• Sky Mountain Golf Course, Hurricane, UT

  • Maureen O’Shea at Torrey Pines

I wasn’t living on the farm after I graduated from High School so I wasn’t there for the day to day progress of the building of the Gardiner Dam.

However, it was May 27, 1958 that there were ceremonies officially marking the beginning of the construction.   More surveying was then done on both sides of the river and soon heavy equipment began arriving to start moving dirt!  And heavy equipment it was: HUGE EUCLIDS, TRUCKS, GRADERS – for work that was being done, day and night.

imageThere, one course, was a security issue and getting into the site entailed an access gate that monitored all activity entering and *exiting the site.lk*  My Dad, Peter and *Uncle Paul, his twin brother, both worked at manning the gates.  It was a great opportunity for a couple of “Seniors”.  I know my Mom was glad to have something exciting for Dad to do and keep him out of the house.

Some of the construction site was designated for a park and a townsite.  Of course buildings were erected to house the needed machinery and retail businesses were opened.  A drive-through cafe and a general store were opened for business, as well as a service station.  Imagine! Ice cream less than a mile from home!  imageThe village was called Cutbank.  Temporary housing was available for the workers.

I know it must have been difficult for my Mom to see the house movers come and jack up the house and prepare to move it to another location.  Now it wasn’t a treasured family home in fact it was a house that was actually in two parts.  The first part had survived a fire in the dead of winter with snow being carted up to the roof to extinguish the flames.  After, an addition was added to the house with stairs leading up to a bedroom.  There was still a door leading to the roof of the original house and the charred shingles were there for you to see!  But this was my Mom’s home, and she must have loved it dearly as she opted to ride in the house to its new foundation on my brother Gordon’s farm.

The house was turned opposite to how it sat before:  now it faced south instead of north.  I loved the way it now sat with the sun shining in from the east and south windows.

Mom now had a garden just steps from her door.  A place for her to grow her  gladiolas and all the vegetables she loved.

My Mom with her beautiful flowers.

By now the building of the dam was in high gear. The tunnels and the towers were in place and my brother Gordon was employed by the PFRA to control the levels of water downstream and operate the spillway when water levers were too high for the lake.  Soon the large pumping station was finished and my brother Gerald (who was now an electrician) was employed by the Saskatchewan Water Commission in charge of the water irrigation canal.

Both my brothers were employed close to home until retirement.

Close to the village of Elbow was a perfect inlet for a marina, which was built, as well as a championship golf course called Harbour Golf Club & Resort.  This golf course is dear to my heart.  What was once nothing but prairie grass and gopher holes was developed into a beautiful, challenging golf course.  Most of the regular golfers are from the surrounding facing communities and what an opportunity it was to be able to get off the tractor at noon and head out for 18 holes of golf nearby!

The course has several holes that cozy up against Lake Diefenbaker and it is hard to keep your eye on the ball with the shimmering sunlight reflecting on the water captivating your view.  One hole that I love and is unique to this course is a Par 3 of 68 yards from the forward tee.  What is unique about this hole is the tee is slightly elevated and your ball must carry over a fairway wide thicket of chokecherry bushes to a hidden green.  Go long and you are down the cliff to the lake.

Memories’

June 21, 2026

Read more

JIm and I were were golfing at Sky Mountain Golf Course in mid October back in 2010. We were paired with a couple from Idaho. Gary was a very good golfer and so was Judy.
The course was very busy so there was a lot of chatting as we waited on each T box. Judy suggested that the guys ride on one cart and she would ride with me. So we switched carts and clubs. She loved telling me that she was 80 and Gary was only 78. She also said that coming down to Hurricane to golf was one way they could stay together. She told me that, of course, living together without being married in Idaho was frowned upon!

As I said earlier, she was a very good golfer. And she also said that having her handicap go up from a six was certainly not as much fun as having it go down to a six.

She was very curious about my clubs and I do believe at that time I had a Taylor Made driver with a bright white head. I asked her if she would like to try it. She said, “Oh, Maureen, would you let me?” I said “for sure.” She hit it several times and always far and straight.

I told her that I had bought it at Zion golf in St. George and I knew for a fact they had one more.

We sat and visited in the parking lot for at least a half hour after we finished golfing. We talked about places to golf, golf clubs and places to eat..

