Winter Hockey

The winter hockey season started for my Renegades team back at the beginning of September.  We started out the season in Division 8, a move down from where we played last year.  I'm convinced that this will be a better fit for our team.  The past couple of seasons we finished near the bottom of division 7 and this move should make us more competitive.

So far we don't have a permanent goaltender.  The guy that played for the team the last couple of seasons can't play full time this winter due to work commitments.  I've got three near guys that are interested, but so far all of them have been unavailable through our first four games.  It seems we will probably go through the season with a tag team of various goalies and hopefully be able to settle on one or two come playoffs.

The team has played four games so far, but I only made it out to two of them.  I missed a couple of games when I was away in Nordegg.  We have a record of 3 wins and 1 loss so far, and all the games have been close.  We play our fifth game later this weekend, against a team that is undefeated so far.  We'll see how that goes and that should provide us with a good indicator of where we stand for the season.

Back to the Darkroom

Last week I processed a mixed batch of film.  Mostly this was some Rollei RPX-25 film in 4x5 format but to round out the batch and make best use of the chemistry I also included a few sheets of Ilford FP4+.  The developer was Ilford Perceptol diluted 1:1.  Back in the day European film manufacturer Agfa made a wonderful film called APX-25.  The company shut down many years ago and this film, once one of my favorites in roll film format, has been off the market for many years.  It never was manufactured in sheet film format, much to my dismay.  In recent years Rollei has joined the market and offered a couple of emulsions in various formats.  It has been rumored that their films are based on the old Agfa formulas.  I purchased some and have experimented with it over the last year or two.  I exposed duplicate shots of the film with the intention of processing in my old standby... Rodinal... as well as in Perceptol.  Eventually I will have some images to compare but for now I am just getting around to a batch of 14 sheets that I processed in Perceptol.  In hindsight my development time may have been slightly too long for normal development and next time around I will cut back slightly.  That said, I really like the results of the first two scans.  One is a shot of a Beaver Pond in the Columbia Valley that was taken on the Spring Photo Weekend with the Monochrome Guild gang back in early 2017.  The other is a shot of an old barn in a field of barley up in Lamont County, taken in the late summer of 2015.  Over the coming months I will process more of this film and begin to formulate an opinion, as well as fine tune my development time.

The Big Melt

On Sunday September 24th... Hailey's 15th Birthday... I headed back out to Nordegg.  I needed to check and make sure that everything was OK, and shut things down for the season.  Margarit came out later in the day with our second truck.  I loaded up our ATV onto a flat deck trailer and Margarit drove it back home.  I hooked up to our RV trailer and pulled it out for the season.  There was still quite a bit of snow, but it had melted down a lot from what had been there a couple of days ago.  Before Margarit showed up I spent a couple of hours shovelling all the snow out of my house....  that sounds really weird, but it was what really happened.  The snow arrived before the roof sheeting had been put on my cottage.  So, there had been about 14 to 16 inches of wet snow inside the place.  In the meantime, on Friday the 22nd, the framing crew had come back and finished up the trusses and sheeted the roof.  But, in the meantime that wet snow had melted down to about six inches of the stuff.  Expecting those exact conditions I had brought along a snow shovel.  It took me a couple of hours to shovel all the snow off of and out of the upper level, and then to continue more of the same on the lower level.  Even after I had finished as best as I could, there was still a lot of water in the house, and it sounded like it was raining inside.  Fortunately the temperature popped up to about +13C and the forecast is calling for much the same conditions all week.  Sure is a major switch from the conditions last week.  Things should dry off nicely in the coming days.  But in the meantime, the foundation of our garage has become a wading pool and the rest of the construction site a big mud hole.  We packed up and hit the road late in the afternoon.  We made a brief stop in Nordegg to dump the holding tanks of the trailer and then headed for home.  We hit the road by around 6:00 and made it back to the city by 9:00.  But, we had to park the trailer in the yard at the shop, and spot the flat deck with the ATV in the shop.  By the time we got back home to the girls it was 9:30 going on 10:00.  Hailey was less than impressed that we had missed her birthday.  We did share some birthday cake with her before heading to bed and made a promise that we would take her out to dinner the next day.

