T' Rex and the City

We visited the city of Calgary back in the summer (yes... I'm still writing about it and we're going back in less than 3 weeks!) towards the end of our trip, which was kind of odd having been surrounded by mountains and plains for so long. The buildings seemed somewhat impersonal and cold. The city overall though was really worth seeing. Here we ALL are standing above the 'Stampede Grounds' and the 'Saddle Dome' events arenas with the cityscape in the background.

The city has a lot of sculptures some of which are surprising in where they are placed. There's a huge iron horse made from out of tractor parts which is on a street corner and takes up that much room on the pavement that one has to manoeuvre around it, there's a stone statue of two businessmen greeting each other apropos of nothing else within its own vicinity. The streets at that time of year were teeming with flower baskets.

As it was a Sunday, most places were reasonably quiet. One thing that fascinated me about Calgary were these bridges. They are called Plus 15s. There are around 60 of these bridges covering 10 miles around the city. They are called "+15"' as they are mostly around 15 feet above street level although some are actually +30 and +45. What they are, is the world's most extensive pedestrian walkway system which enables safe passage between buildings and streets without the need to negotiate the traffic, or the weather. They connect hotels, shopping arcades, offices, and they even have their own by-laws to stop such things as people sleeping in them during the winter. Fascinating!

The tower, ("Calgary Tower" renamed from "Husky Tower"), at over 600 feet is visible from all over the city and from up there you can see all over the city. It was built in 1968 and once construction had started, they couldn't stop it as the concrete had to be built up to each level just at the right moment before the lower one had set. Until it was completed, it was always at least partially like a very large blancmange! During the winter Olympics in 1988 they installed a gas burner on the very top and the tower served as the official Olympic Flame. The torch has burned on sevaral occasions since then during public celebrations and the local ice hockey team is named after it, The Calgary Flames.

Up in the deck there is an 11m glass observation platform which stands high up above 9th Street. The angel on your left shoulder tells you that it's perfectly safe and that of course they wouldn't encourage you to stand on it and walk on it if it wasn't so. However... the demon on your right shoulder tells you that you are about to die, the glass will crack and/or fall out, you will plummet to the ground and squash into the tarmac like a jelly and it therefore makes you quite dizzy and it turns your stomach over and over when you first step on to it with much much trepidation, holding onto the sides for dear life itself and almost not daring to look down, just in case you fall!!

This sign didn't help much....

So Eamonn and I decided that we ought to test it out, so we both got on the platform at the same time. I wasn't scared.... honest! What you can't tell from the photograph is that Eam has just composed himself after a mad frenzy of Burpees whilst pointing at me and laughing like a rabid hyena, and that Janet and Linda are having to hold me up, 'cos I actually... I'd just passed out.


We had another day out which would prove to be nothing less, than FASCINATING! Janet and Eamonn took us out..... to The Badlands! No sign of Bruce tho... What you see below is a Sod House. A 'Soddy'.... a small house, or rather a dwelling, made out of turf. These were built out of cuts of grassy turf by the early pioneers as cheap, temporary homes as they built railways and villages. We stumbled upon this example in a somewhat off-beat little village called Beisecker on our trip to Drumheller in the Badlands.


As small as it is, Beiseker has a museum. Dedicated to the CPR railway it is located in the old CPR Train Station at the west end of main street and gives one some idea of the lives of the early settlers of that area. Local volunteers built the Soddy and look after the museum. We were a bit mean really, as one enthusiastic young curator tried to get us to visit the museum, but after helping ourselves to his sod house and the caboose, we carried on to our target for the day...

The Royal Tyrrell Museum.

Now I know that I can be prone to over-enthuse about something that floats my boat, but..., I sincerely mean what I'm about to say in my next sentence...

The Royal Tyrrell Museum, is...., THE BEST EXHIBITION OF ANYTHING... IN THE WORLD!!!


Set right in the heart of the badlands just a little northwest of Drumheller, this museum is unbelievable!

You drive in through Drumheller and it is SO cheezy with its dinosaur themed everything on every corner, that you can be forgiven for being filled with dread. BUT... As you walk through the amazing displays and incredible exhibits, you realise that you are actually privileged to be among a snapshot of millions of years of our Earth's history. So many actual bones and skeletons, captured and restored, preserved and displayed for our education. Below for example is an ACTUAL jaw bone from a Tyrannosaurus Rex and believe me, it is HUGE!

As well a being a superb exhibition facility, this is a working laboratory and throughout you are treated to displays and demonstrations of how they dig up these fragile pieces of our past, and how they preserve and present them. We were there for hours... I could have stayed in there for days!

As well as the internal exhibitions there is a wonderful walk outside through the very places in which the bones are found, still to this day. You can't help but stop and wonder at how so many millions of years ago, these ridiculously massive creatures used to go about their business just like we do now. I urge you , if you are ever lucky enough to have time in Alberta. to visit this place!


