Greenwater Report for July 10, 2000

The Greenwater Report for July 10, 2000

Greenwater Provincial Park - July 10, 2000 - By: Gerald Crawford

nine inches
According to my figures, we have received nine inches of rain in May, June and July. I believe our normal rainfall is around twelve inches. Better now than in the middle of harvest! Nice this weekend, though. Both yesterday and today started out warm and clear, clouded over in the middle of the day so it didn't get too hot, then cleared again later. The people laying on the beach working on their skin cancer, and those who like to chase a little white ball around the elk pasture, should all be happy.

water up
to the doors
We spent last Thursday in Saskatoon. It kind of drizzled all day, then, while we were having supper, it started to rain buckets, with lots of thunder and lightning with it. That kept up for over a half hour, then eased up a bit while we got in the car. We went to Home Depot; Doreen went inside and the rain started again, just pouring down. There is a low spot in their parking lot where the storm sewer is; it couldn’t handle the downpour, and a couple of vehicles parked there had water up to the doors. A message came over the loudhailer asking the owners of the two cars to bring them under a canopy; an employee came out with a big wet/dry vacuum and vacuumed the water out of the cars.

Someone told us the police had closed the underpass at Idylwyld and 42nd because of the depth of water in it.

ocean cruise
The rain eased again just as Doreen came out of the store, and the sun started breaking through. We gassed up without the attendant having to get soaked (though he said he had to fill a car in the worst of the rain) and started for home. About five miles east of Saskatoon on Highway 41, we caught up to the storm, and from there to about five miles east of Melfort there was hardly a let-up. Our lights were on low beam, our wipers going as fast as they could, and we were often down to 50kmh. I don't think we saw that much water on our ocean cruise! There was a high wind, and a bit of hail mixed in with the rain, hopefully not enough to do any damage to crops. The thunder and lightning peaked around Wakaw; great, thick bolts of lightning would hit the road ahead of us and seem to dance down the highway toward us. We could hear the thunder over the noise of the car. Both Doreen and Lucille complained that it made their eyes hurt, but my eyes were too busy looking for the white line to be bothered by lightning. In fact, it lit up the countryside for miles and let me see beyond my lights.

most violent I can remember.
When we got to Tisdale, the highway was a bit wet; aside from a brief shower at the north end of the Park, the storm was over. We thought it went north-east, but apparently Humboldt also got a good rain, though not necessarily from the same clouds. That storm must rank as one of the most violent I can remember.

Joni Mitchell's art
Joni Mitchell's art display at the Mendel Gallery has been getting an awful lot of press coverage lately, so we went to see it. I was tremendously impressed. Self-portraits featured in many of the paintings, but there was no attempt made to make her look glamorous. In fact, one of the best known, that was reproduced in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, makes her look like an unhappy, possibly ill-tempered, middle-aged lady.

honesty
She has many styles, and works in many media, including photography. One thing that shone forth was honesty - I don't think she tried to copy anyone, she just painted it like she saw it in her own mind. I glanced through a book of her poems and lyrics in the gift shop, and the same honesty was evident in them.

worth the trip
The one painting that really impressed me was a very close facial portrait of a black man. At first I thought it was a photograph, but I have never seen a photograph that could project that much life and personality. While I liked most of the display, that one portrait alone was worth the trip.

caterpillars
The caterpillars have been finished for a week or so. They stripped some areas, but left the core area of the Park and our yard alone. The stripped trees are already showing fresh green. There don‚t seem to be all that many cocoons, so maybe we won’t have a problem next year. I suspect there has to be a certain set of conditions just right to let them build to epidemic proportions.

Stockwell Day
The Canadian Alliance Party has a new leader, as if you didn’t know. Stockwell Day beat out Preston Manning two to one. He won the day, but I wonder if he didn’t lose the chance to form government? Preston Manning attracted former PC members who presumably thought the PC Party wasn’t far enough right. The new leader seems somewhat farther to the right than even Preston Manning, which may send some of those ex-PCs back to where they came from. Good luck for Joe Clark, who was on the verge of extinction; good for Jean Chretien, as the protest vote will be fragmented even more than it was before. Good for us taxpayers?

Visitor Centre
Further to the Visitor Centre: the landscaping crew has left, the contractor’s sign is gone, and the place looks ready for occupancy. There are barricades at each entrance to the semi-circular driveway, though, so suspect the staff won’t move in there until the end of summer. Looks good!

