COCHRANE

Sunday was a great day to get out and take a short road trip. We decided to go to COCHRANE which is approximately 40 kms. west of CALGARY. The town of COCHRANE was named after Senator Matthew Henry COCHRANE, who established the COCHRANE Ranch in 1881. The CANADIAN Pacific Railway granted the town site in 1885. COCHRANE became a village in 1903. The area is mixed farming and of late has become a bedroom community to CALGARY. As evident to our drive around town there is alot of new housing being built. We drove to the main street of town and there is a mix of new and old buildings. When going to COCHRANE one has to make a stop at McKay Ice CREAM Parlor. This shop was established in 1948 and continues under the ownership of the original family members. We were not the only customers they had on Sunday. Entering the store there was a line up to get your cone. The had a staff of ten girls taking orders, making cones and operating the till. If you go to Mckays they only accept cash or credit cards. They have a great variety of cones and you can have a plain cone, waffle cone, chocolate dipped cone or just a plain old sundae. We ordered two chocolate ice cream cones and I have to admit, the ice cream was rich and creamy. Well worth the trip. I highly recommend a visit to COCHRANE if your in the area.

BAR-B-Q

Its that time again, when we haul out the Bar-b-q, dust off the cobwebs brush it up and get ready for outdoor grilling. Trouble is, I didn't have a bar-b-q, until today. That's when i went to the store to get my bar-b-q. Its been awhile since i bought a bar-b-q and quite frankly, I found it confusing on how many choices you have. There are the three burners, four burners, 60,000 btu, 680 sq. inches of cooking surface, or maybe you need less, or more, theres those available too. I decided i wanted a 4 burner, 65000btu with 680 sq. inches of cooking surface. Enough said, the clerk was only too happy to help me, said wait a moment and after 15 minutes I realized the clerk was waiting for me at customer service, with this big box. Had to be the bbq inside, waiting for me to assemble it. No problem, have done this before, so packed this box into my car and voila...home to begin the task of putting it all together. Opened the box and within the box were other boxes, lots of em. I methodically opened and laid out each box, which of course held a component of the bbq. Carefully unwrapped the bubble wrap, found the package of nuts and bolts and screws and washers. Found the manual and started reading. Put the wheels on first, manual said so...put the sides on secondly, reversed them took them off and put them on correctly, paused, had a smoke, went for a beer because a guy can't do anything without one and followed through all the steps. Doors on correctly, put the bbq on the stand but had trouble getting all the screws in, which is maybe why i have 2 screws left over, 2 washers, and 2 other screws that are not the same color as the others and were no where to be found in the manual. I always figured that there was some gizmo at the factory whose sole job was to make sure every box got at least 2 extra screws. Anyways, i did get the bbq together and of course, we had to have burgers!!!