Curious George goes Trick or Treating

Curious George goes Trick or Treating, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

George was a good little monkey and always very curious.

One night it was Halloween and George was looking forward to going door to door collecting candy with her friend the man with the yellow hat.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Dean Gunnarson

Dean Gunnarson, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

Dean Gunnarson was chained, locked and handcuffed in a spread-eagle position to the roof of an SUV and driven through an automatic car wash today.
Gunnarson escaped while brushes tore at his unprotected flesh, lathered with soap and doused with hot wax.
Gunnarson's attempt comes on the 25th anniversary of his near-death experience while trying to escape from a wooden coffin that was nailed shut and wrapped in chains and then lowered into the icy Red River.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Here's the photo that was on the front of the Free Press website... there are more with the story too.



UPDATE (081031 11:30PMish): I was waiting for a video that another Free Press photographer shot to be uploaded to the newspapers website, but became impatient and made a slideshow of eleven images from the shoot.




UPDATE (081101): The video was posted this morning....

Squirrel food

I was sent to the Assiniboine Park Zoo this afternoon to get a photo of the new Snow Leopard, but found out that it hasn't even arrived yet. So, I spent some time checking out one of my favorite animals... the Eurasian Red Squirrel! I posted a cell photo of one awhile back and usually spend a few minutes gaping at them with my daughter whenever we visit.

Today I wanted to get a particular photo of one of these guys and spent way more time hanging around them than usual. I noticed after about fifteen minutes of silently urging them to climb the cage that all they really do is look for peanuts and dig little holes in the ground to hid them in, only to have a fellow squirrel dig it up and find its own little hole to hide them in. An individual peanut might be dug up a half dozen times by various squirrels before one of them decides to eat it...

After what seemed like forever and a day I started looking on the ground outside the cage for things to try to entice the little rodents to climb up and get their photo taken. Leaves and twigs... and leaves.

Finally, I hit the jackpot and found what I believe was a piece of actual squirrel food... some kind of tiny brick of squirrel granola bar half crushed and nibbled on. I started to rake it across the cage like I was holding a tin cup behind the bars of a small town prison. It worked!! Well sort of... half the squirrel bar fell away, but one of the little guys noticed me and sat watching me upside down from a branch of a dead tree for a minute. I stopped moving and pretended he didn't exist, looking at him from the corners of my eyes.

It didn't take long before he was trying to eat his way through to my fingers. I dropped the bar and it fell inside the cage... foolish me! But I got the photo! and he got the granola bar... until he foolishly buried it next to another squirrel who dug it up and ran off.

P.S. This photo was not taken with my cell phone... I'm hoping that you figured that out. I took it with my Canon MKIIn camera with a Sigma 14mm lens on it.

Back to Work!

Back to Work!, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

Just in time for Halloween Ed Raflant's massive pumpkin sits in front of his grandkids house in Stonewall. The pumpkin weighed in at 1134 lbs. during the Roland Pumpkin Festival earlier this month. It holds the Manitoba record this year.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Painting

Painting, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

Spent the morning allowing my Aa to work on her painting techniques.

Some good stuff which I am going to save for the retrospective in a few
years.

I will try to take a photo of one of her master pieces with the phone
another day, but until then here is her dirty paint water cup.

Fire Barrel

Fire Barrel, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

Ok so it was cold out tonight, but that's fine cause the fire barrel was putting out some good heat. If you could handle the toxic smoke billowing from its depths.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Big Bite

Big Bite, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

Good pre-picket walk was fun at assiniboine forest. Dressed in our brown jackets we listened crouched in the woods to dog owners walk the paths calling for their loose dogs to come back.

IT'S NOT AN OFF-LEASH PARK!

Maybe the wild monster beaver ate the dog...

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Chickens!

Chickens!, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

A friend gave me tickets to the Six Pines Halloween Haunt which is north of the city.

Located on a "ranch" the set up was OK but I was hoping for a good petting zoo area for Aa. Everything was behind fencing and there was little opportunity to pet the animals.

The hay ride was fun in that we were able to do something that didn't involve carrying Aa.

