Friday, October 9, 2009
Home and no job
Just over two weeks after returning from Canada I was informed by Wayne Shaw that my position at Silver Fern Farms was being disestablished in the Christchurch Office, and my last day would be September 25th. September 24th will mark 36 years since starting with Canterbury Frozen Meat (essentially the same organisation). CFM was purchased outright by Primary Producers Co-operative Society (PPCS), who rebranded themselves Silver Fern Farms in June 2008.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Canada 2009 - 24th July
After breakfast we packed the cases and weighed them. Was about 20lb overweight. At 4pm (Calgary time) we left to go to the airport, where we were charged CAD$225 for having 5 pieces of luggage and having one exceeding Air Canada's 50lb limit, although it was within Air New Zealand's 35kg bag limit. The charge should have been $325 ($100 for the excess bag, and $225 for the overweight bag), but the kind lady(?) amalgamated the charge into the one!
Shamina got the treatment at Calgary security, with her shoes having to be rescanned, and the wand waved over and under her feet. Also had one camera bag gone over, only because it had a tin of coffee (Tim Hortons) in it!
We flew on a Embrear E190, and while the flight to Calgary was clear, this time there was a lot of smoke haze from forest fires near Kelwona, about half way between Calgary and Vancouver.
When we arrived in Vancouver we could see the ANZ B747 at gate D66, and the Canadian couple behind us mentioned it was going to be a long walk from gate C45. I asked them if they were on the flight and they said yes. Going on holiday? "No, we live in NZ" was the reply. Where? "Christhurch". So do we, where in Christchurch? "Bromley".
Shamina checking out the shops before we head to the gate.
Photos are of a wooden carving in international and part of a large marine fish tank, both at Vancouver.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Canada 2009 - 23rd July
It looked like there was smoke in the sky from a bush fire. The sun was red and it was very hazy, but still warm. It was a quiet morning, with sorting out photos to go to Rozi & Naushad. Late morning Naushad said we should go back to the Bass Pro Shop and spend a bit more time there. When the ladies were ready we headed off the short distance (about 12km) to the Bass Pro Shop.
This time I took a few pictures of what has to be the best outdoor sports shop I have ever been in. Even Shamina was impressed with the number of animals around the walls, behind seats, on top of shop fittings and in the ceiling. A large tank contained a number of species of trout all swimming around, and real water flowed down several waterfalls. We spent 60 minutes wandering around, and I purchased a couple more things here, before we headed off to Deerfoot Mall, or the Walmart at Deerfoot to be more precise.
Not long after getting back to Falconridge, another jet took off heading east, but this noise was different. I went outside as what looked like a F-86 Sabre (Korean War era) went over. Wrong lens on camera. Another "no pic".
Having prawns and crab curry for dinner tonight, our final dinner before heading home. Will be in the air (Calgary to Vancouver) in 24 hours.
This time I took a few pictures of what has to be the best outdoor sports shop I have ever been in. Even Shamina was impressed with the number of animals around the walls, behind seats, on top of shop fittings and in the ceiling. A large tank contained a number of species of trout all swimming around, and real water flowed down several waterfalls. We spent 60 minutes wandering around, and I purchased a couple more things here, before we headed off to Deerfoot Mall, or the Walmart at Deerfoot to be more precise.
Not long after getting back to Falconridge, another jet took off heading east, but this noise was different. I went outside as what looked like a F-86 Sabre (Korean War era) went over. Wrong lens on camera. Another "no pic".
Having prawns and crab curry for dinner tonight, our final dinner before heading home. Will be in the air (Calgary to Vancouver) in 24 hours.
Canada 2009 - 22nd July
A pretty quiet day, relaxing, although we did go to Marlborough Mall and purchase another suitcase and some more clothes. I also got a reduced price book on the Canadian Pacific Railroad, and sat and read part of it while waiting for Shamina and Rozi while they were in Walmart. Naushad was not feeling well, but we all (Rozi, Naushad, three boys and us) went out to the Royal India restaurant in downtown, for dinner. We all went in Rizwan’s seven seat Acura (I think they are made by Honda).
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Canada 2009 - 21st July
We set off just after 9:15am, heading south, again on Highway 2, but this time to Fort MacLeod, and further on the border at Carway (Ca)/Port Piegan (USA).
