The Squamidian Report – Nov. 5 / 16
Issue #754
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Time change stupidity: This weekend is when we change our clocks again,
this time backward an hour. This is just plain stupid. No one wants it
anymore. It is very disruptive. Insurance statistics show that on the
days following a time change, crashes go through the roof. Everyone
ends up groggy and grumpy. Yet we still do it, year after year, with
the exception of Saskatchewan that is. Turns out they are the smart
ones. I doubt if anyone even knows why its still done in parts of the
world. There was perceived to be a reason at one time but even that was
questionable and now there really isn't a reason at all except for the
fact that no one knows how to stop it. Someone with the power to do so
would have to simply say 'stop'. And it should be just that easy.
Gondola annual maintenance shutdown: This Sunday is the last day the
gondola will be open until the 1st of December. They shut down each
November in order to do an annual inspection and maintenance of the
lift. Its required under their operating license. They wouldn't
actually need almost a month but because of the time of year the
required inspection can get stalled a bit by the weather. They also use
the shutdown to make upgrades and changes to the lodge and service
areas there in. A real down-side is that they tend to loose good
employees that need regular working hours and can't afford to be off
for several weeks. As it is, they can often find themselves shut down
due to the weather during the stormy part of the year which is now.
They had to shut down Wednesday due to the weather so not only were
employees sent home but we didn't get to go up for our usual visit, and
I didn't get to play my music up there which I've been doing on
Wednesdays on a regular basis lately. They were shut down due to wind
twice last week, and so on, so that gets hard on workers that need the
work.
Rainfall totals: I can't find the Environment Canada web page that had
the daily rainfall totals on it anymore. That page seems to have
disappeared. I think they don't want us to know how much it has rained
around here. However, based on the last totals I had seen for the month
of October up to that time, and the amount of rain we had since then,
I'd estimate that we received darn close to half a meter of rain during
October. Thats close to 500 mm of rain, or 50 cm of rain, or a
foot and a half of rain, or up to your knees in rain. And, it rained on
all but 2 days of that month. Yes, a tad on the damp side. October is
often a very nice month here but this year we seemed to be having
November all through October. The only difference in our current,
November long range forecast is that the temperatures will drop a bit.
The rain will continue to rain though. At least its been snow in the
high country. All the local mountains are wearing a nice white topping.
But the rivers and streams are running very high and very fast. They
and the Sound they empty into usually run a nice glacier blue or green
color, currently they are all a muddy, silty brown due to the runoff
bringing down all sorts of mud.
Being prepared: I've always believed in being prepared for whatever is
coming. In this case its that winter is coming. Not too soon we all
hope but it is inevitable. Heck, I would have made a good 'be prepared'
boy scout when I was a kid except for the fact that the local scout
group wouldn't have me because I couldn't afford the uniform. They
did't want anyone like that in their squad because they would loose
points or some such thing for having someone 'out of uniform'. Anyway,
whether or not it will be needed, the snow blower must be in good
condition and ready to blow snow. I had parked it under the back deck
for the summer rather than down in the lower shed. I don't think it
actually makes any difference but by leaving it under the deck I avoid
wrestling it up and down those slippery wooden lower steps. So, just to
make sure it still runs well, I decided to start it up and let it run
long enough for the engine and oil to heat up nicely. Cold starts
require turning on the gas, giving the primer button 5 pushes, setting
the choke to 'on' and the throttle to the high start position, which I
did. I gave the pull cord one pull and away it went. Can't complain
about that. I don't even remember how old the blower is but it has
always started on the first pull and didn't disappoint this time. It
can continue to remain under the deck where it is relatively easy to
get to until there is the possibility of snow at our elevation and then
I'll bring it around to the front and into the garage where I'll give
it a good once over. And when it does snow, I'll be the envy of all the
neighbor's, just like all the other winters when they are shoveling and
I'll merrily blowing.
