Biodegradable Guard Rails

Ozone friendly and biodegradable guard rails along a road near Fox Valley, Saskatchewan.  If you're heading for the ditch it will be with a splash of fresh hay!

These are the small rectangular bales that were common in the somewhat distant past.  I hoisted a lot of these when I was a kid.  Don't see them so often anymore.

- Michael Truman

Porter Lake School 1928 - 1952

This is an old schoolhouse in rural Alberta somewhat close to Edgerton, Alberta. The last time I was here was last winter and it was freezing cold. It looks a lot better in the summer.

They is one of the better rural schools. A lot of them were small and not well built. It was likely a community centre after it ceased being a school. At one time there must have been a lot of children in the area to warrant a school this size. 

You can get in the school. There are some chairs and some old stools as well as an old piano and stove. The structure seemed safe enough. I thought about checking out the basement and passed on that. When I was outside again I noticed the basement walls were starting to bow so not going into the basement was a good idea.

I have a weakness for window photos.

I might be getting too old for this . . .

This last Tuesday I had the day off. The weather looked like it might be decent so I wanted to take the motorcycle out on the highway. A friend of mine came with me on his motorcycle.

From Edmonton we took the highway to Rocky Mountain House, to Nordegg then up the Icefields Parkway to Jasper then took the Yellowhead Highway home. Highway 39 to Highway 22 to Highway 11 to Highway 93 to Highway 16 home if you are inclined to look it up. The trip was about 900km. We left just after nine in the morning and got back after eleven at night. We got rained on a couple of times. Stopped at a few places for food and walked in to a couple of waterfalls at different stops.

At Evansburg on the way home it was starting to get dark when we made our last stop for gas. That is when I discovered that my headlights were not working. After fiddling around with things for about half an hour my lights starting working. The motorcycle had developed some interesting electrical issues. On the plus side I can now start my bike without having to press the start button. 

I was still an hour from home. On the highway in Alberta in August at ten at night it is chilly.  It is dark, a little foggy, and you have to be vigilant for suicidal deer. When I finally got home I peeled my clothes off and left them where they fell. I was stiff and chilled and took a hot shower before turning in. The next morning I was damn stiff.

My friend, who is the same age as me, remarked a few times during the ride that he wants to take long trips like this, his body however does not want to co-operate. I might have to agree with him. I was never in the greatest physical shape but I could do long rides with few problems. Now it is becoming a different story. We are getting older.

I have a hike with another friend this coming weekend. I will see what kind of condition I am in after that.

A Barn in Marquette

I was in Marquette, Manitoba one summer evening and photographed this classic old barn. I recently learned that this kind of roof is called a gambrel roof.

The barn still has a bit of red paint clinging to the wood under the edge of the roof, but most of the paint has worn off over the years.

- Steve Boyko

Alberta ghost town

Cairns is a ghost town. I had made a couple of attempts to get here over the last few years. Part of the problem was I was not exactly sure where it was and it was not the place to take a car. The road is not rough, it is soft. The road in is dirt and almost sandy in spots. It is not a road that is used regularly.

There is a plaque not far from the town marker. It reads in part:

“The Cairns area was first settled by homesteaders in 1907. Later that year the Canadian Pacific Railway surveyed the rail line, laid out the townsite and named it Cairns. Trains started running in 1910, and Cairns became a bustling hamlet, the hub of a closely-knit agricultural community. Drought, depression, influenza and two world wars took their toll. In 1959 when the post office and store closed, Cairns silently became a ghost town.”

There are no residents and only two buildings left.

I believe this is the old hall that was used for church services.

I think this is the old store/post office. I could get one good angle to get a photo of this building. It was behind a fence, obscured by some trees, and I had to walk up a short bank to get a decent view.

A number of prairie towns started and disappeared without a trace. Nice to see they put up a marker to remember it.