Our summer season is passing by too quickly, as usual, but
there has been some eventful and interesting stuff going on around here lately.
Highway 48 is this close to finally being completed from Kipling to the
junction of Highways 48 and 9. I was a witness to a hole-in-one that
technically wasn’t a hole-in-one. The Stanley Cup was in Whitewood last
Wednesday and I was able to put my arm around it at last. And I even got to don
the old spikes and ball gear after a four year hiatus last weekend and after
all was said and done I didn’t even need to be hospitalized or heavily
medicated or anything. Good times, good times.
I didn’t
take the time to investigate the full history of 48 Highway but if my memory
serves me right I think they finished the portion of the highway all the way
from White City
I don’t know if anyone knows why
they came all this way and then didn’t finish the 27 kilometers, (or 17 miles
to us older folks), of highway from Kipling, through Kennedy and then on to the
junction of 48 and 9. It’s like someone said, “That’s it, we’re done”, and that
was that.
Did they run out of money? Gravel?
Asphalt? Political will? Ambition? What was it? Funding was probably the
biggest hold back but c’mon, forty years? Sheesh. I guess the old idiom,
“better late than never” applies but it’s small consolation to all of the
people who have worn out their vehicles running up and down that wretched road
over the years while the political football was being tossed around and no work
was being done. But it’s done now and we are happier for it.
Last Thursday at the weekly Men’s Night at the
Kingswood Golf Course I was in a foursome with Jason Balogh when a rare shot
occurred. We were teeing it up on hole number 3, which is a short par 3, and
Jason hit his first shot way over the green and into the bush. Jason decided
he’d shoot a provisional shot in case he couldn’t find his first ball and be
darned if it didn’t go right into the hole! It was a hole-in-one but technically
it was a 3 on his scorecard! It was an amazing shot regardless of the score and
I got to witness it!
Brent McEwen is from Whitewood and
an old Pipestone Beaver alumnus and he is also a scout for the Stanley Cup
Champion Los Angeles Kings of the NHL. As a team member he was able to bring
the Stanley Cup to his hometown and show it off. Over 400 people attended an
event at the Whitewood Arena to get their picture taken with the hallowed
trophy, which is the holy grail of hockey. To be that close to that trophy was
a great thrill indeed!
On the
weekend of July 25th, 26th and 27th the
Masters Twilight Ball Tournament was held in Weyburn. The Masters is the
Saskatchewan Baseball Association’s over 42 years-old (42?, but I digress),
baseball championship tournament. The Eden Valley Senators, a hybrid of
Edenland and Hazelwood district descendents, are a baseball team that Daryle
Roth assembled a number of years ago and its players, spouses and children have
evolved it into a close-knit, family-like unit. We don’t win a lot of ball
games but we lead every tournament in camaraderie and fun.
Due to injury and scheduling
conflicts I hadn’t been able to play for four years and I made the commitment
to be at this year’s event come hell or high water and I’m sure glad I did. It
was great to be back in the fold. We played at the lighted Tom Laing field of
dreams ballpark in Weyburn and it was a great experience. I won’t tell you how
many games we did or didn’t win but we had a fantastic time and we’ve already
started our plans for next year’s tourney.
The summer’s going by fast but
there’s still a ways to go and if the memories keep piling up like they’ve been
doing the last little while it’ll be a great summer to remember.
“Take care of all your memories.
For you cannot relive them.-“ Bob Dylan
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