More Interesting Times

Listening to or watching the news lately I am constantly reminded of the old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times". We are certainly doing that now. Middle east instability has driven our canola and other grains prices down and our fuel prices up in the past week and worse is yet to come according to some analysts.
Highest snowfall levels in 40 some years on top of the muddiest field conditions ever last fall are going to make it a "high fuel use" spring if we are able to get into the saturated fields.
The grain saved in our bins waiting for the anticapated higher prices has now dropped in value significantly. I'm not going to try and figure how much,don't really want to know.
Meanwhile we are 20 degrees below "normal " temperatures here today and most of the week. Thats -35F this morning which really takes away my enthusiasm for working on machinery out in the unheated sheds.
Back in high school years ago a teacher had a theory about the constant turmoil in the middle east could be related to their high temperatures being closer to the equator. He may have something there. I would think that if they had to deal with snow, and life threatening wind chill factors they might have less unrest and fighting. I really would like to send some of this weather over there.
On the upside, I've finally broken down and spent the money on 4 new winter tires for my Blazer. All the good things they say about 4 winter tires is true. Handling and traction on ice are way way better.
Plus,installing winter tires at this time of year will probably cause all the snow to disappear next week.
Its a hard winter on deer too.

White tails

Anna and Milovan - St. James Infirmary Blues

Just a version of an old classic that I really liked. Amazing the things you find on youtube.

Groundhog Day

February 2, Groundhog day. Supposedly the day when the groundhog emerges from his hibernation to see if he casts a shadow thus predicting how soon we can expect spring. I've never given it much credibility especially since we don't have groundhogs in Sask. Any ground dwelling creatures that do live here are deep underground (and snow) until spring truly arrives.
Its not just groundhog day, Feb 2 was my great Uncle Alf's birthday. I guess he would have been about 140 years old today but he died in January of 42. I've blogged details about him here before. He homesteaded here in Sask. in April of 1903 and farmed the rest of his life, nearly 40 years. It sounds like a long time but actually I've been farming the same land for as long myself.
Heres a short video I shot this winter driving across Alf's homestead quarter on my way to town on my winter road
Alf never got to town very often in the winter, understandable considering a 12 mile trip with horses and sleigh in these conditions. I have it a little more comfortable with a heated 4 wheel drive vehicle to get me there and back but still only get to town once a week.

This was a birthday card that Alf received from one of his sister's that still lived in England.

A Sunny Day in January

A rare warm day in January, good opportunity to haul a tank of water. We've had so much cloudy, cold weather that when the sun comes out and the temp hits 20 degrees it seems like spring.
I fired up the "Oldsmobile truck" and headed out for the community well . About an eight and a half mile trip on good roads so I recorded some of the sights and sounds along the way. Water Hauling

As I crossed the mighty Jumping Deer creek I thought of how my grandfather had to haul water from just a little ways downstream from where I was crossing, During the winters of the 1930s sometimes the wells at home would run dry and there was no water for the house or cattle. So with a wooden tank on sleighs pulled by a team of horses he would make the approximate 3 mile trip to the creek to dip water out of a hole in the ice to fill the tank. Slow hard work and cold riding. Get home and dump the water into the now dry well at the farm and hope it lasted a few days.
The irony of this situation was that 3 years after my grandfather died, an excellent supply of water was found just a few feet from the house, only 40 feet below the surface. Too late to benefit him but his son and grandsons certainly appreciated it.
Nowadays I only have to haul drinking water as the well water is too high in minerals for human consumption. The cattle have no complaints though.

Remembering 2002

Grain Annex Move
Cold, frosty day here in Sask. Time to do a little more video transfer to digital before I head out to feed cattle. This video I taped February 28 of 2002 showing the biggest building move that I have ever seen. This grain annex was built about 1975 and saw a lot of grain put through before the elevator closed down. All the other grain elevators in town were demolished but this one was sold to a buyer about 3 towns west so a massive move was in order. It took a lot of skilful planning and time to get this huge building up on wheels and then moving without tipping over. Obviously winter time with it's frozen solid ground was an advantage for solid footing. They used an elaborate setup of hydraulic controlled wheels to maintain the level of the building while moving over uneven ground and it worked well.
At -3 degrees F it was cold for man and machinery as you can see by the heavy exhaust clouds from all the vehicles. I did most of my taping from inside my vehicle with the heater running. They parked the annex for the night as it was too late to head out on the highway at 5:00 pm this time of year.

Stay tuned. Day two of the move is in the works.

Nevard Blog: New Years Day Wedding

Nevard Blog: New Years Day Wedding
Yet another test linking to my other blog.

Gorges' Grouse: W.C. Stiles Ice Pond

Gorges' Grouse: W.C. Stiles Ice Pond
I'm experimenting with linking posts. It seems to have worked for me.