The Woodpecker Might have to go!

Thanks Murr!

De-Icing prior to take off from Edmonton Flt 501

First layer of spray for de-icing

Second spray of the wings with a nice neon green gooey substance.

We left Murray and Helen's at 6 am and Murr drove us to the airport in windy snowy conditions. The roads were pretty bad with the temperature at -23 plus the wind chill.  Our plane left 15 minutes late because the wings needed to be de-iced. 

Ok, time to leave!!

Brrr.  Time to go home.

One last Oilers photo

The retired numbers of the Oiler greats.  (who is Hamilton??)

Oilers v Bruins

The Oilers played the Boston Bruins on Sunday night. Although they lost the game 3-2 and were outshot 40-17 (exact opposite of Friday nights game) it was very entertaining and the Oliers played with a lot of intensity.

The bottom picture is of Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle who are two of the new crop of Oiler Young Guns.  They are exciting players to watch and will help rebuild this franchise.  

Edmonton Winter 2011

House of Daryl Katz, owner of Rexall Drugs and the Edmonton Oilers

I think Gary shoveled at least 3 times

What do you do with an eight foot snow head?  Finger up the nose.

We thought our faces would freeze off.

Very cool (no pun intended) ice sculptures.

More photos of William Hawrelak Park taken by Murray.  Thanks bud!  You can see we are not too warm.

William Hawrelak Park - Edmonton

It was soooooo cold and windy on Sunday afternoon in the river valley.

Snow much in Edmonton? LOL

They have a pile of snow like this in every quadrant of the city.  The road clearing crews bring it to their respective area in the North, South, East or West and dump it.  The bulldozers then bring it up to the top.  This pile is HUGE.  There was so much snow!

Another Oil Kings goal

We moved down into the lower bowl during the 1st intermission and were treated to the action up close.  The Oil Kings defeated the Hurricanes 5-2 and are in playoff contention.

Edmonton Oil Kings score v Lethbridge Hurricanes

We decided to take in a Western Hockey League game on Saturday night and watched the Edmonton Oil Kings play the Lethbridge Hurricanes.  At least we were able to watch one Edmonton hockey team win a game this weekend. There were over 8,000 fans (largest attendance this year) in the building.

Lunch at the Homefire Bar and Grill

After visiting with my brother Rob and niece Nikki and her husband Adam in Stony Plain (driving through a snowstorm to get there), I returned to Edmonton to catch up with Helen, Murray and Gary at the Homefire Bar and Grill for lunch.  

Blues 5 - 0 Oilers

The first game was Friday night against the St Louis Blues.  The Oilers outshot them 40-17 and still managed to lose 5-0!!  Rexall Place is the Oilers home arena and it is the oldest one in the National Hockey League.  They are hoping to have a new one built in the downtown core over the next few years.  

Hockey Life Store

If you love hockey, you will love this store.  Nuff said.

In flight to Edmonton

The flight was great and WestJet is an awesome airline for its customer and in flight service.  I am always amazed at the scenery going by when you cross the Rockies.

On the way to Edmonton

A good friend of mine, Gary a huge Oilers fan, and I flew to Edmonton to visit our friends Murray and Helen and take in a couple of Edmonton Oiler hockey games.  We were safely aboard the airplane at Victoria International Airport when the announcement comes on asking us to unbuckle, take all our belongings and transfer to another plane in the terminal as the one we were on was having a spot of trouble.  An hour and 15 minutes later we were in the air.

My Aunt Ellie

Has been diagnosed with Central Nervous System Lymphoma.  Pray for her. She is a wonderful person who lives in Ontario and will be undergoing chemo and radiation treatment.  She posted a poem on her blog (sidebar link "Count My Blessings")  that was given to her from another who has cancer.  I am re-posting it here. 

Salutation to the Dawn

Translated from the Sanskrit by F. Mennien

Look to this day!

For it is life,

The very life of life.

In its brief couse

Lie all the verities

and realities of

your existence:

The bliss of growth;

The glory of action;

The splendour of achievement;

For yesterday is but a

Dream, and tomorrow

Is only a vision,

But today, well lived,

Makes every yesterday

a dream of happiness,

And every tomorrow a

a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore,

to this day!

Side roads - snow fun

I went for a walk yesterday to drop off some books at the library and see if I could find some good DVD's to watch.  The side streets this morning are icy after the snow compacted from what you see above.  The main roads are fine for driving.  We now have a wind warning in effect and it is supposed to drop down to -9 over night with a wind chill making it feel like -16.

Snow pictures

Some parts of Greater Victoria have had over 25 cm.  The snow started falling around 4:30 am.

Good morning Victoria???

Woke up and took a few quick pictures to show our new snow!