Greenwater Report for October 9, 2000

The Greenwater Report for October 9, 2000

Greenwater Provincial Park - October 9, 2000 - By: Gerald Crawford

froze hard
October 8th, 2000: Two months from now this week’s weather will seem positively balmy, but it was just cold! during the week. It started smartening up Friday afternoon, Saturday afternoon was quite pleasant, and this afternoon, despite a high wind, was warm. It still froze hard each night except last night; most sloughs are iced over, and even part of the Marina. With the high winds early in the week and today, our leaves are almost gone.

sliver of pie
We just finished our Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, ham, candied yam, mashed potatoes and gravy, and to top it all off, pumpkin pie. Wow! While our supper settled, we watched Betty Boop cartoons. Now it’s time for me to get to work, so I’m having another sliver of pie to build up my strength.

family get-togethers
Laurie & Bryan were here from Mozart, their daughter Jill and her boyfriend, Kevin; Mike and Marg and boys from Tisdale, and Jenny. Jill and Kevin had to leave before dinner leaving nine of us to eat all that food. It's too bad we couldn't have the whole gang here, but we still had a lot of fun. How I love these family get-togethers!

would-be
Hitler
Serbia: Another would-be Hitler has been put on the shelf for awhile. Milosevic did say he would return to politics sometime in the future, but I guess that depends on whether he can stay out of jail, or stay alive. I haven’t got a lot of faith in democracy in that part of the world; it remains to be seen whether his successor will be any better. Centuries of in-born hate between races is not going to disappear overnight. I sometimes wonder if the UN really achieves anything when it gets involved as it did in Kosovo. If it were possible to cut off the supply of arms totally, to both sides, maybe it would be best to just let them hammer out their own problems. On the other hand, how can we sit back and watch the innocents get slaughtered? They are always the ones who suffer. I suspect that 90% of the combatants are adventurers and fortune-seekers, 5% are conscripts, 5% or less are honest crusaders, and there's one wannabe dictator manipulating the rest.

UN
Someone once said that people tend to get the kind of government they deserve if it hadn't been for the sanctions imposed on Yugoslavia by the UN would the people have bothered to overthrow Milosevic? They put up with him for over ten years, and allowed him to destroy the country's economy in one war after another. If he had won any of those wars, the people would be behind him just as they were behind Hitler.

Larry
Buchinski
Last night was the Eleventh Annual Greenwater Ducks Unlimited banquet and auction. It was a sell-out, as usual, and a very cheerful crowd. Larry Buchinski of Champion Auctions at Hudson Bay and Endeavor was the auctioneer. He is fun to watch because he gets directly involved with bidders, making them feel important even if they aren’t the successful bidders. I guess that‚s one of the marks of a good auctioneer.

smoke-free
The whole event was smoke-free this year; anyone wanting a smoke had to go out on the deck. I didn’t hear a single complaint about it, though I did hear the odd favorable comment. It sure made a difference in how my clothes smelled, and how my eyes felt the next day!

beach change-house
Walls are beginning to appear at the beach change-house, though they aren’t very far above the ground yet. The bike trail has been paved and the equipment has left; if I had just a smidgen more energy, I would test it on my bike and see where it comes out in Hilltop.

Uskatik Subdivision
Last week, we were played out after the hectic previous week, moving Lucille to Saskatoon. We decided we would do what normal people do, and move to our cottage at the lake for awhile. We stayed there from Monday to this morning, and enjoyed it thoroughly. If we found we had forgotten to pack anything, we just buzzed out to the house and got it. It is only a bit over two miles, in fact we are likely no farther from the beach than the cottages at the far end of Uskatik Subdivision. We have decided that, next year, we will go north to our cottage for the summer, and back south to the house for the winter. We will be snowbirds, but it won’t cost us as much to travel. Good plan? Now, if we could only find someone to alternate with us!

