It's Raspberry picking season!

I picked my first basket of them last week at Shouldice Farm in Barrhaven ( and made 7 bottles of jam!) Berries were a little thin though and needed another week to ripen.

Heading out to Miller's tomorrow - my favorite berry picking spot.

Oh Polo, Oh Polo, Oh Polo

You make Dave look so nice.

Oh Polo, Oh Polo, Oh Polo,

He could be on Miami Vice.

Oh Polo, Oh Polo, Oh Polo,

On your clothes I don't want to spill beers.

Oh Polo, Oh Polo, Oh Polo,

Here's to 40 more fabulous years

(PS don't forget to enter the contest)

Oh yeah... I have a blog.

These things used to be fun. Now I've found Facebook which is much more fun and distracting.

Cape Breton space launch clears another hurdle

Planet Space and NASA are sharing information. This could lead to the construction of a launch pad just outside of Florence, NS. Yes indeed, space travel just may come to Cape Breton. According to their web site,

PlanetSpace expects to fly 2,000 new astronauts in the first five years of operation. These astronauts will earn their wings on a sub-orbital space flight onboard the Canadian Arrow.

When it does, I can't wait to put in for my ACOA grant for "Outer space land". There used to be a video store in Riverview in the shape of a space saucer, there was a rocket ship in Sussex many years ago, there is a life replica size space shuttle in PEI, and there has to be enough spare parts in the junkyards of Atlantic Canada to put together a pretty good space park.

(*the photo above does not represent Planet Space's actual space vehicle.)

Van Halen to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Some good news out of Cleveland, Van Halen made the 2007 list of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

It's about time.

Wow, what a show

GnR rocked the ScotiaBank place on Friday night with a 2 hour and 20 minute bang up performance. Former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach was pretty good as an opening act, and had a little help from Ricky, Julian and Bubbles. Any of the Trailer Park Boys would have been right at home in the crowd of rocker chicks and guys with mullets - yup, it was an awesome night.

The Ottawa Sun gave them 4.5 stars, saying:

It doesn't matter whether you see the equally reviled and revered 44-year-old as an obnoxious relic-brat who refuses to go quietly, a next-generation symbol of everything bad-ass, or a man capable of delivering steel-melting vocals that can transport a person back to 1990 in an note. There was no denying that over 10,000 fans who took in a two-hour, 20-minute show were in the presence of a true rock star.

Even the Citizen gave a positive review

Guns N Roses came out late on Friday -- even later than Toronto -- and proceeded to tear down Scotiabank Place with blistering streaks of rock mayhem. We’re talking electric guitars, thundering bass and concussive blasts of pyrotechnics.

Great show!

"The Captain and the Kid" tour hit Ottawa on Friday night and Sir Elton John put on a top notch show. Playing for almost two and a half hours, he played all the old stuff (B-b-b-Benny and the Jets, Crocodile Rock, Levon, Philadelphia Freedom, Daniel, Your Song) and threw in some new material in the middle.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera otherwise I'd have up photos like from an earlier concert.

Gotta love it when Tories fight. (from the Halifax Herald)

By TARA BRAUTIGAM
GANDER, N.L. (CP) - The prime minister will risk losing Newfoundland's support in the next federal election if the province loses out in a revised equalization formula, Premier Danny Williams warned late Saturday. Hours after Stephen Harper met with Williams in an attempt to iron out their turbulent relationship, the premier issued a harsh ultimatum.

"This prime minister is telling me when he comes into my province, into our town, to our convention, that he hasn't made his mind up yet," Williams said in a keynote dinner speech at the annual Progressive Conservative convention.

"He better make his mind up, I can tell you right now," he continued as supporters applauded.

"Because if not, when those federal election results come in across the country and they come to Newfoundland and Labrador . . . there better be a big goose egg for the Conservatives if they haven't delivered on their promise."

12,000 tickets in one day?

Yup that's the word from Capitaltickets.ca on the Guns n Roses concert for November 17th. We ended up with seats in the 300 level because that's all that was left. Apparently I'm not the only one excited about this tour.

