The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Places I've Done Time A bag full of banties by Clifford Fronds Last week someone asked if I knew where they could purchase some banty hens? I told them where and proceeded proceeded to add the pitfalls of chicken chicken ranching. My mind went back in time to when I first had banty > chickens. Where better to get them than at the Orono Sales Arena? The sales then were run by Jack Reid and his upstart son Charles.. When Charlie started auctioneering, auctioneering, he didn't start at the top selling livestock. No siree. He started by selling chickens and ducks. He then moved up to selling goats and sheep, and finally pigs and cattle. I remember one night in particular when I purchased some banty hens at the sales bam. John Slater, who lived on the Fourth Concession at the time, had brought up 10 bags of banties to sell - three per bag. Charlie had John pull one of the pullets (a young hen) from the bag. "These are good laying hens," Charlie exclaimed. "They'll lay two eggs a day. How much am I bid?" he asked. He then broke into his auction chant. "Give a dollar, bid a dollar, take a dollar." There was no way that I would let Charlie earn his money that easy so I bid 10 cents. When the price got to 35 cents per chicken I bought them. "How many bags of chickens do you want at 35 cents per chicken?" Charlie asked. "One please," I replied and Charlie would start over. I bought all ten bags of chickens at 35 cents, per chicken - one bag at a time. I learned years later that only myself - the buyer, John! Slatér - the seller and Charlie , actually bid on them. I would bid the dime, Slater made it 15 cents, Charlie made it 20, John made it 25, Charlie bid 30 cents and I always got the i last bid at 35 cents. Charlie had said that there was a mixture of hens and roosters in the bags and there certainly was. When I got the bags home and dumped them out I had 23 roosters and seven hens. With that many roosters soon there were cock fights all over the place. When I phoned Charlie to complain, he said, "Bring them back and re-sell them." Not a problem. The next week I bagged them up and took them back to the sales bam. By the time Charlie got around to selling my chickens, chickens, I'd had a couple of drinks and when Charlie explained what a wonderful bunch of pullets they were, and how good they laid, and that they were raised by a hell-uv-a nice fellow from Leskard, I put my hand up and bought them all back at a dollar à piece. The sales commission was more than I had paid for them in the first place. The next day I had two headaches - my own and all those roosters. Finally I was able to get rid of the roosters by giving them away and by using .them to make soup with. Banty hens lay eggs like crazy and then love to set on them. It wasn't long before I had about à hundred hens. Thën'theré was the problem of getting rid of the eggs. I solved that by taking them into a veteran's club m Oshawa and trading them for drinks. That practice came to an abmpt end when the guy I was driving with one Saturday swerved his Volkswagen to miss a porcupine porcupine on Simcoe Street and rolled the bug. I had 45 dozen eggs in the back and we looked like a western omelet when we crawled out of the car. That was the end of egg farming for me. I gave all the hens to Hughie Foster who lived north of Garden Hill. Register now for YWCA summer kids' camps The YWCA of Durham is offering various summer day camps for children and youth aged 3 to 17. Activities will be held in Oshawa, Courtice, Brooklin as well as here in Orono at Orono Park. Camps are one week in duration and run from July 2 through to August 30. The following day camps are offered: Crazy Critter (3-5 yrs), Performing Arts (6-12 yrs), Eco Adventure (6-12 yrs), Jamrnin' Junior (6-8 yrs), Babysitter Training (12-17 yrs), Vacation Bible Camp (12 -16 yrs), Counsellor in Training (13-17 yrs), and Sports Adventure (6-12 yrs). Reserve your spot in one of these exciting camps by calling calling the YWCA Recreation Department at (905) 723-9922 or e-mail us at recllt@ywca- oshawa.org for more details. j^-fREIDHOME INSPECTI BUYING OR SELLING KNOW THE FITNESS OF YOUR HOME Bert Reid, CET. 905-983-9659 Thu flppje Blossom ~ Flowers & Gifts Shop V Orono 983-9155 • Oshawa 433-2515 - www.appleblossomflowers.com "We don't Just specialize... We make every order special." S Orono Country Cate 2 Full Menu 2) éto Main Street., Orono, Ontario • 983-9009 0$ moved up from Guides to Pathfinders at their end of season meeting two weeks ago. Also moving up but absent from the photo is Natasha Keast. ARE YOU LOOKING FOR WORK? THE JOB FINDING CLUB in BOWMAN VILLE with Meta Vocational Services Inc. IS FOR YOU! This interactive and creative program will assist in providing you with the skills needed to effectively obtain employment. AT NO COST TO YOU, our Certified Job Club Counsellor will help you: > identify your strengths > prepare an effective resume and cover letter > access the hidden job market > improve your interview skills > and much more The Job Finding Club is sponsored by Human Resources Development Canada. Call Meta Vocational Services Inc. in Bowmanvllle for more information. ■ * ■ (905) 697-8887 1*1 Human Resources Développement des Development Canada ressources humaines Canada Established in 1972 otudio' Home Teaching Tel: (905) 720-8786 Newcastle, ON