March 5, 2007:

Colder today, but still only about -20° for a low. The wind made it seem a lot colder when I went out to start the car.

My hearing is getting worse and worse. Mel Tkachuk was telling fish story the other day and I’ll swear I heard him say a big jack swallowed his underwater camera, and a muskrat chased the jack up through the hole in the ice! Mel is famous for his fish stories – nobody wants to sit too close to him when he is describing the size of his catch – but at the same time has never been accused of embellishing the truth. I must have heard wrong.

That muskrat must have taken a liking to Mel – he was inside his fishing hut on Friday, concentrating on his underwater camera, and when he looked up there was a muskrat sitting beside him on the ice, just looking at him. Mel didn’t appreciate the company; he gave it a boot and it disappeared down the hole.

It seemed to snow continuously the first half of the week; I cleaned the driveway on Tuesday then another inch or so fell. Light, fluffy stuff that settles down to almost nothing, but adds up. There has hardly been a day all week that we didn’t get a little snow. The driveway could stand being blown again, but I will wait until the grader has been around.

We went to Prince Albert yesterday, to visit my sister. There was a severe ground drift all the way with some finger drifts, but for most of the way there was a dry track to run the wheels in. From Birch Hills to Prince Albert , though, the snow had stuck to the highway and it was quite icy. We had no problem, but driving was not pleasant. Coming home today, despite a stiff breeze there was no ground drift and the highway was dry.

We went to the tail end of a dog show today, first to where they were judging, and then to where they were being judged on obedience. We were lucky to see any dogs at all, since people were busy packing up, but where the judging was taking place, we saw several dogs up on tables, being held stiffly by their owners, waiting their turns to be judged in the Best of Show category. They were all spiffed up, brushed and sprayed and powdered; we didn’t dare lay a hand on them for fear of mussing up their hair! Some of them, like a big Rottweiler, we didn’t dare lay a hand on anyway. The ones that were not about to be judged were different; we had fun playing with a pen full of miniature dachshunds, short haired and long haired. I think they were just pups. They were delightful!