Winter Wonderland

Just a few pictures taken in December.

 

Here is Hannah after a treasure hunt in the snow.  She is so proud of herself when she finds a ball buried in the snow, left behind by another dog.  This wasn't a successful day, but she still had fun.  Then we had to go home and jump in the tub so I could de-ice her.  Even with her awful schnauzer cut she doesn't mind the cold down to about -20 C, and she just adores fresh powder.

 

 

Our house early in December when I was working on my snow mountains out front.  I have become an expert snow shoveler.

The Bow River just south of Prince's Island, north of downtown.  They scraped the snow away and set up an ice rink.

Rolo doesn't cycle these days, but has a driver.  He's taken here and left to climb down the hill, ford the river, wade through the snow and ice, uphill both ways, in the wind, barefoot...

The shadows on the horizon are the mountains out west.

My big bad boy on its last ride in Europe

Europe is a great place to ride motorcycles and my big bad boy has always like to roam free.  I know there is another post of getting it into Canada and all of that is behind me now.  I just happened to come across this picture so I thought I'd post it.  And yes that is me taking off the license plate because I had to so I could turn it in to stop the Dutch government from direct drafting our account for the road tax.  Yes direct draft is the only way they do it.  I installed my old Texas plate after this picture and since then it now has a Canadian plate…eh!

Who's going to argue with this?

One of the last places we visited before leaving Europe had this place…just couldn't resist posing beside it.  In Europe the motto was "The world is going to end, the boat is going to sink and the platform was visiting the abyss of hell" and I guess I might have been at the center of everything.  I'm sure some of the people in the office might have thought this...

A spelling lesson

The other morning while walking Hannah in the park, we saw this.

Didn't realize that we were spelling ''eh'' incorrectly, but now we know.

Lots of frost that morning too - may have snow this weekend.

Canadian Wine Tour

The locals told us we needed to visit the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia in  order to try Canadian wines.  They said it was only an 8 hour drive through the mountains so we thought we would take a quick trip on one of Rolo's three day weekends.  Now that we are back in North America, he gets those every other week again.  So we went last weekend.

Well, it wasn't exactly 8 hours...  With all the rush to finish road construction projects before the winter starts, there were quite a few slow downs in the mountains, and we hit the only large city in our path right at Friday afternoon rush hour, so it was a 10 1/2 hour drive to get there on Friday.  But it was a beautiful drive through the mountains, and we had the opportunity to see lots of new stuff.

We stayed at a little hotel on the beach of Lake Okanagan, and found out from the owners that was their last weekend open before closing for the winter.  It wasn't very busy.  Saturday, we visited several wineries and were able to find some nice ones to bring home including ice wine, and port style wines for Rolo.

We took Hannah with us on the trip - she didn't find the wine tasting interesting, but she did enjoy chasing the Canadian geese off the beach back onto the lake.  In fact I think she really enjoyed the lake - kind of like her days in the canals.  Of course she smelled much better afterwards.

The drive home was much quicker on Sunday since all the construction sites were idle.  I think we might go back, but plan to take a few more days.  I'm still not adjusted back to those long distances and drives in the car.  But it's great to have a nice comfortable car to drive here.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

Back in August, when we made our trek up from Montana, we saw a sign for this site and I was then determined to visit it.

 

Saturday we drove back south to Fort McLeod to have a look - about two hours south.  This is a site used by the locals, Blackfoot Indians for several thousand years for buffalo kills.  As the sign indicates, they would create a stampede and then corral the herd to the cliff so some would fall over the edge.

 

Here's Rolo with the cliff in the background.  According to the info, it's eroded a bit now but was much steeper in the past.  I think the last Buffalo Jump was some time in the 1870s.

 

 

While we were there, we tagged along with a docent, Edwin, who was really entertaining while telling us all about the history.  He's a Blackfoot who even knows the language so he was pretty knowledgeable.

 

We weren't able to find any buffalo to herd over the edge, so we had to stop at Five Guys for a burger and fries instead.

 

And as we've found while visiting other sites, the perennial bear warning sign.  Still haven't seen one, except on the signs...

