Work and Chores

This past week I've been here in the city, going to work every day.  Despite the fact that many businesses are shut down, we are busy building protective screens for grocery stores, pharmacies, and other retail establishments.  This puts me somewhat at risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus.  In light of that, and in consideration of the fact that Helena has a heart condition, the girls headed out to Nordegg and are isolating at the cottage.

My days consist of getting up, having a shower and heading in to work for around 8:00AM.  I work through the day and usually manage to check out and head home by 6:30 or 7:00.  Then I make something to eat, try to do a few chores around the house, and then go to bed to start over again the next day.  These past couple of nights I have been trying to catch up on all the dirty dishes that my lazy daughters left lying around the house.  I've also done some laundry for myself.

Tonight I decided to wash my hockey gear.  I've always maintained that it is unlucky to wash hockey gear mid-season.  I somehow missed the opportunity last season and never did get around to washing my gear.  I'm not sure exactly how long I've been wearing it, but its getting pretty crusty, and would probably stand up on its own.  With the winter regular season over, and the playoffs indefinitely postponed, I thought is was a good opportunity for a wash, without any risk of jinxing myself.  I was too afraid to check the color of the wash water coming out of the machine.  But, once this stuff comes out of the dryer I'll be good to go for some time to come.  I'm doubtful that the winter playoffs will happen and the upcoming summer season is already rumored to be postponed... or possibly cancelled.

This global pandemic is really serious and we have to do our part to control it.  I have a total of a nine staff working in a very large shop of nearly 14,000 square feet.  We do not work in close proximity to each other, and only a handful of customers come around every day.  Those customers seem to be very respectful and keep a safe distance as they pick up product.  With regular hand washing and some level of respect, I think we will all be OK.

The girls will mostly remain out at the cottage and try to avoid getting sick.  Once this rush of work wraps up at the shop, if things haven't settled down, then I will isolate myself for a bit before we get back together.  From there we will just have to be cautious and see how things go.
Sure missing hockey though.... and can't wait to get back out on the ice... hopefully soon...!

New Truck

I sold my company at the end of 2019, with the intention of retiring.  As part of the sale agreement I had to commit to remain involved for a year, and transition new management into the operation.  Under that agreement I am permitted to continue to drive one of the company trucks.  But, once my employment contract comes to an end and I retire, then I will have to return that truck to the company.  So, back in January I factory ordered a new truck for myself.  I've been looking into this for some time, as I was hoping to still be able to get a truck with a standard transmission.  Much to my dismay I discovered that none of the manufacturers offer a standard transmsision, so I was forced to order a truck with an automatic.  This will be the first automatic I have owned since the late 1980's and I know I'll miss the stick and the clutch.  Last week the new truck arrived and I went down to the dealership to pick it up.  It is a 2020 Ram 3500 with a Cummins Diesel engine.  Long box, four wheel drive, reasonably well equipped... with that dreaded automatic.  Though I still have the use of the company truck, I've found myself driving this new one more and more.  I have to say that heated seats and heated steering wheel are options that I never considered all that important... until I had them.  I still have my old 2004 Ram 2500... with a standard transmission.  This is the one that stranded my friend Brad and I down in Butte, Montana a few years back.  I can't decide if I should sell that old truck, or considering that it now has a new clutch and transmission, keep it for a junk truck to use around the cottage and down in East Coulee....?  A decision to be made in the coming weeks and months I suppose....

Make Work Project

When it was slow in the shop earlier this month, the guys made a new switch cover for the mens room......

Defining Event

In the words of my brother... this Coronavirus pandemic will be the defining event of our generation much like the great depression and world wars were to generations before us.

I have been at work for something like 31 days in a row, dating back to mid February.  My typical work day starts at about 8:00AM, and by 6:00 or 6:30PM I usually find myself at work trying to wrap things up.  On weekends I have been spending several hours each day trying to finish up my personal projects.

I thought last weekend would be different.  The girls and I had planned to head out to the cottage for the first time since mid February.  Margarit, Hailey and I headed over to the shop... my 32nd day in a row... last Saturday.  We hooked up the utility trailer with our side-by-side, and also loaded up kitchen cupboards, a medicine cabinet, a big box full of kindling, and the slab for our lunch counter.  Hailey and I arrived at the cottage in the early afternoon and Margarit and Helena came out later in the day.

Annelise decided to stay home, back in the city, by herself.

