Andrew Underwood

Last long weekend Cass, her sister Mandy and I backcountry hiked through to Jonas pass, which is near Jasper, AB. This is a large photo post so click through for more.



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A couple of weeks ago Cass and I took a trip to Cold Lake. It would be just the second time I’ve been back since I left over 11 years ago. We drove around the towns too see what’s changed. Lots has changed but many things still remain, like where I used to get my hair cut growing up. We camped at the provincial park campground which I was surprised to see was very nice and hasn’t run down at all.

We went canoeing and fishing.

Our expensive anchor system.

Caught one!

While I fish, this is what Cass does.

Or she reads.

Na na na na na na na na Fishing!

Camping!

Morning relaxing.

Checking out the marina.



The “secret beach” that used to be super quiet is now super busy!

This post is long overdue, so here’s the pictures from the trip to the Crowsnest Pass Cass and I made. We visited my parents and did mountainy things.

We took a trip to Phillips Lake to climb Phillips Peak and do some fishing. Here’s the lake. Check the weather!

A quarry and Island Lake on the left.

This is the usual grab bag of weather.

Cass in front of Island Lake

Cass matching the Crocus’ nicely.

Crocus close-up!

Fly fishing Phillips Lake.

The next day we went over to another ridge to climb it and check out the sights.

A deer checking us out on the way up the slope.

My Dad and I beside a surveying post.

My Dad and Crowsnest Mtn in the background.

Cass and my Dad

Cassy and I

A huge tree

Hanging out. No big deal.

We were lucky, the house we bought came with the added bonus of years worth of rich compost. It was sitting in the back ally and was invaluable when builing our garden. I think to buy this stuff would have cost a couple hundred dollars at least. Here’s Cassy mining the bin for the black gold:

Pouty Cassy is pouty:

I just thought that was a funny shot, and this is just a cool shot:

We are growing cucumbers and peas indoors against our window. We don’t have curtains for this window so I thought I might aswell shade the room with biomass. I’m growing a curtain, that is also providing food. The vines are most of the way up the bamboo trellis I built for them already. The flowers are a nice bonus. Here’s a close up of one of the many cucumbers that have already started to form.

Yesterday, the record breaking temperature day here in Edmonton was really, really nice. In fact too nice because my bulding doesn’t have A/C yet. They did however, bring in slushie machines for us. Here’s a picture of the hot building surrounded by spring blooms:

Happy Earth Day everyone, I hope you were able to do something nice for mother nature, or at least be less evil than normal. Here in Edmonton it was an event at Ft Edmonton Park. Cass and I rode our bikes down to it and met her dad and Allan. Allan tweeted this photo of the gathering area. Most of the outdoor activities were kid-centric, but there were still a few exhibits for adults. Solar Alberta was there touting a course you could take to learn about setting up your own photovoltaic systems. The recycle-ecostation display was there, but no one was there to answer my question “do you need to pull the plastic out of tissue boxes before recycling them?” Inside there was a trade show type set up where it seems like anyone who wanted to pay could set up, including the anti-nuclear power people… I did score some free radish seeds though.

A few days ago I was trying to buy a compost bin off kijiji but they are quite expensive for what they actually need to be. Those tumbling ones probably don’t work as well as just turning it with a broken stick for mixing, and they are also fairly low capacity. I had plans to build a simple breathable box structure out of pallets. I looked pallets on kijiji and found some that were being given away at a place on my way home from work. Upon stopping there I found not only pallets but wooden crates! So, I just picked up a big crate, some plywood to cover it and a pallet to sit it on! It’s already full of leaves and ready to compost.

The last thing I want to write about on this Earth Day post is the backyard chicken pilot program that will be started here in Edmonton. In case you didn’t know, a few households will be allowed to have a few hens in their backyards to see if it should be legalized for the whole city. Personally, I think this is a good idea for many reasons. Two or three chickens can provide some protien for a family and possibly the neighbors which vastly improves your local food security. Events like the volcano choking off air lines in Europe are a stark reminder that our distribution network is fairly fragile. Redundancy isn’t necessarily built in, and for a city the size of Edmonton, a major event cutting off supply chains could be devastating. People are raising concerns about smells and disease, but these concerns are more apt for large scale scenarios where more than a couple of birds are involved. Surely a few birds in our backyard pose less of a threat than the intensely farmed, very concentrated, antibiotic fed birds in the agricultural industry (which I would expect to be naturally opposed to this idea too). Much more could be said about this topic, but alas I have a dog to walk.

