Two run ins with two wild animals

News from the shoe - Someone said if some people didn't have bad luck they would have no luck at all! I think this might be true for Clayton Newbury. He had not one, but two run ins with wild animals. He and his wife, Lizzie Maye, were on their way home a couple of weeks ago and he saw this rabbit hop over a snow bank and clunk into the car. With no time to stop, there was nothing he could do. He figured he had killed the rabbit and that's all they thought of it, until the next morning when someone asked him what happened to the bumper of his car.

He just shook his head and the thought of hitting the rabbit the day before popped in his mind, but he didn't think anything that small could cause $1400 in damages.

Just last week they were at their cabin and he was on a ski doo hauling some firewood, but this time it was no rabbit that he met. He encountered a moose that jumped down on the road and Clayton says he must have froze for he stayed on his ski doo and that female moose stayed there for about 15 minutes with neither doing a thing. He got off his ski doo and stood by the handlebars with the engine still purring.

The moose finally had enough, as it was frothing and foam was coming out of her mouth, and with her ears pinned back she then reared up on her hind legs coming down hard with her front legs on the ski doo bonnet again and again. Eventually, a hoof went through the bonnet and must have broken the spark plug wire as the ski doo shut off.

The moose then seemed satisfied and left as hastily as she came, or so Clayton thought. She went down the road, but turned around and with Clayton still frozen to his handlebars, the moose ran along past him and the ski doo, and disappeared.

Clayton says, the moose had a large scar on her front shoulder as if she'd been struck by a vehicle in the past.

Clayton, next time you go into the woods on a ski doo, make sure you take Lizzie Maye. That way another female may not come after you!

Minimum wage increase

It seems the minimum wage has increased again. Up to $8 an hour here in NL. It sounds like a lot, but it's not according to inflation.

Food prices, gas, housing, and everything else seems to rise accordingly, yet the minimum wage is rising ever so slowly.

There are two ways of looking at the minimum wage increase and I agree that it should be $10 just to offset the price of everyday living. But the impact it would have on small businesses would be staggering, and many would have to shut their doors.

Anyone in their right mind knows that chain businesses can afford to maybe pay $10 an hour, while a small business can't afford to hire workers if they have very few customers. That is the problem.

I know malls and huge department stores can hire many workers and pay the increase, but small businesses will have to let people go.

It's sad to see so many tiny businesses go down the drain because of those increases without government help. If rural NL is to thrive and remain alive and functioning, then maybe government could help with those cost increases to small businesses.

Wow, March was a very short, but mad, month for snow. We were hit over and again with one snowstorm after the next that left us wondering if spring was going to come. According to the weather reports last weekend, spring is not that close yet, let alone our short summer. So sad, because we have had six months of this cold wet, snowy weather so I guess my daffodils won't be poking their heads through just yet.

Earth Day March 29

Did you know it was earth day on March 29? Everyone was asked to turn off their lights from 8 to 9 p.m. I looked around our community during that hour and from the houses that I could see, due to the high snow banks, they did not turn out their lights to honour Earth Day, but we sure did.

We sat here in our home without a light for a full hour. As it grew darker outside, it sure reminded me of when I was a child and living at home with my family, for I was getting up in years when electricity came to Long Island.

I well remember the lamps on the wall and that light got us through many years of doing homework and chores and whatever had to be done after suppers. This time when we turned out our lights, we did not turn on our lamp or any other source of light. Therefore, after a long day outside, I took a nap, which sure helped pass the time more quickly!

Top up program

ongoing in La Scie

There is program in La Scie where people who are low on EI can work and have their benefits topped up. This sort of project does not pay out insurable hours and that's the difference between this kind of project and one where people work to get enough hours to qualify for EI.

There are four people working on building a piece onto the fire hall in La Scie. The people who qualified for this project were Victor Clance, Charlene Burton, Gerald Matthews and Dustin Dobbin. Best of luck to these and any other workers who may be on such a project.

We have had moose run through the community and one even ran on down the road one spring evening and slammed into the cold ocean, among the slop ice. Not a soul chased it. By the time my husband got down on the wharf he saw hoof prints on the slipway where it went in. I did call the wildlife officer and they said there was nothing they could do. That young moose perished over in Shoe Cove Bight. That was a crime, for it was better off in someone's freezer. I know it's a crime to kill a moose out of season and without a licence, but wasn't it a crime to let that moose freeze to death in the saltwater ice when it might have been saved.

More home for a visit

Our oldest son, John Wayne and his girlfriend, Sharon came to St.John's last week to visit her son and daughter-in-law. Sharon was due to give birth any day, and may have by the time you read this. They came to Shoe Cove late last week and have only just rested up. We hope to get a few days in, maybe on ski doos, and out and about.

Shoe Cove Community Centre annual poker run

The annual poker run was March 29. Quite a few ski doos registered at 10 a.m. and everyone had to be back by 6 p.m. to qualify for the prizes. Each person claimed five cards in their hand to see if they could get first place. John Sacrey from Pacquet took first place, Roma Gillingham took second, while Lewis Welshman placed third. It was sure a great day, and everyone seemed to have had an enjoyable time.

Last Saturday we took advantage of the nice, milder weather, and took a ski doo ride down to the cape, along with several family members. We went to a cabin where we enjoyed a scrumptious outdoor fire and lunch of pork chops, weiners, chicken breast, toast, roast potatoes and a drop of tea! Those gray jays sure were brazen too, for they even took a slice of bread off the grill while it was toasting, right in front of me! He didn't get away with it.

When I flapped my arms, it quickly dropped the toast and took to the safety of a nearby tree. However, they didn't stay hungry all afternoon. Before we left, they still had lots of leftover potato shucks and bread laying on the snow. All of God's creatures need food.