I got all the stuff unloaded, and hung up the medicine cabinet on Saturday afternoon.  Then on Sunday morning I started getting calls from work.  Lots of inquiries about building plastic screens to protect cashiers at grocery stores and pharmacies in light of the current pandemic.  Margarit and I tried to slide the Douglas Fir slab into our bay window only to find out that I had cut it an inch too long.  This would have to wait for another day to be resolved, so we stored it away.  We packed the side-by-side and the snowmobile into the garage, and I headed back to the city.  Margarit and the two girls stayed behind at the cottage.  It seems most of the residents of the subdivision had decided that Nordegg was a great place to isolate, as most of the properties were occupied.  In fact as I headed back into the city, Highway 11 heading west from Rocky Mountain House was pretty much as busy as it is most weekends in the summer.  Not sure where everyone was headed... but obviously away.

I went in to work on Sunday afternoon and tried to secure some material and schedule work for the upcoming week.  What started out as an order for 350 protective guards soon turned into a bigger order for 1400.  Suppliers of plastic sheet stock had largely sold out of inventory on Friday and over the weekend and into the beginning of the week, the remaining inventory disappeared.  Fortunately my company had quite a bit of stock on the floor and in storage.  I managed to build on that a little with additional orders.

My week will be full trying to deal with this onslaught of work.  The new owners of the company are most grateful for this activity as it saves them from having virtually nothing to do and the potential of an extended period of losses.  We made an announcement to staff on Friday that hours would be drastically cut, but this was quickly overturned.

Margarit is now planning to come back to the city to pick up Annelise, and a few more supplies and return to Nordegg.  I will stay behind and try to work through this sudden rush of orders at the shop.  Hopefully once we get this behind us, I will be able to take a break.  It seems that the 31 days in a row at the shop will now become at least 38 and perhaps more before I get another break.  I was actually out at Nordegg for less than 24 hours before I had to turn around and return to work.  In consolation... the new medicine cabinet looks pretty good....!

When I get back out there again... whenever that is, I'll trim down and install the slab in the bay window, as well as install the upper cabinets.

Governments in various provinces are starting to shut down non-essential businesses.  For the time being at least, mine is essential due to the manufacture of these protective screens.  When we run out of available plastic stock, and this work comes to a halt, we will no longer be essential, and will probably be shut down.  Maybe then I can take a break and head out to the mountains.  For now at least I have no choice but to keep working.

I found a nice piece of hickory, with a really distinctive grain pattern.... I sculpted this into the shape of some mountains, and used it at the top of the mirror frame on the medicine cabinet.  I like the way it turned out and an quite proud of my workmanship....

Apple Tree

This is from a recently processed batch of Ilford FP4+ film.  Yet another shot from the trip out to Vancouver Island last October.  This was taken on Denman Island.  There is a Provincial Park up at the north tip of the Island.  I think it used to be called Tree Island but it seems that the name has recently been changed to an aboriginal name that I can not pronounce.  Nonetheless it is a wonderful place to wander around and explore.  It appears this old tree has gone wild and perhaps once belonged to a homestead or seaside cottage of some sort.  Nothing man-made left to suggest that, but the tree itself is a bit of an anomaly.

COVID-19

These are challenging times to say the least.  I have never experienced anything like this global pandemic in my nearly 57 years.  My brother sent me an e-mail recently and commented that this will be the defining event of our generation, much like the great depression and the World Wars defined generations before ours.  The events of 911 were kind of like this, but I think this time around it's more extensive.  I think he's right with this comment.  Once we move on beyond this, there will be a new normal, and life will be forever changed.  On a positive note, the virus is not deadly to the vast majority of those it infects.  But to those at risk it is a huge deal.  We have one of those high risk individuals living in our house.  Helena, with her heart defects, is at major risk of serious problems if she comes down with it.  In light of that, we all have to be extremely vigilant.  I have numerous other friends and acquaintances that fall into similar categories.  Age, cancer and transplant patients, heart conditions, diabetes, and various other health conditions are all of major concern.  It bothers me somewhat that many people, particularly younger ones, don't take this seriously enough.  If we can get this under control now, before it erupts and exponentially infects a major portion of our population, there is some hope.  But without the cooperation of virtually everyone, the odds don't look very good.  Much better to err on the side of overreaction, and then look back on things in that light, then to be faced with the alternative...!

I'm grateful that I sold my company when I did as I escaped the fallout from this disaster.  Fortunately I have not yet invested the proceeds of the sale, so I was not subjected to the market meltdown.  That said, I have a significant portion of my life's savings invested in the market from prior to the sale.  That was the money that I was expecting to live off of when I retire, and it just took a 40% haircut.  But, so far that is just on paper, as I did not panic and sell anything.  So hopefully the recovery is sustained and moderately quick and I don't take too much of a beating.