The other venues involved going into little buildings and sitting in makeshift stands while young adults dressed in costumes performed lame skits.

We had two free tickets, and only had to buy one more which cost just under $9. I'm fairly certain that if I had to spend $26 to get in (the pony ride was an extra $3) I would have been extremely disappointed.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Zoo Zoo Zoo!!!

Zoo Zoo Zoo!!!, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

We went to the zoo and hand loads of fun with Aa.

Then stopped by the Leo Mole garden to check out the always popular deer, pig, bear and naked women sculptures.

Then Aa had to smell the flowers and collect some more leaves before going home.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Sluggish

Sluggish, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

Day off from the picket line.

Spent some time in the backyard watching Aa run around with a bowl of tomatoes.

She didn't like the slugs.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Drug Arrest

Drug Arrest, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

FREE PRESS ON STRIKE
081022
The spoils of drug arrests by the Winnipeg Police Service in the last couple of days were on display at the PSB for the media. Over one kilogram of cocaine, $25, 000.00 CAD, two firearms (one of which was loaded at the time of the seizure) and around 3 oz of marijuana. Three people were arrested during this investigation while another separate drug arrest on the same day (Oct. 20th) resulted in one male being apprehended along with 3 lbs. of marijuana.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Rally to support striking Free Press workers!

Rally to support striking Free Press workers!, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

It was great to see a bunch of friends show up to the rally today. The atmosphere was great and very positive.

Freelance photographer David Lipnowski was on hand to see what was going on. What a cool guy. Even one of the Sun photogs stopped by to walk the line with a CEP191 bib on.

The morale boost was great!

But we are still on strike so back to the picket line!

-30-

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

8th day on Strike

8th day on Strike, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

Spent Tuesday night walking the picket line at the Notre Dame location of Flyer Advantage the company that is distributing our paper's flyers.

It was raining and the wind was cold. But we still had fun and the time flew by faster than all the other nights.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

More Walking Fun!

More Walking Fun!, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

Went to assiniboine forest again with A. Cooler than yesterday so I will have to get out the long underwear for tonight.

Hopefully negotiations actually occur today. Still too many concessions on the table.

Plus, I'm starting to enjoy the walking outside. That will probably change when the weather turns soon. And I'm missing the work.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Picket Duty

Picket Duty, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

Another shift walking the line in front of the Winnipeg Free Press.

Fresh air does the body good.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Fall walk at Assinniboine Forest

Fall walk at Assinniboine Forest, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

Had a good walk today sans little girl.

It was a good warm-up for my four hour picket line duty tonight. The time went by surprisingly fast.

I wish I could post a photo from tonight, but it I kinda forgot the phone in my pocket.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Fort Whyte Alive

Fort Whyte Alive, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

Went for a great walk yesterday at Fort Whyte Alive. Its a great place to go in the fall.

We collected leaves and watched the ducks and geese. Anna got to see a woodpecker too!

Lots of fun!

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

New Bicycle Diamond Lanes

New Bicycle Diamond Lanes, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

This must have happened in the last week because we were here on Monday morning before the start of the strike.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Taxi Rate Increase

Taxi Rate Increase, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

It kinda sucks that I was working without a scanner today. I was forced to listen to the radio for any breaking news. It also really felt like I was working on Saturday, no assignments, no calls from the reporter. So I listened to CBC radio and decided to shoot a photo of this taxi because of the afternoon show on the rate hike. Naturally the story broke yesterday. But here is a bit from the story on freepressonstrike.com go to the story to get the rest.

The Manitoba Taxicab Board has approved an application from Duffy's Taxi (1996) Ltd., and Unicity Taxi Ltd. for a proposed rate increase.
The applicants were proposing a 15 per cent increase in meter tariffs for both standard and accessible taxicabs due to the increasing cost of fuel, according to a press release.
The new tariff for standard and accessible metered taxicabs in Winnipeg will be an eight per cent increase over the current rates and will take effect on Nov. 3, 2008. The last taxicab meter rate increase was in November 2005.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

No diesel at some Petro-Canada pumps

No diesel at some Petro-Canada pumps, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

The Petro-Pass station at Deacons Corner has been dry since last Friday and the diesel at the public pump went dry this morning. They have no idea when they will be getting any diesel.