Biking season over: At least for me it is. I thought it was over a
month ago when this non-stop rain was starting to start. In fact, as a
precaution (being prepared) I had topped up the gas tank and added
stabilizer as a 'just in case' and for the last month I had figured
that was that. Well, early this week the forecast started indicating
that Friday would be +14 and sunny, with no rain during most of the day
part of the day. Of course no one believed that forecast but as each
day passed and Friday got closer, it continued to show warm and sunny.
That is up until Friday morning when it showed overcast but still a
nice +14. The reality turned out to be about +9 with a heavy brooding
overcast and a forecast of another major rainstorm moving in by
evening. However, it would have been nice to do a last ride of the
season that I knew was the last ride so I could savor it properly and
that's what I did. I pulled the cover off the bike and bundled up and
rode down to Horseshoe Bay. The ride was good although you must watch
for wet leaves on the side streets. I stopped to top up the tank again
and add the required amount of stabilizer, rode the last 4 k up to the
house and parked the bike along the back of the garage where it will
sit until March. Bummer. Double bummer. Riding season sure went past
fast this year, mostly due to the fact that summer didn't do a very
good job of coming and what little we had left two months too early.
Did I say 'Bummer'. Yup, Bummer.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Have any of you ever purchased Ice Cubes from a vending machine in the
60’s? If you did I’d be willing to bet that the bag you carried home
for your picnic or party was filled by hand by yours truly! Back in
high school I was working for Zehr’s store on Bridgeport Rd in Waterloo
cleaning their meat counters on Friday and Saturday night after they
closed. One of the ladies that worked there along side my mother had a
son, his name was John and we became friends. He worked at the time as
an estimator for Traugot Construction on Victoria St. He had just
started on his new job and suggested I apply for his old job in the
same building. He had been working for Jiffy-Pak Ice and his position
was vacated when he went to Traugot Construction. He said it was a lot
of fun at the ice company and they really needed a replacement to bag
ice cubes. He introduced me to the owner of Jiffy-Pak Ice and I was
hired that same day. My job was to bag the contents of 14 ice machines
and stack the bags in a walk in freezer on weekends. I also had to load
a large cube van with boxes containing 24 bags of cubes each and
deliver them to the machines at various corner stores and gas stations
around Waterloo Region and Guelph. It was a very busy job and I worked
from after school till late on Fridays and 7am until whenever I got
done on Saturdays. I also had to work Sundays all day during the summer
and all holiday weekends. Of course in the summer time I worked 6 days
a week and sometimes 7 if needed.
The owner of the company owned the building we worked out of and on the
property was a private well. His water was of course free and this
boosted his profitability to the stars! He was a good guy to work for
and we worked together a lot when things were really busy. His name was
Ed Trendel and he had been the owner of a refrigeration company for
years with his father. When his dad died he passed the company on to Ed
who ran it for several years. Ed eventually sold Sterling Refrigeration
Ltd to Sutherland Schultz and of course made a bundle in the deal. He
didn’t have to work but said he was too young to retire so he started
the ice cube company. The company consisted of 14 ice making machines
and I think he had about 25 automatic coin operated vending machines
and also another 35 bunker style “Pay inside the store” freezers that
sat outside at each location. The bunkers held about 100 bags each and
the coin machines held 50 bags each. As you can imagine it was quite a
chore to keep all of these machines filled. I had to visit all of the
machines at least once a week and sometimes twice. In the shop, the
cubers would make about 100 lbs of cubes per 24 hr period each so that
too was quite a chore to bag all those cubes by hand! We had a supply
of 3 lb bags that once filled measured about 8” in diameter by 12” in
length. We also had a bin at each machine filled with twist ties to
seal each bag closed once filled. The machines were lined along one
wall of the room and I stood in front of each machine with a scoop. I
would hook each bag on an aluminum ramp that was hooked to the opening
of the machine and I would scoop two full scoops of cubes into the bag,
and then pull the bag off the ramp, spin the bag to close it and set it
on a small platform below the machine opening. At this point I would
grab a twist tie and twist it around the bag neck to seal it shut. What
a process that was to repeat hundreds of times an hour. I would then
turn around with the bag of ice and place it on a moving conveyor
behind me and it would move along the conveyor and drop into the
walk-in freezer at the end of the row of cubers.
