Busy Summer!

First was our trip to  Toronto (Waterloo) to see our oldest grand daughter graduate.

 Well done! We are very proud of her!

 

Then there was some sight seeing at Niagara Falls

And then off to St. Ives on the Shuswap Lake in British Columbia. This is a picture of Elaine with  our Grandson. one of three and the blanket that she croqueted for him

 

Similarly, here is another Grand Daughter with an other crocheted blanket. Elaine was very busy!

Then we come to our other Grand daughter, part of the Under 15 Girls Canadian National Rugby Champions! This required basically a week in Calgary

 

 

 

So from Whitecourt to Toronto, to Shuswap, to Calgary in one summer. I am travelled out!

 

A Few Shots of the Vacation

Of all the times through here, I have never seen Mount Robson so clear. Normally her head is in the clouds. This view is about 20 km from the base area.

The view from the parking spot was even better. I can't believe that people actually would climb this, Well, maybe someone named Dagmar.

I zoomed in to 200 power on my camera and got a good look at the upper levels. Pretty rugged!

I will probably bore people with the shots of North West Shuswap Lake in B.C. but that is for a later post when I get things organized.

One thing we don't get here are Steller's Jays. They tend to stay on the B,C side of the Continental Divide.

 I couldn't resist taking a couple of shots.

I Flew the Coop!

Elaine and I disappeared for a week over to the Shuswap in B.C. for a week to visit our oldest son and family on his 41st birthday. We didn't do much other than sit around with our family and some old friends from 20+ years ago.

Tensioning the First

To keep 6 kids under the age of 11 entertained, we concocted 2 Zip lines for their amusement.
Picture this: A safety director (all of the U.S.) for a major company, a safety corrections/inspector for the alberta government, and me, a retired jack of all trades, building a Zip line!

Take off Point

The first one was about 75 feet made out of a climbing rope. Adequate, but too short. The solution was to get 200 feet of wire rope, a come-along for tensioning, scaffold (2 levels for landing, and a step ladder for access. The brake! Almost forgot the brake. After sending a 50 pound block of wood down as a test run and having it hit the end ( a tree) with enough force to do a couple of 360 degree loops, it was decided the zip line needed a brake!

Early Run With Emergency Brake

Two blocks of wood bolted together with a hole in the middle and a rope to pull on sufficed. It actually worked. I was impressed. After the angle of slide through the trees was adjusted, lower end up, and upper end down, it worked great.

Solo Run

Until the kids could show 3 consecutive runs without my son stopping them with a rope, they were free to solo. My son ran alongside at a full gallop holding on to the emergency rope in case it was needed.

The 9 year old and the rest really enjoyed the project.

The 5 year old and the rest really enjoyed the project.

 Note: No kids, trees, dogs, or adults were seriously hurt in this exercise!