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The spirit is willing, but the flesh…

Ya, I hate to admit it, but I am starting to feel my age…physically that is. In my heart I still feel like young guy, but my body is telling me otherwise. Sigh. I guess it can be expected, I am turning the big 4-0 this year. Sometimes I find it hard to believe that I’ve reached middle age already; I can remember events in my teens and twenties like it was the other day. I guess time has funny ways of doing that, flying right before your eyes. Thankfully it has been a good show, and a nice ride. Let’s hope that the next forty are equally as memorable.

Okay, enough with the sob story. Pain is always temporary, or at least that is what they told me when I was in the army. Or was it that pain is a sign that you’re alive? In any case, I’ll get over it. There are far more important things to worry about, like vacations. Yes, March break is just around the corner…in 3 days to be exact! A little time away from work will be great and I know my kids will appreciate the little trip we will be taking.

So work is as it usually is, work; I’m still very busy with so many things going on. I think I’m finally settling in to this eLearning class, though I do feel a bit useless. I’m probably just used to being at the front of a class and actually teaching, not just answering questions and marking things. I had a student ask for some help so she came to see me in person; I told her that it made me happy that I was actually doing something. I guess this is ideally how teaching should really work; the kids learn at their own pace and I am there to help them along. Facilitating versus teaching.

On Sunday the boys and I trudged up the mountain for could be our last winter hike of the year. The weather has steadily been warming and the snow may not last much longer. I decided to take a somewhat different route this time, since variety is the spice of life right? It was a hard push all the way to a spot that overlooks Loch Lomond; after all was said and done we (well mostly I) had walked 9.5k. For half of that I was dragging a 105lb sled, which is the main reason why my body was killing me in the hours that followed!

Going up the trail, March 2013.

Going up the trail, March 2013.

Loch Lomond, March 2013.

Loch Lomond, March 2013.

So the railway front has sort of been busy in the last week. I’ve been plugging away at a few things with the Silver Mountain Historical Society, mostly getting the message our incorporation out via the society blog. Our next big goal is to have a logo made up for us to help with advertising and marketing. Strange how this position has brought me into so many things that I’ve never dealt with before, like asking for my creative input on a logo. Talk about unchartered territory! But I guess life is all about change and we all need to adapt.

Most of my railway time however has been devoted to spreading the railway message on the web. What pray tell are you referring to Dave? Well, I’ve done it before, and I’m back at it again. Yes, I’m creating stuff on the good ‘ole pages of Wikipedia. Yup, Wikipedia, that great bastion of knowledge that has taken over and now dominates every Google search we do. Last year I made a page for the ghost town of Leeblain and I thought I did a pretty darn good job of it for my first try.

This time it all started with the Silver Mountain Station. You see, next week (March 14) is the anniversary of the announcement of the station’s construction was back in 1907. There isn’t really much out there in terms of information about the station, even on my website. So I decided to create a page for the station to promote its history and its current status as a restaurant. That then led me to make some changes to the railway page, but that one is going to need some serious work before it’s up to my standards. However, I did branch out from Silver Mountain and make a separate page for the station at North Lake. Neither of them are ready for official publication, but I’ll be sure to let you know when they are good to go.

Anyway, it’s probably time to wrap up. I’m not sure if I’ll blog next week since I’m away in the States, but in any case I’ll be back soon. Until then…

 
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Posted by on March 5, 2013 in Hiking, History, Miscellaneous, Railway, Writing

 

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Can it be that time already?

Yes, clearly it can. It is amazing how quickly time goes by when you least expect it to. I mean, didn’t we just start the new semester? How could March Break be next week? Well, it is and it’s not like I’m complaining or anything; far from it. I could actually use a break. I know, poor teacher, what to do with all those holidays. I really am tired though…verging on burnout. It has been a crazy month; no wonder the time has gone by so fast. Oh well, I’ll have my little break, feel better and be in the same boat I am right now in another month. Isn’t life great?

