April 6^th, 2003:

The weather stays cold for this time of year; 10° of frost every night, and most days not even up to the thawing point. We had a fair bit of snow, too, though nothing like what Regina got. It is snowing fairly heavily as I write this, and has been, off and on, all day.

We went to Tisdale with the Millers yesterday, and took in the stock dog trials, heavy horse pulls, and the trade show. There weren’t as many entries in either event as last year, because a lot of contenders from the southern part of the province wouldn’t tackle the roads. Interest was high, though - the bleachers were packed for both events. Doreen estimated there were four times as many spectators for the dog trials as last year.

When the sheep were brought in, there were fifteen or twenty of them and the dogs had no trouble moving them around. When the trials started, though, it was a different matter. They only had three sheep to herd, each of which was an independent thinker and at least one of which was downright aggressive. One dog got a pretty good thump against the rail, and a couple of handlers were targets too. A few dogs were disqualified because they nipped and hung on, likely out of frustration. Many dogs were timed out, and not many completed their task.

Those beautiful heavy horses were, as usual, fantastic. Mighty beasts, in the pink of condition. Many teams didn’t make it because of the weather, but those that did put on a good show. The heaviest team was about 3,740 lbs.; the lightest about 2,700 lbs. The teams seem able to haul about double their weight; the last of the heavy-weights stopped at 7,000 lbs. but only because it had already beat out the competition.

Prominent teamsters were Larry and Evelyn Keyowski. I’m sure that’s the same Larry Keyowski that used to be an electrician in Hudson Bay, and did some work for the Park here at Greenwater. I was sure of it when the announcer mentioned his brothers, Ken and Dennis of Wishart. I had coffee with Larry and with Wayne Pape a few times, back in about 1980.  (For more photos from Tisdale, please click here.)

Mel tells me fishing is over for awhile. The new season opens the first Saturday in May. Mel was out there after the season closed and had a line with a hook on it down the hole. Ty came along to see what he was doing, but Mel was just fishing for a pair of glasses he had lost down a hole. Trouble was, he couldn’t remember which hole it was, so he had to try them all.

Archie had the same problem, but he was fishing for his glasses with a pair of super-strong magnets. I guess that is one of the hazards of ice fishing; there is nothing else to look at so one looks down the hole. Sooner or later the glasses are going to fall off.

Merv had a photo of the Nobleville School that someone had mailed to him. He says the school functioned from 1932 to 1963. It had only one room besides the cloak rooms, and handled grades one through eight. Merv said when he went to school, there would be from thirty to forty students. The school was located about a half mile south of St. Lawrence Church.

Maurice was very interested in the photo; he pointed to a flag pole right beside the door, and said he climbed the flagpole onto the roof of the school and put a football into the chimney. Then the conversation shifted and I never did hear what happened.

The Bell’s Hill School was no larger, but they typically had fifty-odd kids. Merv said it was awful going there for sporting events, because they couldn’t tell the kids from the teachers. The Bell’s Hill kids kind of ran all over them. When the kids got too big for their desks, they were promoted.