Gerald B. Crawford
Box 100, Chelan, SK S0E 0N0 (306) 278-3423
Check out my Webpage: http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/crawg

The Greenwater Report for October 9, 2000

Greenwater Provincial Park - October 9, 2000 - By: Gerald Crawford

froze hard	October 8th, 2000: Two months from now this week’s weather will seem positively balmy, but it was just cold! during the week. It started smartening up Friday afternoon, Saturday afternoon was quite pleasant, and this afternoon, despite a high wind, was warm. It still froze hard each night except last night; most sloughs are iced over, and even part of the Marina. With the high winds early in the week and today, our leaves are almost gone.

sliver of pie	We just finished our Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, ham, candied yam, mashed potatoes and gravy, and to top it all off, pumpkin pie. Wow! While our supper settled, we watched Betty Boop cartoons. Now it’s time for me to get to work, so I’m having another sliver of pie to build up my strength.

family get-togethers	Laurie & Bryan were here from Mozart, their daughter Jill and her boyfriend, Kevin; Mike and Marg and boys from Tisdale, and Jenny. Jill and Kevin had to leave before dinner leaving nine of us to eat all that food. It's too bad we couldn't have the whole gang here, but we still had a lot of fun. How I love these family get-togethers!

would-be Hitler	Serbia: Another would-be Hitler has been put on the shelf for awhile. Milosevic did say he would return to politics sometime in the future, but I guess that depends on whether he can stay out of jail, or stay alive. I haven’t got a lot of faith in democracy in that part of the world; it remains to be seen whether his successor will be any better. Centuries of in-born hate between races is not going to disappear overnight. I sometimes wonder if the UN really achieves anything when it gets involved as it did in Kosovo. If it were possible to cut off the supply of arms totally, to both sides, maybe it would be best to just let them hammer out their own problems. On the other hand, how can we sit back and watch the innocents get slaughtered? They are always the ones who suffer. I suspect that 90% of the combatants are adventurers and fortune-seekers, 5% are conscripts, 5% or less are honest crusaders, and there's one wannabe dictator manipulating the rest.

UN	Someone once said that people tend to get the kind of government they deserve if it hadn't been for the sanctions imposed on Yugoslavia by the UN would the people have bothered to overthrow Milosevic? They put up with him for over ten years, and allowed him to destroy the country's economy in one war after another. If he had won any of those wars, the people would be behind him just as they were behind Hitler.

Larry Buchinski	Last night was the Eleventh Annual Greenwater Ducks Unlimited banquet and auction. It was a sell-out, as usual, and a very cheerful crowd. Larry Buchinski of Champion Auctions at Hudson Bay and Endeavor was the auctioneer. He is fun to watch because he gets directly involved with bidders, making them feel important even if they aren’t the successful bidders. I guess that‚s one of the marks of a good auctioneer.

smoke-free	The whole event was smoke-free this year; anyone wanting a smoke had to go out on the deck. I didn’t hear a single complaint about it, though I did hear the odd favorable comment. It sure made a difference in how my clothes smelled, and how my eyes felt the next day!

beach change-house	Walls are beginning to appear at the beach change-house, though they aren’t very far above the ground yet. The bike trail has been paved and the equipment has left; if I had just a smidgen more energy, I would test it on my bike and see where it comes out in Hilltop.

Uskatik Subdivision	Last week, we were played out after the hectic previous week, moving Lucille to Saskatoon. We decided we would do what normal people do, and move to our cottage at the lake for awhile. We stayed there from Monday to this morning, and enjoyed it thoroughly. If we found we had forgotten to pack anything, we just buzzed out to the house and got it. It is only a bit over two miles, in fact we are likely no farther from the beach than the cottages at the far end of Uskatik Subdivision. We have decided that, next year, we will go north to our cottage for the summer, and back south to the house for the winter. We will be snowbirds, but it won’t cost us as much to travel. Good plan? Now, if we could only find someone to alternate with us!

	Gerald B. Crawford Box 100, Chelan, SK S0E 0N0 (306) 278-3423 Check out my Webpage: http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/crawg