Thursday February 4, 2010-Haiti relief

Hello faithful reader.

Last Sunday, January 31st, Pause Awhile Equestrian Centre in Stouffville,
held a fund raiser for the Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti. The plan was to get interested riders to participate in a fun horse show, with raffles and a silent auction.

A number of interested riders showed up, as did a lot of nice prizes to be won or raffled, by not only parents of the riders, bit local businesses as well.

The show was a pretty simple thing, two divisions, a Princess division and a Queen Bee division. Classes included a spoon and egg, Simon say;s, musical ride and a Handy Hunter(make your own course of jumps). The raffles and auction went well, and the riders all had a lot of fun.

In all, over $7800 Canadian was raised and presented to Mr John Chang of the Red Cross. This is John in the centre of the picture above.

Well done every one. For only a week to prepare you all did great, and i had a blast taking the photos for you.

Thanks for listening'

DJB

December 19, 2009-Run Forest, Run

Hello faithful reader.

Well December 17th, 2009 will hold a special place in my memory bank, as long as it holds out i suppose. I was hired at MMM Dec 17, 1973 and the Olympic torch for the 2010 winter games passed through our town between 9am and 10am Devember 17, 2009. However, as with both items, they are now long gone. I was "retired" by MMM June 8, 2007, and the flame is now well west of here.
It was nice to see all of the kids and adults out for this. I had no idea we had that many unemployed here in town.

Just kidding, I'm sure most of the adults were legitimately sick that day.:-)

All of the public schools allowed the students to walk down to main street and watch the runners. It was a great feeling. Lots of flag waving and hoots and hollers. That may not mean much to our friends to the south, but keep in mind, we are usually a quiet, well mannered lot, but we do like to show our pride for our country once in a while.

I can take or leave the winter or summer games, but i do like the hockey. Probably some of the best games i watch are during the winter games. More at stake, not sure.

Well that's it for now, and thanks for listening

DJB

December 3, 2009-The store calendar

Hello faithful reader.

The CFO works part time at a local pet food store, and thought it would be a nice idea to put together a calendar for the owner. I already have a number of worthy photos, but she wanted to include a few of the store cat.

Bella does not wake up well, nor get ready for work in a hurry, as you can see.

Thanks for listening

DJB

Monday November 23, 2009-Run away.

Hello faithful reader.

Had a chance to get out and do a small photo drive on Sunday. Not
to far from home, but i chanced upon this scene.
I saw the cat in a field of geese and had to stop, it was to good to be true.

Cat saw me, scared the geese and this is the one shot i was able to get. Panned at unknown settings.
Not sure who was more scared of whom.

Thanks for listening

DJB

November 4, 2009- I like fall.

Hello faithful reader.

I'm a big fan of the fall season. I almost started a Face book group, that's how much i like fall.

So Dave, whats with fall, eh.

Well, i like the cooler temp's, so i can breath. I like the crisp mornings and the frost on the windshields(I would have said pumpkins but they did not grow to well this year), and, I like the colours this time of year.The fall colours always make me smile. I love to drive around and see the different shades of yellow, orange and red mixed in with the evergreens and tamaracks.
My birthday shows up(every year can't figure that out) around the time the weather starts to turn rainy and nasty. I get a bit depressed from that, but only for a while. A good photo drive usually does the trick.

The colours are just about gone, but i managed these two shots last week.

Thanks for listening

DJB

August 12, 2009-New family addition.

Hello faithful reader.

Well, after two years plus of hanging around each other, buying a boat and recently a house together, my Nephew on the wife's side, asked his Julie to marry him on August 6th, 2009.

Even having known him for two years plus, she still said yes.

That Simpson charm works again. LOL

Congrats's to both of you from Me, Liz and Erin(oh and the three cats)

Thanks for listening

DJB

July 22, 2009, Thrashing day

Hello faithful reader.

Well, this years annual plowing and thrashing demo took place, once again, at the Lewis farm in Markham Ontario, on July 22. This year one new piece of equipment was added, a horse drawn potato planter.
Oh i forgot to mention, this is a day for display and use of horse drawn farm equipment and early gas powered thrashers and tractors. The equipment has been purchased and repaired over the years and a group of local and not so local farmers put them to use every year.
Small crowds ten years ago, the day attracts people from all over, and now a crowd of 150-200 is the norm.

Pictured is Ted English and his team pulling the wheat cutter.

Thanks for listening

DJB