Retired, Expired but still Fired

This is another shot from the Monochrome Guild trip last fall.  This shot was taken at Dinosaur Provincial Park, at the same place and time as my previously posted image of a hoodoo.

I bought my first 8x10 view camera back in late 2006 or early 2007... I can't remember exactly.  It was a very heavy and bulky Sinar P.  The main problem with it, aside from the weight, is that it did not have a fresnel on the ground glass.  This made it impossible to see the entire viewing screen at once, making proper composition almost impossible.  I soon learned that with these big negatives, that I can only contact print at this time, you have to be very careful about composition.  There is no opportunity to crop when contact printing so what you get on the negative, is in the print.

Shortly after purchasing the camera I bought a box of Fujichrome Astia film from a seller on Ebay.  He was actually a local guy, and I don't recall his name.  I picked up the film in person, and put it away in my freezer.  The seller claimed that it had been properly stored, and perhaps it was.

Astia was a film that Fuji came out with and it was geared towards portraits and fashion photography. It was claimed to have realistic skin tones.

I ended up largely abandoning that Sinar 8x10 as I just wasn't getting any good results, and the process of taking it out shooting was such an ordeal.  Then, about the time I retired, I bought a much smaller and lighter Chamonix 8x10 field camera.  This is much lighter and more compact, though it does not have the precision and range of movements that the Sinar did.  It also has a much brighter ground glass viewing screen with a fresnel lens.  In recent years I have begun to shoot a lot more 8x10 film again.

Recently I set up my Jobo processor and ran a batch of color transparency film.  Mostly this was a bunch of stuff shot on 4x5, but it also included a few sheets of 8x10.  

This sheet of film has still not completely flattened out since processing and I'm having some difficulty getting it to stay flat in my scanner.  There is a bit of curl and reflection on the surface that I just can't seem to deal with.  The first scan is a straight scan of the film.  The color is obviously way out to lunch.  The chemistry was reasonably fresh, but the film was very old.  This particular sheet of film had a best before date of January 1999.  I loaded it into a film holder in January of 2012, and then it laid around in my darkroom, at room temperature, for over a dozen years until I exposed it on October 21st of 2025.  Six months later I unloaded the exposed film and put it into my fridge.  Then this past week I finally got around to processing it.  

The second scan is the same image.  I'm not very good at Photoshop or image adjusting software, and I'm somewhat color blind [which is why I mostly shoot Black and White], but I attempted to adjust the colors to something a little more realistic.

Interestingly, I shot another sheet of film from the same batch on that trip, and recently processed it as well.  The color in that one was much more realistic.  That sheet of film stayed in my freezer until I loaded it in a holder June of 2021.  So it only laid around at room temperature for 4 years, rather than over a dozen.  I will share that image in a future post.

Kodak Tri-X Pan 8x10 in PMK

This is a shot that I took in the fall of 2025 when the Monochrome Guild was out on our annual fall outing.  That was the trip that my daughter Helena came along on.  Her decision to join the group was somewhat surprising as she was 17 at the time, and the four of us old guys from the Guild that were on the trip, were all in our 60's.  But she had a great time, and we all enjoyed her company.

I took this photograph on October 21st 2025 at about 2:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Chamonix810V view camera and a wide Nikkor W 240mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter lowered the value of the sky, and the shadows, and bumped up the contrast a bit.  This was taken in Dinosaur Provincial Park in southern Alberta, on a beautiful fall day.

This is an 8"x10" sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 film.  When I had my Jobo processor set up in my darkroom recently, a ran a few batches of this film in PMK developer.  Mostly this was some 4x5 stuff, but I did include one batch of 8x10, that included this image.  I gave normal development, as the scene was already rather contrasty.  This was 9:35 minutes at 20C.

Running the Jobo

Back in March I set up my Jobo processor in the darkroom.  At that time I ran a couple of batches of C-41 chemistry.  That is the process for developing color negative film.  There are also some chromogenic black and white films that require the same process.

