Back to work......

Normally it wouldn't have been hard to go back to work, but we were having a really good time with great company. Besides I happened to be the only one going back to work. I have a feeling it is going to be a rough week because I don't really want to be here at the moment.

Winter Activities

Finallyafter several weeks of -20 to -30 degree weather things started to warm up. We had been waiting for the weather to change so that we could pull sleds behind the ATV's and go ice fishing with all the kids.

While everyone else took turns sledding and riding on the ATV's Reid and I were ice fishing. The fishing was so good that neither of us left the lake. Here is Reid sitting next to the first catch of the day (Rainbow Trout). We were catching fish of equal or greater size every 10 min. In the end we managed to land 3 fish. We lost 3 in the hole, 2 broke the line, and 5 managed to get loose. Our secret bait was pink marshmallows.

Reid was a great fishing companion. We had two lines down through the 16 inches of ice. Here Reid is coming back from checking the second line and ensuring the pink marshmallows are still visible. I had attached bobbers to both lines, making it easy to tell if we were getting any bites. After the first hour I set up the ice hut. Reid really liked this as he could see the fish swimming around and taking the bait.

Here is Reid getting a good whiff of today's catch.

Prior to dressing the fish they needed to be cleaned. Reid was more than willing to complete this task while Jarom kept a close eye on the other two fish.

While dressing the fish Reid appeared to be quite grossed out with the whole procedure. Jarom on the other hand was always smileing and laughing.

Bonfire!!!

One of the highlights following a white Christmas is the abundance of Live Christmas trees. Why on earth would you take them to a recycle facility when you can totally relive your Pyro Maniac days. Here we burned 33 Christmas trees in less than 10 min. Next time we will have to collect at least 100 trees.

Ice Fishing at Eagle Lake

Tuesday afternoon we headed out to Eagle Lake to try our luck a second time. I received a tip from another fisherman that 100 yards off the North Eastern point was a good location. It didn't take Michael, Daniel, and I long to set things up and start fishing for Northern Pike. Michael and Daniel were in the hut most of the time while I fished two outer holes. Above Michael is auguring one of my holes where I was jigging various lures etc.

Michael and Daniel taking it easy in the warm ice hut. The four person ice hut fits two people comfortably with extra room for the heater and gear. I did however discover something annoying about using a ice hut especially with a heater and that is the condensation which accumulates on the walls and ceiling. Basically it is like sleeping in a tent during a rain storm. You have to dry it out so it doesn't rot or freeze before storing it away for long periods of time. It seems to me that it will be in my living room drying while we sleep fairly often.

Daniel auguring another 8" hole in the ice. The ice was approximately 13" thick. Two days before Christmas it was only 5".

Before the small ice fishing rods were available I would use an "X" for fishing. I like them allot more than stick-ups mainly because they are durable and can take abuse. The key to them is the Bobber. If it bobbs or becomes submersed you have a fish. The disadvantage is that you have no drag and are at the mercy of the fish.

The ice fishing rods are nice in that they have drag, are quick and easy to set up and take down. Disadvantage is that you can't leave them unattended or you might find your rod at the bottom of the lake. I have also found that you get what you pay for. If you buy the $9 and 12 dollar rods from WALMART like I initially did you will end up throwing them in the garbage. Unfortunately your better off to spend $18 dollars and up. I personally like the "Ugly Stick" style at $24 dollars each. I have 8 ice fishing sets 4- X's or crosses and 4- Ugly Stick rods. Two are set up for pike specifically and the rest trout. By the way we didn't catch anything.

Lets be honest.........I couldn't wait!

As many of you know I was not able to go hunting this year as I came down with H1N1 during the week I took off to shoot the biggest white tail ever! Santa however felt that I needed to make up for the extreme loss and so I will be doing alot of ice fishing, witch I totally love. I have never been much of an ice hut type of guy, but two days before Christmas on Eagle Lake changed my mind pretty quickly.

