As I was unable to attend the Remembrance Day celebration I was given a report of this very special day from a good friend. By all reports it was done up as usual which was super. So many folks have put their all into it to make so special.
We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful and talented choir to take part. Also we have a bugler as well as a piper to take part. Then lunch at the legion to top it all off. No wonder it was a special day with so many dedicated people to make it a true Remembrance Day not soon forgotten. Forever remembered, hats off to you Burns Lake. Even the weather went along with you.
Water level
With all the rain we have been having the good news Francois Lake has come up two inches. It had been going down steady all summer.
It’s not very often you look out the window and see grass and bare ground in the middle of November.
We do need the snow but it will come if not soon but maybe later. Looking back now many years ago I remember a funny winter like this one. This winter I’m talking about was now years ago. No snow just open like this.
Our family went to the Christmas service at St. Luke’s, Francois Lake, wearing shoes no big coats just a nice day. After service I walked across the field to check on a mare I thought was in the wire. I took off in my low shoes across the hay field she was fine so I walked home, roads like summer time. But mother nature had something in store for us as during the night it started to blow and snow and it dropped to minus 30.
No traffic moving Christmas night or the next day, Boxing Day. Water lines gone, what a day that was. Yes we sure got winter with a bang and big time. I wonder how many old-timers will remember that winter. As soon as the wind died down the lake froze over. Sure hope that this happens this year. We can’t control the weather, maybe a good thing we can’t. All we can do is talk about it.
It’s Friday morning and last night I looked out the window still no snow and a bite in the air. Minus 14, this will freeze the ground not a good thing for next summer’s crops as the spring runoff will run off instead of run in. That was our dad’s prediction, right or wrong. Not good for the hay fields.
Taxi years
This is a little story I had better get off my chest before I forget it as it’s going back almost 70 years. We had been in the store and post office since 1941 so we saw the need of a taxi business as the only other taxi was in Burns Lake. Our friend Bill Hichmore with K.D. Co. said hang tough for a day or so I think I know of a deal, just what you want. Bill had leased a big Chev sedan, six cylinder, like new just had a complete new motor as the other original motor blew up with Bill.
So I phoned the G.M.C. wigs O’Neil, Bill Hichmore and I met in Smithers with them and I walked out of there for $700 with an almost new car just the one for a good safe taxi. After I had put 100,000 miles on it I sold it to Mike and Mabel Tetreau and it did them well. I had many cars after the Chev but it did the best. I notice the prices of cars today, imagine buying an almost new car for $700, shows what’s happened to our dollar today.
When Mike and Mabel were done with my old Chev they sold it to Tommy Jack and he made a Bennet Buggy out of it. I thought what an ending for a grand old car. Any car had to be tough as the roads are not much more than a goat trail but through the years have vastly improved and now as good as any place. In my early years my first cab had to have the frame welded twice due to the road conditions and it was a heavy car with a heavy frame. Prices have changed very much as a fare to Burns Lake was $3 then went up to $5 then up to $10 and now over $20. Compare the price of fuel during my years to the price today. We were selling fuel during those early years three gallons for $1, 50 cents for a quart of oil. At $3 a trip to town I made money. Another trip I well remember I had a phone call to pick up a family from the Short ranch at Colleymount.
They would meet me at the main Colleymount road. The Short road had too much snow. It was early evening so I waited and I wondered how they were coming and it was snowing again.
So I sat and waited then out of the snow was the shadow of a horse and then as I waited there I could see the horse was pulling a car full of people. What a way to travel. The snow was too deep for the car so they used the next best thing, the horse to tow the car as it was out of gas I guessed but the heavy snow on the road was the main reason for the horse. Those old days were hard but also left me with good memories that I can share a second time.
My granddaughter
I was very proud to see the picture of my granddaughter Marlee Wilson and her family in our last issue of Lakes District News. She is standing up for a very good cause to help soon to be mothers. Keep up the good work Marlee, you will have lots of mothers and families behind you.
Dinner at the hall
On Saturday evening last there was the dinner of the year at the Francois Lake Hall. The hall was packed with great generous hungry folks. What a dinner it was, turkey and all the good things that went with it. The tables were all set up so everyone was comfortable.
The kitchen staff were kept busy doing their thing. And what a professional job they all did. This dinner was a fund raiser for the hall and the generosity that was shown came from the heart. There was also a musical group plus a youth choir. These were also very good.
No matter what I say I can’t do the whole evening full justice, really what it deserves. The whole evening deserves my pet word superdeluvial. Great job to the folks that organized it all.
Take care and have a safe week and always remember God loves you and so do I.
