October 30, 2020

Howl have you all been doing? It’s been a bit wet and dreary lately, but nothing lifts our spirits like some Halloween puns (you can’t skele-run from our skele-puns)! We know, we know, those of you who are bone to be wild are making plans to eat, drink, and be scary (hey, if you got it, haunt it!), but don’t feel that you are a lazy bones if you decide to skip the dancing and boos to stay in this year. Especially if you are sneezing and coffin a bit; better to be safe than sorry. Either way, life is gourd this time of year!

Big 29th birthday wishes go out to Gail L, living proof that good things come in small packages! 

This is it… the weekend Team Fergmeijer (and all wannabe time travellers) has been waiting all year for. Time to have our clocks “fall back” for an extra hour of sleep! Don’t forget to change your clocks back one hour on Sunday. Check your smoke alarm batteries while you’re resetting all the clocks, too!

Thank you to everyone who organized and took part in the various Waste Reduction Week activities last week! There was a good turnout for the community garage sale and swap meet, and submissions are still being accepted for the art contest. The contest theme is “The Zero Net Future.” All art media accepted. Submit a painting, drawing, photograph, sculpture or collage with a note that shows how your art meets the theme of what the future will look like to you once we reduce/capture our greenhouse gas emissions and reach net zero. Submissions will be collected until November 6 - they can be dropped off at the town office, or emailed to Kim Neale at centralcc@eastlink.ca.

What do you get when you cross a ghoul and an owl? Something that scares people and doesn’t give a hoot!

The FOBL auction is about to start! The Friends of Billings Library are holding their annual silent auction online this year! Items will be listed on the Facebook group “Friends of Billings Library Silent Auction” this Sunday, November 1st at 9am. Place your bid by commenting an amount on the item’s post (rounded up to the nearest dollar, please). Highest bid at 4pm on November 6th wins! Auction winners can pick up their items at the Billings Library during regular library hours (Tues & Thurs 4-7pm; Sat 10-1pm). For more information visit the Facebook group or email the library (billingslibrary@vianet.ca). 

Community events have looked very different during this time of COVID, and the much anticipated annual Kagawong community Christmas concert is no exception. Stay tuned for exciting news about the new format this year!

Halloween candy is yummy and all, but don’t forget to save room for “I scream!" Have a great week!

October 23, 2020

We are in the waning weeks of 2020, and Team Fergmeijer has been struggling lately, and having a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. A self-help book suggested we switch to a diet of yeast and car wax. We hope to be able to rise and shine again soon.

Happy 29th birthday to Rachel B who will turn 29 this weekend. We hope this hard-working lady packs up Pat and the pup and heads for her happy place to celebrate! Meranda N is also celebrating this week. Not quite 29, but closing in on it! And although her youngun is still needing a lot of attention these days, we hope she gets a bit of down time to celebrate. Maybe send Paisley to grandma’s for a sleepover! 

Set the alarm a little early tomorrow and get that coffee made - there’s an Island-wide power outage tomorrow (Saturday, October 24) from 8am until 2pm. Stay warm! Maybe stay in and read during the power outage. We’re half-way through a scary novel in braille and can’t wait to have time to get back to it. Something bad is about to happen, we can feel it.

Remember euchre? Here’s a flashback to the results from a tournament this time last year. Results for the night were: High score 74 Doris & Elva; Second 72 Mike & Susan; Third 69 Karen & Myra; Fourth 68 Fred & Jim; Most lone hands (4 way tie) 5 Kal & Lilly; Low score 58 (2 way tie) Bill & Brad and Donna & Eva; Special prize Myra. Ah, the memories! We’re pretty sure games haven’t started up again, but given our past history, there well *could* still be euchre tournaments going on, and they just haven’t sent us the results. 

Waste Reduction Week is this week (October 19-25), and the townships of Billings and Central Manitoulin came together to host several virtual panel discussions, as well as an art contest and a swap meet!

The art contest theme is “The Zero Net Future.” All art media accepted. Submit a painting, drawing, photograph, sculpture or collage that shows what the future will look like to you once we reduce/capture our greenhouse gas emissions and reach net zero. Art submissions will be collected until November 6.

Tomorrow (Saturday, October 24) is the community garage sale and swap meet at the Old Church on the Hill in Kagawong from 10am - 1pm. Stop by and pick up some great new finds!

