More Mine Stuff

After exploring in the morning at the Murray Mine on Friday May 27th, Chris and Connie and I set off for another mine site in the afternoon.  Once again we got landowners permission and hiked in to a site that was once part of the Western Monarch mine.  

This one is not particularly impressive visually, but from a historical nerd's point of view, it was quite fascinating.  We following an old utility line in to a small building.  This building once contained all the electrical equipment associated with the power supply for the mine.  There is not much left of it, and the equipment has been mostly vandalized and looted.

It was about a four mile hike over rough terrain to get to the building, but we really enjoyed being outside in nature.  We also found an old car the had been rolled over the edge of the valley, and an old TV set dumped in a now dry slough.  I managed to set the big camera up several times to document what we explored over the course of the afternoon.  I was pretty tired by end of the day as I not only walked all those miles, with all the ups and downs, but I was carrying my view camera backpack and a big tripod the whole time.  A nice cold beer and a steak dinner back at the shop in the evening was a pretty good wrap up for a tiring but very enjoyable day.

Murray Mine

Back in the day there were a lot of coal mines around East Coulee.  I'm not sure what the official count is, but around a dozen.. maybe more...?

The Atlas Coal Mine is now a national Historic Site and the large wood tipple, as well as several other buildings are now preserved.  This one is obvious and quite an extensive site that many tourists vist and know well.  But there were many other mines nearby.  One is the Murray Mine.

We met the landowner and he gave us permission to wander around the mine site and photograph.  The mine entrance is located about half way up the hill and is hidden by some clumps of small trees.  The entrance has been closed in, but there are the remains of some buildings, and a conveyor, in the trees.  Up in the hills around the site there are numerous other smaller artifacts.

On the slope nearby are the remains of three tramway towers.  These hauled waste rock away from the mine, and dumped it out of the way, over the ridge, in an adjacent coulee.  We hiked up to the towers and the view from up there is quite spectacular.  The mine must have been a busy and very noisy place when it was in full operation.  We enjoyed the couple hours that we spent here exploring and I managed a couple of setups with my big camera, in addition to these snapshots.

Recent Travels

I was only back in the city very briefly.  I played hockey, caught up on a few chores, grabbed some fresh film, and hit the road again.

On Thursday May 26th I travelled to Calgary.  I picked up my friend Chris at his place, and we hit the road.  We had permission to explore an historic site.  It included some old buildings, machinery and vehicles.  It was located on private land, and the owner has never given access to any other photographers or researchers before.  We promised that we would not disclose the location, or post any photos, so for that reason I have nothing here.  We spent most of the day there and really enjoyed our time.

Later in the afternoon we continued on our way.  Chris' wife Connie had to work on Thursday so she was unable to join us.  But when her work day was done, she set out from Calgary and eventually met up with us.  

We connected in Drumheller and stopped in at a local watering hole for a beer and something to eat.  The Battle of Alberta Hockey Game was on television and we watched the first period while we had dinner.  Most of the locals in the Drumheller area are Calgary Flames fans, so I kind of had to keep my mouth shut about my support of the Edmonton Oilers.  We didn't stay for the whole game but learned later that the Oilers defeated the Flames in overtime and knocked them out of the playoffs.  The Oilers will now advance to the conference final against the Colorado Avalanche.  I never really expected the team to do this well and it now looks as though they have a legitimate shot at the Stanley Cup.

After dinner we stopped and picked up a few groceries and then headed on out to my shop in East Coulee.  Chris and Connie crashed in the shop, and I stayed in my trailer.  Before we retired we sat up around a fire in the yard and had a few more beers and visited.  It was a great day and there would be more adventure to come over the remainder of the weekend.

Back to the City

Margarit, Anna and I all returned to the city on Tuesday after the long weekend.  Once the snow came to an end, the weekend was actually pretty nice.  It was pretty low key, and we didn't do a lot.  We had some nice meals together, and managed to watch some playoff hockey games through our internet connection.

I did a little work over in the guest cottage, but didn't accomplish a whole lot.  I brought out another load of about forty aspen boards, and got about half of them finished with lacquer.  I also put aside my procrastination and managed to cut the second vent opening through the wall.  This was a six inch diameter duct for the range hood, and it was cut fairly high up on the west wall.  Once that was complete I managed to install a few more rows of aspen paneling on the south and west walls.  That was about it...!

Sunday Drive up the Trunk Road

I puttered around in the guest cottage a little on Saturday May 21st.  The snow and rain had ended and the skies were mostly sunny.  Most of the snow melted pretty quickly.  I unloaded the 40 or so aspen boards that I had brought along, and stacked them in the cottage.  Then I cut through the vent for the range hood, a project I had been avoiding for weeks.  It went pretty well, though it did take four jigsaw blades to cut the 6 inch diameter opening through the Hardie Board siding.  I installed a few more pieces of paneling, and that was about the extent of my work.

Margarit drove out and joined me and Annelise on Saturday afternoon.  We had a nice dinner of roast chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy.  The two other girls decided to stay in the city so we invited our neighbor Dan and his daughter Arlette over to help us eat all the food.

