Jim Dalrymple.com

It was about 25 years ago when my uncle John, and cousins Donny, Dennis and Terry left for an evening of drinking to celebrate the holidays. In the wee hours of the morning Terry’s T-top car left the road and slammed into a large tree — roof first — killing everyone but Dennis.

The boys were all in their late teens or early 20s — such an incredible tragedy. Donny and Dennis were brothers and all of them lived within a few miles of each other.

I remember my Mother waking me up very early in the morning and told me to get dressed. When I asked her why, she said John had been killed in a car accident. I didn’t realize until later that Donny and Terry had been killed as well.

I was young then and nobody expected me to deal with it. I don’t know if anyone even asked me how I felt about it. I’m sure my mother and father did — they are good like that. I was too young for it to really bother me anyway.

Every year since then, my Mother’s family gets together to light a tree on my Grandmother’s yard in memory of John. My Mother has 13 brothers and sisters and they all have an average of three kids, so it’s quite a gathering.

It always makes me think how lucky I am and how quickly things can change.

One of my biggest pet peeves is the way society chooses not to remember the fallen soldiers in the wars of the last century. People choose to go about their business every November 11, without recognizing the sacrifice so many men and women around the world made for our freedom.

Every November 11, Monique and I take the kids to the local ceremony here in Bedford — today will be no different. The number of veterans decreases each year and the number of names called out from the honor role increases by the same amount.

I think it’s important to show Nicole and Michael that there is a reason we can live like we do. Literally millions of people have died to give us our way of life — they need to respect that.

Today, I am proud to be Canadian and proud of the sacrifice my grandparents and their families made for our freedom.

A couple of minutes of silence and remembrance is a small price to pay.

Depending on which newspaper you read or the news station you listen to, we could be hit with anything from a tropical storm to a hurricane. Ophelia is heading our way after battering North Carolina.

The storm, according to the Canadian Hurricane Center, has been very hard to track. They are counting on the storm taking an Easterly track, moving over the cold water of the Atlantic Ocean and losing steam as it hits Nova Scotia.

The problem, it seems, is that the storm has shifted its course several times and has threatened to take a more Northerly course. This, for us, would not be a good thing. This would effectively allow the storm to gain intensity, getting it back to hurricane strength.

Monique went to the grocery store yesterday and there was quite a mix of people shopping. Some had there shopping carts filled with everything but a power generator and others were treating the warnings like any other day.

We were caught off-guard once before when Hurricane Juan pounded us a couple of years ago. Nobody wants a repeat of that mess. We are stocked up but it’s hard to tell what the storm will bring.

It’s been raining all day — very intensely at times, but the storm isn’t supposed to hit until the wee hours of tomorrow morning.

Yeah, yeah my first post in a while and I’m whining — deal with it! I’m not sure what the hell happened to me this afternoon, but I have had a dull headache for the last couple of hours.

It started around lunch and just hasn’t gone away. I’m too damn busy to just go up and lay down for the rest of the day, although that’s exactly what I want to do.

Most of the work involves phone calls today, too, so people seem to be screaming on the other end. I just want to reach through the phone and strangle them.

I’m not sure at this point what’s up with the pinky finger on my left hand, but I do know it hurts like hell. An incident late last night in Boston left my hand in some serious pain that hasn’t diminished yet.

A bunch of us went out last night and had dinner and drinks, so alcohol was definitely a factor. Afterwards we went bowling and had a really good time. It wasn’t the same type of bowling we have in Canada, this was like Fred Flintstone bowling, with big balls that you fit three fingers into the holes.

I was actually doing very well for my first time. I got a spare the first time and a strike on my second turn. Then came the incident.

One asshole decided to try to trip me as I was taking my turn — luckily, I saw him out of the corner of my eye and stopped. I restarted my run up to the foul line and he tried it again — this time I gave him a good shove into the next lane hoping it would get him to back off.

Figuring it was over, I again started my run up to the foul and just as I was about to release the ball he swept my legs out from under me sending me crashing to the hardwood floor.

As I lay there on the bowling lane, I knew right away that all was not right with my left hand — When I looked down, I could see my pinky now had quite a curve at the end as it took a sharp right turn at the last knuckle.

When I looked up this idiot was laughing hysterically at my embarrassment and pain. I know that violence is no way to solve problems, but I was furious. I got up, jumped on top of him and started whaling away on him.

I don’t know if he even realizes that in my rage I purposely didn’t hit him in the face, but maybe someday he will.

The worst part of it all is that it is my guitar hand. How the hell am I supposed to fret chords with a twisted finger? The one thing that takes my mind off of endless hours of work and he takes it away.

I’m hoping for a nice recovery.

On Saturday Michael, my father and I went to see 4×4 drag races about half an hour away from the house. It was a lot of fun overall, althought the event could have been better organized.

The three of us have gone to a hockey game, stock car races and now drag racing. I know it’s a good time for Michael, but it’s just as fun for me. Dad and I used to go to the stock car races all the time, but as I got older we stopped doing things — I guess that happens.

But now, it’s like a blast from the past for me too. It’s a chance to get away from work and spend some much needed time with him and Michael.

They had several different categories of trucks racing: street, stock, pro stock, modified and one more that I can’t remember. I was thinking of taking my truck out there for the street class — by the looks of the competition, I could have kicked some serious butt.

Maybe not, but I want to race one of these days.

At any rate, it was a good time yesterday — hopefully this summer, we’ll be able to go to some more races.

Ah, Canada Day. Time for some hot dogs, hamburgers, picnics and outdoor games with the kids. Not mention fireworks, parades and plenty of activities at the local parks all across the country, as well as celebrate another birthday of this country.

Bedford has the largest fireworks in the entire country, which is quite an accomplishment for such a small town. We do take pride in where we live though and for Canada Day, we go all out.

Unfortunately it doesn’t look like we’ll be going anywhere today. Michael’s mouth is still very sore and with the crowds and kids running all over the place, one good knock and he could lose some more teeth or worse.

Nicole still wants to go to the fireworks with her friends, but we haven’t made up our mind about that yet. We can clearly see them from our front lawn — we are on a big hill overlooking the Halifax harbor and Bedford Basin where they put on the fireworks display.

We may not have to worry about the fireworks today anyway — it’s cloudy and rainy outside, so they may postpone them until tomorrow.

Happy Canada Day!