This is a 4-person ice hut and yes it is in my living room. Couldn't wait!!! Also who wants to look like a dork trying to set up his ice hut on the lake for the first time. I have to say I like this style alot. It literally springs into postition with 5 pulls and folds up just as quick. The best part about it is that it actually fits in the bag with room to spare. I belive Santa was shopping at Wholesale Sports for me this year.

Here is the carrying case and size when stored away.

Another cool feature are the backpack straps on the carrying case for easy mobility.

Horseshoe Canyon

Horseshoe Canyon has always intrigued me. It is quite fascinating as are all of the badlands. On our way back from fishing we just had to stop and go for a run and explore everything. I find this particular spot amazing because it appears out of no where and is entirely surrounded by agricultural crops.

Hmmmm...... not quite sure what Lucas is up to, maybe he is flexing his muscles for the camera. While Kaden and Brody have the "you can't touch me stance". As for me I did my best to keep up with them and even passed them at some points as we broke the speed of light climbing and jumping off of and over areas and things we normally wouldn't do only to realise that I need to get out and do more as I soon became physically exhausted.

In our short time their we found this cave. It reminded me of Writing on Stone Provincial Park. Another one of my favorite areas especially for playing Capture the Flag!

Gone Fishing.......

On your way to Drumheller approximately 2Km east of Horseshoe Canyon on the left hand side of the road is a small lake stocked with rainbow trout. Shortly after passing Horseshoe Canyon you will see a windbreak of caragana shrubs. After passing the windbreak another one will appear in the distance with a farm house. In between the two on the left is a gravel road leading to a parking lot. The lake can be seen from the highway.

It is a popular little spot and after talking to some locals "Velveeta Cheese" appears to be the secret bait. We didn't catch anything, but we had a good time. I would like to try again when the lake is frozen.

It is a perfect spot for a day activity (Cubs/Scouts) fishing, Native flower and shrub identification, and Wildlife identification. A beaver has built a lodge on the side of the bank and their are an abundance of song birds and ducks that frequent the area. Due to the amount of fisherman that frequent the lake, unfortunately their is alot of garbage. This provides a service activity. We hiked around the lake and collected 4 garbage bags worth. The lake also provides an excellent resource for collecting and looking at different aquatic and pond life species.

Here we have Brody looking very optimistic and eager to catch the first fish of the day.

It's not quite a fish, but it made Kaden, Lucas, and I jealous! Brody always seems to have the best luck with finding things. This time he found a sweet pocket knife in the water just in front of his fishing rod.

Kaden and Lucas taking it easy in the warm September sun.

As the day progressed we were trying everything to entice the fish to our lures. We moved all around the lake. Lucas decided that if he started reading Harry Potter he might catch a fish.

Just my luck..........

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover!!!

I have had a number of people teach me some valuable lessons in life. We live in a scoiety fixed around perceptions of people based on their outward appearance. Unfortunately many people today miss out on opportunities due to outward judgements on both the individual being assessed and those assessing the individual.

When I was enrolled at Lethbridge Community College completing my Environmental Diploma, I worked part time at the Milestone Mazda/Subaru dealership just south of Crowchild trail. I remember very clearly one hot saturday afternoon a awkward looking man who appeared to be homeless walking around the lot looking at various cars while I was organising the new cars coming off the truck. Personally I remember thinking what is he doing here, and noticed that many of the salesmen were being quite sharp and rude to him.

One of our more senior salesmen whom I was quite fond of as he was always very kind to me, walked over and embraced this man. In the process I overheard some of the other salesmen

laughing and mocking Jim saying that he was wasting his time and that we should call the police.

It turned out that the man was extremely whealthy and in the end purchased in full payment 2 vehicles off our lot.

I stumbled across this you tube video about Greg Pritchard from Britans Got Talent. It not only stunned me like it did Simon, but reminded me of that day at the dealership.

