Fall = Yellow (& white)

2 day camp the Year 6 'Jasper Challenge' went without a hitch - apart from the unrelenting snow that fell on Friday. The family then camped at Thunder lake on Saturday night.
Hike up Maligne Canyon, near Jasper.

Next day, buckets of snow.

The Mighty Icicles in pristine pre-hike condition.

Frozen lunch at Summit Lake. The bad weather alternative to the Bald Hills hike.

The family camped at Thunder Lake on Saturday night with Strands and Hewitts. Falling yellow leaves everywhere. Still water. Loads of ducks and geese. Beautiful clear skies. The heating system in the tent was pushed to its limits. The tea in the teapot froze overnight.



Thunder Lake early in morning. I became momentarily attached to wooden bench due to general iciness.

17 candles + 15 people + 3 grouse + 2 deer + 1 beaver + 1 chocolate zucchini birthday cake + 1 frozen teapot + 2 nuthatches + 4 woodpeckers + 0 heaters in tent = 46 = great way to see in my 47th year.

Jack and George Johnston: Jet Boat Instructors

Well, we gave our mate Lambert (pictured above) a call to see if he was up for a Jet Boat lesson. We hadn't taken him out for a while and the old boat needed a bit of a run. Martin and Sally came too - a good way to celebrate her 50th (oops).



We let Lambert have a bit of a drive once we'd got through the most dangerous parts of the Athabasca River. It gets a bit shallow. He did OK round the bends and needs to remember to speed up through the shallow bits especially when you hear a grating sound coming from underneath.
We went upstream for a couple of hours towards Whitecourt. Drifted back down for a while and then sped back for our next appointment at Mrs. V's for another sumptuous meal.
Lambert seemed pretty happy with his progress. Next lesson we'll have him going a bit faster. We'll also see if we can help him grasp the concept of using his hands on the steering wheel.

As you can see the conditions were superb. Autumn colours on the way. We saw a couple of deer, a Golden Eagle and a Bald Eagle.

We feel like we're getting to know the Athabasca River reasonably well. We've walked on it's Glacier up past Jasper, enjoyed the Athabasca falls, rafted 15km's of it below the falls and now this. This river is rare because it is both very long, very large and as yet untamed. From here it heads north and we think it's water ends up in the Arctic Sea via Lake Athabasca, Great Slave Lake and the Mackenzie River.

Barrhead Rodeo

The bonecrunching Barrhead Rodeo came to town last weekend. Amanda, Myra, Jack and George indulged in two sessions on Saturday. Will managed one.
The Agrena Ice Rink was used. Each year they put a layer of wood chips a layer of soil and a layer of sand over the ice so that the Cowboys can luxuriate for a moment before being rained upon by massive blows from the nearest deranged bull. One lucky man was gored several metres into the air before landing on the pillow-like softness. He got up again... with a bit of help from several of his mates and even managed to move again - at least I'm pretty sure I saw him twitch at least once.

These people exhibit incedible skill and bravery. Half of them have no fear. The other half are completely mad. As the weekend wore on, there was a considerable growth in the proportion of grimacing people around town who were sporting painful limps, plaster casts and broken faces. It hurt just to look at them.


Dennis the Rodeo Clown is (as we were reliably informed by our children) a very funny man. His repetoire included endless mother-in-law jokes. Also managed to squeeze in a silly dance routine and a whole lot of falling over. Sheer brilliance.

When Jack grows up he'd quite like to be a Rodeo Clown.

Bronco - easy when you know how.

Calf Roping. Rope the fast-moving calf. Leap off your steed. Wrestle calf to the ground and tie its legs in a fancy knot. Truckers hitch? And see if you can do it inside 4 seconds.

These two men Cowboys Roworth and Dayton from Czar, Alberta (that's just around the corner from both Gilt Edge and Oxville and just up the road from Primate - you know, near Hardisty - I just looked it up) now hold the Canadian Team-Roping record. There's not much else you can do in 2.7 seconds.

Howdy.

Myra and Hewitts.


Myra and her old mate Australian Rodeo Cowboy Ben Walsh. Walshy to his mates. Walshy did us proud. And signed our hat.


Amanda and Myra's concentration seemed to stray from the main event - judging by the number of photos of Cowboy's belt buckles and Cowboy boots that are now on our camera. I am assured that they were very discreet and only received threats of violence from two of the Cowboy's girlfriends.

Supper at Mrs. V's

After giving Lambert his lesson we sped over to Mrs V's for supper. Once again the meal was superb and it was great to catch up with Mrs V and family again. Unfortunately we're all seeing less of Rita at school now that she's working with the Grade 1's.

We were a bit (ahem) late on account of taking Lambert a little further from home than originally intended. Still, he needed the workout.

The Van Roodselaars at home.


Rita's new puppy received a huge amount of attention.

Tubing at Thunder Lake

The Strands very kindly invited us out for a day of tubing at Thunder Lake 15 minutes west of Barrhead. Perfect late summer's day. Relaxing and enjoyable day.



George with The Fearless Strand Sisters.



Jack & Elyse.

Toasted marshmallows.

Calm.

John and boat.
Nice boat.
Fine bloke.

End of day. Such days are never long enough.

Back In Barrhead

Boys had missed the neighborhood play in Barrhead. Had some catching up to do.

Biking.


Autumn begins. Sileage being cut behind the Michaud's.

Canada Geese heading south. Large numbers have been stopping overnight in the paddock behind us. Much honking.