The Squamidian Report – Dec. 21 / 24Online
Versions
Of This And Past Issues Issue
#1178 The
Ontarion (Apologies to both Karl & Jackie for shrinking their great pics but necessary in order to keep this letter manageable) ****
From Greg – The Ontarion
Hello everyone! Speaking of Christmas, I can’t help thinking about all the christmases that I missed while having to work either nights or days at the fire hall! At least I’d had either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day with Carole and Adam! I guess I at least had one or the other when I think about it! Someone had to be on duty during the holidays! With the exception of the odd Christmas tree fire, we weren’t all that busy over Christmas at the hall! We unfortunately still had more drunks on the Road from the holiday celebrating going on! I remember one incident right in front of what was station #2 on Westmount rd where the driver that caused the crash was so drunk he couldn’t stand up after we got him out of the wreck! His only words were “geese was I ever lucky!” However the person walking on the sidewalk that he hit and killed wasn’t so lucky, were they? That incident made us have no sympathy for drunks, injured or not after that night! I don’t remember what happened to him in the courts but the thought of the victim’s Family losing their loved one on Christmas Eve sticks in your mind forever! Drinking and driving is one of the poorest decisions a person can make! It seems that holiday occasions tend to make foolish people do even more foolish things! I can’t count the number of similar incidents I attended during my career on the department but there were far too many! Please when you read this, think before you drink and drive in the future! I’m not without blame either, there were times when I did that very same thing but after experiencing the problem as a first responder, it opened my eye to no longer committing that crime! Of course now I no longer drink at all due to poor health and it’s been over 25 years since that health stuff started! I Still know that if I could, I’d enjoy a drink at Christmas and the odd occasion but I’ve learned my lessons over the years! I much prefer diet ginger ale to hard stuff on occasion! Not drinking is better for me and the rest of the world around me! By no means was I a big drinker but there were times when like most folks, I over-embibed! Those days are long gone and I really don’t miss them! I must admit, I got most of my drinking times out of my system during my teenage years! Most times it was fun but I had my share of talking to the “THE GREAT WHITE TELEPHONE ON MY KNEES TOO! That part was not fun! I guess there’s something to be said for getting older and wiser! I’d say we can consider this my contribution to the Christmas edition of the squid! Memories have a way of reminding us that we’ve learned better over all of our years! That’s about all for now! In case I don’t repeat myself next week, please allow me to wish all of our squid members a very MERRY CHRISTMAS, take care and peace and love to all for the occasion!
Bye for now…Greg ****
From Kyra Hello, I’m Kyra, but you probably know that. My goal today is to make this exactly 100 words long. At the end of this sentence, I will have 35 words now. My birthday is in less than a month so I’m going to be a teenager, I’m getting so old! I’m already having back problems…. One of my moms’ friends said this is where it all goes downhill. I think he is lying. Only 19 words to go. I’m going to count… 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16. Okay bye! ** From Olivia I am super excited for winter break. For Christmas we are staying home and opening presents and hanging out, it will be so fun, what are you doing for Christmas? Me and some friends are doing secret Santa. I hope you have a great Christmas this year! I really hope it snows, bye. Olivia ****
From Karl Merry Christmas everyone ,Thank you all for a great read every week we just had our hottest day this year so far 47c like standing in front a Blast furnace NOT liking this at all I would rather be in the COLD lol ,I still get out for my walks taking photos I will send some along with this newsletter ,While walking around the City I see a lot of homeless people living on the streets AND there are many empty buildings they could convert into shelters for these people and its getting worse ,enough of that ,I would like to send my best wishes to everyone for a Happy New Year 2025 CHEERS 🍻.The Aurora shots where from 11th May 2024..
