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The
Squamidian Report – Jan. 25 / 25
Online
Versions
Of This And Past Issues Issue
#1183 The
Ontarion ****
From Greg – The Ontarion
Hello everyone! Once again I’m looking back in time to fill this page! One of the most prominant items in my life are the vehicles I (we’ve owned in the past! My first vehicle was a 1953 morris minor 1000! It was a hobby car of a fellow who lived across the street from the Supertest gas station I worked at pumping gas when I was 15/16 years young! The station was owned by the father of a friend of mine by the name of Bob Kanters Hisi dad was John w kanters a Dutch fellow and his wife who ran a small one room store at the station! When we were kids, we spent every Nickel we had at Mrs Kanters’ store on popsicles and ice cream bars on a stick! Yum! The station was three blocks walk from our house so it was a tempting walk for a treat! Bob and I became friends and his dad offered me a job there pumping gas on weekends and after school! The little morris was a familiar site at the station! I also worked downtown at coincidentally, at Morris custom tailors, carrying clothes to and from the tailor shop to several clothing stores on king st to be altered! I had saved up a little over $100.00 working both jobs to enable me to purchase my first car from the neighbour of the station! The gentleman sold me the little morris for $100.00! I had just turned 16and mum and dad paid for driver training lessons for my birthday at the time! As soon as I got my licence,I took my dad to look at the morris and was able to buy it for my $100.00! I drove the morris and shared it with my sister Lynda until one day the front suspension fell off as I turned a corner That was when my dad took me to Hefner Motors on king st to look at another british car! At that time Hefner’s was a british car dealer and my second vehicle purchase was a 1962 Mini 850! I think it cost me $150.00! That Mini was a fun little car but only lasted me about a year with lots of problems before I sold it for $50.00 to a neighbour! From there on my vehicle tastes became more sophisticated! I then bought a 1959 Volvo 544! The Volvo was a better car that got me to and from work and school for another year! Atthetime I was working for an ice cube company out on Victoria st called Jiffy Pak Ice! I delivered bags of ice in a company truck to 40 different stores that had ice machines of Jiffy Pak’s at their stores! The machines were either bunker style or coin operated and it was an all cash business that paid well for the owner! At the time, he paid me $75.00a week! Good money at the time for working Saturdays and Sundays! To get back to my point, from there on I was able to buy newer and better vehicles! I traded the Volvo to Hefner Motors for cash and the car on a new 1967 Mini Cooper! Now that was a great little car! After that, I was hooked on british cars! Hence our present ownership of the MGB! Of course since then, we’ve owned another 40 different makes and models! Everything from ford trucks to Cadillacs etc etc…! Iwill have to sit down sometime and make a list of all the vehicles we’ve owned over our 52 years of marriage! It will be quite a list indeed! Most men like cars but very few women have the car bug in their genes! If only we’d have kept all of our vehicles we’d have quite a car lot of collectibles! That’s about all I have to write about this week! Hope you’re not bored silly from this weeks Ontarion, but I had fun thinking back once more!
Have
a
good week and I’ll write again next time! Greg. ****
From Russ
"The sky is falling" (completion) Hello there! If you read last week's story about Chicken Little and her claim "The sky is falling" (or, if not, you likely know the story as we kids took it in Grade school - and you're one of the kids) With a flock of other birds, Chicken Little is rushing to tell the King "the sky is falling", when she meets Foxy Loxy who asks where they are going in such a hurry. Chicken Little tells Foxy Loxy the sky is falling - that she has "first-hand proof" and that they are going to warn the King. Foxy offers to take them to the castle where they will find the King, and the dumb birds agree to accompany him. Cunning Foxy leads them not to the castle, but to his den - and the birds are never seen alive again! Don't cry.....I'm sure the story we took in school did not end this way! * "Chicken Little tale: analysis This simple tale with its short and rather straight forward, linear plot hides an impressive number of morals within its brief narrative. But what are those morals, and what is the meaning of the Chicken Little/ or Chicken Licken tale? We might summarize the moral message of the story as follows: 1. don't form incorrect conclusions from insufficient data; 2. don't stoke fear in others without good cause to do so; and 3. don't take other people's word for things, especially when those other people are making extraordinary claims (which should require extraordinary evidence)" * Now, I ask myself....."am I a Chicken Little sometimes"? Russell, do you ever draw the wrong conclusions based on your own (bad) experiences? Guilty! Do you ever exaggerate (or even lie a little) to make your tale more interesting or alarming? Guilty! By Old Uncle Russ PS This story, "The Sky is Falling", is not just for little children.......we adults can learn much from its morals. ****
From Wayne & Sylvia
Farm Update, NB, Jan 23, 2025 I have a little more to report on this week. Although we had two snow dumps this winter they both disappeared and the latest was only a few inches. However, for the last few nights we had temperatures below -20C and as low as -28C. Our main heating is dependent on 3 separate heat pumps, two of which froze up yesterday. We also have a wood stove, which will keep us fairly comfortable but it will not last through the night. Our third defense is electric heating. Yesterday we used all of them. The method of defrosting a heat pump compressor which is located outdoors, is to turn on the A/C which seems odd because it is already too cool in the house. The A/C takes more heat from the inside and sends it to the outdoor compressor to get cooled down. The cooling down defrosts the heat pump. Then you return the setting to heat. Voila! An unusual thing happened yesterday while driving home from Sussex. I won’t dwell on the 9 deer we saw, two of which were on the pavement, no, it was something else. As I approached a long hill with an upgrade passing lane, I saw a large (tractor-trailer) log truck behind a slow moving pick-up truck. I doubted that I would catch up to them before running out of passing lane but unexpectedly, the logging truck began to pass the pick-up. Maybe I could get by the pick-up, at least, but, no the merge signs were already in my rear view mirror. I would have to wait until the next hill with a passing lane. As we rounded the corner at the top of the hill, the pick-up wandered into the oncoming lane. The corner prevented any view of oncoming traffic. Was the driver falling asleep? I leaned on the horn but that didn’t change his course. He had slowed to about 70 kph (from the 90kph limit) and was completely in the line of oncoming traffic. I noticed a driveway up ahead so I thought he was letting me by and would turn into the driveway. Suddenly, he left the pavement and went into a ditch which almost blocked him from sight. Then came the driveway which made him airborn far enough to clear the drive completely and nose-diving into the ditch on the far side but partly up the bank. That’s when he flipped over. This, I watched through my driver’s side window. The vehicle could have caught fire, the driver could have been severely injured and what could I do alone, nearly 91 years old with a double hernia and packing two ostomy bags? I stopped and hailed down a few cars. Some of the occupants had rescue experience so a bad situation was quickly brought under control. The driver had suffered a seizure. On a brighter note, the solar panels have finally been installed but yet to be wired up. Ist picture. The pick-up in the ditch.
2nd picture. Wayne & Sylvia
Wayne & Sylvia ****
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From Doug Sorry guys, I’m going to have to bow out for this issue. I’ve simply got nothing That I can write about this week. Doug ****
Have
a
Good One ****
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