Thursday, September 29, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Saskatchewan - It's Not All Flat
Was on the road early today and in and out of the truck driving from 7am - 7:30pm. Left Regina bright and early and stopped at
advertisers in Avonlea, Moose Jaw, Assiniboia, Swift Current, Kindersley and Rosetown. Don't really like making that many stops but working with a shortened week due to a Doctor's appointment tomorrow. Along the way had to also make some stops to let Diego get out and have a drink and things like that. One of the prettier places we stopped at was Saskatchewan Landing and I took a few pictures there. Apparently there is some good fishing in that lake so sometime will have to take a fishing rod along and stay for an hour or so. Diego seemed fascinated by the floating dock. He liked walking on it and the wind was creating a real nice breeze so he just wanted to sit there. Actually I think he was happy just to get out of the truck.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Beautiful Day In Kelowna
Today we woke up to beautiful sunny skies in Kelowna. Was a really nice day. About 20 degrees or so. We joined Mom for lunch at Mission Woods and then after lunch went for a drive. We stopped first at Dad's gravesite and spend a little time there.
Then we followed one of the many wine routes and stopped at a couple of wineries for testing.
We returned back in time to meet Mike and Christie for supper at Mission Woods. They brought along their new puppy, a Doberman named Kierna. Not sure of the spelling on that one. All in all in was a nice relaxing day and took the opportunity to shoot some photographs including some very small grapes just starting to grow on the vine.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Dog Days of September
We are going through a record September. Several days in a row now we have had plus 30 to plus 33 degree temperatures.
Not really normal for this time of year and new records have been set. Was on the road this week travelling through the southern part of the province and the combines are in full swing. This is actually my favourite time of year. I love the golden fields and seeing the combines, tractors and trucks out working in the field. This hot weather will really spur on the harvest and some of the crops are looking pretty good. Somewhere low down on my bucket list, but still there
is driving a combine as it picks up the swaths. Have always wanted to that but being a city boy it's not to likely that it is going to happen. Took a few pictures down south of the combines at work.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Untimely Death
Very sad to hear this morning of the death of Brad McCrimmon in a plane crash in Russia. Brad was an allstar defenceman with the Brandon WheatKings back in 1976 - 1979 when I did the Wheat Kings play by play for CKX Radio. Even back then you could tell that Brad was a special talent and not only on the ice. He was very mature, a natural leader and did a very articulate interview which is not always the case with junior hockey players. I think I remember him most for those interviews that we did over the years. Always willing to chat and as I said before so articulate. I think of Brad and former New Westminster Bruin Barry Beck as the two best junior players I ever interviewed, and of course being with the Wheat Kings there were many more opportunities to interview Brad. Those great Wheat Kings teams of the late 1970''s also included players like Bill Derlago, Brian Propp, Ray Allison, Lauire Boschman and more. Brad also was a head coach with the Saskatoon Blades before becoming an assistant coach in the NHL. This has been a tough few weeks for Saskatchewan born and bred former NHL players.
First Derek Boogaard died and then shortly there after another former Blade Wade Belak passed away.
Excellent article from the Toronto Sun
Toronto Sun WEDNESDAY
SEPTEMBER 7
2011
Dream dies with McCrimmon in Russia
Brad McCrimmon was simply chasing a dream.
It was a dream that died minutes after takeoff Wednesday when his Russian club’s charter flight crashed into a riverbank, killing all but one member of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team he had only recently taken over as coach.
“He went to Russia to earn his stripes and show he was serious about becoming a head coach in the NHL,” said his former Calgary Flames teammate Joe Nieuwendyk, voice cracking.
“And then this happens … It’s just devastating news.”
Some called him ‘Beast.’ Others called him ‘Sarge.’
Most who played with McCrimmon or were coached by him, called him friend — as reliable and loyal as the farm dogs he grew up around.
But what the old-school purveyor of fine hockey stories from Plenty, Sask., wanted to be called most was coach.
