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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1979-08-29, Page 17MIN • Semng f/ngh 'hoar NoTM Middiews ,7=e-A-41.• TRICK SHOT — Bruce McNea, Burlington, tries for a trick shot between the spokes of the spinning wheel. Christopher Thompson, Grand Bend, gives him advice, while Karen Lilja of Dundas looks on. AIMING FOR THE CORN FIELD — Harvey Webb of Grand Cove Estates says he comes to the driving range about three times a week for exercise. Some golfers are able to land the ball beyond the distance markers and into the corn field. yr alltP rzawstawataaa&mcrianwartowaumossaavommusraistwimminow A LITTLE DAMP — John Fellows of Sarnia decided that a good swing is all that's needed to get out of this water hazard at Beach Golf. Page 1A AUGUST 29, 1979 Price Per Copy 25 Cents Variety of courses in Grand Bend • You may not realize it, but and any aspect of the sport Grand Bend is a golfer's can be practised. paradise. All ages can golf, The business of miniature All kinds of golfers have fun ary's golf has become highly competetive in Grand Bend. You can find two good courses on Main Street, and Track 'N Trail, three miles south of Grand Bend boasts a golf course in the woods. Lloyd Martin of Beach Golf on Main Street says that his course was professionally designed, It RESTORING THE PAST — Carpenter at Lambton Heritage Museum Harm Douma has been busy returning this pioneer shanty to its original condition. Douma had to replace one wall where the pioneer cabin had been attached to a larger brick house when its days as a home were over. Restoring pioneer cabin latest museum project F. UP TO PAR — Tom Sanders. 4, of London prac- tises putting on the Three Par Course The course is owned by his grandfather, Morley Sanders. Restoration of a pioneer shanty at Lambton Heritage Museum is nearly complete. Museum carpenter Harm Douma has been busy during the past few weeks making the pioneer home as authentic as possible. The small pioneer home was built in Bosanquet township in 1857, on the farm of Mrs. James Tudhop. When Mrs. Tudhop's son-in-law, James Walden, bought the farm in the 1870's, he built a new brick house and moved the pioneer home up to the back door to be used as a summer kitchen and wood shed, The farm remained in the Walden family until 1955 when it was sold to Earl Hilborn. In 1976, Peter Van Riel bought the farm and in 1978 fire destroyed the brick home, but the pioneer shanty survived, Fred Walden, a Thedford area historian who has donated much of his personal collection to the museum, was intrumental in having the pioneer shanty moved to the museum, Walden has been helping Douma restore the cabin. The first job Douma en- countered was the removal of wood panelling from the interior of the cabin, Underneath the panelling seven layers of wall paper had to be scraped off. Finally they found the walls of the cabin and have left them without insulation the way the pioneers lived. The exterior of the cabin is done in what the pioneers called "board and batten". Large planks were used, and then narrow strips of wood were put over the cracks between the planks. The wood was purchased from a sawmill in Widder which was later named Thedford. The museum hopes that when funds permit they will be able to replace the steel roof that has been added since the cabin was built with cedar shingles. They think that originally the Single car accident in Damage was estimated at over $4000 in a single car accident that sent two young people to hospital on August 21. The car was driven by Thomas Kneale of Grand Bend when it collided with a tree at Brewster Boulevard in Southcott Pines. Kneale and his passenger Debbie Carter received minor in- juries and were taken by ambulance to hospital in Exeter. The accident was investigated by the Pinery detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police, The Pinery OPP laid 34 charges under the provincial parks act, and 18 under the highway traffic act during the week of August 19 to 25. They charged 16 people under the liquor licence act, and one person under the narcotic control act. One impaired driver was charged. Grand Bend detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police reported a very quiet week, with no accidents. Their office Will be closing on September 5. cabin had a roof of wooden shingles. The shanty was in very poor condition when it arrived at the museum. Moving the building had loosened many of the joints, and the floor was falling apart. "I was so discouraged, I didn't know where to begin," Douma says. main room holds the wood stove, kitchen table, a china cupboard and a wash stand. Walden also donated a hand hewn bench--a piece of log crudely cut in half with wooden legs. The other half of the cabin contains two rope beds. Walden donated a wooden cradle that had been in his family for several generations, Making the new wood they used for repairs match the old wood •has kept Douma and Walden busy. Douma has also built a wooden eaves trough to replace the more modern one that someone has added through the years. Visitors to the museum have been able to tour the pioneer home while the reconstruction has been going on, Many of the tourists have told the car- penter that he shouldn't be working on an old pioneer home with an electric drill and saw, Douma goes ahead with his modern tools. "People are too critical," he says, And then he laughs. Things can grow on you - even inanimate objects. Even things you don't think you'd like at all. I've been telling my husband to sell his sports car ever since we got married. Now, when it gets right down to it, I hate to see it go. It just didn't make sense to keep it. He oul•rdrifve it in summer, arta now he spends all his spare time in his boat. A Triumph TR-6 was just an expensive toy cluttering up the driveway. Owning a foreign sports car is also a very expensive hobby. You have to be friends with a good mechanic. Fortunately, Victor is. It was great - he and his mechanic friends used to do trade-offs. For minor repairs on the car, Victor would cut the mechanic's kids' hair. This worked well for a while. 