Mid Week in Nordegg

I played a late hockey game with the Renegades on Monday night.  It was a 10:30 start time, but at least it was at a rink close to home... Kinsmen.  We fell behind 2-0 but rallied to beat the third place team... Big Coffin Hunters... by a score of 3-2.  It was 2:00AM before I finally wound down, had a shower and something to eat, and went to bed.

The next morning I packed up a few things and hit the road for Nordegg.  With the power meter recently installed I wanted to energize a couple circuits and make sure everything was working.  The highways were just about the worst I have seen all winter.  There had been a strong northwest wind for a couple of days, plus a little fresh snow.  Wherever there was an open area, the wind swept the snow across the road.  It melted a little on the asphalt and then refroze to ice.  It was patchy ice because in the sheltered areas the highway was pretty clear, but whenever there was an open area, it was snow covered or glazed with ice.  At one point I went into a sideways skid down the highway at 100kmh, when I attempted to change lanes.  I managed to control the skid and straighten out without any issues.  This was on Highway 2, just south of Highway 13.  A short distance later I came upon a big traffic jam.  It was bumper to bumper and the vehicles just crawled along for about 20 minutes.  Eventually I came upon the scene of an accident... three big transport trucks in the ditch... one with a big load of pipe and the other two with 50 foot vans.  A wrecker had just pulled one of them back onto the shoulder and the cab and sleeper were pretty bashed up.  It was a truck registered in the USA, so perhaps the driver was not used to winter weather.

Shortly after that I turned off onto Highway 53 and headed west towards Rimbey.  The road was still covered with patchy snow in places, but it was not as icy.  By the time I got further west to the Clearwater County line, the roads were fine.  Here there is heavy forest and winds were not able to sweep all the snow onto the road.  The highways were pretty much clear all the way to Nordegg, except for a little snow cover up on Saunders Ridge.  But the drive that usually takes a little under three hours, took almost four and a half.

I arrived at the cottage around 2:30 and unpacked my stuff.  Then I went to work over in the guest cottage until dark.  It was about -8 through the afternoon and I didn't bother to light a fire.  I did put up a light fixture in the east bedroom and one up on the high ceiling.  I also puttered around a bit with some trim on the south gable.  I was able to energize three circuits in the building, and now have lights and power in the crawlspace and one of the bedrooms.  I also have lights up in the main loft, and one light in the central living area.  No more stringing out the 150 foot extension cord from next door...!