Another week, no rain. All hoar frost signs have failed. May 14 and 17, nothing. Small scattered showers May 25, but really nothing. I think we can safely declare we are having a serious drought. I have lots of hoar frost rain marked in June. Will it come true or will it be like 2002 where I had marked lots of hoar frost and we were skunked every time? I blamed the upgrader at the time with their steam emissions for causing false hoar frost. I don’t know. I just know it didn’t rain back in 2002. Maybe enjoy the sunshine anyway. You can’t do anything about it if the big Guy doesn’t send rain.
The next hoar frost I have marked is June 4, 5 and 6. I will have all my fingers and toes crossed in hopes of rain
In the local area, there are hundreds of acres seeded in the dust and not likely to germinate until it rains. On the crops that are up the flea buggers have hatched and they have come out hungry. The plants with no rain can’t outgrow them. The high priced seed treatments have worn off. Guys are spraying. Just what a guy needs, more expense. Some of this spraying is maybe a little premature as guys see eat marks evidence on the leaves and right away they want to spray. Whoa, back off fellas, the flea bugger has to eat the leaf to get the poison. Then he gets killed. Everyone is anxious with the high costs that everything should be perfect. Well sometimes, no matter what you do, no matter what you try, you can’t make it perfect.
On other field tours and crop checks, the wheat, as soon as it gets established is starting to do well. It will be a short time until the sprayers are going full tilt. There is good moisture below and once the plants get rooted down they are doing well. Some crops are having a hard time getting going but not the weeds. Every field has them up and flourishing as they root into the generous fertilizer that has been applied. Without chemicals there would be a real mess. I don’t know how the organic farmers do it. There have been years in the past that we had to spray early and then it rained later and a new flush of weeds came. I had to spray for broadleaf weeds twice. I have left it some years and I now know that was a mistake. Live and learn.
On the home front, the crew has the water proof membrane on the house basement installed. To install this plastic barrier we had to backhoe the dirt away from the house down to the footings. I can only do two sides, the west side and the south side. The north side is the garage and the east side has the natural gas line coming in, the telephone line, my underground power and my septic tank and sewer line. Plus the east side has a large deck on it. Way too much stuff to deal with. Thirty-five years ago, Carl Sutherland and twins built this house. We put in a wood basement. It was half the cost of a cement one. We didn’t have the materials we have now. We put tar on the joints of the treated plywood and the heaviest plastic I could buy was six mil, which we put on the outside of the basement. Thirty-five years later the tar has dried up and the plastic is in shreds. Water is coming in the basement even though I have weeping tile around the house. Thus the need for a renovation. I have new picture window coming and three new bedroom windows. I dislike the place all tore up but I can see the end. It can’t happen soon enough for me.
In political news my friend Marcella Pedersen has written me an email taking me to task for my assertion that Rachel Notley and the NDP government will be bad for Alberta. I can only judge by my Saskatchewan experience. It has not been good. I am suspicious my friend Marcella is a lifelong NDP supporter. Her version of Saskatchewan debt and who or what caused it and who paid for it are somewhat different than mine. She ends the email with “ I really should write a letter to the editor to respond to your babble, but I don’t have time right now.” Marcella or anyone else, take time, people might want to know what you think. Take the time.
What kind of a government will Rachel Notley and the NDP have? Will it be business friendly? Will it impose new taxes? Governments of any stripe can be good or bad. Governments have to do very little to make business flourish. Just level the playing field and people will start businesses. We don’t need mega projects to make the economy grow. Small businesses are what should happen. They employ lots of people, they are stable and not likely to run off to Vietnam or someplace and farm out their work.
I have a saying and I know it to be a truism. Big government, big business, they are both the same, They only look after themselves. Hopefully The NDP and Rachel Notley don’t go for bigger government.
June 27 at Lashburn Hall starting at 7:00 there will be a fundraiser for Glen Sutherland as he goes through his chemo treatments. There will be a silent auction and a live auction. Beef on a bun will be served. Everyone please mark your calendar and attend. We wish him the best of luck in his recovery
Joke of the week. A new teacher was trying to use her psychology courses on her class. The first day, standing up in front of the class she says “Everyone who thinks they are stupid stand up.” After a few seconds no one stands up and finally Little Johnny stands up. The teacher asked little Johnny if he felt stupid. “No” said Little Johnny “but I felt sorry for you standing up here all by yourself.”
