Well, something has improved Rotzy’s moodometer which was running pretty grumpy and grimly last week. Might it be the return of warmer weather?
Through July And August….
….we had a goodly number of days where the temp was 40C….or the ‘Feels Like’ temps that we’re now used to….often holding on for a week at a tyme with no rain in sight. Drought became a reality for farmers, and on a much smaller scale Rotzy and fellow ‘community’ gardeners were watering our plots daily, then we’d get a real downpour and all would be well again for a few days. Well, our ‘heat situation’ here in Southern Ont is NOTHING compared to California. I’ve lost the name of the city/town that registered it, but on Sept 6th they recorded an amazing 49.4C! real degrees, not ‘feels like’, California’s hottest temperature EVER!!! (*see below) People are chiming in on Global Warming….Climate Change if you must….apparently looking for somebody/something to blame, but the Governor is too busy these days ”trying to put out wildfires we can’t put out”, a battle Cal. admittedly is losing. Badly. Thirty-five dead to date (Sept 13) and dozens ‘missing’. The fires have also seriously taken hold in Oregon (even surpassing their ‘protests/demonstrations/riots’ arsons) and a mass evacuation there is underway. It seems rather obvious to yours truly most fires were/are a direct result of the hot spell!! And, try as I may, I STILL can’t get my pumpkin around 49.4 Degrees Celsius!!
Tyme For A Shout-Out….
….to a LONG tyme reader/friend and The Voice Of The North Shore, Al Cresswell, at CFNO F/M Marathon. I got a great ‘catch-up’ email from him last week and immediately went back in my mind (2001 or 2002?) to Schram’s Small Engine Repair on a Fri at 5:45AM where A/C set up his CFNO sign, desk and equipment for a 3-4 hour ‘live/remote’ broadcast by The Morning Man. Rotzy was one of his ‘guests’ and if I recall I was ‘flogging’ the Trap Lines North book (which had just had a long-awaited re-printing done, as well as explaining/promoting The Nakina News. (“From Nakina” didn’t exist until circa 2003.) TNN was a monthly 6-8 page newsletter Miz. Jo and I put out….our neighbours Mr and Mrs H used to come over on ‘paper day’ to help with the folding and getting 400-450 copies ready for me to distribute. The only other CFNO ‘guest’ I remember being at the ‘on site’ was Rob Kurish, Greenstone Manager of Leisure Services at that tyme….and Rotzy ‘conned’ him into reading all of the names (there were about two dozen!) for Al’s CFNO Birthday Club by commenting favourably on Rob’s new Toronto Maple Leafs sweater, which, of course, Cresswell loved! Over the years we ‘hooked up’ again at a couple ‘live/remotes’ and a Bass Derby or two. Sorry about the Leafs early exit from the playoffs, pal….but hey!….you’re used to that, huh? Thanks again for the catch-up.
September 11, 2001
….nineteen years since what is generally called 9/11 shook the world….right off it’s moorings….the epi-centre in NYC, plus Washington DC, and a field in Pennsylvania. One of those days where ”you remember where you were/what you were doing at the tyme”. Rotzy had a dental appointment in Geraldton. Well, the various annual Memorial Services to remember the dead and those who survived had a curve thrown at them this year. A very nasty curve. COVID-19. So….SO….with distancing and cetera being required the services had been ‘scaled down’ almost to ‘virtual’ and/or the point of not taking place at all! And there are VERY serious ‘concerns’ being voiced by people who are worried that these Memorial Services might ‘slip through the cracks’ of tyme, soon to be all but forgotten. Sort of like a ‘tyme heals all’ state of mind/attitude. I’m not sure that scenario could/will ever happen. Nor do I know the answer to this year’s problem. For that matter, can anyone guarantee COVID-19 won’t shut down the 20th Anniversary next year? I have spent some of my OWN tyme this ayem returning in my mind to September 11 2001….and some of the stops are ‘difficult’. Still. Well anyway….I asked myself….perhaps you want to do the same?….”is the world a better place since the disaster that was/is 9/11”? Sorry….but if you said ‘yes’ you either have a problem and/or a pair of rose coloured glasses. With endless worldwide ‘demonstrations/protests’, peaceful and not so peaceful; ‘statue-tipping-painting’ has replaced a ‘walk in the park’, and in doing so, became a new national pastyme! As to the coronavirus….looks like Ont has returned to 200 ‘new cases reported’ a day for Fri. I know not the count for all of Cda…suppose I could look it up….but it will surely pale in comparison to India for the same period with 100,000 newbies!! Well….’nuff said.
Just So That….
….the readership, after reading the previous item, doesn’t think I’m a carbon copy of Joe Bvtsplyvck (sp?), the gloom and doom guy from L’il Abner comics who ALWAYS had a black cloud hanging over his head, I’ll share TWO ‘feel-good tales’ from last week. *The first one was Thurs gassing up on The Rez at the large Kanata Centre. I pulled into the Non-Status pumps I always stop at and a polite young Indian guy takes my ‘fill-up’ order and gets the pump running….next thing I know he’s cleaning my windshield with a large squeegie!!! I said ”Holy s–t”!!! (or something like that) He looked in at me and said “Are you OK, Sir”? I answered “Well, I think so. Do you have any idea how (insert your own word here) long it’s been since somebody cleaned my windshield”?! He replied through a grin “I’m afraid not sir”. I quickly reasoned ”Of course you don’t….you weren’t even born yet”!!! What’s next, pop the hood so he can check the oil? **The second ‘happy tyme’ was the very next day! Norm The Truck has had an awful rattle ‘underneath’ him for a month now. OK, OK, OK….I lied. He’s had it for a year. But MUCH worse for the last month….it’s fine when I’m driving along, but VERY annoying (and embarrassing) when stopped for a light. Went into Midas on Thurs…the mgr said ”bring it in tomorrow at 8:00…we’ll get it up on the hoist”. Norm and I were there at 7:50, I handed him the keys and at 8:05 a mechanic got them, brought Norm inside….I could hear the rattle clearly in the office. Then I hear an air gun. Just before 8:20 he came in said “There you go sir….I tightened up the deflector plate….no more rattle”! I said ”thank you kindly” turned to the mgr and asked ”how much”. Not knowing their ‘hourly rate” I guessed about $75 bucks, and would have been more than happy to pay it! He smiled, waved me off and said ”Have a good day sir”. Well, I certainly did.
*Thought Of The Day…Not once did I ever think of Aunt Jemima as a symbol of slavery. I just thought she was a really good cook.
