Jill Browne, from home and away

Calgary Feed Mill building, Inglewood in SE Calgary. Photo: Jill Browne, January 3, 2011.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011 (Happy Robbie Burns’ Day!)

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Here’s a picture from earlier this month.

This building has had its old painted signage restored, and I love it.

You can see it in Inglewood, on 12 Street SE.

The signs say:

FEEDS

Calgary Co-op.

Fur Farmers’

Ass’n. Ltd.

Custom Mixing, Grinding, Pelleting

Which begs the question, I suppose, what kind of fur farming industry did Calgary have, and when, and what happened to it?

By the way, sorry for the spotty picture. I took it from the car, through the window.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Overcast and drippy today, just above freezing

Slipped on my own driveway, didn’t fall.

Slipped on my friend’s driveway, didn’t fall.

Decided before it’s too late I should fix the problem.

Stuck my handy trowel into my handy pail of grit and sprinkled the icy areas liberally. (Well, not at my friend’s house. She has to get her own grit.)

Grit is what passes for sand here in Calgary. Instead of sanding the highway, they use grit, which is a treat to the windshield of a vehicle.

But it does the job.

The free grit comes from a pile at the local fire station. It’s there for citizens to use.

Now you know.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Bright and sunny for much of the day, and a little above zero.

I celebrated the good weather by taking the dogs for a walk, one at a time.

Rudy and I met up with a little black dog called Muffy who came up to his knees.

Maggie and I saw a giant white jackrabbit bigger than Muffy.

Then I chipped some of the packed snow off the sidewalk and felt very virtuous about it.

Rudy and Maggie’s blog is pretty lame, but they are after all, dogs so take that into account. I think there are pictures of them on the blog.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Warmer today, even a little slushy

Central Mountain Air flies to the top and bottom of Alberta and British Columbia, and from side to side as well.

Here’s a map of their routes. Ever heard of Rainbow Lake? Fort Nelson? Smithers? Now you know how to get there.

The people at Central Mountain Air were brilliant at helping a Special Person get off their plane and into a wheelchair.

THANK YOU.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Ouch. Pain struck my family and we needed help.

Thanks all round, to:

Central Mountain Air for such care in the sky and on the ground;

Colleagues from work for so much personal support when needed most;

Panther Sports Medicine (Bonaventure) for being so accommodating with a desperately-needed appointment;

All the emergency staff , volunteers, and behind-the-scenes support at Rockyview for doing what we depend upon you for, but seldom notice until it’s our turn.

My friends!

Not fun but much better than other health crises I’ve dealt with.

Thanks so very much.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Weather: Grey again, but a lot warmer. Just above freezing, but not drippy.  Bit of a breeze.

Tonight, I’ll be making another trip to the airport, this time picking up.

The pickupee is in extreme pain, apparently, and unable to walk.

My job is to have a wheelchair ready, and get him from the baggage area to the vehicle.  Along with his baggage, which would be a problem, except I think there may be someone travelling with him who can help.  Mainly I have to find a wheelchair and also try and park in a reasonably convenient spot.

Assuming I do get a wheelchair (and I don’t really have a choice, I must find one), the only real problem I foresee is that the ride from the terminal to the car could be painful because it’s bumpy.  I may try and get parking on the plus-15 level to reduce the bumps, will see what’s available when I get there.

So that’s tonight’s entertainment.

Oh, and we have to put the garbage out.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

The weather: not bad.  Warm, sunny, pleasant.  I think it stayed below zero.

My friend and I are trying to not go to the same place twice for breakfast.

We’re also keeping an eye out for indy breakfast places, but it’s a little harder than you might think to find them.

Today, ended up at Ricky’s again, but not the exact same Ricky’s we went to before.  Pathetic way of saying we didn’t repeat ourselves, I know.

Must try harder.

A cool thing was that she played some of the songs from her CD for me, on her iPod.  Fantastic!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Weather: Sunny, warmer, snowed a bit and it was actually quite bright and sunny and nice when I went out to shovel it.  The snow was light and fluffy, not sticky and wet.

We live in a desert.  We need all the water that comes from the sky, whether it’s falling as rain or snow.

When it gets too warm in mid-winter, the snow melts. If the snow would melt slowly enough to sink into the soil, it could replenish the invisible water supply in the ground.  However, it often melts so fast that instead of sinking into the ground, much of the melted snow (water, in other words) runs off.

This is made worse by the fact that much of our city’s actual surface area is paved and impermeable.  Water can’t sink in through sidewalks, roads, and rooftops.

So, the water flows off the street and down the culvert and eventually into the Bow River.

Then in the spring and summer, when we (the large-scale “we”, that is, including all the farmers) need it, there isn’t as much water stored in the soil as we would like.

Another way we lose water is by the dry Chinook wind picking it up and blowing it east.

We can do something about the city being covered in pavement (at least, theoretically we can), but we can’t change the Chinook.

Another bad thing about having the temperature go above freezing in winter is the wear and tear the freeze-thaw cycle puts on things like concrete bridges and roads. Freeze-thaw isn’t that good a thing to wish for. It is the mother of potholes.

Join me in hoping the temperature stays around minus 10 C with sun.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Cold today, still in the -20 area. Not enough to feel terrible but enough to want it to be just a little warmer. In Canmore, about 100 km to the west, it’s 3 above. That’s the kind of strange weather we get, thanks to being close to the mountains.

But enough about the weather.

I’m back at the airport, dropping off this time.

It’s dead here!

We have a very pleasant airport and I can calmly sit here typing, enjoying my coffee, while I wait for confirmation that the plane boarding went fine, or that the plane took off. Either will do.

And then home through the dark cold night and into a nice warm bed. Even though all I’ve done is drive up here and back, I feel a bit virtuous thanks to having been out, if only for a quick moment, in that bracing winter air.

Saw a guy with golf clubs in the elevator as we arrived at the airport. He had a golf shirt on, no jacket. Was headed towards the parkade. Silly man. It may have been hot in Palm Springs when you got on the plane, but you can’t bring it with you, Sunshine.

Sunday, January 16, 2010

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Ever since SouthCentre added comfy chairs and even a TV to watch, waiting for Someone to finish shopping has been pretty painless. Brought a book with me today and it was actually pleasant to sit there reading for a few minutes.