When I returned from Nordegg in early May I mixed up a batch of E-6 chemistry.  This is the chemistry for developing color transparency film.  It includes a first developer, color developer, and bleach/fix, with numerous water rinses in between.  I ran a big batch of 30 sheets of 4"x5", 5 sheets of 8"x10", and three rolls of 35mm.

Once that was completed, I also ran some Black and White film.  This was two batches of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 in PMK, some 4"x5" and some 8"x10".  This is a staining pyro developer that requires continuous agitation.  The Jobo works very well for this.

The Jobo processor has a water bath with a circulating pump.  There is a heat element and a cooling solenoid in the water bath and this maintains perfect process temperature.  For Black and White work this is not really a big deal as process temperatures are typically 20 to 24 degrees C.  And the process is not overly affected by a minor fluctuation.  But color developing requires a much higher process temperature, usually around 37 to 40 degrees C, so the Jobo is a must for this.

Once the last of this processing is completed I will dry everything out and put the Jobo away until the next time that I build up some batches of film that require it.  This will allow me to move on to some hand processing of some other black and white films, and some printing.  I particularly want to get after some of the recent images from Beer Parlour Project outings.

Line Wash - BP14.0 Cadillac Hotel

I stayed out in Nordegg until May 10th, and returned to the city that evening.  Since then things have been super busy.  On the 13th I took Margarit, Ryan and Braeden to the airport and they flew to Austria.  It was a somewhat roundabout trip as they flew west to Vancouver, then east to Montreal, and then over the top to Vienna.  They are staying at Margarit's cousin Martina's place, and met up there with Hailey, who arrived shortly after they arrived.

Since then I have been super busy at home.  Helena stayed behind with me as she is in the final weeks of Grade 12 and preparing to write final exams, and then graduate.  I have been taking her to and from school every day, as well as catching up on some chores around the house.

I finished putting together all the files for my holding company.  This is a years worth of stuff, for the fiscal year end that occurred on April 30th.  I will be taking everything over to my accountant in the coming days so that he can prepare year end financials.

I also set up my film processor and ran a big batch of color transparency film.  This included mostly some 4"x5" stuff, but also a little bit of 8"x10" and a few rolls of 35mm.  I will also be using the processor to run some film in PMK Pyro developer.  Once that is out of the way I can move on to some other work in the darkroom.

I also caught up on a bunch of chores that fell by the wayside while I was out at Nordegg for almost three weeks.  I had some bills to pay and some other paperwork to deal with.  With Margarit and the kids gone I also have to look after grocery shopping, cooking, dishes, laundry, housekeeping and the houseplants and pets.  In fairness Helena is doing most of the stuff for the pets.

Before I left Nordegg I was finally able to work on this line wash of the Cadillac Hotel over in Saskatchewan.  Chris and I visited for our Beer Parlour Project outing number BP14.0 back in the spring of 2024.  By the time Margarit and I returned to the area later that summer, it had already closed.  Although it was for sale, I understand that it still sits vacant.

The watercolor part of this piece is now complete.  The next time I head out to Nordegg I will get started on the Ink and Graphite parts of detailing in this piece.  Once it is done, I will scan it and post it to the Beer Parlour Project website.

Apparitions

I haven't mentioned much about the Apparitions project in recent weeks.  Apparitions is a collection of images that allude to a human presence, without including any people.  My friend Arturo and I have been shooting for this project for several years.  

In 2024 we received a grant from the Edmonton Arts Council to fund the printing and framing of the project.  Since then we have been submitting to galleries all over western Canada to get the project exhibited.  There are several submissions out before juries at the moment, and I expect we will be getting responses over the next few months.

Some time ago we got word that we had been accepted at a local gallery.  I didn't want to make a formal announcement about it until we had a contract in hand and all the details had been confirmed.  We are now at that stage, as the contract has been signed.

