Good morning to you, good morning to you and it is a good morning. One thing going for it, it’s Saturday. I have just written a little song and I called it Good morning. It’s really quite popular.
Good friends
What a pleasant surprise last week to have a special friend the fire chief of our Burns Lake fire dept., Fire Chief Jim McBride, head of a great group of guys who are not only good but dedicated to their job and that means a lot. You can tell Jim is very proud of them. I have known Jim for a lot of years and has always been on my list of good friends.
Although our visit was much too short it was very pleasant. Thanks for stopping by Jim. Next time bring your lovely wife along as I would enjoy a visit with her.
Another surprise today when who should walk in but my long time friend Everead Hickey. What a visit we had as he was born and spent his growing up years at Francois Lake. He and his family now live in Prince George.
The family made their greater part of life on the John Martin Ranch on Colleymount. Everead, their dad, passed away at a very early age leaving the young family alone on the ranch. Margaret, their mother, still lives in Vancouver. Everead Sr. drove the mail stage from Francois Lake to Noralee on Saturday only.
There were the three offices at that time; Colleymount, Clemretta at that time was also called Trout Creek. If you complain about the Colleymount Road you should have had the pleasure 40 years ago. It was worse than any cow trail.
One thing I well remember was early one morning I was making the run and at windy point on the Colleymount Road was a deer being pulled down by a pack of wolves, I had to stop for them.
On my way back within about three hours the wolves had cleaned up everything even the bones.
Christmas??
Last week as I came into my room I opened the outside entrance and low and behold there was the merry old Christmas song Jingle Bells to cheer me up. All it did was make me wonder if I had been asleep for four months. This happened twice. What made this happen some guy must have bought a player and that’s all the tapes they had. It made my day.
New dock
Here is some real good news for the local boaters and of course all visitors. We once more have a lovely small boat dock right where the old one used to be. It’s a nice size with a ramp going up the bank.
It’s very well put together and looks very strong. It’s also very handy for local planes to load and unload. There has already been a local plane using it. We have been very badly in need of a local dock for many years. Who ever is responsible hats off to you.
Homestead
About once a week I get a chance to visit our old home. Jo and I had lived there for over 60 years. Raised a wonderful family, enjoyed our grandchildren, made so many wonderful friends. As I go through the old home I keep thinking of those wonderful years. Even if I could I would never change my life. Jo had a motto and she always would say never go to bed angry with one another, always make up and we always did.
Only once I was unkind so I went to bed on the chesterfield, Jo went into the bedroom. I could not sleep, I was so ashamed and I went to her and she had been crying. All was forgiven and that never ever happened again.
Never go to bed angry, always make up and it works. There are so many treasures there; old picture albums over 100 years, a big box full of music and piles of songs I used to sing. Some I had written, old letters that are important to me. The old home was built in 1918 and is still warm and comfortable. I am told by oldtimers, now long gone, the house was moved by horses to its present location in about 1925 as its first location was by the old Jeffrey garden fence. In its 95 years at the present time, it holds lots and lots of history. It has also been the nucleus of our wonderful family who remain close for many lifetimes and I know they will.
Deserted village
I’m going back into the 50s. A retired trapper from Ootsa Lake called Fred Knowles moved into a cabin next to us. He had come into the Lakes in 1911. He had been a trapper partner to Ed VanTine.
They trapped in the White Sails. In the summers he used to travel the west coast fishing. This one trip he got caught in a bad storm so he pulled into a bay for shelter. It was here he found an old deserted village. He found a dry cabin so he spent the night there.
In the morning when it was daylight he found the cabin was full of skeletons, many were children and lots of adults. It gave him the shakes to think he had slept among them.
Fred toured this deserted First Nation village. The cabins were a shambles and the only good one was the one he had slept in. The furniture had been left and was wrecked too. He found out later on this village had been hit with Small Pox and it had destroyed the villages.
Fred talked to some other First Nations but it was too far back for them to remember. It seems that Small Pox destroyed many of the villages as it was disaster they had no control over. Fred never could find the name of this village. Fred Knowles spent a lot of time at our home. He loved to garden and so did my wife so they made a great pair. Fred was full of wonderful sties and as time goes on I will try to remember them and pass them on.
A little saying I got on my coffee cup maybe just for me. “Clothes may make the man but it’s the hat that makes the cowboy.”
School has started so watch for children on bikes and walking the roads they will be taking chances so it’s up to you to watch and slow down.
Remember God loves you and so do I and big time. If you can make somebody smile you have made your day.
