Ok.. who are these guys? The first person with the correct answer will win an all expense paid vacation to Puce!!! (Well, not really a vacation per se...but an overnight stay in the local motel. Save your quarters for the luxurious vibrating mattress). Imagine the thrills watching traffic soar by on old Tecumseh Road. To "Name The Old Guys" start off from right to left. First hint: Ken Kelsh (KK)
*For those with failing eyesite please click on photo for a really big picture!
Thanks to Willoughby for the photo!
What began as a simple thought has developed into a grand idea according to Rudy Heinnekin (spelling may vary). “Who knew?”, states Rudy. “As I was having fun with a salt lick the other day I was daydreaming about a drive through LCBO store and here we are opening our first one!”, laughed Rudy.
“I can only imagine how this whole thing will turn out”, sighs Rudy, “Judy will have to work the cash register…. Lord knows I can’t since my darned hooves get in the way…Every time I go to use it I find myself hitting about 5 or 6 keys at once. I really envy you folks with fingers and thumbs! Heck, I even have to ask junior to open a bottle of beer for me”
When last seen Rudy was returning to his salt lick searching his mind for another entrepreneurial venture. Maybe installing escalators in Deer Stands… but thought better of it.. !
Maybe you've seen this one before but it sure tugs at the heartstrings... for the other heroes overseas... This was originally a PowerPoint presentation but I converted it so we could show it on the Blog.... Watch and be proud.
ps....don't forget your kleenex
Apparently there are a few more Ken Racine stories floating around out there. Tommy White sent this one along...All I'm doing is cutting and pasting. You can't make this stuff up. LOL
Hi Jack
You opened the door for Rat stories........... It was a quiet summer day and we were preparing for lunch at #2 when an alarm came in for a house fire on Ottawa St across from Lansbury Park. We responded with smoke showing and lines being laid. Police soon showed to explain this was a known dope dealers place. Lots of police and the regular utilities. As things were settling down our very own inspector cluso, I mean Racine arrived. Everyone was still inside, exept for the lowly nice squad driver, watching The Rat look both ways before he parked his car in a no parking zone ( across from the church ). He then proceeded inside. Well wouldn't you know it someone flagged down a metermaid and explained the difficulty of finding room to park emergency vehicles when people who just don't care park in no parking zones.
The crews returned and we were free to return but when everyone found out there was a ticket on the Rats own car....we waited. He came out and blew his stack and called that metermaid some dandy names. Then he saw the squad parked there laughing. He is an inspector he had it figured immediately. He came running and pounded on the hood and threatened to kill me. I don't know how he figured it out so fast...he still hits me at the retirement banquet to let me know he never forgets........
It started out innocent enough. We all knew that Ken “Rats” Racine was always the last one in bed during the shift. In the dorm of the old # 2 fire station on Walker Road there shone a red light over the pole hole for the sake of safety. The “joke” on “Rats” was hatched I believe by none other than Bob Tapak and I thought it was a great idea as he described it to the rest of the crew. The plan went as follows:
“Hey, Guys”, said Bob “We all know that Ken is the last one in bed; I thought of a great joke to pull on him”. The faces around the table smiled as they began to listen to Bob’s nefarious plan. He continued, “I brought in a raccoon’s tail with me this morning”, he smiled and turned to look behind him making certain that Ken was not anywhere within listening range. Come to think of it Bob did that quite a bit over the years. He continued, “we all know how much Ken hates rats (hence the nickname). How about we tie the raccoon tail with a long string and thread it under the beds. Lodge, you’re in the first bed; when Ken goes to take off his shoes yank the thread and the tail will run over his hands and he’ll think it’s a rat.. haha!", he laughed loudly. The rest of the crew laughed along in excitement as we all pictured Rats being surprised by the raccoon tail.
I must pause here to mention the physical layout of the dorm itself. When you entered the room there was several lockers alongside the walls with two rows of beds along the walls as well. The total number of beds was app 6 or 7 on each wall. “Rat's’” bed was the last one farthest from the door and was the last bed on the left hand side of the room next to the window. My bed was the first one nearest the pole hole. When you entered the dorm to go to bed, the only light on was the dim red one over the pole hole. At first it was terribly dark but as you got used to the room you began to see much better as your eyes got adjusted to the light. In reality you could see everything in the room very clearly. The part of the joke on Rats was that everyone could see what was happening except Rats because he was the last one in bed. Now, on with my tale.
The plan, as described above, was for me to hold the string and when Ken was just about to take off his shoes I would yank on the string and the tail would then run across his hands and we would all be expecting Ken to let out with a shriek and all of us would then fall into gales of laughter.
We started to head for the bedroom about an hour before Rats would retire for the night and we talked and laughed while we anticipated Rats to turn in. I held onto the string anticipating the moment that I would scare the daylights out of Ken. My only fear was that the old guy would have a heart attack. He HATED rats! At last the moment arrived.
Ken entered the dorm very slowly and headed towards his bed at the end of the room. All of us could see very clearly and you could hear the stifled laughter and see the shaking of the beds as the crew tried to suppress their collective laughter. I waited anxiously with the string in my sweaty hands; my laughter kept at bay as I waited for the perfect moment to release the “tail” between Ken’s feet.
