Renegades - Quarter Finals

The Renegades played our first game of the winter quarter finals last night.  As I write this the clock has just rolled over to March 28th.  We played the first game of our best-of-three series last night against the Bulldogs at Callingwood Arena.  We scored on the first shift, and never looked back.  The Bulldogs tied it 2-2 at one point, but then we re-took the lead and hung on to win 7-3.  Our goalie Steve played a really solid game.  The team in front of him wasn't bad either.  We had 12 skaters to start, but one of our forwards took a puck in the mouth early in the first period and had to leave to get some stitches.  We finished the game with two forward lines and five defense.  The second game of this round will be on Thursday night.  If we win, we advance to the final round.  If we lose, we have one more crack at it...  Stay tuned...

Nordegg Construction Update

I went back out to Nordegg last Sunday.  This time around it was a solo trip.  Hailey often comes with me on trips such as this but this time she is away visiting her Aunt in Washington State.  The other girls didn't want to go.  It was really quiet out there with only one of our immediate neighbors around.  I brought out a big load of fiberglass insulation.  This is roughly half of what we will need to insulate the place.

I spent most of the day tidying up the cottage.  The floor was littered with construction waste and debris such as wire cuttings, wood shavings, dirt and leaves, packages, wrappers and cartons.  It sure looks a lot better with everything tidied up and organized.  While I was working the four deer that were hanging around last week came back.  They all settled down on bare patches of grass beneath the spruce trees in the woods behind the cabin.  They were pretty calm and tame and didn't respond much to the banging around that I was doing.

I also built a temporary railing around the stairwell and took some measurements for an attic access hatch that I need to put in.  Before everything gets closed in, I took a photograph of every wall and the ceiling in every room.  This will provide a record of the routing of the electrical wiring, in the event we ever have to trace anything.  I'm pretty much ready to start on the insulating as soon as the electrical inspector checks out the wiring rough in that my friend Rob and I installed a week ago.

Old Neon

The entire family got up this morning at 5:00AM.  My oldest daughter Hailey is flying to Washington State today to visit her aunt Natalia.  This is Hailey's first time traveling alone, so she was rather anxious to be at the airport early.  We left home about 6:00AM and got to the airport by about 6:30, despite the fact that the flight wasn't actually scheduled to depart until 8:45AM.  Once Hailey got through the security check in, there was no point in the rest of us hanging around.  We went out for breakfast, and then eventually went home.  The two younger girls decided to stay home and have a nap while Margarit and I went out and ran some errands.  

We stopped at a few places and checked out some light fixtures, appliances and building supplies for the Nordegg cabin.  Then we stopped at the wood stove place that we bought our stove from, and picked up an extra length of pipe that we needed to complete the chimney installation.

I dropped Margarit off back at home and headed out by myself after that.  I took my big camera with me and stopped for about an hour to photograph and old neon sign at a south side Motel.  I have a feeling that this one isn't long for this world.  I took a few shots on 4" x 5" black and white film.  I also took this quick snapshot with my phone.  This was the first time that I have exposed any film in well over a month.  I have been so busy with so many other things, that my photography has ended up on the back burner.  Now that spring has arrived and the snow pack is quickly melting, there should be more opportunities to get out again with the big camera.

After finishing up with the photography project I headed over to the shop to organize some construction materials.  I have a bunch of insulation to haul out to Nordegg as well as some other materials and supplies.  I also spent a little time working on my cabinets again.  The bathroom vanity has been nearly complete for some time now.  I'm currently working on a free standing cabinet that will serve as a pantry.  Once these two are finished I will move on to the kitchen cupboards, and some shelving.  Oh...  and I still have more doors to make.  These millwork projects have been pushed aside a little in the past couple of weeks.  Time to get back at them... !!

Renegades - Playoff Hockey

While I was away in Nordegg, the Renegades played the first two hockey games of the playoffs.  We finished the regular season in second place, so we were matched up against the 7th place Trojans in the first best-of-three round.   I don't have any details on the games, other than that only about 10 or 11 skaters made it out to each of the first two games.  But, the guys won both of them, and the Trojans were swept in two straight.  We now advance to the quarter finals.  Our opponent is yet to be decided as we are awaiting the outcome of one of the other playoff rounds.  The next two games will be on March 27 and March 29.  I'm really looking forward to getting back onto the ice..!

