This week brings news of a chance meeting and a planned meeting. On the
chance side, Garry Tatz was fixing a seal in his bale stacker, for the
fifth time this season, when we met. He was squatting in a field east
of Beiseker, Alta., having a one-sided conversation with the machine.
These particular straw bales were being picked for John Weintz of
Irricana, in whose field we stood.
Tatz is a school bus driver on weekdays, an occupation he says is not
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for the faint of heart. He wrote a poem about that very thing, back in
1997, and offered us a copy.
The School Bus Driver
A few years back horse prices went to hell.
The price of cattle and grain did as well.
To the banker I went for a loan
But all he could do was shuffle and moan.
Finally to me he says the school for a driver has an opening.
If it’s a job you’re looking for, I’m hoping.
So off I go to see the bus boss
He says to me it’s just kids, it ain’t that hard
All you do is have ’em to school and back to their yard.
After all, you’ve rode tough broncs and wrestled mean cattle.
Ya just drive around and listen to ’em brattle.
The first day on the job I broke out in a sweat, from the seat of my
pants to my palm I was wet
Even the little ones is ornery and mean
On the whole, they’re all sneaky and quite keen
With a bronc or an owly old cow, ya always know where you stand
With them kids ya never know who’s the leader of the band
Those little darlings are just so swell
I’d rather drive a four-up of mules to hell.
As for a meeting of the planned sort, Sept. 12-15 was the annual
gathering of the Canadian Farm Writers Federation, this time in New
Brunswick. Hurricane Gustav put a damper on a whale-watching expedition
but a number of farms and agricultural operations were visited.
The conference includes the announcement of winners in the annual
writing contest and I’m proud to say Western Producer writers brought
home four awards.
Ian Bell won gold in the Weekly Press Reporting category for his story
on fusarium and its costs. Sean Pratt won gold in the press feature
category for a special report on small towns that revitalized
themselves. Karen Briere won silver in the feature category for a
report on changes to the Canadian Wheat Board, and Bill Strautman of
Farming magazine won bronze for a technical feature on suspended spray
booms.
