FTLComm - Saskatchewan - August 22, 2000

A broken tooth derailed the trip to Saskatoon as I had to detour to Prince Albert. Two damaged molars one on each side made this day look pretty gloomy. As I drove from Tisdale to Melfort and on to Prince Albert it was one swather after another chomping their way through fields of Canola and some wheat. The harvest of 2000 is here. The discomfort of the morning was replaced with elation in the afternoon as Harold patched up both problems and I was on my way to Saskatoon.

Prince Albert to Saskatoon is among the best strips of road in Saskatchewan as you drive through modest forest lands and rolling farmland. The only negative thing about that drive is that it always seems like everyone else in this part of Canada is on that road as well.

North of Saskatoon the afternoon cloud began to stiffen up the sky a bit as evaporation and cooler air aloft gave this sky a rather intense look and this picture looking East somewhere South of Rosthern expresses the atmosphere of the afternoon.

With work over in Saskatoon it was into the early morning when I set off for Tisdale and West of Melfort bedded down for a while. At 4:45 I was awake and heading East once more as the sky began to brighten. This farm with its yard light peeking through its bins and the trees backlit against the North Eastern sky seem to tell the early morning story.

Pity Gerald Crawford was not along because the early morning roadside seemed to be home to coyote after coyote sneaking between the tall grass picking up breakfast and completely ruining the day for many mice and voles. West of Melfort the huge Pool concrete elevator with its lights stands out as a triumphant sentinel defying common sense and economic realities. This picture shows the elevator with half a mile of rail cars parked for loading.

The picture below has us a little closer as you can make out the string of hopper cars and the massive complex in its wide mode.

This is one of the bigger versions of the Wheat Pool's many money losing concrete operations. The company is now so close to bankruptcy that it is only a matter of time until a large American conglomerate picks up the vast and debt ridden holdings for a few cents on the dollar. The colossal mismanagement and complete miss-reading of reality will pass unnoticed as a business misfortune when in fact it was a deliberate

example of accountants applying the maxim of "big is better" and common sense and reasonable profits are not enough when massive debt and customer alienation can be had so easily.

But we live in a new age, the end of the twentieth century as we pass through the harvest of the year 2000. A new age is beginning one that we all must look forward and no longer dwell on what was or could have been but rather on the opportunities and excitement of year after year beginning with the number two. As a teacher and principal my mental clock is set for the beginning of the school year which begins with the harvest of the past year. The twentieth century passes away as the school year of 2000 - 2001 gets underway this week throughout the province. This is a new age.