Happy New Year
Category: Invermere
Another Try
Stayed up past bedtime for another crack at seeing Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS. It was more difficult to pick out, but with a little squinting I found it in a much higher position than the last time we spotted it. Without dark clear skies it would have been impossible to see.
The comet is racing away from us, back to the Oort Cloud, and getting dimmer and smaller by the day.
I took quite a few photos on different camera settings. Once I go through them I will share more here. The photo above is a panorama of six shots stitched in Adobe Lightroom. It was taken on a much higher ISO than I usually use for astrophotography, but was necessary with the lens I was using. Well worth losing some sleep over.
Comet
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS has now emerged from the glare of the sun to become an evening comet.
Once again it was Lisa’s eagle eyes that was able to spot it just as we were about to give up. From our vantage point it was beside Mt. Nelson.
The photo was taken with a very wide angle lens, the same one I used to take the auroras, and the crop is a small part of the frame. If it is clear tomorrow evening I may give it another try with a lens that will make it appear closer.
It is always rewarding to spot comets, they are often a challenge. Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS may become easier to see as it rises into a darker sky. As it does, however it will quickly fade as it moves further away from earth on its journey back to the Oort Cloud. In 80 thousand years it will return.
Late September
It has cooled off a bit, both temperature and tourist wise, thank God!
It is the mature tourist season, older without children. Some of my young coworkers call it, ’the newlywed and almost dead’ season.
It has been another trying year. The arrogance, rudeness and entitlement of the tourists seems to be getting worse, if that is possible. Quite a few youngsters who came to work in tourism decided it wasn’t for them and I can’t blame them. My advice is to put on an extra thick layer of skin armour. Skin armour is something that my daughter Maddy invented. You put on to get you through the rudeness that accompanies many work places. July and August it needs to be bullet proof.
***
Another Provincial Election is upon us. The NDP against the new Conservative Party.
The old Conservatives caved in and formed the new Conservatives. Make no mistake they are the same bunch. What was once the Social Credit Party became the BC Liberal Party, then they became the BC United Party and finally they handed the keys to the BC Conservative Party.
Our MLA of Liberal/United persuasion heard the klang of a party in disarray, so took his new pension and added it to his other government pensions and called it a career.
Now we have a couple other opportunists lined up to take his place.
I can’t even express how little these cagey, scheming, cunning two-bit politicians to be do for me. Whew, say that four times fast.
Regardless, in this riding we are going to have a new one to deal with. The only question, not that it makes a bit of difference, will it be a Conservative or NDP, both retired teachers by the way. Both ready to add another generous defined government pension to their portfolio. It is tough to keep pigs from the trough.
***
These are the way things are. You have to put up with tourists and politicians. Sometimes you need damn good skin armour. What the hell. Regardless of it all, it’s good to see the coming frost, the ripe tomatoes daily, the empty back roads, salted mountains and golden tamaracks. That’s plenty.
Harvest Moon
The full moon came up tonight with a piece missing from the top.
The bite is caused by a partial lunar eclipse as the moon just touches the shadow of earth.
It is hard not to be mesmerized watching a full moon rise over the mountains. To see one peek over the mountains in eclipse can’t help fill one with wonder. A special Harvest Moon indeed.
Reflection
Spent the night along the Palliser River. Plenty of fires had burned the area. I crept along looking at the fire, where it started and how it progressed. At night I woke up at regular intervals to document the movement of stars. Jupiter and Mars in Taurus. Orion following behind, a signal of cold to come. The northern lights made an appearance, but didn’t last long. The smell of fire permeated the cool night, the stars kept track as they always have and the sound of the river lulled me back and forth from this world and one of peaceful dreams.
Breezy
Last Friday we had a severe wind storm. A nearby weather station clocked the winds at over 200km/hr, which is unheard of in this area. The mountains usually protect us from high winds. Not this time.
The storm was accompanied by rain and lightning. There were shingles flying off roofs, billboards knocked over, moored motor boats swamped and sunk (I guess it wasn’t all bad), trees uprooted, buildings damaged; basically shit scattered from asshole to tea kettle, everywhere, in every direction.
Luckily, as far as I know, no injuries were reported.
Power was knocked out throughout the valley. Most was restored within 12 hours, however BC Hydro is still working to get power to some areas.
We were lucky. Only a few branches to pick up around our place. Work was a different story, plenty to clean up there.
A funny story that reminded me of my Mom. Two young women, Bex and Molly, from the UK that I work with were surprised at how fast the storm hit.
Bex saw the lights flicker and said, ‘Molly get the kettle on!’ They didn’t want the power to go off in the middle of a bad storm without being able to make a cup of tea. The kettle boiled just in time before the power went off for the duration.
My Mother was the same way. No matter what was about to hit a cup of tea seemed to make things a little better.
