Curling Just About Done

Today the Seniors had their last curling day of the season. It has been decided to close down the plant after this coming weekend and the Mixed Curling Bonspiel. The Parks and Recreation have an auction slated for April 4th and they are going to hold it in the curling rink (on the ice surface). Now it takes a good 10 days to get the ice out and the cement cleaned up before the auction can be held. Hence the closing down of the curling plant this coming Sunday evening/Monday morning.

Now I'm not sure if I'll be curling in the Square draws on Tuesday or Thursday this week. If not, then that will be all for my curling season. One nice thing is that today I was handling the Skip job and we actually went out on a winning note. We were tied up coming home with the other team having last rock. I threw my first rock and missed a takeout, but on my second rock I hit what I wanted to hit and had a bit of a roll behind cover. The opposing Skip was narrow on his takeout attempt so we ended up counting 1. Overall, I curled 11 games in the Seniors league and had 7 wins and 4 losses. This was the first year I curled as a Third so I was happy with the outcome.

It is interesting talking to a few of the curlers after today's game though. A lot of the people are getting up in years, so their comment normally is whether or not they will be taking part next year. One due to availability (ie live or dead), and another is if they can due to knees, legs, etc. I haven't reached that limit yet (thank goodness), so hopefully I'll be able to get my weekly dose of exercise in about 9 months :)

What a Bad Blogger I Am :(

I have had so much on my plate of late, I just haven't been able to get my fingers around the keyboard to put up much on this blog. . .

I got involved with the beta of the new Windows 7 and have it installed on one of my computers. Then I decided to pick up a new computer (8 GB RAM, 1 GB video card, etc), so then I had to try and transfer all my files etc to the new computer and get Sam set up on my old one (the one with Windows 7 on it). There was a learning curve for Sam as she had recently been using the XP system. So she missed Vista and the new 7 is very much based on a Vista computer. Actually if I read correctly, anyone upgrading to the new Windows 7 and using XP, will have to format and do an install. There is no upgrade available from XP to 7. If you are using Vista, then you can upgrade to 7 though. Now I'm not certain of the XP thing, but that is what I have read a few times. Anyhow, computers have been taking up a bit of my time of late.

Then because my days are not busy enough as it is I was convinced to take on a new task of creating a website for the Town of Hanley. The Town wanted to get their presence out on the Web. I did some work on the site and now the powers to be have to decide if they want to go ahead with the site or just what.

I also created and run another blog for the Hanley Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion and it decided to get corrupted the other day. So I have been frantically trying to get it back up and running. I tried and tried, however, I couldn't retrieve previous posts so I just started over. The feeling is that I'd rather get the blog up and running and I can always try to recover previous posts later on.

Add to the above, I have been very busy with computer repairs of late. Lot's of new customers which is nice.

Of course I'm also into curling at this time of the year. Predominately I enrolled in the Senior curling for Monday's. But then I was used as a spare on Tuesday evening and on Thursday evening on a fairly regular basis. So lots of time has been spent at the curling rink.

My Tuesday mornings have been taken up with the Seniors Center and playing pool. There is about 7-8 fellows who go down and shoot 3-4 games every Tuesday morning. I missed as I was so tired after papers I went back to bed. They called me and insisted I come down for a few games. So if I'm home I try and get down for 9:00 a.m. and keep my shooting skills up.

Of course I'm still delivering the Saskatoon Star Phoenix every morning. Thankfully that usually only takes an hour or so. The bad part is that the papers are supposed to be deliver prior to 7:00 a.m. Monday to Saturday. I usually get up between 5:30 a.m. and 5:45 a.m. and get them done. The cool weather has not been nice lately, but at least I do see a warm up in the weather forecasts to come.

Then just because; I also was convinced to take on the caretaker position of the Centennial Hall effective today. The person currently in the position wanted to move on as they had held the position for quite awhile and their life was getting so busy. The feeling is that it should only take me 15-20 hours a week out of my time. Of course that is once I get used to doing what I have to do on a daily basis. Then when there is something going on for the weekend (ie curling spiel, etc) I'll have a few more hours. I'm not really sure of the time commitment, but I'll definitely give it a go and see what I can do.

So all in all, I just haven't had a lot of spare time to actually sit down and compose something for the blog. Lot's of thoughts, but just not the time to get it submitted. Hopefully my time will start to slow down just a bit as it seems like I'm running out of steam just about every day.

That is not what retirement is supposed to be like, is it? Hope not anyway . . .

