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The
Squamidian Report – Sept. 5 / 26
Online Versions Of This And Past Issues (Choose the year and then the date for the online issue you want) Issue #1267 Including:
Wayne & Sylvia Sonja Rosemary Sus Brian Beth Gary Doug
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From Wayne & Sylvia So another summer is almost gone as we enter the fall of 2026. Where we left off with the expansion of the livestock at “Bend in the River Acres” in June was the arrival of another male, Jalapeno to mother Pepper. In July our only brown cow, Clover had a boy as well - Leo, who by far is one of the friskiest of the lot. He hops around like a gazelle and often gets all the other cows joining in. We also had some piglets but by the end of July all were sold hopefully going to other good homes. Clover & Leo (2 days old)
We had Carol and Al visit us in early June for a few days. They also went to NS and then came back to our place before heading home. It was nice to get caught up with the news of family back in Kitchener and reminisce on days gone by when we were all more agile and fit. We give Carol five stars for gathering up the strength to make the trip and Al for his support – even though there were a few mornings of discomfort, we hope and think, that they enjoyed what we had to offer here in NB.
Sonja (our daughter) and Gabi (grand-daughter) went to Brussels and Luxembourg for a short 10 day trip in July. Sonja had to attend a conference and took Gabi along to experience life in other countries as well as hearing languages. It was an adventure Gabriella will hopefully remember for a long, long time. Sonja was an exchange student in Luxembourg as a teenager - so they met up with friends from her past who now like she, had families of their own. So Gabi got to meet a few children around her own age too. Castles and new playgrounds, parks to explore were the highlight of the trip, but she didn't care for the European beds, as they were there during the heat wave and the bedding was way too warm. Back at home she got into her routine – activities with the 4H club, swimming in the pond and river and tussling with her dog, Misha.
Gabi's 4H activities
Then we had our annual visitors David (our son) and partner Michele stay for a little more than a week. They always bring us goodies from the Euro Grocery store in Kitchener – traditional European foods that NB does not offer. They took some daily excursions to bike trails in the area and generally had a relaxing visit. The weather was great this summer much like the ones we remembered from our past – bright, sunny and hot. Now we are banking on a good clear beautiful long fall season before the snow flies.
Although difficult, it is good to hear that Doug has been relieved of his duties as full time caregiver, now that Sue is in a safe place. Still a sorrowful decision to have to make.
Composed by: Sylvia (& Wayne) ****
From Sonja
Happy September, everyone! I’m happy to have finally joined this list – and that it looks like it will continue! We’ll try to contribute as often as we can, but the disadvantage is that I have to find something new to talk about beyond what’s already being sent in by my parents! The summer went too quickly. It kicked off with our whirlwind trip to Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany – see letter from Wayne & Sylvia for the details. I’ll just add a few more photos.
Since we got back, we’ve had plenty of visitors – our old neighbors from Forest Hill in Kitchener, my brother and his partner, high school friends of Kenny and I on their way back from an anniversary trip to Cape Breton. We did as much swimming as we could fit in, in our pond and in the river. Additional highlights included Gabi learning to drive the ATV herself, riding a big zipline over a pond, trying out rollerblades, and sleeping outside with me in a tent a couple of times.
Perhaps one of Gabi’s biggest highlights was the night she got to be a scary doll on a swing in a haunted house for 2 hours with her friends whose family run the local campground. Every year brings a Trick or Treat in August – the kids dress up and run around to the seasonal campers for goodies. This year, there was also a very well-done haunted house in the rec centre, and the kids had a blast scaring everyone.
As summer came to an end, we attended the Sussex Agricultural fair where Gabi showed her friend’s miniature paint horse, Lola. She won 3rd place in Lighthorse showmanship for her age group, and she and Lola got to take part in a costume parade. This was a first-time experience for all of us! A few days later, we visited another local fair, but this time with no work – just play! We had a great summer, and it’s hard to believe that school starts next week. Gabi is both excited and disappointed to go back, and our feelings are the same!
