Please come back again!

When I typed "Having fun" into my search bar, this is one of the images that came up....

That seems like it sums up our last month or so.... we are having fun with all the things we are doing, but we seem to be on the run.

In the midst of enjoying our summer, I will slow down enough to blog a little bit - so please keep checking back once in a while.  We really do have lots of stuff to share when we get around to it. 

Hope you are having a great summer too!

So this is Happening (Post 15 of 30)

It is starting!!!  From the paper..... look bottom left.

Sunday stuff (Bonus post)

Yaaayyy - Sort of (Blog 14 of 30)

I made the news.... and the tree that fell missed everything.... so that is good, right?  Click on photo for story

Ooops (Blog 13 of 30)

Interesting pic in the Canadian Tire flyer this week.... according to the hoses, the pump for this pool is underground!!!

What will they think of next???? (Maybe they will think to check their photoshopping problems) :)

My Hat Came Back (Blog 12 of 30)

I do not consider myself a hoarder.  I don't have a lot of junk.  However, I do think that if you own something, you should take care of it and keep track of it.  Therefore......

- I still have the green hair brush that I bought when I was in grade 7 (I told someone this recently and they said, "Is that where your hair is?"..... ha ha ha!!!)   :(

- When I go to the leisure centre I still use the same lock that I used when I played basketball in grade 10

- Every sermon that I have ever preached in Estevan (over 26 years) has been written using the same mechanical pencil.

All that to say, I don't often lose or misplace things.

Several years ago, I won a race at the "Estevan Motor Speedway" (It was called "Faster Pastor". They put a bunch of preachers in cars and let us go).  After the race, they gave me a trophy and this hat.

Ever since I was a kid I wanted to drive a stock car and win a race, so I thought the hat was cool.  Therefore, I tossed it in the saddlebag of my motorcycle so that I would have it with me wherever I went. It is especially fun to wear it when I go to race tracks because it makes people think I know something.  :)

Two Saturdays ago, there was a car show north of town, so I jumped on my bike and rode out there.  When I got there, I flipped open my saddlebag and ..... MY HAT WAS GONE!!!!

I retraced my steps in my mind.  I wore it earlier in the day, but I was sure I put it back in the saddlebag. 

When I got home, I looked all over the house.... nothing!  

When I got the to the church building on Sunday morning.... nothing!

So I decided that the only thing that could have happened was that my saddlebag opened up while I was riding out there (I had not latched it - only the Velcro was holding it) and that my hat had got sucked out and was laying on the highway somewhere.

So - of course - after church I had to go look. 

Sari and I drove the entire 8 miles out to where the car show was.... nothing!!  Dejected, we turned around and headed back into town. 

Half-way back to town, Sara says, "THERE IS YOUR HAT!"

Now, here is the thing....

   1.  The wind was blowing 60 - 75 km/h for 24 hours straight.  The hat could have gone anywhere.
    2.  In the entire 8 mile stretch, the ditches are only mowed in two sections.  Everywhere else, the grass was over a foot high and super thick.  If my hat had landed in there, we never would have found it.  As it was, it was laying right in the middle of one of the mowed sections... sitting just as if it had been placed there waiting for us.

    3.  We had a torrential rain storm the night before, so I  figured that even if I did find the hat that it would be all mushy and wrecked.  On the contrary, I think the rain did it some good.  It is cleaner now than it has been in years. 

The moral(s) of the story.....

  a.  Use the things you like.  There is no point keeping things on shelves or in drawers.  Even if it had been lost forever, I would have been happy that I lost it because I was using it.

  b.  Sometimes things work out in your favor, so don't give up.  If I had not gone to look, I never would have found it.

  c.  Don't tell everyone you know that you are going to drive 8 miles out of town looking for a hat that maybe blew out of your saddlebag and maybe landed in a ditch somewhere after it has been out in a monsoon season rain storm because they are going to look at you like you have completely lost your mind!!!

   d.  Certainly don't tell them that when you found it, you put it on your head and happily wore it back into town..... that is gross!