Apparitions will be exhibited at Harcourt House Gallery here in Edmonton from January 15th 2027 until February 27th 2027.  Arturo and I will be attending the opening on January 15th.  Once we get around to getting promotional material prepared and have an invitation to share, I will post again.

Hopefully this is the first of several exhibitions as we would like to see the project tour around western Canada for the next few years in advance of a book that we hope to publish.

These are a couple of the images that we expect to be included in our exhibition.... the first by Arturo and the second is one of mine.

Saturday

Saturday May 9th was my last full day at the cottage....  I have been here something like 17 days, with a brief interruption to blast over to East Coulee.  On this day I managed to wrap up a bunch of stuff before my return to the city.

I booked a tee time at the golf course at 11:30 and played another round.  This time around I lost two golf balls, and broke a bunch of tees, but I still found nine balls.  And my score improved considerably from the day before.  On Friday when I was out with my neighbor Rob I shot a somewhat disgraceful 51.  Today I brought that down by nine strokes to a more respectable 42.

After that I spent a bunch of time catching up on some lingering chores.  I checked the porch light that wasn't working over at the guest cottage only to find that the breaker had been tripped... an easy fix.

Then I did the best I could to clean the Rockola Jukebox.  It turned out pretty well and I went through all the records that are in it.  It holds something like eighty 45rpm singles, and there were nearly 30 in it.  A couple were cracked and others are just songs that I really don't care for.  But there are probably about 18 or so that I would like to keep.  But they need a really thorough cleaning.  I will clean these and add to them the ones that I have back at home from my days of buying singles... back in the late 1970's.  I don't know exactly how many I have.... probably 40 or so.... but I don't think I want to include them all.  So I will need to hit antique shops and record stores to try to gather a few more.  The coin mechanism doesn't seem to always work, but there is a free play button that allows me to bypass it.  This may be one of those situations that was common back in the day, to those of us who are old and remember it.  Canadian coins just don't work in some vending machines, and American coins were necessary.  I suppose I will have to gather a few of the Yankee ones and see if they work better.

I also dug out my air compressor and pumped up the tires on both side-by-sides.  They seem to have lost a little pressure over the winter.... so now they are good to go whenever anyone wants to go for a ride.  I pulled the table saw out of the garage and cut a slab of puckboard to size, to put on the floor under the jukebox.  I could easily find stuff to keep me busy for days or even weeks, and didn't cut and split nearly as much wood as I would have liked to.  But all the same it was a great stay, and I look forward to returning very soon.

Just before heading home on Sunday I made a run to the dump to get rid of some garbage and recycling.  Once again I saw the herd of wild horses.  They were hanging around by the Trunk Road, mostly around the old Forestry Staff Houses that are no longer used.

I'll be stuck at home for ten days or so while most of the family is over in Austria.  But then as soon as they get home Hailey will be coming back out to return to her summer job.  I'm hoping that I can make it back out around the same time and pick up where I left off with my chores.  It really doesn't seem like work when I'm out here.... enjoying nature and the peace and quiet.

Alsfeld

My mother was born and raised in a small town in north central Germany called Alsfeld.  Her father ran a sawmill there.  Some relatives, I'm not sure on which side of the family, also ran a bakery and a cartwright shop.  Alsfeld is a medieval town that dates back at least several hundred years.  Part of the old wall that once protected the town, still remains.

Mom is still alive and doing well physically, but suffers from Alzheimers.  Although she is in generally good health, her short term memory is able to comprehend a time spell of less than five minutes.  This makes conversation difficult, and many things impossible.

My oldest daughter Hailey traveled to Europe earlier this week.  There are no great connecting flights to the part of Austria that she will be visiting.  So she had to fly from Edmonton to Toronto, then on to Montreal and then on to Vienna.  From there she took a train to St. Valentin in central Austria, where Margarit's cousin Martina lives.  After a night there to rest and recuperate she caught a train to Germany.  I understand that this was for about seven hours, and included at least three transfers.  But eventually she made it to Alsfeld and is spending two nights and a couple of days exploring the area.

