City Notebook: Hard to be thankful but well worth a try

By COLLIN GALLANT on October 10, 2020.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

It’s the time of year to think about for what we are thankful, which in 2020 sounds like a bit of a bad joke.

But the question is not only a good exercise, it’s good practice.

To say there have been trying times this year is as much an understatement as saying the pandemic is unprecedented.

It’s rough out there. People are hurting. Families are separated. Winter is coming.

But, when the coronavirus forced most of the population into isolation, it was also an opportunity for introspection.

What’s really important, people said, was safety. That we were together if not in person, then in spirit, and we’d weather the storm.

We’ve done pretty well, I’d say.

Admit it, you’ve had some bright spots this year, learned something new, met a neighbour you’d previously missed, spent more time with your kids, and figured out what you’re capable of getting done.

When big things seemingly wen’t wrong, maybe you concentrated on the little things, the things you could control. Maybe you planted tomatoes, painted your fence, or whatever.

Maybe you reached out for help, refound a friend, or reconnected with yourself.

Aren’t holidays like Thanksgiving partly about figuring out what’s important, and that maybe those things aren’t as large as you though?

Personally, I’m most thankful that I was able to teach my kids to fly a kite this year.

How about you?

Good fortune

But before the grace of God go we in Medicine Hat, where coronavirus cases have hovered below 10 (mostly below five) for a large part of the summer and fall.

That’s not the case in Havre, or most of the United States, or larger centres in Canada.

In the town across the from the Port of Wild Horse from us, cases have doubled in a week to 125 and contract tracing has forced another 330 people to isolate, according to the Havre Daily News.

Hill County, population 16,000, reported 25 new positive cases on Friday. The state of 1 million people has recorded 206 deaths. Saskatchewan, also with about 1 million residents, has had 24.

Produce

Farm and ranch operators have had a good year, especially after three years of drought in the Southeast, and extreme concern this spring about planting and calving as the pandemic set in.

Prying yields out of a grain farmer is near impossible, but judging from Food Grains harvests, including 94 bushels per acre nearer to Taber, we’re surmising they’re pretty good.

As one local wit put it, “it’s amazing what happens when you add water.”

Cash crops

One of the biggest hurdles facing the legal recreational cannabis industry is how to shift buying habits of the longtime pot smoker from the illegal to legal markets.

The consensus has been that the country was awash in widely available, easily accessible weed before it went legal, so why switch?

Folks who are hip to the lifestyle inform this column that almost astounding bulk rates for an ounce of cannabis are now available at local retailers who are legally barred from advertising prices.

The lowest we’ve heard of is $95 for an ounce, taxes in, or about $3 a gram, which compares to maybe about $200 from your long-term, street connection on a good day.

For the record, Aurora Cannabis plasters the figure 85-cents on its investors’ info website, as its price to produce a gram.

Now consider at full production at the Aurora Sun facility, the annual crop would weigh 260 million grams.

100 years ago

A gun battle between rustlers and police near Comrey ended with a detective being thrown from a moving car, the News ran on front page on Oct. 11, 1920.

Detective Crerar had fought with three men who attempted to overpower him as he drove them across the prairie following their arrest near Manyberries. Another officer fired his carbine from a trailing car, and Crerar unloaded his pistol as the car sped off. A manhunt ensued.

In Medicine Hat, the Monarchs swept the Calgary Hustlers to become back-to-back baseball champions of Alberta after a double-header the Athletic grounds.

A new invention that could chart electrical pulsations of the human heart, dubbed the cardiogram, was lauded as a life-saving miracle of modern invention.

Collin Gallant covers city politics and a variety of topics for the News. Reach him at 403-528-5664 or via email at cgallant@medicinehatnews.com