Birthday greetings go out to Vernon Cuter of Battleford on the occasion of his 92nd birthday, July 1. The family all got together for a barbecue supper for Vernon at the farm in Baljennie. Also birthday greetings to Vernon's sister, Eva Rayner of Battleford, as she celebrated her special day a few days later in July.
Get well wishes go out to Phil Bater on a recent few days at the Battlefords Union Hospital in North Battleford and another few days at the Royal University Hospital on Saskatoon. Phil is home now and doing well. He just celebrated his 83rd birthday in the month of July.
A little update on the fellow walking the TransCanada Trail through the local area.
It was really unfortunate he ran into a few nasty problems at the Onion Lake First Nations at the chuckwagon races June 30. While he was watching the races and for no reason whatsoever, all his backpack and whatever was taken was ransacked, trashed and set fire to. All he had left was the clothes on his back.
He lost so many important things as he had made a lot of documents and notes along the trail in hopes of writing a journal once he was done the walk. He also lost all the photos on his camera.
Dana Miese, a 37-year-old logger from Prince George, B.C., was on a venture across Canada. A big thank you goes out to a sporting goods store in Saskatoon that came to his rescue and replaced many of the items he had lost. A tornado storm chaser and tracker, Greg Johnson, volunteered to deliver the items they had gathered up to Dana at Onion Lake and the trail hiker was on his way again in hopes to reach Vancouver by December, then back home to Prince George.
We wish him well on the rest of his hike on the TransCanada Trail.
Pest and weed control officer John Hammond for the RM of Glenside has been making his rounds, checking for bad weed patches that are hard to keep under control. In our area there is a large patch of leafy spurge starting up. They are trying out a new control system of beetles on the weed patch. Other areas of bad weeds are being sprayed out.
The RM grader has been through the area to grade roads. A few roads have really needed the operation as they are in pretty rough shape and have been that way all spring and summer. The outfit has been busy fixing and repairing the many soft boil spots in the other RM divisions.
Most of the field spraying has been done. Each year there seems to be more different things to spray for. There's been a lot of fungus, plus other new ones popping up to be controlled. It's a never-ending job for the farmers. Haying has started up. There'd been a heavy growth and there is a good cut of hay this season in all the hay fields.
Is this a year for pests as in our yard? There seems to be millions of tiny grasshoppers hatching out in the grass. Maybe the wetness will help to kill them off, or slow them down a little.
There has been a fair amount of rainfall in the local area. It has left sloughs and potholes filled and good breeding places for the pesky mosquitos to hide. Believe me, there seems to be millions of them in all sizes.
It is so sad to hear Eagle Hills' little community centre has been sold to a local district farmer and the doors closed to the community. From here it's hard to say what will happen to the building and the grounds.
It is so tough for these little community centres to keep going. There is so much upkeep and no one is interested anymore. The members left are getting older and not able to do the maintenance work needed and the younger people are just not interested in helping out. So what do you do but say it's time to shut things down?
After the community centre was closed and sold, the members that were left got together and held a farewell goodbye. They put on a full day of activities followed by a barbecue and potluck supper. It was well attended. Anyone in clubs that had any connection to Eagle Hills Community Centre over the years was invited to attend and there was a real good turnout.
Eagle Hills started off as a school for many years before it was taken over by the community people. An addition was also built on and was kept going for many good years. We are all sorry and so sad to see the doors close forever.
Sympathy to the Hill (Russel) families of North Battleford on the recent passing of Hazel Hill of Battleford's Regional Care. Gordon Hill, Hazel's husband, passed away a few years ago. The family were residents of the local area for many years. Burial was at the memorial gardens.
Kim and Melody Lamont of Kindersley have been spending a few recent weekends in the local area, also visiting with Stanley and Dorothy Mills.
On one weekend Kim and Melody's neighbours, Dennis and Marge Amyotte, came to visit and to look up some old records of our St. Bridget's Anglican Church and cemetery. There has been, over the years, a few of the former George Pritchard clan buried in the local cemetery. At last, after a lot of searching, we have been able to place a few of these gravesites in the local cemetery. Markers are going to be placed at these found gravesites.
There are still a few more on the list and we are trying to locate relatives. Dennis Amoyotte did live here many years ago. At the time he was just a young fellow. George Pritchard's home site was the central point of many native people in the area. Many of the children attended Baljennie School.