Lucas is my hero!

The Strathmore parade was pretty good this year. Lots of candy!! Haloween and the Stratmore parade replenish my yearly stocks. Doodle bug did an excellent job in filling what everyone thought was her bucket including her.

Next year I will have to come up with some brilliant idea of how and what I can be to participate in the parade. So I was sitting on the side when "The Gentlemen Plumbers" van came by blowing bubbles accompanied by the dude in the bathtub (which totally should have been me) and Lucas on the toilet. It was hilarious and totally a good idea.

One of my "Red Neck" desires........

Crop sprayers have always intrigued me. The ultimate 4x4 machine. I have often thought if I ever had enough money I would purchase one like you see here (Strathmore Parade), remove the sprayer booms and tank and replace them with a camping trailer. Just think no more tree stands for hunting!

Just playing with the girls.........

Curiosity Killed the Cat and nearly killed me!

Last weekend I was in the Crowsnest pass fishing the many creeks and rivers including (Racehorse,Vicary, Lynx and Lost creek and the Oldman river). The fishing was so fantastic that it was hard to sleep at night. Cutthroat trout on nearly every cast averging 12 inches in length.

On Saturday August 8th after fishing all day Janay and I headed back to our hotel. At approximately 7:30pm I ventured out by myself to fish a few more places near Coleman. After fishing parts of the Crowsnest river and Allison creek I headed back.

I stopped in at Flumerfelt park looked after by the Lions Club of Coleman and decided at about 9:15pm to hike the Miners Path approximately 1.2km to see Rainbow falls. I have herd that this is a very nice hike and it was. The trail is said to be the old Miners path used every day by the miners of McGillivary mines. The trail follows Star Creek upstream to rain bow falls.

Rainbow Falls

After looking at Rainbow falls I continued upstream in search of some more mine ruins before it became too dark. On the way up to the falls I had taken a slight detour and was marveling over some ruins that may have been a part of the McGillivary coal mine operations. I absolutely love old and historic structures especially abandoned mines.

Looking to the east near the top of a rock face I could see some sort of structure. It appeared that the only way to get a closer look at it before it was too dark was to walk out on a 2 inch wide piece of slate approximately 30 feet above the ground while holding firmly onto some bear berry shrubs. Sounds crazy, believe me I know!!!

Never the less some brilliant thought came into my mind saying it was possible even though it had started to rain and now the rock face was all wet. I remember thinking I won't be on the ledge long enough to worry about it. Famous last words!!! I slipt and while I was falling to the rocks below I remember thinking this is going to hurt, and it did! In fact it hurt alot!!!!!! As I laid their in the mud my first thought was "Get up you idiot, your jacket is going to get dirty!" and second "This better not hinder my field work!" I was exstremely lucky no broken or fractured bones just scrapes, cuts, bruises, and hurt pride. The worst thing was that I had a 1.2 km walk back to the Jeep.

I painfully manged to make it back to the hotel. Initially when I walked in I gave it everything I had to walk as though nothing had even happened so Janay wouldn't suspect anything, until I could get in the bathroom and check out what I had actually done to myself.

The picture above shows a swollen/brused portion on my left shin with a large open approximately 1/4 inch deep wound

Here is a picture of my right leg thigh. It doesn't look all that bad, just a few scrapes but I knew it would bruise. It felt like getting the most painful "Charlie Horse" you could possibly imagine.

Here is the same leg 3 days later. Ouch!!!!!!!!

Hunting 2008

I have always wanted to take my boys hunting. It is one activity that many of them have had an interest in, but never an opportunity to participate in. Out of the five young men I asked this year only two were able to go.

Like the previous two years, I was not able to take off more than one day to fill my tags this year (Whitetail buck and doe, 2-Mule does). I have been really busy with remediation projects. The plan was to leave thursday night and come home saturday night. Johann and Brody had to skip school on the friday.

