Historic Train Trip

A week ago my family took me on a train trip for my birthday.  We went from Ogema SK to Horizon SK and return, a distance of 26 km (16 miles) each way, on the Southern Prairie Railway.   When I was 4 years old my family went on a memorable train trip to the eastern US to visit my father's family.   Now this train trip was a memorable way to celebrate my birthday with the family. 

 It was raining when we got to Ogema to board the train. As seen in the picture above there is an engine and one passenger car.   The engine is a 1945 GE diesel electric switcher engine.  The passenger car is a 1922 Pullman passenger car which was fully restored. 

The passenger car was completely refinished inside and out.. There is a blog that documented the extensive work by Ogema and area in restoring the train and station. 

 
We traveled the 16 miles to Horizon SK with still some light rain and mist so didn't get a lot of clear pictures of the view on that part of the trip.  The rain didn't dampen the excitement of riding on the train though.  The rain had stopped by the time we got to Horizon and we got off the train to tour a grain elevator. In the picture above the passenger car is waiting while the engine goes around to hook on the other end (left end in this picture) for the return trip.  The seats actually flip over so we are still facing forward for the return trip. 

In the distance to the right in the picture above is a former Pool elevator  which is still used as an elevator for farmer and community owned railroads.  This section of track is part of the rail facilities operated by the Red Coat Road and Rail.  And this in turn is part of over 700 km of former CPR track across southern Saskatchewan  operated by Great Western Railroad.  

 We toured the former Federal grain elevator which was later operated by the Wheat Pool until the 1970s.  Then we returned to the train for the trip back to Ogema.  We stopped for about 1/2 hour and the train only traveled about  20 - 25 mph so the whole tour was about 2 hours. 

I took some video clips with my iPhone that I combined into a short video from the return trip.

 
The video starts with the outside of the train while reboarding for the return trip, some inside the train, and the view out the window passing the former community of Glasnevin.   (This Glasnevin link  I found is part of a series of Youtube videos with some history of prairie communities, and is videoed from the train we were on.)   If you look for Southern Prairie Railroad on Youtube you can also find other videos about this train.

When we got back to Ogema we had a quick tour of the Deep South Pioneer Museum.   We had no idea how extensive this is and only had 45 minutes before heading home in time for supper with the family.  It is a pioneer village with 30 buildings over 10 acres as well as outdoor displays such as rows of old tractors. A person could spend all day there but we just had a short time. 
 
All in all a very exciting and memorable way to celebrate my birthday with the family.        


  

Spring time?

According to the calendar today is the first day of Spring.  The path of the sun crosses the equator and starts heading north.  But signs of Spring seem to be far away here.  The driveways and streets are mostly cleared after the last snow storm on the weekend.  The total snowfall is now 196 cm (over 6 feet) breaking the previous record from 1955/56.  We normally get about 100 cm (over 3 feet) but this year we already had that amount by Christmas time.  There has been some melting in warm spells and settling of the snow but still an incredible amount on the ground .  The scary part is where is the water all going to go if it melts too quickly.    

View from the front window

Snow in the back yard half way up the shed and fence

Using this patio is a long way away. 

Six Years Later

Six years ago today is when I got my tracheostomy tube.  February 24, 2007 I was back in hospital for the 3rd time with worsening respiratory condition from high CO2 buildup.  I was intubated in emergency and then on February 28th I had surgery to put in my trach tube.  I have blogged about this before around the anniversary.   Now six years later I am quite used to the trach and continue to use a ventilator at night.  At first I got the trach tube changed every 4 weeks, and now every 6 weeks and have had this done over 50 times now so it is getting quite routine.

In the picture above, cuddling new granddaughter Li'l E, you can see the connection to my trach tube with a heat and moisture exchanger (HME)  and oxygen tubing.  The HME is also known as a "Swedish nose"  apparently since the inventor was Swedish and it has the same function as your nose with filtering the air and retaining humidity.  When I go out I wear a speaking valve with a scarf over it but at home it is more comfortable with the "Swedish nose."
         
Last week I had an appointment with the ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist who examined around and below my trach tube with his bronchoscope.     This was a follow up appointment after being in hospital in November.  He was very happy with how well healed everything looks in my trachea and the stoma opening for the trach tube. 

As I think back to how I was 6 years ago, I thank God for His goodness and for the health He has given me each day.