Friday's random thoughts

The weekend is soon here and with that a few things:

--I am not a ball fan but it was a week to remember for those who love the sport. Tampa Bay made a miraculous attempt into the post season while the Boston Red Sox dropped out of the race after a horrendous September. My buddy Tim will not be a happy camper as that is back-to-back years they missed the playoffs.

--The Riders are in Calgary and take on the Stamps Saturday. If they lose, I am saying that will be all and no playoffs. While they won't be mathematically eliminated, their chances at making the post season will be severely diminished. Meanwhile, B.C. looks like the hottest team in the league and takes on Edmonton tonight in their new digs in Vancouver. I'm saying as of now this will be your western final and Montreal and Winnipeg will be in the Eastern final. A bombers and edmonton final? Wouldn't that be something-last year they were in the cellar and now this year they could both be in that finale!

--NHL preseason continues. LA's Drew Doughty verbally agreed to a deal with the Kings that will see him make 8 million over 8 years! Wow that's a nice chunk of change but the potential for Doughty is there I supposed...but that's still a lot of cash.

--WHS football today has the Wildcats in Hanley. Watrous had the bye last week and are 3-0 heading into Sabres territory. After this game, the schedule gets reseeded and a round-robin format takes place.

--Three local schools were put under review this week. Bulyea, Nokomis and Young are under review in the Horizon School Division. Visit www.thewatrousmanitou.com for the story!

--Fall is here and I love it! Cool, crisp weather it has been awhile!

--Hoping to get out golfing at least once or twice yet before the season ends. The course at Manitou Beach has been the nicest in a long time and I haven't really had the chance to enjoy it much this year--but that's okay.

--Eagles take on the 49ers this Sunday--a must win there as well! Vick is slotted to be in the game.

--Not too much else other than enjoy the beautiful weather coming up this weekend! Blessings.

Half way there

Three days down and two to go for the weekend. The way the weather has been it's tough to complain. Nothing wrong with it that's for sure. Lots of stories for our upcoming paper which is always a nice thing to have. Came home to my wife, daughter and niece waving through the window- tough to beat a moment like that:)

SJHL to Watrous

For the second consecutive year, the SJHL is coming to Watrous! The LaRonge Ice Wolves led by Watrous native and head coach Bob Beattie will face off against the Notre Dame Hounds. The pair hit the ice in town last December to commemorate the new arena. This year the clubs will be in Watrous Nov. 19. This should be another great game--last year the Ice Wolves took the victory.

Fall days

A beautiful Sunday with hot temperatures. For the end of September and into the 30s is unheard of. We spent the day with the kesslers and urbinas at Wellington park at manitou beach. Here's some shots.

Friday's random thoughts

-Riders vs lions tomorrow for a battle of third...at the start of the year I didn't think it was possible, now I think Saskatchewan could not only get into the playoffs but have themselves a rematch of the 2007 Grey Cup against Winnipeg...however, one game at a time and the one against the Lions tomorrow is a crucial one...a playoff game of sorts.

-Flames preseason is underway--looking forward to hockey rolling again, hope that they can continue their winning ways like they did at the end of last year...I still think they need to make some changes but we will see what happens in the first two or so months before anything is done.

-Looking forward to spending some time with my wife and daughter this weekend, seems like life is so busy it is tough to get much time as a family.

-Sounds like Mike Vick is playing Sunday against the giants--this is good news :) Need a win against New York!

-Fall is here and so is the hot weather--wow, this is awesome to have almost 30˚C temperatures into the first weekend of Fall...I still love the crisp, cool air of the season though, it is tough to beat!

-Locally, WHS football team is off until next Friday, they are in Hanley and sit 3-0 and look to run their record to 4-0.

-Terry Fox Run is Sunday in town, the two schools walked this afternoon...I remember those days and the route appears to be the same as it was when I went to school here.

-Can't wait until our local bakery opens from holidays again! I miss my boston cream donut!!

-Watching Source Code tonight, very interesting movie and potentially could be in my top 10 of all-time...seen it once so tough to be in that category yet.

-Enjoy your weekend, blessings!

Hawks vs oil and sunshine

Had the chance to watch the Chicago Edmonton game in Saskatoon tues. The contest, won 4-2 by the oilers was fun to watch as eberle, rnh and smyth provided the offense for Edmonton while jonathon toews suited up for Chicago. Thanks pat for taking me!
While fall comes this week it appears summer wants a few more days. Temperature are expected to be in the mid to high 20s. That's just fine with me although i love the cool and crisp weather.

