Message Pages

	News and Updates
	Oct-15-2021
CHANGE Please note, we can/will NOT be going to Toronto/Mississauga tomorrow (Saturday Oct. 16th) Check updates here for when we will be going, sorry but it is not possible Saturday, hopefully in the next couple days.
	Oct-14-2021
END OF SEASON Hi Everyone, Congratulations to all the winners this very tough season. The main race was a hard working event and we saw some fantastic performances. Thank you to the people that were able to come and watch these super pigeons arrive in a spectacular way, they were so high that many did not even see them, they were likely (well) over 1000 ft and with the winning speed of 1264 it seemed a bit odd they would be that high but it was amazing to see them up there. So once again it was the pigeons that put on a great show !! We want to thank all our supporters over the years that made this race possible. As I mentioned before, due to circumstances which really snowballed this year we can not continue, to us it is a relief but also a very sad moment. However there is still a chance the D.T. OLR will happen next year and the race will go on, we are hoping to hire/partner with the 1 person we have 100% trust in and he is a top pigeon man, we hope to have an answer next week sometime. Due to very low (single digit) numbers confirmed for the 400 race and many birds already picked up and scheduled for pick up or dropped off, unfortunately we will not have it. We will be traveling to Mississauga on Saturday, if you would like us to bring your birds, please let us know by Friday evening and we will arrange things. We will be posting an inventory today as a few more made it back from the main race and previous races. Fred Weening will be meeting us Saturday and could possibly bring some birds further SW if that helps you. Also Tony Alves is meeting us from further North, if that helps you maybe contact Tony or us to make arrangements. If you live within driving distance please contact us to arrange pick up, we would like to have the loft empty ASAP so we can thoroughly clean and pressure wash it before we get any cold temperatures. Thank you. As most of you know what is going on with Linda, we would like to ask not to ask/talk to her about it, she is struggling with it and not ready to talk about it, it would be much appreciated, thank you.
	Oct-07-2021
RACE DAY The birds are on their way to Matheson and the plan is to release them 08:00-08:30. The weather is suppose to be great, mainly sunny and light winds, the first 1/2 they should have light (3-6 M/H) side headwind and the 2nd 1/2 is forecast to be very light (1-2 M/H) side tailwind. We expect the winning birds to arrive around 15:00, if possible, please arrive after 13:00, I will not be there early as I’m hauling the birds and Linda is dealing with a lot (please respect her privacy on this) but we do want you to enjoy watching the birds coming home (hopefully 😁😁) I hope to see everyone when I get back, hopefully before the birds 😎😎 I will update the Pick Bird dots in the morning and remember you have until 14:00 on race day (Thursday Oct. 07) See you in the afternoon 😁
	Oct-05-2021
MAIN RACE Hi Everyone, To say this year has been a struggle would be a huge understatement !! The weather has been terrible the last number of days with all day rain and mist/drizzle etc, for a couple days it did not even appear to be safe to loft fly. There is a wind farm about 10km SE of us and you could see the posts of the turbines but the turbine itself and most of the blades were in the clouds. The weather is starting to improve and we will be giving them a trainer tomorrow (Tuesday) and the plan is to have the main race on Thursday Oct. 07. We hope to have people come and watch the arrival of the birds but we will not have a large party or something like that, one of the reasons is that we could not plan far ahead because of the uncertainty with the weather and being so late in the season we have to go when we can, so we can't have the usual tent and food (catered in) However the forecast is for sunny and 20-21C with very little wind so it will be nice to sit out and enjoy the sun. The other reason we are not really in the mood to have a big event this year, if you remember Linda had eye surgery etc and her biopsy results came back last week and it showed that it is cancer and Linda is not really in the mood to host it like previous years. Don't get us wrong, we still want you to come and watch the birds arrive and enjoy yourself but would like it if you did not bring this up with Linda, please respect her privacy on this, thank you. As mentioned, the weather for Thursday looks good right now, the forecast is for mainly sunny with the first half of the race into a 4-7 M/h headwind and the 2nd half a 1-2 M/h variable with winds from many different directions and a high of 70F. We have class races and Pick Bird for the main race, it is open till 14:00 of race day. We must receive which in an email and receive the money by E-transfer (lindadevries40@gmail.com) or PayPal (oldev@storm.ca) by 14:00 or it will not be accepted. Please bring your own lawn chairs & drinks as with no tent etc we will not have many chairs. Please send an email if you plan to attend. I probably forgot something but I'll post a few more as we are getting ready for the race.
	Sep-28-2021
RACE 3 RELEASE Good morning, Birds were released at 08:15 just South of Temagami at the municipal buildings. It was clear but some clouds came in from the NW, 5-10 miles down the road and its mainly blue skies again, pretty much calm and cool at 1C, as they head home they are suppose to get a light tail to side tail wind. My guess is that the 1st birds will arrive between 13:00 & 13:30
	Sep-27-2021
PICK BIRD REMINDER Good morning everyone, Just a reminder that you can enter the Pick Bird competition till 11:00 Tuesday. We received a number of entries already and we want to remind everyone that you can enter one (1) Pick Bird per team entered. This means if you entered: 1 team you can pick one (1) for your Pick Bird 2 teams you can pick one (1) or two (2) Pick Birds 3 teams, you can pick one (1), two (2) or three (3) Pick Birds Please pick accordingly.
