The Squamidian Report – July 30 / 16
Issue #740
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
I had to replace the horn on my Harley this week. I discovered the old
horn had stopped working a week ago when a car ran a stop sign and
pretty well cut me off. I laid on the horn but nothing happened. Not
that car drivers are likely to pay much attention to a ticked off
rider. Anyway, I had checked the fuses etc and all was well so that
meant it was the horn itself. Once I thought about it, I remembered
trying to blow the horn a while ago and it made a funny sound, almost
like it was being strangled. I guess that was when it was failing. So,
I went on line to find a replacement. Lots of choices out there but I
really just wanted the equivalent of the OEM unit, which I found I
could get through several sources without having to go through Harley
which would cost a fortune. Interestingly, the OEM horn on the US sites
would cost about $16 plus shipping, custom duties and who knows what
else that someone ordering it while IN the US wouldn't have to pay. The
same horn on a Canadian site is $36 plus $7 for Canada Post to deliver
it. I ordered the horn from the Canadian site and it was here in about
4 or 5 days which surprised me because our mail usually takes weeks to
get here. The horn unit is just a little electrical thing that sits
behind the fancy chrome cover that anyone looking at the bike sees. It
took a whole 20 minutes to replace it. The very next time out on the
bike I used it to honk at a motorist that pulled out of an intersection
in front of me causing me to have to brake hard. What is it with
drivers who are in such a hurry or so self important that they can't
wait for a few vehicles to go by. But thats another topic.
We rode up to Whistler on Friday morning for brunch at the Wildwood.
That is a very nice motorcycle ride no matter how you look at it. It
was hot out, I hate hot but with our mesh jackets we were quite
comfortable. The bike sure likes to get out for a little toot. She just
purrs along. Now, as you know, Friday was the day before this long
weekend and out in these parts the day before a long weekend tends to
be just as busy on the highways as the actual long weekend days
themselves. And, living in a tourist corridor, we get the full effect
of long weekend traffic. Traffic was lite on the way up but by the time
we were headed back down (south bound), the north bound lanes were
getting pretty busy. As we headed out of Whistler, it was backed up for
about a kilometer from the lights at Function Junction. Our ride
down was delightful because everyone was going the other way but you
still needed to keep an eye on that on coming traffic, always watching
for some stupid moron wandering over the center line or trying to pass
against a double yellow center line. Generally, we stay off the roads
during the long weekends because it ain't safe and it ain't any fun
being stuck in stopped and go traffic. To add to it, this is the
Logger's Day Sports weekend here in town to not just the highway, but
Squamish itself will be busy.
My blueberries are in full swing. Have been since about the last week
of June but the lack of sunshine during the first couple of weeks of
July kept them from sweetening up. I've been picking a bowl full pretty
well ever day but I can't eat them that fast. Blueberries on my
breakfast cereal, blueberries and ice cream and so on but I can't keep
up so I've been freezing them. Frozen berries don't taste near as nice
as fresh ones but they do tend to keep longer. So, perhaps blueberry
pancakes or pie during the winter, that would be good.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello Everyone!
What a lovely summer we are having here in Ontario! I can’t wait to see
how long this great weather lasts. I hope it hangs in until late
November! I remember long hot summers like this when I was a kid and
also during my teen years but it seemed that they disappeared once I
was in my 30’s, 40’s and later years. I guess I was just too busy with
other stuff to notice the weather! Now that we are a little older and
less busy the days of summer seem to be drier and sunnier once again
and it’s harder to take such searing sun and blistering hot days than
in the past 4 decades! LOL! Guess the resistance is getting weaker as
the years pass by! Oh well, I still love the hot weather and will try
my best to handle whatever comes our way. There’s always sunscreen
which by the way, I should have learned the value of many years ago and
I wouldn’t be visiting the Dr several times a year to have cancer spots
burned off my hairless head with liquid nitrogen! OUCH!
Guess some lessons are learned a tad too late but as long as the Dr can
keep them from turning into anything worse than a few spots, I’ll visit
him as often as need be to stay healthy! Guess our mothers were unaware
of the dangers of the sun back in the 50’s and 60’s when we were kids
on the beach. Dad had the right idea, keep the tee shirt on and don’t
forget to wear a fedora during family outings to the beach. We spent
many a summer day on the shore of lake Erie at Long Point Beach and
even more on the shores of lake Huron in the South Hampton area for our
vacations.
We used to rent a cottage every summer in one beach or the other and
the best remedy mothers of the day had for bad sunburns was a big white
glob of NOXEMA slathered all over our burns after it was too late to
prevent them! Of course all the NOXEMA did was cool the blisters that
formed on our shoulders and backs once the NOXEMA was spread! YIKES! I
can still feel the heat from the burns just by thinking about those
days. I would like to think that mothers have learned over the years to
take steps to protect their children from the terrors of the sun but
when we are out and about Carole and I still see babies being walked by
their mothers exposed to the blazing sun of modern times. I know that a
child should be a certain age before being slathered with sunscreen but
there are such things as umbrellas for strollers as well as protective
clothing for the skin of young children. Mothers should know better
than to expose their delicate babies to the heat and burning rays of
today’s bright sunshine! Lord knows there is no end to the information
available these days on the Internet as well as the warnings expounded
by every physician on the planet about exposure to the sun. So these
mothers have no excuse for not knowing to protect their kids as well as
they do themselves!
What the heck, people are even using sunscreen products on their pets
these days and most of THEM are covered with hair as a natural
protective layer. Time to wise up you MOTHERS!
I still see a lot of bald guys that don’t wear sunscreen or hats to
protect their heads from the sun as well and they too need to wise up.
I guess they think that once they have a good tan on their bean they
won’t burn any further, WRONG! Oh well, I guess some guys just don’t
like to wear hats. Either that or they are too vane to cover their
heads with what they deem to be silly looking pieces of clothing. I
guess some guys just don’t look good in hats but what’s worse, looking
a tad unfashionable or chemo treatments when it’s usually too damned
late?
I think I’ll take the hat!
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
Something To Think About>
“Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you!”
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Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.
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