Flooring Installation Continues

With the exception of a round of golf on Sunday August 20th, I worked full time in the guest cottage pretty much every day.  I continued with installation of the vinyl floor tiles.  This was a somewhat drawn out process as the screw holes and joints in the subfloor have to first be filled.  Then, everything had to be vacuumed free of dust to allow for tile installation.  The tiles that I have are self-adhesive, peel and stick tiles, but I don't really trust the adhesive.  So I have been using a trowel applied adhesive in addition to the adhesive that is already on the tiles.  This makes for some messy work, as I tend to get the glue all over everything...!  But I think in the long run it will be the right choice and I the tiles will adhere better.

On Wednesday I put the base for the microwave cabinet in place and fitted the tiles in around it.  Later I realized that I hadn't allowed enough space for the range, as the counter tops overhung the cabinets a little.  So I had to rip out the base, move it over about an inch, and then redo the tiles around it.

On Thursday August 24th my former neighbor Dan came over and helped me to lift the range into place.  Once this was done I was able to set the microwave cabinet and its section of countertop properly into position.  Surprisingly everything fit really well....!

During the course of the day I made a batch of pork back ribs.  This was in advance of the arrival of Margarit and Helena, who were coming out that evening.  First I baked them in the oven at low temperature for a couple of hours.  Then I moved them over to the smoker for an hour and a half more.  Finally I slathered them with barbecue sauce and finished them on the grill.  They turned out really well, and everyone enjoyed them, but there was a lot left over for another day.

Back to the Fairways

On Sunday August 20th I had a leisurely breakfast in the morning.  I saw our resident Red Fox zip through the yard as I was having coffee.  I got to work in the guest cottage at about 10:30.  I put down a bunch more floor tiles, and then decided that I needed to let the glue dry before I add any more.  The tiles are a little slimy and can move around with pressure until the glue sets up.  I have the peel and stick self adhesive tiles, but I don't really trust that glue given our marginal heat in winter.  So I am also adding some flooring adhesive as I set the tiles.  This is a little messy, but I think it will provide a better result.

After that I set to work splitting a bunch more firewood.  I did something around eight wheelbarrow loads and got most of another row added to the woodpile by the firepit.

I booked a tee time at the golf course for 4:30 and headed over.  I hadn't played golf since the end of July, when Shawn was out with me.  That time I shot my worst score ever on the Nordegg course.  I can't even remember how bad it was, but 50 something.  Prior to that my score had been improving by a stroke or two every round.  This time around I didn't know what to expect....  I hadn't played for nearly three weeks, and was still recovering from the shoulder injury I sustained in the semi final hockey playoff.  I took it easy on the shoulder and just tried to make good contact, and shoot as straight as I could.  I used a Callaway SuperSoft Ball and it seems to be good luck.  For the first time ever I didn't lose the ball, and I actually found four others during the round.  I also shot my lowest score ever.... a 41....!

Golf is such a stupid game.  It teases you with shit like this, and then the next time you play it slaps you in face and reminds you that you play like garbage.  I have to try to put that aside and just enjoy myself....!

Card Game

This is another shot from the recent batch of Ilford HP5 processed in 510 Pyro developer.  This was taken when Arturo and I were out on a day trip, looking for subject matter for the Apparitions project.  We found these forgotten retro chairs and some abandoned playing cards in an old community hall.

I shot this image on June 26th 2023 at about 2:20 in the afternoon.  It wast taken with my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a Nikkor 150mm lens with no filter.  The exposure was F29.0 and a shutter speed of 1 second, with the film rated at 320 iso.  I was a little surprised at how much the shadow values in the background fell off.....

This is a duplicate image that I took immediately after the first one.  The second image was taken on the now discontinued Efke PL25, rated at 12 iso.  I recently processed a batch that included this image.  Development was in Rodinal 1:50 for 7:00 minutes at 24C.  This one seems to have held the shadow values a little better, even though that may not be evident in these scans......

Floor Installation Commences

By late morning on Saturday August 19th the fog began to lift.  The sun started to burn through and the clouds lifted.  Showers threatened off and on during the day but it was partly sunny all day long.  By late afternoon when Coliseum Mountain was again visible, the snowline from the day prior had receded to near the top.  It was just above freezing and very cool when I first got up, but by afternoon it warmed up nicely to about +15C.

