Urbanites.

Yeah, two days of posts on here in a row. I hope this will become more common.



Although these compact rodents are technically Richardson's Ground Squirrels they are without fail refered to as gophers by the general public in Saskatchewan.



These particular gophers live by the train tracks on Warman Road, just behind a bus stop, across the street from a 7/11 and Canarama Centre shopping mall. Not surprisingly they are quite tame, allowing me to get fairly close while taking pictures, although the use of the zoom feature on my camera makes them seem closer than they actually were. This bus stop is near where this previous photo was taken. CN Rail apparently doesn't consider their burrowing much of a problem, as they've been residing there for several years.

'Tis The Season.

Like the rest of Canada Summer is garage sale season in Saskatoon. But it's not just your neighbour that wants to get rid of the junk they've got lying around. Each year the local outlet of Mother's Music has one. This year it took place on Saturday, July 4th. This year's offerings ranged from some nice equipment to parts from cheapy beginners guitars. I didn't buy anything, although a Roland monitor amp was tempting.

Shopping In The Sun.

A regular fixture of early July in Saskatoon is the 2nd Avenue Sidewalk Sale. 2nd Avenue between 23rd and 20th Streets is closed off to vehicle traffic, allowing local businesses to set up shop. This year's edition was held July 9, 10, and 11th. Rainy weather made the opening day dodgy, but the Sun came out for the 10th.




DJs and other forms of entertainment are a perenial feature, and this year the South American group above performed. I didn't catch their name unfortunately.

Swing.

With the end of June once more upon us it's time for the annual Sasktel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival. Besides the various concerts there is a lot of free music to be heard. Here we have the Doug Boomhower Trio performing on 21st Street just in front of trendy perveyors of overpriced exercise wear Lulu Lemon during the lunch hour today.

Here's a guitar shot, just because I play guitar and like guitars.

Keep It Clean.

These large recycling and garbage bins can be found in Saskatoon's Downtown as well as the main business area of Broadway Avenue. This example is from Broadway. Of the billboards used to advertise for the sign company that operates them I like this one the best. Somehow I doubt I will encounter this young woman walking the streets of Saskatoon, assuming she's even Canadian at all.

Posting this today was inspired by this post of Randy McDonald's, which features a photo of a very similar garbage bin/billboard in Toronto.

Plain And Simple.

This is the McKercher Drive Presbyterian Church located, not surprisingly, on McKercher Drive. From the outside the only real clue this is a Christian church is the cross on the roof. A less than attentive passerby could be forgiven for thinking it was an office building of some sort.




When these photos were taken this billboard sat on the lawn in front of the church. The intended message had been altered a bit. I assume this was done by someone, as I've seen similar mischief conducted against this kind of billboard before.

Tree-V.

Walking past the Centre at Circle and 8th on Monday I spotted this TV sitting in front of a tree. As you can see the tree is located in front of Centre East near the Tim Hortons.



Given the black spot on the screen this TV is certainly not working anymore. But why did the owner leave it there like that? This wasn't just stupidly throwing it out of their vehicle or what have you, but a deliberate act of...whatever the intent was of putting it there.

Whatever your intent, you got my attention at least.