It is ten PM on Sunday, and we just got home from the city. It has been a hectic few days. On Friday, we met Cathy and Ted (my sister and her husband) in Rose Valley, where we were entered in a bridge tournament. (Notice I didn't say anything about playing, because I don't think that is the right term to use for my style of bridge!) Afterwards, we all came to our place and played all evening. We played more or less regularly when we lived in Wynyard, but for the past twenty two years hardly at all. I never was, and never will be, a good player, but I enjoyed the game. Last January, Cathy and Ted took us to a tournament in Saskatoon, and I found I really enjoyed it. Now, we are planning to attend a tournament in Kelvington on April 10th, and one in Tisdale on the 18th. Doreen says it's time I had another interest besides this computer.

On Saturday, we went to Tisdale, to the Doghide River Festival. Parkland Photography Club had a large display of our work there, and Club members take photos of all the events, which photos are put into albums for all to look back at. I believe the results are posted at Fairlight Studios for awhile, so anyone wanting reprints can order them. I managed to get to every act in the auditorium; I would take my three or four photos, then if I liked the group, I would hang around awhile. The sound system, though, is atrocious, and usually drove me out very quickly. (A couple of the acts were jamming in the hall later, and without the sound system, they were great!)

When the Doghide closed, we drove to Saskatoon, and this morning we picked up Doreen's sister, Lucille, and went to the Home & Garden Show. Judging by the number of people milling around, it was a success; Doreen certainly enjoyed it, but then that's the same Doreen that can outshop three ordinary people.

Spring was supposed to have happened last Wednesday, sometime in the early afternoon. It sure came in with a bang – it was –30· here that morning!

Jim Carnago tells me that more than the required fifty cottage owners have signed up for natural gas. Sask Energy told us they would install it if we could get at least fifty cottagers, so construction should start in the spring. If all goes well, they will be turning on the gas next August.

When we got natural gas at the other house, in 1988, our heating costs were cut in half or more, with the added benefit of not having to put up a supply of wood. Before getting gas, we were using anywhere from $1,500 to $1,700 worth of oil a year, plus five to ten cords of firewood. The first year on natural gas, our heating bill was slightly under $800, and it was still under $1,000 when we moved down here. Of course, gas costs have changed a lot, but I suspect the cost relative to propane, oil, or electricity will be much the same. I will be surprised if we don't get our investment in natural gas back in five years or less.

Bernard Dease has a mystery of epic proportions – Who dognapped his dog? Bernard has two dogs that never stray and are always together. When he came home last Friday afternoon, the younger of the two dogs was missing and the older one was very restless. A friend of Bernard's made a loop around the yard on his snowmobile but didn't see any sign of canine tracks (of course, the first thing they thought of was that coyotes lured the dog away from the yard and did away with it.) They phoned around the area, but nobody had seen the dog.

On Tuesday, Bernard was chatting with James McGregor in Archerwill and mentioned that he was short one dog. James said that Betty Black had mentioned finding a stray; Betty works in the Credit Union, so Bernard and James went to talk with her. At first Betty thought they were kidding, but when they finally convinced her they were serious, she described the dog she had found, and it turned out to be Bernard's. Bernard lives south of the east end of Barrier Lake; Betty lives some miles north of the west end. It is 32 kms by road between the two places, possibly 10 to 12 miles in a straight line through dense bush and swamp. Betty says the dog came into her place from the west, and showed no signs of distress or hard traveling. There is a good snowmobile trail that would cover most of the distance, but it's still an awfully long way for a non-travelling dog.