During the afternoon I met with our builder Scott of Shunda Creek Contracting.  It is unfortunate that the timing of this storm set back our schedule the way that it did, but no one is to blame.  Mother nature every so often reminds us of who is really in control.  With mild weather in the forecast the next week or so, hopefully Scott and his framing crew can get things wrapped up.  In a month or so, when the windows are ready, the plan is to close the building in and get the metal roofing on.  After that they can work on the siding over the winter, if conditions allow.  In the mean time I will need to get my friend Rob back at some point so that we can get back at the electrical rough in work.  The mechanical contractor also needs to get out here at some point so that we can rough in the plumbing and heating stuff.  Over the spring I need to deal with electrical and mechanical inspections, followed by insulation and vapor barrier.  I am planning to bring in a drywall crew in the late spring to board and tape all the interior walls.  Then the girls and I can set to work painting everything.  This will be followed by installation of wood panelling to the vaulted ceiling.  After that we can work on flooring, followed by cabinets and fixtures.  I am expecting that by this time next year the building will be habitable, though not completely finished.  Fingers crossed...

Last Day of Summer

On Thursday September 21st I had plans to head back to Nordegg.  I was going to meet up with my friends Rob and Brad who had been staying out at my property through the week.  We were going to spend a couple of days doing the electrical rough in at my cottage, and also try to get out for a little hiking and photography.  The three of us had been out on trips before... once to Kananaskis and twice to southern Utah... and this was to be a continuation of that experience.  I had gone out a limb, and attempted to book a couple of days off work.  These would be my only two vacation days of the summer, and my first days off since early spring.  I knew that the weather forecast was not good, but when I arrived out at Nordegg around lunch time on Thursday, it was much worse than I had expected.  When I pulled into the driveway Brad and Rob were in the process of digging their vehicles out of 14 inches of heavy wet snow.  My framing contractors had been delayed with the recent poor weather and the day before had been in the process of setting the roof trusses.  The guys were not able, up to that point, to accomplish much in the way of electrical installation.  On this day they were bailing out as it was obvious that nothing could happen for the next few days.

I hooked my tow strap up to Brad's little car and used my truck to drag him down to the road.  There were no tracks on the road, except the ones that I had made driving in.  Rob managed to drive out in the tracks that I had made.  The two of them packed up their stuff, said their goodbyes, and hit the road for home... Brad back to Edmonton and Rob to his place in Vernon...

That left me out there alone, wondering what to do next...  I had the day off work, and the next day too, but it was obvious I would not be able to do anything but sit in the trailer and wait out the weather.  I'm far to active and impatient to sit around for that long doing nothing.  So I set about dealing with the situation.  I scraped most of the snow off of the girls trampoline so that it would not collapse.  I pulled all of the heavy wet snow off of the slide out on my trailer so that I could close it.  I packed up most of my tools and supplies so that they were secure.  There was no way that I could drive my ATV back up to the storage site in the Industrial Park.  I might have been able to go down the middle of the highway, but Hailey had already been stopped by the Fish and Wildlife officer for doing that the weekend prior.  So I left the ATV, buried under a pile of snow, at the edge of our driveway.  I switched the propane tank on the trailer to a full one, and set the furnace for 50F.  I turned on the hot water heater so the plumbing would not freeze.  And I locked our gate and buttoned everything down and headed back to the city.  I returned to work the next day and cancelled my second day off... thinking that it was better to accomplish something in the office.

On the way out I saw a herd of wild horses beside the highway, near the Beaverdam Recreation Area.  They were in the ditch, digging into the snow trying to find something to eat.  By late afternoon when I headed back to the city, they were still there, digging away.  I hoped that none of them would meet with the same fate as some of their relatives.  Back on the the August long weekend a couple of black ones had been struck and killed by a vehicle when they ventured out onto the highway after dark....

Framing Continues

My friend Brad sent me this image yesterday from Nordegg.  The framing of the upper walls of our cottage is now complete and as of yesterday afternoon the roof trusses were in the process of being put into place.  Not sure how much they'll be able to accomplish on site today as it is raining and snowing right now...

Late Summer Weekend in Nordegg

It was still late summer, and only the middle of September, but it felt very much like fall last weekend in Nordegg.  It is freezing most nights now, and the leaves are turning color.  We took two trucks out on Saturday so that we could bring the trailer, and a bunch of construction supplies.  Margarit and the two young girls went home later that afternoon and Hailey and I stayed for the rest of the weekend.  Construction has finally got underway on our cottage and the lower floor walls were up.  I brought out a gate, which I installed on our driveway that afternoon.  I also finally put up the door on our smoke house.

My friend Rob, who did the Procession West gallery exhibitions with me, was coming out to do the electrical rough in.  Our friend Brad, who I have been out hiking with a number of times, including two trips to Utah, was also coming along to help.  They both showed up on Sunday afternoon, just before I had to head back to the city.