Electrical Rough In

My friend Rob is an electrician by trade.  Rob and I put together the Procession West photography exhibition and toured it around western Canada over the past three years or so.  Rob used to live in Beaumont, and we met many years ago through our mutual interest in large format photography.  He has since moved to the interior of British Columbia.  He graciously offered to do the electrical installation for me at our property up in Nordegg.  I'm a fairly handy guy and have a pretty good understanding of most aspects of construction.  There will be many things that I will do myself.  Electrical is one scope that I have never been able to garner a clear understanding of.  Rob's offer to help with this part of the project is very much appreciated.

I picked up a used construction heater for Scott of Shunda Creek Contracting here in the city on the weekend of March 11.  I was bringing it out Nordegg for Scott, and would be renting it from him to temporarily heat the cabin while the electrical work took place.  Rob was flying in from British Columbia on March 15th.  The flight was delayed a day due to heavy fog in British Columbia but we eventually got back on track on March 16th.  I picked up Rob at the airport, with the heater and all our tools, materials and supplies loaded in the back of the truck.  We arrived out at Nordegg at about 4:00 in the afternoon.  We unloaded all the tools and materials at the cottage and got set up for work to start the next morning.  Scott showed up with his skid steer and we unloaded the big diesel heater and set it into place.  Then we headed over to Cheechako Cabins, just up the road on Grouse Meadow Lane.  I had rented their two bedroom "Owl" cabin for us for a few nights.  We unpacked all of our groceries and supplies and settled down for the evening.  I had brought along enough food to allow us to cook all of our meals at the cottage.  We ate pretty well, and this allowed us to avoid having to eat at the restaurant in town.  Nothing against it, but home cooked food is always better than restaurant stuff.  Needless to say we also brought along a healthy supply of beer and enjoyed a few cold ones every evening after the work was done.

For the next several days the routine would be the same.  We got up every morning around 6:00 or 6:30 and made breakfast.  After breakfast we headed over to the cottage and started working.  We would work all morning on the electrical installation, taking a break around noon.  We headed back over to the Owl cabin and made a small lunch, and then headed back to work in the afternoon.  We usually worked until around 6:00 or 6:30 in the evening.  Then it was back over to Cheechako for our evening meal.  The cabin had a BBQ and a fully stocked kitchen.  We had stuff like BBQ steak and chicken, pasta with shrimp and chicken in alfredo sauce, homemade pizza, etc.  After working two long days we realized that we would not be able to complete the project to rough in without an extension of the schedule.  I called in to the office and let them know I would be staying an extra day.  Rob postponed his departing flight by one day, and we rented the Owl cabin for an extra night.

We had a little trouble with that rented construction heater as it would not stay running, and tripped the breaker of the GFI outlet it was plugged into.  We later determined that there must have been some moisture on the cord ends.  On Sunday night it was clear and the temperature dipped down to about -12C overnight.  We made a point of firing up the heater on Monday morning when we started work.  The two days prior had been milder and overcast and we were comfortable without any heat.   We worked all day Monday on the same sort of schedule as the first two days.  By the end of this day we had most of the critical stuff done necessary for rough in inspection.  All the boxes were mounted and all the wires strung on the main and second floor.  The wires were all cut in and grounded at all the boxes.  The home runs were all routed to the panel down in the basement.  We cut through the siding on the exterior wall in four locations to mount the meter box and the exterior outlets.  We also put in boxes for the security cameras and strung the CAT5 cable to those.  Boxes for exterior lights were also mounted on the cabin.  We started a little rough in out in the garage but didn't get very far with that.  We did get some of the electrical roughed in down in the basement including cables to the water pump and hot water heater, as well as some of the lights.

We put up three sections of scaffold in the dinette area of the cottage when we arrived.  I had previously put up the first two sections when I was out there by myself a short time prior.  Rob gave me a hand to put up the third section.  We used this to install an octagon box for a ceiling fan.  We ran the wires up to it, and this is the only electrical component that will be up in the high ceiling.  Wow...!!  That's a long way up...  When I kneel on the platforms of the third section and extend my arms up, I can just reach the underside of the trusses at the ridge.  Although the only electrical work remaining up high will be the installation of the fan, this scaffold will get used for insulation, vapor barrier and the installation of pine paneling to the high ceiling.  The drywall crew will also use it to install drywall to the upper walls in the kitchen and dinette areas.

