Memories from the weekend;

Attendees; Boomer, Scruise, Harps, Daryl, Nob, Freud, Potsy, Beaups, Mowbs, Deano, Cookie and Guy.

Absent; Rod, John, and Mel

Voting:

Guy 7

Gary 3

Mowbs 1

Golf Winners

Deano, Guy, Scruiser and Nob

Harps's play by play of the weekend;

Sometimes when you find a good thing, you stick with it. And when you’re the organizer, and the winds are blowing in that direction, why fight it… it makes things a whole lot easier.

An so it was, for the second year in a row, San Angelo Lodge in Kimball Michigan was the site for the 36th AOTW. Organized by Mr. Robotics himself, Mike Beaupre, and joined by Leo, Scott Cruise, Scott McCallum, Freud, Daryl, Cookie, Mowbs, Gary, Rob, and myself (Harps).

This year’s write-up is a joint effort, owing to the fact that I was a half miler….only coming to half the event due to other obligations. So it’s Freud, the very capable wordsmith, take us through most of the events (with a few of my observations sprinkled in) as they unfolded….

I (Freud) was the first to start the weekend festivities when he departed Ottawa Thursday afternoon and flew to London. His host and uber driver Boomer picked him up at London International.

Several hours later and multiple beverages on Leo's front porch we were all caught up on the pros and cons of being retired verses working. Leo has been retired for 5 years and Freud is still working!

Mowbs flew in to Toronto from Paris, picked up Guy at his house where he discovered that siblings had decided to move in along with their pets. Best to escape this family shit show and Guy and Mowbs headed west on the 401 to London. Guy and Mowbs arrived, the BBQ was lit, monster steaks were served with large quantities of Vino. Did I mention that Boomer wisely asked Marta to stay at their daughters house?

Friday morning was tad foggy between the ears but we were up early to great Cruiser who arrived in his new shagadelic 2007 Jaguar XK convertible. Boomer and cruiser peeled away roof down and Mowbs, Guy and Freud followed in the Land Rover. Quite a British fine motor car morning.

We crossed the border and immediately felt at home arriving at the now familiar San Angelo Lodge. Cruiser, Boomer, Freud and Mowbs hit the links for 18 holes. We all donated several balls to the water features of the Solitude Links Golf course. Guy spent the afternoon admiring the lovely architectural wooden cathedral ceiling of the lodge.

During the golf game Beaups and had stocked the bar with cold beer, wine, booze and a pile of every possible food item from Costco. The consumption of alcohol commenced and the stories and what happened to whom during the last year as more and more AOTW members arrived. Nob and Potsy were a tad late as they missed the turn for the 402 and proceeded towards Windsor and Detroit. Daryl arrived and proceeded to tell everyone several times about why he moved from Collingwood to Orillia, shared walls and a rambunctious amorous neighbour? Cookie rolled in with a new Mercedes eClass followed shortly thereafter by our favourite ad man, Deano. More drinking continued into the evening followed by BBQ sausages and more drinking. Stories about work, retirement, ailments, edible marijuana, cars and travel were actively discussed into the evening.

Unfortunately harps was not able to join us Friday night as he was in the middle of his campaign to run for Councillor of Wellington. Speeches to be given at the legion, door knob campaign advertising to be hung, lawn signs to installed, babies to be kissed etc.......

Stories of Mel surfaced. Turns out he is in Windsor leaving behind on the east coast housing, the wife and all the responsibilities that go along with those items. Rumour has it that a pick up truck, TR6 and Corvette came to Windsor. Hopefully we will see Mel in 2019!

Friday night was a not a late night! This was a bit of a surprise since it is usually the blow out night. But alas, the will and energy are not what they were all those years ago when we were thin, energetic, and full of piss and vinegar.

Bacon and eggs with gallons of coffee were served up Saturday morning. We made our way to Lone Wolf paintball about 30 minutes south of the lodge. Evan, our guide for the session was quite excited about taking his first trip to the great white north to partake in Canada's upcoming legalization of marijuana. The paint ball company gave us the scary talk about paint ball to try us up sell us on protective equipment and superior firepower, paintball grenades? Some of the AOTW members bought the pitch.

After the game we were all sweating like pigs, realized that we were all out of shape and we had been taking this game way to seriously. The blood pressure was definitely in the high zone but we carried on for several more games. The Mowbs, Daryl, Scuiser, Beaups and Potsy team kicked ass. 5 games later we were glad to have survived and headed back to the Lodge for booze. Mowb’s T shirt did not explode as predicted, however it was a little worse for wear after such a serious work out. His wife beater gloves, however stayed on for the duration of the day, as they presented a menacing image

Harps arrived later that afternoon, after having spent time on the campaign trail for the job of councillor of Wellington. It was necessary for us to repeat our stories. There was also a story about putting peanut butter on one’s pecker and calling the dog, as a means of getting some relief, so we all agree that was an interesting tactic, but maybe best that the creator keep it to himself, or at least do not float it out on social media for comment and feedback.

That evening Beaup’s pulled out all the Costco stops and fed us a feast of BBQ steak, scalloped potatoes, corn on the cob, macaroni and cheese all washed down with gallons of wine. The camp fire was lit and gradually people snuck off to bed.

Saturday night was a not a late night! The heavy, emotionally charged debate about Donald Trump’s performance as president may in part have cleared the campfire early.

Sunday morning was dined on Costco instant breakfast sandwiches and coffee. That provided all the sustenance required for our final and perennial AOTWw activity…Nine holes of hungover golf were played. Team, Deano, Guy, Scuiser and Nob were the champs. Although it should be noted that ending up +1 after nine holes of best ball is not exactly a grand story for future grandchildren.

From there we retired to the lounge for beer and a sandwich at which time the voting commenced. And it was Mr. Guy Zimmerman who eked out a “victory” with 7 votes, followed by Dines with 3 and 1 for Mowbs.

Next year we will undoubtedly be back in Canada where the dollar will get us a bit further. Not to mention being closer to universal health care, a consideration when you’re well into the Back 9 of life and a few pounds “over par”.