But I am happy I did.  :)
 

A Small Town Tradition (Blog 11 of 30)

One of the things that I love about living in a small city is that some of the old time traditions still live on. 

For example, it is still a big deal when the fair comes to town.  Sari and went and  walked the midway this evening and we saw half the town out there... and I like that.  I like living in a place where you see people that you know.  I like that kids from Hillcrest (both current and past) run up to Sara excited to see her.  I like that I run into guys from hockey or from the speedway.

Obviously, big cities have a lot more to offer, but small towns are hard to beat when it comes to relationships... and that is one thing that makes the yearly fair fun.

Well, that and caramel apples!  :)

Grad Photos (Blog 10 of 30)

We had a good time Friday night with the first part of the Megan Grad Photo shoot.  Thanks to Adam and Trinda for making it a fun night!  


There will me more to come over the next couple of weeks, but here is a start......

Some new friends (Blog 9 of 30)

We were out exploring tonight and came across these little guys.....

Sunday Stuff (Bonus post)

Progress or The reason I have not written a more interesting blog (blog 8 of 30)

When I was a kid, I drove old junky cars all the time.  The good part about that was that at least you could fix them.  If you needed to change the thermostat, you could do it in like 30 minutes - tops!

On the weekend, the belt on Katelyn's car broke.  I got a new one and went to put it on only to realize that I needed a special tool.  Thanks to a friend, I found someone who would loan me one.  What could be better???  $21 for a belt and she would be back on the road in no time.

THREE AND A HALF HOURS LATER I finally got the belt on!!!!  But not before I had to take the front passenger side tire off.... take away all the plastic ick underneath the car..... contort myself like a circus performer.... and become very frustrated.

Even the magical "special tool" did not work!  I could not for the life of me get it in the right spot to make it work.  After several hours, I just quit and went to bed.

But I am determined (or stubborn) and went back at it today..... and I finally got the belt on..... but I had to create my own "special tool" to do it.

So, the moral is either......

    A.  Things are regressing not progressing (On an old car you can change an alternator belt in 10 minutes).

    B.  Good things happen when you keep trying

    C.  I am obviously too cheap to pay someone who knows what they are doing to fix something and would rather tear up his arms, get mad and take a couple of years off of his life expectancy simply to save the $120 the shop would have charged him to do this.

    D.  There is no feeling like fixing something yourself.

Maybe it is all of the above!  :)

Ps. I do have a really good story to tell you.... it is called "The Hat came back".  I just have not had time to do it yet, but keep checking back.  It will make you laugh, then cry, then smile, then laugh and cry at the same time and then leave you wondering why you bothered to keep checking back here just for that..... I promise!  :)

Cars and Quilts: Parts of our weekend (Blog 7 of 30)

I did not get pictures of everything that happened this past week (and I am going to tell more stories from it tomorrow), but for now here are a few updates.

Saturday afternoon I went to a car show north of town.  Met some friends out there... saw lots of cool stuff.... other than the wind it was fun.  Here is a not so great picture, but it will do.....

Then we had races at the speedway that night.  A buddy of ours who owns an advertising company needed someone to drive his souvenir van out to the track, so I got volunteered.  It was quite the ride.

Races ended up being windy and somewhat cold so the crowd was small again - which is really too bad.  However, we did do what they call a Calcutta race (all classes of cars out at the same time).  My job was to line the hobby stocks up in turn one, so this what that looked like....

And here is what the race itself looked like from inside corner one......

And lastly - but most importantly (It is only last b/c it was last chronologically) - every year our congregation always does a Grad banquet.  One of the traditional gifts is a handmade quilt.  Here is Megan with hers......

As I said, that is not the whole story but it is a start.  Come back tomorrow for part 2.

Hard at Work! (Blog 6 of 30)

I have taken a few days off from blogging because I have been super busy, but now I have a bunch of stuff to share - so come back often over the next few days.