	Sep-26-2021
TRAINER & NEXT RACE Good morning everyone, Unfortunately the toss turned out tougher than it should have been. They were released in sunny skies with a light headwind, it was strange when they started to arrive home that they were very high, probably 750-1000ft which makes no sense with a headwind. after the first few groups were in we had a F attack, got very close and got a few feathers off the bird but not the bird, the F went up higher again and took another run but did not get one than either, it than went up higher and higher just to the East of the loft, I ran to the house to get my stick, as I was keeping my eye on it some birds came from behind me (West) and JR says there's a bird on the grass in front of the loft, by the time I looked the bird had gotten up and was already over the cornfield and it wasn't a pigeon BUT it was an H, by the time I saw it it was too far away. I assume it tried to get a pigeon while they were coming in and it missed (these pigeons are very sharp and really know all about Fs & Hs ;) ) So now we have both, F & H after the birds but now something extremely interesting happened. As we were following the H go across the cornfield and when it was just about at the East tree line, all of a sudden we see a blur and it was the F and it hit the H, as it hit the H the F went back up in the air and the H tumbled into the cornfield. I have never seen anything like that, that was really interesting to see, I had heard about it but to see it was something else. By the looks of it there is 1 less H around now but I am sure there are plenty more. With all this commotion and the way the birds shoot in through the trap (some did not even land, they flew through the trap) We will do a loft fly / inventory today which will have an accurate clocking. The plan was to race Monday but the weather is not cooperating, it's ok up North but for 2/3 of the race there will be clouds and showers. So the race will be Tuesday from 250 miles, conditions will be mainly sunny with very light tail & side tail wind. With the 250M on Tuesday the Main race will likely fall on Wednesday or Thursday Oct. 06/07. Once we get closer and the weather conditions look good we will be able to set the date for the Main race. Unfortunately we can not wait as the weather gets more unpredictable as we get further into the fall. Don't forget the Pick Bird competition, it will close Tuesday morning at 11:00. Have a great Sunday
	Sep-22-2021
WEATHER 🤮🤮🤮 Hello everyone, Congrats to the winners of the Gibson Lake race. 1 - John & Rick - 19224-AU21-ARPU - CHOC - $500 2 - Kingscross Loft - 1064-CU21-MISS - BC - $300 3 - A P C Loft - 0168-AU21-APC - WGRZ - $200 The Pick Birds winner was Sly Fox 21047-CU21-PP in both the $50 & $100, winning $1890 !! The fun just seems to continue. We were hoping to have the 200M today or Thursday but the forecast is for a LOT of rain the next number of day, not so much here at home but 50/75M and further North from us they are forecasting 4+" the next 1-2 days and on & off showers to days following that, the first possible day at this time is Monday Sep. 27th. With these delays and as we are getting late in the season we will drop the 200M and race a 240-250 on Monday and then 8-10 days later the Main race, which will be Tuesday Oct. 05 -Thursday Oct. 07. Once we have completed the 240/250 and get to see a forecast for the 1st week of Oct. we can get a clearer picture of when we can get the Main race done. As the forecast for here and within 50-80 miles looks "ok" for Friday & Saturday we are hoping to get 2 trainers in and have them ready for the Monday race. We have had a number of birds return the last little bit that have been missing for a few days to weeks. We will try to get all birds in proper race condition and see how they make out. Don't feel down on those birds and think they will not race well because they missed the first couple of races already. Just so you know, a bird that won the Main race a few years ago was one of those birds, it missed the first 2 races and after it came back it did not miss a beat and WON the Main race !!! Pick bird Competition will be open again starting Friday Sep. 24.
	Sep-16-2021
RACE 2 RELEASE Good morning, Birds are up at 09:15, I had to wait for some fog to clear and waited another hour before releasing. On my way home I have still hit some areas of fog, the road runs along the Ottawa river and it is not the line for the birds 😉 I expect the first birds between 12:45-13:00 ?
	Sep-15-2021
RACE 2 Good morning, Congratulations to Teixeira Loft for having the 1st bird in on the 1st race and Sly Fox for winning the $50 & $100 Pick Bird, winning $1710 !! We are planning to do Race 2 on Thursday Sep. 16th. We trained Tuesday morning and released in 1 group, as can be seen by the way they clocked they were once again all broke up and scattered which generally means 1 thing. They look to be in excellent condition as it was an East wind which is side headwind. For Thursday's race we are looking at South wind at release (side headwind) and 1/2 way home going to East, side headwind from the other side so it will be a tougher race. Starting Friday it is suppose to warm up again a bit to 28-29C feel like 34-35C, I'm sure the birds won't mind too much and it should get them good shape for Race 3, mid/end next week. At this pace we can not make Oct. 03 for the main Race and we will not force it, so the main race date will likely fall somewhere on Oct 05-08. With the 2nd Race on Thursday the Pick Bird competition is now open again, I will remove all dot in the morning and mark the entries as they come in. I'm guessing it will be around 4 hours for the winning bird(s) Thursday so a different type race. It is coming up fast so we will take entries for the Pick Bird until 3 hours after the release, if the release is at 08:00, Race Pick Bird competition closes at 11:00.
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