New Year's Day 2005

Yesterday, as evidence of global warning!, the temperature rose to +6C and it rained and rained! The snow, at least 3 feet deep on the roof slid off at 3 in the morning giving everyone a fright. Julia who lives under the roof claims she fell out of bed with the sudden noise! Today the sun is out and it's beautiful.

With the thaw - temporary we are told, our little deer herd (buck, doe and fawn) have stopped crossing the lake and raiding our cedar trees. I had never seen a winter deer so close before. They have remarkably thick, even shaggy coats - but at minus 30C they need them I suppose.

The local ski hill (Hidden Valley) is in full operation. They add a chemical to the man-made snow so that it melts at a much higher temperature (+5C I think). This means that the snow base is still strong even after the rain. The annual race camp has just finished and Julia came second in the 15 to 19 category (she is 15) a few hundredths of a second after her biggest rival - all very exciting!! Still she had a great season last year finishing first in the province in her age group after breaking her hand.

As an aside: the local high school boy's ski team (really the ski club team) should have a successful season this year in the high school championships - they have eight or nine very fast skiers. The girls unfortunately are short of skiers this year.

On the subject of the High School, they really do very well in sports and extra-curricular activities. Our band is a regular winner of top trophies.One of the side effects of a beautiful area (I suppose), we get good teachers and they stay!

“Huntsville High School sports clubs have quietly and continually strung together a series of championships.

In an April newsletter, John Cowan, an HHS teacher and head of the Huntsville Sports Council, wrote that the school established a remarkable record with the number of teams qualifying for Ontario Federation Secondary Athletics Association (OFSAA) championships. “OFSAA is the largest participant-based organized school sports championships held in North America. As of April 1, 2004, HHS has qualified the following teams to OFSAA: senior girls’ basketball team (15 members), four cross-country running teams (20) , two alpine ski teams (10), four nordic ski teams (24), senior boys’ basketball team (15) and the swim team (20). Six teams went to OFSAA and came home with medals and they are the nordic and alpine ski teams.

“Huntsville has excelled in the school sports community and has approximately 10 per cent of the school population attending OFSAA championships. Huntsville High School has a large percentage of students who participate in varsity sports programs and of special interest is the strong correlation to the school’s high academic achievers,” he wrote” Source Huntsville Forester

Have a great New Year