The Greenwater Report for October 21, 2003
yard work	October 19th, 2003: Another fine fall day! Lots of sun, light wind, and kindly temperatures. The temperature dipped down to -7° several days last week, but the last half of the week was very pleasant. Perfect weather for getting the last of the yard work done and the motor home winterised.
frost	Doreen's violas still look bright and chipper - it must take a lot to kill them. Her petunias were doing well too shining brightly among all the fallen leaves, but the frost finally got them.
sawmill	Lorna Soll called me on Thursday; Raymond Olson had his sawmill in their yard, and would I like to see it in operation? Of course I would, and out I went. Elton had cut a bunch of logs, and they were sawing them into beams and planks. Raymond had built the sawmill himself. It uses a bandsaw rather than a circular saw. He has an 11 HP gasoline engine powering the saw, and has adapted an electric wheelchair motor to advance the saw through the log. It's a good-looking piece of equipment and seems to do a good job.
manipulated	Do you ever get the idea that we are being manipulated? The recent flap over a stupid cartoon someone on the NDP side of the fence drew, and that the Saskatchewan Party found, and sat on for a couple of weeks before they decided they were grievously insulted, is what I refer to. Before the Press got hold of it, it was a minor matter that could have been resolved with a simple apology and a slap on the wrist. Since the Press got hold of it, I have seen it dozens of times, blown up to full-screen size, and accompanied by the Media's interpretation. Sort of a repeat of the "President Shrub" issue. Ignorant people will always be with us, but it takes the Press to turn an ignorant act into a cause celebre.
ruralisation	"Meat processing plant slated for Qu‚Appelle". What a wonderful bit of news! I get sick of hearing of new businesses setting up in our major cities, while the smaller towns languish. The cities are already too big, but their leaders are empire builders and are driven to making their puddles bigger. Small towns get smaller and smaller, and some fade altogether. To see what an industry can do to a small town, visit Annaheim, Wynyard, Glaslyn, and St. Brieux. Lovely, clean, prosperous-looking communities with stable services. The argument that industry has to locate in cities to have access to labour just doesn't hold water. That plant at Wynyard employs about 500 people now. When we ran it, we had less problems getting labour than the city plants.
"hello central"	We get regular e-mails from our grandson, Scott, over in China. It is marvelous that people can be half a world apart and still communicate easily. I read a book about a Texan who infiltrated Iran through Turkey at the time of the Iranian revolution (when was that - in the eighties?) and helped get the American embassy staff over to the Canadian embassy. The most surprising part of it was that he was in daily telephone contact with Texas! I remember when a call to Regina meant calling the operator, telling him or her what call I wanted to make, then waiting for him, or her to call back and connect me up. Those satellites!
China	We haven't heard from Scott for a couple of days now. That means he is either busy with his new friends, or the Internet is off the air again. Last e-mail we got from him, he had to go to a friend's place to send it. There seems to be a lot of power interruptions and breakdowns, about what we have come to expect in a communist country. He has obviously been enjoying himself and is looking forward to Monday, when he starts teaching. His is a new position, and his employers seem to be going all out to keep him happy. His suite is several times the size of those of his friends, and everything in it is brand new, including a computer. It is in an old, tough-looking building with bars on all the windows, and is guarded by a man who Scott says must be all of five feet tall!
	Doreen & Jerry Crawford Box 100, Chelan, SK S0E 0N0 (306) 278-3423 http://www.greenwaterreport.com/
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