Our sympathy to the family and friends of Gilbert Gilpin of Kamloops, BC formerly of Bristol, Que. who passed away Nov. 19.
We are still in a very cold, deep freeze which is supposed to last the rest of this week. I hope everyone is keeping warm and that it soon gets back to normal.
We have to be careful when we heat with woodstoves in this weather as we tend to really fire up to warm the house. There have been a lot of house fires in different places.

There was a house fire here in Ladysmith on Dec. 31. It was the house known as the Emmerson Smiley place on Route 366. The house was totally burned down. As far as we know there was no one in the house at the time. The fire department was quick to respond and the barns were saved. It happened very early in the morning and someone passing by noticed the flames and called the fire department. It was a very old house and it went very fast. We still don’t know the cause.
There was a very nice birthday party in Arnprior, Ont. on Dec. 21 for Hilgert Rebertz who celebrated his 97th birthday with family. We wish him many more years of good health along with his wife Merle. They are both formerly of the Ladysmith area.
Happy birthday to Angela Dagg and Brian Zimmerling who both celebrate Jan. 5, and to Melanie Hodgins and Michael Hodgins who both celebrate Jan. 7 and to Diane Deering on Jan. 10.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s and that 2018 brings you happiness and good health.
Get well to Shirley Routliffe who has not been too well.
There are not too many signs of wildlife around here in Ladysmith during this cold weather. I haven’t seen my stray cat for two weeks. I hope he is still living.