December 3rd, 2005: It got down to –25° last night, but today started out bright and sunny, with no wind. It was altogether pleasant walking.
It’s been more like normal winter weather this week. It snowed lightly almost every day but still didn’t amount to much - the ground is barely covered. I don’t think there is too much likelihood of another Indian summer, so we might as well have a good depth of snow.
Once again, Archerwill has proved that it doesn’t have to feel inferior to Broadway. We just got home from their annual dinner theatre, and it was a blast! It was a two act musical called “Hankerin’ Hillbillies” but there was much more. A great supper, then entertainment by the cast plus three young girls from the Rose Valley Dance Club who did a very lively tap dance to hillbilly music. Then we were entertained by the Hootin’ Holler Hillbilly Jug Band complete with washtub bass.
The musical had to do with a hillbilly houseful of man-crazy maidens, their frustrated parents, their fuedin’ foes and a bunch of government agents. Fantastic! And very capably done, too. I’m not even going to try to single any of the cast out - they were all terrific. Being a musical, there was taped music that had to be cued in at just the right time, and it was perfect. Not too loud, either.
At intermission, the cast served carrot cake to the audience, and they brought their stage personalities with them. At the end, we got another performance by the three little tap dancers
The hall was sold out, for the third evening in a row. Usually they just have a dessert matinee for the Sunday performance, but there was so much interest that they decided to make it the full production. We are glad they did, because we weren’t able to get tickets for the Friday or Saturday performances.
That was the most satisfactory evening’s entertainment I can remember!
Doreen made a liar out of me. After my rant last week about not turning on our Christmas lights until at least December 21st, she turned them on last Monday. She’s going to ruin my reputation!
Maurice is a hunter, and he got himself a nice buck a week or so ago. It was about 150 pounds when he shot it, but by the time he had to load it, it had grown to about 220 pounds, so he got Merv to give him a hand. They took it to a meat cutter, and Maurice put in his order for the cuts he wanted from the deer - it totalled 500 pounds! We speculated by the time he went to pick up his meat, he would have to take his tandem truck.
Maurice is actually quite a famous hunter. One time, a few years ago, he shot at a coyote; he missed it entirely but when he jumped in his tractor to drive it away he found it had a flat tire! Since the tractor had been sitting about ninety degrees from where the coyote was, it was suggested he check his rifle for a bent barrel.
Deer season is over but next week is draw elk, and I understand anyone with an elk tag can also get a deer tag.
Archie Nordick reports that moose are commonly seen over in the Watson area these days. A small grove of trees can shelter quite a number of them. He says there is also a small herd of antelope that show up every summer, and he met a bear in a grain field. He was checking the field. When he saw the bear, he made tracks for his truck; the bear made tracks the other way.
Merv said fifty years ago there weren’t that many moose in this area. When they went moose hunting, they went north of Highway #3 where there were large areas of buck brush the moose kept trimmed down. Then the buck brush seemed to dry out or become over-mature, and the moose thinned out, many of them moving south to the Greenwater area. Periodic fires are needed to regenerate the moose pasture, and these days fires are not allowed to get out of hand.
The Wadena News got a somewhat irate letter re. my column of a couple of weeks ago. I quote: “Jerry Crawford should hang his head in shame! How many of the goodies that packed his trunk could have been purchased locally?” Good point, and that is why Doreen told me not to write it. But would I listen? Noooo! In my defence, most of the goodies bought were for Doreen’s sister, who lives in Saskatoon and does not drive. She depends on us to take her shopping when we go in. We do most of our own shopping in Porcupine Plain, Kelvington, and Tisdale, the three towns we feel we have a stake in.
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