Plumbing Demolition

The demolition part of our drainage repairs is now pretty much done.  We just have to break away a little more concrete to make a sump.  The plumber is away for a couple of days on other projects, and we need to let things dry out a bit before they can cut in and remove the old cast iron fittings.  Everything will be replaced with new ABS plastic including two backflow vales with proper cleanouts, and a sump to collect groundwater from under the slab.  I've already bought a sump pump and I'm using it now to get rid of the ground water that is accumulating in the excavation.  Once the repairs are done that pump will be placed in the new sump and excess groundwater will be pumped away to the exterior.

BP41.0 Dominion Hotel - Wendy and James

This is another negative from a Beer Parlour Project outing last winter.  This was to Barley's Pub in the Dominion Hotel, in Carstairs, Alberta.  This was our outing number BP41.0.  This is Wendy and James, some regulars to the pub.  They were there for dinner with their kids, and allowed me to take their portrait.  Chris also interviewed them and got some information for our research.

This is a scan of a 4"x5" sheet of Kodak T-Max 400.  I rated the film at 1250iso and processed in T-Max Developer, 1:4, for 8:35 minutes at 24C.  This was part of a batch of twenty sheets that I ran on June 20th.

I took this portrait on February 28th at about 7:45 in the evening.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Nikkor 210mm lens.  The exposure was for 1 second at F8.0.

Hank's Haircut

The weather for the past six weeks or so has been very wet and rainy, most of the time.  In the Edmonton area we have received over 16 inches of rain since early June.  Hence all the flooding issues in my basement.  The normal total annual precipitation for Edmonton, including rain and melted snow, is typically about 20 inches.

On the few days that it has not been raining, it has been smoking hot, with temperatures approaching 30C.  With all the moisture laying around it is grossly humid and pretty unbearable.  The mosquito hatch has been excessive and it is just about unbearable to be outside in the evenings.  These unstable conditions have also spawned some severe thunderstorms and yet more rain.  A couple of tornadoes touched down out by Rocky Mountain House last weekend and did significant damage.  There has been some severe hail as well.

This is turning out to be a really shitty summer, just consumed by dealing with all this mess.

Margarit felt sorry for Hank as he has been getting very little attention through all of this.  And he has been suffering with heat on the days that it hasn't been raining.  She decided to give him the first haircut of his life.  Up until now he has looked like a mop with stumpy little legs.  As of a couple of days ago he is clipped and looks totally different.  With all of that coarse guard hair cut away, he is now very soft and cuddly.

Update

We are now about four weeks since the flood started in our basement and the ordeal continues.  Edmonton received about 10 inches of rain in June, and so far in July, around 5 inches more.  We have a lot less ground water coming into the basement now, but everything is still pretty wet and saturated.  We have initiated an insurance claim for the damage, and the insurance contractor has stripped the wet carpet out of the rumpus room.

I tore out all the walls around our laundry room and part of the bathroom.  There is significant water damage inside the wall.  I brought in a plumber and they jack hammered out part of the floor in what was once our bathroom and laundry room.  We need to rebuild the main drain stack so we don't have these water backup issues in the future.  The old cast iron fittings are badly deteriorated.  

Of course the day after they started, we got more heavy rain.   Another half inch overnight.  So now the excavation is flooded and everything is a total mess.  So far the water is contained in the hole under the floor, and not flowing on top of the floor slab as it was in the past.  

I'm not sure what the next steps are as the plumber is booked on other jobs for a few days, and we have yet more rain in the forecast....  

BP41.0 Dominion Hotel Carstairs

I took this photograph of the Dominion Hotel in Carstairs, Alberta, immediately before our visit to Barley's Pub for Beer Parlour Project outing number BP41.0.

This is a scan of a 4"x5"sheet of Ilford HP5+ film.  I rated the film at 320 iso and gave it normal development in 510Pyro, 1:100, for 7:45 minutes at 24C.  This is part of a batch of 20 sheets that I developed on May 29th.

I took this photograph with my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens, on February 28th 2026, at about 2:30 in the afternoon.  The exposure was for 1/30 second at F22.0.

BP41.0 Carstairs - Dan

This is a scan of another negative from the Beer Parlour Project outing to Barley's Pub in the Dominion Hotel, in Carstairs, Alberta.  Chris and Byron and David and I visited on February 28th of 2026, and I took this photograph at about 8:20 in the evening.  

I shot this photograph with my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Nikkor 210mm lens.  This was a 4"x5" sheet of Kodak T-Max 400 rated at 1250 iso.  I processed the film on June 20th in T-Max developer, 1:4, for 8:35 minutes at 24C.  The exposure was for 1 second at F8.0.

