Wow! What a week! Vic had a doctor’s appointment for a worse than ever cough Friday and ended up in a Saskatoon hospital. He is much better and hoping to get out soon, but not soon enough to write the “View,” so he instructed, without any direction, that Bev, Ronald, Todd and Crystal could among them produce a column this week. In Bev’s words, “My God! I hope he is out to write his own next week!” (A writer I am not!)
So here we go. What weather! It’s like summer one minute and snowing the next. That was quite the wind we had Wednesday last week when we were driving to the city to see Vic. Blew us all the way down there and we fought it every inch of the way back home. If you were wearing a hat outside you would be lucky not to have it ending up in the neighbour’s field. The land will be drying up fast, although I hear the gopher hunters are not leaving the roads just yet to drive through the fields to get the furry little animals. The numbers will be tripling soon as all those babies will be coming. We all know from experience how they can wipe out a lot of acres if they are not kept in control.
In 2009, Vic and Bev hosted an exchange student named Henry Moore from England. He had the ultimate plan in mind to surprise them, as he done so on a previous visit. He contacted me, Crystal Hult, youngest daughter to Vic and Bev. Over a month’s time we exchanged messages devising a surprise visit in the making. Henry told Bev his Canadian visa was not approved and he wouldn’t be able to visit this year. The ruse was in the making. Friday, Henry made his way to the hospital to surprise Vic. Ohhhh boy! Was he surprised! After a visit, Vic agreed to keep the secret under his John Deere hat until Henry could surprise Bev. The plan had been devised that Crystal was going to take Bev out for supper, but instead Henry would be the friendly face at the door for pickup. It isn’t often that I have the chance to pull a fast one on my parents, so I was more than willing to play the part. After receiving a one-line text from my mother, Beverly that only stated, “OMG!” I knew that the ruse was successful. Henry will be in Canada for one month visiting and touring! Thank you for travelling half way across the globe to spend a little time with us.
This will be son Ron, doing his part of the Vic’s View. On the farm we are on the tail end of calving. We have two black Angus bulls that are in need of replacement to change blood lines. These are big bulls and easy calvers. No calves pulled from these two. Son Steele and I went back to Jason Bedwell, who is also a salesman at Agland. We have it narrowed down to two. We also went south of his place to Michael Ferguson and saw his good bunch of yearling bulls. We had it narrowed down to two, also. Two guys with second jobs with great animals that need a shout out for doing “on farm sales.”
On the grain side I have a load of canola and one of wheat to go out for my renters, then onto cleaning grain. Son Joshua is moving his wheat out of the wet in the spring. There is racked cement in the earth hoppers with 3,500 bushel bins on top. He has been renting his grandpa Vic’s two quarters for three years now, this being the fourth. I have nagged him for the last three years to move this grain early, but this year I didn’t nag at all. January came. February came. March came. April this year. Now I have mud and water and said, “No!” I’m not towing my truck and trailer through the yard. So today, on the cold frost of minus seven he was loading his wheat. He will have three days of early morning loading to take care of this. Young and naïve as many moons ago I was. In the past my father nagged me, and at this same time I made mistakes along the way. For this Dad, thank you, as I am a better man and person, and am passing on values to my family.
Everyone make sure to phone our dad as he appreciates a phone call. We are harassing him to get a new phone that will display numbers and have a bigger keypad. The number is 306-893-7600.
This is now son Todd, the family thought it would be a good idea if I wrote the political portion of Vic’s View while he is away. I’m not entirely sure this is a great decision, because at times I don’t have the filter required to make comments regarding politics or in particular certain politicians. Let’s all pray for a speedy recovery of my father before the voicing of my political views find me locked up or six feet under.
We have to recognize and congratulate Brad Wall and the Saskatchewan Party for not only winning the 2016 Saskatchewan Election, but for also forming the Sask. Party’s third consecutive majority government with 62.5 per cent of the Saskatchewan voters. Colleen Young won in a land slide victory of 87.7 per cent and Larry Doke secured 79.9 per cent of voters in their respective ridings, so a big congratulations to them on a well run campaign. Unfortunately anyone within the Sask. Party simply had to look across the border into Alberta and take note of everything Rachel and the NDP buffoons are doing to destroy the economy and tax every last red cent from the working man/woman, then just promise to do the opposite.That sounds like a winning strategy to me.
Here in Lloydminster we will have a civic election later this fall. Let’s make sure everyone has their nomination papers in before Sept. 21. Gerald Aalbers has made the decision to run for mayor and will likely be campaigning hard for the top job. A good friend of mine, Randy Kuntz, is also running for alderman and he can certainly bank on my support. I want a city council I can trust with our tax dollars. The previous AHHA Moment scandal, the extravagant spending on the $40 Million dollar Taj Mahal city workshop, the increased property tax assessments and now the need for a new waste water treatment plant will all hang in the voters’ minds come October. At this point I should be writing something funny to lighten the mood, however I simply do not approve of political jokes after all the last one got elected as our current prime minister.
Enough of politics, on a more important note spring is in the air, the water is running and crocus flowers are in bloom. The farmers will be getting itchy to get out into the fields and I am looking forward to long quad rides, campfires and fishing with the rest of the Jack Pine Savages.
Bev, Ron, Todd and Crystal Hult
