On the weather front we seem to be in a time delay. There is some melting but we still have lots of snow. More snow is forecast this weekend. We will see. For those who are interested, six months ago I marked the 16th and the 28th of April as rain or snow. Usually it comes a couple of days before the hoar frost date. Sorry, I just write it down.
Around me, the east west roads that were not hit so much by the blizzard are drying up nicely. The north south roads that were inundated with blowing snow from the blizzard are not so good. In fact they are becoming a sea of mud. Where did that gravel go? The municipality ran two Cats pushing the snow back. The snow banks pushed up are nothing less than humongous. Pictures will need to be taken so people in the future can realize what a winter we have just had. They also had three big loaders pushing back, so snow hopefully will not all melt on the road. If we can have frost every night and the road gets frozen when it thaws in the day it is a little bit drier each time. Maybe that is just wishful thinking. It is getting so late now I think the Big Guy is maybe just going to turn on the heat and let the chips float to where they may. I see evidence there is some water movement under the snow, which is a good thing as long as we don't get frozen up with culverts full of water.
On the home front, the geese are back. I saw about a dozen of them sitting at a slough. I was wondering what they could be possibly eating. There are no bare fields, just snow. I went out and looked. There is some bug or something looks like a daddy long legs spider without a body. It is black and seems unaffected by the cold water. They are happily swimming around in the icy cold water any place where there is open water. The geese go along scooping them up with their bills and that is what they are eating. The geese are just putting in time before they come back and attack my wheat, I'll bet. I had no idea what this insect is or that it even existed. We tend to think that when things are frozen that's it. Well, Mother Nature has developed this bug that has survived freezing and there are hundreds of them swimming under water above the ice. Where did this bug come from?
The way this year is going, I am wondering what is in store? In the winter of 1947-48 we had 82 inches of snow. Mel Hougen tells me the wheat in '48 was no good in the Lilydale District and they ended up discing it under. I was only three at the time, so I have to believe what he tells me as I don't remember back then.
I remember the blizzard in the winter of 1955-56 with 66 inches of snow. We didn't go to school for all of January and walked in February. Drifts were as high as the telephone wires. The wheat was full of rust in 1956 and no good. We cut some with the binder but when we feed it to the cows the cows got sick. The next spring my Dad had rags soaked in used oil tied on three feet long pieces of number nine wire. We walked the fields burning up the rows of sheaves that had been left for stooking.
I remember the year of 1974-75. We had 62 inches of snow and when the snow went, an earthen dam west in Alberta washed out. All the water came down. It flooded the flats by the Waseca Bridge and the water was going over the deck of the bridge two or three feet deep. You could hear the roar from the top of the grade. I road my saddle horse down there but there was no way he was having anything to do with that bridge. How it stayed there I don't know because the bridge was just vibrating. The bridge was installed in 1910. A flood and ice took the bridge out in 1917 and carried it down the river a ways. It was put together with rivets and it was all taken apart. The bent and twisted beams were sent to Regina to be straightened. Then it was all reassembled on abutment about six feet higher than before. The old bridge has quite a history.
This brings us to today. What has Mother Nature in store for us this year? We will see. Somehow I have never liked that "13" number.
I have had an interesting weekend. On Saturday, I went to the Maidstone Trade Show where I was able to see a lot of local people I haven't seen for a while. I also got a picture of the four women curlers who won the Saskatchewan women's curling crown. I got to shake Jill (nee Johnston) Shumay's hand and call her "Ace" again. She has promised me she will try to get back and win the whole Scotties next year. I wish you all the luck and I will be watching every game from my recliner like I did this year.
On Sunday I went to Lloydminster to see the Speckled Park sale. It was the first sale for my son-in-law Roland Chibri and family that they have put on themselves. They had guest consigners of Max Graham and family, Merl Zweifel and family and Wilf and Ruth Sunderland. The sale went well with really good bull of Wilf Sunderland's selling for $25,500 and the high selling heifer of P.A.R Ranch for $7,000. Four fertilized eggs sold for $800 a piece. My hat is off to the exhibitors. It takes a tremendous amount of work to put a sale like that on. Good job guys and gals
Bev and I ended up at our son Todd and his wife Christina's for supper. We were well fed with roast beef. It was Angus. Speckled Parks are too expensive to eat!
