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The Squamidian Report – Dec. 9 / 17
Online Version Issue #811 Including: Two Mysteries in the Universe by Maggie The Ontarion Hi All, Ok, I'll start off with this.... there seems to be more interest in keeping this letter going than I anticipated. Looks like the mailing list will be about half of what it was but thats ok, it costs the same to write and send out no matter how many are or are not on the list. And I for one do not want to be sending this out to anyone who doesn't want it or isn't reading it. So while our countdown is now at 3, it looks like we will be able to keep things going for a while longer. We will suspend the countdown for now, holding at 3 to see how it goes. As long as there appears to be interest it will continue. As long as there are occasional contributions from each and all of you guys it will continue. No one is expected to come up with something regularly but everyone is expected occasionally and that should work out to an article from one of more readers each week. When that dries up, so does the Squid. How's that for pressure? Anyway, 2 weeks from now is the Christmas issue. In the early years of this letter there was a lot of reader involvement in the Christmas issue but that faded over the past few years. Based on everyone who has spoken up, this year's should be a great one. I'm looking forward to it. Incidentally, reader contributions don't make my job easier, they make it harder, more work etc but I certainly don't mind if it means more involvement. * Boy am I glad November is over. Here on the west coast we had one of wettest, most dreary Novembers on record although I don't know how you quantify 'dreary' as its rather subjective. Out at the Vancouver airport it rained all but 2 of the days. Up this way at the north end of the Sound it rained at least 2 days more than that. And the sun was a long forgotten memory. Luckily those Pacific Low storms have shifted away and the sun has reappeared. That makes life a bit brighter. Along with the sun, we have been having that 'super moon'. I'm sure you've seen it, closer to the earth in it's orbit and therefore visually bigger and brighter. Can't speak for other coastal areas of the country but out here that means higher tides due to the increase in gravitational pull and when the moon and sun line up the pull is even greater, making for even higher tides. Often early December brings the highest tides of the year and when those are coupled with wild Pacific storms there can be a lot of coastal flooding. Fortuitously, those storms have shifted away and the expected flooding of low lying areas has not happened. When you get a tide that is a meter or so higher than normal and then blasting winds driving high waves, it pours right over sea walls and dykes. This time the tides were high but the seas were and are calm. Thats a good thing. Not so good for the people in the Lower Mainland has been the fog. The stable high pressure zone that has blocked the storms has set up an inversion where the temps are cold at the surface and warmer higher up. And that means major fog, as in cancelled flights, pea soup driving conditions and so on. But thats in the Lower Mainland. Up our way its been crystal clear and quite nice with the snow-covered mountains shining in the bright sun and glowing under the bright moon. Mind you, crystal clear this time of year means heavy frost. The salt truck has had to do our hilly streets every night since the sky cleared out. We get very thick frost here and that means slippery roads and silver roofs. And a clear sky also means possible star gazing. To that end a friend of ours and us decided to try the gondola deck as a star gazing location. I've always figured that could be a good place as there are no city lights or vehicle lights to pollute the atmosphere. We went up on Thursday evening, scopes in hand, hoping for some nice viewing. What we didn't count on was the bright outdoor lights that line the suspension bridge. They washed out the sky to the point where we simply couldn't see anything dimmer than the most bright stars. What we could see however was the ISS as it made a crossing of the sky. I knew ahead of time that it would be doing a pass and what time that pass would be so I had informed the people working there as well as the customers hanging around. We did had a rather spectacular sunset to watch and as it faded out, the ISS went over, right on time. There was a surprising amount of interest from the people that had come out onto the deck to watch. There was a lot of excitement for people who had never giving that kind of thing any thought at all. It became an ISS viewing party. There is always one employee there who's job it is to patrol the 'outdoor' areas and deal with customer's outdoor needs and concerns. He was quite thrilled with the viewing and at the gondola's morning employee meeting the next day filled them in on what we had done and how everyone enjoyed it. Thats a good thing. As well, we had told him that the star gazing attempt didn't work out very well do to the bright bridge lights and outdoor spot lights on the lodge. He suggested that next time he could perhaps have those lights turned off. This could lead to something kind of cool. And now look at this, a big thankyou to Maggie for being our first reader under our new arraingement of reader contributions to send in an article for this letter. As well, Greg is back and hopefully on the mend. I for one have missed his weekly writings. doug