I have a million relatives on my Dad's side of the family, but on my Mom's side I only have one cousin, plus a bunch of distant relatives.  The timing wasn't great, and things were a little short on notice, but my cousin Roswitha, who is only a few months older than me, was able to connect with Hailey briefly in Alsfeld.  Sadly her two daughters, Melanie and Vivien, who are similar in age to Hailey, were not able to make it.

The site of the old sawmill is no longer owned by family, but many of the buildings still stand.  I understand that Hailey and Roswitha were able to visit the site and walk around a little.  I only visited this part of Germany twice.... once as an infant, and then again when I was in Grade 1.  I can barely remember that second visit, and have not been back since.  It was nice that Hailey was able to experience the background of her grandmother.  Last year she did the same with respect to the birthplace of her grandmother on Margarit's side.

After she wraps up this visit to Alsfeld, Hailey is catching a train back to Salzburg.  She will spend a couple of days there experiencing the history and exploring.  Once that is wrapped up she will return to St. Valentin.  Margarit, Annelise and Breaden will join her there and they will all be present for the wedding celebration of Martina's son David and his wife Elke.

Just listening to Hailey describe the perils of her travels is enough to convince me that I don't ever want to do it.  I've said this for years, and every time I hear of someone else's travels I'm convinced that I don't want to do it.  I'm happy to stay close to home, and don't feel any sense of loss at missing out on stuff further away.  My philosophy is... if I can't drive, I ain't going.  But all the same, I'm really impressed that Hailey had the courage to do this on her own, and I'm thrilled that she seems to be enjoying herself.  This is a phone snapshot that she sent back earlier this morning....

I'm not sure exactly what the left building is.  The central one is the church.  And the one on the right is the rathaus.  Every town in Europe has one, and this is essentially city hall.  We westerners laugh at the name and think of it as a house full of rats.  Not too far from the truth......

Another News Feature

The Beer Parlour Project was just featured in a news article over in Saskatchewan.  This one outlines our April visit to Marengo, Czar and Luseland.  The guy that wrote the article was in attendance last year when we visited the Coleville Hotel for BP26.0.  

https://westcentralonline.com/articles/marengo-luseland-and-czar-joining-beer-parlour-project-catalogue

This link is from an older article last year, in advance of that BP26.0 outing...

https://www.westcentralonline.com/articles/beer-parlour-project-rolls-into-coleville-to-capture-disappearing-tavern-culture

And this one, released in advance of our recent trip.  These guys really seem to like our project so hopefully we continue to get all this publicity.

https://www.westcentralonline.com/articles/beer-parlour-project-visiting-marengo-thursday-luseland-saturday

Rockola 160

I can't express how happy I am that my old jukebox is working.  I bought it at a garage sale in Edmonton for 200 bucks a few years ago.  It hadn't been run in years, the top glass was broken and it was in rough shape.  I shudder to think how much I have invested in it, and I don't want to really dig in and do the math to find out.

I ended up finding a bunch of parts on line.  A replacement top glass was the most important one, but also some of the title card holders that were missing.  In addition to that I needed a new cartridge, coin door, locks and a few other things.

I got my friend Gary to come out from Lake Louise to do the restoration.  He is actually a friend of my Beer Parlour Project colleagues Chris and Connie.  Gary is originally from Manitoba, but has been out in Alberta for many years.  He and his EX share responsibility for their daughter, who is going to high school in Banff.   As a result Gary has worked for a number of years as a driver/operator for Parks Canada, and has been based in Lake Louise. 

My Jukebox is a Rockola 160, Model 432.  It dates to the late 1960's.  The sound system includes and old tube amplifier, which is working.  The records that were in it when I bought it ranged in age from about 1972, to the mid 1980's.  Interestingly, Gary's father used to be the Rockola dealer for his part of western Canada.... near Winnipeg.  I certainly lucked out in finding the right guy to get involved in my restoration.