The Friends of Billings Library (FOBL) are holding their annual silent auction online this year! This innovative approach will help keep FOBL members and bidders safe. Items will be listed on the Facebook group “Friends of Billings Library Silent Auction” by the November 1st kick off. Each item will have a post in the group, and you can place your bid by commenting on the item’s post. Highest bid at 4pm on November 6th wins! For more information visit the Facebook group or email the library (billingslibrary@vianet.ca). gravel loads and fantastic art work.

Billings and Central Manitoulin Townships have received a substantial grant from Digital Main Street, Ontario, for a Digital Service Squad (DSS) to help small downtown businesses use digital technologies to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. Stay tuned for more details; the squad will begin visiting small businesses in Mindemoya, Providence Bay, Kagawong and area this fall.

Does it feel like the Coronavirus has ruined all your plans for 2020? Don’t give up - save them for 2022! ‘Cause 2022 is 2020, too. Have a great week!

October 16, 2020

We hope you had a fantastic, and safe, long weekend. Team Fergmeijer managed a dinner with family and friends, all properly social distanced. We made sure we kept at least 4 pies and 2 cans of whipped cream between one another. Needless to say, the after-dinner turkey coma was spectacular. The best part of turkey dinner is of course the leftovers. We’ve had them for every meal since Saturday night, and we’d like to cut back, but it’s tough to stop cold turkey. Every time we felt we were too full to move, the pumpkin cheesecake would start whispering in our ears, “if no one sees you eating it, it doesn’t contain any calories…” Luckily, we were careful to balance all our overeating with dedicated under exercising. 

Happy 29th birthday to one of our most loyal fans in the metropolis of Toronto, Jef T, who is celebrating today! May your guitars be plenty, your facebugs be few, and long may you pop the clutch and cruise downhill.

Christmas in Kagawong this past weekend (typically held in November) was a resounding success! Early Christmas revellers came from near and from far to scoop up deals and get a head start on Christmas shopping. In the process, Billings township set a new record for high temperature for the event! The record will no doubt stand for several years until climate change makes November the new October.

The Friends of Billings Library (FOBL) are holding their annual silent auction online this year! This innovative approach will help keep FOBL members and bidders safe. Items will be listed on the Facebook group “Friends of Billings Library Silent Auction” in the lead up to the November 1st kick off. Each item will have a post in the group, and you can place your bid by commenting on the item’s post. Highest bid at 4pm on November 6th wins! For more information visit the Facebook group or email the library (billingslibrary@vianet.ca).

Waste Reduction Week is coming up (October 19-25), and the townships of Billings and Central Manitoulin are coming together to plan a week’s worth of activities, culminating in a community garage sale and swap meet Saturday, October 24 at the Old Church on the Hill in Kagawong. Stay tuned for more details!

Quick tip for cooking a big dinner - a lot of people cry when they cut onions. The trick is to not form an emotional bond. 

Billings and Central Manitoulin Townships have received a substantial grant from Digital Main Street, Ontario, for a Digital Service Squad (DSS) to help small downtown businesses use digital technologies to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. Stay tuned for more details; the squad will begin visiting small businesses in Mindemoya, Providence Bay, Kagawong and area this fall.

We’ve been watching a lot of television lately. Last night on Dancing with the Tzars, Peter and Catherine were great, but Ivan was terrible. Have a great week!

October 9, 2020

Team Fergmeijer has been spending the recent cooler weather inside, catching up on history documentaries on television. We are particular fans of ancient Rome. We don’t want to ruin your illusions, but while people tend to think of that region as being very Rome-antic, in ancient times, there were four common kinds of poison. Poisons I, II, and III would all kill you with varying degrees of swiftness; poison IV would just make you really itchy. There was at least one political leader who had a Nero miss with those poisons. 

We had a fan of the column write to us the other day. Being familiar with our love of all things Roman, she asked for help, writing, “I can’t remember how to write 1, 1000, 51, 6 and 500 in Roman numerals. I'M LIVID!” We did our best to help her out. To be honest, we struggle with Roman numerals up to 159. After that, it just CLIX. (Please accept our Apollo-gies for all the Rome puns. We know it’s Thanksgiving weekend, but we just couldn’t resist.) 

Congratulations to Mary Buie for raising over $1000 for the CIBC Run for the Cure, in support of breast cancer research and outreach! Not only was Mary the third-highest fundraiser for the Sudbury area, which in itself is a huge accomplishment, but she also crushed the 5km walking distance on Sunday despite the cold and rainy weather. You can still donate to her campaign right up to December 31 - visit http://cibcrunforthecure.ca/ and click “Donate” to search for Mary’s name!

