Life with Hank

Hank was born on a farm near Bluffton on June 15th.  We got him when he was eight weeks old... in mid August.  Since then he has become part of the family.   I really didn't want another pet, but the girls badgered me until I finally gave in.  I agreed to let them get the dog on four conditions...  I got to choose him from the litter... I got to name him... I did not have to clean up after him... and I did not have to walk him.  So far it has mostly worked out.

Hank was part of a litter of eight.  When we went into the pen where all the puppies were contained on that hot August afternoon, he came right up to me and sat in my lap.  Rather strange, considering that to this day he will not come when he is called...!  I named him Hank Yarbo, after the town doofus in the television series Corner Gas.

He is now about 6-1/2 months old, and has been showing a lot of personality.  He is a very intelligent dog, and is beginning to become trained.  He is mostly house trained, but still has an occasional accident.  He was about 8 pounds when we got him, and was 13-1/2 pounds a few weeks ago.  We haven't weighed him recently but I'll be he's close to 15 now.  He still has a little growing left to go, but is almost as big as he is going to get.  He is quite short and stocky, but very muscular.  An added bonus is that he does not shed... at all...!  He is part Jack Russell Terrier and part Cairn Terrier.

He loves to play and still chews every toy to bits... in no time flat.  The squeaker out of any dog toy is extricated with surgical precision within minutes.  He has way more energy than any of us, and it is a challenge to keep him occupied.  He responds to his name, but does not come when called.  So, we can not let him loose off of his leash yet.  This is one of the things we will really need to work on in the coming months.  It would be nice if he could be trusted to just wander around the property at Nordegg on his own.  At this point in time he can not.  He recently demonstrated this in the city as he got away from Margarit and ran into busy traffic... nearly getting hit by a car.

He also gave us a scare early on when he consumed half of an ibuprofen tablet that had fallen on the floor.  This resulted in an expensive trip to the emergency vet and a whole bunch of meds to protect his intestinal tract until the tablet passed.

He has a very unique personality, and does not like a lot of affection... at least not for long.  He will tolerate and enjoy a little, but then he will get up and walk away.  I'm not quite sure if he hates my guitar playing, or is just trying to sing along with me.  Either way it's pretty funny....

The little jerk chewed his harness off when he was at my Mom's place on Christmas Eve.  And then yesterday, out at the cottage, we had him tied up so that he wouldn't bother the rabbits, and he chewed his leash off.  It is obvious that the next six months are going to be challenging.... hopefully after that he settles down a little...

Wild Horses

The three girls went back to the city on December 27th.  We were a little concerned about the road conditions, as it had been raining on Boxing Day.  But, at the time of their drive the temperature remained warm enough that the road was just wet.  They made it back home to the city without issue.  Margarit and I stayed out at the cottage.

On Wednesday the 28th I played outside hockey on the rink in town.  It was a beautiful evening with the temperature around -2.  We had a good turnout, with two goaltenders and about a dozen skaters, and I ended up playing for almost three hours.

On the 29th, Margarit and I took a drive down the David Thompson Highway to Abraham Lake.  On the way we came upon the group of wild horses.  There are several herds in our area and we come across them from time to time....

Hank

We got Hank in August.  I wanted to get a few pictures of him while he was very young... only about 8 weeks old at this point.  It is very challenging to shoot an energetic puppy with a large format view camera.  But I gave it shot.  I tried a couple of sheets of color film, including this one.  This was Kodak Ektar 100 4" x 5" film, which I accidentally underexposed at 160 iso.  This was because I was also taking another shot with some Portra 160 film and forgot to make the switch.  I shot this with my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a 400mm lens.  The exposure was F16.0 and 1/8 second.  I lucked out and caught Hank in a brief moment when he held moderately still....to this day not a very common occurrence. 