Starting a couple years ago I consulted with Gary on what was a fair price to pay for my Rockola when I first found it at the garage sale.  The seller wanted 300 bucks but Gary advised to not pay more than 200.  Later I hauled it out to Nordegg, as that was more convenient for Gary to travel to.  Initially he checked it out and we confirmed that most of the components were functional.  Some months later he returned and set to work on restoring it.  He pulled a couple of the motors and some switchgear and took it back to Lake Louise with him to work on in his spare time.  He also installed the new cartridge at that time.

This past week he returned to Nordegg and re-installed the motors that he had previously serviced.  After a about three hours we had it up and running.

It's not perfect... after all it is as old as me.... 60 something.  But it works....!  The coin mechanism is a little temperamental, but that could be the Canadian verses American coin thing that vending machines were once sensitive to.  If not, then we can always over ride it with the free play switch.

Now I just have to clean all the old 45rpm singles that were in it... and add a bunch more from my collection.  Soon it will be running loud and proud and driving the neighbors crazy..... or perhaps they will appreciate it and come over to listen with us.

First Round of Golf in 2026

My neighbor Rob and I were the first two official golfers on the Nordegg Historic Course in 2026.  The golf course officially opens for the season on Saturday May 9th.  Its hard to imagine that just over a week ago we had a dump of snow here in Nordegg.  Both Rob and I purchased seasons passes for the 2026 season, and Cheryl, the course manager, allowed us to play a round a day in advance of the official opening.  There was one other twosome playing behind us, but other than that the course was really quiet.

I bought a mixed set of used clubs over the winter.  Some of them came from my other friend Rob in Vernon.  He shipped me some old clubs that he was no longer using.  This included a driver, 3 wood, fairway wood, and a few irons, and a sand wedge.  To this I added the missing irons and a putter.  I also bought a new golf bag.  This leaves my old cheap set intact, should we have any guests out at the cottage that want to play, but don't have clubs with them.

I am proud to say that I didn't lose a golf ball during our nine holes, and only broke one tee,  I also found a dozen balls, leftover by other players last season.  Rob found at least that many as well.  The highlight of the day was that I found a yellow Sponge Bob ball that I will give to my daughter Helena.  She is a huge Sponge Bob fan and this will add to her collection of memorabilia.  

The only downside to the entire afternoon was that my score was not very good.  I'm not sure that I should even mention it...?  I shot a 51, among my worst scores ever.  A score of 54 is my all time worst score on this par 32 course.  I console myself in saying that it was the first round of the year, and that I was using a set of clubs that were not only mixed, but new to me.

I don't play golf to be competitive, nor do I really care about my score.  My neighbor Rob doesn't even keep score, nor do many of the others that I play with.  I only keep my own score for the sole purpose of determining whether or not I am improving.... or getting worse.  A day on the links is always way better than most other options.....

Windy Point

I slept in a bit on the morning of Thursday May 7th, after getting word around 5:30AM that Hailey was safe and sound in Austria.  Later in the morning I had a shower, coffee and some breakfast.  It was mostly sunny, and reasonably warm, so I decided to head out with my camera for a while.  I had intended to do this on Wednesday evening, but I was too tired after splitting all the wood, and it clouded over and sprinkled a little anyway.

I headed over to Windy Point on Abraham Lake.  On the way I saw two different groups of wild horses.  There was a group of 13 blacks with two young foals, near the Trunk Road.  Further west at the Bighorn Reserve there was another small group.  I also saw several deer, a grouse and two different herds of Bighorn Sheep.

