Sympathy goes out to Harley Custer of Battleford and the families on the recent passing of his wife Nona Irene Custer, formerly Besse of the Wilson Lake area. Nona and Harley spent a few years in Biggar and moved to Kamloops, B.C. and later back to retire in Battleford. Due to the winter stormy blast, the funeral was delayed a week and took place in Biggar and the burial at the Biggar Cemetery.
I think we are all glad to see March in the books for the year 2013. It started and ended much the same way, it was quite chilly for a few days mid-month, but the snow fall and high winds were another story. High winds whipped the accumulated snow into hard drifts and where they were not appreciated on the main roads and highways. It has been a real struggle to get them cleared. The school buses in our area did not run for three days plus a weekend. It has taken snow plows, snow blowers, frontend tractor blades and the road grader, plus road building Caterpillars to move the snow. Some roads are very narrow and allow one way traffic only. At last its starting to be a little sunny with milder days to at least make a slow start at settling the deep snow. There will be copious water once it does really start to melt as there is much water in the heavy snow. Many sloughs, ditches and dugouts were nearly full of water last fall, so they may be overflowing this spring. Hopefully some of the water will soak into the soil.
It was sad to hear the news of the recent passing of William (Bill) Schmidt of Battlefords Regional Care Centre, formerly of Ruddell. Sympathy to the families. Bill's wife Della (Dale) passed away a few years ago. They farmed at Ruddell and raised their family, and some are still living there. Over the years, Bill was the mainsteam leader of the steam engine operators at the Western Development Museum in North Battleford. Every year he was there to help and to run one of the old steamer tractors in the parade and in the field plowing and threshing sheaves. The funeral took place at the Maymont Memorial Hall on April 6, with burial at the Woodlawn Memorial Gardens just out of North Battleford. Staff and volunteers formed an honour guard of the Western Development Museum in North Battleford to honour and remember Bill and all that he had done over the many years.
At last there are signs of spring all around us. The warm sunshine has brought out the silver pussy willows. The gophers are starting to poke up through the deep snow banks. Raccoons and skunks are starting to come out of their winter dens. Canada geese, crows and robins have all been seen. It will be tough for them all for a while to find food as there are not too many bare spots for them to feed. It is slowly melting each day. The white-tailed deer have had a long, hard winter season. As the snow melts, they have been coming out into the open in herds to find something to eat. There seems to be deer all over the area. Barnyards are busy with new baby calves. They all need some warmer sunny days.
