Personal crisis

Drove through some of the rural areas around my town and I noticed that the bales that were normally littering the fields have been removed. The farmers are getting their land ready for the season. This could seriously impact my ability to post bale photos. 

This is not good.

Hudson Heights School

North of Oyen, Alberta. Turned into a granary after it ceased being used as a school. March 25, 2017.

The view south of the school. Prairie is in need of some colour.

Attempted antelope photography

Deer are easy to get in a photo. Sometimes they will even wait for you to get a picture. Antelope are very skittish. I saw lots of them in southern Alberta on April 14/15, 2017 and got a number of lousy photos. If you even look in their direction they take off. With luck I will run across a narcissistic one that love to pose.

Spotted in Banff, Alberta

Saw this in a t-shirt shop in Banff, Alberta April 23, 2017.

Sign outside a veterinary in Dalemead, Alberta

Posting it simply because I like it.

Road trip?

I could really use one about now. I might have something in mind.

Hwy 501 between Del Bonita and Milk River, Alberta April 14, 2017

Shooting a windmill

Near Arrowwood, Alberta On April 22, 2017. I liked the look of this when I saw it from the highway. I took multiple shots of the same subject. Not sure which one I prefer.

Time for the past

I "met" someone yesterday. Met as in we had an email conversation. As I have mentioned the fun thing about doing a blog is having people contact you and sharing interests. He mentioned that he is starting a blog of his own. I asked for the address and I really like it. Take a moment to check out the following:

www.timeforthepast.com

I am looking forward to more posts on this site.

School versus school

There are a few of us out there who enjoy tracking down old schoolhouses. A few have been restored. A lot found themselves being used for other purposes.

This one I found by chance when I turned down a street in Foremost, Alberta. Someone is using it for a shop/storage.

This one is near Elkwater, Alberta and someone turned it into a residence. I prefer the fate of this one.

Rundown town

One of the fun things about having a blog is that sometimes people unexpectedly email you that have similar interests. I heard from another fan of road trips and exploring who has likely visited more out of the way places than I have. This person even posts their own videos, something I would like to try doing. Take a look. 

St. Margaret's Church followup

I posted previously about a very quick visit to this place:

http://everybodyhastobesomewhere.blogspot.ca/2016/04/st-margarets-church.html

It was getting dark and I did not have a lot of time to get a great look at the church. I feel that my post could have been worded a little differently. The church has been restored and they did an excellent job. I remarked that the job looked too good. That was not meant as a criticism. I recently received an email from someone who told me that the church was built in 1908 without a proper foundation or bracing. Therefore extensive work would have had to have been done to properly restore it. Looking back at my post I can see that I might have inadvertently offended someone. 

I have a lot of respect for people that work to restore places like this so people like me can see them. I will definitely have to go back and revisit this place. It deserves more attention.

I did not take the bike to work today

Weather in Alberta can be an adventure. I had to dig out the snowbrush from the trunk to brush off the car. The Weather Network's 14 day trend says I may have decent enough weather to ride it in about ten days.

Canada Geese in Banff National Park

I came across these on April 23, 2017 just outside Banff, Alberta. I could have got close enough to touch them which is not recommended. I got these photos from a few feet away. 

State of the blog address

Sometime in the last twenty-four hours I rolled over 250,000 page views since I started this blog.

This leads me to one inescapable conclusion. Not enough of you are reading this blog. Otherwise I would have reached this number long ago.

Am I not posting enough photos of hay bales? I have driven countless miles (they are only countless since I never bothered to keep track) taking photos of bales. Not just any bale photos, quality bale photos. You cannot get this stuff just anywhere.

I kindly suggest clicking on this blog multiple times a day or getting your friends and relatives to read me. Some of us bloggers have fragile egos and crave meaningless statistics like pageviews to validate our existence. 

Hoosier United Church, Hoosier, Saskatchewan

Quick stop on March 25, 2017. Built in 1916, weekly services stopped in 1966. A number of communities shrank to the point where there was not enough people to support places like this. It was used as a community centre up until the 1990's. It is a designated historic place.

Coffee in Banff, Alberta

A nice sunny day to enjoy coffee. 

Graburn School April 15, 2017

Located on Graburn Road south of Walsh, Alberta. A bit of a unique design. From what I could find the school operated from 1912 to 1959 however this is not the original school. I think was used as a community centre in later years. 

Seventh Day Cemetery

Near Hilda, Alberta March 25, 2017. It looks abandoned.

The marker points to a cemetery just off the highway.

I did not venture in. I looked in from outside the fence. Some of the graves looked sunken it. I did not want to disturb anything.

An animal made its way into this person's final resting place.

A quick look around the area.

So I have that going for me . . .

Some days you wake up and everything is in pain. If you are like me it is the head, neck lower back, and a few other places. As for me it has been this way for the last week. Exploring on a weekend taking photos, doing some hiking, crawling over, and under fences, to get a better look at things has its rewards and some occasional unwanted side effects. Not sure what I did to cause this however I did injure something somehow.

You wake up in pain and hope it will go away before you have to get serious about starting the day. The pain is mainly due to a car accident years ago where someone t-boned the vehicle I was in. Regardless of how hurt I feel in the morning I will myself to get up, get moving, and take on the day. A person still has responsibilities to himself and others. Various painkillers have not been a solution. They help in the short term. Rest and taking things relatively easy have not worked. I gave in and had an appointment with a massage therapist.

The problem with going to a therapist is finding a good one. Some I have went to have been absolutely brutal. Once you find a good one you try to stick with them only to find they frequently have gone one day somewhere else for whatever reason and you are stuck trying to find a good one again. I think I have found a good one again after the last good one had departed. This morning I again woke up in pain after a session with a therapist the day before. This time the pain is in different places and feels different. That might be progress and a sign of everything getting back to normal and in its proper place. I am optimistic the next few days will be better.

Unknown one room schoolhouse in Montana

Spotted this on April 14, 2017. It is on Willow Creek Road north of the Oilmont Highway. It is a small school sitting behind a barbed wire fence. Photos are from the road.

Spring in Alberta

One of the sure signs of spring in Albera. Farm machinery equipment manufacturers must have hired designers at one time. The machinery I see has a sense of style. A lot of tractors have an appealing agressive look to them, like you see them and want to take one for a spin. I know nothing about any of this stuff as I have never farmed a day in my life. I do know Case has some great looking tractors.

April 14, 2017 near Skiff, Alberta

Barn in Vulcan County, Alberta

Captured at dusk April 8, 2017.

The search for interesting signs continues . . .

South of Walsh, Alberta on April 15, 2017.

Zion Congregation Cemetery

Spotted this on a country road west of Hilda, Alberta on March 25, 2017. The direction where it is pointing is more trail than road. I actually ventured down it for a ways with my car until the ruts became too pronounced. I have read that there was a church that no longer exists and an abandoned cemetery. Destination for another day.

Train post

I was east of Medicine Hat, Alberta on April 15, 2017 and saw a train in the distance. So I took the opportunity for a train photo. My first attempt at this. My inexpensive camera was good enough for one shot as it sped by. 

On a different section of track I noticed this. Much easier to take some photos since it was parked.