Patio life has rules and guidelines…it ain’t total freedom!
Reader’s Write
And this one was responding to my concern in last week’s column as to why there are far fewer stars in the night sky in and around Brant’s Ford in comparison to Nakina….not to mention the very scenic Lower Twin Lake. The reader was/is an older gentleman who has for decades resided on a rural property….a farm….an hour and a bit north/northwest of Btfd and he concurred that he faces the same (albeit growing) shortage of twinkling little stars in his area. Then he went on to explain to Miz. Jo and yours truly that the AWOL stars are plainly the result of ”light pollution”….an overabundance of lights/lighting, some of which finds its way skyward that simply ‘block out the star light’. (*methinks I’ve got the explanation right) Also, he indicates the star situation there has worsened considerably in recent tymes due to the incredible growth/expansion of another major city (also near his property). Hence, it’s a case of more lights = fewer stars. Actually, Rotzy was/is wondering if poor air quality/smog was/is a contributing factor….southern Ontario vs northern Ontario….tho I’d never mentioned it to the reader. Until now, I suppose. Regardless, thanks….it was great to get some feedback on last week’s item, and as always we’re pleased to hear from the readership,Out Of The N F&G Loop!!
Miz. Jo quipped his past Tues or Wed “isn’t this Bass Derby weekend”? Kinda caught me off guard and I replied ‘well yes, the first weekend in August, I guess it is”! Of course I’m referring to the Annual Nakina Fish and Game Club Smallmouth Bass Live Release Derby, by far the BIGGEST event in Nakina. And as one of Ontario’s best ‘smallies derby’ it draws serious anglers from far and wide, not to mention a goodly number of local/area fishermen and fisherwomen. Sixty boats, each with a two person crew, all trying to have enough total weight (five fish per day, Sat and Sun) at Sunday’s Weigh-In at the brown-pop tent to take home a sizeable chunk of the $25,000 + in cash and prizes, tho it could be considerably more than that since the only info we’ve gotten is via Facebook*tm. Miz. Jo and Rotzy, back in 2001 or 2002?, along with a handful of locals decided to resurrect the N F&G Club (which had been inactive for a few years, and the Fish Derby became the Smallmouth Bass Derby. If my memory serves me well, after a lot of scrambling and scrounging we had 33 boats take to the water out at Cordingley Lake. Mostly local/area folks, nearly all of them in a 14ft Lund/Naden with a Merc 9.9 ‘kicker’ on the back. Well, tymes have changed (*see below) and most of them are now operating units in the $50,000-$100,000 range! with all the bells and whistles on board. Of course it’s pretty much a given that the sixty boat quota will head out in four 15-boat groups between 7:00 and 7:45….it’s also a ‘given’ that 90% of the tickets for 2020 will be sold during and after this afternoon’s Weigh In!!(*see above) Tho Miz. Jo and I hadn’t been ‘actively involved’ in the Club for some years, we always enjoyed checking out the windup presentions. Anyway, in spite of it being Sunday 10:30 AM as I write this, good luck to all! Maybe THIS year somebody will land that SEVEN pounder???!!! By the bye, Miz. Jo just gave me a ‘live’ report from her i-Pod, ”the bugs (black flies and mosquitoes) are still bad in Nakina”! So….SO….as it stands, I/we miss the Derby….but NOT the critters! As previously stated here in “F/N”, other than a few dumb house flies here at #555 Harris Place (*see below)….THAT’S IT, THAT’S ALL!!!Harris Place Happy Hour
The ‘social committee’ here at #555 decided….no doubt after conferring with management….to hold their first Happy Hour last Friday from 4:00 to 6:00PM. I’m pretty sure they hadn’t actually finalized it until their regular meeting the day before. But in this building, which is still about 75% oldsters, the grapevine is well ‘rooted’, obviously still healthy and growing, so word travels at about the speed of light. It took place on the NEW patio which Skyline Living installed at the south end of our building, then set up four good quality umbrella tables and chairs, some extra chairs, wooden benches and a few large, newly planted flower pots. The patio is just one of several ‘upgrades’ they’ve made this week, including some serious weeding around the parking lot. It’s left this olde guy wondering if they read a couple recent “From Nakina” columns announcing they’d won the Worst Lawn Award? Hey, I don’t want to take all the credit and I know full well they received a LOT of complaints from others on the lawns and gardens. Well, the very young-looking crew the contractor brought this tyme were 100% better than the previous bunch of ‘teenagers’ who simply ‘went through the motions’ last tyme round. Hell, they didn’t even seem to know how to ‘go through the motions’ truth be told! BUT….back to Happy Hour, and the ever-present Skyline ‘rules’, which were/are ‘enforced’ by the Committee ladies. Like Rule #555-2019-0002….’no glass allowed on the patio’. But of course….only makes sense, and ‘discreet’ is the key word….so Miz Jo poured some Welch’s Grape Juice onto some ice in a plastic cup. Rotzy set a couple Tall Boy Brown Pop cans in a cooler bag. Along with a couple MT plastic cups, just in case. Good thing, as I took my second swig of pop one of the committee was onto me like a hound on a pork chop!! Altho it didn’t say ‘no cans allowed’, message received. However, I didn’t ‘rat out’ the husband of one of the committee ladies, who was drinking from a tall boy can, nor the (older) lady who was sitting next to me and asked me to ‘please open her Vodka Lime Fizz cooler for her’….which was a glass bottle!! I said “look, I don’t want to be your ‘accomplice’ for doing this, but I will this tyme….just don’t let it happen again, OK”? Of course, when #555 Seniors get together….wedding. birthday, funeral, bar mitzvah, and now Happy Hour!! they make/bring food. Chips, popcorn, cupcakes and cetera…tho we’d heard nothing about eating. An hour or so before supper. Anyway, bottom line is everybody seemed to enjoy themselves….lotsa laughs and we also met a few new/new to us folks….AND….looks like it’ll become a weekly thing. Good Lord, what’s next? Line dancing!!??*Thought Of The Day...Why is it that when you’re driving and looking for an address, you turn the volumn down on your radio? (think about it)