Time Just Flying

It appeared that I just got over the Remembrance Day ceremonies and then I was getting prepared for the Legion bonspiel on January 2nd, 3rd & 4th. Trying to get bartenders lined up (impossible task), ordering the liquor & beer, picking up the orders, purchasing items at the store, etc. etc.

Before I knew it, Friday the 2nd was here. I started going just after lunch and picked up all my orders and got them delivered to the Hall. The fridge stocked up and got everything ready to go for 5:00 p.m. This year I really didn't want to curl as I just run out of time as it is. Having to curl at least 3 games only impacts the time shortage more. But, because of the weather for the weekend, I did indeed end up curling. We had hoped for 32 rinks, but had to settle for 24 (ours included). This is still a respectable number of rinks though. I did hear that a town east of Regina also had a bonspiel scheduled for the same weekend as Hanley. They could only muster 7 rinks. It certainly is hard to run any kind of a bonspiel with that few rinks.

Back to our spiel though. At 5:00 p.m. we got the bar open and everyone was getting ready to curl. Our team had to hit the ice at 7:00 p.m. so I got a couple guys to man the bar and out I went. Of course we got our butts kicked, but we scared the other team for the first couple ends when we scored. After that we just were not strong enough to keep up. Go figure :)

Then it was back to helping out in the bar area, picking up more beer, etc. All in all I got home at 3:45 a.m. Saturday morning. My head hit the pillow at 4:00 a.m. and I tried to get some rest. At 5:45 a.m. my alarm went off and I was up and at em to do my papers. Of course it had snowed and blew overnight and the temperature was sitting near -55 C when I headed out. Slogging through the snow just about did me in. Within 3 blocks my legs felt like they had lead weights on them.

However, I did manage to get the papers delivered. Got home and took a few hours of rest and hit the hall again near 11:00 a.m. We curled once again and of course got severely beaten. That meant we had to curl again at 9:00 p.m. Saturday night. We were able to get in a great roast beef supper though. This was in between watching the bar and sitting at the door selling tickets. But the supper was delicious.

The team headed out for our 9 p.m. appointment and immediately felt we were in away over our heads. Chalk up another loss. That's three strikes (games) and your out. So it was back to the hall and watched/listened to RJ & the Boys. We got to close the place up earlier than Friday though and we were home by 3:30 a.m. The nice part was no papers on Sunday so I got to snooze a bit longer. Even so, we were back at the hall shortly after 11:00 a.m.

Throughout the whole weekend, the cold was just brutal. I really appreciated all the people that came out and curled, watched, or just visited. Without them, the bonspiel would not have been a success at all. Sandra and I made it home right around 9:00 p.m. A whole lot tired, but not overly so. As I said earlier, it had blew and snowed all weekend and of course I did not find the time to shovel or snow blow the driveway out. I was dreading trying to plow through the drifts when we got home. To my surprise, one of my great neighbours had snow-blowed the sidewalk and the driveway, so it was clean driving into the garage. You just have to love super neighbours like that!

Monday morning of course is the senior's curling, so I was up early doing the papers, then down to the rink and some more curling. At least I ended up on a winning rink for a change. Prior to heading off for curling I had already received 8 computer repair calls though. After lunch I returned my supplies to the various stores and fixed up two computers. Then I got to rest at home for a bit. Of course I had laundry to do, but heck that is just loading up the washer and then folding after drying. Nothing too tasking other than time.

Onto Tuesday and off we went to the city so Sam could get her INR checked. I also had a computer to look at in the city and a new HD TV to hookup for a fellow. Got that all done and home by supper time. Success both with the TV and with the computer.

Wednesday I got a couple more computers done and not much else. Thursday the same.

Then the weekend hit and I could hardly believe it that here I sit typing and it is already January 11th. Half the darn month is just about gone.

Seeing as today was a nice quiet day I got back to doing my normal laundry today, and decided to clean the oven. It had gotten a bit dirty from cooking over the holidays. Of course yesterday I finally got around to taking down the Christmas tree and putting the decorations away. As I was pulling down the tree, I must of turned the wrong way or something as I must of stretched something in my back. It hurts like all get out. Every time I rolled over last night in bed I woke up from the pain. It almost seems like a 'stitch', so I'm hoping I can work it out. And actually after reaching in and doing the oven it does feel a bit better. Hopefully that is a good sign.

Tomorrow, we have curling in the morning and then as expected we have to head back to the city for Sam's INR. With last weekend being so screwed up, her levels are out of wack, so we have to go in and get it checked again. Hopefully they are back in sync once again after a more normal week.