Hey, so I’m back. Yes, I took a little vacation from the blog last week as I needed to do a lot of catching up and there wasn’t a whole heck of a lot to say. This week has been a bit more eventful and I will regale you will all the details.

So I decided to skip a post last week (I’ll probably be doing that more often) since I had just come back from my trip to Minneapolis and really had not done any railway related stuff in that time. The Glazier Clinic was awesome, as it usually is. It was a nice blend of learning, relaxation and fun. I spent most of my time with two presenters; Matt McCarty from Northwestern College and Mike Duffner from the Jacksonville Jaguars. None of the information was earth-shattering, but every little piece of new information helps. I certainly have a number of new things for next season and I can’t wait to try them out.

As I previously mentioned, school has been humming along, at breathtaking speed albeit. I’m still trying to cope with the challenges of my new classes, in particular the eLearning class. It’s just very weird not being in front of a class, facilitating rather than teaching and marking someone else’s assignments. Doesn’t really give you a feel for the course…it’s like going through the motions. I guess it just takes a little getting used to, but it is such a radical departure from what I’m used to. The students seem to be doing a good job and I’m very impressed with their learning and discussions.

The weather lately has moderated some, reflecting more seasonal temperatures. I took the boys up the mountain on Sunday for only our second hike of the winter. It was gorgeous outside; I even felt hot with a toque, cold gear compression shirt and spring jacket. We did a different circuit this time, just for a little bit of variety. It was nice to see a few different things. Boy did my legs hate me afterwards though; I was one sore boy! Even just pulling the boys on the flat parts is a challenge and they are going to have to do more walking in the future. 105 pounds is a lot to handle!

Going up the trail, February 2013.

Going up the trail, February 2013.

Sawdust Lake, February 2013.

Sawdust Lake, February 2013.

In the Nor'westers, February 2013.

In the Nor’westers, February 2013.

Heading down, February 2013.

Heading down, February 2013.

So in the last week I haven’t done a ton of railway stuff per se, but there has been things going on. Maybe in the next few weeks I’ll be able to get back to some research. The real excitement has centred around the Silver Mountain Historical Society.

On Saturday I received a message from my society co-President Shelley Simon to get in touch as she had some urgent info. However I was out for a much deserved dinner with my wife so I had to wait until morning to get the awesome news; on Saturday afternoon the Ontario Historical Society had incorporated us a non-profit organization. We are official! This is very exciting news and allows us to move forward with our membership and projects. It will be a very busy spring! You can read more about the process on the society blog.

Anyway, time to wrap up. As usual, there will be more to say next week. Until then…

 
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Posted by on February 26, 2013 in Hiking, History, Miscellaneous, Railway, Travel

 

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Visions of what???

According to the poem, I am supposed to have visions of sugar-plums dancing through my head. I know that is from “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” but close enough. And what the hell is a sugar-plum anyway? According to our friends at Google, it is a type of dragée candy. Learn something new every day! Anyway, there are certainly no candy images floating through my head. If there was, maybe I wouldn’t have a headache. No, despite the season, my thoughts are focussed on other things. The sugar-plums have been replaced by marking, meetings and railways…par for the course right? All these things do nothing but exacerbate the sense of burnout that I’m feeling right now. How many more sleeps?

So Christmas is exactly 2 weeks away. The brown blah I wrote about last week has been replaced by a new blanket of snow, at least making it feel right. The house is fully decorated and ready for the season. Most of the shopping has been done and there are only a few things left to do. I guess it is now a waiting game, which is always interesting with a couple little boys in the house. They are certainly chopping at the bit for the big guy to arrive. We’ll see what he has in store this year!

To answer my previous question, there are only 8 more sleeps before the break. Thank God…my brain capacity is dwindling by the minute! I know I write a lot about it, but it seems as if every year the burnout gets more pronounced. Maybe it’s got something to do with the fact that I have way to many things going on (hence the lack of sugar plums). I tend to stress about things, which is not usually a good thing to do. I know that relaxation is important (and healthy), but I’m the type whose brain is always chewing on something. School is definitely one of those things. I had to laugh when I read my post from a year ago and wrote Santa for a marking elf. He never did send one, so maybe I should ask again!

