The Greenwater Report for DEcember 7, 2004

December 5th, 2004: About –18° when I got up this morning, and it hasn’t come up more than a few degrees ever since. It has been overcast, but without much wind, and it snowed for most of the afternoon. The snow is welcome now. What a roller-coaster weather-wise! From -26° Tuesday night to +5° on Friday, with high winds, dead calm, sun, cloud and snow thrown in. I think it even rained a bit on Friday. The snow went down quite a bit, leaving ice in its place. Time for cautious driving! Yesterday afternoon, Doreen got home from three days in Saskatoon with our daughters. She tells me there is no snow in Saskatoon, and no ice. Summer driving conditions! She saw very little snow on the way home, so I guess we have most of it. Work is under way on the TV tower. We drove by there on Thursday, and they were up about 100 feet. They can’t work in a wind, so I suspect that is what has been holding them back. By yesterday afternoon, we could see it sticking up above the trees from the highway, so they must be up a good 200 feet. That high wind Friday night swept a good part of the lake clear of snow. I walked out a couple hundred yards and over to the Marina. The surface wasn’t smooth as it had been earlier, but was coarsely pebbled. I found the odd smooth patch okay to walk on, but the pebbled parts were treacherous! I guess that’s why they pebble curling ice. There was a bit of moaning and there were cracks all over, but none leaking water. In places, I could see the sides of cracks, and it looked as if the ice is eight inches or more thick. I was still nervous! Some pressure ridges had formed, with the ice pushed up a foot or more - real ski-breakers! The ridges caught snow, so were visible from a long way off. Going into the Marina, there was a huge beaver lodge in the reeds on the north side, just a few feet in from the channel. The feed bed extended halfway across the channel. Several people had mentioned a couple of big beaver being sighted near the Marina. The lodge was a good four feet high so maybe that’s an indication of lots of snow.

Haven’t seen any sign of fishing activity on the ice, but I heard George Renneberg has been out a couple of times. He likes to fish off the point, where the picnic table used to be. I’m not sure if he ever catches anything, but he never quits trying. Still no sign of life around the Cove, but the coffee crowd hasn’t been going dry. We meet at each other’s houses twice a week for coffee and conversation, and to catch up on the local doings. Our sympathies to Linda Lizitza. I talked to Lorinda in Porcupine the other day and she told me Linda fell and broke her ankle. Not just a simple break either - sounds like they had to reconstruct the ankle and she has to stay completely off it for a long, long time. Coming on top of Lloyd’s accident, which he is still recovering from, it’s bad luck they don’t need. Fortunately, Lorinda was able to come home to help out. We went to the dinner theater in Archerwill last night. A wonderful meal, and a very cute play, titled “Captain Fantastic”. It ran Friday night, too, and because they sold out both nights they held a third showing this afternoon. Pretty impressive acting! Brian Shuya is still hard at work cleaning out the brush around the core area; now they are hauling it away. It looks bare now, but once leafed out it will be much more attractive, and safer, too.

Doreen & Jerry Crawford Box 1000, Porcupine Plain, SK, S0E 1H0 telephone (306) 278-2249 fax (306) 278-3423 http://www.greenwaterreport.com/

Retrun to Ensign - Return to Saskatchewan News   This page is a story posted on Ensign and/or Saskatchewan News, both of which are daily web sites offering a variety of material from scenic images, political commentary, information and news. These publications are the work of Faster Than Light Communications . If you would like to comment on this story or you wish to contact the editor of these sites please send us email.   Editor : Timothy W. Shire Faster Than Light Communication Box 1776, Tisdale, Saskatchewan, Canada, S0E 1T0 306 873 2004