Month: April 2019

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MORTON, ET AL

The orignial owner of this land came to Canada in 1881 from Kingston, Ontario and I am assuming, built this home.  The family moved into the home in 1882 with they raised 7 kids.

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Many more families would rent this home and land and raise there families here as well.  The home continued to be resided in up until 1980, which is the last recorded date that I was able to find.

I will make the assumption that the home was lived in later than the 80’s given the PVC windows.

The yard was very soft and spongee and not knowing what I was in for – I usually ask but didn’t when I called yesterday – I did not know if there were any wells that I needed to know about.  I was also told that the home is known to be over run with masked bandits so I really wasn’t interested in taking a further look.

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What drew me to this house orignally was the brick fireplace outside.  From the road I thought the house had stone pillars.  When I pulled into the yard yesterday I found the stone stove/firepit near the driveway.

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I would have liked to explore a little more.  There were some out buildings and I would have liked to get some better photos of the front of the house but I didn’t want to bother the eagles anymore.  When we left the driveway, Dad was waiting for us high in a tree, giving us the stare down.  Oh and the noise he was making is not what I would expect out of an eagle.

 

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THE EAGLES HAVE TAKEN OVER

For the last 5 days I have been lucky enough to be able to tour around with my family and today, my husband.  Of course they don’t have the enthusiasm that I do when it comes to an old house but they sure do like the wildlife that we come upon every once and again.

Today while we were going from one house to another we spotted an eagle.  As we drove a little further ahead I spotted a nest and for some dumb reason decided that I needed a photo of it.  Well all I would have shot, picture wise, was a mass of twigs.  Well when I zoomed in, which Cade figures was about 50 yards, was a white head with an orange beak.

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I didn’t get out of the car as we didn’t want to distrub this family any more than we already had and we certainly didn’t stay long.  This family has taken over an abandonded yard, the yard we were heading to.  When we left, Mr. was sitting in the tree making his odd little noise, I’m assuming he was telling us to get lost.

I’d like to go back in a couple weeks with a better lens, which I plan on purchasing tonight, to see if I can see any little eaglettes.

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1916

I wish I could find more about this house but I can’t!  And its frustrating as hell!  One thing I can confirm, those are the original shingles on the house.

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I found this house back in November and of course it was FAR TOO COLD for me to really explore and I did not have permission to do more than take a road shot.

That’s another thing that pisses me off, people who continually enter onto these properties, take their photos, post them online and then when a rule playing photographer comes along and asks for permission, I get the speil about how people don’t ask, they just go in, they take stuff that doesn’t belong to them, they leave the door open, etc.  If you don’t contact the owner and ask for permission, at least have the audacity to not post your photos online!

When I spoke to the landowner back in November and was given permission the first time to take photos, post them online AND enter the home, I was told that the house was built in 1916 and the original owners lived in the home for 18 years.  At that time three of these houses were built in the area.  Mr. could not tell me if any of them were still standing but I do hope to check out the area one day.

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When the original owners moved out of the home it was always their intention to keep the home up.  During the first winter the heating system was tampered with and this caused an issue with the water and heating system and the cost for repairs was worth more than the hassel.  You can tell that when the home was left, it was always their intention to come back.  The interior of the home is solid, sturdy and truly amazing given the year the home was built in.

 

 

 

 

 

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EXHAUSTED

This is one of my favourite shots. Not much to it but appealing to my eye.

There was nothing in this yard except this barn and a hand pump. I didn’t dare get close to the pump as there has to be a well to go with it.  And I certainly wasn’t going to take my chances on the stability of the ground around it.

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ROCK LAKE WINTER KILL

We spent the afternoon touring around searching for suckers, minnows and old houses.

We headed down to Rock Lake. Driving along the road, high up above the lake I thought I saw fish floating in the water. My husband confirmed that that was likely what I was seeing. I was shocked at how many there were. Not as shocked as I was when we pulled in and we could see how many were on the shore.

There were all kinds of species. Huge walleye, pike, carp, suckers and even a couple catfish. Some of the fish would have been master anglers and approximately 15 or so years old.

Of course I then googled winter kill. This is a common occurrence when the lake is frozen longer than usual and light is not able to penetrate that surface due to snow. The fish and lake become deprived of oxygen and die, eventually washing up on shore.

In many instances, this is not detrimental to the lake. Most lakes recover from winter just fine as it is estimated that there approximately 1000 per acre of the lake.

Regardless, it’s still shocking and hopefully the winter kill at this location will not affect it too much.

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PEMBINA RIVER

Spent the day out touring around the back roads looking for minnows, suckers and of course, abandoned houses and buildings. I’m trying to broaden my horizons and take pictures of everything beautiful that catches my eye.

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WILL & MAUDE

Originating from Devonshire, England, William John (1891 – 1966), along with his father and siblings, followed older brother Samuel to Manitoba. Their mother and sister passed away before the family could be reunited.