Earlier in the day Hailey and I went out for an afternoon ATV ride on the trails around Nordegg.  We checked out some of the usual trails, as well as a new one down to a small lake.  We saw a couple of Whiskeyjacks and a Ruffed Grouse.  We followed part of the old Rail Trail that follows the old railway line that used to haul coal from the Brazeau Collieries mine site.

We got tragic news on Sunday afternoon when Anna called.  She has been saving her money for months so that she could buy a pet rabbit.  She saved up enough to cover food and supplies and vet bills for the first year, before buying her new pet.  About a week ago she got a small dwarf bunny which she named "Loaf", after its light brown color and resemblance to a loaf of bread.  She was inseparable from that little guy and even brought him along with us to Nordegg.  But on Sunday, after they got back home, he took sick with some sort of infection and passed away within hours.  Needless to say Anna is devastated and has been grieving ever since.  As a parent it is really difficult to see my daughter so upset.  This will take a long time for her to get over....

I left the trailer at the lot this time, fully stocked with food, water and propane.  Brad and Rob are staying in it for a few days while I had to return to the city and to work.  They are going to do some hiking this week as well as work on the rough in of the electrical.  I brought along a whole bunch of tools and supplies and all the materials needed to do the job.  Hopefully the weather cooperates and the framers can finish the walls and get the trusses on so that the electrical can be roughed in.  It was raining heavily, turning to wet snow here in the city today.  But in Nordegg conditions were considerably better and the framing of the upper walls is now complete, and roof trusses have started going on.  I'll head back out next weekend and help the guys finish up, hopefully with a little extra time for some hiking and visiting.  The weather is supposed to be really lousy for a day or two, and then begin to improve.  If the framers can get those trusses up and the roof sheeted in, it won't be too bad working inside.

Lower Falls

I found this spot back in August when we were ATV riding near our property at Nordegg.  I've been back to it several times and photographed here.  This particular shot was taken on Efke PL25 film exposed at ISO 10.  I used my Schneider Symmar 135mm lens.  A red filter for contrast and an aperture of F29.0, combined with this slow film, allowed a long exposure of 1 minute to nicely blur the water.  I never get tired of shots of waterfalls and in this particular composition I like that the little cascades are going in various directions.  The film was processed in Rodinal developer, diluted 1:50, for 7:00 minutes, at 24C.  It will be interesting to return to this spot at different times of year.  In late fall when ice is starting to form, it could be quite spectacular.  In spring, when water levels are higher, I'm sure it will look very different.  I will make a point of returning to check it out on a regular basis.

A weekend at home....

For the first weekend in quite a while, we didn't go away.  Hailey and Margarit went to a show at the Winspear Theatre on Friday evening to catch Hailey's favorite band... Oh Wonder.  On Saturday I went in to work for a good part of the day.  I went in shortly after 8:00 and stayed until about 2:00.  Always get lots more accomplished when I am uninterrupted by phone calls, customers and staff.  Did a few chores around the house in the afternoon including washing the windows of the house.  In the evening Margarit and Hailey and I went to the football game.  It was the Labor Day rematch between our Edmonton Eskimos and the Calgary Stampeders.  After the lop-sided defeat last weekend in Calgary we were hoping for a better effort.  It was a much closer game and it came down to the final play, but our Esks came up short... 25-22.

Today I slept in before a late start catching up on some chores.  I stepped out to run a few errands, worked on reloading a whole bunch of film holders and then my Mom came over for dinner in the evening.  Tonight is the first hockey game of the winter season for the Renegades and I'm about to start packing up my gear.  Seems like the weekend was over in the blink of an eye and I have to think about getting ready for the next work week starting in the morning.

Labor Day Long Weekend

We headed back out to Nordegg on the morning of Saturday September 2nd.  As usual it was a mad scramble to wrap up the work week and get everything ready to go.  With the days getting so much shorter at this time of year we no longer try to head out on Friday evenings.  We took two trucks with us again this time so that we could bring our second ATV along for the weekend.

On Saturday afternoon we went out for an trail ride on the ATV's.  Our friends Shelley and Eric came along with us as they recently just bought a small quad.  We took them out on all the groomed ATV trails around the townsite.  These trails are continually being worked on as every weekend that I return I find that more sections of trail have been gravelled, and new trails added.  By the time we got back to the property after the ride and got supper going, it was getting late.  It was too late for us to join the annual Corn Roast that was taking place in town at the Community Hall.  Instead, we got a small fire going and sat around it for a while but ended up turning in fairly early.

