December 10, 2006:

Another nice, warm day with no wind and the Park is jumping. Snowmobiles everywhere! I haven’t talked to any snowmobilers so don’t know how they are making out on the trails, but I see some going past on the lake at high speed.

Yesterday was sunny as well as warm, a really enjoyable day. The highway was pretty sloppy as the salt was really taking effect, but no more ice or packed snow. Our nice clean car isn’t very clean anymore, but that’s all right – nice weather is better than a clean car. We were in Porcupine Plain for the Farmers’ market lunch, then to Kelvington in the afternoon to do some shopping at Jenny’s store. The highway was bare the whole way.

The skating rink is ready for use. Brian cleared the snow off the tennis court; he said there was already a couple inches of ice, so flooding was easy. On Friday, they hauled the warm-up shack over and set it up. It looks pretty nice! Only problem is, if we get a lot of snow, where will they push the snow to? I asked Brian and he said that was no problem – he would just push it out through the gate and into a pile.

Merv and Maurice were talking about practical jokers from the olden days around Nobleville. One family went visiting neighbours in his Model A Ford. When they left, the neighbours came out on the porch to wave goodbye. Some joker had tied a rope from the Model A to the porch, so when the car took off the porch went with it, dumping the neighbours! Sometimes I wonder how anyone survived that era to tell these stories.

The park’s groomer started out to groom the snowmobile trails early in the week. It took off through Hilltop Campground, but broke through the ice at the first slough. Gord said the water was about four feet deep. After a couple of days, they managed to get the groomer pulled out and dragged back to the shop, where they have to change all the oil and replace filters. So far, they haven’t ventured out on the trails again. If the snowmobiles pack it down, it should freeze harder and be safe for the groomer.

The outfitters complain about the weakness of the ice on sloughs and creeks, too. There are places they just can’t go with quads or snowmobiles, and even walking is dicey. (And let’s face it – some of those macho hunters from the States couldn’t handle a block in the city, much less a half mile through knee deep snow!) The heavy depth of snow insulates the ice and it melts from below. In many places, there is no frost in the ground at all, despite the cold weather.

Just one more week of hunting and that is draw elk. I gather if a hunter doesn’t get his elk, he can use his tag to take a deer. Other than that it is all over except for the shouting.

Ice fishers report that when they drill a hole in the ice, they have to stand back because the water shoots up through the hole. That is due to the weight of the snow pushing down on the ice. The result is a lot of slush and water on top of the ice. Fishing huts will be well frozen in. Ty said there was about a foot of ice where he fished, but I don’t see any wheeled vehicles running around on the lake.

A week or so ago, I wondered if moose have harems. Jenny phoned – she had seen a nature broadcast on big deer, and it said a male moose will mate with several individual cows during the rut, then select one of them to spend the winter with. Once the calf is born, the bull goes on his way. Next fall he starts the process all over again. A bull elk, of course, will have a harem of up to sixty cows. Interesting!