Finally we have some rain. We are truly blessed. Thank you Big Guy! We have had a rainy spitty weekend, just what we needed. The wheat crops are starting to fill in, the canola crops that are up are quickly moving to have the ground covered. Things are beautiful in Waseca right now.
One of the places I like to go for a drive this time of year is the lookout spot overlooking the Battle River valley south of Waseca. The river has a double horse in it although the channel has changed as the last big flood the second horseshoe is no longer used by the river, but the channel outline is still there and the trees still line the banks of the dry river bed. Looking west you can see all the way to Buzzard Coulee if you know what you are looking for and can pick it out. This spot, while I confess to being most prejudiced, is the most beautiful spot I know. The dark green of the trees and the lighter green of the grass with the roads and river winding through make it as nice a spot as you can view. It’s four and a half miles from Highway 16, straight south of Waseca. A beauty spot indeed. Worth the drive.
On the other side of the coin, this spot is not so nice in the fall when the leaves are starting to turn. Some people like that. Not me, Then the leaves fall off and the grass turns brown. That is when I dislike that spot. Everything is bleak and barren and looks dead. I don’t like it. When those old geese are honking and heading south, maybe there is a message there. By next fall when this happens again I will have seen my 70th year on this Earth and I always stayed the winter. We will see. Do those old geese know something I don’t know? I built a warm house, so I would not be cold and it is not a big hardship to spend the winter.
On the home front, the crew has the weeping tile buried and the water barrier is on. We have two new windows in our basement and one more to install Monday morning. Monday Quinny is also going to install a transmission in a three-ton truck. I bought the truck with no transmission on a tender and I found a used transmission for it at Can-Am at Delisle. Jaco picked it up when he brought Sven home from the plane in Saskatoon. Everything has fallen in to place on this project so far. I hope I haven’t jinxed myself by mentioning it.
Tuesday the shop door and picture window are coming. Three more windows are on the way later and the new windows project will be on. I bought what I thought were common sizes 35 years ago but now every window I want has to be specially ordered, which takes six weeks. I am not impressed. I have had to deal with some of the dumbest people and when I find a good one, I am grateful. I try to deal with them. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and the end of this house renovation can’t come quick enough to suit me. These new windows have white laminate frames so hopefully they will outlast me. I have spent more money on six windows than all the doors and windows in the rest of the house cost me 35 years ago. Lord love a billy goat #@%@##!
In farming news, I see in the Western Producer that the new conglomerate, G3, that bought out the Canadian Wheat Board has announced their intentions of building a new grain terminal at Vancouver. It will be a roundabout with 130-car trains and the engines will not unhook. The train crews stay on board and the unloading will be done in six hours. This will be much more efficient than the present system where 50 cars are shunted in at a time. The G3 has also laid plans on a network of inland terminals in Saskatchewan and Alberta to provide grain for this terminal at a cost of $500 million. This initially should be good if we could get a little competition for the grain we grow. Our customers at the west coast are still paying $7 and $8 or more a bushel and we have to take $4 or $5 and change. When the Canadian Wheat board was in business it shipped our wheat all over the world, but only a small amount of the money came back. I hope this new company does not have the same CWB philosophy of “cheap wheat for all our friends.”
This G3 company is a partnership between Bunge Ltd. and the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Co. Earlier this year they paid $250 million for 50.1 per cent of the Canadian Wheat Board. It is a dirty question, but where did the money go? Who got it?
Joke of the week: A little girl asked her mother, “Can I go outside and play with the boys?” Her mother replied, “No, you can’t play with boys, they are too rough.” The little girl thought about it a few minutes and said, “ If I find a smooth one, can I play with him?”
