Only a coffee table to go!!!

So far I have built my bed, night stands, entertainment unit, and now the bookshelf. Someday I will have to build the coffee table also. So I was building the shelving unit on Saturday, after climbing and buying a sweet ass suit for I&P's wedding, when I returned a missed phone call. Apparently Sandra and Augustin were heading to a concert, they weren't sure who the headliners were, a Tim something or other and a Faith not sure what her last name is.
Lord Thunderin' Jesus. They are going to the best (super subjective) concert this year in Vancouver and they don't even know who's playing. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Turns out they have a spare ticket and would I like to come. Are you kidding me. I don't think I have ever made it from North Van to downtown so quickly in my life. I missed the first two songs. But was pretty much on my feet for the rest of the night. Thank you guys so much for hookin' me up. BEST CONCERT EVER!!! (again fairly subjective).

The Boyz Post Surf on Ferry

A pretty neat picture highlighting a few buddies, the normal colour of the ocean and in the background the silt curtain formed from all the spring runoff flowing through the Fraser River. It's really neat how the fresh water and the salt water don't like to mingle, something to do with weights and stuff...
A great weekend, that will be repeated.

Sombrio Beach - Surf Trip

Where else but in Beautiful British Columbia do you get to see a bunch of die hards in tents on a beach in constant rain? After coming out here to surf for the weekend and hiking a short part of the Juan de Fuca trail I have decided that next summer I will try and hike the West Coast Trail. It was absolutely beautiful, rugged, muddy, wet but super humbling.
Smart Man Dan sees a wet slippery log crossing the Sombrio river, SMD thinks "well heck lets cross this wet slippery log." SMD was partly wrecked at the time, luckily he doesn't fall in (which doesn't make the story that good), but he does answer his cell phone halfway across the log and has a conversation. When he gets to the other end of the log he realizes he is 20' off the ground with no clear way down. The End.

I cathect this object....

A little sepia tone. Man this thing rocks. Is it going across the country this summer? Now is the time to do it. Not a bad way to show up at a wedding on, suit might be a bit ckrinkled. <- How do you spell that word??

Here's the Tat.... Evolution

So a few of you have asked to see the newest addition to my body. Well here it is. Just about healed now. Still a few scabby bits left, kinda gross. The symbol is my symbol. I made it, it means something to me that I haven't yet been able to find a word or words for. It originated a long time ago probably mid-teens.
Lotsa stuff happening at the moment. Just got into West Coast Swing and Country Two Step. I can't believe me of all people seems to be dancing a minimum of four nights a week. This is getting ridiculfreakinless.
Anyway more to come, just busy right now.

Speed Limit = 75 mph, gotta love it!!!

Since I was delayed getting to Montana, I had to stay an extra day. I didn’t work that extra day though; instead I hiked Mount Sentinel, shopped a bit, and walked around. I must say Montana is a pretty fun place, the girls are fairly up front and fun, ahhh country girls… how refreshing, none of the hoittie toittie rich attitude city girl shit. Real girls, where did you all go?
So I guess I do have one little story from Mt. It was 3pm and I was driving to the airport to catch my 5:20 flight. Driving alone the W. Broadway highway and I pass a sign, a sign that says “Every Mothers Nightmare Tattoo Parlour.”
If you know where the rest of this story is going raise your hand. You should know that I am terrified of needles. I have had many bad experiences, all of them revolving around my tougher than leather skin (more stories for that). 4:15 tattoo is done, I swear I’ll never get a tattoo again (but probably will). 4:30 get to the airport and get selected for secondary screening. Do I have something written on my forehead? Nevertheless I make the flight down to Salt Lake City just so I can get back up to Vancouver. More implusiveness to follow likely.

Montana

After getting denied entry for having all of the right forms but not walking in confident enough in what I needed to do to get across, and for being honest, I got in on round two. I swear, they won’t let someone in to the country to do something legal and that will be beneficial for them, but they’ll…. Argh!!! Frustrations aplenty, and pretty much these were just the start of what was to come. Let’s just say after holding onto a 50 lb metal pole in 12 feet of water travelling at up to 15 ft/s I have some pretty intensely strong forearms.
I personally have never heard of removing turbines from a penstock and then opening the gates wide open and letting the water rip roar through the structure. As one of the experts there I felt a little over my head when they were asking me questions like “that seal we just blew, is that bad?” I think I knew the answer, but not from my degree, more intuition, that with the dam vibrating et al…

Yvonne on the Connector Highway between Merritt and Kelowna

I rode Yvonne 450km’s on my first day, up and over two mountain ranges, in 50+ km/hr winds, in snow covered banks and hills, and along on one of the River roads that follows the Fraser river floodplain. I am so glad that I waited until Yvonne came around, everything worked out just right getting her. I am always willing to take you for a ride, but maybe not letting you drive her just yet.