It's also on our strike website - www.freepressonstrike.com

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Infill housing

Infill housing, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

Imrie Demolitions rips down a house in the 500 block of Langside on Thursday making room for an infill house that the Spence Neighbourhood Association plans to build. The new house will be its fifth of the year once completed and will be selling for approximately $99,000 at 1080 sq. feet with one-and-a-half bathrooms. It will also be R2000 compliant.

Read the story at our strike website - www.freepressonstrike.com

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Party House Gone

Party House Gone, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

This house down the block was considered the party house because when we first moved into the area seven years ago all night parties with loud music were common. It was one of the rental properties I always wished would get torn down.

Today my wish came true. Hopefully the owner will build a nice house in its place.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Raymond Simard defeated in Saint-Boniface

Raymond Simard defeated in Saint-Boniface, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

Raymond Simard talks to reporters after giving his concession speech at his headquarters at the Norwood Hotel Tuesday night after losing to Shelly Glover and the conservatives in the St. Boniface riding in Winnipeg.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Our video editor showed up just in time to get this video before Raymond went over to Shelly Glover's HQ to congratulate her. Read the whole story on our site freepressonstrike.com

I also found this one with some footage I took of our reporter and video editor doing the interview... notice the CEP 191 On Strike bib.

Election Notes #1

Election Notes #1, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

Mark Foidart inputs early poll-station results at Raymond Simard's HQ in the St. Boniface riding which are showing up on the big screen behind him.

It doesn't look good for the incumbent Simard. He is 16 polls to Shelly Glover's (conservative) 75 polls.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Stephane Dion in Winnipeg

On Strike!, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

In a last ditch effort to win the election the Dion plane flew into town on its way across the country the day before the polls open. Read the story on freepressonstrike.com for how it went here in Winnipeg.

A slideshow of some of the photos I took while covering it for freepressonstrike.com

On Strike!

On Strike!, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

Well the day is here and we are now on strike! Don't go to our company
website. Go to freepressonstrike.com for info and local news!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Here is a video that was shot on the picket line today... (a fellow employee shot it for freepressonstrike.com)



Here is a slideshow of some photos I took today on the picket-line.

A box of Apples

A box of Apples, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

A friend at work gave me a box of apples from her moms tree. These are the sweetest apples I've had in ages.

I wonder what we should do with them.

Jam? Pies? Crisp?

Yum!

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Crazy Horse Table

Crazy Horse Table, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

While waiting for the reporter to show up for an interview I noticed this table. High on the kitchy factor.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Mvc @ Century St & Border St

Mvc @ Century St & Border St, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

A corpell water van and a pickup truck belonging to vickars chevolds were involved in an accident @ century & border slowing traffic on century until the pickup could be towed away.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Bob Geldof coming to Winnipeg

Bob Geldof coming to Winnipeg, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

Rocker and activist Bob Geldof is this year's winner of the St. Boniface General Hospital International Award.

This is the guy who did that big Live Aid concert in 1985.

Some of the others who received the award in the past are Mother Theresa and Pope JP 2nd.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

HARP

HARP, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

A free Home Appliance Retirement Program is being launched by the Manitoba government and the Kidney Foundation of Canada — Manitoba Branch. The program allows Winnipeggers to get rid of their old appliances for free by calling a 257-1212.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Sunset Post Rain

Sunset Post Rain, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

Aa is having a sleep-over at the grandparents, so I'm going to a movie. I chose Eagle Eye because it is the least likely to be a movie that A would go to.

The day was full of rain and the sunset had most people with cellphone cameras snapping away. I saw four people in the parking lot alone.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Roland Pumpkin Festival

Roland Pumpkin Festival, originally uploaded by mdcellphoto.

The red balloon lasted for most of the day until I tied it to the water
bottle and set it on the ground... somehow it burst. The pumpkins were cool
and Aa had her face painted and actually ate some of the food we purchased
for her.

I think she really liked the "train" though it could have been the candy the
conductor/clown handed out just before setting off.