Paul Alton MBA

During August we got caught up somewhat on chores. I ordered a brush mower at the end of July but it didn’t arrive at the Peavey Mart in North Battleford until near the end of August so all my plans to use that were set aside and the field alongside the grid road continued its untamed growth. Mostly we puttered and visited with friends and family. We celebrated Juanita and Kohen’s birthday as well as a couple in my middle sister’s family.

A hail storm hit just as I was getting back from town on the evening of August third. This is the first hail storm we have experienced that caused vehicle damage. Our truck and car were both noticeably dinged. Our neighbours to the east, living in our old house seemed to have more damage on their SUV, but we had lots of company in the area. I checked our coverage and deductible and put in our names on lists at a couple of local body shops. Now it is a matter of waiting to see if the repair cost is under the deductible or we make a claim

We travelled back to Edmonton for a couple of days and went with Nick and the kids to the Reynolds-Alberta Museum near Wetaskawin. It has old airplanes and lots of classic cars and some hands-on exhibits to keep all of us entertained for hours. We all got to ride around the grounds in a 1953 (?) Pontiac as the guide explained the history of the pieces of open pit mining equipment.

Juanita and I and the best man from our wedding in 1975 walked the length of the Blackberry Festival set up along Marine Avenue. We ran into friends and family some of whom we saw early in the day and others we hadn’t seen in a year or fifteen. As always I spent a fair bit of time admiring the old cars and may even sampled a few treats with blackberries in them. That was kept to a minimum by the event level pricing. We ended the stroll back near the car and went to the mini-golf and finished the evening with large ice cream cones at more reasonable prices.

St. Walburg holds its Wild Blueberry Festival on the fourth Saturday of August each year. It’s been a few years so we figured it was about time to go, wander around looking at what the booths have, eat some blueberry pie and ice cream and check out the old cars. We even splurged and bought a couple of used books and a cookie at the local library.