Family Day

Today is the Family Day holiday.  The joke around Alberta is that this statutory holiday was created by former premier Getty so that he could visit his son in jail.  His eldest son had been convicted of drug trafficking just prior to creation of this holiday, back in the 1980's.  No one gets too excited about a holiday in the middle of winter, but it does break up the drudgery of the long stretch between Christmas and Easter.

On Saturday I took all four of the girls out to my parents acreage.  My brother from Calgary and his family were visiting for the day, and my daughters were anxious to see their cousins.  I was busy hooking up the old 5th wheel and manoeuvring it out of winter storage and onto the road.  We need to clean all of our camping gear out of it and deliver it to the dealership where we traded it in on our new trailer.  I got the truck partially stuck in the snow a couple of times but with a combination of digging and four-wheel-drive we eventually got the trailer out.  Later that evening everyone went out for dinner for Chinese Food.  Hailey and I bailed out a little early and hopped on the LRT down to the Coliseum.  I had tickets for the Oilers game and we watched them dominate the Colorado Avalanche and eventually win the game 6-4.

The next day was pretty laid back.  I slept in after the late night at the game and eventually got up and did some odds and ends around home.  Mostly we tidied up and got ready for an evening dinner.  My Mom came over for dinner and we had a nice steak barbecue.  Once again I had to bail out a little early to head over to Castledowns arena for my weekly hockey game.

On Monday I again slept in a little, and we again just spent the day around home.  I woke up to find a message on our phone from the security company, advising of an intrusion alarm at the shop.  I drove over to check it out, but fortunately it was a false alarm.  Not even any tracks in the snow and nothing out of place.  In the afternoon I headed over to visit my Dad at his residence.  His condition has deteriorated lately and he has problems with balance and walking.  When I arrived he was not in his room, but I eventually found him, looking very comfortable in a soft upholstered chair in the common area.  I sat down with him and we visited for a while.  He was in pretty good spirits, and recognized me, but the conversation was very mixed up and confused and he could not focus on anything for long.  While I was sitting with Dad one of the other residents was complaining about "a young man that came into my room... with a rifle".  I guess this is just the day to day routine in a ward full of Alzheimer's and dementia patients.  Very sad....

Dad dozed off after a little while and I sat there watching him, and remembering the man that he once was.  Eventually I woke him up and told him that I was going to leave him to his nap, and would come back again soon.  He was OK with that.  His face really lit up with a big smile when I told him I had left a chocolate bar in his room for him.  I guess at this stage it is just all about the little things......

Winter Hockey - Game 24

The Renegades played a game on Sunday night against the Gators.  A number of our players were away for the Family Day long weekend.  Even though we had a full bench, we had a rather odd mix of players and our line combinations were all juggled around.  We quickly fell behind by two goals but eventually battled back to tie the game 3-3 late in the third period.  We tried to put on a push to win the game but got into some penalty trouble and allowed them to go ahead by a goal.  Then we pulled our goalie hoping to be able to score the equalizer.  They got an empty net goal and coasted to a 5-3 victory.  This was our only regular season meeting of the year with these guys but we will not doubt face them again in the playoffs.  We were satisfied in our comeback effort and know that we can keep pace with these guys.  Despite the loss we still maintain our hold on first place in our division.

Another Road Trip

On February 13th I hit the road again.  This time it was up north to the boom town of Fort McMurray.  Or as some people refer to it... Fort McMONEY.  I had never been there before and was looking forward to witnessing the spectacle first hand.  This was to be yet another business trip.  My installation foreman Barry was along with me this time, so we were able to share the driving duties.  Our goal was to have a first hand look at some tired old skylights that are to be replaced this coming summer in conjunction with some roof replacement work.  The project is currently out for tender and I thought it would be worthwhile to get a first hand look at it to more accurately prepare our bid.  But, it sure made for a long day as we left the city at 6:00AM, and eventually made it back home by about 7:30PM.  But not without some adventure in between!

There has been a lot of talk in the media lately about how awful Highway 63, the Death Highway, really is.  For the most part it is a two lane highway that handles virtually all of the traffic in and out of McMoney.  In light of some recent traffic fatalities along the highway there is a big push on to see it twinned.  There is a short section immediately south of McMoney that is twinned.  And, about an hour south of town there is another section of about 35km that is complete.  But the rest of the drive is all two lane highway and it will be at least a couple of years before the road construction is completed.

