Living so far away from amenities means that if I go out to do one thing, in order to save time and money, I must do half a dozen others.  Last Monday we had our monthly book club at the Tatla Lake Library.  As well as the bag of books I wanted to return, into the van went: my chainsaw, which had lost screws from the cover of the pull-start mechanism, and which I was taking to a neighbour, who had all sorts of wrecked machinery and parts, to fix; four probably useless 6-volt, lead-acid batteries for the solar power system, that the same man had agreed to charge up and check; four loaves of bread baked that morning to give to friends including other neighbours who have been away for two years; a letter to mail; 3-weeks’ worth of laundry to do in the church washing machine; snacks for the afternoon tea at our bookclub; and my lunch.

Highway 20 has some pretty good frost-heaves right now.

Many of them are well over a foot above the normal road surface.  Not all of them are marked, and one must expect to be airborne on more than one occasion at this time of year.

Shortreed’s cows, at Kleena Kleene, are well into their calving routine.

When I got home, it was a real treat to be able to hang the laundry outside instead of having to jam it round the stove.

It didn’t quite dry, but laundry always smells so good when it hangs in the weather.  And what a power-saver.  Driers are enormously energy inefficient.  If half the population of Canada hung their clothes outside to dry for half the year, we would need fewer power stations.  The clothes would be far healthier, too.