Of all things....lassie bread goes missin'

This was too good not to post....now, try googling lassie bread and see what you come up with. I was tempted to just lassie a piece myself and take a pic but the homemade bread is short around here (no pun intended Graham)....That GO certainly has a way with words...here is no exception.

Dan Rumbolt Loses His Lassie Bread
     What an executive meeting we had at Don Cormier's last evening.   I'd say when word gets out about our five star executive meetings, we'll have to put the brakes on nominations  at the AGM.  I can see it now, "no more that 23 wishful souls may be nominated per executive position".  Now it's wasn't Dougie's stimulating agenda that made the meeting so delicious last evening, it was Linda Cormier's tasty offering  that won the palates of all in attendance.  Everyone stuffed themselves with fresh homemade bread and molasses and all the tea ya wanted to drink.  It's shockin' how good it was!  
        Imagine ..... you drive out to Noel's Pond and walk in the door at Don's and the aroma of fresh bread hits ya right between the nostrils.  And there sitting on the table is the culprit, hot fresh loaves with a thick brown crust just waiting to be gobbled.  I almost didn't make it to the living room where the meeting was held.  Anne and Diane Hanratty had to push me out of the kitchen and Linda, with breadknife in hand, had to stand at guard between me and the loaves or I would have devoured them all.  It was cruel how they treated me!  Not one morsel could I have!
        Throughout the meeting no one could concentrate. Everyone was drooling ... it was so bad that Don had to pass out paper towels to dam the flow. Shockin' I tell you .... what a mess we were in ... we were just like "Pav'loaves'" dogs. And as the meeting neared the final slam of the gavel, it got worse 'cause Linda put on the kettle and that did it!  The purr of the kettle made everyone realize that a lunch was imminent!  Linda WAS going to offer everyone a slice of bread as soon as Dougie said "Meeting adjourned!" We were not disappointed.  
        Now I must confess .... me being a Cape Bretoner, I thought I knew it all there was to know about eating bread and molasses but I was taught a tasty trick last evening.   According to Carter Powers, who is an authority on eating and manners, I was told that one is supposed to put the molasses on the bread first and then cover it with butter..... Well, well, well, what a delightful method for engorging oneself!  So ya saturate the bread with lassie and then slather an 1/8 inch (4 mm for the  metrically inclined)  of butter on top. Yes, what a feed we had!  And all the muffins ya could eat toooooo.   Don't be talkin'!
        But alas, I do have one sin to confess ... Ya see Linda gave me a few slices of lassied bread for Dan Rumbolt ...'cause Dan sorta likes Linda's fresh buns (of bread)  .... choice of words is everything ...  so yes, Linda lassied up two fat slices for Dan and wrapped them up tightly and I shoved them in me pocket with all good intention of delivering the goods today ... But on the way home I got overcome with a virulent desire to consume the entire contents of my left pocket and was therefore forced to pull over by the cemetery and devour Linda's flavourfull offering.  
        I deleted his (Dan's name) from this email list so don't tell him about his long gone treat or he'll be savage and he'll never offer me one of Betty's delicious banana muffins again.   Dan usually has a store of delicious muffins on our ski/kayak/bike tours!   Now schhussss!   
        So .. make sure that you race out and  get nominated at the next AGM  and you too can have a "fresh slice of life" complete with molasses.  Thanks Linda and Don ... what a feed!  Roy Bungay and Howard Skinner ... ya missed out!   But now Howard ... Anne Marie has wicked date squares and don't you forget it on our next wood cutting party! 
GO