It takes nearly five hours in good driving conditions to make it to McMoney from Edmonton.  This is usually hampered by heavy industrial traffic transporting materials to the Oil Sands.  Mostly these are large modules for some of the upgraders and plants that process the tar sands.  There are literally thousands of these things being transported north at a rate of several every day.  They are loaded onto multi-wheeled flat deck trailers and move along, very slowly, with large trucks both pushing and pulling them.  They are only permitted to move during daylight hours.  They pull over whenever they can to allow the congested traffic behind them to pass, but I can certainly understand the frustration that builds following one for these things for what seems like eons.  Those in a hurry to get away from or back to Fort McMoney take unsafe and unnecessary chances trying to pass these things and head on collisions are not uncommon.  We didn't see any of those, but road conditions were not great and we drove through moderate fog, snow and black ice.  We saw five vehicles either upside down or on their side in the ditch.  Some of these accidents had just occurred as the vehicles were still running, and the drivers in the process of getting out and waiting for a tow.

Barry drove all the way there, and we quickly headed over to the Medical Center that was the location of the skylights that were to be replaced.  We put up our ladder and climbed up onto the roof.  There was a lot of snow... probably almost double as much as back home in Edmonton.  We assessed the jobsite, confirmed some measurements, and got a little better understanding of the scope of the work.  After a quick stop to refuel and have some lunch, it was my turn to drive back home.  As the sun began to set and the wind picked up, the road conditions deteriorated.  The highway was glazed with a light sheet of wind polished black ice that glistened in the headlights of the truck.  We were forced to shift into four wheel drive and slow right down to about 60km/h.  I think I could have put my skates on and travelled faster.  But, eventually we made it back home and called it a day.  

I'd like to drive up that way again sometime.  I noticed quite a number of interesting old buildings that would have made for some great photography.  There is also a very large area of burnt forest that is the result of the big House River Fire several years ago.  This has also resulted in a rather stark landscape that could make for some interesting photographs.  This time around we just drove as it was a long enough day already, without stopping to take pictures.  The only photographs I took were a couple of shots of the jobsite that we visited.

Monochrome Guild - Winter Meeting

Life continues to move along in high gear.  After the morning hockey game I ran some errands in the afternoon with the girls while Margarit stayed home alone... finally a little time to herself...  In the evening the gang from the Monochrome Guild was coming over for our winter meeting.  There were nine of us, so most of the guys were able to make it.  We discussed plans for putting together an upcoming gallery submission, as well as to put up some fresh work at the Dauphine bistro.  We also discussed plans for an upcoming spring photo trip, probably in late April.  The rest of the evening was spent discussing photography, viewing some prints, and drinking a little beer...

Winter Hockey - Game 23

Not much chance to relax.  Just hours after returning home from my long road trip I had to get up early to play hockey.  The Renegades had a 9:00AM ice time to play our 23rd game of the season.  This time we were playing the Icebreakers.  These guys continue to struggle with getting enough players out to play and this time was no exception.  The only had eight skaters and a goalie, while we had 15.  We quickly skated them into the ice and won by the lop-sided score of 12-2.  It would have been worse but their goalie played an exceptional game.

The Final Leg

I got up the next morning in Medicine Hat feeling refreshed.  I was looking forward to getting home, but also hopeful for the opportunity to take a few more photographs along the way.  There was virtually no snow left in Medicine Hat and I read in the newspaper that the local driving range had opened for the season a few days prior.  After breakfast I checked out, fueled the truck, and hit the road.  I headed northwest from Medicine Hat, in the general direction of Dinosaur Provincial Park.  The further I drove the more snow there was.  The skies were generally clear and sunny, but there was some lingering patchy fog.  At one point, from up on a high rise, I looked back towards the eastern sun and there was an unusual glow from the light burning through some low lying fog.  I got out the big camera and took a couple of shots of this.  After being out for about 20 minutes setting up my camera for the shot, and then packing up again, I began to get rather cold.  I had gone out with just a light hoodie and no gloves as the sun seemed so warm and inviting.  When I got back into the truck and looked at the thermometer I was surprised to see that it read -9C.

I continued on from here, evenutally stopping at Steveville.  The badlands of the Red Deer River Valley looked really cool with snow and I stopped to make a few photographs here with the big camera.  By this time it was warming up nicely and was quite pleasant.

