The Greenwater Report for August 27, 2001

Greenwater Provincial Park - Monday, August 27, 2001 - by: Gerald Crawford

sea-lice

August 26th, 2001: Decent weather continues, for the most part lots of sunshine, warm but not hot, but a lot of wind. The beach isn't as busy as it was earlier, but still lots of people around. We haven't seen any of the "sea-lice", as the personal watercraft are referred to, for quite awhile, but there are usually two or three boats out pulling tubers. (Pulling tubers, by the way, doesn't mean picking potatoes it means dragging kids in big tractor tubes behind powerful boats.)

 

 

sunset

The wind went down after supper, so we went out for a little cruise. At Irma Duerksen's dock, we came upon Margaret and Mac Luke, and Mac's sister-in-law, Marion, so we invited them along. I don't suppose we were out a half-hour, but in that time the sunset went from blah to spectacular, and the lake turned positively glassy. What a lovely time for a boat ride!

 

 

vegetable
booth

Dwain and Janet Drew had a vegetable booth set up on the edge of Fisherman's Cove lot this morning; we managed to get their last three ears of corn, and their last two onions. They said they had been very busy this morning, and judging by the number of empty containers around, I believe it. The past two Farmers' Markets have been almost devoid of vegetables, likely due to the drought, so it was nice to get something fresh.

 

 

young
deer

Coming home from Porcupine last Monday evening, we saw several pairs of young deer in the ditches; some with spots, some losing their spots, and some yearlings. Then, close to the Park entrance, there was one adult doe. The young ones seemed fearless; at the first pair, we stopped and backed up; they just raised their heads and looked at us. Occasionally their flags would go up, but only for a second. We whistled, and one actually took a few tentative steps towards us. At one point they seemed alarmed and took a few jumps toward the bushes, but they stopped at the edge and watched us. I suspect their mother was standing not too far into the bush watching everything.

 

 

eagle's
nest

We had heard mention made of an eagle's nest at the north-west corner of the lake, so on Friday we motored up there to see if we could find it. We didn't, but we did see two eagles sitting in a dead tree. One had the white head, which I understand they don't get until about their fifth year; the other was brown all over, and kind of ragged looking, likely an immature. I'm told one major source of food for the eagles is stealing from the ospreys, but they are reported to be pretty skillful fishers themselves.

 

 

jacks

I had a visit from Chris Weiss on Friday. He lives near Drake, and likes to come here with his family for some R+R and fishing. They have been catching some jacks over at the east end of the lake; he prefers them, as he hasn't the patience to sit and bob for walleyes. He knows how to fillet them and get that extra row of bones out. Chris is a faithful reader, and we have had some communication via e-mail.

 

 

cougar

Cheryl Sabean tells me a cougar was spotted not far from where she lives. It was on the Chelan grid, about four miles east of here and a bit south. They seem to be getting closer and closer maybe I will get to see one, one of these days. What a thrill that would be!

 

 

Beach
Café

Lil Russell says she is keeping the Beach Café open at least until the 16th of September, and possibly longer depending on the needs of the hunters. Rose Steadman is closing the Park Store, as usual, on the Labor Day weekend, September 3rd. The Cove, of course, will be open all winter.
   
  Doreen & Gerald B. Crawford
Box 100, Chelan, SK S0E 0N0 (306) 278-3423 Check out my Webpage: http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/crawg