I normally don't make any New Year's resolutions as you just never seem to keep them up, however, I do want to try and hit the blog a bit more often this year. I have been trying to set up a new blog for the Legion (which seems to be working fine) and a web page for the town. The town still hasn't decided whether they want to go with what I set up or not. If not, then maybe we can get something else set up for them. I told them I was no pro, but I would do what I could for them. We'll see.

Even with the month tearing by, I do seem to be finding a bit more free time. Heck, I actually sat back and read a book for a couple hours the other day. That doesn't happen too often as I just don't seem to get the time. So maybe we are on a roll and I'll find a bit more free time to spend on the blog.

Hope so :)

Done For Another Year

Yesterday was our windup curling for this year. It was a funspiel type of curling with the whole team staying together for the day rather than always changing after every game.

We played 3 four end games with points given for each end scored and then extra points for a win or a tie. As typical of my curling this year our team just didn't do too well.

Our first game we really stunk up the place and got totally skunked (ie we didn't score in one end). I think the final score was something like 7-0 so the score wasn't totally bad. It was just that we couldn't even get a point in the 4 ends.

The team then had an hour off prior to the start of our second set. Of course this was the noon hour so when we got back on the ice we all were ready for a snooze rather than curling. However, we managed to score in 2 of the ends, but we still came out as losers once again.

It is interesting in that we were scheduled to play all 3 of our games on the same ice which was sheet 2. After our second game we just stayed out on the ice waiting for the opposition. When the opposing team came out we were advised that we had been moved to sheet 1 to play on. This sheet had not been played on for about 2 1/2 hours whereas sheet 2 had played 3 games in a row on.

So we moved over to sheet 1 and commenced the game. Wow was the ice ever heavy. You had to throw take out weight just to get the darn rock into the rings. For the first end only 3 rocks actually got past the hog line. That's out of 16. Not a very good percentage. However, we played on and the ice did start to keen up some.

At the end of the game, we were up by a point on the last end, however, the other team had last rock. Their skip had a fairly decent shot for a take out to sit two. But he must have choked a bit and they only managed to count 1. So we ended up with a tie game.

I didn't even bother to look at the scoreboard as I knew that we had the least amount of points of any team. This was not exactly ending the year on a winning note, but at least I (and most everyone else) enjoyed ourselves.

For now, most of the members from the curling will be moving over to golf to see if they can do any better wacking the little white ball around. Many of my curling friends are trying to get me to 'go out' and give it a try. As they say, it is just as enjoyable as the curling.

Who knows, after a week or so of nothing to humiliate myself with, I just might take them up on their offer to show me the ropes in golf. I have only been on a golf course once in my life and that was probably 25 years ago or so.

Stranger things can happen.

No Curling

As tomorrow is Monday, I was gearing my mind up to the second last curling game of the season. However I received a phone call from the fellow who is looking after the league and he advised that we were going to have to cancel the draw this Monday.

It appears there is a funeral in town and the hall was going to be used. Mind you he also said that there were already 12 people that had called to advise that they would not be able to curl at any rate. I'm not sure if they are sick, away, or just what. Only that they wouldn't be there. It is darn hard to run a league when that many people are not going to show up.

So our next (and I believe) last draw will be held on March 19th. However, if I remember correctly, last year we also had a sort of funspiel type of thing. But I could be getting it confused with some other curling. At any rate with the weather turning a whole lot nicer of late, I'm sure that most people are going to turn their minds to other things than cold ice and sweeping.

It is always sad to finish up the year though as it is a very nice way to get a bit of exercise and also get out and mingle with a few of the towns folks. Oh well, it is only 9 months or so until next December when the league starts up again.

Another Big W Beside My Name

We tried our hardest to give it away today at the Monday curling draws. We kept letting the other team fill up the house with their rocks. The only good part was that we were fortunate to only allow them to score a single point for the most part.

On one end we did fall horribly apart and gave them a 4 ender. It looked like our luck was fading away, but we fought back and got a 2 ender the next end. The following end we then stole another 2 to get our 4 points back.

It took us to last rock and then our skip came into the house and knocked out one of the opposing teams rocks to allow us to count a 4 ender. We ended up winning the game on that shot.

The nice part was I was playing against the lady that was just a shade better than I was in the standings. With this W under my belt, I can move into second worst curler rather than just the worst curler. But then heck we still have 2 more games to go so anything can (and likely will) happen.

For now I'm just going to savour the extra W beside my name. At least until next Monday.

The Wins Keep Rolling Along

It's a Monday so there was curling once again. The long and short of it was that we had the game in the bag but allowed the other team to come back and tie it up eight all on the 7th end. We had the hammer for the 8th but it was not looking too good coming up to skips rocks. The other team was able to tuck a rock in the four foot and then surrounded the darn thing with other rocks.

