Staying in touch...

Apologies for not dropping in here sooner. I have no excuse other than my own laziness, but March so far has been a busy month. I was hoping to spend some time with my grandsons, and take time off during March break. But the company cut those plans short. Last week was nice. I got a call from my friend Fay who I haven't seen in four or five years. She was visiting Timmins and so we were able to spend time together. We keep in touch via the Internet, but it's always nice to see somebody. The weather earlier this week was outstanding. The temperature was actually two or three degrees on Wednesday. Of course, I left the parka in the closet and pulled out a spring jacket. My fault. Today we have snow and minus 20 in Timmins.
I covered an interesting story this week where a local firm is now producing mining trucks, brand new ore haulers, and shipping them out to the U.S. It's a first for Timmins. Gold mining is still king in and around Timmins. We reported recently on how Detour Gold Mine is buying new trucks from Caterpillar. A lot of people don't think that mining contributes much to the economy. For new trucks alone, Detour is spending $125 MILLION dollars.
On the other hand, I also covered another mining death. I hate it when that happens. Timmins has been mining now for 100 years. In that time, there have been more than 600 miners killed in our mines. That's terrible! The funeral mass for the dead man is today.
I went out this week to celebrate St. Patricks Day. It was fun to run into the usual suspects that I only see once or twice a year. I hooked up with Colin Kilgour, a fun Irishman if there ever was one. I think I have seen Colin about ten times in the past ten years, and it's always on St. Patricks.
I got over to the bookstore again this week and picked up some new novels. Reading is one of my guilty pleasures. Last night I put on a pot of tea and zipped through about 160 pages. I also had time to play some Wii Tennis. Finally, I broke through the 2000 point mark! Whew, that was an effort.