School is out for another term. It’s back to classes Sept. 1. A good holiday season to all the students, teachers and the bus drivers.
Many schools held their graduations. Congratulations go out to the Wintersgill twin girls Kassie and Shelbea, Richard and Patty Wintersgill’s girls. Congratulations also go out to Shilynn Greer of Battleford, Calvin and Donna Greer’s youngest daughter and Robert and Irene Greer’s granddaughter.
Happy birthday greetings to Vernon Custer of North Battleford, formerly of Baljennie, on the celebration of his 94th birthday July 1. A happy birthday also goes to his sister Eva Rayner of Battleford on her birthday July 3.
Get well wishes go out to Ted Morgan of Spinney Hill. He has been in a Saskatoon hospital.
Sympathy goes to the Keefer family of Whitehorse, Yukon, formerly of Sonningdale, on the recent passing of Betty Lu Keefer June 13. She was 72 years old. They farmed in the Sonningdale area as well as many other places. Betty Lu ran the little cafe in Sonningdale called Betty Lu’s Place. They moved on and ended up in Whitehorse, Yukon, close to family members.
For days and weeks the area has been on the lookout for some rain. One day began with a thunderstorm watch which did turn into severe, heavy, fast little thunderstorms and very short downpours of rain that did not amount to much at all.
One such storm went through the area north of here. No rain had fallen when a deadly flash of lightning struck a fence between Curtis Parkinson’s land and Glenn Peter’s pasture. The pasture was so dry it started a fire. A passerby on the grid road noticed the flames and smoke and quickly got help to put the fire out. It did burn about 10 acres of dry pasture grass.
Mother Nature can be deadly in many ways, so just be careful with any open fires when it’s so dry. We did get a little rain, but still need a lot more. So far the crops are just holding their own.
Everyone is wondering what they can do to prevent so much vandalism to stolen trucks, cars and quads. They are driven to the local reserves to be stripped down and then they are set on fire and burned. These vandals have been in almost all of the farmyards in the local areas. More thefts of quads, trucks and cars – all wrecked – have been happening daily. A few vehicles have been found OK.
The RCMP has been hot on their trail, and some of legal age have been caught with many others underage who cannot be charged. This has got to stop before it gets much more out of hand. They are even breaking into locked Quonsets. Where will they strike again?
Just keep your vehicles locked, no keys left behind and other valuables left out of sight. Even the farm machinery left in fields and yards have to be watched. Anyone seeing anything not the way it should be, like a strange vehicle hanging around, should report it as soon as possible.
It’s the season for some to take holiday trips, which we do not do anymore, but we do take day trips to different places in Saskatchewan. Our latest trip was out to Kindersley to see the building of the new Viterra cement elevator going up. They have a lot done, but there is still lots more to do.
Then we like to look at the crops to compare them to the ones in our area. It’s much the same in Kindersley, just so dry and not much rain. There is the odd field looking in good shape, but they will be short while most fields are patchy. In the dry spots the seeds just have not germinated yet. Some canola fields are beginning to show a rich yellow colour.
There were rain showers around the day we were out, but only a few light ones that did not amount to much. We all need a good soaking rainfall.