On this day Windy Point did NOT live up to it's name.  Most of the time it is extremely windy here, with white caps on the reservoir, and winds so strong you have to hold onto the door of your vehicle with both hands when getting in and out.  This time around there was barely a whisper of breeze.  The reservoir was mostly flat like glass, with only a few light ripples from time to time when the breeze picked up.  The skies were beautiful with a mix of clouds and the temperature peaked at about 18C.  There was a herd of Bighorn Sheep around and on two different occasions they wandered in to some large format photographs that I had composed.  I shot here for a couple of hours with the view camera, and it was very peaceful.  A couple of other groups of people came and went but for the most part it was just dead quiet.

The water level in the reservoir is very low at this time of year.  It will likely drop just a little further before the mountain run off starts in another month of so.  Then the dam will be closed and the water level will rise through the summer months.  By fall it will once again be full, right into the trees and right up to the highway.

Later I headed back over to the cottage and tackled a couple of chores.  I repaired the feeder that I use for the deer, and then later still applied a little watercolor to the line wash drawing that I am working on.  A very calm and relaxing day to say the least.

Back to the Cottage

I returned to Nordegg on the evening of Sunday May 3rd.  Hailey was still out at the cottage and had been working at the Miner's Cafe over the weekend.  We were both tired by evening... her from work and me from the long drive.  It takes over four hours to get from East Coulee to Nordegg.  We both crashed pretty early.  

The next day I got settled in at the cottage and tried to get after a few chores.  I managed to get my sump pump working, despite thinking I might have to replace it.  In the afternoon I put together a nice dinner for Hailey, of some grilled tenderloin and some potato skins.  We had a rather early dinner as she had to go out to a staff meeting later in the evening.

On Tuesday May 5th Hailey had to head back to the city.  She packed up her stuff and hit the road about noon.  Before she left I gave her a crash course on how to load and operate an old Leica III rangefinder camera.  She has the one that used to belong to her grandfather and wants to take it to Austria with her.  About the time she was packing up to leave, my friend Gary arrived.

Gary lives in Lake Louise and worked for many years for Parks Canada.  In his past he owned and operated a pinball arcade back in Manitoba with his father.  He is now the go-to guy in western Canada to repair and service old pinball machines, arcade games, and jukeboxes.  He has been out twice in the past to begin the restoration of my old Rockola Jukebox.  Last time he was here, he took a couple of motors and some switch gear with him.  He cleaned, lubricated and serviced them back home at his place over the winter months.  This time around we put the motors back in, cleaned and lubricated everything, did some fine tuning and adjustments and now it is ready to go.  I just have to give it a thorough leaning inside and out, and load it with some records.

Before Gary left I said my goodbyes to Hailey and she headed home.  Once we were done with the jukebox, Gary and I hung around for a while and had a couple of beers.  It was still fairly early, so he decided not to stay the night, and headed back for Lake Louise.

On Wednesday I spent the entire afternoon hauling, splitting and stacking firewood.  I got all the wood from the recently downed trees split and stacked.  This is just the stuff that I previously cut to stove lengths.  There are still more logs to be cut up.  I also split all the logs from a big spruce that came down on our guest cottage last year.  The pile behind the garage that we burned over the winter is now half way full again.  There is still a lot more wood to be cut up and split, but I got a good start on things.  By evening my old back was telling me that I had done enough and I headed in to make dinner and relax.  But I really couldn't sleep very well.  I was too anxious about Hailey travelling to Austria all by herself.

Margarit took her to the airport at about 3:00AM to catch a 6:00AM flight to Toronto.  She had a brief layover there and then caught a connecting flight to Montreal.  After another layover, she caught a flight to Vienna.  It was a little after midnight here in Mountain Time, and about 8:30 in the morning locally, when she landed in Vienna.  Then she had yet another layover before she could catch a train to St. Valentin.  This is a small town outside Linz where Margarit's cousin Martina lives.  It was about 5:30 in the morning here in Alberta when she finally arrived and only then was I able to relax and finally sleep for a couple of hours.

