Disc-Golf Course

Panmountain Views

Ahead you can see the Ship's Prow, Lawrence Grassi and Ha Ling Peaks.

A little bit of paintbrush :D

Its not summer in the mountains until you've taken a picture of some paintbrush.

Raining Down

A busy summer indeed so far.  There have only been a handful of days that we've taken the time to just veg.  Pictured above is the scene this morning as part of the sky opened up and thoroughly doused us with rain as the sun was rising between Grotto Mountain and Lady MacDonald.

Other than this morning the weather has been quite hot and dry.  It was a relief to have the cool air come in with the rain.  I've been swimming nearly every morning and I'm pretty much crutchfree.  I'm just starting to switch from the "boot" to a "post-op" sandal.  I'm hoping to try out my bike next week and see how that goes.  This morning we did a partial round of disc golf.  Scott bought me my own discs (in pink and turquoise).  So, slowly, but surely, I'm getting back to normal.  

The weather now is somewhat sunny and somewhat threatening to rain, but I think we are planning to take it easy for a while.  

Proto-Zoe is a playful lass

This is my first attempt of posting video on my blog.  Zoe is currently beating up on toy mice.  She can run really fast.  We figure she's lonely and we are trying to identify what kind of companion would work best.  Part of us is thinking a kitten to keep up with her high energy and part of us is thinking a mellow cat to keep her low key.  She definitely looks sad every time we leave, greeting us at the door with plaintive Meows.

Getting Pretty Comfortable

Zoe loves to play she loves chasing the feather tail and this little leopard spotted ball that rattles as it rolls.  She must have been some kind of a hunter.  She's pretty athletic.  She's also getting pretty comfortable, sleeping near us during the day or following us around.  She's curled up on the desk beside me.  Its pretty warm in here a nap sounds good to me too.

Bird Watching Zohagany Cat

Zoe seems to appreciate the cool mountain air as we watches the magpies try to resolve a dispute.

I wanted to throw in the link for the group that we adopted her from: AARCS.  They have really impressed me as has the Canmore SPCA.  Both groups are really dedicated to rescueing and helping homeless pets and treating them with dignity and caring until they do get adopted.  

Okay.  We'd better be off and do something useful with our day, but until the next dose of awesome Zoe pictures - ttfn.

Stretching for a view

She's definitely a curious kitty - stretching and checking everything out.  She really likes it when we let her check out closets.  

Zoe settles in

Zoe is really starting to come out of her shell.  I haven't seen her under the bed in a while.  Right now she is standing beside me watching me blog, or she was before she went off to explore.  There was a bit of a wild thing rumpus around 1 am where she insisted it was time to chase her own tail for a bit, but about 5 am she came and snuggle up behind my knees until it was time to get up.  She loves watching out the windows and finds birds fascinating.  She has the most expressive way of flicking her tail and she is interested in everything.  

We were supposed to pick up our second cat yesterday at noon, but we arrived to find out that some how the poor wee thing had broken four of her toes and so we are not sure what we are going to do now.  She had a very similar personality to Zoe - she was always friendly and greeted us when we came to visit and she was also still quite playful.  She just barely edged out a second cat for Calgary.  So we are going to wait and see what her prognosis is.  She will get better and I'm certain that even if we can't adopt her, someone will because she is just that awesome.  She pretty much told me that she was going home with us from the get go.  But if her need for vet check ups extends into late August or September, we just won't be able to do right by her.  So, I'm very sad and wishing her a speedy recovery.  Otherwise, we could wait until Christmas if she is still there.  But we think Zoe might really enjoy the company of another cat.  There is also a kitten that totally stole my heart, but he's part of a bonded pair and I can't bring myself to split them up and obviously - we aren't giving up Zoe.  We are pretty gosh darn taken with her - we are lucky to have her and I promise lots more Zoe pictures to come.

Racing Stripes

Here is a nice view of Zoe's neat striping pattern.  You have to really see her in person to see what a nice shade of brown the dark parts of her fur are and other part are cinnomin and others a salt and pepper grey.  She is a tiny little sleek and active cat.  She has a pretty little meow that she uses when she wants your attention or protest being in a carrier in a car in a heavy rainstorm.  Her purr is pretty quiet and we haven't gotten her to settle down with us yet, but I think she'll be lots of fun once she settles in.

Zoe looking less dignified than usual

Zoe has been getting more adventurous.  She is still a little bit inclined to keep you to a 3 pet limit, but you can tell that once she warms up, she'll be far more willing to cuddle.

She likes looking out windows and can balance on just a few inches of window ledge.  She has lots of personality and loves doors that are closed.  She finds them incredibly interesting.  She likes curling up in one of the desk chairs and snoozing.  She is starting to seem more comfortable.  

Under the bed

Here is Zoe under the bed in her favourite spot.  We are hoping that she'll come out and play in the main room more so I can get some better lit shots of her.  My little camera has a great pet setting.  It takes fast pictures in low light and doesn't make any flash or sound, so they don't even know when their picture is taken.

Zohagany

Here is Zoe looking very dignified and showing off her really pretty stripes.  She looks like some kind of exotic tropical wood grain - perhaps a species of Zohagany.