On Tuesday morning we mostly just tidied up and made some notes as to what was done and what remained to be done.  I also made a materials list of all the light fixtures, smoke detectors, switches, receptacles and cover plates that will be needed to complete the project later in the summer.  We headed back over to the Owl cabin and packed up all our personal stuff and hit the road for home a little before noon.  We made a brief stop for lunch and fuel in Rocky Mountain House.  I dropped Rob off at the airport around 2:30, so that he could catch his 5:00pm flight back home.  Then I went in to the office and signed all the paycheques for the staff.  I hung around work for a couple of hours and got a start on sorting through all the questions and correspondence that came my way while I was out of town.

I've since called the permit company to arrange for the rough in inspection.  This is tentatively scheduled for late this week or early next.  As soon as everything is approved I can continue with installation of insulation and vapor barrier.  I need to get on that right away so that I can be ready for my drywall crew who are scheduled to start at the end of April.

Yamaha ET300 Restoration continues

Back in 2014 I started to restore my old 1979 Yamaha snowmobile.  I put a new seat and a new windshield on it at that time.  That spring I put it away in storage and then promptly abandoned the project.  Now that we have our place up at Nordegg I've resurrected the project and need to get it back on track.  The snowmobile still starts easily enough, but it isn't running very well.  It won't idle properly without choking it, and it has no power.  So, I had one of the guys in the shop pull the carburetor off for me and I took that in to get rebuilt.  That helped, and it idles better, but it still has no power and seems to have lost compression on one cylinder.  I'm too far in to this project now to abandon it so I'm going to have to take it in and have some work done on the engine.

In addition to the other things I've done I also put on a new set of skis with a new set of carbides.  And I replaced the old broken kill switch, and a duct leading into the carb.  Once these engine issues are addressed the old sled will be ready to roll.  Should be a great little machine for the girls to rip around on up at Nordegg.  With spring upon us it seems that will likely be next year at this point.
The last image below is of the new Skidoo Tundra that I bought last fall.  It hasn't been out on the trails yet this year either.  Early in the year it was very cold, with very little snow.  Late in the season we finally got some snow... and a considerable amount.  But every time that I was available to get out it was really cold.  The days that were nice and mild, I had other commitments.  Right now its a bit of an ordeal to take the sleds all the way out to Nordegg.  It means six hours on the road... three hours each way... for a couple hours of riding.  The cottage is still an empty shell so there is no where to warm up, have lunch, or use a bathroom... other than the outhouse of course.  And until late in the season the buildings were not far enough along in construction that I could leave the snowmobiles there and safely lock them up.  That meant dragging a trailer all the way out there an back is well.  Perhaps I'm just a lazy slob but these are my reasons for not getting around to it this year.  Next year will be different, as the cabin should be nearing completion and we will safely be able to store our equipment out there...

Recent Scan

Here is a recently processed and scanned negative, that was taken some time ago.  This dates back to November of 2016 on a day trip when I was out exploring with my friends Chris and Connie.  We found this old abandoned farmhouse with some really nice millwork, and a little furniture and junk left behind.  I took this image on a sheet of Ilford FP4 film with my Ebony SV45TU 4" x 5" view camera and a Schneider 110mm lens.  The film was processed back in January in Ilford Perceptol developer, diluted 1:1, for 11:45 minutes at 24C.

March Trip to Nordegg

I took a quick drive out to Nordegg on Thursday.  Nothing has happened at the property since I was there last, as there is nothing really left to do on the exterior of the building.  Later this week my contractor will be hoisting the two skylights up to the roof for me.  While he is up there with his boomlift he will also put in the chimney for the wood stove, and one plumbing vent.  Once I get a little electrical rough in looked after, there are two small areas of soffit to be installed.  Otherwise the exterior is done, until the snow melts and the ground thaws so that we can finish up some site work, and utility trenching.  While I was out there I also met with the drywall contractor that will be doing the interior work for us.  He is based out of Rocky Mountain House and was out in the area working on a neighboring property.  I also dropped off a load of scaffold and set it up in my cottage.  This will be used to access the high vaulted ceiling for electrical rough in, insulation, vapor barrier, drywall and taping, and wood paneling installation.

