Hazy shade of Summer

After a very dry Spring and early Summer, Saskatchewan (and its bordering provinces) has entered a very severe forest fire season.  While the fires are more or less limited to the Northern portion of the province, just about the entire province is suffering in one way or another.

Things took a turn for the worse in Regina late this morning when the smoke from the Northern fires finally began to drift into town.  By my brief lunch-hour walk about my building there was enough smoke that it was irritating my throat and had gone a fair way towards obscuring the sun (that it wasn't over 30 was the only consolation prize).  It wasn't long after the smoke began to move through town that you could even begin to smell it inside.

Of course, as the day/evening has progressed the situation hasn't improved.  Actually, it's bad enough that we are being discouraged from outdoor activities (including things like pet walking).

So kids, if anyone ever asks you can let them know that forest fires can be trouble for a much wider portion of the population than just those individuals put in harm's way by the fire.

A Few Quick Notes 621

-After very cool temperatures just a few days ago, we've moved into a sunny warm patch.  Yesterday, and hopefully again today, we'll see temperatures above zero and plenty of melting.  Assuming this trend continues as forecast we should see plenty of melting over the next few days.

-Jeannette and I had an incredibly productive and pleasant day yesterday.  We began by walking over to the first Farmer's Market of the season.  Unfortunately, we were going to buy some lentils and barley and that vendor was absent.  From there we made our way to the pet food store and then the downtown shopping district.

After grabbing lunch and taking care of a little downtown shopping we realized that we were just feet and minutes away from a free Regina Symphony Orchestra chamber ensemble concert at the public library.  Amazingly, though we arrived only a few minutes before they were to begin we had a great selection of seats to choose from (within just a few minutes after our arrival almost all of the available seats were taken).

After the concert we spoke with a member of Jeannette's book club and her friend who was visiting from Winnipeg.  Not only were we able to pick up a little inside information about hot Winnipeg restaurants, we learned a little more about the free concert series at the library.

Once we returned home we hopped in the car and made our way out for an afternoon drive.  In our continuing attempt to at least visit many of the towns surrounding Regina we made our way through Pense and Belle Plaine.  Unfortunately, the melting snow and muddy streets likely meant that we weren't seeing these towns at their best.

-Hopefully we will head out for a walk along the creek later this afternoon.

-Because I'm a sucker for this kind of thing I'm watching the Manitoba NDP leadership convention as being streamed by CBC.  Yesterday I followed the Newfoundland NDP convention via Twitter.  I think I'd probably watch/follow almost any delegated convention occurring in Canada - they really make for exciting viewing (whether or not you like the party involved).

-Not having a dishwasher is a real bummer.  It seems that we constantly have a sink full of dirty dishes to do - no matter how many sinks full of dishes I've already done.  Definitely a bummer.

Hunting for the Northern Lights

One of the advantages of living in Regina is that it is the furthest North I have ever lived in Canada.  Presumably, this should improve my chances of seeing the Northern Lights rather dramatically.  And several times since we've been here the forecast has called for the Northern Lights to be visible from this area.

Last night was one of those nights that the Northern Lights were supposed to be visible throughout wide swaths of the North (or the not-so-far-North-but-further-North-than-most-of-the-North-American-population).  As neither Jeannette nor I have seen the Northern Lights we thought we might try to find them.

Fortunately, it was easy to head North and make it out of the city.  Not long after we were out of the city we were even off the more well traveled paved roads and really making our way through rural Saskatchewan.  Our hope was that if we were as far away from the city as possible the light of the city wouldn't bleed out and obscure our view.

Unfortunately, despite the clear skies we observed all day long, as the sun set cloud cover spread across the sky.  By the time we found our selves driving among several of Saskatchewan's many fields there was so much cloud cover the moon wasn't even visible.  Eventually things cleared enough that we were relatively confident that we could identify the outline of the moon.

So, not surprisingly, our first real attempt to head out to see the Northern Lights was a complete bust.  I guess we'll just have to keep our eyes on the Northern Lights forecast and hope for better weather on our next trip.

Things I've learned since I moved to Saskatchewan

1. There are people in Canada that actually follow the CFL

For most of my life I assumed that the CFL was mostly just a punchline or a trivia answer.  Turns out it is actually a going sports concern in parts of Canada.  Of course, at least as far as I can tell, those parts of the country that care about the CFL are likely found somewhere west of Winnipeg and east of Calgary (I'm pretty sure Vancouver is way too cool to be into anything in a big way).

2. Municipal snow plows are only for primary arteries

Yup, they basically don't plough residential streets in many communities in Saskatchewan.  Instead of ploughing residents just pack the snow into inches high sheets of ice that they are then expected to drive on.  Of course, over time deep ruts develop and those lower clearance vehicles may have a few problems - but that seems to be accepted as a consequence of owning anything less than a pick-up truck.