 

Wildlife in the cemetery

Last week, I took Hannah over to the off leash area of the park for a run.  Once we got there and she was off lease, she was intent on sniffing a trail, but I could see her tail was tucked, which is a bit unusual when she's on a hare chase or something like that.  There were several other dogs around so she had a bit of a run and then we went over to the corner where I leash her up to leave.

I heard a strange bark/howl noise and couldn't place it at first.  Then I saw this in the cemetery.

That there's a COYOTE!  I know it's a bit difficult to see, but trust me, it was.  And he/she didn't seem to be concerned about the cemetery workers about 100 meters away. 

Later, I found out from another dog owner that the coyotes are known for sending one out to try and lure a dog away and into the pack for a kill.  I'm sure glad Hannah wasn't interested, in fact she was wary instead.

Update on the coyote front:  Last night when we took Hannah out for last call, we heard the coyote choir out in the graveyard and not very far from our house.  We walked down the street the other way, towards more street lighting and civilization and sure enough the zombies in the graveyard stopped the choir.  It's really kind of eerie to hear that so close...

Tour of Albert...aye

Here is a photo from the finish line at the Tour of Alberta - a six day bike race ending in downtown Calgary.

We rode our bikes down to view the finish.  And of course Rolo rode one of his Dutch custom bikes, the orange one, and got lots of envied looks and comments.  It was fun and exciting to be there, and a bit more relaxed than the other bike races we saw in Europe, of course not nearly as big.

Here's the bike used for the prologue - well our prologue anyway.  A few days before, we participated in a charity event with Chevron.  We collected money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation and then saddled up this bike with 28 of our close friends to ride around Prince's Island a few times, while shooting from water pistols at each other.  At one point in the ride, we came face to face with a truck on the path and had to detour off the path shooting the gap through the trees.  Ok, we skimmed a tree at one point, but no recordable injuries.

Lots of laughing...

Labor Day Weekend

Who knew it was a North American holiday - but I think up here it is spelled Labour Day.  Anyway, we took Hannah hiking.  First we spent an afternoon at Nose Hill Park on the north side of Calgary.  It is high enough that you can get a great view of downtown and the surrounding areas.

Hannah has been on a hunt for wild hares ever since she saw her first one, and here she is at Nose Hill, searching for hares.

Monday we drove up to the mountains to see Lake Moraine and hike a bit.  At the base of the trail we found this sign.

 

 

 

So we waited a few minutes until some other hikers came along so that we could all go up together.  We didn't see any bears, just more hikers.  I suspect the bears were taking the weekend off since there were so many people.  This was a view of the lake from further up.  According to the other hikers, the water is such a beautiful aquamarine color because it is fed from glaciers up on the mountain.  It really was beautiful.

 

 We encountered a bit of traffic driving back into town, but nothing like what you would find in Texas on a holiday weekend.

