I'm on holiday!

Hi. I mean, bye. I'm away on holiday doing research into family reunions in Woodstock New Brunswick. Back August 8th. I won't forget to write.

Are you hot? I'm hot

How are you dealing with the heat? JR from the ‘Morning After’ on BOB FM visits his local beer store and just stays in the cooler room. At my place we don’t have air conditioning, just a couple of fans. One way for me to beat the heat is to skip dinner and just have a giant bowl of ice cream. Not sure if it cools me down, but who cares.

A listener called us from upper New York State to tell us that she’d been whitewater rafting with Bruce Springsteen last week. She didn’t have tickets to the show in Ottawa because she was too shy to ask him at the time. They were rafting down the Hudson River in the Adirondack Mountain area. She wanted BOB FM to give her some Springsteen tickets, and she promised a secret about Bruce in return. Hmmm. She had to win the tickets fair and square, we couldn’t just give them to her, so we never did find out that secret about the Boss. Oh well. All I could picture was Bruce Springsteen in a wetsuit.

If you have goldfish or your kids have goldfish, maybe you can explain this one. I have a goldfish that looks like he’s no longer living, about every 2nd day. One day he’s belly up, not moving, game over, then the next day he’s swimming around like crazy. This has been going on since January. I have spent about $200 on various medications for this 19 cent fish, and he still pretends he’s expired on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. If he’s doing this just for attention, not a bad idea. Here I am writing about him.

Many thanks go out to a wonderful BOB FM listener, Val. Val has offered me a horse. I can’t take the horse right now, as my yard is not big enough, but I sure appreciate the offer.

Looks like they’re going to have to bring in more porta-potties at Bluesfest. The beer sales are soaring this year and the line-ups for johnny-on-the-spot are crazy. People are dancing more in the loo line than they are watching the live bands. I’m ok with porta-potties as long as there’s still some light in the sky. As soon as the porta-potty is under the dark of night, and I can’t see what lies in wait, thats when things get sticky. Sorry about that.

Stayin' Cool and Porta Blues

Sandy’s Blog
July 13, 2005

How are you dealing with the heat? JR from the ‘Morning After’ on BOB FM visits his local beer store and just stays in the cooler room. At my place we don’t have air conditioning, just a couple of fans. One way for me to beat the heat is to skip dinner and just have a giant bowl of ice cream. Not sure if it cools me down, but who cares.

A listener called us from upper New York State to tell us that she’d been whitewater rafting with Bruce Springsteen last week. She didn’t have tickets to the show in Ottawa because she was too shy to ask him at the time. They were rafting down the Hudson River in the Adirondack Mountain area. She wanted BOB FM to give her some Springsteen tickets, and she promised a secret about Bruce in return. Hmmm. She had to win the tickets fair and square, we couldn’t just give them to her, so we never did find out that secret about the Boss. Oh well. All I could picture was Bruce Springsteen in a wetsuit.

If you have goldfish or your kids have goldfish, maybe you can explain this one. I have a goldfish that looks like he’s no longer living, about every 2nd day. One day he’s belly up, not moving, game over, then the next day he’s swimming around like crazy. This has been going on since January. I have spent about $200 on various medications for this 19 cent fish, and he still pretends he’s expired on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. If he’s doing this just for attention, not a bad idea. Here I am writing about him.

Many thanks go out to a wonderful BOB FM listener, Val. Val has offered me a horse. I can’t take the horse right now, as my yard is not big enough, but I sure appreciate the offer.

Looks like they’re going to have to bring in more porta-potties at Bluesfest. The beer sales are soaring this year and the line-ups for johnny-on-the-spot are crazy. People are dancing more in the loo line than they are watching the live bands. I’m ok with porta-potties as long as there’s still some light in the sky. As soon as the porta-potty is under the dark of night, and I can’t see what lies in wait, thats when things get sticky. Sorry about that.

Tough to Stay Outta the Trees

Sandy’s Blog
July 7, 2005


It looks like Ottawa Senators hockey is returning to the Nation’s Capital! Did you miss it? I know I did. While CBC TV made a valiant attempt to entertain us every Saturday night with movies like ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ introduced by Ron McLean, it just wasn’t the same. This past year I missed going to the games. I even missed Spartacat and his Master Blaster. Nothing like enjoying a turkey sub that just travelled seventy feet through the air. Welcome back, Wade Redden, Mike Fisher, and Alfie. And welcome, Domenic Hasek. Its a heck of a lot better having you on our side. This fall I will look forward to being part of the west-bound Queensway convoy to the Corel Centre, making that long frigid walk through the parking lot, buying $11.00 beers, running into everyone I know on the Corel Centre concourse, and, oh yeah, watching a great hockey game. Even the Leafs fans will not bug me this year. Well, maybe not that last one.

