I wonder if the bike will start . . .

Last October I parked the bike in its underground parking spot to sit out the winter. I left it until today. I really should do the things you are supposed to do when parking a vehicle for months at a time. I never do them. Glorious spring sun today. I was out visiting mom and took her out for lunch. At home watching the hockey playoffs and the mind wandered to where I was asking myself if the bike would start.

I turned the key and it fired right up. Since it started I might as well take it for a ride. I took a half hour run down the freeway and home. Thoroughly enjoyed it. I will start taking it to work.

Sunday rail post

On April 14, 2023 I posted about a rail venture in East End, Saskatchewan.

I messaged Steve Boyko about this as he is the only train expert that I know and what he knew about it. Steve knew a lot more about this and has a much better post on this subject at his blog:

www.traingeek.ca/wp/eastend-scenic-rail-tours/

Spotted in Lamont County, Alberta

Very old style grain elevators were built like this. This was in a field and does not look very old. I have not seen a building like this in a few years.

 

Late night classic red barn post

 

Carpathian School

Located east of Smuts, Saskatchewan. It was initially called Ozeriany from 1910 – 1915. The name was changed to Ozeriany-Carpathian from 1915 – 1935. In 1935 the name was changed to Carpathian and it eventually closed in 1960.

- Dale Redekopp

Not out and about much

Still doing the usual, visiting mom twice a week. That, as mentioned previously in this blog, is a bit over an hour trip each way. Usually Wednesday after work and one day on the weekends. Most of the visits are uneventful. Mom does not want to do much, if anything. If I live long enough I will likely end up in a retirement home. I am divorced, single, no children, with one sibling, but I would like to think someone would visit me in the same situation.

I have some course requirements that have to be met for my job and there is a deadline for doing them. I killed off most of them, there are only a few hours left. The problem is getting motivated to do it, it is dry boring material.

I did get out a little last Sunday. I have driven by this International R-150 many times and finally stopped to capture it. No idea what year it is.

Abandoned Alberta barn

1946 Fargo

A beautifully restored 1946 Fargo pickup on display at The Windmill Garden Centre in Medicine Hat, Alberta.

- Michael Truman

Past Presence Website

Glass elevator

The Glass Farm elevator is located on private property south of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.  The elevator was moved from MacDowall in the 1980's.  The new owner very graciously allowed us to photograph the interior and exterior. He advised us that the previous owners had spent a large amount of money to upgrade the equipment to make it into an efficient grain operation, although it has not been used in that capacity for some time.  The elevator is in remarkable condition with some original vintage features remaining.

- Dale Redekopp

Back to Cpt Mo Wednesday

Abandoned barn

East of Ponoka, Alberta beside Highway 53.

More random notes

Blogger is back to marking some comments by long term commenters as spam. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to this. I review the comments and I do mark them as to be published if they were marked as spam in error. I just do not always get to it right away.

Blogger likes to screw with my formatting on occasion. I happen to like my text nicely lined up on both sides in my posts. Sometimes Blogger likes to think otherwise. I edited a recent post seven times because the formatting kept being changed from how I set it up.

Blogger is free which means you get what you pay for.

Sometimes I get comments from older posts from people that might have attended a long abandoned church or had a connection to an old schoolhouse. I love to get stuff like this. The issue is that a number of times I have no information on what post they are discussing. I had a recent one about an Anglican Church. I have posted a lot of Anglican Churches so I need something more specific so I know which one. I also get some comments that I would like to respond to however they do not leave me an email address. Just wanted to say that I am not ignoring people, sometimes I just have no way to respond.

South of Cadillac, Saskatchewan

April 8, 2023 beside Highway 4. I cannot remember the name of this abandoned church.

Random notes

Jenn has been posting again. I always enjoy her posts.

westofthefifthmeridian.blogspot.com

Recently this blog has started following me. I find it interesting.

eycandy.blogspot.com

One of my favourite long abandoned houses

A little northwest of Jenner, Alberta.

Resurrected rails

Last weekend a friend and I travelled through East End, Saskatchewan and he pointed out the collection of trains. After I got home I did a little searching online and found out this is the project of Gary Southgate, a Saskatchewan farmer who is really into vintage trains.

Apparently he has collected over twenty-six vintage train cars and engines over the years that eventually ended up in East End, Saskatchewan. Eventually there will be a train station and rail tours between Shaunavon and East End, possibly all the way to Robsart. He has bought land by the rail tracks and bought the Riverside Motel in East End. This will be quite the endeavor.

This should be interesting. Robsart, Saskatchewan is a ghost town and no trains have travelled there in many years. There is not a lot of anything in deep southwestern Saskatchewan and he is dreaming big. I hope this is a raving success.

The return trip may be delayed

I was on Facebook and this caught my eye. This is Highway 4 south of Cadillac, Saskatchewan that someone posted.

I was on this very section of highway last Saturday on the way to try to get to an abandoned one room school southwest of Cadillac. The school was one I had did not know about. I did not get to it at the time as I thought the gravel roads were a bit too soft for travel.

This will likely have to wait for the summer.

Pinto MacBean says "Hi!"

Had been meaning to take pictures of Pinto MacBean for ages, and as it turned out, today was the day.

He stands alongside the highway that runs through Bow Island . . .

. . . and greets everyone with a wave of the hand.

He is the local celebrity!

