Deep Fried

Calgary Stampede opened Friday and although I did'nt get to go then I went today. As always, you look forward to going to a fair and walking down the midway. Just after entering the gates you are dombbarded with the smell of deep fried. I had heard when at the stampede you have to try the deep fried oreo cookies. No kidding here, they actually have deep fried oreo cookies, and snickers bar. Not one to pass up trying something new i went for it. A little pricey at a $1.00 a cookie, you get five for five. They serve the deep fried oreo cookie in a small container, sprinkle icing sugar and drizzel chocolate sauce over them. Awesome, who cares about the calories when you can have something this good. Besides the deep fried oreo cookie there of course are the deep fried mini donuts, and the deep fried corn dogs. All go hand in hand when at any fairground. And did i mention you can also get deep fried jelly beans?

COCHRANE

Sunday was a great day to get out and take a short road trip. We decided to go to COCHRANE which is approximately 40 kms. west of CALGARY. The town of COCHRANE was named after Senator Matthew Henry COCHRANE, who established the COCHRANE Ranch in 1881. The CANADIAN Pacific Railway granted the town site in 1885. COCHRANE became a village in 1903. The area is mixed farming and of late has become a bedroom community to CALGARY. As evident to our drive around town there is alot of new housing being built. We drove to the main street of town and there is a mix of new and old buildings. When going to COCHRANE one has to make a stop at McKay Ice CREAM Parlor. This shop was established in 1948 and continues under the ownership of the original family members. We were not the only customers they had on Sunday. Entering the store there was a line up to get your cone. The had a staff of ten girls taking orders, making cones and operating the till. If you go to Mckays they only accept cash or credit cards. They have a great variety of cones and you can have a plain cone, waffle cone, chocolate dipped cone or just a plain old sundae. We ordered two chocolate ice cream cones and I have to admit, the ice cream was rich and creamy. Well worth the trip. I highly recommend a visit to COCHRANE if your in the area.

BAR-B-Q

Its that time again, when we haul out the Bar-b-q, dust off the cobwebs brush it up and get ready for outdoor grilling. Trouble is, I didn't have a bar-b-q, until today. That's when i went to the store to get my bar-b-q. Its been awhile since i bought a bar-b-q and quite frankly, I found it confusing on how many choices you have. There are the three burners, four burners, 60,000 btu, 680 sq. inches of cooking surface, or maybe you need less, or more, theres those available too. I decided i wanted a 4 burner, 65000btu with 680 sq. inches of cooking surface. Enough said, the clerk was only too happy to help me, said wait a moment and after 15 minutes I realized the clerk was waiting for me at customer service, with this big box. Had to be the bbq inside, waiting for me to assemble it. No problem, have done this before, so packed this box into my car and voila...home to begin the task of putting it all together. Opened the box and within the box were other boxes, lots of em. I methodically opened and laid out each box, which of course held a component of the bbq. Carefully unwrapped the bubble wrap, found the package of nuts and bolts and screws and washers. Found the manual and started reading. Put the wheels on first, manual said so...put the sides on secondly, reversed them took them off and put them on correctly, paused, had a smoke, went for a beer because a guy can't do anything without one and followed through all the steps. Doors on correctly, put the bbq on the stand but had trouble getting all the screws in, which is maybe why i have 2 screws left over, 2 washers, and 2 other screws that are not the same color as the others and were no where to be found in the manual. I always figured that there was some gizmo at the factory whose sole job was to make sure every box got at least 2 extra screws. Anyways, i did get the bbq together and of course, we had to have burgers!!!