Sonja ****
From Rosemary
It's great to have the Squamidian back. I often respond to things that Doug or others have posted but rarely submit anything for an issue. Well, my last week of August was so bizarre I thought I'd share it with you. My daughter, Adrienne, was taking a family vacation in Europe for 16 days starting Aug. 7. She asked if David and I could take Waffles, her 2 1/2 year old Golden Lab, and also her dwarf hamster, Spaghetti (named by my grandchildren, as their previous hamster, Meatball, had died). I was quite delighted, as I love Waffles and have been taking him every Friday to what I think is the best dog park in the world. Spaghetti is nocturnal and would be no problem. Tuesday, August 18, was very busy. Adrienne and family were expected back in 2 days. We had my son's two children for the day, plus I had volunteered to help at our church with some sorting for the bazaar. So I was tired by evening. Waffles went to bed in his crate at 9:00 pm. At 10:00 pm there was a loud knock on the door. Waffles was startled and started barking like crazy. Standing at the door was a police officer. He said a propane tanker overturned in a ditch near our community and was leaking propane. They were evacuating everyone within 800 m. of this thing. There was a danger it could explode and we would be in big trouble. He asked if there was a friend or relative we could stay with. I asked how long this would last. He said he didn't know. It could be a day or so. What??!! I'm thinking where could we possibly go at 10:00 at night with a big dog and a dwarf hamster and their food, cages, etc. I called my son and he phoned 15 hotels in the area that were pet friendly. They were all full. So we packed up the animals, their food and gear, and a few clothes for us, and at 10:30 pm we set off for our church! Yup, we had keys to the church and spent the night there. David was in a downstairs room that had a couch. I was upstairs with the dog and the hamster and a couch. Waffles and I did not sleep well. I suspect the hamster enjoyed the change of view. At 6:30 am my son called and said the evacuation order was lifted, so we packed up and headed home. Thank god! The next day, Waffles and I were both tired and he was acting a little strange, kind of fidgety. Then the next morning I noticed he was even more fidgety while I was walking him. He's usually very good on the leash. But he saw something in the trees and lunged, yanking me right off my feet and onto my shoulder. Off to Emergency.
I ended up with a hairline fracture just under my shoulder bone. Ouch!! Adrienne arrived home the next day and felt awful about what happened. But it could have been worse. It should heal on its own. I used the sling for a week and am now concentrating on not moving my left arm in ways that "annoy" it. I think Waffles felt awful too. Look at this face! How could I be mad at him?
Rosemary ****
From Sus
The summer went by so quickly and it's good to know the Squamidian is in full force thanks to Doug. I started my summer by traveling out west with Warren. He had been here in Nova Scotia for at least 2 months and suggested i accompany him back to B.C. I had a great time and it was so good to visit Doug during his garage music show. l spent a great week with Warren and his family and then caught a plane to visit Michelle in Alberta for another week. Michelle and Chris are doing well and enjoying life. Time to get home to my Dave who held down the fort.... chickens and gardening..it felt good to be home and back into our lives. The lawn needed mowing too of course.
Sus ****
From Carol
I am so very glad you are continuing this newsletter Doug. A lot has happened since the last issue so this week I am going back to June. With all the health issues so many of us have faced I felt that a road trip east, while we still could, needed to happen. I am sure Sonja and family will make it to Kitchener again at some point but we may never see Wayne, Sylvia, Sus and Ward again. That is a shame because they are all so wonderful but I now have new memories. Our first stop was Gary and Evelyn’s place in Picton. It has been 2 years since they moved there but with that huge obstacle called Toronto in the way we hadn't visited them at their new home. It was lovely to finally meet Gary’s grandchildren. From there it should have been 2 easy days to the farm in New Brunswick. The problem was our GPS kept leading us in the wrong direction. At one point we ended up at a bridge to Maine. Our border guards gave us verbal directions to get us back on track. We expected to pick up a map when we entered Quebec but the so called welcome centre was unmanned and didn’t carry a map. For going home Wayne printed out a map and directions. New Brunswick doesn’t have welcome centres but both Ontario and Nova Scotia do, manned by helpful staff and giving out maps. The farm is as beautiful as Wayne has given us pictures of and everyone made us feel very welcome. The picture of Sus shows her in Howard’s art studio as she is the caretaker of his art. If any of you do not have a painting of his and want one contact Sus. I hardly recognized the place as the hurricane of 4 years ago took out many trees, the house has siding of a different colour and the extra out buildings for chickens, the greenhouse, etc. Sus hasn’t aged at all. It has been 16 years since we last saw Ward. He still lives off the grid and is not tuned in to any social media and still misses his late wife, Mae. Ward and his son Ben entertained us with his music and Ward shared many memories from the late 60s and 70s that I had forgotten. This was not a holiday for pictures and sightseeing but to say a last in person goodbye to family we may never see again. We won’t be taking any more road trips as we just are no longer up to it. It was the right time to go and Al and I are very glad we had that time. Carol
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From the shores of Port Elgin
Greetings all welcome back. Well it has been an interesting spring and summer for us here. We have been doing a lot of camping in our 24 ft motorhome. We started off with a weekend at Brucedale Camp just a few miles from home between Port and Kincardine . We then left and did a month from May 15 till June 15 down east to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia . Lots of driving but a great time site seeing and camping. On the way back we had a 4 day camping and music venue at Happy Green Acres near Brockville. We a fantastic show . There were 6 country tribute bands of big name stars . They were all pretty good but the best was the Vince Gill tribute band . If you closed your eyes and listened you would swore it Vince himself. Hey Doug it is unfortunate that Sue is in long term care but it is the best for her and yourself. She will great care there. Okay that's enough rambling on for this week i will talk more next week about other camping adventures. Have a great week every one.