SNOWY OWL SUCCESS

The Snowy Owl went ahead this past Saturday and with great succes.Many people came out to show their support FUN, FITNESS AND FUNDRAISING FOR the HEART AND STROKE FOUNDATION at Whaleback Nordic.
This written by Graham before the Snowy Owl: Half of the registration fees will be donated to Heart and Stroke Foundation. The Snowy Owl is is very recreational in nature with a great emphasis on participation. You may ski any course you wish and you will be assigned to a team. Several traditional teams will rise from the old Snowy Owl File, but I don't have the file at within reach of the keyboard so you may have to wait for the details But wait now ... Jill Benoit use to lead the Stephenville crowd ... I can't rightly remember their name ....it was some weird name like "Slippery Eels" ... or "Stephenville Smelts" ... or "Stephenville and South Snoozers" ... I don't know, but I am sure I will be notified. Whatever the case, it's hardly worth it for Stephenville and South gang to bother coming out to the friendly competition, 'cause the Kippens and West Toutons (have to check my file to make sure name is correct) will strding to victory with the greatest of ease. In fact. It has been told to me that since Jill Benoit carried the Olympic Torch ... she has become the functioning Olympic Tourch Queen of Burgeo and is therefore required to make numerous appearances at town celebrations. So Jill might actually be booked for the weekend, and hence not available to lead the verbal charge. I heard she's in Grey River this coming weekend opening up a new coyote farm. If you are a fast skier ya might want to do the REAL Snowy Owl ... which requires you to speed around the Snowy Owl trail and you're time is recorded. No prizes for winning though. It's about participation ... not about your speed. So if you want a prize or a medal for participating you won't get one. There is a Snowy owl Cup for the winning team though ... yep ... and it's a nice one too. Team scores are accumulated by measuring the length of your skis ... so if you have a 200 cm ski then you record that 200 points for your team. So drag your friends along ... you don't have to be a member to ski in it ... support the Heart and Stroke Foundation and help us raise some funds to put fuel in the groomer. And also introduce some of your friends to cross country skiing. More later! When I can lay my hands on the Snowy owl file.

Graham Oliver.

IS it your Imagination Playing Tricks on you????

Some where around Jan 30
The Trails have subtly Changed ... It is not Your Imagination

Several people have asked me if the Kamakazie and Herringbone Hill have changed ... Apparently they do not seem as steep to some skiers. Please rest assured that it is not your imagination running wild. They have been sculpted by an excavator to make them more user friendly for beginners. Talking about excavators, I have to ask forgiveness for the mess made at the 1.5 km mark on the trail. Totally my fault ... it was late in the evening when I was walking out in front of the excavator after completing Dorm's Turnpike and doing work at the intersection. The excavator "made tracks" so to speak. These should have been smoothed out, but they weren't. The foreman fell down in his job. Ya think Dorm over in DOHA would have looked after that! Shockin' how he's shirking his responsibilities. ..... Once we get enough snow we will try our best to eliminate the obstacles that humps of bog created by moving snow over them. Next fall these humps will be eliminated either by my pick and shovel, or a machine will do the job should I fail in my leveling quest. "Mea Culpa" (is that spelt right?... ya know what it is though ... it's Latin boy ... or is it Gaelic? No not Gaelic!

G.O.

More Signage Needed!!!!

More Signage to Keep You on Track

For years I have been hearing stories about being confused on the trails. Jack White has hand carved and erected 60 or more signs and even with all this direction we have people still going astray on occassion. (yes, Graham and sometimes they are from Burgeo). So with Jack's help we are going to try and put up a few more signs to help the orientationally challenged. Tomorrow we hope to erect sign posts at Grand Central and at the intersection below the pentagon. The first signs to be erected will be "Oliver's Twist" ... no you fool, not because the name Oliver is on it; but because people can't find that loop. It's a relatively new trail so we need more signs so people can find it. We will also put up a few more Raven's Ridge signs because our maps have Raven's Ridge on them and the trails will then correspond with the maps. More signs with "distance to chalet" wil be put up at intersections so that skiers who are on their last bag of oats may choose the shortest route to the couch at the chalet. If you have any suggestion on signs please send them along. Master Jack White is the master carver, while assorted lollygaggers hanging around the chalet will assist by laying out of lettering.
by Graham Oliver

Light and Power Light up Our World
Sometime around December 20th 2009.