Our skip was going to try a 'TV' shot but we really didn't think he would be able to make it. Even he didn't think so. But as it happens in curling at times 'Plan B' came to the forefront and bing, bang, bong and we were sitting with a counter sitting on the edge of the four foot and their rock had moved out of the four foot. We also had lots of surrounding stones guarding the button. The other skip tried his best to get a rebound and knock us out of scoring, but he came up a couple inches too short.

Our skip didn't even bother throwing his last rock (in case we hit something we shouldn't be hitting). The final score was 9 to 8 for us. That means another big 'W' for me in the standings.

I just didn't have the will power to look at the other curlers to see how they made out today. If the other curlers had prevailed and won their games, then I would still be sitting on the bottom with the worst record. Mind you, I just may have the worst record, but at least I don't know that at this point in time.

I think I'll just savour the win for another week before I actually look at the individual listings for the players.

Reality will be here soon enough :(

WhoooHooo It's A Win!!!

Even though it was a holiday in Saskatchewan today, we still had our curling go ahead as normal. I played the late game today, but was at the rink early as I was on lunch detail. When there were no customers waiting for lunch I got to looking at the curling board and the wins/losses of all the members.

As I glanced through the list I saw that I probably had the worst record of anyone who regularly curls. I have only had 1 win under my name since we started curling. I did notice that one other lady only had 2 wins under her belt. She was curling the early game and it looked like she was not going to get another "W" beside her name. So I had some hope with our upcoming game.

We actually had a very good game going for us even though we had given up a 3 ender to the opponents. On the 7th end we actually scored a 4 ender and tied it up coming home. Of course the other team had the hammer, but we were going to give it our best.

Lo and behold we stole 2 on the 8th end and we were victorious. That also meant that I got another 'W' beside my name. I was just thrilled as all get out, but then I looked over at the other lady to relish that we were even in the standings. Wow was I deflated, her team pulled off a tie today so she was now sitting at 2 W's and 1 T with the rest being L for losses. My total is still only showing 2 W beside my name with all the rest being L.

That means that once again I have the worst record for all the main curlers in the Senior Curling League. You know, I just might get a complex soon. But I do have 3 more weeks to go so hopefully I can pull out at least a tie to add to my list. A win would really be great though :-)

One is a Lonely Number

This is Monday so it was curling day once again. As per normal the team I was on gave it a valiant try, however, we came up a couple points too short. It was 7-6 for the other team going into the last end. We had the hammer which should have allowed us to at least tie the game. As per normal, the team didn't bring it to the forefront and we gave up a steal of 1 in the final end. The final score being 8 to 6 for the other folks. Mark that down as one more 'L' beside my name.

That makes it 7 L's and 1 W for my record in the league so far this curling year.

But of course it is all for fun and exercise, so I certainly don't take it personally. When you are playing with different people on your team every week, anything is possible. In my case it is just a bunch of L's beside my name.

So be it :)

It Figures!!

As I was sitting here moaning my sore nose and chest from all the coughing I've been doing, my neighbour Ernie calls me up to see what I'm doing. "Oh nothing much other than half-way dying from a cold". Sorry to hear that he says, but he wanted to thank me for clearing out the back alley and his yard so he can park next to his house and plug his car in. Hey, it doesn't take too long and gives 'big red' a little more running time.

After a bit of small talk, he then pops the question whether I would consider curling for him in the Thursday night league. Now this call was about 5 pm and curling started at 7 pm. My first thought was if he had actually looked at my win/loss record from the Senior League or not, but I kept that to myself having a bit of pride you know. I did question him on the calibre of the curlers noting that I'm not up in the Brier League just yet. He assured me it was more a fun thing than anything else and I would fit in just fine.

I then thought about my cold and all the coughing I had been doing. I was tempted to decline the invite but of course he embellished the story that someone had walked off with his curling gear and one of the other team mates was down holidaying in Florida. This means they would be down to only 2 curlers and you can't have a game that way. So being the softy I am (or is that masochist) I agreed to replace Ernie in the game.

Once I got to the hall and saw some of the curlers showing up I definitely had second thoughts about my decision. These were darn good curlers showing up for the draws. After a few minutes a few other folks showed up that I wasn't familiar with, so I figured I'd already said I would, so I might as well follow through. I explained to the skip that I was only a last minute replacement and I definitely was not a 'Super Curling' type curler. He assured me it would be okay.