Death of the Rodeo

We are finally all back in Calgary now with all of our stuff we had delivered to my Mom.  Not so much for the Rodeo which belonged to my step-father.  What happened is Isuzu uses a big shouldered bolt for securing the belt tensioner for the timing belt which controls the valve timing in relation to the crankshaft.  Most manufacturer's us a standard shouldered bolt and then put a thick sleeve on it but Isuzu knows better and put really big shoulders on the bolt so it is a specialty bolt.  Regardless of that, the bolt snapped at the shoulder but before snapping it bent with the load on it releasing the tension on the belt just enough so the belt had ample opportunity to slip a tooth or more before the bolt actually snapped.  I did notice a drop in power but still running before full failure occurred over the course of about 3 seconds.  With the bending bolt and then updated cam timing there was a coming together as in the holy spirit of valves and pistons.  There was only one cylinder of significance that I could tell using a boroscope into each combustion chamber that had real piston/valve contact.  So confirmed bent valves in one cylinder, maybe more and one significantly damaged piston.  Keep in mind I'm dealing with the only shop that works on import cars in the large thriving metropolis of Lewistown, Montana which has just under 6,000 people.  When the tensioner came off it dropped down onto the crank belt wheel and got thrown around which busted up the lower part of the plastic cover so the cover was trashed and that would have to be replaced to prevent dirt and water from getting in there....try finding that in short order regardless of the cost!!!  Any rate, the shop wanted to drill out the bolt and then retap the hole larger for a larger bolt and then have a sleeve machined to match the diameter (standard sleeved shouldered bolt arrangement) I needed and this is without any knowledge of whether the block could take that or not.  No idea how much aluminum (yes aluminum block) material is down there and whether this would be possible or not and I was not going to risk it.  Knowing I was going to potentially have a compromised block that won't last long and knowing I was going to have a nice winter project to pull heads and rebuild for valves and only hoping I could still drive it home on 5 cylinders (at best) it just didn't seem like a good plan to move forward.  At a certain moment you need to cut bait and run so I did.  The shop gave me $200 for it which seemed reasonable for a non-running messed up car and now I don't have to dispose of it and pay someone to tow it away.  Hopefully he will source a used engine and insert but I just wasn't going to mess with it from long distance and then in a small town (430 miles away).  Sadly I had almost $3,000 in it with all the refurbishment that was generously completed under the watchful eye of a good friend of mine in Las Cruces, NM but when you have compounding problems like these, you know you will see more problems down the road.  It would have been nice to have a beater 2nd vehicle but this one is not to be.  The timing belt itself looked really new with almost no wear on it but no telling how old it really was....regardless, there was nothing wrong with it that I could tell.

As far as I'm concerned, this is simple equipment failure of a single component that destroyed the engine.  Sometimes bad luck happens.  There was no warning...just within a few seconds it all self-destructed.

My big bad boy ready to go

Confusion runs supreme as each entity I encounter tells me a different story of what needs to happen so I can register my motorcycle.  All the while my big bad boy sits idle.  On top of that the really cool brake rotors I bought in Houston are suffering flaking chrome so I have warranty discussions going on as well.

Finally I get clear direction of what needs to happen because I went to a different inspection place.  I know what needs to happen and I can see the finish of this ordeal and I want the inspection to be completed with the most of awesome brakes so the flaking chrome brake rotors stay on.  Yes my big bad boy passes inspection with flying colors...it is my baby and absolutely perfect.  Paperwork complete!!!  Brake rotors come off to send back for warranty work and the full aftermarket exhaust goes on for the superbike sound!!!  

Penny heads down to the department of motor vehicles equivalent up here in Canada and secures a new plate.  Yeah baby...my big bad boy is ready to rape and pillage as any wild beast should do on occasion.  Nothing like the raw feeling that only Kawasakis provide.  Yes I still have some altitude jetting to do but I think I just need a needle height adjustment (one clip lowering of the needle) and all is good.  Because of all of the dynomometer runs I've done my jetting is pretty close so this 3500 feet altitude is an easy fix to make it right.  

Soon those awesome brake rotors will be returned so the stock stuff gets replaced and my big bad boy will be all better again.  Life is good.

Wiley Coyote

We were walking Hannah the other night near our house along the fence line of a cemetery.  I had the ball flinger and was flinging for all that I was worth and Hannah was running because it was fun.  She loves chasing the ball in some ways like a lab.  Normally when we do this an intermission is required to evacuate the bowels to lighten the load, making her really fast and then she noticed hares in the cemetery.  It was evening so the light wasn't bright but more than enough, so call it dusk.  The hares weren't happy with her but at the same time not concerned since there was a fence between them.

Hannah is a pretty smart dog so she took off on an adventure of the hare.  Down to the end and around the fence and then a bee-line for the hares.  Nearing, nearing...closing speed is huge and the grouping of hares takes off...in all directions.  Hannah is confused and suffers computer lock as she decides which  one to go after.

Dog control module...radars locked, course correction and turbo boost...this hare is mine!  Not sure what I'll do with it but it is mine!

Hare control module...I have dog lock, kick in the hyper-thrust and I'm off.

1.5 seconds later what has happened?  Hare out of frame and Hannah searching for what happened.  Running circles around the head stones in search of the scent.   Where did it go?  It will be mine if I can find it.