I would work at this for about 20 minutes and then stop-bagging ice to
go into the freezer to stack the bags of ice off the floor into special
wax coated insulated cardboard boxes ready for shipping. Then I’d go
back out and continue bagging ice until all of the machines were empty.
Once the cubers were empty I could go home for the night and come back
in the morning and load the truck for the day’s delivery route. It was
indeed a fun job but it came with a lot of responsibility too! I had to
make sure I completed the filling of every machine as well as collect
the money owed for each load sold to the store and issue a receipt to
the store manager. I had hundreds of dollars in cash on me at any one
time and was always on the lookout for some crooked bugger who might
take a notion to rob me along the way! Luckily that never happened and
there was only one time when I was short of funds when I got back to
the office. I deposited the money in Ed’s desk drawer along with the
receipt book and in the morning when I got to work, I got called into
the office. Ed asked me why I was short by $17.00 on the previous day’s
billing! I told him I didn’t know what happened to the $17.00 but I
assured him I hadn’t taken the money for myself. He checked the
receipts and they totaled $17.00 more than the cash he had in his desk!
Somehow that money had gone missing and I couldn’t account for it’s
whereabouts! He was ticked off and never out rightly accused me of
stealing it but he had that suspicious look in his eye! All I could do
was assure him I hadn’t taken it so I must have either dropped it along
the way or miscounted when one of the customers paid for the days load!
I’ll never forget how guilty I felt even though I was not to blame! I
guess when it came right down to it, I was responsible for the loss but
it was definitely an accident or inadvertent mistake! You can be sure I
counted and recounted every penny from that day on and I had Ed install
a metal lock box in the cab of the truck that I used faithfully from
that day on. It was screwed to the wall of the cab and I made sure that
I never carried any of his money in my own pocket after that happening.
I was never short again and the incident was history. Ed didn’t carry a
grudge for anything. Once an incident of any kind was over with, it was
never mentioned again.
I worked for Jiffy-Pak Ice for three years and
when I graduated from KCI Ed talked me into taking a trade in
Refrigeration and Air Conditioning which he used his friendship with
Lester Zehr owner and president of Zehr’s Markets here in Kitchener to
sign me up for the apprenticeship with Zehr’s, repairing and installing
refrigeration equipment in all of the Zehr’s stores. You might say I
was to continue my career with “Cold” things from that first day with
Jiffy-Pak Ice back in high school!
I’ll be forever grateful to Ed Trendel for instilling in me a strong
work ethic and for setting me on the path to continued and permanent
employment during my life time.
He said to me before he hired me that first day “Here’s something I
want you to think about and remember if I give you this job! An
employee owes himself 8 full hours sleep minimum per night so he can
fulfill his responsibility to his employer of giving 8 full hours of
solid conscientious work to the company each day and in return the
company will pay him fair wages!”
I’ve never forgotten this “statement of fair deal”! Now, there have
been times over the years where I’ve not gotten 8 full hours of sleep
in a night and his words have come to mind the next day when I’ve been
“dogging it” to barely make it through the day! Guess Ed was right and
he’s one person in my working lifetime that I’ll never forget! My
thanks to Ed for a good start and the many lessons I learned while
working for he and his little Ice Cube Company! Because of Ed and his
pointing me in the right direction career-wise I’ve never been out of
work and always maintained a strong work ethic!
Of course my career in the Fire Service was at
the other end of the spectrum when it comes to “Temperature” LOL.
However the lessons learned through my association with Ed have always
stayed with me no matter what my profession and of course my background
in Refrigeration supplied me with a great form of part time work while
on the Fire Dept and how can I knock that?
Thanks again Ed!
That’s all for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next time in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now … Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
Every path has a few puddles!
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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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