Jill Browne, from home and away

Plus 15, by Jill Browne, Calgary, January 31, 2011.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

It’s about -25 Celsius today for the high. In Medicine Hat, where it gets quite hot in summer, it was -41 with wind chill this morning. (At 40 below, Fahrenheit and Celsius are the same: bloody cold).

I’m grateful to the late Harold Hanen, architect, who promoted the Plus-15 walkway concept here in Calgary, as part of trying to make us a “livable winter city”. As shown in the picture, the Plus-15s are walkways, 15 feet up in the air, connecting many of the downtown buildings. Admittedly, it can take quite a bit longer to go a few blocks via Plus-15, as compared to going outside, but for any distance, they’re great when the weather isn’t so nice.

There has been debate about these things since the idea first came up. “They’ll take away pedestrians from street level! Downtown will be dead!” is the gist of the anti-Plus-15 argument. (Here’s a recent Calgary Herald article about it.)

I beg to differ. Downtown is not dead; the pedestrian life is happening inside when the weather’s poor.

I also take exception to the point in the Calgary Herald article that the Bow building is somehow a better element of “livable winter city” design than the Plus-15.

The article says:

“Calgary planners are starting to think more about the entire year in their work. David Downs, a senior architect and the co-ordinator of urban design and heritage with the City of Calgary, points to The Bow tower under construction downtown as an example. It was designed to maximize sunlight year-round and was aligned to minimize the impact of winter winds. That makes it more energy-efficient, and cosier.”

The Bow building (and I will try not to get started on a rant here) may have its good points, but it is out of scale with the rest of downtown and casts a massive shadow. Shadows = cold. Not a nice thing to do to your neighbours in winter.

More Bow building rants on other days. For today, YAY Plus-15, and thank you, Harold.

Snow on a Calgary street. Photo by Jill Browne, Calgary, January 29, 2011.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

The snow hit us in a calm and deliberate way. It has been falling steadily all day, but with next to no wind, and also nobody walking in it.

This is perfect, perfect snow. Light, fluffy, beautiful. I didn’t even mind shovelling it.

But a grey day.

In other news, the other day I saw the new LRT under construction near Crowchild. Massive! Want to get back and take some pictures. When the snow has stopped.

Coming into Calgary from the north on Highway 2, aka Deerfoot Trail. Photo: by Jill Browne. Calgary, January 3, 2011

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Weather, like in the picture, but a little warmer. Things are melting.

Today I drove 100 km just in town and had no fun doing it.

9:30 appointment in the NW, no problem on Crowchild

Two more appointments close to home

6:30 (evening) back to the NW, this time Crowchild northbound was backed up horribly from about 37th Ave. SW and it took 30 minutes at least for what should be a 5-minute stretch of the trip. This had something to do with the new LRT being built, but I’m not sure what exactly. Going home later at night we went a different way, no problems.

The windshield is dirty like in this picture. Must get to the car wash.

Oh, and I was really disgusted by the discourteous drivers on that northbound trip in the evening. It’s beyond rudeness. People aggressively race forward to prevent others from making lane changes. I saw it done and I had it done to me.

I avoid rush hour driving for a reason. These jerks cause accidents. I hope they pay triple my insurance rates.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

A warm day, up to 10 degrees I heard. Ice melting, fear we may have big sheets of it tomorrow if it gets cold, from all that melted snow that is now covering everything.

The sky has a grey lid on it but to the west there is a band of sky between the mountains and the bottom of the sky. It’s about two inches high and as the day ages, that band turns a golden yellow. I saw it through the filigree of the bare aspen trees and was momentarily enchanted.

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.

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.

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.

Tuesday, January 11, 2010

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

So cold the emergency brake froze in the on position.

Put outside briefly, the dog stood on three legs even when not peeing.

I watched from the comfort of a warm room.

And it wasn’t even that cold. Only minus 17 C or so. But it’s a dry cold.

Canola field under blue sky. Photo: Doug Bowman, CC License on Flickr.com

Monday, January 10, 2011.

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

It’s still winter.  In fact I think winter is only beginning.  It has its good side, winter does, but today I’m thinking of warmer things.

The cloud ceiling is still over us, and the temperature is down around -17 C.

Frost feathers starting to decorate our windows.

Makes me think back to the brilliant sunshine and the glow of the yellow canola fields.

I wrote Canola has a Glow of its Own back in those glory days of July.

Link to Doug Bowman’s photo