Why do I believe?

Had a short and somewhat cold conversation with an individual a few hours ago who reminded me that when he came across my blog he felt that I was going to be looking the devil in the eye and walking down a path of destruction -  for that nobody would believe and take seriously the “folklore” and rantings of those who claim that a “being” exists among us that we cannot explain.

Logic speaks volumes. And people forget about logic to the point that “narrow” conclusions are drawn in cases where they should not be.

I make reference to my vocalization experience. I heard a sound – and I did not know what it was.

Think about my last sentence. Seriously. I will repeat it. Put yourself in my shoes, close your eyes and think. “I heard a sound and I did not know what it was”. Now, think about it happening to you.

In no way did I say “Sasquatch”. No, of course not. It did not even register at the time, but you see, the sensitivity of the actual event “as it occurred” startled the $#!**” out of me. I was terrified and I made it top priority to break down camp and leave the area. The memories were etched in my brain and soon thereafter I found myself on a mission.

When I finally felt that I had associated the sounds that I heard to sounds that I found on the net and finding out that they were related to Sasquatch, I certainly did not become too enamored with the fact that I had a new responsibility to deal with. Ridicule, people thinking I was nuts. Think what you want, I know what I heard and I knew that I was in this for the long run, but wait just a moment - those bone chilling sounds I heard did remind me of my encounter but I certainly did not draw a conclusion as to what it was, I only accepted the information presented as a possibility. 

Honestly, I still haven’t come to a solid conclusion and I am not sure if I will. Let alone my own experience, how can I review and disseminate others who offer data if we have no real baseline? What are you looking for? How did sasquatch come to mind? You see, at the time, it did not and that’s the point that I am trying to get across.

Like I said, I didn’t know what it was at the time. And I wanted to. I’ve been in those woods before and they owed me an explanation. Big time. So, I looked for it.

And so let me close this post of mine by saying…if you were in the middle of nowhere and your heard a scream –and you did not know what it was…You never heard anything like it before. You rationalize, but it just doesn’t work.

One sentence keeps playing itself over and over in your head.

“What was it?”

Logic always ends up ruling in situations where nature cannot speak for itself. My logic points me in the direction of another being existing among us. I’m not fully convinced, but then again, I heard those sounds. They still haunt me to this day. I looked for them. I listened to them, I listened again and again. It’s the closest thing that I could find and people call it a Sasquatch.

(Author’s side note: – The Michigan Recording Project website was recently released to the general public. Plug in your headphones and go have a look and a listen. Fascinating)

Sasquatch distracting people?

I've read with interest that many reported sasquatch sightings seem to offer a little more than what people bargain for, that is, the possibility that you are being distracted for a reason. What I mean is that there are several cases of people saying that they have been witness to small pebbles, rocks, sticks being thrown at them, apparently from the big hairy guy himself, but in any case, if sasquatch does have a pitching arm and is responsible for some of these events, it may stand to reason that it is doing this to attract your attention for the purpose of distracting you.

Why you ask? It could be a number of reasons. Preservation and safety come to mind as an initial thought. If there is an infant in the area or a sick or elderly creature who might not be quite up to the task of being agile and quick on it's feet, a younger squatch may start throwing interference your way to keep you busy and mesmerized with the situation while the others move to safety.

Wood knocks might accomplish the same thing but I believe that the act of actually throwing something at someone carries an inherent representation of aggression and so it is more cautiously observed and pursued, something that sasquatch is counting on.

Wood-knocks are inconclusive in some respects because you don't actually know what is creating the sound. I think they know that, so we become more curious and start to look into it. It could just be the wind....But having a stone hurled at you - more than once within a few moments - I can guarantee your gonna be a little cautious, epsecially when your in those spooky woods in the middle of nowhere. Dusk. Or midnight. Wolves howling....Ok big guy, you've got my attention. I certainly ain't going nowhere and I'm not going to hurt you. You can travel in peace.

If they have the intelligence to know how run interference in this manner, I would certainly respect the warning.

A lesson in Sound - Landmarks speak out.

Go for a ride a few km's off the shore of Lake Ontario then shut down your sail or motor and just sit there for a moment drifting. Relaxing? More than likely.

So you are a sitting - drifting - looking at the city line in front of you - buildings, skyscrapers, chimney stacks, etc. All of a sudden things start to dissapear. a cold front moves in, creating a fog that obscurs everything. You are a few km's out and all that you have around you is thick fog. You are blind.

