The
Squamidian Report – June 22 / 13
Issue #578
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
We have not done a whole lot of interesting things over that last couple of weeks because Kyra has been here and that tends to limit the amount of spur-of-the-moment things we can do. Everything needs to be planned out ahead of time. Nothing wrong with that but it does tend to limit the scope of things I can write about. We did manage to proceed with a riding club BBQ at our place that had been planned for last Saturday afternoon. I hooked up with my riding friends in Horseshoe Bay and led about a dozen bikers to here. We have done this before and I’ve often wondered what the neighbours that don’t know us think about a bunch of bikes rumbling up the hill and onto the street where we live then park across the front of my property. However, there is no loud partying or roaring around that many seem to associate with bikes so there is no grounds for anyone to complain. What does happen is the occasional person will bring their kid or kids over to have their pictures taken with the bikes. We get that kind of thing all the time pretty well every where we go. In fact, when a couple of us were parked at Porteau Cove the other day, an Oriental tourist couple walked over and started taking pictures of each other standing at the bikes. Then the woman picked up my helmet and put it on her head, without so much as a ‘do you mind?’, or ‘ is this ok?’ type of thing, so she could have her picture taken that way. We don’t mind but it would be nice to be asked first. For one thing, there is always a chance a helmet could get dropped and that can damage them. But this kind of thing happens all the time and it is a bit amusing. Anyway, I digress, I need to re-read this paragraph to see what I started out to say……
Oh, right. We held a BBQ here for my riding chapter and a dozen bikes were parked out front. ‘The Wife’ and Kyra heard us coming up the hill and were then out on the front balcony to watch us pull up. We all went around into the back yard. Kyra was understandably quite over whelmed by all the strangers and clung relentlessly to either ‘The Wife’ or me for a while. As she got used to all the people she relaxed and ended up having a great time as she interacted with some of them and totally ignored others. She was quite impressed with one of the woman rider’s riding boots. When the BBQ was over about mid evening everyone got up to leave. When Kyra realized that everyone was leaving she was broken hearted and sobbed and sobbed. She perked up as the excitement of watching all the bikes fire up took hold and watched as they all pulled away in a nice tight formation. So now she’s been to a biker BBQ, but with a pretty docile bunch of bikers.
This was Willow’s third biker BBQ and she always enjoys the attention. With her bad hip still bothering her she managed to milk the attention for all she could get. All of my riding friends who have met Willow before had considered her to be a big dog. However, this time they met Dozer. One of the neighbours down the street rides, and we had invited him and his dog to come on over, which they did. Dozer is one of Willow’s best buddies, and is about 50% bigger than Willow, which impresses Willow to no end, and towers over her. He’s part Rottweiler and part moose I think. He is every bit as gentle as Willow is around people of all sizes, but when he looks you in the eye as if to say “are you going to finish that hamburger?”, I’m pretty sure he is hoping to influence your answer. Anyway, everyone, dogs and all, had a good time. Kyra got over the sadness of everyone leaving and life went back to normal.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Do you remember when
McDonald’s first started popping up around KW area? Back when you could drop in
there and buy a hamburger for a quarter or a Big Mac for 65c? Well, I was
reminded again today that those days are long gone! Adam and I had just taken a
load of garbage to the dump and were on the way home around noon and decided to
grab some McD’s and take it home to feed the three of
us, Adam, Carole and myself. Well, we pulled into the drive through and ordered
a meal combo for each of us and I was quite shocked when I went to pay for them
and the total came to $26.85. What the hell ever happened to being one of the
most reasonable fast food places around? Those 25c hamburgers certainly are
nothing but a fond memory from the past! Oh well, I guess we can’t expect
prices to stay rock bottom forever but I’d be willing to bet that McDonald’s
could easily price all of their food items at 60% of their current menu prices
and they’d still make billions in profit every year! Why is it that everybody
including the big corporations has to be so darned greedy?
I guess I’m dreaming
if I think that there is in existence a corporation that’s satisfied with
making a good profit rather than an obscenely huge pig-fest of a profit and
still try their damnedest to figure ways to make even more each year. Oh well,
I guess that’s the free enterprise way of the free world! We all like to make a
good living but have been exposed to hearing of record-breaking profits of
individuals and large companies through the news media and it kind of spurs
most people to want more! I have decided that after today’s shocking junk food
bill, McDonald’s has seen the last of my pension money. I really don’t like the
crap they sell anyway so I’ll just have to find another quick food chain that
offers better pricing if there is such a thing. Come to think of it, Carole and
I have eaten at Wendy’s a couple of times and between the two of us, she’s had
a Caesar Salad and a baked potato and I’ve had a small bowl of chili and a Jr Bacon Cheesburger for a total
of just over $7.00 including a drink each. They actually toss the drink in free
if you’re a senior (over 60) so I guess I’ll have to remember this the next
time we need a quick meal out! We do actually go to a good restaurant once in a
while but most times we still prefer home cooking, which Carole is VERY GOOD at
indeed! Guess I’ll just have to stop comparing today’s fast food prices to
those of the 60’s when I was living on part time job after school pocket money!
LOL!
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We had a gruesome
experience today that I won’t forget for a while! Carole was spraying the weeds
with a “Green” product today and made a yucky discovery between our house and
the one next door. Years ago with no success growing grass between our house
and the neighbour’s we covered the entire strip of property with “River Rocks”
just like the ones I used for our front “dry river bed” garden last week. Back
then I didn’t put any weed suppressing material on the ground before covering
it with rocks so we still get the odd crop of weeds sprouting up through the
rocks. Hence the need to spray occasionally throughout the summer! While she
was doing so, she told me she came across a large pile of “poop” between the
houses on the rocks. I took a small shovel that I use to pick up our dog’s
doo-doo and a plastic bag and scooped the poop up along with the three baseball
sized rocks it was stuck to! It wasn’t until we talked about it later that we
deduced that it wasn’t a dog that deposited it there on the rocks. It was deposited
within 6” of the neighbour’s house and we realized that no dog would stand on a
pile of rocks to do his business when he could just do it on a comfortable bed
of green grass! Besides, what dog would take the time to hide between two
houses to do what he normally does right out in the open? LOL! YUCK! So, we
figured it was some uncouth human that decided to take a dump in a relatively
secluded spot while in a bind some evening when passing by on his way home and
couldn’t hold out till he got there! It just so happens that we have a rose
bush that was hanging out from a trellis on that side of the house that would
have provided enough cover for this pig to do his deed. So, after supper we
went out with a couple of yard waste bags and gloves and clippers and gave the
bush a nice neat brush cut and tied it upright against the trellis! It now
looks better to the human eye and will hopefully prevent anybody else from
committing such a disgusting offence again in the near future! I guess I can
understand the urgency but I do wish he or she would have chosen to do it in
the field out back rather than beside our house! LOL! Oh yah, and one more
thing, people that walk a lot to get around should maybe think of carrying a
roll of “Doggie Poop Bags” with them so they can clean up after themselves like
any conscientious dog owner would do for their pet! On the other hand, if they
are that uncouth in the first place, why would I think they’d be decent enough
to clean up the mess they make?
That’s it for this
week folks!
Thanks for tuning in
and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now … Greg
PS: Something To
Think About>
Isn’t it funny how I started and ended this week’s Ontarion by talking about the same subject!
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Have a good one..
the doug
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