Despite that fact that I no longer own the company, it still can't function without me.  I am obliged to continue to toil there and help the new ownership through the transition, and through this current disaster.  Just when it looked as though we were beginning to emerge from the winter slowdown, this epidemic hit and destroyed the financial landscape and crippled life as we know it.  There has not been much to do in recent weeks and labor costs were draining the company.  Now it is even worse as there is virtually nothing going on.  We are beginning to send staff home, and will have to rely on some of the government bailouts to carry the company through.  At the moment I am still working regular hours but it would not surprise me if we shut things down and go into isolation in the coming days.  By the end of this week we should have a little better idea what is going on.

October Calendar Image

The image that I selected for the month of October on my 2020 calendar was this one.  This is the only image in the calendar that was not taken in Alberta.  I think I've posted this one on my blog before.  It is from Hornby Island and was taken last October when I was out there with my friends Rob and Brad

Yet More Printing

On the weekend of March 7 and 8 I made some time to get down into my darkroom and print the last two of the seven prints that I need.  Through the week these prints got toned, cleared, washed and dried.  By midweek I was cutting mounts.  On Friday the 13th I dry mounted all of my prints.  My part of the "historic coal project" submission is now complete.  Just need to gather up the prints from the other three members so I can dry mount those as well.  This is turning into a really fun project and I'm excited to see it through.
Here are some snapshots as I worked on the last two of these prints.  A couple were taken under safelight, before the prints had been fully fixed and were not yet "light safe"

Still at the shop

Looking forward to being able to back off from my current work load.  Except for a couple of weekends out at Nordegg, I've been working at the shop pretty much seven days a week.  Some of that has been to finish up some personal projects that I need to get out of the shop, but the bulk of my time has been spent working on company stuff.  My Christmas break was mostly non-existent as I had to take an inventory and work on all the stuff related to the sale of the business.

I took an extended break at the Family Day long weekend but since then I've been working 11 and 12 hours days, plus cleaning up personal projects on the weekends.  I decided not to head out to our cottage this weekend of March 14 and 15 for a couple of reasons.  Partly because there is a heavy snowfall warning out in the foothills and temperatures are dropping down to around -25C.  But also because I have a playoff hockey game on Sunday.  I've been at the shop for 24 days straight since Family Day.  I know I will be in at least one day this weekend.  If I end up being there both days this weekend, and considering the upcoming work week, that will make over 30 days straight.  This is not quite what I imagined retirement to be, and I need to take steps to start backing away.

...I ended up spending Saturday the 14th at the shop and now have my medicine cabinet and upper kitchen cupboards 100% complete.  These will be packed up and taken out to Nordegg next time we go.  On Saturday evening I got word that my league is suspending the hockey playoffs, so I don't have a game to go to after all.  This Corona Virus scare is pretty serious and unlike anything I've ever experienced before.  Hopefully if we are ultra cautious now, this can be put behind us without having any lasting impact on too many people. 

More Printing

On the weekend of February 29 and March 1 I returned to my darkroom and continued with some printing.  Seven of my negatives have been selected for inclusion in the historic "coal" project that my friends and I are working on.  This is not the final image selection, as the project is still ongoing.  But recently Nigel, Arturo, Court and I got together and made an initial image selection so that we can begin the process of applying for some exhibition opportunities.  A week ago I printed the first three negatives, and this past weekend I printed two more.  Those prints are currently in the washer and will be dried and finished in the next day or so.  One more printing session for me and I will have my part of the project wrapped up for now.

Strange Times

These are strange times... in many ways.  Some of it is very personal and specific to me, while other issues are global.  Of course the big news recently is the Corona Virus scare.  Recently the World Health Organization has declared it a pandemic.  I hope they are overreacting on the side of caution, so that this can be safely controlled.  The fallout has been enormous.  Stock markets have dropped over 30 percent and there is no end in sight.  Very challenging and stressful times for people like me.  I just sold my business and hope to retire, and was planning to live off my investments.  Now they are only worth 2/3 of what I expected. 

My work situation is very strange too....  I'm attempting to get used to the idea of being an employee and no longer owning my business.  The company was sold at the beginning of 2020 and I've agreed to stay on for 12 months and transition into new ownership.  