The destination was the third rail location I had on my wish list for the trip, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad’s Two Medicines River bridge at Glacier Park (East Glacier), and the famous barn seen in the foreground of many photos from this location. This bridge was also the topic of a Dave Smithey (model railroad mate) quiz question a few months ago, when he emailed a photo of the bridge (without barn) to Brendon Groufsky and myself. I immediately replied to both Dave and Brendon “I can’t see the barn”, which Dave knew was my way of advising I knew where it was, but was not letting Brendon know. It took Brendon a few more days of research to work out where the bridge was! The bridge, at the boundary between the plains and the mountains, was built by the Great Northern Railway, but since 1995 is under Burlington Northern Santa Fe ownership.
Half way between Calgary and the USA border, Rozi said “we have food we can’t take into USA”, so a kilometre short of the border we stopped and ate our lunch. It was exactly 12 noon anyway! We crossed into the USA quickly and with no problems; it was a quiet border crossing compared to the one at Blaine, south of Vancouver.
The landscape had changed a few miles north of the border to rolling hill country with cattle grazing and no wheat nor canola of further north. In Montana, and we only saw a very small portion of Montana, there were a few tepees to be seen, some alongside a lake and others used as rooms in a motel/camp complex. We stopped at St. Mary, an entrance to Glacier National Park (for photos), but continued on, using Route 89 and then 49, the shortest route distance to East Glacier, also known by its railroad name of Glacier Park. This turned out to be a winding, steep and narrow road, that is only open in the summer months, of about 12 miles (20km), with a 25mph (40kmh) speed limit, but it was very scenic. At one point we crossed the south branch of the Milk River, a creek about a metre wide. This river starts in the Montana, flows north east into Alberta, before turning back south into Montana, to enter the Missouri River, and ultimately the Mississippi, entering the sea at New Orleans. All of Alberta’s other river systems either flow north to the Arctic Sea or east to Hudson Bay.
We had passed the Two Medicine Lake west of Route 49, and crossed over the Two Medicine River a couple of miles short of Glacier Park, so I knew that the rail bridge was east of the town, so at the East Glacier junction of Highway 2 and 49 we turned left and within a minute we were on the road crossing of the Two Medicine River, with the rail crossing a few hundred metres north, but viewable from the road. Naushad stopped the car and I got out armed with camera and scanner.
Within minutes an eastbound empty grain train behind three locomotives, two BNSF pumpkins (orange) and a war bonnet (silver and red Santa Fe), came over the bridge, and once that had got back onto double track, a westbound grain came, this one with two locos at front and two pushing on the rear. The train was still climbing towards the continental divide at Marias Pass (about 15 miles west), so helper power was needed. This was followed within minutes by two SD40-2 locomotives, consecutively numbered (6818 and 6819), with 6818 still in BN green. These were for a work train working between East Glacier and Summit. I had fulfilled Tim’s requirement of a picture of a Burlington Northern green SD40-2. I could return home now!
Amtrak #8, the eastbound Empire Builder (passenger train), was heard on the scanner, stopped and waiting for traffic to clear after track work. I had hoped it was west of Glacier Park and I would get my first Amtrak picture, but it must have crossed the bridge just prior to us getting to Glacier Park, as there were still people at the station when we passed it. However, it was way behind schedule as it should go through Glacier Park about 10:00am.
It went quiet for about 30-40 minutes, with no trains, and we were just about to leave when we heard a locomotive horn east of us, so stayed a bit longer. The scanner was active with the work train crew (they wanted more track time but the dispatcher had trains queued up ready to go west), and then one of the three talking hot box detectors in the area (MP 1145.5) activated with its radio message of “no defects”. Soon the MP 1142.5 and MP 1138.8 detectors also reported no defects, so I knew another eastbound would be on the bridge within a minute or two. Sure enough a general freight with two EMDs (one in war bonnet scheme) and two GEs, passed over the bridge heading to Browning and points east.
I returned to the car and we went back to Glacier Park to fill up with gas (US$38), and then went west about a mile. The work train, a continuous welded rail train with Herzog equipment (road/rail) on the end, was being pushed back slowly to Glacier Park, where the work sidings are. The power was the two SD40-2s seen crossing the bridge earlier. We returned to Glacier Park and I photographed it crossing the bridge right in Glacier Park (not the Two Medicine Bridge), and then we left, heading east toward Browning (17 miles away).
