The View from Uncle John's Dock

Site Contents:

Bio
Interests
Projects: Camp and Home
Reflections
Some Interesting Links
Contact Information
Comments and Suggestions

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New! 'Reflections'' updated to late November 2011;

Background Image: Early morning, May 11, 2009. We're opening the camp for the season and on this day the lake is like glass! Awesome!!

Biographical Info

prior to 1980: Uncle John grew up in Sarnia Ontario, went to school at the University of Waterloo, and found a job in Kitchener programming computers. Auntie Sharon grew up in Sudbury Ontario, went to school in Kitchener at Conestoga College and started working for an Optometrist. Kinda boring so far ... until we met one day at the Conestoga Country Club.

May, 1980: We got married and bought a cozy little house in the north end of Waterloo.

March 1982 thru May 1986: We had 3 kids: Ian, Brian and Meghan. Never a dull moment and many a sleepless night. Started to eat at McDonald's and collect the 'treat of the week'. We sold the 6.6 litre Pontiac Trans Am (which could pass anything but a gas station) and bought a big four door gutless Buick. Luckily, it had a huge trunk so we could take all of our crap when we went to visit the grandparents in Sarnia and Sudbury.

December, 1988: Moved to a bigger house only a couple of blocks away, but inherited a bigger mortgage. It's amazing how much one more bedroom costs! We sold the big gutless Buick and bought an even more gutless GMC van.
1989 thru 2000: Still ate at McDonald's, but more often, and grew very fond of Kraft dinner and beans and weenies too. We were into lots of things: school, hockey, rinks in the backyard, baseball, piano and guitar lessons, ringette, scouts, brownies, cubs, swimming, golf, video games, curling, soccer, football, sparks, coaching and managing - just to mention a few. Surprisingly, through it all, we got a little more sleep.

May, 2000: We bought this dock and the Camp that goes with it.

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Interests

Our Camp: It's on beautiful Lake Penage in Northern Ontario, where the men are men and the sheep are nervous. We head up there as often as possible between Easter and Thanksgiving to 'get away from it all', even though it's a bit of a hike. For a quick picture tour of our Camp (aka 'cottage' for you city-slickers) and to see why we think it's kind of special, click here.

Fishing: Just like Jeff Foxworthy says, "I've never been too drunk to fish" - although I guess I've come close a couple of times. Our Camp is a great spot if you like to do these activities: fishing, fishing, and more fishing - and with a bit of luck, enjoy a fish fry. Tips on how to catch some popular game fish and a great way to cook them can be found here. Did I mention we like fishing?
Astronomy: If it's a cloudless night and we're at Camp, you can see thousands of stars! I've been interested in finding out what makes our universe tick for many years, and there's nothing quite like the view from our dock if you just take the time to 'look up'. What we can see of the whole universe from our Camp and some of my favourite night sky objects are described in this page.
Golf: A day without golf is like a day without sunshine. We golf a LOT! We're not members of the Elmira Golf Club anymore, but we always find some time to golf at a nearby course [usually Lively or Chelmsford] when we're at Camp. Click here for more on this great game for all ages that the Scots claim to have invented and lots of people are just nuts about.

Curling: We don't go to Camp in the winter - there's way too much snow, it's too damn cold and it's too much like work trying to keep warm. But, when we're stuck at home waiting for spring we do a little curling. The Scots say they invented this game too, but in all the curling clubs I've ever visited, I've noticed kilts are optional. (Did the Scots ever find time to WORK?) A lot of people have no idea of what curling is and I'm sure billions more don't care. For those of you in the former category or if you're unsure, click here.
Pool (aka Billiards): No, we don't play pool at Camp, but at home in New Hamburg we've got a pool table in the basement and I've even got my own fancy cue in a nice black case. My favourite pool game is 8 Ball against some old rivals on the big 12 x 6 foot table at the Huether Hotel. We used to be able to play pool at a nearby lodge when we were at Camp, but they turned it into a hockey camp (sob sob). Some information for you pool lovers is here.

Cards: At Camp we often play cards - especially Euchre and Texas Hold 'Em. They're both great card games. I'm not the world's greatest card player but I do have some experience on my side, at least for Euchre. I have included a little basic strategy for both of these games here.
Travel: We have to travel quite a ways just to get to the camp [because it's about 520kms from our home!], but that's not why I included this section. Any time we have an interesting little trip I'll post the write-up and maybe some pictures of our adventures here.