dept! We had no such thing as a snow blower! We had to shovel those huge driveways by hand! After bugging the deputy to buy a blower for 10years, he finally bought one for head quarters on Weber st! Then, 4 years later, station 2 on Westmount rd inherited that one from HQ and they got a new one! Until then, the KW Record would send a photographer ON SNOWY DAYS TO TAKE PICTURES of us poor fire fighters shoveling tons of snow that tended to fall n those times! I have a picture of us clearing two feet of snow from HQ drive in one of those early winters in my scrap book! One of these days I’ll have to find that book and look back to my early days on WFD! Looking. Back 50 years will be quite a shocker indeed!

It’s always fun to look and think back and as you know, that’s my source of subjects for my weekly column!

Thanks for tuning in again!

Take care until we meet here again next week!

Bye for now……Greg!

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From Russ

Snow day.

It keeps on snowing - all day, and all night! My son Greg just left, sweating, and worn out from shoveling, trying to keep ahead of the snow falling on my deck and ramp. The snow is heavy as it's mostly water now that the temperature is above freezing. My Nephew tried to blow the snow off my drive, but gave-up after his little John Deer got plugged with slush and ice. Greg made arrangements for a friend to plow my drive with his heavy-duty snow-thrower he uses to plow the roads around here. He should be here any minute. Because he's never plowed my drive, he won't know where the pavement stops and the lawn begins. Greg wants to guide him this time. I'll have him plow my snow from now on as Dickson's little Deer just can't handle the job.

Tomorrow is our regular shopping day, plus any other appointments we may have ('we' is my daughter-in-law and driver, and care-giver) What if we can't get to Kincardine tomorrow because all the roads are closed? I find I'm out of some essential products i.e. toilet paper. Now, when I was growing up, we didn't have a flush toilet so we didn't need (or couldn't afford) real toilet paper. Eaton's catalogue served a dual purpose in our "out-house". It was good reading, and good wiping! Now, we have neither Eaton's or Sears catalogues to view, nor do we get a daily newspaper.

Looking around my house, in case things go for from bad to worse (worse being having to use our "outhouse" if we have no water pressure and can't flush the toilet)!! I've made a short list of what will do, and what is definitely "off the table"!

Will do: face tissue; shelf paper; documents you were going to shred, but didn't; the stuff you did shred, and is ready for use; that single sock; your old underwear; any bodies old underwear; rag-bag cloth (watch out for buttons) Never use: wallpaper (especially the prepasted kind); greeting cards (The ink might be a problem); $1 or $2 dollar bills (they might be worth something some day); aluminum foil; plastic wrap; postage stamps (they are much too tiny, and you'll have to wash your hands after use, and besides, the postal strike may be over some day and the stamps may again be of use) And finally, avoid using anything metallic, hard plastic, wood, glass, or weeds.

Russ🙂😘😉

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From Wayne & Sylvia

Hello out there in Squamidian world.

This is my unscheduled "proof of life" report from calm, serene, mild, winterless New Brunswick, at least our part of N.B.

My news is that there isn't really any news. We missed the wind storms, we missed the deluge, and now we missed the snow.

Tonight, Thursday as I am composing this literary boredom, it is 3 degrees above zero, cloudless and calm.

My only reason for this message to you, fellow Squids, is that mayhem is occurring everywhere else and so someone might wonder how we are faring.

I read of astonishing snow storms in Ontario, Eastern USA, the mid-west and even the pan-handle of Texas. I anticipate a snowy report from Sue in Nova Scotia.

Meanwhile, workers are attaching a new roof to the main house, hoping to complete it by the weekend in case we get a bit of winter.

That's it for now, until another time when nothing happens.

Wayne & Sylvia

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From Doug

How’s it going…..eh?

Last week I didn’t have anything to write about but managed to write a whole lot about not much. This week I still don’t have anything to write about but don’t worry, I won’t go on and on about nothing.

It is always interesting that our west coast weather is often opposite from central and eastern weather. Along that line, when back east was getting snow, we suddenly had sunshine and thats ok with me. To make good use of that sunshine, I got the little Royal Enfield motorcycle out from its cozy corner in the garage and did a nice 100 km toot down the highway to Horseshoe Bay and back. It was not warm, in fact I had to wait for the frost to melt from our driveway and the local streets before heading out and I was bundled up like a little kid but thats ok, I was nice and warm. There are many shady sections along the highway as it snakes along the east side of Howe Sound where the sun never shines this time of year and I was quite cautious in those areas and made sure to stay on the section of roadway where vehicle tires had dried the pavement. Didn’t want to chance hitting frost because at my age I’m way to old to go down. Younger people might bounce, I’d probably splat.

It was however, a great ride. With cold brisk air and bright sunshine it can’t get much better. The local mountains are snow covered so the scenery is great. The little bike toots along just fine. A couple of my riding friends were at the ‘Bay’ as I knew they would be so we hung out for a while. They had short rides as they both live in West Van. My ride is a lot further but that means I get to ride further. Funny how that works. Now the bike is back in its cozy corner in the garage. That may have been my last ride of the year, given that there isn’t all that much year left. If there is another opportunity I’ll happily take it, if there isn’t, at least I had this one.

I almost did that ride again on Thursday but it was a bit on the cooler side and overcast. That meant the roads and streets didn’t dry off from the dewy, frosty night and so the dirty wetness that sprays up from vehicle tires would be ever present and that same wetness this time of year can be slippery, so, I gave in to caution and didn’t head out.

Now here’s the public service announcement part of this story….if you haven’t done it for a while, check your tire pressure. The last time I had checked mine wasn’t all that long ago but it had been warm then. Air, like pretty well everything else, expands and contracts with temperature changes. It is now cold out so the air in your tires has contracted. When I checked my bike tires, they were down about 10% or so. Vehicles including motorcycles do not handle as well as they should with low, or high, tire pressure. Tire wear increases as well. So, check your tires and adjust pressure as necessary. And when you are done with that, top up your blinker fluid :)

Doug

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Have a Good One
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