In other news - I'm making great progress and I'm able to gimp around the house without crutches and it isn't causing any discomfort.

There are no monsters under our bed - there is a Zoe under our bed

Here is Zoe taking a peak from out beneath the bed.  It already seems to be her favourite spot.  She's not too shy though.  She's hopped up to visit us for pets and cuddles a few times and likes looking out windows.  She followed me around all morning before I went for my swim too.   So far she's adjusted really well and has done nothing but endear herself to us already.

Welcome Home Zoe-Cat

Meet Zoe.  She says "meow".  She had a long ride back to Canmore, but seems to be settling int pretty good.  Prepare for an onslaught of cat photos as we get to know this sweet little girl.

Thanks to the great folks at AARCS for taking care of her for us until we found her.  

:D

Happy Canada Day!!!!

Testing out my new little camera with the fireworks setting... pretty good for a little camera.

Had a nice day with family and enjoyed singing the national anthem because I could.  Looking forward to the next part of our summer - especially the part where I get an update on my foot.

:D

My wounded foot makes a new friend

Seems that my foot is cuddly to Loki.  He cheerily nuzzled it - maybe to make it feel better or because it smells bad after 2 months.

Lycanthrope

E. says that this is a lycathrope.  What is a lycanthrope you ask? Its just a fancy word for wear-po transforming into a loki-cat.  Loki was trying to oblige my camera, sort of, in a blurry way.  I need more light to take cat gets mouse pictures in the basement in the evening.

I'll have to keep trying.

Favourite Carving and other distractions

Taken with my new camera, here is a shot of my favourite carving (purchased in Iqaluit).  I love the way that the artist captures the shape and movement of the parka and the details in the pants.  I love the job the camera did of captureing the colour in the stone too.  Yeah little camera.

I'm almost finished my course which means I can really start my vacation hopefully sometime tomorrow.  In the meantime, I'm looking forward to a nice visit tonight (I'm close enough I think I can spend time with my folks, grandfolks, 2/3 of my siblings and 50% of my nieces and nephews.  

The NHL draft kind of surprised me and it looks like so far Toronto has no pieces that make an immediate impact on next year.  I'm hoping that things work out... I'd really like to cheer for the Leafs in next years playoffs.  There is another little draft that I'm keeping my eye on, waiting to see what pieces will still be left in a week.

Better get back to work.... so I can be closer to free!

Hello Again

Its been a while since I've written and while some of it is that school is normally busy at the end of the year, this time I have to add a few extra twists.  The major one being breaking my foot while playing floor hockey.  It was just bad luck, the way I stepped, my foot got caught and I rolled right over my toes.  It was a bit of an adventure and involved some trips to Winnipeg.  I'm almost mended.  In the mean time, I've gotten very good at navigating the world on crutches and am secretly hoping that I get the green light to ditch them next week - not sure what'll happen.  I'll keep you posted.  The other twist is that I enrolled in an AQ course which had a tonne of homework which has left me tied up doing my own homework when I'm not marking or creating homework for my students.  But, mostly with a broken foot I wasn't going outside so much and I wasn't dragging my very heavy camera with me.  So, I decided that one thing I should do this summer is get a smaller little camera that may not take such great pictures, but should be light enough for me to carry and not tired me out on my own.

I can't believe its been a week since the end of school.  I've been crazy busy doing course work and I haven't even got to visit with my brother and his kids.  I'm almost done.  I think I can promise that once I am, there will be lots of posts in the next while.  In the mean time I have a few assignments left to do and I should get on it so I can move on to family time for the next week.

Starry Glowing Night

What makes a transformer more beautiful.... the northern lights :D

Northern Lights in Baker Lake

Going to try again with a tripod and a cable release

New Building in Town

This is the new addition to the Nunamiut Lodge (also known for its restaurant with a green house style eating area with an amazing view of the lake).  Its kind of the trendy design in the north with the bright siding in an interesting pattern.  It reminds me of many buildings in the capital.  I like it.  It would be interesting to see what the rooms are like inside.

We were really glad to get out for a walk today.  Its been a long cold winter of few days that were nice enough for a walk and we are on our 2nd walk this week.  Hopefully we'll get close to a walk a day, weather permitting.  I certainly feel engergized by the sun and the exercise and fresh air.  It'll be good for my blog too as I start building up a mass of pictures to post.

Old Meets New

Several snow machines and dog sled teams and trucks and vans and other vehicles seem to be converging on the ice (only us and one other gentleman coming back from a successful ice fishing trip were on foot) part of the ice out towards the airport.  I'm wondering if there is a dog team race today.  Its not often you get to see the dog teams hitched up, so it was exciting to watch.

Iglus After Storm

Just before I create any stereo types, there is no one living in these iglus, and in fact I'm not sure that these ones have even been slept in.  Currently they are filled with snow from the last storm or 2.

Yesterday was sunny, calm and "ONLY" -25 C, so a few of use went on a walk for about 1.5 hours and got some sunshine and fresh air.  At this point we are headed back to the northern store to find dinner.