January 23^rd, 2005:

A nice day, after a cold, miserable week. Temperatures approaching zero, very little wind, and occasional sunshine. I took advantage of the warm weather to blow out our driveways. Not that there had been much snow, but the wind had piled in the odd drift. I feel quite righteous - even though the blower does most of the work it takes some effort to wrestle with it. Don’t think I need a walk today.

Snowmobilers are taking advantage of the weather too; there have been dozens of them zipping back and forth in front of our place. I believe there are more ice fishing huts out on the ice than we have seen other years; today, they will all be busy.

This is the weekend the Ski Loppet is usually held, but there hasn’t been any sign of activity around the Park Hall. Rob Howse told me in Saskatoon that he had heard it was cancelled for this year. I tried to phone Shirley Baker but no answer. If it was cancelled or moved, I suspect it is entirely because of the Cove being shut down.

It’s January in Saskatchewan - of course it’s been cold! So put on an extra layer and suck it up! Then look on the bright side: earthquakes are rare and gentle; landslides almost unheard of, and I can’t remember when we last had to run from a tsunami. There are a lot of advantages in living seventeen hundred feet above sea level, almost a thousand miles from the closest sea, with a pretty substantial range of mountains in between. Sea-borne disasters just don’t keep me awake at nights! How I love this place!

Brian Shuya is still hard at work cleaning up dead trees in the Park. At present, he is working down by Lakeshore Campground where a slough is full of dead willows. Brian says they are not only unsightly, but they are a real fire hazard – with a little wind they would burn like tinder.

We had coffee at Beaumont’s last Thursday. As usual at these coffee sessions, much of the conversation had to do with the old days and the old-timers of the district. We were bemoaning the fact that there aren’t many old-timers left to consult about the old days - we are the old timers now!

We came home from Saskatoon last Tuesday; when we woke up that morning we found the car covered with ¼ inch of ice. It was only about –6° out, but it took a good half hour to melt the ice off. The streets were terribly icy and people were being warned not to travel. After lunch, we were driving north on Fifth Avenue and right at 24^th Street we saw a woman fall on the sidewalk where it ramps down to the road. She went down like a shot, without any warning, and landed on her right shoulder and head. We left our car in the middle of the street and went to help her, but she didn’t want to be touched. I suspect she might have cracked that shoulder. A policeman came along and convinced her to let him call an ambulance, so we left. How quickly it can happen!

Before we left Saskatoon, I phoned the Highway Hotline and was told travel was not recommended on Highway #5, so we came home via Highway #41.  It didn’t seem too bad, though I didn’t have to test it with the brakes. East of Wakaw it was sloppy, and Highway #3 east of Melfort was mostly dry. There was some ground drift between Tisdale and Crooked River (there always is!) but no problems. Highway #38 was snow and ice-covered as it still is, but again no problems.