Granny calling….I am a day or so behind, we have been busy, busy, busy and yesterday I decided I would type up the blog as we were driving to MooseJaw only to find that the netbook batteries were flat and we had no way of charging them up in the van. So first, to take you all back to Sunday.

We had some rain in the night and the deck was quite wet in the morning, the sun was hot though, so the water soon burned away. One by one everyone got up, slowly, after the huge supper and beer etc we all consumed at Joan and Henry’s. Katy had already left for work at Smitty’s restaurant so we had a lazy breakfast. Aunty and me discussed what we needed to buy at the store for supper and Martin and Uncle chatted about the previous night, we had great fun and ‘the boys’ (Henry and Dave) had promised to come round and help Uncle to get rid of a dead tree at the side of the house. It was 11am though and no sign of a phone call yet? I wonder what time they stayed around the fire pit until. This may have a bearing on whether or not they turned up, if they turned up at all. Sure enough at noon, there they were, the tools were out and Dave was up the ladder sawing away like a lumberjack! Henry, Uncle and Martin, holding the ladder, taking bit of wood to the truck (Henry will use the wood for the fire pit) and generally all mucking in to get the job done. It’s nice to see that Aunty and Uncle have such great friends and these people are always ready to help out if needed. Aunty and me pulled some weeds out of the flower beds and swept around a bit and before we knew, the tree was gone and the boys were all out the back on the deck drinking cold beer, which Dave had brought in a cool bag.

Aunty and I headed for the store and left them to it, we had guests coming for supper and needed pork chops, potatoes and salad etc. First stop Robertson’s Farm shop, we bought Garden Potatoes, Salad Onions and Baby cucumbers and sat and ate ice cream under the porch until a few too many Mozzies started to gather, a quick exit was called for and we got back in the car to head for the Store, on the way we passed Joan’s House and ‘the boys’ were still there, probably drinking more beer and unloading the wood into Henry’s yard. At the store, we looked for aunties sister, who works there but we couldn’t fine her, so we got the groceries and headed home. When we got there, Helen and Bill, (aunties Mother and her boyfriend) were already waiting, these two are amazing, they’re both 87 years old, still driving and they go dancing at The Legion, whenever they can. They decided as we were later than they expected, to go off dancing for a couple of hours while they waited for supper at around 7pm.

Tom arrived and had a beer on the deck and shortly after Gail (Aunties sister) with Wilbur the Pug; he was a lovely little dog with a great personality. We barbecued the chops, Grandma (Helen) had brought Perogies and Gail had brought ‘Drumstick Cake. Katy and Tom decided to prepare the rainbow Trout and there was much discussion about how to chop off his head’ Grandma knew how to do it and showed them how not to waste the fish. It was stuffed with onion, tomatoes and lemon salt, wrapped in foil and put on the barbecue. It was a feast and we were all suitably stuffed afterwards…by the way, I don’t usually eat desert, but Gail’s Drumstick Cake is to die for!’ she also makes great chocolate chip cookies, good job I don’t see Gail too often, I would not be able to resist!

After a couple of hours on the deck, we couldn’t stick to bugs any more and finished off the evening in the house, we are always going to get an early night, but it hasn’t happened yet! Holidays are great….

Monday morning, we got up earlier than we have been getting up and the plan was to leave for MooseJaw by 10, Katy had to take her car seat to the Garage to get a hole in the upholstery fixed and we got our stuff together to go the see the MooseJaw tunnels. We all piled in the van and I took up my usual perch in the back, I like this seat, I get a panoramic view, room to stretch out and I can snooze without bothering anyone else. It will take 2 hours to get there and we are going to meet Shannon at Smitty’s for lunch. Katy then joined Shannon and we all drove into town to go and visit the tunnels where Al Capone is alleged to have carried out his bootlegging and laid low when he was on the run from the law. We bought tickets for both tours; the second tour was an insight into the life of Chinese Immigrants brought to Canada to work on the railroad. In tour one, we were all bootleggers and actors took us around the tunnels and described how money changed hands, how during prohibition the booze was bought and sold on the black market and how 97% alcohol could kill you and that al Capone once had his tonsils lanced using half a bottle of bootleg whisky as an anaesthetic! The actors were great; Aunty was nicknamed Gidget for the tour and was put in charge of the ‘hush money’! We laughed all through it, it was great fun.

The second tour was led by a lovely lady called Ashley and was set in a Chinese Laundry owned by ‘Mr Burrows’. It was acted out by Ashley and she narrated the story as well as changing voice to the stern lady who dealt with us ‘coolies’, these people earned 35cents a day and paid half of it back to the owners in rent. Life was tough and a lot of people got hooked on opium to escape the misery. It was really informative, totally different from the first tour and really well done.

We got ice cream, Tim Horton’s Coffee, met up with Katy, who couldn’t get a haircut, said Bye to Shannon and Uncle drove us the 2 hours back to Saskatoon. The evening was lazy, we mooched around the kitchen, I trimmed Katy’s hair and at 11.15 it looked like we were having that early night. I said I’m having vodka and tonic before bed, Uncle said I think I’ll join you…OMG, 2 bottles of vodka (50 proof vodka) later and at 04.40 am we went to bed just as the sun came up…the night was a blur, but we laughed, we sang, we drank some more and I have videos and pictures to incriminate everyone at a later date, but not for public viewing so I may have to be choosy what I post! Another fantastic day….even if I am a tad hung-over….to be continued….Granny 