I sure hope this kind of weather doesn’t become part of our new normal.
severing
Interesting article in last weeks local newspaper. The District of Invermere and its Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) have ‘departed’.
Departed is an interesting choice of words. There is only two ways to depart a job; the CAO either quit or was fired. So which is it? As usual when it comes to local politics, no one is talking.
Since the District’s CAO is generally considered the leader of the ship and often the highest paid employee of the District one could argue citizens have a right to know. That doesn’t mean they get to know every detail, but they are entitled to a few answers, certainly more than offered.
Not specified in the article, but I was able to find out, was that the former CAO was paid severance. How much and why is covered by a non-disclosure agreement. There goes the citizens right to know.
I knew something was up when our Mayor was unable to be reached for comment for the newspaper article. Our Mayor revels in the sound of his own voice, and can be relied on, if for nothing else, to comment on all subjects whether he knows anything about them or not, which is more often the latter. The subject does have to be in his interest, however.
The District has a history of hiring some turkeys over the years that have cost the taxpayers dearly. To rid themselves, a handsome severance packages is often part of the cost.
I remember spending a trip to Cranbrook, an hour and a half drive away, with a former Director of Public Works for the District. By the time we were ten minutes out of town I knew the guy was full of shit and useless as tits on a bull. Yet somehow, he was apparently interviewed by numerous people and hired by the District, who then suffered through his employ for longer than they should have. He was finally given a generous severance package so they could ‘depart’ ways. Probably the best money the District spent on this employee.
Funny enough this man landed in another government position where he has been a thorn in their side ever since. Proof that government is a holding pen for many of the worst workers in Canada.
The point is, the District of Invermere and all government should be extra careful in their hiring practices as it is the taxpayer that shoulders the cost of enduring, and often ridding themselves of the ineptly acquired baggage.
Dream
Dug the garlic today. About 120 heads of purple hardneck. I laid it out to dry and damned if we didn’t have a hard rain. Granted it didn’t last long. It was marvellous to feel. It was like the earth lapped it up. The birds even came out and seemed to rejoice in the damp, warm air.
The garden is doing what it can. Picked a bunch of peas. Not easy. The wind has blown most of the vines off the fences, making one pick through the tangle. I know I’m missing as many I’m picking. Willow helped out picking, but she ate the ones she picked not contributing to the bucket. Once and awhile I’d give her a pod I’d eaten the peas out of. She would nosh it around and spit it out, giving me a dirty look. She will eat the pea pods as long as they have peas in them, take the peas out and try to pawn them off and she will let you know you are a cheat.
The mosquitoes have been atrocious. The garden is almost unbearable. At night we usually have at least a few driving us crazy. The buggers having followed us through the door. Sometimes I hear Willows jaws clack as she tries biting them out of the air. They are tough to get in the pitch black.
The fire in the Palliser River area is getting bigger. It has burned a lot of country that Lisa and I love. It will be something to see when we can get out there.
It is a long weekend and the tourists are unrelenting. Hordes all trying to do everything at once. I am not sure if they even notice the smoke obscuring the mountains or the sun that rises and sets blood red, on fire through a thickening haze.
Humans are something. I dreamt that the town and hills surrounding the lake were on fire, like they will be one day, while the long grass, trees and homes burned, the tourists in their wake boats just kept jetting around the lake, pulling water skiers and surfers, kids on tubes, loud music from big thumping speakers, laughter, cocktails, bikinis and sunglasses, sunblock and beer bottle empties thrown overboard. Making sure they are draining their tanks, getting their kicks before the lake starts to boil.
Just a bad dream. Exacerbated by the heat, smoke and pesky mosquitoes.
Stars
Tried again, this morning, to spot Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks. This comet could be beyond Willow’s and my ability to track down. It is very close to the horizon beside the Andromeda Galaxy. By the time it rises above the mountains the sky is losing darkness. Also, we haven’t had super clear skies and the thickest haze is always closest to the horizon. That haze is in fact pollution. That’s why many cities have beautiful sunsets.
It is funny in a ridiculous way, our summers are filled with smoke from forest fires, now the spring and fall also has it’s share of smoke, as the provincial government and logging companies burn slash piles. Slash piles are all of the waste wood left over from clear cut logging. There is a lot of waste; branches, rotting wood, stumps, small trees, basically any mess the companies leave behind is pushed into piles and set ablaze.
It would be interesting to know if these C0 emissions are counted as industry emissions or if they get tabled under forest fire emissions. The latter not counted towards Canada’s yearly emission targets. Regardless, it is another case of the government saying one thing and doing another. The entire valley could drive around in Diesel Ford F350s for years and not emit the pollution that one of these massive slash piles produce.
I don’t think there is any big conspiracy involved, I just think government is incompetent in this regard.
Palliser Pass 