Name: Tammy Brooks
Family: Three grown children (Katie, James and Dale)
Profession: Senior Scheduler with the Health Region
Age: 55
Years in Grenfell: almost 10
Have you ever been overseas and where?
Ya, I guess, if you want to call it that - I cruised down the Caribbean, Grand Cayman Islands. And I've been up to Alaska on a cruise ship. That's about it. My next project, money willing, I want to do Lerwick, Shetland in January of next year . Shetland is so far in the north sea, that it's closer to Sweden than it is to Scotland. They have a fire festival, actually a whole season of them. It's the whole month of January. It's called Uphellyaa. They celebrate their Viking Heritage. Shetland is part of the U.K. These islands are windswept, treeless rocks. We've got friends that live in Lerwick.
What is something you're looking forward to in 2019?
Well, now we're back to the first question. But I'm also hoping this summer I can do some upgrades to the house. I want to do the exterior. Hopefully the hedges are coming up. And then windows, siding, roof. Everything. It needs it. It hasn't been looked at since probably the late 60s. I already moved two big spruce trees out of the yard. One had been hit by lightning and a chunk of it had hit the garage. I want to put a garden out there too with a retaining wall.
Have you ever hitchhiked or picked up a hitchhiker?
I haven't hitch hiked myself, but I have picked up a hitch hiker. 2 or 3 times probably. I've never had an issue. It was cool. But the strangest story about a hitch hiker was from my ex-husband. He had been going from around the airport, and out to Westbank where we were living. He picked up this guy, and the man pulled out his wallet and he had all these tickets - marine engineering, fascinating stuff, like sail the high seas, yo ho and a bottle of rum type stuff. And Earl came home and was all excited about this guy and telling me about meeting him. Then that show Unsolved Mysteries was on t.v. at the time. It actually came on that same night. Earl swears up and down, to this day, that the guy he picked up was on the show. His face was right, the fact that he had all these maritime tickets, and the list goes on. Earl was freaked right out. But he called the R.C.M.P and they thought he was nuts. He dropped him off, and the guy said he was carrying on through the south Okanagan. He had been charged with murder, according to the Unsolved Mysteries show. That was in 1987. I had picked up a young gent just outside of Regina a few years ago, and he was going to Winnipeg. We had a great chat. He had a dog, but that didn't matter to me. I drive a mini van that smells like an ashtray and a Clydesdale, so what difference does it make? He had been working in Calgary and was on his way to another assignment in Winnipeg. He said he didn't like to spend money to travel, but he had two weeks to get out there. He was in agriculture in some way. He made a point of telling me all the abandoned houses he'd slept in, and when, as we were driving back to Grenfell.. You know the stone house by Indian Head? Well, there's a little yellow one near there that he stayed in. Then there's one by the Summerberry cemetary, a large square white one. He stayed there too.
Talk about one family vacation you remember as a kid
The dreaded family vacation - this is so something out of a Chevy Chase movie....My dad, a professional, decides he needs to buy a pick up truck and a 24 foot trailer. So down we went, down the coastal highway all the way down to Disneyland in California. That was interesting. I don't have any desire to see any of the other Disneyworld places, but Disneyland is something that needs to be seen. We were there on their 25 anniversary. I was around 16 at the time. Years later, just before the kids and I left B.C. to move to Alberta, my dad decided he wanted to take us on a vacation again. Fortunately this time we flew, instead of camped. He wanted to take me and my three kids and my sister Bonnie, so off we went again to Disneyland. This time is was the 50th anniversary. That was so cool. None of the kids had ever been, because I was a single parent. I couldn't afford to go. But Grandpa decided we needed to go, before we ran off to live with the hillbillies in Alberta. There was some really neat stuff there. Everyone needs to ride the carousel once in their life, because those just aren't around anywhere anymore. And the Disney castle. You just have to see it in real to appreciate it.
****At this point in the interview, my worst fear with this project happened.....my recording app cut out when my phone rang, and I didn't realize it. ARGHHHH!!!!! I promptly retreated to my computer as soon as Tammy left, and typed out the remainder of her interview the best I could, by memory. I got the gist of things, but obviously, seeing the berevity of the answers from here on out, I wasn't able to record things word for word, and capture Tammy's hilarious style of story telling. She's truly a great person to visit with, and I regret that I wasn't able to project that in it's entirety.***
How would your friends describe you?
To be honest, I don't really know. I've never concerned myself with it. I don't. I just do my own thing.
What's the best thing that happened to you this week?
Well I drove to Melville on monday to get some colloidal silver that I needed, and got there, and I never thought to check, but the place is closed on Mondays. So I drove to Yorkton, because I needed to take my moccasins in to be resoled too. I got there and the guy wasn't in. But then I went shopping, and I got a really good deal on some Merrill shoes, so I bought two pair of those that were on sale. That was great!
What do you do to express your creativity?
I'm not really all that creative. I do like to garden. But what I like to do, when I sit down and actually take the time to do it, is to write. Social commentaries. That sort of thing.
What is something you do to show kindness?
I'm sure my neighbors don't always appreciate it, but I feed the feral neighborhood cats. I can't stand to see anything starve. So I buy the cheap store brand dry cat food just to leave out in a bowl for them on the porch.
What does success mean to you?
I don't know... I mean, I don't think a big bank account or anything like that matters. If I get through a day, and don't wrap my hands around someone's throat, that's a good day. If I make it through the day without killing anyone, that's success. No one ever gets to the end of their life and says I wish I worked more. If I don't fall going down the stairs, that's success.
Are you an extrovert or an introvert?
I would say both, depending on the situation. If I'm in my comfort zone, then I'm an extrovert. But if I'm not sure of something or in a situation where I don't know people, then I'll stand back and be a little leary of things. Stick to myself more.