Karl ****
From Russ
Christmas long ago. Begging your kind indulgence, please allow me to write about Christmases long ago, spent at the "old cottage"where the new one now sits here in Point Clark. One week from today is Christmas Day, but you wouldn't know it by looking around my 'wee' cottage. You'll see no decorations; you'll smell no baking; you'll hear no Christmas music, in fact the only sound you would hear is me 'pecking-away' at my old keyboard. The only 'living thing' in this place is an hibiscus plant sitting silently beside the back door, waiting for .......what? Other than being silent, the plant reminds me of my dear departed Bobbie who always kept flowering plants inside our house. This plant is now well-over 20 years old, and it still produces bright, red blooms whenever it feels like it. Red was Bobies favourite colour, and likely the only colour she could see after she lost her sight. * Looking
back
some 50 years ago, B. would be preparing for many guests
for
Christmas dinner. We always had to extend the dining
room table, and
maybe borrow some extra chairs from Shirley, B's.
sister, who had a
cottage on the lakefront across the dirt road from our
cottage. At
that time, our address was 91-A Lake Side Trail, and
theirs was 91 (I
think). We always bought a large turkey for the event - and by the time we stuffed it, I could hardly lift the monster into the oven - which it totally occupied! Several times in the past, the old oven quit before the bird was fully cooked, so it had to be carted across the road to Shirley's oven, and for this I had to use my wheel barrow! We really didn't mind the delay, as it gave us the opportunity to visit, and get physically friendly! Back in those days I was still drinking (sometimes to excess) and by the time I had to carve the turkey, B. was angry because I carved the slices too thick! (and sometimes after supper, I had to rush outdoors to "throw up" those thick slices!) B. was a great cook, and set a very "proper" table. I often helped with 'setting the table', and couldn't understand why we had to place so many knives, forks, and spoons of various sises at each plate. She learned her 'good manners' from he mother, and tried impatiently to teach me. The children who sat by themselves at a side table, have now become parents (or grandparents) themselves. I won't try to name them, as you likely would not need to know for this family newsletter. Suffice to say, it was NOISY! But, it was always a happy Christmas dinner. * There will be no noisy children at this Christmas dinner - only elderly types like us - and we mostly burp and fart. My daughter-in-law is hosting and she is a great cook - but "hates cooking"! We, Bettie, Greg, and I will be attending a Christmas Service at the United Church in Ripley....believe it or not!! Now, I wish you, and yours a happy, safe, and joyous Christmas! Russ.🙂😘 ****
From Nova Scotia Sus It looks like we may be in for our first big snow storm this weekend. So far our weather has been great giving us more time to work on our projects. The greenhouse is nowhere near finished but already we are enjoying it. We put up some Christmas lights to give it a more festive look. It's a huge space with big beams supporting the building. The plan is to have grapes growing in there by next spring along with veggies and whatever we dream up. Yesterday when driving home from town we spotted a man flying from a kite. We were able to track him for quite a distance as we were traveling the same route. The sky was so blue and it was a perfect day. He would have had a beautiful view from way up there. I think we are ready for Christmas now and look forward to spending time with friends and family. I'm taking two weeks off work to make it a real holiday. Nowadays people don't need their hair done right up to Christmas and New Years. There doesn't seem to be the big parties anymore. This month is going by so quickly I just realized that next week is Christmas!! I wish everyone a very Merry 🎄 Sus ****