- Michael Truman

Past Presence Website

Nadeauville School

There is a sign near the school giving a brief history of Nadeauville, Saskatchewan which existed from 1912 to 1962. There are no dates for the school. While taking photos of the school from the road with my friend Michael Truman  a man came out of a residence on the property. We got introduced to Lorne who said he recently took over the property from his aunt. The school is on his eighteen acres and he has been cleaning out the junk that accumulated over the years from the property. His plan is to paint the school so it looks better. We were invited to go look at the school up close but you would have had to walk over a lot of mud and soggy ground. We were welcome to come back a take a look at a later date.

Not much left of Nadeauville. Just the school and a couple of old buildings.

Beware the giant Saskatchewan prairie toad

Spotted this north of Tompkins, Saskatchewan on my way to find an old one room school. Someone has a sense of humour and is a bit of an artist.

1949 Ford F135

Spotted at Walsh, Alberta.

The Brothers Comatose & AJ Lee - "Harvest Moon" (by Neil Young)

Road tripping

South of Maple Creek, Saskatchewan

I did not get some of the things accomplished on this road trip that I wanted. The backroads had more snow than expected, they were not dry enough to get to some of the places I wanted to visit. I could get to an old cemetery that I wanted to visit, the problem was it was drifted in.

None of this was an issue.

I had a grand time meeting my friend Michael Truman for dinner Friday night and then meeting up again the next morning and hanging out for the day. It was a day for good conversation, great company, and visiting a few out of the way places.

 

Quick windmill post

 

Short road trip

On the road I take my iPad with me. I should remember to take my Surface with me instead. I always have problems trying to respond to comments or post with an iPad. The Surface works better. I do not know why I have issues trying to do anything with the blog with an iPad. I could take my laptop but I like to travel somewhat light.

I have an iPod in the car for entertainment. I listen to a lot of Country. Older stuff like Waylon, Willie, Cash, Haggard, Billie Joe Shaver, you get the idea. I am partial to Cody Jinks, Chris Stapleton, Jason Boland, Dallas Moore, Blackberry Smoke, Stoney LaRue, Cody Canada. Recently I discovered Larkin Poe, they make anything sound great. I ran across Molly Tuttle and AJ Lee. So far I like everything of theirs that I have listened to.

I recently got into podcasts. The great thing about podcasts is that you get to delve into subjects and people in depth. Marc Maron’s is one I like. Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend is entertaining, it could be more serious to get to better know the guests. Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast is great for getting to get to know some of the the fringe Hollywood topics and older and lesser known people in entertainment. I had been listening to Jordan Pederson’s podcast. Good stuff, he needs to learn to talk less so his guests get to say more.

Suggestions for music and podcasts are welcome.

Music post

 

Motorbike Graveyard

A motorcycle graveyard in Makinak, Manitoba.

I'm sure there's someone out there who needs that special part to get their vintage bike up and running again.  Stop by for a look.

- Michael Truman

Past Presence Website

The once a week Cpt Mo post

 

I would rather not

Growing up my parents liked to camp. We never had a tent or a tent trailer. We started off with something very similar to what is pictured below. Except picture a late 1970’s Ford F250 and the camper of the same vintage and same style. I recall it was called a Handi Kamp (Camp?) at the time.

There was my mother and father, myself, and my younger sister. This was before I was in my teens. We all slept in that thing. There was no stove but there was a small sink at the back. There was no furnace in it either. We lived in northern British Columbia at the time. We were so far north that there was not much in the way of civilization between us and the Yukon border.

My father was five foot ten. There was just enough room for him to stretch out to sleep with his feet almost touching the door. Dad moved around a lot in his sleep. Invariably he would somehow end up with his pillow and head in the sink and usually managed to unlock the doorknob with his feet. We would wake up freezing due to the door being wide open.

Early summer mornings in northern British Columbia are not warm. They are chilly. The parents usually had my sister and me get dressed and booted us outside. We were handed water and toothbrushes and told to brush out teeth. Their habit was to take their time leisurely getting dressed. I think they took some kind of perverse joy in us kids being cold outside.

Dad always cooked breakfast. He had a grate that went over the campfire where he put a skillet on top of it. He would fry up a bunch of bacon on a roaring fire, dump the grease on the fire, then cook the eggs. Coffee was in a steel coffee pot and we had steel coffee cups. Toast was also done over the fire. It warmed you up quick. Trying not to burn yourself on a steel coffee cup while trying to drink coffee was another matter. I do not know why my parents kept using steel cups.

There really was not enough room in the Handi Kamp so we graduated to a typical truck camper, then to a holiday trailer. Years later my parents bought a small fifth wheel trailer. At that time they were living in Sparwood, British Columbia and would park their fifth wheel trailer at Rexford, Montana for the summer. They loved Montana as do I. That was well over thirty years ago.

These days I love to get out in the country but at then end of the day I would rather stay in a motel or hotel. I can put up with a lot of things but I hate being cold. I like someplace where I can get a decent night's sleep and a hot shower. I froze enough camping in my youth.

Peterson, Saskatchewan

Peterson, Saskatchewan is a hamlet located east of Saskatoon on Highway 5. The village was founded circa 1911 with the arrival of the railroad. The twinned grain elevators consist of the larger ex-Federal which was built in 1956 and the smaller one of unknown origins. The elevator is marked J and L Farms. Peterson is considered a ghost town and there is not much left to see.

The Descent of the Holy Spirit Ukrainian Catholic Church was built in 1926. The church is long abandoned and built on swampy grounds. The church has been demolished in the last few years. The cemetery is located east of the town.

- Dale Redekopp

Swamp right beside the church.