The landscape changed immediately to rolling hill country, and again to the plains, and sure enough there were two westbound freights stationary just east of the Two Medicine Bridge, waiting for the work train to clear the mainline. We should have stayed at the bridge another few minutes as we would have seen another two trains head over it westbound. The railway line is just north of the road, until just short of Browning where it crosses under the road and enters the Browning yard on a large elevated curve, protected with huge snow fences.
It is 14 years since the merger of Burlington Northern and Santa Fe, but there is still a lot of early paint scheme equipment. We had seen locomotives in BN green (1970-1995), Santa Fe war bonnet (1985 -1995) and two versions of BNSF orange, not to forget about the older yellow and blue Santa Fe unit seen at Everett on 4th July. The general freight trains contained a lot of BN green equipment too, but the two grain trains seen, had no BN lettered hoppers, just BNSF or other non BN/BNSF lettered hoppers.
We stopped in Browning for about 30 minutes and went to a large gift shop. Prices seemed reasonable, even when converting US$ to NZ$, but I only bought a pictorial book on Glacier National Park, while Shamina bought a few little pieces. Naushad checked out motel prices, before he decided to head home to Calgary. Instead of returning via Route 89 (St. Mary), we used Route 474 north out of Browning, straight through the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. For a minor road it was good, and it joined the highway a few miles short of the border crossing at Babb. We stopped at a little café for a coffee ($1 a large Styrofoam cup) and continued north, crossing back into Canada with just a couple of questions from the Canadian Immigration officer (how long had the Canadians been out of Canada, and how long were the New Zealanders going to stay in Canada).
At Cardston, another historic town with a museum devoted to horse drawn vehicles (stage coaches etc) the ladies spotted The Bargain! Shop and decided to investigate. As they walked in one of the staff turned the “open” sign off (it was 5:30pm), but it turned out the shop didn’t close till 6:00pm. They purchased a few things and then we continued north towards Calgary, stopping at Claresholm for a coffee and washroom stop. Another full day with 740km put on the Lincoln Navigator.
I loaded the photos onto the computer, checked the emails, and then was going to show Naushad a few pictures from the internet (Fraser and Thompson rivers), so went to Railpictures.net. The photo of the week (front screen) just happened to be a picture of Southern Pacific steam engine 4449 with passenger special crossing the Two Medicine Bridge on July 5th. Exactly the same location as where we were a few hours earlier!
The destination was the third rail location I had on my wish list for the trip, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad’s Two Medicines River bridge at Glacier Park (East Glacier), and the famous barn seen in the foreground of many photos from this location. This bridge was also the topic of a Dave Smithey (model railroad mate) quiz question a few months ago, when he emailed a photo of the bridge (without barn) to Brendon Groufsky and myself. I immediately replied to both Dave and Brendon “I can’t see the barn”, which Dave knew was my way of advising I knew where it was, but was not letting Brendon know. It took Brendon a few more days of research to work out where the bridge was! The bridge, at the boundary between the plains and the mountains, was built by the Great Northern Railway, but since 1995 is under Burlington Northern Santa Fe ownership.
Half way between Calgary and the USA border, Rozi said “we have food we can’t take into USA”, so a kilometre short of the border we stopped and ate our lunch. It was exactly 12 noon anyway! We crossed into the USA quickly and with no problems; it was a quiet border crossing compared to the one at Blaine, south of Vancouver.
The landscape had changed a few miles north of the border to rolling hill country with cattle grazing and no wheat nor canola of further north. In Montana, and we only saw a very small portion of Montana, there were a few tepees to be seen, some alongside a lake and others used as rooms in a motel/camp complex. We stopped at St. Mary, an entrance to Glacier National Park (for photos), but continued on, using Route 89 and then 49, the shortest route distance to East Glacier, also known by its railroad name of Glacier Park. This turned out to be a winding, steep and narrow road, that is only open in the summer months, of about 12 miles (20km), with a 25mph (40kmh) speed limit, but it was very scenic. At one point we crossed the south branch of the Milk River, a creek about a metre wide. This river starts in the Montana, flows north east into Alberta, before turning back south into Montana, to enter the Missouri River, and ultimately the Mississippi, entering the sea at New Orleans. All of Alberta’s other river systems either flow north to the Arctic Sea or east to Hudson Bay.