From Carol This Christmas is going to be so much better than the non-Christmas I had last year. We will be at Gale’s place for Ewan’s birthday on the 23d, have the gathering at the Homestead on the 24th and spend Christmas Day with Beth’s family. I’m not sure how much of the food I can enjoy but am looking forward to sharing time with all those loved ones. This year I also made it to a couple of Christmas church services and have been playing Christmas Carols while making my truffles for sharing. I was very disappointed that the mail strike meant it is too late to send out Christmas cards. So All and I want to wish each and everyone of you a wonderful Christmas and healthy New Year. A special thank you to Doug, Russ, Greg and Sus for continuing to bless us with this weekly newsletter. I know it takes a lot of effort and time and they must feel alone when we, the readers, fail to acknowledge them when the Squid lands in our inbox. My New Year resolution is to stay out of hospital and the emergency room but I think I need to add the resolution of contributing, or t least acknowledging this newsletter more often. I am challenging the rest of you to doo the same,, if you appreciate it as much as we do. Again Merry Christmas with love from Al and I. Carol ****
Jim and Jackie go to Nepal As many of you know, Jim and I went on a big adventure last month, traveling to Nepal to go trekking in the Himalayas. You’ve also probably figured out over the years that we like to do hard things, but this, this was physical hardship to a degree we’ve never experienced before. The cold, the altitude, the steep ascents, the infamous Khumbu Cough… all added up to a real challenge, but that just made the rewards even sweeter. The incredible vistas, the sense of accomplishment, the wonder of walking among giants, the friendships made with fellow trekkers bonding over shared suffering. It was all worth it and more. The trek we did is called Three High Passes plus EBC (Everest Base Camp) and is mainly a big loop with some detours for base camps and acclimatization hikes. Most trekkers in the region do the shorter and less-strenuous Classic EBC trek, which is an out-and-back following the same trail both ways, or with some variation to fit in one of the passes. Some people who have more money than time will trek one-way to EBC and then take a helicopter back to the start. Our trek is probably the hardest non-climbing one in the region and I’m proud to say we did it and we represented our demographic well. We met many other wonderful trekkers doing the 3HP (Three High Passes) and enjoyed getting to know them in the lodges at the end of the trekking day, but almost all of them were SO young! Lots of 20-somethings on a gap year spending a few months traveling around, some in their 30’s, and more variations in age where we overlapped the classic EBC or other shorter treks, but as far as I could tell I was the only 50+ woman doing the 3HP at that time. And while there seemed to be more men in general on any of the treks and of a wider age range, I’m pretty sure Jim was the only nearly-60-year-old doing the passes — and he was fast! We did use the services of a guide and a porter. We stayed in “tea houses” which are basic accommodations that also serve meals, located in villages along the way. Some trekking days were fairly short, especially while we were gaining altitude as we had to ascend slowly to allow for proper acclimatization. There are two rules of thumb for adapting to high altitude: 1) Climb high and sleep low, which is why we would stay two nights in places and do a day hike to a high viewpoint. 2) Don’t sleep more than 500m higher than where you slept the night before, which is why often we didn’t travel very far distances on the way up. There’s so much more I could say about this experience, and I plan to share more on my facebook page, but for now I’ll just run down some stats and choose a few photos to include so I can send this off to the Squamidian. Here are some numbers from the trek: - 19 days on the trek - 1 day of rest when we did not either trek to our next destination or do an acclimatization day hike - 19 nights sleeping in 13 different tea house lodges - crossed 3 high passes (Kongma La, Cho La and Renjo La) - visited 3 base camps (Ama Dablam, Island Peak and Everest) - hiked up to 4 (5 for Jim) viewpoints - crossed two big glaciers - logged 187.32 km on the smart watch combined point-to-point trekking and day hikes - logged 11,404 m of elevation gain during those treks and hikes (to put that in perspective, Everest is 8849m high) - highest point for me: 5535m on Kongma La; highest point for Jim: 5545m on Kala Pattar viewpoint (I was too wrecked after the Kongma La to do it) I don't know how many prayer wheels we spun, or yaks and donkeys we dodged, or cups of ginger tea we drank, or jaw-dropping vistas we saw.
