It's that time of year again! Summer has arrived and what better way to enjoy the sunshine and warm weather than a backyard gathering with friends and family? Whether you are having a casual barbecue or a posh party, there is always a lot of work to do before your guests arrive; the following 10 tips will help you prepare (to have fun!). Clean up the Yard Appearance is everything! Mow the lawn in advance to give it a nice clean look. Turn and aerate the soil and check that there are no visible weeds. If you have a pool or pond don't forget to clean them a few days ahead.  Front Yard and Entry Always remember that the first thing your friends and family see when they arrive is the front yard and entry way. To make sure that all of your guests have a good first impression, use a spare closet or room to hold shoes and coats to keep the entry from becoming disorganized. Seating Areas Have ample seating for your guests by making use of any patio furniture you have, whether it's a swing, bench, camping chairs or patio couch. If you don't have enough, you might want to look into renting chairs through your local party supply store. Also, don't forget that you can bring the party indoors as to increase seating space, accommodate guests who may prefer to stay cool, or set up a kids table. Select the Food When planning your menu, take your guests' food into account; are any of your guests' vegetarian, gluten free, lactose intolerant or diabetic? An excellent host will ensure that every guest has options available, whether it's the appetizer or main course.  Prep in Advance  Depending on the dishes you are planning to serve, you may be able to do most of the prep work in advance (think: salads, veggies and food that requires marinating, etc.). On the day of the party you want to have everything ready to go at least one hour before your guests arrive to ensure you can focus on hosting, not cooking!  Lighting & Heat  Keep your guests comfortable long after the sun goes down with help from lighting and heat. Clear light strands or bamboo torches set up around your patio will improve the ambience and increase visibility as the party winds down. If you have portable heaters, it's a good idea to bring them out in advance, just in case you need them. Based on how your heaters are operated, you'll also want to make sure that you have gas, propane or an extension cord. If you have a fire pit, ensure you have enough wood chopped and ready - and s'mores (lots of s'mores!).  Barbecue Prepping the barbecue for action should be a top priority. Double check to make sure you have enough propane, gas or charcoal to last the entire party, scrape and clean the grill before your guests arrive and place any required grilling tools such as a spatula, tongs or marinating brush by the barbecue.  Chilling the Beverages Knowing that you will have a full fridge of food, decide in advance where you will keep your guests' drinks cool, or where you'll keep pop and juices for kids. You can use coolers filled with ice or try out a Pinterest-inspired DIY project! Yard Games Games that you can set up and play in the yard will add fun and excitement to your party or simply work to keep the kids entertained. Have the games set up and ready for guests to use, whether its croquet, badminton or a bean bag toss. You can even create some friendly competition with a round robin tournament complete with prizes and party favours! Last but not least, don't forget to relax and have fun with your friends and family.

What happens if your only day off is a Tuesday? No car or no interest in driving to Clear Lake for the day? Well, what ARE you going to do in Brandon that feels like a vacation? May I suggest day drinking!  Finish your chores or that morning round of golf and head straight for your favourite patio. Like Jimmy Buffet used to sing, "it's 5 o'clock somewhere!" Use that as your excuse if you need one. Choose to hide away at the fenced patio at The Dock and you might soon forget you're drinking downtown across from the Court House or around the corner from the old bus depot. But in all seriousness, The Dock is a great choice for two reasons. 1) They always have  a bartender on duty.  2) You can get a peach margarita for about $6. They don't stock Patron tequila, but after your 2nd or 3rd Sauza Gold peach margarita, Brandon starts to feel like a tropical paradise and who really cares about brand names anyway.  If you're meeting the girls for a 'be seen on the scene' lunch date, you have to visit the patio at Prairie Firehouse on Princess! Their newly opened patio is gorgeous! It's also comfortable and offers high visibility. So whether you're watching for gym members lapping the block from nearby Crossfit Rocked, or you're hoping to see someone you know get a parking ticket on Princess Ave, this is the place to hang out.  One of the things I like best about the Prairie Firehouse is that they have a summer sipping drink menu. From sangrias to customized mojitos, you'll find something cool and trendy. My favourite on this list has to be the blackberry mojito, but I think this requires additional research just to be sure.  My third suggestion for day drinking in Brandon is good ol' BP. Boston Pizza on Richmond has an out of the way, cozy, fenced, discreet patio. Perfect for having a drink with your old high school buddies or your side chick. Maybe split a jug of draft or spice things up here with a caesar. But of course the franchise has many signature drinks on the menu and a daytime bartender on staff, so you really can't go wrong. Well, unless of course you wife sees your truck in the parking lot and you were supposed to be at work. But that's just a whole separate category of wrong.  To summarize... day drinking: It's a perfect way to forget that our city doesn't have a Red Lobster and probably isn't getting a Costco either.   (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});  

