$20 Makeover

Before the $20:

After the $20:

Damn did I need a haircut...

There is always a funny story to most things on the blog...  Well I find them humourous, and my brother Trevor - Happy Birthday June 1st, has also indicated such, and this story is the exception perhaps...  Nothing funny going on here.

I have generally had my haircut yearly in the 21st century.  I have had it pretty long for the most part - thinking it looked pretty cool and unique.  The yearly reduction simply trimmed it up and kept it presentable.  During the first half of this time frame, the clippings were religiously done by my cousin Amada - She is superb at cutting hair!  But that is the problem - She is too accomplished, thus too busy to take any such vagabond off the street who just needs a hair cut.  Appointments have to be made well in advance - I just can't operate like that with my coiffure.  So I haven't had a haircut from her in sometime.

So it is off to First Choice which has been my place of business in noted capacity over the last few years, and let me tell you - no disrespect but they attract some really odd stylists... And who I would say their talent is suspect....  And always have aweful haircuts themselves....  (But A+ personalities and friendliness - always).  I am making this affirmation having had interactions with 4 or 5 of them, out of tens of thousands of employees nationwide, for a total of 30 minutes each....  So this is an extremely uncredible story and account from yours truly about this franchise...  Do I just have bad luck?  Do I draw odd and crazy people around me?

Why do I return?  Hair grows back and I never have to wait for an appointment.  It is that simple.  So I entered First Choice today thinking I know I'll get a crappy cut, I will hear some terrible life story from some scissor-hand who's single, hates living in Goderich, indicates repeatedly that there is nothing to do here, blah, blah, blah, blah, but since my hair looks horrific the way it is....  What do I have to loose - $20 is no big deal.

Well today was the exception.  Today is the day I eat crow.  Today is not the day I will proclaim First Choice as the best place to get a hair cut, yet - Another stylist over said to either me or the girl cutting my hair, "You're not going to cut all of that!"  The stylist I had was young, but her counterpart who was doing the announcing was older, and the very first thought I had was, once again, great, I get another one who lacks a certain skill or talent in this business....  My second thought was what are you stupid or blind (towards the older split-ended engineer)?   Did she not or was unable to notice how shitty my quill looked?  (Look at first picture again for a connection.)

But the long, and now the short of it (get it - hair reference) is, like always, I had a very social and personable employee of First Choice make a genuine concern that I walked out of their shoppe a happy customer...  That has always been evident.  Today I just so happened to get a great chop from someone who wasn't at all....  you know....  I don't want to be disrespectful or mean because I am certainly not perfect...  But weird or unusual....  Right on Jill.  (Not her real name.)

I just typed a semi-long account of the weekend and it went "pewff" into cyber oblivion - I am sure this has happened to others.  Anyway - Great weekend with some Windsor folks in town to help Phil Dalton celebrate his nuptials....  Lots of good eats, some running, lots of beer.
I also typed up an account of a bit of an impromptu family gathering the other night.  Lots of babies...  But just a get together to say hello and re-aquiant.

Long Weekend

2 birthdays this weekend - Shelly's 33rd on Monday.  I don't think she minds that I write that.  And Shelly's mom's _ _ th, which was on Sunday.  She might mind....  Oh, and Julie Hanson's/Gillam's (I am not sure what she goes by) 40th on Saturday.  Yes, that was 3 consecutive days of festivities.  They were all pretty fun, yet I don't really have any good pictures to share....  Not a one.  Even though I had the camera and was planning on capturing the moments.  Great food and company too everywhere.

Southern Ontario had some great weather though - the best since March Break actually, all weekend long.  It was just a total beauty!  Hot, sunny and just great to be out in.

Turkey hunting is soon ending - I all but guarenteed a bird to my friend Bill - And I said I would shoot it on Saturday.  So on Saturday morning Thuss and I hit Forbe's Fields and sure enough, there were gobbles and gobbling and I had that feeling, you know.  So these suckers start falling from the trees left, right and centre.  Patiently, I awaited there arrival.

Sure enough a few Jakes took to their morning routine walk and ambled in front of me about 20 yards away or so.... One puffed up and indicated his likeness to my plastic decoy.  It would be him, that bird who was going to get-it....

It took a few more strides and I pulled the trigger.  It hit the ground and began flapping its wings as I have seen other shot turkeys do.  It was early.  About 6:10 am.  Lots of light though.  Anyway I waited a few minutes, got up and walked over.  It flew away. 

