Robin’s watch the river’s rise and fall
Tisdale - Friday, May 3, 2013
by:Timothy W. Shire
The first picture in the set of pictures that go with this page was taken on Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 10:30 AM as the little Doghide river overflowed its banks on the south side of highway #3 and then spilled out over Riverside Golf course. Though most people were expecting the very worst from the river this year it was not to be. On Saturday night after the warmth of the afternoon the fields around Tisdale emptied their water in some cases over various roads doing a little damage but by Sunday morning the river was only slightly on the rise and peaked on Monday.
The reason of course for the moderation was the very low temperatures each night causing a very slow release of all that water allowing the river to flow freely and it remained well within its banks north of the golf course.
As we were checking out the flow of water under the old highway bridge on the north side of town we spotted the robins. Now robins rarely show up in Tisdale much earlier than this so despite this being a somewhat delayed spring the robins are right on time. This is a significant arrival because Robins need insects to live and they are not going to go where they will be hungry. Actually, robins are not particularly picky eaters they truly enjoy eating garden strawberries when ever they are available and this year they may have to wait a while for the berries to develop.
Friends in Watson Lake Yukon have about four feet of snow in their gardens and many do not expect there to be time in the summer of 2013 plant and grow a garden.
Speaking of snow, in the set of pictures are some taken Monday with snow falling and a light coating of the stuff on the ground. Notice one picture of a pair of geese who decided to stand on a float of ice rather then float in the icy water with the snow falling that morning.
The last picture in the set shows the road almost now free of water on Thursday morning beside the gold course.