We had passed the Two Medicine Lake west of Route 49, and crossed over the Two Medicine River a couple of miles short of Glacier Park, so I knew that the rail bridge was east of the town, so at the East Glacier junction of Highway 2 and 49 we turned left and within a minute we were on the road crossing of the Two Medicine River, with the rail crossing a few hundred metres north, but viewable from the road. Naushad stopped the car and I got out armed with camera and scanner.
Within minutes an eastbound empty grain train behind three locomotives, two BNSF pumpkins (orange) and a war bonnet (silver and red Santa Fe), came over the bridge, and once that had got back onto double track, a westbound grain came, this one with two locos at front and two pushing on the rear. The train was still climbing towards the continental divide at Marias Pass (about 15 miles west), so helper power was needed. This was followed within minutes by two SD40-2 locomotives, consecutively numbered (6818 and 6819), with 6818 still in BN green. These were for a work train working between East Glacier and Summit. I had fulfilled Tim’s requirement of a picture of a Burlington Northern green SD40-2. I could return home now!
Amtrak #8, the eastbound Empire Builder (passenger train), was heard on the scanner, stopped and waiting for traffic to clear after track work. I had hoped it was west of Glacier Park and I would get my first Amtrak picture, but it must have crossed the bridge just prior to us getting to Glacier Park, as there were still people at the station when we passed it. However, it was way behind schedule as it should go through Glacier Park about 10:00am.
It went quiet for about 30-40 minutes, with no trains, and we were just about to leave when we heard a locomotive horn east of us, so stayed a bit longer. The scanner was active with the work train crew (they wanted more track time but the dispatcher had trains queued up ready to go west), and then one of the three talking hot box detectors in the area (MP 1145.5) activated with its radio message of “no defects”. Soon the MP 1142.5 and MP 1138.8 detectors also reported no defects, so I knew another eastbound would be on the bridge within a minute or two. Sure enough a general freight with two EMDs (one in war bonnet scheme) and two GEs, passed over the bridge heading to Browning and points east.
I returned to the car and we went back to Glacier Park to fill up with gas (US$38), and then went west about a mile. The work train, a continuous welded rail train with Herzog equipment (road/rail) on the end, was being pushed back slowly to Glacier Park, where the work sidings are. The power was the two SD40-2s seen crossing the bridge earlier. We returned to Glacier Park and I photographed it crossing the bridge right in Glacier Park (not the Two Medicine Bridge), and then we left, heading east toward Browning (17 miles away).
The landscape changed immediately to rolling hill country, and again to the plains, and sure enough there were two westbound freights stationary just east of the Two Medicine Bridge, waiting for the work train to clear the mainline. We should have stayed at the bridge another few minutes as we would have seen another two trains head over it westbound. The railway line is just north of the road, until just short of Browning where it crosses under the road and enters the Browning yard on a large elevated curve, protected with huge snow fences.
It is 14 years since the merger of Burlington Northern and Santa Fe, but there is still a lot of early paint scheme equipment. We had seen locomotives in BN green (1970-1995), Santa Fe war bonnet (1985 -1995) and two versions of BNSF orange, not to forget about the older yellow and blue Santa Fe unit seen at Everett on 4th July. The general freight trains contained a lot of BN green equipment too, but the two grain trains seen, had no BN lettered hoppers, just BNSF or other non BN/BNSF lettered hoppers.
We stopped in Browning for about 30 minutes and went to a large gift shop. Prices seemed reasonable, even when converting US$ to NZ$, but I only bought a pictorial book on Glacier National Park, while Shamina bought a few little pieces. Naushad checked out motel prices, before he decided to head home to Calgary. Instead of returning via Route 89 (St. Mary), we used Route 474 north out of Browning, straight through the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. For a minor road it was good, and it joined the highway a few miles short of the border crossing at Babb. We stopped at a little café for a coffee ($1 a large Styrofoam cup) and continued north, crossing back into Canada with just a couple of questions from the Canadian Immigration officer (how long had the Canadians been out of Canada, and how long were the New Zealanders going to stay in Canada).
At Cardston, another historic town with a museum devoted to horse drawn vehicles (stage coaches etc) the ladies spotted The Bargain! Shop and decided to investigate. As they walked in one of the staff turned the “open” sign off (it was 5:30pm), but it turned out the shop didn’t close till 6:00pm. They purchased a few things and then we continued north towards Calgary, stopping at Claresholm for a coffee and washroom stop. Another full day with 740km put on the Lincoln Navigator.