On Sunday we slept in.  It was sunny and warm again, and by this time the snow was pretty much gone.  We made a trip up to the dump and got rid of a bunch of garbage that we had accumulated.  Then we carried on up the Forestry Trunk Road to the Blackstone River.  I brought along my big view camera, and Anna brought her little mirrorless digital camera.  We expored along the river for a couple of hours, poking around the driftwood and checking out the rocks.  I did three setups with the big camera, and Anna had fun taking a bunch of shots with hers.

By late afternoon we headed back to the cottage and I got the barbecue going.  We had a nice dinner of steak, chicken, baked potatoes, corn on the cob and salad.  As soon as dinner was finished we settled in to watch the game.  We've been able to stream TV channels through our internet connection.  The Oilers were playing the Calgary Flames in the Battle of Alberta.  This is the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and our Oilers were victorious to take a 2-1 series lead.

Winter Wonderland

Only it's not winter.... its the second half of May.  Seems like it wouldn't be the May Long weekend without a little snow... or a lot.

Anna and I drove out to Nordegg on Thursday May 19th.  We didn't leave the city until early afternoon.  It was cool and blustery and rained most of the way out... at times heavily.  I think the farmers are mostly finished seeding now, so this rain should be a godsend, as conditions were really dry.

Once we got to Saunders Ridge the rain turned to snow.  When we got to Nordegg there was a fair bit of accumulation.  My neighbor told me that it probably would have accumulated to a foot of snow had it not mostly melted as it came down.

It snowed a little more overnight and when I got up at 6:00 on Friday morning, the snow had quit.  But that was shortlived, and by mid-morning it started snowing again.  The day alternated between clear sunny skies and snow showers several times.  At times the snow was coming down so heavily we couldn't see across the yard.  Then an hour later the skies would break open and the sun would come out and the snow would mostly melt.  Then the clouds would roll in again, and we'd get another white out.  This happened three or four times during the day.  Sure hoping this comes to an end soon and we get better weather for the rest of the long weekend....!

2019 is Done

I processed two batches of film this week.  Included in those two batches were the five remaining sheets from the 2019 calendar year.  The first batch was Efke PL25M which I processed in Rodinal 1:50.  This included a couple of shots from the Fall Photo Weekend in Jasper in November 2019.  It also included the shot of the backside of the old store in Nordegg, which was included in my previous blog post.

The second batch of film was something called CatLabs 80.  This film is new to me and relatively new to the market.  I bought a couple boxes from the CatLabs photography store in the Boston area.  I've been shooting it since late 2019 and finally accumulated enough to process a batch.  I ran the film in Kodak D-76 developer, 1:1.  I'm not sure quite what to think of this stuff as several of the shots exhibited a real blotchiness... particularly in uniformly toned areas like the sky.  This shot below was of my friend Steve and was also taken on the Fall Photo Weekend.  I'll have to take a closer look at the other sheets in that batch and see if this issue is isolated to just a few, or if it is consistent in all of them.

With these two batches completed I now have all of shots done from 2019.

I had a look at my binder full of the negatives from 2020.  It seems there are about 35 sheets left to process from that year, so I am gradually catching up.

The Old Store is Gone

Fortunately I was able to photograph it a few times.  In the name of progress the third remaining original building in Nordegg was knocked down.  More residential lots are being serviced, and the old stuff just had to go... again...  Coincidentally I just processed a batch of Efke PL25M 4" x 5" sheet film, and it included a shot of the old store.  In early May when I was last in town, I got this phone snapshot of the changes.  There are three new houses up on the existing residential lots.  And the old store, and some of the adjacent trees have been knocked down to make room for more.  Kind of sad in a way....

A Walk in the Ravine

Sunday May 15th dawned clear and sunny.  I was a little groggy from the night before.  Margarit and I headed over to our neighborhood pub and indulged a little while we watched the Oilers win the seventh game of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, over the Los Angeles Kings.

By early afternoon I decided that the day was just too nice to waste, so I went out with my camera.  I drove over to nearby Blackmud Creek Ravine and went for a walk.  There is a large off-leash dog area on top of the ravine, and with it being a Sunday, and such a nice day, there were a lot of people out with their dogs.  It was much busier than the last time I was here a few weeks ago... but that was a weekday, and only the old retired crowd, like me, were out and about.

As I was walking along the creek I first heard, and then saw a Belted Kingfisher.  I have only seen this bird once before in Alberta, and that was in the same location, Blackmud Ravine, about 30 years prior.  Obviously I can't do wildlife photography with a view camera, so I didn't get a any photos to prove my sighting.

There were a few Mallard ducks on the creek, but with so many dogs around, they were a little skittish and didn't stay put.  One actually paddled right though a composition I was setting up, but I wasn't ready, and wasn't able to capture him on film.  

I used to live just a few few blocks away from the ravine back in the 1980's and 1990's and often walked down here.  It is certainly much busier now, and the small trees that once dotted some of the meadows, are now consuming them.

