Monthly Archives: August 2014

Davidson, featured

Local entrepreneur donates profits to Swimming Pool

Farrah Low is going to have a nice ‘what I did this summer’ story to tell her classmates when she heads back to school in a couple weeks.

Farrah, 8, started a body scrub manufacturing company this past May called Flow Aqua and has spent the past four months making and selling the $5 bath products to needy customers through her mom’s (Arlene) and the Davidson Buy and Sell facebook pages. The business achieved almost instant success and the young entrepreneur has already accumulated $300 in sales, which she is donating to the new Davidson Swimming Pool fund.

“I’m very happy,” said Farrah, who is entering Grade 3 at Davidson School this September. “I’m proud that people love my scrubs and they’re buying them and I’m very thankful that they do that for me.”

Farrah learned how to make the body scrubs by watching a YouTube video on the products and decided to enter some of her creations as silent auction items at the Davidson Optimist Dance Club spring recital in early May. The hand-made body scrubs proved so popular at the auction that the emerging business guru decided to turn the idea into a company called Flow Aqua.

She said the scrubs are made from sugar, coconut oil and food colouring as well as a “very special ingredient” called essential oils. Farrah explained these oils are medicines that come from the earth.

“They always make you do different stuff,” she said about the various scrubs she makes with the help of her mom and grandma. “Be Balanced is like a grapefruit kind, Be Reflective is a spicy kind, peppermint is Be Peppy and we have Be Lazy. That is a lavender one. My favourite is probably either Be Balanced, the grapefruit one, or Be Refreshed, a lime one.”

Creating the body scrubs is only one aspect of the finished product, however, as Farrah also decorates their containers. She said once the jars are filled up she ties a ribbon about the container, attaches a spoon to the jar and then goes to “this special funky website” where she designs her own label for each one.

“Then we wrap them all up in bags,” said Farrah. “We take the order and we (hand-deliver) them.”

Flow Aqua’s main customer base in Davidson, Lake Diefenbaker and Rosetown shouldn’t fear an end to their body scrub supply when Farrah returns to school in a couple weeks, as the industrious eight-year-old plans to keep the company running for the foreseeable future. The only difference is she is planning to realize a better profit for her company now that her goal of raising $300 for the new swimming pool has been met.

“I’m going to keep the money,” she said about the new business plan.

Sports

McNabb hoists Cup as a Kings black ace

Brayden McNabb got the chance to hoist the Stanley Cup at centre ice in Los Angeles’ Staples Center this past June when the Kings defeated the New York Rangers in five games, but he still doesn’t consider himself a Stanley Cup champion quite yet.

McNabb, 23, lifted the Cup as a member of the Kings black aces, a taxi squad of minor league players brought up to the big club during a long playoff run to serve as extra players during practice and as emergency replacements in case of injury. The 6’4″ and 205 lb defenceman didn’t see any game action during the playoffs or the regular season with Los Angeles.

“It was a good learning experience for me just to see what a team like that goes through to obviously win the Stanley Cup,” said McNabb, who was joined on the Staples Center ice after the Kings win by his father Kim and brother Dean. “I wasn’t part of it on the ice, but to be around and practising with the team and being in all the meetings, it was cool. It was more of fuelling the fire in me to win a Stanley Cup.”

McNabb began the 2014 playoffs with a goal of capturing the Calder Cup as a member of the Manchester Monarchs. After the Norfolk Admirals defeated them in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, he joined the Kings in time for Game 2 of their Western Conference Quarterfinals series against the Anaheim Ducks.

McNabb said he practised with the team through the remainder of the Ducks series and the Conference Finals series against the Chicago Blackhawks. During the Stanley Cup Finals, he and the three remaining black aces took the ice after the Kings had finished practice and went through drills with assistant coaches John Stevens and Davis Payne.

On game days the black aces would come in at warm-ups and work out with the trainer before heading to the dressing room to watch the game on TV. He said the group still got to feel the craziness of NHL playoff action from the room because they could they could hear the highs and lows of the crowd that packed the stands above them.

“It was pretty emotional watching (the game from the room),” he said. “It’s almost more nerve wracking watching than playing, but like I said it was a great experience just to see a team like that go through all the ups and downs and the bad adversity they had to go though. So it was definitely a cool experience.”

A month and a day after the Kings lifted the Stanley Cup for the second time in three years, McNabb signed a two-year one-way contract with the big club giving him a good opportunity to stay in Los Angeles all year.

To read more please see the Aug. 18 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Sports

Hanley Sporting Grounds plays host to National Sporting Clays Championships

Sporting clays enthusiasts from across Canada descended on the Hanley Sporting Grounds earlier this month for their annual shooting competition.

The around 70 participants who took part in the Canadian National Sporting Clays Association (CNSCA) 2014 National Championships Aug. 1 to 3 at the Hanley Sporting Grounds each put on a display of their shotgun shooting skills in a 5-stand competition on the first day followed by FITASC (Fédération Internationale de Tir aux Armes Sportives de Chasse) and the main event of English Sporting on the next two days.

Graham Perry, owner of Hanley Sporting Grounds, said the annual CNSCA national competition moves from shooting range to shooting range across Canada each year and is open to shooters of any ability as long as they are CNSCA members. He said there are CNSCA affiliated ranges across the country and it just so happened his range, which is located seven kilometres east of Hanley, was picked by executives from the organization to host nationals this summer.

“We are pretty proud of that to have it out here in Saskatchewan,” said Perry. “We’re fairly central, so we draw people from all around, but to hold an event of that sort is pretty special.”

