Still Living

I sure haven't been around the computer for the last week or so. As it turns out, we ended up with 24 teams for the Legion bonspiel. That is a way better than the 7 teams that we had a week ago Sunday. Mind you, that is still down from previous years, but even in the cities they are having a hard time getting people out to curl this year.

So with some last minute running around on Friday, we got the 'spiel going Friday evening. That meant getting to the bar and getting our liquid refreshments picked up and then stocking the fridges, etc. After it was all said and done I got home at 4:00 a.m. Saturday morning. It was a very long day. I don't think my eyes felt that gritty since I last worked a night shift in Regina.

I was up at 9:00 a.m. and down to the community center to get the bar set up for the Saturday festivities. We opened up the bar again at 1:00 p.m. with the local curling club manning the bar, however, I was in the area at all times in case they needed something. Of course I had to run to the hotel and replenish the beer and ice supply every now and then.

On Saturday night we had RJ and The Boys come in and play for the evening. As per normal, the band was excellent. Our crowd was down from previous years. It seemed after the great roast beef supper we had, most people went home or in some cases over to the local watering hole. With about 30 minutes left in the dance people finally started to get up and dance. The only problem was that the crowd had thinned out considerably by this time. It was decided that we wouldn't extend the band for an extra set, so the band wound up playing at around 12:30 a.m.

The bar stayed open until 2:00 a.m. with yours truly manning the counter once again. At 2:00 a.m. we still had about 8 people sitting sipping and swapping tales, but at about 2:10 a.m. they were gone. I was able to clean up and restock the fridge etc and headed home to work on the expenditure figures. Once again it was right around 4:00 a.m. when I finally found a pillow.

I got to sleep in a few extra minutes on Sunday and was back at the hall by 10:30 a.m. to get ready for the Sunday crowd. Actually Sunday was a good day for the sales at the bar (thanks Larry :-) ). Much better than Saturday was for sure. It was looking darn right glum at the end of Saturday night, but with the Sunday sales we might actually make a profit on the 'spiel.

We were able to close down everything by 9:00-9:15 p.m. and head for home. Once again I got to play with the numbers to see how we were doing. I finished up just prior to midnight and took a walk down to the bank to make my final deposit. It is nice that the bank is only a block away from the house so it didn't take too long. A nice little 3-5 minute walk and a quick deposit and back home again. I immediately crawled into bed and was fast asleep within minutes.

I had to get up early once again on Monday as I had to curl in the senior's league. Prior to heading to curling I had to make up a loaf of sandwiches for the noon lunch as it was my turn to supply some food for the lunch. I figured I'd serve the noon lunch, do my 2 hour curling game and then start on cleaning up with returning the unused liquor, beer etc. Thankfully one of the other Legion members was in the hall having a morning coffee and he offered to handle the return of the beer bottle empties, return the unused beer and liquor and return the extras to the Legion Hut. Man did I jump at his offer.

I helped him load up his truck with as much as we could and helped out in the kitchen until my game time. By the end of my game at 2:30 p.m. all the returning was done and I was free to head home which I certainly did. It was sure nice to just sit down on a comfortable chesterfield rather than a hall chair for a couple of hours. In between answering a few phone calls about how we made out at the 'spiel, etc, I got to actually watch a bit of TV once again.

As I was sitting watching the boob tube I only fell asleep 2 or 3 times before I got smart enough to find my pillow for the night. Both Sandra and I got to sleep in until just around 9:00 a.m. and then we got ready and headed into the city. With the oncoming blizzard coming our way, I wanted to get to the city today so that I could replenish the fridge as well as pick up our prescriptions for the oncoming month.

The roads in and out of the city were just excellent today. I didn't see one bit of ice on either side of the road. The blowing and drifting snow the last couple of days didn't stick onto the highway which was great. With the strike of our SGEU highway workers going on at present, I'm sure hoping that the next couple days will be a repeat for the highways. However, I did hear on the news that the union was going to allow the highway workers to return to work if the blizzard actually started to cause problems. Nice of them to think of the traveling public with the strike going on.

With the trip into the city behind us, we are ready to hibernate for the next couple of days as the blizzard and then the cold sets in. I do have a computer customer to visit tomorrow (Wednesday), a few more bills to pay from the 'spiel, but nothing too taxing. Of course I can walk to everything so I don't have to worry about driving around.

It will be nice to sit back and catch up on a few books I've been reading but haven't had a chance to open lately, maybe read some of my numerous email messages that I have acquired, and just generally get caught up with what is happening in the world. I think just sitting back and just taking it easy for a couple days will be great.

Then it will be time to head out and tackle the snow on the sidewalks, driveway again. Oh yes, just as I'm about to publish this blog I looked outside and the snow is starting to come down quite heavily. I'm ready for it so bring it on!