There was once an old farm yard down in the valley, but nothing remains of it except for an occasional piece of scrap iron, an old foundation, and an old well.  That well still trickles water all these years later, and it is obvious that a large cone of ice built up around it over the winter.  There is still a small crater of ice remaining, despite the fact that it is now mid-May, and the temperature is finally up into the 20's.

Its great that spring seems to be finally arriving.  I really enjoyed the walk and ended up exposing about a dozen sheets of film.  Once I finished up, late in the afternoon, I made a stop at the grocery store.  I picked up the ingredients for fajitas, and made a batch for the girls.  For some reason it has been a number of years since I made these... they were really good...!

Wildlife

The wildlife around our cottage is quite remarkable, and often changing.  When I was out at Easter I noticed that there were a lot of new bird species around.  We had two kinds of chickadees, two kinds of juncos, two kinds of nuthatches and two kinds of woodpeckers.  I also noticed a bird that were new to me... a Varied Thrush.  At first I thought it was a Robin, as it is about the same size.  But it is more Orange than Red, has a black ring around its neck, and the back feathers are more varied.

This time around things have changed.  The thrushes have moved on.  I still see the occasional chickadee, but only the black-capped variety.  I also only noticed one or two juncos.  The woodpeckers and nutchatches are still around, and very active.  The Robins have now returned from their winter migration and there are lots of them around now.  The little tiny Pine Siskins are all over my feeders again, but not in the numbers that we saw last summer... at least not yet.  I also noticed another bird that is new to me.  This is a White Throated Sparrow.  There have been quite a few of them visiting the feeders and competing with the Siskins and the Nuthatches.

The deer are still around, but they are more dispersed now that the snow is gone.  I see them in the yard from time to time, but not in the numbers that we had over the winter.  The bucks are already starting to get little knobs of new antlers.  

I saw the resident Red Fox once as well.  This time she wandered through the yard one evening.  She settled down behind one of my wood piles, curled up into a ball, and went sleep.  She had a snooze there for about an hour.  Then she woke up, had a big yawn and a stretch and then wandered off into the bush.  It had just started to rain, and was turning to snow, and that's probably what woke her up.  Not really sure if the fox is male or female though.

Several times over the last few days we have experienced intermittent snow flurries.  It seems as though spring just does not want to arrive.  I cant wait until this unsettled weather comes to an end.

And Then Back at it....

After my day off exploring the Trunk Road, I went back to work on the guest cottage on Sunday.  I finished up the aspen paneling to the north gable end.  There's just a small section of horizontal paneling to do beneath the gable, but this has to tie in with the other adjacent walls, so it will be done at a later date.

I have two exhaust vents to cut through the exterior walls... one for the bathroom fan and a second for the range hood.  I have been procrastinating for quite a while and finally decided I'd better get after this.

So, I started on the one for the bathroom fan.  The vent had to be positioned fairly high up on the wall.  I am making the penetration just above the level of the loft, so that I don't have to cut through any bathroom ceiling joists.  This results in the vent hood being located just below the soffit.  It was fairly difficult to cut the opening.  I had to stand on the second highest rung of my 10 foot step ladder, which was positioned rather precariously on the uneven ground.  Even at that the hole was above my head.  It's difficult to drill through this Hardie Board siding as it is made of cement.  Just one or two holes and the hole saw is dull and ruined.  I've already gone through three of them just cutting in vents and electrical boxes.  The larger 4-1/4" diameter hole saws are rather expensive too.  The vent comes through into the loft in a very restricted area.  So, I had to lay on my belly and reach into the corner of the low ceiling just to tie in the insulation and vapor barrier around this.  I managed to get this all completed, but left the second vent for another day.  That one will be a little lower, on the opposite wall, but requires an even larger opening.   It seems more procrastination is in order....

With the bathroom vent cut in I can now complete the paneling to the east wall.  I carried on and installed a few more boards, taking me up to the level of the loft.  Next time I come out I can finish the east wall, which will take the paneling up into the two gable ends.  At that time I hope to tackle the last vent, and the west wall too...!

A Day Off

On Saturday May 7th I decided to NOT work on the cottage and took a day off.  Friday had been very windy, and it wasn't pleasant to be outside... so I worked inside for one day.  Saturday dawned mostly sunny and very calm, so I thought I would head out exploring for the day.

As with most days this spring, the fine weather was shortlived.  By mid afternoon the skies had clouded over and the wind picked up.  The temperature only made it up to about +10, so it was not great.

I took a drive up the Forestry Trunk Road and went as far as the Brazeau River.  This is probably around 60km one way, from Nordegg.  I managed to get out with my view camera and did a couple of setups close to the road.  There was still patchy snow left in a lot of places, and some of the ponds and streams still had ice on them.  It seems as though spring is really slow arriving this year.

I saw five Spruce Grouse at various spots along the trunk road.  At the Brazeau River there were a couple of Canada Geese.  And, near one of the cutblocks there were a couple of Swainson's Hawks soaring around.  Other than that I didn't see any wildlife.  

A lot of logging took place over the winter and in several locations there were huge piles of logs waiting to be hauled out.  It was a nice break from all the work that I've been doing lately, but I think I will get back to my construction project after this one day break.