Johann with his first 4x4 Mule Buck and Brody with the 4x3 Whitetail buck I shot

Friday morning we had a good early start. We headed out to area # 108 to try and fill the White tail buck and doe tags as they are the most difficult to fill because white tailed deer are so skittish. The Mule does were for area 108 as well but I didn't want to waste my time on them initially because we know of many sites where you can drive right up to them.

Levi and Dad were at school while we were shooting up the country side. We pushed bush in the morning at a few locations I hadn't been to before and manged to scare out two little bucks, After an un-succesful chase with two other bucks we headed to another location. Upon arriving two does and an enormous 6x6 whitetail buck came up out of the old irrigation canal and started running west towards the St. Mary's river located approximately 6 miles away. We were in hot pursuit until we ran out of area to drive on. We observed that the deer joined up with approximately 30 white tailed does and three other big bucks.

We all sat on a hill and watched them at well over 1200 yards. Brody and Johann were now fired up more than ever ("Buck fever"). We packed up and headed in that direction. One mile from the coulee edge we spotted the herd 2 miles north making making they're way to the river. One of the bucks was off by himself about 800 yards from us. I aimed and shot! Missed and sent the dear in a frantic run straight for the river. We carefully walked to the coulee edge, looked over and could see all the deer just at the base of the hill. Between the base of the hill and the river was a stuble field on the flood plain about 600m wide. We tried to walk/crawl without being seen, but it didn't work. We were spotted by the deer and they all bolted to the river except one doe. We waited as the doe made her way right toward us, then I lost sight of her looking. Brody started mumbling and poking me to turn around, as I did there was the doe not more than 30m from us standing broadside looking right at us. I shot the doe straight through the heart.

Here I'm explaining to Johann how to remove the membrane separating the heart and lungs from the intestins and the trachia of the whitetailed doe we shot.

Shortly after field dressing the doe, I noticed this whitailed buck that Brody is holding making his way south through the willows along the bank of the river. The only clear shot I had was a neck shot. Following the shot the buck headed for some thick brush, while in pursuit the 6x6 and a 4x4 whitetail buck ran 15 feet in front of me. Fear of loosing the one I shot in the bush and not having another tag I cut my losses and focussed on finding the one I shot. Following sometime we finally found him in some thick willows. No snow on the ground makes it quite difficult to track any injured game. Broken twigs and impressioned grass is virtually all you have to go on.

Not the best buck, but he will do, considering we only have one day left and two more tags to fill, not to mention skinnig, butchering and bagging.

Following an exilerating day of hunting comes the fun part of skinning and buchering. Brody and Johann did an excellent job with the buck, while I worked on the doe.

Almost complete.

The shooting never stops. Leland has a bullet trap on his dresser filled with army men. Brody and Johann made mince meat of those army men.

Saturday morning we headed out to fill the mule doe tags. We managed to get one of the two. Johann really wanted to have an opportunity to hunt a buck and so I took him to a spot where you are gauranteed a 4x4 Mule buck at less than 400 yards. Here is Johann the proud hunter of his first 4x4 mule buck with one shot using a 308 Semi-automatic Winchester rifle.

Levi was with us this day and had an oportunity at the 6x6 whitetail we saw on friday, but it got away. Too bad it is an awfully nice animal. Next year we will get them!

The end of a long day............ It is going to be a long night, so I was happy to see them get some sleep. These two day hunting trips are not worth it. There is no time to relax and visit, it is all go... go.... go!! Next year in November 2009 I will ensure I have a minimum of 1 week off so as to have an opportunity to get both Levi and I a Big buck.

Oh Brody........ He cracks me up!

Earthships

I have always been intrigued over the idea of an Earthship. These remarkable structures offer a life of sustainability and independance unlike our traditional ways of life. Over the last few years I have researched and looked into many self reliant and sustainable options to everyday living. It just doesn't make sense, and in my opinion is a waste of moneyto build a traditional home with the advanced technology of today regarding sustainable living. Take a look at the link and watch the video regarding Earthships.

