Home again in Duluth... love our back deck...

I've been home in Duluth for about a week now.. not much happening to post here lately but..

In addition to Lake Superior and the many views of "salties" and "lakers" going by on a daily basis, there is a lot of other things that make the back deck a happy place.

Great sunrises this time of year...

Oh... and have I ever mentioned that I love my birds???

No wonder I can't get anything done around here...


Life is Good!

the day after...

We went out today to take a look at the damage from the surfacing yesterday.. surprise surprise .. it looked perfect.

We're very happy with the job.. everything looks great and it's amazing when vehicles roll over our asphalt.. it's so quiet compared to the road noise from the adjacent new hot mix lane.

Life is Good.

Missing my girls...

Been gone too long.... I'm so lucky to have these girls in my life...

Life is Grand...

Making History...

A very big day today for EZ Street Canada.  We installed about a half kilometer (2 lanes wide) of UVR asphalt.  This product is our patented cold asphalt that reflects off the sun's ultra violet rays which break down the asphalt cement that binds the whole product together.  The result is a surface that should not wear down, crack, or pothole - forever!  (Or at least a whole bunch of years)  A WHOLE BUNCH!

Anyways, the final product in it's natural color is a tan brown which will fade to more of a grey color and will also lighten up in color over a period of a few months.

As the day progressed, and the sun disappeared behind the cloud cover, the color of the roadway changed quite dramatically from tan brown (double double) to a grey shade.

Product went on smooth, no real problems, and open for traffic this evening.

Whoops.. Chris sent me a pic that he took the other day when we were checking out the site for the install.. intense... wet...  (behind the ears)

Life is Good!

Royal British Columbia Museum...

Just up from the Empress Hotel is the Royal British Columbia Museum.  It was founded in 1886 and consists of the natural and human history of the Province.  It's a huge facility and much to large and interesting to be able to see the whole place in the 3 hours that I wandered around.  

It deals with the entire history of the province and overwhelmed me. I took a few photos but have to say that they don't really do justice to the displays.  

I am very happy that I had the opportunity to tour this museum... it was a nice way to spend part of my day.

Life is Good.

Victoria BC - One of my favorite cities

Spending the day and overnighting in Victoria before driving up to Courtenay to see my girls.  I'm staying at a nice older hotel.. have stayed here before and it's very comfy and cozy.  I took some pics of the lobby area which is decorated with antique furnishings which reaches out and welcomes guests.

Jewels and I always take note of the token purple house in each town we visit.. I'm sure there are several here but I thought I'd put up a photo of a blue one this time.  It's across the street from the hotel and is an extremely attractive home.

The rest of the pics here are taken in the area around the hotel.. A lovely park with a hiking trail around a huge pond.. lots of birdies hanging around and the colors are fantastic.

Had to throw in a photo of the good old Empress Hotel.  It's only 4 blocks from my place and looks nice with the ivy changing from green to red..

Great city..  Life is Good.

Another good day...

We visited the asphalt plant today with Sven Andersen who is our "carbon credit" guru.  He was quite happy with the look of our new "tar".... We won't be paving with it until late next week which is a long time to be away from home... but it's good in that it gives our big pile of stuff cooled down to ambient temperature..

It was sunny and warm today and the asphalt looked perfect... I'm very optimistic that this is going to go very well for us.

Life is good...