August 24

The month of August started with a long weekend at the lake with my crew.  Haley and Dustin are truly enjoying their cabin and the wake surf boat they purchased last year.  They keep encouraging me to surf, and I have tried twice, but I just can't get the hang of it.  But, no worries, I resort to my specialty...spending time with the Luv Bug.  I had a meaningful experience on my way home from the lake after the long weekend.  It was getting dark as I approached a car on the side of the road 10 minutes south of Shell Lake.  A family from Big River First Nation had a flat tire.  They asked whether I had a jack they could borrow.  Yes, I did have a jack, but it was under all my camping stuff.  No problem,  I dug the jack out.  I helped remove the flat tire, then we discovered their spare was flat so I took my new friend, Jeremy Rabbitskin, back to the service station so we could get both tires repaired.  By the time we returned to the car, darkness had set in.  With the help of my flashlight, we got the tire on and they were on their way, but not before I took a selfie, in the dark, with the whole crew.  Now, the heartening thing about this encounter was the gratitude of the Rabbitskin family.  The mother, Brenda, insisted on giving me what was likely her last ten dollars for helping her family.  I refused the money saying she could buy me a pie and coffee if she ever saw me in Shell Lake.  The whole family was incredibly gracious.  They kept shaking my hand and expressing their gratitude. It was one of the highlights of my summer.  On the next weekend in August, my gal and I went to the Garth Brooks concert  in Regina.  There's something about me and Mosaic Stadium this summer.  We attended the rain delayed Rider game on July 1 and then had another rain delay before Garth took to the stage.  Of course, he is such a great performer, it was worth the wait.  On the same weekend, I attended Deb's family reunion which was a total success.  Ideal weather, great company, and delicious food.  I was happy to help Deb who put her heart and soul into preparing for the reunion.  Last week I had my mother staying with me.  She was diagnosed with breast cancer in July; therefor, surgery was required to remove a malignant lump.  Mom is a real trooper.  She has recovered well.  I delivered her back to Tisdale last Sunday.  Before returning to Tisdale, she had a chance to visit my brother, Wayne, and his family.  They were in town to watch my niece play in District Fastball.  Mom also had a chance to visit my nephew, Harley, who traveled up from Moose Jaw, with his friend, Emily, They stayed at my place and got in a good visit with my mom.  The other project for August was building a new fence with my neighbours to the west and the east.  To the west, my job was destruction, and my neighbours looked after construction.  They did a marvellous job.  Hopefully, the new fence will keep their chickens out of my flower beds.  The new fence does not have any knot holes so it is going to be hard for me to run my power cord to their outlets. Oh well, I guess I'll have to pay for my own power.  The last bit of news is: I am playing in provincial slow pitch this weekend.  Should be fun.  I am reunited with some of my old gang from my former team, The Rage.  Until next post...