3. Saskatchewan is one of the world's primary sources for lentils

This cool fact seems to be under appreciated by most of the Saskatchewanians I've spoken to so far.  Of course, I'm still hopeful that eventually this informational nugget may form the basis of some kind of 'healthy protein' campaign, or at least as a protein heavy response to Alberta beef.

4. Saskatchewan mistakenly thinks that Shannon Tweed is a native daughter

Everybody knows that Shannon Tweed is really from Newfoundland.  Case closed.

5. 'Dry cold,' like 'dry heat,' makes all the difference

Though it's been at least -15 for the past few weeks it's not nearly as bad as -5 and the sideways-falling sleet-like precipitation that one often encounters in Newfoundland.  Of course, when you start getting really low temperatures your car may not start or you may get frostbite - but aren't these just small prices to pay for no slush?

I wonder what's going on down there

As someone who had never been to or seen the Canadian prairies until two days ago I'd always wondered if the presence of agriculture was as prevalent as it often appears to be in media coverage of the region.  It turns out that flying into and out of prairie cities on a clear day is a great way to observe that, yes, huge seemingly unending swaths of these provinces are, in fact, devoted to agricultural production.  Moreover, on the flight from Winnipeg to Regina I saw few signs of economic development other than those associated with the agricultural sector.

Before I go any further I should probably make three points clear.  Firstly, I know that the economies of the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba are not exclusively agricultural.  Secondly, I also know that these provinces are huge and that the terrain differs from region to region (i.e. that there are at least a few hills in each of these provinces).  And, thirdly, that I know I saw only a relatively small portion of either of these provinces (though on my various flights I did probably see hundreds or thousands of square kilometres of each province).

That said, to reiterate, what I did see was overwhelmingly flat land devoted to agricultural production.  There were literally farms as far as the eye could see.

I couldn't help but wonder if there is more land devoted to agriculture in this photo than in all of Newfoundland and Labrador?

And if I focused more closely on a specific area it was pretty easy to see what was going on on the ground.

At times, particularly in Saskatchewan, some of the fields/regions were a little more pock marked.  I still don't know exactly what was going on in these situations.

And maybe it's just me and my unfamiliarity with prairie farming, but I kind of thought that the farms just outside of Winnipeg looked a little different than the farms near Regina.  But again, maybe that's just my unfamiliarity with prairie farming.

I was particularly pleased with myself when I found the line in the land a little east of Winnipeg where the farming, or at least the overwhelming predominance of farming, basically comes to an end and forested areas pick up.  Until yesterday I had no idea that such a line even existed - I had always assumed the farming gradually lessened.

And isn't it also nice to see a little of the earth's curvature?

Is it just me or are do these bare more than just a passing resemblance to one another?

I have recently come across a few passage that deal with the election of speakers in Canadian legislatures. As I was reading these I occasionally had a strange sense that I had read some of the passages before.

From Monpetit and Marleau's House of Commons Procedure and Practice (2nd edition):

The election of a Speaker has precedence over all other matters. No motion for adjournment is accepted until a Speaker is declared elected and installed in the Chair. Once he or she has been elected, after the customary thanks and congratulations have been expressed and after announcing the time and the date for the Speech from the Throne, the Speaker adjourns the House until the next sitting.

From British Columbia legislature's Standing Orders:

11 (a) (4) The election of a Speaker shall take precedence over all other business and no Motion of any kind shall be accepted, and the House shall continue to sit, if necessary, beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, until a Speaker is elected and is installed in the Chair and if the House has continued to sit beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, the Speaker shall thereupon adjourn the House until the next sitting, unless otherwise ordered.

From the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly's Standing Orders:

2 (7) The election of a Speaker shall take precedence over all other business and the House shall continue to sit, if necessary, beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, until a Speaker is elected and is installed in the chair and if the House has continued to sit beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, the new Speaker shall thereupon adjourn the House until the next sitting day.

From the Rules and Procedures of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan:

40(4) The election of a Speaker shall take precedence over all other business and no motion of any kind shall be accepted, and the Assembly shall continue to sit, if necessary, beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, until a Speaker is elected and is installed in the chair. If the Assembly has continued to sit beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, the Speaker shall thereupon adjourn the Assembly until the next sitting.

From the New Brunswick legislature's Standing Rules:

The election of a Speaker shall take precedence over all other business and no motion of any kind shall be accepted, and the House shall continue to sit, if necessary, beyond its ordinary time of daily adjournment, until a Speaker is elected and is installed in the Chair and if the House has continued to sit beyond its ordinary hour of daily adjournment, the Speaker shall thereupon adjourn the House until the next sitting, unless otherwise ordered.