A digital setting capture of the Laing house, Alberta

Update on the Waterton wildfire, from CBC News - includes a poor quality helicopter video showing the townsite and the Prince of Wales hotel. Just amazing work done by all the firefighters! Thank you so much for everything you've done! Apparently, a few Elk and Bears have been seen in the town, which is great news. Plants will recover - some plants grow after there has been a fire, and some actually require a fire in order to grow and bloom. The status of the fire is now "held", which means that it is no longer growing but it is still burning in spots. Crandell Campground was significantly affected, which presumably means the same for the nearby Canyon Church Camp. Also, the Bison Paddock was damaged.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-waterton-lakes-nat...

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Literally a case of "over the hills and far away" for this photo of the old Laing house! Thought I would try my camera on a digital setting for a few shots of this amazing old house, built just over a century ago. They came out very blurry, so I added a touch of filter in post-processing, which made this one just about fit to be posted. If you only knew how far away it actually is from the road. It was built among the rolling hills, far, far away from any road, and is a very impressive sight. This year, they were doing road work repair by a bridge just a matter of feet away from the only possible place to pull over and stop. Thankfully, I was still able to stop and take photos.

There is very little information to be found on the Internet, but I will add links to several things I did find, for my own memory and just in case anyone else is interested in the history of this place. So sad to see any old house, barn or shed fall into such decay.

www.bigdoer.com/22257/exploring-history/laing-house-frien.... Lots of great images.

www.pbase.com/impalass/image/110826402. Great photos by Mike Stobbs.

www.youtube.com/user/asecondaryhighway Click on A Secondary Highway: The Abandoned House. Just shows the inside of the house.

The first time I saw this old house was last year, on 18 July 2016, when my daughter and I did a bit of exploring north-east of Calgary. The day before yesterday, 17 September 2017, after noticing snowflake icons in the weather forecast for Calgary this week, I decided I would do a similar drive, but not as far as Drumheller this time. Actually, I still drove quite a bit further than I had intended - 346 km, 215 miles. If I had had enough self-discipline, I would have left home much earlier, as it was 11:20 am when I finally got into my car.

My intention was to drive a few back roads, searching for old barns. Most of my drive was on highways, simply for the purpose of saving time, so it wasn't till I was more or less at the furthest point that I actually saw a barn. As with any beautiful old barn or homestead, it will be a sad day when this one finally collapses.

Altogether, a good few hours out. Though I didn't see a lot, the things I did see were most welcome and appreciated. I was glad to get in one more long drive before 'the white stuff' arrives and keeps me close to home. Still tired out a full day later - these drives knock me out!