A new regular, courtesy of the hotsprings who have apparently barred him. Smaller, slighter of build, tanned, maybe 70 years old, shirt optional, long beard occasionally held in an elastic, a long fringe of hair around a bald pate, anywhere but here he'd stick out like a sore thumb. Here he just sort of blends in...

The first time, a beer, some appetizer, he's telling me he was just at the hotsprings, 7 hours in the pools, he's exhausted.

"7 hours?" I ask incredulously, 7 hours, that's a lot of time to be soaking in a hotpool, I've rarely done more than an hour, 2 tops, but he takes my comment to heart and gets aggressive- "Don't tell me about the hotsprings - I go 4, 500 times a year..."

I'm mentally doing the math, this - well, it's not quite impossible but it's absurd, excessive in the extreme...

He continues in that vein, I stop hearing him.

The next time, sitting, having a Jamesons' on the rocks, a song comes on, it moves him to tears. We've got a playlist, "Oldies", the owner created it, no song written after 1975 ever plays, I stopped hearing it a long, long time ago, but something on it has touched him, he comes up and pays for his $8.00 drink with $4.00 in quarters, tells me how special that moment was, I offer to try and replay the song for him but he looks at me horrified, there's no way I could ever replay that, ever....

I shrug off the missing $4.00, cover the difference, out here, this isn't a rare thing...

The next time I see him, the same again. He sits on the patio, no shirt, no shoes, there should be no service but we're in the Kootenays after all. It's a windy day, I go out to drop him off a menu, he's put a small package on the table, I move it to hold down the menu, keep it from blowing away, he moves it off the menu and tells me tersely - "Don't touch my stuff".

He's an asshole, but it's my job after all...

He orders a Stella, the beer of choice for European trash and soccer hooligans. And pretentious hippies. And bringing it out to him, through the windows of the restaurant I see him fling the menu off the table, it hits the balcony and bounces to the floor. When I deliver the beer and pick up the menu he explains coyly "The wind must have blown it away...".

Come time to pay and he's inside in a frenzy, Did I hear the shots fired? 7 of them! Across the lake! Of course I heard nothing, do I know why? Because I was inside!! There must be a bear! And depending if it ran uphill or downhill it'll be on his property!! And he pays, and, again, he's a dollar short, but I shut up. 

I'm tired of paying to serve assholes, he's the classic bad hippy, the one acid trip too many, never came back, his moral elevation, it's failing, there's nothing for him to stand on, he's just an asshole and now he's barred from our restaurant as well, I'm only waiting to tell him in the no-uncertain terms that he's not coming back...I'm a man of infinite patience, but when it expires...

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Category: People

So a few new spots discovered off prospecting - First one, Zincton - somewhere on the way between Kaslo and New Denver, had spotted the old mines from the highway and stopped to investigate. Some great pieces of fools gold, and mysterious - small - emerald green crystals, which I need to have identified - too small for gems, but the color is good and if they prove to be - well, anything, I'll go back and collect a bunch and look for bigger. Forgot to take pictures, sorry...

ZINCTON:

Yes, yes, there's an obvious selfie there that I've overlooked. I'm sorry. But I think you realize why I might not have gotten it...

The other couple of expeditions, one to the south of the province, scraping bedrock high above the river, a grey day so no idea what's in the pan yet, that will be panned out tomorrow. No nuggets, clearly, but there was the promise of...

And finally, up past the bear meadows, a rock formation that had intrigued me, some large crystals in it that resembled biotite Mica but with a more grossular texture. Taking it in for identification it proves to be Lamproite - a host for diamonds. So - next day off, back to the bear meadows to break open a few hundred rocks and see if this particular pipe has any potential. And no pictures of the specimens there either, I need to be a little more thoughtful about documenting my finds...

 

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Category: Miscellany

These trips, only in town for a couple of days, it's cheaper to eat out than stock the fridge with stuff that will be off the next time I make it back. So I make the rounds of favorite places - Mucho Burrito, Fat Burger. And an Indian place not far from the apartment, for an ethnic restaurant well furnished - by which I mean in a bland, modern, antiseptic way, but an amazing lunch buffet, a couple of dozen items, a mere $15.70, the food, tasty, delicious even, and an easy way to balance the diet. Given that I generally only eat 1 meal a day, this is a great place to do it. And a shame, because every time I've been there it's empty, or close enough to empty, and you know it can't last, and what is it about Calgary that a reasonable restaurant with good prices can't last? Anywhere else this place would be packed every day of the week...

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Category: Restaurants & Cafes

Walking on the mountain, bear scat everywhere, you know they're everywhere but I'm noisy enough they keep out of sight. Old mining trails leading onto old mining shacks and homesteads, some good exploring, and then I come to a meadow that rather intrigues me and I catch my first sight of one:

See it? Look closer...

 

Making noise, the cubs have fled the picture but mom's not backing down and so that ends a fine day of near discovery...

Need to start carrying my bear banger and spray. On the way out, fresh scat piled in the tire ruts I drove over to get here - the place is infested with them...

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Category: Blog
  1. Alone: Season 6
  2. Unboxing: The Spaceship
  3. Lootbox for Stormy
  4. The Art of Self Defense