Halloween 2008

Ahhhh yes Halloween. I really enjoy Halloween, mainly because I have a sweet tooth and all the good candy can be found in bulk and is relatively inexpensive. I wanted to go Trick er Treating this year (I totally could have pulled it off). The last time I went was when I was 19. Ten years later, I firmly believe I could fill the old pillow case again and escape the apples with razor blades hidden in them.

I dont' remember who's idea it was to have me dress up in tight long johns with a piece of fur pinned to my chest but I think we did pretty good for ourselves this year with the whole Bow hunter and White tail buck idea. In fact we were awarded the best couple costume at the Strathmore ward Halloween party.

Janay the mighty Bow Hunter (the bow is on her back) has claimed the Hanson white tailed buck. I'm sure glad it wasn't the Hanson buck, the antlers from my first 4 x 4 white tail buck were heavy enough.

I'll be looking for you in the bush this year Chad!!!

(Chad aka Clint is a co-worker)

Fairmont Hot Springs

In October I had the opportunity to enjoy the natural water pools of Fairmont Hot Springs. It was very relaxing and a nice break from the heavy remediation project I was involved in at work. Fairmont is located in British Columbia (BC) just SW of Calgary AB and is south of Radium Hot Springs. Though many of the other attractions in the area were not open the cool temperatures and lack of snow made it a perfect time to visit. October is a slow time of year for the resort and so we virtually had the whole place to ourselves. I'm not much of a tourist and do not enjoy crowded areas and so this was perfect timing not to mention the reduced rates.

Up slope from the resort is a small ski hill that I would have really liked to have taken advantage of but the snow was not yet sufficient. The resort is surrounded by a golf course, Campground/RV facilities and a large lake for other recreational activities is not far off.

This water fall and natural mineral pool below is a result of mineral water overflow and discharge from the resorts modern pools above. Approximately 10 feet up from the top of the water fall is a 6 inch pipe discharging the warm mineral water.

At the base of the falls is a pool formed from the minerals within the water approximately 8m long x 2m wide x 1m deep. The water is still pretty warm and anyone can access this area.

Here is the second point of discharge from the public mineral pools. I'm positioned in front of another pool slightly smaller then the one mentioned above but half a meter deeper.

Here is a view of the Fairmont resort looking west. The resort is quite old and the room we stayed in was interesting with its pink walls and rose pictured wall paper. There is a private pool for resort guests only which was quite nice. Not far from the private pool were sauna facilities and 2 natural inside mineral pools. One was regular ice cold water and the other scalding hot water. Much warmer than the outside mineral pools.

Dining room and restaurant facilities were nice but ridiculously expensive and the food was not that great. I know it is a resort but come on!!! Breakfast for two would cost on average nothing fancy approximately $ 30 and Lunch $ 30 and Supper $ 60. The hamlet of Fairmont does not have a lot when it comes to amenities. Their is one grocery store (expensive) a hick restaurant and a small mall full of nick nacs etc. We ate at the resort once and then traveled 20min. north to the town of Invermere to shop and eat. Our favorite spot was the Lakeside Grill and Pub. The food was good and the prices were less than half of the resort.

This is a picture of the traditional spa house when the resort was first established. It is located above the resort on the west side. Water temperatures are slightly less than the temperatures in the modern pools. Anyone can enjoy these facilities and we observed many locals coming and going. Not far from the resort is an LDS Chapel.

Here is an inside view of the stone tub traditional spas. The water is continuously flowing in and out of the tubs. The stone spas are approximately 2 m long x 0.50 m wide x 0.50 m deep.

This image shows the East side of the traditional spas and discharging mineral water.

While passing through Radium we encountered a herd of Big Horn Sheep. I think this ram and one of his girl friends would look great on my wall.