We headed out to the ice to get ready to play. Great start, we lost the flip and got to throw first stones. The end went by okay with lots of rocks in play and me sweeping up and down the sheet almost dying from a lack of oxygen. At the completion of all the rocks there were 2 yellow stones counting. I had to rub my eyes though at first and give myself a pinch as our team were actually throwing yellows rocks so that meant we were up 2 to 0.

The second end completed and we had 3 more counters sitting in the rings. This definitely was a GREAT game going on as far as I was concerned. In actual fact, the other team wasn't doing so swell even though they have played together for a while. The rocks just were not going where they wanted them to go this evening.

The score after 6 complete ends of play was 12-0 for our team. At this point, the other team conceded and we got to depart the ice surface. Now I'm not usually one to just throw in the towel when some good exercise is available, but I was all for it this night. I had drank down about half a glass full of cough medicine (none of those sissy little teaspoons for me) before the curling started and I hadn't done too badly coughing thoughout the game, but the reserves just weren't there. I was plumb tuckered and more than willing to call it a night.

We shook hands and everyone retired to the local watering hole to quench their thirst. Sadly, I was not one of those that attended to 'Buck's Bar' that evening. Sam and I got in the truck and we headed for home. Enough was enough. I needed some rest and fast. It was either that or I was going to fall down from exhaustion.

Too bad I can't use this game for my 'Senior League' curling. Two "W's" are a way more impressive looking than just a lonely one "W" to my thinking.

Curling Day

As today was a Monday, I had curling again. Of course last week was a first in that the team I was on actually won the game. This wrecked my perfect record of losses though, but then I thought I might just be on a roll.

Just prior to the start of the game the skip came up to me and told me I was going to be the 3rd today. I normally play the 2nd stones and know diddly squat about what a 3rd does. With the flu going around, the 3rd decided 10 minutes prior to the start of the game to call in that he was sick and wouldn't be coming. Of course this didn't leave us any time to call in one of the spares, so we went with only 3 players for the game. The lead and myself got to throw 3 rocks each end instead of the normal two.

The first end came together quite nicely and we scored 2 points (almost had 3). It looked like we just may have a chance of staying in front of the other team. On the 2nd end we scored another point to be up 3-0. However, on the 3rd end, they scored 3 points. Then on the 4th we scored another point and the score was 4 to 3. On the 5th end there were all kinds of rocks in play. Darn if at the finish of the end there were 4 counters. Sadly it was for the other team. So now of course we were in a big hole at 7 to 4 for the other team.

We oned them on ends 5, and 6 and they scored one on the 7th. The score was 8-6 going into the last end with our team having the hammer. We put our rocks right where the skip wanted them to allow us to get extra scores, but sadly we only ended up counting one on the end. The final score was 8-7 for the other team.

But at least I feel better now that my record is back on track. It was bothering me to have that one big 'W' under my belt. My hat was getting a bit tight and all that so it was gratifying in getting back to where I belong, 6 Losses and 1 Win.

Boy did I have a short roll, however, being that we were one team member short meant that we had to sweep harder to get the same result. That meant more exercise for me and of course that is the whole point of going out for curling.

Exercise and fun, that is the reason for the 'Senior Curling League'.

Finally A Win

As it is Monday once again I had curling this morning. Lo and behold I finally get to show a 'W' beside my name. Mind you, the game certainly was not won on my skills today. I couldn't get my weight down at all. One rock would be too light and then the next rock would be too heavy. It just wouldn't come together.

It was 7 to 6 for our team on the last end. We had the hammer which was a good thing. On the 8th end I finally was able to place both of my rocks where the skip wanted them. We ended up scoring another point on the 8th with our skip not throwing his last rock.

I just could not for the life of me get things going today. But now my perfect record is broken. 1 Win and 5 Losses. I guess I'll have to give it another try next Monday to see how the wind blows. Who knows, I may be on a roll now...

I doubt it, but you can always hope :)

Perfect Record

I was up bright and early this morning so I could head down to the curling rink for the Monday curling match. This was to be my fifth game since we started curling on December 11th.

Today we started out great guns with a 4 ender in the 2nd followed by a 3 ender and then a single. It would seem that the game was going our way. But as it normally happens, the plan fell apart and we just couldn't make any shots for the rest of the game. They didn't beat us too terribly badly, but the other team did come out on top.

So that makes it a perfect score for me. Five games played, five games lost :(

Of course the curling is just for the fun and for a bit of exercise. Actually I find it is such a wonderful way to meet fellow citizens of the town and vice versa. I don't really care what the score is.

I do have a few games to go prior to the end of the season, so I'm hoping I will be able to come out victorious in at least one game for the year.

Time will tell.