M - Selling up and moving out

Lately I have been really looking forward to getting away from Calgary, on the move again, and ultimately back to NZ. We have listed all our furniture on Craig's List which is a free classifieds website (you might remember this is how we bought our bikes in San Francisco).

So as you can see we have been reduced to eating breakfast of the floor:


We had a really crappy bed which I hated and we got ripped off buying. The 2nd hand bed market in Calgary is very difficult, even the Salvation Army don't sell them due to 'hygene reasons'. As we only had motorbikes we had to buy a bed from the only person we could find who was willing to deliver, and we paid way too much for something really worn out.

Despite all this I found it a little stressful and upsetting that a man just came and took it away:

To top all this off, Josh has just taken the car to show to someone, and I am half hoping they buy it and half hoping they won't. It looks like we might be able to sell it for more than what we paid which will help cover the parts we had to buy and the effort spent fixing it. We are trying not to ride the bikes around town however, so I am unsure what we are going to use for transport. I will be finishing work very soon if it sells quickly that's for sure!

Sister Megan will hopefully smile nicely at the California DMV on my behalf next week, so once I get my registration paid up and some panniers onto the bikes we are less likely to get hassled by the RCMP. Strictly speaking we ought to have got Alberta plates, but this means having Alberta insurance and an inspection done. It all seemed like too much effort considering they weren't going anywhere for the whole winter.

Anyone want to buy a TV, DVD Player, Computer desk, or Futon Couch?

M - Signs of Spring

I clearly remember autumn in Calgary. It lasted all of two weeks in October, then winter hit hard and has been with us ever since - or is it? Increasingly we have been seeing spring like symptoms:

- The Geese are back, and can be seen everywhere on the ponds and lakes which are...
- Melting. The ice climbing is becoming increasingly sparse and many routes are gone completely. The once blue plastic ice is now something closer to hard...
- Snow. It still falls every now and then, but it is heavy and wet and tends to disappear fairly quickly, sometimes not even lasting past that same...
- Afternoon. I get to see them now because it is still sunny when I get home from work. The change in the length of the day seems to be exaggerated being so far north. The growing length of daylight is very obvious as it changes so rapidly from day to day.

And now the ultimate proof of spring - the City Roads people are going to sweep up all the gravel. The roads are covered in fine gravel, traditionally this is used rather than salt in Alberta to provide traction in the snow, they call it 'Sanding'. These days they put salt in with the gravel, but it only begins to work once the temperature rises above -15 or so. It can stay below that for weeks at a time such as during November when we didn't get above -20 for two weeks. It can however be bright and sunny, causing a small amount of melting on the road surface which then refreezes at night. Thus the roads quickly become skating rinks, hence the need for the gravel. This sanding is also the primary reason every vehicle in Calgary has a cracked windscreen. That and no one has mud flaps, the snow collects on them until it jams the wheel or rips the mudguard off.

Having the gravel removed is particularly relevant to us, making motorcycle riding a safer proposition, as well as the confirmed official belief that spring is certainly upon us.

J - Rock climbing/Tick dodging at Stone Hill, Montana

While it was cold and miserable in Calgary this Easter weekend, we all went down to Montana to do a bit of climbing at Stone Hill. The rock is fantastic and the weather was brilliant as you can see. Being outdoors without a shirt on is quite a novelty for us at the moment. Tentative at first we were fish out of water without our ice tools but after a few hours got back into the swing of things. Eureka, Montana, the nearest town is a great little place with a malt shop and juke boxes that only play country. Beer is $1.75 a jar and pizza a meal for 4.

Me climbing with Grant belaying.

Lachlan climbing a different route on the same wall.

Mereywn and Jess don't seem to recognise me?

Merewyn does her favourite party trick. Wax bomb. A half kilo of superheated wax explodes into the air and bursts into flame. Maybe that will burn some of those damn ticks off. Stupid ticks!

M - What a HUNK!

Asaide from climbing an ultra classic ice line on Saturday, we also made it along to a black tie dinner. Thanks to Jess and Lachlan for inviting us to help raise money for the Alberta College of Art and Design. Someone elses money...

Pics and the story of the ice climbing soon I promise.