My first job was to do some prep work in the guest cottage for installation of the new flooring.  I swept out the kitchen area and the bathroom.  Then I vacuumed those floors.  Then I vacuumed again, with a different attachment, and made sure that I got all the sawdust out of the screw holes and joints.  After that I applied some filler to all the screw holes and joints in this area.  This stuff takes several hours to dry, so while that was taking place I did a couple of other things.  

I picked up a bear proof garbage bin that I had ordered.  This was through the Community Association and they were sponsoring part of the cost.  It looks like a regular garbage bin but it has a metal rim and a locking lid.  I think it should work just fine.

Then later in the afternoon I split and stacked a bunch of firewood.  I filled the pile that I started to make last fall, over by the garage.  Now I just have two other piles to finish up, and hope to chip away at those over the rest of my stay.  I never cease to be amazed at how much firewood we go through over the winter months.

Later in the afternoon I went back to work in the guest cottage and started to install some of the floor tile.  Now that I see these laid out in the room I think that the "50's Diner Decore" that we are attempting, will work out really well.  The tiles that I bought are self adhesive, but I don't fully trust that.  They seem like old stock as the masking on the back is difficult to peel.  I am using some flooring adhesive in addition to the glue that is already on the tiles.  Needless to say this is a slow process as not only does the peeling of the backing take a long time, but the glue has to be spread as well.

I quite working about 5:30 and fired up the grill.  I threw on a steak and a baked potato and had a couple of cold beers while supper was cooking.  On Sunday I shall continue with more of the same.....

Foggy Morning

I headed out to Nordegg on the afternoon of August 18th.  I had actually been around the city for the entire month of August thus far.  It was a busy time, with a bunch of playoff hockey games and catching up on some chores around the house.  Our friends Chris and Connie stayed with us in early August while we explored some nearby hotel taverns for the Beer Parlour project.  With the hockey playoffs decided on the 16th of August, it was time to get out of town.

I hung around home on the 17th and got the monthly bills paid and the grass cut.  That evening we headed over to Mimi's pub for Trivia Night.  Margarit and Hailey and I were a team and we played against about a dozen other teams.  We managed to finish 5th overall.  I did terribly at the movie questions as I am not a movie goer and rarely watch anything.  The girls fared a little better.  I nailed the Oldies music and we doubled down on that section and scored really well.  Then when the section on new music came up, I totally bombed again.  We did OK at the general knowledge questions in between.  It was a lot of fun and it sounds like it is going to become a regular event.

On the morning of Friday the 18th I packed up some gear and supplies, picked up some groceries, fueled the truck, and hit the road.  A thunderstorm rolled through on Thursday night while we played Trivia and this was followed by some heavy rain.  It rained all day Friday as I drove to Nordegg and continued all afternoon and evening after I arrived.  Margarit said it was about the same back in the city.  We got a total of 2 inches of rain at Nordegg, and there was a snowline about halfway down Coliseum Mountain when I arrived.  The temperature dropped to about +3 as I drove out and then it got even colder overnight.  I was fully expecting to wake up to snow on the ground on Saturday.  But that was not the case... it was only a degree above the freezing mark, and very foggy, but there was no snow. 

Beer Parlour Project 6.0

On Saturday August 5th Chris, Connie, Margarit and I headed out for another edition of the Beer Parlour Project.  This was the sixth location of the project, so therefore it became BP 6.0.  Our friends Arturo and Sharon, although not officially part of the project, joined us for this one and also took some photographs.

We visited the Thorsby Hotel and Bar.  We had stopped here on a scouting trip a month prior, and introduced ourselves to the manager, Vivek.  We later found out that he had only been managing the place for about three months so far.  He has done a really good job, and the place has a great social media presence.  Vivek had a musician playing the night we were there, and had made advance announcements about our visit.  The turnout was really good, and the place was packed.  It seems some people came out to see the musician, Dwayne Harrish, and the rest had come to see what the collection of uber-nerd photographers were trying to document.

It was a lot of fun.  Vivek lives in Edmonton with his family, but also has a suite in the hotel.  His wife works in the kitchen, and his daughter was hanging around in the pub in the early part of the evening.  They serve some excellent East Indian food.

Like most of the other taverns we have visited, the light levels were very low.  It was extremely challenging to try to photograph anything with a big view camera.  The fastest film available is 400 iso, and with additional development and a marginal loss of quality, some of these films can be pushed two stops.

