Dear Canimites:
It has been a berry-pickers heaven out there, with Saskatoons in abundance, huckleberries coming ripe, and raspberries flowing like a river.
Anybody with a patch of the latter is picking every evening. Marga Hausmann, one of the area’s longtime pros, says this year is giving “the biggest crop ever.”
The first lettuce and kohlrabi are on the table.
Last Jeep
If you want to see a Jeep made in the days when men were men and Jeeps were really Jeeps, give Don Reynolds a call and drop out to see his 1952 CJ-3. It’s his eighth or ninth Jeep restoration.
“It’s simple,” he says. “I take them all apart, fix or replace anything that is broken or damaged, paint it all up, and put them back together again.”
This one took hundreds of hours to restore, but the result is a mint condition machine.
Don has been at this game a long time. He started off in the automotive business in the Lower Mainland before him and his wife, Jean, moved to Canim Lake in 1972 to take over Jack and Merla Latta’s lodge.
Don says this Jeep is all original except for the rear differential. He did replace the rear box with a deck and equipped the tough little beast with firefighting equipment – 150 gallon tank, two pumps, forestry hose, and hand tools.
This is the last of the line however. Once it is sold, Don will start rebuilding ATVs.
“I can put them up on a bench, which means less lying on a cold floor in winter.”
Toody’s garden
Toody (Vivian) Shirran’s garden is looking rather luxuriant.
The 92-year-old pioneer arrived at Canim Lake in a covered wagon when she was five years old. She now tends the farm’s 100- by 40-foot garden, while raising chickens and selling the eggs.
The garden boasts four types of potatoes, peas, with the vines supported by a corn row, Swiss chard, lettuce, onions, turnips, parsnip, carrots, beans, and zucchini. If that isn’t enough, she has three pumpkin vines.
Toody says the secret of growing magnificent melons is to pinch off most blossoms, allowing one for a small plant, and not more than three for a large plant.
Apparently, the weather of late has been perfect for the garden, hot temperatures with interspersed rain. Earlier in the summer, the incessant rains packed the Canim soil forcing her to continue to cultivate.
Her sister Tink (Stella) helped in that chore. Otherwise, Toody cares for the garden herself.
Road news
Phil Doddridge of Interior Roads says the mowing will continue in our area until all side roads are completed, including the Canim Lake Estates.
The slumping pavement on the South Canim Road has been inspected. Phil says Interior Roads believes this is a settlement problem and the base under the road remains sound. The depressions in the pavement will be corrected by Interior Roads with more asphalt.
Terry Murphy, Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure area manager, has passed along the news that a painting truck will be starting in the Quesnel area after the August long weekend, and painting its way south. They expect to complete Canim-Hendrix Lake Road this month.
Calendar
• Community Club Dinner, Blue Sky Restaurant, Aug. 24, 6 p.m.
That’s all for now. Until next time, here’s wishing you many blessings.