We just got back from our latest jaunt, into north-western Saskatchewan. When we got home, there was a half-inch of rain in our gauge, bringing us up to .8” for September.

I phoned Grimsons Sunday evening to see if they wanted me to come back, and was told they have harvesting well in hand, and that I could take the trip we had been planning. So, we started out last Tuesday.

At Tisdale, we saw hundreds of Canada geese along the banks of the Doghide River. Later, at Paradise Hill, several flights flew over, likely totaling hundreds. And today, south of Perigord, a quarter section was just about covered with the whites and smaller geese. I asked Bryan if his tame geese were getting restless, but he said they just don’t pay any attention when geese fly over.

When we left Saskatoon last Tuesday, it was raining, and it rained non-stop until we got to Glaslyn, where we holed up for the night. There were a few puddles around but we were surprised to learn that five inches fell that day! Next night, we stayed at Paradise Hill, and were told they got four and a half inches. In town, there were the wash marks one would expect to see after a deluge, but there wasn’t much lying around in the fields. That neck of the woods has been parched for three years and it would take a lot more rain before the ground quit soaking it up. We stopped at Grimson’s this afternoon, and they only got about two tenths, just enough to stop harvesting.

That is beautiful, rolling country, north and west of North Battleford, but I don’t know as I would want to drive a combine over it. Any crops we could see were very short; swaths were thin, and there wasn’t a lot of straw. In fact, one could say that of the crops from Lanigan west. In places the trees were terribly stressed, too, and in places didn’t have many leaves left. That rain should help, but a three-day soaker would be better.

We went as far as Frenchman Butte, and snooped around St. Walburg, Turtleford, Edam, and lots of other little places. At North Battleford, we went to the Allan Sapp Gallery, always a treat, and the Chapel Gallery, where we saw some marvelous paintings of the Cochin hills, and some sculptures done in barbed wire. We also spent some time at the Western Development Museum. There are a lot of museums in the small towns we visited, but almost all were closed on Labor Day. That is about the only drawback to traveling in September.

We have a ball, gypsying around in places where tourists rarely go, especially when we can get into conversation with some of the locals.

Coming back, we stopped to visit Lloyd and Louise and family in their new house in Saskatoon. Lloyd was busy knocking out walls, but took time out on Saturday to go to the Market Mall - Louise’s brother, Murray, and his wife, Kendall, had entered their twins in the Baby Crawl. In the first heats, Matthew and Michael each won handily, and I got photos of them crossing the finish line. In the finals, Matthew wandered off the course, and Michael wouldn’t start at all. It was a lot of fun - not only watching the babies, but watching the antics of the coaches!

Kendall’s parents are Grace and Wilf Walsh; they were there too, and we had a very short visit with them.

When we got home, there was a message from Arlene Teal saying that the Ducks Unlimited Banquet would take place as usual this year, at Fisherman’s Cove on the Thanksgiving weekend, which would make it October 11^th.