After our Jurassic experience we called in at Rosedale to see the suspension bridge over the Red Deer River. Located just outside Drumheller, the 177m bridge was originally built to enable miners from the community of Rosedale to get to work at the Star Mine.

Now it serves as a tourist attraction and there are strict guidelines about using it. No more than 8 people at a time to cross it and absolutely NO BOUNCING on the bridge. Now it's not often that I feel like a big wuss.. but when I saw these two purposefully bouncing towards me... I nearly soiled myself...


Our last visit on this superb historical day out was to see the Hoodoos.


These eerie formations are formed by wind and water. The sedimentary rocks are eroded over thousands of years and the layers that are left exposed form mushroom like statues in the barren landscape. The First Nation people believe that they have spiritual powers and they worry that eventually, when the time and weather takes its toll that there will be nothing left.

It is a fascinating place to be, as near as one can imagine to being on the surface of the moon.

Katie, Eamonn and I climbed up to the top and left the others about half way up as their legs were too short to fit in between the narrow passages.


What a fantastic day out we had in the Badlands.. It summed up for me what the absolute pleasure, and absolute privilege of travelling is and I'm so grateful to have been given this opportunity by our thoughtful and insightful hosts! I think we all learned something!

Rocky Mountain High

Now he walks in quiet solitude the forests and the streams,
Seeking grace in every step he takes,
His sight has turned inside himself to try and understand,
The serenity of a clear blue mountain lake.

I think I know what Mr. Denver meant when he wrote this. I'm not a religious person but I couldn't help myself from thinking about the whole creation thing, and just how beautiful our world really is when we were in the peace and tranquility of the stunning Rocky Mountains.

Every corner turned was a new feast for all of our senses and every road we took provided us with another unique adventure. This really was our very own Rocky Mountain High.

As far as I'm concerned you can never tire of looking at lakes and mountains. They are so awe inspiring. When you start to consider how long they've been there, how big they are, the effect they have on the weather, the science behind how they came to be there and how they've changed over millions of years. But most of all for me at least, how beautiful they are!

So looking at mountains from ground level and from a distance is wonderful enough but we couldn't resist the temptation to get a closer look and to see the world from the mountains' point of view.

This is the Jasper Tramway. The longest and highest guided aerial tramway in Canada. From up at the top we could see the town of Jasper way below, six mountain ranges, glacial fed lakes with that beautiful blue colour, the one in the centre of the picture below is Lake Beauvert at the Jasper Park Lodge, the railways and the huge long freight trains and the Athabasca River.

The ride up was around 15 minutes and all the way up to 2277 meters (7472 ft) we had a guide explaining what we could see, the weather, and the history and mechanics of the cable car system. We had a wait of around 2 hours at the base station so we took that time to return Sarah back to the log cabin as the sight of the gondola swaying had unfortunately turned her stomach over.
Katie however is a more rugged explorer and couldn't wait to get up high and see 'stuff'.

At the corner of the Athabasca river in the picture below I've painted on a blue dot. This is to show you where our log cabin is situated. Bear in mind that I'd zoomed in considerably to get this picture and you can imagine how high up we were. Sarah by this time was in there, reading Peter Kay and eating chicken soup :-)

Linda had taken along a packet of short bread biscuits. Not just because she's a nutter, but because she wanted to enter a competition about eating these biscuits in exotic places. After this photo shoot and a very big lung-full of the freshest air you can imagine, we had a mountain top lunch. Chili Dogs and Chocolate milk! Very nice....

While we were in Banff we booked a treat for Katie. An afternoon riding session from the Warner Stables.

It was such a beautiful afternoon and Katie along with several other people was taken into the paddock to be assigned her horse for the ride.

No helmets or boots, or chaps, or body armour required, just sign the waiver and choose your horse. Fantastic really, it was nice and exciting just to watch them set it all up and in the backdrop of the mountains it was real wild west stuff with chuck wagons, dawgs, checked shirts and big hats!

The instructor asked Katie if she'd ridden before and then told her forget everything she knew. "We do things differently out here, you'll be ridin' western style, both reins in your left hand".

As you can see from above, Katie was completely stressed out by this...

The steed is named Millet and they very quickly became great Friends. The horses we so incredibly well trained, you can't imagine how calm they all were in the coral with all these strangers around them and clicking cameras etc.

So they set off for what would be 2 hours of strolling and trotting up the mountains, through shallow streams and pine forests.

Apparently is was "the best ride EVER!!!"


The town of Banff is very pretty. Set amongst the mountains and we stayed here for 3 nights. Lots of shops for skiing, walking, climbing and lots of superb restaurants.

While Katie was off being a cowgirl we had a walk around Banff....

Looked at the Banff Springs Hotel and it's fabulous golf course; how much would I like to play here!

Later that evening we did more of the getting up high thing with a trip up Mount Norquay. The view from even half way up was amazing, this was looking out over the town of Banff towards what I think is Cascade Mountain?

