Philgrim's Blogress » Sports and Leisure

This expresses my sentiments about the vuvuzela

Phil — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 01:38:56 +0000

(original here)

That would be Green Week, not Blue and Red Week

Phil — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:27:37 +0000

I own a bright red denim shirt that usually hangs in my closet for weeks without being worn. I like it, but since my tastes run more to earth tones, I usually ignore it.

However today I was feeling bold so I donned it, together with a pair of blue trousers.

I was halfway through my day at the office before someone pointed out that Premier Wall, in recognition of the Saskatchewan Roughriders going to the Grey Cup, has declared this Green Week, encouraging everyone to wear Rider Green.

And then another co-worker, who originally hails from Montreal and still cheers for the Alouettes, pointed out that I was wearing the Als’ colours.

I didn’t go home to change, but I tried to keep a low profile for the remainder of the day.

Now to check my closet for tomorrow’s attire … I wonder if khaki is close enough to Rider Green?

This made me smile

Phil — Fri, 08 May 2009 04:34:22 +0000

Cousin Ken emailed me this picture today.

I can’t say that spending the summer of 1978 working on the drop sorter in a sawmill in Upper Fraser, B.C. was a high point of my life. However a couple of weekend trips with guys from the sawmill, including my cousins Dave (holding the “Wanna Party?” sign in this picture) and Ken (he took the picture), gave me some good memories.

This picture was taken on a hiking trip to Berg Lake, one of the most popular hiking trails in the Canadian Rockies, along the flank of Mount Robson. The woman and child were tourists from Germany. As you can tell by their footwear, they didn’t hike the entire trail. The little girl doesn’t seem to know what to think of this motley crew.

More street hockey

Phil — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 04:08:53 +0000

Last year I put up some pictures of Janet playing in the annual street hockey tournament of Saskatchewan Rivers Schoold Division staff. Here are a couple of pics from this year’s tournament (the PACI team fought valiantly, and won one of their three games, but didn’t make the playoffs).

On the Auntie-I-Over injured list

Phil — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 00:32:25 +0000

Auntie-I-Over* can be a physically punishing game. Most of the injuries that I’ve seen in my long Auntie-I-Over career were purple bruises from being beaned with a sponge ball. Perhaps the most memorable was the time my big brother Marv was literally knocked to the ground by a hornet sting to the forehead while rounding the back of our old house at Shell Lake. None of us had noticed the big nest under the eaves. Of course being Marv he didn’t cry, but we could all tell that he was in pain. (I was secretly glad because of the purple welt he had recently given me).

My most recent Auntie-I-Over injury happened yesterday, when my middle-aged body rounded the corner of the garage under a full head of steam, chased by a nimble kid with a ball in her hand, and my feet contacted a patch of wet muddy grass and my backside was suddenly lower than my feet. I probably should have just let my soft bottom take the impact, but I tried to break my fall with my right hand, almost dislocating my shoulder as a result.

Luckily I have Ibuprofen.

I won’t be playing Auntie-I-Over again till this athletic injury heals.

* FOOTNOTE:

For the uninitiated, Auntie-I-Over is a game dating back to before the invention of the T.V. It is played with two teams who stand on opposite sides of a low building and toss a ball over the roof. A throw is signalled by calling “Auntie-I-Over”. A failed throw (roll-back) is signalled by calling “Pig’s Tail”. If the ball is caught before hitting the ground, the members of the receiving team run around the building and try to tag members of the other team with the ball. If everyone keeps their hands behind their backs, the victims need to make a snap decision on which way to run – who has the ball? Throwing the ball is permitted, but head shots aren’t. Tagged members switch teams, and play continues until a team has been completely decimated.

A quick Google search reveals that the game has other names, including Annie-I-Over, Annie-Annie, and Auntie-Auntie, and that some variants signal unsuccessful throws with “Auntie Come Back” or other phrases that probably make more sense than “Pig’s Tail”.

I don’t want to talk about it

Phil — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 02:39:37 +0000

Lions thump Riders and advance to West final

Worrisome statistics

Phil — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:57:03 +0000

The Saskatchewan Roughriders will be hosting the B.C. Lions this Saturday in the CFL western conference semifinal. I agree with the CBC’s prediction of a Saskatchewan win, but I can’t help worrying about this statement:

…..

Worrisome stat: Saskatchewan has thrown the most interceptions this season. B.C. has picked off the most. Hmmm.

……

Will we see the good Michael Bishop, or the bad Michael Bishop? If Bishop throws a bunch of interceptions early on, will coach Miller pull him in favour of Durant or Jyles? We’ll see.

My Johnson-red

Phil — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:58:45 +0000

The classified ad caught my attention:

MOVING SALE: Shop vac, Johnson-red chainsaw, leather couch, leather reclining chairs, oak dining set 36″ HDTV P.A. sound system, queen bed with frame 2 mad river canoes, scroll saw Call xxx-xxxx.

As much as I would like to have a Mad River canoe, it would be a hard purchase to justify considering the current state of our family finances. And leather furniture would be nice, but when Janet heard that the colour was teal, that idea was put to rest.

However ever since buying our woodlot last fall, I’ve been keeping my eye out for a good quality used chainsaw, so I phoned about the Johnson-red.

Here are a couple of pics of my most recent purchase.

I’ve cut some firewood in my backyard with my new/old Johnson-red this week, and it runs nicely. This Saturday, if the weather holds, I’m planning to spend a day at Shell Lake cutting trails on our woodlot, to really put it to the test.

Ice fishing

Phil — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 02:29:39 +0000

After our recent cold weather, it was great to get a warm weekend. Fiona, Michel, and I took advantage of it by heading up to Little Shell Lake yesterday for a few hours of ice-fishing with Marv. The fish weren’t very cooperative (we only caught four small pike), but just being out of the city was good for the soul.

I’ve uploaded a few pictures to a gallery … to view them, click on the pic below.

Prince Albert’s newest millionaire

Phil — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:48:36 +0000

Darwin evolves into an instant millionaire
Brad Ziemer, Vancouver Sun

He shoots, he scores. Big time.

Prince Albert, Sask., sawmill worker Darwin Head won $1 million in the Chevrolet Million Dollar Shootout during the first-period intermission of Wednesday night’s Vancouver Canuck-Colorado Avalanche game at GM Place. …

… etc.

Longer clip here.