Gerald B. Crawford
Box 100, Chelan, SK S0E 0N0 (306) 278-3423
Check out my Webpage: http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/crawg

The Greenwater Report for July 10, 2000

Greenwater Provincial Park - July 10, 2000 - By: Gerald Crawford

nine inches	According to my figures, we have received nine inches of rain in May, June and July. I believe our normal rainfall is around twelve inches. Better now than in the middle of harvest! Nice this weekend, though. Both yesterday and today started out warm and clear, clouded over in the middle of the day so it didn't get too hot, then cleared again later. The people laying on the beach working on their skin cancer, and those who like to chase a little white ball around the elk pasture, should all be happy.

water up to the doors	We spent last Thursday in Saskatoon. It kind of drizzled all day, then, while we were having supper, it started to rain buckets, with lots of thunder and lightning with it. That kept up for over a half hour, then eased up a bit while we got in the car. We went to Home Depot; Doreen went inside and the rain started again, just pouring down. There is a low spot in their parking lot where the storm sewer is; it couldn’t handle the downpour, and a couple of vehicles parked there had water up to the doors. A message came over the loudhailer asking the owners of the two cars to bring them under a canopy; an employee came out with a big wet/dry vacuum and vacuumed the water out of the cars.

	Someone told us the police had closed the underpass at Idylwyld and 42nd because of the depth of water in it.

ocean cruise	The rain eased again just as Doreen came out of the store, and the sun started breaking through. We gassed up without the attendant having to get soaked (though he said he had to fill a car in the worst of the rain) and started for home. About five miles east of Saskatoon on Highway 41, we caught up to the storm, and from there to about five miles east of Melfort there was hardly a let-up. Our lights were on low beam, our wipers going as fast as they could, and we were often down to 50kmh. I don't think we saw that much water on our ocean cruise! There was a high wind, and a bit of hail mixed in with the rain, hopefully not enough to do any damage to crops. The thunder and lightning peaked around Wakaw; great, thick bolts of lightning would hit the road ahead of us and seem to dance down the highway toward us. We could hear the thunder over the noise of the car. Both Doreen and Lucille complained that it made their eyes hurt, but my eyes were too busy looking for the white line to be bothered by lightning. In fact, it lit up the countryside for miles and let me see beyond my lights.

most violent I can remember.	When we got to Tisdale, the highway was a bit wet; aside from a brief shower at the north end of the Park, the storm was over. We thought it went north-east, but apparently Humboldt also got a good rain, though not necessarily from the same clouds. That storm must rank as one of the most violent I can remember.

Joni Mitchell's art	Joni Mitchell's art display at the Mendel Gallery has been getting an awful lot of press coverage lately, so we went to see it. I was tremendously impressed. Self-portraits featured in many of the paintings, but there was no attempt made to make her look glamorous. In fact, one of the best known, that was reproduced in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, makes her look like an unhappy, possibly ill-tempered, middle-aged lady.

honesty	She has many styles, and works in many media, including photography. One thing that shone forth was honesty - I don't think she tried to copy anyone, she just painted it like she saw it in her own mind. I glanced through a book of her poems and lyrics in the gift shop, and the same honesty was evident in them.

worth the trip	The one painting that really impressed me was a very close facial portrait of a black man. At first I thought it was a photograph, but I have never seen a photograph that could project that much life and personality. While I liked most of the display, that one portrait alone was worth the trip.

caterpillars	The caterpillars have been finished for a week or so. They stripped some areas, but left the core area of the Park and our yard alone. The stripped trees are already showing fresh green. There don‚t seem to be all that many cocoons, so maybe we won’t have a problem next year. I suspect there has to be a certain set of conditions just right to let them build to epidemic proportions.

Stockwell Day	The Canadian Alliance Party has a new leader, as if you didn’t know. Stockwell Day beat out Preston Manning two to one. He won the day, but I wonder if he didn’t lose the chance to form government? Preston Manning attracted former PC members who presumably thought the PC Party wasn’t far enough right. The new leader seems somewhat farther to the right than even Preston Manning, which may send some of those ex-PCs back to where they came from. Good luck for Joe Clark, who was on the verge of extinction; good for Jean Chretien, as the protest vote will be fragmented even more than it was before. Good for us taxpayers?

Visitor Centre	Further to the Visitor Centre: the landscaping crew has left, the contractor’s sign is gone, and the place looks ready for occupancy. There are barricades at each entrance to the semi-circular driveway, though, so suspect the staff won’t move in there until the end of summer. Looks good!

	Gerald B. Crawford Box 100, Chelan, SK S0E 0N0 (306) 278-3423 Check out my Webpage: http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/crawg