This week I spent an entire afternoon in the trees. Thank you to the Suderman brothers, owners of Camp Fortune, for an incredible experience at ‘Aerial Adventure’. The best way to describe ‘Aerial Adventure’, is to call it an obstacle course way high up in the trees. You are strapped into a harness and you are 100 percent safe, a concept you sometimes forget when you are straddling suspension bridges, diving off tree-top platforms, swinging on giant ropes and, in my case, dangling helplessly on occasion. The staff is always there to help you if you get caught in a ‘predicament’, as I did at the snowboarding section. My excitement at the thought of snowboarding from tree-top to tree-top turned into a fairly embarrassing moment, the snowboard sailed to the tree without me, leaving me dangling like a pair of underwear on a clothes-line. Camp Fortune’s ‘Aerial Experience’ ranges from exhilarating to scary to hysterical to funny, and I can’t wait to do it again. For info, check out www.campfortune.com. Do it with your spouse and you will trust them forever.

For about a month, I’ve been playing a little game with gas stations. When the gas is up around 95 cents, I just get a little bit of gas, thinking it will be much lower the next day. The next day, its around 96 cents. So I do the same thing. I have been in denial, driving around on fumes, waiting and praying for the gas to come down. This concept I also apply to my gas lawn mower and my 9.9 hp outboard boat motor. Maybe thats why my lawn is only half cut and I can only go for a two minute boat ride. But I’m sure one of these days, the gas will return to 59 cents a litre. It will happen, I’m sure of it. This gas stuff reminds me of a boyfriend I had a long time ago, who used to charge me the gas money to pick me up for a date. Our dates always started with me handing him two bucks for gas. If I was still with him, each date would probably run me about thirty bucks. Then again, if I was still with this guy, I’d have a lot greater problems than paying for gas! Sheesh

Live 8 Was Great

The statistics are out, and they’re impressive. One in three households in Canada watched the Live 8 concerts this past Saturday, some 10.8 million Canadians. The viewership peaked when Neil Young took the stage in Barrie and belted out ‘Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World’, with a little help from the Tragically Hip, Gordon Lightfoot, Bruce Cockburn and Blue Rodeo among others. It was a Canadian music lover’s dream. But more importantly, Live 8 raised the world’s awareness of the devastating poverty that continues to haunt Africa. As the leaders of the 8 richest nations gather at the G-8 Summit in Scotland, it is hoped that they got the message the world was sending. Ours is the generation that must help these people. Please log onto www.makepovertyhistory.ca and add your support. The effects of Live 8 will continue long after these concerts, but in the meantime, you can also go to www.live8live.com and download the day’s opener, ‘Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band’ with Bono and Paul MacCartney, as well as the big Hyde Park finale with our favourite Beatle leading Elton John, Eric Clapton, Sting and others in a very emotionally charged ‘The Long and Winding Road’. Proceeds to these downloads go directly to helping the poor in Africa. Well done, Sir Bob Geldof.

Did you hear the one about Bruce Springsteen playing an impromptu gig at the Iceland Airport? On his way home from his European tour, (so he can rest up for his next gig, which is right here in Ottawa on July 13th!!) Bruce’s plane had to stop and re-fuel in Iceland. He pulled out his acoustic guitar and played six songs for airport workers. Sure beat watching the in-flight movie, ‘Fat Albert’.

Speaking of Bruce, make sure you join JR and me right here at the radio station for the ‘Bruce Springsteen Ticket Swap’, at 8 this Sunday morning. Come to BOB FM’s parking lot on York armed with the most creative, inventive, sentimental and/or valuable thing you own. Then swap it for a pair of 100 level Bruce Springsteen tickets. Your item will be judged by a non-biased panel, and if you don’t get chosen for the swap, you can still enter our draw for a pair of beautiful Boss seats. I sure hope someone shows up with a pony.

Its Bluesfest week and that means another round of ‘chair sitters’ vs ‘standers’ the concert. May the person with the biggest voice win. Or the biggest lawn chair.