Eventually I made my way over the ruins of an old stone house.  I was quite familiar with this spot and have photographed here many times in the past.  But, I had never been here in the winter with fresh snow.  I made a point of going out of my way to see it.  I was not disappointed as the snow was crisp and white with interesting drift patterns.  The low winter light was crisp and clear and showed really nice tonality and texture in the old stone walls.  I spent quite a bit of time here with my big camera and took several photographs.

I continued north and eventually I found myself up in Paintearth County.  I knew that a whole bunch of wind turbines had been installed here last year for power generation.  I actually saw them last fall when I was returning home from the prostecting trip down along the South Saskatchewan badlands.  At that point there were not yet operational and were still in the process of being installed.  I thought I might be able to capture some long time exposures of the rotating turbines against the winter sky.  I stopped at a spot near Halkirk and set up the big camera.  I was surprised that even though there was only a very light breeze to be felt down at the ground, that the big turbines were spinning at about one rotation every five seconds.  I made a few photographs here and packed my camera up for the last time this trip.

After this top I just carried on home.  It was still about three hours to go.  I finally arrived home just before 7:00PM, happy to finally be back, to see my girls, and to get away from behind the wheel.  Over 2300km of driving over four days.  More hotel rooms than I care to remember... particularly the one in Regina.  It was good to be back home...

Exploring Southern Saskatchewan

The next morning I got up early and had breakfast.  I packed up my gear and prepared to leave Estevan.  It was rather cold at around -12C and the breeze was still blowing.  It was dull and overcast and did not look as though the sun was going to break out.  Here's what all the excitement was about, and the reason for my trip.  This is a photograph from yesterday of the roof where my company will be installing seven new skylights.  The openings are prepared and temporarily covered with plywood...

With my work responsibilities completed I now had a couple days for the return trip home and the opportunity to do a little winter photography on the prairies.  Unfortunately the conditions were less than ideal and there was not much opportunity for shooting.  I headed west from Estevan and basically paralleled the US border.  Mostly I stuck to some secondary highways and small towns.  A short distance west of Estevan the overcast skies turned to heavy fog and the road conditions deteriorated.  I could only see a couple hundred yards ahead of me on the road, and about the same distance to either side.  Except for subject matter that was close to the road, I really couldn't tell if there was anything worth stopping to photograph.  At one point, near Minton, I came across a farm yard full of old machinery.  Even though the sky was heavily overcast and the light very flat, everything was covered with a heavy layer of hoar frost.  I got out with the big camera and took a few photographs.  Conditions were not very pleasant as it was very damp and humid and there was that brisk breeze out of the east.

As I continued west road conditions got worse and I was beginning to wonder if I had made a mistake striking off in this direction.  I only passed another vehicle about once every half hour and the farm yards were few and far between.  The fog was getting pretty thick, and in places the road was quite snow covered.  There were stretches of the highway that were gravelled, and even the portions that were paved were fairly rough with a lot of potholes, patches and frost heaves.  Progress was slow to say the least...

I had hoped to be able to explore a bit in the area of the Big Muddy Badlands and perhaps do a little shooting.  Conditions did not permit this.  Although there were short stretches were the fog got thinner and the light came through a little, it was mostly pretty heavily overcast with not much in the way of photo opportunities.

I continued from Coronach on to Rock Glen.  By this time conditions were improving.  The skies were clearing, the sun was coming out and the temperature got up to about -6C.  That damn breeze was still blowing out of the east though, and that made it feel colder than it really was.  There was not a lot of snow left in this area.  I decided to make a stop at the St. Victor Petroglyphs hoping that they might be visible without too much snow cover.  The driveway up to the site was snow covered with no fresh vehicle tracks and the picnic area was shut down for the season.  I parked my truck at the entrance and walked in.  First I trudged through the heavy snow in the trees at the base of the outcrop.  There there was a short boardwalk and viewing platform that provided a limited view of the rock outcrop.  Unfortunately there was a chainlink fence completely enclosing the site and I couldn't get near it.  I returned through the deep snow to my truck and then set out up the driveway to the upper viewing area.  This circled quite a distance south and around eventually leading back to the top of the same outcrop that I had seen from below.  I was rather cold from the wind by the time I finally got to the top.  The interpretive panels indicated that the petroglyphs were carved in the flat top surface of the outcropping rock, rather than in vertical cliff faces as at most sites on the prairies.  Much to my disappointment I found that the same chainlink fence surrounded the upper portion of this site and that I couldn't get any closer than about 25 feet to the rock surface.  I could not even make out any of the petroglyphs despite the fact that the rock face was relatively free of ice and snow.  What a waste of time...  Note to self:... Don't bother coming back here...!!

