This week was mostly just below zero, not that bad outside whenever the Big Guy shut off the wind. It was crazy wind, too, as it would come up in the middle of the night and be blowing like the dickens first thing in the morning. Normally if it is blowing in the day, it will go down at dark. Now it is Friday and it is raining. Lord love a billy goat, when this freezes, are we going to have to take the tires off the car and put on skates? This is going to test the driving skills of our travelling public. Same as usual, some are going to fail and it will be wheels in the air, wrecked vehicle and all that bad stuff. The big hurry you were in, will it be big enough that you can wreck your vehicle and maybe kill yourself? Slow down, don't over drive the conditions, use your head! Believe it or not, that is why God gave everyone a head, so you can think. It is not just to hold your hat!
My wife and the RM foreman's wife are quilting buddies. He had phoned his wife and told her to stay home as the roads were icy. She went quilting anyway. She told my wife, who told me. Apparently there were trucks in the ditch up at the gully north of Waseca. As the sanding trucks were going out, oil field trucks were passing them. Chris the Foreman is not impressed!
I have no hoar frost to report from my area but I was away from home in the dark and returned home in the dark Nov. 17. When I was in Lloydminster, I saw they had hoar frost. Was it real hoar frost or was it false hoar frost caused by the upgrader? I don't know.
I noted as I start writing this column that we only have a week and a month left in 2014. After 2013, living through 2014 has been a pleasure. I am always wondering what the next year will bring. What will 2015 be like? Will the farm make a little money? What breakdowns will occur? I hope that no more of my friends leave us, but there is nothing we can do about that. I am on a campaign that everybody quit smoking. Sorry if I am a little pushy about it. That seems to be one factor that is doing in my friends and I don't like it.
On the home front, after being tied up with medical appointments and the like. I was able to get away Thursday and go to Cudworth for a 3208 Cat motor. After you get through Saskatoon it is more than an hour to get to the wrecker. He had the motor on a pallet and I just put down my tailgate and he skidded it right in. I was loaded and heading for home in 15 minutes. Whenever I travel I look around at the countryside. Once you get close to Saskatoon there is no snow. That is funny country east of Saskatoon. A lot of rolling hills and sloughs and no snow. One place you come along and the land will be farmed to the nines. You can see big farms and lots of new bins. The latest equipment in the yards. Then a little farther you see land that has reverted back to grass. There are few cows. The abandoned land has falling down fences, poplar bluffs and derelict buildings. There must be a lot of deer because every mile or so in those areas you see road kill. It would appear to be a free lunch area for magpies, crows and ravens. There were lots of them. Probably coyotes lurking in the bushes too. Too full to venture out until dark. They are probably so full they are in their dens sleeping it off.
I noted three fields of flax not combined. I also noticed many realtor signs with farms for sale. All very interesting. I took my 7.3 environmental polluter and it purred right along but I had to stop in North Battleford to put in diesel so I could get home. I like the truck, I depend on the truck but that gas mileage has to be down in the low teens in miles per gallon. I kept it under 100 clicks per hour for speed and the mileage still was no good. I have 380,000 K on it and I can see where I will be driving it until the wheels fall off. When can I get an affordable electric vehicle?
In Ottawa, the politicians are mulling over how to treat cases of wrongdoing by fellow members of Parliament. Apparently they currently have no mechanism to handle these problems. The two Liberal MPs who were accused by some anonymous female MPs of sexual harassment are sort of sitting in limbo. They have been tried, convicted and sentenced. They cannot defend themselves in court because the accusers will not come forward. There is no evidence available they could defend themselves against. This whole scenario is not right and members of Parliament will have to fix this.
When these sexual harassment things come forward it appears that there shows up a bunch of other cases. Old Bill Crosby, 77, has had women from 30 years ago come forward and accuse him of rape. Why now? Some have been paid money to be quiet. Is that the motivation? I sometimes wonder about people.
My hat is off to the members of the Turtleford Co-op who turned down a proposal to amalgamate with the Battlefords Co-op. I have nothing against the Battlefords Co- op. I am even a member. My life experience is that amalgamating kills small towns. When the suits take over, it's not your co-op any more. The people of Waseca were very co-op minded in the early days. The community got together and they formed a co-op store, they formed their own credit union. They were active in forming the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. The first president of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool was Jack Wesson from Waseca. Everything went along very well to begin with and then as time passed, the suits took over. Today, in Waseca, there is no co-op store, there is no credit union. The elevators are still there and the only reason they are standing is I bought them. If you want a community organization, you have to step forward and do it yourself. Don't trust some suit somewhere else to look after you. Amalgamation, hurrmph! Suits, bah humbug. Merry Christmas!
Joke of the week: A woman named Shirley was from Calgary. One day when she was out golfing in Arizona, she had a massive heart attack and almost died. When she was in the hospital she had a near death experience and saw God. She asked, "Is this it, am I going to die?"
God said, "No my child, you will live another 30 or 40 years."
Upon her recovery she decided to stay in the hospital and if she was going to live another 30 or 40 years she would make the most of it. She had collagen shots, cheek implants, a face lift, liposuction and breast augmentation. She even had someone come in and dye her hair and give her a new hairdo. On the last day of her treatments she walked out of the hospital and was killed by an ambulance that came speeding up. She arrived in front of God and said, "I thought you said I would have another 30 or 40 years."
God said, "I'm so sorry, Shirley. I didn't recognize you."