When I finished up at the cottage I took a spin over to Abraham Lake to check out ice conditions.  I didn't actually walk down onto the lake to look for ice bubbles, but I confirmed that the wind has swept the ice relatively free of snow.  At some point soon, when I have a little more time, I hope to get out there with my camera and photograph the ice.

Dwight Yoakam

Margarit and I went to see Dwight Yoakam at the Jubilee Auditorium on Monday March 5th.  This was my 5th time and Margarit's third time seeing him.  My first was also at the Jubilee, back in the 1980's when he first broke onto the scene.  Now he is celebrating the 30th anniversary of his first ground-breaking country album... Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc.  I have to say that the last two times I saw him were a bit of a disappointment.  Margarit and I saw him out at the Leduc Recreation Centre a few years ago.  The sound was terrible, and the seating disorganised and chaotic.  Then we saw Dwight about a year ago out at the River Cree Casino.  He put on a pretty decent show, but the acoustics out at the casino leave something to be desired.  This time around the sound was great.  Our seats were down front and center in about the fifth row.  His band was tight and played really well.  And, for a change, this time around he was more open with the crowd.  Usually he starts playing and one song just runs into the next without much discourse.  This time around he actually stopped playing and carried on an interactive discussion with the audience.  It was very refreshing and made this once of the best shows I have seen in a while.  Of course now that I am learning guitar I paid particular attention to the instruments being played, the chords, the changes and got a little more out of it.

Guitar Fingers

I've been taking guitar lessons since right after Christmas.  I can honestly say that I have been practising for at least 20 minutes, every day.  There has been the odd day that I have missed, due to work commitments or hockey games or travel, but I have made up for these occasional days with extra practise time before and after.  I'm training myself to play chords, and to make changes from one to the next.  I am working on playing parts of a number of my favorite songs including some by the Eagles, Blue Rodeo and others.   A Beatles song, Dust in the Wind, Patsy Kline, and a few others.  I still need some help at figuring out the stumming patterns, and on putting these little riffs together into complete songs...  But it's coming along.  I've mostly been practising with my Takamine acoustic that the girls got me for Christmas.  But I've also been playing on my Rickenbacker.  And from time to time I play a little on Hailey's Gibson Maestro, and on Anna's Simon and Patrick acoustic.  My fingers are becoming slowly conditioned but despite the callouses that I am developing, some days it is a little painful to play.  Maybe I'm trying too hard, or maybe I just need to stick with it until my fingertips toughen up a little more....

Winter Hockey 2018 - Regular Season comes to an end...

The Renegades played our last game of the 2017-2018 Regular Season last night.  The game was at 10:00PM at KofC Arena against the Pipeliners.  We won the game 12-7 in what felt like a shooting gallery at times.  The team finished the regular season with a record of 15-11-0-2.  That's 15 wins, 11 losses, no ties and two overtime losses.  During the course of the season the league made various divisional moves, shifting teams up and down within the 16 divisions.  Our team remained in division nine for the entire season.  But, in the final standings, only games that were played against teams that remain in our division, count towards the final winning percentage.  And it is winning percentage that determines the final ranking for playoffs, at the end of the regular season.  Our record against teams in our division was 12-8-0-1, and good for second place.

The playoff round starts on March 18th and we will begin a best of three series against the seventh place Trojans.  We played the Trojans three times during the regular season, and have a winning record against them.  A 6-4 win in September, followed by a 6-3 loss in October and finally a 6-2 victory in December.  Should be fun... !!  Can't wait for these playoffs to get started.  Hopefully we can string together a long run and make it to the finals.  Regardless of what happens, summer hockey season gets underway in early May, so there won't be much time to rest.

Historic Photos

I purchased scans of two historic photographs, from the Provincial Archives of Alberta.  Both images were taken in Nordegg.  I intend to print these digitally, frame them, and hang them at our cottage.  The first one is over 100 years old and shows some homes in the townsite.  The subdivision in which our property is located is on the flanks of Coliseum Mountain.  This is the mountain in the right background of this image.  The second image is newer and is of some stores and shops in the town site.  I'm not sure exactly when this image was taken and will have to do a little research.