Lake Louise

Today we loaded everybody in the camioneta & headed up to Lake Louise on the old highway. Sure enough, about halfway up to Castle Mountain campground, there was some traffic sitting on the road and, when we caught up to them we saw the bear that they were watching. He was ambling his way up the hill away from the highway in fairly heavy bush so we didn't see him for long. But he whetted Adrianna's appetite for more wildlife. Later in the day I overheard Karla admonishing her mother in Spanish about how lucky she had been to see even one "Oso" and how she wasn't likely to see another ever, let alone today. Later in the day we did see the ass end of the most immense elk. He was standing well back into the forest but we could see him fairly clearly. He was one of those guys whose rack is so huge that he actually had difficulty walking through the trees. His harem was even further into the trees. For a while he stared over his shoulder at us and then he carefully picked his way deeper into the forest.

We had lunch in the day lodge at the ski hill after wandering around at the lake and in the hotel. We didn't stay outside for long though - 4 degees here today and it was trying to snow up at the ski lodge. It won't be long before they have snow on the ground up there. The last time Karla was here we skied on the Nov. 11 weekend - this year looks promising if it stays this cold.

Estamos en Banff

We arrived here last night at about 8:00 - early enough that everyone could see the mountains & too late to do much after we arrived. We got everyone packaged up & off to the hot springs before they closed but that was about it for last night.

This morning I arranged for us to move to a neighbouring site because there was no way I was going to get a connection in the site they originally put us in. It took a bit of doing even in the 2nd site but we got connected. Now we are getting packed up to go into town for some sight-seeing, photography and (no doubt) shopping.

(later) We had a pretty full afternoon. Banff got photographed thoroughly. First we wandered through the Banff Springs Hotel (actually, everyone except me wandered through the hotel - I sat in the lobby & waited). Then we headed downtown to where Banff Avenue is under construction - no doubt our tax dollars at work. Although it didn't look like all the tax dollars in question were getting real good value. The disarray on the avenue didn't deter the shoppers. After we got through that ordeal we drove up around the Minnewanka loop where we saw a bull elk with a large herd of cows and a challenger standing on a hill trying to muster up enough courage to pick a fight. We waited a while but the herd owner seemed more interested in hurrying his cows away than in picking a fight with the interloper so we kept on driving.

Lopez family returns

The travellers returned from Waskesiu in time for supper. It sounds like everyone had a wonderful time. They got some sunshine but it was a bit colder than they are used to. The big deal was the wildlife, as I expected. They saw a skunk, some geese and numerous elk, including a bull who didn't much like their presence.

We impressed on everyone tonight that we are really leaving at 12:30 tomorrow. Not 12:43 or 1:09 or whenever Carlos is ready to leave but at 12:30 exactly. I think I have them believing that I will leave with or without them which is OK if that's what it takes to get on the road. They have the whole morning to get ready after all. Marilyn is leaving earlier in the morning for an afternoon meeting in Regina. I'm going to take them down to Ft. Qu'Appelle and then along the north side of the valley as long as we actually get away at 12:30.

Good work Bruce Allen

CBC was whining this morning about some radio personality in Vancouver who had the temerity to say that immigrants to Canada should come expecting to become Canadian citizens. And if they don't like that idea then perhaps they should choose another destination. What a concept!

The man's name is Bruce Allen. I already sent the radio station a note saying that it is about time someone started saying what Bruce is saying. For too long the requirement for Canadian citizenship has been that the applicant can fog a mirror. If that's all it takes to be a Canadian then we are all in trouble.

Speaking of idiotic ideas, Stephane Dion is on the radio snivelling about losing Outremont. I love it - the long knives are out in the Libs. Big revelation this morning --- wait for it --- the loss was Stephane's fault.

It was like a family reunion earlier this week in Saskatoon. We went in a day early to pick up Carlos Juan & Adrianna so that I could attend the CropLife conference. As I was walking into the Radisson Hotel I met Tom Hewson and later in the evening I ran into Stuart Smyth - I guess that's "DR." Stuart Smyth. There was a large contingent from the university there, both faculty and students. Tom was there with the Barley Growers. We spent a few minutes bashing the Wheat Board which is always refreshing. One of the speakers at the conference was from the CWB. He was dead from the neck up 30 years ago when I knew him at university and has been working in the rarified atmosphere at the board ever since. Its not hard to figure out why the board is the way it is when you know some of the people involved.

CJ, Adrianna and Karlita left for Waskesiu late yesterday morning. It takes quite a while to get CJ mobile. Karla was flying around like a fart in a mitt getting everything organized. She phoned from Waskesiu around 5:00 to say that they were checked in and very happy. I phoned her this morning after the bus depot phoned to say that their bags were in Nipawin. It sounded like they had a full day planned. She has booked a boundary bog tour and there is some kind of a film festival in town this weekend so they will be busy. I think the highlight for CJ and Adrianna will likely be the elk. At this time of year with the tourists gone the townsite is over run with elk. Mexico has pretty well hunted all its wildlife to extinction so seeing wild animals is a real treat for them.