This past week was again a very busy time on the railway front. Sunday was the incorporation meeting for the Silver Mountain Historical Society so there was a million and one things to do. Even though the event has passed, there are still many things swirling in my mind. The meeting itself went really well despite some bad weather.

The weather forecast called for snow on Sunday, so as I prepared to gather my stuff and head out to Silver Mountain I was a bit concerned at how that would affect the turn out. I’m sure we did lose some people due to the slippery roads, but the amount of folks that did show up was very positive. There was close to 30 people in attendance, and coupled with those that came to the previous event, we have over 60 names registered with the society!

Silver Mountain Station, December 2012.

Silver Mountain Station, December 2012.

I was the main presenter at the meeting, on top of speaking about the railway and our goal to preserve the North-Gunflint Lake corridor, particularly the ghost town of Leeblain. Other information was presented by my co-host Shelley Simon, who spoke about efforts to erect a historic plaque at Silver Mountain (like the PAD&W plaque in Hymers) and repair the Silver Mountain Cemetery. All this and we haven’t even really started!

PAD&W Historic Plaque, Hymers, May 2012.

PAD&W Historic Plaque, Hymers, May 2012.

To proceed with our incorporation process, a society executive had to be chosen. I was nominated and acclaimed as Vice-President. I certainly appreciate the selection, but I am also very nervous. There are just so many things involved and many of us have never done anything like this. Thankfully we have some members from the Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society who will be guiding us through this process.

I guess my biggest fears stem from the fact that I am unsure how this will affect my free time. Between work, family and coaching, my time is fairly limited. I still want to pursue my research of the railway and especially the fieldwork aspect of it. Hopefully I can find a way to tie everything in together. To compound things, I decided to start a blog for the society as well, The Silver Express (not really sold on the title, but I can always change it). Oh by the way, if you haven’t noticed, I changed the title of this bog too. I thought it was a bit more creative than “Padwrr.”

Anyway, I guess I should get rolling as I have marking to do; big shocker! Hopefully by next week I’ll have some pics of the society meeting. Until then…

 
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Posted by on December 11, 2012 in History, Miscellaneous, Writing

 

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Dreaming of a brown Christmas?

So the $64,000 question is where did all the snow go? Last week I wrote about the big dump of snow we received quite suddenly; fast forward a week and it’s gone just as fast. The abnormally warm temperatures we experienced over the last few days is the obvious culprit…we don’t usually get +8C in December. There’s no global warming right? Anyway, the big downside to all of this is that we’ve returned to that dreary, blah landscape of brown. I’m not the biggest fan of winter, but I must admit that things do look better covered in white. And besides, snow just puts me more in the Christmas mood, especially since the big day is only three weeks away!

So, other the lack of a white blanket in Thunder Bay, what’s new Dave? Well, to quote my usual response, “same ole’ crap!” Not that life is that uninteresting or negative, it’s just that I’m tired. No, not the I need a nap tired, but just that I’m a bit burnt tired. Time for a breather…a break if you will. And coincidentally enough Christmas break is just around the corner (well, 13 days from now to be exact)! As I’ve mentioned on several occasions already, I am definitely looking forward to the vacation. Things are not entirely sane right now and it will be nice to have a few less things on my plate.

What is it keeping my so busy you ask? The most obvious answer to that question is work. Despite my desire for a respite, I still have a job to do. This is usually the time of the semester that my marking tends to pile up and my illness a few weeks back did nothing but exacerbate the situation. I am behind! Marking is like this never-ending battle (well, it technically does end at the close of a semester); just when you seem to have gotten yourself caught up, you’re almost instantaneously swamped again. I guess I have another 15 years of treading water…cheers to me!

