As the saying goes, “Be careful what you wish for!’
All those prayers for rain! All those rain dances! All those days and nights, sprinkling magic dust and calling for the rain gods! Well, it sure seems to be working!
The long range forecast we are using at The Page is predicting lots, and lots, and lots of rain all the way to the end of July.
Oh, for sure there is sun here and there. It works like this: Two or three days of showers and 60 per cent chance of rain. One day of cloudy and sunny. One day of 80 per cent rain. Two or three days of showers and 60 per cent rain.
If you want to know what 60 per cent chance of rain is, just look back to what happened on Saturday. Started raining at 3 a.m. in these parts and didn’t let up until around 4 p.m.
And if you checked the forecast on Saturday, it had turned from 57 per cent chance forecast on Friday to 80 per cent chance right while the rain was pouring down!
Sunday was another 61 per cent chance or rain. What did we get on Sunday? Clouds and sun. But forecasts that sunshine will not last.
June is always our “monsoon season” in our part of northern Alberta. In fact, we get rain when parts west, like Fairview and Grande Prairie, stay dry as a bone. But you know, if the forecasts hold true, we are sure going to be making up for lost time.

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This rain is great for forests, great for crops, great for haying.
Not so great for construction. And this coming weekend is the North Country Fair.
As is said, “It wouldn’t be a walleye tournament without rain. And it wouldn’t be the North Country Fair without rain.”
But in actual fact, the fair and many of our tournaments have actually enjoyed fantastic weather the past few years. Maybe this weekend some sunshine will squeeze itself in for fair folks. Here’s crossing our fingers.

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You probably noticed, hot and dry weather is very friendly to wasps. The little guys are busy building new nests just about everywhere: under eaves, under decks, in the corner where that old piece of machinery has tall grass growing. If you have a garden hose handy, just spray down the nest. No real need to use a flame thrower or chemicals.
Dry weather is not so friendly to mosquitoes. So six of one, half dozen of other.
Personally, we can do without skeeters. If this rain brings out the bugs, well, let’s hope for the most part this year’s crop is already mostly finished. Probably not, but here’s hoping.

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Chances are, if you got a property tax bill, it was higher in both Big Lakes County and the Town of High Prairie. Now, even if you rent, you end up paying property tax through your rent. So, it’s always good to keep an eye on the local politicians and how they spend your hard-earned coin.
High Prairie councillors [most of them anyway] are trying hard to get to not spend. High Prairie has, for several years, had the highest taxes in Alberta of a town in its size range.
Not any more!
Thanks to council and staff efforts, High Prairie is now creeping into the “higher than average” range.
So why the tax increases? Send thanks for that to your provincial government.
Few people notice on their tax notices that local governments are actually collecting a tax for the provincial government. It’s an education tax.
Premier Rachel Notley and her NDP government promised to rollback cuts or freezes to teacher salaries the Conservatives were making or had already made. Wasn’t that nice of them? Yes! Very sweet!
And everybody else gets to pay for sweetness.

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You will never lack many good friends if you praise all men and flatter all women.

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You cannot learn from everybody you talk to, but you can learn from those who talk to you.

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Laziness has never been known to make the pot boil, but it has cooked many a man’s goose.