KISS

Special K ended up scoring some free tickets to see KISS on the weekend, so we joined the 12,000 other people at Mac Island for the outdoor concert. It was pretty sweet - mostly for the people watching and the shrimp in the VIP section. Rock on Fort McMurray!

Best part of the show - the confetti/lightshow encore

Back Alley Excitement

I've been posting quite a bit about fires lately, and yesterday there was another one right in the back alley! At four in the morning, Kirt woke up to investigate a strange noise (which is odd because he can sleep through anything) He looked out the blinds and said "holy sh*t!" The neighbours garage was on fire.

Dad happened to be up visiting, and he heard the same strange noise (which turned out to be an oxy/acetylene tank releasing). I took pictures while Kirt ran to rescue his truck which was parked behind the garage, and dad started hosing down the other garages until the fire dept. showed up.

Our garage is on the left.

 

And guess who happened to be on the end of the hose? Fireman Steve!

Their garage, motorcycle and all of his tools are toast, but luckily no one was hurt. Coincidentally, they had just moved their two sports cars out of the garage that day to make room for a party they were going to be having. So it could have been much worse. Good job FMM fire dept! And garden hose operators Ken & Kirt.  

Yay for dads!

Happy Fathers Day to my dear dad! Unfortunately, due entirely to the postal strike, you will not be receiving a card in the mail tomorrow. So instead, I am sending love your way via this blog for all the world to see :)
So happy fathers day - I truly am lucky to have you as my dad. You have been a wonderful teacher, supporter and friend. And I know Colleen and Steven would second that too. Hope you have a great day!

Steven arrives on the scene

Sharing your love for dessert

One of many family holidays - this one is California

And the adventures continue!

Ok country music fans, since Kirt and I aren't enough of a draw to get you up here, how about these two:

That right...Reba and Dierks Bentley are coming to Fort Mac. It's for "Summer's End" festival which is Sept.1-5. Tickets are only $169 for a whole weekend of outdoor concerts. The rest of the line up includes George Canyon, One More Girl, Victoria Banks and Ryan Laird. Pretty darn good, considering tickets for Reba alone are usually $200+. And, Fort Mac is her only stop in Alberta this year.  Go us!
Tickets go on sale June 24 through MacDonald Island

Wildfire update

It hasn't been too smoky in town lately, which almost makes me forget there are still six wildfires burning in the Fort Mac area. The biggest one, which is still out of control, has more than doubled in size since my last post. It's now 468,000 hectares, or about 1.16 million acres. I read somewhere that it's the second largest fire in Alberta's history. It doesn't pose a threat to Fort McMurray (at the moment anyway!) but you know it's pretty serious when Gregoire lake is closed to make room for this guy:

The "Martin Mars" - world's largest water bomber

Chokin' on Smoke

It's been a tad smokey the last few days. The sky is hazy and you can smell smoke even in the house. Luckily, I enjoy the smell of campfire. There are currently 5 wild fires in the area, of which four are classified as being 'held' or under control. The largest and still out-of-control fire is a few hours north of Fort McMurray, and has burned 175,286 hectares so far; which my iphone tells me is about 677 square miles; which Google tells me roughly the size of Maui.
The big fire is up towards Six Lakes, which is where we went quadding last summer. Apparently they've even had to helicopter a few people out of that area since the fire began. At least one of the work camps have been evacuated and a few of the mine sites have been halting work intermittently due to smoke. B-Rad, for example, was sent home from work today because of poor visibility.
I don't think Ft.Mac is in any immediate danger, but lucky for us, we have our own personal fireman who knows where we live and has promised to save the cat.

Oil Sands Heli-tour

It's been a good year for helicopter rides for the Sackett-Laings. Here's a few pics from a chopper flight we took a few weeks ago over the Oil Sands. The sheer size of the mines are unreal and pretty amazing to see from the air. Next time you're here, I would definitely recommend the tour. Kirt & Kyle "won" this flight at a silent auction last year, but there are tours almost every day and you can also go by float plane. Here's a few pics of the day for your viewing/educational pleasure. Not pictured: 5 black bears, 2 moose and 1 queasy stomach.

Pretty soon he'll want to be in the drivers seat

Approaching the first tailings pond. Looks like a nice sandy beach!

Suncor

Truck and shovel. Looks so small but keep in mind the truck is 400 ton

Suncor plant

Another mine site...it got confusing.

Pilot, get your hands back on the stick!

Old Bitumont Site. One of the first profitable mines in the area built from 1920-1948

Alan, Kyle, Krystal, Me & Kirt

Moving the chopper back into the hanger. Wow he's strong!

Learning how the engine works. (Please don't ask questions.)