January 9^th, 2005:

Today started out pretty nice, with lots of sun and no wind, though it never did get any warmer than –20°. Then, in the early afternoon it clouded over and the wind came up. Seems to me there has been a lot of that this winter - gray days with wind. At least, that’s the excuse I am using for not walking regularly. I did get out for a half hour today, before it clouded over, and it felt good.

For the first time in fifty years, we spent our Christmas away from home. We went to Airdrie, Alberta, to Sandy’s and Blaine’s, spent a week there, and had a wonderful time. Jenny was there for a couple of days, also Sheryl, Ryan and Telena. Blaine’s family came out for a few hours on Christmas day so there was a crowd around for a little while. Next Christmas, everyone is planning to be here.

We had good weather for driving; there was some ground drift on our way home on the 29^th but that’s all. The roads were good. Temperatures ranged all the way from +10° to –36°. There was very little more snow here than when we left, but I got the blower out and did the driveway, mostly to make sure it works okay. We have had three or four inches since then, enough to keep everything nice and white.

On our way home, we saw two huge snowy owls on power poles, a half-mile apart. I haven’t seen a snowy for years. Brian Shuya tells me he saw a great gray owl near Chelan, and others have reported seeing them. Maybe this will be another year when they come south. There have been some reports of cardinal sightings in the area. People who see pine grosbeaks for the first time often mistake them for cardinals so Brian is hoping for a chance to confirm them himself. The cardinal is scarlet and has a pronounced crest, like a blue jay. The pine grosbeak is more magenta in color, and has a small, smooth head.

They had groomed the trails while we were away; Regan Bernhard said there wasn’t enough snow to allow them to do a good job, but the trails weren’t bad anyway. There had obviously been a lot of snowmobiles running around.

We got a phone call from a lady in Porcupine Plain on the 29^th, asking if we were getting reception from the new TV tower. She was able to get audio but no picture. We plugged in a little portable TV with an antenna and Channel 4 came through fine so thought it safe to say the CBC tower is back on the air. Then I talked to Merv Miller, and he said the tower is not finished, but that Channel 4 has been broadcasting from a temporary transmitter on the police tower.  I gather it just doesn’t have the range of the big tower, which would explain my caller not getting a picture. Merv figures the tower has about 200 feet to go yet. The only windless days we have had were bitterly cold, so not much will have been done.

We have friends who recently moved from Tisdale to Alberta – Harry and Evelyn Bourne. Their son, Brent, has been in Thailand, and we got this e-mail from him:

“The Tsunami affected our lives a bit --- Brent was staying on the Thai Island less than half of a mile from the high water mark of the great wave. He is now safe in Bankok and will stay in SE Asia for a while yet. I guess he stayed up late the nite before reading a Stephen King book and could not lay it down. Had he not done that, he would have certainly been on the beach. Unbelievable luck. “