This guy is Dan, and he seemed to know the area a little, but was not a local.  He was spinning some tall tales, perhaps for our benefit.  After he left, the locals were kind of scratching their heads about some of his stories.  It's all good fun, and whatever embellishment there might have been, it was certainly entertaining.

BP41.0 - Stu

This is another recently processed sheet of Kodak T-Max 400 in 4"x5".  I ran this batch of 20 sheets back on June 20th.  The film was pushed 1-2/3 stops to 1250 iso.  I processed in Kodak T-Max developer, 1:4, for 8:35 minutes at 24C.

This is another photograph from the Beer Parlour Project outing to Barley's Pub, in the Dominion Hotel, in Carstairs Alberta.  We visited in early 2026 for our outing number BP41.0.

This is Stu, a long time local in town.  He had some stories to tell about the good old days, and reluctantly allowed me to shoot his portrait.  This photograph was taken on February 28th of 2026 at around 5:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Nikkor 210mm lens.  The exposure was for 1/2 second at F11.0.

Eighteen

My youngest daughter Helena turns 18 today.  As of now there are no more children in our family.  Helena graduated from High School last month.  She is taking some time off to consider her plans for post secondary education next year.

Our house remains very busy and crowded as there are six adults living in our small space.  To make matters worse we are dealing with the recent water damage in our basement, and had to move most of our stuff upstairs.  My oldest daughter Hailey is staying out at Nordegg for much the summer, doing an online University course and working part time at the golf course.

Helena has been anxious to come out on one of our Beer Parlour Project outings.  Now that she is eighteen, she can join us on any outings here in Alberta.  The legal drinking age in Saskatchewan is still nineteen, so she can't come to any outings there for another year.  I'm not sure about British Columbia, I think it might be nineteen as well.

BP41.0 - Skyler and Kai

Usually, when we visit old hotel taverns for the Beer Parlour Project, most of the patrons are middle aged and older.  When we visited Barley's Pub, in the Dominion Hotel, in Carstairs, Alberta, these two young guys were hanging around.  They were really fascinated with my old view camera and were keen to have their portrait taken.  I think it turned out pretty well.

This is a scan of a recently processed sheet of Kodak T-Max 400.  I rated the film at 1250iso and developed a batch of twenty 4"x5" sheets on June 20th.  I used Kodak T-Max developer, diluted 1:4, for 8:35 minutes at 24C.  This has become the go to combination for most of my Beer Parlour Project shooting.  I took this photograph on February 28th 2026 at about 9:00 in the evening.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Nikkor 210mm lens.  The exposure was for 1/2 second at F9.0.

Rills

Sort of a detail shot here.  These are some rills not far from the hoodoos that I included in a recently posted image.  This is a scan of a 4"x5" negative shot on Ilford HP5+ 400.  The film was processed on May 29th in 510 Pyro, 1:100, for 7:45 minutes at 24C.

Margarit and Helena and I were out wandering in the badlands when the light falling on this slope caught my eye.  I dug out the big view camera and took this shot.

This photograph was taken on May 2nd 2026 at about 11:15 in the morning.  I shot it with my Ebony SV45Ti view camera and a Fujinon 180mm lens.  I added a #25 Red Filter to deepen the shadows and increase contrast.  The film was rated at 320 iso and exposed for 1/15 second at F20.0.

Abandoned School

Like the previous farm yard shot, this photograph is also from the spring trip to Saskatchewan.  Chris and Byron and I visited three hotels for the Beer Parlour Project, and on our time off in between, we went exploring.  This old school is in a small town in central Saskatchewan and is abandoned.  It sits beside a newer school, not visible in this photograph, that is also abandoned. 

This is a scan of a 4"x5" sheet of Ilford HP5+ 400.  It was processed on May 29th in 510 Pyro developer, 1:100, for 7:45 minutes at 24C.  I took this photograph on April 12th of 2026, at about 2:45 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens.  The film was rated at 320 iso and exposed for 1/30 second at F32.0.

Hoodoos

Margarit and I went down to East Coulee with our youngest daughter Helena, in early May.  One morning we went for a walk in the badlands and I took this shot of some hoodoos.  This is a scan of a sheet of Ilford HP5+ 400 film.  I rated the 4"x5" sheet at 320 iso and processed in 510 Pyro Developer, 1:100, for 7:45 minutes at 24C.  I ran this at part of a batch of 20 sheets back on May 29th. 

I took this photograph on May 2nd of 2026 at about 11:00AM.  I used my Ebony SV45Ti view camera and a Fujinon 300mm lens.  I added a #11 Yellow-Green Filter to increase contrast and create a little separation.  It raised the value of the vegetation somewhat.  The exposure was for 1/30 second at F29.0.

