March 7^th, 2004:

We got another little touch of cold weather last week - on Tuesday night it dropped to –28°, but when we got up Wednesday morning the sky was clear, the sun shining brightly and it was a joy to be outside. I even took a few pictures. I tried to catch the many-colored sparkles on the new snow, but without success.

Last weekend’s snow gave us a few inches of fresh stuff. Frank tells me the trails are in excellent shape, despite the warm weather.

More big fish! Last week, Merv Miller caught a fifteen pounder. Normally, he would take a photo and throw the fish back, but he hadn’t taken his new digital camera along. He took his fish home, and Shirley took the first picture on the new camera, of Merv holding the fish. It was a good photo, but everyone wondered why Merv looked so glum. He said it’s because he held the fish for fifteen minutes before Shirley figured out how to take the picture!

All the foofaraw about Janet Jackson’s so-called “accidental” exposure makes me laugh. I looked up the incident on the Internet and would say she was quite modestly (and not very attractively) clad, compared to most of the young women that attend the Emmies and Obies. Jennifer Lopez, for instance.

I hadn’t seen a moose all winter, but on Thursday one came out onto the road by the ball diamond, not a hundred yards ahead of me. It stood there and inspected me for a few seconds, then ambled off into that big slough west of the road. It looked good; not huge but fully grown, and in good condition. Frank told me that the moose he has seen appear to be in very good condition; no sign of tick damage. He suspects it is because there is more snow in the bush or maybe that extreme cold snap did them in. Whatever, the moose are grateful.

We have a metal roof; during the warm weather, the snow on the roof started to slide off, but only part way. Icicles that were hanging from the snow over the eaves were bent inward and then sagged a bit, so they look like long claws. Doreen got a pretty good picture of them.

I see by an obituary in the Foam Lake Review that Ann Pickering died. We knew Ann back in the late fifties and early sixties, but have only seen her occasionally since then. Our condolences to Rodger and Dallas Pickering and their families. Ann was a real lady.