On Tuesday April 28th I decided to take a break from yard work. It was a beautiful day, mostly sunny and by afternoon the temperature got up to about +15C. What a change from the winter weather we had a couple of days prior.
I was able to book access to the Nordegg Historic Site. The staff are just starting to clean up the site and preparing for their official opening in a couple of weeks. I headed on up and wandered around with my camera for a few hours. It was nice to see that nothing has been disturbed since last fall, and there is no new vandalism or damage.
Most of the photography that I have done so far this year has been on Beer Parlour Project outings. I think I've exposed almost 90 sheets of 4x5 film so far this year. Except for about ten of some old buildings in Saskatchewan, and these few today at the mine site, all the rest were images for the Beer Parlour Project. This time around it was a dozen sheets, over five different camera setups, and included a couple of sheets of Infrared. It was a nice change of pace.
There is evidence of packrats up at the mine site, but I've never seen one until this visit. You can see nests of sticks and junk in and under some of the old buildings, and their little turds are all over the place. They have a very distinct and pungent odor. This time around I saw one outside by some of the old vehicles. He was too quick, and I couldn't get a photograph of him. They are actually not true rats, as Alberta is rat free. These are Bushy Tailed Wood Rats, more commonly known as Pack Rats. They inhabit old buildings, mines and caves and are known for collecting junk and trinkets.
Even though there is still a fair bit of patchy snow up at the mine, in the shade, in the bush and behind the buildings, I also saw my first butterflies of the season. These were a couple Mourning Cloaks, always the first ones to come out in the spring. They over winter after hibernating through the cold months.
From Wikipedia...
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