Out Like A Lion

   March is going out pretty much the same way it came in. Like a lion. True, we won't face another dump of 40 cm (16 inches) of snow like we did at the start of the month, but it's going to be a brutal end to it.
   We're in for overnight temperatures more commonly seen in January or February. It was -14 C this morning (and -25 in some areas), but we're expecting the mercury to dip down to -20 tonight. With a windchill near -30 or lower.
   On the bright side, it is getting lighter earlier and longer, and the temperature has moderated a bit (until now). But March, in my opinion, is definitely going out like a lion.
   Happy Easter, everyone!

TTFN

The Results Are In

   And this year, GX94 came in 3rd in the annual Ducks Unlimited Bar-Be-Cue sauce competition. Our sister FM station placed 2nd.
   As always, the meal was great

   Ribs, chicken and all the trimmings. I have no idea how much was actually raised for D.U, but I'm sure they brought in quite a bit from the meal and auctions they run during the evening.
   I'm not usually one to gripe about anything, and honestly, the best sauce did win the competition, but when I tried mine, the flavour was not the same as my home-cooked one. I don't know if they somehow misread or changed the recipe, or if it simply was down to the large volume of sauce needed for the competition, but it had changed drastically.
   Again, no sour grapes, my entry didn't win fair and square. But even trying the entry from our sister FM station, I noticed theirs had changed too. Maybe I'm just reading too much into it.
   And, there's always next year!

TTFN

Spring My Aunt Fanny!

   Spring officially arrived in Saskatchewan at 10:15 this morning, but you'd be hard-pressed to see any sign of it today. This was the view from one of our windows this morning

   It's been snowing since yesterday, and we've had about 2 to 3 cm. Not much, when you consider the storm we had a couple of weeks ago that dumped 40 cm on the area, but still more than enough for me.
   Ironically enough, it was a year ago today, the first day of spring 2017, we had a "mini-blizzard":

   The arrival of the new season (such as it is right now), had GX94 Morning man Danny Ismond asking listeners "Fill in the blank: Spring is here when I see ___________." Quite a few people say their first sign is seeing robins, others gophers. I one this morning, as a hare was hopping through the lumber yard behind our building. He had a noticeable brown patch in the fur on his back.
   But I also told Danny the surest sign of spring for me is when people take their snowmobile out of the back of their pickup, and put an AVT in instead.
   Happy Spring!
   TTFN

This Is The Week

   The battle for Bar-B-Cue sauce supremacy for 2018 will be decided this Friday in Yorkton. The annual Ducks Unlimited fundraiser is on, and it's been moved up 6 weeks or so from the normal date in May, due, apparently, to some scheduling conflicts.
   And for the second year in a row, one of my sauces will represent our station, GX94 as we go head to head with our sister station Fox FM, CTV Yorkton, the weekly newspaper and The Rock, another local station.
   And we're out for blood this year. We narrowly lost to our sister station last year, with another one of my sauces picking up the silver. Which is not good enough! I went back to the drawing board, sifted through my recipes and came up with what I feel will be the winner this year. If it is, I'll post it on this forum.
   Once again, not that it's a hardship, we have to use one of the craft beers brewed by Back 40 Brewery in town. The most difficult task was choosing one to use. But, after sampling several of them (okay, just 4), I picked one that went into the sauce.
   It will be served with the other entries, with guests at the banquet sampling all of them of ribs or chicken. I've tried my sauce on both. I feel it goes well with either. But, we'll have to wait until Friday evening when the public decides.

Spring Ahead

   This past weekend saw the (to me) semi-annual idiocy of adjusting clocks ahead an hour in most of North America. Saskatchewan and Arizona are the most notable hold-outs, and I'm lucky to be in Saskatchewan.
   The ides behind DST was to save energy. But studies have shown it actually doesn't. When I lived in Alberta (where it was brought in in 1971), B.C and Ontario, I loathed the change. It played havoc with my internal clock, and took literally weeks fir me to adjust.
   So, in Saskatchewan we don't adjust our clocks. At least not deliberately. The bedside clock I have has settings for different time-zones, and has an over-ride to cancel the switch to daylight saving time. Or so I thought.
   I needed a bathroom break early Sunday morning (01:59 to be exact), and when I got back to bed, my clock registered 03:02. Despite my setting it on non-DST. No, it wasn't an extra long break, and I didn't "fall asleep in the drivers seat" so to speak.
   I did change it back to "normal" time when I got up.

TTFN

A Nasty Storm

   You can't see it all that well, but that's about half the snow we've had since Sunday. In all, 40 cm (about 16 inches) in the space of 2 days. Which has left streets impassable, and my car still parked at our house. I thought about trying to drive in Monday morning, but thought better of it, and took a taxi. A look out the window this morning showed things were even worse, so I cabbed it in again today. Fortunately, our property manage says our parking area will be cleared today, so I should have "wheels" again tomorrow.
   It was a Colorado Low that walloped the region, making highways a mess. So much so that several members of our staff who live out of town couldn't get in. Luckily, they can broadcast from their homes, but need someone to play audio clips for them.
   And now, the clean-up. I shovelled our sidewalk twice yesterday, and will need to do it again today. And while city crews are doing their best to get streets open to some degree, it's going to be days at best before we return to some form or normalcy.
   There is a silver lining, if you will. All the snow will help replenish much needed moisture ahead of spring seeding, although rain will be needed during the growing season.
   March came in like a Lion, and ironically, it was just a year ago we were being hit by a good old fashioned prairie blizzard.
   But on the plus side, we haven't seen a mosquito in months!

TTFN

At Least It's Friday

   And what a Friday it's been! Got in at my usual time, and fired up my computer. Or at least tried to. "Black Screen Of Death." Powered off and back up. Logged on, but everything was slow. Tried the one in the booth. Also slow. Logged out of both, couldn't log in.
   I ended up doing the thing I do not like to do. I called our tech guru Kyle at 04:45. He walked me through a re-boot, but still had problems logging on to our newsroom, email and 'net. He walked me through those to the point I could operate normally (at 05:35). Played "catch-up" the rest of the morning. He also says there was a problem with one of our main servers behind it
   Finally, the systems came back up normally a little after 10:00. With a few tweaks, that is. I'm just happy it wasn't Monday!

TTFN

March Arrives

   And it looks like it'll come in like a lion. The next 2 days won't be bad at all, sun turning to cloud with temperatures near zero. But the weekend, that lion starts to roar. Depending on which weather service you look at, we could see just a 60% chance of snow Saturday into Monday, to up to 30 cm (about a foot).
   Granted, it's only Thursday, and a lot can and will change between now and the weekend. But given the fact that a major part of Alberta is already under snow or winter storm warnings, I think we likely will get hammered. Worst case scenario: A full blown spring Prairie blizzard. Best case scenario: Just the 60% chance of snow some weather offices are calling for.
   My guess? Personally, I think we could well be in for the first blizzard of winter 2017-18. And, actually, we could use some snow. It's been dry this winter, following a dry year last year, so the moisture is needed. Maybe not all at once, and not quite the amount they're calling for, but some. If we do get clobbered, I hope at least it'll be a slow melt.
   We'll see.

TTFN