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Promises, promises, all I ever hear are promises
Tisdale - Friday, April 26, 2013
by:Timothy W. Shire

The very nature of each of our lives is not really that different from the big picture of what happens in our country side, our province or even the whole country, we face each day with expectations and for the most part there is a very large component of hope in everything of which we share and understand. Spring is indeed about promises and the positive possibilities of the weeks and months to come. For the first time in 2013 we passed through the night with the temperature just above the freezing mark and it looks like we will have two in a row.

Definitely that is positive. The Dog Hide River that passes through the East side of Tisdale is filling with water as you can see from the picture taken Thursday morning at the little bridge on highway #3. Soon the water from the fields and creeks to the South will work their way into the river and it will fill up the whole of the flood valley in which it flows to the Carrot River. The whole process from flood to a stream within in its banks should take about ten days. Meanwhile the sun will warm up the fields which as mentioned here before are not frozen, and by the middle of May, only two weeks late the tractors will take to the fields to begin the process of creating the promises of 2013.

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The unknown part of all this is how much water is going to fill up the low parts of Saskatchewan, North Dakota and Manitoba? In 2011 the Qu’ Appelle Valley seen here on the right as it looked on Tuesday morning, April 23, this valley bottom became a lake that did not go away for the entire summer. Downhill to the east in the Qu’ Appelle chain of lakes the water was higher then had ever been seen. There is more run off to come this spring.

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Each year in Ensign at this time we have pictures of crocus flowers in bloom, well it is going to be a little while before we have any of those this year. But that does not prevent us from feeling a whole lot better about things. This really is spring. From 1980 until 1986 we lived in Watson Lake Yukon. This morning they got a foot of snow and it was still coming down this afternoon. For Watson Lake that is not unusual as the snow is always around right until the first week of June and the first flurries come in September. But in Watson Lake with the sun up for all but a few minutes a day in July and August the lawn has to be mowed every single day.

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The residents of Regina and Saskatoon have not enjoyed the long winter and are eager to shake off the winter blues. if you look really close in the picture on the right you can just make out a fellow on a skateboard heading west into the traffic on Victoria Avenue just a block west of Albert Street. In a few days the promise of warmer days when you can go outside without a coat and scarf will raise the spirits of Saskatchewan’s city folk once more.

Regina has a couple of very busy ice cream stands and though it was just barely above freezing Wednesday afternoon there was a steady knot of ice cream lovers lined up in front of the Milky Way on Victoria Avenue. For $3.75 my medium chocolate seemed a bit light and I can’t tell if they were being cheap or I had just to high of expectations.

Crows, geese and a few hawks have moved north across the prairies but everyone I know is keeping a sharp eye open for some tough robins who know the sooner they get those eggs in the nest the bigger and stronger will be the fledglings when it is time to head off south when fall comes calling in late September. Everything is a promise of some sort.

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