Here’s Cassy at the end of Allison Lake in the Crowsnest Pass

My Dad and Cassy cross country skiing up a hill on our way to a secret mountain bowl

The secret mountain bowl

My Dad escaping from the woods

My girlfriend escaping from the woods

Cassy posing down by the river

Does anybody know who this is?

These are my Dad’s pictures from the same cross country ski trip:
Before the trip

The secret bowl that was our destination can be seen above my snowboard tip here

A stop along the way

Emerging into the mountian bowl

A bit of snowboarding

A view East

Cross country skiing in Edmonton, much less snow

Miss Lawson, Miss Lawson, Miss Lawson, etc.

Last Monday (Jan 25th, 2010) we were coming back from Ultimate fairly late and we saw columns of light grouped in a few areas in SE Edmonton. It wasn’t especially cold that night but I suspect there were still ice crystals in the air causing this to occur.


Jan

Well my Dad informed me that the phrase “Buying the Farm” is slang for kicking the bucket, or “dying” if you will.  Thus the title of my last post has been revised. I think I knew that but it didn’t click when I was clawing at the walls of the pit of title finding.

My beautiful girlfriend found my camera under her car seat while looking for her own lost cell phone (found) and hence, I have pictures of the house we bought.

Here’s the front

The Living Room

Living Room Bay Window

The Kitchen

Baffroom

Dining room

Downstairs bathroom (also includes shower and toilet)

Finished Basement

Unfinished Basement

Upstairs

Masta Bedroom

Deck and Trellis

Garage

So I’m involved in another fundraising escapade, this time involving riding a bike ride from Leduc to Camrose. At least this time I don’t have to grow a mustache. It’s the MS Society of Canada’s bike tour and it’s to raise money for people who have MS who need help financially and funding for research. Personally I hope more money is invested in the research end of things as I feel the long term solution of a cure is the most important thing. But hey, I’m sure they have struck a good balance, although I’m not sure what it is. It’s a two day thing so you ride, then camp over night, and then you ride back.

Anyhoo, I NEED to raise $250 in order to participate. If I don’t raise it I think you get dragged out of your tent at night and curb stomped and then made to promise not to tell anyone ever. They tell you if anyone asks to just say that you just fell.

So PLEASE for the love of anything decent in this world, go here and donate to my cause. Even if it’s just $5, it’s getting me that much farther away from the curb stomping I hope to avoid.

For the most part life is great right now. The only things bringing me down is being sick and also my main computer system isn’t working. The big picture, however is brilliant, radiant and has a high contrast ratio.

The last time I blogged I briefly mentioned that I was looking for somewhere else to live. Since then I have moved, to the south side of Edmonton, just minutes from where I work. Living close to work is truly a luxury. It means having one more hour to do what I want, not having to use that time driving. It means being able to go home for lunch. It means saving money on gas and getting a little more exercise from walking or riding to work. It means fluidity, if that makes sense. The place itself is a semi-detached townhouse (joined on one side), with four bedroom plus den, fireplace, dishwasher, fenced back yard, high vaulted ceilings, and a big park out back. Another plus is that my friend Allan who I grew up with is my roommate, and we share a number of interests like electronics, gadgetry, and science in general.

I don’t usually talk about relationships on the blogo-net, but I have met someone pretty awesome and things are going famously.

My apologies to everyone who has been checking back here every day with nary an update. I always say that I’ll keep this thing up to date but it never seems to come to fruition. It’s fun to blog, the hardest part is getting started. I always feel I have nothing to write about until I force myself to click the ‘write post’ button.

Another thing to note is that the comment spam that I have been getting lately isn’t too traditional. Thing like office furniture rental and band lyrics sites… Still the largest fraction is for drugs of which I have no idea what they are.