The time came as Ken started to untie his shoelaces and with a swift pull the raccoon tail slithered across Rat’s hands, and then came a primal scream like I had never heard before. I had never heard a man scream like that. Actually it was almost embarrassing. A roar of laughter erupted! ………… I was surprised that the only roar of laughter was coming from me! It was then when I realized that I was the one, along with Rats, who had been set up. What happened next is not very clear in my mind. I must have blocked it out of my memory. Traumatic events can sometimes cause that in people. All I can remember is Rats looking down the row of beds and with a low animalistic growling voice he called out my name; LODGE!!!! He rose from the bed like an evil malevolent figure and started loping towards my bed. I was sure I could hear cloven hooves thumping on the floor. My blood ran cold! What I experienced next is only faintly experienced by those individuals who reside in our prison system. I was beaten up by a wild man. The bed covers offered no protection whatsoever as I tried to hide under them.The sounds of heavy snorting coming from Ken was drowned out by the rest of the crews hysterical laughter.
Even to this day I fear the dark and the dim glow of red lights. I never used to check under the bed until that night. I certainly feel rather foolish doing at the age of 63.
Hey, I've seen trick pool shots, dancing dogs, domino tricks and on and on the list goes! But this one is pretty good when it comes to "domino" tricks... take a look. I think these guys must be firefighters on their day off : )
Google does it again. I think this only works in the USA. Just watch the video and all will be revealed! Sounds like a great service.
Thanks to these guys I now feel like a qualified senior citizen! Hold your breath as you discover who are the newest qualified District Chiefs for the department.
They are:
Capt. John Day
Capt. Tim Dennis
FF. Dave Gillis
All kidding aside; congrats guys, you'll do the department proud. Be safe
I think everyone's heard the "Man Song" but this one is even funnier with the puppet.... by the way... don't you see the resemblance between the puppet and Art Caza or is just me? : )
I'm most likely one of thousand typical Canadians that are quite apathetic when it comes to our political "system" if you can call it that. The dictionary definition of system is this: "the living body considered as made up of interdependent components forming a unified whole " I find it kind of strange that the government then really isn't a system after all especially with what is currently happening in the capital. One thing we do that I am proud of is that we get a chance to vote. With the current "system" whatever happened to my vote???? Mind you I'm not a complainer but I found an email address that you can use just to give your opinion on what is taking place in the "system". In the event that you would like to "sound off" send an email to info@gg.ca
Hi Jack
Remember our discussion at the banquet about Piva, well here are the stories I promised for Christmas.
Somehow I had been expelled from the clown team, so Piva and I started Sparky and Banana's...our own team. We got fairly busy at Christmas and most Saturdays we did two shows.
Well one fateful Saturday our first show was for the South Windsor K of C. Piva had decided we should have a new finish to the show. Instead of us singing jingle bells with the kids to usher in Santa, Piva wanted to do a grand illusion. He had rigged a mayonnaise jar lid with gun powder. He had cut the end off an extension cord and soldered the ends to each side of the lid. Then a fine wire was soldered inside through the gun powder. At the precise time I would plug in the extension cord and puff Santa would magically appear out of the smoke.
I was leery but the stage was set perfectly, Santa entered stage right, at the front by a podium and the stairs to the stage.
The show came to an end and it was time for Piva's big trick. Sparky waved a big cape and mumbled magic words and I plugged in the extension as Santa opened the door and made his grand entrance. Santa stepped right into the explosion ( I think Sparky put too much powder in the lid) Santa started to cough and scream obscenities as he fell down the stairs and the kiddies started to cry and panic for fear the clowns had killed Santa. It was mass confusion as the smoke filled the room.
It was time for us to leave after showing them about ventilation practices. (I remember Piva getting interested in PPV ventilation after that)
We hurried to the next gig and I warned him all the way to the new Caboto club that we were doing the old finish. We got there and were amazed at the size of the new addition. I know some Italians like cement but let me tell you the wood in the new part sparkled.
The floors went on forever. No dividers and miles of new wood. This place was ginormous. Sparky looked at me and said these were his people and in a place this big what could possibly happen. The show was for the members' children and was the first event in the new addition. All the good old boys were there.....
So the show went off without a hitch.......... and then it was time to bring in Santa.... Sparky had explained the trick to him and there I was again getting ready to plug in the extension cord. Little did I know Sparky had added more gun powder to offset the size of the building. I plugged in the cord and kaboom the biggest darned explosion you ever saw. Santa was ok, he was far enough away this time but through the smoke I could just make out the scorch mark and hole in the floor. The new floor.... with all the members watching.... Well here's another fine mess you got me into. The smoke got really thick and we were packing up and leaving when the screams started and the old guys went nuts.
In one day he ticked off the Knights of Columbus, all of Italy and I think even the Pope.....
For months we were worried someone would make a new pair of cement clown shoes for each of us and throw us in the river.
Well we both made it to retirement...... can you believe it???
