The Squamidian Report – June 12 / 10
 
Issue #420
 
Including:
The Ontarion

 
Hi All,
 
Here we are in good old KW again. I think it has been about a year and a half since the last time I was here. Time sure flies. I must say, the rain here feels colder and wetter than what I am used to. Our west coat rain just somehow does not feel as clammy or damp. And trying to find our way around is quite a chore. For some reason I have trouble remembering the street names and the fact that there are so many new buildings and streets does not help at all. Everyone assumably knows why we are here, it’s for the big 65th anniversary. That’s a lot of years and like Lorne says, he would not want to do it all over again. There is also the reunion that goes along with the anniversary. It simply makes sense to run them together.
 
Five years ago we held the 60th in and around KW. Again, time sure flies. At that time the driveway at the homestead was freshly paved and some of the trees were a tad shorter. Not much else has change there but we are all 5 years older. Go figure. There are some new faces around, most of them being quite young, and there are some faces missing. That’s part of life as well.
 
Did the usual visiting and looking around. Spent some time hanging out with Greg and getting caught up and checking out the local motorcycle shops etc. No visit to ‘back home’ would be complete without being able to hang out together. Hooked up electrical power to Lorne’s new shed where he keeps his new tractor. I’ll post some pictures of his tractor to my web site once I get home and have a chance to get caught up on stuff like that. ‘The Wife’ and I stayed out at the Kibbler motel, situated in the green rolling farmland near Maryhill.
 
As usual for these get-togethers, there are people from all across the country. Like us for example, we are here. Nova Scotia Sus is here. Her sister West Coast Michelle is here. Alberta Heather is here. Manitoba Tim is here. All sorts of people from Ontario as well but that’s to be expected. The Friday portion of the events was the usual mix of yapping and food and music. The yapping tended to override the music at time and while frustrating that too is ‘usual’ as well as frustrating for anyone trying to participate in the music.
 
Not much else talk about for this week because we are all kind of busy but I must say flying in to Waterloo on Westjet sure beats having to go anywhere near good old Pearson airport. Fast, easy and minimal stress. And flying back out will be just as nice.
 

Doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT

 
Hello everyone!
 
Well, Friday was the big day for Vivyan and Lorne?s celebration of 65 years of wedded bliss and I wish them many more to come.
 
I can?t write about the festivities yet because it?s only Friday morning and nothing has happened yet. I?m sure the happy couple and the rest of the family and friends will enjoy the day and the weekend reunion as well. I?ll just say congratulations to the Lorne and Vivyan and ?thank you for including us in your festivities!

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Doug and I managed to get out for our traditional breakfast on Thursday and had a good gab as usual. Can any of you guess the topic of our conversation? Hmmmm?? Let me see? Ummm Motorcycles!!! You bet, doesn’t it always begin and end with something of interest to both parties? Of course it does and this time was no different! The Country Boy is a good restaurant for their great breakfast as well as being relatively quiet so you can carry on a conversation without having to yell to be heard. Some of the places I’ve gotten into have been crazy when it comes to noise. Actually Doug and I ended the morning by stopping in to a William’s coffee place in Waterloo and spent a half hour shouting at each other and finally decided to get the heck out of there so our hearing could be restored. We couldn’t believe how noisy it was in there. Of course the Williams restaurants are a ‘preppy’ place to go for your morning coffee since they offer a wireless internet service to their customers. There are usually so many people there that it’s hard to find a seat. On the other hand, wouldn’t you think that a place where people can have a nice coffee and tap away on their computers would be as quiet as a library on a Monday morning? I guess that’s too much to be expected. We were wondering how anyone could hear their table guest talk in that place. I guess they just shouted like we did. LOL! We’ll know better next time not to choose the same coffee stop.

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Doug and I are in a Lotto group and have been for about 10 years now. I think I was in it for a year or two before Doug joined us but never the less, we’ve been contributing to the Lotto cause for a long time and after making a significant contribution we stated yesterday that it’s time we won something in the darned Lotto. We have 10 to 12 people in the group and we each put $20.00 a month into the pot. I manage the ticket purchasing because nobody else wanted to be bothered, besides, I am the only member to have won any money in the Lotto over the past 30 years. Carole and I had two winning tickets for second prize in the Encore back in the early 90?s. We picked up two cheques for $5,000.00 each about a year apart back in ‘93 and ‘94 and both wins were almost exactly one year apart. It was great fun and a thrill to travel to Toronto to the Lottery office to pick up the money. Since the guys that formed our ticket buying group figured I’d had some luck in the past, they voted me to manage the tickets for the group. I don’t mind, in fact, I kind of enjoy the thrill and excitement of it all. We’ve won many times over the years but I think the largest amount so far has been $80.00 about 8 years ago. Since then we have won $20.00 at least a couple of times a month as well as many free tickets. We agreed that we’d just put anything less than a $1,000.00 back into the kitty but so far we haven’t had to worry about what to do with that $1,000.00. LOL! I only buy 6/49 tickets for Wednesdays and Saturdays and also buy Lotto MAX for every Friday’s draw. With Friday’s draw (Last night) we’re hoping for a piece of that pie! It’s up to 50 million as I’m sure you all know. It would be the ideal time to pick up another cheque from Toronto since Doug and Sue are here in KW for the weekend. Like Doug said during our coffee break yesterday it would be a shame for him to have to come all the way back to Ontario to pick up a win next week if we could manage win the big one this week! I really don’t think he and Sue would mind another flight back here next week if it meant picking up their share of $50 million bucks! However, I think it would be convenient if we’d just get it over with and win the damned thing tonight (Friday) on Lorne and Vivyan’s anniversary so we already have a good crowd gathered to help us celebrate the win! I’ll have to check out tickets first thing Saturday morning so we can make plans to visit the lotto office first thing Monday morning. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for that big win as I’m sure Doug will as well. It’s always fun to speculate on winning a big prize but it’s especially fun when you’re in a group. When in a group, you will always have a chance to win even if you don’t buy tickets on your own or if you forget to pick up your own tickets, at least you’ll have the group tickets. Here’s wishing our group the best of luck this draw and I’ll be sure to shout it from the roof top if, or should I say WHEN we win!

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Well, that’s enough dreaming for this week. I look forward to seeing most of you at the homestead tonight (Friday). Have a great weekend and following week.
Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
 

Bye for now?. GREG

PS: Something To Think About>
It’s ok to let your children see you cry.
 

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Have a good one..
the doug
http://www.thedougsite.net
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