Here is the start..... an action shot of me being a track official at the "Estevan Motor Speedway".  As you can tell by the popcorn in my hand, I take my job very seriously!  :) 


Actually, it was sort of serious.... Jim tried to steal a couple of handfuls when I wasn't looking!  (Thanks to Angel for the photo)

Wanna Buy a Town??? (Blog 5 of 30)

If you happen to have about a million bucks kicking around, this beauty could be yours.....

Coming this Sunday (Bonus post)

Day of Caring (Blog 4 of 30)

Every year the United Way does what they call "The Day of Caring" where they match up volunteers who want to work with those who could use some help with various projects.  The simple goal is to build community and help one another.


This year, Sara rounded up some kids (actually the kids had to apply to her, write out a summary of why they wanted to help, etc) and volunteered.   They ended up being assigned to the "Estevan Humane Society".  They had a great day cleaning stuff, sorting things and playing with the animals (Sari almost brought home a new dog!!!)  :(


Anyway, hers was the only group of school kids there and that got others thinking about involving their schools next year. 


She was really proud of the kids that went with her. Good workers.... good representatives of Hillcrest.... good kids.


Good Job!

The Letter (Blog 3 of 30)

Every preacher I have ever know has received "the letter" from someone (Some of them have received many letters).

It is an occupational hazard that goes along with stating an opinion or belief in a public forum.... someone at some point is going to disagree with you.

The trick is that most of the time they do not have the guts to disagree with you in person and nor will they get up in front of everyone and state their case (like the preacher has to do), so they leave you a nasty note..... sometimes they even have the guts to sign it - though "anonymous" is often the author.


With the advent of email, blogs, texting and other social media platforms it is even easier to shoot your mouth off and not bear any responsibility for what you have said or who you run over in the process.


For the record, I have not had many letters like the ones I am describing. Our church has been very kind to me and my family and we have learned to deal with disagreements in a healthy way.


However, this morning, I walked into my office and there on my desk sat this great, big, long note with handwriting that was so disjointed and weird looking that it was obviously written by a crazy person who was in a big hurry to tell me how stupid I am.


At first, I was shocked!  As I said, our group is so good to me and my family that I could not believe someone had written me a "letter".


Then I was angry!  HOW DARE SOMEONE DO THIS TO ME WHEN I AM WORKING MY GUTS OUT HERE????  COME AND TALK TO ME LIKE A MAN IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO DISCUSS AND STOP HIDING BEHIND A STUPID PIECE OF PAPER!!!


Then I was confused......   How did anyone get into my office????   All the doors were locked and no one else has a key.


Then I realized......  I left that letter on my desk!!!!!! 


It was my pile of notes for my sermon this week.... and it was not nasty at all.... in fact it was quite uplifting! 


The thing is that I never leave junk in the middle of my desk, so when I saw that pile of papers I automatically assumed the worst. 


This experience has taught me two things...... 
     a.  I may be a little more edgy and defensive than I need to be
     b.  I may need a little more sleep or drink less coffee or something.


So all's well that ends well, right?


But I did make sure to clean up my desk and put everything away so that it does not happen again tomorrow!  :)

Healthy or Hindering???? (Blog 2 of 30)

I saw a  lady who was out jogging tonight.  She had her Ipod strapped to her arm, her earbuds in and she was obviously listening to music as she ran.  

Then, when she came to the corner, lost in her own music/running world and oblivious to the world around her, she ran right out in front of the car in front of me and almost got hit.

So the question is: Is she being healthy because she is out jogging..... or is she being unhealthy by putting her life at risk by running as if she is the only person in the world???

Sometimes it is better just to stay on the couch and watch TV.  :)

Fun for Everyone (Post 1 of 30)

It seems I need the motivation that comes from the challenge of trying to blog every day.  If I just write when I feel like it, I rarely do it.

Therefore, I am starting another "30 blogs in 30 days" which will be good because June should have a bunch of interesting things to document.

We will start with this..... Every once in a while in the summer we cancel our formal Sunday night class and go over to Calvin and Mary's for a pot luck BBQ/visiting time.  Tonight was the first one of this year and it had a really good turn out.  Weather was good..... lots of food.... what more could you ask for?

Sunday stuff

Here is what we are talking about on Sunday.  If you are interested, come on by......