Flooded Aspens

The water level in Abraham Lake was as high as I have ever seen it this year.  I was out there shooting with my 4x5 view camera in the fall, and found that the reservoir had engulfed groves of aspen trees all along the shoreline.  Mostly I was shooting black and white film but decided to try one color negative of this scene.  There was some nice color in the water, and a little fall color in the leaves.  This one was taken on Kodak Portra 160VC color negative film with my Ebony SV45TE view camera and a Fujinon 250mm lens.  I used a Cokin Blue/Orange color polarizer to enhance the colors a little.

Christmas on Boxing Day

We spent Christmas Eve at my Mom's house in Edmonton.  I went there early in the day and stuffed the turkey, put it in the oven to roast, and later started the potatoes.  Everyone else showed up later, when the turkey was almost ready.  They brought a bunch of other stuff and made it like a pot luck, so that Mom didn't have to cook.  My brother Greg and his family were able to make it, and keep our Christmas Eve tradition alive.  My brother Wes from Calgary was unable to make it, but will get together with Mom on Boxing Day.

The girls and I packed up and hit the road for the cottage on Christmas Day.  It was quite the ordeal as all the pets, all the gifts and a whole bunch of groceries had to come along.  We took three separate vehicles as we have to head home at different times.  Hailey was originally scheduled to work Boxing Day but that got cancelled and she is off work until December 28th.

After we arrived at the cottage we unpacked everything and got the pets settled in.  We had Anna's three rabbits... Simba, Goggles and Willow... and Hailey's rabbit... Joey... and Helena's Two Skinny Pigs... Bert and Miss P... and of course we now have Hank the dog as well.  It is quite the menagerie.

I brought in the Christmas Tree that Margarit and I cut a week prior, and the girls decorated it.  We visited and had some snacks through the evening and put all the gifts out under the tree.

On Boxing Day, the girls got up early and we had our gift opening.  It was pretty low key since the girls got some larger gifts in advance of Christmas.  Anna got an electronic drum kit, and Hailey and Helena got an AirBnB rental in Vancouver, for a trip they will make in the spring.  Helena's gift from Hailey was concert tickets to see some guy named Louis Tomlinson... in Vancouver...

During the day on Boxing Day our friends Court and Sandra dropped by for a short visit.  They were on their way to Lake Louise for a family Christmas of their own and stopped in for a coffee.  About that time it got really warm, and started to rain.  The temperature peaked at +8C... a far cry from the -40 without the wind chill, that was recorded out here on December 21st...!!

In the evening we had Christmas dinner.  The girls didn't want turkey a second time, so we had Prime Rib with Yorkshire Pudding, mashed potatoes, and creamed Brussels Sprouts.  After dinner we watched an old movie together, and then settled down for the night.  A very enjoyable family Christmas spent with the girls...!!

Pasque Flowers

I was wandering around in the badlands of the Red Deer River Valley in early May of 2022.  Mostly I was trying to shoot some of the badland formations in Black and White.  When I found these flowers blooming I decided they were worthy of a color shot.  These are Prairie Crocus', also known as Pasque Flowers.  I believe they are the provincial flower of Manitoba.  They are very early bloomers and sometimes can be found pushing up through a late spring snow.  I shot this on Kodak Ektar 100 color negative film with my Ebony SV45TE 4" x 5" view camera.  I used a 125mm lens with no filter.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone, and all the best in 2023.  Thanks to those that continue to visit my blog and put up with some of the nonsense that I post.  I look forward to spending some time with my family in the coming days, and hope that everyone has an opportunity to do the same.  Christmas Eve was spent with part of my family... the first time we have physically been together since before Covid.  It was nice to return to the old traditions.  

Dead Cottonwood

I've shot this dead Cottonwood a number of times.  I like the way the silver wood stands out against the living background.  I also shot this one in Black and White, but thought that the colorful fall foliage deserved s color shot.  So I exposed a sheet of Kodak Ektar 100 color negative film.  This was taken in September of 2021.  I used my Ebony SV45TU view camera and a long 240mm lens.  A Cokin Blue/Orange color polarizer was used to enhance the fall colors a little.

Green Doors

This is a scan of a 4x5 Color negative.  I processed this one myself using my Jobo Processor.  I took this shot in September of 2021, and used my Ebony SV45TU view camera and a 90mm lens.  I had to crawl into this old house through an open window... but we had the permission of the landowner to photograph at the property.