“I talked to him early on in the summer when we were going through our coaching search, and he was very interested in a head coaching job dating back years earlier when he left Atlanta,” said Nieuwendyk, the Dallas Stars GM who hoisted the Stanley Cup alongside McCrimmon with the Flames in 1989.
“We had discussed it, and he knew from talking to me and others that there’s a strong belief you have to be a bench boss first before you get a shot at a head coaching job in the NHL. He told me he was going to Russia. I talked to him just before he left, and he was excited about the coaching staff he had and the players he was bringing in.”
Pausing to collect himself, Nieuwendyk added quietly.
“I can’t believe we’re dealing with another tragedy.”
Indeed, it’s been a tough summer for the NHL, having lost Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak before their time. While it puts Sidney Crosby’s concussion in perspective, it adds a sombre tone to training camps opening next week.
McCrimmon was 52, leaving behind a wife and two kids.
Having played over 1,200 games for six teams before coaching four other teams as an assistant, there aren’t many NHL regulars who haven’t been touched by the bruising defenceman the last three decades — good and bad.
“He played hard and was not fun to play against, but when he was with us in Calgary, he and Gary Suter were such a force (on the blueline together) — they were a big reason we won,” Nieuwendyk said.
“Sarge was such an appropriate nickname because he spoke to us like an army sargeant, but it was always in fun. If we were in the hot tub, he’d say ‘don’t stay in there too long you kids.’ With Sarge, everything was black and white, right or wrong. But he was always upbeat and always made you feel good.”
McCrimmon’s lack of social graces made Beast the perfect handle, said Mark Howe, who paired up with McCrimmon in the 1985-86 NHL season, when McCrimmon was a remarkable plus-83. All told, he was plus-444, making him the perfect assistant in Calgary from 2000-03, when he mentored Robyn Regehr and Denis Gauthier among others.
“As a player he was the best partner I ever had,” said Howe, a recent Hall of Fame inductee.
“We lived, ate and drank together for three years and just had a certain chemistry on the ice, and that carried over off the ice. If you wanted someone to tell you lies and talk behind your back, you had the wrong guy. If you needed someone in a dire situation, he was always there. I consider him one of my best friends, and that had nothing to do with hockey.”
Jamie Macoun said not only could you count on Beast as a defenceman but also as a banker.
“You could go on the road way back when, and any time you’d need a few bucks, he’d always have a thousand bucks on him — he was a farm boy, and he’d say, ‘Never trust the bank and carry your money with ya.’ It’s the boy scout in him — always be prepared.”
“He was a salt-of-the-Earth, solid farm boy,” added a quiet Lanny McDonald.
“He’d swear like a trooper, but he’d be smiling while he did it. If he didn’t agree with something, he wasn’t going to let it pass — he was going to speak his mind whether you liked it or not. What you saw with Brad is what you got. Nothing held back.”
He died while chasing a dream, which unfortunately doesn’t make any of this easy to swallow.
eric.francis@sunmedia.ca
twitter.com/EricFrancis
First Derek Boogaard died and then shortly there after another former Blade Wade Belak passed away.
Excellent article from the Toronto Sun
Toronto Sun WEDNESDAY
SEPTEMBER 7
2011
Dream dies with McCrimmon in Russia
Brad McCrimmon was simply chasing a dream.
It was a dream that died minutes after takeoff Wednesday when his Russian club’s charter flight crashed into a riverbank, killing all but one member of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team he had only recently taken over as coach.
“He went to Russia to earn his stripes and show he was serious about becoming a head coach in the NHL,” said his former Calgary Flames teammate Joe Nieuwendyk, voice cracking.
“And then this happens … It’s just devastating news.”
Some called him ‘Beast.’ Others called him ‘Sarge.’
Most who played with McCrimmon or were coached by him, called him friend — as reliable and loyal as the farm dogs he grew up around.