Ummm... What Now???

You know that you have bought a serious motorcycle jacket when the tags on it advertise a "Gun pocket".

Happy Birthday Megan!

Katelyn found these pictures and posted them to her Instagram account, so I thought that I would share them here as well. Happy Birthday, Megan! We love you very much!

Sari's Pictures (Blog 30 of 30)

The art gallery in town held a picture taking marathon today and Sari and her buddy Melanie decided to participate. She ended up taking about 100 pictures, but here is a sample of some of the ones she liked the best.

Sunday Stuff (Bonus post)

This is what we are talking about in church on Sunday.  If you would like to hear the rest of it, you would be more than welcome to come and check it out.

Why I Ride a Motorcycle (Blog 29 of 30)

Bugs splattered across my motorcycle windshield is the sign of a good weekend (Well, for me if not for the bugs).

One of the reasons I ride a motorcycle is that it simplifies your life and thought processes.  When I am on a bike, my entire world boils down to three essentials......

1. Finding fuel

2. Avoiding rain

3. Not dying

The first one seems simple, but it is not.  Fuel is a tricky.  You don't want to stop too early, because then you would never get anywhere (and you feel like a bit of a bozo putting 2 dollars and 32 cents of fuel on your debit card).  The challenge is to see how far you can actually ride without running out of gas and having to walk.... and that does not always end well (Right, Lenny?)

The second part - avoiding rain - is good, but not nearly as critical as the fuel thing. Riding in the rain is actually quite refreshing.  I rode through 5-10 minutes of torrential rain this past weekend (not to mention a slow drizzle at times) without even putting on my rain suit. 

The third part (not dying) is quite a bit more important than the other two (So say my wife, my kids and my mom anyway).  But the danger part (such as it is) is beneficial too.

Riding makes you concentrate on just one thing - riding!   You can't (or at least should not) be ripping down the highway thinking about your taxes, whether to buy a new refrigerator or not, or what colour your next dress should be (Not that I wear dresses..... I am just trying to include the "lady bikers" in the thought process here.  I need to make some amends after insinuating in my last blog that ladies possibly travel in herds).  :(

In a world that demands that you do 6493679469048 things all at once, an activity that demands a singular focus is a very therapeutic thing.

Boil off the stupid and find the essentials.... that is what it does for me.

Forget counselling sessions..... buy a bike!  :)

A whole new world (Blog 28 of 30)

This past weekend, I experienced something new and completely foreign to me.... I went to a greenhouse.

Now, before you get all uppity and say "Boring!" let me explain.  This was no ordinary greenhouse!  This was "Secord-Crowe Greenhouse" in Dauphin, Manitoba.

If you are still saying "So what?" then two things are obvious......

1.  You have never been to Dauphin, Manitoba!  To those people, gardening and flowerbeds are life and death issues.  You don't even want to know what goes down if two neighbours buy the same coloured petunias!!!!!  Let's just say.... it won't happen again! (wink, wink)

2.  You do not know Sari that well because just the mention of "Secord-Crowe" is enough to make her swoon (and use her debit card so much that it almost catches on fire).

Monday was greenhouse day and I was half-heartedly invited along.  To everyone's surprise, I said that I would love to go.  This prompted my mother-in-law to start an "over/under betting pool" on how long it would take before I got bored and walked home (I think the average bet was 4 minutes and 23 seconds).

To everyone's surprise..... I stayed till the end!  And I not only stayed.... I was fascinated!

This place has a gaggle of women working there (is that what a group of women is called.... a gaggle??  A hoard????   A posse????  A herd????  Hmmm.... I am pretty sure "herd" is not right).... anyway there is a bunch of them and they are on a mission!!   If you don't watch out, you will get trampled in their plant looking after rampage!  

They are grabbing pots here.... moving things over there.... plucking flowers off this plant.... watering another one.... carrying trees two at a time (one under each arm).... it was AMAZING!  

