For those of us situated north of the US border, this was an extremely brutal Winter. As a Newfie transplant to Ontario since 1985, Toronto winters are predominantly a joke. I can remember showing up to school in a spring jacket for the first day of class while everyone was docked from head to toe in warmer gear. A touque in September?!?! Come On Mannnnnnnnn!

Summer is here and us Torontonians are being shown just how bad the past Winter was. Wonderfully paved roads are left pockmarked with potholes, trees without limbs, tree stumps instead of actual trees.

With great hesitation, our family wandered out back to the shed for the annual pre-summer cleaning. We opened the doors and I gunned for two items that I was hoping would have made it through the winter. Unfortunately, my hockey gear was a giant wet moldy mess that I soon left in the hot sun to dry up. Secondly my display cases that I use for the card shows were destroyed. Water had seeped in, frozen and splintered the wood. One look into the plexiglass left me speechless. MOLD and rotting wood!

In case you are wondering, I couldn’t play hockey the past few years because of my knee and lower back issues. I am going try again this winter and see if my body can take it. I miss being on the ice.

Damn you ol’ man Winter.. Damn you..

Then a thought dawned on me. I get to go shopping again! Now to find me some snazzy display cases for my shows and brand new hockey gear..