It has been a wonderful time out in Nordegg... mostly pretty laid back and relaxed. Margarit drove out and joined me on the evening of June 26th. I played golf that afternoon, but was back at the cottage by the time she arrived. We spent four wonderful days together... which makes up for the fact that we were apart for our 24th Anniversary on the 23rd.
The showery weather continued and Margarit and I just relaxed in the cottage for the most part. We had a couple of nice meals together, and one night went down to the lounge in town. The last time I was out with the kids, a couple of weeks ago, our septic alarm went off, indicating that the holding tank was full. We also ran out of fresh water. So the first thing I did upon my arrival in Nordegg, before Margarit made it out, was to get a load of water, and get the holding tank emptied. Both tanks are 2000 gallons, and we can make it for about a year on one load. The last time dealt with the tanks was July 12th of 2024. This time around it was June 21st 2025... so almost a year.
On June 25th I wandered into the mine site with my camera and did a bunch of photography. On the 27th Margarit and I returned for an event that was being hosted there. Despite the rainy weather, about 30 to 40 people showed up. It was a fireside talk up at the mine site, with snacks and coffee. Two long time residents of Nordegg talked about their years spent growing up in the town, back in the coal mining days. Neither of them were actually old enough to have worked as miners, as the mine closed permanently in 1955. But their families, friends and neighbors worked as miners. We really enjoyed it and it was really informative. Hopefully they do it again.
On June 28th the chimney sweep showed up and cleaned the chimney on our main cottage. I didn't bother to get the guest cottage cleaned as we just haven't had a lot of fires there. Then on June 29th, Gary the jukebox and pinball guru showed up and took a look at my Rockola Jukebox. Gary is a friend of Chris and Connie's and is THE expert on this stuff in western Canada. He lives in Lake Louise and does this sort of work as a side gig to his main job of working for Parks Canada. He confirmed that my Rockola needs a few minor parts... mostly a cartridge and needle for the turntable. Other than that it mostly just needs cleaning, lubrication and adjustment. He is going to return later in the summer, after we round up the parts, and get it up and running.
Later that day the chimney sweep returned and installed a brace on my chimney for me. Its something I've been meaning to get around to for a couple of years, but didn't have a long enough ladder. I was trying to convince Margarit to stay for a few more days but that evening she realized she had an appointment with her surgeon back in Edmonton, the next morning. So she bailed out and headed for home around 8:00PM, arriving safely just after 11:00.
In between all that I continued working on yard cleanup, including cutting, splitting and stacking more firewood. The new woodpile that I started on last year is now complete. I think its the biggest one yet. I also restacked a couple of my other woodpiles that had partly fallen over, and replenished some of the wood that had been used. The kids can't seem to grasp the concept of allowing wood to fully dry for a couple of years, and using up the oldest stuff first. Instead they just seem to go to the nearest woodpile and grab whatever. With these three large woodpiles now in order, I started refilling a fourth one. This one was used up this past winter. I continued cutting and splitting the logs that have been piled behind our garage, since the lot was cleared. I also cut up and split a couple of standing dead trees that came down this spring.
It was really busy in Nordegg this last weekend of June. I went into town and did a beer run on the morning of June 30th. The highway was like a parade and the parking lot at the little strip mall in town was full. I got my case of beer and went back home. There were lots of motor bikes and ATV's ripping around all day, but I never really left my property after that. That evening I went for a short walk around the subdivision, just as a brief thunder shower passed over. I shot a short video of some rain that was nicely backlit by the setting sun. And there was a beautiful rainbow.....
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