As we were saying our goodbyes, Gary piped up to say that for sure they would be heading for Zion golf when they left the course. He also said, as you may have guessed, Judy has her own money!

At Sky Mountain Golf Course the third hole is a dog leg to the left. All along the left side of the fairway is tangled bushes and rocks. The cart path is also there and ends with a large bunker bordering the left side of the green. The fairway slopes dmownward before rising up to the green.

We were booked with another two some the next morning and we’re waiting to tee off on the fourth hole.

Down the cart path coming from the fairway on number three hole are Gary and Judy.

“I got the driver, I got the driver,” Judy shouted as she jumped off the golf cart and gave me a big hug.

Judy had hit her drive right down to the area on the up slope to the green!

“Thank you so much Maureen, if I hadn’t tried your driver, I would never have guessed what an asset a new club could be for my game.”

Glad to have helped, Judy.

Read more

You should write your life story.

I think it is important and forgive me if I said this before! Every time I’m having a card game with a few people or just coffee, I ask them if they have written their life story or if they have any plans to do it! I explained to them that it’s not that difficult even if you just write it on line paper. If you have access to word document on your computer or tablet you can write it there. Printed out or if it is just on lined paper, you can go to Staples and have it coil bound. BIngo , you have a record of your life for your children or grandchildren to read.

One day when I was waiting at the lab to have blood work done, I was in conversation with a gentleman in the next seat. He said that his Mother was still living on her own and very healthy at 86 years of age and I thought this is a really good time yo tell him to sit down with her and explain how important it is to him if she would write her life story. And I told him just that. He told me that his mom was 13 years old and his dad was 14 years old when they came to Canada from Germany. They had survived WW2 in Germany and met and married after coming to Canada. There must be interesting stories of each parent.

It reminds me of the story of Edith Kesmarky. She was Doc’s (my husband) boss at SGI for many years. She and husband and children escaped from a train that was taking them to a concentration camp. The oldest daughter needed to go to the washroom and all four of them went from the washroom off the train on the other side. It was dark and they trudged through the muddy fields for four hours not knowing where they were going. It turned out when it was daylight that they were safe in West Germany. Edith’s husband was an Engineer and was offered a job with Sask Power when they finally arrived in Canada. I remember her saying they had only $1.87 to their name when they got to Regina.
One friend of my youngest daughter told me how happy she is that I write about my life in my blog. She was at her grandmother’s funeral and after listing to family members recalled many things her Gramma had done. She had never heard any of this before. She wished her Gramma had written about her life.

You can buy inexpensive lined paper to write on. Once you have written your life story, you can take it, as I said above, to Staples to make copies for family members. You can get it coil bound for under $10.00.

Start writing today!

Read more

This is World Glaucoma Day. Yes, today, March 12, 2026, is World Glaucoma Day. It is part of World Glaucoma Week (March 8–14, 2026), which focuses on raising awareness about the “silent thief of sight”. The day emphasizes the importance of regular eye check-ups to prevent blindness.

I want to share my experiences with Glaucoma.

My Glaucoma started in 2003

Dr. Monica Jensen referred me to Dr. Kirker to see if I had signs of glaucoma.

Dr. Kirker was full of fun. He always called me, Maureen O’Hara, and he would laugh. He did confirm that I had the start of glaucoma and I began taking eye drops to stop the progress by reducing the eye pressure.

Dr. Kirker retired and I started seeing Dr Douglas and he retired. I was referred to Dr. Gooi and now I see Dr. Penner.

In the past few years, I tried many different eye drops and had major side effects. The last prescription was Monoprost.

Dr. Penner explained to me that the drops were not keeping my glaucoma at bay and that surgery was the only option. I was booked January 5, 2026 for surgery on my right eye and February 17 for my left eye.

This surgery is called Trabeculectomy and they make a flap called a bleb in the white of your eye. My first surgery was on the outer side of the white of my eyeball of my right eye. The 2nd surgery was to the right of the eyeball of my left eye.

The surgery on my right eye kept the pressure down however it caused my eye to be blurry. 4-6 weeks was generally the timeframe for the blurriness to stop. However, after eight weeks, there was still a bit of blurriness in that eye.

The surgery for February 17 was postponed to March 4 when my left eye surgery was done.