For the rest of the afternoon I pretty much just pounded the pavement making my way mostly west and slightly north, back towards the Alberta border.  At one point I came across an old abandoned bridge out in the middle of a grain field.  Obviously the highway had once crossed a small creek and a railway line at this point.  Now it was just a "Bridge to Nowhere".  The evening light was very warm and clear by this time so I took my camera out and made a few photographs... probably the best of the day.

By the time I finished up here the day was coming to an end.  I still had to find a place to stay and get something to eat and I was a long way out in the middle of nowhere.  I decided to push on to Medicine Hat knowing that I would gain an hour on the clock when I crossed the border into Alberta.  It was dark by the time I rolled in to Medicine Hat at around 7:00 mountain time.  The first hotel I stopped at was busy, but had a couple of rooms left.  I did not want a repeat of what had happened in Regina so I grabbed one of them.  I unpacked my gear, went to a nearby restaurant for yet another steak dinner and then returned to my room to unwind and get some rest.  Even though I had not driven all that far, I had been behind the wheel most of the day, and I was pretty much worn out.

Saskatchewan Trip

My operating company, Mac Plastics, has a subcontract to supply and install seven moderately large skylights on a school in Estevan, Saskatchewan.  I am sitting in a hotel room in Estevan as I write this.  The roofing contractor that we are working with has had the curbs prepared on site for some time now.  Partially I have procrastinated a little, but mostly the weather has not been great.  Finally it is time to deal with this once and for all so I drove down to the job site for some meetings with the roofer and with the consultant, as well as to confirm site dimensions.

I left Edmonton first thing in the morning on Tuesday.  The temperatures were pretty mild, and driving conditions were reasonable.  I headed east to Lloydminster and on through North Battleford and into Saskatoon.  There were a few icy sections around Vermilion, and east of North Battleford but for the most part the roads were pretty good.  I made a brief stop for fuel in Saskatoon and continued on to Regina.  When I arrived there I made a point of visiting the Art Gallery of Regina where my friend Rob Michiel and I will hang our Procession West exhibition in the summer of 2013.

Unfortunately the curator was not available to meet with me, but I got a good look at the available space, and got some dimensions of the room.  This helps a lot as Rob and I work towards finalizing our image selection.

The gallery space was larger than I imagined with a very high ceiling.  There appears to be some good lighting that can be positioned onto the work.  I am a little concerned that our prints will look very small in this large space and that we will need to be sure to have enough of them.  Rob and I will get together when I return home and review the photos that I took and the measurements that I took and make certain that we fill up this large space with an adequate number of prints.

I didn't reserve a room in Regina, thinking that on a weekday evening in the middle of the winter it would not be a problem.  Much to my dismay I quickly learned that there appears to be a shortage of hotel rooms in Regina, and everything was full.  I drove around to a number of hotels and motels and every one of them was fully booked.  Whatever happened to the old days when everyone had a No Vacancy sign.  Nowadays there is no such thing and you have to actually go in and ask at the reception desk if anything is available.  Eventually a found a "less than ideal" room in a run down old motel on the edge of downtown.  It was very affordable, but not very inviting.  I'm not sure why the desk clerk bothered to ask if I wanted a non-smoking room?  As soon as I opened the door I was hit with the strong smell of stale tobacco smoke.  It smelled as if someone had just finished puffing on a big old Cuban cigar and jumped out the back window as I came in the front.  The walls were all beat up and patched, it was not overly clean, and the mattress felt like a truck had been parked on it for about a month.  I didn't feel very comfortable leaving all my gear there and trying to find someplace to eat so I just stayed in the room and had a pizza delivered.  The only good thing about the place was that they had lots of water pressure and lots of hot water, so my morning shower the next day was really good. 

After my shower I hit the road on Wednesday morning and headed southeast for Estevan.  It was overcast and very dull and there was a stiff breeze blowing out of the east.  With the wind chill factor taken into account if felt a lot colder than what the thermometer in my truck read [-5C].

