Good morning, everyone! Got your garden dug yet? Me neither, but the weeds are coming up regardless! Spring comes so fast and suddenly skiing is the last thing on your mind when you wake up on Saturday morning! However…. if you think of it – there’s still tons of snow and it’s in surprisingly good shape!

We’re grooming minimally with the Ginzu now as the Piston Bulley is in need of a few repairs before he goes out again. “Grousers” are things that hold the tracks together on PB and 4 of them have broken so until they’re fixed, the Ginzu will do the work. In case you’re wondering, grousers breaking is standard on tracked vehicles – the only surprise is that we’ve only lost 4. We’re actually a bit under budget for repairs so far this year. Miracles do happen! The tiller needs work though so don’t start getting excited!

I’d like to thank Cliff Doiron, Lothar Mueller, Anthony van der Muellen and Dean Bergstrom for their hours and hours of time spent on PB giving us the trails we love. Thanks, guys!

OK – we had a blast at the 300 party/groomer recognition/sprint race last month – it poured with rain/hail/sleet/? which made life interesting but it was fun.

Rabbits wrapped up with a ski out to the Moose hut for lunch and also had a blast. Congratulations to Kate Durrant (age 6) who made it out there for the first time! Way to go, Kate!

As posted on the website and in the note sent out to members, we’re holding a general meeting this Friday, April 15. The Potluck dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m.-ish. BYO eating utensils and a plastic bag to take them home in. We’ll be able to ski, so come prepared.

The meeting part of the evening: the executive would like to discuss a few things – we need a new 5 Year Plan and things like the future of the rental shop, newer, flatter trails if any, the future of the doggy trail (too many free loaders), snow shoe trails, and fund raising for a new PB (in 5 years time) are on our list. What’s on your list? Come and give us some suggestions. If there’s something else you think the membership should discuss, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and I’ll put it on the agenda. Hope to see everyone on Friday evening with lots of ideas about what we want to do for the next 5 years!

I’m calling in all the rental equipment this month. I’ll be at the trails on Saturdays from 1-3 pm. If you can plan to spend an extra 15 minutes waxing them for me (I’ll show you how) I’d really appreciate it. If you can’t make it out to the trails at that time, please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we’ll make arrangements—even this Friday evening would be great!

In Memoriam

We mourn the passing of Art Hill two weeks ago. Art was the volunteer fire chief in Thornhill for many years. He was committed to his family and his community and when he joined our Club, he immediately volunteered for the hard stuff: grooming and building the trail lighting system. He groomed for several years (pulling the midnight shift regularly) and installed our first alarm system about 10 years ago. When our new system was giving us grief this winter, it was Art who got it working properly. He was a man who left his world better than it was when he found it and never waited for someone else to do it. He will be missed.

Just one more thing to mention. The executive meets on the 2^nd Tuesday of each month, at the trails, at 7:30 pm. Any member is welcome to attend and speak about anything on the agenda (and if you call me ahead of time, put something on the agenda yourself). Only the executive votes, but we’re delighted to welcome members at large so if you’re at loose ends this Tuesday, come on out to the trails!

Happy Spring everyone – see you on Friday!

Liz (da prez)