Greenwater Report for August 12, 2002

The Greenwater Report for August 12, 2002

Greenwater Provincial Park - Monday, August 12, 2002 - by: Jerry Crawford

2 inches
August 11th, 2002: The week has been cool, with lots of rain - over two inches, of which half came in a short while on Friday. Some campers packed up and left, but the campgrounds still seem almost full.

need
rain
The weather forecast today was for heavy rainstorms, up to 50 or 60 mm, but as I write this we have had about ten drops. They made a good excuse to quit picking berries, as I was tired of it. Despite the rains we have had, we still hope for more, to saturate the ground and bring up the lake level.

agressive
deer
I biked south on the road between the Park Store and the Park’s rental cabins this morning. There was an adult deer and two fawns about twenty feet from the road, and they didn’t seem too worried about me, even when I stopped. Another adult came out of the bushes and they dithered awhile until one of the fawns ran into the bushes, then they all left. Both of the adults, when they first noticed me, made a few quick steps towards me, in a somewhat aggressive manner, likely to see if I was bluffable.

cranberries
Wrong again! First, I said there was going to be another good crop of saskatoons. Then I said the crop had fizzled, and there were hardly any, and what there were, were shriveled. Today I went out and picked about a pail and a half, and there are lots more. Did the rains fill the berries out? Or was I just being impatient? Last year, we quit picking about August 6th. I think it is quite safe to say that there will be good crops of cranberries and chokecherries, barring a heavy frost.

geese
Tuesday morning, there were about a dozen geese on the beach. They must be used to people, because I got within about twenty feet of them before they slowly edged toward the water. Some looked smaller than others, but could this spring’s hatch be flying already? They wouldn’t be much over two months old.

natural
gas
installation
The natural gas lines are being run under the roadways in the Park, though the individual houses won’t be hooked up until September. The crew drilled under Lake Avenue by Adams’s, but lost their bit. A trackhoe came and dug up the south side for them so they could retrieve the bit, and got the offending stones out of the way. They then ran their bit through the same hole. The bit is like a narrow spade, slightly turned up on the end. They attach five-foot sections of rod as needed and push the bit through. When drilling, they rotate the bit and pump water through it, but in this case, since the hole was already drilled, it was just a straight push. They can detect where the bit is with an instrument like a metal detector, and are able to make minor corrections of course when necessary. On the other side, the gas line is hooked onto the drill bit using a metal mesh sleeve like a Chinese handcuff, and when the driller retracts his rods and bit, the gas line comes with it.

mergansers
We were cruising up around the old Picnic Table site, and met a family of mergansers, one adult and about eleven babies, not long out of the egg. Next time we saw them, they were a couple of hundred yards off shore. We motored over to the west side, and the family was out in the middle, so we watched them. Pretty soon they were right along the west shoreline. The lake must be a good half-mile across at that point, and those mergansers didn’t take long to cross. What makes the babies so tough when they haven’t had a chance to eat much?

grass
hoppers
We made a rush trip to Saskatoon Friday afternoon; my new camera developed some quirks and we had to send it off for servicing. When we got close to the city, we noticed a lot of grasshoppers on the shoulder of the road. Later, having supper in a restaurant, we noticed some potted plants just outside the window, and they were crawling with grasshoppers. There were four young people drinking beer at a table close by, but they didn’t seem to notice the grasshoppers at all. Maybe they were past noticing anything. Lucille said the grasshoppers are real pests, but she doesn’t know if they are the kind that attacks crops and gardens. She lives on the eighth floor of an apartment building, and they are on her windowsill!

buffalo
On our way home from Tisdale, a bison herd was grazing not far from the road. I stopped, and went over to the fence with my camera. It seems to me that whenever I do that, every beast in the herd, whether it be cattle, horses or bison, turns its rump towards me and moves away. This time was different - quite a few of them came quite close, including one substantial sized bull, and I was able to get some fairly good photos of them.

