a.

flow, to do some chores.

SKEENA ANGLE
ROB BROWN

Chores

here are always dozens of diminutive
duties buzzing around a person’s
head, insistent, gnat-like — no, worse
~ noseeum-like. When they’re not fly-
ing up your nose or getting in your
eyes, they buzz in your ears. You know the

’ buzz, it goes something like this: “those bills

need to be paid, that cheque needs cashing, that
kitchen bulb needs screwing in, the tires need
changing, that gutter needs cleaning, those fall-
en leaves need raking.” And so it goes as the

’ list grows until it piles up in your mind, ages,
‘rots, and commands your attention like a can

full of ripe garbage standing in your kitchen.

Then it’s list time, time for an inventory of
must-dos. You grab pen and scrap paper — an
opened envelope, a receipt perhaps, and jot
down the duties, carefully plotting the sequence
of execution to save precious time, yet knowing
from bitter experience that however you proceed
the tasks will devour an entire day — a day that
will not be relived.

So it was for me, on Monday last. The list
was onerous and left undone far too jong. Les-
see, I thought, the logical place to go first is the
bank, then the mall, then the post office, and so it
went until the list consumed all the space on
the back and front of an envelope.

It was raining. Except for a smattering of days
this summer, it’s been raining or preparing to
rain since May. It had rained all weekend. The
weather channel predicted isolated shawers,
Scattered showers followed by plain, old show-
ers for the next week. I drove through puddles to

‘the credit union, thinking that if this keeps up,

people grabbed by the cold, wet hand of Seaso-
nal Affective Disorder are going to be flinging
themselves from the recently refurbished old
bridge and the new old bridge as well.

When I gat to the credit union it was 9 am. I

' Shook the door then read the hours posted on it.

The door would not be open until ten. A set-
back, not a major one but a setback nonethe-
less, enough to make me decide to go fishing,

_ 1 made up my mind to drive inland - to keep
driving until I’d outrun the rain. A mile or so
past the spot where Ron Young had pastured his
mules I did just that. Clouds cracked apart and
shafts of warm yellow light shone down illumi-
nating a white snow covered mountain flank
here, a river flat there. Then, at Cedarvale, the
clouds thinned revealing vast tracts of blue. By
the time J reached the Panorama Run the land
was bathed in sunlight.

The week before the valley was 2 brilliant,
shimmering yellow, now it was skeletal and
white, but just as beautiful and, since more of
the river was revealed now, more interesting, I
hastily assembled my rod, pulled on my waders,
donned my jacket, grabbed my staff and strode
down the trail, crunching leaf litter underfoot.

As I emerged from the woods about a hun-
dred yards upstream on the same side, a moose
did too. In the time it took me to gain the head
of the run and tie on a fly, he waded into the
river, walked until forced to swim, then pulled
himself up onto the bank, As I made my first
few drifts with a black version of Ron Gran-
tham’s Sedge built, appropriately, with a moose
mane wing, the bull trotted across the farm field
across from me and disappeared into the brush.

A char rose to the fly, a fish of perhaps four
pounds, as it turned out. I brought him to hand,
then released him. A few casts later another
dolly varden pounced on the sedge. The river
was cold, the air warm and dry with only a hint
of wind. After all the sopping days preceding
this moment, I couldn’t suppress a sigh.

Some errant gulls that had followed the sal-
mon inland a short time ago, flew by on their
way to the sea, looping back from time to time
to look for fish scraps. Next came an eagle
whose shadow startled a large flock of Canada
geese that leapt from the field honking, so
alarmed they couldn’t muster properly, and
never did attain a vee,

All thoughts of rain and chores gone from my
mind, J looked north where the Kispiox Range
was covered in white snow, then across the river
where the range peaking at Roche de Boule was
dusted with it, then down river across the boul-
der prairies, then at the black fly skating over
the surface. It disappeared, snatched from the
film by a fish that was now leaping some fifty

_ feet from where my fly line entered the river.

. The fish leapt again, then once more. It
pulled hard on the line. The sedge held, and
there, af the end of my leader was silvery steel-

head with the spotted back of a trout, a fish ridi-
-culously fresh for this place at this time — a
‘wonderful surprise.

