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WE were without mails for
seventeen days, none could get to Saskatoon. Everything had been looking so
well, as if we were going to have an early spring, when bang comes the
winter down upon us again, blizzards and storms. Saskatoon nearly ran out of
food; four butchers had to close, for they could not get the animals in to
slaughter. Now a regular wash out is feared, and here on the first of May we
are not able to touch the land, we still have so much snow on the ground. It
is really provoking, for it will make us so late with our seeding, and then
we shall have a great risk of frost in the fall.
We had a great time of it
going to town during the fine spell we had a couple of weeks ago. I took
Mabel and Jack for a change, but the trails were rotten and the team was
slipping and sliding all over the place. In some parts the snow had thawed
and then frozen over, but of course not hard enough to bear the team.
We went into one water hole
and stuck there; the water was half-way over the horses' backs. I jumped in,
and getting Jack under one arm held the horses with my other hand. I told
Mabel to jump; she obeyed me and no mistake, but jumped right into the
water.
Well, we all got safely out
of it, but we had to walk the rest of the way, 4 miles, so as to try and
keep warm, and we were none of us sorry to arrive at a store and get into
dry things. The boy came off best, as I was able to hold him all the time.
The horses behaved beautifully; as soon as I spoke to them they stood quite
quietly. If they had been so minded they could have sent the whole outfit to
kingdom come.
The new colt is doing well; he just goes along like an old horse. I am very
pleased with him so far. I had another increase in my stock this week—a
small calf, so now I have my barn pretty full, and, all told, it is quite a
lot of work to get round to feed and clean them in the morning.
I shall have a lot of
building to do later on; I must put up another stable, for the one I have is
no longer big enough, and I must have a granary too.
I am going to seed my
neighbour's crop for him, and also to cut it, at so much an acre. He is to
repay me in so much return work in harvest and hay time. In that way I am
sure of help.
W—, who has been helping me
this winter, has now got work at 75 dollars a month as tree inspector for
the experimental farm he was working for last year.
On my birthday we had a
dinner party! One of our Scotch friend's birthday was four days earlier, so
we combined and celebrated the two events together, by a meeting at our
house of the usual crowd, and we had quite a pleasant time talking over all
that we meant to achieve in the future. |