Team Fergmeijer thought it might be fun to teach one of the youngest members of the KGB (Kagawong Gobble Brigade - our local flock of wild turkeys) to talk. We even got so far as getting him to say some witty ripostes, but it did not turn out the way we expected. Now we have a turkey that roasts us. 

 

Happy birthday to the eldest Fergmeijer brother who celebrated on Wednesday. A Kagawongian born and raised, he spends most of his time on the east end of the Island these days. We’ve decided to allow it, but we can’t say for sure how old he’s turned now. They do things weird on the east end. Whatever age he is now, we hope he celebrated it with gusto! 

Snort snort snort! Grab your reindeer antlers, sleighbells, and elf hats, and tap tap tap your way to Christmas in Kagawong tomorrow! Team Fergmeijer is super hopeful that Santa (Ho Ho Ho!) will show up and jingle jingle jingle his change purse, buying up all sorts of goodies for Mrs. Claus and the elves. Don’t miss out! Stop by the market grounds at The Old Church on the Hill in Kagawong from 10am to 3pm, and get a festive jump on the Christmas season! Shoppers must keep one Blitzen apart from other shoppers, and face masks must be worn, please.

Team Fergmeijer got kicked off the Kagawong River trail to the falls last week, after we were seen arranging squirrels by height. Apparently the township didn’t like us critter sizing. 

Waste Reduction Week is coming up (October 19-25), and the townships of Billings and Central Manitoulin are coming together to plan a week’s worth of activities, culminating in a community garage sale and swap meet Saturday, October 24 at the Old Church on the Hill in Kagawong. Stay tuned for more details!

Sometimes the Thanksgiving turkey turns out dry, which just goes to show that there’s no accounting for bastes. Have a great week!

October 2, 2020

Have you noticed a change in the air? Noticed things seem to be quieting down in town, and just a bit less energetic than usual? It’s not the change of the season, it’s the loss of MBB and Susie! We bid a bittersweet farewell to the dynamic duo as they set out to make their fortunes out west. They will be sorely missed, but we wish them well. 

The 4e Bee Mobile Studio Tour launched last Saturday here in Kagawong and was a rousing success! Many kids of all ages, including Mike Mantha and Carol Hughes, tried their hands at the crafts and everyone was enthralled with the music. This weekend you can follow the Bee to Providence Bay. From 11am - 3pm join artist Sharon Preen and musician Jenna Maisonneuve on the beach, and take home your very own craft. 

 

There was a brief power outage not long ago. We aren’t sure, but it might be related to an incident with a friend of ours. Her son was caught chewing electrical cords and she had to ground him. He’s doing better currently and since then has been conducting himself properly. Shockingly, he’s shown no resistance to the grounding!

 

The happiest of happy birthday wishes goes out to John B, who turned 29 last week. We are confident he celebrated in style.

Once again, as the unstoppable force that she is, Kagawongian Mary Buie is raising money for the CIBC Run for the Cure, in support of breast cancer research and outreach. A breast cancer survivor, and no stranger to long distance walking, Mary is planning on walking 5 km as part of this year’s virtual event (taking place October 4), quite likely sporting bright pink in doing so. Mary has already raised $1000, but it’s not too late to support her. Visit http://cibcrunforthecure.ca/ and click “Donate” to search for Mary’s name and donate to her campaign!

Never challenge Death to a pillow fight, unless you are prepared to face the reaper cushions. 

These are the days of our lives…. Harvest Glory Days that is! Help Kagawong out by decorating our community in the spirit of the harvest! Homes, businesses, halls, churches, parks, town office, farm gates, goats, lighthouses, giant backhoes, and mailboxes can all be decorated to put us in the running for a fabulous community spirit sign. Check out the Expositor for more details. 

Team Fergmeijer went to the hardware store the other day and asked if we could get an escalator for the house. All we got were some funny stares. (We love this joke because it works on so many levels!)

The countdown to Christmas has started! To Christmas in Kagawong, anyway. It’s only a week away! Grab your Santa’s hat and sleigh bells, and join us on October 10th at the market grounds at The Old Church on the Hill in Kagawong from 10am to 3pm. Potential vendors should contact Councillor Sharon Alkenbrack, Chair of the Billings Economic Development Committee, if interested at (705) 282-0193.

This last one is dedicated to superfans Mike and Susie: A priest, a minister, and a rabbit walk into a bar. The rabbit says, “I think I’m a typo.” Have a great week!