Sad news

A number of the old-timers from the Southside will be interested to hear of the passing of another pioneer, Dorothy Nysven, wife of Knute Nysven. They spent many years in the Tatalrose district farming and logging.

Her last years were spent with her family in Quesnel where she passed away. Dorothy leaves a big loving family and also many friends. She and Knute were very well known as a pioneer family on the Southside.

It seems of late we are losing so many of our old-timers, but I guess age waits for no one. But it鈥檚 sad in away as they take so much history of the Lakes District with them. Dorothy was 89 years old so she had led a good life.

Weather

Talk about an unseasonable winter, well we are having one. Heavy rain and gale force winds. Not at all like our regular winters. More ice and more danger in our yards and on our roads. It must be very difficult for Lakes District Maintenance to keep the roads safe.

This makes it more reason to update our hospital.

How can we expect any ambulance driver to safely take a patient to Prince George. Although our hospital does an excellent job we need to have our hospital updated to handle all emergency cases.

Health is too important. Maybe I鈥檓 barking up the wrong tree but I鈥檓 sure many folks will agree with me. It鈥檚 not too many years ago our hospital was well known for its very efficient service plus very capable doctors so all emergency cases could be handled right here and not have to be transferred out. We should not have to depend on Smithers, Vanderhoof, and Prince George. It should be right here in 亚洲天堂 Lake.

The good news is and it鈥檚 a headline in our local paper. Two physicians sign on, and the third physician still in the process of immigration. This is really a shot in the arm for us all. What a relief this will be to our medical staff as well. They have been overloaded for so long.

Food bank

One good thing is our food bank donations are up. Not only at Christmas time our food bank is so important but it鈥檚 an all year thing. Our local community supported as well, thanks to our generous community in their giving. There is an old saying, it鈥檚 better to give than receive.

Bad roads

My good friend Ron Meadows has just returned from spending the Christmas holiday visiting his family in Alberta. The Alberta roads were in good shape but as soon as he hit the B.C. border they were terrible. He lost control of his vehicle just east of McBride on the glare ice. A good guy came along and put him back on the road. No damage. Ron has been a long distance truck driver for many years and when he says the roads are bad he means it.

I would like to thank the Cheslatta Carrier Nation Band for bringing me over a lovely big load of split wood. They are very generous. Of late I have not been able to get my own wood. My late wife Jo had the honour of being an elder of the Carrier Nation of which she was very proud of and the members are very good to me of which I appreciate very much.

Francois Lake

Francois Lake is still open and it鈥檚 a guess will it stay open. We have had lots of strong winds so maybe it will not freeze. I will not bet either way. The lake has frozen over in March but the ice was very poor and not safe to travel on. That year a lot of moose were caught with the poor ice and as the lake cleared of ice there were a number of their bodies floating past the landing here.

I hear from my prairie friends and their winter is much the same as ours. We have been getting the rain but they have no rain and very little snow so they are just wondering if they will have a dry year which they expect. For a good crop they must have the snow.

All this ice is not only hard on the traffic and our yards, it鈥檚 hard on the ranchers as the feed yards are so slick as well. One rancher I was talking to has had three cows lose their calves from slipping on the ice.

A guy can look back through the years and remember some of the stupid things that he has done. I am a prime one for that.

This happened many many years ago and as I look back it鈥檚 a wonder I鈥檓 still around. At that time we had an international pickup. As all these older vehicles it was front heavy.

It was Christmas Eve and I was delivering some last minute orders. The entrance to these folks yard was icy and I got stuck. It has a floor shift so I put it in reverse and opened the door to try and push my way out. It was starting to move and I slipped on the ice and went under the truck.

It was so icy I could not crawl out fast enough but low and behold the truck hit a piece of ice and stopped with the front wheel on my jacket. I was a happy camper to get myself out, it was just good luck. One thing I sure learned a good lesson not to do that again. If I had taken more time and put the chains on like I should have done in the first place and saved myself a good scare.

A little story

A policeman was making his rounds and he saw an elderly man on a park bench and he was crying. The officer sat down beside him and asked what was the trouble and can I help. The gentleman said 鈥淚鈥檓 90 years old, I am married to a young lady of 23.鈥� 鈥淪he is a wonderful wife, a good cook, and housekeeper, she is full of fun and a good companion.鈥� The officer said 鈥淵ou are a lucky man, but why the tears.鈥� The old man said 鈥淚 can鈥檛 remember where I live.鈥�

There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be the first group there is less competition.

Take care there is still lots of ice around and there has been a number of falls.

Always remember God loves you and so do I.