It has been quite warm and dry all through the latter part of summer and on Saturday it was also quite windy.  A number of small forest fires broke out in the area and there were helicopters and water bombers flying around all weekend.  I understand that there were fires north of Baldy Mountain, near Crescent Falls and up by Whirlpool Point.  None of them were particularly close to us and I understand that they were all under control.  But it was very smoky all day Saturday and at times there was ash raining down out of the sky.

On Saturday evening we got some showers and they continued off and on through the day on Sunday.  I threw my camera into the ATV and headed out to do a little shooting up in the hills.  Also stopped by the creek and threw a line in a couple times.  The water is very low and there seemed to be little activity with the trout.  By Sunday evening the girls packed up and headed home.  They took one of the trucks and the small ATV back with them.  The girls had plans on holiday Monday, which included some preparations for the upcoming new school year.

I stayed out at the property by myself for Sunday evening and Monday.  I was awake before dawn and up at first light on Monday.  The rain had washed away most of the smoke and the skies were clear when the sun came up.  Then a heavy fog rolled in and it became very silent and closed in.  That only lasted about an hour or so before burning off and the rest of the day was sunny and warm.  I puttered around on a few things at the property.  Not much has happened on our cottage these past couple of weeks.  The backfilling of our foundation is now pretty much complete and the water storage cistern has been placed into the basement.  Other than that we are mostly just waiting for the framing crew to get started.

I met one of our new neighbors, Jess, who is clearing and building next door to our friends Shelley and Eric.  He gave me a ride back from the Industrial Park so that I could put the second ATV away in storage before packing up the trailer and heading home.  I arrived back in the city about 9:00PM just in time to unpack and prepare for the upcoming work week.

Milestones

A few milestones were reached this week....   My middle daughter Annelise turned 12 years old yesterday.  As per our usual family tradition we went out for dinner last night.  Anna chose Greek food and we went to a small family run Greek restaurant on the south side.  I'm not a huge fan of Greek but this one was pretty good.  After dinner we came home and had a family basketball game in our driveway, before heading in for some birthday cake.

A couple of other milestones were reached this week as well.  Anna started Grade 7 at Junior High School this week.  And, oldest daughter Hailey started Grade 10 at High School.  Youngest daughter Helena remains at her Elementary School and started Grade 4.

Later in the evening, after the girls had gone to bed, I went to work in the darkroom for a couple hours.  I am now two nights in to the tedious job of unloading and reloading most my 4x5 film holders.  The exposed film needs to be unloaded and separated into various boxes for later processing.  I save up batches of different kinds of film that require processing in different developers.  After the holders are all unloaded, they need to be reloaded with fresh film.  I haven't done this for quite some time and there are stacks of over 100 holders piled around my darkroom.  They are now all separated and unloaded and I've started the process of re-loading them all.  I've shot about 325 sheets of black and white film so far this year and most of the holders that were used for that are in the midst of this loading procedure.  A couple more evenings to go.....

A little GnR

Last week, on Wednesday evening, Margarit and I went to the Guns N Roses concert at Commonwealth Stadium.  Her brother Shawn and his girlfriend Donna joined us.  Our seats were exactly opposite the season seats that we have for football... about 10 rows up on the 20 yard line.  It was a really pleasant evening and quite comfortable to be outside for a concert, despite it being the end of August.  This was one of the best concerts I've ever seen... and I've easily seen a couple hundred...!  We missed most of the warm up band... Our Lady Peace.  The logistics of getting out of work and getting to the stadium just didn't allow us to arrive for the start of the show.  

Guns N Roses got going pretty much right on time, starting their show at about 7:40PM.  They played for three hours, non-stop.  Then they walked off stage for the traditional encore and after the crowd cheered for a while they came back out and played five more songs... right up until 11:00PM, when the City noise bylaw kicks in.  It was loud, and one of the guys I work with told me he could hear the show from his place up in the Castledowns neighborhood of north Edmonton.  

Axl has once of the most unique and amazing voices in Rock.  Slash is amongst the best guitarists I've ever seen.  They played all of their own hits, plus a whole bunch of covers running the range of James Brown, Glen Campbell, Pink Floyd, The Who... and the list goes on.  Probably the most expensive concert I've ever seen, with tickets at around $300 each, but also one of the best!

More Visitors

I swapped out the memory card on my game camera when we were up at Nordegg on the weekend.  Mostly there are losts of images of the construction crew working on our property.  But mixed in between all of those were these two images...