Kaitiaki Hamon
Ron Hairemy
Kaitiaki Hamon’s Look At Weather And The World
Do Something: Gord Downie's Last Gift
Blog #3*: Do Something, Wednesday, October 14, 2026
Do something kind today. Even something small counts, especially something small. π
π€οΈ Intro
Hey crew, Kaitiaki Hamon here π³π, it's Wednesday, Blog #3* drop day, and Edmonton woke up under a wind warning like the sky itself is trying to get my attention π¨. The MANAIA canvas crossed 60 hours this week and the dots are still teaching me patience one point at a time ποΈ. My AI chatbot went live on kaitiakihamon.com this week too, which still feels a little surreal to say out loud π€β¨. Inside today's blog: the 5 Things Most Pro Landscapers Won't Tell You, plus the Deep Dive on all five π οΈ. There's Today's Message, Today's Weather, the Star Wars galaxy forecast, the Daily Landscaping LOL, and Ron Hairemy's Songs That Guarantee LAWNgevity πΆ. Let's ride. π
π οΈ 5 Things Most Pro Landscapers Won't Tell You
- πΏπ οΈ Test soil temperature before you plant a single bulb
- πΏπ οΈ Flush the salt out of your beds before the freeze locks it in
- πΏπ οΈ Drive your snow stakes on an angle, not straight up
- πΏπ οΈ Don't nitrogen-feed trees and shrubs in the fall
- πΏπ οΈ Bundle fall prunings into brush piles instead of hauling them
π Continue reading to learn more, the full breakdown on all five is waiting for you after the joke.
π Today's Message: Do Something: Gord Downie's Last Gift
Let me tell you about Gord Downie π¨π¦π€, frontman of The Tragically Hip poet laureate of every small-town Canadian summer, a man whose voice basically raised a generation of us π . In May 2016 he got the diagnosis nobody survives: terminal brain cancer, glioblastoma π§ π. He was 52 years old, at the peak of his powers, and the clock had just started screaming β³. A lot of people would have gone quiet. Gord went LOUDER π.
He took the Hip on one final cross-Canada tour πΈπ¨π¦, sold out from Victoria to Kingston while the cancer took more of him every night, and on August 20, 2016, in his hometown of Kingston, he played the last show to a country holding its breath πΊβ€οΈ. Millions watched. And in the middle of his goodbye, with the Prime Minister sitting in the crowd, Gord pointed the biggest spotlight of his life away from himself, at Canada's treatment of Indigenous peoples, and told Justin Trudeau, on live television, that he had to do something about it πͺΆπ₯. A dying man, using his farewell as a megaphone for people this country had ignored for 150 years. Let that sit in your chest for a second π.
What had hold of him was the story of Chanie Wenjack π―οΈ, a 12-year-old Ojibwe boy taken to the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School in Kenora, who ran away in October 1966 trying to walk 600 kilometres home to the family he'd been taken from πΆββοΈπ². Chanie's body was found beside the railway tracks on October 22, 1966, he died of starvation and exposure, a child, alone, trying to get home πβοΈ. Gord first heard the story from his brother Mike, and he simply could not let it go. He turned it into Secret Path by an album, a graphic novel with Jeff Lemire, an animated film, released in October 2016, fifty years after Chanie's death ππΆ. Every dollar of proceeds went to truth and reconciliation work.
Gord died on October 17, 2017 ποΈ, but here's the thing: the work didn't die with him. The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund built by the two families together, now runs through more than 9,500 Legacy Schools across Canada π«πͺΆ, where kids learn Chanie's name and Gord's two-word command: "Do something." This week, October 17 to 22, is Secret Path Week, nine years on from his passing π β¨. So here's my ask, crew: learn one true story you were never taught. Say Chanie Wenjack's name out loud. Support the Fund, join a Walk for Wenjack, have the hard conversation at your own table π£οΈπ½οΈ. Gord spent his last year proving that even an ending can be a beginning, the least I can do is not waste the megaphone he handed us π€π.
Forward is always a choice, and that means YOU too! ππ
Sources: Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund: Our Story Β· Secret Path: official site Β· Samaritan Magazine: Secret Path Project Β· Dalhousie University: Legacy Space launch
βοΈπβοΈπ Today's Weather
Edmonton, Alberta π¨π¦
High 14Β°C, low -1Β°C, but the wind is the whole story today: west wind at 38 km/h gusting to 67 km/h under a Yellow wind warning until 8:30 tonight, so that 14Β° feels like 7Β° or less by afternoon π¬οΈ. Partly cloudy, rain only 10%, humidity sliding from the low 60s down into the low 40s as the day dries out, sunrise 7:59am, sunset 6:39pm.
