Surprise!!!

Well over the weekend I have had a couple of get togethers with family and friends. One was with Fyd-L-Styx at Dale's house and the other was at my Aunt and Uncle's house in Norwood.

The Fyd-L-Styx party was a complete surprise until we got to Peterborough and I figured out were we were going. Dale had been planning it for a couple of weeks, and didn't hear a peep from anyone. The plan was simple, my mum had to Dale's house so when she came to get me from home, however she had a pretty big surprise herself when she found out I wasn't there. After finding me at my Grandma, and Grandpa's condo in Lakefield we went speeding into town around 4:50. The story was we had to pick something up at Sears before they closed, but we made to Parkhill and Armour at 5:00 and it was "too late". So then my mum explained that we had the crooked stovepipe hats in the van and we'd better deliver them to Dale. I knew Dale was working that day and wasn't sure if he was going to be home, but we went anyways. But by the time she was speeding down the streets I new something was up (my mother like to take her time). We got at Dale's and of course Fyd-L-Styx was waiting for me. I was amazed at how many people showed up, Dale probably offered booze or something. I helped Dale BBQ, I was the time man, and then we ate. Then I was in for an even bigger surprise. They brought out a bag and said they got me a little something, when I opened it I found a Toronto Maple Leaf fiddle, painted in Dale's garage, by Dale himself. There was also a CD with picture of me and Fyd-L-Styx, and a Leafs T-shirt. Then we brought out the fiddles, harmonica and guitar and played a few tunes. Thanks to Dale and Dale's wife for hosting the big event, and everyone for the unique presents.

Then on Sunday my dad's side of the family had a get together. There was pizza and really good dessert! It was fun to see everyone once more before the big trip. But then there was the part at both parties when people had to say goodbye. I really don't like those parts so I tried to convince everyone I'll see them one more time and I could say it then, but then I gave in and had too. Tomorrow won't be one of the best days, I don't really want to say goodbye to anyone, so I'll probably just say "see ya".

I might have one more get together with my mum's side of the family tonight, which will mean I'll have to say bye again. But oh well there's just about 20 more hours of it before I can start to say "Hello".

Plowing Match

Well the Plowing Match rolled through Keene this week. We told to expect from the plowing match, 1,700 trailers in the RV park, and roughly 15,000 students on class trips, and around 100,000 people coming and crowing between Mather's Corners and Keene, but we were all in awe when everyone showed up and we saw it with our own eyes. I was fortunate enough to attend all 5 days, and I still believe it wasn't enough to explore all the places the match had to offer, for example I never really saw any plowing at all, I only watch some practice and some from a distance.

The first day I think was the best day of them all. The politicians were out in full force from both Federal and Provincial levels. Premier Dalton McGuinty was in the parade, followed by the PC Ontario leader John Tory, and then NDP leader Howard Hampton. Even some of the Liberal Leadership candidates at he federal level, like Scott Brison, Ken Dryden, showed up with the interim leader of the Liberal party Bill Graham. Fyd-L-Styx also preformed on the first day and had a reasonable sized crowed considering the sound man sucked. I had a solo set for my last official Fyd-L-Styx concert, and played the "Cow Song" for the last time for awhile as well.

My job for the rest of the week was helping park buses. It was pretty uneventful except for Wednesday when it rained in the afternoon. I was told that we had 88 buses in the parking lot (AKA the field), out of the 88 buses, 8 managed to get out on their own, the rest had to be towed out by tractors. What a fun day!!

When I wasn't parking buses, I spent most of my time wandering around Tent City to see all of the new farm machinery, the newest inventions, and the animals on display. They had a mini chicken farm in a trailer so you could see how chickens are raised, and a hog display which showed the various stages of a pig's life and how they are kept. Of course there was tonnes of food to pick and choose from for lunch.

Some of the highlights for me was my last performance for 9 months, going 135 feet in the air with Hydro One's boom truck, and the Scott Woods Fiddle show at the church on the Friday night.

Well now that it's over life is still not back to normal in Keene yet. The destruction of Tent City has began, the fire department has washed the roads to get rid of the greasy mud, and everyone still hasn't fully recovered.

15 More Days

I only have fifteen more days until I leave home!! My feelings are mixed at the moment, on one hand I'm excited to be going, but on the other I'm not too sure if I'll have everything ready to go. I am thinking I'll pack light and buy what I need when I get there since Saskatoon is a real city bigger then Peterborough.

It has been a while since I've typed anything here. That Plowing Match is getting ever closer and each day I am amazed at how much has changed over the summer and the amount of volunteers that are giving their time to run events in the Plowing Match and as well as outside the Match. Saturday was the Volunteer Orientation at the Plowing match and everyone who was volunteering was suppose to show up. Around 1000 people showed up (there's more volunteers then that) and packed in to the Hospitality Tent (AKA the 1,500 capacity Beer Tent) out of the cold wind and rain. We went over some general stuff as a big group and then had lunch. After lunch we split up and went to where we would be working for the week. I am going to be working in the Education section directing buses and the "sweet little children" they contain into the Match. 15,000 of them!!! Over 4 days!!! So we have roughly 100-120 buses a day coming in parking, so you could imagine the size of this place we have just for buses. So our job is to make sure the buses and children don't hit each other. It's a well laid out plan and very hard to describe, but as long as the class stays together it will be easy to do. The bonus is I only work 2-4 hours a day and the rest of the day is mine to explore Tented City (100 acres of it) over the three days I work.

Other stuff that has happened since the last blog are my new digital camera to take all kinds of picture and hopefully post a few here, and my brand new shiny G2. Camping was the pits, it rained and it was cold out. I don't know but some people have said its been a warm summer, I don't think I believe them though, every time I've done something exciting its been raining or really cold. But I now have a new rain jacket to use and keep me dry, I also bought a winter coat. I felt a little bit stupid buying a coat in the middle of August. Well that's all for now, I'll have to write here sometime soon and not wait so long.