Planning a day trip, a scavenger hunt or road rally? Why not add "Selfie with Sara" to your list.  Who's Sara? Well, I'm talking about Sara the statue, the camel statue of Glenboro, Manitoba. She's their giant mascot, their roadside landmark and their signature art piece. You'll find her less than 45 minutes south east of Brandon on Highway 2. Roadside attractions are a town's key to getting on the map, it seems. They are everywhere!  Giant statutes or mascots began to pop up on American highways in the late 1930s. Typically built or placed by hotels and restaurants they existed to get a driver's attention with the expectation that they would stop and spend their money.  Over the years, statues got bigger and more eclectic. Anything to be the biggest or most talked about. By the 1960s they were such a common sight on the American landscape, they were as much a symbol of family road trips as the station wagon. Canada wasn't to be left out and signature art pieces were commissioned by forward thinking towns and municipalities.  In Gimli, Manitoba the Viking statue was a product of Centennial celebrations in 1967. Designed by Gissur Eliasson, and constructed at a cost of $15,000 it was meant to recognize and honour the Icelandic heritage and settlers of the region. It was constructed by George Barone (Barone Sculptures Inc) who also notably built the white horse at Headingly and Tommy the Turtle (1974) in Boissevain. I can't imagine all the thousands or even hundreds of thousands of photos taken with these statues every year. I know I have both Viking and Tommy the Turtle photos in my childhood album.  If you'd like to learn more or plan your own Manitoba statue road trip, start your planning at Roadsideattractions.ca

We've been to the neighbours again. Upon arriving home yesterday after school, before baseball, the oldest promptly approached the nice neighbor man's wife and asked where her husband was. He needed to talk to him.  Man stuff.  She indicated he was away at work but would let him know as soon as he was home that he was needed next door.  He fixes our bikes.  Every 2nd day.  I wasn't aware that there was a pending repair. Need to know basis.  However since Grandpa Gary was at our place later, he fixed it before the neighbor got home. He's done a fair bit of bike fixing here too.  I don't do mechanical anything. At all. Ever. Not for lack of trying.  I suck at it. For reals.  Then we went and stirred up the bees in the nice neighbor man's backyard, climbed his trees, took pictures of all the pretty flowers, and got free rhubarb which the ravenously hungry little children immediately started eating.  And I've been instructed by the bigger one to bake pie with the remainder of it.  Within seconds of returning back to our own yard, the "neighbor recruiting kid" ramped his bike so well on his self-constructed ramp that he blew the back tire and also 1 hip.  Back to the drawing board.  Nothing like having great neighbours. We'll see them tomorrow about that tire...... Yours truly, Caley

Fewer than one in three working Canadians has a guaranteed pension plan¹. Canadians are living longer than ever before and very few have access to traditional sources of retirement income, such as workplace pension plans. In fact, between 1982 and 2011 participation in defined contribution plans grew by 294.4 per cent while participating in defined benefit plans grew by only 2.7 per cent2. While defined contribution plans will potentially offer employees more choice, and more control for their retirement income by allowing them to invest their funds as they choose, they do not provide employees with a guaranteed income in retirement. This can make it difficult for people to accurately plan for how much they will earn in retirement, creating a significant challenge when it comes to retirement planning. Fortunately, your financial professional can help. According to the Towers Watson 2012 Survey of Pension Risk, 72 per cent of Canadian employees either agreed or strongly agreed that they are more concerned about pensions than they were 24 months ago. As part of your retirement income plan, you may wish to work with your financial professional to look at your guaranteed income from all sources and identify any gaps between the money you’ll have coming in and the income you’ll need. Areas to discuss: • Your level of guaranteed income • How much you plan to spend • Recommended income solutions that will provide income for life, plus the potential for growth Planning for a retirement does not need to be a daunting task, especially if you take time to ensure you are considering as many scenarios as possible. 1 Source: Statistics Canada, Pension Plans in Canada and Labour Force Survey, 2011 2Source: Towers Watson, Survey of Pension Risk, 2012