Scale of the Pantaloon: Level 6: Don't Judge If You See Me in Some Tacky Khakis π©³π
A mild October day with a temper, golden and gusty, like the prairies clearing their throat before winter π. Do the detail work this morning while it's calm, batten down every tarp, empty can and loose sheet before noon, and don't be the crew chasing your own leaf pile down the street at 3pm.
Aotearoa: Auckland, NZ π³πΏ
High 18Β°C (feels like 13Β°C), low 10Β°C. Rain at 100%, a proper soaking, around 8mm, humidity 84%, wind WNW at 27 km/h π§οΈ.
Scale of the Pantaloon: Level 7: Bust Out the Booty Shorts, Baby! π₯π©³
Spring rain doing honest spring work on the other side of the Pacific π, warm, wet, and exactly what the gardens ordered. Indoor mahi day in Auckland; the sun's booked in for the weekend.
π Next 5 Days: Edmonton β Aeoteroa
Thursday, October 15
π¨π¦ Edmonton: High 12Β°C, low 1Β°C. Mostly sunny, rain 10%, wind south at 18 km/h, humidity around 60%. Pantaloon: Level 6: Don't Judge If You See Me in Some Tacky Khakis βοΈπ. The wind finally sits down, a calm, bright catch-up day after today's rodeo.
π³πΏ Aotearoa: High 18Β°C, low 10Β°C. Rain easing off after today's soak, wind WNW at 25 km/h at night. Pantaloon: Level 7: Bust Out the Booty Shorts, Baby! π₯π©³. Wettest day of the week is behind them, onwards.
Friday, October 16
π¨π¦ Edmonton: High 18Β°C, low 6Β°C. Partly cloudy, rain 10%, light SSW wind at 7 km/h, humidity 53%. Pantaloon: Level 7: Bust Out the Booty Shorts, Baby! π₯π©³. Eighteen degrees in mid-October is the chinook writing us a love letter, take the gift and run π.
π³πΏ Aotearoa: High 17Β°C, low 7Β°C. Partly cloudy, rain 20%, wind SSW at 30 km/h, humidity 68%. Pantaloon: Level 7: Bust Out the Booty Shorts, Baby! π₯π©³. Cooler and breezy, spring keeping Auckland honest.
Saturday, October 17
π¨π¦ Edmonton: High 16Β°C, low 5Β°C. Partly cloudy, rain 10%, wind WSW at 27 km/h, humidity 46%. Pantaloon: Level 7: Bust Out the Booty Shorts, Baby! π₯π©³. A working Saturday with real warmth in it, Secret Path Week opens today too, whΔnau πͺΆ.
π³πΏ Aotearoa: High 16Β°C, low 9Β°C. Mostly sunny, rain 0%, wind south at 25 km/h, humidity 57%. Pantaloon: Level 7: Bust Out the Booty Shorts, Baby! π₯π©³. Dry and sunny, the weekend Auckland earned after Thursday's drenching.
Sunday, October 18
π¨π¦ Edmonton: High 13Β°C, low 1Β°C. Mostly sunny, rain 0%, wind west at 16 km/h, humidity 41%. Pantaloon: Level 6: Don't Judge If You See Me in Some Tacky Khakis βοΈπ. Crisp, clear, classic October, yard-work weather with a sweater on top.
π³πΏ Aotearoa: High 18Β°C, low 11Β°C. Sunny, rain 10%, wind SSW at 24 km/h, humidity 65%. Pantaloon: Level 7: Bust Out the Booty Shorts, Baby! π₯π©³. Full sun, warm air, a proper spring Sunday.
Monday, October 19
π¨π¦ Edmonton: High 10Β°C, low -1Β°C. Mostly cloudy, rain 0%, light north wind at 8 km/h, humidity 53%. Pantaloon: Level 6: Don't Judge If You See Me in Some Tacky Khakis βοΈπ§₯. The week's cool shoulder, still workable, but winter's knocking politely now.
π³πΏ Aotearoa: High 19Β°C, low 11Β°C. Sunny, rain 10%, wind SW at 22 km/h, humidity 70%. Pantaloon: Level 7: Bust Out the Booty Shorts, Baby! π₯π©³. Nineteen and sunny, Aotearoa spring in full strut πΈ.