All of this right in front of me.  Not sure how I continued to stand since I was LMAO (laughing my ass off)!!!  So I jump the fence (dogs not allowed in cemetery) to go get that dog still running in circles.  It was a good night and we had happy dog since she was a tired dog.  Kind of like Wiley Coyote and the road runner.

Shipping the motorcycle to Calgary

When we moved to the Netherlands we used a company to ship the motorcycle and the BMW (Marilijn) and it was a wonderful experience.  Everything happened as they said it would and they met the contract obligations to the letter.  Very professional company and experience for me.

Moving from the Netherlands to Calgary I went against my better judgement and used another company that others had recommended to me.  It cost us about $2500 to ship the car and bike to the Netherlands in 2010 and these guys charged $2000 to ship the bike from the Netherlands to Calgary....or so the contract said.  The contract clearly stated these guys were going to move my bike from their offices in Roosendale, Netherlands to Calgary and in addition it clearly states they will clear customs for us.

The first thing that happened is the bike arrived Montreal and we were contacted and told that is as far as they will move the bike because the ship can't go to Calgary so more money to move it by train...$266 to be exact and you can call it a ransom if you like.  I guess they didn't realize that Calgary was not accessible via ship before...are you kidding me!!!  After arriving in Calgary the bike was put in a warehouse and we are contacted again and told more money for handling fees...only $55 this time but you have to take it in the crate.....ummm, the crate is huge and would survive WWIII if it had to and what do I do with the crate.....we don't care but not our problem was the answer.  Oh, and you need to clear customs before you can get it also...what!!!...are you kidding me!!!!  What is going on here?!?  Off to Canadian customs...easy job to do but still.  I have to take it in the crate so off to truck rental places next and $259 later I have a truck for a day with a ramp so I get can get the bike off of the truck.

Finally I get the bike from these crooks and I'm heading home...yeah!!!  I'm home and start breaking down the crate and what do I find but special headed screws that are 3 inches long and no shortage of them that built up the crate and do I have the tool....YES!..I finally find the tool in my bicycle tool box.  Are you kidding me!!!  You build me a crate to protect the bike and it will but what are the chances that other people will have these special tools?  Unfortunately for me I only have it in screw driver form so it is big time effort to unscrew these things out of the 4x4 studs but I win and the crate is broken down and the bike comes out. My big bad boy starts right up and is so happy to be out of captivity like a dog when you come home.  It just romps around in total bliss...this is why I keep this bike.  Covered in saw dust but now safely in the garage.

The freight forwarder that did this....Marlog Car Handling.  Will I ever use them again....absolutely not.  The next time my motorcycle needs to be moved I'll rent a trailer and tow it to the US.  Never again will others touch it and have it in captivity.  It just isn't worth it but for an overseas move, what choice do you have?  Make sure you pick wisely if you need to move a vehicle overseas, Marlog is not the wise choice.

Calgary flooding

As is usual for the news media pretty much all of Calgary is under water...maybe even several meters (yards) of water depending upon which news channel is reporting (Fox is the worst exaggerators).  Any rate, the areas that were flooded were close to the river.  The flooding was caused by snow melt in the mountains compounded by a bunch of rain on the mountains (speeding snow melt) as well as rain over Calgary and everything in between and when the water rush hit, imagine the flooding.  The river dissects Calgary from West to East right about the middle and then after downtown it heads south through Calgary so downtown and lots of the southern parts were flooded.  Keep in mind if you lived near the river, you probably got flooded.  If you don't live near the river, you are probably ok.

In our case we live well north of the river and on top of hill.  Our household stuff was delivered on flood day which should give you an indication of how safe we were.  I think the water would need to rise another 100 meters (yards) to get to us...yes we are that much higher.  With downtown flooded including the substations feeding it so there is no power, downtown is closed and that includes my employer's offices so I've had more time to unpack and organize instead of having to leave it to Penny.  I lean on her heavily and she has been a huge trooper to get those kind of things done in the past, but this time I get to help.  The bulk of the unpacking and organizing is done but still some to go and we've done it together which is pretty cool.