Then they would say things like, "You know that Chrysforalanythymum over there is a zone 3 plant!" and all the women within earshot would nod knowingly as if this was the most important information ever relayed in the history of the world.  (Editor's note:..... don't tell anyone..... but I don't even know what zone I live in!!!  I did not think it wise to mention that at the time - so I just nodded knowingly too and threw in a "For sures!" just for good measure..... but I think they knew I was faking!).

I did do one thing right, though..... I picked up a box and followed Sari around.  She then started piling plants in the box.  Eventually, the pile got so high that I could barely see over it and she had to guide me down the aisles.

When I did get a peek out from behind out moving foliage, every woman in the place gave me the same grin.  It was a look that said, "You poor dumb boy!  You have no idea what is going on here do you??  Bless your heart!"   It was the sort of look that everyone gets when they watch a baby trying to eat chocolate cake with her hands for the first time.  The effort is sweet even if the execution is a little off.

Anyway, it was amazing place!  I had no idea that so many plants existed.

And I discovered that I don't have to leave Canada to experience other languages, customs and cultures.  I just need to go to the greenhouse.  :)

A Windy Sunday Preview (Bonus Post)

Here is what we are talking about Sunday morning.  Come out and hear the rest of it if you like.....

Tenting re-cap (Blog 27 of 30)

(Note: If you have not read blog #26 below, you may want to do that first)

So my tenting experience in three words:  Awake.... freezing..... sweltering!

Actually "awake" is more a function of both "freezing" and "sweltering".

First off, though I was in the backyard, I wanted to make this as much like what I would do if I was on a bike trip.... minimalistic.... only using what I would carry with me normally.

Things started well.  I was warm enough and fell to sleep quickly, but I woke up at 2 am because I was cold.  Fortunately, my sleeping bag is a "mummy" type with a drawstring at the top, so I cinched it up tight around my neck to keep the heat in.... that worked well.... for a while.

At 4 am I woke up again because the temp had dropped 5 degrees (according to my phone which I took out there to be my flashlight) to 8 degrees, but it said it felt like 6.  The part that felt like 6 to me was the wind that was blowing through my tent.  Like most new tents, the body is mesh and then you cover that with a solid rain fly.

Now, maybe it would have worked better if I had used the ropes that come with the fly to secure it tighter to the ground, but I didn't so the wind was blowing under the fly, through the mesh and freezing my head.  I cinched the drawstring on the sleeping bag a little tighter and told myself that most of the time the wind would not be blowing at 79 km/h (seriously) at night!

Then the sun started to come up and I could feel the tent getting warmer...... ahhhhhhh...... until it got warm enough to cook nachos in there.... so I was out of bed and had everything rolled up and put away by 9 am.

Verdict:  I think it will work.  Everything was comfortable enough.  It will likely be warmer in July than now so that will be better.  If the cheap zippers on the tent don't break, we will be good!

As Megan noted..... only by tenting in Saskatchewan can you get frost-bite and heat stroke all in the same night!

Bike trip prep (Blog 26 of 30)

For some guys, their wives leaving town for the weekend means it is time to go out and do a bunch of unspeakably crazy things (or so I have heard).

 Me..... it is a chance to do this.....

Yes I am sleeping in a tent in my backyard.

Why you ask?

Well, it could be that I am actually 11 years old...... or I am prepping for my yearly motorcycle trip.

You see, I bought all this camping stuff (tent, air mattress, air pillow, thin backpacking sleeping bag) but I have no idea whether I am going to be warm enough or what I will hate about this stuff once I am on the road..... so the best place to test it is 20 feet from your back door, right?  Already I am thinking that maybe the tent is not going to make it.... the zippers are really cheap.

Anyway, that is my grown up reason..... but I really like tents too!  :)

I have Seen the (Traffic) Light (Blog 25 of 30)

I like the old 50s diners that have neon lights.... old advertising signs.... jukeboxes.... and (sometimes) traffic lights.

In fact, I like that stuff so much that I have often commented that I would like to have a traffic light for my garage.  Not a cheap, plastic one mind you - but a real, honest to goodness traffic light.