β¨π What That Means In A Galaxy Far Far Away
Thursday opens mild over the grass seas of Dantooine πΎβοΈ, twelve degrees of honest farming weather, raiders nowhere in sight, moisture farmers clocking a full day without a single blaster drawn. Friday the route jumps to the ecumenopolis rooftops of Taris ποΈπ₯, eighteen degrees, podracer weather in the Upper City, not a cloud worth the name. Saturday the winds howl through the canyons of Vjun πͺοΈπ€, that brooding castle world where the gales test every cloak clasp and only Plo Koon keeps his robe straight. Sunday clears bright above the smugglers' moon Nar Shaddaa πβοΈ, thirteen degrees of neon sunshine, and even the bounty hunters squint. Monday cools over the tidal flats of Rishi πβοΈ, ten degrees, grey and quiet, the outpost crews watching the horizon like it owes them money. Tuesday drifts through the jungle temples of Teth ππΏ, warm monastery weather, mist in the morning, stone steps drying by noon. And the week closes on frozen, secretive Ziost βοΈποΈ, the temperature drops its voice to a whisper and Aayla Secura logs the coldest patrol of the run. Mild, wild, bright, brooding, pack for all of it, trust none of it π§₯π©³π.
π€£π π The Daily Landscaping LOL
A man walks into a bar carrying a set of jumper cables draped around his neck like a necklace πππΊ
He sidles up to the bar and says, "I'll have a beer."
The bartender looks him up and down, narrows his eyes, and saysβ¦
"Alright, I'll serve you, but don't start anything!" πβ‘π»
π οΈπΏ The Deep Dive: 5 Things Most Pro Landscapers Won't Tell You πΏπ οΈ
1. Test soil temperature before you plant a single bulb. Air temperature lies to you in October; soil temperature is the truth. Push a cheap kitchen thermometer four inches down, you want the soil consistently below about 10Β°C but not yet frozen before tulips and daffodils go in. Plant into soil that's still warm and the bulbs sprout tops in a mild spell, which the first real freeze then burns off, wasting the bulb's whole battery. In Edmonton that sweet window is usually late October, measure it, don't guess it.
2. Flush the salt out of your beds before the freeze locks it in. Every bed and boulevard strip that caught last winter's salted splash is still carrying sodium in the top few inches of soil. One long, slow, deep soak on a warm fall day, we're talking hours, not a sprinkle, leaches that sodium down below the root zone while the ground is still open to drain. Wait until spring and you're flushing during the thaw rush, when meltwater is already fighting you. Today's 14 degrees is exactly the kind of day to run the hose.
3. Drive your snow stakes on an angle, not straight up. A vertical stake meets a plow blade head-on and loses, it snaps or rips clean out, and the driveway edge it was guarding gets eaten by February. Angle the stake about 15 degrees away from the driveway, leaning back from the direction the plow travels, and the blade rides up and over it instead of through it. Same stake, same five minutes of work, triple the survival rate over a winter.
4. Don't nitrogen-feed trees and shrubs in the fall. A fall "winterizer" shot makes sense for the lawn, grass stores it in the roots. Woody plants play by different rules: nitrogen now pushes soft, tender new growth right when the plant should be hardening off, and the first hard freeze kills that growth back and stresses the whole shrub or tree. Let your trees and shrubs shut down on their own schedule. If they're hungry, feed them in spring when new growth can actually use it.
5. Bundle fall prunings into brush piles instead of hauling them. The default move is chip it, haul it, pay the tipping fee. The smarter move, where a client has the corner for it: stack fall prunings into a loose brush pile at the back of the yard. Chickadees and juncos shelter in them all winter, the wood breaks down in place, and you just saved a dump run and the fee that came with it. Plenty of clients love the wildlife angle once you explain it, it's the rare tip that saves money, time, AND face.
πΆ Ron Hairemy's Songs That Guarantee LAWNgevity π΅π±π₯
A heavy-hearted shelf for a heavy week: Dallas Green and his scissors, a pirate loose on the prairies, groove-metal fury staring into the chaos, the most unsettling fan letter ever written, te reo thrash out of Waipu, and Cal Scrubby closing the lid. Bring tissues and a helmet.
πΈ Momentum
π Morale
π§ Focus
βοΈ Endurance
π€ Reflection
π Creativity
All music. No filler.
(Except comedy⦠because everybody needs a laugh.)
No Nickelback.
No Slipknot.
No T-Swizzle.
As it should be.
π¨π¦ Canadian Track'O'The Day: Save Your Scissors by City and Colour πΈπ
Explicit? No, clean.
Dallas Green by the voice and guitar of Alexisonfire stripping everything back to just an acoustic and that aching tenor, from his 2005 debut Sometimes the record that took this side project to platinum in Canada and him to multiple Juno Awards π. It's a quiet, heavy-hearted track about trying to talk someone you love out of hurting themselves, the kind of song that sits with you long after it ends. For me, it's a Monday-morning song: coffee in hand, windows fogged, thinking about the people I'd cross the province for ββ€οΈ.
