The Greenwater Report for January 21, 2001

Greenwater Provincial Park - January 21, 2001 - By: Gerald Crawford

 

   

Fisherman’s
Cove sold

January 21st, 2001: Well, the rumors you have been hearing are coming true, and it is impoprtant enough for me to come out of retirement temporarily, at least. Fisherman’s Cove has been sold; it is now official, and the take-over date is February 1st. The buyers are a group of shareholders headed up by Greg Erixon, who will be the general manager.

 

   

Expansion
plans

Expansion plans include ten motel units around a swimming pool and spa: four suites of three bedrooms each, two suites of two bedrooms each, and four rooms with two queen-sized beds each. In addition, a meeting room or banquet room that will seat 150 at tables or 250 theater style. The store will offer more groceries, and one till will look after both store and restaurant. There will be some changes to the restaurant and lounge, and a beer and wine store will be added.

 

   

Don & Colette Moore

And what about Don & Colette Moore? In the short term, they plan to move to Alberta to be near their first and only grandchild. No doubt they will be looking for other business opportunities, though Don did say it would be nice to work nine to five with weekends off.

 

   

Ski
Loppet

The annual Ski Loppet was yesterday, and Shirley Baker told me they had 48 registered. I suspect a few more came in later, too. The Cove was sure busy all day. Weather must have been as close to ideal for skiing as it can get it was -14 this morning, and didn‚t likely get up higher than about -5. Warm enough for comfort and fast skiing, but not warm enough to be messy.

 

   

Funny
weather!

Funny weather! October was pleasant, November was about normal, December was quite cold, and January has been gentle as can be. We haven’t had any new snow to speak of since before Christmas, just enough to whiten things up again. I feel so sorry for those people who go south to escape a Saskatchewan winter! By the way, I checked the long range forecast in the Country Guide the other day. Did you know it is going to be cold from late December to the middle of January?!!

 

   

gray
owl

More and more reports of great gray owl sightings; people talk about seeing eight or ten or more between Porcupine Plain and here. Unfortunately, there have also been several reports of birds being found dead, hit by vehicles on the highway. I had one fly down low in front of me, but it lifted enough that I went under it. When they fly, they usually swoop down low, and if their chosen path is across the highway their chances of getting hit are pretty high. Some people, on finding dead birds, have been taking them to the Park office. I understand one can get a permit to have them mounted. Quite an addition to the rec room!

 

   

telephoto
lens

I borrowed Mike’s telephoto lens, thinking I might as well get some photos of them while they are around, and then guess what? For most of the week, the only ones we saw were on the Big Hill, with double yellow lines and no place to pull off! Finally, we got several chances yesterday, and I burned up a whole film on great gray owls.

 

   

moose

Several people have reported seeing moose on the highway at night, very likely coming out to lick salt off the road. In one case, there were two moose lying at the side of the road; they didn‚t even move as the car went by. It seems to me you don‚t always see a moose‚s eyes, as you would a deer’s or elk’s. Maybe moose find the glare more irritating. In any case, just because you don’t see those bright green spots in the ditch doesn‚t mean there are no moose headed your way, so drive accordingly. Tangling with a moose can be injurious to your health!

 

   

a story
to tell

Al and Lorraine Welte and Merv and Shirley Miller were in the Cove for coffee the other day. The couples hadn’t met before, but somehow got to talking, and found they had a lot of mutual acquaintances. That led to a round of tales of the olden days. Now, Merv has no parallel as a story teller, but Al comes awfully close. I was spellbound for about a half hour! I keep wishing Merv would either write down or record his stories, and I made the same suggestion to Al. I’ll bet there are more fascinating books tucked away in the minds of people who don‚t even realize they have a story to tell, than in all the libraries.

 

 

almost 21 pounds!

Greenwater Lake still yields up some monsters! Ten-year-old Cody Yablonski of Clair caught a jack while ice-fishing recently that weighed up at almost 21 pounds! When he started pulling it up through the hole, he thought it was never going to end.
     
 

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