Yvonne in Kelowna

Now usually I don’t have two pictures of the same thing, just to try and limit the amount of downloading time. But I really couldn’t stop myself. Here are pictures of my and Yvonne. I named her after the really awesome woman that sold me her. Honestly I was super curious to meet the woman that rode this bike. This bike is not a girly bike by any mad stretch of any wild imagination. This mother of four agreed to sell me this bike 3 weeks ago and waited until I had enough money to purchase the bike; she refused other higher offers and even picked me up at the airport. She wanted Yvonne to go to a good home, and figured that I would be that good home, which I wholeheartedly intend to be.

Alberta's Source of $$$$$

I have no facts to back this up, I don't have science to substantiate my claims. I merely have a picture of what I saw. From 100 km away I could see this cloud, I wondered why such a big cloud in such and open and clear sky, it seemed weird at the time. When we got closer and closer we realised the source. Now I am not going to tell you that it is pollution, because I don't know. But I do know the smell of it. If you have ever driven behind a roofing tar truck, or you lived in the McGill Ghetto and were around when someone was tarring there roof, then you know the smell too. We had to endure that smell for the better part of an hour. I can't believe they get away with it personnaly, but then I am not a policy maker, and I also ride sleds that aren't too environmentaly friendly, read on...

Old Frosty

This is right after a sweaty shovel session, -38 if I remember correctly. Quite the feeling having a face protected by ice, with it pulling your hair at all times. And yes thank you I am going bald, bastardo.

Me Getting Wet for a Photo Op

So here we go a picture of me actually doing something. Neat thing about the water and how cold it was, you never had to worry about your clothes getting wet, they just got frozen. Sorta like when you pee and it freezes before it hits the ground (more for the guys). This picture is actually from job number 3, same idea as job 2 on the same river just 300 km south or Embarras or 100 km north of Fort McMurray. First time staying in an oil camp, what an experience, glad to have done it, hope never to have to go back.

Athabasca River

Just a quick picture of what we saw from camp, it really is quite a beautiful place, the northern lights were great, but it was really too cold to enjoy watching them.

Drilling Holes in the Athabasca

So all I did for the time I was up in Embarras was drill 8 inch diameter holes through the ice, measure how thick the ice was, how deep the water was, and how fast the water was flowing. I didn't catch any fish, I didn't see any wildlife, but I did gain first hand experience regarding what it is like to use an outhouse at -40, how much fun it is not to shower for 2 weeks, what frostbite feels like, what waking up every 1.5 hours to restoke the fire is like, what snowmobiling 100 km in a blizzard at -36 is like, and how much fun it is to start a snowmobile when it is - 40. My beard was so helpful, and at temperatures above -25 I needed no face mask, but below that, I needed more. Once I put the face mask on after a sweaty shoveling session and had the bloody face mask freeze to my beard, which sucked when lunch time came.

Deflections on an Ice Bridge

So when you want to get across a river and there isn't a bridge (and it's winter), and you know how, you build an Ice Bridge. To figure out how much heavy a vehicle you can take across you do a deflection test. Basically you take a heavy thing, put it on the ice and you measure how much the ice deflects under the weight and how quickly. Things that sucked about this are as follows, it was damned cold (-36), there was a wind (making it colder), you had to measure ice deflections every 15 minutes, for 6 hours. It is hard to stay warm when looking through a level made of metal that you freaking eyelid sticks to when looking through the eyepiece. Thing that was good about this was the Alberta Grade AAA steak afterwards and seeing Vicky David for dinner.

Agata and I

Well, since Agata had a really hard time looking into the sun, this is actually the 4th picture my bro took before we got it right. But Brunch at Nellies, and hanging out with her and Oli was a tonne of fun. Apparently her company was also going to be in the same area doing the same thing except 50 km upstream that I was heading up north for, there was a chance I would meet some of the people that she works with. Well I never met them, despite one 100 km snowmobile trip up the river and one 200 km snowmobile trip down the river.