'Doing three hair cuts would pay for an oil change and grease job. But the mechanic had a very observant wife. Each time the TR-6 was in the garage and Victor would make a house call with his scissors, she Would watch closely. Pretty soon, she figured out how to trim the family's hair herself. And Victor had to start paying for all those little repairs. Parts for foreign cars are not only expensive, they can also be very hard to get. On one of the few days we took the car for a drive early this summer, we noticed that the rumbling noise was louder than usual. An inspection bought bad news. There was indeed a hole in that muffler which had recently cost close to $100. But that wasn't the worst of it. A furry animal was inside our muffler. Its fuzzy back was falling out of the hole. It appeared to us that a squirrel or kitten had crawled inside the muffler and died of carbon monoxide poisoning. A poke with a hockey stick proved it - rigor mortis had set in, We felt terrible. Immediately we took the car for a new muffler and gravely explained the problem to the muffler man . When we told him it was for a British Leyland car, his mouth twitched in a smile. He got under the car for a look, and came up laughing. It seems that some Strange mufflers are insulated with a fuzzy I guess that's what makes them so ex- pensive. Our dead animal was just a clump of in- sulation inside the rusty muffler. I guess that I should ex- plain that I have never driven the TR-6. Only two people were allowed to drive that "baby",- Victor and his mechanic. Ad I never really wanted to drive it, either, because I knew that if I put even the slightest scratch on it, I would suffer for a long time. But then, one damp morning my old faithful Penelope Pinto refused to start. I was late for an ap- pointment, and in desperation I grabbed the key for the Triumph off the hook. I played with the choke the same way I had seen Victor do it, and soon she was rumbling comfortably. I was off. By noon the sun was hot, and I put the roof down. I got out on the highway, and even passed other vehicles. (Something you never do in an old Pinto). I always complained to Victor about getting my hair messed up whenever we went for rides with the top down. But when you're in the driver's seat things are different. Suddenly the wind in your hair feels good. This car was actually fun to drive -what he had been telling me all along was true! It was peppy, the gears shifted easily and I had a great time. That evening I told Victor that I had been driving his precious car all day, and nothing had gone wrong. "I wish you would have told me you were taking my car, so I could have worried," he said sadly. After that I used the ex- cuse that the Pinto was too stuffy on hot days. I told him I couldn't get the Pinto started. I drove the TR-6 every day I could. Soon he began to accuse me of going out and pulling wires off the, motor of the Pinto so that( it wouldn't start. In the beginning.Ireferred to it jokingly as my husband's "toy", but then I began to treat it more af- fectionately. We became very attached. I even learned how to put the top up by myself in sudden rain storms without getting very wet. Then the other day, Victor came home and said that a fellow wants to buy the Triumph. tie thought I'd be pleased. 't features several water traps, and Martin says the player is supposed to take the ball out of the water and mark up a stroke. But most players just stand there and swing - soaking themselves and anyone near them. "I suppose we should enforce the rules, but they seem to get a bang out of it," Martin says. Beach Golf features several tricky holes, and some players say they find it "challenging". The 15th hole in particular has an unusual twist. It features two parts. First the ball goes up • a ramp, and it has a choice of two holes to go into. The first hole takes the ball into a lower area quite close to the final hole - the second hole takes it into a lower area around the corner from the final hole. It's not obvious which of the first holes leads where. Many groans or squeals of delight come from that area. Play Centre miniature golf is the only course in the area which boasts electrically powered hazards. On one hole you're forced to shoot your ball under a bunch of bobbing bowling pins, on another you have to shoot through the spokes of a whirling wheel. The spinning pin wheel has been known to drive a golfer crazy with its constant movement. Another difficult shot is "hoopla" on the 10th hole. A good solid putt is required to take the ball through the loop-de-loop and you can hear the advice "eat your wheaties" being given to those with weak shots. Like Play Centre, Goofy Golf at Track and Trail features brightly colored hazards. This course was designed and made by owner Ken Fernald. It covers a much greater Please turn to page 3A • One of the first jobs was to tear out all the old electric wiring. The cabin now holds. • • a wood stove for heating, and candles for light. Walden has furnished the Southcott. Pines cabin with authentic pieces from those early days. The BY MARY ALDERSON LITTLE PUTTER — Alexi Silvins, 5, of Toronto, concen- trates on a long putt at Play Centre. Her grandfather, Gordon Friesen who is spending the summer in Grand Bend, watches her from the tee. ON WHEELS — Elise Engel, 16, uses a garden tractor to haul an automatic golf ball "picker-upper". The handy implement osses the balls over the discs and into baskets, Elise works for het mother at the driving range in Grand Bend