Sept. 17 was a special day for Marion and Allen Blackwell has they celebrated their 64 wedding anniversary, what a milestone in their lives.

They held open house in the afternoon at their home. Sixty five years ago two well known pioneer families were united in marriage, the Andersens and the Blackwells. What a union.

The reception dinner was held in our present home where Mrs. Sudgen cooked the dinner for them. Lots of water under the bridge since that. The wedding dace was held in the old Grassy Plains hall.

As the gas tank on their car had sprung a leak they had no way to go home so they spend their wedding night sleeping on a bench in the hall.

They have spent a wonderful life together and raised a great family that they can be proud of and made a host of great friends of which I am also very proud to call myself a good friend.

Allen also spent time overseas serving his country. He is also a walking history book as he has had so many experiences in his lifetime. We wish them more years together and Gods blessing for them both, we love you.

Terry Fox run

Sunday was a great day, a very special day with the Terry Fox run for cancer. This was the first ever held in the Francois Lake hall since it鈥檚 massive interior restoration.

Everyone just could not get over the great change in the interior, it鈥檚 made the old hall into such a well convenient and bright building. This has made our hall into a building we can all be proud of and big time.

I will use my pet word superdeluvial. The run for cancer was even bigger and better than ever.

The helpers who made it so deserve a great big thanks for all the massive planning and organizing that made it all possible.

And the donations were just wonderful and so with such generosity right from the heart to a great cause.

We must not forget the generous buyers as they also gave their money for this run for cancer.

Let鈥檚 hope that some day cancer will be beaten and it takes generous folks like you to make it happen.

I don鈥檛 think there is one home that has not either had cancer or lost some person dear to them with cancer. But we must also remember there are lots of folks that have beaten cancer and are living normal lives thanks to the cancer runs. I am one of them, they saved my life.

Nice picture

What a great picture of that lovely team of horses on our front page. They are no doubt some ones great pride and joy. As the old saying goes there is something about the outside of a horse that鈥檚 good for the inside of a man.

We came into the Lakes District with teams of horse now over 70 years ago and I have never lost my love for horses.

Growing in the prairie horses were our lifeline. Everything that happened rain or shine was with horses.

That鈥檚 all we had and I have never grown tired of loving them all my life. Horses were the lifeblood of civilization since the beginning of time.

Man has depended on the horse. Farming, building roads, railways, pulling covered wagons for settlers. Used to fight wars, bush work, riding and I could go on forever about how important the horse was.

After the last war tractors took over the farm work, cars took over our travel, everything changed. Just before we left the prairie carloads of horses were shipped out for slaughter, they had served their time.

Our dad kept his horses. When I was a kid I remember watching our neighbour using his grain combine they had 20 head of horses pulling it. On a back home visit to Evesham I met the York family鈥檚 son and I asked him how long did they keep using the horses.

They were using 24 head counting the grain hauling teams and he said that was the first and last time, his dad bought a tractor from then on. It鈥檚 just too much time to get 24 head of horses ready to go to work.

I guess this would be the end of the big teams of working horses. I well remember seeing them all strung out, it was a sight. By today鈥檚 standards the new combines are so light and so efficient compared to that old time combine it was a massive hunk of machinery but in those days it did the job.

Crows

Just as it was getting light this morning I noticed a huge bunch of crows, they were making a loud noise. They were flying north. It looked like a huge migration.

Did anyone else notice them. I just wonder if there is a big change in the weather we don鈥檛 know about. Maybe an early winter who knows but maybe the crows. We still have lots of deer around here, some are very tame.

We have a big doe here and her babies and they have just moved in. They are nice to see but I think will be a nuisance when winter comes.

One thing that I have noticed there are no moose. They would be close to our barn and in our hay fields but they seem to have either been killed off or have moved to safer pastures. I sure do miss them though. Last week a huge flock of Sandhill cranes went over flying south.

A little story

It was a labour weekend and this guy was roasting a chicken on his rotisserie. As it was cooking he started to turn the crank to insure it was evenly done. It was getting golden brown and the flames were licking it as it cooked.

Just then a drunk stumbled by and came into the guys yard. He watched for a while and explained 鈥淗ey budding, not only is your music box not making any music but your monkey is on fire.鈥�

Take care, what鈥檚 10 minutes in the rest of your life. No matter how busy you might be always remember God loves you and so do I.

Just a little thought for the day and it鈥檚 a good one.

If you think it鈥檚 possible to love your spouse too much, you probably haven鈥檛 loved enough.