At this rate they'll out-sell Clapton!

Always got time for Tim Hortons

Word from the Scotiabank Place that Eric Clapton got an urge to try Canadian favourite Tim Horton's coffee before the concert on Tuesday night. Sir Eric, so the legend goes, took a walk through the arena, got in line at the concession stand and bought himself a double-double (Canadian for two milk, two sugars) of our national beverage.

No word on his preferred kind of Timbit.

The photos

The one in the middle looked "Wonderful Tonight"

In terms of experiences shared with good friends, tonight ranked right up there with going haying with Jamieson. Yep, tonight was the long awaited Eric Clapton show in Ottawa. Dave was in his glory, having taken the day off work to get a massage, a manicure, and a waxing.

Clapton didn't disappoint, he showed up in a pink shirt and rocked the house from the beginning to the end. He played with some pretty good musicians as well. They did a great I shot the sherrif as the second song of the night to get people going, and added an extended version of Old Love to the first set.

He played a short accoustic set in the middle before ending up with great, loud versions of After Midnight, Layla, Cocaine and a kickass encore - Crossroads (with Robert Cray). Be sure to check out whereseric.com for reviews from the concert.

Wooo hooo!

Guns n' Roses are coming to Ottawa.

Ok so it's not the original G n' R that I saw in Hamilton on the Use your Illusion tour in 1993, but who cares. The web site for the new G n' R lists the new band members (apparently "Buckethead" is no longer with the band).

The concert reviews on the site are all hugely positive, and the You Tube clip looks pretty good. It sounds like this is going to be great.

Possible setlist (this is what they played at a recent show): Welcome To The Jungle, It’s So Easy, Mr.Brownstone, Live and Let Die, Guitar Solo [Robin], Sweet Child O’ Mine, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, Jam, Piano Solo (Dizzy), The Blues, Tokyo City [Fortus Solo], Beautiful [Robin and Richard Duet], You Could Be Mine, Guitar Solo inc. Don’t Cry [Ron], Out Ta Get Me, Jam, Piano Solo [Axl], November Rain, Band Intro, Jam, You Gotta Move, Patience, Nightain, Paradise City notes: Pending.

OBITUARIES (from ESPN)

The Boston Red Sox 2006 pennant hopes died over the weekend. The deceased was 141 days old and, until recently, had spoken often about how it was looking forward to entertaining friends and family at home this October.

A family spokesman said there will be no formal death announcement until mid-to-late September. Doctors said the deceased had been vibrant and “full of life” as recently as last Thursday. A number of recent injuries, however, had left it weak and vulnerable, particularly late in the evening.

It will be a closed-casket funeral due to the violent nature of the death, which is still being investigated by the Sons of Sam Horn. The deceased was beaten four or five times, and was eerily reminiscent of a great uncle’s death in 1978. “We know who did this, but there seems to be nothing we can do about them,” said family member Big Papi Rocks 67.

The death angered and saddened Boston residents, who had hoped such incidents – once an almost annual occurrence – were a thing of the past. The family added, “We instead prefer to publicly mourn over this loss every day for the next six decades.” In lieu of flowers, mourners are asked to wear T-shirts with inappropriate slogans.

The 2006 pennant hopes are survived by the New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angels.

Eric, Zig and Zag

Well, I really don't know what to say about this, so just watch the clip.

Some backgrouond for those who want to know more about the muppets (well the ones on the right and left anyway: "Thats Zig and Zag, two Irish aliens from the planet Zog (I think it was Zog, and they first became famous in Ireland). Thats a blast from the past! The used to be on a show called the "Den" in the 80's and early 90's before fooking off to England to do The Big Breakfast. "

Fun things on the 'net

I thought the Paul Martin sign generator was fun to play with until I found this one for McDonalds. (now you can have fun with Cape Breton's favourite singer)

Moneyball

Yahoo Sports this morning is running a story on the 7 guys Oakland took in the "Moneyball draft".

