Kagawong
Team Fermeijer
As spring showers come down, our umbrellas go up, but as the spring equinox just passed, we know that we’ll all soon have a spring in our step. Business will soon be absolutely blooming at the local greenhouses. Yours truly will soon be trading in our winter weight for spring rolls. With April 1st just around the corner, remember there are two kinds of April Fools jokes – the funny kind and the kind played on you.
At time of writing, the title is still up for grabs! Keep your binoculars and ear horns handy if you want to be the first to spot or hear the migratory Sandhill Crane this year! If you see (or hear) a Sandhill crane, drop us a line at fergmeijer@gmail.com or message us (Facebook.com/kagawong1) to let us know when and where you spotted them. Winner gets bragging rights!
This Saturday! Don’t miss the annual Sandhill cooing competition! Annually, and always on April 1st, competitors from far and wide are said to gather on the steps of the Old Mill at sunrise to offer their best, most melodious coo. New this year is the Sandhill Crane Mating Dance competition. Competitors will be given five minutes to warm up and stretch, and then they will flap down with their best moves! Winners will be determined by an esteemed panel of judges. In order to avoid another blackmail scandal, the identity of the judges is being held secret.
The township is looking to fill three student summer positions! Applications are still being accepted for positions at the marina and with Public Works. Send your resume to tmills@billingstwp.ca as soon as possible.
We are sending out very happy birthday wishes to one of the few people whose birthday we can remember without a Facebook reminder. Former Kagawongian Micki B turns at least 29, but since she moved out of the township boundaries, it’s hard to say how old she is now. Many happy returns!
Get those egg baskets ready – the Easter Bunny is coming to Kagawong! The Billings Parks, Recreation and Wellness Committee is hosting an Easter Egg Hunt at the Park Centre on Saturday, April 8th at 11 am. Everyone is welcome to hop on by!
Speaking of eggs, Team Fergmeijer has been taking some cooking classes with a focus on omelets. After an intense month of study, yesterday was our last day. That’s right, it was our final eggs ham.
It’s that time of year to get your green on! The Billings Climate Action Committee is planning Earth Day activities including a community garbage pick-up, as well as a circular economy sale in the township. Looking to learn more about how our township is working to become greener? Check out https://billingscac.blogspot.com/.
Mark your calendars! Western Manitoulin Volunteer Fairs are happening in April. Stop in to meet the many organizations that work to make our communities so special. Learn about their efforts and events, and you are sure to find a comfortable fit for you. Billings is April 26th at the Park Centre from 2 to 8 pm and includes refreshments as well as prizes to be won.
Bulk water users can access the new quick-fill station at the water treatment plant (75 Beach Street). It has options for 2” and 3/4″ fill spigots. Remember to bring your clean Cam-lock female fitting to connect to the 2” option. Contact Tiana Mills at the town office for more information (tmills@billingstwp.ca)
Peruvian owls always hunt in pairs. It’s because they are Inca hoots. Have a great week!
Meldrum Bay
Elaine Bradley
Maple syrup season is in full swing in Meldrum Bay. Many people are in their respective sugar bushes collecting and boiling sap. I have heard that the yield so far has been very good. I am looking forward to testing the end product.
Friday night at cards we had five full tables. High lady was Helen Black with 70 points. High man was Dave with 68 points. Ladies’ lone hands went to Myra Duncanson with four. Men’s lone hands went to Harold Rogers with four. Rich Bradley had seven euchres. Juice was won by Matt Arwynn. The money jar was safe. We had a really great time. There were lots of goodies to sample. Thanks to everyone who brought something.
There is lots of snow on the ground, but the sun is bright, and we know that spring is coming. We all worked hard to dig out of the Saturday night storm and our mornings started later than planned but there were no hydro outages or trees over the road so things were good.
Have a great week.
Barrie Island
Darlene Orford visited George and Carolyn Calback last Sunday afternoon.
Murray Montgomery had his daughter Erin from Blind River visiting on the weekend.
Silver Water
Karen Nobel
Monday, March 13 the recycle bins were open and we had lots of people show up.
Monday evening a group of us went to Evansville to play euchre and there were seven tables.
Tuesday, March 14 was fire practice for the team.
Thursday, March 16 there was euchre at the Silver Water community hall.
Friday, March 17 there were about 50 people who came out to the community hall for a chili supper to fundraise for the hall. Thank you to the people who volunteered to decorate the downstairs, helped set up the tables in the morning, and the cooks who made the chili, and then worked at the dinner and cleaned up afterwards. The homemade rolls and pie were all very good and a big hit.
Once the dinner was cleaned up, the euchre players went to Meldrum Bay to play.
Saturday there was a call for the fire team to go to the scene of a car accident.
Monday, March 20 I took a carload of people to the Burpee Complex for euchre. We got to meet the new fire chief, Richard.
We took a load of liquor containers to the Mindemoya depot on Wednesday. We were disappointed to learn some of the new rules and the reasons behind them. Some individuals had passed off many bags of pop cans as beer cans and the depot lost a large amount of money as the processing centre sorts the cans and discards the pop cans. The depot is no longer accepting crushed liquor cans so they can be sure they are getting the right returns. Anyone donating cans to us going forward, please do not crush them. We understand that other depots are also implementing the new rules.
We had a visit with Jim and Joanne Smith on Wednesday at their home in Mindemoya. We got to watch all the ducks come up from the pond to get some food.
We made our first attempt to eat at the Water’s Edge on Wednesday, but it was closed for the day.
There is still line dancing being held at the Silver Water community hall on Wednesday evenings at 7 pm.
Ross and Lorna Hall were here for a short visit last week.
Euchre in Silver Water was well attended on Thursday night.
Lynn and Charles Pickard were surprised on Thursday afternoon by the arrival of their family to help celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on the weekend.
Happy 56th anniversary to Doug and Donna Kay McDonald last week.
Happy 90th birthday to Doug Smith on April 2.
Condolences to the family of Lois Nelder.