Jim Chaisson and Ralph Payne certainly followed through on their promise to light up the night sky for the evening skiers. Now I was there to take photos and make sure they made no mistakes ... well not really ... I just happened by ... and lucky thing I did. Because Jim got up in the bucket to string the lines and got scared to death and wanted to come down. But Ralph wouldn't let him. Ralph pulled rank ... I tell ya, he was just like a short-legged crackie on a leash. He told Jim to stay up there until the job was done or he'd be working in a utility hole down back of Wal-Mart until Boxing Day. It was a shocking abuse of power because poor old Jim was shivering like a leaf 'cause he wanted down. I never thought Ralph was be like that and of course he wasn't because 75% of the aforesaid ain't true ... But the four new lights are ready to go and that's the truth. The members Jim and Ralph for giving up their Saturday and making a lot of behind the scene arrangements to better light up our trails. Some glad you let Jim down from that pole.
by Graham Oliar...I mean....Oliver

OFFICIAL LIKE NOW

We Have Desks, Shelves and a Filing Cabinet

While the deal has not been totally finalized I think we have a filing cabinet thank's to Sean and Aldonna O'Keefe ... we also have a desk arranged for thanks to Stephen Penney who has been checking out a deal we can't refuse, and also Lori Deeley has a desk for us. I've actually been proposing that we rent office space at the chalet ... we could turn the whole place into a mini- mall ... lots of parking and a constant flow of peolple. Perfect for business. With all this office equipment we could set up offices and make a fortune and forget skiing. Maybe not .. on behalf of the members thanks to everyone for their generosity. Almost forgot ... thanks to Judy Gillis for coming up and dropping off several rolls of mactac for the insdie of the cupboards. Volunteers are coming out of everywhere to help out. They sure make it easy to get things done.
G.O.

MacTac

Did We Ever Find this out?????

Who dropped off the mactac for the kitchen shelves at the ski chalet? Two rolls were hanging on the door knob when the seven dwarfs got back from the forest today .... maybe Ellen and Rona dropped them off ... they suggested that we get some ... who knows? Volunteers are breaking out of the woodwork all over the place as they buy into the Whaleback kibbutz.
G.O.

Woodpile Party????

Today's Woodpile Party a Disaster .... Not Really
Sometime in December
Well not really ... we were doing fine until Earl got his trusty old saw stuck in a hunk of birch and then while extracting the bar, the chain subsequently broke and remained stuck in the log. Then Howard Skinner came running to the rescue with his mighty Stihl .... and upon burying his 20,000 rpm saw into Earl's slice of log, he tooooooooooo snapped off his chain as soon as it collided with Earl's leftovers. What were we to do? There we were (Glenn Kirby, Howard Skinner, Earl Hunt, Steve Penny, Wallace Moores, Carter Powers and your delinquent scribe) all perched on the Big Climb harvesting firewood and not one working chain saw. After a brief discussion it was decided that a retreat to the pentagon for tea was the only solution. What a chat we had at the pentagon! Sorry ..... no photos to bore you with today ... sorry to say our resident photographer was unfortunately absent.
Graham Oliver

Chalet's Gone Digital

Sometime in December 2009
Who said we are behind the times at Whaleback? Thanks to Earl Hunt's latest installation, the chalet has now gone digital and with the state-of-the-art upgrade, we can reduce the temperature to 5C. Cool ah! What savings on oil! Hmmmm ... well maybe the chalet volunteers will just be more diligent tenders of the new stove. Well actually, we plan to set it at 10C. Don't worry, according the supply of dry birch in the new and improved wood room, the chalet will be toasty all winter.
GO
I have pics of this somewhere and hope I can insert them après!!!!

Whew!!! Finally!!!

There was a hissin' and a buzzin' but finally I remembered that I did have a life before LSD, I mean WNLSD....and it was CDLI....what is it with all these acronyms?...I have so many I can't seem to RTA (Remember them all)...where do I start after all those months. Well, I have scanned through the 1000s of emails that Graham has sent...no make that more than thousands,,,,,hundreds (as my father says,,,jokingly of course) to try and make sense of what has been going on at the ski trails. And from what I can tell...it can be quick and painless and go something like this.....SNOW,,,no snow,,,,SNOW,,,,no snow...it has been a on again, off again kind of season. My grandfather used to always say..."on again, off again, home again Finnigan...now the story behind this I never knew so here it is.. (James Joyce the writer of the book called, "From Finnegan to Flanigan". The meaning is used in the book called Fahrenheit 451 on page 94 and it means that Mrs.Phellps was trying to explain her husband situation in the war and military.) I don't know,,,can someone concur with me on this. My grandfather was in the first world war and likely it's true.....probably something he heard in the war days.

Well, remember way back on December 5th when there was a hike arranged on the trails and it was kinda snotty weather....here is a pic (I hope you don't mind Mark and Mary).