The Squamidian Report – March 7 / 09
Issue #354
Including:
Job - Urine Test
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Well now, you knew I was going to break down and do it at some point in the near future. Just couldn’t stand it anymore so I did it on Wednesday. That’s right, I took the Harley out for a short toot. Spring on the west coast is a little late coming this year but at some point you just have to give in and move forward even if it does drop almost to zero every night. At least the daytime temps hit the low teens when the sun comes out.
I didn’t actually start out with the intention of going out on the motorcycle. I just wanted to check it over and touch up any dirty spots that I had missed when I put it away for the winter. The bike winters on a motorcycle jack that holds it upright and off the wheels. The jack is on casters making it possible to move it around on the garage floor, even carrying the weight of a bike that weighs in at over 800 lb.
So I rolled the jack with the bike on it out onto the middle of the garage floor and did some cleaning. The wheels and rims needed some scrubbing and some of the chrome needed a bit more polishing. The tire pressure needed checking and adjusting. Once that was done I checked the control levers and pedals and made sure there were no loose items that needed attention. The bike was now ready for its first run of the season. I had run the engine a couple of times over the winter on the jack but its not the same and she was just begging to go. With great reluctance I caved in and let the jack down so the bike could rest on its wheels and lean over onto the side stand. (Harleys don’t have center stands). As soon as she leaned over the security system kicked in and started making all sorts of racket. The bike was having a hissy-fit. I had forgotten to get the security FOB out of the closet and have it close to the bike. Had to go and find the FOB and then simply lay it on the bike seat to have her quiet down and behave. Actually, the security system was doing exactly what it was suppose to do, tell the whole world that some unauthorized event was happening.
Once the bike was happy again and the jack was out of the way and the world was quiet, she started bugging me again about getting out and going somewhere. So I pulled on a helmet and fired her up. Music to my ears! We ran up and down the street a couple of times, checking the brakes and controls and then I wheeled her back into the garage. My insurance and registration had run out in November so technically we were not supposed to be on a legal road. So I parked the bike in the garage and jumped into the truck and scooted down to the insurance place and renewed my paperwork. Came home, stuck the stickers onto the plate and away we went. Didn’t go all that far because by then it had clouded over but we did go and it felt great. That day had been forecast to be about +7 with showers but it had been low teens and sunny until early afternoon. That was all the riding we could do at the time. Got out again for an hour yesterday (Friday). A bit on the cool side but not too bad. Just stayed around town and didn’t leave the valley. Still a bit too early to be heading up or down the highway. She is sitting there ready to go for next time. Come on sunshine!
*
The town of Squamish came up with the brain-dead idea that the best way to deal with municipal garbage was to pick it up half as often, like every second week instead of every week. Somehow this was going to make life better for everyone. We had a really good system here until this January. Each home has a ‘tote’ that holds a volume of about 80 liters and has a pair of wheels. You would simply wheel it out to the curb on garbage day and the truck would pick up each tot using hydraulic arms and empty it into the hopper and then set the tote back down. Worked very well.
We also had recycle drop-off locations around town where you took all your recyclable materials and placed them into the appropriate bins. Worked very well, except for the mess made by the usual low-life jerks that would dump garbage there and generally make a mess. But when dealing with the public, that kind of thing unfortunately has to be expected. Anyway, at some town council meeting they came up with the idea that they would cut the weekly garbage pickup to every second week, and that they would pick up recycling stuff on the alternate week. That meant that they had to issue a second set of totes. The garbage tote has a gray lid, and now the recycle tote has a blue lid so we can tell them apart. It also lets the truck driver tell them apart. They will not empty a tote that has the wrong colour lid for a given weeks pickup.
Bears getting into garbage have always been a problem here. Council actually had the audacity to suggest that having garbage pickup every second week would solve that problem. What it really did was make the problem much worse. Two-week-old garbage tends to stink, and bears seem to love stink. It attracts them like flies. So the municipality had to install bear proof latches on every single garbage tote in town. These latches are a pain in the neck and while they may stop a bear from opening a tote, they won’t stop the bears from following their noses to them or knocking over the totes when they get there. Also, you have to set your tote out at the curb by 7 each morning and it has to be unlocked so that it will open and empty when the truck picks it up. So, thanks to our brilliant forward thinking town council, we now have stinky garbage bins that will be bear magnets as soon as those critter wake up hungry from their winter nap. I guess that’s progress.
doug
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JOB - URINE TEST
(Whoever wrote this one deserves a HUGE pat on the back!)
Joe, the average worker says;
Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job. I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine test with which I have no problem. What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test. Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them? Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sitting on their lazy butts, doing drugs, while I work. . . . Can you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check? Pass this along if you agree or simply delete if you don't. Hope you all will pass it along, though . . . Something has to change in this country -- and soon!!!!!
Guess we could title that program, 'Urine or You're Out'.