But what the old-school purveyor of fine hockey stories from Plenty, Sask., wanted to be called most was coach.
“I talked to him early on in the summer when we were going through our coaching search, and he was very interested in a head coaching job dating back years earlier when he left Atlanta,” said Nieuwendyk, the Dallas Stars GM who hoisted the Stanley Cup alongside McCrimmon with the Flames in 1989.
“We had discussed it, and he knew from talking to me and others that there’s a strong belief you have to be a bench boss first before you get a shot at a head coaching job in the NHL. He told me he was going to Russia. I talked to him just before he left, and he was excited about the coaching staff he had and the players he was bringing in.”
Pausing to collect himself, Nieuwendyk added quietly.
“I can’t believe we’re dealing with another tragedy.”
Indeed, it’s been a tough summer for the NHL, having lost Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak before their time. While it puts Sidney Crosby’s concussion in perspective, it adds a sombre tone to training camps opening next week.
McCrimmon was 52, leaving behind a wife and two kids.
Having played over 1,200 games for six teams before coaching four other teams as an assistant, there aren’t many NHL regulars who haven’t been touched by the bruising defenceman the last three decades — good and bad.
“He played hard and was not fun to play against, but when he was with us in Calgary, he and Gary Suter were such a force (on the blueline together) — they were a big reason we won,” Nieuwendyk said.
“Sarge was such an appropriate nickname because he spoke to us like an army sargeant, but it was always in fun. If we were in the hot tub, he’d say ‘don’t stay in there too long you kids.’ With Sarge, everything was black and white, right or wrong. But he was always upbeat and always made you feel good.”
McCrimmon’s lack of social graces made Beast the perfect handle, said Mark Howe, who paired up with McCrimmon in the 1985-86 NHL season, when McCrimmon was a remarkable plus-83. All told, he was plus-444, making him the perfect assistant in Calgary from 2000-03, when he mentored Robyn Regehr and Denis Gauthier among others.
“As a player he was the best partner I ever had,” said Howe, a recent Hall of Fame inductee.
“We lived, ate and drank together for three years and just had a certain chemistry on the ice, and that carried over off the ice. If you wanted someone to tell you lies and talk behind your back, you had the wrong guy. If you needed someone in a dire situation, he was always there. I consider him one of my best friends, and that had nothing to do with hockey.”
Jamie Macoun said not only could you count on Beast as a defenceman but also as a banker.
“You could go on the road way back when, and any time you’d need a few bucks, he’d always have a thousand bucks on him — he was a farm boy, and he’d say, ‘Never trust the bank and carry your money with ya.’ It’s the boy scout in him — always be prepared.”
“He was a salt-of-the-Earth, solid farm boy,” added a quiet Lanny McDonald.
“He’d swear like a trooper, but he’d be smiling while he did it. If he didn’t agree with something, he wasn’t going to let it pass — he was going to speak his mind whether you liked it or not. What you saw with Brad is what you got. Nothing held back.”
He died while chasing a dream, which unfortunately doesn’t make any of this easy to swallow.
eric.francis@sunmedia.ca
twitter.com/EricFrancis
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Pond Plants Are Thriving
In our backyard we have a corner that gets really, really hot with the direct sunshine pouring down. The pond plants, this year especially, really seem to like the hot weather as they have been growing and spreading out all season. Seems like a shame to have to pull them up in a couple of weeks but winter will be coming. Soon will have to move the fish indoors as well to their winter habitat in the garage.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Kitchen Renovations
Kitchen renovations began in earnest today. Tim took out the old cabinets and they are now sitting in the garage until we decide what to do with them. Now the work of scraping the ceiling, patching and repairing holes must take place before the new cabinets and the lighting fixtures are installed.
Mean time Diego just chills and catches some sunshine through the window. Dogs really know how to relax and take things easy.
Makes me wonder if they ever worry about anything or is worry just something that is exclusive to us humans.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
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