April 13^th, 2003:

We had five days of above normal temperatures, and a lot of snow disappeared. Today never did warm up much; at mid-afternoon it was still only +1°, windy and overcast. The weatherman says we could get rain later today, which will be welcomed. We wimped out completely; never left the house until almost suppertime, then we went for a walk. I was warmer at –40°!

Many of you will remember Myrna - she started the weekly newspaper that would eventually become the Northeast Chronicle. She was living in Rose Valley at the time. As I recall, she told it the way she saw it, and as a result she was frequently in dutch with one group or another. I think she was banned from meetings of the Rose Valley council.

Anyway, I hear she is alive and well and living in Armstrong, BC, and she’s back in the newspaper business. I got the word from Folstads, who have set up a web page for her. Its address is: www.countrynewsandviews.com. Looks like a nice site, though I haven’t been all the way through it. On slow speed dial up, checking out a site with any graphics is a commitment. I got an e-mail from her suggesting she might like to get the Greenwater Report, so have added her to my mailing list. She says there are a lot of Saskatchewan people in the Armstrong area.

We watched some of the Aborigine Achievement Awards Monday night, and the talent took my breath away. The sweetest voices, whether pop or classical and the most accomplished instrumentalists! The soprano who wrapped up the show has possibly the most beautiful voice I have ever heard, rivaling Kiri Te Konawa.

I received the following e-mail from Ken Folstad, in response to my Report on the Ice-Fishing Derby:

“The photo of the truck leaving a wake on the ice reminded me of a time with Glen Broberg.  About this same time of year, we took his 4 wheel drive truck out on the lake to tow his ice shack in.  The water was up to the axles.  After we had the shack in, we went back out and fished from the truck for an hour or two before calling it a day.

 “On the way back in, there were a couple of guys fishing through the ice, so Glen grabs his rod, throws some line with a weight on the end out the window, and we slowly drive by the guys fishing.  Glen asks if they had any luck, they replied they had a couple, and asked if Glen had any luck.  He replied that trolling wasn't worth a darn, thought he would have to change hooks.”

We went to Hudson Bay on Wednesday to visit Mike and Marg and boys. We went straight north from Chelan on the grid to Mistatim, and it wasn’t too bad except that the maintainer was dragging the gravel out of the ditch and piling it in the middle of the road. We didn’t have to change lanes the whole distance, so it just slowed us down a mite. The road was also a bit soft.

We came home via Highway #23, and east of Weekes it was bloody awful. That was just at sunset when visibility is at its poorest; we could only drive between 60 and 80 kmh, which was just as well because there were dozens of deer on the move.

We have crows without number! A couple of years ago, a family was raised in a spruce tree next door to us, and it was bad enough, but this year they brought back their own relatives plus as many kissin’ cousins and in-laws as they could round up. I’m afraid we will have to get some ear plugs. They started at six o’clock this morning, exhorting the others to wake up.