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The
Squamidian Report – Sept. 13 / 25
Online Versions Of This And Past Issues (Choose the year and then the date for the online issue you want) Issue
#1216
Wayne ****
From Wayne
Hi Squids again; After submitting my report last week which briefly mentioned the wildfires here in New Brunswick, we were treated to the spectacle of watching a nearby wildfire being doused with water bombers. It was about 7 km. south of us and covered a small area of 0.5 hectares. The bombers were there in practically no time and after an hour, the smoke was gone and the 3 bombers left for another site. That got me wondering how many bombers were operated by New Brunswick, and for that matter, the rest of Canada, including the motherly Government of Canada. Here are the numbers. Water bombers in Canada Alberta 16 BC 19 Mnitoba 7 New Brunswick 8 Newfoundland 5 NWT 12 Nova Scotia 0 Nunavut 0 Ontario 15 PEI 0 Quebec 14 Saskatchewan 10 Yukon 4 Can. Gov. 0 Total 110
What? Canada has no bombers at all????? That’s right, none. Maybe when we don’t have to pay for the proxy US/Russia war, fought by the Ukrainians for dear old Uncle Sam, Canada might get some of its own! Canadian fire bombers are considered among the best in the world and foreign countries have submitted orders for them. Unfortunately, the Canadian government has higher priorities and has discontinued building them in 2015. Maybe the EV design wasn’t practical because the weight of the battery precluded it from carrying any water. Wayne ****
From Nova Scotia Sus
For this report today and for those who know my brother Dennis who lives in Mexico I have some very sad news. He is suffering with cancer of the stomach and is in his last few days. We are all sad. I tried to talk with him today on the phone but his voice is almost gone but I did hear him say he loves me. He is in good hands with his wife, his son Robbie and his close friends by his side. He doesn't want any of us to fly down to Mexico as he feels there are enough around him already. When our father was dealing with cancer many years ago Dennis did so much for him. He found a large home in the middle of a failed subdivision in Mexico that he could rent and have all of the family come stay and look after Dad. So we just poured in ....us from the Maritimes and some of us from the west. It was a big home with lots of space but no power. Dennis managed to get everything comfortable for us. He went above and beyond for us. Then one day Dad said I'm ready to go home to Nova Scotia. Dennis was not afraid of anything. He has had a full life and I could go on and on about his travels. I actually have a lot of his stories because he wrote letters to my Mom and I have kept them. We are all very sad. Sus ****
From Gary
Welcome back fellow Squamidians. I hope everyone had a great summer. As most of you know, Evy went to the Philippines from March 15- June 15. I took the opportunity to do some renovations. Got rid of some useless closets and hallways. As a result we have a much better guest bedroom and a really nice master bedroom with a patio door to the backyard. Evy was happy once she got over the initial shock. Glorianne and Max came over and finished planting the garden. That was a great help because my priority was finishing the renovation and clean up before the princess got home. We had a drought from the end of June until who knows when. We have had 2 rains that did some good but mostly just hot and dry. We still have a fire ban. All 130 garlic came up. Most everything else suffered from the drought even though I watered every day. The tomatoes 🍅 are doing great and the peppers 🌶️ are starting to ripen nicely. If I can protect them from frost we should be able to preserve a lot. Rainwater is definitely much better than city water for the plants. I know to cover the baby watermelons to protect them from the squirrels and chipmunks next year. We only got 2 watermelons. That’s it for this week. Take care and stay safe.
Gary ****
From Carol
When walking Gale to her car the other day I noticed something strange about the tree she was parked near. I am very unobservant and wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t backed into the tree. The bark had peeled off all the way up the trunk. I looked and 5 of the maple trees the city planted on our block a couple of years ago all were missing bark. I’ve never seen something like this before. Looking at the pictures, do any of you know what this tree condition is and what may have caused it? Our garden plants have been stressed this year and Al suggested that the forest fire smoke that drifted south all summer could be a contributing factor. The smoke affects animals, why not plants also. In today’s newspaper there was an article stating that in 2024 more than 80,000 people, world wide, had premature deaths due to smoke. With all the forest fires across the world this year they predict even more premature deaths. I wonder what the statistics would have been like 100 years ago when everyone burned both coal and wood for heat and cooking. The life expectancy was certainly lower then. Dad said that the snow always turned black when he was young because of coal dust. We humans have always put our own needs ahead of the health of the earth, the animals and even other humans. Most of the forest fires this year weren’t caused by careless humans, for a change, but the extreme heat and drought conditions. Someone else can argue about what is causing climate change. With our brother Tim’s lung condition and his need for oxygen 24/7 I was monitoring the air quality conditions more than usual this summer.
Carol ****
From Gale
The Queen Mary 2 The Cunard people picked us up at our hotel near Time Square and bussed us to the ship with lots of interesting commentary from the driver. It was fairly organized boarding the ship considering that it was at this point that we needed to go through customs to enter the UK. Our stateroom had a sitting area and our own little outdoor balcony where we could enjoy the incredible sunsets stretched across the western sea. Our room was on deck 11 near the rear of the ship which turned out to be great because it was just a short walk to the outer decks. There was a ton of activities for all ages, including kids. A couple of our favourites were; a lecture in the theatre presented by the co-pilot of the plane that landed on the Hudson River and an especially talented Irish duo that sang in the English pub. We took our meals in a truly magnificent vaulted room. The food itself was varied and plentiful with grandiose descriptions but could be disappointing now and then. The wait staff was very attentive even though it was difficult to understand their broken English. Perhaps a few corners have been cut since Carnival bought out the Cunard line. The weather was a nice surprise as it was sunny and calm - more like the Caribbean than the north Atlantic - and after 7 smooth, interesting and fattening days, we arrived in Southampton. I was reluctant to go on this adventure at first because I can't swim (yes, I know !) but I am glad we did. I would highly recommend this trip - but not during hurricane season. Check out the videos on U-tube. Gale ****
From Doug
I know some of you can’t wait to find out about how my blueberry season went. So, I’ll fill you in. It started out a month behind as we had a very cold wet spring. I really didn’t think any of my blueberry plants in my back yard would do anything this year. Only about a third of the plants yielded any berries at all but those that did outdid themselves. Where I should have been getting ripe berries by early to mid June, it wasn’t until mid to late July before anything ripened but once they started, they just kept on going. I picked berries every day from mid July until the first week of September and ate them with my breakfast and with way too much ice cream and so on. The patch supplied me with enough to eat as much as I could, each and every day, but just that, nothing more. Well, the blueberry patch did actually supply about 3 times that but the *&%&* birds pecked at them constantly and left the ground covered with damaged berries. That was frustrating but there was nothing I could do about it. Had I been able to harvest all the berries, I could have put up enough in the freezer to last all winter. By the beginning of this week the berries were over with and my blueberry season is over for another year. Thats always sad. Now, if you remember last week, I included a link to an MP3 recording I did of a song called ‘Timber I’m Falling In Love’. This week I have the video MP4 version of the song for you. Just one of my and my guitar so as bare bones as is possible. Just click the link.
The video Doug ****
Have
a
Good One
****
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