Grass Hogs and more at the Stirling Fair

We just got home earlier today from a week-end visit to the Stirling Fair in Eastern ontario. What a great town; a warm and friendly welcome; a super fair with scads of good quality rides with a 'ride all day' option; and an introduction to lawn tractor racing - the Grass Hogs.

Had to wait for a green flag to get a photo

I wasn't too sure what to expect when I heard about racing lawn tractors... I mean, how fast can they go right? I cut my grass at high speed, and it still takes me quite awhile... they aren't exactly built for speed. Well, what a surprise! Some of these tractors still look like they could cut the grass on Sunday, (well, except for having no cutting deck attached for the races) but they sure don't act like regular old garden tractors! Let's just say they've had a few modifications done to enhance performance. Some have been modified enough that they look more like go-carts with hoods and no roll cage. And what a performance those drivers (men, women and youth) put on. It's no-holds-barred around the track! They drive flat out and body slam those machines around the curves, reaching speed of 55 mph.

On returning home, I googled the Grass Hogs to discover they are a racing club based in Eastern Ontario and have a schedule that covers quite a wide area. You can visit them online here: http://www.grasshogsracing.com/index.html

Be sure to check out their photo page and see the 'Turf-oholic', 'Sodzilla' or 'Little Miss Mownasty' and if you get a chance, take the time to see them race. It's good entertainment..

Golden Helmets

The Ontario Provincial Police precision motorcycle team was in Prescott this evening at 6 p.m. Their performance under stormy skies (but dry pavement) was magnificent. A thirty minute show featured working police officers from around Ontario demonstrating their riding skills on 1690 c.c. Harley Davidson Police Specials. Two women were on the team, one on point. Just
great to see!

Canuck Chicks Really Gone This Time

Well, it really has come and gone this time. The 'Amazing Willi', the human baton of the Canuck Chicks Conga has passed through our lives, first East, then West. Even our wee grand-daughter Jenny fell in love with Willi, and right promptly.


Today is Day 42 of Willi's journey across Canada and it still amazes me. It's one thing to want to ride across this great country and she's done it and for the most part alone, from the West coast to the farthest east point of Newfoundland and all provinces in between. So, Willi is in Newfoundland and she's fulfilled her goal... but she lives in B.C. There's nothing to do but turn around and head home. She'll do that ride twice. She's taken the odd day off here and there to do the touristy things and to get some bike maintenance done, but for the most part it has been ride, ride, ride, baby. What a woman!


Two friends of mine, Norma and Colombe met us this morning at my house for coffee then we headed out to Gananoque. The skies were grey when we left and there was some light sprinkling then Mother Nature decided to show us that Ontario knows about rain. Well, thank God for rain gear, is about all I can say.


We left Willi in the capable hands of the Motor Maids of Kingston and booted it back to Brockville. Norma had a family luncheon and I had to work in the afternoon.

I'll miss Willi.. she's one of a kind!

Canuck Chicks Conga

Well, the Canuck Chicks Conga has come and gone, at least through this neck of the woods. You wonder what the Canuck Chicks is all about, anyway, don't you? Well, the idea spring-boarded from an American ride that a Canadian woman did last year. Someone said, wouldn't it be great if we participated in a ride across Canada, women just meeting up and riding as long as they were able or cared to, right across the country. Now someone has to plan the whole thing, and hold it all together, be an anchor so to speak and Willi stepped up to the plate.

Now Willi lives in lower mainland B.C. and she started her ride June13th from Mission. She has blogged cross the country (you'll find her blog in my blog list) and yesterday we met up. She had stayed over in Pembroke and I of course live down near the St. Lawrence River. She headed south and I headed north. We met on the 416 (under the Bankfield Road overpass in case anyone was wondering who the crazy lady was flashing her T-shirt at all the bikers) and I brought her back to my place for lunch, a few official Canuck coolers (Corona and lime), then supper and a tour of a few of our attractions. You can't get much done in a half day, but we did our best. A stop at the Spencerville Mill and walking tour for photos of old buildings, a drive by of Fort Wellington, a stop at Blockhouse Island in Brockville for photos of the old railway tunnel under the city, a tour of the Thousand Islands, Rockport, Ivy Lea and the Smugglers Inn and the Thousand Island bridge at dusk with the lights on. Very lovely.

Willi is amazed at the diversity and beauty of this entire country, as I was on my trip. She admitted to being terrified about two days prior to leaving, wondering what she had got herself into. Her method of coping is to not think about the whole trip, (as in OMG, I'm riding British Columbia to Newfoundland, basically alone) but to focus on each day as it happens and the next one coming up, not to worry about 3 days away. She is doing famously, well into her first trip across the country. She still has to turn around after getting to Newfoundland and ride home, but I think she is more than up to the task. She carries her cell phone, her GPS, her notebook and a road assistance membership. What more does a girl need, I ask you? Oh, and three changes of clothes.

