Tuesday, August 10, 2010

CANADA'S BASEBALL HALL OF FAME

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CANADA'S BASEBALL HALL OF FAME < click

Drove slowly through another sure sign of the soon to be changing seasons this morning.  A heavy fog blanketed the roads in our area cutting visibility.   I hadn't anticipated the fog so I was behind a bit for my first early morning pick up.  Would liked to have stopped for some beautiful photos but it just wasn't possible.  By 10 a.m. the sun had burnt off the fog & we were under the anvil of another crushing hot & humid day.  By noon we had a real cooker going on.  Not nice & I was glad to be home by 2 o'clock leisurely stretched out in my recliner with a soft fan blowing cooling air conditioned breezes over me.  However, Wednesday will be a whole different story:((

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Canada's Baseball Hall of Fame is located in St Marys, Ontario.  While in St. Marys this past Saturday I took a drive over there to take a few photos.  Even though we had lived in the area for 7 years I had never been to the grounds before. (I'm just not a sports fan)  Strangely enough though I was involved in an indirect way with Opening Day of the Hall nearly 10 years ago.  I was a part time driver for the St Mary's Mobility Bus at the time & on opening day I was assigned to transport visitors back & forth to the site from a lower parking lot a fair distance away.  A coincidental thing happened that day which involved another well known RV'er at the time.  Some of you may know, heard of or read some of Peggy & John McDonald's books.  They are a Canadian couple, long time retired from the military & long time full timers.   RV LIVING NET   They often travel the RV circuits & attend rallies all over North America with Peggy doing seminars on the various aspects of the RV lifestyle. We had briefly met Peggy at one of her seminars in London Ontario at an RV show many years ago but had never met John.  On opening day of Canada's Baseball Hall of Fame I was sitting in the mobility bus between passenger runs reading my copy of  the RV EXPLORERS CLUB GAZETTE (we were club members at the time)  Peggy writes informative & educational articles for that magazine.  A couple of fellows came aboard the bus & one of them noticed the magazine I was reading & introduced himself as John McDonald.  I recognized him right away from the photos on their site.  You will find a lot of helpful info on their website & they do go out of their way to help people with any & all RV questions.

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A BENCH OVERLOOKS THE LARGEST OF 3 PLAYING FIELDS

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THEY HAVE 3 LARGE BASEBALL DIAMONDS HERE.....(There was a whole gaggle of kids in the Hall of Fame so I didn't attempt to go in)

I have often heard of RV'ers having to install air bags on their rigs because of weight problems.  We have never had to do that but K & D IN THE RV just had their # 2 Son (known as the mechanic) do that for them.  If your wondering what an air bag looks like just wander on over to their site & have a look at the professional installation.

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RUNNING LOW ON PICS SO DECIDED TO THROW AN ARMY TANK IN HERE....(Goderich Museum)

Came across another solo RVing blogger person living life on the open road & blogging about her experiences & travels.    Say hello to Diana at LIFE ON THE ROAD.   A full timing 10 year veteran Boon Docker with solar panels, satellite TV, cell phone & an internet card. She is on the move........

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<<< WINDMILLS INSIDE THE GODERICH MUSEUM

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GROANER'S CORNER  A Farm Kid Joins The Army & writes a first letter home......

Dear Ma and Pa,

I am well.. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Army beats working for old man  Minch  by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before all of the places are filled.

I was restless at first because you get to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m. But I am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot, and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing.

Men got to shave but it is not so bad, there's warm water. Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food, but tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee. Their food, plus yours, holds you until noon when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much.

We go on 'route marches,' which the platoon sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it's not my place to tell him different. A 'route march' is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks.

The sergeant is like a school teacher. He nags a lot. The Captain is like the school board. Majors and colonels just ride around and frown. They don't bother you none.

This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don't know why.. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and don't move, and it ain't shooting at you like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges They come in boxes..

Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, they break real easy. It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this except for that Tug Jordan from over in Silver Lake . I only beat him once.. He joined up the same time as me, but I'm only 5'6' and 130 pounds and he's 6'8' and near 300 pounds dry.

Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding in.

Your loving daughter,

Alice

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

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8 comments:

  1. The weather here sucks pond water..(no offense intended to your lovely backyard)...The water around here is green, hot, slimy and mosquitos have built condos...
    I LIKE the tank picture...I love anything military!!!! I'm not sure why... How cool you met the RV guru....I think you got sprinkled with his fairy dust...You and Kelly have sure helped out a TON of RV'ers...If it wasn't for you, we never would have discovered the secret place of Hickiwan...SHHHHH...DON'T TELL ANYONE ELSE!!!!

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  2. Great setting for Canada's Baseball Hall of Fame, very natural setting.
    It won't be too much longer and the summer heat/humidity will be history.
    Take care and thanks for the post.
    Mike & Gerri

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  3. I knew we had a Baseball Museum in Canada, but never knew where it was in St. Mary's. Quite an interesting location.

    I thought you may have bought that tank to fight off the hordes of Microsoft workers and fans who read your blog last night!!

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  4. The punch line of that groaner was just too funny!

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  5. Well, you just made St. Mary's even more interesting today. I didn't even know Canada had a Baseball Hall of Fame. We like baseball, so will add that to our fast-growing list.

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  6. Peggi & John are great people and very helpful. I've emailed Peggi often and always gotten a reply with answers to my questions. She also puts out a weekly e-letter that you can subscribe to or you can read it at her website.

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  7. Have read that groaner a few times before, but always forget that final line! It's a winner. SOrry about the humidity and heat. We are supposed to be at least in the high 90's here this week, but the humidity will be down in the low 70's. We can handle that!

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  8. Al, I can't seem to get your 'search this blog' tool to work, so I'm wondering if you could tell me, again, how you insert other folks' blog links into your post. In never seems to come out the way I want it for me. :(

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