Your running radar? Cool, might help you out a little, let you know where the land and those big ships are. Autohelm - thats cool, if your moving, but you have shut down and you are just sitting there.

Moments later you hear the sound from the local lighthouse. That good 'ol foghorn. Wait a moment, what direction did that sound come from?

It's there. The sound is familiar....As long as you can hear it you are safe. Kinda. Or maybe not. But there is the comfort factor. "You can hear it"....

That speaks VOLUMES. Excuse the pun, but even though you can't tell where that ol' foghorn is coming from, a quick glance at the compass or the GPS will put things into perspective - after all, that lighthouse never moves, right? Right.

Yes, as far as I am concerned - Right. We hear the lighthouse foghorn. We look at the GPS or compass. We can relate from the readings the estimated position of that lighthouse - and all is well. We are good to go.

Now, take that sound you heard in the bush and link a GPS or compass to it. You cant. You dont know where it origintated from. You heard it but there is no definitive point of creation. The sound might have echoed and come from all over the place. It's confusing and possibly overwhelming. You just dont know.

So when it comes to landmarks that you are familiar with, whether it be sound, light, or anything that gives it a unique identity, remember that. The simplest things that we "bypass"in our day to day lives can provide us with the information we need to get through a tough situation.

I've been through it. 1km off shore in Lake Ontario. Fog, thick fog. Nothing to be seen 5 feet in any direction. Radar is scattered. Then the foghorn sounds. Grab that waypoint out of the GPS an set your focus on it. It's your local harbour. Wait for the fog to subside then you are home-free. (Watch those shipping lanes!!! :)

Yeah, um, ok it's a 2 stroke. What does that mean?

Recent posts for low cost 110v generators averaging anywhere between $89 to $199 seem to have captured the eye of a lot of people; Sasquatch researchers are no exception! And while these pint-sized units are readily available to do the job of serving up kilowatts of power during your trip, it only takes a tiny misunderstanding to throw everything to hell.

"Damn...the lights are strobing on and off - guess the generator is running out of gas. Mind filling it?" Moments later the beast is up and running, you continue about your business. Then it happens. You hear the motor slow down. The lights dim. Within seconds the generator dies. That pull-start cord is as solid as a rock. The engine is dead - locked up - seized. Wrecked. Destroyed. Whatever you call it, it is a write-off. Why?

Oil. maybe even only a half cup or less - depends on the mix ratio, but that "cheap" generator you bought is cheap because it has a 2 stroke engine that needs to consume oil mixed into the gas in order to remain cool and lubricated. 2 stroke engines are the simplest and cheapest forms of power plants out there, yet because they burn the oil that lubricates them, they have become under increasing scrutiny with regards to pollution (EPA) initiatives. And this is why we see so many old Johnson and Mercury 2-stroke boat motors still kicking because they are cheap to operate and easy to work on.

That unforgettable smell of burning gas and oil will always bring back memories. Even if it wasn’t the boat, it might have even been a weed wacker or lawnmower, maybe even a chainsaw, but they were 2 stroke engines and the minor pain in the ass that they caused with the mixing ratios was (and still is) by far a miniscule task when you consider the reliability and longevity of such devices. I know that there are people out there grumbling about this. 2 strokes are dirty, filthy things. They are not as efficient as 4-strokes. They are destroying the earth. Ok, you've said your peace.

Now, let's look at all the environmentally inconsiderate things that you do. Take a bit of time, but you shouldn't need much. Now look at a field researcher. Someone who doesn't get out often but when we do we want to make the most of it and have the tools we need to operate efficiently, even if it is only for the weekend. Yeah, I could buy that $1200 4-stroke "clean" generator, but who am I kidding? Only myself. You see, given what I have mentioned, I really don’t spend that much time to the point where I require a generator. So my $1200 investment is going to be a beast that might take a bit of time to pay off. Not too mention that the portability is limited given the size. Was it arc-welding you wanted to do? :) Nope, my $99 2-stroke generator that may see 3 hours a month is a worthwhile investment. Just have to remember to ADD OIL to the gas!!!!!

