Sad news
It’s always very sad to have to report the passing of another one of our Southside pioneer families, Glen Wiley, long time resident of the Uncha district. Glen was born on Mar. 12, 1928 and passed away in Kamloops on Apr. 24 of this year. Glen spent his growing up years on the Southside. I got to know the family very well as the family came from a town in Alberta, very close to where we came from. Glen was a very nice guy and I got to know him very well. Thanks to Marion Mummery (Keefe) who phoned me with this news this morning. Lots of the old-timers from the Southside will remember the Wiley family.
Sunday singing
Thank you very much to the Grassy Plains church singers who came to the Tweedsmuir House on Sunday afternoon. We all joined in the singing of all the old hymns that we all were brought up with. Thanks again.
Humming Birds
Lots of folks report having had humming birds back here. They are looking for food. It seems too early for me to see them looking for flowers as there is not many flowers out yet.
Back to beans
Last week I mentioned a person had seen a Sandhill Crane going over. My dad had a story about cranes. One spring now years ago, dad said they were short of fresh meat so he shot a Sandhill Crane. It was too big for their oven so they cut off its legs and stuffed the bird into the oven and cooked it all day. It had a nice smell as it cooked and they looked forward to a nice meal. They were in for a surprise, it was so tough that no knife could cut it, so they boiled it and it was still too tough, so it turned out a waste of time. The dogs got it and they even had a hard time to eat it. So no more cranes for them, ever. So it was back to beans once more. In those old homesteading days as dad said grub was hard to come by. When the ducks came into the Eyehill Creek they ate ducks. He said they ate so many ducks that when spring was over they thought they would either quack or fly. Which came first. Our dad told a story about his neighbour he went to visit and he had a bag hanging from the ceiling in his shack. Dad asked him what was in the sack and he said “Beans and I hope to heaven I never have to eat beans again.”
30 year old mare
This will interest all the horseman reading my column. My old cowboy friend back on the prairie, Kia Rolin, got a call from his neighbour to come out to his place as he just had his 30 year old mare drop a colt. This is unusual, it should go in the horseman’s book of records. The mare is in terrible shape, she is so thin and so is the colt. They are both standing. I told Kia to tell his friend to get a bag of dairy ration, I have saved two horses lives with this special feed. Two years ago this same mare lost twins. The one thing going for the mare is her teeth are in good shape so chances are they may save the pair. I’m keeping in touch.
More sad news
Glen Stewart and Laurie Neave has some sad news yesterday with the passing of their father Dennis Stewart in Kamloops. He was such a fine man and a good father but he has left us. His quality of life was gone. He leaves a very loving family and he will be missed a great deal. Dennis spent the greater part of his life in Kamloops as a railroad man and then retired to manage his farm until his passing.
Late spring
It sure looks like it’s going to be late spring. Next week will be May and as the old saying goes ‘April showers bring May flowers.’ Instead of showers we got snow. Some years by the Mayday picnic the trees were in leaf. Let’s hope they catch up this year. I well remember one Mayday picnic when we had a drop of six inches of snow and lots of our birds died. Mark Twain, one of the American writers, had a quotation in one of his stories “Everyone talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it.” Maybe a good thing we can’t as we just might mess it up too.
Times have changed
As I think back and think of the wonderful years of my life that our family spent in the Lakes District it’s hard to believe it’s over 70. All the changes that have come about, some good and maybe some not so good. Our small communities that we used to have are now gone. Little country stores with a gas pump and a post office. The good roads were few and far between so these little stores and post offices were more or less a Godsend to the rural residents. During those years lots of folks were still using horses. Andy Anderson had the mail run from Burns Lake to Francois Lake. He hauled all the mail to our office, Colleymount, Clemretta, Noralee and for a short while Nadina. It closed up just after we came here. Everett Hickey had that run once a week on Saturday’s. Norman Schreiber hauled the mail to all the post offices on the Southside. There were 10 offices. The mail truck went from Southbank to Wistaria. Most all the farmers were milking cows and shipping cream to the station and sent on its way. Norman and his wife had a lovely big store at Ootsa Lake, of course it was flooded out. I have the names of all the postmasters that were on the Southside. It’s very interesting to see these names. If anyone would like them please let me know and I’ll put them in the paper. During the winter months when the lake was freezing over and ice was safe, Norman brought a big sleigh over with the incoming and outgoing mail. He had a big dog that he used to pull the sleigh. I still have some pictures of the outfit. The motto was the mail must go through and it did. Most all of these ten post offices had a little store along with the office. One of the main reasons I’m getting together some of this old stuff is for a younger generation just to see what their grandparents went through to keep food on the table and how they lived.
Goodbye friend
Just had Johnny Johnson in for a visit. We were both very sorry to hear of the passing of Doris Louisa Carleton. A very good friend of ours. She taught school in Saskatchewan in 1939. Then taught school at Noralee from 1951 - 1957, then onto Burns Lake in 1958. She taught Johnny Johnson grade five for three years. She passed away Apr. 24. Doris was 97 years old. Doris was very well thought of by everyone who met her.
Take care, have a safe week, always remember God loves you and so do I.