Reuniting

There’s a group of Class of ‘79 agros that have been getting together annually on the same weekend since we graduated.  I don’t remember how it got started or the exact history and we haven’t been to anywhere near all the gatherings but every year on the 3rd weekend of July the same group gathers somewhere in Saskatchewan.  Over the years our families have come and gone.  Some of the group are now grandparents.  Some of us haven’t changed all that much and some of us don’t look much like we used to.  This is the first time we have been at one of these where there weren’t at least one or two kids hanging around.  Even long after they were grown and in some cases out of the house, some of the kids kept coming back because of all the fond memories they had of this weekend.

This year we’re gathered just outside Riverhurst, on the shore of Lake Diefenbaker.  One of our group has a cabin here - “the new cabin” according to the locals – the rest of us are scattered between the group camping area and the rental cabins.  Today the Roughriders are playing Edmonton in Regina so most of the group is in Gwen’s cabin watching the game.  I’ve seen the Riders lose enough games over the years so I don’t plan to go over until close to the end of the game.  Expectations for today’s game are pretty high so most likely that choking sound you hear in central Saskatchewan will be the Riders coughing up another one.

This morning the service mangler from Ukrainian Tire in Regina phoned to say that the truck is safetied.  A mere $2000 later, and less than 10 months after it last had Saskatchewan plates hanging on it, Canadian Tire has pronounced it safe for Saskatchewan roads again.  What a crock of shit!  But its all part of the cost of returning so we just have to suck it up and pay.  Not that its any consolation but the bus will be worse.

We’re likely leaving next week for Nebraska and Montana on a Growsafe project.  I wanted to have the truck switched over to a Saskatchewan registration before we left but I hadn’t planned on having to do (yet another) rebuild on the front end.