April 15, 2007:

Another heavenly day! It didn’t even freeze last night – the low was +3 – so the snow melted all night. We took a drive around the Park this morning – to the Marina , around past Almi Campground, Uskatik and the subdivisions. So far, no sign of any problem areas. Almi is draining well with no water build-up, and most culverts are open. There is a lot of water on the ice, and the creek is running hard. At the Marina the floating docks are away above the fixed docks. Greenwater Creek at the north end of the lake is going to have to take away an awful lot of water before the snow is gone from the bush, so we shouldn’t get too complacent.

To say the weather has been pleasant would be a horrible understatement. It was chilly the first part of the week, but since Friday it has been positively glorious! How sweet it is to be able to go for a walk without even putting on a jacket! Next big step toward spring will be going out without having to put on rubber boots. By the forecasts, it sounds as if we have at least another week of warm weather.

The snow is disappearing at a great rate. I spent three days shoveling off the north deck where it was up to three feet deep; if I had waited it would be almost all gone by now. I guess the exercise didn’t do me any harm. Some of my water runs on the south side of the house have gradually filled in, so I have been cleaning them out again. Another big spring job is raking the driveways – it brings the crushed rock to the surface and lets the clay work down. How I wish I could just phone some kid and let him do it!

I haven’t heard of any problems here in the Park; many of the culverts are blocked and will be for awhile yet, and pretty good-sized ponds are forming, but they will just run over the road and down to the lake.

We had another open house here yesterday; Joanne Yacyshyn was showing some people through and while they were standing on the north deck, two deer came up. Doreen coaxed them a bit and they came right up to the deck and browsed on the spilled bird seed. Two squirrels were chasing each other around all over the yard (yep, it’s that time of year again!) and a rabbit, which must have been feeding with the deer, hopped away. Joanne was snapping away like crazy. Those animals could be our strongest selling feature!

We keep hearing rumors about the Greenhills Golf Course – that it lost a lot of money and may not even open this year. Finally, I phoned Burl Adams (reached him at his kids’ place in Winnipeg through the wonders of telephony) and asked him if there was any substance to the rumors. He said staff has been hired, preliminary work has been done, and the golf course will open as usual. Burl says he has heard the rumors too, but has no idea where they are coming from. If you hear them ignore them – you heard it from me!

No signs of any activity around the Cove yet, though I hear rumors of people in looking at it with a view to buying it. We have had no contact whatever with the owners so don’t know what their plans are for this coming season.

Connie and Gary said they would re-open on May 3^rd, and if memory serves, they plan their first smorg for May 6^th. We can hardly wait. Since they closed on March 17^th, we have hardly seen any of our friends. We never did get a coffee circle going, likely because it has been so mucky and nobody wanted to rip up their neighbors’ driveways.

We heard there was a major re-fit being done at the water treatment building. The other day, I saw a truck with a trailer full of strange-looking equipment parked there. Today, there is a great pile of used valves and pipes lying outside the building, so I would presume they got the job done. We have wonderful water here in the Park; the treatment facility is modern and well maintained, capable of handling the Park’s water needs during the peak of the summer. Soft water, and good-tasting.

Our geese fly over regularly. Some of them are nesting on the island in the Marina . I thought I could hear a crane yesterday; I could see one bird flying pretty high, but couldn’t swear it was a crane except for the sound. Do they ever fly solo?