The Squamidian Report – June 21/03
Also in this issue:
The Ontarion
The Melbourne Report
Hi All,
We started off the week by climbing the Chief on Sunday. Still grueling, still worth every second. The water flowing down the Squamish River is a blue green colour due to glacier silt. Fresh water and salt water do not mix as the fresh water less dense. The surface of Howe Sound is silt green due to the fact that the fresh water slides along the top of the salt. The view from up there, out over the sound, is that much more spectacular because of the almost unreal colours and hues, with the mountains rising out of the water and up into the clouds.
There is a small resident population of chipmunks that live at the top. The top is not a jagged peak but a rounded rock surface broken by cliffs and crevices. These chippys have evolved to depend on mooching trail mix and other goodies from the hikers. Most hikers bring along such stuff to replenish the energy that they burned on the climb up.
As I was walking around up there one of the little guys came running up to me to see what I had available. The snacks were in my backpack where the kids were sitting enjoying the view. I told the little chipmunk to follow me and he did. We put out a handful of trail mix for it, which seemed to satisfy him. I then walked over to another area of the top and was standing there looking at the view to the north. Something down at my foot caught my attention. It was another little chippy tapping on my shoe.
I told it to wait there (don’t know if it understood or not). Went back and got another handful of trail mix. It was still there when I got back and once I had put down the mix, it happily began sorting out its favorite treats.
As used to people as these chippys are, they are not tame. You couldn’t catch one if you were to try. They need to be always alert for eagles and hawks. And stupid people.
Whenever we ‘do’ the Chief, I’m pretty well beat for the rest of the day. The younger people that climb with me, in this case Ryan and Emily and her brother, all seem relatively fine. But the next day I am fully recovered and they are all complaining of stiff and sore muscles and tiredness. Go figure.
I was going to babble about how using those foam earplugs to protect your hearing from loud environments such as excavation equipment can end up causing ear infections. But that’s kind of a dumb topic so I’ll go on to something else.
I spent most of this week on a job site where we were clearing and preparing a building lot. They build houses in some pretty wild terrain here, as there is not much tame terrain around. This lot dropped off by about 40 feet or more from front to back over a cliff. We had to remove the overburden so the builder could design where to put the footings, and build up terraces using rocks and the material we had removed.
Having learned to run equipment in relatively flat Kitchener, these conditions are a bit of a challenge for me. For starters, I had to take the excavator down over the cliff to where I had to build the rock walls. We had pushed dirt and rocks over the cliff to form a very steep ramp. The machine simply slid down like a toboggan, even though it’s on tracks. You use the bucket, sticking out front to steer and brake with.
After working down there for a couple of days it was time to bring the machine back up. We had used a larger machine to swing more fill and rock over the cliff and we needed it to help my 315 back up. That was quite a ride. All we did was reach down with the larger machine to where I could hook a bucket tooth over that machines bucket shoulder. This is a stronger method than using a chain, as long as the tooth didn’t slip. We made it but I don’t mind saying I had my seat belt on very tight.
Had to do some cleanup at that site today so the machine could be moved first thing Monday. That’s why this letter is a bit late coming out.
****
Sus didn’t have time to put together her North Nova News column this week. It’s a lot of work, and with her hair business and Peter’s sailing business taking a lot of time, and it being a busy time for everyone, I think we can forgiver her. Again, if any of you want to send a composition in it will take some of the pressure off my highly professional staff.
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
June 20, 2003
I know I’m always talking about the weather
but this time it’s worth mentioning. We are in the middle of a stretch of
absolutely beautiful sunny weather. It’s sitting at approximately 23 c each day
for the past few and we’re supposed to have the same until at least Tuesday of
next week. It’s about time! We suffered through one of the coldest and longest
winters in years and then had to endure a cold rainy yucky Spring. Here’s
hoping that the rest of the Summer will be as nice as this week. I know we have
to have a mixture of rain and sun to balance things out but I think most of us
would prefer the latter. I must say that this climate is very good for pond
builders! We’ve really made progress on the back yard pond over the past 3
weeks. I’m totally amazed at the number of hours that I’ve already put into
this project. I’ve been at this for 3 weeks if you just count the actual
construction of the pond. Many weeks of planning went into the pre-construction
phase. You’d be very surprised at the actual cost of the materials of this pond
if one were just to go ahead and pay for all the materials at a local garden
center. I have had to pay for a pump but got a deal through the
Pennysaver. I picked up a $159.00 pump
(new) for $50.00 from a woman that bought the pump and then decided not to
build one because of the expense. The rubber liner for the pond was a steal at
79c/sq.ft. That came to $238.00 incl taxes. Usual cost of that liner is
$1.00/sq ft. Because of my inherent skill at scrounging up a bargain, I put
considerable effort into rock hunting on side roads around the Niagara
Escarpment near Milton Ontario and eventually found a spot closer to Cambridge.
The township was pulling tree stumps out of the ground along a road to prepare
it for widening.
In
doing so, they unearthed hundreds of “rock garden” style rocks. In checking
with and describing them to Doug, I’ve discovered that they are Limestone. You
know, the sandy gray coloured rocks with lots of holes and pockmarks in them?
