Greenwater Report for September 3, 2001

The Greenwater Report for September 3, 2001

Greenwater Provincial Park - Monday, September 3, 2001 - by: Gerald Crawford

northwest
wind
September 2nd, 2001: The pleasant weather continues; today is nice and warm and sunny, but there is a terrible northwest wind. I was afraid the boat might pull our dock over, so I drove the boat to the marina. Even in the sheltered marina the wind was strong enough that the boat was hard to maneuver. I had seen one other boat out earlier, but it called it quits, too. It is too bad for those who enjoy the beach, but the Cove, Park Store and Beach Café are doing a booming business.

fall
mode
The Labor Day weekend marks the end of the tourist season at the Park; by Tuesday the kids will be back in school (some started last week), and parents will have lots to think about besides going to the lake. July and August have gone by like a flash, and now we have to get into our fall mode, whatever that may be.

yellow
leaves
It is starting to look like the end of summer, too. From the lake, you can see lots of trees changing color, mainly the underbrush, with lots of reds, but some of the poplars, too. The path that goes past our place to the beach is just about carpeted with yellow leaves.

not
mowing
There has been some major resurfacing going on to Highway #23, from Porcupine Plain to Chelan (and maybe farther). They aren't doing it 100%, just the worst areas. Not bad. Something they are not doing is mowing the shoulders on #23. When you come to the intersection at Chelan, you have to creep out onto the road very carefully, because you can't see traffic coming from the west unless you or the traffic are pretty high up. Highway No. 3 has some stretches where the roadside grass is quite high, too. Coming along it by night, one can't see animals until they are right on the road.

sundown
Monday, we had no wind at all, except for a brief period in the afternoon. I went out in the boat after sundown and just drifted, listening to some taped music. The gold of the sky was reflected on the water, and it was totally still. Heavenly!

osprey
Last week, I said the osprey have left their nests. I lied. Yesterday, we saw osprey in both nests. We couldn't tell if they were adults or young, though. We also saw two eagles in the northeast corner of the lake. Again, one had the white head and white tail, the other all dark. Shuyas were out with us, and everyone got a kick out of watching the birds with the binoculars. Brian is an avid bird-watcher, and particularly enjoyed all the bird life. We also saw loons, red-necked grebes, and coots, besides some shore birds we couldn't name.

cranberries
The berry season is about over, for us, at least. Yesterday, I picked about eight gallons of crabapples in a half hour off our one tree, and we will use them for apple juice. There are still lots of cranberries getting nice and ripe, but we already have lots. We did our berry harvesting a bit too early this year. In each case, picking would have been easier if we had waited another week.

Wadena
News
We were surprised to get such a good fruit harvest in such a dry year, but when we think back, other good berry years were also very dry. The Wadena News says its readers report outstanding crops of apples and crabapples, and also of garden produce such as beans, tomatoes and cucumbers. The Looking Back section for 1961 says just about the same thing. In 1980, a dry year, we picked all the saskatoons we could use, and likely other berries if our memory was better. Does anyone recall the '30s, when there was year after year of drought? Was the berry crop good every year?

harvest
finished
It sounds as if my harvesting career is finished, for this year at least. The good weather and meager crop let them get pretty well everything done last week. Last year I put in six days, and this year only two.

waxwings
We went to Hudson Bay last Thursday to see Mike & Marg's new place. They bought a house on acreage right on the edge of town, and within easy walking distance of Mike's job at the plywood mill. They inherited a dog with the place, and Danny has claimed it. Aaron had his first football practice that day, and was already limping. I hope they like chokecherries, because their lot is defined on two sides by chokecherry bushes, bent almost to the ground with unpicked berries. They also have a couple of promising pin cherry bushes, though the waxwings got this year's crop.

Doreen & 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 September 3, 2001
Greenwater Provincial Park - Monday, September 3, 2001 - by: Gerald Crawford

northwest wind	September 2nd, 2001: The pleasant weather continues; today is nice and warm and sunny, but there is a terrible northwest wind. I was afraid the boat might pull our dock over, so I drove the boat to the marina. Even in the sheltered marina the wind was strong enough that the boat was hard to maneuver. I had seen one other boat out earlier, but it called it quits, too. It is too bad for those who enjoy the beach, but the Cove, Park Store and Beach Café are doing a booming business.

fall mode	The Labor Day weekend marks the end of the tourist season at the Park; by Tuesday the kids will be back in school (some started last week), and parents will have lots to think about besides going to the lake. July and August have gone by like a flash, and now we have to get into our fall mode, whatever that may be.

yellow leaves	It is starting to look like the end of summer, too. From the lake, you can see lots of trees changing color, mainly the underbrush, with lots of reds, but some of the poplars, too. The path that goes past our place to the beach is just about carpeted with yellow leaves.

not mowing	There has been some major resurfacing going on to Highway #23, from Porcupine Plain to Chelan (and maybe farther). They aren't doing it 100%, just the worst areas. Not bad. Something they are not doing is mowing the shoulders on #23. When you come to the intersection at Chelan, you have to creep out onto the road very carefully, because you can't see traffic coming from the west unless you or the traffic are pretty high up. Highway No. 3 has some stretches where the roadside grass is quite high, too. Coming along it by night, one can't see animals until they are right on the road.

sundown	Monday, we had no wind at all, except for a brief period in the afternoon. I went out in the boat after sundown and just drifted, listening to some taped music. The gold of the sky was reflected on the water, and it was totally still. Heavenly!

osprey	Last week, I said the osprey have left their nests. I lied. Yesterday, we saw osprey in both nests. We couldn't tell if they were adults or young, though. We also saw two eagles in the northeast corner of the lake. Again, one had the white head and white tail, the other all dark. Shuyas were out with us, and everyone got a kick out of watching the birds with the binoculars. Brian is an avid bird-watcher, and particularly enjoyed all the bird life. We also saw loons, red-necked grebes, and coots, besides some shore birds we couldn't name.

cranberries	The berry season is about over, for us, at least. Yesterday, I picked about eight gallons of crabapples in a half hour off our one tree, and we will use them for apple juice. There are still lots of cranberries getting nice and ripe, but we already have lots. We did our berry harvesting a bit too early this year. In each case, picking would have been easier if we had waited another week.

Wadena News	We were surprised to get such a good fruit harvest in such a dry year, but when we think back, other good berry years were also very dry. The Wadena News says its readers report outstanding crops of apples and crabapples, and also of garden produce such as beans, tomatoes and cucumbers. The Looking Back section for 1961 says just about the same thing. In 1980, a dry year, we picked all the saskatoons we could use, and likely other berries if our memory was better. Does anyone recall the '30s, when there was year after year of drought? Was the berry crop good every year?

harvest finished	It sounds as if my harvesting career is finished, for this year at least. The good weather and meager crop let them get pretty well everything done last week. Last year I put in six days, and this year only two.

waxwings	We went to Hudson Bay last Thursday to see Mike & Marg's new place. They bought a house on acreage right on the edge of town, and within easy walking distance of Mike's job at the plywood mill. They inherited a dog with the place, and Danny has claimed it. Aaron had his first football practice that day, and was already limping. I hope they like chokecherries, because their lot is defined on two sides by chokecherry bushes, bent almost to the ground with unpicked berries. They also have a couple of promising pin cherry bushes, though the waxwings got this year's crop.

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