So fret not as we are ok.  Do not believe everything the media reports since only a small part of what is reported is factual and be happy.

The sex change

One of the things we needed to do after arriving in Calgary is registering for the Alberta Health Care which is our medical insurance here.  No worries about doing that but imagine my surprise when we got our health care cards and Penny has been doing the girl on girl thing...whoa!  And she has liked it!!!  I was listed as a female...surprise!!!

Apparently Penny got tired of the girl on girl and wanted a man so I was forced to head down to the government office to have the innie sewn up and then an outie installed.  The worst part was having to prove the delicate procedure was actually done but I will say Canadians as a whole in our experience have been very helpful and nice through everything.  So just a quick showing with all the stitches/etc. and we were off again.  I'm a MAN!!!  And Penny is very happy again.

Ikea round 2

When we moved to the Netherlands 3-1/2 years ago one of the first things we needed to do was buy a mattress and some bar stools since we decided to camp out in our rental house while we waited for our household goods to arrive.  It took us 5 hours to use public transportation to get there, order the mattress and schedule delivery and buy the bar stools and then return with the bar stools on public transportation.....argh!...and the locals live this way.

Calgary is very much North America so we drove to Ikea, bought a mattress and bar stools so we can again camp out in our new rental house while we wait for our household goods to arrive.  This time we could get the mattress all rolled up into the car with the bar stools and drive it home so no delivery charges....yeah!  It took just over an hour to complete the task.  What a difference being in North America makes.

A beautiful day for a bike ride

Yesterday the sun was shining, the temperature was about 65 degrees with little wind, so it was a perfect day to ride around Calgary.  There is a great bike path along the Bow River which we took, crossed the river at Prince's Island and rode north a bit.  It was so clear you could even see the mountains off in the west.

Any Idea what these are??

Last Friday night we went to a great tapas bar for tapas and even had some really good Canadian Pinot Noir from the Niagara Falls area.  One of the tapas included these in the salad - they are called fiddleheads, and from what I understand are baby ferns and a seasonal delicacy.  So Sunday when we were cruising the various grocery stores, we found some to cook.  They are meant to be boiled, but not too long or they will taste like brussels sprouts.  They taste kind like a really earthy bean to me, but not too bad.

Settling in

So far our move to Calgary has gone very smoothly.  The last few weeks in Den Haag were really busy, but we were able to get it all done.  The movers arrived right on time the last week, and were really organized and efficient in the packing.  On their final day, the shipping container arrived at 11:30 and was pulling away at 2:30 with all our stuff neatly packed inside.  We were both really impressed.

For our final farewell to Dutch customer service, we had a nice surprise at TMobile when I wanted to end my cell phone service.  I had visited the shop a few weeks before when we knew we were moving to find out how I needed to end the service and what documents were required.  When I started the cell phone contracted they needed a copy of my passport, lease, lock of hair from my firstborn child,...
I was told that I needed to come into the shop with my phone, passport, and an uitreksel from the Gemeente - which is a form I would get from the Gemeente (city) when I deregistered.

Dutifully on Thursday before we left we went to the Gemeente and deregistered, and purchased several copies of the uitreksel for both of us, not knowing which one I would need at TMobile.  Friday, in the pouring rain, no longer with a car, we trekked over to the TMobile store to stop the phone service.  And the store clerk then told me that I can't end the contract in the store, I must call a customer service number, toll call of course.  I told him that I was told I had to bring an uitreksel to the shop to cancel and he told me that all the store clerks know the proper way to end a contract, basically accusing me of lying to him.  So once the steam coming out my ears had cleared, we were able to convince him to call the number on their phone in the store so I could end the contract.  Of course there is no early termination - I have to pay the full amount through the end of the contract.  And the 50 euros we paid for those uitrekels were a waste because I didn't need any of it to cancel the contract.

Since we have been here in Canada, everyone, and I mean EVERYONE has been exceptionally polite, helpful, and very clear on what we need to do for our work permits, Alberta health insurance, card, new car registration, driver's license, you name it.  Not only the cultural difference, but the lack of language barrier has made this move so much easier than the last one.