I loaded the photos onto the computer, checked the emails, and then was going to show Naushad a few pictures from the internet (Fraser and Thompson rivers), so went to Railpictures.net. The photo of the week (front screen) just happened to be a picture of Southern Pacific steam engine 4449 with passenger special crossing the Two Medicine Bridge on July 5th. Exactly the same location as where we were a few hours earlier!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Canada 2009 - 20th July
There was some discussion about 9:00am as to whether we head off to Montana (USA) at noon, or to get up a bit earlier on Tuesday morning, and go then, and return Wednesday afternoon. This was agreed so it was a "local" day today. My request list for the day was to have another quick look at CN’s Sarcee Yard (had only seen one CN train since we had been here), go to the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary and if time was available also check out the Bass Pro Shop in the new Cross Iron Mills mall complex, the rest of which is not due to open for another month. When complete, this will be Calgary’s biggest mall complex employing over 3500 staff.
Naushad and I set off to 50th Ave SE and we stopped a couple of times while I photographed CN action. A Mi-Jack wheeled container crane was taking 53’ CN containers off road trucks and placing them onto the top of 48’ CN containers in the lower wells of DTTX double stack sets. Further on down the yard, a shipping container train, mainly made up of Asian 40’ containers sat on the track.
There was no CN mainline power to be seen (this is technically a CN branch line), but the yard power (three units) was assembling a train. I took some pics of the units and some of the cars in that section of the train. We then moved on to the nearby Tim Hortons drive thru and got our morning fix, before heading passed CP’s Ogden yard and going passed the Alyth locomotive depot, with at least 40 locomotives present, mostly Dash-9s.
Not far away is the bird sanctuary (9th Ave SE), so we parked the car, got the camera ready with the 400mm lens on the tripod/Wimberley head and headed in through the gate. The sanctuary has a few trails and bridges across a lagoon of the Bow River, and while we didn’t see that many birds, what we saw was interesting. A few white pelicans soared overhead, while a few species of duck (Wood Duck, Mallards, Lesser Scaup) were in the lagoon. Naushad was good at spotting birds, as well as telling me there was a deer on the bridge we had just crossed. A group of children led by someone from the sanctuary came along, just after we spotted a hole in a tree being used by tree swallows. One of the kids said that the swallows were barn swallows, and the lady asked me what I was photographing. I pointed out the hole in the dead tree limb, and she told the group that these must be tree swallows and not barn swallows as they are using an old woodpecker hole. That got me a bit excited as I have never seen a woodpecker, and we resumed walking the trails. On the track alongside the Bow River, Naushad spotted a small bird sitting in a dead tree. I looked at it and thought it may have been a woodpecker, black and white with a patch of red on the head, but it looked smaller than what I assumed a woodpecker was. I took a couple of shots before it flew off. A display in the information centre (as we went out) confirmed it was a Downy Woodpecker. Also saw some Cedar Waxwings, a Chickadee (possibly a Boreal Chickadee), a pair of Mourning Doves, and a lot of American Robins. Saw a few large nests and took these to be Swainson’s Hawk nests, although most looked old. Signage said there were more species during the fall migration south, but I thought there might have been more aquatic birds, such as Mergansers and Loons. On the Bow River were a lot of Franklin’s Gull in breeding and non-breeding plumage.
We did however see three deer wandering through the sanctuary, and two were using the footbridge to cross from one side of the lagoon to the other. There are also a lot of trout in the lagoon, most of these being a decent size, but as it is a sanctuary there is “no fishing”. The sanctuary is also a little east of the approach to the main runway (#34) at Calgary International, so was able to photograph planes at the same time. I restricted myself to plane images of more exotic planes and airlines (not the normal Air Canada and Westjet planes), but got American Airlines, United Express, Delta Connection, Continental, a Lufthansa A340 in the Star Alliance paint scheme and a F-18 Hornet from CAF in special 100 years of flight paint scheme.