In my guesstimation

The weekend is here and a few observations:

The Riders will (at least have to) win their game Saturday against the Argos. The team is on an upswing while Toronto is spinning down faster and faster each week. A must need win and BC needs to lose to set up quite the showdown the following week at Mosaic.

NHL camps get underway--hope the Flames can make some noise this year but I am a little skeptical. Love my Flames but felt they needed to do a little more during the offseason. Would have been amazing if they would have gotten Brad Richards. My wishlist would be Drew Doughty/Zach Parise/Patrick Marleau or a solid centreman of some sort to help Iginla and company reach that next step.

Chicago and Edmonton tangle in Saskatoon Tuesday in preseason action. Hoping to see some stars from the 'Hawks but it is their first preseason game so not sure who to expect.

Golfing in Humboldt tomorrow--first time swinging the clubs there and first time swinging the clubs in about a month...could be an interesting day as it is also supposed to rain, but at least I will be on the course.

Eagles and Falcons Sunday--looking forward to catching that one! Vick will be ready against his former team in Atlanta! Let the march to the Super Bowl begin for Philly!

Harvest keeps rolling in the Watrous area--thanks to that awesome weather a few weeks ago, farmers are way ahead of the pace!

Check out the Watrous Manitou's facebook page...www.facebook.com/thewatrousmanitou  --we have updates from around the area/pictures/video and all that sort of stuff!

The warm weather has left us, at least for now, its supposed to warm up by next week but until then it has been a rather cold one--still rocking the shorts though...gotta hang tough until at least October, that's my goal anyway...enjoy your weekend!

Durant defends province/team in the 'Peg

Rider quarterback Darian Durant let loose a bit on some fans in Winnipeg during the latter stages of the Banjo Bowl. After getting beaked all game, the quarterback delivered some of that smack back to fans sitting behind the Rider bench. While some people are on the fence about it, I thought it was fine. He stuck up for Sask and the team and his family. Check out Rod Pedersen's blog or tsn.ca for all of Durant's comments. But here is some of what was said from a media scrum... taken from tsn.ca...

"I feel that the Winnipeg fans disrespected us. When you cross the Saskatchewan border and it says welcome to Saskatchewan and you put a Swaggerville over the Saskatchewan, that's disrespectful. I don't agree with that and I was just letting the fans know that they disrespected us and I'm going to stand up for my guys and my team."

"They were after us all game, from the start to the finish telling us how we suck, telling me how my mother should be ashamed of me, all types of things they were saying," explained Durant.

"I wanted to take the high road and I did that for three-and-a-half quarters, but when they start disrespecting me and disrespecting my family I have a problem with that."

The Riders are for real!

I don't know if anyone thought that the Saskatchewan Roughriders would go 2-0 in their home and home with the Winnipeg Bluebombers. Well not only did the Riders get the first w (just their second win of the season) at home versus Winnipeg in the Labour Day Classic, but they put on quite the show in their eastern counterparts city with a 45-23 win. The 'Riders got off to a bit of a sluggish start but after falling 10-0, the green and white got moving. Thanks to some stellar defense - five picks and some monster hits, one by by Craig Butler - the team got chugging on offense. Darian Durant led the attack and tossed a few touchdown passes to Chris Getzlaf and helped the team get its third win of the season, the second straight with new coach Ken Miller. Andy Fantuz also joined the team after being cut by the NFL's Chicago Bears and helped ease the pressure on the other receivers as he was double-teamed throughout the contest. The 'Riders now face an unimpressive Toronto club this Saturday afternoon. Should be a good one and another must needed win.

Banjo bowl

The night before what could be the riders 'tsn' turning point of their season. The green and white need a w tomorrow against Winnipeg in the banjo bowl. The riders got their 2nd win of the yr last weekend at home versus this same team but a BC win today means the riders are two game behind for that last playoff spot in the west. With a win they would be within one and a pair of games against the lions coming up could in fact tell the fate of this years club. While it's hard to win both the labour day classic and the banjos bowl the riders have to do it otherwise the last 8 games or so will all become must win. My prediction tomorrow 27-21 riders. Hope they get er done.

Just a few more pictures

So far nothing earth shattering to post but I thought I would toss some pictures on here from the past yr or two just cuz it's fun looking at pics. Some are from our trip to San Diego and Disney. Enjoy your weekend.

More pictures

Wanted to toss a few pictures from the summer on here...

A new beginning

So I thought I would give blogging another shot. Between Facebook and twitter this just adds another thing but I will do my best. No expectations but hopefully better than my last blog which went months and months with no updates. Anyway thanks for checking out the blog hope u enjoy it.