Sunday Drive

This was one of those weekends that I did NOT head out to Nordegg.  Too many other things on the go.  Hailey had to work this weekend...  I had to do some banking...  and on Saturday afternoon I had a hockey game.

The Renegades played the Hungry Beavers on Saturday afternoon at Knights of Columbus Arena.  We won the game by the lop-sided score of 9-2.  This puts us in third place in our division, with two games left in the regular season.  We could finish anywhere between 2nd and 5th place, depending on the outcome of the last few games.  No matter what, we should get a fairly favourable match-up in the playoffs, which start around March 23rd.  The girls came out to watch the game, given the fact that is was a reasonable ice time for a change.  After the game we all went out for pizza.

Before the game I was at the shop for a bit, working on my cabinets and doors for the cottage.  I was only able to work for a couple of hours, with so many other things on the go this weekend.

Sunday morning we switched to daylight savings time... so everyone slept in a little. It was not light as early as we are used to, so that encouraged a late morning as well.  I am looking forward to the longer daylight in the evenings though.  Might be able to start heading out to the cottage on Fridays after work, and we won't have to pack up and head home so early on Sundays in the future.

On this Sunday I went out for a drive.  None of the girls wanted to come along this time so it was a solo trip.  On Saturday it was clear and sunny and warm and it felt like spring is in the air.  Sunday was forecast to get a little warmer.  I don't think that quite panned out, but it was at least about the same.  I took a drive up to the northeast.  I passed through Elk Island National Park and then explored a few of the small towns up in Lamont County...   Lamont, Chipman and Hilliard.....

Once I got past Elk Island it was a little cooler, with a breeze out of the east that still had a bit of chill to it.  My truck thermometer showed the temperature in the -5 to -8 range, though once I got back into the city in the mid-afternoon, it showed +1.

There were lots of places in the park where you could see that people had run off the road.  The National Park Service does not clear the roads the way they are cleared in the city.  The shoulders of the secondary highway are rather narrow, and there is a covering of snow left on the roads.  It is very deceptive as to where the pavement ends and where the ditch starts, and a few city drivers have found out the hard way.  I came across two of them that had run off the road.  

On my way out in the morning, when I came across the first one, I stopped and offered to pull him out.  But there were no tow hooks on his SUV, and I was a little reluctant to hook on and risk damaging something.  The guy was too lazy to crawl into the snow and have a look under his vehicle to see if there was a crossmember or some opening on the frame that I could hook my tow rope to.  It was almost like he wanted me to wallow in the snow and do it for him.  When he suggested he would just call AMA to come and pull him out, I left it at that and continued on my way.

In mid-afternoon when I was coming back home and again passing through the park, I noticed that the guy had been pulled out.  But, a short distance up the road another young kid did the same thing.  He had no tow hooks on his car either, but he was more than willing to crawl under his vehicle and find a place to loop my tow strap, so I obliged and pulled him out.  On my way back into the city I swung through Sherwood Park and picked up Anna from a sleepover at her friends place.

I got a few opportunities to set up the view camera and it was nice to get back to photography.  Last year I just didn't accomplish much and have been looking forward to getting back on track.  I really haven't done any serious shooting since my friend Jon and I were out at the cottage in November.  The only shots I have taken so far in 2019 were a couple of the ice bubbles on Abraham lake, but that was way back on January 2nd.  Since then it has been far too cold to consider getting out with the big camera.  There have been a few milder days, but they were mostly during the week.  For the most part it has been -20 and colder, without the wind chill factored in, since late January.  We just went through one of the coldest February's on record.  There's quite a bit of snow around and I don't think it would be a good thing if it melted quickly.  But, a gradual warmup and thaw would be nice and it seems like that is underway, and what is forecast for the next little while.  The official first day of spring is coming up in less than two weeks...!