Leaving the Inglewood Sanctuary we headed north on Deerfoot Trail (Hwy 2) to the new Bass Pro Shop, about 12km north of the city. I have never been in an outdoors shop like it. Departments included fishing, hunting, (both shooting and bow hunting), clothing, home furnishings (outdoor themed) and a coffee shop. It was huge, with probably more animals in it than most museums. A two story live waterfall feature was museum quality, and beers, wolves, moose, caribou, and other species abounded in the shop. One long feature had a few wolves chasing a herd of caribou down a rocky slope, the slope actually starting above the display cabinets on the second level and ending above the cabinets on the ground level. I purchased a few trout lures from here, as well as a fridge magnet.
We returned home mid afternoon after a busy but rewarding day, to find that Shamina and Rozi had just left to go shopping yet again.
Naushad and I set off to 50th Ave SE and we stopped a couple of times while I photographed CN action. A Mi-Jack wheeled container crane was taking 53’ CN containers off road trucks and placing them onto the top of 48’ CN containers in the lower wells of DTTX double stack sets. Further on down the yard, a shipping container train, mainly made up of Asian 40’ containers sat on the track.
There was no CN mainline power to be seen (this is technically a CN branch line), but the yard power (three units) was assembling a train. I took some pics of the units and some of the cars in that section of the train. We then moved on to the nearby Tim Hortons drive thru and got our morning fix, before heading passed CP’s Ogden yard and going passed the Alyth locomotive depot, with at least 40 locomotives present, mostly Dash-9s.
Not far away is the bird sanctuary (9th Ave SE), so we parked the car, got the camera ready with the 400mm lens on the tripod/Wimberley head and headed in through the gate. The sanctuary has a few trails and bridges across a lagoon of the Bow River, and while we didn’t see that many birds, what we saw was interesting. A few white pelicans soared overhead, while a few species of duck (Wood Duck, Mallards, Lesser Scaup) were in the lagoon. Naushad was good at spotting birds, as well as telling me there was a deer on the bridge we had just crossed. A group of children led by someone from the sanctuary came along, just after we spotted a hole in a tree being used by tree swallows. One of the kids said that the swallows were barn swallows, and the lady asked me what I was photographing. I pointed out the hole in the dead tree limb, and she told the group that these must be tree swallows and not barn swallows as they are using an old woodpecker hole. That got me a bit excited as I have never seen a woodpecker, and we resumed walking the trails. On the track alongside the Bow River, Naushad spotted a small bird sitting in a dead tree. I looked at it and thought it may have been a woodpecker, black and white with a patch of red on the head, but it looked smaller than what I assumed a woodpecker was. I took a couple of shots before it flew off. A display in the information centre (as we went out) confirmed it was a Downy Woodpecker. Also saw some Cedar Waxwings, a Chickadee (possibly a Boreal Chickadee), a pair of Mourning Doves, and a lot of American Robins. Saw a few large nests and took these to be Swainson’s Hawk nests, although most looked old. Signage said there were more species during the fall migration south, but I thought there might have been more aquatic birds, such as Mergansers and Loons. On the Bow River were a lot of Franklin’s Gull in breeding and non-breeding plumage.
We did however see three deer wandering through the sanctuary, and two were using the footbridge to cross from one side of the lagoon to the other. There are also a lot of trout in the lagoon, most of these being a decent size, but as it is a sanctuary there is “no fishing”. The sanctuary is also a little east of the approach to the main runway (#34) at Calgary International, so was able to photograph planes at the same time. I restricted myself to plane images of more exotic planes and airlines (not the normal Air Canada and Westjet planes), but got American Airlines, United Express, Delta Connection, Continental, a Lufthansa A340 in the Star Alliance paint scheme and a F-18 Hornet from CAF in special 100 years of flight paint scheme.
Leaving the Inglewood Sanctuary we headed north on Deerfoot Trail (Hwy 2) to the new Bass Pro Shop, about 12km north of the city. I have never been in an outdoors shop like it. Departments included fishing, hunting, (both shooting and bow hunting), clothing, home furnishings (outdoor themed) and a coffee shop. It was huge, with probably more animals in it than most museums. A two story live waterfall feature was museum quality, and beers, wolves, moose, caribou, and other species abounded in the shop. One long feature had a few wolves chasing a herd of caribou down a rocky slope, the slope actually starting above the display cabinets on the second level and ending above the cabinets on the ground level. I purchased a few trout lures from here, as well as a fridge magnet.
We returned home mid afternoon after a busy but rewarding day, to find that Shamina and Rozi had just left to go shopping yet again.
