Maurie's Mini-Putt & Ice Cream

Well, it’s that time of year and I hate being the bearer of bad news.
Tomorrow, Monday, September 7, 2026 at 4:00pm,
I will be closing for the Season.
I will pause for a moment and let the collective term of “Ffffuuudddgggge” fade into the background. Now, compose yourself, make sure you did not hurt your hand from hitting the table, or pull yourself off the floor from fainting.
To soften the blow of my impending seasonal closure, the Mini Putt will be FREE tomorrow until 4pm, when you know what happens.
Now here are some tidbits of info. I was a little scattered brained this season and ran out of time to do something for the health care workers. I promise I will do something early in the season next year. I will make sure one of my minions reminds me. By the way, next year is my 20th Season, so I guess I should plan something for that as well. Feel free to send me ideas, preferably ones that will not bankrupt me.
So THANK YOU for another great season, I hope you all have a great Winter and I look forward to seeing all of you at the end of April 2027.

I can’t believe that the foreseeable future from my last post has arrived. Well actually it arrived and left. It turns out I am a little forgetful. Maurie’s is back to OPENING at 12:01pm on Wednesdays. This took effect two Wednesday’s ago, some of you noticed, but the vast majority of you did not. Don’t worry most days blend into one another for me to in the Summer. I hope this is good news for those of you who were waiting patiently in my parking lot for a few hours. I promise I will do better at updating you in the future, but you have to remember this is coming from a guy who still uses a flip phone he bought 13 years ago. If I had to type this post on that brick, it would be completed sometime next week.

Sooooo, I was under the impression that the Centennial Bridge closure would slow down business this season. I figured I would now have time to read some books in between customers, maybe even buy a rocking chair and set it by the front door with a bell that you could ring to wake me up to serve you. Well it seems you guys have different plans for me. Instead of a peaceful quiet summer, I now have a line that starts forming at 1pm and keeps being added to until 8pm or 9pm. Hence why a couple of times I have had to go out to the parking lot and asked the last person in line to tell anyone that lines up behind them, that the owner said he is exhausted and will not serve anyone after them. Sorry. While I am grateful you guys like me this much and do appreciate you making my business such a success. I have come to the realization that I am not Superman, even though my solid physic and my thick set of hair would say otherwise. With this in mind I have decided that for the foreseeable future WEDNESDAYS I will be opening at 5:30pm.
All other days@ my operational hours will remain the same.
This will allow me to tackle some of the maintenance projects around the shop and some time to relax. I am also doing this for you guys as I would hate to get to a point where I am saying things like “NO ICE CREAM FOR YOU, COME BACK, ONE YEAR”(Seinfeld reference in case you never saw the show.)
Thank you again for making my business successful and sorry for the minor inconvenience on future Wednesday afternoons.

The wait is over
I am Opening for the Season Tomorrow
Saturday, May 9, 2026 at 12:01pm and 16seconds.
I do apologize for my late opening this year, and I feel I should explain why, as the rumours have already started.
No I did not marry the heiress to the O Henry fortune.
No, I did not win the Lottery and decide to leave you all behind.
And Yes I finally decided to retire as a spy and scoop ice cream full-time, sorry the paperwork was a nightmare.
The real reason was,
You may want to sit down for the next part.
At the end of September of last year, over the space of two weeks I had what can best be described as what Linda Blair went through in the Exorcist. Minus the levitating, speaking in tongues and the 360 degree head turning. My Father and Mother finally convinced me to go to the Emergency Room at 2am. I had to politely mention to my 85 year father that while I appreciated the fact that he could drive at the speed of 140km/h I would like to arrive at the ER in his car and not an ambulance. To my amazement the ER was empty, I mean there was seriously no one there. In my 52 years on this Earth I can honestly say I have never been to an ER anywhere on this planet that was empty. I should have bought a lottery ticket at that point. The Nurse took me to a room, the Doctor ordered an X-ray, said I would need a CT scan but they were not open for business until 9am. I went back then, and I will now apologize to the other patients in the waiting area, I am truly sorry you had to listen to me while I was in the restroom. You know it was bad when you come back to the waiting room and everybody is avoiding eye contact. A friend of mine once was installing a bathroom on the main floor of his house, he purposely bent a few blades on the fan so it would make a racket when in operation. So his guests would not be embarrassed while using the restroom. Just a suggestion I am putting out there for the Hospital to mull over. With the CT done I went back to the ER for a Doctor to review. Of course the ER was packed at this point, I knew my good luck could not last. I was eventually taken to a room and the ER Doctor said I had a rather large mass in my Colon and a Surgeon would be down to talk to me about Surgery. When the Surgeon arrived he said that he had scheduled me for surgery, and I said, sometime this week or month? He responded with No we have to get that out tonight. I told my parents to go home as they had been awake for 24 hours at this point and I did not want them admitted to the hospital. My Brother had decided to drive down from Fredericton, I figured he wanted to ask the Surgeon to remove my funny bone so he could be the funniest in the family. With hindsight and all the medical grade drugs out of my system I am truly grateful he was there. After the operation he asked the Surgeon if the tumour was big, like the size of a golf ball, the Surgeon said think bigger, more like the size of a large grapefruit. I don’t like to brag, but. He said the margins were clear, and he took biopsies from some lymph nodes.I ended up requiring 6 months of IV and pill chemotherapy, which just ended on April 28th. I would have done the chemo in Miramichi, but my living arrangement here is not Winterized and while I did have a lot offers from Miramichiers to stay in their homes, which I love and appreciate the fact that they offered, I felt it was best to stay with my brother and his wife in Fredericton. Even though they made me sleep on an old dog bed under the stairwell, heck, Harry Potter was given a proper mattress. The one bright spot was the fact that they have two Aussie doodles and a cat, which I can tell you really helps keep your spirits up during chemo. So THANK YOU SCOTT and JEN for looking after me during my treatment and I hope I was not too demanding with the constant concierge service that I require and quite frankly deserve when I am a guest in someone’s home.Sorry for the long post, and I would like to Thank all the staff at the Miramichi Regional Hospital, The Moncton Oncology Department,Sun 360 and Mckesson for helping me. I know you have a hard job and have to deal with all the emotions with people at some of the worst times in their lives. I would just like to say, YOU are noticed and YOU are appreciated.At some point this season I will host a Thank you week-end at Maurie’s. Free Mini-putt and discounted ice cream for the health care system. Details to follow when the good weather sets in and I have had time to figure out how to manage this event.I hope everyone had a better Winter than me and I am looking forward to seeing you all this season.

It brings me great pleasure to announce that the 1st Millbank Pathfinders will be selling Girl Guide Cookies in my parking lot tomorrow. They will be set up as a drive-thru. So please stop in and stock up for the Winter months.

Well folks, my body is telling me it nearly time to close for the season. I know, my outward appearance is that of a Greek God (Andrewchilles, the God of Ice Cream). But my inner workings are that of Abe Simpson.
So tomorrow, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2025 until 4pm will be my last day for 2025.
-If I happen to have any ice left by tomorrow, I will be selling the tubs off as soon as I open, first come first served, sorry no holds.
-If you wish to order a full tub for the winter, you have to come in person by Monday at 3pm to order. I place the order Tuesday and it should arrive Thursday.
So thank you all for coming this year, it has been a pleasure. Try not to be too emotional tomorrow, I don’t like crying in public.
Have a safe Fall and Winter and I will see you the last weekend in April 2026.