Editor’s Note: This column was originally published in the July 27, 2016 edition of Moose Jaw Express and is reprised this week, with the sad news that we’ve won absolutely nothing during this year’s penny parades. The pup tent of six years ago became a donation to another worthy cause.
One of the happy moments of the summer for some people is the opportunity to go camping, commune with nature, swim, fish, eat gooey roasted marshmallows and check for bears before hunkering down in a water-proof tent.
My idea for a happy summer moment is to find a vacancy at a reasonably decent motel, perhaps one overlooking a lake where chairs placed well back from the water will allow communication with nature from a safe distance.
I enjoy fresh fish — especially if someone else does the catching, cleaning and cooking and makes them available at a motel barbecue pit or attached restaurant. Roasting my own marshmallows would be a nostalgic journey into the past that would nicely enhance my holiday commune with nature. But then it would be time to go to sleep inside the previously rented motel room. Hopefully it will be bear-proof.
At one time, when this body was much younger and more agile, I didn’t mind sleeping in a sleeping bag on an air mattress in the tiny home-made camper attached to the parents’ truck. We cooked over a barbecue grill, tended to business in the communal washroom facilities and went home, stiff and sore but happy with the experience.
That was many years ago and now my aversion to roughing it in the wild is well-documented. Therefore, taking a chance on winning a piece of camping gear would not rank anywhere on my priority list of things to do.
The offerings on a penny parade table at the recent Eyebrow Fair were an interesting mixture of items suitable for all ages. There were lawn chairs, empty and full coolers suitable for tail gate parties and backyard barbecues. Roughrider memorabilia was evident along with games and toys, a hamburger/steak grill with a lid that from a distance looked like a toilet seat, and so much more, including a pup tent for two.
I bought my sets of numbers and wandered up and down the tables, carefully putting my tickets into the buckets which were numbered in co-ordination with the numbers on the items. With each entry, I shook the container to make sure my number didn’t stick to the side and to give everyone else a fair opportunity.
That done, I figured I had just made a donation to a worthy cause and didn’t bother to be on hand when the winning draws were made. Housemate entered too, buying his own entries in a show of independence after I didn’t share my numbers with him.
We had just finished our roast beef dinner when he decided to move his vehicle closer to the arena for an easier walk after listening to music by Trick Ryder. I suggested he could check to see if we had won anything and he agreed. He came back to the table with a huge, trouble-causing grin on his face.
He had in jest suggested to the ladies in charge that he had moved his car closer so it would be easy to load all our winnings. They laughed, too, but for a different reason.
Our prize was a pup tent for two, they told him with much hilarity. I didn’t laugh at all for surely there was a mistake. I certainly didn’t enter to win that, and Housemate echoed my plea of innocence. Someone was spoofing us, but he was assured the draw was legal — and binding.
Another lady, involved with the fair, doubled with laughter when she learned of our win, saying it would be a Kodak moment to see the two of us in the tent, with
Housemate eating a piece of pie.
And so we have a pup tent for two. With luck like that, will the winning numbers for Lotto 649 be far behind?
Joyce Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
