|
|
||||||
|
The Greenwater Report for March 8, 2005 |
||||||
February 20th, 2005: It’s a beautiful day, bright and sunny, not too cold, and a moderate west wind. Ideal weather for snowmobiling. This past week has been school break, at least for some units. There have been a lot of people in the Park cabins, and snowmobiles have been buzzing around in their dozens. It’s nice to see the Park being used. I’ll bet the trails are perfect. The Millers’ white-headed grosbeak visited our feeder last week, and I managed to get some pictures of it. When we were at Miller’s for coffee, we noticed a flock of grosbeaks would fly in, feed for awhile, then leave. Pretty soon another flock would show up, and we speculated that they go from feeder to feeder, not spending too much time at any one feeder. That white-headed one was at our feeder about ten AM, then again about 11:30. Chances are, if I looked out the window at the right time, I would see it drop in every couple of hours all day. It definitely wasn’t at the bottom of the pecking order - it faced down a few other grosbeaks, both male and female, but there were some that made it fly. Freaks seem to be well tolerated in nature, if they are strong enough and aggressive enough to establish their positions. We don’t feed the deer, but there have been up to six at a time visiting our house. We feed the birds, and there is quite a spillage of sunflower seed shells, likely some with the seeds still in them. The deer come up to our north deck and chew away on the snow and seeds under the feeders. They get a lot of water from the snow, of course, but aside from roughage, what would they get out of the shells? Maybe there’s still some nutrition in the shells, for a ruminant. If they can thrive on twigs and bark they should be able to get some good out of shells. Did you hear the NHL season has been officially cancelled? That announcement was made last Tuesday; then on Thursday there were hints that maybe they could still negotiate. That was followed by meetings, and rumors that a deal has been reached, and a possibility of a short season if they can get going by March 1st. Next day - nope, it’s all off again. Just like a politician playing cute about when to hold an election. Do you feel we are being manipulated? The attitude at coffee row is “Ho-hum!” Hockey hasn’t even been mentioned all winter. Best thing that could happen would be if they held a short season and nobody went to the games! Albert Beaumont and Maurice Marquette were reminiscing at coffee, and they told a story about the skating rink at Perigord back in the forties. Elphage (not sure of the spelling) Bossé, Roland’s older brother, was a hockey enthusiast and wanted to play goal in the worst way, so he set out to flood the rink. He used a team and sleigh, and made the sleigh box watertight somehow. He hauled the water from a slough, filling the box with a pail, and hauled it three miles or more to the rink, then drove around the rink and let the water run out of the back of the sleigh box. Can you imagine how many trips he had to make? That’s dedication! He got to play goal, too, but promptly caught a puck in the mouth. Some say that ended his hockey career; others say he played all season. |
||||||
 |
||||||
| Doreen & Jerry Crawford Box 1000, Porcupine Plain, SK, S0E 1H0 telephone (306) 278-2249 fax (306) 278-3423 http://www.greenwaterreport.com/ |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
