Hammertime
Over the past seven years I have written nearly 600 Reflections and Remember When features for the Ponoka News, as well as tossing in 25 years of the weekly Hammer’s Column. I sometimes wonder just how long I can keep on chasing stories, coming up with some more clean and funny humour and subjects, as well as sharing the colorful and proud history of our great community and districts.
At 72 years of age, I consider myself actively semi-retired but still frisky, and after pounding the newspaper and sports beat with the Ponoka Herald and the Ponoka News for close to 40 years, I guess I just don’t want to put down my pen and pad just yet. Thanks to the ongoing support of the super staff at the Ponoka News, I am now able to keep on writing these weekly features as a hobby that I love. All the way back to 1948, I was trying to grow up in Ponoka, and was so very lucky to have spent 55 years in this great community while mainly trying to stay out of trouble, raising a family, and being so very lucky to have met, worked, played and socialized with a whole lot of amazing individuals and characters along the way. With these columns, I can still maintain and re-kindle a lot of those precious friendships as well as being able to continue to mingle with the rambunctious new generations of the 20th century.
Putting all these stories together over the years would never have been possible without the dedicated help of Sandy and Barb and the summer girls at the Fort Ostell Museum, as well as hundreds of other fine individuals, families, clubs, and organizations who have come up with the unique ideas, the pictures, and the information to make it all happen. The magic world of the e-mail and the Internet has also allowed yours truly to reach out and contact so many other sources, as well as to get new inspiration when the old creative mind sometimes goes a little blank.
My greatest joy of doing all this is to be able to sit down and chat with so many great folks and families from in and around Ponoka, to share their proud memories and stories and to be pampered with coffee, cookies, cake, Bill’s mince-meat tarts and a whole lot of warm and congenial friendship. Yes, I have been scolded several times for missing Gramma and Grandpa’s name in a story, for my bad spelling and other assorted misprints, but I will be the first to admit that I am far from being perfect, and all the countless thank you Mike phone calls, comments, and appreciation have far out-weighed the bad. Thanks to so many of you, I now have a room full of history books and pictures and hints and nostalgia from which I can hopefully keep generating more tales about our heritage and our bright future.
We are planning to move our next chapter of Reflections and Remember When into the 40s-50s, 60s, and 70’s, and the subjects can range from families and individuals to sports, to history, to special family events, celebrations, accomplishments, milestones from all age groups and on and on. I will, however, always need and appreciate your input and material to keep it all going, and I encourage everyone to please give me a call at 403-341-5750 , email jrainone@telus.net, or just leave your ideas and photos at the office of the Ponoka News on Chipman Avenue. I will always have a bucket list of story ideas that is added to every week, and on the top of that right now is the history of the Ponoka Airport, of which I have made several calls but have received no reply. In the meantime, I will just keep right on writing and sharing as long as I am able, and get a helping hand from our faithful readers.
Just a few funny quickies
• How long is a minute is depends on what side of the bathroom door we are on.
• I think that having a smoking section in a restaurant is like having a peeing section in a swimming pool.
• Don’t argue with an idiot ... people watching may not be able to tell the difference.
• Many people don’t approve of political jokes because some of them get elected.
• Why is that our children can’t read a Bible in school, but they can in prison?
• Love your parents. Sometimes we are so busy growing up, we often forget that they are also growing old.
Even though those dreaded income tax envelopes will arrive soon, there is no need to get blue this balmy January, so just go ahead and have a great week, all of you.