They arrived!

Well - we're home from Saskatoon, complete with Carlos Juan & Adrianna. But their trip was not without incident. They managed to miss their connection in Denver. We're not quite sure what happened - likely nobody in the world is absolutely sure what happened but my guess is that it involved a fairly relaxed attitude toward timetables on the part of the travellers in question. I was at the Croplife conference all day yesterday so I missed the excitement but Marilyn somehow determined that they had missed their flight, figured out what flight they were likely on from Denver to Calgary, determined that they were in fact on that flight and then I think they talked to them while they were in Calgary. Now that I am remembering the story I think she got a call from Air Canada in Denver to sort out most of the details.

All that excitement meant that a) they arrived a few minutes after midnight and b) their bags are "somewhere". In theory their bags on enroute to Saskatoon from Winnipeg and will arrive here by bus tomorrow. I will believe that when it actually happens but they will likely get here before we leave for Regina on Monday.

Today we drove home in the rain from Saskatoon after having a morning visit with Jackie. We stayed in Blaine & Jackie's yard for the two days we were in Saskatoon. We're going to stop there again the night before we put the travellers on the plane back to Mexico so that we can have a better visit.

Karla is having a great time being a tour guide. My spanish is adequate for conversations about most matters that come up but I am reaching for words a lot of the time. Its hard to explain why we swath, for instance, with my limited vocabulary. Tonight we will have a houseful for an early Thanksgiving dinner. Karla has invited a couple of her friends from Nipawin and, as it turns out, it is Carlos Juan's (CJ's) birthday today. If the suitcases show up, Karla is going to take her parents to Waskesiu tomorrow. Otherwise I guess we will have to make a new plan.

Karla is back home

Karla came home Sunday from Calgary. She got into Saskatoon Thursday morning where her friend Glenda met her. Then she partied the weekend away and came back here Sunday hoarse and tired. They went to the Beyonce concert at Sask Place on Friday night but I think her lack of voice was because they spent the rest of the weekend in various bars and at house parties. The pace of life around here must seem like a morgue to her. She spent the day today whipping the yard back into shape. It has missed her.

Marilyn got her flowers put out finally over the weekend. Last spring she came home from Boughen's auction sale with the back of my full size 1/2 ton full of various perennials. They have been living in various locations around the yard all summer but now they are in permanent homes around the house. I'm sure they will look very nice next summer but right now they just look like a lot of work.

I believe I may have fixed my fuel leakdown problem on the bus. It used to be the easiest starting diesel I have ever owned but this summer developed a hard start problem which I suspected was caused by fuel leaking back to the tank while it was sitting. There were a couple of possible causes, one of which was a bad check valve in the line. I tried a few other possibilities and then spent about a month tracking down a replacement check vavle. I put that in while we were out at Walkers' a couple of weeks ago but I wasn't sure whether the problem was solved and, truth be known, I'm not 100% sure yet. The problem is that it didn't always exhibit a hard start so I can't be sure that it is fixed even though I have had a couple of good starts. Yesterday we had the genset running for about 4 hours and that should have caused a problem for sure but it didn't which leads me to believe that the problem may be fixed. We'll leave tomorrow around noon in the bus, go to Saskatoon and spend two nights there before returning home with Carlos Juan & Adrianna.

Bad night for the Libs tonight. So sad - too bad. May it be the first of many. Stephane is on the TV right now trying to justify his poor showing in Quebec but I'm sure he can hear the knives being sharpened in the background.

One last swing at the idiot

The more I read about the famous pulp mill deal the more disgusted I get. This deal was cobbled together and announced in such haste that the mayor of P.A. was barely able to get home in time to attend the announcement. He said that it took heroic efforts on the part of his travel agent to get him there in time. There's only one reason this "deal" is getting announced. The reason is that Myron Kowalsky and Elton Lautermilch are "retiring" - running as fast as they can away from a sinking ship might be a more accurate description of what they are doing. Between the fact that two seats in P.A. that have been socialist forever are now up for grabs and the fact that Lon Borgersen in Sask Rivers is now having to actually fight for his seat there are 3 socialist ridings that have gone from solid to maybe. That's the reason for this hasty charade of an agreement. The NDP barely squeaked in 4 years ago - this time they will be in for the fight of their lives.

Thank goodness Brad Wall had the guts to say that the deal is off if he gets elected. Most politicians wouldn't have the guts to be that adamant. The temptation must have been to fudge his answer in order to bolster conservative support in P.A. but he didn't take the easy way out. Now watch for Domtar to try to get something in writing that requires the government to pay a penalty if they back out of the deal. That shouldn't be all that hard to negotiate given the stellar display of negotiation skills that Lorne has shown so far.

The sooner we dump this bunch of losers the better off the whole province will be. The claim that politicians are like a baby's diapers was never truer than it is right now in Sask.