May 4^th, 2003:

I am sending this report a couple of days early; we are going to Prince Albert this weekend to visit Cathy & Ted, then on to Saskatoon on Monday to visit Doreen’s sister, Lucille.

Friday was warm and windy, with warmer weather in the forecast for the weekend. There were lots of clouds around Friday, and some looked as if they could be leaking, but no rain fell here. With seeding getting underway, we can do without rain until June.

Last Monday, we saw a great blue heron standing in the ditch, watching us go by. Later, on Monday, there were a bunch of white birds in a slough; Marg Shuya saw a couple fly, and thinks they were swans. Lynne Thorpe, in the Northeast Chronicle, had a photo of a bunch of swans on a slough west of Porcupine, likely the same ones. She says they are regular visitors, on years when there is any water in the slough.

On Wednesday, I scared up five cormorants on the lake; they usually stop here on their way further north.

And also on Monday, we saw two moose by the road. Both of them were gray and scruffy looking, so there must have been some ticks last winter.

We have had reports of sightings of lynx, mostly in the stretch between the Big Hill and the corner where the highway turns north. I have been watching carefully, but no luck so far. I would love to see a lynx in the wild!

Mel Tkachuk likes to use leeches for pickerel bait. He mentioned setting his leech trap, so I asked what kind of trap it was. He takes a coffee can, punches some holes in it with a nail, baits it with a piece of liver, ties a string to it, and submerges it in the lake. The leeches go in through the little holes and once in, they stay in. Mel pulls up his trap and goes fishing!

The Park maintenance staff is back up to full strength and is hard at work getting the Park ready for the tourist season. I heard a roaring down by the beach, and could see the Park’s lawn sweeper at work. Last fall’s winds blew a lot of weeds onto the edge of the shore, and the ice pushed it farther in. I hoped the ice would carry it out again, but no such luck. The Park staff have quite a cleanup job to do on the beach, and I will have to pick rocks all over again in front of our place. I can remember thirty years ago, we spent our whole holiday clearing the rocks from the shore so we could walk into the water in bare feet. Next spring, the ice brought in a whole batch of new stones! We decided it was best to accept it, and either wear shoes while swimming or dive off the end of the dock.

I have seen several pairs of geese around the beach area, but far less than in past years. I assume some didn’t survive the long trip south.

On Wednesday, from the hill to the south I could see some ice floes towards the north end of the lake. Thursday, there were none in sight, so think it is safe to say the ice went out on April 30^th.

Lots of combines are at work, and kicking out great clouds of dust. I have heard of worthwhile yields, but have also seen where the swaths were just burnt. We saw some seeding operations in progress near Tisdale on Friday.

We put up our purple martin house last week, and were afraid we were too late. However, I see the houses down at the beach are idle too; guess we just have to be patient.

I walked down to the Marina on Thursday; the creek is still running, but down to a small stream. There were a bunch of red suckers in the pools by the bridge; every once in a while one or more would start a wild thrashing. They didn’t seem to be trying to go upstream so maybe they realized they were as far as they were going to get, and were spawning there. They are a distinct reddish color when they break the water, with a white stripe down their sides. I gather they are more prized as food fish than the white suckers; they are a bit smaller, but their flesh is firmer.

For Mother’s Day, our three daughters took Doreen to Moose Jaw, where they enjoyed the spa, the casino, and some shopping. They had a fabulous time!