Cogeco QAM channels

First, my apologies for not posting with more regularity, but I have my reasons - mostly TIME! I promise to blog with more frequency very soon - I miss it! This is nothing new but I thought I would take the liberty of bringing this to the attention of those who might benefit from this finding. Recent frustration with my PVR (Polaroid DRM-2001G) led me to try to upgrade the firmware on it which, I am sad to say, turned it into a useless piece of junk. Ok I shouldn't be that harsh - It will still play DVD's and the hard drive is still good - but it has a real hard time burning DVD's and the hard drive is getting full. Having to hookup the IDE drive (which, by the way is a older style PATA interface) to a USB dongle to pull the data off it is a bit cumbersome. On the slight chance that I may run across a proper copy of firmware for the north american version of this device - which is a generic type of PVR that is sold under different brand names, I may be able to resurrect this beast. If you are out there and you have access to such firmware, Drop me a line and let me know! So, my search for firmware ended up taking me to a lot of audio / video based websites such as this one and I was intrigued by this device. It would appear that the FCC has done some good with regards to the regulations surround the distribution of TV signals in an unencrypted format; Specifically QAM as described in this wiki. They (the cable companies) certainly do not advertise this feature from what I have seen, but then again, I live in Canada and subscribe to Cogeco cable, and of course, we are not governed by the FCC - but the point is, tv equipment that is manufactured for sale in the US after a certain date must have a ATSC tuner built into it (in addition to NTSC which has been phased out for over the air broadcasts in the US), and so, in the case of the Philips DVDR3575, manufactured for the US market - has both NTSC and ATSC tuners built into it and the ATSC tuner is capable of receiving QAM transmissions (Digital TV). So what's the big deal? Well, a couple of things. First, when this PVR came out, it retailed for close to $800 but rapidly dropped. It is one of only a few PVR's that have a built in tuner, dvd recorder, 160 GB hard disk drive, firewire and USB inputs. And, at the local clearance center on Dixie Road in Mississauga, I picked up a refurbished unit with a 6 month warranty for only $199! Now here is the big news - Like I said, I subscribe to regular analog basic cable. No variety packs or options. Just regular cable. I plugged this thing in, then went into the menu and did the initial setup "auto-channel" scan to pre-program the unit. It ran through all the regular cable channels from 2 - 125, then it started scanning for ATSC (Digital TV) channels. It took a little bit of time - about 15 minutes, but once complete - Voila!! I had a bunch of DTV channels and music channel that I could receive from Cogeco. At this point I have not spent the time to actually tally the channels I am getting because I have only just hooked up this unit very recently, but things are looking bright! I will post my channel list after compiling it and share it with you. Until next time.....

Things are “Ticking”….

My temporary lapse in blog efforts is in no way indicative of my interest in doing so; I’ve been VERY busy.

Just did another episode of Simply Sasquatch on Blogtalk radio and I was happy to see OSR member “Squatchers” (Tim Ervick) join in to the show via chatroom. Tim has a great blog on Blogspot that you can take a peek at. Thanks for the support Tim!

Simply Sasquatch episode coming your way.....

It sucks that blogtalk does not offer local Ontario (GTA or whatever) call in numbers for the show; I have had a few people inquire and I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place because I really do wish that they would get some Canadian numbers but as it stands there is nothing that I can do. I'm doing VOIP right now with Primus for my home line so long distance across North America doesnt really concern me since it is free, but I know that many still pay by the second or minute to their providers. I'm sorry folks - maybe call my home line and I will conference you int o the show? Seriously, I can do that and if it works for you and a call into a Hamilton (Line 1) or Toronto (Line 2) number is local to you, let me know!!! 

Simply sasquatch will feature an episode this weekend that reviews the NewCon Optik Pygmy monocular ( This is a neat review, we put this to a battery of weird tests) and of course, the main subject of our broadcast, what we have learned during our field trips.....life lessons.....

Looks like Simply Sasquatch will continue to broadcast at 11:30am every Saturday for the time being. I've gotten some great feedback from some of you who are there listening each weekend, thanks very much for that.  I might not be cut out to be an "on air" type of guy but I am trying to accomodate and work with the program so if you are patient I am sure you will be well rewarded. (No Purchase necessary, Prohibited in some states, some restrictions apply...) How is that for being on the ball? Or did it just remind you of the sales pitch for K-Tel spray hair.

Seriously, Just trying to throw a line or three out there to get people motivated. The OSR, a wonderful group of people (Http://www.ontariosasquatch.com), Tim over at Squatchers (Http://squatchers.blogspot.com) and of my own piece of the internet located at http://www.blogtalkradio/simplysasquatch make up for only a tiny yet "formidable" dabbling into the life of Sasquatch. Onwards.... Get involved. Get connected!