December 1, 2024

 This completes my resolution for the year 2024. It's been a good year, I always have a good year. Betty Jo came out to the province earlier in the year, we visited with her and Marcia in Saskatoon. I was able to help Don and Vic plant a portion of their garden. Marcia also came for a short visit early in October and gifted me a card that sits above my computer desk, I'm looking at it now, well, not right now, when I'm not typing. I can't look away when I'm not typing, this post would look like this...icufyg smsryf gryd d yrg hryyrh ryye7. That was supposed to say "I could maybe get a few letters right". Looks like I overestimated my ability.

 There was an event in September that I remember as well. Leonard sets up a memorial golf tournament for his friend Kelly Hamilton, this was it's second year. Thirty six teams, 144 players sign up for the event, the perfect number for a golf tournament. Actually there were 37 teams, 148 players because Leonard couldn't say no to a final group. It seemed to me that each of these guys and girls have a good friendship with Len and willingly share that friendship with each of his brothers. I hadn't golfed since I played in 2015 on a course in St. Andrews with Dave, Andy and John. Andy taught me one of my favorite words "numpty",(he was referring to himself, for good reason). There were a lot of words in the conversation I didn't understand but I remember that one. Let me get back to the tournament in Regina. I had strangers, to me, who would introduce themselves and tell me how much they liked the Antonini brothers. Besides feeling honored, I thought to myself "you should meet the sisters". Mike, Rob, Lou and I made up the foursome. The real highlight of the tournament, and what made it so special for me, was I got to spend the day riding and playing along side my brother Lou, I have never enjoyed a round of golf more. It was a very special day.

Best of the season to everyone!

Loved

November 1 2024

 Wow! This one almost snuck by me. I have nothing prepared so if I ramble on and say stupid things just call me Donald, if I ramble on and make no sense call me Kamala. 

We had 32 Halloween trick or treaters last night. There are 7 kids from the street we look forward to seeing. We had Mario and Luigi along with Princess Peach and the policeman from the Mario brothers Nintendo game. We had Gus from the house to the east of us dressed as a firefighter and the kids from the house to the west were the Hulk and Minnie Mouse they also brought a cousin with them who was also Minnie. The grandmother makes their costumes every year. 

Deanie and I have finished putting things away and preparing the yard for winter. Soon it will be time to hibernate. One of my friends phoned yesterday and was bitching about the weather and threatening to move to B.C. He threatens every year and every year I think he might do it. It will be like in the show Good Will Hunting, I'll drive by his place one day and there he will be...gone. I love that phrase, I first heard it from my brother Lou.

Best wishes to all

Loved

October 1 2024

 Sometimes when you sit down to write, your mind comes up blank, that's the case today. Although, I could tell you about last week, in a heavy rain, I had a waterfall over the edge of my eaves rather than a steady flow out the spout. There was a bit of a lake forming beside my neighbors house so I thought I should do something about it. I could tell you about setting up the ladder and clearing leaves from my eaves and the satisfying burst of debris out the end of the downspout. Then I would have to tell you about the loss of footing and sudden fall, and of course I would have to explain how my chin hitting each rung on the way down slowed my descent. I would have to mention the unsightly bruise, I can't really hide it because I'm not sure there's anything I dislike more than facial hair. I could tell that story but there's a chance my older sister Betty Jo would ring me up to scold me for going up on a ladder. Doesn't matter if it is raining or not she does not like me on a ladder, the rain does make it worse. Yeah, I better not tell the story.

I got nothing. 

Loved

Sept 1 2024

 So the other night I had a dream. My house was on fire so I walked out to the sidewalk to watch it burn, no, I didn't leave Deanie in the house, she was in New York city with a friend. Some guy walks up and stands beside me. "My house is on fire". I tell him. "I can help you put that out". He says. I can hear the fire truck siren but I know it's not what he means and I know who he is. He's not threatening and I'm not afraid, in fact I'm kind of at ease. "I don't think I want help from you". I say. "Why is that?". He replies. "Well you're kind of evil". I challenge. He smiles at my challenge, "Human beings choose to be evil, they use me as an excuse". "What about guys like Hitler and Stalin?". I asked. "Mao, Pot, Vlad, Khan". He continued, "Are you their judge, they didn't need my help". I decided to take a different course. "You tempted Jesus" I stated. Once again he smiled, "Jesus and I were friends. Let me ask you a question. What is a human being without temptation and trial?" Damn it, I had to wake up, I didn't like the way this guy was making me feel.

Loved

9/9

August 1 2024

 I used to have a saying, " I'm only passionate about one thing, yard work, I hate it with a passion". We had a big fir tree in front of the living room window, which nothing grew under, and it stretched out over the neighbors driveway so much so that they would ask us to cut it back every year. We decided to cut it down and remove the stump. The immediate benefit was an abundance of sunlight streaming into the house. The drawback was a large portion of the yard was just dirt covered in pine needles. I would have to dig it up and remove some roots before trying to grow a new lawn. The neighbor's dad owns a construction company and he was redoing his own back yard, he was so thankful we had removed the tree, he drove his skid steer around to the front with a 6 foot wide roto tiller attachment and made a few passes on our yard. We decided to plant potatoes to improve the soil for a lawn later on. The potatoes were a big hit in the neighborhood and I was soon know as "farmer Ed" even though I had no idea what I was doing ( luckily Deanie did ), I had a black thumb, not because I couldn't grow anything, I had hit it so many times as a construction worker it was actually black. Any way the potato patch has become a full garden over the years and it has made yard work not only bearable but enjoyable. 

Have a great day

Loved

P.S. Happy anniversary Dave and Louise

July 1 2024

 HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!!!

June 1 2024

 I think I can now say I’ve seen everything. Deanie’s dad was a farmer but she also had a number of aunts and uncles who were also farmers. I guess it should come as no surprise, as the younger generations took over, the operations would become modernized. One of her cousin’s son has taken it to another step. The farm, originally established by uncle Walter, is just west of the old #54 between Regina Beach and the number 11. As we were driving up to the farm I quickly noticed a drone flying around, he used it to check the property. He showed me a tractor that worked by GPS, just push a button and it did all the work on its own. I noticed some chickens running around that somehow looked odd and he tried to explain to me that through some kind of genetic engineering and using some of the cloning technology they were able to produce a chicken with a third leg, it was way over my head and I thought it was just a growth, but watching closer I could see they actually used it, they moved a bit erratically but they definitely used it. It came off a little Dr. Frankenstein to me and I asked why. He said the fast food industry. He figured the chickens would be sought after because chicken legs are so popular. I had heard of genetically modified crops, GMOs and of course I know about hormone use to promote growth in animals and some people are against both so my next question was if the fast food industry embraced the idea or not and if they had any feed back from the drumstick eating public about the taste or texture. He said “ No, we haven’t been able to catch one yet”.

P.S. if I caught any of you with this you can blame Tony, it’s one of his. He tried it on me but by that time I had heard so many I could tell he was joking because his lips were moving. 

That was Tony

Loved

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