Saskatchewan Yard

This is a scan of a 4"x5" sheet of Ilford HP5+.  I shot this photograph last spring when I was over in Saskatchewan with Chris and Byron for some Beer Parlour Project outings.  We visited three hotels while we were on the trip, and in between we did a little exploring.  Most the time the weather was reasonable, but on this particular day it was cool and overcast.

I shot this image on April 12th of 2026 at about 12:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens.  I rated the film at 320 iso, and exposed at F32.0 for 1/30 second.  The film was developed on May 29th, in 510 Pyro Developer, 1:100 for 7:45 minutes at 24C.

This may have been one of those kit houses that early settlers purchased through a catalogue.  Eatons had a very popular model that looked something like this one, but this isn't the one.  It may have come from one of the other companies that offered such house packages, or perhaps it was stick built and just looks similar.

Aftermath

The last 2-1/2 weeks have just been a blur.  The heavy rains started just before Margarit and I were scheduled to leave on our 25th Anniversary trip.  We had to postpone that trip and instead spent the next several days taking shifts down in our basement.  Someone had to be there full time, 24/7, to run the wet and dry vacuum to control the water that was coming in.  At the heaviest flow, the water had to be vacuumed every 4 to 5 minutes.  Those nights spent sitting down there in the basement were extremely exhausting.  During the month of June we saw 10 inches of rain in the Edmonton area, most of that in the last week of the month.

We got a bit of a break with a couple of days of warm dry weather right around the end of June, but then the rains started up again, and we had to return to several days of taking shifts with the vacuum.  Finally the rains let up in early July.  Since then we have initiated an insurance claim, and started on the cleanup.

We took a few days to get a bunch of our stuff out of the way, including old furniture and lots of junk.  Then the insurance company sent in a crew and stripped the carpet out of our Rumpus Room.  They set up an industrial dehumidifier and we ran that for several days to dry things out.  This  room got wet due to water that entered through the floor.  The ground was so saturated that hydrostatic pressure was pushing the water up through cracks in the floor.  This was a separate issue from the main leak.  The water that we spent the previous 10 days vacuuming was coming through some failed plumbing in our bathroom, on the opposite side of the basement.  Fortunately there was no water entering my darkroom, and none of my photography gear was damaged.

The insurance companies are all very busy due to the high volume of claims.  We don't expect to see any repairs initiated for quite some time.  In the mean time, I need to get a plumber in to repair the failed drainage lines.  This is not covered by insurance and is my responsibility.  I can't wait for the insurance company to come and rip out the water damaged walls.  These walls need to be out of the way in order for the plumber to cut into the floor.  So I took it upon myself to remove two of the walls around our laundry appliances.  We will not replace these and just leave the laundry area open.  There is still a little more drywall, and also a vanity in our bathroom, that need to be stripped out of the way.  I will continue with this work myself, as the insurance contractor can not get to it for a while.  

We can't afford to wait for that as we if we get more heavy rain, we will have more water entering, and as a result we need to be around, all the time.  Once the plumbing is repaired and things dry out, we should not have any more leakage into the basement.  Then we can afford to wait for a while until the remaining repairs can be done.

In the meantime the upstairs is absolutely jam packed with all the stuff we moved out of the basement, despite four trips to the dump and a bunch of stuff donated to Goodwill.  Ryan and Braeden have been camped out on an air mattress in our living room as they had been staying in the basement prior to the flood.

On July 10th a heavy thunderstorm rolled through the city.  Fortunately it hit north of us and we only got a few minutes of heavy rain.  Other parts of the city suffered high winds, hail, heavy rain and flooding.  Many roadways were flooded and impassable, and power was out in parts of the city for a number of hours.  Then today, we got a milder version of that storm in our area.  There were high winds, marble sized hail, and heavy rain, but fortunately it only lasted for about half an hour.  The ground is becoming saturated once again, but so far we have not had any additional water entry into the basement.

So far the summer has been a total write off.  I will be glad when we get this situation under control over the next couple of weeks and can take a break from this and relax for a bit.  It would be nice to get away to the cottage and unwind, and maybe get out to visit more small town hotels for the Beer Parlour Project.

BP35.0 - Wabamun Hotel - Doris and Ron

This is a scan of another negative from the outing to the Wabamun Hotel.  This one was taken on a sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320.  I pushed the film to 1600iso, and gave extended development.  I used Kodak HC110 Developer, highly diluted to 1:100, and developed the film for 2-1/2 hours.  Agitation was minimal, just once every half hour.  I thought this yielded pretty decent results and I'm quite happy with it.

This is Doris and Ron, being interviewed by Chris during our Beer Parlour Project outing number BP35.0.  I took this shot on August 16th at about 7:00 in the evening.  I used my Ebony SV45TU view camera and a Schneider 135mm lens.  The exposure was for 1/4 second at F11.0.