A Quick Trip to East Coulee - Springfest 2026

On Friday May 1st I packed up some of my stuff and hit the road for East Coulee.  Hailey stayed behind at the cottage in Nordegg as she had a couple of shifts scheduled at the Miners Cafe.  I met up with Helena and Margarit at the shop in East Coulee in the early evening.  Frank and Chris were there and we got settled around a small fire in the chiminea... roasting some hot dogs and having a few drinks.

On Saturday Margarit and Helena and I went out walking in a nearby coulee.  The snow was all gone, and although things weren't really turning green yet, the prairie crocus' were in bloom all over the place.

Later in the day we picked up tickets to the Springfest going on in town.  Margarit and I checked out a couple of bands in the afternoon, and Helena went to see a couple as well... one on her own and another with her Mom.

Last year the Springfest was a big disappointment because it was very poorly attended.  This time around they again did a really poor job of promoting it.  There was no online advertisement, no signage or promotion in Drumheller, and the line up of artists was not announced until just a couple of weeks before.  Even in East Coulee, all they had was a sandwich board sign on the side of the highway, and when we drove by, the wind had blown it over.

Frank and I ended up spending most of the afternoon sitting around in the yard at the shop.  It was clear and sunny and the temperature got up to about +23C.  In between the white wall of the shop, the light colored trailer, and the white fences, it was quite a bit hotter due to everything being so reflective and the area being so sheltered.  I got a sunburn, and we both ended up with mild heat stroke.  In the early evening, after a dinner of smokies and burgers, I ended up lying down for a while.  Frank was tired as well, and he ended up going home early.  Chris used my Springfest ticket and she and Helena and Margarit went and checked out some of the evening performers.  They said it was pretty well attended and they enjoyed themselves.

On Sunday morning we packed up all our gear and tidied every thing.  We locked up the trailer and hit the road.  After a brief stop at WHIFs restaurant for breakfast, we went for a walk out in the badlands.  Helena was happy because she found a few fossils and lots of rocks.  By this time it was mid afternoon.  We said our good byes and the girls hit the road back to Edmonton.  I set off across country to the west and headed back to the cottage in Nordegg.  Hailey and I hung out that evening and had a nice visit.

David Thompson Country Calendar 2026 - May Image

This is the image that I selected for the May page of my 2026 David Thompson Country calendar.  This is a shot of Mount Stelfox, along the David Thompson Highway, near Abraham Lake.  I like the way the clouds create a spin drift behind the mountain peak and this always fascinates me.

It was a spring day back in May of 2023 when I took this photograph.  My brother-in-law Shawn was with me out at Nordegg and we went for a drive.

Keeping Busy

On Wednesday April 29th I mostly just kept myself busy around the cottage.  I puttered around inside until about noon, waiting for it to warm up a little.  It had been mostly sunny in the morning and the temperature rose up to about +9c.  Right about the time I was planning to head outside and get to work a shower rolled in.  The rain didn't amount to much and although it was relatively heavy, it only lasted for a few minutes.  It did cool off a bit, and the clouds kinda rolled in for most of the rest of the day.

I did a run up to the dump and hauled away some of the garbage that we had accumulated.  We also had a bunch of cardboard, mostly packaging from various items that we recently purchased.  This all hit the recycling bin up at the transfer station.

Later in the afternoon I dug out the chainsaw and cut up a couple more logs.  Then I set up my splitter and set to work splitting a bunch of the stuff that I had recently cut up.  I think I did something like seven or eight wheelbarrow loads of split wood.  I finished up the woodpile beside the driveway, and then set about replenishing the one behind the garage.  That one got completely used up over the past winter and spring, so I am starting out from scratch and rebuilding that one.  There remains a lot of wood still needing to be cut and split so I shall continue with that in the coming days.

Hailey had a couple of days off work so she blasted home to Edmonton on Tuesday.  She returned to the cottage on Wednesday evening, and brought the new TV out with her.  We got that set up as we nibbled on some nachos during the evening.