In the northeast corner of Widget’s Woods are the residential and industrial areas. There is an old but
well-oiled sawmill, a somewhat newer reman plant, shop space for the maintenance of heavy duty equip-
ment, and plenty of storage for anything within the “much needed” to “might be good for something some-
day” range.

Here you'll also find “Dnt’s Diner”. Housed in what used to be the mill office, Dot’s Diner attracts locals
as well as a few local spo.ts fishermen who seem to enjoy the food, coffee and friendly but often misguided
gossip.

And about 300 yards south there’s Widgetville, population 22. Lars Widget, when he penned a plan
for this property in the spring of 1935, wisely set aside 10, five-acre residential lots. It’s for the family,
he said at the time.

Lars only had four children, thezgh. And as a result, a few of these “residential” lots are used for
other purposes. One is overgrown and known simply as “The Woods”. A few of the younger
kids have a tree fort there.

One lot houses a bunkhouse turned “Community Centre”. Here you can play
pool, ping-pong, video games... And if you’re timing is really good, a game of
poker or two. That only happens when the men can get away from the women, of
course. And in a community as close knit as Widgetville those are rare occasions
indeed.

Just south of the “Community Centre” is a rather substantial barn and corral.

Drop by sometime and you'll find a pony, a few horses, and the pride of the
fleet... A couple of old Belgians named Maggie and Jiggs who still play.an
important role in a bit of horse logging now and then.

And then there’s West Widget. Ten one-acre lots with housing of sorts for mill
workers, loggers and labourers. There aren’t nearly as many as there were a few
decades ago, of course. But there are still a few, some of them with an unknown
or questionable past which often adds a little spice to the idle gossip tossed care-
lessly about in Dot’s Diner.

There’s no time to introduce you to the Widget family this week... Or perhaps
we should say the Widget families. But they’re an interesting lot and we'll cer-
tainly fill you in next week.

If you’re more interested in the Widget’s work-related activities, though,
we'll get to that too. The Widgets are a diverse group of entrepreneurs.

There's the woodlot; we’ve already told you that. But there is also a contract-
ing firm, an A-frame logging show, a remanu-

facturing plant (we've told you that toc) and a

consulting firm.

Little wonder Lars Henry Widget, the 84-
year-old founder and unchallenged
“mayor” of this little known land, is a
very proud
man.