π€£ Today's Musical Funny-Bone: The Last Saskatchewan Pirate by Captain Tractor π΄ββ οΈπΎ
Explicit? No, clean.
Edmonton's own Celtic-rock crew takes the Arrogant Worms' prairie-pirate shanty and gives it the full fiddle-and-stomp treatment π»β. A Saskatchewan farmer hangs up the plow, steals wheat and barley, and sails the wheat fields of the prairies, it's ridiculous, it's catchy, and it slaps harder than it has any right to. This one's the spiritual cousin of my childhood Weird Al rotation, so you know it's earned its slot π. Best listened to rolling to the job site with the crew in the truck ππΆ.
π€ Hair Whippin', Head Bangin', Finger Blazin' Therapy: Eye of Chaos by Once Human βοΈπ₯
Explicit? No profanity, just fury.
LA groove-metal built around Logan Mader's riffs (ex-Machine Head, Soulfly) and Lauren Hart's ferocious vocals, Eye of Chaos is pure head-down riff therapy, all muscle and zero fat πͺπΈ. No explicit tag on this one, so it hits as hard as it wants without saying a word your nana would faint at. Best listened to Monday morning, full volume, resetting the whole week one breakdown at a time π€.
π€ Tongue Trippin', Bar Spittin, Beat Killin Bars: Stan by Eminem βοΈπ§οΈ
Explicit? Yes, profanity and heavy themes (obsession, implied violence, drunk driving). Not a family-dinner song.
From The Marshall Mathers LP (2000), the Dido-sampling letter from a fan gone way too far, a storytelling masterclass so powerful the word "stan" ended up in the dictionary ππ₯. One of the most acclaimed narrative tracks in hip-hop history, and it still hits like a brick through a window twenty-six years later. For me, this is headphones-on, full-attention listening, and maybe not at the Thanksgiving table today π¦π§.
π³πΏ MΔori Track'O'The Day: Te RΔ by Alien Weaponry ππΆ
Explicit? The featured track is clean, note the album also carries a couple of explicit tracks.
The MΔori thrash-metal trio from Waipu, Aotearoa brothers Henry and Lewis de Jong with TΕ«ranga Porowini Morgan-Edmonds by carrying te reo MΔori into the heaviest music on earth π€π³πΏ. Te RΔ ("The Sun") is their 2025 third full-length, I'm putting you onto the opener Crown and don't sleep on Taniwha featuring Randy Blythe of Lamb of God either π. A MΔori band making the language roar, that's the whakapapa of volume, and it runs straight through me.
π¨ Ron Hairemy Spotlight: Money Buy Drugs (Interlude) by Cal Scrubby ππΈ
Explicit? Yes, drug and addiction themes, profanity. Heavy.
Cal Scrubby by Lebanon, Ohio MC who started making noise at Ohio State, signed with Riveting Entertainment in 2014, and charted on Billboard with his House in the Hills EP, with Chris Brown and Redman collabs in the catalogue π€. This interlude doesn't blink: addiction, the plug, the spiral, laid out brutally honest, and I won't pretend it doesn't sit close to home for me, because that's exactly why it's here π―οΈ. Sometimes the ugly truth does more work than the pretty lie. Best listened to when you need reminding what the fight is for.
That's the goal. That's LAWNgevity. π±π₯
π In Conclusion
Gord Downie spent the last year of his life pointing his spotlight at a boy named Chanie Wenjack, proof that what you do with your ending matters as much as what you did with your beginning πͺΆπ. So this week, test your soil before the bulbs go in, flush the salt while the hose still runs, and do one small true thing during Secret Path Week π‘οΈπΆββοΈ. Shoutout to my whΔnau on both sides of the Pacific, stay out of the wind today, Edmonton, and we'll do it all again tomorrow. If you liked today's blog, be sure to star, speak out, and stay a while for updates. Until next time, this has been Kaitiaki Hamon. Keep your stick on the ice. And may the Force be with you. Always! Ka kite, landscaping whΔnau!
Sincerely,
Kaitiaki Hamon (Ron Hairemy)
β Star, π£οΈ Speak Out, and πΏ Stay For A While
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Topics in this drop: Test soil temperature before you plant a single bulb, Flush the salt out of your beds before the freeze locks it in, Drive your snow stakes on an angle, not straight up, Don't nitrogen-feed trees and shrubs in the fall, Bundle fall prunings into brush piles instead of hauling them, Edmonton landscaping tips, lawn care, LAWNgevity