I haven't developed the T-Max 400 film yet.... this is the one that I pushed to 1600 iso.  But I did develop a few sheets of Ilford HP5, rated at 320 iso and processed in 510 Pyro developer.  I experimented with a technique, and I think it might work in some situations.  I triple exposed the film, with the 3 exposures adding up to the correct amount.  This allowed for a little faster shutter speed on each of the three exposures....1/2 and 1/4 second in the two examples below.  Of course in a busy tavern environment, the subjects were moving around between the three exposures, and this provided a sort of ghostly, jerky image.  I think this might be alright in some instances.  

The other technique was to just go with the long exposure, and let the subject blur.  That's what I did with the shot of the musician, and the shutter speed for that one was 1/2 second.

The cafe is adjacent to the tavern and Arturo noticed how nicely the evening light was pouring in the windows.  The exposure for this was was 1/30th of a second.

Arturo had the where with all to pose Margarit in the cafe and got a great shot of her, as a lone patron nursing a drink.  It turned out much better than mine....

All of these shots were taken between 6:00 and 7:00 on that summer evening.  All were shot with a 150mm lens, with the exception of the cafe shot, which was taken with a wider 90mm lens.

I'm generally happy with the way these turned out, but am kind of anxious to see what the pushed Kodak T-Max 400 film will yield as there will be less motion blur in those.  There is certainly a steep learning curve to shooting with a view camera on film in a tavern environment.  It is totally different from anything I have ever shot before.

Old Telegraph Line

When Arturo and I were out exploring in mid-August, we came across this old telegraph line beside a railway line.  The skies were quite spectacular on that day so we set up the film cameras and took a couple of photographs....

Beer Parlor Project 5.0

On Friday August 4th Chris and Connie travelled up to Edmonton and stayed with us at our place.  We headed over to the Tofield Hotel that evening, for another edition of the Beer Parlour project.  This would be Beer Parlour 5.0, the fifth location visited on our tour.

These two shots were both taken with my Ebony 4x5 view camera on Ilford HP5 film, rated at 320 iso and developed in 510 Pyro.  As the light was very low, and the shutter speeds quite long, I had to ask the subjects to remain very still.  Mostly it worked out.....

The crowd shot was taken at about 5:45 in the afternoon.  I used a 90mm lens.  The exposure was F11.0 at 1 second.  There is a little bit of motion visible in some of the people, but mostly it is pretty good.

The second shot is a portrait of Lana.  She is a local and a long time patron of the establishment.  Her boyfriend used to live at the hotel before he passed away.  She comes in regularly for a glass or two of wine and to visit with her friends and neighbors.  I shot her portrait at about 7:00 in the evening with a 210mm lens.  The exposure was F9.0 and 1 second.  She did a pretty good job of holding still as well.

Airport Visit

On August 11th Arturo and I went out for a scouting trip.  We had heard there was an abandoned passenger jet parked at one of the local airports.  We decided to go and check it out.  It was pretty easy to find, and is in clear view from a public road.  We ended up taking a few photographs of it, in the hope that something might work out for the Apparitions project.

Beer Parlor Project 4.1

In late July Margarit and I met up with Chris and Connie, in Big Valley.  This was for another edition of the Beer Parlour Project.  This was a return visit to Big Valley, and followed up on one from earlier this year.  Our first visit was the fourth location of the project, so it became known as BP4.0.  This return visit therefore becomes BP4.1.

There was a street festival going on in Big Valley, and therefore the old hotel was relatively quiet.  Mostly I wanted the return visit so I would have an opportunity to reshoot the Outlaws.  I had messed up the exposure on my first attempt.  This time around, I shot them outside, at the Outlaw Saloon.

This image was take on July 22nd 2023 at about 4:00 in the afternoon.  I shot it with my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a longish 240mm lens.  The film was Ilford HP5 and it was processed in the recent batch that saw development in 510 Pyro.  The exposure was F20.0 and a shutter speed of 1/60th second.

After I took the first two shots I realized that the big guy, Colton, was partially obscured by the wood column.  I got him to move over a little, and then took a couple of extra shots.  But those were on a different film, that I have not yet processed.

