June 6th, 2010:
Another nice, warm, sunny day, and for a change, no rain.
We were having coffee at the Co-op store last Tuesday with the usual bunch. First, Mike Tatarynovich from Crooked River joined us, then Karl Halldorson, formerly of Mozart. Mike knew everyone from Melfort east to Hudson Bay, since he was born and raised at Crooked River and lived there all his life; both Jim and Chester Fairburn had done a lot of work in that area in their working days, and they found they had a lot of mutual acquaintances to discuss. Then, it turned out that Karl knew some of the people they were talking about, so it made for a pretty lively conversation.
Rain, rain and more rain! It doesn't bother us at all, as we are on a knoll and the water runs away in all directions, but it sure feels good to see some blue sky once in awhile.
There is a major construction project going on in the vacant field across from where we used to live – they are turning 23 acres of land into the University Heights Shopping Centre, with banks, drug stores, five eateries and a whole bunch of other businesses. Eventually, there will be a new grocery store at the north-east corner, but nobody seems to know what company it will be. Most of the field is torn up as they put in sewer, water and foundations, and there is some structural steel up where the drug store will be. Everyone is waiting for Tim Horton's, which is supposed to be open by September.
With the rain, much of the construction is stopped, but not long after it quits raining there will be pumps at work and a couple of backhoes bailing out mud. Somehow, they keep getting a little bit done. It's kind of exciting; what recently was empty land will soon be a bustling marketing center. North of it, they are scraping away the dirt and getting ready for a new residential subdivision that is supposed to house about twenty thousand people. Attridge Drive is already a busy thoroughfare; pretty soon it will be impossible.
Next week is a Samboree at Humboldt. They are expecting three hundred rigs from all over western Canada and a few from the States. Our chapter, the Sunseekers, is responsible for parking so we have to go out there on Monday and start drawing it out. Last time we were there, it was very muddy; with all this rain it will be a quagmire in spots. It's going to be a real challenge.
We expect to see some people from the Porcupine Plaine area there.
Jocelyn Duerksen phoned me Friday to say that Irma Duerksen died on Thursday. The Duerksens (Herm 'n' Irm, we called them) retired and moved to Greenwater in the early '80. They became our best friends and we did everything together, including a month-long trip to the US, and skiing all over the place. Herm died suddenly in 1992; Irm continued to live at the Park for several years, then moved to Porcupine Plain. Her last years were spent in the Red Deer Nursing Home. Our sincerest condolences to the family. |