The virus scare has forced all sorts of closures and cancellations and this is reducing economic activity.  The recent harsh winter conditions of the past two months have brought construction activity to a halt, and things have not really opened up yet.  The environmentalist movement has crippled the resource industry and our province.  To make matters worse now there is a conflict between the Saudi Arabians and the Russians over oil production which has driven down the world oil price.  The retail price of gasoline here in Edmonton has dropped under 80 cents per liter.  As much as the consumer appreciates a price reduction it is crippling the local economy.  It has all combined for a perfect storm and this will be a very challenging year.  I'm sure glad that I'm on my way out the back door.  Of course we need to see that market recover somewhat if my retirement is going to become a reality.

Update

My "Plunge Pool" photograph has now received over 12,000 views on Flickr, with 282 favorites and a bunch of comments.  What a difference it makes to get an image posted to the Explore page.  I'm certainly grateful for all the exposure....!

Plunge Pool

A recently processed negative from the fall trip to Vancouver Island.  This small plunge pool was at the edge of Englishman River Falls.  I had to bushwhack quite a bit to get down to the edge of the river.  I think it was worth it...!

I posted this on my Flickr account over the weekend.  It got picked up on the Flickr "Explore" page for March 8th.  As of the afternoon of March 9th it has been viewed almost 8800 times, has over 230 favorites and 16 comments.  Kinda proud of this one...!

Renegades Rolling

My Renegades Hockey Team is going on a bit of a roll.  We really struggled in our division  to start the winter season and at one point I think we were in last place.  The league hasn't done a very good job of balancing the divisions this year.  There are two teams at the top that dominate all the others, despite some ongoing moves through the season.  The six lower teams in the division are all fairly evenly matched and all six have a record close to 0.500.  

Since the beginning of the calendar year my team has a record of 10 and 3.  A couple of the losses were really lopsided, but so were some of our victories.  We have three games in five days to wind down to the end of the regular season, in advance of the playoffs.  On Wednesday March 4th we played the Wingmen and beat them by a score of 8-3.  I was playing defense and took a shot on the inside of my wrist, just above the cuff of my hockey glove, and it has turned into a big purple bruise.  But, although it hurt a lot at the time, its not really an issue any longer.  I played again on Friday March 6th and we defeated a team called the Hawks by a score of 10-3.  The final game of the regular season will be on Sunday March 8th and I'll be at that one as well.  

As usual the league is rather tardy in releasing the schedule and as of March 7th, the dates for the upcoming games in the first round of the playoffs have not even been announced.  That makes it challenging to plan anything personally.  I realize that the matchups and the ice times can not be finalized until the last of the regular season games have been played.  But at least the tentative dates would help those of us that lead busy lives, to plan around hockey.

March Meet the Maker

There's a project on Instagram this month called March Meet the Maker.  Meghan from the Monochrome Guild has taken it upon herself to put together several postings featuring members of the Guild.  I really appreciate her dedication and marvel at her commitment.  There a literally thousands of posts, and at the time that I looked, we were only seven days into the month.  Not sure how many people are following this, but I any exposure... no pun intended... it fantastic for our group and our art.  The post about me was the first one, and through the month there will be more, featuring some of the other members.  Here's a link to mine....

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9YZ9JDJoBT/

September Calendar Image

This is the image that I selected for the September page of my calendar.  The shot was taken in the summer of 2019.  I was up along the North Saskatchewan River near the Banff Park Boundary with my friends Chris and Connie.  We stopped at Whirlpool Point and wandered around along the ridge for a while.  The skies were filled with windswept cirrus clouds and the view was utterly spectaular. I attempted to capture that mood in this image.

Back at the shop again....

Despite having sold my business, and planning for my retirement, I find myself at the shop and the office a lot more than I intended.  I previously posted on my blog about the extended stretches that I have spent working.  Seems that continues.... hmmm.....?!

I was out at our place at Nordegg for an extended Family Day Long weekend, to accommodate the schedule of our counter top installation contractor.  Since then I have been at work.  After the long weekend I returned to the office on the afternoon of Wednesday February 19th... so it has been twelve days in a row since then... with five more coming up.  This time around the past two weekends were not spent working on company business... for a change...!  I focused my attention on building kitchen cupboards and a medicine cabinet for out bathroom.  The new ownership group is anxious for me to get all my personal stuff out of the shop, and I'm equally anxious to get these projects finished up.  A week ago I worked on the bodies of the two upper cupboards.  This past weekend I worked on the door frames and the trim.  I should be able to get this finished up and out of the shop very soon.

Now that winter is coming to an end, and spring is upon us, I'm more interested in getting out and doing stuff outside, rather than spending hours in the shop on these millwork projects.  It's time to get serious about my retirement and start doing some of the fun stuff that I've been waiting for...!