The new phone book’s here! The new phone book’s here! ….. I’m finally somebody now. Okay, it’s not the phone book, but the Morris & Area Recreation September-December newsletter. No you won’t find your name in it but you can get details for fall registrations. (The opening to this paragraph is a classic line from the 1979 movie The Jerk, starring Steve Martin.)

Morris and Area Newsletter
Some fall highlights from the newsletter are the Baby Sitter Course, Girl Guides of Canada enrollment, or Become a Member of the Morris Scout troop. Registration for these events is on Sept. 6 from 5-7 p.m., at the Morris Multiplex. (Someone please join Girl Guides so I can purchase some cookies again this year.)
If you’re planning to book an appointment for the Sept. 24, Canadian Blood Service (CBS) clinic in Morris, you might want to give the Multiplex a call first. I called CBS to get a front row seat at the event. The only listing CBS had for Morris was for Nov. 26. Check first. I hate for blood donors to show and be disappointed they couldn’t get a needle stuck in their arm.
When I’m sitting in the chair for giving blood, waiting for the needle, I usually ask the nurse if she is married. If she indicates she is divorced, I ask if I look like her ex-husband just to play it safe. I got a needle from one nurse who was as gentle as a whaler with a harpoon. I swear she pushed the needle through my arm into the chair. The bruise I got was as big as a baseball and lasted a week. (I wondered if I looked like her ex-husband.)
My apologies to Vi Skoglund for incorrectly spelling her name in the Aug. 18 Morris Happenings. It appears I should have read this quote first: “Never worry about bad press: All that matters is if they spell your name right.” -Kate Hudson
Pencil in a reminder on your calendar for Aug. 26 at 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. The Morris Army Cadet Corps is holding a BBQ fundraiser at the Co-op Gas Bar on First Street. The cadets are offering a delicious hotdog with a cool drink for $2.
I wasn’t a cadet in my youth but rather a private in the reserves. It was a wonderful opportunity for grown men (i.e. boys) to run around the woods playing guns. We did learn some stuff, though. For example, you remembered your social insurance number or you didn’t eat. In order to gain access to the mess hall you needed to tell the duty corporal your SIN. No SIN, no food.
Due to ideal weather conditions the nipper (the name used to reference mosquitoes in Newfoundland) population is on the increase. This includes the mosquito species Culex Tarsalis, known to carry the West Nile virus.
Starting Aug. 16, mosquitoes will be dying in Morris. Weather permitting the fogging trucks will be out between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. on Monday and Thursday to decrease the population growth of these nuisance and health risk insects. If you are looking for additional information, contact the Town Office at (204) 746-2531.

Community Newspaper
If you have an event you would like me to attend and maybe get a few lines in this Southeast Journal community newspaper to plug your event drop me an email at morrissej@inane.ca.
Sean Conway lives in Morris, Manitoba and contributes articles to the Southeast Journal, a community newspaper serving Rural Municipalities of Morris, Montcalm, Emerson-Franklin and the Town of Morris.