When I wake up in the morning, there is no blurriness in either eye, however, I do believe the eye drops cause some cloudiness but it is mild. Right now I am using four different drops; prednisone, bepreve, nirvanac-sandbox-moxifloxacin. These drops are to heal my eye.

For whatever reason my right eye was blurry for seven weeks. With my left eye right from after the surgery I had very little blurriness.

I can see quite clearly with my latest
prescription classes from last summer. However, they up close reading portion of my glasses is not accurate. Dr. Pender said that it takes a good month for the eye to heal totally and I will be able to get new prescription glasses.

Hopefully my eyes will be healed from the surgery soon and I will be seeing OK!

Read more

I need to give you the lowdown on this fantastic structure.

‘The shiny, new Las Vegas Sphere is more than just a 17,600-seat amphitheater-style venue. The entertainment experience venue now dotting the Strip has already picked up a handful of superlatives, too. Since its opening it’s become the world’s largest spherical structure at 516 feet wide and 366 feet tall. Meanwhile, the seating bowl’s 160,000-square-foot spherical LED “immersive surface” lights up at full 16K resolution, making it the highest-resolution LED screen on Earth. To add another wrinkle, the world’s largest beamforming audio system—think headphone-style sound without the headphones—tucks behind the immersive surface for a fully customized experience. And experience is the key. The Sphere’s three world firsts for shape, sight, and sound craft a fresh entertainment experience, one that has taken at least 60 patents to produce (though leaders have filed other patents throughout the course of the project, and expect to surpass the 100-patent mark).” -Popular Mechanics)

Sunday morning around 11 a.m. Lisa asked me if I would be interested in seeing The Wizard Of Oz at the Sphere. Of course I said yes! In no time Lisa determined that there was a matinee at 2 o’clock. She was able to find seat #13 and #14 row 27 and one seat #13 in row 26; tickets for Lisa, Tracy and me.

Lisa and Tracy had been to the Sphere once before and knew that parking was definitely a problem. Expect to park blocks away and take the monorail to get close; walking for quite some distance to the entrance of the Sphere would follow. We decided (in fact it was a no-brainer!)to take a Lyft ride.
We arrived at the Sphere with enough time to take the elevator to the top floor to see the view from there.

Entering the performance space, the seating is quite steep as are the stairs, so I was very careful to hold the railing.

The adaptation of the movie “The Wizard Of Oz” to fit the Sphere cost over $1.8 billion and it is totally amazing. You feel like you are right in the movie — you feel that close. The sound is unbelievably perfect. The seats are programmed to the show and shook with the tornado storm!

The Amphitheatre dome is so engulfing it is hard to describe. You feel like you are suspended in space and the horizon is so close you’re tempted to reach out and touch it.
It was windy many times and rain drops fell as well as confetti leaves. One scene when it snowed tiny flakes landed on my cheek. Not to be forgotten there was thunder and lightening in one storm where the whole seat was shaking!

When you have a chance to see your favorite entertainer here, I recommend you get the tickets and go. You will be just as thrilled as I was.
Enjoy our photos below.




Ttyl

Read more

The holiday has existed in Canada since at least 1845, originally on Queen Victoria’s Birthday, May 24.

The holiday is colloquially known in parts of Canada as “May Two-Four”, a double entendre that refers both to the date around which the holiday falls (May 24) and the Canadian slang for a case of twenty-four beers (a “two-four”), a drink popular during the long weekend.{

Hanley, Saskatchewan, had a celebration on Victoria Day as far back as 1905? The reason I know that is because when my mom‘s family came to Saskatchewan there was a celebration in Hanley at that time. There were flags and banners and a merry-go-round. Baseball and foot races.

I only remember it as being a “Sport’s Day” and my Brother Jim would go and pitch for the Strongfield baseball team. I don’t believe I ever went to Hanley, but I can remember it was either really cold or really hot. Jim would come home with such a sunburn when it was the hot sunny day.

I think my dad really wanted to have a son that was a good baseball player because he had played baseball back in Minnesota. I think by the time Jim was old enough to play all my dad probably wasn’t that keen about baseball by that time. How do I know?

I know that Jim tried very hard to be really good pitcher and he probably could’ve become one if he had had any coaching outside our family. All I know is I wasn’t very good at catching the fastball that came out of his hand!

I have no pictures from Hanley celebrations but I have one from Notre Dame at Wilcox.

I hope that summer is on its way!

Read more