I was out in Alberta from Wednesday to Friday this past week. Flew into Edmonton and then out to Stoney Plain (40 minutes west of Edmonton) and Joussard (3.5 hours northwest of Edmonton). We were having a building moved to another one of our new sites. Unfortunately the new sites are all coming together at the same time due to delays and it is making for a very busy fall. Saw quite a few deer along the way and one moose crossed the highway in front of us around dusk, even though it was big, it was still difficult to see.
Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving! On Saturday Susan cooked up a turkey for dinner and subsequent soup and sandwiches for us and Gillian. We headed out to Carolyn and Danny’s on Sunday for more turkey. Lori and Dale were there with Lily and Kaiden.
Kaiden is a pretty happy kid, except when he realized his Grandma was not around.
Lily posing for the camera.
On Monday we had dinner at Mom and Dad Swan’s before dropping Gillian off at her place.
Eastern Townships
I was down in the Eastern Townships for work, I flew into Montreal on the Wednesday and met with contractors on the Thursday before flying back. It was a quick trip, the first day it rained while we were working in the field, but Thursday turned out to be a nice morning. The fall colours are in full bloom.
Our site was located on an Agriculture Canada Farm, however after recent cuts, they closed the facility and were trying to sell it off. EC was able to get a portion of the property severed off, however it means we have to re-locate out site to the new piece of property.
Mont Sutton or Roundtop Mountain.
Fort Smith, NT
I was back up to Wood Buffalo National Park to finally install the equipment at our new site. It was a long week, left on the Sunday and back the following Saturday. A view out of the Jetstream 32 aircraft from Edmonton to Fort Smith.
It can hold 19 passengers, but rarely is it completely full.
The Slave River.
The Welcome Sign outside the airport.
We had good weather for most of the days. In the past the bison I have seen have usually been by themselves. this time we came across herds while driving to the site.
There had to be at least 40 bison on both sides of the highway.
The sunset as we left the site the first day.
We came across the same herd the next morning, this guy was walking along the road as we drove by, we were close enough we could have slapped it on the ass as we drove by.
We also saw this wolf, we saw a fox and lots of black bears during the week.
The herd, it was an amazing site to see so many, they walk on both sides of the highway as well as the road.
We woke up to snow on the Wednesday morning, there was enough to brush off, but it only fell near town as the site didn’t have any snow when we got there, however there was some freezing rain for part of the morning.
Looking west along highway 3.
On the last day I was heading back into town and saw this guy up ahead walking down the middle of the road.
As I slowed down, he wasn’t getting off the road for me. I came to a stop and waited for him to meander over to the shoulder eventually.
Looking over the town and the Slave River.
University Fair
Susan and I took Angela down to the University Fair at the Metro Convention Centre to get her thinking about post secondary education. This year we took the day off work and went down on the Friday in hopes the crowds would be smaller. The year we took Gillian, we went on the Saturday and it was packed. We got there for the 10:00 opening and were able to walk around and not fight the crowds.
First Day of School
Today was our 16th first day of school and Claudia’s first day of high school. Both Angela and Claudia had a good first day. Claudia has English for homeroom and her teacher is our former neighbour, Julie. Here is a picture Susan took of them this morning.
Uncle Tak Interview
I came across a new interview of Uncle Tak from the National Gallery of Canada.
At the end of the article, one of the links is to The Proust Questionnaire: Takao Tanabe.
Uncle Tak also received a Honorary Doctor of Letters from the Vancouver Island University in 2014.
Another Year Begins
We headed out to Hamilton on Sunday to move Gillian into her house for the upcoming school year. She is sharing a house with three other girls that she met last year in residence. It is about a 15 minute walk to campus. I took an early “first day of school” photo. Classes start on Thursday. She was accepted into her specialization stream of Molecular Biology and Genetics.
Afterwards we headed over to Andrew and Jeannette’s for dinner and to celebrate Grandma’s birthday.
The Ex
We headed down to the Ex on Thursday. The weather was great, 22°C and no rain in the forecast. The girls had the Ride All Day passes. Here they are taking the Sky Ride.
The good weather brought out a lot of people. The rides and midway filled up fast.
Here are the girls waiting in their car on the Blitzer.
It was a longer than usual wait, as they would only allow one car on the track at a time. Here they are coming down the first hill.
Angela and Claudia at the end, Gillian is in the second row.
Next it was on to the Polar Express.
Gillian and Angela strapped in on the Bonzai ride.
Click on the picture to see a close-up of Gillian’s expression.
Angela and Gillian on the Bonzai.
Angela went on almost every ride.
Taking a break from the rides to go through the Rock & Roll Funhouse.
They went on the Fire Ball during the day and at night.
The Crazy Mouse Roller Coaster wasn’t running earlier in the day, but it opened up and the girls didn’t have to wait that long.
Click on the photo to see a close-up of the girls facial expressions.
Posing with Pachi, the Pan Am Games mascot.
The girls posing on one of the Swans from Ontario Place. There are a bunch of them scattered around the Exhibition grounds.
Lots of minions were available as prizes this year.
Walking towards the Farm building.
The girls getting ready for the duck race.
We sat and watched the sheep shearing demonstration. Lots of wool.
Completely shaved.
The girls holding up their catch of the day.
Next to the giant inflatable pig.
It was back to the rides.
Angela and Gillian went on the Fireball (or Ring of Fire).
By mid afternoon it was getting even busier.
The Ride All Day pass was a good deal.
Angela pointing and saying she was going on the Mega Drop.
Angela was also the only one brave (or crazy?) enough to go on the Mach 3 ride. Here she is strapping herself into her seat.
Here is a video of Angela on the Mach 3.
A 37-metre arm connected mid-way whirls riders 360 degrees upside down and inside out. The relentlessly robust arm rotates at up to 13 revolutions per minute, producing a g-force of 3.5-g.
Survived!
We saw the acrobatic show called Mirage.
After dinner, we made one more trip down the midway. The food building was packed at 7:30 pm.
Some of the rides lit up at night. There was a time when we rarely ventured into the adult midway, let alone be there at night. We took a stroll through the kids midway earlier in the day and many of their favourites as a kid were still there.
After a long day it was back to the Go Train for the ride home.
Storm Clean-up
I was out to Bratt’s Lake, just south of Regina this week for a few days. We were out there to clean up some damage from a thunderstorm system that went through about 3 weeks ago. According to Environment Canada, the storm that went through August 8th was not a tornado. They said the damage was very likely caused by straight line winds and not a tornado. The Doppler radar estimates had winds as high as 140 kilometres per hour. It picked up one of our 10×10 buildings and tossed it across the field. The bare patch is where it was originally, the blue dumpster is where most of it ended up.
A closer look at some of the damage.
It crumpled the walls and roof.
It was a big job to dismantle it enough in order to throw it in the dumpster.
We ended up filling two 20 yard dumpsters.
This was the first dumpster being hauled away.