Now I have searched for them at swap meets and stuff like that, but either they were sold before I got there or they were crazy expensive.

Today is my birthday.  When I parked my motorcycle in my garage, this is what I saw.......

Sari bought me a birthday present!

Our friends Nathan and Melanie found the lights at a swap meet in Red Deer and they bought it.  Then Nathan made the stand and wired it up for me.  It was a great surprise!

So I am thinking that it will not only be a cool display thing, but I can also use it to indicate whether people are welcome in the garage..... green means you are good..... yellow means you better be on your best behaviour.... Red means turn around and leave immediately (I am not sure what the arrow pointing down will indicate but.....)

Anyway, it is a very cool present and it is even nicer to know that people cared enough to remember that I wanted one and then doing the work to make it happen.

Happy birthday to me!

(Ps.  All last year - for some reason - I told everyone I was 47.... but I just turned 47 today - so now I feel like I have got a free year here.  I am like "Benjamin Button" or something)  :)

Ummm..... What now??? (Blog 24 of 30)

I saw this sign at Tim Hortons today...... correct me if I am wrong but if the "signature donuts" belong to "Tim" shouldn't "Tims" have an apostrophe???  

As in "Tim's signature donuts".

Now I understand the company chose years ago to go without an apostrophe on "Hortons" even though the chain was started in part by "Tim Horton" (no "s").   In fact, I think it was "Tim Horton's" originally.

So does this mean that "Tim Hortons" has done away with the possessive apostrophe completely?????

And for that matter...... why is our Canadian "doughnut" shop selling "donuts" anyway????   I think their American takeover is showing.

Anyway, just thought I would ask.  If we can't trust a doughnut shop to do the right thing, then who can you trust?????

My Bike Gang (Blog 23 of 30)

So this crew of tough.... crazy.... ready for anything bikers assembled at my house today and then rode out to Bienfait and picked up another dude and his ride.

Now, granted, we are all guys from church..... so we may not be that "ready for anything" (anything is a very broad term).

And some of us are getting a little older..... so "tough" is sort of a relative term.

And our ride took us out to Oxbow for ice cream..... not the "craziest" thing in the world (though some of the guys are on diets - so this was a "cheating" situation..... that is sort of crazy, right?   And some of the guys even got extra sprinkles on their sundaes.....EXTRA SPRINKLES!!!)

We have bikes.... we have places to ride..... all we need now is a name..... suggestions are being taken (comment below - be nice!)  :)

Saturday Update (Blog 22 of 30)

Here is a quick Saturday update.....

Megan had to work all day, so that is where she was.

Sari, Katie and I went to the church building at 9 to help with a "Spring cleaning/Work day".  The girls spent most of their time (I think) sorting out the classrooms and cleaning up/going through the Sunday School supply room.  I mostly worked on getting the underground sprinklers going.

The I headed out to the speedway for the start of the 2016 Estevan Motor Speedway season.  It was a little chilly so we did not get as many fans out as normal, but we had lots of cars.  

Here is my view of the Stock car hot laps before the races started.....

Snowbirds (Blog 21 of 30)

I have posted stuff like this on here before, but I still like their new videos.

Growing up in Moose Jaw, I was fascinated with the Snowbirds.  If things work out, I plan to see them perform a couple of times this summer (Once during the Sask Summer games right here in Estevan).

Until then, this will have to do.  Enjoy!

Sunday Stuff (Bonus post)

Something to Remember (Blog 20 of 30)

For several months now, I have been meaning to change the battery cable ends on Megan's truck -Fonzi.

Normally, this would not be a big deal.  Easy as can be!!!

However, I glanced at the cables the last time I did an oil change on and I thought, "Hmmm, that is not going to be easy.  Those cables are very short already, so if I cut them off........"

You see, I have an issue.  As a friend of mine likes to point out, "You think too much" and that is likely true.  I can think up all kinds of things that can go wrong with all kinds of things.

So tonight I tackled this minefield of an issue....... and I was done in like 1/2 hour.

In fact, when I actually got to work on it tonight I thought, "If I just re-route that cable everything will be lovely" and it was!