Jackie ****
From Doug
Last Saturday was a very dark day. I mean that both literally and figuratively. For us it was dark literally but for many it was dark figuratively as well, very dark. The west coast was having a very powerful Pacific winter rain and wind storm. The low overcast was so thick and heavy that very little daylight could penetrate it. Our day stayed dark. It never got lighter than a late dusk or very early dawn. Cars needed to use their headlights to see and be seen (which they should be doing anyway). It was weird, very weird. It was a dark, chilly and soggy day. It would have made a great setting for some old mystery novel. The day was dark figuratively for the Lions Bay area and anyone wanting to use the Sea To Sky highway to travel to Squamish or Whistler from Vancouver, or the other way around. At about 10:30 in the morning a section of the mountain side just past the north end of Lions Bay came down. It took out at least 1 house, damaged 2 others, and buried the highway as well as the rail tracks below the highway. It got darker as authorities discovered that the 2 people that lived in that house could not be found. By early this week one body had been recovered. The slide consisted of the mud, rocks, and trees that covered the mountain side and took out everything right down to bedrock. The debris left the highway buried under several meters of mud, rock, and smashed trees, and as stated, continued on down and covered the railway tracks as well. People from the city that had gone up to Whistler were stranded either there or in Squamish. All the motels etc were full and private citizens were making room in their homes for anyone that had with no where to stay on Saturday night. The only detour (if you can call it that), would be over the Duffy to Lillooet and then down the Fraser Canyon to Hope and then in on Highway 1, an 8 hour drive if the roads are good. The Duffy at that time was covered with a foot of unplowed snow making it not a very good option. The Sea To Sky Highway was re-opened Sunday morning after crews worked all day and night to get it cleared. There was some concern that the slide had impacted a bridge but the bridge was ok. Had it been damaged, the highway would have been shut down for quite a while. We were able to do our usual Sunday morning drive to Horseshoe Bay and therefore had a good look at the damage. A very big mess indeed. Sadly, the first responders and emergency crews would spend many days there trying to find the missing person. These mountains have been saturated by the almost endless rains and storms we have been getting since late August. With the exception of a few nice days (when I manage to go riding) it has not stopped raining. Add to that the extremely high winds last weekend and conditions for a slide go way up. The winds blow the trees back and forth, loosening their roots and letting the rain penetrate further into the ground. At some point it all lets go and down it comes. And now, my ‘sort of’ X-mas story….. You all remember that 1964 +/- movie, The Sound Of Music. It has become a Christmas classic over the years and decades for no other reason than it has 1 line in 1 of the songs that refers to ‘brown paper packages tied up with strings’. At least thats how I see it. So, whether I’m right or wrong, it now and for years, gets shown on TV each and every December. It was on a few nights ago, actually, on on several channels at different times. It reminded me of the first time I saw that movie. My parents had gone to see it when it first came out. They went with the Stahls (spelling?). The uppity, ritzy theatre at that time was the Fairview, in Kitchener’s Fairview plaza and this was a ritzy movie where everyone dressed up in their finest. The next day Mom told me about the movie and suggested that I’d enjoy it and should go see it. So, I did. Problem was, it was mid December and therefore winter and my only transportation was my motorcycle. I decided to go anyway and rode my motorcycle to the theatre, dressed in my leather riding gear and my boots, gloves and helmet. In I walked and noticed all the formally dressed people noticing me. Not the first time I guess as I’ve always stood out from the norm. I found a great seat for viewing the show, cool. Then I noticed that EVERYONE avoided sitting any where near me. I had a 3 or 4 seat buffer all around me. Cool. When intermission came (remember those?), everyone filed out into the lobby, including me, where there continued to be a bubble of space around me. This was cool, I had it made, it couldn’t get much better than that. I enjoyed that same bubble of avoidance around me during the second half of the show. THEY WERE SHUNNING ME, A LOWLY BIKER KID, AND PROBABLY RESENTED MY PRESENCE AT THE THEATRE. I however, had a great time and truly enjoyed the show. I still enjoy it. Back in those days, when a show was over, everyone would stand and applaud, which they, and I, did. I rode my motorcycle home as some December snow was falling. I don’t ride in snowy conditions anymore but when you are a 16 year old kid, nothing bothers you and you feel invincible. It was almost Christmas, the Sound Of Music has become a Christmas classic, so that is my Christmas story.
Doug **** Have
a
Good One ****
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