Bishop Place

A few weeks back, when Margarit and I were down south at East Coulee, we decided to check out the old Bishop Place.  It was the Mine Managers House at the Sheerness Coal Mine.  The Sheerness Generating Plant switched from coal to natural gas a couple of years ago.  The coal mine has been shut down, and the remaining dragline is in the process of being dismantled.  Sadly this old house has been demolished.

Obviously it had been home to nothing but pigeons for quite a period of time.  Check out the size of the piles of droppings in the windows, and below the light fixture.  I was hoping to get back there and photograph the place again, but sadly it was not to be.....

Bridesmaids

The summer hockey playoffs did not go as well as expected.  The Renegades ended up the Bridesmaids and could not come through and win the championship.

I must say the last round that we played against the eventual champions, the Sea Changers, was the least fun I have had playing hockey in many years.  These guys were really aggressive and very quickly aggravated.  This resulted in really chippy play, and a lot of penalties... mostly to them.  To make matters worse, they brought out a ringer, who was dominant, particularly in the last game.  Now aged 30, he was a 5th round draft pick of the NHL Colorado Avalanche, and plays professionally in Europe.  He was a spare, and got enough games in during the regular season to be eligible for playoffs.  But, he constantly switched jersey numbers all year so no one could figure out who he was.  And for the regular season, he played mostly in goal, even though his normal position is defense.  But, come the final round he played out as a forward.

I questioned the league as to why they allow a player of this caliber to play in the lowest division of beer league hockey.  I didn't really get a response.  I'm hoping they make some changes to the edibility rules next season, at least for the lower divisions.

The final game on August 16 wasn't really close.  To make matters worse, the league booked our ice time at 6:30PM and as a result some of our guys were unable to make it in time from work, so we played with a bunch of our spares, and a short bench.  The Sea Changers got the first goal, and soon had increased that to a 4-1 lead.  We got a goal late in the game to make the score a little more respectable but the game ended in a 5-2 loss for the Renegades.

On the bright side I got to shave off the playoff beard that I had been sporting since the end of July.  Good Riddance.

Large Format Selfie Stick

This is the shot I took with my large format selfie stick a little over a week ago.  I shot a couple of test sheets on Ilford HP5, and threw them in with the batch that I developed in 510 Pyro.  This was mostly just to check the perspective of the lens, the positioning of the camera and the depth of field.  It seemed to work out fairly well, and I think we will attempt this at one of our Beer Parlour Project outings.  

I used a Nikkor 150mm lens on my Ebony 4x5 view camera.  This was taken on August 8th at about 12:00 noon.  I had to stop down to F22.0 to hold adequate depth of field, but the use of the faster HP5 film, rated at 320 iso, allowed for a shutter speed of 1/30th of a second.  It all seemed to work out.

Skewed

Back in late June I was out on a day trip with my friend Arturo.  I previously posted some color snapshots from this outing.  This is the first sheet of film from that trip that I have developed.  

We found this old cemetery up in Lamont County.  All of the graves date back about a century.  I shot this on June 26th at about 11:30 in the morning.  I used my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a Schneider 135mm lens, with a #25 Red Filter.  The film was Ilford HP5, developed in 510 Pyro.  I needed to stop the lens down to F32 in order to hold depth of field, and this required a moderately long 1/4 second shutter speed.

Horton Spheres - Turner Valley Gas Plant

This was the last photograph of the day, taken at the Turner Valley Gas Plant Historic Site.  I shot this on June 15th of 2023, at about 3:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a 150mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter increased contrast.  This is part of the batch of Ilford HP5 film that I recently processed in 510 Pyro Developer.

These storage tanks were originally used to store compressed natural gas.  We toured the historic site under a photography permit and were escorted by a guide.  He took us around the site, to the areas in which we were permitted, and also explained the operation of the plant.

Valve

This is another image from the recent batch of Ilford HP5 4" x 5" sheet film, developed in 510 Pyro.  I shot this on June 17th at about 2:30 in the afternoon, during our tour of the Turner Valley Gas Plant Historic Site.  Exposure was for 1 second at F18.0, with my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a Schneider 135mm Lens.

I shot a duplicate of this on Ilford FP4 and gave that one plus development in HC-110.  I posted that image on my blog back on July 11th.  I think I like that version of the image just a little better as the increase in contrast provided by the plus development works well with this image.

