The Fishing Competition…Herschell Ostrepeller’s Most Important Catch…

Every morning at 6:30 am Herschell Ostrepeller got into his pickup truck and drove to ‘’Sweet Betty’s Cafe.’’ It was on the main drag in Ogilthrope Ontario. The fact Ogilthorpe only had one road coming in and the same road going out, spoke volumes about the size of the town.

Carly Lonsdale had been at Sweet Betty’s forever, because she was the owner. Everybody thought Sweet Betty was an investor who secretly dropped in once in a while to make sure things were going well and would then disappear. She left the daily grind to Carly. They were mistaken but Carly never quelled the rumours. She would sometimes bitch and complain and tell customers she was going to call Betty and tell her to shove her cafe up her butt.

Herschell loved the Veggie omelet with home fries. He sometimes had cheese toast with tomato, and for variety he would have oatmeal with fresh fruit. He always enjoyed a green tea with everything. Carly appreciated his loyalty and patronage, and since they were both widowed his company.

The place Herschell bought when he moved to Ogilvie from Toronto was known as the Pritchard House. JM Pritchard was the son of the founder of Pritchard’s Mill. They were once one of the biggest wood mills in Northern Ontario, but they made a huge mistake. They didn’t keep up with technology and that meant they couldn’t keep up with demand. JM kept a few guys on to create planks for fences and two by fours, but the volume coming out of the mill compared to what it once was was minimal.

JM’s son Fred sold the house when JM and his wife moved to Pompano Beach, Florida. There reasoning JM gave for the move was it was time to thaw out. Herschell saw the listing for the Wood Mill and the house in Ogilthorpe while looking for vacation properties. He spent time searching out information about Ogilthorpe. He found out it was located two hundred kilometers from North Bay Ontario and had a population of three hundred. He decided to do something dramatic and called the realtors at Revolution Realty in Toronto. They got in touch with the Agent representing the properties in Ogilthorpe and put in an offer. Herschell was shocked when two hours later he received a call that he was the new owner.