Norquay is a busy ski resort for a lot of the year and we could see the runs and lifts among the trees at the top. We also spent a good hour or so watching these little chaps go about their business.

These are Columbian Ground Squirrels, also known as Prairie Dogs, or to give them their proper Canadian name, "Grounn skwurrlls"

They are magical. They appear from their holes in the ground and seem to take it in turn to watch out for things... such as bears and birds of prey of which there are many around here... They forage for a living and eat a varied diet including seeds, fruit, insects, bulbs, roots and stems, they eat as much and as often as possible as they are hibernating creatures too. Very entertaining and very cute!


The Rocky Mountains are a truly wonderful and special place on Earth. Very beautiful, very peaceful, and very rewarding for those who dare to adventure. And Katie did!

The Office

This is my new home office.

I thought I'd share the story with you of how it came to be for several reasons...

1. I'm extremely proud of it! In fact I feel like a new parent, it makes me smile every time I look at it :-)
2. I should have done it years ago. For the last couple of years when working at home I've either worked in the kitchen, sitting at the dining table which is 99.999% of the time piled high with 'stuff', or else I've worked in the conservatory, which with the general weather in Burscough for 11.75 months of the year, has the rain/hail battering down on to the plastic roof and has singularly resulted in my considerable loss of hearing, my reduced sanity, and many abandoned conference calls.
3. Ok... I may have been a little obsessed with this project for the last month... perhaps
   
4. Everyone thinks I'm mad... and this is why...

Yep! It's a shed.

I took delivery of the new shed and immediately started by putting 2x2 runners on the floor. This was to allow for insulating and 'floating' the floor for comfort, stability and warmth.

Next I laid rockwool insulation on the floor, I just happened to have a few rolls spare in the loft.

When the floor was done I had to use the floor boarding temporarily to allow me to insulate the walls. Seems a little back to front but the purpose for doing it this way was to be able to lay a single vapour barrier covering the floor in one piece and halfway up the walls.

With the walls mostly done, it was time to lay the polythene vapour/moisture barrier. This allows the shed and insulation to breath on the 'cold side' and prevents any moisture from seeping inwards to the inner lining. I can't tell you how hot this particular job was!

Now I could lay the floor properly and this would be helpful for the rest of the fit out. The boards are 12mm ply wood, glued and screwed to the battens I laid at the start.

Insulating the ceiling was by far the toughest job. Again, I ideally wanted a single membrane which would drape down the walls and meet the opposite sheet coming up from the floor. For the sake of fastening it all up, I had to work across the roof struts rather than in between and then overlay the polythene as I did each piece.

Once that was done it became a lot less taxing and a little cooler.

Katie helped me with the plasterboard on the ceiling, she held the pieces in place whilst I hammered them into place.

I added extra 'glazing'. With some 3mm plastic sheeting. Sealed the existing windows on both sides, and the new glazing with silicone and then put in a frame to make it all neat.

Linda kindly kept me fed and watered throughout!

During the plaster boarding, it became apparent that nothing was exactly straight. Ok... it's a shed after all! At this point, I ceased to be a perfectionist.

The plasterboard was sealed with caulk and the flooring and windows etc sealed with silicone to allow for any movement.


I put the wiring in before boarding out, taking careful note about the path of the cables.

The opening window had a slight leak so I fitted a weather board over it and sealed it with silicone. That fixed it. I also fitted a deadlock before boarding the inside of the door, which I did with 6mm ply wood rather than plasterboard.

The finishing touches to the door, floor and windows was some architrave. I did this for aesthetic purposes so that it looked better and so that no plasterboard edges were visible at all.

For added security, I put steel lugs in the hinge side of the door/frame and a window lock.

When all of that was finished it was time to paint. Linda suggested some 'Light Space' paint which reflects twice as much light as normal paint. It works!


The dark blue finishes it all off nicely.

Next was somewhere to work. I looked at desks and my major concern was the legs. In such a tight space, I needed a work surface with no legs in the way and I wanted make the most of the available space. I built a frame out of 2x2 timber and braced it in the corner. The wood was fastened right through the plasterboard in to the 3x2 timbers of the shed itself.
I used 18mm MDF sheets as the desktop, fastened together with dowels and screwed to the batons from above and the brackets from underneath. The result is a very strong desk :-)

I took the edges off all around and sanded the joint down to ensure an even work surface. I used a primer and 'Paint and Grain' to finish the look. 3 coats of satin varnish ensured a permanent finish for me. Finally, I cut 80mm holes in the desktop and fitted cabling grommets and an under desk cable tray to keep it all safe and tidy.

Finally... the electrician came and terminated my electrical work to ensure that it is all safe and sound. Katie and I found a blind in the sale at Focus, the carpet tiles are down, I've got some plants, a DAB radio, a mains fed wireless doorbell extension, a mains fed Ethernet network extension, a bluetooth speakerphone, an oil filled radiator on a thermostat and timer, some family pictures, a coffee and my sandwich.... what more could I need?


Home Sweet Home :-)