Killarney – Turtle Mountain – CRUMBLING MEMORIES

July 22, 2020July 22, 2020

NEOWISE

C/2020 F3 or Comet Neowise is classified as a long period comet and was discovered on March 27, 2020. At that time, it was located 160 million miles away from Earth.

By July 2020, it was bright enough to be visible to the naked eye and one of the brightest comets since 1997. It will be visible for most of July and up until approximately July, 23rd.

Visible on the Northwestern horizon, the comet will slowly get higher and smaller as you can see from the photos I took, taken just a couple days apart.

My intention was to photograph it earlier in July but I didn’t get out until the 19th. I wasn’t sure what my photos would look like and pulled over on the side of the highway, at 1:00 a.m., set up the tripod and took a few shots. Unfortunately I pulled over on the side of the road and got the hydro lines! I was more concerned about what sort of creature was going to come out of the ditch to see what I was doing. And I never thought about the dog at the nearby farm!

Neowise 2-2 email

I like this photograph because off to the right you can see the TLA West elevator in the distance.

I wanted to head out the next night and well, it rained and was cloudy. I figured yesterday it was to late and it would be to small and hard to find in the sky. Well it was but you can spot it if you look hard enough. And it was easier to find when you were in the dark and away from any yard lights. When I finally did spot it I wasn’t sure if I would be able to capture it correctly or that it would be bright enough.

neowise July 22 2020

While I wasn’t happy with the first photo, it is surely better than my second attempt. That being said, the stars the last two times I’ve been out are something else. Time to get myself out for some abandoned night shooting.

galaxy email

Comet Neowise will disappear in the next couple days and will not be visible again for another 6,800 years.

June 12, 2020June 12, 2020

PELICANS

You may recall a couple years ago when I got “the” pelican shot and figured my pelican photography days were over. The photograph was a hit with my family and ended up getting blown up quite large and is in my front entrance.

Last summer before our BC trip I bought myself a lens that was going to force me to photograph a new, not so dangerous and easier to find subject, birds and wildlife. While I have taken a couple photos with that lens, namely the owls and the blue heron, I am not overly happy with the lens and just posted it for sale a couple days ago. I am on the fence about this because everything I read and everyone I talk to tells me to give it more time, read more, watch more videos. So I’ll try but patience is not my virtue.

Anyways, I wanted to share this photograph I took the other night while fishing with Colton down at the beach. I took the lens with to play with, without having done any reading or watching. While its not a great photo, its different and okay. I certainly like the colors it picked up in the sky.

flying pelicans for email

August 29, 2018August 29, 2018

NICHOLSON HOMESTEAD

I don’t know much more about this land except that it was farmed by two bachelors and is now rented out to another local farmer.

I love this photograph for its simplicity, I think.

August 28, 2018August 28, 2018

REMEMBER US?

Remember a while back when Reg, Colton and I found the “dead” birds in the upstairs of the abandoned house?

Well the last couple weeks there has been a lot of activity on the roof of the old house so today we were lucky enough to get a couple shots.

I don’t know if these are two of the young or Mom and one young but regardless we moved very slowly and ventured closer and closer until they finally figured we were to close and flew away.

Well, only one flew away.

Really neat to see them all grown up. Hard to believe they were once tiny little fluff balls.

August 8, 2018August 8, 2018

BEAUTY IN WHEAT

My daughter is my only willing subject. Most of the time she remains serious and does whatever I ask her to do and amuse me. On this day she did just what I asked.

She tried to keep her hair down but I told her no, leave it, its flowing with the wheat.

August 5, 2018

HENDERSON SCHOOL

The Henderson School District was established formally in August 1904. During the 1940’s, the building was used for services of the Bannerman Church of Christ. The school closed in 1968.