Me, My Brother and my Beard

When I looked at myself in the mirror and saw more of a resemblance to the unibomber than anyone else I would think, Oh Crap, what am I getting into with this crazy trip up north. I thought Oh My God, I pray that all of the irritations of a beard pays off when I get up there. It was interesting having the beard and seeing peoples reactions that hadn't seen me before, like Agata's for instance, her face told me more words than any words.

Straddling Trees in Golden BC

So, my first week after leaving Vancouver I was in Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Calgary, and Golden BC. I pretty much saw all of Alberta in the course of a few days.
I got two speeding tickets, a warning for being a smartass to the cop when I told her her radar was out, I wasn't going 122 as she said but rather 121 as my speedometer was much more accurate. She didn't see the humour. I drove through whiteout and sheer ice conditions to get to Fort McMurray, a trip that usually takes 4.5 hrs took me 9. We should have stopped and found a hotel, but those that know the trip know there are no hotels.
Anyway, I went down to visit my brother in Calgary, he had rented a couple of mountain sleds in Golden, and as such after dinner at my uncles restaurant and seeing cousin Jenn we set out for some serious snowmobiling. You would be suprised how hard it is to dig a sled out of powder, how cold you can be at 130 km/hr at -35 deg C, how hot and sweaty you get pulling a sled back up a 45 degree incline, especially when the sled is straddling two trees.
You would also be suprised how easily it is to flip a sled, how quickly you head back down a hill after highmarking (trying to get as high up the steepest slope you can find) especially since the brakes don't hold you back much at all. You might also be suprised at how much fun it is.
The adrenaline, the smell of burnt mixed 2 stroke gas, hanging with your brother, being as un-environmentally friendly as you possibly can be is. Perhaps this isn't a sport I will spend the rest of my life doing, but it sure was a hoop load of fun, and I recommend it to some, but definately not all.

My Dad's Table and Chairs

Over the past few years my Dad has been building me a table and chairs set. I decided this year that it was time to send them across the country and actually enjoy them. So after building boxes that could withstand a "nuclear holocaust" (as Andrew put it), and $120 in shipping later they arrived, I assembled and now I enjoy. For you wood nuts, the darker would is Cherry, lighter would Maple and a bit of Beech, and the center piece in the table is Ash. If you want a set like this let me know, I got the hook up.

Flat Tire Near Manning Park

What happens when you do donuts in a 1980 Volvo in the middle of a highway and slide into a snowbank. Well you could push the tire off the rim and then drive back to Vancouver (all 250km) on a dinky spare tire that you are convinced wants you and Charlie dead. What a tension filled drive. White knuckled all the way. poor Charlie, probably thought he was going to die everytime the car decided it wanted to change lanes instantaneously.

The Movie Screen

Well, here is the movie screen. It's pretty big. I must be compensating for something.... ha. Anyway, last night I had a bunch of friends over to watch Crank. What a freakin' hilarious movie. Great on the big screen as well. Well recommended good bad movie.

What a Beautiful Day for an Avalanche Course!!!

So, I took this avalanche safety course, on the 13th and 14th of January, so that I could learn how avalanches come to form and what makes them happen, yar'dy'yar'dy'yar, oh, and also how to find people after they have been buried in one. It was a pretty informative course, but honestly the thing I learnt the most was that there is no one way they form. There is no "answer." You have to use your best judgement and use avalanche and weather forecasts and history. But did we ever get two glorious days to do this course. My oh my.

Uncle Dan and Claire

Believe it or not, this cute little girl likes me... She's such a sweetie, about 2 1/2 months old in this picture. She wasn't scared of the beard or the cast by the way, so you ladies out there looks aren't everything.. hehehehe.

The Siblings

From bottom corner left to right, Oliver, Heather, Chico, Marieka and I, sitting and standing on a lookout platform that Oli, Ralph, Sam, Mum and I built. Maybe others, but can't remember who now. Either way a joint effort to look out East over another ridge that I don't know the name of either.

Sunset From Skedaddle Ridge

God, sunsets from home.... Is there more that I can say? Can you quantify the feelings that you get from looking out over your home, over a past part of your life? Memories come flooding back from this location, one of the highest ridges in the areas, with a view of Mt. Katahdin (some 300km SW). With views of the farm, of the neighbours farms, of home.... geeezzz, getting a bit too nostalgic here.

Sunset Over South Knowlesville

Here's a pretty neat picture of a sunset that complimented one of the many glorious walks through our and our neighbours forests. In the foreground you can see the silhouettes of Phil, Marieka, Claire, Heather and Mum.