The Travels of the Agnew Family

We had tentatively planned a hike with Bob, Sue and their golden retriever Amy for Thursday. Looking at the weather forecast changed our plans and we moved the hike up to today.


First stop was Hoggs Falls.


Amy and I had a little chat while we looked at the falls. We did a short walk here and decided it was too buggy so we drove the couple of kilometers to Eugenia Falls.


Eugenia Falls.


Somebody wanted to see what we were looking at.


Amy led the way was we walked around Eugenia Falls. There were fewer bugs here so we enjoyed the walk.

Saturday, laundry and gardening. Sunday, clean the house and prepare food for company coming on Monday. My cousin Yvonne, her husband Bob and dog Miles arrived Monday for a two day visit. Ed happily got another dog fix.

Ed and Bob had hoped to do a little kayaking but the high water kiboshed that. Instead they took the Miata out for a spin and a tour of the countryside.

The five of us had a great visit and ate some great food ---- Ed did the first smoked ribs of the season. Miles had such a good time he didn't want to get in the car. Usually, he's the first one in so he doesn't get left behind.

It rained Thursday morning, it rained during Thursday night and it is raining this morning. It's wet outside but I didn't see any flooding when I left town. The story was a little different as I drove south. There were lots of swollen creeks and streams. When I got to Harriston some of the roads were blocked. Turned out Harriston received a lot more rain than we did causing the river to overflow it's banks, flooding streets and homes. Areas south and east of Harriston also had flooding issues. In fact two towns declared emergencies and closed several main roads. Luckily it stopped raining and the water dropped so the roads were open when I drove home. On Saturday the Saugeen River crested flooding downtown Walkerton. The high water continued for the next few days as it flowed to Southampton before emptying into Lake Huron. All this rain has put a hold on our kayaking. Between fast high water and debris in the water the Saugeen Conservation Authority has declared the river unsafe until further notice.

This morning the snowbirds left for their next show. Thanks for the photos Victor.


Loading up.


Heading Out.


Taking off, except for one snowbird. This is why you bring a technician and his tools with you. It didn't take long and the last snowbird was on his way.


Hmmm, not a snowbird, not even a bird dog. I think Caity was pretty comfortable at our house.

Ed and his photography crew (Rob and John) plus Victor took over 6,000 photos and videos today. I think I did really good getting it down to 25 photos. It's a lot for my daily blog but I don't think I could eliminate any and still tell the story.

The day Ed and I have been anticipating and dreading has arrived. We were looking forward to the actual show but were worried about the logistics of thousands of people trying to park and watch the show. The original estimate had been 2,500 and was now increased to 6,000 with a maybe more attached. On top of everything, mother nature has not been co-operating. Last weekend the airport received about 5 inches of rain soaking the hay field preventing the hay field from being cut. Mind you even if it had been cut it was still too wet to drive on. Ed's doing photography and I'm just a volunteer so why would we stress about parking. Well, yesterday I received an unexpected (and unwanted) promotion from parking volunteer to parking supervisor. Luckily, a couple of parking lots were found and some transportation arranged so the we could park about another 500 cars. Anyway, even though parking was a bit of nightmare in my mind we did manage to park a fair number of people and a lot of other people parked on the side roads around the airport, in friend's driveways or in one case at an enterprising farm near the airport that set up an impromptu parking lot. It's estimated that approximately 10,000 people watched the show.

Mother Nature was on our side today, it was cloudy in the morning but the skies cleared and the sun shone. I'm told it was a wonderful show. I did see the snowbirds from one on the parking lots we used a few kilometers from the airport so I didn't miss everything. Our friend Rob videoed most of the show so I'll be able to watch it in the comfort of my living room.


The war birds coming in before the show started. A number of private aircraft also flew in to watch the show. Smart move as they missed all the traffic.


All quiet in the parking area --- a couple of more hours and this area will be full of cars. Yup that's me talking on the phone.


There was lots for kids to see,


plus a number of vendors,


and helicopter rides. One of these days I'll do a helicopter ride as it's on my bucket list.

The Ontario Provincial Police Golden Helmets came to the show to give a exhibition of superb riding skills. I'm told they were very good ---- hope Rob videoed this.


