Abnormally cold winter weather has many of us dreaming about warmer climes.
Dianna Hanna is an exception.
She farms with her husband, Dale, near Drayton Valley, Alta., and she sent the beautiful photo above, taken last month, with the following message that gives another perspective on the Prairies’ winter wonderland.
“As we were fixing dinner, I looked out the kitchen window and was pleasantly surprised at the glorious full moon. Peeking just over the east corner of the barn, it radiated such splendour.
Read Also
Late season rainfall creates concern about Prairie crop quality
Praying for rain is being replaced with the hope that rain can stop for harvest. Rainfall in July and early August has been much greater than normal.
“You could spend hours watching the beauty Mother Nature gives us. With awesome scenes like this, who wants to leave in the winter?”
Another Producer reader is also a writer. Marianne Stamm of Westlock, Alta., is writing a blog on our website at www.producer.com. Click on Diaries of a Global Farmer to read about the work she and her husband, Robert, are doing with farmers in Zambia.
And here’s a third presentation by one of our readers, Kathleen Mortensen of Kitchener, Ont. It’s well timed just before Groundhog Day.
Wiarton Willie
Wiarton Willie is his name
Prognostication is his game
Call him woodchuck, or whistle pig
Come mid-winter, his fame is big.
Wiarton Willie, first began
When Mac Mackenzie had a plan
One winter’s day in ’56
Devised he, grandest of gimmicks.
Wiarton Willie came about
When Star reporter sought him out;
Mac, he grabbed his wife’s fur hat,
Dug snowy-burrow-that was that!
Wiarton Willie made the press
Most folks thought, “Hey! That’s b.s!”
Didn’t stop them coming round,
To spy the hog from underground.
Wiarton Willie had some flack
Kicked the bucket – real setback.
How then, they, did that blow, soften?
Decked him out in his own coffin!
Wiarton Willie lay in state
Quite the scandal to relate-
Promoters had the public bluffed
‘Til they learned the hog was stuffed!
Wiarton Willie – not so nice
Murdered mates, not once, but twice;
Keeper kept it all hush-hush
So to keep Town Council flush.
Wiarton Willie he’s no “Phil”
Canadians use the guy to shill;
Now each year for Groundhog Day
He has an auction on EBay!