T'drove back to Terrace, descended into the
rain and gloom, my battery, charged. Prepared,

we

zi te

. The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 14, 2001 - BS

FORMER Skeena Valley Golf and Country Club manager Bruce Carruthers waves goodbye as he gets set for a ne

1

w phase in his life.

After 11 years as manager Carruthers stepped down te spend more time with his family. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO.

Carruthers bids golf course farewell

By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN:
A MAINSTAY ‘at the Skéena Valley “Golf and
Country club is leaving.

Club manager Bruce Carruthers ended his
11 year career with the golf club Nov. 1.

“[’ve worked weekends for the past 40
years,” Carruthers said. “Now I want to golf on
the weekends.”

Watching the golf course prow up before his
very eyes, his time as manager meant more
than just having a job for him, it was some-
thing of a passion.

“The overall highlight of my career is hay-
ing been able to see the back nine started and
completed,” Carruthers said.

Planning for the back nine began with the
purchase of 65 acres of land in 1990, It was
just the year before Carruthers became club
manager.

Tt was a long labour of love for Carruthers
who was integral in coordinating volunteers,
fundraising and overseeing the development
along with the club’s board of directors,

But he’s quick to shrug off responsibility for
the project ~ it's the volunteers and members
that really deserve the credit, he said.

Carruthers estimates the club received $1.7
million dollars worth of volunteer time, labour
and equipment donated to the project.

5

That's something he says makes the mem-
bership at fhe club unigue” 9° 0 8 7)

Becalise of the huge personal investment
members put in, he says says they have a spe-
cial sense of pride and ownership in the
course,

“Our members really heiped make it
happen,” he said.

And it took 10 years for the back nine to go
from a plan to a reality,

This, was the first year the full I8 hole
course was open for play, much to the delight
of golfers not only in Terrace, but throughout
the northwest.

“There was a time when we were only nine
holes and we had some visitors,” Carruthers
recalled. “But naw there’s a lot more inter-
club activity."

The choice to step down as manager came
largely because of a desire ta spend more time
with his family.

As club manager, days start at 6 a.m, and if
there are evening functions the clubhouse.
sometimes stays open as late as 2 a.m.

The position also means almost no week-
ends off throughout the golfing season.

“I'm very fortunate to have a wife who is a
golfer and understands the demands of man-
aging a golf course,” Carruthers said.

Now he plans to hit the links at her side.

“Debbie's a much better golfer than me, so." ~
] have to catch up,” he said laughing. oe

But just because he's stepping down as
manager doesn’t mean his work at the golf
course is over,

“Debbie's a much better
golfer than me, so | have to
catch up.”

He plans to volunteer his time when needed
and stay on as club historian.

He’s spent countless hours maintaining the
club’s extensive collection of scrap books and
photo albums over the years and is eager to
continue doing so.

“To me, that history is priceless and I’l]
certainly keep that up,” he said.

At 66 years old, Carruthers isn’t ready to
quit working all together. He plans on staying
in the workforce in some capacity ~ he just
hasn’t figured out what exactly his next step
will be.

“T've been working for 51 years now. How
do you stop that?”

min the

pool

MICHAELA BJORK, 8, was one of the Terrace Bluebacks first-year swimmers at an in
swim competition Nov. 4 at the Terrace Aquatic Center.

swimmers to get their faet wet in a competition settling.

-house novice
It was a chance for the first and second year

Sports
Scope

Sign up now
THE DEADLINE to regis-
ter for the 11th annual All
Native Qualifying Tourna-
ment is this week.

The Novy, 22-25 tourna-
ment pits teams from B.C,
and Alaska against each
other for a chance to play in
February's All Native Bas-
ketball Tournament.

This year’s qualifying

' tournament hosts four divi-
sions once again: Senior,
Intermediate, Masters and
Women, The top two teams
from each division at the’
qualifier advances to the
main tournament.

The tournament draws
thousands of fans eager to
take in some of the best bas-
ketball action the northwest
has to offer.

Last year Terrace had
two teams representing the
city ~ The Terrace Spirit Ri-
ders women’s team and an
intermediate men’s team,
The Predators.

For more information
call Conrad Lewis at 250
627-8997,