December 8^th, 2002: 

It got down to –26° on Tuesday morning, (the same morning it dropped to –32° at Regina) then gradually warmed up. But last night was down to –26° again, with a fairly stiff wind from the southwest. We got about an inch of new snow on Friday.

We got home from our trip, I got a brief column out, and we both crashed. I don’t know if it was the flu or a bad cold, but it was bloody awful; knocked us flat for three days, then a slow climb out of the pit. Doreen went to see our doctor on Friday; he said it’s a virus, there’s a lot of it around, and the only treatment is Buckley’s, hot toddies, hot baths, and lots of rest. She is still having a problem with the Buckley’s.

It was Thursday before I stepped outside, and the fresh air sure smelled good! I walked down by the lake and was surprised to see a ridge pushed up along the shore, eighteen inches to two feet high. The ice must have broken up a bit during the warm spell and then been forced south by the winds. I hope nobody uses our dock path to go down to the lake on a snowmobile - it will come to a sudden stop when it hits that ridge!

There was no wind Thursday morning and the temperature was up to about –10°, but the ice was moaning and groaning softly. I would like to record that sound and post it to my web page; I know it can be done but I don’t have the technical smarts to do it.

Branson is an interesting place. Right down in southern Missouri in the Ozark Mountains, there is not enough soil on top of the rock to support agriculture, and I suspect tourism is its whole economy. Not too many years ago, it was a quiet little tourist town with a population of about 3,500. It still has only about 6,000 permanent residents but boasts of 49 theaters with over 60,000 seats, 200 motels and hotels with 1,700 rooms, and Lord knows how many eating places. What they refer to as Old Branson (the original town) is in good shape, with lots of gift and specialty shops. It is neat, clean and in good repair. There is not a lot of emphasis on drinking, and the shows are suitable for all ages. It’s in the Bible Belt, so of course there are lots of prosperous-looking churches. While we were there, traffic flowed at a leisurely pace - nobody seemed to be in much of a hurry. It may not seem as user-friendly at the peak season, though.

Before we left, we e-mailed Raelynn Chase at St. Louis and asked if we should pack long johns or shorts. She replied that somewhere in between the two would be about right, and she was dead on. The climate would be similar to Victoria’s.

One of our fellow bus passengers was a young lady with a vision. Barb Fraser has taken over the Sturgis poolroom, right at the corner where the highway crosses the main street, and is planning to start a bakery and tearoom. She is a student of Ayurvedic Medicine (based on the ancient Eastern Vedic Scriptures) so key words will be “organic” and “natural”. She may even offer English High Teas!

In a theater in Branson I saw a man who looked familiar, so I went over and introduced myself. It turned out he was Lloyd Anderson, taking the same tour but on another bus. He lived in Wynyard from 1957 to 1960 where he was buying grain. He chummed with the Cochlans, Moores and Desmarais’ so we must have been at some parties together. He is retired now, and living in Medicine Hat.

Geese quite often stand one-legged, with the other leg pulled up into their belly feathers, but I can’t remember seeing other birds do it. The other day, a junco landed on the railing of our deck, which had a powdering of new snow on it. It pulled one foot up, then put it down gingerly and picked it up again. It seemed painful to put any weight on it, yet how much weight is there in a junco?

Before I forget, Sandra Lowndes would like a copy of “Ripples to Waves”, the Greenwater district history book published in the early ‘80s. If you have one to sell, or know of anyone who does, please contact Sandra or me.