October 14, 2007:

It’s Sunday evening and we just got in from Saskatoon . It was a gorgeous day, after Saturday’s non-stop rain, but we ran into fog about Watson. Then it cleared up until we turned east at Naicam, and from there home it was intermittent fog that had us driving on low beam most of the way, and down to thirty or forty kilometers per hour in places. Rather stressful driving conditions.

A correction to last week’s Report – our new Conservation Officer’s first name is spelt “Cory”, not “Corrie”. The last name, Thody, was correct.

When we left the house last Thursday, we could hear a loud crashing and banging off to the south that sounded like someone was pretty serious about something. Then when we went for coffee, Chupa’s trackhoe was busily demolishing the Park’s old administration office and hauling it away with a couple of semis. Apparently, while the building was unoccupied during the winter and spring, water got into the in-floor heat pipes and black mold formed, making the building uninhabitable. The Park must have figured it was cheaper to remove the old structure and build a new entry kiosk than to try and clean up the old one. The first picture I can find of the building is dated 1969. That year there were several buildings built, including the Park Store, Service Center , Waterworks Building , and the Administration Office.

We were in Saskatoon making our new digs habitable. It’s pretty comfortable now, but sterile. It needs a bunch of Doreen’s colorful pillows, pictures, and bird figurines to make it look like home. I am coming to believe we can be quite happy there.

One thing that is different is that there is no such thing as dark night in the city. At four in the morning there is a lot of light coming in through the skylights. We are across the street from a big retail area which, of course, is well-lit at night. The lights must reflect off impurities in the air. I know one is hard put to find a place to observe the stars.

We ran into Jane Bates (yes, I know – she has been called “Jean” since high school and doesn’t know why!) in the Sask Tel office in Saskatoon . She says a bunch of Kelvington women meet at Dutch Growers the first Thursday of each month for lunch. She also says there are many Kelvington people living in our area (Erindale) and the men often meet for coffee at the big Co-op store across the road. Maybe there is life in Saskatoon after all!