I arrived in Estevan at about 11:30, just ahead of schedule, and headed over to the High School.  I met with the roofing contractor and discussed the upcoming skylight installation.  I was able to take site dimensions of all of the roof curbs that have been prepared for the new skylights.  I will use this information when I return to the office to lay out the fabrication drawings for the skylights, order the necessary glass sealed units, and prefabricate the frames.  In three or four weeks, when everything is ready and weather conditions are reasonable, my crew will return to the site to undertake the installation.  In all likelihood I will not return with them, but that remains to be seen.  I waited around for a while until the consultant arrived from Regina and then met with him to discuss the time lines and progression of work.  Once that was done I scouted around a little to find a transport company that can transport our materials, a crane company that can hoist them, and some accommodations that we can book for our crew.

I knew that Estevan was busy with oil patch activity so I had the foresight to book a room for myself in advance of my trip.  As I sit here tonight in my room, watching the Oilers game on TV, I feel a lot more relaxed and comfortable than I did last night.  This place is clean, bright and comfortable and nothing like the place I was forced to stay in last night. 

There is a nice restaurant right here in the hotel and I just had dinner there.  It seems to be an attempt on the part of the restaurant operator to bring some fine cuisine to the frontier town that is Estevan.  With the recent development of the Bakken oilfield here in this area, this has become very much an oil patch town.  Nothing but drilling companies, service companies, welding shops, oilfield transport companies, etc.  If very much has the feel of Alberta oilpatch towns like Nisku, Drayton Valley, Rocky Mountain House and Swan Hills.   The restaurant has an executive chef that is attempting to put together some gourmet meals with a little originality.  I had tenderloin with some grilled vegetables, sauteed mushrooms, baked potato and a nice Caesar salad.  The salad was quite original, and very good.  It consisted of a bunch of romaine leaves tucked into a donut shaped ring of nan bread along with a slice of bacon.  It was cold and crisp and served with a homemade dressing that had just the right hint of anchovy, and some black olives and a slice of lemon on the side.  I quite liked it.  The only part of my meal that seemed a little unfitting the image they were attempting to portray was that the sour cream and the green onions for my baked potato we prepared in advance and served in little plastic dixie cups with little plastic lids.  That part didn't quite fit...

I couldn't help but chuckle to myself as I enjoyed my evening meal.  It was certainly a lot more enjoyable than the pizza I had delivered to my room in Regina the night before.  Dining alone meant that there was no dinner conversation and there was nothing to do but watch what was going on.  This certainly is a frontier town and most of the clientele were working guys, mostly wearing jeans and ball caps.  There were several other middle aged men dining alone, just like me.  There were a couple of younger guys sitting at a table beside me and couldn't help but overhear their conversation, in particular due to the lack of conversation at my table...

They were discussing their work and from what they were talking about it was obvious that they were welders.  One of the guys wanted to order a bottle of wine but the other would have no part of that, so they settled for beer.  The younger of the two guys attempted to order a steak, and there were three on the menu.  One was a sirloin, the second a tenderloin, which I ordered, and the third a larger rib steak.  I overheard him ask the waitress if they had a good steak like a New York.  She replied that the sirloin was almost an identical cut to a New York, or they had a slightly larger Tenderloin.  I almost burst out laughing when he asked her if that was a good cut, and if is was almost as good as the sirloin.  One of the two ordered the Caesar salad that I had.  When it arrived I overheard him complaining, asking what the **ck kind of Caesar salad it was and later commenting that it wasn't very good.  I guess you can take the boy out of the country but you can't take the country out of the boy... 

With my work obligations wrapped up I will relax this evening and then hit the road for home in the morning.  I will leave Estevan in the morning and slowly make my way back home.  I've brought my large format camera with me and hopefully I can find some photo opportunities along the way home.  There is still time to consider any new "Prairie Winter" images that might be worthy of the Procession West show.  I plan on travelling across southern Saskatchewan, generally paralleling the US border.  Eventually I will turn north up into Alberta and eventually end up back home sometime on Friday evening.

When I do get back home I will post a few snapshots from this trip but for the time being I have no way of downloading the images from my camera and re-sizing them for inclusion here.

Winter Hockey - Game 22

For the first time in a while, the Renegades did not win the hockey game.  We played on Sunday February 3rd against the Ice Hawks, and the throttled us.  They brought out several of their best spares, but had a very short bench, so we have no excuses.  We were perhaps a little over confident, and did not play a very good game.  They soundly beat us by a score of 9-4.  We still maintain our hold on first place, and have clinched a playoff spot.  But, we won't get very far in the playoffs if we keep playing like this.  Next game we will have to bear down and play seriously...