Sporting clays is similar to golf with a shotgun, said Perry, and like golf involves courses where no two are completely alike. The Hanley Sporting Grounds, which opened its doors in 2009 and is Saskatchewan’s only fully automated sporting clays range, features multiple stations over its about kilometre-wide course that each give a participant an opportunity to experience near-life hunting situations.

To read more please see the Aug. 18 edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

Bay named to honour Tim Cooper

A beautiful bay on the east shore of Lake Diefenbaker has a new name.
June 24, the provincial government named Cooper Bay, located at 51°9’36” North Latitude 106° 45’ 5” West Longitude, in honour of Clarence Owen Cooper.
That Cooper Bay is just north of Tufts Bay near Elbow seems fitting because both bays’ namesakes were proponents of the South Saskatchewan River Project and development of the Gardiner Dam and Lake Diefenbaker.
Cooper served as vice president of the Saskatchewan River Development Association while Dr. Wm. Tufts served as the organization’s president.
“It’s an honour to have something named after him,” says Tim’s son Gerry Cooper.
He’s proud his father’s work in promoting the Saskatchewan River dam project is recognized.
Clarence Owen (Tim) Cooper was from Hawarden, where he was a former councillor and reeve of the R.M. of Rosedale from 1941 to 1958. In 1958 Cooper turned his attention to federal politics running in the Rosetown-Biggar riding as the progressive conservative candidate. Cooper defeated CCF leader M.J. Coldwell. He represented the Rosetown-Biggar constituency under John Diefenbaker from 1958 to 1965, all the while promoting the South Saskatchewan River Project.
Gerry said his dad promoted the dam project in his maiden speech in the House of Commons.
“As soon as the Diefenbaker government got in they started pushing for it,” Gerry said.
Construction of the dam began in 1959.
To read more please see the Aug. 18 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

Bees leave homeowners with a sweet mess

The walls in the Spratt heritage home near Girvin were once abuzz with activity thanks to a bunch of busy bees that built a hive in the third-floor attic.
The hive was discovered earlier this summer by residents Keith and Mary Catherine Lindberg (Spratt).
Three years ago the Lindbergs had an interlock metal roof installed on the heritage home.
They selected interlock, because it’s not supposed to leak, says Mary Catherine.
She wasn’t impressed when earlier this summer she spotted wet spots on the ceiling in one of the second-storey bedrooms. She called the roofing company to notify them that the roof that doesn’t leak had sprung one.
Eventually the roofers arrived at the house to inspect their handiwork. One of the crewmembers reached up and touched one of the wet spots on the ceiling with his finger and then licked it. It tasted like honey. The good news is the roof doesn’t leak, the bad new is there is a large honeycomb in the walls that needs to be removed.
The Lindbergs speculate that when the new roof was installed on the house, it prevented the bees from getting to and from their hive. Without bees to maintain the hive, the honey began to run this summer, causing those suspicious looking wet spots.
Unfortunately, with their means of escape sealed by the new roof, the bees had all perished leaving behind a honeycomb in the attic that runs down the ceiling and wall of the room on the third storey.
The hive could be fairly large with its start in the attic above the third storey room and then running down the sloped ceiling, and continuing down the wall.
The Lindbergs have asked a local contractor to remove the hive. This will involve cutting through plaster and lathe to get at the hive inside the wall.

Obituary

Morrison,-Kathleen.bw

Morrison
Mary Kathleen Morrison of Davidson, Sask., passed away peacefully at the Davidson Health Care Center, July 28, 2014, age 87 with Arthur by her side. Born in Davidson March 14,1927 to Alex and Ella Low, Kathleen was the middle child in a family of five. She attended Chatham School and worked at Hoopers Store in Kenaston. On June 30, 1953 she married the love of her life Arthur Morrison.
Mom was a quiet, mild mannered, classy lady with a great sense of humour! Raised during the dirty 30’s, hardworking and being frugal were necessities of the times. You had to be able to laugh. She raised a family of five, was an avid gardener, cook and chauffeur! She drove many meals to the men in the fields, kids to swimming lessons, sports, music lessons, 4-H, not so easy when you’re 20 miles from town! In her spare time she loved reading, sewing, knitting and music. Mom loved music! She and dad loved to dance and were members of different dance clubs over the years. They still continued to dance until recently, last fall. Mom had a very strong faith and in 1995 she proudly became a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses Organization.
Predeceased by her parents; infant daughter, Jean; sister, Jean Taylor; brother, Willie Low and numerous brothers/sisters-in-law. She will lovingly be remembered by her husband of 61 years Arthur; children: Alex (Gloria) Morrison, Maureen (Ed) Kammer, Stuart (Michele) Morrison, Elaine (Kim) Sikorski, Lenora (Randy) Dulle; sisters: Dorothy Moore, Margaret Crawford; brothers/sisters-in-law: Les Taylor, Marlene Low, Leona, Justina, Elsie Morrison; 12 grandchildren: Mylo (Janel) Kammer, Rhauni (Brandon) Zoutman, Anna Bearss, Allan Morrison, Rayn (Vince) Bidinski, Brad (Mandy) Morrison, Kara Chapman, Billy (Jess) Bearss, Justine, Kole, Rhett Dulle, James Morrison; great-grandchildren: Macy, Maddax Morrison, Chaz, Kye Zoutman, Jaks Bidinski, Addy Bearss; also numerous nieces, nephews and other family members.
Thank you to all the staff at the Davidson Health Centre who helped care for mom during this difficult time. A graveside memorial gathering took place Aug 1, 2014. Arrangements entrusted to Hanson’s Funeral Home, Davidson Sask.