Hillcrest Aspen Trunks

Here's one of the recently processed 4x5 color transparencies.  I shot this in October of 2021, when my friend Fred and I were traveling to Crowsnest Pass.  We dropped off our prints for the "Coal in Alberta" show at the Crowsnest Pass Art Gallery.  Afterwards we spent a couple of days shooting in the area.  It was cool, and there was not much fall color left, but we managed a few photographs.

This one was taken on Fuji Velvia 100 4" x 5" with my Ebony view camera and a 300mm lens.  These trunks were just in behind the big cement kilns at Lime City... not far from Hillcrest Mines.

Oh Christmas Tree...!

It was cold in Nordegg on Sunday December 18th.  Margarit and I decided that we would head back to the city, with plans to return with the girls over the holidays.  Before leaving we took a drive and cut a ditch spruce for a Christmas Tree.  We left it outside by the cottage and will bring it in and decorate it when we return over the holidays.  This one passed inspection unlike the Charlie Brown tree that I cut last year.  We hit the road at about 2:00 in the afternoon and made it back to the city by around 6:00.

The forecast for the next three or four days is calling for bitter cold temperatures.  At Nordegg the night time lows are forecast to be near -40C.  This is one of the reasons why we decided to head home earlier than originally planned.  Back in Edmonton it will be slightly warmer... but not much.  We will spend the week catching up some chores around home and preparing for Christmas.

On Monday I returned the rental truck that I had been using and picked up mine from the body shop.  The hail damage is all repaired now.  I really missed not having heated seats, a heated steering wheel, and a remote starter.

Small Jobs

The mild winter weather came to an end on December 16th.  Overnight the temperature dropped significantly, and we got a little snow.  By the morning of the 17th it was -20C, and it stayed there pretty much all day.  It is supposed to get even colder in the coming days.  The good side to this harsh winter weather is that it knocks back the Mountain Pine Beetles.  I was reading a news report the other day that said that the infestation in Jasper National Park is over, and the beetle numbers are way down.  That said, significant areas of pine forest have been wiped out.  So far there are only a few dead pine trees in the Nordegg area, so the infestation doesn't seem to be as bad.  Maybe this cold weather will halt it here as well.

The deer have been hanging around a lot.  Once it winters in, and the bears are in hibernation, I feed them a little oats.  Its not that they really need it to survive, I just like to have them coming around.  There are at least a dozen white tail deer that are coming around.  There are three big bucks that survived hunting season.  One of them has already dropped an antler and looks kind of ridiculous with just one.  There are two young spike bucks with tiny little antlers, and at least seven antlerless does and yearlings.

I set to work on a bunch of chores on Saturday morning.  I swept the snow off the weather station and then brought in some firewood.  I checked the ATV and the battery is taking a little bit of a charge, but not enough to start it yet.  I did the dishes, took out some garbage and did a little general tidying,  Then I headed over to the guest cottage.  

I put up the ceiling trim in the west bedroom.  It looks a lot better with that trim in place.  I need to get the floor tiles installed before I can do the baseboard, casing, and corner trim.  But I don't want to put down the floor tiles until I finish all the woodworking projects.  So, after that I installed the polished stainless steel backsplash beneath the range hood.  I didn't want to do any painting right now as all the moisture in the paint just frosts up the windows when it gets this cold.  So, I did a little sheet metal work, making a custom duct in the cabinet base and then cut a register opening into the front of it.  Then I went up top onto the small loft above the bathroom.  I bought some heavy electrical cable and pushed some of it up through the ceiling opening that the plumbing vent goes through.  I will run this down into the crawlspace and it will remain just a rough in for future use.  Some day we may install solar panels on the roof and this will allow us to hook them up without ripping open any walls or ceiling.  While I was up top I also installed some wood covering to the exposed plumbing vent pipe.

Margarit is coming out to join me for the weekend.  So I am preparing a nice dinner for us, and put a chicken in the oven to roast.  I also started the fire in the cottage so that it is warm when she arrives.  I usually keep it fairly cool during the day as I am always working next door.