Playoff Hockey... can't shave yet

I'm one of those that follows the old hockey superstition that once the playoffs start, you can't shave until your team is eliminated, or you win the championship.  I stopped shaving back in late July when the summer playoffs started.

We swept the Chiefs in two games in the semi-final and have since moved on to the final against the Sea Changers.  These guys are a rather chippy team, really mouthy and very easily agitated.  We have been trying to use that to our advantage, but these guys are simply not much fun to play against.  They started out the season in the third division, then got moved down to the fourth division, and finally down to the bottom fifth division.  They have a whole bunch of players that we never saw earlier in the season when they were losing, that are now coming out to their playoff games.

One of their players is about 30 years old and rumored to be a fifth round draft pick of the NHL Colorado Avalanche.  He now plays professionally in Europe in the winter.  What an honor it must be to light up the bottom division of beer league hockey...!

The Sea Changers beat us in the first game.  It was a close one, and we were trailing 4-3 late in third period.  We pulled our goaltender to try and get the equalizer but they scored a empty net goal to seal the deal.  Last night we played the second game of the best of three final.  I played probably my worst game in many years and was on the ice for almost every goal against.  I ended up benching myself for the last five minutes of the game.  I thought our season was going to end as we were down by scores of 4-1 and 5-2 early in the game.  But the guys rallied at the end and we eventually tied it at 5-5 and then added a go ahead goal and an insurance goal.  Clinging to that 7-5 lead and with me on the bench we took a penalty with less than two minutes to go.  The Sea Changers pulled their goaltender and at 6 on 4 managed to score a goal.  But the guys hung on and we skated away with a 7-6 victory.

The championship final game is on Wednesday at 6:30PM.  This is a terrible ice time for most of the team as many of them are not able to make it from work.  We will end up finishing the season the way we started it... with a short bench.  After that game, win or lose, I will be able to shave this playoff beard of mine.  Obviously hoping that the shave comes along with a victory.

Second Bridge

This old bridge obviously dates back to 1939.  It is on an abandoned section of mountain highway, and involves a hike to get to.  The deck of the bridge, beneath the gravel, is wood.  It is a little unnerving in that the bridge passes over a gorge with a stream far below... probably a hundred feet or so.  And in a couple of places there are holes rotted in the decking.

Like the two other images I recently posted here, this one was also part of the recent batch of Ilford HP5 4" x 5", developed in 510 Pyro.  I shot this on September 18th of 2022, at about 3:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a wide 75mm lens.  A #25 Red filter was added to increase contrast, but sadly that blocked up some of the foreground shadows a little.

Parts Bins

This one is also part of the recent batch of Ilford HP5 4" x 5" developed in 510 Pyro.  I shot these old parts bins in a maintenance shop back on September 17th 2022, at about 12:15 in the afternoon.  I shot this with my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a wide Rodenstock 90mm lens.  I like the way the wood tones turned out.  If I were to print this negative I think I would crop the window highlights at the left edge.

Broken Sink

This shot is from an outing last fall.  Arturo and I were shooting at an abandoned industrial site, looking for images for our Apparitions project.  This is from a recently processed batch of Ilford HP5 4" x 5" sheet film developed in 510 Pyro, 1:100.  Development was for 7:10 minutes at 72F.  I took this shot on October 17th 2022, at about 2:30 in the afternoon, with my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a Nikkor M 200mm lens.     

Scouting for the Beer Parlour Project

We didn't make any plans for Sunday or holiday Monday.  Generally speaking these are quiet days at most Taverns and not the best time for a visit.  But we did head out on some road trips both days to check out a number of small towns near Edmonton.  Some hotels were closed on Sunday and holiday Monday.

All told I think we drove by and looked at around ten establishments and stopped for a beer in a few of them.  The towns that we scouted included Leduc, Millet, Wetaskiwin, Gwynn, Bittern Lake, Camrose, Roundhill, Kingman, Hay Lakes, New Sarepta, Bruderheim, Lamont, Chipmen, Hilliard, Mundare and Vegreville.  Some of them no longer have a hotel, while others are not appropriate for our project.  We made some contacts and have a couple more lined up for the next time that Chris and Connie can make it up to Edmonton.  

The project is not limited to the Edmonton area and we intend to take the next five to ten years and explore small town hotels all over Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and maybe into Montana.  Once we have accumulated a suitable body of work we will work to put together a traveling exhibition, and then approach some publishers about doing a coffee table book.