Mark Teahan, Joe Blanton and Nick Swisher have all made an impact on the big leagues, while we're still waiting to see what kind of career the fat catcher, Jeremy Brown, will have.

Great stuff.

Some sad news from home last weekend. A major fire broke out in Sackville, taking out the block that stretched from the parking lot by the post office all the way to the corner across from Town Hall.

Congrats to the Sackville Fire Department for their efforts in minimizing the damage and saving the surrounding buildings.

Until last week, the Dixon Block housed 32 students, a Sounds Fantastic, the taxi stand, and a wine kit store. (Ducky's and Joey's are ok!) In recent years, much of the space has either been vacant, or turned over on a regular basis as people shopped out by the highway, or in Amherst and Moncton.

The town has changed quite a bit since I left - the old school on Salem Street burned down, Allison Gardens is gone, and now the downtown landscape has changed. Wouldn't it be nice to come out of the Royal Bank someday soon and see a a building with new businesses and some new housing right across the street. Hopefully this sad event will turn into a positive situation and help to rebuild our downtown.

(and if you have an old couch/bed/tv and live somewhere near Sackville, there are a number of students who have lost most of everything they own -- check out Project Rebuild to help)

Also great info, links and photos online here.

I love Fantasy football.

It's draft time, the internet is all a buzz and the poolie sites are reporting everything from training camp - even stuff like this.

Yes, it seems that Lysol and paint could make the difference between winning your fantasy league or getting 'Gourlay-ed'.

Good to know that Canadian Jesse Lumsden won't get a rash from sitting on the bench.

In response to Alex's mascot blog here's a shot of the brand new, yet to be named mascot at Mount Allison University. This new mascot replaces the departed Monty the Mountie.

I had the opportunity to wear the suit of the former mascot, Monty the Mountie for a game in Halifax vs. SMU back in 97. Monty's whereabouts are now unknown.

Perhaps he's with S.A.W.C.Y the Town of Sackville's waterfowl park mascot.

The Big Money

Geddy Lee must have been thinking about the Yankees when he came up with that song. From his front row seat at the Skydome tonight he would have seen the big money first hand. Everyone's favourite former Red Sox, Johnny Damon, and he group of big dollar buddies Jeter, A-Rod, Giambi et al were in Toronto.

In addition to the Rush vocalist, among the 42,336 in the stands were , Mike "Pinball" Clemons and a guy who may or may not have been K-Os. All that for a tilt featuring Roy Halliday vs. Mike Mussina.

Leave it to Air Canada to screw up a good night at the park. We took off from the game with the Jays ahead 4-3 in time to make the flight. Then good old AC makes everyone sit on the plane for 45 minutes before take-off so we missed the Yanks tie it up in the 8th and then Vernon Wells win it with a homer in the 11th.

The game was ok - not a lot of action but the Jays comeback from a 3-0 deficit brought the crowd back into it.

Reportedly the hot dogs at Skydome are only mediocre. 25 cent Lynx dogs are much better.

Skratch and the Goulburn Sanitation Monster could take Ace and Diamond in a tag team match.

It was 25 cent hot dog night at Lynx staduim. I don't think they ran this promotion last year when Walter Young was on the roster. The 3,100 (?) fans didn't reach the target of 10,300 hot dogs eaten, but some of the people in the stands were trying hard to put us over the top.

Got a kick out of John Schuerholz Jr. - hitting .153 playing for Richmond. I guess you can hit .153 when your Dad is the GM of the big league team. They also have Tony Pena Jr. on the roster.

Moving on to the big leagues on Thursday night. Tickets for the game 1 of the Jays/Yankees series in Toronto. Halliday vs. Mussina. Pics to follow.

Went up to the Valley today do help Rob bring in the hay. Ankle boy drove the truck while the rest of us worked.

Had a great meal, saw the horses and donkeys and made it back to the city in time for supper. We even listened to this guy and this guy on the way!

Well, In order to get an account and post on other people's blogs, I had to create this one. Don't know how much I'll post, but it will be convenient to have a spot to toss some links for people to see, and to leave comments about baseball, and whatever else.