After settling in Southwestern Manitoba, W.J. fell in love and married a girl from Chicago.  He bought this property in 1912 and in 1914 after he was married it was here that W.J. and Maude raised their 4 children, 3 girls and one boy. Their grandson’s would later take over the land and farm here until it was sold to its current owners.  The home was rented out but eventually became a hangout for kids in the surrounding town

Will was part of the Oddfellows Lodge and Maude was a Rebeka, a group of women who cared for the elderly in the community.  They were also a musical couple.  Will played the piano and Maude played the violin.  They formed the Sunday School Orchestra.  When I first laid my eyes on this piano last Spring it was in much better condition, even though its been sitting on this somewhat sheltered veranda for many, many years.  In the last year the cover has been removed from the keys exposing it to the harsh elements of Manitoba’s weather.

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The couple loved gardening and had a variety of shrubs, trees, fruit trees and gardens.  People were known to visit the property in the summer time to see the yard and enjoy the beauty of the families yard.  Although the property has been abandonded for many years, you can see the variety of plants and shrubs around the house as well as the beautifully treed driveway leading up to the house.  You just know that the yard was beautifully landscaped.

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I have written about this home in the past and I go back often.  I truly do love this old place and I’m sure this won’t be the last we see of it for as long as I am out and about touring the countryside looking for old places to photograph and then searching its history.  When I found out more of the history it gave me the perfect excuse to go back and shoot it again.  This time I walked up the long winding driveway, something I would have never done before because the house is well secluded and jumps out you when you see it for the first time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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THIS OLD FARM

This home is tucked away in the trees just off the highway. Behind it was a bigger home.

I can’t tell you anything about it. At first I thought this was a school but as I got closer it was most definitely a home. Maybe, as the family got bigger, they built a bigger home behind this one.

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ROAD SHOTS

No matter what road I turned down, I could not get close enough to this house for a decent shot!

Looking at this now I realize that I would have likely gotten a better shot from the highway where I first spotted the home from.

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SINCLAIR HOUSE

Built in 1912 this home stands almost dead centre in a section of land near Oak Burn, MB.

I tried to get some history for it online but wasn’t very successful.

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SILVERTON

I can’t tell you a thing about this house! I spotted it from the highway and Saturday afternoon. One side is surrounded by field, the other a home and yard.

I am assuming that at one time it was someone’s intention to redo this home and therefore all of the exterior was taken off.

I found numerous homes this weekend but all I could get was road shots as I had no maps and was unable to get contact info for land owners.

I realized that I do really enjoy searching for the history as much as I like taking photos.

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ST. MARY’S SCHOOL

This school district was organized formally in July, 1885.

The school closed in 1967 and the remaining students went to a nearby school.

The original school building is still on the land but after closing down was converted to granary with this monument.

You can see from this photo that the windows have been boarded over and the front entrance has been moved.

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Alces alces

See these two at least once a week, usually grazing out in a corn field and to far away for the iPhone.

Not tonight, and it was a bit of a poser too.

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BURNING RUBBER

This weekend out and about for hockey, I came across so many places. I hope to get back to this area again.

Anyways, I came across this car, drove by it numerous times and finally decided that if I didn’t stop, I’d regret it.

Whomever owns this fine vehicle takes care of the area around it and has done some regular upkeep.

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NATIONAL BEAVER DAY +1

On Monday while out exploring we came across two beavers and their damn.

They were very willing subjects.

I have to admit that I don’t know a whole lot about beavers. I know now that they make a strange little chirp when communicating. I’m not sure if that chirp was for me or if they were communicating to each other.

This pair was more than willing to give me plenty of photo opportunities, getting in and out of the water, grooming and eating.

They jumped in and out of the water, dived around, criss crossed from shore to shore. They get around very well and had all sorts of paths and trails they used under the water and on the ground.

When I got home and looked at the pictures I discovered that they have the creepiest feet ever. I do not particularly enjoy any sort of feet and so these were a little disturbing to me.

Today I found out that Sunday, April 7th was National Beaver Day.

I suppose one day late is better than never.

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PEMBINA RIVER

As the snow starts to melt and the small creeks thaw and flow into the nearby rivers and lakes, the opportunity for reflection photos present themselves.

This narrow section of the Pembina River likely doesn’t look very picturesque when the leaves from the trees swallow up this narrow passage.

Standing at the side of the road in my PJ pants and penguin slippers, my husband thought it would look funny if someone passed me on the side of the road and there was no vehicle around, like I was some crazy lady wandering around taking pictures in my nightwear!

Somewhere close by I could hear a waterfall. And walking back to the car I spotted an old barn perched high on that ridge.  I’ll be back.

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PELICAN LAKE

Yesterday evening I asked my hubby and daughter to go out on a venture with me to find an old school that I wasn’t even sure was still standing. It was pouring, thundering and lightning. I didn’t think it was worth going but the skies were amazing and guess what, the school is not longer there, just a cairn marking its location.

On the way back home we stopped at the south basin of Pelican Lake. It was worth it, the sky everywhere we looked was different. Different clouds, colour. Wow.

Although I didn’t get to photograph an abandoned building I did get some good landscape and wildlife photos.