BRIAN ****
From Beth
Hello everyone, This summer was a bit different for me. I was laid off from Conestoga College in March (along with hundreds of others). While I have been sending out some resumes, I decided to take some time off. Afterall, other than a mat leave, I haven't had a summer off since somewhere around 1985! Viv and I spent a week in Langford, BC. We stayed with Cam and Claire, and spent a lot of time with Jamie's brother Colin and his family as well. The weather was perfect, and the scenery gorgeous. I spent some time in Wiarton with friends and family, and once just our dog Maisie and I went up. It's always lovely there. We had the house painted green. I volunteered at Summerfolk. It was a wet one, but I still enjoyed it all the same. Mom volunteered as well. It's been hot and humid, this last while, so I'm happy that summer is just about done and autumn is looming. Time to ramp up the job search. It's not easy in your 50's! In other news, Duncan and Antonela are engaged! He proposed during their vacation in Croatia (where she is from). We are thrilled for them, and can't wait to hear more details. Duncan has actually been travelling quite a bit. He had a 3 week work assignment in Bangalore, India earlier this summer. For the locals, save the date! We are hosting a get together on September 26th, as Doug will be visiting. Details to follow. Enjoy the long weekend!
Beth ****
From Gary
Welcome back fellow Squamidians. I hope everyone had a wonderful summer. Hard to believe it’s already September. All is well in Picton. For the most part our garden has done really well. I will get into more details over the next few weeks. Take care and stay safe everyone. Gary ****
From Doug
Needless to say, it’s been a difficult stressful summer and to be honest, I never once even thought about this news letter. Having paused it for a while simply took one small burden off my mind. However, I do find myself now looking forward to getting back and involved with the Squid. As we left off in the spring, taking care of Sue had long since become a 24 hr per day ordeal and much more than I could survive trying to deal with alone. A neighbor up the street offered to pen a letter to our case manager and CC our doctor. She works in government and can speak bureaucrat fluently, and knows what to say and what not to say. She spelled out how I was on the verge of collapse from exhaustion and how Sue needed more than I could possibly give. That got the ball rolling for a subsidized 24/7 caregiver program that would put caregivers in our house around the clock. That was good in that it took a lot of the physical burden off of me but still left me to manage everything, and, meant that there was someone in the house day and night. That took time to get used to. However, it was nice having ‘round the clock’ babysitters. Now to back up a bit. Here is one of the less bizarre examples of how things were, a bit personal but here goes. By late last winter and into the spring it had become impossible to have Sue take a shower. She had started hallucinating about ‘men’ watching her. At times she accused me of letting them in. Through our case worker I was able to have a trained, hard as nails, professional nurse come in once per week to shower Sue. I would have to promise to go outside and lock the door behind me, and stand on guard out there. She would be spitting mad but it had to be done, and it was done. Once the 24/7 caregivers were here, one of them was able to deal with that issue. There were other strange issues to deal with day by day but we were managing. The caregivers could see a constant downward in Sue’s abilities and her needs were increasing. We all agreed that more was going to be needed. The way care home placements work in the province is that for the most part they don’t. Our medical system is very broken. Sue had been place on the wait list for our local care home, Hilltop House, at the time she was diagnosed but I was told not to get my hopes up. Because Hilltop is a small home, about 80 beds each with its own private room, it could not possible serve this growing town. Once Sue had spent a week in the hospital last winter, and then had been taken up to the emergency department at the hospital several times by me for various desperate attempts to get help, she was put onto the emergency placement list. That would mean that if a placement became available ANYWHERE within the coastal health system, it would be offered to us. There is one cravat, if a spot is offered, you can not turn it down without being sent to the very bottom of all the lists and therefore have to start all over again. Now, as summer wore on and my feeling of hopelessness grew, Sue continued to be more of a burden to everyone involved. Of course she didn’t know that. She’s basically a confused 2-yr old with a zero short-term memory. Our case worker had been on vacation for most of July but was back in early August. I requested a meeting with her to discuss issues with the home care situation and to again check on care home possibilities. (There are private care homes but if you go that route, the health system washes their hands of you and you are on your own, and, its very expensive. The health system homes are subsidized and cost about 1/3 that of a private home). As our meeting drew to an end, the case manager leaned in toward me and quietly said that she thought a placement would be coming available at Hilltop by the end of the summer. Then, she leaned in closer and more quietly said she thought I might be getting a call from Hilltop within a day or so. Within an hour of getting home, my phone rang. It was Hilltop, offering us the now vacant room. I had to say yes. Sue was to be admitted on August 13th, and she was. That was not an easy day. Taking her there and checking her in etc was emotionally difficult and draining. Sue was freaking out because she seemed to sort of know that something was happening. I was told to stay away for a few days in hopes that she would settle in but patients like her do not really settle in much. She wanders the halls day and night, similar to what she was doing at home. There are several benefits of her being there. Firstly, its only 15 minutes away from here, secondly, it is attached to our little hospital so anything medical is within easy reach, our own doctor does rounds there, and, they deal with all her medications. That alone removes a huge burden as it was almost a full time job dealing with renewals, new prescriptions, and so on. Visiting is not a fun thing and if you or me or anyone does visit, she will have forgetting you were every there within minutes of you leaving. I visit her about every second day but I don’t stay long. There is no point. So, there you have it. That basically brings you up to date on where we are at. Doug ****
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