Keith Dryden

Y2K unease Worried about what might happen next Jan. 1? We’ve had predictions of everything from a nuclear meltdown to wholesale electrical failure to Armageddon. I have an engineer friend called Boris Kishchuk who pooh-poohs all this goose bumpery. As his name suggests he is of Ukrainian lineage. He said Jan. 1 is of no […] Read more

Innovative rink How do you build a curling rink when you’ve got little money, no lumber, no property, no curling rocks? Here’s how we did it in 1944. A Chicago speculator owned several lots on the edge of our village. He kept paying his taxes but never came around to see about his investment. We […] Read more

General call Isn’t it amazing how the technology of telephoning has changed our lives? Recently I dialed a friend and, when there was no response, I hung up. Ten minutes later he phoned me back to find out what I was phoning about. He had one of these functions that shows the name of the […] Read more

Pilgrimage site Certain misguided academics contend the next millennium won’t happen until the year 2001. That’s like denying the existence of a new baby because it has yet to celebrate its first birthday. Despite disclaimers most observances will begin next January. The reason we call it the year 2000 is that historians estimated Jesus Christ […] Read more

A winter walk I’ve just come in from a walk. For the benefit of you younger folks, walking is what retired old reprobates do to fill in time between meals and meetings. Walking helps maintain a level of fitness that allows you to live longer and thus draw more extensively from the national pension fund. […] Read more

Neighbor Dave Back in the middle 1960s two ranchers barnstormed through Saskatchewan by private plane campaigning against formation of a hog marketing board. They were John Minor and his brother-in-law Dave Willness. Initially they were successful in swinging the vote against a central marketing agency but later central selling became a fact of life. Dave […] Read more

Finger pointing The recent blockade of the Canadian border by United States farmers is bemusing. These farmers claim they can’t make money producing grain in competition with Canadian farmers, whom they accuse of dumping subsidized surpluses on their market. Canadian farmers say they lose money and have less support than the Americans. Now if Canadians, […] Read more

Who’s stupid? It is fashionable to sneer at the stupidity of government and politicians but if you want to see some real losers, we might look in the mirror. What is the public urging the Canadian government to do? Reduce taxes. I predict taxes will be reduced and the effect on government revenues will be […] Read more

Rural living Since 1976, rural and small-town Canada has been steadily growing in population, says Statistics Canada. There may be more people and horses and dogs and geese on acreages within easy driving distance of towns and cities but the number of commercial farmers is shrinking. Drive a few miles from any city in Canada […] Read more

Coincidence A few weeks ago my spouse and I attended a concert where some opera buffs sounded forth in a vigorous fashion. Beside us was a couple from Humboldt, Sask. As the woman sitting next to me chatted to her husband I overheard her mention a career in journalism. “I, too, lived off the avails […] Read more