Sorry to miss out my news last week but the holiday weekend kind of mixed me up a bit.

It looks like spring has sprung. Always lots to do with the winter cleanup. It was always a busy time on the prairie getting ready to work the land, fix fences, run in the horses for work from the range.

Tractors and power machinery were starting to take over, horses were on the way out.

Dad was a horseman so we were just about the last horse farmers. I guess I took after my dad as I loved working with the horses. When the sleeping sickness epidemic took its toll on the horse population then the machinery took over with tractors etc. We lost some horses but dad still held onto his teams. We went by one of our neighbour鈥檚 farms and he had six horses dead in his yard and his daughter was driving his old rugby truck cutting his grain crop.

That fall they came up with shots which was a Godsend for the horse farmers and ranchers. This was a long time ago, history that I well remember. I don鈥檛 think this sleeping sickness got into B.C. They were very fortunate as this sickness was a terrible thing for the horse population. We lost a couple of very good and valuable horses. They were so sick Dad shot them.

Good letter

On page 6 in the last paper Bruce Snyder has put in a comment under the heading and I quote 鈥淒oes council give a damn.鈥� He has hit the nail on the head and I think lots of folks will go along with Bruce. These big rigs and there are more every year, are going to have a hard time passing.

I went down the main street yesterday and what a change. One question a few are asking is what happens when the snow plows have to clean the streets? Looks a bit tricky to me but no doubt this has been taken into consideration. Time will tell no doubt. Looks nice now.

Big fish

There is still some great fishing in the Lakes District. Hal Mathews pulled a lovely 25 pound char out of Uncha Lake. It was a prize catch. Char should be biting in Francois Lake about now. This is a good time for char.

There is nothing nicer than a good feed of fresh char in the spring. Through my many years at Francois Lake we always looked forward to a feed of fresh char, fried in lots of butter. My mouth is watering already.

Nice visit

What a pleasant surprise this morning to have my special friends Eve and Helmut Isaak for the nicest visit you could imagine. They ministered at the First Mennonite Church for some time and were loved and respected. Eve was so special to our family as she was with my dear wife and our loved mother during Jo鈥檚 last hours with us. Eve was so kind and understanding and we will never forget her. They have now bought a home in Kelowna.

Gospel music

What a pleasant surprise on Sunday afternoon to have the Grassy Plains Gospel Church choir drop in and sing some of the good old fashioned hymns for us to enjoy.

These old hymns bring back memories from so many years ago. Evesham, Sask. where I grew up was a united church town and every Sunday the church was full.

The church yard would be horses, old model Fords, seemed every family from miles around went to church. We always went, dad in his suit, mother always wore a special hat and Peter and I in our short pants, this was what all boys wore and I hated them. These are great memories. There is a story that was told to me as a kid.

The Evesham church is still standing and still so well kept. It was built in 1928 and our dad, H.H., worked on the building of it. It鈥檚 also well cared for in the interior. It鈥檚 a pleasure for me to go in again after being away for so many years.

Looking back

It was not fun at the time but it turned out ok in the end. When we got into the store business in 1941 there were as many horses as there were cars or just about. So for the horse people we had a hitching rail at the front of the store.

Mother鈥檚 flower garden was in front of the rail. It had room for about five saddle horses and about two teams of horses. Our good neighbour and friend was our best hitching rail customer. He had a lovely big team and at the time was breaking a young horse.

They were tied up in front bordering mother鈥檚 flower garden. John Haragonic was also a customer and was driving his first car, a big sedan. It was big even by the old day standards. John stopped behind Jimmy Jeffrey鈥檚 wagon. As he was leaving he put his car in reverse and hit the corner of the big wagon.

He pushed the team into the hitching rail. John moved ahead then backed up again into Jimmy鈥檚 wagon, this time he pushed the team through the hitching rail and through the fence of mother鈥檚 flower garden. I jumped in beside John and pulled ahead. This time it did a number on the back of the big sedan.

I was glad to see John Haragonic gave up driving soon after and hired Edward Sholander to drive him around. As for the damage to the car body from the wagon, it was a mark that lasted the cars life. I often wonder what happened to it.

I notice in an old picture of a big hotel built on the same location as the present Francois Lake store, there is a notation on the picture the old hotel caught fire one cold winter night in 1922 and burnt to the ground.

It was built by the Stanyer and the McLean families in 1918. Both Bob Jeffery and Corney Stanton were sleeping in the hotel that night. Stanton told me he lost his dad鈥檚 gold watch that night. I was told it was a pipe fire and it was so dry it almost exploded. Also it was 40 below and I was told what a night to be put out in your shirt tail.

Take care and have a nice safe week and always remember God loves you and so do I.