Change of name

I just realized the title of this blog needs to be changed. You see, Dawg is no longer with us, at least not physically. We had to put Dawg done several months ago. By the way, Dawg was our cat. He suffered from irregular heart beat and when we were spending alot of time last year on the road, we think perhaps the stress of being on the road so often took its toll on him. We did take him to the vets for a check-up. The decision to have him put down was a difficult one.
I was never a cat lover, in fact, i was the one who said the best cat is a dead cat. I take those words back now, i'm converted, cats are cool. Dawg was cool.Dawg was a wise man. He could look at you and you just knew he was thinking you were crazy or something like that. Dawg never meowed, he just sat on his hounches, looked at you in a particular way, and you just knew he understood everything. He taught me cats are good friends. They are great company, amuzing and really do have a place in ones home. Dawg, we miss this guy but we know we made the right decision. Dawg, he's gone physically but the greatest thing is he left us with all these wonderful memories.

Day tripping

Saturday was a great day to get out, and like the times when we leave our natural surroundings we head to wherever. Today we went to Black Diamond, about an hour south from where we are. We've been there before but never really stopped in and checked the town out. There is history to this town but what really drew us in was Marv's Diner. A burger joint like burger joints use to be back in the 50's 60's. Marv is the owner and along with his wife runs this very cool diner. You get your original basics, hamburgers, hot dogs, malts, shakes, fries onion rings. All the really good stuff. When you walk into Marvs you know you've stepped back in time. No tables here, a soda bar, a bar with really chrome stools screwed to the floor and a bar where you can enjoy your ice cream cone. Booths, booths for two, booths for four. And the soda jerk, he had one of those boat shaped hats on, along with an awesome smile, and the waitress, no jeans and t-shirt here, she wore a pink dress trimmed in black, it was all too cool. When you sit down at Marvs Diner you get to play the mini juke boxe, for a quarter a song. You won't find lady gaga, celine dion, madonna, or any of the new or newer artists. These juke boxes belong to the rock and rollers, the big bopper, elvis, everly brothers and many more too numerous to mention. All too cool, all so right, all so bring back the memories. Marv use to be a country singer, and while we enjoyed our sandwich, all of a sudden, real music; there was marv, twanging his guitar and singing, and man-o-man can this guy sing. It really made for tripping back to the 50's 60's all that more pleasurable. There is one thing else that is very different at marvs diner. They sell a carbonate ice cream. They claim it has only 125 calories, and you gotta love that. Apperently this ice cream was invented back in 1922. Of course i had never heard of it. Nope, we didn't have any ice cream, thats why we have to go back. Oh, and something else they sell there, black jack gum, clove gum, behmans gum, charlestone chews, and sugar daddys along with a few other mix of old time candy. Awesome, marvs diner gave us an unexpected trip back to the good old days, and, the food was great too.

ABANDONED

"A" is the first challenge. Awhile ago I was out for a country drive. I headed north and came across these old abandoned farm buildings. I found it interesting and wondered, how long ago did these buildings serve their purpose. What were they used for, when were they built, why were they left? Did one bulding actually lean and then push the others, or was it a result of a wind storm? What happened to the owners of the house?, where did they go, when, why? All questions I'll never find the answers to.

A Challenge....

I've been reviewing my blog and seems to me I'm taking a different direction with it. It originally starting out as a diary of our adventures. This was a good idea at first, figuring I would write about all the adventures we have in our daily lives...but we've more or less settled down for now. Oh, we're still have adventures, lots of them, but I'm taking a new direction for now. One of my hobbies is photography, and I've gotten away from it and now want to get back to doing something I enjoy the most. So I was thinking, how can i get myself out there to take more pictures, capture the moments, look at things differently. I came up with the idea of photographing the alphabet. You know, starting with the letter "A" and running through to the end. So with that in mind I"m going to start. Post a picture a week, and sprinkle in between some of the other things I've been doing. So, here we go. 26 weeks of pictures. I figure this will be relatively easy to start with, but as I work my way into it, the challenge will become greater....like...what picture will i take when i get to the end...the letter "Z"....and I'm not going to make it easy on myself...like taking a picture of an APPLE, or Boat, or Cat or Dog...this will be interesting....

