I almost get the feeling at times that we in Saskatchewan are in some kind of a bubble when it comes to how the country is handling the nightmare otherwise known as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Just in thinking this thought, I hope we’re not jinxing our current state. When I watched the national news on Monday night, Alberta on our west side, and Ontario and Quebec to the east all had COVID cases in the hundreds compared to our 14 cases, with alarming calls to lock things down again (in Quebec, particlularly).
It was nice to have a couple events to attend over the weekend that shows that yes, there is still some normal life to enjoy.
The Weyburn Wildlife Federation did their annual release of pheasants to the countryside around the Weyburn region.
Teske Game Birds of Yellow Grass brought 508 ring-necked pheasants to the federation’s clubhouse, the South Weyburn School property south of Weyburn, and a number of families gathered to take crates.
The fun part was having the youngest members of those families have a chance to release a pheasant by hand behind the school location, with around 50 birds let go.
The rest of the crates were dispersed amongst the federation members, and they took the birds out to a wide range of locations in the area. The goal is to help maintain the population of game birds in the region.
The other event I took in on Saturday was the motocross races, at the Raymond Giroux Memorial track near the Weyburn Golf Course, southeast of Weyburn.
With all the leaves turning colour on the trees and hills of that property, the sounds of motocross bikes were heard for the first time this year (other than the odd motocross rider who came out to practice ride through the course).
The competitors were socially distant, as you can imagine, since they compete individually and at a distance from each other. The bonus is the event was held outdoors, and there was quite a strong wind blowing Saturday, so any viruses that might be around were blown away.
To hear the Toronto-centric national media, the world is burning and we’re all going to die … but the reality is, COVID-19 is no more severe than the varieties of influenza we deal with on an annual basis. I really hope that we can learn to deal with things in a calm and logical manner — but I’m not sure that will be happening anytime soon.
