MANITOBA MEANDERINGS

On Saturday of the Thanksgiving weekend, I left the home of Ray and Judy near Saskatoon, headed for Grandview MB.  It was a fairly uneventful drive, albeit long, and I enjoyed watching the tens of thousands of geese and ducks along the way.  One spot I could see literally thousands of ducks circling in great huge circles, and wondered why they were not committing to land.  A couple kilometres later, I saw the reason:  they wanted to get in to a smallish lake that was absolutely covered with ducks, probably ten to fifteen thousand of them, maybe more.  There was not so much as a small puddle of water that was not already occupied, and clearly it had to have been the most desireable water in the area, since two nearby lakes had only a few scarce flocks on them.  Oh, to be a waterfowl hunter living here!!!  And of course it reminded me that this week is the annual Maxville Gentlemen’s Hunting Club Goose Extravaganza, which I am unfortunately missing.

I got to Grandview just before dark, and set up in the municipal park.  Hmmm, I recall having typed that already I think.  So if there is some overlap with my last entry, please put it down to my brain having turned to mush after all these miles on the road.  Sunday morning dawned clear and warm, and I went to the home of my old friends Doug and Joan.  I had worked for Doug back in Petawawa in the early 80s, and he was our Colonel Commandant for a very long time.  He is widely known, highly respected, and much loved.  I joined he and Joan for the Thanksgiving Sunday service at the Grandview United Church, and enjoyed a lovely lunch thereafter at their home, then it was back on the road.

Doug and Joan:



If I had performed anything more than a perfunctory map recce, I would have noted that Richer MB is not all that close to Winnipeg, indeed it is almost closer to Kenora.  But I had told my friends Geoff and Andrea that I would be at their home on Sunday evening, possibly in time for dinner.  Fat chance!  I stopped to refuel late afternoon at Neepawa, and was told that I was still three hours from Richer.  That would have been three hours if Highway 1 had not been closed at Portage, and traffic detoured for a hundred kilometres or so.........I got there after dark and was most pleased to park the rig and enjoy a cold glass of wine, and some time later a bite to eat also.

It was a short night, even though Geoff did not knock on my camper door until 7:30 am, at which point I was still solidly asleep and dreaming an interesting dream.  After coffee and loading up the truck and boat, off we went to Lac Du Bonnet for a walleye fishing trip.  I purchased my fifth fishing licence, and we launched into the teeth of a very brisk southeasterly breeze.  Going out from the launch, we were treated to a good soaking with spray washing over the bow, but eventually we found some relatively sheltered water and got fishing.  Fishing ain’t catching, and we tried a number of spots and a number of techniques and baits, but all of our offerings were spurned by our pisctorial prey.  The wind had dropped briefly, swung around to the east, then starting building steadily.  I did not have to be asked twice if I thought we should haul up the lines and head for the launch ramp.  I am getting sick and tired of forgetting my camera in my truck when these Kodak moments happen – but anyways we got thoroughly drenched to the skin on the way back, and the look on Geoff’s face during the ordeal was just priceless.  We barely avoided having the boat dashed to pieces against the dock, and eventually got it trailered and off the water, somewhat the worse for wear but in one piece.

Then the rain started in earnest, and continued most of the afternoon, into the evening, and overnight.  Seems I pull this stuff with me wherever I go on this trip.  Next stop I understand my services have been requested at an out-of control forest fire northeast of here.......

Andrea:

Andrea’s son Noah:

Geoff:

Geoff and I:

I drove BACK to Winnipeg this morning and enjoyed a lunch with my old colleague Lloyd, who had been my sergeant-major back in Petawawa, and whom I last saw some twenty years ago or so.  Lloyd had a heart attack a couple years ago, and moved from his beloved farm near Anola MB into a condo in the city last year.  As he was letting me in to the building, he remarked that it was like living in a jail.  But he looks GREAT, has not been surprised by any other health curveballs, and we had a grand reunion chatting about the old times and old colleagues, many of whom are no longer with us.  He is on duty this afternoon baby-sitting his two grand-daughters, so we shook hands and agreed that he NEEDS to get hooked up with e-mail so we can catch up more often on the gossip.

Lloyd:

This afternoon’s plan had been for me to drive to a couple large sports stores in the other end of the city (Wholesale Sports and Cabela’s, for those of you who might be interested), then return to the south part of town to join some old friends for dinner and overnight.  I am no great shopper, and my taste of Winnipeg traffic getting to Lloyd’s place this morning was quite sufficient, thank you very much, so I am parked in a Walmart parking lot doing some interior economy and some Egyptian PT.  And of course typing up this blog entry which I will post once I have WiFi connectivity again.  I am unable to steal anybody’s unsecured signal from my current location, what is this Nazi Germany or something????

Because my schedule has been abbreviated a couple times, I am further east earlier than planned, and now trying to contact folks whom I hope to see in the days ahead enroute home to Kingston.  Still hoping for a moose hunt, walleye fish and bear hunt, but we’ll see..........

Doug