Calgree Day #2

An extremely bored TwinA forces TwinB to submit to a very slow make-over.

The results were impressive as always.

Headin' Out East

I wing-ed my way to Calgary this past Thursday arriving right a the end of sunset which was lovely, especially with all the twinkly lights of Calgary and surrounding towns spread across the dark prairie.

If You Go Into The Woods Today...

Don't expect to be enjoying any picnics ...for longer than two or three minutes.
The one above is a young grizzly, still hanging with the Ma which is probably why it's trying to cleverly disguise itself behind the sheltering boughs of an elderberry bush.

Same spot on a different day the photographer (buddy Alanna) took a few photos of a small black bear with babies. This was a surprise sighting because over the last couple of years our bear population has suddenly gone from black to griz. The Grizzly probably slid into an ecological niche that abruptly opened up with the shooting of 37 Black bears right in town 2 years ago.

I think it's time to send in the gorillas or...tigers maybe??

Or gorillas and then tigers!

This road isn't even technically in the bush - it's a road within town that cuts through two wooded areas.

Not highly recommended for walks at present.

Shiny Days

Took advantage of the last of the good weather to hike down the Channel. Lots of great reference photos...paintings await.

Grad 2009

The banquet had my efforts painted all over it - from the resurrected forest backdrop to all the stinkin' faux brick I supervised or painted and even the graffiti style 'GRAD 2009' on the front of the stage...

...to the make-up I applied to the 2 woodland sprites who'll escort the grads through their walk.

One more project DONE. *checkmark and cross it off*

Ashes...And Accidents

This is what the 'tide' brings in these days.
Three fires in 6 weeks, damaging a total of 9 homes. I can't remember previous fires being intense enough to take out the neighbors and now we get three.

There have been at least 3 dirt bike accidents in the past week resulting in one significant injury (40 stitches over each knee) and another that's grave (massive head injuries)
yes, yes I know - tis the season but it's a bad one.

About 10 years ago there was a rash of parked vehicles rolling - somewhere between 4 and 6 incidents - which caused one fatality and one broken leg. Hasn't happened since.*

That's how it goes around here and I have no idea if the same thing happens elsewhere. I'll have to pair up with other nosy/nerdy individuals from similar sized towns and compare notes. Then I'll get a better idea as to where we might land on a grid for Location Quotient & Random Shit Storms.



*not reported anyway but since it's not a violent incident I'm pretty sure we'd hear about it.

World Oceans Day

Final day of the Douglas Channel Marine Mural at Mount Elizabeth school today which just so happens to be World Oceans Day, so I took the opportunity to register our project with them. The timing was just too perfect to pass up and it's totally in the spirit of this event.

Three of some of the 'stars' in the project - a lumpsucker and 2 rockfish - very showy specimen indeed

I'm happy with the incorporation of the electrical panel, appearing as a box that settled onto the rocks and reef.

All in all, very gratifying!

Steve!!!

Steve is the herring that I brought to school today and I was afraid that I'd lost track of him for a while. (he was just another anonymous bait fish till one of the grade 10 boys decided he deserved a name)

After my brief panic I remembered that the art teacher had put him in the fridge in the art room.

I really wasn't looking forward to locating him by smell on Monday morning...