Doreen & Jerry Crawford
Box 100, Chelan, SK S0E 0N0 (306) 278-3423 http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/crawg



The Greenwater Report for August 12, 2002

Greenwater Provincial Park - Monday, August 12, 2002 - by: Jerry Crawford
2 inches	August 11th, 2002: The week has been cool, with lots of rain - over two inches, of which half came in a short while on Friday. Some campers packed up and left, but the campgrounds still seem almost full.

need rain	The weather forecast today was for heavy rainstorms, up to 50 or 60 mm, but as I write this we have had about ten drops. They made a good excuse to quit picking berries, as I was tired of it. Despite the rains we have had, we still hope for more, to saturate the ground and bring up the lake level.

agressive deer	I biked south on the road between the Park Store and the Park’s rental cabins this morning. There was an adult deer and two fawns about twenty feet from the road, and they didn’t seem too worried about me, even when I stopped. Another adult came out of the bushes and they dithered awhile until one of the fawns ran into the bushes, then they all left. Both of the adults, when they first noticed me, made a few quick steps towards me, in a somewhat aggressive manner, likely to see if I was bluffable.



cranberries	Wrong again! First, I said there was going to be another good crop of saskatoons. Then I said the crop had fizzled, and there were hardly any, and what there were, were shriveled. Today I went out and picked about a pail and a half, and there are lots more. Did the rains fill the berries out? Or was I just being impatient? Last year, we quit picking about August 6th. I think it is quite safe to say that there will be good crops of cranberries and chokecherries, barring a heavy frost.



geese	Tuesday morning, there were about a dozen geese on the beach. They must be used to people, because I got within about twenty feet of them before they slowly edged toward the water. Some looked smaller than others, but could this spring’s hatch be flying already? They wouldn’t be much over two months old.



natural gas installation	The natural gas lines are being run under the roadways in the Park, though the individual houses won’t be hooked up until September. The crew drilled under Lake Avenue by Adams’s, but lost their bit. A trackhoe came and dug up the south side for them so they could retrieve the bit, and got the offending stones out of the way. They then ran their bit through the same hole. The bit is like a narrow spade, slightly turned up on the end. They attach five-foot sections of rod as needed and push the bit through. When drilling, they rotate the bit and pump water through it, but in this case, since the hole was already drilled, it was just a straight push. They can detect where the bit is with an instrument like a metal detector, and are able to make minor corrections of course when necessary. On the other side, the gas line is hooked onto the drill bit using a metal mesh sleeve like a Chinese handcuff, and when the driller retracts his rods and bit, the gas line comes with it.



mergansers	We were cruising up around the old Picnic Table site, and met a family of mergansers, one adult and about eleven babies, not long out of the egg. Next time we saw them, they were a couple of hundred yards off shore. We motored over to the west side, and the family was out in the middle, so we watched them. Pretty soon they were right along the west shoreline. The lake must be a good half-mile across at that point, and those mergansers didn’t take long to cross. What makes the babies so tough when they haven’t had a chance to eat much?

grass hoppers	We made a rush trip to Saskatoon Friday afternoon; my new camera developed some quirks and we had to send it off for servicing. When we got close to the city, we noticed a lot of grasshoppers on the shoulder of the road. Later, having supper in a restaurant, we noticed some potted plants just outside the window, and they were crawling with grasshoppers. There were four young people drinking beer at a table close by, but they didn’t seem to notice the grasshoppers at all. Maybe they were past noticing anything. Lucille said the grasshoppers are real pests, but she doesn’t know if they are the kind that attacks crops and gardens. She lives on the eighth floor of an apartment building, and they are on her windowsill!

buffalo	On our way home from Tisdale, a bison herd was grazing not far from the road. I stopped, and went over to the fence with my camera. It seems to me that whenever I do that, every beast in the herd, whether it be cattle, horses or bison, turns its rump towards me and moves away. This time was different - quite a few of them came quite close, including one substantial sized bull, and I was able to get some fairly good photos of them.

	Doreen & Jerry Crawford Box 100, Chelan, SK S0E 0N0 (306) 278-3423 http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/crawg