E.T.A.Z.I.

"The universe wants to play"

"Within the fractal complexities of actual geography the map can see only dimensional grids.
  Hidden enfolded immensities escape the measuring rod"

                                                                                                  -Hakim Bey

Seamless waves of yellow is the poplar colour 'round these parts.  Three weeks and the weather has to break into a wintry dance...chilly coyote haunted evenings for sure, but the days belong to a hot sun and a pale blue sky.

At work: filling cracks in the roadway, clearing hiking trails, stocking wood piles, mending fences crushed by blow-down in the backcountry.  Weed whipping.  Mowing.  Eating sandwiches in Chevy trucks.

Running, riding thee bikes, endlessly preparing food.  Walking the dog.  Endlessly consuming food.

Downtime, dead-time, stimulus free time.

                                                                      FREE TIME

Buffalo Stance

 Yesterday went on my first longish bike ride around Elk Island.  Skirted the northwestern boundaries on the grid range roads, then back into the park at the northern gate.

 I've been told I take horrible self-portraits.  This one seems alright.  Nice use of perspective, check.  Ambivalent windblown sweaty look, check.

 Landscape here similar to P.A.N.P.--not much for old growth forests though.

 Nice Unit.

 The view from my spokes...this place is very quiet and peaceful--good place to decelerate and plan

 the moves and shapes to come...the new headquarters those two little white

specs at the left of the photo...Alberta, Alberta...home of cheap gas and booze!  I may never leave!

What you looking At?

 Elk Island--small, few humans (off season), lots of bison--this guy above in my front yard a couple days ago when I went to walk Pooder.  I have been here exactly one week---quick aside---this McDonald's is full of dawn rising elderly farmer regular types---the two old couples next to me have got it going on--what's wrong with the world today?  Computers, of course.  "Everyone's got a plastic brain nowadays", says one old guy.  "They come through the system, they don't know how to read, they don't know how to write, they can't add, all because of these plastic brains!"  Also:  "This is no goddamn meat shop!  False advertising!"

Mr. Pooder is taking awhile to adjust to his new home.  He doesn't want to walk far from the duplex we live in--twenty minutes tops so far.  I believe him to be slightly spooked by the bison, the howling coyotes, the rutting elk, the cougars, the wolves, and the family of sasquatch that live just down the way.

Musings of an Early Morning McDonald's Man

 Another summer, eh?  You want some finger dipping sauce with that?

 As seems to be the case with my summers these days, my brain clicks off and the hours are filled with work, buddies, the outdoors--all manners of excess.

Posting this from a McDick's in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta.  After finishing the season at Waskesiu I snagged, at the last minute, a position at P.A.N.P.'s sister park, Elk Island, about a half hour or so east of Edmonton.  The above is a photo of Waskesiu Lake on a smoky day earlier in the season.  My supervisor and I flew up to the north end of the park to repair the roof on a remote warden cabin.

 Returned to the Shamballah festival this summer after taking a year off...partners in party were Owain and Pam...

 ...the Shamballah prayer service keeps

 the faithful happy!

 Waskesiu kept it hot and dry this year--a bad summer for mosquitos which was good for us humans...

 above is the Sturgeon Valley on the west side of the park, and below the dock at the Big Island campsite on Crean Lake.

 Below the south Saskatchewan--did not make it back to Saskatoon much this summer--

I holed up at the lake with Pooder and the Tourists.

 These photos taken north of P.A. near dawn.  This was my fourth season at the lake--hard to say what will happen next year what with the cuts to the public service here in Canada.  A little stock has been taken and I have to say it's been a blessing to have had the opportunity to work at Waskesiu--

 --every work place has its issues, but for me the surroundings trumped whatever negatives arose.

 Finally made the Saskatoon party scene towards the end of August.  Ooooh, the suppers the parties the dancing...

 ...then north again for some cozy cabin time.