Combermere Ontario - Murphy Came Calling Today

McTavish says Murphy is an optimist.

The weather this morning was worse than yesterday. Some got a slow start because they didn't turn in until dawn but they didn't miss much. At noon, a decision was made to cancel the traditional Sunday baseball game and spend time indoors visiting.

I was reading my book (Rutherfurd's 'Princes of Ireland') and chewing on a Mentos candy when something crunched. That was strange because there is nothing crunchy in a Mentos. A quick inventory found that the piece of tooth rebuilt last fall had broken off. It left a sharp corner that, based on experience, I know will cut up the edge of my tongue. Now I'll have to see if I can get in to see the dentist in the short time at home before the next trip. At the very least, I'll get them to smooth off the sharp edge.

We went down and visited our kids at the other end of the property for a while. Their friends Jay and Kim had gone back to Cambridge that morning. I put the finishing touches on the puzzles and trivia questions in the Movie Challenge. We got back to the Lodge just in time to make ice cream sundaes and watch the younger kids present the results of their scavenger hunts. Everbody got a prize. I turned the Challenge in to Marc Souliere for marking. After the kids were done, Marc announced that we had won by a commanding margin and awarded the cabin a large bottle of liquer. Actually, it was two bottles attached together. One part was coffee and the other cream. When you pour them, they separate with the cream floating on top. Very tasty.

Murphy's second hit was soon to come. I called Mike and the girls to tell them to bring their food down to our cabin for supper. Everyone had their own steaks and chops, to be grilled by master chef Eric, and we had all contributed sides. I got a call back saying that Heather's car, a 2002 Grand Am, wouldn't start. The symptoms were the same as last year when they had to replace the ignition switch. Turn over strongly but no fire. Since most of the engine is encased, diagnostics were limited. Eventually, it stopped turning over so strongly. Now comes the time where you cope the best you can.

The car is still under extended warranty, so I called the GM Roadside Assistance and determined there was a towing outfit right there in Combermere and a GM dealer about 30 miles away in Bancroft. I told them that I'd call in the morning for a tow. Since the kids had to be back at work Tuesday, Sherry and Diane came to the rescue. Diane took some of Sherry's gear to make room in her car for all three. She would drop them in Scarborough and Jay would come over from Cambridge and pick them up.

That arranged, we settled in for supper. It was late because the Texas Hold'em game in Cabin 15 went long. I had lost my first buy-in some time earlier and adjourned myself to Cabin 17 for appetizers. It was a good meal with good friends.

When supper was done, it was getting dark. We headed down to the beach where they had the younger gentlemen digging trenches for the fireworks. As the various people started prepping the beach, I went out on the far dock to check how the mortars and fixed base items were. Dave and I have been launching these for years. It took a while to get the fuses untaped and get them lined up. There were some new cubes that fired multiple rounds. First time I've seen these.

It was cold and there was a crosswind blowing almost in our faces when it was time for the show to start. We set out our first and fired up the first road flare I'd use as an igniter. Thw show went on for about twenty minutes with shots from the beach interspersed non-stop. The wind was whipping the flame on the flare and sparks from our shots while some of the things fired from the beach were coming our way as well. There was a programmed lull part way through that allowed the full impact of the Big Boom Surprise (dynamite floating in the river) to be fully appreciated. Then I had a first. One of the mortar rounds exploded on the end of the dock and we had to dodge skittering red and green flaming balls. By the time we wound up, we were pretty well drained.

There was a quick stop in the Round House but we headed back to the cabin early and, after some conversations about how to make Canada work better, everyone turned in.