Interior Doors

On December 15th I got a bit of a late start.  I didn't sleep well, and ended up dozing off in the morning, and sleeping in for a bit.  After morning coffee and breakfast I finally got busy over in the guest cottage by about noon.

I carried on where I had left off the day before, and continued on the interior doors.  I chamfered the edges, chiseled the rabbet for the door latches, and sanded out the doors for the second bedroom and for the bathroom.  I got primer applied to both sides of the second bedroom door.

I got a much earlier start on Friday the 16th.  I started out in the garage, and attempted to move around the ATV's.  But one of the batteries was dead, and I wasn't able to start it.  I had hoped to be able to move the snowmobiles to the front of the garage, but that didn't happen.  I left a battery charger on the ATV overnight, and hopefully tomorrow it will start.  But, I'm not all the optimistic as I think the battery was dead and froze in the recent cold snap.  I'll probably have to replace it.

I did pull out the table saw and cut up a bunch of black poplar for trim.  Then I went back over to the guest cottage and went back to work.  I applied a coat of paint to both sides of the door for the east bedroom.  The paint that I am using is a pastel yellow color, Benjamin Moore Light Daffodil.  I think this will look good and fit with the pastel blue I am using on the trim and cabinets... Benjamin Moore Blue Flower.  We are decorating the cottage in a vintage 1950's style.  We have a dinette table with Charcoal Boomerang laminate on the surface and chrome legs and trim.  The vinyl chairs are a pastel yellow color with white trim and chrome legs.  The kitchen appliances are buttercup yellow.  The floor tiles will be black and white checkerboard.  It is beginning to come together....

After that first coat of paint had dried I moved the door out of the way.  The second coat will need to be applied with a roller, so as to minimize the brush streaks and leave a lightly textured surface.  With that first door out of the way I applied lacquer to a bunch of the trim that I cut....

Land and Sea

Land and Sea is a CBC Television progam about Newfoundland.  The latest episode is about the Whale Trail that was proposed for the central part of the Island.  A series of whale watching pavilions were to be constructed, with the skeleton of a different type of whale mounted in each one.  

Dinosaur Valley Studios was contracted to prepare the first two skeletons, and then the project stalled.  The first one was the skeleton of a Sperm Whale installed in Triton.  The second was the skeleton of a Humpback Whale installed in Kings Point.  We still have the skull of a Fin Whale stored in the shop in East Coulee, that was supposed to go to Middle Arm.  This television program outlines the project and discusses where things are at.  Hopefully this exposure helps to kick start the project and our company can get involved in building more whales...!  Here is a link to an article about the show, a photograph from it, and a link to the CBC Gem television show.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/land-and-sea-whales-tales-trails-1.6675911

https://gem.cbc.ca/media/land-and-sea-nfld/s58e05

Moqui Marbles

Here's an old one from my archives.  I shot this on a Spring Break Trip that the girls and I took to Utah in April of 2014.  I guess these ironstone nodules naturally collect at the edges of the sandstone polygons.  A rather unique natural phenomenon.  This shot was taken at a place called The White Pocket.  It is miles out in the wilderness, over loose sand trails.  We hired an outfitter to take us in as sometimes the sand can be a little treacherous.  This is actually just over the Utah border in northern Arizona, within the boundaries of the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument.

I shot this with my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens, fitted with a red filter.  When I go on an extended trip like this one I typically limit myself to two types of film.  For some reason I selected to shoot Kodak T-Max 400 and Ilford Delta 100.  These are no longer favorites of mine, and I don't shoot them all that often.  The images from that trip did not turn out quite as well as I had hoped, and a different film selection may have yielded better results.  Perhaps the harsh spring light made things a little worse.  This particular shot was on Kodak T-Max 400, exposed at 500 iso, and processed in T-Max developer.