**** Two Mysteries in the Universe On Monday night, I got on a plane to the UK and had the pleasure of flying overnight into the most incredible view of dawn. This view of the dawn happened only because my plane left Toronto on time. I am not usually that lucky. But that is not the mystery of the universe. It is here in the picture I took that I have attached. The layers of colour are amazing and are so vibrant. The further east we went, the brighter the colours became. The mystery is that as I flew east into this amazing sunrise, I could clearly see Venus, the morning star. It was SO bright. However when I took (numerous) pictures, the star just did not show up in the picture. What a shame as it was such a sight to see. It is a mystery why it did not show up.  The other mystery of the universe is how Britain – just a tiny island on the planet - can have this amazing rail system that runs efficiently, on time and – with incredible speed. After I arrived at Heathrow, I hopped the tube into London. I arrived at King’s Cross where there is a HUGE announcement board with times of trains and platform numbers. The stations have so many platforms that they cannot always predict exactly which one the train will arrive in and leave from because the trains literally take a vacant platform as they arrive. The internet had a notification message of one platform – 6 - but when I arrived, the big board said another- platform 8 – and I had to hustle to get the train. Good thing I knew about the announcement board as I may have gone who knows where from platform 6. Once I was on the train, and it started – it was literally a blur as it was a very high-speed. It is sixty-two miles between London and Cambridge, and we did it 44 minutes. The amazing thing is that we shot through stations on a railway line with a line or two on either side of us, so we were able to pass those slow trains that were doing the milk run. What amazes me more is that 108 trains a day travel to and from London and Cambridge. Imagine that! Even people that have cars do not drive, they transit. OK, so I know we don’t have that kind of infrastructure in Canada, but it is an incredible mystery to my why the Canadian rail system can’t be improved to the point that there is a continuous train service between Kitchener and Toronto on a daily basis. Maggie
**** THE ONTARION REPORT Hello Everyone! It’s been such a long haul I almost forget how to write my Ontarion. I hope you are all still hanging in and enjoying what Doug has had to say in my absence. I know I’ve enjoyed what he’s been telling us on Saturday mornings! I’ve been in rough shape since early September but I’m coming along better and feeling stronger this week at least. I had to spend last week in the hospital again to drain another 2.5 liters of bodily fluids out of my left lung cavity for the second time. The Dr told me that I have been one of the lucky 7 to 8% of heart patients to have this problem post surgery and it’s a challenge to clear it up! They are having some success this time with the drugs they have put me on and I hope it manages to clear it for good this time. My legs were the size of tree trunks (big ones) as well as my chest cavity filled with fluid so you can imagine how difficult it was to walk or climb stairs with all the extra weight and size! Not only was walking difficult but breathing, especially at night while trying to sleep was like I was drowning. Every breath sounded like a bubbling babbling brook and I had to sleep on a wedge of foam rubber that kept my head and shoulders above the rest of my body. Pretty darned uncomfortable for sure. I’m hoping the remainder of the fluid will dissipate and stay gone once it’s out of my system. I still have some fluid that puffs up my legs but the chest seems to be settled down at this point. At least I can type some without shaking the keyboard off the desk! I’ve been shaking like a leaf in a fall windstorm for weeks now and it’s finally settling down. This whole experience has been one I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy! The heart operation was basically a snap when compared to fluid and other problems I’ve had since. Oh well, it’s most certainly toughened me up and it’s been a very difficult experience for not only myself but for Carole and Adam, the two most supportive and important people in my life! I don’t know what I would have done had it not been for their loving care and concern this past three months, they’ve both been wonderful and I’ll never be able to thank them enough for their hard work and Love! Carole is an amazing ROCK by my side and I am sure I never would have made it through this far without her. Adam has been able to be with Carole every day since this started and has also been an incredibly stable and strong supporter for us both throughout this challenging ordeal and I Love him for his strength and hard work on our behalf! They tell me that another three months will see me through the worst of this situation and I sure hope that these two can bare the strain of caring for this old Ontarion for that much longer. They have my Love and gratitude and we are all looking forward to having it over with as soon as possible. We are all looking toward the time when things are back to normal and we can get back to living an enjoyable and happy coexistence! Thank You Both so Very Much for your support and I’m sorry to have put you both through this! I Love you for what you’ve done for me and each other and will be forever grateful! *
Just a few words of thanks to all the Squid members
who’ve been loyal readers for the past 15.5 years with Doug and I!
You’ve been the reason for all the many hours of creative and sometimes
not so creative writing that Doug and I have produced and if it’s
coming to an end, so be it! I’m leaving it up to Doug to decide what
comes after the New Year. He was kind enough to ask me to participate
in this newsletter and he’s been my inspiration time and time again to
keep on writing.I’m feeling like writing again and if it weren’t for Doug holding things together since September when my heart problems first cropped up I doubt I’d have had enough strength to get back to the keyboard for this short Ontarion. Thank you Doug for allowing me to participate in your family project and all I can say is it’s been a wonderful experience and I’ve enjoyed every minute of producing the newsletter with you! You have a wonderful family and they’ve been very kind to me over the years as well and once again, it’s been FUN! If you decide to keep on going with the Squid, I’m still IN! If not, this man has no regrets! All the best to you and Sue and the rest of the Brubacher family! I’ll be contributing till the end or, the start of the continuation, whatever you and our readers decide! Until next week, take care and Love to All! Greg
**** 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. |