Well, they appeared to be just what would look right around the pond so I
hauled about 10 of them home in the trunk of my 1993 Nissan Altima. To say the
least, it was dragging its tailpipe in the process. The rocks were black and
covered in dirt and grass stain style moss. Not very attractive at all but I
thought the right shape for my purposes. Once I had them home, I decided to try
cleaning one of them with the pressure washer. Well, imagine my surprise when
the first rock turned into a beautiful GEM of a stone. I took to cleaning all
of the rocks in that bunch. In all, my brother in law and I made 12 trips to
the rock source and Adam and I made an additional 3 runs as well. I weighed
several of the rocks just out of curiosity and found the average weight to be
120 to 140 lbs. Just in figuring an average of 7 to 10 rocks per load, a rough
total is somewhere in the neighbourhood of 15,600 lbs or so. I was totally
shocked at the weight of what looked to be a 60 to 80 pounder in my eyes. The
lightest of the rocks that I checked was 86 lbs and the heaviest was 196 lbs.
Adam and I brought home the 2 main rocks that we’ve used for the 2 levels of
the waterfalls and it was all we could do to get the largest one up and into
the trunk of the car. We had the neighbour help us remove it from the trunk. We
also enlisted his help to get it into the wheelbarrow after washing it off to
take it to the back yard. It’s 20” wide at the back end, 26” wide at the front,
32” deep and 9” thick. A conservative guess at it’s weight would be 350 lbs.
However, once we got it into place as the main lower level of the falls, it was
worth every pulled muscle. I’m sure you’ll all agree when you see the pictures.
My
point in the whole rock description is to illustrate just how much we saved
money wise by collecting our own rocks. I went to the garden center to possibly
buy the 2 main falls flat rocks and just about flaked out when he told me how
much it would cost for the pair. The type used for the falls in a pond design
is apparently difficult to find and therefore expensive. He told me that they
would be 59c/lb for the 2 I wanted and they weighed 260 lbs and 200 lbs. I was
looking at $271.40 + taxes for the 2 of them. That’s when I went home and tried
to do the falls with 2 large flat flagstones I bought for that purpose originally.
I got them in place and had the water running and decided they just looked too
manufactured or different than the surrounding gray rocks. So, Adam and I
headed back to the roadside rock bed and found 2 perfect falls rocks within 2
minutes of our arrival. You’ll see them in the pictures I’ll send. I don’t have
the falls finished yet but it’s at a stage now that I can send a progress
picture to Doug for the website. The gray rocks that I’m using for the main
construction sell at the garden center for 21c/lb. A quick figure on that price
brings the total cost if I’d purchased the rocks to an astounding $3,276.00 +
taxes ($3,767.40). WOW! I’m sure glad we live in an area near the Niagara
Escarpment. Most of the Cambridge area farms are plagued with limestone rocks
so they are there if you look for them. I doubt seriously if the pond would
have been nearly as attractive or natural looking if we hadn’t used this type
of rock. I also purchased $65.00 worth of flagstone for the original
surrounding edge of the water. Since I have replaced those with the limestone
rocks, I’m going to use the flagstones to make a walkway around the pond. Once
Carole gets the moss etc planted throughout the rocks of the pond and falls
structure, it’ll look like it’s been there for many years.
Adam
is going to help me finish placing the rest of the rocks around the falls
tomorrow (Saturday) and then I’ll forward a finished picture to Doug. I hope
you’ll all like the finished look. When Carole and I first talked about
building a pond, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it. However, once I got into the
actual work on it, it became an interesting project. I’m immensely satisfied
with the results so far and can’t wait to place that last crowning rock on the
top of the falls. I spent an hour today drilling a 1 ½” hole through the rock
we’ve chosen for the top of the falls. I’ll place the hose from the pump into
the hole and have the water run through the rock and exit into a crevasse along
the front edge and boil out onto the top flat level of the falls. Here’s hoping
it looks like a natural undergound water flow. I promised to tell you all about
the pond construction way back when and I wanted to keep my promise. Hope you
found it interesting. Thanks for listening to my ramblings about it. I hope
Rosemary Gibb will enjoy this story and the pictures of the project. Maybe
it’ll inspire her to go ahead with her pond as well. Bye for now. Hope you all
have a great weekend.
Regards, GREG.
PS: Something To Think About<
When you stand up to speak, try not
to leave your intelligence on the chair!
****
G'day !
Not much new and exciting to write about this week.
The weather here is the pits. Rainy, cold and dreary. It is winter, and there is not much you can do about it.
I was checking out the weather in other parts of the country. Only Darwin right at the top of Australia has really hot weather. Most other parts, even Perth and Sydney have cooler temps this time of year, especially at night. So much for the myth that it's hot year round in Australia...
I came across a rather amusing and very Australian article in our daily news.
I think you might enjoy reading it. It's worth reading to the end, if you have the time.
Hope you all have a great week. Happy reading!
Here's the article entitled "These Blokes want Sheilas"
click on the link below to read more....
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/06/20/1055828448426.html
****
Greg’s
pond pictures have been posted to his link on my site.
Have a good one..
the
doug