This is the 2nd time I have shot a turkey, with no witness - Thuss was sitting else where, and it got up and flew off.  The first time was a few years ago and it literally rolled, did a 360 and got up and flew off.  I was only about 5 yards away from it.  And then this weekend....  Those suckers are tough as nails!  You got to hit them right or else you won't be going home with one.  Although the story, all in all, sounds like some golfer bragging about his hole-on-one, with no witness(es) of course.  Which reminds me of a story for another time.  My friend Guffer who once got a hole-on-one, but he was with a dog.  Trust me - the dog wasn't able to collaborate the story.

So that was the weekend give or take... 

Oh, and one other hightlight - Seeing those righteously radical Wrights on Sunday afternoon.  They were in Dungannon for a visit.  I stopped in to say hi on my way to Glady's party....  Molly's party dress lasted about an hour before she upped her afternoon snack on it.

Terrbily Toasted Tractor

There has always been a standing joke or two around Kinloss Township that the Johnston's have notoriously had tractor troubles.  The Massey 2706 that won't go into reverse without a hammer, the flat tires and worn out treads which are more common then the dandilions, and the fork-bucket attachment which has just but one prong remaining to stab the large round bales of hay or straw - reminds me of a one thumbed hitch hiker.  Yes, there has been a few jokes lobbed their way regarding these follies. 

Brother (in-law) Andrew has infamously carried on the tradition in probably the biggest way as the picture indicates - He just had his 2009, $70k tractor spontaneously a-light!  Indeed, it just started on fire! This was a week or so ago.  I never really got a complete explanation - He fueled it ($), used it for a few hours in the morning in some capacity, and went in for lunch - or "dinner" as they refer to a meal at 12 noon as such.  He was looking out the window, and instead of seeing the fruits of his labour, he saw the machine engulfed in flames.... There is surprisingly more plastic in a tractor then you would expect, and the tires, well, trust me those suckers burn like Rome did in 64 A.D., coupled with the diesel fuel....  And goodbye.  The transmission and gears are still sort of usable!  The rims would make a fine fire pit.  Being a farmer now myself, I am beginning to see the usefullness in just about anything...

On the most serious note - No one was hurt.

All Things Cute

Molly 6 months old.

Shelly's great friend Lisa and her two kids while they were over for a visit.

Rachael Grail and Molly.

3 men and a baby.

Quick Guelph Trip

On Thursday night I got, what I'll characterize as an emergency call, from Richy Tremain saying get the girls and you to Guelph on Friday night - The famous Alexander Duncan MacLeod is going to be in town for a visit!  My heart started racing hearing such wonderful news - Off to Guelph.

So it was just fantastic to get there and be in the company of my girls, Rich and his family, and Alex.  Yes, we were missing some fine folks like Mark Kiteley, the rest of Alex's family, and a few other like minded rad people, but we made due of course.  In fact, we began talking about some other great people from our past and Alex and Rich's old roommate from the Brown House, Phil Mathias' name came up.  Hell, Phil lives 8 km away in south Guelph = No sooner then dinner was over, we had called Phil and said we coming over....  That is Phil on the piano video.....

We get over to Phil's.  Rich sees Phil every 2 or 3 months or so, I have seen Phil a few times in the past 5-6 years - But Alex hadn't seen him since the late 90s.  So that was great getting together and catching up....  And bang, Phil called another Windsor Alumnus, Johnny Darren Cress, to drive over from Burlington.  BOOM!  What a great reunion of sorts from old friends & Lancer teammates.  The stories were flying...  We were all somehow better, faster, fitter, more popular then I remember it - Oh well, our intoxication with spirits and friendship might have been to blame for such errors.  No one was the wiser.  No one cared.

So it was great, great times all in all - Boy are we all older though!  Teenaged kids, adolescent kids, running injuries out the waa-who, babies here and still on the way, marriages, grey hairs, enlarged prostates, etcetera, etcetera.  Keep it together my friends!  Until next time.

Dead Animals This Time

Only one of these pictures is actually a dead animal - I wish it were all 3, however....  Check out the squirrel, cat and turkey - Good job Larry!

There isn't much of a story with this little Jake - Larry called 4 of them in and toyed with them with a fanning Tom decoy and his trusty "Raspy Hen" diaphragm - Not a contraception device BTW!  He was wishing for something bigger as it was only about 15 lbs and had less then 1 inch spurs....  Nevertheless - it made a few meals for Larry's kin.

And as for me - skunked.  Skunked a few times actually.  But the season goes on for a few more weeks and hopefully there'll be a meal for Shelly and Molly too.