Over the top

Of my boots, that is. We had a lot of snow in the last several days. It snowed last night, and it's sort of snowing now. Or maybe it's chunky fog. Not sure.

I thought about going down into Fish Creek after the snow, but given the state of the roads I wasn't sure I'd make it. The city has had a few days to plow and the roads are good now. People have had several days to walk on the paths.

But I like to snowshoe on the river itself. It's a little tricky just now, since there's still lots of open water. I got surprised at one point when the ice gave way, but the ice, the snow packed under my snowshoes, and the snowshoes themselves kept my feet from getting wet. There were some thicker spots for whatever reason, which made me glad I'd tied the top of my boots.

There were lots of other people out enjoying the day, though not many were off the beaten path like I was. I chatted briefly with a nice family, and they let me take their photo. That one might well make the cover for the Feb issue of our community newsleter.

I was hoping for some more snow while I was down there, and had a bit of cloud and haze for some moderately interesting light. I started near bridge two, and tramped well west of bridge 1. A couple times I had to get off the river and bushwhack.

I ended up going just over 3 K, which I think is pretty good for the first time on snowshoes in a couple years.

1. My favourite bridge.

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Of the Day

Driftwood, but first some colour serendipity from 2017.

I sometimes write on Christmas

I've been reading over previous blogs from about this time of year, wondering what I should say this year. If anything. Maybe this is one of the occasions where less is more.

For many people, this year isn't worth saying anything but expletive deleted goodbye and good riddance. As previously discussed, this year hasn't been that bad for us, though I miss Curtis. Still, we're eager to see what 2021 brings. As long as it it's not 2021 saying, "hold my beer." That could be bad.

One of the things it might bring is answers to AMA, if I get asked. I don't have so many readers as I used to, but I think there are enough to come up with some questions. I hope. So feel free to Ask Me Anything.  Provoke my imagination, I dare you.

Last night as we were getting ready to set up the tree, I was keeping an eye on the sky. The chinook clouds looked really interesting, and the sunset had promise. I slipped out and got these shots.

And I suppose because it's Christmas, and we'd mentioned a new tree, here's what it looks like after decoration. I was texting a couple people and shared some shots along the way. Yes, Celina helped.

Of the Day

Driftwood

So. Here we are.

Tree day. Pre Xmas day. I know there are lots of people who are totally into Christmas and their traditions around it. Good for you and have fun. Or as much fun as you can have with COVID restrictions. I don't think that back in March anyone thought it would still be a big problem now.

That isn't me, but I don't want to harsh your mellow, as the saying goes. I was never really a huge fan of Christmas and doing shiftwork turned it into just another day. 

The tree itself is new. We tend to buy things we need or want, maybe spending a bit more than actually required in order to get better quality, or the version of it we like. Then we use it till the wheels fall off. Then we're surprised at how long we've been using it, and are amazed at what's available to replace it. Then we wonder why we put up with the old one for so long.

So lately, the water heaters. The old ones were 16 and 20 years old. We think they were getting pretty scaled up inside since they were turned all the way up and still the supply of hot water didn't seem to be as much as it used to be. We did not want to find out the hard way we should have replaced them one day sooner. There are many things that fail in a mode where they simply don't work any more and no further consequence beside the inconvenience of getting it repaired or replaced. Water heater failures are likely to be wet. No thank you. We have a local plumber that does great work. He fit us in, gave us a good price for one stop shopping, and we don't have to worry about discovering a new swimming pool in the basement.

I'd mentioned the failed door lock on the oven. The stovetop worked so that part was good, but that's a short term solution. We got the new one in and like it. We haven't tried the air fryer thingie yet, but soon. It's taken a bit of doing to get used to the controls. On the old one I could set the timer for coffee with a tap tap tap. The new one I have to push a dial, open a menu, select the timer, push the dial again, and again, and again, turn it to the desired time, and press it again. I think there's a way to shortcut it based on speed reading the manual, but I haven't tried to actually do it. Hmmm. Using the phone, it's take it out of my pocket, turn it on, maybe a couple taps to get the clock, select timer, press start. 

