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Home My WebLink AboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2014-02-26, Page 44 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, February 26, 2014 www.lucknowsentinel.com Lucknow Sentinel VOLUME 138 - ISSUE 00 PUBLISHED WEEKLY P.O. Box 400, 619 Campbell Street Lucknow Ontario NOG 2H0 phone: 519-528-2822 fax: 519-528-3529 wvvw.lucknowsentinel.com SUN MEDIA A Quebecor Media Company ,10741/4,. MARIE DAVID Publisher marie.david@sunmedia.ca LAURA MACDUFF Editor laura.macduff@sunmedia.ca lucknow.editorial@sunmedia.ca JILLIAN UNDERWOOD Sales representative jillian.underwood@sunmedia.ca MARILYN MILTENBURG office administrator lucknow.sentinel@sunmedia.ca Publications Mail Agreement No. 40064683 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO SENTINEL CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT RO. Box 400 Lucknow ON NOG 2H0 For any non -deliveries or delivery concerns: 519-528-2822 • lucknow.sentinel@sunmedia.ca SUBSCRIPTIONS Regular one year $40.00 + $2.00 442.00 Senior one year $35.00 +$1.75 = $36.75 Two year regular $70.00 + 3.50 = $73.50 Senior two year $60.00 + $3.00 = $63.00 Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. At advertising and editorial deadlines: Friday 2 p.m. Changes of address, orders for subscriptions, and undeliverable copies (return postage guaranteed) are to be sent to The Lucknow Sentinel at the address indicated here. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, the portion of the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid at the applicable rates. The Sentinel is available on microfilm at: GODERICH LIBRARY, (from 1875) 52 Montreal Street Goderich ON N7A 1M3 Goderichlibrary@huroncounty.ca KINCARDINE LIBRARY, (from 1875 to 1900 & 1935 to 1959) 727 Queen Street Kincardine ON N2Z 1Z9 We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. CanacE Aocna Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and the Ontario Community Newspapers Association All She Wrote Laura MacDuff QMI Agency The MacDuff zoo Sometimes I feel like I live in a zoo. The thought came to me when I was writing this column Sunday. My cat, Hilde, was curled up at the end of my bed. She had curled herself into a tiny ball, tucked her tail under her chin and was blissfully trying to fall asleep amongst the sounds of my television and the tapping of my fingers along the keys of my laptop. Not too far away from that bundle of fur, is my aquarium. Inside, fifteen fish carry out their day chasing their reflec- tion on the glass and rummaging around in the gravel for scraps of food or algae. Four sucker cats (algae eaters) are stuck to the glass and my angel fish keeps watch over the surface of the water waiting for flakes to appear. She's a pig. Down the hall, Mom's new aquarium sits against the wall. Her Cichlid fish swim around in the sunlight basking in the glory of the moving water and the rays of sunlight. In the garage, three German Shep- herds wait for their time to be let back into the kennel to keep watch over their surroundings. Their stomachs set- tle next to their empty bowls. See what I mean? A zoo. But I wouldn't have it any other way. Throughout my life I've been the owner of three cats myself, and my par- ents have watched over the dog hobby with keen interest. Cats and dogs have come and gone in my life, and aquari- ums were an added bonus to my early years of life, before I took a break from keeping them in my college and high school years. Just recently, I tapped into that hobby interest with a goal in mind of having a huge aquarium some day. Baby steps Laura, baby steps. But then there's the things that I real- ize aren't so great about having ani- mals. For instance, what can accumu- late on the bottom of your shoes if you aren't careful where you step, and we have a couple pieces of ruined furni- ture in our home due to the claws and needs of the cats over the years. I find stray leftovers from dinner around the house sometimes when I forgot to close the lid on the garbage and Hilde decided to help herself to the leftovers but didn't have the room in her little belly for it all. Then there was that time when I stepped on a mouse on my way out to make my morning coffee. Hilde has proudly presented it to me and I screamed and ran for the shower immediately. Then, there's the moment when the water heater went bazzerk and I had to carefully step through four inches of hot water in my dad's rubber boots because Hilde had found refuge on the top of the deep freezer down- stairs but didn't know how to get across the moat encasing her. Never have I ever had something leap into my arms as fast as her when I appeared within jumping distance. I felt like a hero until she scurried out of my arms at the top of the stairs and ran to her bowl. I guess her heard was really in her stomach. But then there's the moments when she curls up at my feet and lays her little cheek on my foot or my tank of fish back away from my father, a per- son that doesn't peer into the tank too often, and hide behind their plans and ornaments from the scary bearded beast. As soon as I appear, they come out of their hiding spots and they come up to the front of the glass - my angelfish coming at me at eye level (they probably want food too, but I'm going to take it as being more of a sign of how much they love and trust me). The dogs, true German Shepherds, I feel would do anything for anyone of us, whether it be being trained to grab something from the fridge or fill up a water bottle (like that will every happen), or do a good job of scaring off any intruders or burglars with their loud barks and hair standing up on their necks. Although they need to learn the dif- ference between mean guy and cable guy. It's always inevitable though. What animals go into your life always leave, whether you're ready or not. I think we've all felt that pain of losing an animal before we were ready to say good-bye, but I still wouldn't have it any other way. Chicken bones and all. How about all these Olympians? Ruth Dobrensky I'm probably the same as everyone else in Canada in following the Olympics and all our wonderful athletes. Speaking of wonder athletes, perhaps our own Julie Staehli has aspirations of being in the summer Olympics, she's doing so well in her university cross country races. At any rate, lets continue to cheer on our athletes whether they are Olympians, just kids learning how to skate or play hockey or soccer or just out to have fun. The local Rumoli Club got together last week at the Sepoy Apartments for their monthly fun evening of food, gossip and Rumoli. One of our members was away to the south (lucky her), but since the rest of us were still buried in snow, we made the best of it and had a good time. Speaking of snow, just when I thought we were about to lose ours, more of it arrived. Will somebody please turn off the snow making machines? My cat, Smokey, was enjoying the sunshine last Monday and even ventured outside for a few hours, but when the snow started falling again, she looked out the window in disgust and went back to bed. I'm beginning to wish I could join her. I hear the roast beef dinner at St. Helen's was a big success on Valentine's Day. It's amazing how many of our churches, organizations and clubs put on such great dinners, and even more amazing how many people are able to get out to support them all. Sympathy of the community to the fam- ilies of: Rita Neron, 83, of Southampton and formerly of Lucknow; Muriel Ritchie, 91, of Goderch and formerly from Luc - know and Martin McGlynn, 44, of Wingham. 1.2 million Canadians —1 in 25 — carry' the gene for cystic tftirosis (r r PI. C_iabrsads ilia. irpiluCy5Litiae.tion mi— j To IBin Imre, please contact: 1-800-318-CCFF www.cysticfibrosis.ca