Sunday reflection

Sunday was an unusally warm day for our area ,14C and an excellant opportunity to get out and take the warmth in. We decided to go to Prince's park, an inner city park in Calgary. Its a beautiful park with lagoons and the Bow river meandering through it. As might be expected on a day like it was, there were plenty of people to fill the path, kids, people walking their dogs, cyclists and roller bladers. Reminded me of walking the seawall in Stanley park. We did a walk about, stopping in the Eau Claire market for a cup of coffee, sitting on a park bench listening to the fellow playing his saxaphone, passing by another playing his violin. The music was enchanting. It was also an opportunity to get the camera out and take some pictures. I find when i have my camera it makes me more aware of my surroundings and what is happening. It makes me really see, always looking for a photo op. On our return to our car i noted the reflection of building upon building. What you see is really not infront of you but behind you. I love it when i can capture this type of picture. I love buildings, their strength, their design, their everlasting. So, snap, snap, a couple of reflective shots. No doubt there will be many more to come as the days lengthen, the sun becomes warmer, and the thought of winter is far behind.

Food

and it was all good.

Food

I love food. The taste and smell of good food. But i also get excited by the presentation of the food. Presentation is important, its eye candy, and whilst I'm an amature photographer i love to take pictures of food, its presentation. Some time ago a chanced upon a hamburger joint. I ordered their cheese burger and fries.

Hoar Frost

By definition of Wikimedia: (n) hoar frost is the tiny deposition of water vapor from saturated air which occurs when the temperature of the surfaces is below freezing point.

We've been smothered in fog for four days . Its cold and I long for sunshine, however, there is an upside to this, kinda like the silver lining in a dark cloud. Hoar frost. If you were to have arrived today, you would have though one hell of a snow storm hit our city. The trees are painted white, frost clinging to the branches, building a visible screen on chain link fences. Cars litterally frosted over, frost clinging from antennas, absolutely mystifying. Beautiful, a true wonderland. I managed to step out yesterday to snap some pictures.

Pictures...

I have a friend who stated they loved my pictures, so, i felt i would post a few for their enjoyment, since i only have about 1500. Its a hobby of mine, still learning and love to share them with others...so here are some of my pictures for all or any to view and enjoy. Pictures were taken last year at Bragg Creek, approx 60kms west of Calgary

Changing our minds

Funny how we have great plans. Some become real, some go on the back burner and some don't happen. We had a dream, or was it a plan. We were going to purchase a small travel trailer, actually a tear-drop trailer which really amounted to a king size bed on wheels. We envisioned ourselfs with the cat and dog, highway driving, pulling this little trailer and passerbyers staring at us as we motored down the highway. We checked it out, got really excited, then went to the R.V. show, where we saw big, bigger and biggest travel trailers. We saw houses on wheels, actually motor coaches that cost as much if not more than some homes. We walked through, touched the chairs, checked out the bedrooms, looked for the washrooms and stepped out again. Hundreds of R.V.'s, lots of money, lots of brouchers showing people camped by a lake with a fire blazing. All very idealistic. We took a break at the concession stand, dropped $15.00 on two hot dogs and a drink, talked it over and discussed R.V. We came to a conclusion. If we had'nt been camping before, what makes us think we would want to do it now, if ever. When we started to add up the dollars it seemed to us room service, a romote control, hot water and fresh washroom overrode the need to be outdoors. We figured if we really wanted to have the camp fire, we could go for a picnic instead. Our dream of a trailer vanished.

Return to the blog

Its been months since i last posted to our blog. Not because i didn't want to but becuase it slipped my mind. I happened upon my blog today and decided it was time to start again. Post whatevers. Times have change over the past several months. We've gone from north to south. We've again changed jobs but still work together. We've experienced our first chinook and i must say, it makes winter easier. We've sold our condo, moved to calgary and have started yet another new experience. We have great plans for the months ahead. We've traveled to San Francisco for a week-end, we've expereinced family over christmas holidays, something we have not done in five years. We realized how much we have missed family and how important family is to us. We've had family visit us and in the past five months experienced living again. Plans, lots of plans this year. Written on paper plans, visual plans, plans we'll carry through on. Oh, its going to be a good year and its time we share this with whomever, if not no one.