Anywho, the craziness with work has made it a bit of a challenge to get through all my railway related projects. My free time has once again, like it has been the last number of weeks, been dominated by preparations for the Silver Mountain Historical Society incorporation. Things are a little more real now since the 9th is this weekend. There is still so much to do! I think Shelley and I have nailed down the agenda, and now I’ve begun work on the actual presentation. I have part of the slideshow done for the meeting, and I’ve started work on a video for one of our principal priorities, the preservation of the North-Gunflint Lake corridor.

As the date approaches I am becoming increasingly nervous. Preparation is not the concern; as a teacher, I learned a long time ago that preparation is a critical element in the success or failure of anything. I think it’s just who I am. As a bit of a perfectionist, I do put a lot of pressure on myself when it comes to things like this…I just want things to come off as good as possible. I get the same way before football games…I routinely have to trot off to the port-a-potty on the field even though I went before we left the school. I’m sure I’ll be fine, but guaranteed the butterflies will be swirling before I start.

All the preparations for the meeting over the last few weeks has not taken every minute of my time, as I have found a few spare moments to do some other things as well. I did manage to get another vintage video up on YouTube, this time of the area around the Gravel Lakes. The Gravel Lakes are a chain of four lakes stretching for 2.5km from Sun Hill to Gravel Lake Station (mile 52); they are one of the most “interesting” sections of the railway. When I say “interesting” I am obvious being very facetious, as the Gravel Lakes are probably one of the worst pieces of grade on the entire line.

Rail bed, Gravel Lake I, July 2010.

Rail bed, Gravel Lake I, July 2010.

Rail bed, Gravel Lake II, July 2010.

Rail bed, Gravel Lake II, July 2010.

This entire stretch lies just at, or even below the water level of the lakes. It could be that the level of the lakes has risen in the past 120 years, but most likely the grade has settled into the swampy, muskeg topography of the area. If you’re not familiar with muskeg, just give it a Google. In his book “The National Dream,” noted author Pierre Berton wrote of the challenges of building railways through the Canadian Shield. He stated that many times entire sections of seemingly solid line had to be re-laid as they had settled into the muskeg; one had to be done seven times!

Ties, Gravel Lake II, July 2010.

Ties, Gravel Lake II, July 2010.

I first walked this section back in 1994, and was completely horrified (maybe that’s a bit strong) by what I found. I even got lost at one point, as I could not believe that it was the railway winding its way submerged through the last lake; it in fact was! I returned in 1997 to grab some video (I could have sworn I was there in ’95) and found that the water levels had receded somewhat. This is the footage I posted to YouTube.

Rail bed with ties, Gravel Lake III, July 2010.

Rail bed with ties, Gravel Lake III, July 2010.

I was back in the area two years ago in the summer of 2010. This section is interesting in the fact that because it is rather swampy, not many people have travelled it since the rails were removed. There are stories floating around of the locomotive engineers setting the engine on a slow speed and walking beside it on a particularly bad area because there was a tendency to derail. There are others of the train men becoming adept at coaxing the train back on the tracks because it would derail so often. I swear these legends speak about the Gravel Lakes!

Rail bed, Gravel Lake IV, July 2010.

Rail bed, Gravel Lake IV, July 2010.

Anyway, my journey a few years ago was to gather GPS data for the grade as it is difficult to plot its location due to the settling. I found that the water levels were even lower than in previous years, revealing things such as ties that I had never seen before. Many of the ties still had spikes in them! I would imagine that after sitting in the ground for so long, and the area being so wet, that they just left them in place. I took many pictures, but sadly I did not have my video camera with me. Therefore I will be returning to the Gravel Lakes to do just that, maybe even this summer.

Ties with spikes, Gravel Lake IV, July 2010.

Ties with spikes, Gravel Lake IV, July 2010.

Anyway, time to call it quits. I’ll definitely have a lot to say after Sunday’s meeting. Until then…

 
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Posted by on December 4, 2012 in History, Miscellaneous, Research, Writing

 

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