And the tree, we had an artificial one we picked out in a boxing day sale a few years ago. 19 years ago, we think. Last year as we were taking it down we were thinking it looked pretty tired. Linda found a nice one, and it was delivered last week. Long time readers will know that Christmas eve is when we put the tree up. It will be fun doing a new version.

So, (referencing the second para), WFH and all, today I'll be deep into shuffling data around via SQL. Parsing in Excel, trying to account for a vast array of data vagaries. Figuring out which is the most efficient way to slice it up. Being very careful, since one update query can undo hours of work. 

So that part is kind of fun, actually. There's another task, mapping an obsolete souped up MS Access database to Maximo in alignment with a huge batch of business requirements. Normally this kind of work is kind of fun as well, but this is a tougher nut. The database structure is oddly normalized, and I'm not as familiar with the data itself. It just means looking at everything carefully and keeping good notes. I'm pretty sure there's going to be a bunch of clarity questions at the end of it.

Enough of that. Most of this year has gone by really quickly. We are fortunate that COVID is mainly an inconvenience to us, nothing more. And up until the last week or so I was pretty motivated to be up and at it, whatever 'it' might be. Last week was blah. Maybe things are catching up to me. I just wanted to watch cat videos on the internet. 

One thing I was watching was For All Mankind. It turns out when I got my phone I got a free year of their Apple+ tv service. What the heck I thought. I checked it out and discovered that Foundation was going to be airing. Soon, though nobody knows quite when. The trailer looks really good, so I signed up, figuring maybe it will come in my free year. 

While checking out Apple+ I found For All Mankind. I'm kind of a fan of alternate histories. Doing the IMDB thing, and found out Wrenn Schmidt was in it (I liked her in Elementary) and Chris Bauer (I liked what I saw of him in True Blood) and Colm Feore is always fun to watch. I've mostly enjoyed it, and have a few episodes left to go till the end of season 1. It's turning into a bit of a soap opera in places, so I probably won't watch season 2.

I'm liking the new Wacom tablet, though I'm still getting used to it. I had a pretty solid routine for editing, so it's a bit tough to make the change. One piece of advice I haven't followed is to go through, set it up for all the applications you use, and then put the mouse or trackpad in a drawer. I'm not quite there, but I can see the reasoning in that approach.

Here's the first image where I did some serious work with the tablet.

And yes, since you ask, it will be a white Christmas. There's been enough snow that some transit buses got stuck. This one slid across the road and was there almost 24 hours. Right this moment it's +3 C in the back yard, and today is supposed to be warm. It might turn into a sloppy enchilada out there today, and then probably freeze tonight. Santa's sleigh had better have studded snow tires.

It may surprise you to learn I was in a Christmas gift exchange. Last year my buddy Neil hosted a Christmas party where a bunch of photographers did a print and we did a secret Santa exchange thingie. Plus some comments from local pro photographers, treats, and beer, and it was a ton of fun.

The mechanics were a bit different this year. We sent a jpg to Neil, he took them all to be printed at once at Resolve, and he asked some local elves to deliver them. Our instructions were to not open them before the Zoom party. Then each was opened in turn and held up to the camera. This did not do the photos justice, not even close. Later a social media sized version was posted on Facebook so we could browse. They are all amazing! I got a shot of the white cliffs of Dover near Brighton, shot from the beach, with a moody dramatic sky. I sent in this one, from Muriwai beach. It was hard to choose, not knowing who was going to get it. 

Of the Day

Driftwood

White. Lots and lots of white. Really lots.

Every once in a while Calgary gets snow, big time. In a little over 12 hours, about 30 cm has fallen. At least it's fairly light and fluffy, and its not terribly cold out. I might go snowshoeing a little later. But here's the photos.

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Of the Day

Driftwood