I warn you that most of what will be posted on this page has nothing to do with auctions.

Thanks
Brad

Laramie's Saloon - Annual Halloween party at Laramie's Saloon in Onoway was a great time. Check out the photos and see for yourself.

Laughlin 2007 - Our annual pilgrimage to Laughlin produced yet another set of photos. My brother Steve with girlfriend  Steph, friends Dean and Lisa, myself and assorted guest appearances are the cast of characters. The usual things went on, beer, babes and bike. What more can a guy ask for. We hooked up with another friend, Dean, down there that had a booth in the trade show. We rode to a little ghost town, tourist trap call Oakman. We checked out live music, vendors and casinos. I ran out of time as usual and did not label all the photos, but they speak for themselves anyway.

Summer 2006 - This posting is late, as are most of my postings. In the summer of 2006 my daughter, Elizabeth, and I took a long overdue road trip to Banff. We quickly became the tacky tourists as we did all the tourist things we could fit in. Several days after we returned home, Elizabeth commented that "it was the best trip eva", a few weeks after that she when camping with her friends and said "it was the best trip eva". Short lived glory for me, but better than no glory.

April 2007 - The guys down here are a bit funny, in that, when somebody in the friend circle has a birthday, they celebrate for a month. April is Adams birth month. Early in the month was his birthday BBQ at Steve's and on the 20th the band played at at local bar called Cruisers, again it was an Adams birth month celebration. There are still some days left in April, so it is possible that there could be cake for Adam. I, for one, hope we are done with his birth month for this years, cause enough is enough. Perhaps when I have time one day I will put names in the galleries of the people in the photos.

Click here for BBQ pics
Click here for Cruisers pics

March 2007, Mopar at the Strip - Bikes, race cars, hot sun and cold beer, sounds like a perfect spring weekend to me. This is just a few pictures of our weekend in Las Vegas. For me it was more about getting to ride my bike in the heat in March, instead of having to wait a couple more months in Edmonton.

Christmas 2004 - Yet another bike trip. We flew to Las Vegas and rented a bike, road to Phoenix to meet up with friends for a weekend the we took the long way bike to Vegas.

Laughlin 2005 - This was a road trip starting at the Laughlin River Run bike rally in April 2005 and then heading off to California and up through the Joshua Tree National park to Las Vegas.

Dads plane gets a new lease on life - Unfortunately this posting is ten year past due. The images in this gallery are of my dads plane. The plane here is a Pietenpol, it was designed in about 1929 and was the second plane my dad built, the first being a Jodel. The plane first took to the air in November 1979, on November 29, 1980  I was the first passenger in the Pietenpol, it was my 16th birthday. From the pictures you can see that this is an open cockpit aeroplane, November in the Edmonton area is very cold to say the least, it was the last flight for that year. My dad had countless hours of fun in the bird he had built until it was time to take it apart and do some repairs. The year was 1987 and he expected to fly it again that same summer. Other things took priority and the plane sat partially done for a few years. I moved back to the area in 1991 after being on the west coast for a few years, the push to rebuild was on again. Soon I went into the auction business and it consumed my life, the push was off again. My dad past away on august 4, 2004, the push was back on. Like so many things and so many people we wait until it is too late to do the things that are really important. Had I stuck to my plan in 1991 my dad would have had many more hours of fun, this will haunt me until the unavoidable day that I too will fly into the sunset for one last time.

I wanted the peit  in the air on the anniversary of dads death. In order to pull this off in that time I enlisted the help of two great guys , Dave and Dan. Dave is a great fabricator and Dan does mechanical. I had hoped to be more involved but work got in the way more often than not. I was able to to do the interior, some work on the tail and some light machining, I enjoyed every minute of it. Susan at Alberta Upholstery in St.Albert upholstered the seats that I had made, and my wife Paige paid for them, it gets no better than that.

Long story short it was ready to fly. My brother Steve lives in Salt Lake City and came up with his boy Zack for the first flight. We hit a couple delays, like a balance concern and bad weather. The night before Steve was scheduled to leave for home we got lucky. The weather broke, the plane was ready and Dan my test pilot was in ear shot. Dan is an old time pilot and we thought a more experienced pilot should take the first flight. The pictures show a successful flight and a weight off my shoulders that words can't describe. The weather window that night was short and that 15 minute flight would be all we would get until the following week.

I too had one short flight about a week later and I again can't describe with words the sensation of flying a aeroplane my dad built and I, with lots of help, rebuilt. On top of this I had never been at the controls of an open cockpit plane, this in itself at 1500 feet above the ground is something you have to do to understand. While Steve was up and before the first flight we were talking about the Peit, he described it as a Harley Davidson with wings, never has more true a statement been uttered by man. 

My dad put most of the hours on the plane in the Morinville and Cardiff area. Mom and Dad lived in Cardiff and most of the time he would use the Farmers field behind their house as his landing strip. On August 4 2005 I took Dads plane to the air. I spent about 1 1/2 hours flying around his old haunt. I buzzed Morinville, Cardiff, Bon Accord, Gibbons. I like to think Dad was with me on that flight, he would be wearing his old leather cap and white scarf. He wouldn't have said much but I would be able to tell how much he enjoyed it.

Over ten years ago I had a dream to put Dads plane back together for him to enjoy, That dream died on August 4 2004.
This year I had a dream to fly Dads plane on August 4 2005, I am happy to say that dream is alive and well.

It is now 11:30 PM on Saturday August 6th, 2005 and I can't see the computer screen for the tears in my eyes. Thanks for listening

Brad Ward

Close to Christmas 2003 - Just before Christmas in 2003 we took a little trip to Victoria to see friends, my brother Steve his son Zack and girlfriend Stephanie came up to meet us.

Spring 2004 antiques auction - This album is a selection of photos showing one of our antiques auctions.

Spring 2003 road trip - Ron, Murray, Tim and myself (Brad) took a much needed road trip to Las Vegas via a couple days stop at my brothers (Steve) place in Salt Lake City. Steve came down from Salt Lake on his bike to meet us.

Spring 2003 bike trip - From Edmonton south to Montana, west through Idaho and Washington, up to Victoria for a few days with friends home through the BC interior. Nine days total and great weather almost the whole time.

Staff party 2001 - At the house with a caterer, a bar, and a good gang of folks.

Staff party 2002 - At Lily Lake Resort near Bon Accord, Alberta. We had this party in conjunction with the staff party for Foothills Equipment Company Limited. This was a terrific venue for our party and good time was had by all.

Bike trip - This selection of pictures come from two separate bike trips. One, in what turned out to be too early in the spring of 2001, the other was a gorgeous summer trip to Penticton B.C.

Silly Pictures - This is a selection of silly little pictures that people have sent me over the years. I had to leave the best ones off because of the content.

Work related pictures - A few pictures to show that we do get to work from time to time.

Snowmobiling - These photos come from two different snowmobiling events. One was a trip where my boys and I went for a weekend to Robb, Alberta with the owners and staff of Foothills Auctions. The other was a day trip with Steve Chapman, my warehouse manager and his guests from England.

Feb 10 and 11 2003 - Antiques and collectables auction. This album is a selection of photos showing one of our antiques auctions, including a couple of the staff having a laugh.

Las Vegas - All of these photos are in Las Vegas. They come from three separate trips. One was a trip that I took on my bike in October of 1999 or 2000. One was a trip when eight of us went down for a motorcycle auction. The last was December 2002 for an early Christmas with My brother and friends.