January 29, 2006:

The warm weather continues, with the odd jog down into the –20° range. We have even had the sun peek out the odd time, and that sure feels good. No new snow  for the past week.

I sat with George Renneberg at coffee on Friday, and am glad to report that he is looking and feeling good. He has been doing a lot of fishing; at Steiestol Lake, he caught a ten-pound trout and Helen caught an eight pounder (or was it the other way around?) I suspect there is an interesting story about Helen using his hole, rod and reel to out-fish him, but couldn’t get the truth of it. He and several others park their fishing huts on Greenwater out off the old picnic table location. He confirmed Ty Andreychuk’s experience - he might get skunked one day and do all right the next, but he hasn’t limited out. Bill Drobot says he would have starved to death if he depended on the fish he has caught since Christmas.

There was a badly damaged half-ton parked at the Cove Friday morning; apparently it hit a moose on the highway near the Park entrance, and was disabled. The moose didn’t survive either. We haven’t seen a moose for a couple of weeks, but most of the people at coffee row report seeing them, mostly between the Chelan grid and the Co-op bulk tanks, with some west of Chelan around the Red Deer River. Apparently they come onto the highway and lick the salt. The darn things are so tall that the car’s headlights shine underneath them making them hard to see. Merv almost hit one - he was meeting a car and just saw the hind end of one ambling off his lane into the ditch. Slower speeds are essential this time of year!

Doreen hit two moose at the same time years ago. She was driving our 1984 Grand Marquis at night and the roads were icy. The two moose crossed the road in front of her and she was unable to stop. She hit the front quarters of one and the hind quarters of the other, sending both spinning. Total damage to the car was about $300. The one moose walked away; the other wandered into the bush on three legs, bedded down awhile; got up and went to a new location, still on three legs, and bedded down again. When Joe Ottenbreit checked in the morning, it was gone, travelling an all four legs. Tough!

This experience is the exception - it’s more likely to total your car, and maybe your life. A few years later, we hit a fairly small deer at about thirty miles an hour. It caved in the front of the car, though we were still able to drive it, and killed the deer. A moose could have come over the hood, into the windshield, and killed us all!

I see the change house has been moved into place beside the new skating rink, just in time for one of the school breaks, starting this weekend. I got a picture of some skaters checking out the new ice, and they seemed to be having lots of fun.