Interesting tidbit of trivia --- the current commander of the Golden Helmets is a female police officer.




Doing circles at slow speed is apparently very hard.

Gord Price and his Yak-50 put on an amazing show. Another trivia --- Gord is 75 years young and owns the Damn Pub in Thornbury, that's also the name of his plane.



One of the war birds taking off.


The war birds chased each other around the sky.


Lined up and ready to go.


Everyone was ready for the highlight of the show.





















If you look real close you can see the four planes at the bottom of the heart.

A friend who came to the show with his wife, daughter-in-law and grandson told me "We've seen the snowbirds before in Toronto, but not take off and land and we got to meet them. My grandson got autographs from all of them and PAO (Public Affairs Officer)". I'm sure many others felt the same as my friend. It's comments like this that made all the work of putting the show on worth while.

The airport was a busy place this morning as the show organizers and volunteers were running around getting everything ready for tomorrow's show. The level of excitement increased when the first snowbird arrived. The first plane arrived about 2 hours before the rest of planes so he could make sure that everything was ready. One of the things that needed doing was walking the area where the snowbirds would park to ensure that there were no stones.


The main group of snowbirds arrive. They flew over Walkerton and Hanover to let the towns know they had arrived.




Then they did a few of their maneuvers over the airport,




and tested the smoke.


Gord Price and his Yak-50 also arrived. Gord felt something wasn't right with his plane when he arrived. In minutes several of the local plane mechanics surrounded his plane and fixed the issue. Everyone at the airport got a short show as Gord took his plane for a test flight.


What goes up must come down.


A quick meeting was held when the planes were gathered for refueling. Each plane arrived with a pilot (in red) and a technician (in blue) --- even their helmets are in red and blue. Depending on the planes position in the flying formation determines if the pilot sits in the right seat or the left seat.

A Meet and Great was held at the local Best Western. As Ed was on the Show Organization committee we were given tickets.


At one point the pilots and technicians were introduced. The woman in the red flight suit was not a pilot but was the POA (public affairs officer). Next year a woman pilot and her husband and scheduled to join the snowbird team.


Look, Ellen and I are almost as tall as a snowbird pilot ---- oh, maybe he's the shortest snowbird pilot. The pilots were very friendly and were happy to answer any questions we had.

Happy Anniversary neighbours Rob and Ellen!!! And tomorrow Happy Anniversary old neighbours Bill and Dianne. Rob and Ellen were married 40 years ago on a Friday evening and Bill and Dianne were married 40 years ago tomorrow on a Saturday.

Last Saturday we attended an anniversary celebration for Bill and Dianne at their sons home in Walkerton.


Bill and Dianne.

Today we attended an surprise anniversary celebration for Rob and Ellen at their daughter's home in Port Elgin. I'm proud of myself as I somehow kept the secret for over four months.


A copy of a photograph taken 40 years ago at Rob and Ellen's wedding.


The wedding party 40 years later. I guess this proves they have all aged well.

The weather co-operated somewhat till it didn't. As the guys were barbecuing the skies opened up and the rain came down.


The canopy worked hard and kept the middle area dry. Umbrellas were used to keep the hard working barbecuers (yup it's a real word, it's in wiktionary) dry.

The drive back from Hanover in the Miata after aquafit and coffee with the ladies was really nice and I thought lets take the Miata out for a drive and have lunch somewhere. After a short discussion Ed and I chose to have fish and chips for lunch in Southampton. After lunch we walked down to the lake and went for a walk along the beach. This is what summer is all about.


Looking out at the lighthouse on the island. Even though the sun was shining it was still pretty hazy.


Practicing taking selfies. Ed says he's better at it as his arm is longer.

Thursday is hiking day with the Probus Group. Last week was the first time we were able to hike with the group and today was the 2nd time. Ed opted out of the hike as he is in the process of selling trailer related stuff ---- no point in keeping spare pumps, dump out containers, wheel spacers when you don't own a trailer and probably won't ever own another trailer.