We had promised to billet Willi and so put her up in our 5th wheel, overnight. This way she had a bit of privacy as well, didn't have to listen to the dogs get us up at 4:30, or John get up at 5:30 for work. Anyway, it worked so well we have nicknamed the RV, the Conga Condo. A tongue twister.



My daughter's dog Dodger (aka Satan) took to Willi like she was his long lost owner and even escorted her away this morning, all the while with me calling him back and he pretending I didn't exist.

So the Conga is over for me.... mmmm, maybe. Willi does have to head home again and the route isn't set. Who knows? She might just head back this way.

Icons of the west and other puzzling things

Two things kept running through my grey matter while driving through the prairies. One, the ever practical woman wondered where the heck you had to go to buy groceries. It didn't seem to matter whether it was Manitoba, Saskatchewan or Alberta it was a very long way between farms, longer still between places, even villages. Lots of small places had equipment dealerships or feed/grain storage facilities but no grocery stores or other places of necessity that I saw.

So, I asked a couple people, folks who live there and they were quick to tell me that very few people have the luxury of just zipping out for a bag of milk or a loaf of fresh bread anywhere in the praire provinces. There are small towns off the Trans Can but you pay dearly if you shop there for your essentials. Out of necessity most do. Once a month or so people drive to a bigger centre to stock up on dry/canned goods and do any other shopping. At the same time they attend dentist/doctor appointments, get their hair cut, nails done.. whatever is needed. They make their trip worthwhile... kind of makes me ponder how much fuel I waste in any given week.

Yard display in Saskatchewan


The other thing kept running around my brain as we drove was icons of the prairies, those things that represented prairie life to the rest of the country. At one time it was the First Nation people and the buffalo, then it became the prairie schooner and the plow. Then the grain elevator and the rancher/cowboy. (I only saw one cowboy that wasn't at the rodeo and he was fixing fence out of a pick-up truck and wore a ball cap.) I think this representative icon has probably changed again, and if anything it's gas transfer stations, oil storage tanks and beef cattle. That's what everyone sees today. Just my musings on how the prairies have changed over the years.

What an Amazing Month

So many things have happened over our month away, I hardly know where to begin. It truly has been one amazing experience after another:

• Meeting my friend Tracy in Brooks, Alberta,
• Visiting the Brooks museum and seeing items we still use (you know you are old when... lol),
• Jay walking crossing a street and having four lanes of traffic stop in all directions. What's with that? Here in Ontario drivers run you over,
• Seeing buffalo, sandhill cranes, prairie dogs, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, magpies (didn't know they were carrion-eaters), elk, 3 black bear and 3 moose (not counting the dead one),
• Meeting up with our Bush cousins in Drumheller and them taking us all around to the great scenic spots, including Wayne Alberta and the Last Chance Saloon,
• The hoodoos of Drumheller and rock/bone hounding,
• Visiting a ghost town that has my name,
  
• Touring the Medley Airforce Base at Cold Lake and seeing the F-18's my son works on,
• Seeing a 3D video scan of our newest grandchild (amazing to see a child in utero),
• Quad-ing at Cold Lake and seeing this wonderful old trestle bridge,
• Watching the planes take off and land for Maple Flag and can those pilots ever perform!
• Going up in an airbus for an air to air refueling of jets,
• Touring a cash crop farm near Lloydminster, hosted again by our Bush relatives,
• Three separate motorcycle tours (so much to see, so much cold weather),
• Scoring free weekend passes to our first rodeo,
• Said rodeo. I think a person would have to have a screw loose to get on one of those bulls,
• Chuckwagon races, and last but definitely not least
  
• The chance to visit with our son and daughter-in-law, who I thank for their fine hospitality.

A well deserved break on Frog Lake Road

Crossing Canada

I am just enthralled with our beautiful country. It has been way too long since I have travelled across Canada by land and much has changed since the 70's. Should I say 'thank God' or 'such a shame'? The trans Canada has been upgraded to 4 lanes for the most part (at least this far - Alberta) and is in considerably better shape than I remember. But it is the diversity of our landscape that keeps me amazed. I had settled in for the long haul, since when John's task is to drive - that is all he does.. he drives. I had my book, my knitting and a binder, paper and an assortment of pens for writing and hardly touched anything. I sat watching us pass through this wonderful country of ours in wonder.

From the coniferous forests of northern Ontario to the undulating and fertile prairie lands we have a land of endless incredible vistas and an interesting assortment of wildlife. Some of which appear to be on the move. Since when did Sandhill Cranes move to northern Ontario?







I'll be roasted for this but I just love Prairie Dogs. Here I always thought they were the size of our groundhogs, and they aren't. They are the size of squirrels, the colour of cardboard and as curious as can be. They will stand and chitter and whistle at you or allow you to coax them in for a treat. This is a photo of my cousin Joan feeding one of these little devils at Drumheller.