Among the teachers of Henderson School were John Nay (1904), W. W. Metcalfe (1914-1915), Katie McLeod (1915), Lottie Porter (1919), D. Finnen (1919-1920), Bertha Barsky (1923-1924), F. M Bissett (1926-1927), P. McNevin (1928-1929), Louise McPhedran (1930-1931), Edith Elizabeth Nicol (1932-1933), Carl Bjarnason (1938-1939), Freda Miller (1939-1940), Richard Neilson (1940-1941), Franklin Stuart “Frank” Presunka (1941-1943), Miss Luella F. Glock (1943-1944), Harold Wilfred Walker (1944-1946), Miss Annie Neufeld (1946-1947), Angela May Shirtliff (1947-1948), Isabel Jeanette Allison (1948-1949), Esther Kettner (1950-1951), Ruth Elizabeth Rempel (1951-1953), Glen J. Hammond (1953-1954), Mrs. Jean Margaret Jaques (1954-1955), Viola Mae Neufeld (1955-1956), Mrs. Mabel I. Agar (1956-1957), Mrs. Devona Doreen Kenter (1957-1964), and Nellie Irene Friesen (1964-1967).

hendersonschool1

For some reason I just love this old school. Nestled safely into the trees and protected but a shelter belt of tall, strong trees, this school is holding its own against the elements. After the school closed I am told it was owned by a women’s group. The ladies group later relinquished the property to the RM.

Friends of ours that told me about the school told me that his Dad attended this school until it closed when he was in grade 9 and then finished his schooling at the Killarney School.

While we were there some other explorers stopped by. A lady and two gentlemen. She was very friendly and she told me that they all went to school at this location as kids. I offered to take their picture in front of the school.

This board has the names of many people who have visited the property over the years, some even noting the years that they attended. I love that this place is still open and hasn’t been vandalized and that people of the area can still enjoy the history of the building.

August 4, 2018August 5, 2018

NICHOLSON FARM

I don’t know much about this property either. I am told this land was farmed by two bachelor’s. There is no longer a house, just these couple of bins and sheds and in behind a piece of equipment. The land is rented and farmed by another family from the area. These photos were taken from the road and when I posted this shot on my Instagram account the current renter seen the photo and advised me that once the crop was off the field we could go in and have a look around.

I love the simplicity of this photo.

August 1, 2018January 24, 2019

SCHOOLS OUT FOREVER

This school is located on private property. Most of my fellow abandoned seekers will know this location and have more than likely been to this site already.

This school district was established formally in the Spring of 1885 and the first school was built for a minimal $440.00. The first name requested for the school was Maple Leaf but it was rejected as another school was already named so. There were 10 children enrolled in the school and the first teacher was Mr. Thomas Atkinson. A new school was built in 1905/6, the old one being remodeled as a house which was completely destroyed in 1942. The present school building dates from 1906, when a one-room structure was built of concrete blocks, a building material unique to the early twentieth century. The district was dissolved in January 1967 and at one point the school was said to be used as a granary.

northcoteschool1

I don’t know a whole lot about this property except for what I have found online and through the town’s history book. I found out about it many years ago from my neighbor who attended the school and posted a photograph of herself in front of it on her Facebook page. She told me the location and for many years I had the info tucked away and finally went there in May to check it out.

I wish I could have seen this place when the bell tower was still attached.

This is another place that I will revisit as my experience grows.

This is another site that I will revisit and reshoot.

August 1, 2018January 24, 2019

FIELD OF DREAMS

First thing I must add is that this building is on private property. So if you happen to find it, please be sure that you get permission before entering onto the property.

sandersschool1

The first school district this school was built for was organized on May 16, 1885. Trustees were appointed and the school was built for $500.00. When the school opened in 1886 the first teacher was Mrs. Rae Richardson and the enrollment was 17. It consolidated with a bigger school district in 1968. The last teacher at the school had 7 students.

After I’ve visited a site, I needed to know its history. Sometimes I’m successful, sometimes not. This school was and is still well known for its baseball team. I was fortunate enough to find plenty of info in the town’s history book. The teams that played out of here were very successful and good.

I imagine myself back here one night when the sky is clear attempting to take night shots of this history filled building surrounded by stars. I must also say it looks amazing with the sunset in the background.

I love this old school and the landowner has welcomed me to keep taking photos here.