Today's hike started at Eugenia Falls then followed the Bruce Trail to Hoggs Falls. There were 23 of us hikers and myself and another woman walked at the end making sure we didn't loose anyone. We trekked through some long grass which caused some extra congestion and other allergy symptoms for me. Luckily, those sections were short and didn't deter from my enjoyment of the hike. We were refreshed with a bit of light rain a couple of times.


Eugenia Falls.


Hiking through the woods.




Hoggs Falls.

Ed's been talking about selling the trailer since last fall as he really doesn't enjoy pulling with the truck especially through Toronto. On Friday Ed stopped by the local RV dealer to see he would be interested in purchasing our trailer (it's where we bought it). The dealer said he was and gave Ed a price. Ed thought the price was fare and agreed to the deal. I spent Saturday morning emptying the inside of the trailer --- it's incredible where you could squirrel away stuff. Sunday, Ed and I merged what we could into the house. About a half dozen cupboards were totally rearranged so the trailer stuff would fit. Not sure what Ed did with the stuff that went into the garage ---- it's kind of a black hole out there so the extra stuff probably just merged in. There's a small pile for the garage and another pile that's to be put for sale on kijii or varage sale. This morning I went off to aqua fit and coffee and when I came home there was space where the trailer had been. I guess the RV dealer was anxious to get our trailer --- knowing Eric he may know someone who's looking for a small trailer.


Good-bye little trailer. I have to admit that I'm a little teary eyed to see the trailer go as I really enjoyed traveling in it. We made a lot of good memories in the years that we traveled in the trailer. I guess it time to make memories on trips that require flying on an airplane or even just road trips with the car. Who knows maybe will get back into tent camping.


My favourite garden.








I also really like my hosta / coral bell garden. A few other plants have managed to find their way in add some flowering colour. Coral bells come in all different leaf colours -- green, red, rust, yellow, redish blackish purplish and many more.




The vegetable garden has been shrunk. It's down to rhubarb, garlic, beans (any one who knows Ed knows why I plant lots of beans), lettuce, kale (not up yet) and spinach. The lettuce is almost ready to pick.

We joined a hiking group this morning to hike a 9.6 kilometer portion of the Bruce Trail. The Bruce Trail follows the escarpment from Niagara Falls to Tobermory. Ed and I are use to hiking alone or maybe with another couple so it was interesting being part of a group of 28 hikers.




Unfortunately, some parts of the trail follow the road. In a few cases landowners did not want the trail on their property since the creation of the trail system. In other cases hikers did not following the trail rules causing the landowner to ban all hikers.

Ed, Rob, Ellen and I hit the river in our kayaks today. Yesterday was an absolutely horrible day weather wise and today is the total opposite --- sunny, just a slight breeze and just the right temperature to be on the water.

We put the kayaks in the water at Walkerton and took them out at the next access point 14.5 km away (by water), a lot less by road.

Ed was playing is his GoPro taking video so I grab some stills from the video.


and we're off


Lunch break. Ed picked the spot because there is a geocache here but it was too wet to climb the cliff to look for it. We did get to watch the swallow flying to and from their nests in the cliff.


Rapids!!!! Think they are a .1 or maybe a .001. Even small as they are they added a little fun to the trip.


I love this spot on the river --- there's just something about the tree at the bend in the river.


Not the most user friendly access point.

I suggested that we go to the next access point but luckily I was overruled. Ed and I forgot to put sun screen and by time we got home our legs were bright red.

On the 3rd Ed and I spent a bit of time taking the garage out of it's winter storage configuration and getting it into it's summer configuration. Ed also put the batteries back into the ATVs and after a little persuasion they even started. The kayaks are also ready to rock and float. Yesterday, the 4th, Ed and I rode the ATVs north to Paisley and back. That's about a 50km round trip. It's was a good ride but nothing picture worthy.

Today Ed and our neighbour Rob rode the ATVs south to the end of the trail. Their ride was a bit more exciting.


They saw baby raccoons.

Today we went hiking with our friends Bob, Sue and their golden retriever Amy. Yup, Ed was a happy camper as he had a dog to pet and spoil.


Amy want to see the falls too.


Inglis Falls just outside of Owen Sound is a beautiful place with some good hiking trails. This is the Sydenham River.


The falls.