Is it a buyer’s market in Meota right now? The last house put on the market sold in three days, and another one last fall in a matter of days. Yet the five-plex sits empty except for the one end unit that was sold a year or more ago.Â
I saw a fish shack being moved out today, but here they don’t have to be gone until March 31, north of Highway 16. Further south they have to be off by March 15. Each one has to have, in print at least one inch high, the owner’s name, address and phone number.
The village is still looking for an administrator. Contact their office for information.
The COVID-19 vaccine has arrived and is being administered in centers in the Battlefords and in Turtleford. Local folks have been going up to Turtleford and we were impressed with the way the staff handled their job; pleasant and efficient. Everyone is hoping once this process is completed we will be able to get back to more normal living.Â
Irene Halko from south of Chitek Lake made a giant 'quilt of many coloured ties that hung in Bill and Don’s Men’s Wear store for many years. She told me about it when I took her my two quilts for her to quilt, at her home west of Penn, many years ago. I loved the article about it going home with Ben Christensen when he retired after being a part of that store for more than 45 years.Â
I enjoyed the series of Hiebert on Heritage stories about the North Battleford Collegiate Institute, as our mother, Mary (Leslie) Shepherd, attended the first year it opened when she was 15 years old.
The Spiritwood paper this past week featured the story of Barb Jenzen’s successful production of Buffalo Charlie Soap at her home on the farm near Glenbush. She and her husband Don raise bison and she uses that tallow for the base of her soaps. To this she adds various materials that are found on their farm for different scents and colours. She has been improving her products for the 25 years she’s been making it. This is available in the Spiritwood Artisan Boutique, in the building that used to be the drugstore.
The annual meeting of the golf course will be held in the Meota Hotel’s Steak Pit room March 21 at 2:30 p.m.
One family in Texas was lucky enough to turn the recent winter storm into a big family adventure. With seven children ranging from nine months to 15 years, the main challenge was to keep everyone warm and fed. Having survived a devastating house fire two years earlier, when they were awakened at 4 a.m. by fire alarms going off, their first reaction was to get out of the house. The kids were terrified and the parents frazzled. Reporting 10 days later the mother said it took some time to figure out what was happening. The power was off everywhere but through social media they figured out what was going on.Â
The winter storm caught Texas and other states unprepared. Even though this couple had lived in Canada they were still caught by surprise. They had heard earlier that they might get some snow but no-one was prepared for the power outage. The first thing the father did was find some wood to burn in the fireplace. He had to determine if it would work or if it was safe, as they had never used it. He went to Home Depot and bought pine two by fours. These burned quickly and were seriously expensive. They brought all their mattresses down into this room and made use of three -40-rated sleeping bags, left over from Canada days. The parents slept on the couch. They wore extra clothes and even their toques. It was below freezing everywhere in the house but that one room. They even managed to do some cooking in the fireplace.
About the time they were running out of everything, the power came on. They had power for 10 minutes every two hours that started to warm the house and allow for more cooking. They had a filtration system so it was safe to use the water. Both the dishwasher and washing machine had frozen drain lines. There were frozen and broken water lines everywhere.
When they were over the worst of it, residents put ads on Facebook asking people to let them know what they needed help with. Replies asked for groceries, especially milk, eggs and bread, and help cleaning up flood waters. The whole neighbourhood got into action with help going to those in need. After posting on Instagram, three families who lived outside the storm area brought in groceries from their stores to help out.Â
Many are now installing generators and having a couple weeks supply of propane on hand. Texas has their own state power so were not able to hitch into systems elsewhere. Up to 48 per cent of their power was off at times all week.Â
More than 70 people died as a result of this storm.