Yesterday I read an article about "avoidance"..... about how people often create a bunch of hoops to jump through or imagine hoops that are much bigger than they actually are so that they do not have to do the thing that they know they ought to do.

The author's advice:  Take the first step because most of the time the horrible things that you are imagining will never actually happen...... and even if they do, at least you will be a step closer to actually solving the problem.

Or - as my Dad might say - "Shut up and get to work ya sissy!!!!" (He wasn't a trained counsellor).  :)

And then this happened (Blog 19 of 30)

Now we will have two of them there......

My Saturday (Blog 18 of 30)

I spent the day at "Test and tune" (Basically a practice day) at the "Estevan Motor Speedway".  It was the first day that cars were on the track since last fall and it was a lot of fun.

Go check out the schedule and come and see the races in person.  It is a good time.

As for everyone else..... Sari worked in the yard and started planting some new things and the girls hung out with their guys...... I would post pics of that too but I have none.

This Sunday at church (Bonus post)

I am NOT coming to get you.... maybe! (Blog 17 of 30)

You know those times when you scare someone so badly that they think you are a raging lunatic who is coming after them to hurt them really badly?????

You don't?????

Oh - me neither!  :)

Well - actually that may have happened to me today.

I was sitting on my motorcycle at the corner by the church building.  I got the green light, but like every good biker, I waited.  You always wait because you need to make sure the vehicles that have the red light are actually going to stop.

The big truck in the closest lane stopped..... but the young girl in the white Malibu in the far lane did not.

About 1/2 way through the intersection, she looked up and realized what she had done, but by then it was too late.  She could not stop and just kept going.

At this point, I did the only logical thing I could do..... I blared my horn (as much as a motorcycle horn blares) at her.  This got her attention and she looked over at me as she cleared the intersection.  I raised my hands in a "What are you doing?" sort of way.

Now here is the thing..... I was intending on making a right turn anyway - so that is what I did. Unfortunately, this put me about 1/2 a block behind the white Malibu going the same direction.

The driver must have seen me coming and she must have assumed that I was upset, because she suddenly sped up and took off.

She made a right turn by "Room by Room" furniture..... unfortunately for her, I was needed to make that turn too, so I was still following her.

She sped up even more and ripped around the corner by SARCAN and I lost sight of her for a second.

By the time I made the SARCAN corner, she was gone.  All I could see was this huge dust cloud that she made as she ripped down the next alley.  I slowed down when I got there, but she was no where to be found.  She was probably hiding in a backyard somewhere hoping that she had given me the slip.

So if you happen to know a young girl who drives a white Malibu who swears that she was chased through the streets of Estevan by a crazed lunatic on a black motorcycle..... tell her that the story is only partially true.

And then tell her to stop running red lights.... just in case!

A Fun Couple of nights (Blog 16 of 30)

We have had a fun couple of days.

Last night, the 6 of us (Sara, me, the girls and their "boy buddies") went to a concert by "The Leahys".  

If you do not know that name, think east coast fiddle music (jigs and reels and step dancing).  It was a lot of fun (well - it would have been more fun if we weren't all such polite "sit on our hands" Canadians).  Great music and a great night.

Then tonight I went and watched a "do or die" game for the Estevan Bruins at the "Western Canada Cup" hockey tournament.  Winner of the game tonight got to go to playoffs, while the loser was out.  It was an entertaining game, but the Bruins are out.  (It is just as well for me though - it is too nice to be sitting in a rink anyway).

I have gone to way more Bruin games this year than ever and they were a fun team to watch.  And the tournament has been some really good hockey too.  Oh well.... maybe next year.

So now it is on to fixing motorcycles, cars, doing maintenance on the kids vehicles (a couple of little things to fix), riding motorcycles, playing golf, canoeing, camping, hiking, sitting in the back yard, Rider games, etc, etc.

Sounds like a fun summer.  

And people say there is nothing to do in small towns.

Western Canada Cup (Blog 15 of 30)

Click on the picture for a good article from the "Regina Leader Post" about what is going on in Estevan this week.