From Clyde who got it from Wayne
****
Hello
everyone!
Finally,
a beautiful sunny day that also had a warm temperature to go with it! We’ve
almost lost all of the snow along the curbsides as well as on the front lawns
of the homes in our neighbourhood. Now all we need is a good steady rainy day
or two to clean the dirt off the roadsides and walkways to make the
surroundings more presentable. I was tempted to get on the motorcycle and take
a spin but I had other commitments to fill my day. When we moved into this
house almost 11 years ago now, the previous owners had installed new broadloom
in three of the 4 bedrooms on the second floor. We decided last year that it
was about time to replace that carpeting. We priced having someone come in and
install hardwood last year but then decided to wait a while. Again this year,
we talked about it and decided to go ahead with it. This house has been very
dusty and Carole thinks that a lot of the dust might be coming from the carpets
even though we do a lot of vacuuming. With a little more research we found a
company out on Victoria St that deals in hardwood. They gave us a terrific
price on both the materials as well as the installation. I figured there’d be
no big deal to tear out the carpets so I told the installer when he came to
take a look at the job that Adam and I would take care of ripping out all of
the old carpeting. He offered to strip the baseboards, tear out all of the
carpets and underlay as well as all the staples, rescrew the subfloors and
reinstall the baseboards after the flooring installation for $300.00 to $350.00
. I said “Thanks but, what the heck, I’m sure we can handle the stripping for
you!” Well we set a date for him to do the job on April 6th to 10th
and I told him we’d have it all ready for him long before that date. This
meeting was last week and so Adam and I started ripping up the carpets on the
weekend. It is a very big job and is very strenuous when you don’t do a lot of
physical work anymore. Of course Adam took to it well because he’s young and
flexible. I on the other hand felt all the fatigue of an older fart after two
days of yanking and pulling and lifting. LOL! We cut all of the carpets into 4’
wide strips before pulling it up and rolled and taped it into tight rolls to
place at the curbside for the garbage man. It was a big job and we got the
three bedrooms and the hallway finished by Sunday night. I had one heck of a
pile of rolls out at the curb for Monday morning. I waited at the curbside that
morning to offer the garbage guys a hand to toss the carpets etc into the
truck. The truck arrived at around 9:30 am and it had only one man on it. I
figured he’d be glad for a helping hand. As he pulled to a stop at our house, I
said “Good morning, can I give you a hand with all of this?” He stepped out of
the truck from the curbside driving position and just mumbled something and
started tossing the rolls into the side door of the crusher. He had dark
sunglasses on and made no direct effort to look me in the eye as he sort of
responded with his grunt. I couldn’t tell if he was looking at me or not or if
he even understood my offer. So, I just stood and watched him work his butt off
loading all that stuff himself. As he hopped back into the truck and started to
pull away, I said in a nice loud voice “Thanks a lot buddy!” Without even a
glance my way, he slowly raised his right hand with a slight wave. I assume it
was a gesture of “You’re welcome!” and he drove off down the street. I guess I’d
be all business and not want any interference if I was working such a thankless
job by myself too. I turned and went back inside to enjoy my morning tea. I
decided to let the removal of the carpeting on the stairs go for a couple of
days so my bones and muscles could recuperate from the first two days of
ripping.
This
morning I began the process of ripping up the staircase coverings. I managed to
get the top 5 steps of the 13 stairs cleared of carpet and staples in about 4
hours. There’s a heck of a lot of work to this process. The installers of the
existing carpeting must have been staple happy! There had to be a hundred
staples in each step and they seemed to be destined to stay there forever. What
a helluva job pulling these things out of the wood. I swear, the next time
someone offers to do this job for me for so little money, I’ll gladly hand him
the cash up front! I wouldn’t do it again for all the tea in China! Well, one
more day should finish the staircase ripping and then there won’t be any last minute
panic when the guy shows up to install the hardwood in April.
All of
the rooms in this house were painted and refinished to their best back when we
moved here in 1998 and Carole wants to paint them again while we’re doing all
of this anyway. It’s a good idea and much easier to do when the rooms are
empty. With another month before the installer shows up, we will easily have
all the other decorating work finished. As I’ve said before every job seems
easy and short lived when you first plan them but there is always a lot more to
whatever the project is once you start into it. Replacing carpeting with
hardwood flooring is no exception. I know that we will be very happy with the
results of this project when it’s finished. When you own a house there is always
something that needs to be done or redone as the years go by. This is just one
more of those “somethings”.
We’ve
both always admired hardwood flooring and are looking forward to finally having
it finished in this house.
Well,
that’s it for this week!
Thanks
for tuning in and I look forward to talking to you all again next week in The
Ontarion Report!
Bye
for now… Greg.
PS:
Something To Think About>
If it weren’t for stress, some people would have no energy at all!
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Have a good one..
the doug
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