Then, it happened agaim! While I was uploading the images from the day, a strange jet sound was heard so I went outside to find a nine plane diamond formation of Canadian Air Force Canadair CT-114 Tutor's wheeling to the left overhead. Wrong lens on camera, cards in computer - missed another shot!
Canada 2009 - 19th July
The talk the previous night at the lovo, was a picnic, and Sylvan Lake (see Saturday 11th July), was mentioned as was Sikome Lake. Naushad had not been too Sikome Lake before. Others didn’t want to drive the distance to Sylvan Lake, so at 9:15am we set off for Sikome Lake. On the southern outskirts of the city Naushad exited off Deerfoot Trail onto a secondary road and then I saw the sign for Fish Creek Park, a regional park that stretches east west for about 14km across the southern boundary of the city. Near the eastern end is Sikome Lake, a man made pond, about half a kilometre long and seven feet deep at its deepest. It is drained in winter time, and has a filtration plant, so is basically a swimming pool with sandy beaches all around the lake. But, it was completely fenced and would not open till 10:00am, and when it did Albaerta Parks staff checked all bags for alcohol or glass bottles. Over the next couple of hours this place filled up with thousands of people – it was going to the beach Calgary style. There were life guards on duty with the obligatory surfboard, and periodically the public address system would burst into life about some car illegally parked in the carpark, or that all children under the age of 12 had to be within arms distance at all times, whether in or out of the water. People applied sun tan lotion, lay on the sand on towels, used inflatable boats, threw Frisbees and generally acted like New Zealanders at the beach.
I decided to explore some of the many walks around here, so Naushad and I headed out of the fenced area and off up the hill. This part of Fish Creek Park is in the Bow River Valley that runs north south, while the remainder follows Fish Creek, a minor tributary of the Bow. Walking up the hill I spotted five American White Pelicans, soaring on the thermals. Also higher still were some gulls and a couple of hawks. After walking about two km I saw a hawk sitting on the top of a high power transmission pole, so moved closer to see if I could get a better picture. Suddenly the hawk started screeching, obviously aimed at me, and then it took off from its perch and came straight for my head. I ducked, and it flew around and came back towards me. After three passes, it realised I was not a threat and started soaring higher and higher. We headed back to the picnic area, and had to queue to get back into the fenced area.
One of the other guys in our group had brought into the picnic area a full size gas bar-b-que, so while the meat was cooking I headed out again to check on a pond area below the hill. Here I spotted a Great Blue Heron, and a family of Wood Duck, the first time I had seen this species. I also tried shooting some of the large dragonflies that were flying around. After about an hour I headed back into the lake area (had to have my camera bag searched, despite this my third entry into the secure area), to have lunch. While eating another photo opportunity eluded me as a hawk flew across the valley at low level with a gopher in its talons. It was headed to the wooded area closer to the Bow River.
A big build up of CB cloud to the north was threatening, but came to nothing. Some of our group played volleyball, while others watched and relaxed. About 4pm there was a change of wind direction (from warm southerly to cooler northerly) and the clouds started moving over us, so we packed up all the stuff and prepared to leave. This change of wind also meant that planes coming into Calgary (main north south runway) were now coming right over Sikome Lake, and first plane seen was a Air Canada B777, followed by a KLM A330 and a Air Canada A330. About 4:30pm we headed the 30km back to Falconridge.
One of the other guys in our group had brought into the picnic area a full size gas bar-b-que, so while the meat was cooking I headed out again to check on a pond area below the hill. Here I spotted a Great Blue Heron, and a family of Wood Duck, the first time I had seen this species. I also tried shooting some of the large dragonflies that were flying around. After about an hour I headed back into the lake area (had to have my camera bag searched, despite this my third entry into the secure area), to have lunch. While eating another photo opportunity eluded me as a hawk flew across the valley at low level with a gopher in its talons. It was headed to the wooded area closer to the Bow River.
A big build up of CB cloud to the north was threatening, but came to nothing. Some of our group played volleyball, while others watched and relaxed. About 4pm there was a change of wind direction (from warm southerly to cooler northerly) and the clouds started moving over us, so we packed up all the stuff and prepared to leave. This change of wind also meant that planes coming into Calgary (main north south runway) were now coming right over Sikome Lake, and first plane seen was a Air Canada B777, followed by a KLM A330 and a Air Canada A330. About 4:30pm we headed the 30km back to Falconridge.
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