David Thompson Country

I finished up a bunch of errands on December 13th.  This included helping my Mom with a couple of things, picking up a few groceries and supplies, and packing.  It was about 1:00 in the afternoon when I hit the road for Nordegg.  The highways were clear all the way there, and at one point the temperature peaked at Zero.  A far cry from the frigid temperatures I experienced last time I went out.

This time around I was driving a rental truck, as mine is in the shop getting hail damage repairs done.  They gave me a brand new Ram 1500, and it only had 119km on it when I got it.  It is a pretty light and small little truck, with a gas engine and a short box.  I was not able to take as much stuff with me as I would have liked.  But I was fortunate to get a truck.

I took my truck in for repairs on December 7th, and was told not to expect it back until December 27th.  Then I was told they would try to get it back to me before Christmas.  Later still I was told it would be ready on December 20th.  On my way out to Nordegg on the 13th I got a phone call advising that my truck would be ready for pick up the next day.  Go figure....

I arrived at the cottage just as it was getting dark and got unpacked and got a fire going.  On the morning of the 14th I had my morning coffee and then went over to the guest cottage.  I was sort of dreading a project that was facing me as I expected to have to open up two walls and change some electrical cable that had been installed incorrectly.  But when I double checked I found that I had indeed installed the correct cable and there would be no changes necessary.  That was a huge relief.

Then I set to work on the interior doors, and started on the one for the east bedroom.  I finished cutting the notch for the door latch to fit into the door, and sanded all the surfaces.  I used the chamfering bit that I bought for my router and beveled the edges of the door.  Then I applied a coat of primer.  By this point I was looking at how nice it was outside.  The sun was shining, the skies were clear, and the temperature had risen to about -6.  The forecast high for the afternoon was -4.  

I decided to leave the work for the time being, and take a drive out to Abraham Lake.  It was a little breezy around Windy Point, but for the most part it was relatively calm.  Most of the lake had frozen over, presumably in that cold snap we got back at the beginning of the month.  There was layer of snow on the ice, so it seems that this season will not be a good one for viewing the ice bubbles.  A section of the lake near Windy Point remained open, so perhaps conditions there will be OK later.  I drove just past Windy Point and stopped at the lake, immediately across from Mount Michener.  I wandered down to the lakeshore with my camera.  Many of the shoreline boulders were crusted with ice that had been windblown before the lake froze and when the water level was a little higher.  There were broken slabs of ice along the shoreline resulting from the drop in water level.  But everything was covered with a light layer of snow.  I wandered around with the big camera and set it up three times for some shots.  The temperature here was a little cooler, at around -7C.  The wind was light, but when it gusted a little, it still felt really cold, particularly on my exposed hands.  It is just not possible to operate a view camera with gloves on.

It was about 3:30 when I finished taking photographs and packed up and headed for home.  Along the way I saw a few groups of Bighorn Sheep.  They were grazing in the ditches and also licking the salt off the highway.  

Before heading back home I made a brief stop at the Beehive Artisan Market in Nordegg and dropped off my David Thompson Country calendars that I am putting up for sale.

Beer Parlor Project 3.0 - Elk River Inn

This is a shot of Len, the proprietor of the Elk River Inn.  Margarit and I were visiting his establishment with our friends Chris and Connie, back in late September.  Len was a real character, and we really enjoyed spending some time with him.  I told him that he had to remain really still for this photograph, as a long exposure was necessary.  He followed my instructions flawlessly and remains very sharp in the image, despite the 4 second exposure.  I shot this one on Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 developed in PMK.  I rated the film at 320 iso and gave normal development.  I shot this with my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a wide 90mm lens.  This one is a keeper in my mind, and hopefully becomes part of the project.  Although, I would love to get back there and make some additional photographs...!

Family Cemetery

This is a shot of the family cemetery that we found on our way home from the Fall Photo Weekend.  I shot this one on October 24th, at 12:45 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens, with no filter.  The film was Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 developed in PMK.  I gave plus development to try to pump up the contrast a little.  There was only about three stops difference between the background trees, and the whites of the crosses and the snow.  I think the plus development helped to open this up a bit.  I suppose this one might be considered for the Apparitions project, but that was not really the intention when I shot it.